The President of Taeyang SNC (3)
“……What?”
Captain Oh’s eyes widened as he stared at Lieutenant Colonel Jeong.
“You’re really sending me out there… personally?”
This wasn’t even the mission he had been assigned from the start. There was already a designated field commander in charge, so he couldn’t understand why the responsibility was suddenly being dumped on him.
“Why? Got a problem with it?”
Lieutenant Colonel Jeong asked with a shameless expression.
“No, it’s not that I have a problem, but… if I step forward, it’ll look like I’m reprimanding Captain Lee, who was originally the operation commander. It could hurt morale…”
Captain Oh tried not to show his panic and politely danced around his refusal. He had thought mentioning his own name earlier was just a way to calm down President Yang. But now it seemed like he was genuinely being ordered to deploy.
“Reprimand, huh…”
Lieutenant Colonel Jeong stared blankly at the waitresses’ corpses scattered across the table and floor.
“That bastard Lee does need to get his head straight. I’ve babied him all this time, and look at this mess. What the hell is this? Why should I have to suffer this kind of humiliation? If he had just taken a clean photo, none of this would’ve happened… Tsk!”
Of course, Captain Oh fully agreed with that assessment. However… he really didn’t want to get directly involved in something this dirty and dangerous. Besides, he had never once engaged zombies on the front lines.
“But… if I take over, I’m worried it’ll damage Captain Lee’s authority in front of the troops. Why don’t we just call him in and give him a firm correction order…”
No matter how many excuses Captain Oh piled up to try to wriggle out of it, Lieutenant Colonel Jeong simply waved his hand while blowing out cigarette smoke.
“No! I don’t want to deal with this headache anymore! It means I want someone capable to step up and wrap this up cleanly, so stop overthinking it. Captain Oh, you handle it properly and come back! We’ll schedule the sortie for 0600 hours. Understood? …Now let’s go! Damn it, my mood is completely ruined!”
As if he had nothing more to say, Lieutenant Colonel Jeong shot to his feet and strode out of the room, carefully stepping around the blood-soaked patches on the floor. In that moment, all responsibility for the matter was transferred to Captain Oh.
“Huu…”
A sigh escaped Jinwoo’s lips. It wasn’t from fear of the danger to come.
Just in case the search team released military dogs tomorrow, they had thrown away all the clothes the Witch had been wearing into the Jungnang Stream. Inside the subway station, they had also left messy footprints mixed with coffee grounds all the way to Yongmasan Station to obscure their trail.
On top of that, they had perfectly prepared enough ammunition and food to hold out for several days. They had even removed the battery from the ZenCorp device in case it might ring. There was no reason to be afraid. However…
“Sweetie, you promised to become my bodyguard and protect me, right? Hehehe.”
The bizarre way of speaking coming from one corner of the waiting room was driving him insane. It felt like that woman was constantly testing the limits of his patience.
“Haa…”
Jinwoo swallowed another quiet sigh and continued oiling the parts of Lieutenant Park’s K-2. He hoped that focusing on restoring the rifle that had been neglected for the past three months would at least help him endure this.
Whether she knew what he was thinking or not, the Witch, who was resting her chin on her hand while sipping yangju, muttered more nonsense.
“I’m so melancholic. If I could listen to some classical music, I think I’d feel a little less melancholy…”
“……Classical?”
Sheriff asked back with a dumbfounded face. They were grinding their teeth to survive in a zombie-infested world, and she was complaining about wanting to appreciate music? Even Jenny and Terra, who had been singers, never said anything like that. Once your hearing was compromised, you couldn’t stay properly alert.
“Right. It’s a night when I miss Rachmaninoff’s lunatic yet romantic piano. Especially Concerto Number Three…”
The Witch leaned subtly against his shoulder and nodded. Sheriff replied in a soulless voice with his mouth half open.
“Ah, I see… Huu…”
Sheriff let out a small sigh and accepted the Imperial bottle from the Witch, taking a swig. If it were up to his temper, he would have already given her a good smack on the head and told her to shut her empty skull… but because of the mission YB had given him, he couldn’t. It was enough to make his insides explode.
