Perfect Mission Chapter 26 - Black Turtle (1)

Chapter 26 – Black Turtle (1)

He must have been confident in his fighting skills, showcasing a fancy flying kick right from the start. Junho dodged. He didn’t want to fight a civilian who wasn’t trying to rob him, who wasn’t an agent or a gangster. And the guy only attacked because of Ahn Suyeon’s verbal spell.

“You son of a bitch!”

He charged wildly, throwing punches, and Junho found it hard to simply dodge. Backed against a car with nowhere to go, he ducked under the man’s attack and tackled him.

“Huh?”

Junho lifted the man and threw him. He then shouted at Suyeon,

“You started this, you fix it!”

“Why is it my fault?”

“You provoked him, idiot!”

“Me? It’s my fault?”

Suyeon, feigning disbelief, rushed to the man, who was trying to get up, and grabbed his hands.

“Youngjun, stop it. He doesn’t want to fight, why are you doing this?”

“No, that asshole…”

Youngjun, using Suyeon as an excuse, didn’t approach Junho again, just kept swearing.

Junho, indifferent, was about to leave when,

“Hey, where are you going?”

“What now?”

“Wait a minute. I need to talk to you.”

“Are you a gangster or something?”

“I just have something to say.”

Junho waited with a disgruntled expression. Youngjun glanced between them and said to Suyeon,

“Is it because of him?”

She had crossed a line, and her voice turned cold.

“Fuck, are you crazy? You’re starting to piss me off.”

Youngjun, faced with Suyeon’s icy glare, didn’t press her further.

“There’s no other reason for you to act like this.”

“Do I have to date you just because you like me?”

“Not necessarily, but…”

“I have nothing more to say to you today, so leave. We’ll talk later.”

“Sigh… I’ll call you.”

“Okay.”

Youngjun glared at Junho one last time and walked away. Suyeon cautiously approached Junho.

“Are you okay?”

Junho looked at her with a displeased expression and started clapping.

Clap, clap, clap…

“Bravo, Ahn Suyeon. That was an amazing performance. ‘He’s a good fighter.’ How did you even come up with that? I thought I was watching a Spanish bullfight.”

“You crazy bastard! I was trying to stop the fight.”

“Yeah, right~”

“I really want to punch you in the face.”

Junho rubbed his nose, glanced at Suyeon’s outfit, and looked away.

“That outfit…”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Suyeon, having just come from dance practice, was wearing a thin vinyl jumper, a bra top, and baggy pants. It was a typical outfit for dancers, and Junho was all for it.

“Whatever. What did you want to talk about?”

“Pervert…”

“It’s not that I’m a pervert, it’s just… I’m a bit conservative.”

One could be all for it and still be conservative. That was Kang Junho.

“Oh, really? Hmph!”

Suyeon pouted, hesitated, then said,

“Anyway, I have something to tell you…”

“Hehehe… what? Were you waiting for me?”

Suyeon, seeing Junho’s lecherous grin and the way he stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger, was so startled that her fist flew out.

Whack!

“Oof!”

Suyeon, having punched Junho in the gut, was surprised to see his dumbfounded expression.

“Oh, shit, sorry! I saw something I shouldn’t have and got startled.”

“Ugh, don’t make me laugh. You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

“No, it was a reflex. Like when you see a ghost in a dark place.”

“Scary…”

He couldn’t bring himself to call her a bitch. Suyeon continued,

“I had a favor to ask.”

“What?”

“I have a close friend, Ye-eun. We used to dance together, but about a month ago, she stopped coming to practice.”

Junho rubbed his now-toned stomach and asked,

“So?”

“Rumor has it she’s been hanging out with Hyeonuk’s crew. But Hyeonuk avoids the question when I ask him.”

“You have those older guy friends, don’t you?”

“Even they are wary of Hyeonuk.”

“So they’re all on the same side.”

“Not exactly. I think even they are a bit scared of Hyeonuk. Is he stronger than I thought? Anyway, that’s how it seemed.”

“And you still hang out with people like that?”

“It’s my hobby. It’s not like they’re going around extorting money from kids…”

“Jesus…”

“So, are you going to help me or not?”

Junho smacked his lips, scratched his head, and said,

“I’m really sorry, but I don’t have time to worry about other things. I’m serious.”

Doing good deeds was supposed to bring good karma, so there was no reason not to help her. But he didn’t have the time. He’d just broken into a building, cut the power, and trashed an office. When would he have time to track down a wayward teenager?

“Hmph, alright.”

Suyeon seemed disappointed, and Junho felt a pang of guilt. Even though they always bickered, this seemed to be a serious request, and he couldn’t help her.

“Sorry…”

“It’s fine. You don’t sound very sorry anyway.”

“I really am. I just don’t have the time. And…”

“And what?”

“It might get worse if I get involved.”

This was also true. He didn’t know what would happen if he used excessive force. Of course, Suyeon didn’t understand, but she didn’t press him further.

