November 21, 2023 18:30 (12:20 Iraqi time)

  About 20 kilometers north of Kirkuk, Iraq The strong, long-range C-9A1 Lightning self-propelled artillery battalion overpowered Iraqi tanks as well as artillery units intended to be supported from the rear and defended them smoothly in the early days of the skirmish with the Golden Division.

  However, when the Iraqi air force, ground attackers, and war bombers attacked the Marine Artillery and 111th Marine Battalion at the Baghdad Air Base, a dangerous situation arose.

  Although dozens of air-to-surface missiles and various shells bombs were damaged, the Iraqi air force was able to retreat, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a bombing order to the 12th Air Force Base in retaliation.

  The 12 CFU-22P unmanned aerial vehicles launched from the aircraft carrier Baekbeom Kim Gu (CV-001) arrived in Baghdad in minutes and soon turned the airbase into a fiery hell. It was an attack that warned the Iraqi government not to use airpower.

  An hour was enough for the Republic of Corea to turn Iraq into a sea of fire. Plasma amplifiers comparable to nuclear bombs could strike anywhere on Earth in less than an hour using a variety of projectiles, and more than 500 warplanes could simultaneously attack major Iraqi sites.

  The Corean government was trying to refrain from prolonging the war by exhibiting extreme power to the other Middle Eastern countries.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

  Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo!

  In the cloudless sky, numerous red lights flashed and looked like stars in the night sky. The twinkling lighted then exploded above the ground, sprinkling numerous bullets onto the ground. The lights were a timed plasma diffuse bomb fired from 18 C-9A1 Lightning self-propelled guns.

  Large and small pillars of dirt with flames soared from all sides. In addition, several M1A1 tanks of the Golden Division, which had been on evasive maneuvers, simultaneously emitted huge flames and stopped on their tracks.

  The continued artillery fire on the TOT hit the enemy tank with precision. In response, the commander of the Golden Division ordered each armored brigade to switch from battalion tactics to critical tactics to minimize the damage caused by the TOT shelling.

  “Captain! It looks like they’ve changed their battle tactics into company tactics. All tanks are scattered on a medium scale.” A report came from Lieutenant Kim Young-joon of the headquarters squad. Currently, the headquarters squadron had deployed all available reconnaissance drones and was conducting detailed reconnaissance everywhere they were engaged.

  “All right, keep your eyes on the ground.”


  “Okay.”


  “Captain, shall we switch to attack tactics?” Major Kang Kyu-tae, the chief of operation who was listening next to him, asked.

  “You should. Give the 1st and 2nd squadrons a vacuum order.”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Major Kang Kyu-tae then opened the battalion’s communication network and issued an order. “Transit to 1st and 2nd squadron attack tactics according to existing plans.”


  First squad, confirmed!-

  Confirmed, 2nd squad!

  The tanks belonging to the 1st and 2nd Marine Tank Company that had been engaged in defensive tactics within the position established so far all left the position and began to go forward.

  Rumbling! Rumbling!

  November 21, 2023, 19:10

  National Intelligence Service (NIS) in Gangnam-gu, Nam Joo (Choi Jo-sil of the Counter-terrorism Investigation Bureau).

  Park Gi-oong left the hospital and went straight to the National Intelligence Service. About one hour later, he arrived at the Counter-terrorism investigation Bureau which was responsible for the preliminary investigation.

  Knock knock!

  When the door to the office of Counter-Terrorism Investigation Division 3 was opened, Team Leader Park Gi-oong came in and Chief Jang Han-guk, who was on duty, welcomed him.

  “Hello, Team Leader Park. I heard you got a few days off. Didn’t you?”


  Team Leader Park Gi-oong was unable to respond quickly to Chief Jang Han-guk’s question because he was trying to calm down after running from the parking lot to the National Intelligence Service office.

  “Huff! Huff! I need to check on something urgently.”


  “Haha, you must have been in a hurry. Have a seat first. Would you like a glass of water?”


  Team Leader Park Gi-oong waved his hands at Chief Jang Han-guk’s suggestion to have a seat and immediately brought up the main point.

  “No, but I’d like you to interrogate Goo Sang-sik right now.”


  “Goo Sang-sik? Did you get approval?”


  As soon as he finished his question, Team Leader Park Gi-oong handed him the letter of cooperation approval signed by Manager Lee Hye-jin, who had filled out the approval request in advance in the hospital room, fearing that the request would be delayed due to procedural issues.

  “Oh, this is approval signed by Manager Lee? Has she left the intensive care unit?”


  “Yes, they moved her to a general room this afternoon. I’m in a hurry. Can we talk later? For now, please bring Goo Sang-sik in for interrogation.”


  “Oh! I get it. You can go ahead to interrogation room number two and I will bring Goo Sang-sik to you.”


  “Okay, thank you!”


  A little later, Goo Sang-sik and Chief Jang Han-guk went into the interrogation room where Team Leader Park Gi-oong was waiting.

  “I’ll be in the next room, team leader.”


  “Yes, thank you!”


  After Chief Jang Han-guk had left, the two men confronted each other at a small table, engaged in an invisible battle of nerves. After a brief period of silence during which they examined each other’s eyes and facial expressions, Team Leader Park Gi-oong spoke first.

  “You know Oh Ji-wan is here, right?”