“Ah, it feels a bit warmer now. Is it the whiskey? Or… hehehe, is it thanks to my hot Sweetie?”
The Witch, who had taken off her lightweight padding, looked at Sheriff with a strange smile.
“……You’re hot?”
They had closed all the doors that had been left open for ventilation during the day, so it had improved a little, but it was still late November and a cold rain was drizzling outside. The inside of a building abandoned for four months without heating was nothing but chilly. Warm? What warm?
“Well, the alcohol must have warmed you up and chased away the chill…”
Sheriff wiped the whiskey from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and changed the subject back to what he had been talking about earlier.
“Anyway, more importantly… just give me your father’s direct phone number. Look, I don’t want you getting hurt. But to make that happen, I need to talk to Chairman Hwang. That way I can negotiate directly and get you released quickly.”
“Hmph! You want to release me quickly? Are you sure? You’re going to miss this moment of talking together while I’m your hostage, aren’t you?”
“Release…? Ah, damn it, what the hell does that mean? Just give me the number! Chairman Hwang’s number!”
The increasingly irritated Sheriff clapped his large palms together loudly and finally raised his voice. Even so, the Witch simply shook her flushed cheeks and continued slurring her words.
“Even if you knew the number, it would be useless! Don’t you see? Do you think my daddy would respond to just any phone call? The owner of Taeyang Group? No way! He won’t answer! Never!”
“He doesn’t answer just any number? Then call from your phone! He’d answer that, wouldn’t he?”
“Where’s my phone? It was in that small bag, but Sweetie, you left it behind by the Han River. It’s gone! Are you really going to go back to that cafeteria to look for it? No, no, no, no, no!”
Repeating the word “no” while waving her index finger, the Witch suddenly clapped her hands together.
“Ah, that’s right. Speaking of which, you mentioned your vehicle earlier, didn’t you? It was a Genesis Coupe, right?”
“Yeah. But you can’t listen to music in that thing. It’s too dangerous. Especially at this hour…”
Sheriff drew a clear line, looking uneasy. He had turned the music up to maximum volume with Jinwoo earlier to lure the zombies, but that had only been for a very brief moment. Sitting in a car listening to songs in this pitch-black darkness would put their lives at risk even if they had ten of them.
“I have plenty of luxury vehicles in the South Area too… Mercedes, Porsche… If you agree to work for me, I could give them all to you. As a gift. And I’ll promote you faster than President Yang. Just maintain your loyalty to me.”
The Witch spoke while gauging Sheriff’s reaction. Of course, Sheriff felt no temptation whatsoever.
“Forget it. I already have more cars than I know what to do with, so stop talking nonsense and tell me roughly how many people you’re holding in Busan before you get any more drunk…”
“That’s not enough!”
The Witch cut Sheriff off with a serious expression.
“Why would a man like you settle for a cheap model like a Genesis Coupe? Hmm? You might even get to ride a Ferrari…”
Dragging out the pronunciation of “Ferrari,” the Witch stroked her prominent chest over her tracksuit top.
“Ugh…”
Jinwoo, who had been sitting on a long bench some distance away reassembling Lieutenant Park’s rifle, let out a heavy sigh and stood up, grabbing his K-2. The area around his asshole felt itchy. He couldn’t stand listening to this any longer.
“No, no… Don’t follow me, Samsuk. I’m just going to get some fresh air. Keep sleeping.”
Jinwoo tried to soothe Samsuk, who was getting up to follow him. Of course, the dog wouldn’t listen.
“Haaam—!”
After a long yawn, Samsuk blinked but still followed right behind Jinwoo. As if he refused to be separated even for a single moment.
“Fine, I get it. Let’s go together.”
Jinwoo stroked the dog’s head once, then turned on the flashlight attached to his K-2 and climbed the dark staircase.
“Yubin, want to switch? Aren’t you cold? It’s raining like this.”
Jinwoo asked as he opened the roof door. Yubin, who had been watching the road from under the camouflage tarp they had set up in the evening, spread both arms wide.
