Episode 6
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6. Transport Train (2)
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The woman stripped the keys and radio from the belt of the unconscious officer. She used the keys to unlock the iron gate and tossed the handcuffs key in front of Seong Jae-hak.
"Hurry. We don't have much time."
She was right. The speed of the transport train dropped sharply before coming to a complete stop. It was a measure intended to restrict the prisoners' range of movement and facilitate tracking.
—...Transport car, report status. Transport car!!
—...Armed forces to the transport car, I repeat, armed forces to...
Not only that, but the radio the woman had seized was already flooded with various transmissions. *Wail, wail*—the siren signaling an emergency blared, and the emergency lights illuminating their feet turned red.
"Who are you...?"
After struggling a few times, Jae-hak finally managed to unlock his handcuffs and asked, gasping for air.
"I'm from the National Intelligence Service Special Operations Office. I'm on an undercover mission. Can you stand?"
The woman held out her hand. Jae-hak tried to push himself up, but he grimaced and slumped back down. It was because of his abdomen, which had been riddled with stab wounds.
"Hmm."
The woman examined Jae-hak’s wounds for a moment and pulled out something that looked like a thick ampoule.
"Pardon me for a moment."
*Click.* She pressed the back like a ballpoint pen, and a sharp needle popped out. Before Jae-hak could even realize it was a syringe, the woman plunged the needle straight into his thigh.
"What are you..."
Jae-hak tried to resist, but something hot surged through the veins in his thigh. And to his surprise, the wounds on his stomach and legs began to writhe and heal.
"It’s a Refill for Awakened of the regeneration type. It contains ingredients necessary for human recovery and painkillers. You’ll be getting these so often you’ll get sick of them, so get used to it."
As she said this, the woman tossed him the submachine gun she had taken from the fallen officer.
"Wait a moment, then we’ll break out. You know how to shoot, right?"
"Uh..."
Jae-hak hesitated. There was no way a regular officer, especially a rookie like him, would have ever fired a submachine gun. The Central Police Academy only ever let them practice with revolvers.
"It’s similar to a rifle. You must have served in the military."
"I was... exempted. Due to financial hardship..."
The woman stared intently at Jae-hak.
It was then that a broadcasted voice began to flow from the speaker installed on the train ceiling.
—Mr. Seong Jae-hak, there is nowhere to run. Surrender. Futile resistance...
Hmm. The woman pondered for a moment, then took the submachine gun back from Jae-hak and handed him a pistol instead.
"For now, let's use what you're familiar with. That seems better."
—Everyone makes mistakes. Don't let your emotions cause you to throw away your chance...
The woman pulled the slide of the gun with practiced movements to check the chamber and said,
"It’ll be troublesome if you kill the police, so aim for their bulletproof vests, not their heads. The 9mm won't penetrate those."
Your ribs might break, though, the woman added.
"...You want me to shoot the police?"
"Since there's no way to be sure who took the money and who didn't, let's just lay them all out for now. You can apologize later."
—I repeat. You are surrounded. Drop your weapons and...
"Are you coming with me?"
Jae-hak looked at the woman with wary eyes for a moment. Whether the NIS claim was true, whether she was lying, and if it were true, what she wanted from him... countless suspicions welled up.
"..."
But thinking about it coolly, no matter who she was or where she belonged, nothing would change in this current situation. When it’s dark all around, you have to follow the closest light.
Regardless, she was the closest light right now.
Jae-hak sighed and took the pistol. Oh, the woman smiled as if she found him unexpected.
"Not bad, considering."
Not bad? Considering? While Jae-hak was dazed, the woman put on a black riot helmet again and said,
"Nice to meet you. My name is Kang Ji-seul."
"I bet it is."
Jae-hak muttered in a tone of resignation.
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"Is the breach not ready yet?"
In front of the transport car, Section Chief Im Gyeong-pil bit his nails anxiously and urged them on.
"It’s impossible until we confirm the status of the police force that was inside. They could be used as hostages."
The commander of the SOU (Special Operations Unit) wearing black tactical gear replied. In front of the corridor door leading to the transport car, the SOU members were already preparing to breach.
"The situation has become quite complicated because the transport car's CCTV isn't working, but... we will insert a snake camera soon."
"Yes, yes..."
Im Gyeong-pil replied.
