2. New Mission #3
It had looked like a person’s silhouette.
Am I seeing things? Taekjoo couldn’t be sure, as it was too dark outside.
But at the same time, it gave him the creeps.
He couldn’t shake the eerie feeling hanging over him.
He tilted his head, wondering. Slowly, he turned back to his previous sitting position.
Vasily asked what was wrong, and Taekjoo responded that it was nothing.
As he took in more of the street outside, something clicked.
The car was passing through the same street they’d already passed.
The buildings all looked alike, and the street was so dark that there was almost zero visibility.
But despite the darkness, Taekjoo was sure they’d already been here.
He mumbled, staring at the trash can they were speeding by.
“We’re lost, I guess.”
“We’re not. We’re going the right way.”
“No, we’re not. I’m sure we’ve already passed this street. Do you see the trash can on the left? The smudge, the overflowing trash, and the half-closed lid—it’s the same one. Also, look at the building behind it. The crack in the surface, the color of the bricks, the shape of the window,
the laundry line across it, and the flower pot below. They’re all the same ones I saw earlier.”
Taekjoo calmly listed the details from memory. Vasily listened quietly. Then, he sneered.
“You have quite an eye for detail, Mr. Sakamoto.”
There was a jeering edge to his voice—a clear mockery. The excessive enthusiasm and friendliness were gone altogether. Generally speaking, a plot twist as sudden as this one is rarely favorable.
Something was going wrong. Without hesitation, Taekjoo drew his Colt. He cocked the gun—trigger half-pulled. Taekjoo met the driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Stop,” said Taekjoo.
His commanding voice was deep, and the man behind the wheel did as he was told. The sedan came to a halt in the middle of a narrow street. Vasily didn’t protest but simply put his hands up in the air.
“That’s quite a dangerous toy you’ve brought with you, Mr. Sakamoto.”
“Who are you?”
“I already told you, didn’t I? I’m Vasily Alexandrovich, here to escort you to your destination.”
“And I assume the Alexandrovich in question has nothing to with Gazprom,” said Taekjoo.
“No, he is related—just tiny bit.”
That was when it happened.
“...?”
A stranger threw open the car’s back door and climbed into the backseat, pushing Taekjoo deeper into the vehicle.
The man had a Tokarev, a Russian semi-automatic pistol.
The soot-black gun was pointed at Taekjoo’s temple.
A red laser dot appeared—a sniper rifle was aiming at the left side of his chest.
Taekjoo was completely surrounded. He clenched his jaw hard.
“I suggest you behave well, Mr. Sakamoto.”
Vasily snickered as he enunciated each syllable of the name. Taekjoo had no clue who Vasily was or what he was after. However, one thing was clear—Taekjoo had to escape this situation immediately.
But the question was, how? One wrong move, and they were about to put a hole in Taekjoo’s head and chest, respectively.
He moved his eyes around and observed his surroundings.
The street was swallowed in darkness, with only the car’s headlamp cutting through.
Only two lights now—the headlamp and the dome light above Vasily’s smirk.
“You can’t outsmart your way out of this, Mr. Sakamoto. Try me, and your head will be blown to—”
Vasily didn’t even get to finish his warning. Taekjoo jerked forward in a split second. The sound of gunfire immediately followed. The bullet struck the dome light, plunging the vehicle into darkness.
Immediately after, the sniper fired another shot. The gunshot echoed loudly, immediately met with the sharp sound of shattering glass. The backseat windows blew apart.
A brief pause, then heavy silence fell. No movement could be detected around the vehicle. Still, the sniper held his position, keeping his guard up as he slowly moved his gun.
Suddenly, the car jolted into motion. It began speeding through the unlit, narrow alley, knocking over trash cans and scraping against building walls as it swerved dangerously.
The sniper fired again, one shot too late. The bullet only destroyed the car’s bumper and side mirror.
“If you don’t wanna end up like him, you better do as I say.”
Kwon Taekjoo wiped blood off his face as he threatened the driver.
The blood wasn’t his. It belonged to the man who had been getting into the car earlier.
Taekjoo had grabbed him, using him as a human shield against the sniper.
Now, the man hung limp, his head tilted backward.
Things weren’t much different for Vasily.
He had been shot right in the middle of his face.
His body slumped forward onto the dashboard.
The driver, covered in blood that wasn’t his, drove obediently without fighting back.
Taekjoo had his arm wrapped around the driver’s neck from behind as he gave directions to drive.
The problem was that no matter how far they went, no main road appeared.
