HQ showed little reaction to Min-jun's death.
It merely offered perfunctory condolences and then went through a brief funeral procedure.
HQ handled everything calmly, as if this sort of thing had happened more than once or twice.
"Is this it?"
"That's it. Don't tell me you expected anything more out of seeing off that half-witted bastard?"
Chang-ho answered Jae-hwan indifferently.
"No, not that. When you think about it, no matter how lousy a person he was, he was still our colleague. But seeing him go out that pathetically, it's kind of..."
"Hollow, you mean?"
"Yes, exactly."
Chang-ho let out a snort of laughter at Jae-hwan's words.
"Hey, so now you even know how to worry about other people? I figured you were just some revenge-crazy guy, but I guess you've got a little room to breathe now?"
"......."
Jae-hwan didn't react at all to Chang-ho's nonsense.
At that, Chang-ho heaved a long sigh and went on.
"I told you lots of people die here. If we threw a grand funeral for every one of them, do you think there'd be any budget left?"
"Is that so...?"
Jae-hwan seemed dissatisfied with Chang-ho's answer all the same.
"Well, we just don't die, right? We've done fine so far, so let's keep doing fine. So we don't end up like that."
Tossing out the words as if to soothe Jae-hwan's unease, Chang-ho turned his back and headed outside.
Jae-hwan watched Chang-ho's back bitterly.
At that moment.
Someone who looked somehow familiar caught Jae-hwan's eye.
Dark circles under his eyes and a frail-looking face.
'That man... isn't he the one who was with Section Chief Min-jun on the rooftop?'
The man kept biting his nails, as if something was making him terribly anxious.
He wandered around aimlessly like that, but only for a moment.
Suddenly, the man grabbed his phone and began talking, as if spewing something out.
Jae-hwan wondered briefly at the unfamiliar sight.
'I heard Section Chief Min-jun tormented that guy so badly... Is he shaken up anyway?'
Soon the man glanced around and slipped out of the office as if fleeing.
'Strange guy. Then again, his direct superior died miserably, so maybe that much is only natural?'
Jae-hwan brushed it off as nothing.
Without knowing just how reckless a thing that man was about to do.
***
A few days later.
Summoned suddenly by the higher-ups, Jae-hwan and the others, in other words the Alpha Team, headed for the conference room.
As they waited for their orders, the group's heads were full of nothing but questions.
"Don't they usually send our missions by email or phone? Why'd they call us to the conference room this time?"
"How should I know? Besides, they called us in last time too, for Section Chief Min-jun's disappearance. Whatever it is, something big must've happened."
"Again?"
"Beats me. Around here, it's always something big."
A man from the higher-ups hurried in and immediately handed the group a file folder.
"Check the file and deploy immediately. And not a word about this mission to anyone. We have a deserter."
The group froze for an instant at the higher-ups' message.
"A deserter?"
"His personal details are all in there. Check them now and deploy within 30 minutes."
Having said his piece, the man left at once.
"What's with him?"
"Things always get frantic when there's a deserter. More than when someone dies."
Chang-ho sighed, opened the file, and checked the personal details.
[Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho.]
"Wait, this guy...?"
"You know him?"
"Yes, he was definitely the one next to Section Chief Kim Min-jun..."
"This team's cursed, I swear."
Hearing that, Chang-ho clicked his tongue as he spat out the words.
"Anyway, we're heading straight to where he was last seen. Pack your things now."
But something was nagging at Jae-hwan.
'This guy... could that phone call back then have something to do with this?'
Maybe it was a needless suspicion.
But Jae-hwan couldn't shake the ominous feeling.
***
"They said he was seen around here, right?"
"Yeah. He doesn't even show up on CCTV, which makes this a real pain."
Following the witnesses' accounts, the group soon arrived at a train station.
Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho's ability was undetectable stealth.
Machines couldn't detect him to begin with, and in places with little light, he could hide perfectly.
An ability you could call the best for staying on the run in South Korea, a paradise of CCTV.
"He won't have used a credit card. So we'll have to track him by his description, his looks, and whether he paid cash."
"That's a tall order..."
Jae-hwan sighed at Chang-ho's words.
"Pretty much. For now, let's split up and look. They say this guy wasn't exactly specialized in combat, but even a cornered dog will bite if it comes to that, so be careful."
"You mean a rat."
"Anyway."
Chang-ho smoothly let Ji-yeon's correction slide.
"Of all the people who could've run, I don't get why it had to be a guy like that."
"Maybe he thought he could get away because he has that kind of ability?"
"You've got a point there. He might well cling to a little false hope. Not that escaping is possible anyway."
Finished speaking, Chang-ho immediately left to question the street vendors.
Ji-yeon also promptly gave Jae-hwan instructions.
"I'll question the staff. You check the ticket office."
Jae-hwan nodded and headed straight for the ticket office.
***
Checking at the ticket office, Jae-hwan was able to get information on Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho surprisingly easily.
Which made sense: these days, most people use cards.
Paying in cash, Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho was bound to stick in the station staff's memory.
On top of that, he'd looked extremely anxious.
Naturally, the group learned that Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho was trying to leave for Busan on the KTX.
