Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Blast is a subsidiary of the Sehwa Group, the third-largest company in Korea. What started as a business to protect executives traveling overseas for construction contracts grew into a full-fledged business when it merged with a foreign PMC (Private Military Company).

It was an era where even war could be sold.

Over the past 20 years, they have sent Blast soldiers to conflict zones such as Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, the UAE, and Nigeria, and have built a track record that has made them one of the leading military companies in East Asia.

In addition to direct combat activities, they were providing a wide range of military services such as guarding, security, transportation, and investigation, and their contracts with governments were worth hundreds of billions of won. Private companies began to cover blind spots that were difficult for foreign ministries and the National Intelligence Service to cover.

Even the customer base was diverse. From ruthless dictators, corrupt rebels, and drug cartels to legitimate sovereign states, humanitarian NGOs, and aid organizations, the moral spectrum is wide.

That’s why the company needs high-level people with specialized skills…….

“What is Ms. Han Seoryeong good at?”

There was only one thing that came to mind.

“Killing…”

“…Please don’t go as far as murder. You’ve already crossed enough lines, such as defecting.”

He touched his forehead, and Seo-ryung calmly shook her head.

“No, survival skills.”

* * *

The rigid cage swung wildly back and forth. Naked men clung to the bars, cursing and punching at the bars as the guards passed by.

A private prison camp in Cambodia crammed hundreds of detainees into a palm-sized plot of land.

Unwashed and greasy, they fought, killed, and even ate each other.

In the midst of this lack of order and hygiene, a lone man lies motionless, staring out the window.

A cloud.

It looks like an owl with big eyes.

He yawned indifferently, not minding the frenzy of the inmates. The blood on his knuckles felt as stiff as the bone underneath, giving it the appearance of skin color.

Coming to this place after completing a mission was like an annual ritual. The man slept sprawled out, unwashed, observing the boring spectacle of uneducated people fighting each other.

Although the chief complained about this peculiar behavior of Wooshin, he was comfortable in the midst of this chaos.

Perhaps he had no place to return to, or maybe he sought a familiar atmosphere.

Thus, pretending to live an ordinary life felt uncomfortably conspicuous. Compared to a salaried worker with set commuting hours, a affectionate and devoted husband, even sleep had to be on a soft mattress, and life had to include regular morning meals.

Thinking about it now or then, a smirk would escape. The everyday routine of a housewife washing his underwear felt embarrassing, even for an agent who had been doing this job for ten years.

Moreover, the blind devotion to the belief that ‘Kim Hyun’ was everything was quite absurd. The stifling affection came to mind, and his face involuntarily wrinkled.

It might be better to bow one’s head, to hold hands with such a person and take a stroll together…

He scratched at his itchy skin with his nails. Wearing the silicone mask for so long usually caused this sensation.

He had been wearing it for several days until today. The tired pupils blinked slowly.

“Ah…”

At that moment, one of his molars began to throb. His forehead, which had been facing the sky, crumpled.

“I should have smashed this earlier.”

He grabbed his chin and contorted one side of his face.

There was only one cause for the toothache. In the faintly electrified cavity of his molar was a device used once a month by Black Agents to make survival calls.

If he pressed it firmly enough, it would sound a survival call, and vice versa-.

Throb, throb, throb, throb. The teeth would vibrate in a series. It was a regularity, a code word. My bones rang with pain.

It was an emergency return order.

***

Lee Wooshin handed the prison guard a rolled-up dollar. He waved goodbye and the guard, who had been trading with him for years, bared his front teeth to see him off.

Once outside, the man removed his mask as soon as he got into the waiting car.

Unlike his last operation, where he could afford to change it every once in a while, this time he’d left it on for weeks, and his skin was reddening.

He quickly splashed cold bottled water on his face, opened the glove compartment, and shoved a pair of wireless in-ears into his ears. He started the car and an eerily familiar voice came on.

-Lee Wooshin, return home as soon as possible.

There were many adjectives attached to her. The youngest first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service and the only female executive. And that she is the strongest candidate for the next Director of National Intelligence.

In addition, she was an old boss who personally scouted Lee Woo-shin, who was a UDT special agent ten years ago.

“I’m only taking this for the resignation letter.”

-Two of our intelligence officers were killed overseas.

“So you’re gonna chip away at the gums of the living for not helping them?”

Lee Wooshin stepped on the accelerator without batting an eye. He turned the steering wheel with one hand and rubbed his stiff neck.

-Come on in, come on in.

“I can’t be bothered to come in, and I’m tired of talking.”

– I asked you to wait! Do you think it’s easy to keep an agent like you? It’s been a drought for a decade now, and you’ve lost two of them..! Do you think I’m going to leave you alone in the middle of a situation like this with your molars gnashing and vomiting for ‘personal reasons’?

“That’s why I explained it to you further.”

-… Yes, in a text. You sent your resignation letter with the reason being’Mental illness.’

He could hear her take a deep breath over the radio receiver, and in response, Wooshin raised his eyebrows coolly.

“So, you thought I was sane all this time?”