December 23rd, 2016 22:30

  Choongbook Chungju-si 200m vicinity of the 17th Fighter Wing.

  The spy drone infiltrated up to the second level of the underground research facility’s basement using the vent system and displayed the internals of the building to the monitor.

  “Walter, does something not seem right to you?”


  No matter how they looked at it, the second level of the basement they saw on the monitor looked like a lab. Louie scratched his head and whispered to Walter.

  “Yeah, you’re right. Something is not right. It’s officially registered as a storage facility for next-generation weapons, but this looks like a research building to me.

  When Walter also agreed with his hunch, Louie, who was comparing the blueprints to the screen, pointed a place on the blueprint and ordered Walter.

  “Walter, try going to the section near the third level in the main hall.”


  “On it.”


  Walter moved the controller’s levers as Louie directed and moved the spy drone to the third level of the basement through the vent. A moment later, the spy drone maneuvered out of the third level of the basement and successfully entered the main hall area while avoiding security cameras or detection equipment.

  “Yeah that, this place is built way larger than the other areas! Move to there.”


  Steven, who sat in the driver’s seat keeping watch, saw the lights of an approaching car. He quickly ducked down and whispered, “Louie, a car is approaching! What should we do?”


  “Walter, cover the monitor’s lights!”


  “Okay.”


  Walter covered the monitor with his coat to prevent any light from escaping out. Louie, Steven, and Walter all quietly waited for the car to pass.

  A van honked the horn once and passed by. They did not notice the car drop something on the road, so Louie and his group started working after seeing the van pass.

  “Walter! Keep going!”


  When Walter was about to grab the controller for the drone and enter the vent connected to the main hall, a large explosion rang out and shook the black van.

  Boom!

  The black van swayed from the shock of the explosion as the windows broke. Louie and Walter lost their balance and fell. Steven, who seemed to maintain his balance from holding onto the steering wheel, pulled out his pistol and checked his surroundings.

  “What…… What the?”


  “I don’t know what happened! Something exploded. Is our cover blown?”


  “God damn it! Abort the mission! Steven, gun it!”


  A black van rushed towards the road and began accelerating, but a tire seemed to have gone flat from the explosion. The van tilted to one side and ran on its desired speed. Gunshots began going off behind them.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  The van that passed them by moments ago had returned and was showering them with bullets. Louie and Walter responded by pulling out their M416 rifles and shooting back from the broken windows.

  Ba-ba-ba-bang! Ba-ba-ba-bang!

  Both vans were firing at one another and taking heavy damage from the spray of bullets when Louie shouted, “Steven! Go faster!”


  “I can’t, the tire is flat! Wha, What is that? Our path is blocked!”


  They were out of the frying pan and into the fire. 100 meters ahead of them, a bright searchlight was on and the 17th Fighter Wing’s military police were waiting for them with a barricade. In surprise, Steven quickly turned the steering wheel to the left to take the van towards a frozen field. Since the tire was flat and damaged, the van lost speed in the field.

  “Louie! I don’t think we can go much further. The tires are all flat.”


  “Each of us is on our own from here on out. Walter, take the memory card from the spy drone and get out of here. Steven and I will cover you.”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Walter, who answered quickly from the urgent situation, pulled out the SD memory card from the spy drone and placed it in a case and then his pocket. The black van stopped in the middle of the field.

  “Steven, let’s head out.”


  “All right!”


  Steven opened the car door first, got out at Louie’s command, and began firing founds at the van. Meanwhile, Louie got out through the back door, took cover, and threw a grenade at it.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Boom!

  A pillar of dirt rose when the grenade exploded and the van giving chase halted, then hid behind the van to take cover from the bullets.

  “Now! Run!”


  Walter ran to the other side of the black van as fast as he could upon hearing Louie. A sound that resembled a watermelon breaking rang out from Steven’s head while he fired back at the barrage of bullets. Reddish black flesh sprayed in all directions as Steven’s body limply. Louie, who witnessed the whole event, lowered his body to hide and shouted as he punched the black van, “God damn it! They have snipers too! We don’t stand a chance!”


  Louie realized they were at a disadvantage. As he saw Walter running away, he pulled out a C4 bomb from his pocket and attached it to the black van. Then he began running sideways in the direction as Walter. The agents watching from the van gave chase.

  Louie ran as fast as he could and pressed the ignition switch. When he did so, the van flew into the air from an explosion and burst into flames.

  Boom!

  Meanwhile, Walter had left the field and hid behind a shed with a sigh in relief. When the NIS Intelligence collection unit 1 found out their target was the underground research facility 2 hours ago, the agency had covertly placed units 1, 2 and 3 in the expected getaway routes.

