Chapter 7: Push Ahead

TL: LittlePeach

Team Leader Choi Min-sik fully intended to open with a string of curses.

His patience had blown past its limit the moment last night's Sinuiju operation, the rare win he'd been counting on, was smashed to pieces.

And now, on top of everything, the emergency line?

This was a one-time-use secure channel, allotted in strictly limited numbers to each team across the entire NIS.

A precious asset they begged agents never to touch unless the situation was truly dire, and an agent with a mere Sparrow code had dared to go and burn one!

"Wh... what? Say that.... s-say that again, properly."

- I reported that I have secured Minister of People's Armed Forces Hyon Yong-chol. Is it possible to resume Operation 344W481?

And now, out of nowhere, Operation 344W481?

While Team Leader Choi Min-sik froze with a dumbstruck look on his face, Group Director Oh Dong-cheol, who had been listening quietly beside him, frowned in his place.

"Hey, Sparrow. What kind of nonsense are you spouting! What happened to your solo order to rescue the abducted Korean tourists?"

Group Director Oh Dong-cheol's bellow rattled the whole office.

But Sparrow No. 7 answered without the slightest waver.

- That order was completed a short while ago.

"...What?"

- About ten minutes ago, I infiltrated a State Security Department safe house, rescued the three Korean tourists being held in the basement, and put them in a taxi bound for the Consulate General in Shenyang. In the process I killed External Intelligence Bureau director Ri Chol-jun, deputy bureau director Choe Jong-hak, and roughly ten North Korean soldiers before withdrawing from the site.

"Uh.... huh?"

- I then commandeered a North Korean army truck, re-entered Sinuiju, and have just secured Minister Hyon Yong-chol, the target of Operation 344W481.

"...."

The entire situation room froze solid.

Until just moments ago, they'd been sweating blood, frantically running scenario after scenario among themselves for how to safely extract the abducted tourists.

And now the agent in the field was calmly reporting that he'd lopped off the heads of every enemy commander in sight and rescued the hostages unharmed?

As if that weren't enough, he'd thrown in Minister of People's Armed Forces Hyon Yong-chol, the target of the Sinuiju operation everyone had already written off as a failure, as a bonus.

Faced with one incomprehensible development after another, the agents in the situation room felt their brains grinding to a halt.

- HQ? Requesting instructions. Do I proceed with the original operation as planned? Absent separate orders, I intend to move the target along the existing exfiltration route.

Only then did Group Director Oh Dong-cheol crank his stiffened neck around to look at Team Leader Choi Min-sik.

Choi Min-sik was still gaping like a fish, too dumbfounded to speak.

"Team Leader Choi. The Crane agents haven't left their positions yet, have they?"

"...Sir? Ah, yes sir! At this hour.... they should still be on standby nearby."

"Then what are you standing around for? Get on the line and tell them the operation is back on, now!"

"Y-yes sir!"

Having sent Choi Min-sik scrambling off to work, Oh Dong-cheol licked his parched lips.

"Sparrow No. 7, is there anything else you need me to provide from here?"

- Nothing in particular.

"...Okay. Push ahead with the original operation."

- Acknowledged.

Beep.

With that short reply, the call ended.

"Analyst, dispose of that line immediately, per regulations."

"Yes, Director. Proceeding with line burn and log deletion."

Analyst Jeong Su-a followed procedure and burned the emergency line that had just carried the call.

As the analysts' keyboards clattered noisily back to life, every agent in the room wore the same half-vacant, punch-drunk expression.

Before long, the agents pulled themselves together and started whispering, and the situation room quickly grew noisy.

"Wait, what? If he secured the Minister of People's Armed Forces.... then this defection was never a North Korean trap in the first place?"

"Guess not. But then how did Sparrow No. 7 figure that out and cross back into Sinuiju? And how did he manage to kill the External Intelligence Bureau director and his deputy?"

"From what I hear, the guy's ex-Defense Intelligence Command, Special Task Force."

"Special Task Force or not.... hijacking a North Korean army truck and driving it across the river solo? What kind of brain does that idea even come from?"

"Right? And ten minutes after killing the External Intelligence Bureau director, no less."

"The nerve on this guy, seriously. That confidence, wow...."

