Chapter 98: Built for Southeast Asia

TL: LittlePeach

The silence and the deliberation went on.

Every so often a deep breath through the nose followed after the silence, one after another.

Before long, Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin let out a dry laugh.

-You.... really do leap right past the boundaries of my thinking. At first I took it for a madman's idea.... but the more I chew on it, the less bad it sounds.

"Thank you, sir."

A little ambiguous, but I decided to take it as praise for now.

He seemed to think my idea was inspired.

-Good. As you suggest, we'll coordinate with the Italian foreign ministry, dispatch one of our agents, and try to induce that secretary's defection.

"Understood, sir."

But the gap between his picture of things and mine amounted to a day or two at most.

Before long, once Minister Ri Jong-il set foot safely in Incheon Airport, he would realize that a diplomat of minister rank could walk in and defect entirely on his own.

Preconceptions really are a terrifying thing.

-In any case, outstanding work. I have a clear picture of the situation, so cross over to the Philippines immediately, no delays.

"Understood, sir. I'll head straight to the airport."

-Get the detailed operational outline and the situation inside the prison from the temporary team member standing by on-site. We'll meet at headquarters once the operation is finished.

"Yes, sir."

The moment the call ended, I tossed the phone onto the ground.

Crunch!

I gave the satellite phone, now stomped to pieces, a light kick, and a cool sea breeze came drifting up the cliff again.

Plop!

The sea, churning up white foam, swallowed another unfamiliar morsel with relish.

"Hssss, haaa."

Now that it had come to this, my time in Italy was over.

I'd flown all this way for once, and the sum total of Italian romance I'd managed to enjoy was the ten-odd minutes I'd spent on a Vespa.

Still.

"Not bad, though."

They were a fine ten minutes, the kind that would stay etched into my life.

If I ever came back to Italy, I'd rent a scooter again without fail and tear through every last alley.

All my overdue work was done, and I couldn't have felt lighter.

"Nngh."

I stretched and glanced back at the car I'd parked.

Come to think of it.

'How the hell am I supposed to explain the car getting wrecked like this?'

There was one piece of work left unsolved after all.

*****

I headed into downtown Naples to return the car.

The destination was near the port of Naples.

I'd arranged to meet Taebaek No. 7 there again.

"Ah! Over he...."

He'd been hovering around the harbor waiting for me, and his delighted expression lasted about a second.

"Guh?! Wh-what in God's name happened to the front bumper and the windshield?!"

His shriek reached me through the shattered window glass before I'd even gotten out of the car.

It was exactly the reaction I'd expected, but a little poke here seemed likely to produce something more entertaining.

"Oh, this? I rear-ended the car in front of me by mistake.... The other party and I settled it very amicably, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Th-then.... what are these marks here?"

"Bullet holes. The driver of the other car got angry and fired off a few rounds."

"A-a gun?"

Taebaek No. 7 gaped at my perfectly honest explanation.

His mouth hung open so wide I could see his uvula.

"I'm joking. I was driving past a cliff and a rock came down from above."

"Ah, aha...."

"Anyway, are you heading back to the UK from here, Agent?"

I steered the subject away without batting an eye and held out the car keys to Taebaek No. 7.

Swept along by my glib tongue, he broke into a broad smile and shook his head.

"No. I've been given commendation leave starting today, so I'll be in Italy for a few days. It's all thanks to you, Team 5 leader."

"Thanks to me?"

"My team leader gave it to me specially. He said the operation succeeded because I escorted you that day and explained the operational outline and the target's location properly."

"Oh."

"So I'll just put this car in storage and spend a while touring around Italy, I think."

In truth, that was less a reward than an act of generosity on Taebaek No. 1's part.

Strictly speaking, Taebaek No. 7's decision to bring me in and put me on the operation had bordered on overstepping his authority.

A rank-and-file team member had made an irreversible call entirely on his own judgment, and he was simply lucky the outcome had gone well.

Whether he knew that or not, Taebaek No. 7 just kept grinning away.

'Oh, right.'

Something occurred to me at the sight of that harmless face, and I dug through my pocket.

The business card the scooter rental shop owner had given me the other day.

"Would you like to take this?"

"What is it?"

"There's a pizza place across from the scooter rental shop on that card. If you bring the card in and say Fabrizio sent you, they'll give you a free beer."

"Oh! Really?"

I'd been through no end of things in Italy, and honestly some of it had been irritating, but even so, it hadn't been the worst.

Probably because of the warm heart of that Italian man, the rental shop owner who'd made the sign of the cross over me as he saw me off.

"Wow.... thank you so much. I was just wondering what to do with myself, stuck alone in Naples. I'll go there and rent a scooter."

"...."

Taebaek No. 7 beamed and took the card with both hands.

I hesitated a moment over whether to say anything more.

"Were the scooters there in decent shape?"

"Yeah, sure. They run well. But just in case, let me say this in advance, watch out for hit-and-runs around there."

"H-hit-and-runs?"

"Yes. People around here drive very roughly. I even saw a sports car go off a cliff just up the road."

"Whoa."

We went on talking for a good while after that.

Some vague uneasiness made me add the advice that he should stay out of northern Naples if he possibly could.

"See you again next time, team leader!"

"Sure. Enjoy your leave."

And so, with a single handshake, we parted and went our separate ways.

I stood watching Taebaek No. 7 drive off into the distance.

"Hssss."

And suddenly I had the feeling I'd overlooked something.

*****

Taebaek No. 7 drove briskly toward the private garage leased long-term under an assumed name.

