Chapter 145
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: Into the Lion's Den
Three days passed.
Kanghyeok had done everything he could in that time.
He contacted Gabriel, telling her the rest of the clothes would arrive as soon as they were finished and asking her to take good care of Yohan.
He also passed along a part of the proposal he had received from Leila.
The next person he contacted was Santiago.
*(I didn't expect you to call so soon.)*
"Yes, have you been well?"
*(State your purpose and reason.)*
Santiago's voice was gravelly as if he had been lying down.
Still, Kanghyeok had responded with a hearty laugh to the man who unhesitatingly offered his help.
"You haven't seen the official notice yet, I take it."
*(If it were something I needed, they would have reported it to me directly.)*
"I'm not calling because I need your help this time. I simply wish to ask for your permission."
*(Permission?)*
"Yes, about the deputy team leader you brought with you before."
His name was Andrei.
He had only recently been promoted to deputy team leader and was being trained by Santiago, his team leader.
*(Ah, that kid.)*
"It seems his training is over, as he's now being assigned to missions."
*(Is that so? And?)*
Kanghyeok moistened his lips and spoke in the most polite tone he could manage.
"May I be the one to take care of him?"
He considered Santiago a trustworthy person.
And Andrei was Santiago's subordinate.
Getting approval to eliminate him was a matter of basic respect and courtesy.
*(You wouldn't ask something like this for no reason. I assume you have a valid one?)*
"Yes."
*(Did William approve?)*
"He did."
*(Hmm, then it has nothing to do with me.)*
"But he was your subordinate."
*(I'm not the type to get attached to men.)*
His tone was deadpan, making it impossible to tell if he was joking or serious. But it was clear he had received confirmation, so Kanghyeok expressed his gratitude and ended the call.
A sense of doubt crept in, wondering how he had ended up having to do such things.
A low rumble.
A black SUV arrived with a heavy rumble in front of the safe house to pick up Kanghyeok.
It was time to leave.
*Click.*
Kanghyeok pulled back the slide to give the chamber a final check, then tucked the pistol into his inner jacket pocket.
He had no other weapons.
No knife, no rifle, no shotgun; at a glance, he appeared to be wearing only a suit.
It was because of the instructions in the proposal.
The proposal, which demanded a covert infiltration to carry out the mission, ordered Kanghyeok to carry only a single pistol.
Disgusting.
It was blatantly telling him to go and die.
The only silver lining was that there were no regulations regarding the suit.
So Kanghyeok was wearing the new suit Jeff Black had made for him. To the naked eye, it just looked like a three-piece suit, its advantage being that one couldn't tell it was made of a new material without touching it.
"Well, I'm off."
Kanghyeok offered a brief farewell to Leila in front of the safe house.
Leila could only bring a clenched fist to her chest, unable to show any worry in her eyes or voice.
A company car was waiting nearby, the driver standing in front of it.
She judged that acting on her emotions would reveal her concern for Kanghyeok, which could put him in even greater danger.
That was why Leila reached for Kanghyeok's tie.
"Your tie is a little crooked."
Pretending to straighten his tie, Leila moved closer to Kanghyeok, looked up at him, and spoke in a small voice.
"Please, I'll be praying for your safe return."
Kanghyeok gave a short nod and turned away as if nothing had happened.
*Click.*
From the moment he got in the car, something felt strange.
The driver was silent, and there were no special locks inside the car.
He couldn't sense anyone in the trunk, yet an unsettling feeling washed over him, as if he could be kidnapped at any moment.
'Is it because I can't trust the company anymore?'
The company that had cast out Jeff Black, its future and engine for growth, was now trying to get rid of Kanghyeok as well.
Now that he couldn't even trust the car and driver meant simply to take him to the mission site, he felt he could understand a little of what William must be going through at the company.
'He must have been desperate for someone to trust.'
It all made sense now.
Why William's favor toward Kanghyeok had been so blatant.
William, too, had been that desperate for someone he could trust.
A low hum.
He smoked five cigarettes in the moving car.
They left the city outskirts completely and drove for another three hours, arriving at a wide-open wilderness.
"We're here, Mr. Kanghyeok!"
"All personnel, assemble! Begin preparations for takeoff."
"Takeoff in ten minutes."
In the wilderness sat a transport plane and another vehicle parked in front of it.
Inside the plane, Andrei and another deputy team leader were already seated in their suits. Kanghyeok put a cigarette to his lips as he watched the staff busily preparing for takeoff.
"Are you nervous?"
An employee with an innocent face, who clearly knew nothing, spoke to him. Kanghyeok simply answered by raising the corners of his mouth without a sound.
"I heard. You're going to raid the ones who attacked the safe house."
So this was all the other employees were told.
As Kanghyeok looked at him, the employee continued with a serious expression.
"I know it's not my place to ask. But please, make sure those who caused trouble for the company pay a just price."
This employee had no idea about the true nature of the mission.
Like most of the staff.
But he had a much stronger sense of loyalty to the company than the executives who were eating away at it.
The thought suddenly crossed Kanghyeok's mind: how great it would be if the company were filled with people like this.
"Hey! Don't get in the way!"
A man who looked about five years older than the employee rushed over, wearing an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry. This employee is new and made a mistake."
