Crossing the Red Line
"Release the guy underneath and talk to me instead," I said, prioritizing Yeoni's safety and asking for the hostage to be freed.
"I'll keep her for a month. There should be a witness, right? She's pretty, too~"
Crazy bastard...
"At least let her make a call. She's not well."
"The girl's so drugged up she doesn't know what's going on. She's been sucking and licking all over the place."
Anger surged through me and I hung up. I'm going to kill you.
"We've narrowed it down roughly. It's around Noksan-ro 222beon-gil in Busan. That's as far as we can get with signal analysis."
"Good work. I'll handle it on-site."
I gave the address to the driver up front—the same guy who used to work with Eun-seong—and told him to change course. He reported it would take about fifty minutes. I needed to prepare to catch that lunatic.
I could hear the deputy team leader issuing orders beside me. He was handling things well even without my instructions. The area was an industrial zone with plenty of cover; it was obvious he'd been trained.
"It's daytime. Factories are running, and we still can't grab him."
"He said a month, so we should focus the search on abandoned factories."
I gave the order to the deputy team leader, who was directing things through his mic. I needed to maintain the concept.
Yeoni mattered, but I had to come across as firm. I left a message.
He didn't reply. Maybe he was flustered. I needed to show him exactly why they called it a red line.
"Deputy team leader, bring some men. One team, and target the highest-ranking people you can identify near Number One. The higher the better."
"I'll lead two teams and conduct the search."
After issuing the orders, we stopped briefly at a rest area to reassign personnel and gather information from the welfare center. Then the two vans headed for the Noksan Industrial Complex.
"Entering the operational area. Stand by."
An idea struck me. Information always came from insiders.
Luckily, the reply came right away.
Sevenstar's face lit up for a moment before he sent over the three addresses.
I issued orders through the mic. We'd search the two warehouses first. On the way, we passed the client site, so I asked to be dropped off there. Eun-seong tried to stop me, but I told him it was fine. I tapped my ear and said if he reported quickly, I wouldn't even need to go inside to confirm.
The client site was a small shop selling fishing nets and other marine supplies. I had the driver drop me off three hundred meters away at a corner. I checked my outfit, then started stripping. I changed into simple gray clothes, put on a mask, grabbed a single military dagger, and got out of the car.
I approached the client site. I walked past casually, but the door was locked. Still, I knew this was the place. Why? Because there was a residential house behind the shop. The front faced the main road for business, while the back was for living—a perfect setup for hiding someone. No one would come looking for a month in a private home.
I passed the shop and circled around to the opposite block. While waiting for reports from the warehouse teams, I scaled the wall about a hundred meters from the targeted location. Luckily, there was a shared fence between the house and the neighboring factory. I slipped into the factory, rounded a corner, and approached the house when—damn it. I was caught on CCTV. I'd have to leave that to luck. Since it was daytime, maybe I'd just look like a factory worker.
While waiting in a blind spot, a message came in.
"The situation is serious, so I'll make the call and request support myself."
I couldn't tell them about the CCTV. Instead, I called the bastard. He came out of the house. Even now, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. What a thug. I hung up without answering. He cursed and started walking toward me, then unzipped his pants and relieved himself before collapsing. I caught the falling man to keep the noise down and checked the room. No signs of life inside. I cracked the door open—empty.
I sent an SOS to our team. By my logic, they always worked in pairs. The fallen man's pockets held two phones, a wallet, and a key. Looking around, I spotted a small storage shed beside the shop. That had to be it. I approached, opened the door, and was hit by the stench of excrement. Yeoni lay collapsed on a cot. I shook her awake, but she just smiled blankly. Shit...
Three minutes later, Eun-seong's crew entered through the shop door—I had unlocked it. There was a CCTV inside recording the shop, so I took it. The factory CCTV still bothered me, but what could I do? It was already done. We moved the two people out through the shop door as if transporting goods. I locked the door and waited on-site, cleaning up the scene. The place was supposedly a client site, but there were drugs inside—our drugs. The wrapping was our style.
A call came in. Why wasn't he answering? There were about three messages. "Site A, Site A—unknown individual approaching." Someone was stomping toward the house door, then kicked it and started yelling.
"Kim Cheolsang, you son of a bitch! Why aren't you answering your phone?"
The person who'd answer was probably already on the Namhae Expressway. When no one replied, he strode into the room and shoved the door open—only to collapse backward at the same time. I was an expert at rear attacks. Cancun had taught me that first. The easiest way to subdue someone? Just like this.
I took the phone and wallet from the hostage and loaded him into the van for the welfare center. After waiting another thirty minutes, I left the scene. Then, holding three phones, I waited for contact.
?? Deputy team leader? When I asked what happened, he said they'd been tracking the locations of key executives when three organization members happened to gather. I asked where they'd caught them—turned out it was a sauna. They grabbed them in the parking lot and handled it with one car. No need to worry about CCTV.
"Head to Bongdam."
An hour later, I knew the other side was in chaos. A message had come through.
Messages were flying to both phones. An idea came to me.
"Deputy team leader, let's do a little acting."
"One of the three is probably named Seongsu. If not, ask all three and pinpoint his location. If we have the right guy, let's use his phone for the act."
"Sounds fun."
Thirty minutes later, a reply came. Seongsu hyung-nim was here. Time for me to start acting too.
If I asked where they were meeting, would he tell me?
He told me without me even asking.
I issued a full mobilization order to the security team. The welfare center team had just arrived—sorry about that.
"Deputy team leader, I need one team for support, including you."
"The location is Paradise Hotel. There's a meeting between a Busan executive and the Japanese side."
"See you nearby in three hours."
I took a bus from the Noksan district toward Yeongdo, got off before crossing Yeongdo Bridge, took the subway from Nampo Station to Haeundae Station. Meanwhile, the deputy team leader had gotten off midway, linked up with the team coming down from the welfare center, and reported they were entering Changwon. He also said, apologetically, that they wouldn't make the time. The navigation said two hours. Perfect—rush hour.
I contacted Eun-seong and gave the order.
"Ask the Bongdam team for the prisoners' faces, names, and personal details."
"Understood. Also, Yeoni's regained consciousness. She'll probably need some recovery time."
When Eun-seong reported on Yeoni's condition and the prisoner interrogation, the reply left a bitter taste in my mouth. It felt like she'd gotten hurt because of me again.