Perfect Mission Chapter 3 - Who Are You? (2)

Chapter 3: Who Are You? (2)

Jo Gyeongcheol, codenamed Gorilla, believed until his dying breath that he had never been exposed.

This mission, too, was commissioned by an organization called ASA, and they had never questioned his identity.

Therefore, their current inquiry about his identity couldn’t be simply out of curiosity.

In such cases, several scenarios were possible.

First, there could be two factions within ASA, and the opposing faction, not wanting this mission to succeed, might have intervened.

In that case, Jo Gyeongcheol’s death and the desire for it wouldn’t be strange.

But even so, would it have been possible to uncover Jo Gyeongcheol’s true identity? If his identity had been so easily exposed, his survival up to this point would have been a miracle.

Second, the internal handler might have changed. But this wasn’t some small-time operation; was it possible that they hadn’t even handed over information about who was in charge of this mission, with a down payment of 3 billion won and a success fee of 7 billion won?

Ultimately, the most likely scenario, the third, was that Jo Gyeongcheol’s death was planned from the beginning.

And if that were true, staying here long was extremely dangerous.

Because he didn’t know for sure why they killed Jo Gyeongcheol.

Would they kill an A-class fixer in this field just to save 7 billion won?

And what about the goods?

Even if they were confident they could easily kill Jo Gyeongcheol, were they sure they could secure the goods?

‘If so, it was a mistake. I wonder if they can find it.’

Anyway, that was that, and Junho hesitated for a moment.

‘Should I just run?’

A few bundles of 50,000 won bills from the safe would allow his mother, who suffered from back pain, to retire, but that would only last a few years.

Besides, taking all that money would be troublesome. Depositing it into a bank account would be difficult, and he couldn’t just hand it to his mother, so it would be a headache even if he took it.

Running away wouldn’t solve anything, just leave him with worries and a few years of comfortable living at best.

If that was how he was going to live, he had to face this head-on.

Junho wondered why his personality had changed so drastically.

Before the accident, he wouldn’t have even been able to enter this place, and even if he managed to grab a bundle of cash, his legs would have trembled, forcing him to stop several times along the way.

‘It feels like there’s another me inside me.’

A feeling both exhilarating and frightening.

But exciting.

There was no need to rush.

If they knew about Jo Gyeongcheol’s hideout, they would have already ransacked the place.

The fact that it was so clean meant they didn’t know about it yet.

Junho calmly looked at the laptop and typed.

[gorilla. I’m not dead, and you made a mistake.]

After sending the email, Junho went to the kitchen, put on plastic gloves, and diligently wiped everything he had touched with a dry cloth.

He turned off the laptop, meticulously wiped the keyboard, and entered the safe’s code.

He was incredibly grateful that this safe didn’t have a fingerprint or iris scanning system.

Inside the safe were dozens of bundles of 50,000 won bills. Junho took out two bundles and put them in his bag.

He was a little disappointed that the gun and ammunition, which were in the car’s dashboard when Jo Gyeongcheol died, were missing.

But if Jo Gyeongcheol was dead, what happened to the car?

He became momentarily curious but pushed the thought aside and took a KA-BAR knife from the desk drawer instead of the gun, placing it in his bag.

Finally, he put the turned-off laptop in his bag and left the room.

“What a waste.”

It was a shame to abandon this house, but Junho pushed his regret aside, left, took the elevator to the first floor, and exited the luxurious villa.

He gave a slight nod to the security guard as he left, positioning his bag to display the university jacket clearly.

Even if they came back here, it would be very difficult for them to find him.

Especially since it would be nearly impossible, unless they were crazy, to think of him and Jo Gyeongcheol as the same person.

Although he had encountered an unexpected situation, Junho walked with a relaxed gait.

***

“Where have you been all this time! I was worried!”

Junho scratched his head and avoided his mother’s gaze.

It took a long time to dye his hair back to its original color and straighten the perm, so it was past 9 p.m. when he got home.

“I told you I was meeting a friend.”

“So, what did you do with your friend?”

“Played games. I was stuck in the hospital, you know. I wanted to play so badly, so I went out for a bit.”

“You’re not even thinking about your studies…”

“I was sick! Give me a break, just for today.”

“Alright. Are you feeling better?”

Jihyeon was satisfied that her son was safe after the accident and stroked his back.

“Yeah, I’m really okay.”

“But why did you take your bag? You said you were playing games?”

This time, Junho was a little flustered.

“Ah… I got some game titles.”

“Games? You…”

Judging by his mother’s look, she seemed to think he’d gotten something inappropriate from his friend.

