One Day Before the Operation Begins
After completing the meeting, Jae-hyeok and the undercover agents, along with Gang Gi-seok, left the construction site.
Just before exiting the building, Gi-seok turned to the undercover agents and said, “Then be careful. Best of luck.”
“Yes. Be careful when you go in.”
With that, Gi-seok walked out of the construction site, and the undercover agents immediately headed toward different entrances.
At the exact moment the undercover agents were moving away from the site, a man quietly slipped into the empty construction area.
He appeared to be a late-thirties Southeast Asian foreign worker, dressed in a hard hat and work clothes.
He entered the spot where Gi-seok and the undercover agents had been talking, picked up a brick, then split a brick-shaped case in half and took out its contents.
Inside was a bugging device. He pressed the red button attached to it.
“I think we need more personnel because there are many Gangryonghoe business entities around the A-Workshop…”
He heard Jae-hyeok’s recorded voice.
He pressed another button. It appeared to be the rewind function, and the next words Jae-hyeok uttered came through.
“…And the date and time for the operation is the day after tomorrow at 2:30 AM.”
‘Good. Sound quality is perfect.’
The man was certain the recording had gone well.
After that, he collected the bugging device and quietly left the building.
The next day at dawn, near the Crown Hotel Suwon branch.
A van stopped in the quiet alley of the area.
Inside the van were Jeong Seung-gyu, Lee Jeong-han, and several of Seung-gyu’s subordinates.
Seung-gyu, seated in the front and gripping a knife, said to Jeong-han, “Got it? Say it according to the script.”
“I got it… Is it okay if it’s not right at the vital spot?”
“It has to be near the vital spot so those bastards will think you barely survived.”
He smiled stiffly at the tense Jeong-han and asked, “Why? Because you’re going to stab the vital spot for real?”
“Don’t worry. If it’s a knife, I’ve been using one for about twelve years longer than you.”
“The monkey also shakes from the tree…”
“Then I’ll stab it. If you’re ready, say you’re ready, and hold your mind firm so you don’t get shocked.”
Jeong-han closed his eyes, took a deep breath, slowly opened them, and said to Seung-gyu, “Okay.”
Instantly, Seung-gyu drove the blade in at high speed into the spot between Jeong-han’s right rib and side.
The cool sensation of the blade piercing deep and the extreme pain might have caused a normal person to faint from shock in an instant.
But Jeong-han, who had served in special forces and endured many knife and bullet injuries, was familiar with such pain.
He suppressed it and kept his mind together without fainting.
It wasn’t painless, though.
‘It’s been a while since I got properly stabbed. It hurts.’
‘My voice might not come out properly.’
Seung-gyu said in a low voice without pulling the blade out, “Now, first breathe. Slowly, deeply.”
Jeong-han took a deep breath, exhaled, and calmed his breathing.
“Good. Good.”
“The vital spot is about one centimeter away, so if you stop the bleeding well and get treatment, it’ll be fine. Not difficult, right?”
“If you got it, nod your head.”
Jeong-han looked straight at Seung-gyu and gave a light nod.
“Okay. I’ll pull it out at three. Hold your mind firm and stop the bleeding. Got it?”
“If you got it, nod like before.”
Jeong-han nodded again, and Seung-gyu began counting.
“Then I’ll pull it out. One. Two. Three.”
At the same time he said three, Seung-gyu slowly withdrew the blade.
Simultaneously, one of Seung-gyu’s subordinates opened the door and shoved Jeong-han out of the van.
Jeong-han rolled onto the ground, pressed the wound hard with his right hand to stop the bleeding, and started walking toward the hotel.
After a while, limping Jeong-han reached the hotel’s back door.
And at the perfect moment, several Gangryonghoe thugs opened the back door and stepped out.
Some of them saw the bloodied Jeong-han and rushed over in surprise.
“Hey!! What’s going on!!”
“What? Who’s that friend?”
“He’s the cleaner from the entertainment company that went to Daejeon.”
“First, contact the manager!!”
One thug immediately called someone on his phone, and the group hurriedly stopped the bleeding on Jeong-han’s wound.
“First, let’s go to the hospital!! Quickly!!”
The thugs supporting Jeong-han hailed a taxi near the hotel and headed to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Jae-hyeok in the taxi was on the phone with his father, Park Min-hyeok.
“So, the plan is to destroy the organ-trafficking business entities of Gangryonghoe in Suwon tomorrow morning?”
“Yes. Of the total five organ-trafficking business entities in Suwon, we’ll destroy two first.”
“From what I heard from our informant in the police, only two locations have been identified, and the others are still unknown.”
“So, to let you know the locations of the remaining business entities, I contacted you.”
“Have the locations of the remaining ones already been identified?”
“Yes. I obtained the information from an internal person in Gangryonghoe.”
‘Actually, I already knew this information from my previous life.’
Jae-hyeok had secured information on various Gangryonghoe criminal business entities while infiltrating them in his previous life.
He remembered only some in certain regions, but at least he remembered the locations of the business entities in Suwon.
Yet despite having this high-level information, he had not passed it to the police because of the possible presence of corrupt officers.
‘There is a risk of corrupt police when delivering information to the police.’
‘But this vigilante group is not at least in cooperation with Gangryonghoe.’
‘If they were cooperating, they would have had many opportunities to ruin our operations.’
Clearly, the vigilante group led by Park Min-hyeok consisted of personnel with excellent combat and information-collection abilities.
If they cooperated with Gangryonghoe, it would be like giving wings to a tiger.
In that case, it would not have been difficult for Gangryonghoe to find and kill the undercover agents.
That was why Jae-hyeok had decided to share his information with them, believing at least this vigilante group was not an enemy.
“Already recruited an internal person, huh.”
