Hunting (1)
By the time Kang-hae reached the goshiwon, he washed up and went straight to sleep.
He sank so deeply into it that he didn’t even dream, but at 5 a.m. sharp, his eyes opened on their own.
It was a habit he had picked up after joining the Development Group.
The moment he woke, Kang-hae reached for the phone beside his pillow.
There was a text message from Joo Hyeon-woo, sent an hour earlier.
Kang-hae brushed his teeth and headed for the place Hyeon-woo had sent him.
It was a narrow residential alley, and parked all by itself in the middle was a black SUV that looked like it could burst into flames at any moment.
Kang-hae bent low and groped beneath the front wheel.
His fingers closed around a car key.
He got in at once.
The mileage was well over 200,000 kilometers, but thankfully the engine turned over without trouble.
In the back seat was a duffel bag larger than a big suitcase.
Kang-hae opened it.
Drone. Night-vision goggles. Knife. Pistol. Rope. Explosives. Syringe and drugs.
Everything he had asked Joo Hyeon-woo to prepare.
Kang-hae drove straight toward Paju.
He stopped at a service area, bought hiking clothes and a backpack, and changed into them.
In the bathroom mirror, he looked exactly like a hiker.
He got back into the car and started driving toward his destination again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At an izakaya in Samsung-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Army Captain Ahn Young-wook of the 1st Division’s direct reconnaissance battalion stared across the table at the man opposite him.
They had spoken on the phone several times, but this was their first time meeting face-to-face.
The man sitting across from him looked to be in his mid-to-late forties, no different from any office worker who commuted by subway.
But a closer look revealed that his watch, glasses, and tie pin were all luxury brands.
And when he spoke, his eyes flashed with a snake’s guile, cold and vicious enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
“You’ve had a rough time of it.”
“I let one get away. I’m ashamed.”
Young-wook lowered his head as he spoke to the man.
His voice was husky and low.
“We’ll take care of that now.”
Head still bowed, Young-wook thought back to a few days earlier.
He had definitely been hit in the side with a bullet.
In his mind, he saw Kang-hae’s back disappearing into the darkness.
Fuck, if those damn Reds hadn’t shown up then…!
That day, Young-wook had killed every North Korean 15th Special Forces soldier firing at them.
Not only that, he had done canoeing to them as well.
Canoeing was the term for mutilating an enemy killed by special forces.
The most famous case of canoeing was said to be the one carried out by U.S. special forces DEVGRU during the operation against Osama bin Laden, when they riddled bin Laden’s face with bullets despite opposition from their superiors.
Young-wook had done the same, spraying bullets into the faces of the dead North Korean 15th Special Forces men.
Vrrrinnng—
Then his pocket buzzed.
The man across from him heard it too.
Young-wook quickly took out his phone and hit decline.
But the call came again.
“Sounds urgent. Why don’t you take it?”
“It’s nothing, sir.”
“Take it.”
The man repeated himself.
Young-wook couldn’t refuse him.
“If you’ll excuse me.”
He rose cautiously, backing out of the room as he left.
Then he answered the still-ringing phone.
It was one of his platoon leaders.
“Yeah. What is it?”
Young-wook answered, forcing down his irritation.
But the platoon leader’s voice was frantic.
[Secure line! Captain, we’ve got a situation!]
“What? A situation?”
[A mine went off at the MDL.]
A blue vein bulged on Young-wook’s forehead.
To call him away for something that trivial when he was in the middle of a meeting like this—
Fury rising, he snapped back.
“You idiot. Mines blow up in the rear area all the time.”
In fact, mines did go off at the MDL from time to time.
Usually the culprits were wild animals like water deer or wild boars.
[But this one… three more went off after a delay.]
If it was a chain of explosions rather than a single blast, that was a different matter.
“Then the GP guys should already be out there searching.”
[Yes, sir. They’ve been sent in right away. But Captain… the division has ordered every officer on leave to return immediately.]
Young-wook swallowed the curse that rose to his lips.
“Understood.”
After hanging up, he returned to the private room.
He bowed to the man eating sashimi across from him and said, “I’m sorry, but I have to return to my unit immediately.”
“Must be urgent.”
“The division commander issued the order….”
“People like us in public service need to be careful who we end up serving under.”
“……”
“We’ll meet again next time.”
“I’ll contact you again.”
Young-wook bowed ninety degrees and left the room.
He got into the car parked out front of the restaurant.
But the road in front was jammed because of construction, and the traffic barely moved.
In the meantime, one vehicle slipped in behind his.
Even after Young-wook’s car left Gangnam, that vehicle kept tailing him.
Eight hours earlier.
At the Retreat Glamping Site in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
Since it was Sunday, there were more people leaving the glamping site than arriving.
After paying, Kang-hae took the tourist map in his hand and headed onto the trail connected to the site.
If he kept climbing to the end of that trail, he would reach an observatory overlooking the Imjin River.
But Kang-hae changed course halfway up.
He headed into the area under the jurisdiction of the 1st Division’s direct reconnaissance battalion.