Vrooooom.

He was backing in, glancing over his shoulder without much thought.

"Hm?"

Only then did he notice the things packed tightly across the back seat.

Three whole LPG gas cylinders.

Items of unknown purpose.

"...Why is something like this loaded in the car?"

An unease he couldn't account for came crowding in.

With it came the urgent need to get out of the car right now.

And then, just as he finished backing in and hurriedly killed the engine.

"Huh?"

Under the dome light that had switched on automatically.

"Is this.... something the Team 5 leader left behind?"

A shopping bag sat all by itself under the passenger seat.

Taebaek No. 7 picked it up without a thought in his head.

Clunk, clunk.

"Hm?"

Something heavy rolled around inside.

Taebaek No. 7 tilted his head and peered into the bag.

"...?"

Several lumps of metal, gleaming a dull color under the garage's dim light.

Five or six grenades were gathered at the bottom of the shopping bag, huddled close, heads pressed together.

"...."

Shudder, shudder.

Taebaek No. 7 moved his rigid body and set the shopping bag carefully back exactly where it had been.

Clunk.

"Eep."

His heart dropped, and every hair on his body stood on end.

Gas cylinders crammed into the car

And on top of that, a shopping bag full of grenades rolling around.

Shudder, shudder, shudder, shudder.

"I, I-I-I-I-I didn't s-s-see anything."

He had no time even to swallow the dry spit pooled in his mouth.

Feeling as though he'd looked into the abyss, he bolted out of the car like a man fleeing for his life.

*****

"Mmm. Nice air."

This was Ninoy Aquino International Airport, in Metro Manila, the Philippines.

Honking, blaring horns; touts hawking as loudly as a riot.

The lively din of tourists and locals bustling past.

I pushed through the crowd and stepped out of the airport, and the hot, humid air of Southeast Asia damped my cheeks.

"Hssss, haaa."

The first thing I felt as I got off the plane was liberation.

It was as if I'd flung off in one go every shell I'd been wearing over myself in Italy, reason, refinement, dignity, rationality, and it felt like coming home.

"Team leader, over here!"

"Oh."

A familiar voice reached me as I came out of the arrivals hall.

A face I hadn't seen in nearly a week.

Sparrow No. 10, assigned under my command, if only temporarily.

I walked over grinning, and he grinned back and welcomed me.

"So, have you been well?"

"Heheh. Same as ever with me."

"They didn't dump this operation on you as grunt-work for being the youngest, did they?"

"Huh? No, I volunteered! A solo operation with you, team leader? That's the chance of a lifetime for me."

"It might be dangerous."

"Come on! With you along, team leader, there's nothing to be afraid of!"

Judging by how fiercely he said it, he meant every word.

There wasn't a trace of the green sparrow left on him, and privately, that pleased me.

And so we set off in a car rented locally.

"Do you remember Team Leader Choi Woo-seok? The one who ran his mouth about how the results you racked up in Cambodia should all be split up nice and friendly."

"Yes, I remember."

Choi Woo-seok, team leader of Southeast Asia Team 4, Special Operations Group.

A man who played office politics as naturally as breathing, always with a smile on his face.

"The other day you shared the Irobuchi-kai intelligence you got out of that Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent with the Southeast Asia Team, right?"

"Yes. I did."

"Well, the second he got that intelligence, he shoved his own team members into that prison without any proper preparation. He must have figured he'd take down the Irobuchi-kai with his own two hands and claim sole credit. And then less than a day after they went in, this whole mess blew up."

"Hmm."

On the way, Sparrow No. 10 chattered his way through a briefing on the operational outline.

Keeping one hand on the wheel, he pulled something out of his jacket and handed it to me.

[Vanilla Guide CEO]

[Full service for Philippine marine activities, golf tours, and more]

[Per day, local guide $10, Korean guide $30]

The worn, grubby business card of a Korean-run guide organization in the Philippines.

One look and it stank of an operator running an illegal business.

"That organization is the local Philippine broker used for this infiltration. On the surface it's dressed up as a travel agency, but on the back end they take money to put people inside the prison. Visitors for inmates, of course, and the errand boys of the people holed up in there too, as many as you want."

"Hmm."

"The two agents inside now went in on the pretext of meeting gangster brothers who'd gone in ahead of them."

"How does the broker get them in, exactly?"

"I only heard the rough version myself.... For the details, I think we'll have to ask the broker directly."

Once I'd heard the operational outline, a rough picture formed in my head.

While I was sorting through my thoughts, Sparrow No. 10 stole a glance at my face.

"By the way, team leader, where have you been all this time?"

"Me? Up until yesterday I was actually in Italy."

"Wow, Italy! You were on vacation in a really nice place."

"That's right. It was very nice. I rode a scooter around and took in the sea at my leisure."

"Ooh."

And fired a gun, and set off a few grenades along the way.

While we chatted back and forth, the Philippine scenery outside the window overlapped strangely with Cambodia.

"But having gone and come back, I can tell you there's nowhere quite like Southeast Asia."

"Heheh. Well, you're not wrong."

That alone was enough to set my chest swelling.

Then one thought came to me.

"By the way, is this car insured?"

"Wha?! It's a rental, you can't blow it up!"

Maybe it was because we'd worked together so many times?

Sure enough, he caught on instantly and knew exactly why I was asking.

"I see. But I'm not going to blow it up."

"Awww...."

Sparrow No. 10's face fell the moment I said it.

A laugh slipped out of me at the sight.

'I really am built for Southeast Asia.'

*****

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