A Defector Girl in Peril
Meanwhile, Kang Hoon, Jaehyuk, and Sangkyu stood on a darkened street waiting for a taxi. As they lingered, Kang Hoon reported the information he had just extracted by torturing the Taiwanese men to Kim Hyun.
“Yes, Director Kim. While searching for President Shin’s whereabouts, we stopped by one of his subordinate’s houses. It appears his sudden loss of contact is connected to the remnants of the Honglyeonbang.”
Kim Hyun sat on the sofa inside his room, listening to the report.
“Is that so? Department Head Kang Taehyun also ran into a firefight with Honglyeonbang thugs while trying to rescue an informant he’d hired.”
“The department head’s team clashed with them?”
“Correct. First, secure manpower from our local operations. Then we hit the nearest Honglyeonbang businesses and squeeze them for information.”
“Shall we swing by the armory and pull some weapons?”
Hearing Kang Hoon’s words, Jaehyuk’s mind spun. They’re really going to war with the Honglyeonbang? The smart play would be to report this upstairs, coordinate with the Vietnamese police, and wipe out every Gangryonghoe front in the country. But with so many corrupt officials on their payroll, there’s no guarantee it would work.
He remembered the man who had looked like a high-ranking Vietnamese official—the one they had seen at the human trafficking den run by the Gangryonghoe earlier that day. If I can keep the corrupt officials from cooperating with them, the joint investigation between Korean police and Vietnamese public security might actually succeed…
While Jaehyuk wrestled with his thoughts, the taxi pulled up to the hotel. The three men climbed out. As Kang Hoon headed inside, his phone rang. The caller was the Vietnamese brother-in-law of Ryu Byeongjun, the man they had just met.
“Hello? …What?? They’re all dead?? …No, it’s already done. What can we do about it now? Understood.”
Kang Hoon ended the call and let out a heavy sigh. Jaehyuk asked him immediately.
“Did the Taiwanese we captured kill themselves?”
“No. Someone slipped in while security was lax and finished them all off. Still, we managed to pull some intel on where a few of the remnants are hiding. That’s something.”
Kang Hoon turned to Jaehyuk and Sangkyu. “I just spoke with Executive Director Kim Hyun. We’ll be hunting down the Honglyeonbang remnants and going to war soon. We’ll pull extra manpower from the local businesses, so don’t worry about numbers.”
“Understood.”
“Get some proper rest.”
“Yes, sir. You’ve worked hard.”
“You too.”
With that, Kang Hoon disappeared into his room. Jaehyuk and Sangkyu headed to their own rooms and tried to sleep.
The next day, Jaehyuk and Sangkyu walked the streets, hunting for any trace of Shin Jaeguk and solid information on the Honglyeonbang remnants.
“Woo Sangkyu. You okay?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You’ve looked off ever since yesterday.”
Sangkyu had clearly been shaken by the Gangryonghoe men they had seen the day before—how they treated living people like objects, how they watched them die with the indifference of children discarding broken toys.
“Do I? I’m fine, really.”
Sangkyu forced a smile. Jaehyuk looked at him with genuine pity. What a shame. If not for what happened to his little sister, he never would have had to sink into this filth.
The thought made Jaehyuk’s chest tighten. Having once beaten the bullies who tormented his own younger sister Dahyun, he understood Sangkyu’s pain all too well.
As they turned into an alley, a girl suddenly burst out from a side passage and collided hard with Sangkyu.
“Ouch!”
Both of them tumbled to the ground. The girl staggered up, body shaking, and sobbed in Korean.
“P-please save me… hic… please save me…”
Her speech carried the distinct cadence used by North Korean defectors and ethnic Koreans from the border regions. She clung desperately to Jaehyuk’s pant leg, pleading over and over.
Jaehyuk looked down at the trembling girl gripping his trousers. Her condition was heartbreaking. Her clothes were torn, her entire body covered in ugly purple bruises. Gray dust clung to her tangled hair, and her bare feet were a mess of cuts and scrapes. She looked no older than her mid-teens.
“Please save me… I don’t want to die… hic…”
Sangkyu, back on his feet, asked gently in Korean, “Are you being chased by someone?”
She nodded frantically. From nearby came the sound of angry Vietnamese voices.
“Where the fuck is that bitch?!”
“Find her now! When we catch her, I’m going to fuck her all night and then turn her into a log!”
The girl froze in terror at the voices, barely breathing. Sangkyu grabbed her hand and bolted deeper into the alley without hesitation.
As they ran, Jaehyuk asked, “What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t know, damn it! How am I supposed to ignore a kid that young begging for her life?”
Jaehyuk fell silent. They hadn’t gone far before they ran straight into two burly Vietnamese men.
“What? She was here the whole time?”
“Found you, you little bitch.”
The girl shook violently and hid behind Sangkyu. The men drew axes and machetes, advancing on them.
Shit… what now? What do I do?
Jaehyuk muttered loudly in Korean, as if letting the men hear. “Ah, this is a real fucking mess.”
“What? What did he just say?!”
Jaehyuk turned to Sangkyu. “What are they saying?”
“They’re asking what you said.”
“So they don’t speak Korean.”
In a low voice, Jaehyuk told Sangkyu, “Translate everything I say into Vietnamese from now on.”
“What? What are you planning?”
Jaehyuk placed a hand on the trembling girl’s shoulder, smiled slyly, and said, “May I ask why you gentlemen are looking for this child?”
