Cough, cough, a weak cough sounded from behind the unfinished file. Light footsteps slowly moved away, and the lyrics of the song “They say she has a husband, they say she has a husband” drifted cheerfully. The recording cut off as if abruptly stopped. Lee Wooshin stared blankly at the darkened screen. His face, which had been pale, was now twisted in sorrow.
“Damn it….”
In the clear white of his eyes, red veins protruded as if struck by lightning in an instant. The Deputy Director of the NIS and the ‘boogeyman’ from the Russian side, openly talking about a top-secret level one operation called Bird Box? And it was even a recording of the Deputy Director’s inner thoughts that she had hidden from me, the one who directly carried out the operation. The muscles in the hand holding the phone tightened like steel wire. Did I just mishear? But no, this file didn’t leave even one percent possibility for fabrication. The first thing that came to his mind: this might be a threat. But, that woman—who became the youngest Deputy Director in NIS history—what could be used to threaten her? Unless she had a fatal weakness capable of destroying her ambition—. His thoughts were suddenly cut off.
“――.”
Before the special team left for Sakhalin, what was Joo Seolheon’s attitude? She seemed tense, defensive, and hesitant. I knew from the beginning that she had edited the information about the owl as she pleased before sending it….
Unless she was crazy, it was impossible. On top of that, Kiya’s still ostentatious display of his fangs made him laugh dryly. He clenched his jaw to suppress a curse, and just then his phone vibrated. But, this time too, it wasn’t from the person he was waiting for. — “Team Leader… I heard you were injured, are you okay? Can I visit? I promise not to get closer than 10 meters….”
As soon as he answered, a nearly tearful voice was heard. He closed his eyes while massaging his stiff neck.
“Not that one, Wonchang. Have you checked everything I gave you?”
— “Ah, yes! The connections between the NIS Director and CEO Kang Taegon, I’ve confirmed them. Including several other high-ranking officials. Thanks to the Poison Tap you planted, Team Leader, all the evidence has surfaced.”
“Good job.”
— “Then… are you really going to resign, Team Leader?”
“…….”
— “If the resignation letter is accepted… where will you go?”
“I think I want to start a new life.”
A bitter laugh escaped his lips. It seemed difficult to break the habit of hiding his intentions and playing shadow games. Lee Wooshin rotated his bandaged leg. A sharp pain spread like hot metal being poured onto flesh, but he bit his tongue and forced himself to stand upright on both feet. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, but from his stiff, waxen face, something seemed to completely vanish.
“Silently investigate what Deputy Director Joo Seolheon did when she was still at the National Intelligence Service.”
— “…Huh?”
“Find out if there’s any trace of her going in and out of Russia.”
Nervous movements were heard from the other end of the line. — “W-wait, Team Leader…! Why did the target suddenly change to the Deputy Director?”
“Joo Seolheon said―”
There was an agent who infiltrated Winter Fortress and then disappeared. She said the agent vanished after recording the last day there. Joo Seolheon also admitted she only heard rumors. She didn’t know for sure. Name, gender, everything was unclear. The man’s face suddenly hardened.
“I think she might be a former field agent.”
He stared out the window with eyes as cold as ice.
---
A week passed faster and more peacefully than imagined. After all the constant calls to her phone suddenly stopped, time seemed to slow down even more. Before, every ring felt like a stern reprimand, but now, when it had been silent for days, that too felt strange. Without telling anyone, Seoryeong slowly began packing her things to join the mission in Equatorial Guinea. They would gather at a French port and then travel along the Atlantic coast to get there—a journey that would take at least a few weeks. Before completely leaving the house, she suddenly felt compelled to open her husband’s room door. It had been a long time since she had done so. However, as soon as the old key went into the lock and turned, the scene of her having sex with Lee Wooshin in this room, their bodies colliding violently, immediately flashed in her mind. Her shoulder blades slammed against the door, and something hot and large relentlessly pounded against her from below. Unexpectedly remembering that, Seoryeong’s neck flushed instantly. She bit her lip and twisted the doorknob tightly.
“――.”
A scent that felt familiar… but now wasn’t entirely so. Clean white cloths covered some of the items, as if indicating their expiration date. Before, just looking at this room would churn her stomach. She wanted to cry, wanted to destroy, wanted to embrace. There was even a time when she couldn’t bring herself to leave this room even a little bit. But now… everything felt like memories from a distant past. She just stood there blankly, enveloped in that strange feeling. Until a vibration from her pocket stirred her body to move.
