Perfect Mission Chapter 39 - The Man Who Dies But Lives (3)

Chapter 39. The Man Who Dies But Lives (3)

 

As the weather turned from warm to scorching, Junho stared blankly at the sunlight pouring through the classroom window, lost in thought. If someone were to ask him about the life of a spy, he would answer without hesitation.

‘The life of a spy… is a lonely one. Heh~ Nailed it. It is lonely. Indeed.’

There was a reason for his internal monologue. It was because of what had happened ten minutes ago during break time. He was engrossed in a game conversation with Daeseong, and Suyeon had joined in.

“Someone keeps peeking in from outside.”

At Daeseong’s words, Junho looked at the back door and saw a girl’s head quickly disappear. He had only seen her for a split second, but he knew who it was.

“It’s Yeseol.”

“This is ridiculous.”

Suyeon, who had been agonizing over whether to go to art school, shot him a cold glare.

“Is this my fault?”

“Not your fault, just… annoying. No, on second thought, it is your fault. Can I hit you?”

Junho shrugged and offered his cheek.

“If being popular is a crime… Go ahead, hit me.”

Junho accepted this attention as a matter of course; spies were always popular with women.

“Ugh, you’re so annoying.”

Suyeon was about to die from cringing. To make matters worse, Junho took her mirror, looked at his reflection, and said, “See how my face has changed since I lost weight? Look at my jawline.”

Before, he hadn’t understood why guys looked in the mirror. He thought it was something only gay guys did. But now that his chubby cheeks and wide nose had slimmed down, revealing his jawline, his face had become strangely handsome. He understood the urge to keep looking in the mirror.

“Yeseol should be focusing on her studies.”

“Shut up.”

Suyeon had a strong urge to punch Junho, who was admiring his reflection and talking nonsense to Daeseong. But to her annoyance, she found herself staring at his face. It was as if her eyes were glued to his insufferable face, and she was starting to hate herself for it.

“I’m just saying it for Yeseol’s sake. I’m worried she’ll get distracted at such an important time.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.”

With Suyeon’s prejudiced final words, break time ended, but the awkwardness lingered. And surprisingly, during the next break, the fire was fueled even further.

As usual, he was chatting with Daeseong and Suyeon when, Knock, knock.

A slender, white hand tapped twice on his desk.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

Daeseong couldn’t believe what he was seeing. All the girls were flocking to Junho.

“Crazy… Oh, lord…”

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Even Suyeon got up from her seat, but this time, Junho couldn’t tease his friends. The person who had approached him was Hae-rin.

“Why?”

“Should we talk here?”

“…”

He couldn’t win a verbal battle with her.

“Let’s go.”

Junho led Hae-rin to a corner of the hallway.

“What is it?”

Junho was not happy about Hae-rin approaching him. Hadn’t the NIS agents come to the school a few days ago to protect her because of Hyeonuk? Even though no one would equate a former nerd with Gorilla, an agent, just as a gangster dislikes a cop, it was only natural for an agent to want to keep his distance from the NIS.

“I got an email from my dad last night.”

Junho’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean?”

“Not that my dad sent me an email, but that he received an email.”

“Who sent it?”

“Swallow (Jebi).”

Swallow, the codename Hae-rin mentioned, was someone Jo Gyeongcheol had worked with a few times. His main tasks were information analysis and hacking. He was skilled, and more importantly, he was as good at disguise as Jo Gyeongcheol, so very few people knew his true face.

Junho, curious about the email’s contents, couldn’t resist a petty jab.

“Is Swallow your friend? You just call him Swallow?”

Hae-rin, taken aback by the unexpected scolding, bit her lip and looked up at him. When her father died, she had been a mess, and he had only noticed that she was pretty. But now, seeing her up close, neatly dressed, she was ridiculously beautiful. But a top-class spy is not swayed by a woman’s beauty. Actually, he was swayed, but he didn’t look away, telling himself it was training.

“Swallow-ahjussi sent it.”

Finally, Hae-rin backed down.

“What did he say?”

“He saw Mantis and Evil Ghost together at a hotel event yesterday. He told my dad to be careful.”

“He doesn’t know he’s dead, does he?”

“No one told him.”

If what Swallow said was true, then at least he knew that Goblin was being targeted by one of them. It was true that an agent’s grudges didn’t disappear with retirement, but if he knew that big shots like ASA and Mantis were after him, he shouldn’t have been in Korea. No matter how well he hid, an organization as large as ASA would eventually find him, unless he cut off all ties with the world. And even though he lived in a remote area, he was still running a business. Even with a new identity, he was still at risk.

‘Why was he living with that kind of risk?’

“Did you reply?”

“No.”

“Alright.”

As he was about to leave, Hae-rin grabbed his sleeve. Junho, startled, looked around and saw a few students whispering, their mouths covered. He quickly pulled his hand away.

“Let’s be careful at school. There are people watching.”

“Sorry, but what are you going to do? I’m curious.”

“You don’t need to know. Just go straight home after school. Don’t wander around and get stabbed.”

Junho turned and went back to his seat.

