Chapter 52: My Head Hurts

TL: LittlePeach

On the road heading north out of Dandong, there is a city called Pingcheng.

After the Shanyuan Society hideout went up, I managed to dig a shirt and a pair of pants out of the collapsed rubble, changed into them piece by piece, and walked roughly three hours to get here.

"Thank you for lending me the phone, Elder."

"Never mind the thanks. That'll be fifty yuan."

"...."

The code of the jianghu has truly fallen.

I nodded with an awkward smile.

"Someone will be coming in about forty minutes. He'll pay on my behalf."

"Then wait inside. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Since I was already imposing on the convenience store enough to borrow the phone, I killed time grabbing cup noodles and fish-cake skewers off the shelves and eating them.

Maybe because I'd spent the last while flying all over the place, I was ravenous.

As I was happily munching my way through a late meal, before long the doorbell came jingling.

"Hey. Hey!"

Crane No. 12, arriving faster than expected, came barreling into the convenience store in a panic.

I happened to be chewing on my fifth fish-cake skewer.

"Mmph. Y'hrre?"

"...L-let's talk outside first."

Chew, chew. Gulp.

I hurried to empty my mouth first.

"Before that, I've eaten a few things here? Could you settle the bill for me?"

"...."

Thanks to that, I got a free meal and a ride in Crane No. 12's car back to Dandong.

From the passenger seat, I walked him through everything that had happened.

"S-so.... you're saying you found this broker Yu Jong-pil suspicious, so you personally infiltrated the Shanyuan Society hideout posing as a North Korean defector?"

"Yes. Strictly speaking, I posed as a Korean-Chinese who wanted to defect."

"A-and? Then what?"

"Then, well, I let them haul me into the hideout like a defector, and it turned out the Shanyuan Society's armament was way shoddier than expected. So I felt safe enough to raise some hell inside, fire off a few rounds, and, in the heat of the moment, set a bit of a fire too."

"Huh? Uh-huh...."

"But then, of all things, gas must have leaked out wrong somewhere, because at some point the whole building just blew up."

"You're out of your mind.... Then how the hell are you even alive?"

"Just got lucky."

"...."

"Anyway, they'd taken my phone and wallet too, and with the building blown to bits there was no finding them.... which is how I ended up walking all the way out there and calling you, sir."

Like that.

Roughly one part truth to nine parts lies, mixed however I pleased.

And I watched the face of Crane No. 12, who had been blankly focused on the road, crumble bit by bit.

"It's here."

"...."

Since I was giving my slapdash situation report anyway, I took him to the place that until recently had 'been' the Shanyuan Society hideout, and we stood side by side admiring the ruins.

The flames that had roared up in the blast had long since burned down, leaving only the pancaked rubble, scorched black and warped by the seething fire.

Crane No. 12's eyes swam as he took in the sight.

"W-weren't there any other defectors?"

"They said I was their first customer."

Crane No. 12 stared at me, looking hollowed out.

He seemed unable to put whatever he was feeling into words.

"No, w-wait a second...."

Surely the only thing he'd ordered me to do was to identify one suspicious-looking broker....

The look Crane No. 12 turned on me was full of exactly that question.

Of course, that's what I'd been told too, but, well.

What could anyone do now about something that had already happened?

"Something wrong?"

"...I don't know. My... my head hurts."

Even chewing me out here, demanding to know why on earth I did it, would make for a strange picture.

If I'd died or been crippled, sure, but in the end I'd delivered the best possible outcome.

All roads lead to Seoul, don't they?

"The hideout's been demolished, so now all that's left is grabbing Yu Jong-pil."

"...."

Whether he stared at me dumbly or not, I just grinned.

Anyway.

The moment we hurried back into Dandong, we headed straight for our next destination without a moment to catch our breath.

The back alley behind the noodle shop off Cathedral Street, Zhen'an District.

As soon as we arrived, I punched in Yu Jong-pil's number, the one I'd been given earlier, and made the call.

Ring... ring... ring... ring....

"Damn."

"No answer?"

"No. Nothing. The signal keeps cutting off partway."

When I clicked my tongue, Crane No. 12 nodded as if it were only natural.

"Brokers have an uncanny nose for trouble. They always sniff out their bolt-hole, every single time."

It seemed word had somehow reached him that the Shanyuan Society hideout had been smashed one way or another.

For all I knew, Zhang Hai, the Shanyuan Society officer I'd last spoken with on the phone, had contacted Yu Jong-pil to demand the full story.

The moment that call came in, he must have instinctively smelled danger and chosen to go to ground.

"That's a shame."

"No. It's for the best. Now that he's tangled up with the Shanyuan Society, he's not a man who'll die in his bed anyway."

