Do You Know My Father?
Baek Dongjin slipped into the building, pistol raised and sweeping every corner as he moved with deliberate, silent steps. These damn rats… where the hell are they hiding?
As his eyes raked across the dim interior, he spotted Ma Dongbum and Gayoung trying to slip out through a door that led to a secret passage. The moment they appeared in his line of sight, he pulled the trigger. The pair scattered instantly, diving behind whatever furniture they could find. Dongjin fired again at the bookshelf they’d taken cover behind, but the rounds strangely failed to penetrate the wood.
Did they line the damn thing with ballistic plating?
Ma Dongbum, gripping a Glock 19, jerked his chin toward the secret passage door while looking at Gayoung. The message was clear: he would hold off Baek Dongjin; she needed to run. Gayoung shook her head. In her mind, the two of them could take him. More than that, she refused to abandon a comrade who had walked through life and death with her for twelve long years.
But Dongbum knew better. Even together, they stood no chance against Baek Dongjin. He needed her to survive, to carry the information they had seized back to Minhyeok and Seunggyu. No. If we both fight this monster, we both die. At least one of us has to make it out. Gayoung has to deliver what we’ve learned to the team leader.
Very few people inside the National Intelligence Service even knew the name of their black-ops unit—Pluto. And among that tiny circle, the three operatives given snake-related codenames had carried out missions on a scale most agents could only imagine. Their combat ability was simply off the charts. One of them, the man codenamed “Bulldog,” had now come to kill them both.
I need to buy her at least ten seconds. Even one extra second could make the difference.
Dongbum jerked his chin at her again. This time Gayoung broke into a sprint toward the door. Dongjin swung his pistol up to aim at her head, but caught sight of Dongbum’s own weapon trained on him. He threw himself behind a nearby sofa and fired anyway. The bullet grazed Gayoung’s scalp as she ran. Dongbum unleashed a rapid barrage at the sofa to keep Dongjin pinned down and unable to aim properly.
The moment the door cracked open, Dongbum shouted at the top of his lungs.
Gayoung clenched her jaw against the agony of abandoning her comrade, slammed the door shut, and kept running. Dongbum immediately shot out the locking mechanism, then stepped out from behind the sofa and leveled his pistol at the rapidly approaching Baek Dongjin. Dongjin answered in kind. Both men twisted their bodies to evade the opposing barrels while seizing each other’s wrists.
The shots they meant for one another flew off into empty space. Dongjin drove a knee into Dongbum’s stomach, trying to slam him into the wall. Dongbum gritted his teeth and endured it, then snapped his forehead forward in a brutal headbutt aimed at Dongjin’s nose. Dongjin met it with his own forehead, absorbing the impact. He threw another knee strike. Dongbum bent at the waist, dropping his arm to block it, then tried to shoot Dongjin in the foot. Dongjin pivoted, shoving him toward the opposite wall. The bullet struck the floor instead.
In the next heartbeat both men pressed the magazine releases on the pistols they still held, dropping the mags. Dongjin suddenly released the pressure on Dongbum’s gun hand. The abrupt freedom made Dongbum’s arm jerk upward; Dongjin struck the underside of his wrist with the heel of his left palm, forcing him to drop the weapon. Dongjin brought his own pistol up, but Dongbum grabbed the slide, pulled it slightly rearward, and locked it. The gun refused to fire. With a sharp twist, Dongbum wrenched the weapon from Dongjin’s grip and flung it aside.
Now unarmed, both men drew their knives. Baek Dongjin gripped an Ontario MK3 and stared at his opponent.
"Compensation?" Dongbum spat. "You became Cha Jinyong’s dog for scraps like that? A government employee latching onto a traitor who sells national secrets? Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"The nation…" Dongjin’s voice was calm. "You think the nation ever took care of people who claimed to serve it? Of course not. Despite all the feats you accomplished, the state denied you, turned its back, and threw you away. Don’t throw your life away for a country that treats you like that. The Bukdutchilseong doesn’t deserve this kind of disrespect."
Dongbum lunged, knife flashing. Dongjin slipped the attack with ease and countered. Dongbum parried and slashed at Dongjin’s arm, but Dongjin blocked with his empty hand. At the same moment he spread the four fingers of his knife hand and drove their tips into Dongbum’s throat. As Dongbum staggered, Dongjin’s blade swept toward his neck. Dongbum arched backward, stepping away just in time. The edge still kissed his skin, drawing a thin line of blood. He glared at Dongjin, blood trickling down his neck.
