The Mark of Aoshika
Not that I'm sorry, but...
Thud—crack!
Pyo Jun-woo had just allowed himself a moment of relief when he was crushed beneath something before he could even register its presence.
“Gah—!”
The weight that dropped from above was In-hyuk.
In the same instant, he wrenched Pyo Jun-woo’s left arm behind his back and pinned him down.
“I wondered how far you’d run before you let yourself relax. This whole time, you were just hiding here?”
“Ugh… Did Chairman Kang Chun-gyu send you?”
In-hyuk tilted his head slightly, as if puzzled.
“You don’t need to know that. I have plenty of questions for you, so let’s move to a better spot first.”
Crack—snap!
With a low mutter, he tore a strip from Pyo Jun-woo’s clothes, stuffed it into his mouth, then twisted the man’s left elbow and right knee with a sickening crunch.
“Mmmph—!”
He had chosen the mountain precisely because any screams would echo and scatter.
Once Pyo Jun-woo was completely immobilized, In-hyuk dragged him down the slope to a warehouse at the base. Inside, the others who had been dealt with earlier lay crumpled on one side of the floor, their limbs clearly broken.
“Now we can have a proper conversation, can’t we?”
In-hyuk pulled the wad of fabric from Pyo Jun-woo’s mouth and glanced at the rest. None of them could stand; they simply glared at him with eyes full of killing intent.
The man who had given Pyo Jun-woo his orders spoke first.
“So you weren’t part of KQ Group’s regular security team. A separately hired mercenary?”
“Does who I am really matter? What I’m curious about is who you people are—and what’s going to happen to you from now on.”
The man frowned at the voice distorted by the modulator built into the mask.
“If you’re a mercenary, we’ll pay you ten times the amount we were commissioned for and hire you instead.”
They had been desperately searching for a way to escape, but nothing had come to mind. In the end, they had decided to test whether he was a hired gun.
“Only ten times?”
“No. We’ll pay whatever you want. With your skills, you could name any price!”
In-hyuk let out a soft chuckle at the man who appeared to be their leader.
“Did Section Chief Kim Sung-tae of the Tae Shin security team really have the authority to make that kind of offer?”
At that moment, the man’s face hardened.
In-hyuk had recognized him the instant he saw him inside the warehouse. They had worked together in his previous life when the man belonged to Tae Shin Group’s TSS security detail.
“That’s only my public identity. If you join us, you’ll get to live in a world you never even knew existed.”
“Are you saying you belong to some secret organization like the National Intelligence Service?”
“…Something like that. So? If you take my hand, I guarantee you won’t regret it.”
In-hyuk crouched in front of him, tapping the chin of his mask with one finger.
“Belonging to both the Tae Shin and KQ security teams while moving in secret behind the scenes… I’ll admit that’s not exactly ordinary.”
“It’s far greater than anything you can imagine.”
“Then did you learn TMT from them as well?”
Kim Sung-tae, who had begun to relax in the easing atmosphere, furrowed his brow again.
He stared fixedly at the masked In-hyuk, unable to speak.
“…”
“What? Are you scared because I know about TMT?”
The pupils of Kim Sung-tae and the others darted rapidly. It was obvious to anyone that the reaction meant something.
“You people aren’t from UID either. Where, and from whom, did you learn it?”
“…”
The silence stretched on without an answer.
In-hyuk grabbed Kim Sung-tae’s left hand, which was already broken and twisted, and lifted it.
“Does it have something to do with the mark drawn here?”
A long pattern was etched along the boundary between the palm and the ring finger.
【─┼◎┼─】
A cross lying on its side with two overlapping circles of different sizes at its center. Unless one looked closely, it could easily be mistaken for the natural crease lines on the finger joint.
In-hyuk had first noticed the mark when he subdued Pyo Jun-woo at the hospital. He had dismissed it as a fashion tattoo at the time, but had spotted it again while dealing with the others just now.
Of course, he would have missed it if his senses hadn’t grown sharper than in his previous life.
“It looks like a symbol used to identify members of your organization. What does it mean?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking abou—!”
Slice—
In that instant, In-hyuk snatched up a knife rolling on the floor and slit the throat of the man beside Kim Sung-tae. A thin red line appeared on the dirt-covered neck, then blood sprayed as the man collapsed.
“Th-this…”
“You seemed to think I was some amateur who’d never killed before. So let me ask again—what exactly is your organization? If possible, I’d also like to know who’s at the top.”
With the question, In-hyuk scanned the remaining men. Because of the blackened eye section of the masks, they flinched at even the slightest tilt of his head.
Kim Sung-tae, however, sensed that something had gone very wrong.
“You… you’re not from KQ, are you?”
“I never said I was. So why don’t you answer my questions first?”
“…And if I do? You’ll let us live?”
“Not that I’m sorry, but that would be difficult. Oh, and while we’re at it—why were you speaking Japanese earlier but Korean now? Does it have something to do with your organization?”
Kim Sung-tae’s expression suggested he wanted to deny it, but he offered no reply.
In-hyuk began to move the knife in his hand again.
Then a cautious answer came.
“Don’t tell me… you were sent by Aoshika?”
“Aoshika? You mean the blue deer? And where exactly is that?”
“Then who the hell—!”
Slice—
In-hyuk’s knife moved once more, slashing across Kim Sung-tae’s throat.
The two remaining men stared at him in shock.
“What? Did you think I wouldn’t kill you? There are still two of you left.”