“Hello…?”
— “Sis! It’s Channa. I checked, and this is indeed a location tracking device!”
Seoryeong looked at the transparent film-like sticker attached to her wrist. — “That plastic thing you gave me is a real-time location tracking tab!”
So, just like Kiya said, she only had one chance. Seoryeong had already attached it to her wrist as a form of preparation. For a time in the future when she would need to reflexively attach it to someone immediately. — “Please be careful, Sis…!”
“Thank you.”
As she answered blandly, Channa’s voice suddenly rose. —I’m not just being polite…! Right now, it’s like a new Cold War, so whether it’s the Chinese or the Americans, they’re all approaching slyly, which is why the atmosphere has become really tense, hasn’t it…! Besides, even though a country like Equatorial Guinea is led by a dictator, they can’t withdraw their own money without having to look towards China… you see it yourself, right…!
“That’s precisely why everything is going smoothly.”
—What? Seoryeong silently raised the corner of her lips. The mission to Equatorial Guinea was one of the requests she had really wanted to join since the Special Security Team focused on ship training. Ever since she heard the operation plan from Team Leader Lee Wooshin—that they had to pass through the port built by the Chinese military as if it were a gate.
“What they fear the most is a small issue turning into a diplomatic problem.”
“…….”
“And I think our country is the same.”
—…Wait, wait, “Channa, do you know who the most dangerous enemy on the sea route is?”
Hearing that question, Channa let out a soft groan as if she didn’t want to hear it anymore. That damn woman again… Her rapidly spreading voice sent shivers down her spine. At least three times, he had said. If two times failed, at least one time had to succeed. Seoryeong uncovered the white cloth that had previously covered Kim Hyeon’s belongings.
“This time, he will definitely have to come himself to catch me.”
---
“Han Seoryeong!”
Jin Hoje, with burns that seemed to spread from his neck to his cheeks as if flames were still licking him, greeted her with a wide smile. That enthusiastic voice finally allowed Seoryeong to lower her shoulders, which had been tense all along. On her way to the airport, she heard news that Jin Hoje had regained consciousness and immediately changed direction to the hospital. The terrible wounds didn’t seem to swallow Jin Hoje’s spirit. As soon as his body began to recover, he enthusiastically talked about the skin reconstruction surgery he would soon undergo. His healthy and optimistic nature made Seoryeong inevitably compare him to Kim Hyeon. She looked at the man as if observing something foreign.
“But what’s with that backpack? Where are you going, Han Seoryeong?”
“Ah… I’m just tidying up the house.”
An excuse that sounded clearly fabricated, but no one pointed it out. For Jin Hoje—who had lost consciousness first at the scene—Seoryeong also began to share post-incident stories, watching her seniors jokingly blame each other with small debates, then quietly slipped out of the treatment room.
As soon as she left the building, her steps suddenly felt hurried. She adjusted the large backpack, like a mountaineering pack, on her back and walked through the indoor garden… then her feet simply stopped.
“――.”
It had been a week since she last saw that face. In the distance, Lee Wooshin sat alone in his wheelchair, playing with his phone. The bandage that had been as thick as cork was now thin, and he was pushing his wheelchair back and forth with his uninjured leg. He looked like someone looking for unpaid money. Seoryeong stared at the man in silence, then sat down on a corner bench that was quite hidden from Lee Wooshin’s view.
“Hah…!”
Just then, someone tripped and fell under the bench with a loud noise. Seoryeong, startled, immediately looked towards the fallen man. He was probably in his mid-twenties. A slightly tilted hat revealed a pale, youthful face, his chest rising and falling as if he was suddenly short of breath. He stared at Seoryeong’s face without being able to look away, then hurriedly hid the phone that had been pressed to his ear and turned his face away. Ordinary sweater like an engineering student, gray laptop, untouched sandwich and banana milk. The still-open laptop screen showed a strange program running very quickly. As soon as Seoryeong’s gaze shifted to the black screen, a long arm suddenly shot out like a spear and roughly closed the laptop. As their eyes met, the man swallowed hard.
“Bird… ha… hyung… I mean, a… hello, I mean, nice… I mean…”