‘Evil Ghost, that bastard… as expected…’

He didn’t know why he had met Mantis. But he had to make one assumption: Mantis was targeting Gorilla. If they heard that Gorilla was alive, the first thing they would do is try to confirm it.

Junho immediately packed his bag and ran to the teachers’ office.

“Teacher! I’m not feeling well, I need to go to the hospital. I was messing around with my friends, and my chest…”

“Huh? No… alright. But you need to bring a doctor’s note!”

“Understood.”

Junho rushed out of the school. He could just say that he felt better when he got to the hospital.

He’d get yelled at by his teacher, but that was a small price to pay.

Haerin probably figured out what he was up to, but his other friends were clueless. Suyeon, unable to contain her curiosity, went to Hae-rin’s desk. She had never spoken to her before, and Daeseong, seeing this, unconsciously covered his mouth with his fist. He felt a strange, thrilling tension in the air.

“What did you talk about with Junho?”

“Hmm? Why?”

Suyeon, annoyed by Hae-rin’s calm retort, didn’t let it show on her face.

“Well… Junho just left after talking to you.”

“I don’t know.”

“So what did you talk about?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“It’s between me and Junho.”

Suyeon, who was usually so composed, felt a fuse blow in her brain.

“Between you and Junho? What’s going on between you and Junho?”

“Well? Do I have to explain?”

Suyeon, realizing what ‘losing your shit’ meant, was trying to figure out how to control her anger when a girl suddenly slipped in through the back door. Suyeon’s head, and strangely, Hae-rin’s too, turned to follow her movement.

“Oh? Where’s Junho-oppa?”

Daeseong, grateful to God for letting him witness this hilarious scene, said to Yeseol, who had approached him,

“He just left. Something must have come up.”

“Oh, really?”

Yeseol smiled shyly and then did something shocking: she put a pink envelope in Junho’s desk drawer. Suyeon’s face was a mask of horror. Daeseong, trying not to laugh, covered his mouth with both hands, but his flaring nostrils betrayed his amusement.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Suyeon, her face filled with disbelief and bewilderment, slowly walked over and pointed at the hidden object in the drawer. Her fingertip was trembling slightly, a detail only Daeseong, who was standing nearby, would have noticed.

“What was that?”

Suyeon, trying her best not to sound agitated, thought she was speaking in the brightest tone of her life.

“Oh? No… it’s just a letter. To say thank you.”

Yeseol said shyly, her face blushing, but for some reason, Daeseong thought her gaze was provocative. Did she really have to be so obvious? She could have asked for Junho in a quieter voice, and she could have put the letter on his desk more discreetly.

“Thank you for what?”

“Junho-oppa saved my little brother.”

“So you got him concert tickets to thank him. Isn’t that enough?”

“I didn’t think that was enough… so I was going to buy him a meal.”

“A meal? Is that really necessary?”

At this point, Yeseol pressed the taunt button, shrugging her shoulders.

“I want to.”

Suyeon, caught off guard by the unexpected taunt, was speechless.

“Huh?”

“Are you and oppa… a thing? If so, I apologize.”

Daeseong was almost in tears from the sheer entertainment of it all, and Suyeon’s face had turned beet red.

“No, are you crazy? It’s not like that…”

“Oh, really? Thank goodness!”

Before Suyeon could finish, Yeseol clasped her hands together and smiled brightly, then bowed deeply to the stunned Suyeon.

“Then I’ll be going now~”

Yeseol, having delivered a full combo, left the classroom, leaving Suyeon to swallow her pride and stare blankly at the retreating fox.

***

Junho, completely unaware of the drama unfolding at school, quickly disguised himself and headed straight to Yongin. If he knew that Gorilla was alive, he had to confirm two things. First, Jo Gyeongcheol’s body. Second, Jo Gyeongcheol’s secret hideout. He had to find the body and confirm that the deceased was indeed Jo Gyeongcheol to be able to deduce how Gorilla was still alive. If the body was indeed Jo Gyeongcheol’s, then it was highly likely that Gorilla was never Jo Gyeongcheol in the first place, but if that were the case, their mission would have been a failure from the start.

‘Too bad I found out too late.’

Unclaimed bodies were cremated after 30 days. By now, Jo Gyeongcheol’s body would have been turned to ashes. So, the first thing they would do is check Jo Gyeongcheol’s secret hideout again.

Junho, in his burner car, arrived in Pogok-eup, Yongin, parked far away, and ran for over ten minutes to his destination.

“Ahem… a cola and a whole chicken, please. Seasoned.”

It was a bit early, but Junho sat down at a nearby chicken restaurant and turned on his phone. He opened an app he had installed just in case, and several CCTV camera feeds appeared. He had initially thought he would have to go back inside the house, but then he remembered that the late Jo Gyeongcheol had linked the house’s CCTV cameras to a cloud account so he could view them remotely.

He hadn’t even finished reviewing the recordings yet, and now he had to monitor the live feed and be ready to chase after the bait if it took. So, he had to fill his stomach first.

“Let’s go fishing~”

Junho, with a mix of tension and anticipation, waited for someone to take the bait.