“We don’t know anything! We really don’t know anything!”
“Then what exactly is it that you don’t know?”
With two men already dead while they themselves couldn’t move a muscle, the pair’s attitudes quickly weakened.
“We only move according to orders from above! We don’t know where those orders come from or who issues them!”
“Where and from whom did you learn TMT? You certainly didn’t pick it up from an online tutorial.”
“We know the face but not the real identity! They blindfolded me at the airport and moved me, so I have no idea where the location was! I only trained there for about two years!”
“Th-that’s right! They told us the tattoo on our fingers was a certificate of completion and gave it to us there!”
The other man and Pyo Jun-woo poured out explanations like a dam had burst.
In-hyuk recalled the place the man had just mentioned.
“Naya… you mean Naya Airport in Mongolia? Then the person who taught you TMT…”
He was about to continue the question when—
Crunch.
A faint sound came from behind.
In-hyuk immediately threw his body to the side. At the same moment, a sharp whistle cut through the air as a bullet tore through Pyo Jun-woo’s head.
In the meantime, In-hyuk hurled the knife he was holding toward the source of the presence, striking the black figure in the shoulder.
But the black figure didn’t stop. It shot the other man beside it with a pistol, then vanished.
“They had backup?”
Just to be safe, he had taken a detour to the warehouse and confirmed there were no other guards. It seemed this one had arrived late.
In-hyuk ran out through the window he had first smashed open rather than the warehouse door.
Vroooom—
A motorcycle with its headlight on was speeding away from a spot a short distance from the warehouse.
“Tsk—!”
It was already too late to run to his own car parked far away or to chase after the vehicle they had arrived in.
In-hyuk let out a deep sigh inside his mask and headed back into the warehouse. He wanted to check if there was anything worth taking.
A few days later.
In-hyuk was at work as usual.
When there were about fifteen minutes left until lunch, his phone rang.
“I figured it was about time for contact, but they waited longer than I expected.”
An unregistered number glowed on the screen.
In-hyuk stepped into a conference room so no one else could overhear and pressed the call button.
Lee Jae-jun’s voice—the man who served as Tae Seok-ho’s bodyguard—came through.
"The chairman wishes to see you today."
It was closer to an order than a request, just like last time.
“I’m sorry, but I have separate plans today and won’t be able to make it. If this is about a report on Tae Ju-ha, please tell him there have been no unusual movements.”
“But—!”
In-hyuk hung up before the man could protest and returned to his seat to grab his jacket.
“I have external business and will return late this afternoon. Only contact me if there’s something that requires immediate reporting.”
“Where are you going?”
Director Jung Jong-hyun asked.
“KQ Group. I have a lunch appointment with the chairman there.”
“KQ… you mean Chairman Kang Chun-gyu?”
“Yes. So if anyone asks, please tell them that.”
After answering, In-hyuk left the office.
It took fifteen minutes by car to reach KQ Distribution headquarters. Secretary No Geun-cheol, who had been waiting in the lobby, escorted him upstairs.
“I didn’t expect the chairman to call me to the company itself.”
Kang Chun-gyu rose from his desk, moved to the sofa, and sat down.
“A thirsty man should dig the well himself, shouldn’t he? We committed quite a serious discourtesy on our end as well. So, are the injuries healing well?”
His finger pointed toward In-hyuk’s forehead.
“They’re almost fully healed.”
“That’s a relief.”
“What made you want to meet me in person today?”
He had come without knowing the purpose.
Still, In-hyuk had already guessed the reason.
“Did you see the news today?”
“Is there anything in it that I need to pay attention to?”
Kang Chun-gyu paused for a moment at the indifferent reply, then spoke.
“The Pyo Jun-woo we missed has turned up dead.”
“…He’s dead?”
At the question, Secretary No Geun-cheol, standing behind them, handed over a tablet with the article already open.
Early this morning, a body was discovered in a warehouse in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province… Cause of death estimated to be a gunshot wound. The suspect is currently under investigation by the local police station… The identity of the deceased has been confirmed as a member of K Group’s security team…
A gun-related death inside South Korea? The victim has been identified as Mr. P, a member of K Group’s security team… Police have only stated that they are investigating the incident…
Of course, In-hyuk had already seen the article that morning.
But he deliberately kept his expression neutral, pretending ignorance.
“The body mentioned in this article… is that the security agent Pyo Jun-woo?”
“It is. For some reason he was shot in the head and killed. The police even visited the security office today because of it.”
“The man who ran away that day ended up shot to death… Was this Pyo Jun-woo involved in something dangerous?”
“I don’t know that much. The police say they’re conducting an investigation, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
In the meantime, In-hyuk recalled the contents of the article again.
Four people had died in that place a few days ago, including Pyo Jun-woo. Yet only Pyo Jun-woo’s body had been found. That meant someone had returned to the scene after In-hyuk left and cleaned it up.
It would have been difficult to erase all the bloodstains and other traces in a place covered in dirt… Don’t tell me this organization has connections inside the police as well?
If they had manipulated the scene in a location full of dust, some kind of trace would inevitably remain.
“This will become quite troublesome for KQ Distribution.”
“We’ll try to prevent the company name from appearing in the media as much as possible, but there’s no stopping the strange rumors that will spread.”
It was not an ordinary death, but a fatality by gunshot.
Because of that, journalists and media influencers were busy churning out all kinds of conspiracy theories.
In-hyuk let out a small sigh, then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. When he took it out, he saw it was a message from Go Mi-ah.