  The first question asked by Team Leader Park Gi-oong was answered by Goo Sang-sik’s expression.

  “Hmph! From the look on your face, you seem to have known.”


  Boom!

  “What does any of this have to do with me? Don’t bring up Oh Ji-wan again! I’d already told that woman everything I knew about him.” Goo Sang-sik reacted nervously as he hit the table. Opposite him, Park Gi-oong was holding back his desire to destroy his face and continued speaking with a relaxed smile.

  “I know you have spoken to Manager Lee. But I have something more to tell you.”


  “If you have something to say, I’ll listen! It’s not easy to look at your face.”


  Goo Sang-sik, who did not know that the person who messed up his face was Park Gi-oong, replied with a unique expression.

  “Oh Ji-wan will be released after two years without legal procedures because he provided us with very valuable information. What do you call it, a fair exchange?”


  “Fair exchange? Huh! Don’t lie! Comrade Oh is the assassin who killed Kim Jong-un and Kim Hyung-chul. And you are telling me that he’d be here for only two years without a trial. You want me to believe that now?” Goo Sang-sik snorted.

  “He’s indeed a class-one criminal, but he provided us with information as grave as the cost of the crime. The deal was struck unofficially. Of course, he will be deported out of the country after two years. Don’t you want the same deal too?”


  “Funny!”


  “Right now, you and Oh Ji-wan are the only assassin terrorists still alive. The rest of you are no longer alive! In other words, when Oh Ji-wan is out, you will be the sole assassin responsible for the murder of our agents in Hunan two years ago. Although the death penalty has been abolished in Corea, the death penalty remains effective because we are in a state of national emergency. Do you still think the same way?”


  Goo Sang-sik was shaken by the phrase “death sentence.” In response, he asked a question, pulling his upper body closer to the table, “Really? If I provide you with information, you will release me like Oh Ji-wan?”


  “Of course! However, it is only possible if you provide us with information as important as Oh Ji-wan’s,” Team Leader Park Gi-oong smiled brightly and answered.

  “I have already provided you with all the information I knew last time. What more do you want me to say? And didn’t Oh Ji-wan share all the important information with you?”


  “Isn’t there any information that Oh Ji-wan doesn’t know and only you know about? Honestly, I think there’s a reason why you killed your colleague and betrayed Oh Ji-wan? I don’t think it’s just about the money.” Team Leader Park Gi-oong threw a few meaningful words, got up from his seat, and read Gu Sang-sik’s expression.

  It was full of embarrassment.

  “You thought too much. I killed him because of the money.”


  “Ah, I see. It was just about the money? Anyway, you just need to know that Oh Ji-wan knows that you betrayed and killed Nam Tae-sik. He really wanted to see your face,” Team Leader Park Gi-oong lied to him.

  “What? What? How did Captain Oh know that?”


  “Then you thought he didn’t know? So naïve. Anyway, you just have to cough out some valuable information that Oh Ji-wan doesn’t know. I will give you 10 minutes to think. Think about it. This is your last chance. Otherwise, tomorrow you’ll be charged formally as the main culprit of the bombing.”


  After talking, Park Gi-oong left the interrogation room.

  “Can I really believe his words?” Goo Sang-sik, who was left alone in the interrogation room, was absent-minded for a moment, and then fell into a deep agony, squeezing his head with his handcuffed hands.

  Currently, the psychological state of Goo Sang-sik was really bad. He was frightened. It wasn’t the fear of rotting in prison or being executed.

  “What if it’s true?”


  Goo Sang-sik knew what kind of person Oh Ji-wan was.

  Oh Ji-wan despised betrayal the most. As a result, he would never kill or betray his colleagues. Consequently, Goo Sang-sik was afraid of him because he would go after his family. He was only concerned about the safety of his family, as he had an elderly mother and only one sister.

  “Oh Ji-wan will not leave me or my family alone.”


  The price of betrayal could certainly reach Goo Sang-sik’s family. He knew Oh Ji-wan better than anyone else.

  “Ugh!” As his thoughts reached this point, Goo Sang-sik groaned a little.

  After the Hunan shooting four years ago, when North Korea was absorbed into South Korea, their homeland disappeared and they turned into international criminals. Thus, Goo Sang-sik wandered around China with Oh Ji-wan, living as fugitives for many years. At that time, they received an offer from Jo Myung-rok, the former chief of the reconnaissance bureau, that they could not reject. It was Typhoon No. 16.

  Oh Ji-wan and his group were tired of living on the run for years, so they agreed without thinking.

  Goo Sang-sik also agreed because of the hundreds of millions that he would receive upon completing the Typhoon 16 mission so that he would be able to take care of his elderly mother and sister, whom he had not seen for many years.

  Meanwhile, when Team Leader Park Gi-oong entered the director’s office in the next room of the interrogation room, Chief Jang Han-guk asked, “Team Leader Park! Did Oh Ji-wan really blow everything?”


  “What do you mean, blow? He is still in the hospital room.”


  “What? Well, what about the things you said to Goo Sang-sik a moment ago?”


  “They’re lies, of course. We need to find something that Oh Ji-wan doesn’t even know about. The broken connection.”


  “Oh! I see. But wouldn’t it be a problem if we use this as evidence in court later?”


  “Problematic or not, it’s urgent to get important information now.”


  “Well, that’s true. Since the situation is such……”