1. #Prologue #2
The machine swayed with a loud thud. Lee swayed as well from the impact.
Taekjoo took advantage of that brief opportunity.
He twisted Lee’s arm from the back, easily pulling out his gun at the same time.
The crowd watching screamed in shock before fleeing the scene at the sudden appearance of a firearm.
Taekjoo remained unfazed. He kicked Lee in the butt. Naturally, Lee fell to the ground face-first. After taking two blows to the head in a row, he couldn’t get back on his feet for a while.
In the meantime, Taekjoo flipped the clear plastic cover of the dispensing slot, retrieving a USB. It was what the woman had left behind. And according to the report given to Taekjoo, it would contain information as important as state-classified materials.
“Excuse me, coming through! Excuse me, please.”
Just then, a cabin crew came running through the crowd. Someone must have reported it. Taekjoo looked over, still unaffected, when he heard the ominous accent.
“It’ll take more than that to take me out,” said Lee.
Taekjoo got a bad feeling as he locked eyes with Lee. The man’s eyes were sparkling in an odd light, and that was when it hit Taekjoo. Lee was not going to waste the chance presented to him. It was his only lifeline. He jumped at the cabin crew member who had just inquired about what was going on.
“OH!”
It all happened so fast. Lee Cheoljin wrapped his arm around the crew’s neck, and his other hand already had a sharp weapon ready.
“AAAAAHHHHH!”
“EEEEEEEEKK!”
At the shiny, reflective blade of the knife, the bystanders all scattered and ran for their lives. The only person who held his position was Kwon Taekjoo.
Taekjoo bit his lip. It was a habit of his. Funny enough, he would get anxious when things went too smoothly. A strong start doesn’t guarantee a strong finish, and more often than not, it would leave a bitter aftertaste. And so it was the case this time.
Lee adjusted his grip on the knife. He moved it to the hand of the arm wrapped around his hostage’s neck. The hostage let out a pathetic yet blood-curdling shriek. Taekjoo scratched his head at the troublesome series of events unfolding before him.
“Hand that over.”
Lee Cheoljin demanded in his North Korean dialect, extending out his idle hand. The sharp blade of the knife inched closer to the hostage’s neck. Kwon Taekjoo simply watched the scene. He showed no reaction at all. Lee grew restless. He waved his outstretched hand.
“I said hand it over!” yelled Lee.
The hostage alone turned pale at Lee’s action, his chest rising and falling as he sobbed.
Taekjoo took one look at the USB in his palm.
Then, he threw it over to Lee with no hesitation.
The small device bounced off the body of the hostage before it fell to the ground.
Lee Cheoljin was about to bend forward to pick it up.
He quickly changed his mind. He ordered the hostage to pick it up for him.
The distressed cabin crew did as he was told, collecting the USB with a trembling hand. With his life under imminent threat, he wet his pants before he even realized it. The man couldn’t even stand straight on his own. Lee had to hold him up as he began walking backward.
As he did, Taekjoo began moving with him too. He took the exact same number of steps forward as Lee. It was almost as if Taekjoo didn’t care about the safety of the hostage. Lee took another step back, and Taekjoo responded with a step forward. Lee Cheoljin’s voice cracked from the confusion.
“Do not follow me!”
Lee yelled, but the threat had no effect on the intended target. Every time he took a step back, Taekjoo took a step forward. The distance between them remained the same. However, the one being chased was visibly distressed.
“I said stop!” Lee barked.
“S-save me!” and the hostage yelled.
He brought his hands together, asking for mercy. The urine that had soaked his pants was now dripping onto the floor. No one moved, no one made any sound. It was as if time had stopped for a moment.
Lee Cheoljin placed one foot behind to confirm, and Taekjoo followed after him. The situation was maddening. Kwon Taekjoo acted as if he couldn’t see the hostage bleeding.
“You shit, didn’t you hear me? I said stop, didn’t I?”
Lee tried showing his anger. It didn’t work either.
No sign of compromise was visible on Kwon Taekjoo’s face.
His resolution was such that he might not back down even if the hostage’s life was put in danger.
However, one thing was for sure. Once the hostage stopped breathing, Lee would not make it either.
All this was clearly written across Taekjoo’s determined eyes.
“Damn it!”
Lee Cheoljin quickly abandoned his standoff and the hostage. He jumped up the stairs behind him. Taekjoo helped the shaken cabin crew member sit against the wall. And then, the chase began.
As soon as Kwon Taekjoo reached the second floor, he saw people flooding in from the deck.
He started heading that way, and soon enough, he was able to spot Lee, who was fleeing.