He deliberately slowed the cut.
Dongbum let out a disbelieving snort.
Dongbum flipped his knife into a reverse grip and continued.
He charged again, knife slashing. This time the murderous glint in Dongjin’s eyes made it clear he had abandoned any thought of taking prisoners. His blade moved in a lethal flurry. Dongbum tried to block, managing to deflect some strikes, but a deep cut opened across his right arm and his rhythm collapsed. Shit…!!
From that moment the fight turned one-sided. Dongbum was steadily driven back. The knife carved into his torso again and again until his entire body was drenched in blood. As he staggered, Dongjin reversed his grip and swung the blade at his throat. Dongbum accepted the coming death with calm eyes.
This is as far as I go…
The wet sound of steel slicing flesh filled the room. Bright arterial blood sprayed from Dongbum’s neck. He pitched forward, convulsing as life left him.
Team leader… I’m sorry… for going first…
Blood bubbled from the wound, pooling across the cold floor. Ma Dongbum’s eyes slowly closed as death claimed him.
After receiving a full briefing on the operation from the NIS agents, Jaehyuk and Jeonghan strolled through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, savoring a rare moment of rest.
Jeonghan took a big bite of his Vietnamese banh mi sandwich.
Jeonghan smiled. "Must be nice… But is that really okay? The work we do isn’t exactly normal."
Jeonghan’s eyes widened. "How the hell did she find that out?"
"Damn, now I’m really curious. If she knows police secrets… does she have some powerful connections back in Korea?"
Jeonghan didn’t press. Jaehyuk turned the question back on him.
Without realizing it, Jeonghan’s thoughts drifted to the woman who lived next door—Yukiko Yamada. Hmm…? Why did Yukiko suddenly pop into my head? She is beautiful… and she is older than me…
He shook the thought away and asked, "I’m craving a drink. Want to grab one?"
Jeonghan pulled out his phone and searched for bars on Google Maps.
The two friends headed off to enjoy a drink together. As they walked, a message arrived on both their phones at the same time.
This is a female core member of the Gangryonghoe. She has shot and killed a government agent and is currently fleeing. Eliminate her on sight and contact me immediately. I promise a substantial reward if she is captured.
Attached was a photograph of Gayoung. Jeonghan tilted his head.
The sudden, bizarre message left both men frozen in place, staring at their phones in confusion.
Meanwhile, Gayoung was sprinting down an alley. She stopped for a moment, leaning against a wall and gasping for breath. Ma Dongbum… I’m sorry… I won’t forget you… Thinking of the comrade who had stayed behind to buy her time, her heart twisted with grief. She swore to herself that his sacrifice would not be in vain—she would deliver the information they had obtained to Minhyeok in Korea no matter what.
She started moving again. Two men stepped out in front of her as she rounded the corner. Jaehyuk and Jeonghan immediately recognized her as the woman from the photo in the message. When Gayoung reached for the pistol at her side, both men drew their own weapons with blinding speed and aimed them at her.
Jeonghan’s low warning made Gayoung lift her hands away from her weapon. She slowly raised both arms above her head.
What? How does she know we got a message?
Jaehyuk’s eyebrows twitched in surprise. Jeonghan remained calm.
She turned to Jaehyuk.
Both men were visibly shaken to hear their identities spoken aloud. Jaehyuk kept his pistol trained on her.
Jaehyuk looked bewildered. Jeonghan kept his weapon steady and muttered to him.
Jaehyuk kept his pistol leveled at her.
She hesitated, then reached into her pocket. Jeonghan barked at her.
Ignoring him, Gayoung pulled out a USB drive and tossed it at Jaehyuk’s feet.
At Jaehyuk’s bitter words, Gayoung looked at him with an expression full of complicated emotions.
She spun around and sprinted off in the opposite direction. Jaehyuk slowly lowered his pistol, but Jeonghan kept his aimed at her back.
Jeonghan fell silent, unable to argue. Jaehyuk picked up the USB drive, slipped it into his pocket, and thought to himself, Father… the father who doesn’t exist in any of my memories… I might actually get to meet him?