The request he had received along with a large sum of money was simple. They would handle the personnel and the plan, so he just had to pretend he didn't know what was happening on the train. It would be over in a flash, so it wasn't a difficult task.
'The situation is still under control... still...'
Im Gyeong-pil repeated to himself. In any case, the only people who knew about his corruption were himself and the two officers in the transport car. Since he had cut the CCTV, the chances of it being discovered were slim if only Seong Jae-hak died.
It had to be.
"What is the status of the personnel and weaponry inside the transport car?"
The SOU commander asked. He was trying to identify the weapons that might have been seized.
"Weapons would be batons, service rifles, and four magazines for the pistols each... and a Taser..."
"Are there any explosives or other tactical equipment?"
"No. Yes... there aren't."
But at this moment, Im Gyeong-pil was still missing one thing. That the person wearing the police uniform inside the transport car was not actually his subordinate.
*Thud, thud, thud...*
And that miscalculation made their response to the flashbang thrown into the train car one beat too slow.
"Get do—"
*BOOM!*
An explosion that completely caught them off guard. For a moment, intense light filled the train. Their equilibrium was shattered, a sharp ringing echoed in their ears, and their vision, burned white, caused disorientation.
And Kang Ji-seul breached the train car.
Two members stumbling in front of the door collapsed. They didn't even know what had hit them. She fired two rounds into the chest of a member on the opposite side and sprinted. With almost instinctive, snap-shooting, she downed three more and whipped a combat knife out, throwing it. *Argh!* The commander, who had been trying to reach for his gun, let out a piercing scream as his hand was pierced through.
"District... District EBB Transport Team..."
At that moment, the sound of someone attempting to radio from somewhere. She had to cut it off. Judgment and action happened simultaneously. Ji-seul leaped over the falling enemy.
"Requesting backu—"
She shoved and kicked the member holding the radio.
*CRASH!* The member’s body hit the train wall behind him and slid down. Then, his head dropped, and he stopped moving.
'No...'
Jae-hak was astonished. It wasn't a matter of strength or muscle power. It was the ability to calculate, distribute, and execute the most effective attack in every single moment.
She carried the violence she had slowly and keenly honed over time like a single dagger...
*BANG!*
But he couldn't just stand there in shock. Jae-hak moved forward, shooting down the SOU members Ji-seul had left behind one by one. As she said, he carefully aimed for their bulletproof vests. It wasn't that he felt no resistance to shooting fellow officers, but given the situation, it was unavoidable.
He just hoped the SOU's bulletproof vests were at least a little better than the ones he had been issued when he was an officer.
"You..."
Just then, an SOU member popped out from the blind spot behind a seat. Perhaps he had recovered his vision, however blurrily, as he aimed his muzzle with a shaking hand. While he hesitated, the trigger was pulled in a burst.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-bang!*
Jae-hak reached out in a hurry and grabbed the muzzle, pulling it aside. The back of his hand was pierced, and his finger was blown off. The stray bullets hit the train wall, sending white sparks flying in a line.
"…!"
Jae-hak gritted his teeth, struck the SOU member with the pistol in his other hand, and jammed the muzzle into his upper body. Then he fired four shots downward. *Bang, bang, bang, bang.* The resistance that had been clearly weakening with every pull of the trigger went quiet by the fourth shot.
Jae-hak pushed the limp SOU member aside and finally let out a breath distorted by pain.
"Oof."
Kang Ji-seul, who had finished clearing the front and approached, grimaced at the sight of Jae-hak’s mangled hand.
"Do you want another Refill?"
"...Yes."
With a pale complexion, Jae-hak took the new Refill and plunged it into his thigh. The edges of the pain dulled into a throb.
Ji-seul threw the person she had been dragging by the scruff of the neck in front of Jae-hak.
"Huck..."
His face looked as if he had lost his soul, perhaps due to the flashbang. Jae-hak recognized him as Section Chief Im Gyeong-pil, who had given a long speech before the train departed.
"Seo... Clerk Seo Min-young...?"
Section Chief Im Gyeong-pil stammered while sitting on the floor. Jae-hak guessed that must be the name of the corrupt officer who was supposed to be stationed in the transport car.
But unfortunately, the person standing in front of him right now was not Clerk Seo Min-young. Ji-seul took off her black protective helmet to reveal her face. The Section Chief’s pupils shook, unable to find focus.