That left them relying on the headlights, but that would give away their location to the sniper.
Driving without it was impossible, though.
It was so dark that without any light, they couldn’t even tell if the path continued or ended in a dead end.
And there it was once again.
“...!”
Something extremely fast darted through the buildings.
It was the same thing Taekjoo had seen earlier.
Was it a cat? No, it was much larger and heavier, yet its movements were quicker than a feline’s.
Disturbed and disappointed, Taekjoo tried to trace the figure.
But it had vanished into the darkness and never reappeared.
Once could be a mistake, but twice? That was no coincidence. Taekjoo couldn’t shake off the sinister feeling that followed him. He glanced around. A sedan abruptly appeared from the next street.
BAM—there was a deafening sound, and the car Taekjoo was in lurched forward. At the same time, the back seat where he sat soared into the air. The brief moment of suspension felt like an eternity, as if time itself had paused.
Then, as if time had started to tick again, Taekjoo’s vision spun upside down. His body slammed into the vehicle. Glass shattered and flew everywhere. In an instant, the car flipped, its wheels spinning uselessly in the air.
The silence enveloped the surroundings once more. There was no movement from either of the collided cars. There was only the sound of their engines, resembling a wail.
After quite some time, a noise broke the silence. Someone was kicking the smashed and caved-in door, trying to make it out of the car. It was Kwon Taekjoo. He squeezed himself out of the tight gap he had made.
“Ugh...”
He placed his hand on the ground, trying to push himself up. But the sudden wooziness made him flop back down. He had hit his head on the car during the accident and suspected he had a concussion.
Taekjoo shook his head, trying to regain focus and clear his mind.
He grabbed onto the car’s body and finally managed to pull himself to his feet.
The first thing he checked was the driver’s seat.
It was quiet. There was blood everywhere on the broken window.
From the blood and silence, the driver was clearly gone.
And there was no sound or movement from the other car either.
Taekjoo had no idea what was going on. Who were they?
Who were these people who appeared out of nowhere and attacked Taekjoo—no—Sakamoto Hiro?
What did they want? What were they after?
They knew the exact schedule of Hiro’s flight and had detailed information about his background.
This suggested they were no ordinary criminals.
It was unlikely they held grudges against the Japanese corporation.
A more reasonable assumption was that they were targeting Gazprom or the Russian government by leveraging a key individual.
But that didn’t bring any comfort to Taekjoo.
He wasn’t Sakamoto Hiro. He had no reason to go through this on behalf of the Japanese man.
The moment his feet touched Russian soil, things started to unravel.
Taekjoo shook his head, unhappy about how things were playing out. He walked to the back of the car to retrieve his suitcase. He was struggling to open the trunk when an unwelcome voice interrupted him.
“Hands up.”
Taekjoo flinched instinctively. He heard the click of a gun being cocked. One more movement, and the trigger would be pulled.
Taekjoo held his hands up in the air, looking sullen.
He obediently followed the order to turn around.
Finally, he faced the man holding the gun.
It was a stranger. Judging from the way his head was bleeding profusely, he must have been in the crashing car.
The man’s gun looked familiar, and it made Taekjoo sure the man was with Vasily.
What was he supposed to do? Taekjoo was trying to come up with a solution when he noticed a familiar Colt lying around by the man’s feet.
“Walk over here slowly. Try anything stupid, you’ll regret it.”
The man was in too bad a shape for his threat to actually be threatening, however. Regardless, Taekjoo did as he was told without any resistance. The man wouldn’t be able to kill Taekjoo—if he could, he already would have.
As expected, Taekjoo could see that the man didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger.
On the contrary, he seemed afraid, scared he might be forced to pull the trigger when the circumstances required it.
The man was the one with the gun, he also had the upper hand between the two.
And yet, the closer Taekjoo got, the more anxious the man became.
Perhaps things would turn out easier than Taekjoo expected. And just when he thought things might go smoothly, a hand seized the back of his neck.
“Let’s take off the jacket, buddy. Who knows what you got hidden underneath?”
There was one more of them. Taekjoo glanced over his shoulder, but this guy was also a stranger to him. He could only guess, based on the rifle in the man’s hand, that he was the sniper earlier. Taekjoo shrugged and took off the jacket—except for the right sleeve.
He faked slipping his arm out of the right sleeve.
And as he did, he tightened his grip on the jacket and yanked it toward him.
The sniper, who’d been holding onto Taekjoo’s jacket with only one hand because of the rifle in the other, lost balance.