Crane No. 12 gave a light shrug.

"Their people just died in droves. You think they'll let the broker who caused it live? He'll probably spend the rest of his life running scared."

"Hmm."

"Besides, now that this phone number's burned, he's half-crippled as a broker too."

"True enough."

Now that he said it, he was right.

Being caught by us and getting a clean ending might well have been the more merciful fate for him.

We let it go without lingering, heading straight out of Zhen'an District.

"Good work today. I'd better get started on the report for headquarters."

"Suffer through it on my behalf."

"What suffering would that be for me? You did all the suffering yourself today."

"Haha."

And so Operation 972C212 came to its brief conclusion just two days after my insertion.

*****

NIS headquarters.

The morning the report Crane No. 12 had closed out came in.

"...Wasn't the original operational plan just to bring in one broker?"

"That.... was the original plan, sir, but somehow things seem to have wrapped up this way."

"Huh."

At the sight of team leader Choi Min-sik reporting in his usual shrinking voice, group director Oh Dong-cheol let out a hollow laugh in spite of himself.

He flipped through the report a few more times.

"How many Shanyuan Society members were there?"

"We estimate somewhere around ten, sir."

"Estimate? Not confirmed?"

"The thing is.... while Sparrow No. 7, who had infiltrated inside, was setting the fire and making his escape, gas apparently ignited and the entire lodge building exploded."

"Oh, for...."

"So there is no way to know how many personnel remained inside under the rubble."

"Huh."

There was no need to ask whether it was true or not.

Blackened, charred concrete rubble, shattered windows, and the rest.

Photos of the exploded, collapsed lodge were all attached to the report.

Honestly, at first he'd thought someone had submitted a shooting plan for a spectacular action film and called it a report.

"...I think I finally understand exactly why the Deputy Director pays this kid so much attention."

Even so, he wanted to grab someone and ask.

Whether this was really reality and not a dream.

The expression on team leader Choi Min-sik's face as he gave his report was much the same.

"Whew. Understood, for now. We'll process this case as provisionally closed."

"Provisionally, sir...."

"Judging from the report that the Shanyuan Society's armament was nothing remarkable, the site destroyed this time was most likely a temporary staging point rather than an official hideout. So we'll need to keep a close additional watch on how the Shanyuan Society moves from here."

"Ah, mm. Absolutely right, sir."

In the end, if an operation had been wrapped up in the field one way or another, the final report going up the chain had to be wrapped up just as plausibly.

Even if it was one man's fit of arson, on paper it had to be dressed up as an intelligence operation executed on a foundation of meticulous planning.

Group director Oh Dong-cheol nodded with an odd expression.

"Sparrow No. 7.... I should send this kid to Cambodia before long."

"S-sir? Sparrow, to Cambodia?"

"That's right. I intend to raise it with the Deputy Director myself."

At group director Oh Dong-cheol's words, team leader Choi Min-sik startled, his eyes darting wildly.

Cambodia.

Didn't that mean Sparrow No. 7 would be leaving the nest of his Northeast Three Provinces Team 3?

As team leader Choi Min-sik fidgeted, gauging the mood, group director Oh Dong-cheol let out a snort.

"Don't worry. As it happens, I'm planning to assign two Sparrows who just finished their probationary period to your team first."

"Th-thank you for that, sir, but...."

At team leader Choi Min-sik's still-hesitant look, group director Oh Dong-cheol shook his head firmly.

"Those two are both from the Defense Intelligence Command, same as Sparrow No. 7. You understand what it means to funnel talent like that into your team?"

"Ah!"

There was no way he could fail to understand.

The Special Operations Group's center of gravity, until now concentrated on Russia and the Middle East, was now tipping in his favor!

Team leader Choi Min-sik's shoulders rose of their own accord.

"The Deputy Director has high expectations for the Northeast Three Provinces team. Keep it up, exactly like this."

"Th-thank you, sir!"

"Good. Off you go. Finish that report properly."

"Yes, sir!"

Team leader Choi Min-sik bowed deeply and withdrew.

When the door closed and he was alone in his office once more, the smile gradually faded from the lips of group director Oh Dong-cheol, who had been grinning and waving the man off.

"Praise where praise is due.... and now, for the next thing. Haa."

He dragged over another file that had been waiting at one corner of his desk and let out a deep sigh.

On the file's front page, an official document translated in bold print.

[Official Letter from the Bureau Director, Primorsky Regional Security Bureau, Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) - Regarding the Detention of a Republic of Korea National Intelligence Service Agent and the Demand for Dispatch of a Negotiation Delegation]

[The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation expresses its deep regret over the unofficial operation conducted by the Republic of Korea's National Intelligence Service within Russian territory. Regarding the transfer of custody of your agent currently detained by our authorities, we strongly urge the dispatch of a negotiation delegation vested with appropriate authority to Vladivostok....]