  ‘Where should I go to get out of here? Things are way too out of hand.’ Walter thought.

  Walter tried to think of a way to escape as he caught his breath, but an idea did not come to him easily.

  ‘Let’s head to the downtown area first.’ Walter thought.

  When he was about to finish coming up with his plan and stand back up to run again, a strong force hit him in the face.

  Smack!

  Walter slowly lost consciousness.

  “You bastard! It’s a shame you put that much effort but didn’t get away, isn’t it?”


  It was manager Kang Gyun-ho of intelligence collection unit 1 team 2 who struck Walter’s head with the butt of his pistol. He pulled his arms behind Walter’s back, cuffed him, and began to search him.

  “This is watermelon field. The first harvest is complete, over.”


  “This is farmer. Take caution until the rest are harvested, over.

  “This is watermelon field. Confirmed, over.”


  Louie had to zig-zag across the field to avoid the snipers. He easily jumped over the fence of a factory and hid behind the materials stacked outside.

  “I wonder if Walter made it out……” he panted.

  Louie, who was ducking down and checking his magazine, did not know. A reconnaissance drone from the 17th Fighter Wing was 100 meters in the air. The reconnaissance drone was transmitting Louie’s location using an infrared camera, informing the agents of Louie’s location in real-time.

  After a few minutes passed, Louie checked his surroundings and instinctively knew; his location was exposed and the search net was getting tighter.

  “The mission is a complete failure. This is far too difficult to handle.”


  Facing the reality of the situation, Louie began checking his equipment.

  ’12 rounds in the equipped magazine and two full magazines with 30 rounds total, but I can’t escape the search with my current weaponry. I have to buy as much time for Walter to get out and finish my mission,’ he thought.

  When Louie made up his mind, he pointed his gun at the black shadow approaching him between the materials and pulled the trigger.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Bang! Bang Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  In an instant, a barrage of bullets began flying towards Louie from all directions. When Louie ducked down and tried to reposition himself to pull the trigger again, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and thighs. He watched as his clothes turning red from the blood gushing out.

  “Ah…… Ah!”


  Louie lost all of his strength from the pain at his chest and thighs, dropped his gun and then went limp. He was spewing blood from his mouth and his vision began turning blurry. However, an unknown source of willpower came to him and his right hand used all his might to pull out something. A moment later a safety pin from a grenade was pulled out.

  ‘Steven…… I am coming.’


  Boom!

  After the situation was handled and 10 minutes passed, watermelon field reported in.

  “This is watermelon field. 2 dead and 1 captured alive. Harvest complete, over.

  “This is farmer. Great work watermelon field. Return after clean up, over.”


  “This is watermelon field. Confirmed, over.”


  All the while, the main HQ building in Hapjeong-dong was also being apprehended by the strike team from the NIS, where one of the 5 was killed and the other four were arrested. The leak of the national secret was slowly coming to its end.

  * * *

  December 24th, 2016 09:10

  Seoul Kangnam-Ku NIS intelligence collection department interrogation room.

  “Minister Ahn?”


  Minister Ahn, who was sleeping slouched against the table, woke from his slumber from hearing the strange man’s voice. He raised his upper body while being handcuffed, but he could not help but bow his head in shame upon seeing who had spoken. Standing in front of him was NIS Secretary Na Bong-il.

  Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho, who was arrested last night, went through intense interrogation throughout the night and confessed to everything out of fear. In response, Intelligence collection unit 1 accompanied agent Lee Ja-sung at 5:00 am and immediately arrested Minister Ahn Sang-Tae sleeping in his residence and brought him to the NIS.

  “Would you like a smoke?”


  Minister Ahn Sang-Tae nodded his head to Secretary Na Bong-il’s question, lit the cigarette he received, and took in a deep breath. After he took a couple more, he looked at Secretary Na Bong-il and spoke.

  “Secretary Na, I did not meet those people to leak classified information. They contacted me, so all I did was meet with them once.”


  “Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho confessed to everything, and we’ve already obtained proof. Don’t you understand your current situation? You are a high ranking government bureaucrat, but what is it that you lacked to cross the line? I don’t understand.”


  Minister Ahn Sang-Tae put out his cigarette with trembling hands and asked with a troubled look on his face, “What will become of me?”


  “You are charged with leaking an S-ranked national secret. In other words, you will be tried and sentenced to treason. I don’t think you will be able to avoid a life sentence.”


  “By life sentence you mean I will have to spend the rest of my life in prison?”


  Secretary Na Bong-il answered Minister Ahn in a tone that considered him to be pathetic.

  “Doesn’t that sound better than an execution?”