Min-hyeok said to him with a sense of pride that his son had recruited an internal person from the organization he had infiltrated.
“I’ll transmit the related information as soon as I have time.”
“Got it.”
Then Jae-hyeok changed the subject and asked Min-hyeok, “How about the other side, Gu Yong-jin?”
“Crown Entertainment’s killers were trying to kill Gu Yong-jin.”
“Those killers went to Gu Yong-jin’s master, mother-in-law, and cousin’s daughter in Daejeon to pull him out and kill him,”
“Fortunately, Seung-gyu went there and successfully blocked it.”
“In this process, Lee Jeong-han’s help as your friend was also there.”
“Is Jeong-han safe?”
“Yes. But to deceive Gangryonghoe, Seung-gyu had no choice but to stab his friend a bit.”
“He barely missed the vital spot by one centimeter, so there won’t be much damage to life.”
At this, Jae-hyeok asked in surprise, “You stabbed Jeong-han?”
“Don’t worry. No matter how long Seung-gyu has been out of active duty, he’s the one who doesn’t make mistakes in handling knives.”
“Later, go to OOO Internal Medicine and check on your friend’s condition.”
“Understood.”
Before Jae-hyeok ended the call, Min-hyeok called him.
“Ah, Jae-hyeok.”
“Yes?”
“Be careful with your body. Above all, your safety is the priority.”
“…I know.”
After hanging up, Jae-hyeok leaned back against the seat and said to the driver, “Driver. Please go to OOO Internal Medicine.”
“Yes.”
The taxi Jae-hyeok was in then headed toward the OOO Internal Medicine where Jeong-han was hospitalized.
OOO Internal Medicine.
Jae-hyeok obtained the room number where Jeong-han was hospitalized from the front desk.
He went to the room where Jeong-han was hospitalized.
Several Gangryonghoe thugs were standing in front of Jeong-han’s hospital room.
When Jae-hyeok tried to enter the room, one thug blocked him.
“What business?”
“I came to visit my friend.”
Then another thug who recognized Jae-hyeok said to him, “Let him in. He’s from the hotel headquarters.”
He stepped aside, and Jae-hyeok opened the door to the room.
What Jae-hyeok saw was Jeong-han lying on the bed in patient clothes.
And next to Jeong-han stood Seo Myeongwoo, the manager of Crown Hotel Suwon branch.
“What? Why are you here?”
Jeong-han answered Myeongwoo’s question.
“He’s my friend.”
“Ah, is that so? You were friends with him?”
Then Myeongwoo said to Jae-hyeok, “He barely missed the vital spot. He said if it had been one centimeter off, it would have been dangerous.”
“Ah, okay.”
“He said you have to take a break for a while.”
“Don’t drink alcohol or anything.”
“Understood.”
“My guys found that friend of yours dying at the back door of the hotel.”
“And I made the surgery schedule as fast as possible.”
At this, Jae-hyeok expressed his gratitude to Myeongwoo with proper manners.
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it expecting thanks, man.”
With that, Myeongwoo left the room.
Then Jae-hyeok said in a low voice to the lying Jeong-han, “I heard it was a rigged high-stakes game.”
“What? How did you know?”
“I heard it before coming here.”
“Did Jeong Seung-gyu tell you?”
“No. I heard it from someone else.”
Jeong-han was silent for a moment, then asked Jae-hyeok, “Was your father a National Intelligence Service agent?”
“Yeah. I just found out recently too.”
“Your father is amazing.”
“What’s amazing about it? The guy who didn’t show up in front of the family for twenty-five years.”
“I thought my father was already dead.”
“Yeah, because your father wasn’t there, you had a hard time.”
Then Jae-hyeok changed the subject and said to Jeong-han, “The uncle’s business is scheduled to operate tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? What business?”
At this, Jae-hyeok turned on his phone, entered something in the memo app, and showed Jeong-han the memo.
[I’ll attack A-Workshop and D-Workshop at 2:30 AM tomorrow morning.]
[Other undercover agents, along with detectives, decided to move together.]
Jeong-han sighed after seeing the memo.
“Can you do it well?”
“Of course. So don’t worry about me, just rest well and get better.”
“Yeah. Take care of your body.”
In a shabby motel.
A Nepali man sat at the desk, typing busily on the laptop keyboard.
His laptop looked extremely expensive for a normal person to buy.
And on the desk was a Glock 17 5th-generation pistol equipped with optical gear.
On the laptop screen were photos of Jae-hyeok’s target, the president of D-Workshop Je Gal Sang-hwan, and the president of A-Workshop Hwang Du-cheol he was going to attack.
Under the photos, English sentences were densely input.
After a while, the man saved the file he was writing and sent it to someone via email.
Then he sent an English text message to somewhere on his phone.
[<File transfer complete. Please check.>]
The man looked like a foreign worker from Nepal on the surface.
But seeing the equipment he had and how he handled it, one could guess he was not a normal foreign worker.
Soon, an alert rang from the messenger program on his laptop.
He opened the program and saw messages in English from Lloyd and Mark.
[<Mail checked.>]
At that moment, his phone rang, and he answered in English.
“This is Vishnu.”
[Bishnu Manandal. Aegis Team Member]
The sender was Robert Han from Alina Kim’s security team, Aegis.
“How is Park Jae-hyeok’s movement?”
“He says he will perform the operation at 2:30 AM the day after tomorrow.”
“Understood. Since the operation location is a location, please refrain from using firearms as much as possible.”
“However, if the situation doesn’t work out, judge accordingly.”
“Understood.”
“Remember. Our priority is the safety of Park Jae-hyeok, and then making sure our identities are not revealed.”
“Understood.”
Robert hung up, and Bishnu placed his phone on the desk.