Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Episode 75. Mission CHINA (2)
As Shinwoo boarded the helicopter, he felt a chill for some unknown reason.
“Ugh, what’s wrong with me? It’s not even cold.”
In the meantime, the helicopter went straight to Shanghai Airport and landed. Afterward, they flew to Qingdao using a private plane prepared by the Azure Feather Group.
It took about an hour to arrive at Qingdao Airport.
A vehicle approached and stopped on the runway where the private plane had landed. Butler Hwang, the butler of the Azure Feather Group mansion, got out of the car.
“You didn’t have to come all the way here yourself.”
“Something has happened to the Chairman’s mother.”
Butler Hwang’s expression was serious from the start.
“What is it?”
“…Your mother has been kidnapped.”
“What?”
“We received an urgent call from Director Song Tae-hoon. He said they were attacked on the way to Qingdao. We are currently tracking them as well.”
Shinwoo’s expression hardened as he took out his cell phone and said,
“Can I borrow some firearms and equipment?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Handguns. The mansion guards were armed, weren’t they? You must have some firearms in possession.”
“Are you planning to go find them yourself?”
“I’m not going to a shooting game with a handgun. It’s best to go to the mansion quickly. Oh, and please prepare a helicopter as well.”
The two immediately got into the car. It didn’t take long to arrive at Cheon Hye-rin’s mansion.
The firearms were prepared in a warehouse used by the security guards.
Shinwoo put on a spare Tactical Vest, checked the condition of the handguns and ammunition, and put them in one by one.
Click— Clack! Clack-clack!
Cheon Hye-rin, who had entered the warehouse, watched Shinwoo’s actions and said cautiously.
“…What on earth did our Adopted Grandson do for a living?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Ray Sung Group matter. How did you know about it?”
“That’s not important right now.”
Swoosh— Thwack!
After inserting a military knife into the back of his waist, he even took a Karambit Knife as a spare.
“Just by the looks of it, you don’t seem like an ordinary soldier.”
“You would know if you looked at my records.”
“A Quartermaster Corps NCO? You expect me to believe that?”
Shinwoo’s actions that Cheon Hye-rin had just witnessed were definitely not those of an ordinary soldier. Each movement was as sharp as a well-honed blade, to the point where it was nerve-wracking.
“Is the helicopter ready?”
“It will arrive soon. More importantly, shouldn’t we wait until they are tracked? If the enemies want something, they might contact us first.”
“If that’s the case, they would contact MH Group, not here. And I already know where they are.”
“What?! How do you know that?”
The Azure Feather Group was also mobilizing many people to track them.
However, unlike Korea, there were many areas in China where the CCTV system was not established, making tracking difficult.
“I have my own methods. So, lend me a few security guards with combat experience.”
He didn’t know how many enemies there would be. If Lillian and Jang Man-soo were in China, he would have gone with them, but if the two of them suddenly moved from Korea, Myung In-chul and TSF could become suspicious.
“If you just tell us the location, our security guards can take care of it.”
“I don’t want to argue here, just lend them to me. If you don’t want to, I can go alone.”
Cheon Hye-rin also judged that she couldn’t deliberate for long.
“Hoo. Butler Hwang.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Team Leader Lu Xian was on standby, right? Assign him immediately. And give the command to our Adopted Grandson.”
“I will call him, as preparations are already in place.”
Lu Xian was the security team leader dedicated to Chairman Cheon Hye-rin in the Azure Feather Group, a true professional with overseas mercenary experience.
Meanwhile, Shinwoo finished his preparations and went outside.
Outside, Lu Xian, whom Cheon Hye-rin had called, and six of his security guards were standing.
“My call sign will be WHITE. The radio will default to CH3, and in case of emergency, PLAN B CALL. Immediately switch to CH5, and switch to CH11 when RECALL.”
Lu Xian was surprised by Shinwoo’s confident instructions.
To be honest, he was dumbfounded when he heard from Butler Hwang that he was to hand over command to someone who didn’t know anything. But his actions now didn’t feel like he had only done operations once or twice.
When his subordinates looked at Lu Xian, he nodded, thinking he should follow along for now.
“We will simply go from ALFA to FOXTROT.”
“Understood. Let’s depart immediately.”
A large Medium Utility Helicopter, the Mi-17, was idling on the mansion’s helipad, its propellers spinning.
Shinwoo boarded the helicopter with them and departed immediately. He then gave the coordinates to the pilot via his cell phone.
* * *
In the western part of Baoding City, China, where mountains and plains sparsely stretched endlessly, there was an abandoned factory that had been out of use for at least a dozen years.
In a small room deep inside the abandoned factory, Im Hee-yeon was lying unconscious.
“Umm…”
Im Hee-yeon moaned and slowly opened her eyes. Her last memory was leaving the Baipo factory and then getting into an accident on the way to the airport after receiving a call from Cheon Hye-rin.
Now, in the light from a small light bulb, she could see the dirty floor and old furniture.
“Where… is this?”
Then she realized that her wrists and ankles were tied with something hard and she couldn’t move.
“Could it be… I’ve been kidnapped?”
That was the only situation she could think of right now.
She couldn’t help but be very confused, but she tried to regain her composure as much as possible and figure things out one by one. Then she began to hear the voices of men beyond the iron door.
They were speaking in English, but Im Hee-yeon could understand them well enough.
