Demobilization (1)
The Information Command’s Jumunjin Team began moving toward the CW transmitter site.
They didn’t take the long way around. They crossed the ridge head-on.
It was dangerous country, the sort of place where mountain herb gatherers were injured every year, but there wasn’t a trace of fear in any of them.
Neither the slick, moss-covered rock faces nor the gullies whose depths couldn’t be seen posed any problem to them.
More than anything, they were driven by one thing: the resolve to bring their comrade back alive.
An hour after they had set out.
Team leader Kim Ju-hyeok spotted blinking red dots high above them in the sky.
He clenched his fist at once, and the team members moving with him stopped dead in their tracks.
Kim Ju-hyeok raised his night vision goggles and studied the red points.
They were drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras.
After the Jumunjin Team’s training began, drone operations by the 12th Division had been prohibited.
For security reasons.
Kim Ju-hyeok knew that as well.
Then that means...
He understood that the man who had requested rescue was being chased right now.
By someone who had even deployed drones.
“All personnel, put on thermal blankets.”
Through the comms gear, Kim Ju-hyeok issued the order.
The Jumunjin Team pulled silver-fiber blankets over themselves.
The thermal blankets, made from aluminum composite film, cut off the body heat radiating from the men.
They were impossible to identify with a thermal camera.
“Move.”
The Jumunjin Team started moving again.
Bang—
Not long after they resumed their advance, gunfire cracked through the mountain.
Every member of the Jumunjin Team dropped flat to the ground.
Kim Ju-hyeok immediately pulled out a portable thermal viewer and swept it toward the direction of the shots.
After a moment, he caught sight of multiple figures moving.
One, two, three... six, seven.
There were seven of them.
Judging by their spacing and silhouettes, they were clearly trained and armed.
“Deputy Team Leader.”
Kim Ju-hyeok lowered the thermal viewer and called for Lee Seok-min.
Deputy Team Leader Lee Seok-min was lying prone as well, scanning the area with his PVS-31 night vision goggles.
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“Can you identify them?”
“Judging by their build, they’re not South Korean military or North Korean personnel. Their average height is taller, and their frames are different.”
Lee Seok-min kept talking as he adjusted the zoom on the night vision scope.
“Their equipment isn’t uniform either. They look like multinational PMC mercenaries.”
Kim Ju-hyeok brought the thermal viewer back to his eye.
The gunshots from before had definitely been from a sniper rifle.
And if they were using a sniper rifle, then the rescue target had to be within a kilometer radius.
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
Then several more shots rang out from deeper in the mountain.
“Found them!”
Lee Seok-min tracked the place where they were firing with his night vision goggles, and he saw Kang-hae briefly expose himself from behind a rock to return fire.
“Where is he?”
“Seven hundred meters ahead. Behind a boulder. He’s likely the rescue target.”
“Do you think we’ve been spotted?”
“Judging by our movement pattern, no.”
Kim Ju-hyeok gave a silent nod.
Lee Seok-min was a veteran who had served in the Information Command for more than ten years.
Last autumn, he had also completed the full course at the U.S. Special Operations School, graduating as an elite operator.
He could be trusted.
“Deputy Team Leader, then let’s split into squads.”
“Good.”
“First squad will detour to the eleven o’clock direction and seize the higher ground. Second squad will advance straight and wait on the enemy’s flank.”
No sooner had Kim Ju-hyeok finished speaking than the Jumunjin Team split up and began moving.
The first squad, led by Kim Ju-hyeok, climbed higher up the mountain to seize ground above the mercenaries.
The second squad, led by Lee Seok-min, kept pushing forward.
* * *
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Victor and the other PMC mercenaries were thrown into confusion by the unexpected attack.
“Aaagh!”
“Shit, I’m hit!”
Two mercenaries were struck and went down.
“Take cover!”
“Behind the trees!”
“Where are they?”
“Up on the right ridge!”
The mercenaries who hadn’t been hit scrambled for cover behind trees and rocks, then immediately opened return fire toward the ridge.
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
But that was all they could do.
Every mercenary had special forces experience, but their team leader was gone, and the mountains of Korea were utterly unfamiliar to them.
Except for Victor, the mercenaries were all thinking of Ri Sang-ho, the man Victor had beaten down.
They regretted leaving him behind and climbing the mountain.
Meanwhile, the men of the second squad led by Deputy Team Leader Lee Seok-min lay in wait on the mercenaries’ flank, holding still until the right moment.
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
The mercenaries kept firing toward the ridge, and Kim Ju-hyeok ordered his men not to return fire.
After a while, the mercenaries stopped shooting as well.
“Shit. What do we do now?”
Mark Durant, a former member of the French Foreign Legion, challenged Victor sharply.
“What do you mean, what do we do? Kill them all!” Victor shouted, his voice still thick with alcohol.
Mark Durant and the rest of the mercenaries shook their heads.
Then Kobus Meyer, formerly of the South African Special Reconnaissance Regiment, called Victor in a low voice.
“Hey, Victor.”
“What.”
“Look at the terrain. We’re at a serious disadvantage.”
“So what are you saying?”
“We should pull out.”
“After coming all the way here?! If we don’t take that bastard out, there’s no money!”
“We’re not dying here over that measly fifty thousand dollars.”
“Why would we die?”
“Then fight by yourself. We’re leaving.”
“What?! You motherfuckers...”
The other mercenaries left Victor behind and turned back the way they had come.
Beep—
At that moment, a bullet flew into Mark Durant’s temple.