Kanghyeok looked at the man, who seemed to be a supervisor here, then turned his gaze back to the employee.
"No. It's fine. What he said was necessary."
"Huh?"
The supervisor, who didn't know what the employee had said, looked dumbfounded. Kanghyeok placed a firm hand on the shoulder of the flustered, frozen employee.
"I'll grant that request."
The employee's expression, which had been stiff as if he'd committed a grave sin, relaxed.
Agents being deployed on a mission are naturally on edge.
Even if not in a situation like Kanghyeok's, being sent on a life-threatening job is stressful.
On top of that, the fact that Kanghyeok, a team leader, had spoken gently and not reprimanded his mistake seemed to move the employee deeply, and he pressed his lips together.
The employee nodded gratefully, and Kanghyeok returned the gesture with a slight bow of his head.
"Please board, Team Leader Kanghyeok!"
An employee in a helmet with a microphone shouted loudly toward Kanghyeok from the transport plane.
*Thud.*
Kanghyeok walked toward the plane.
Ahead, the two deputy team leaders already on board watched him with sharp eyes, like tigers in a cage, while the staff to his side and behind him offered silent encouragement.
*Clank.*
As he fastened his seatbelt, the surrounding staff stepped back, and the plane's door closed.
*Click, clack, click.*
The transport plane, preparing for takeoff as buttons were pressed, began to emit a heavy vibration.
*Rattle, rattle, rattle!*
The windows trembled from the vibration.
*Whoooosh!*
The transport plane sped across the wilderness.
The scenery rushed past, and a gradual pressure built up against his body.
Kanghyeok gazed out the window.
*Rooooar!*
The nose of the transport plane tilted toward the sky and began to lift off.
***
In Japan, there is an island that has been erased from the maps.
It once existed, but from a certain day onward, it was expunged from all maps and records, and civilian access was unofficially forbidden.
Its location is approximately 450 kilometers south of Kagoshima.
It lies between Kikaijima and Minamidaitojima, with a total area of 133.7 square kilometers.
That its disappearance from the maps did not become an issue, despite its considerable size, was due to three reasons.
First, the island's residents willingly accepted it.
Second, the island was unknown to outsiders.
And third, thorough groundwork and follow-up measures left no room for conspiracy theorists to take interest.
Thus, the island succeeded in vanishing completely from all records.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
A bamboo water feature in the pond made a clear sound each time it tipped over, heavy with the water it collected.
Stillness and serenity.
It was a place that seemed to promise peace of mind, inside a traditional wooden mansion surrounded by a veritable siege of bamboo and trees.
But the reality was quite different.
It was because of the people in a wide, tatami-matted room within the mansion.
Men and women.
Young and old.
People in uniforms sat kneeling formally, watching two standing men with somber expressions.
The standing men wore black and white uniforms.
In their hands were bamboo swords.
Not modern shinai, but traditional ones made from a single stalk of bamboo covered with a cylindrical leather sheath.
However, the one who stood out the most was the man in the black uniform.
Unlike the old man in the white uniform, he was a young man, and unlike the others, he was of mixed Southeast Asian and Japanese descent.
Even with his black hair and black eyes, his brownish skin and foreign features were stark proof that he did not belong.
"Nishida."
The old man in the white uniform called the mixed-race man's name, his voice a murmur through wrinkled lips.
"Come."
Nishida pressed his lips firmly together, pulling the corners of his mouth down.
*Ssk.*
The hem of his uniform brushed against the tatami as Nishida moved forward, closing the distance between their opposing bamboo swords in a single stride.
*Clack!*
Knocking the old man's bamboo sword aside, Nishida lifted his front foot and took a large step forward.
Without protective gear and with such primitive bamboo swords, the impact was not properly absorbed.
Simply striking the opponent's body could deliver a significant shock, but Nishida's stance was not that of one intending to merely strike.
A method of swinging that involved wringing the handle like a wet rag.
The bamboo sword moved in a wide arc, powered by the waist.
It was a method for cutting down an opponent as if they were a straw dummy or a stalk of bamboo.
This was not modern swordsmanship but an old-style one, a method that could lead to permanent bodily harm or even a fatal injury depending on where the blow landed.
*Clack!*
The old man blocked the blow by holding his bamboo sword diagonally, then aimed for Nishida's side.
*Clack!*
The sharp sound of bamboo sword striking bamboo sword echoed through the room.
*Clack! Tak! Clack!*
As if choreographed, every attack and defense flowed into the next with seamless fluidity.
*Clack!*
The swords did not only target the head, wrists, and torso.
They unhesitatingly struck at the neck, shoulders, and even the lower body, making the offense and defense all the more complex.
*Shhk, shhk!*
The feet of the two men, which had been moving as fiercely as their swords, suddenly stopped.
*Clack!*
Nishida blocked the sword at the perfect moment, leaving the old man's neck wide open.
He could kill the old man just by extending his arm.
*Rustle.*
The moment a man who was watching the spar from his kneeling position flinched, the old man's bamboo sword coiled around Nishida's like a snake.
*Whoosh! Thwack!*
With a sound of the two bamboo swords grinding together, Nishida's sword flew high into the air.
Immediately after.
*Thud!*
The tip of the old man's bamboo sword stabbed deep into Nishida's solar plexus.