"Skill is confidence. The skill that brought Kite No. 3 back alive doesn't just vanish, does it?"

"Then that downtown explosion the Dandong Public Security mentioned earlier, maybe that was...."

"Huh? No way...."

Instead of the bone-chilling silence, a giddy anticipation now hung thick in every corner.

The situation might be spiraling into madness, but at least it was hurtling toward the best possible outcome, and for that much they could be grateful.

"Whew."

After surveying the office once over, Group Director Oh Dong-cheol let out a long sigh.

He roughly yanked loose the necktie strangling him and dropped heavily into the chair Choi Min-sik had occupied until moments before.

Then he chugged an entire bottle of water sitting beside it in one go.

"Team Leader Choi. Over here."

"Ah! Yes sir."

"Go down to the archives and scrape together every profile document on Sparrow No. 7. Everything your security clearance allows."

"Understood."

Sparrow.

A tiny, insignificant creature, common as dirt and strewn about everywhere.

The NIS assigns the Sparrow code exclusively to agents with less than a year in the field.

Sparrow in name only; in practice, it means the agent is little more than a chick fresh out of the egg.

'To think our foreign division had talent like this buried in it.'

Before long, Oh Dong-cheol accepted the documents Choi Min-sik brought over, his face still dazed.

[Name: Kang Hae-chan]

[Family: Unmarried]

[Education: Gukbong University, B.A. in Business Administration]

[Military Service: OCS-commissioned officer, military scholarship student / Discharged as team leader, Defense Intelligence Command Special Task Force]

[Notes: Orphan, no living kin. His guardian, his grandmother, is now deceased.]

[...]

Unmarried.

An orphan, utterly alone in the world.

Ex-Defense Intelligence Command Special Task Force.

Every line of it was exactly the sort of thing the NIS loved to see.

*****

Now that dying to a bullet was no longer a concern, I felt no tension at all.

And with no tension, my movements came naturally.

"Hm? Where'd you dump the troops you were supposed to bring back, coming through alone like this?"

"That was my understanding as well, Comrade, but would you believe the Comrade Investigation Bureau director of the State Security Department urgently pulled the low-ranking soldiers on standby off for separate duty? And so I am returning empty-handed."

"Ah-ha, so you busted your ass for nothing."

"I shall be passing through now, then."

"Aye, aye, on your way."

With my movements natural, no one suspected me.

The bridge guards didn't even bother peering into the gaping-empty truck bed; they saw me off with an actual wave.

Around the middle of the bridge, the thought struck me, so I pulled the cell phone from my pocket and hurled it into the middle of the Yalu River.

It was the burner phone I'd taken from the Rabbit Hole, and since it had connected to the emergency line, the rule was to use it once and then destroy it.

Having twisted my body around anyway, I glanced behind me and saw Hyon Yong-chol and his family lying flat against the truck bed, frozen stiff as stones.

"The state of mind of the low-ranking soldiers guarding our border is truly.... breathtaking, that it is."

"Isn't it? Thanks to them, you got out safely. What a relief."

"That is precisely the perverse part of it, you see."

Hyon Yong-chol could only marvel as I sailed through the checkpoint without batting an eye.

I gave him an easy grin and finished crossing the Yalu River Bridge.

'As expected.'

The Dandong Public Security officers who guarded the bridge's northern approach had vanished without a trace.

Most likely because of the explosion at the State Security safe house.

Humming a light tune, I rolled off the Yalu River Bridge without incident.

'It's the kind of thing that would turn the entire Public Security Bureau upside down, after all.'

An explosion had gone off at a North Korean State Security safe house planted in the middle of downtown Dandong, and two External Intelligence Bureau officials had been blown to bits inside.

For the Dandong Public Security officers, already a few screws loose after gorging themselves on no-questions-asked kickbacks from the NIS since yesterday, it must have felt like a bolt from the blue.

Most of the Public Security police would have rushed to the scene in force.

"La-di-da."

While the chaos raged, I drove the truck toward a spot not far away.

Our destination was Dandong Port, at the western edge of the city.

"That one?"

Arriving at the Dandong Port parking lot, I spotted a black car with its hazards blinking among the densely packed vehicles.

When I pulled up and stopped, three men climbed out at once.