It was fired by Lee Seok-min, who had been waiting on their flank.
“Shit, the flank—”
Kobus Meyer tried to shout a warning a split second too late, but another bullet slammed into his throat.
“Urk...”
Kobus Meyer collapsed.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
The men of the second squad opened fire on the mercenaries trying to flee.
Not a single shot missed.
In moments, all the mercenaries except Victor were hit and went down.
Then Lee Seok-min ordered his men to advance.
The second squad rose and slowly tightened the encirclement.
“Shit...”
Victor, watching his comrades die before his eyes, sank down beneath a tree in terror.
Swish—
Swish—
Swish—
Then he heard someone’s footsteps approaching his ear.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
And the instant he heard the gunfire that could only mean a confirming shot, he flung his weapon to the ground and screamed.
“Don’t Shoot!”
The men of the second squad surrounded Victor as he raised both hands over his head.
They bound his wrists with cable ties.
After that, Lee Seok-min reported the situation to Kim Ju-hyeok.
[All clear. 5 enemies neutralized. 1 captured alive.]
After receiving the report, Kim Ju-hyeok ordered the team to move.
Toward the rescue target hiding behind the rock.
That was how Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong were rescued.
* * *
An hour later.
The 12th Division declared a heightened security alert, and soldiers from the Information Command appeared at the scene of the firefight.
They recovered the mercenaries the Jumunjin Team had killed, along with the weapons and the drones.
Meanwhile, a search platoon from the 12th Division spotted one unidentified man fleeing with a weapon three kilometers away, using a drone, and began to pursue him.
It was Ri Sang-ho, who had been knocked unconscious by Victor’s fist.
Ri Sang-ho, still unconscious until then, was roused by the sound of helicopters circling overhead.
And the moment he realized something had gone wrong, he started running.
At that same time, Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong were being transported by helicopter.
Their destination was the Information Command’s isolation and interrogation facility inside Seoul Airport, where Brigadier General Yoon Gi-hun, the Fourth Department Chief of the Information Command, was waiting for them.
Knock, knock.
At the sound, an Information Command captain entered the interrogation room.
“Chief, they’ve just arrived.”
“Understood.”
“However, one of the National Security Office staff members appears to be injured.”
“A gunshot wound?”
“No, sir. It seems to be an ankle injury.”
“Send her to the medical unit.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain left the room, and a short while later, Information Command personnel brought Kang-hae into the interrogation room.
“Everyone else, step out.”
No sooner had Yoon Gi-hun spoken than everyone left the room.
“Sit.”
Yoon Gi-hun offered Kang-hae the seat across from him.
Kang-hae sat without a word and studied Yoon Gi-hun’s face.
He looked to be in his mid-fifties.
The years he had lived were written plainly across his features.
His jaw was hard and stubborn-looking, his eyes sharp.
It was clear he was no ordinary interrogator.
He looked like someone who held considerable power inside the Information Command.
And as Kang-hae had guessed, Yoon Gi-hun wielded authority within the command second only to the commander.
No, in fact, far more people inside the Information Command followed him than they did the commander.
Yoon Gi-hun was a three-year junior to Ko Jeong-un at the Korean Military Academy, and aside from his early lieutenant years after commissioning and the period when he was sent away for training as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Joint Chiefs, he had spent his entire career in the Information Command.
Intelligence officer.
Commander of Unit 725.
Head of anti-North psychological warfare.
Chief of anti-North special operations.
Commander of the anti-North cyber and digital reconnaissance unit.
After passing through the Information Command’s key posts, Yoon Gi-hun became Fourth Department Chief.
“I’m the Fourth Department Chief.”
Yoon Gi-hun introduced himself to the silent Kang-hae.
The Fourth Department of the Information Command was the division that oversaw special intelligence at home and abroad, and its chief would be a brigadier general, or someone slated for promotion.
As expected, he was no ordinary interrogator.
“I’m Acting Staff Officer Na Kang-hae, Unit 713.”
“I know.”
“...”
“The look in your eyes tells me you doubt everything.”
“...”
Yoon Gi-hun read the distrust in Kang-hae’s stare.
“But I’m no different.”
“...”
“A man in only his fourth year was sent on a covert infiltration operation into the North. You were the only survivor of that mission. Afterward, you were sent to the National Security Office as a parachute appointment by the former Information Command commander who became National Security Office chief. You also carried out missions in Tianjin, China, and in Japan.”
Yoon Gi-hun recited Kang-hae’s record so far, then went on.
“And after your National Security Office assignment ended, you were attacked on the way back to your unit.”
“...”
“If you were in my place, what would you think of yourself?”
“...”
“Who attacked you?”
“PMC mercenaries.”
“Mercenaries work for money.”
“...”
“Someone definitely ordered them to kill you.”
“...”
“And I think you know who that someone is.”
“...”
“Cheongganghoe?”
“...?!“
The word Cheongganghoe came out of Yoon Gi-hun’s mouth.
“The look in your eyes tells me I was right.”
“...”
Kang-hae looked back at him in silence.
Then he remembered what Kim Seung-su, the CEO of the Cheonggang Culture Foundation, had said when they met.
[Information Command men like Na Kang-hae also operate within Cheongganghoe.]
Kang-hae kept looking at Yoon Gi-hun.
Then, slowly, he spoke.
“Are you with Cheongganghoe, Chief?”
“...”
Yoon Gi-hun did not answer.
Silence settled over the room.
The two men simply stared at one another for a long time.
---