Kwon Taekjoo did not run. He simply lengthened his strides, gradually picking up speed.
He had no reason to be in haste. The ship was sailing toward the vastness of the ocean. Lee was as good as a mouse in a trap.
Taekjoo went after him in no rush. The strong gusts of the sea wind swept through Taekjoo’s jet-black hair, adding to his intimidating presence.
- Sunbae[1], someone on the ferry called the Coast Guard and reported that there was an armed man on board. Is everything okay?
The voice from earlier spoke in Taekjoo’s ear via the radio.
“Let’s have this talk later. I’m a bit busy.”
Kwon Taekjoo stared squarely at Lee Cheoljin, who had finally reached the end of the deck. The voice in the earpiece tried stopping Taekjoo. Taekjoo turned the device off. Finally, only Lee Cheoljin and Kwon Taekjoo stood on the windy deck.
Lee stared down at the endless black waters before him.
His grip on the deck railing tightened. Taekjoo closed in.
Lee was backed up and cornered. There was nowhere he could run to, and he began wielding the knife in the air.
It was his last resort to save himself—a meaningless, futile attempt.
Once someone is scared, any threat they make holds no power.
“Step back!”
Lee lashed out as Taekjoo walked confidently toward him. He looked back and forth between the black current of the ocean and the approaching Taekjoo. He slashed the empty air again with his knife.
“I said step back!”
He yelled fiercely, not knowing what to do. Taekjoo casually pulled out his Colt, turning Lee’s knife into a useless strip of metal.
Lee’s stare, restless and anxious, suddenly left Taekjoo. His eyes were looking at something farther behind.
BANG—Taekjoo pulled the trigger, and his bullet precisely found its target. However, it wasn’t Lee Cheoljin who screamed and collapsed to the ground. It was Kim Yeonghee. She had been silently approaching Taekjoo.
Kim’s ivory-colored coat was stained with red. She sank to the ground, holding her mangled right hand. The Colt she held previously also fell to the ground, shooting a fire in the air. Her target could’ve been Kwon Taekjoo. It could also have been Lee Cheoljin, whose cover had been blown.
Taekjoo turned back to face straight ahead.
In the meantime, Lee abandoned his knife and turned around, his back now facing Taekjoo.
He took a deep breath, holding onto the deck railing.
In response, his shoulders rose, and his back hunched.
Taekjoo had a bad feeling. In that moment, Lee Cheoljin’s body, barely clinging to the railing, suddenly lurched to the other side.
Taekjoo was left speechless for a moment.
He sprinted toward the guardrail, but before he could reach it, he heard the water splash. He looked down and saw a patch of the dark waters churning with white froth.
Taekjoo looked around, his eyes searching for Lee Cheoljin, but the man was nowhere to be found. And so, he started waiting—for a good while. Lee’s head bobbed up from the white froth. To jump from that height was no different from suicide.
But as if to laugh at Taekjoo’s assessment, suddenly, another ship appeared. It was an old fishing vessel. Its lights were all turned off, which was probably how it passed through all authority checkpoints.
Emerging from the darkness, the vessel slowly drew closer to Lee Cheoljin.
Taekjoo had not seen this coming. This could have been Lee’s true escape plan all along.
He would direct his trackers’ attention to the return ticket he booked.
Then, as soon as he retrieved the object from Kim, he would vanish into thin air in the middle of the sea.
Taekjoo fired instantly at the vessel, but it was not easy to aim at a target he couldn’t see. Plus, the man was the target of his mission, but it would give Taekjoo some headache if he killed the man. After all, if he had been given permission to kill, Taekjoo would not be here in the first place.
The goal of this mission was to eliminate North Korean spies in the South—specifically, those who had long embedded themselves in South Korea, infiltrated the government and political institutions, and stolen state-level classified information.
There were probably many accomplices, colluding with them and helping them all along.
Taekjoo had to dig up the root; he couldn’t simply cut the shallow stem named Lee Cheoljin.
All the while, the passenger ferry kept sailing, increasing the gap between itself and the fishing vessel.
A man came out from the wheelhouse. He pulled Lee up the ship.
The first thing Lee did was take off his soaked jacket.
Indeed, flotation devices of all kinds were strapped to his body.
On the deck of the moving vessel, Lee Cheoljin raised a hand mockingly. He had the look of victory on his face.
Taekjoo grinned before wiping the crooked smile off his face. He whirled on the spot and headed straight to Kim Yeonghee.
Kim was trembling from the pain of her mangled hand.
And all the while, she struggled to get something out.
It was poison. The woman was attempting suicide.
Kwon Taekjoo struck her neck with the blade of his hand.