December 19th, 2015 15:20. Incheon International Airport. Yeongjong-do, Incheon City.

  A rugged looking man with an intimidating look wore a black suit passed the customs inspection desk. Quickly walking out of the airport terminal, his intense piercing eyes scanned each person around him from behind dark sunglasses as he took out his smartphone to check something.

  – Code name FH225 confirming arrival.

  – Code name AX001 target information upload complete.

  – Code name FH225 confirming receipt.

  Five minutes later, a black van stopped in front of the man. He had a brief conversation, then he exited Incheon International Airport and headed to Seoul. The man in the black suit took out his smartphone again and clicked on a recently received email.

  Address: XX Suyu-dong, 2nd floor. Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.

  Name: Kim In-jik

  Age: 24

  Occupation: Junior at Daehan University Computer Science Department

  Task: Assassination and destruction of hacking files

  After confirming all the information, the man in the black suit spoke succinctly to the driver.

  “Grand Hyatt Hotel.”


  * * *

  December 19th, 2015 16:00. Busan Port International Passenger Terminal. Busan.

  An Asian man in a dark jumper jacket wearing his beanie low swiftly passed immigration. He introduced himself as a Japanese tourist and headed to the parking lot. Perhaps aware that his appearance didn’t match that of a Japanese tourist, he quickly paced toward the part of the parking lot where a passenger car had been readied for him. He pressed on the car keys.

  Blip! Blip!

  A black sedan sounded a short alarm and flashed brake lights to his 11 o’clock. As he briskly entered the driver’s seat of the black sedan, the Asian man peeked at the rear seat. After confirming the presence of a large rectangular bag, the Asian man took out a smartphone from his pocket and sent a text.

  – Code name SD887 confirming arrival.

  – Code name AX001 target information upload complete.

  – Code name SD887 confirming receipt.

  Like his black suited counterpart at the Incheon airport, the Asian man opened his smartphone and clicked on an email he just received.

  Address: Shinara Apartments, Building 105, Unit 701. Geoje1-dong, Yeonje-gu, Busan.

  Name: Kim Guk-jin, Lee Na-gyung, Kim Young-jik

  Age: 55, 51, 18

  Occupation: Director at Bukyung Construction Corp., Housewife, Senior at Geoje High School

  Task: Assassination

  After checking his email, the Asian man threw his phone down on the passenger seat, started the car, and made his way out of the parking lot.

  District 51 security agents, who finally succeeded in tracking down the hackers, reported their information to Awold Harley. Harley had relayed the target information to the two Scorpion agents.

  * * *

  December 19th, 2015 18:00. Kim In-jik’s apartment. Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.

  Kim In-Jik asked Kang Kyoung-ho, “Hey! Aren’t you going home?”


  Kang Kyoung-ho looked like he had no intention of going home, as he had been hanging out and freeloading in Kim In-Jik’s apartment ever since the semester had ended.

  Inexplicably giddy, Kyoung-ho mockingly replied to In-jik with a huge grin. “Nope! I’m going to live here until something fun happens. Haha.”


  “Weren’t you set up with Eun-hye? Aren’t you meeting your girlfriend?”


  “Didn’t I tell you? We broke up.”


  “Already? Well, go find something to do today. I have to meet a parent to discuss a tutoring assignment.”


  He had recently made an appointment with the parent of a student he tutored before his compulsory military service. She had asked for tutoring service during the winter.

  “Okay. Bring back some chicken and beer.”


  Although Kyung-ho seemed odious and bothersome, Kim In-Jik set out from the door with a cool reply, “Sure!”


  As In-jik was getting on Subway 4 to go to Hyehwa-dong, he had an uncomfortable and ominous feeling. He dismissed it, thinking it was because he hadn’t been on a subway for a long time.

  * * *

  December 19th, 2015 22:00. Rooftop of a building. Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.

  A man in black attire and a face mask was on the rooftop of a 10-story building, carefully observing a multi-family residential building 100 meters away. He had been watching for about 20 minutes.

  Shortly thereafter, the man checked his watch. He took out what looked like a telescope and slowly started scanning the building from the first floor to the rooftop on the third floor. The telescope showed transparent imagery, showing the inside of the units with 3D objects and persons in different colors.

  “Four people on the first floor. One dog. Two people on the second floor. One person on the third floor. The target is the person on the second floor.”


  To be exact, the target was Kim In-jik. He took out his smartphone, called In-jik, and confirmed through a heat map that it was him on the phone. He swiftly took out a number of objects from his bag and started to put them together.

  What was assembled looked like an anti-tank gun launcher, but half the size.

  * * *

  December 19th, 2015 22:00. Subway 4 platform. Hyehwa Station, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul.

  In-jik, who was waiting for the train to arrive after his meeting with the parent for the tutoring job, received a phone call. “Hello?”


  “When are you coming? I’m so hungry.”


  “You glutton. I’m at Hyehwa station. I’ll be there in 30 minutes.”


  “Okay, cool. Oh right. Everything go well?”


  “Yeah. Decided to do three days a week starting next week. More pay this time around.”


  “That’s my boy. Working hard to feed his bro. Haha. Anyways, don’t forget what I asked……”


  Click! “Hello? What? You hung up on me?”


  Bang!!

  The entire subway station slightly shook with the sound of an explosion.

  As In-jik was thinking that there must have been a gas explosion accident, a train arrived on the platform.

  * * *

  December 19th, 2015 22:27. Exit 5, Suyu Station. Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.

  In-jik was met with a big surprise coming out of exit five. The road was full of fire engines passing by with sirens blaring. There was black smoke in the direction they were headed soaring among the lights.

  That……that’s the direction of my apartment.

  As the thought crossed his mind, he took out his smartphone and called Kyoung-ho. All he got was a message that the phone was turned off. As the foreboding feeling grew, he started to run towards his apartment.

  * * *

  December 19th, 2015 22:30. Near In-jik’s apartment. Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.

  Approaching his apartment past a line of fire engines, In-jik’s eyes expanded in horror. Where there was supposed to be a three-story residence was a pile of building materials with the building destroyed and burnt without a trace. The surrounding buildings were also half-destroyed and falling apart. Firefighters were busy trying to contain the fire, telling blank-faced and lethargic In-jik to get out of the way.

  “Young man! It’s dangerous here! Move away!”


  In-jik couldn’t hear a thing. All he heard was a hallucination of Kyoung-ho’s voice crying out for help……the voice in his head grew louder. Soon enough, big tears rolled down his face and he eventually started to wail. “Kyoung-ho! No! Kyoung-ho!”


  A policeman taken aback by In-jik’s sudden wailing tried to sit him down and calm him down, probably thinking In-jik was a family member of one of the victims.

  In this madness a phone call came.

  “Hel……Hello.”


  “In-jik, it’s your uncle.”


  “What’s going on?”


  “In-jik, listen carefully. Be calm.”


  “Yes? What is it?”


  “A short while ago, there was a gas explosion accident at your home. Your father, your mother, and your younger brother Young-jik were kill……”


  Thud! Plonk!

  In-jik dropped his smartphone and fainted.

  “Huh? Hey young man, wake up! Officer Kim! Call an ambulance!”