“Nah… I’m fine. This jacket is seriously good, man.”
He was wearing a lightweight padding under a Gore-Tex jacket with the hood pulled up, so he didn’t feel particularly cold yet. His face was just a little chilly. And the rain was almost stopping now.
“How are Sheriff and that woman? Getting along?”
Yubin scooted over to make space for Jinwoo to sit and asked. Jinwoo shook his head with a fed-up expression.
“It’s beyond a mess. They’re stuck together on the long bench, whispering nonstop… Ugh, it’s so embarrassing I can barely watch.”
“Whispering? They’ve already gotten that close? Wow… Sheriff’s doing way better than I expected.”
“It’s not that he’s doing well. That idiot has zero game, so he’s been pestering her for hours… How many people are locked up where, what’s your father’s number… Come on, that woman isn’t an idiot. She’s not going to spill it all at once! Maybe if he eased into it with other conversation first…”
“Then what does she say? No matter how directly Sheriff asks, she must respond somehow, right?”
When Yubin asked again, Jinwoo frowned, still annoyed just thinking about it.
“She keeps swaying like this, slurring her words and talking nonsense. Saying she wants to listen to some weird classical music, that she’ll miss this moment, that if she goes to Busan with him he’ll make her successful, stuff like that.”
“Is the woman really drunk?”
Yubin looked surprised. That was actually pretty good news. If the Witch had voluntarily gotten drunk in this situation, it meant she had that much trust in Sheriff.
“No way.”
Jinwoo waved his hand dismissively.
“They’ve been sipping on one tiny bottle of Imperial for hours. How could she be drunk? I think she’s swallowed more saliva than alcohol. From what I saw, she’s completely fine. She’s not drunk.”
“She’s fine but she’s swaying and can’t even pronounce words properly?”
“Remember how when Samsik drank with girls, they would pretend to be drunk on purpose? They’d sway around laughing, randomly poking him, stroking his thighs…”
“Ah, that…”
Yubin nodded immediately in understanding. Back when they joined drinking parties or went on group dates… the girls paired with Samsik would always act drunk like that, leaning on his chest. And the final line of their performance was always, “I’m too drunk, can’t you take me home, Samsik?”
“That woman is doing exactly that right now. In my opinion, she’s deliberately acting drunk.”
Jinwoo declared with conviction. Yubin tilted his head, not quite understanding.
“What does she gain from doing that?”
This was different from the girls who used to pair with Samsik. Those girls had been enchanted by a handsome man they were seeing for the first time, but Hwang Nayeon was far from someone trying to start a romance.
“She’s probably just trying to avoid answering. If she uses being drunk as an excuse, she can dodge difficult questions and talk nonsense instead. And also…”
Jinwoo continued with a grimace, as if thinking of something filthy.
“It’s a bit weird, but I think she might actually be trying to seduce Sheriff. She keeps stroking her own chest like that and saying she’ll buy him a Ferrari… And calling him Sweetie all the time is driving me crazy. I thought that ‘Sweetie’ thing was something only Grandpa Paul used for Jenny and Terra, but now she’s using it on that hulking bastard…”
“She said she’d buy him a Ferrari? She’s not kidding. Why is she doing that?”
“I think she wants to tame Sheriff like some pet and make him betray us… You know how in movies there’s always that idiot who falls for the villainess and screams ‘Don’t talk badly about my girlfriend!’ while beating everyone else to death…”
“Pfft!”
Yubin burst out laughing at Jinwoo’s ridiculous imitation. At the same time, it made sense. Using honey-trap tactics in a situation like this… It was absurd, but the Witch of Ruin was more than capable of coming up with such a stupid plan.
Besides, if you judged her purely on appearance, it was hard to deny that she was quite beautiful. Of course, that was only by average standards. She couldn’t possibly compare to Jenny or Terra.
“Well… she doesn’t know who we’ve been with, so she might harbor ambitions like that.”
Yubin, who had finally stopped laughing, nodded. The Witch’s honey trap wasn’t scary at all. Jinwoo rested his chin on his hand and threw out another joke.