A notice from the FSB that doubled as a threat.

"Now I'll have to rack my brain over what to do about this Russia business."

Group director Oh Dong-cheol pressed hard on his temples, struggling to soothe his throbbing head.

*****

After smashing the Shanyuan Society hideout to pieces, I did nothing but sleep, dead to the world.

By the time I woke it was already lunchtime, and I scrounged a meal out of whatever I found in the fridge.

"Owl No. 5 should be getting back around now...."

Nearly a fortnight had already passed since my deployment to Dandong.

Was I really going to have to wait out the full month?

Ominous thoughts have a way of always coming true, and just as an inexplicable unease was settling over me.

Ding.

"Hm?"

I had just finished transmitting the footage and was folding up the satellite antenna to put it away.

[Sparrow No. 7 Orders Issued]

[Transfer Owl No. 5's duties to Owl No. 8]

The message was dead simple.

Hand over Owl No. 5's duties to Owl No. 8, who was stationed nearby.

That was the content, but the meaning folded inside it suddenly felt different.

'No way.'

Without realizing it, I went rigid for a moment.

Because nowhere in the message was there a single word about Owl No. 5 coming back.

Only an ominous nuance, as if deliberately avoiding any mention of it.

And that ominous feeling.

"Ha, haha.... H-hello."

"Ah."

The same day.

It grew sharper still when Owl No. 8, who must have received the same orders, showed up at my rooftop hideout.

One look at his face and I couldn't help but feel it in my bones.

"How does... how does something like this.... why do things, why do they turn out this way, I really.... I just don't understand."

"...."

"In Russia.... they say he's gone missing. My hyeong-nim."

Owl No. 8's eyes were brimming.

They had probably been brimming the whole walk over.

As he blankly looked around the rooftop room, his gaze began to waver, clouding over even further.

"Once hyeong-nim came back to Dandong.... the three of us, the Sinuiju Family, we were going to build a really slick operation around that one freight train, pull it off in style, really.... knock it out clean, and brag to hyeong-nim about it, that's what we were going to do, and now...."

Owl No. 8 sniffled, trying hard to hide what he was feeling.

But feelings are not the kind of thing that stay hidden just for the trying.

Just in case, I asked him carefully.

"Did you happen to have any separate contact number for him?"

"There was one number I knew.... I tried it a few times by international call.... Sniff. No answer."

I wordlessly patted his back as he quietly wept.

The two of them would have lived shoulder to shoulder inside the small world that was Dandong.

How deep their brotherhood must have run, how heavy his heart must be, I couldn't even begin to guess.

"Hic. Ugh. I'm sorry. Showing you... such a pathetic side of me...."

"Not at all. The handover can wait; take your time and gather yourself."

"Sniff. Actually, I've... transmitted the footage a few times in hyeong-nim's place before, so I remember all of it."

"Ah."

Owl No. 8's eyes grew even more distant as he stared at the computer.

Two black agents close enough to share each other's missions with open hearts.

"We shared everything like that between us, everything...."

There was no one to pour it out to, no one to resent, no one to blame.

All the more so when it was a death that could never come to light, the death of a black agent like us.

"Hic. Hnnngh.... Gi-ung hyeong-niiim...."

At last he broke down sobbing.

Superimposed over him, I saw the last image of Owl No. 5, grinning as he set off for Russia.

And in that moment.

'Do you happen to know a place called Bolshoi Kamen, near Vladivostok?'

A memory from the past, flashing through my mind in an instant.

'I know it, sure.'

'There's a factory there that processes frozen cod. Called Ocean Sigma.'

'Ocean Sigma?'

'Yes. If anything goes wrong during the operation, go there and ask them to get you back to Korea by illegal sea passage.'

Come to think of it, there was one thing I had pressed on Owl No. 5 out of needless worry.

Why was that memory surfacing right now?

"Ah."

Missing.

Among black agents, the word is treated as a synonym for death.

But the word missing itself means, in the end, that final death cannot be officially confirmed.

"...Sir. I think it's too early to cry."

"Hic. W-what?"

"Owl No. 5, the one who went missing... he might still be alive."

Maybe it wasn't time to let go of hope just yet.

At my words, my hands gripping his shoulders, Owl No. 8's eyes went wide.

The silence lasted only a moment before he seized my arm.

"R-really? Please...."

"Yes. I'll go to Russia."

In the eyes looking back at me, I could glimpse the smallest flicker of hope.

"I'll go and confirm it myself."

And I had no intention of letting this hope end as hope alone.

*****

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