Moving at a steady pace to the chosen point without being seen by anyone.
That was one of the things Kang-hae was best at.
This is a military area. Entry prohibited.
Unconfirmed minefield (No Entry)
He passed more than one warning sign, but he didn’t care.
After walking nonstop for a full six hours, he finally reached the target point.
The sun had already set, and all that remained in sight was barbed wire.
Kang-hae opened the bag beneath the wire fence.
He took out the drone and the three explosives he had prepared in advance.
They were made from TNT, the same compound used in North Korean wooden-box mines.
Kang-hae attached the three bombs to the electronic clamps connected to the drone.
When he pressed the button, the clamp-like device would release and the bombs would drop to the ground.
Kang-hae launched the drone.
It rose over the barbed wire.
At a top speed of 70 kilometers per hour, it took less than three minutes to cover three kilometers.
Kang-hae dropped the bombs at twenty-second intervals.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
After the bombs went off one after another, sirens rang out simultaneously from our side’s GP and the North Korean border guard post.
Wheeee—eeee—eee—
Three minutes later, Kang-hae retrieved the drone and set off again.
Not back the way he had come.
He quickened his pace toward a new destination.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Young-wook’s car entered Paju.
And Young-wook was certain now.
Some vehicle had been following him since Seoul.
He deliberately steered onto a mountain road and picked up speed.
The tailing car sped up behind him as well.
The moment Young-wook confirmed that there was nothing around them, he slammed on the brakes.
The car behind him braked in a panic, but—
Crash.
It was already too late.
Young-wook jumped out at once, yanked open the door of the car behind him, and looked inside.
The driver had slammed his face into the airbag and was groaning in pain.
Young-wook grabbed him by the nape of the neck and dragged him out of the car.
Then he twisted the man’s arm and searched him.
No weapon came out.
Young-wook took the wallet from the back pocket of his pants.
Inside was an official ID card.
“Counterintelligence Command…?”
The card bore the name of the Counterintelligence Command and the name “Ha Seok-jun.”
That morning, while lounging around at home with nothing to do, Ha Seok-jun had taken a call from Kang-hae.
Kang-hae had ordered him out of the blue to tail an Army captain named Ahn Young-wook.
“No way.”
[Hey, trash. Do I sound like I’m asking you?]
“Th-then wha—what are you….”
[What do you think.]
“……”
It was a threat.
Kang-hae’s murderous voice was unmistakably a threat.
But because of his pride, Seok-jun couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.
“You’re really going to set me up with Director of Security Lee?”
Seok-jun already knew.
Kang-hae was never going to arrange any such meeting with the Director of Security.
But he said it anyway because of his pathetic little pride.
It was a kind of self-deception: I’m not obeying you because I’m scared, I’m doing this to get that meeting with Director of Security Lee.
[The name’s Ahn Young-wook. The address should be on the list you gave me yesterday. He’s on leave, so tail him.]
The call ended after that.
Seok-jun left his house and began following Young-wook.
And for the entire time, he kept repeating to himself that he wasn’t doing this because Na Kang-hae scared him, but for the sake of that meeting with Director of Security Lee—over and over and over again.
“Why the hell is Counterintelligence Command tailing me?” Young-wook asked, looking down at Seok-jun sprawled on the ground.
“What? Tailing?”
Seok-jun got to his feet, clutching the back of his neck.
“You bastard, do you want your military career to end?”
He shouted and kicked at Young-wook’s shin.
But Young-wook didn’t move an inch. He just stood there.
In fact, the one hurting more was Seok-jun.
Fuck, maybe it’s because I’m not wearing combat boots… Did I just sprain my big toe…?
Seok-jun limped on one foot and went on, deliberately raising his voice.
It was the tone of a Counterintelligence Command interrogator questioning a suspect.
“I’m here on business with the 1st Division, you bastard! And aren’t you a captain? How dare you talk to a superior like that?”
Young-wook clenched his jaw.
And inside, he spat a curse.
Shit. What a pain in the ass….
Counterintelligence Command was less frightening than it was annoying.
If they set their minds to digging, they’d always turn up something eventually.
Young-wook decided he’d apologize nicely and be done with it.
Then something flashed through his mind.
He turned over what Seok-jun had just said.
Something was off. The logic didn’t fit.
“I never told you I was a soldier.”
“Uh… w-well, you’ve got short hair, so….”
At Young-wook’s question, Seok-jun began to stammer.
“Then how did you know I was a captain?”
“……”
Looking at Seok-jun’s wavering pupils, Young-wook became certain.
He really had been followed.
Seok-jun grew afraid when he saw the frost harden in Young-wook’s eyes.
Without meaning to, he took a step back.
Young-wook reached out to grab him.
And then—
Fisssh—
Young-wook felt a sharp sting in his neck.
He clutched his throat and turned around.
A man standing behind him held a syringe in his hand.
It was Kang-hae.
When…? I didn’t hear a thing…?
But he couldn’t think any further.
Young-wook lost consciousness and collapsed where he stood, his body folding to the ground like it had been cut strings.