Sangkyu translated. One of the Vietnamese men snarled, “None of your damn business! Stop talking shit and hand ‘that’ over right now! If you don’t, we’ll kill you!”
The way he referred to the girl as ‘that’—like she was an object—made Sangkyu’s face twist in disgust. Jaehyuk kept smiling.
“I don’t know the details, but we’re interested in buying ‘this.’ How much would be enough?”
Sangkyu shot Jaehyuk a furious glare. Jaehyuk elbowed him lightly and whispered, “Translate.”
After Sangkyu relayed the words, the second man pointed his machete at Jaehyuk. “Fuck you! If we don’t bring her back, we’re dead!”
Both men glared, weapons raised. Jaehyuk tried again.
“Tell them I’ll pay in dollars. Four hundred dollars.”
“Dollars? You actually have dollars?”
“Just say it.”
Sangkyu translated, but the men’s response didn’t change. How terrified must they be that even money won’t work? Four hundred dollars should be a fortune to them…
Jaehyuk asked Sangkyu, “You have enough to buy one set of clothes, right?”
“Yeah… I do.”
“Then cover the kid’s eyes for me.”
The moment Sangkyu covered the girl’s eyes, Jaehyuk moved like lightning. Before the first man could swing his machete, Jaehyuk deflected his arm, drew his knife in a reverse grip, and slashed the man’s throat open.
“You—!”
The second man swung his axe. Jaehyuk dodged, sliced the man’s thigh, stabbed deep into his side, and circled behind him. When the man spun around to swing again, Jaehyuk blocked the arm with his left hand, flipped the knife into a forward grip, and drove the blade into the exposed neck. He twisted it ninety degrees clockwise, severing the carotid artery.
In seconds, both Vietnamese men lay dead. Jaehyuk looked at Sangkyu, who was staring in shock, and spoke as if he had merely taken out the trash.
“Let’s clean this up. Keep telling the kid to keep her eyes closed.”
“You… what the hell were you thinking…? What were you going to do…?”
“I’ll explain later. First, hide the bodies, wash the blood off somewhere nearby, then buy her new clothes. We’ll throw these bloodstained ones away.”
A short while later, after disposing of the corpses, they returned to the still-trembling girl. Sangkyu spoke softly.
“You can open your eyes now.”
She slowly lifted her eyelids. Sangkyu gave her the gentlest smile he could manage.
“It’s okay now. We’ll take you somewhere safe.”
“…Thank you… sob… thank you so much… hic…”
The girl tried to thank him through her sniffles, but the emotions overwhelmed her. She threw her arms around Sangkyu and broke into heart-wrenching sobs. Caught completely off guard, Sangkyu froze for a moment, then gently patted her back, murmuring soft words to calm the crying child.
Meanwhile, as Jeonghan rested in his hotel room, someone knocked on his door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
It was Shin Chaeyoon, the Crown Entertainment killer who had come to Vietnam with them. Jeonghan opened the door without thinking. Chaeyoon stood there in a sexy crop top that showed her midriff and tight hot pants, smiling sweetly at him.
“What brings you here…?”
“Nothing special. I just wanted to talk.”
She slipped inside and sat on the bed.
“I heard about your performance yesterday. Three Taiwanese down in two seconds during the shootout?”
“Well… yeah.”
“Impressive. I like men who are good with guns.”
She crossed her left leg, giving him a seductive look, and playfully wiggled her bare foot. Chaeyoon was certainly attractive—the kind of beauty an average man might encounter and immediately fall for.
But Jeonghan had already seen someone far more beautiful, and he was slowly growing closer to her. In his eyes, Chaeyoon simply looked ordinary.
What is this? Is she making a move on me? She’s definitely pretty, but…
His thoughts drifted to his neighbor, Yamada Yukiko. Compared to her, Chaeyoon seemed plain.
Chaeyoon offered a gentle smile. “When it’s just the two of us, how about dropping the formal speech? I’m a year older than you, Jeonghan. You can call me noona. Or just Chaeyoon if you prefer.”
Ugh… this is getting uncomfortable…
Despite his good looks, Jeonghan had never been surrounded by women. His naturally timid personality was partly to blame. He had overcome some of it during his special forces days, but secret missions left little room for romance. He had never found the right person.
I was planning to ask Yukiko out once I get back to Korea…
“Is speaking casually still too much for you?”
“Um…”
Chaeyoon stood up and stepped closer. The faint scent of violets from her hair tickled his nose.
Is that a strong shampoo? It’s such a subtle fragrance… Strange. I don’t feel that flutter I get when I look at Yukiko.
“If it’s really uncomfortable, we can take it slow. I’ll wait.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door again. Kim Hyun’s voice rang out from the hallway.
“Shin Chaeyoon! I know you’re in there! We’re supposed to be gathering intel together. How can you be goofing off in the rookie’s room?!”
Chaeyoon sighed, glared at the door, and muttered, “That damn stick-in-the-mud…”
She flipped her expression like a mask, smiling brightly at Jeonghan once more. “Rest up until we have work. We’ll talk again later, okay?”
“Uh… sure.”
After she left, Jeonghan stared blankly at the closed door, still feeling the awkward weight of the situation, then sat down on the bed.
Across the street in a cheap motel, someone watched him through a telescope. The mysterious figure turned to glance at the Walther WA2000 sniper rifle lying on the bed. After staring at the weapon for a long moment, he looked back through the scope. Jeonghan had lain down on the bed. The watcher’s posture was exactly like that of a stalker monitoring his target. Just what was his purpose in observing Jeonghan like this?