“Alright, I get it.”

“Okay, anyway, I’m sorry. But who was that guy, Youngjun?”

Suyeon looked at him as if he were asking a stupid question.

“You heard everything, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t hear. Just… you rejected him?”

“Hmph, you heard everything.”

“Why did you reject him? He’s handsome.”

“He’s not my type.”

“Hmm…”

“What?”

“Well, if you rejected him because of me, you don’t have to…”

“Get lost! You idiot!”

Suyeon yelled, turned, and stomped away. Junho clicked his tongue, watching her leave.

“Tsk, tsk, she shouldn’t fall for me so hard…”

Junho shook his head, thinking that it was a problem for an agent to be so popular.

“I’ll be even more handsome when I lose more weight. Then what? I can’t go to school in disguise…”

He muttered to himself, unaware of how ridiculous he sounded.

 

***

 

A karaoke bar in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. A bald man stared grimly at a photo, the karaoke machine silent. Opposite him sat a younger man. The bald man was Wang Wei, whom Junho had called Wind Wolf. He spoke fluent Korean.

“How long was it?”

“The power was restored in less than ten minutes.”

“What did he take?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t found anything missing. The safe is intact.”

Wang Wei brought his clasped hands to his mouth, his eyes fixed on the photo on the table. A shattered glass door, an office in disarray. A chill ran down his spine. If he hadn’t escaped then, he would have been killed. And the fact that the office was so openly trashed was a clear signal that they were coming for him.

“What about the car?”

Wang Wei was referring to the car Mortar had taken.

“We haven’t found it yet. It’ll be hard to track until it’s sold as a burner car. I should have put a tracker on Mortar’s car.”

“Hmph! You think he would have agreed to that?”

“Well…”

The man lowered his head, unable to answer. For an agent, whose very existence was a risk, putting a tracker on their car was a declaration of intent to kill. It was something that could only be done within a strict chain of command, which they didn’t have. If he’d asked Mortar to install a tracker, would he have agreed? Never. Especially not Mortar, who had so many secrets.

“What about Incheon?”

That was his last hope. The initial information was wrong, so the director would understand.

“No movement yet. With Gorilla on the move, everyone is lying low, watching.”

“Hmph! They don’t want to be the first target.”

“You should move to Incheon too.”

“I will. Gather as much cash as you can before the director arrives.”

“Understood.”

He had to beg. He had to offer everything he had to survive this crisis. The potential reward was immense, more than enough to cover his current losses.

 

***

 

A rare opportunity to sleep in.

“Get up!”

His mother’s slap on his back jolted him awake. Junho wolfed down a salad and rushed to school. Before, he would have skipped the salad, but he knew he wouldn’t make it through the morning without it. Thirty minutes. He was rarely this late. But his stamina had improved, and he ran all the way to school without stopping. He saw two figures leaning against the school wall. A male and a female student, skipping class and flirting. It was a bit… no, a lot… annoying, but he was about to ignore them when he saw the girl’s name tag.

Kim Ye-eun.

Was this the girl Suyeon mentioned? The boy with her was someone Junho knew. Shim Dugyeom, a bully who had been in the same class as Hyeonuk in his sophomore year. Junho hadn’t been in the same class as him, but he knew about his reputation. But he was going to just walk past. It wasn’t unusual for a bully to hit on a girl, and Ye-eun was probably skipping class because she liked him too. Or maybe it was just an excuse, and he didn’t want to get involved in something that wasn’t his problem.

But then he saw the turtle tattoo on the inside of Dugyeom’s rolled-up sleeve. Junho stopped in his tracks. The two, who had been having a serious conversation, stopped talking when they saw him.

“What do you want?”

Junho glanced at Dugyeom’s wrist and said,

“Roll it up.”

“Huh?”

“Roll up your sleeve.”

Although they were in different classes, Dugyeom knew about Junho. He knew that Yongjin had been knocked out with one punch and that Junho had changed. That’s why Hyeonuk had been stabbed and was now a pariah in his class. But Ye-eun’s presence fueled his defiance. Was this why they said men should treat women like stone?

“I don’t want to. Get lost, you…”

Before Dugyeom could finish, something lunged at him from below.

Whack!

“Gah!”

Junho’s hand struck Dugyeom’s throat. As Dugyeom stumbled back, clutching his neck, Junho grabbed his head and slammed it against the wall.

With a sickening crunch, Dugyeom, disoriented, slumped. Junho said again,

“Roll up your sleeve.”

Dugyeom, in pain, trembling, extended his arm. A two-headed turtle tattoo was clearly visible.

Black Turtle.

Mantis, White Tiger, and Black Turtle. One of the three North Korean sleeper agents, Black Turtle was thought to be dead. How could a mere high school student have his tattoo?

“Where did you get this tattoo? If you lie, I’ll peel the skin off your arm and find out for myself, so don’t even think about it.”

Dugyeom felt like he was about to piss himself from fear at Junho’s murderous words.