November 17th, 2023, 04:30

  The North State, a warehouse at Pyeong-yang, Yongsung-ku, Limwon-dong

  It was the dead of night while everyone was asleep. The cold Siberian winds caused temperatures to drop, but the North Korean agents from the Foreign Intelligence Unit 1 were busy packing their gear and preparing to move out.

  “Is everyone ready?” Oh Ji-wan glanced at his men packing busily at one corner of the warehouse.

  “We are good to go, comrade,” Kang Tae-woo, who was helping the last few of his men pack, answered.

  “Let’s get going then! Shouldn’t we arrive there before dawn?”


  “Yes, sir! What are you maggots doing? Didn’t you hear our captain?”


  When Kang Tae-woo scolded his men, the agents started to put on their small and large packs before heading outside.

  “And our communication devices are working, right?” Oh Ji-wan asked Goo Sang-sik and Nam Gyu-tae, who were to stay behind at the warehouse before he started to leave.

  “We have checked them the minute we got up, sir. They are working fine,” Goo Sang-sik tapped on the radio and answered the captain.

  “We will contact you, so don’t do anything else until we do! Also, wipe off any of our tracks so we can leave immediately after we arrive. Understood?”


  “Yes, sir. We will get it done.”


  “See you soon, then!”


  After Oh Ji-wan left, only Goo Sang-sik and Nam Gyu-tae remained.

  “Comrade! What should we do?” Nam Gyu-tae looked through the window to make sure Oh Ji-wan and his men were out of sight and started to speak to Goo Sang-sik.

  “What do you mean, what are we going to do? We’re going to follow through with our plan!”


  Yesterday, Nam Gyu-tae and Goo Sang-sik had set up a secret plan. Goo Sang-sik concluded that their night out at the Emperor’s Saloon had put their lives at risk. He suggested a plan to Nam Gyu-tae: they would take all the money they got before the mission and run off.

  Nam Gyu-tae hesitated. He could not abandon the other agents whom he had spent years with in the struggle. However, he ended up getting persuaded by Goo Sang-sik.

  Oh Ji-wan, who was even more hot-tempered than Kang Tae-woo, only spared them for the mission and they would surely be killed after the mission was over.

  “What are you doing? Let’s pack up and get out of here!”


  “You dumb bastard. Didn’t Oh Ji-wan say he was going to contact us? We need to leave after we speak to him. What if he realizes we ran away and not go through with the mission?”


  “We just have to take the money and run! Why are you thinking about what’s going to happen later?”


  “That is why I am calling you an idiot.” Goo Sang-sik glanced at Nam Gyu-tae with a pitiful look on his face.

  “Think about it! Don’t you know how Captain Oh is like? His eyes will burn with a vengeance and chase after us.”


  Nam Gyu-tae took a moment to think and nodded. “Yes! He would chase us down to the ends of the earth.”


  “That’s why he needs to go through with the mission. He would be on the run once he’s through, wouldn’t he? If we leak the intel about them running off to Russia to the South Josun bastards, that will make things even more interesting. Fu fu fu.”


  “Damn! You bastard! You’re pretty smart, aren’t ya?”

  “Why are you just standing there? If you finally get what I am trying to do, then get rid of our tracks already.”


  “All right. I will put my trust in you, comrade Goo.”


  Nam Gyu-tae, who believed every word from Goo Sang-sik, gave him a thumbs up and started to walk off. Goo Sang-sik started to smile wickedly as he watched Nam Gyu-tae walk away.

  November 17th, 2023, 05:30

  The North State, Pyeong-yang, Potongkang-ku, the Royal Crystal Hotel

  Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung and Chief Oh Suk-jin had been tailing the tourists from the New China Republic for a few days and continued to watch them while staying at the hotel across from the Royal Crystal.

  Chief Oh Suk-jin, who was in charge of watching the targets tonight, was leaning on the windowsill while dozing off.

  “Chief Oh, what are you doing?” Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung, who got up to use the restroom, woke Chief Oh Suk-jin up.

  “Ah! Whew! I dozed off for a second, sir.” Chief Oh Suk-jin stretched and rubbed his eyes before checking the monitor connected to the VR-M2.

  “Huh! What the-?” Chief Oh Suk-jin was caught off guard and turned the VR-M2 binoculars to the Royal Crystal.

  “What is it?”


  When Chief Oh Suk-jin started to panic and move the VR-M2 binoculars wildly, Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung rushed back from the restroom and looked at the monitor.

  The inverter mode on the binoculars showed that the 22nd floor of the Royal Crystal and numerous beds were empty.

  “Chief Oh! How long have you been dozing off?”


  Chief Oh Suk-jin checked his watch and answered him, “It couldn’t have been for long, sir. 30 minutes at most.”


  “Are you sure about that?”


  “Yes, I remember looking at my watch before dozing off, and it was about 04:50.”


  “Check how many empty beds there are!”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Chief Oh Suk-jin carefully combed through the room with the VR-M2 binoculars while Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung contacted HQ.

  “How many of them are gone?” Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung asked again after contacting HQ.

  “There are 17 missing in total, sir.”


  “Damn it! We were caught off guard!”


  “I am sorry, sir!” Chief Oh Suk-jin lowered his head in shame.

  “Don’t be sorry, we need to find where they are!”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Lee Ja-sung put on his clothes and started giving orders as he started to leave. “Chief Oh! You know the number of the tour guide, right?”


  “Yes. I have it, sir.”


  “Call him and ask him to find out where they went! I will try asking the other tourists at the Royal Hotel.”


  “Yes, sir.”