“Mom! Why do you have to interfere with everything I do? Just let it go.”

Instead of relieving his mother’s suspicions, Junho got slightly annoyed and went into his room, slamming the door shut.

If his mother opened his bag and found the bundles of cash, it would be impossible to explain.

He heard his mother’s voice from outside.

“Don’t just play games all the time, study too. If you only seek… stimulating things, you won’t be able to study. Your brain will rot.”

“Alright!”

Junho, who had yelled back for no reason, chuckled and opened his bag.

He took out the bundles of money, removed a few bills, and hid the rest deep under his mattress. He left the laptop in a corner of his room.

It wasn’t time to touch it yet.

***

The next morning, he went to school for the first time in a while.

As the school gate came into view, someone suddenly jumped on him.

“Junnie!”

Startled, Junho bent down as a dark figure brushed past his bag.

“Whoa! What was that? Fast.”

It was Choi Daeseong, who was a head shorter than Junho.

Daeseong, who also loved games, was quite good at studying and relatively handsome, so he was popular with girls.

“You scared me. And you know I’m injured, right? Be careful.”

“That waist movement just now was awesome. Didn’t look like someone’s injured.”

“I am injured. I’d appreciate some respect.”

“Exaggerating… But were you badly hurt?”

“My ribs were broken. I’m still not fully recovered.”

“Whoa~ Where? Here? Here?”

Thanks to Daeseong poking and prodding his chest playfully, Junho entered the classroom in an instant and met surprised stares.

“Oh? It’s Kang Junho.”

“Looks like he’s okay.”

“Junho-ya, are you alright?”

They seemed to have heard about the accident, as they asked with worried faces.

“Ah, uh… I’m okay. Did the homeroom teacher tell you?”

“Yeah.”

He answered awkwardly and was about to sit down when he heard a sarcastic voice.

“Enjoying the attention?”

It was Jo Yongjin, the so-called school bully, one of the three jerks who created an atmosphere of fear in the classroom.

Famous for his fighting skills since middle school, Yongjin was over 180cm tall and had a thug-like face, intimidating just by his appearance.

Funny enough, even with Jo Gyeongcheol’s memories, Junho instinctively cowered and looked down as soon as he heard Yongjin’s voice.

Was it a deeply ingrained fear?

“Hey, asshole, are you laughing?”

He must have laughed unconsciously.

Junho raised his head.

“Was I?”

He said that and sat down.

As if nothing had happened.

The atmosphere in the classroom changed.

As if a spotlight was shining only on Kang Junho and Jo Yongjin, everyone stared at them.

“This bastard… Did the accident mess with your head?”

Finally, Yongjin stood up and approached him.

Choi Daeseong, thinking this was bad, rushed over.

“Junho’s ribs were broken in the accident. If he gets hurt again…”

“What if he gets hurt again?”

“Oof…”

Yongjin grabbed Daeseong’s jaw roughly, shook him, and then threw him aside.

After tossing Daeseong away like a rag doll, Yongjin stood in front of Junho, who was looking at him calmly.

Junho, who usually couldn’t even make eye contact and always stared at the floor, was now meeting Yongjin’s gaze like a different person. It disgusted Yongjin.

“Aren’t you going to look down?”

Junho was curious about his own state.

Why was he afraid?

He definitely felt fear, and he could feel his head wanting to bow down, unable to meet Yongjin’s eyes.

But it felt like it wasn’t him, but someone else.

It was definitely strange.

So he wanted to get hit.

He felt like if he got hit, he could understand the nature of this fear more accurately.

And his expectation was met without fail.

Slap!

“Fuck, I’ll gouge your eyes out. You want to die?”

After getting hit, he understood clearly.

Fear of violence.

It was deeply ingrained in his bones.

That’s why he was so afraid, even though it didn’t hurt that much.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to answer?”

Yongjin yelled, grabbing Junho’s hair.

The pain of his hair being pulled was actually more intense than the slap.

“This motherfucker…”

As Yongjin raised his hand to slap Junho again, Junho’s hand grabbed Yongjin’s hand that was clutching his hair.

He gripped Yongjin’s thumb tightly and twisted it as if peeling something off with glue.

“Ah, fuck!”

The combined strength of five fingers is considerable, but the strength of a single finger is surprisingly weak.

The same applies to the thumb, but the pain and its impact are similar to having your arm twisted.

Moreover, twisting a finger, unlike an arm, instills fear that it might actually break or be dislocated.

“Let go! Fucking let go!”

Yongjin let go of Junho’s hair and twisted his body, yelling for him to release his grip.

The unexpected scene left the class speechless.

“Holy shit…”