"Clerk Seo Min-young was taken into custody at his home this morning. To be precise, I arrested him. He refused to cooperate for a while. It was surprising guts for a corrupt cop."
Ji-seul said.
"Thanks to that, his sentence doubled, but... well, in times like these, is there any place safer than prison?"
"Uh... well... Ma'am, what can I do for you?"
Section Chief Im Gyeong-pil looked up at Ji-seul blankly, stammering as he blurted it out. It was truly a quick-witted judgment. Ji-seul handed him the radio.
"Report that the situation has been resolved."
Ji-seul said briefly.
"Broadcast that all the prisoners who caused the disturbance, including Seong Jae-hak, have been killed. From this moment on, the situation is under the control of the National Intelligence Service."
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*Whirrr...*
At the exit of the Second Yulhyeon Tunnel, a helicopter had already been circling the night sky for the fifth time. Ji-seul winced as she received treatment from medical staff behind an ambulance.
"Those broadcast station bastards."
"It’s always like that."
A man wearing an emergency rescue windbreaker said indifferently. It was a disguise, of course. His name was Park Hyo-seok. He was a team leader-level operative in the Special Operations Office and Ji-seul’s direct superior.
"Want a smoke? Oh, did you say you quit?"
"No. Thank you."
Ji-seul took the cigarette Team Leader Park Hyo-seok offered and lit it. Lighter. Flame. She inhaled deeply. The exhaled breath melted into the night air and vanished.
It was quiet. As if the violent battle from just moments ago had all been a lie.
"That was reckless."
"Yes."
"And I'm not even sure the return on investment is worth it."
"It will be."
"Right. That’s what I told the Director, too."
Team Leader Park Hyo-seok said this while glancing at the Special Operations agents being loaded onto stretchers.
"As for the police..."
"The Director and I will have to pay them a visit and apologize personally. They’d want to keep the fact that their officers were on the take under wraps anyway, so as long as we help them save face, it should be fine... especially since no one was seriously hurt. Anyway."
"You worked hard," Park Hyo-seok said.
"Thank you."
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"How could I be?"
When Ji-seul feigned bravado, Park Hyo-seok seemed to offer a faint smile. It was a smile tinged with a mix of relief and exhaustion.
"That’s a relief... Truly, we are so short-handed these days. Especially when it comes to agents capable of field work... If even you had been injured, I might have handed in my resignation."
Ji-seul nodded silently. The National Intelligence Service of today was not the one that existed before the Gates opened. People were dying, and the organizational structure and hierarchy had long since fallen into chaos trying to fill the gaps.
They were recruiting Hunters from the military and PMCs every quarter, but the pool of capable agents remained at rock bottom.
No matter how talented she was, the very fact that Ji-seul had been deployed on this operation alone was proof of how thinly stretched the NIS was.
"Ah, they're coming out."
As Ji-seul turned her head, she saw rescue workers loading body bags into another ambulance. They were the prisoners Jae-hak had killed.
In truth, there was one more body bag than Ji-seul remembered. That was because one of them didn't contain a corpse, but Jae-hak, who was lying perfectly still, pretending to be dead.
Under Ji-seul’s coercion, Im Gyeong-pil had reported that all prisoners, including Seong Jae-hak, had been killed. Faking his death right now was the only way to satisfy the forces trying to kill Jae-hak and send them away.
"Alright, let's go."
Park Hyo-seok closed the rear door of the ambulance and slapped the side of the vehicle. Slowly, with a soft hum of engines, the five ambulances pulled away from the Second Yulhyeon Tunnel in a line.
However, not all of the ambulances were headed to the hospital.
As they passed through the darkness beneath an overpass, the two lead ambulances quietly peeled away from the convoy. Two new vehicles, which had been waiting in the shadows, slipped into their places. The convoy, now with two swapped ambulances, continued down the road as if nothing had happened and vanished into the distance.
By then, the two ambulances that had broken off and stopped were no longer ambulances. Once the sirens were removed and the white paint was stripped away, black chassis were revealed. After even the license plates were swapped out, they were just ordinary black vans.
Before long, the two black vans departed without a sound, driving for a long time before sliding into Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu.
It was the very place where the National Intelligence Service headquarters was located.
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