  November 17th, 2023, 05:30

  The North State, Pyeong-yang, Potongkang-ku, the Royal Crystal Hotel

  Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung showed his ID to the hotel staff and headed to the room the tourists from the New China Republic were staying in.

  Soon, Lee Ja-sung arrived on the 22nd floor on the elevator and arrived at room 2211. He started to ring the bell furiously.

  Ding dong! Ding dong!

  After a few rings, a voice started speaking in Chinese. The door opened and a man from the New China Republic started to speak in Chinese. The hotel’s staff started to interpret.

  He was asking what made them call at such an early hour. He demanded for the staff manager. Soon, the hotel staff, Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung, and the tourists started to converse with each other. In conclusion, the tourists did not know where the missing men were. They only knew these men were vacationing here thanks to their company providing expenses. The tourists from the other room said the same thing.

  Lee Ja-sung, who did not find further evidence, decided to search the missing men’s rooms. When he arrived in front of room 2218, he rang the bell even though there was no one in the room. He rang it a few more times, but no one answered. He requested the hotel staff to open the room with the master key.

  “You have a master key, right? Please open the door.”


  The hotel’s manager had a concerned look on his face. He was worried about losing tourists from the New China Republic after this incident.

  “It’s an emergency. There won’t be any trouble, so please open the room.”


  The hotel’s manager opened the door with his master key when Lee Ja-sung urged him.

  Click!

  Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung carefully entered the room when the door opened.

  There was a large living room and a bedroom that could fit three people. Lee Ja-sung turned the light on and started to look around for any clues.

  There was a map torn into pieces in the garbage can.

  “What are those PLA (People’s Liberation Army) special forces planning to do in Corea……”


  Lee Ja-sung pulled out every single piece of the map from the trash and started to put the puzzle together.

  He couldn’t do anything about the finely torn pieces but he was able to put the large ones together.

  The half-completed map had many areas marked with red circles with lines connecting them.

  Lee Ja-sung concluded that the circles must be their targets, and the red lines would be the routes they took to get there. He took a picture of the map with his smartphone and sent it to headquarters. A call from Chief Oh Suk-jin came in.

  “Hey, so did you contact the tour guide?”
-

  Yes, sir. But the guide doesn’t know anything, either. No free touring was scheduled on the tour and they didn’t say they would go out that night.”


  “Hmm, is that so?”
-

  Yes, the guide is Corean and he passed the lie detector test. Did you find anything, sir?”


  “I did, but I think we need a detailed analysis so I sent the evidence back to HQ. They should have it by now, so I want you to get ready to go out to the field!”
-

  Yes, sir.

  November 17th, 2023, 08:00

  The North State, a warehouse in Pyeong-yang, Yongsung-ku, Limwon-dong

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  A high-security communication device started to ring. Goo Sang-sik picked up the receiver and answered, “This is Goo Sang-sik.”
-

  Activate the map now! I will read out the security code. It’s X25M77A!

  Oh Ji-wan’s voice came from the other side of the line.

  “Yes, sir.”


  Goo Sang-sik started to type away at the laptop to input the code Oh Ji-wan had told him. Then, a map appeared on the laptop with numerous moving red and blue dots.

  The blue dots represented Oh Ji-wan and the agents on the move, and the red outlined the position of the guards near the area-

  Are they showing up?

  “Yes, sir. They are all showing up on the map.”
-

  Make sure our boys don’t get caught by the bodyguards and tell us if you see them heading in our direction. Understood?

  “Don’t worry, sir. I’ve got my eyes peeled.”


  The men received numerous high-tech equipment from Jo Myung-rok, the ex-General Reconnaissance Bureau’s director, but it was surprising that they got equipment that could extract S-ranked secrets like the passcodes for the bodyguards-

  Opening communications now! Team 1, answer me if you can hear this!-

  This is Team 1, Kang Tae-woo! We’re clear!-

  This is Team 2, Nam Sang-won! We’re clear-

  This is Team 3, Park Jung-sik! We’re clear-

  This is Team 4, Gwon Hyuck-gyun! We’re clear!-

  Great! Start the infiltration now! Goo Sang-sik, keep a close watch!

  “Yes, captain. Start the mission.”


  After the agents finished communicating with each other, four blue dots moved swiftly. The blue dots were clearly showing up on the map even though they were underground. They all moved towards their designated locations.

  Oh Sang-ku started to alert others about the ongoings in case the teams would run into the red dots which represent the Corean bodyguards.

  The four men under the acting team, who were prepared for the worst, headed to their destination.

  All four men managed to arrive at their destination undetected by bodyguards or other strangers-

  This is Kang Tae-woo! All four of us have made it to the destination-

  Great work. Start installing the bomb!-

  Yes, sir.

  The four men moved through the narrow and long underground passage and pulled out the object they were carrying in their backpacks. Most were materials to create an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The explosive they brought were SP-ANFOs, which were more powerful than the usual ANFO, and started making the IED with deft hands. Soon the men installed the IED at the roof of the underground passage which could blow up anything within a 50m radius-

  We finished installing the IEDs. Requesting a check of the remote detonation device-

  The detonation device is clear! Move to the second destination!-

  Understood!

  Goo Sang-sik, who was listening to Oh Ji-wan and Kang Tae-woo’s conversation on the radio, touched his pistol while turning around to look at Nam Gyu-tae. Meanwhile, Nam Gyu-tae was busy wiping off their traces to make their escape.

  Meanwhile, Team Leader Park Gi-oong and agents under the Pyeong-yang branch were busy searching the Yong-gol Mountain area and closing in.