“Anyway, both of them have ulterior motives, but the way they keep stroking each other and whispering is pretty intense. What if they actually end up falling for each other and Sheriff becomes the son-in-law of Taeyang Group?”
“Then we’ll just use our friend’s connection to join Taeyang and become salarymen at a big corporation. Our path to success will be wide open.”
“Kkklkl!”
The two friends were giggling foolishly when the roof door opened again.
Creak—!
This time it was Mingu who stepped out. Wearing a lightweight padding jacket over his suit, Mingu lit a cigarette and asked.
“Not cold? Want me to take over?”
“No, not yet… Did you come out because watching Sheriff and that woman flirt was too embarrassing, hyung?”
When Yubin asked, Mingu lightly chuckled while covering the cigarette flame with his hand.
“Heh… That guy is trying pretty hard in his own way.”
Just seeing the short-tempered and foul-mouthed Sheriff endure without yelling once showed how much effort he was putting in to win her favor. However…
“That bitch isn’t an easy opponent. Even if her head isn’t that great, she’s as cunning as her father.”
Mingu shook his head as if it were impossible and blew cigarette smoke toward the night sky where a light rain was falling. He thought that while the schemer might be able to handle her, the Witch was far too much for an innocent guy like Sheriff to persuade.
“Still, we’ve at least gotten one name we hadn’t heard before.”
Yubin shrugged. President Yang of Taeyang SNC… No matter how many times they had threatened her or tried to coax her nicely, she had never let that information slip. Yet Sheriff had managed to dig it out in just an hour of the Sunshine Operation. For the first day, that was a hugely meaningful step forward.
“I don’t trust that President Yang guy either. I’m not even sure if he’s really on that bitch’s side.”
“That’s true.”
Yubin agreed with Mingu’s opinion. They were only at the very beginning of the negotiation. All information was still unclear and confusing. Even so, Yubin wanted to focus on the fact that an opportunity had arisen. Capturing the daughter of Chairman Hwang as a hostage was not something they could have easily expected.
“I’ll tell Sheriff to dig a little more. We still have plenty of time left.”
At Yubin’s words, Mingu casually made a chilling suggestion.
“Just cut one off cleanly and send it to Chairman Hwang’s company along with a letter. That would be much more effective. That bitch would understand her situation better too.”
“No, no. That’s a bit… Unless we’re going to kill Chairman Kim as well, I think we really shouldn’t use that method. Even if it feels frustrating, just hold on a little longer, hyung. We still have four days left.”
Yubin smiled bitterly while rubbing his forehead. He didn’t feel sympathy for the Witch, but Mingu’s solution was truly a last resort that should be saved until the very end. The moment they cut off a finger or an ear, this hostage situation would spiral into extreme territory for both sides. If things escalated that far, the aftermath would be a massive headache. Especially in a situation like this with no proper medical facilities. And…
“If it really was Chairman Hwang who tried to kill her, then the person who delivers her finger and the letter will end up dead too. Either way, they wouldn’t suffer any loss.”
“Hmm… That could be the case.”
Mingu narrowed his eyes and nodded in agreement after hearing Yubin. It seemed hard to believe he would try to kill his only remaining child, but there was no such thing as absolute order in this world.
“Yes. So for now, our priority is to get as much information as possible from her and make a judgment based on that.”
Yubin stuck to his usual cautious and careful approach. This was completely different in nature from when they had rushed into Taeyang Group to rescue Terra. They still knew nothing about where or how they should strike.
“Do whatever you think is best. You’re the brain.”
Mingu nodded willingly without insisting further.
“But what are you planning to do in four days? We can’t take her with us.”
Jinwoo asked. In four days, Grandpa Paul would come to Point B to pick them up. They didn’t want to show her even a helicopter with JL’s mark on it. If they did, the moment she was released, a search would begin targeting every facility related to JL.
“Ah, about that… I’ve been thinking about it this whole time…”
Yubin scratched his head as he spoke.
“It looks like one or two of us will have to stay here with her for a few more days even after four days.”