Chapter 133.2

Chapter 133.2

Lights flickered across the ship, scanning its surface like giant, unblinking eyes. Seoryeong immediately ducked down from the railing, pressing herself flat against the deck.

A deep engine roar surged closer, fast.

Another Chinese vessel? Reinforcements? Or…

Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst from her chest.

At a glance, it looked like an ordinary fishing boat.

She squeezed her eyes shut, took a slow, deep breath, and waited. If it was nothing, maybe it would just pass quietly.

Then—

Thud, thud, thud.

Slow, deliberate footsteps crossed the railing, approaching her.

“…!”

Cursing under her breath, she reached for the knife in her pocket. If she loaded her gun, the sound would give away her position instantly.

A tall silhouette emerged under the moon’s glow. A large man—his flashlight sweeping every corner of the ship.

He clicked his tongue as he took in the scene, scanning the unconscious soldiers sprawled across the deck.

“What a mess.”

“……!”

Wait.

Wait a damn second.

That voice—

Seoryeong’s head snapped up just as the harsh glare of a flashlight struck her like a needle.

“Ugh!”

She winced, squinting through the blinding light, but refused to look away.

Was she dreaming?

Her mind went blank.

The knife slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor.

What did I just… What did I just see?

Kim…

Hyun?

Her vision wavered.

“I told you she’s a potential threat.”

***

About twenty days ago, Lee Wooshin pushed aside the curtain-like blinds and stepped into a Chinese restaurant.

This place had recently been forced to shut down. Word had spread that it was actually a secret Chinese police station, and the scandal had thrown the neighborhood into chaos.

Graffiti covered the walls where locals had branded it with paint. Empty liquor bottles littered the floor. The broken door hinges creaked in the wind, and the light switch had been ripped out, leaving only dangling wires.

In the middle of the wrecked restaurant, Joo Seolheon sat upright, her posture rigid as ever, refusing to allow even a hint of weakness.

Wooshin walked toward her, his boots crunching over the shattered glass beneath his feet.

The deputy chief, who had been quietly observing his movements, pulled out a chair for him. But Wooshin didn’t sit.

“I’m bringing Han Seoryeong back. She’s on the verge of doing something reckless.”

The deputy took a slow drag from the cigarette dangling loosely from her lips. The ember burned through the white filter, sending a wisp of smoke curling into the air.

Woo-shin scowled at the sight, and Seol-heon let out a scoffing laugh as if mocking him.

“You mean the Equatorial Guinea trip?”

“She boarded that ship fully prepared to turn this into a major diplomatic incident. I’ve confirmed everything.”

“Hah!”

Seolheon pressed her fingers to her temples, her cigarette still in hand.

“Han Seoryeong hasn’t given up on anything.”

“…”

“If anything, she’s just getting started. Do you really think she’s the type to stop now?”

Shit. I should’ve seen this coming.

Wooshin gripped the back of the chair, his knuckles turning white as veins bulged along his hand.

He already knew exactly what she had been up to during that week of radio silence.

Even just from the intel He Channa had fed to the Chinese authorities, it was clear what Seoryeong was after and who she was trying to lure out—so much so that the risk she was taking seemed almost calculated.

But the part that hit the hardest wasn’t that she had lied and gone to Equatorial Guinea.

It was that she had left him behind, injured, because of Kim Hyun.

‘After kissing me like that, she ran off thinking about Kim Hyun?’

“I’m going as Kim Hyun.”

“…!”

For a split second, Seolheon’s face twisted in an unreadable expression, but she quickly masked it.

“The public security forces are already prepping a disguised fishing boat. Looks like they’re planning to pin this on the North Koreans. Word’s already spread among the smugglers in the Yellow Sea. It’s obvious—those Blast SAR contractors are going to be quietly disposed of, and they’ll just take the money and run.”

There was one critical thing Seoryeong had overlooked.

Wooshin wasn’t just some agent—he was a seasoned operative.

He had used more fake identities than he had fingers. In the northeastern provinces of China, he had built a reputation—just as notorious as He Channa’s. He had infiltrated the Public Security Bureau before, posing as their hired dog.

The moment he pulled that old identity from the shadows, information flooded in.

The real danger for Seoryeong wasn’t the corrupt military officers stationed there.

It was the fishing boat that would follow after her.

And Wooshin planned to be on that boat.

“Don’t tell me you used your old alias.”

“What else do I have in my arsenal besides fake names?”

“…”

“We don’t have time to waste.”

During his week in the hospital, Wooshin had already secured a new interpreter for Beta Team.

Someone who would follow orders, had foreign language skills, and had undergone basic survival training—including how to stay alive if thrown into open water.

That someone was Dong Jiwoo, who had been on medical leave ever since the tear gas incident at the Grand Hotel.

Woo-shin had wasted no time—he’d strong-armed the guy into the mission, tossed him a spare overhead mask and an action cam, and sent him on his way. But even that wasn’t enough.

“If this blows up, you’ll be the one paying for it, Chief.”

A passing car cast a slow-moving glow over Woo-shin’s face before fading into the night.

“So, hand over Kim Hyun’s face.”