“How long are we supposed to wait? We’re going to kill her anyway.”
“We have to wait for the branch manager’s orders.”
“Goddamn it—! Why are we handling things so complicatedly?”
“He said he’ll be here soon, so just wait a little longer.”
“Tsk—!”
Bang—
With a click of the tongue, the door to the room where Im Hee-yeon was was roughly opened.
Surprised, Im Hee-yeon quickly closed her eyes.
The man who came in scoffed at Im Hee-yeon.
“Hey, lady. I know you’re awake. Aren’t you going to open your eyes?”
In order to assess the situation, Im Hee-yeon had no choice but to open her eyes again.
“Who… are you?”
The man who had been talking with him earlier followed him in.
The two men were Warren and Yang Ji-chen, members of the 666 Unit under the TSF Investment China branch.
The man who had just called out to Im Hee-yeon was Yang Ji-chen. He brought his fiercely frowning face close to Im Hee-yeon’s eyes.
“Is that important right now? Shouldn’t you be wondering about your own life or death?”
“…Aren’t you going to kill me anyway?”
Yang Ji-chen grabbed Im Hee-yeon’s hair and pulled it back.
“Looks like this lady has been listening to what we’ve been saying. But you heard you were going to die, and you’re not scared?”
“……”
“Heh heh. I guess you are scared. Ah! By the way, where’s your son?”
At that moment, Im Hee-yeon’s face, which was covered in dust, turned pale white.
“Why are you asking that?”
“Why else? I thought he might be lonely if you went alone, so I was going to bury the mother and son side by side.”
Their target was Im Hee-yeon and Baek Shin-woo.
However, they couldn’t pinpoint Baek Shin-woo’s location, so they had only captured Im Hee-yeon when they saw an opening.
“Are you… from the 666 Unit?”
“Oh? You know us? Ah, is it because of this?”
They were wearing black tactical uniforms with a 666 mark on their left arms.
“You even know that the real unit name is SHASS.”
At the same time, the expressions of the two men hardened.
Yang Ji-chen immediately pulled Im Hee-yeon’s hair even harder.
“Who are you? How much have you figured out about us?”
“Maybe more than you think.”
“Is this bitch crazy—!”
With an expletive, Yang Ji-chen pulled a knife from his waist and held it to her neck.
Then Warren grabbed Yang Ji-chen’s shoulder.
“That’s enough.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
Im Hee-yeon wanted them to kill her quickly so that he wouldn’t find Shinwoo, so that she wouldn’t hold Shinwoo back.
But the two men didn’t move according to her intentions.
“It’s up to the branch manager to decide.”
“Tch!”
Their subordinate’s voice was heard from outside.
“The branch manager has arrived.”
Soon, a woman with long, straight hair down to her waist, wearing a bright red pantsuit and a face covered by large sunglasses, entered with the sound of high heels.
She was Cui Xun, the branch manager of TSF Investment China.
“This woman is Im Hee-yeon? You still haven’t found Baek Shin-woo?”
“His trail disappeared in Qingdao two days ago, and his whereabouts are unknown.”
At Warren’s answer, Cui Xun pouted her lips.
“You can’t even track his cell phone?”
“We couldn’t catch him, as if he had taken some measures.”
Cui Xun took off her sunglasses and sat on a clean chair that her subordinate had brought.
“Does our MH Group Executive Director Im Hee-yeon know why she’s here?”
“…Isn’t it to kill me?”
“You know it well. But there are some things I need before you die. You know where your son is now, right? You have to know, even if you don’t. That’s the only way your chances of survival will increase, even a little.”
In that moment, Im Hee-yeon could guess what their purpose was.
‘Is it because of Shinwoo’s information network…? But wasn’t it only the TSF Korea branch that was after him?’
When she was in Korea, Kwak Chi-young of the TSF Korea branch had contacted Shinwoo. As they became entangled in business, MH Future Security even received an investment of 10 billion won.
A favorable relationship had been established, but it was difficult to understand why the TSF China branch was targeting Shinwoo and herself.
So, Im Hee-yeon racked her brain as much as possible.
“Shinwoo is currently in a deal with Branch Manager Kwak Chi-young. Are you doing this knowing that?”
But Cui Xun laughed at those words.
“Hmph. Do you think I wouldn’t know that?”
“If you know Shinwoo’s skills, it would be beneficial to you too.”
“Is that my benefit? It’s Kwak Chi-young’s.”
With that answer, Im Hee-yeon could be sure of one thing.
‘Even if they’re the same TSF, the branches don’t have a good relationship…….’
It meant a competitive structure. So, Cui Xun was targeting Im Hee-yeon and Shinwoo in order to suppress Kwak Chi-young.
“I heard you were going to kill me. Are you going to kill Shinwoo too?”
“Well, wouldn’t that depend on the decision?”
Meanwhile, Warren approached Cui Xun and said,
“Branch Manager. Im Hee-yeon knows about SHASS.”
In an instant, Cui Xun’s face turned as cold as the two men’s had been earlier. That name should never come out of the mouth of anyone other than those involved.
“This… I wonder what to do, your chances of dying have increased.”
“……”
Im Hee-yeon swallowed hard at Cui Xun’s expression, which seemed to be glaring at her with the intention of killing her. On the one hand, she hoped that she would kill herself quickly so that the current situation would not hold Shinwoo back.