"Good thing we're not too late."
"No kidding. A little later and we'd have been out of luck."
"All right, let's split the cars three ways. I'll take the front, Ji-yeon the middle, and Jae-hwan the rear cars. Split up, right now."
Once aboard the KTX, Chang-ho ordered the group to split up then and there.
And so Chang-ho left for the front cars.
Jae-hwan asked Ji-yeon something he'd been wondering about for a while.
"By the way, Senior, there's something I'd like to ask."
"What is it?"
"Does this kind of thing happen often?"
"No. Usually people get killed by an aberration before they can run. Why do you ask?"
"No, I was just curious. If we actually catch him, I don't know what we're supposed to do. Even if we just haul him in, whether he'll come back quietly..."
"He won't."
Ji-yeon agreed with Jae-hwan.
"We still have to persuade him. If we catch him, he'll only have two choices left."
"Two?"
"That's right. Either he sticks with us, or..."
Ji-yeon paused for a moment before continuing.
"He dies."
Jae-hwan froze for a moment at Ji-yeon's cold words.
"Wait, hold on. He has to die?"
"Yeah. This job is something you do until you die. Say guys like that got out alive. What do you think would happen?"
"They'd go around blabbing about our organization."
"Right. Then word about the aberrations would definitely get out too. I don't need to tell you about the chaos that would follow, do I?"
Jae-hwan nodded heavily at Ji-yeon's words.
"Plus, he has an ability, so who knows what creative things he might pull. Think about it. Think about what would happen if a guy nobody can detect like that set his mind on committing crimes."
Jae-hwan couldn't say a word.
"I know what you're thinking. We're all in the same boat, so you don't want to kill him, right? I get it. But it can't be helped. If you really don't like it, then try to talk him into coming back somehow."
Seeing Jae-hwan like that, Ji-yeon let out a small sigh.
"I'm off, then. Good luck."
She left to search the middle of the train.
Jae-hwan, too, set off with reluctant steps.
***
Slowly, but surely.
Jae-hwan was making his way down the train, scanning the passengers' descriptions and looks.
The passengers eyed him strangely.
A little while passed like that.
One passenger who spotted Jae-hwan quietly rose from his seat.
A hood pulled over his head, a somewhat tense air, and hurried steps.
'Found him.'
Jae-hwan was certain it was Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho.
"Mr. Yoon Jeong-ho! Wait a moment! I don't mean you any harm!"
But Yoon Jeong-ho gave no answer.
He only quickened his pace and kept fleeing.
The moment Jae-hwan, left with no choice, was about to use his ability.
The KTX began passing through a tunnel.
'A tunnel? Wait...!'
Only then did Jae-hwan catch on to Jeong-ho's plan.
Jeong-ho had been waiting for the moment the KTX was swallowed by darkness in the tunnel.
Just before the KTX was plunged into total darkness.
Jeong-ho looked at Jae-hwan and gave a brief smile.
'Damn...!'
Then darkness fell over the KTX, and Jeong-ho vanished from sight completely.
His frustration at being played lasted only a moment.
Jae-hwan quickly sprayed blood all over the floor.
"Kyaaah, blood!!!"
"That man's spraying blood everywhere!"
Leaving the horrified civilians behind, Jae-hwan followed the dark red footprints.
Apparently he hadn't seen this coming.
Hidden in the darkness, Jeong-ho faltered for a moment, flustered.
But soon he seemed to steel himself and started running toward the exit.
Wham.
The moment Jae-hwan tried to dash after Jeong-ho –
BOOM!!!
A sudden roar echoed through the darkness.
A train door, blown apart in an explosion.
The blood-red footprints led beyond it.
'Crazy. He jumped out of here?'
Jeong-ho had braced himself for injury and leaped from a train racing along at tremendous speed.
Jae-hwan could only marvel at Jeong-ho's daring call.
But only for a moment.
'Fine, then... what choice do I have? I'll have to do it too.'
After a brief deep breath and a moment of focus.
Jae-hwan leaped into the darkness right after Jeong-ho.
***
A violent impact echoed through the dark tunnel.
"Gah...!"
Having jumped into the tunnel, Jae-hwan barely managed to get to his feet.
"Ugh... that hurts..."
Jae-hwan grumbled for a moment at the pain washing over him.
Still, how lucky was it that he could stand up in one piece?
Wrapping his whole body in a barrier of blood just before jumping seemed to have worked a little.
'Well... if I ask Senior Ji-yeon to look at this, it'll heal in no time.'
Forcing himself to think positively and forgetting the pain, Jae-hwan picked up his phone.
"Hello. Jae-hwan?"
"Yes, Team Leader. I found Assistant Manager Yoon Jeong-ho."
"You found him? Where are you right now? I can barely hear you."
"I'm in the tunnel we passed a little while ago..."
Thwack!
Caught by a surprise attack, Jae-hwan dropped his phone.
"Can't let you do that."
Hidden in the darkness, Jeong-ho began attacking Jae-hwan.
TL Notes:
TL Note: cornered dog - Chang-ho garbles the Korean proverb that even a cornered rat will bite the cat, which is why Ji-yeon corrects him.