"Sparrow No. 7, right?"

One of them came over and offered a light introduction.

"That's me. And you are?"

"Crane No. 13. This here's 12 and 14."

From Crane No. 12 through No. 14, all three sported identical shaggy mops of hair and dowdy clothes, as if they'd coordinated in advance.

It was obvious they'd deliberately styled themselves to look alike, all to avoid drawing attention.

"You'll be needing this to drive a North Korean army truck, I imagine?"

"Wouldn't say no."

First, we had Hyon Yong-chol and his family climb down from the truck bed.

Crane No. 14 donned the North Korean army cap and coat I handed over, climbed into the driver's seat in my place, and headed off somewhere.

Drive it to some pointless corner of the city on purpose to throw off any pursuit, then dump the truck in a suitably deserted spot, and Crane No. 14's job would be done.

With surveillance cameras blanketing every inch of China, staying on the move to muddy the trail was far safer than leaving the vehicle sitting in a parking lot.

A North Korean army truck in particular was bound to draw eyes, and witnesses would crawl out of the woodwork with tips nobody needed.

"Hyon Yong-chol-ssi, this car here, please."

"Th-thank you."

"From here on you'll be switching vehicles several times, so please follow our agent's instructions to the letter."

"Aye, that we shall."

And with that, my part was done.

My plan now was to head back to the Rabbit Hole downtown and collect the gear I'd stashed there.

"Good work out there. Let's each get where we're going."

"Right."

Nodding at Crane No. 12's farewell pat on the shoulder, I got straight into Crane No. 13's car.

"Thank you, Comrade operative!"

"Thank you so much!"

"Travel safely, now!"

As we pulled out of the Dandong Port parking lot first, I could see Hyon Yong-chol's family waving through the car window.

I gave a light wave back and sank into my seat.

"Sparrow No. 7, hell of a job."

"It was nothing."

"Nothing, he says. What on earth happened, anyway? Yesterday they suddenly tell us the operation's suspended and pull us out, and today they suddenly tell us it's back on and to be out the door in ten minutes."

"Really? Sounds like you had it rougher than I did."

"Tell me about it."

Agents given the Crane code handled defection-broker work across China.

Spiriting people away like this was their bread and butter, which made the streets of Dandong practically their own backyard.

"Drop you downtown?"

"Somewhere along the riverside would be good."

"Okay."

Crane No. 13 seemed to have the map burned into his head, threading the car briskly through narrow alleys and main roads alike.

Meanwhile, I quickly changed into the civilian clothes waiting in the car.

After switching cars once more just in case, we made our way back into downtown Dandong.

"If you ever need a taxi around here, call me. No cab in this town knows Dandong better than mine."

With Kite No. 3 to think about, I'd have to stay in the area for a while anyway, so a decent local source of news wouldn't hurt.

[Wang Chil Taxi]

[Anywhere in Dandong within 10 minutes]

Apparently, Crane No. 13's local cover identity went by the name Wang Chil.

"Thank you."

"From here on out, we each find our own way."

We traded those perfunctory goodbyes, and Crane No. 13 and I parted quickly.

Afterward, I collected everything stashed in the Rabbit Hole, pulled a brimmed hat low over my head, and strolled out onto the street like I hadn't a care in the world.

"Over here!"

Screech.

I flagged down an empty taxi that just happened to be loitering right beside me.

If anyone could still trace my movements after all this, I'd have to concede total victory to the Chinese Communist Party's closed-circuit surveillance network.

"Where to?"

"Hwanggumpyong, please."

"You got it."

"By the way, the mood downtown feels a little strange right now. Did something happen?"

"Oh, don't even get me started. They're saying one of the buildings in Dandong just went boom out of nowhere."

"Really?"

"I'm telling you! And get this, turns out it was a house used by North Korean officials. So now Public Security and the North Koreans are at each other's throats. Veins popping, screaming at each other about what the hell the other side pulled. A real circus, apparently."

"Wow.... Any chance we could pass by that area? I'd love a look."

"Sure thing. Actually, look, right over there."

While the taxi driver and I chatted away in Chinese, the Yalu River Bridge came into view in the distance.

North Korean army trucks were pouring across the bridge into Dandong, one after another, nose to tail.

It seemed the North, having finally heard from Dandong Public Security about the carnage at the State Security safe house, was only now rushing troops over.

"Phew."

Watching that murderous spectacle, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief.

If I'd been delayed even a little, forget securing Hyon Yong-chol; I clearly wouldn't have made it off North Korean soil myself.

"Quite a sight."

When I absently touched my mouth, I could feel the corners curled all the way up.

So I sank deep into the seatback and hid my face from the window.

*****

The Dandong Public Security Bureau, in the heart of downtown Dandong.

Outside its parking lot, a dozen or so North Korean army trucks had gathered.

With outside access strictly controlled, a suffocating tension hung thick inside the building.

Whether seen from without or within, the mood could not have been worse.

"We took bribes? Director So Se-hyok, can you stand behind those words?"

As though he'd just heard the most offensive thing imaginable, Dandong Public Security Bureau director Wang Xianqing's face flushed crimson at once.

He slammed the table and let his boiling fury pour out, but across from him, State Security Investigation Bureau director So Se-hyok didn't so much as blink.

If anything, he sank deeper into the plush chair back and leisurely blew out a stream of cigarette smoke.

"Everyone in this world takes bribes, Comrade Director Wang. Myself included."

The sheer shamelessness of the answer left Wang Xianqing at a loss for words.

Unbothered either way, So Se-hyok tapped the ash from the cigarette between his fingers.

"What matters is whose hand each of us is holding at this very moment."

Blood-sworn allies or not, so long as a border stood between them, China and North Korea were unmistakably separate states.

In this world there are no eternal enemies, and no eternal friends.

Just as the two Koreas had once pursued close ties back under the Kim Dae-jung administration, only to end up now with the border sealed and tensions escalating by the day.

Anyone could join hands whenever necessity demanded, and turn their back just as easily.

"Bribes? Fine. But from this moment on, Comrade Director Wang, you will cut every thread connecting you to them and cooperate with our Investigation Bureau's work. Do that, and I will not raise a single issue, not one, over anything that has happened until now."

"...What? What is it you won't raise an issue over?"

"Just last night, unidentified.... presumably South Chosun operatives crossed into the Republic through Dandong and strolled around Sinuiju as if it were their own living room. In the process they shot dead dozens of the Republic's elite troops, then leisurely crossed the wide-open Yalu River Bridge and escaped. And even today, a State Security safe house in Dandong was attacked, and the External Intelligence Bureau director inside was assassinated."

"...."

"Regarding all of it, we will ask not one question about how the Dandong Public Security happened, at precisely those hours, to be so exquisitely absent."

As the shocking full account was laid out point by point, Wang Xianqing's thoughts churned.

Only now did it truly sink in what had come of him pocketing dirty money and looking the other way for the NIS's business last night.

'God damn it all, they said they'd slip in quietly and pull out one man! What in the....'

If this ever got formally reported up the chain, never mind his directorship, he'd be hard-pressed to keep his own head attached.

Seeing not a flicker of change on Wang Xianqing's face, So Se-hyok murmured low, driving each word in like a stake.

"I ask for exactly one thing. Cooperate on that one thing alone. Among the bastards who fled Sinuiju, there is one operative who took a bullet."

So Se-hyok recalled the dirt floor soaked through with blood.

During last night's firefight, one of them had been shot.

A man who lost that much blood was bound to leave a record or a trace somewhere.

"All I need is to take that one man back to Sinuiju, and that's the end of it. With Public Security's help, it wouldn't take more than a few days. As for Director Wang's little indiscretion, so long as I keep my mouth shut, not a soul will ever know of it."

Wang Xianqing knitted his brow.

Dressed up in a pretty word like cooperation, it was, in truth, naked blackmail.

Openly rumored second-in-command of the State Security Department or not, this Investigation Bureau director dared?

'A mere bureau director from some pissant little country.... presumes to stand level with me?'

As Wang Xianqing's displeasure thickened, So Se-hyok openly twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk.

"We will take that one man back to our Republic, so I would like Comrade Director Wang to lend us some muscle. What do you say?"

But the humiliation simmering in his gut aside, in the end Wang Xianqing had no choice but to nod, helpless.

*****

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