Perfect Mission Chapter 4 - First Mission (1)

Chapter 4 – First Mission (1)

“Aaack! Let go of me, you fucking bastard!”

Jo Yongjin was furious and mortified, as much as he was in pain. All the kids in class were watching, and he, a bully, was being held captive by the hand of a nerd, a bread shuttle no less, unable to do anything. Even if he beat the crap out of this guy, word would spread, and he wouldn’t be able to show his face.

“J-Junho-ya…”

Daeseong, who had been knocked down in one blow, was also stunned, blinking his eyes. Not only was the situation itself shocking, but Junho’s expression was completely different. He didn’t look scared or surprised at all.

“Should I let go?”

See? He asked as if he were lending out an item, without a hint of emotion in his voice. After the accident, his friend had become a different person.

“Let go, you son of a bitch!”

“Say ‘Please let me go,’ and I will.”

“Y-You fucker…”

“Hmm?”

Yongjin was about to lose it. How could he say such a thing in front of the whole class? It was more humiliating than getting hit. If he said those words, he’d be ridiculed and memed by the bullies until graduation.

“Fuck you, asshole!”

“Really? Then keep holding on.”

Junho, who was reasonably tall and had a large build due to his love for food, was quite strong, despite not knowing how to use his strength effectively.

Yongjin was helpless. If Junho had been even slightly weaker or hadn’t applied the right pressure, Yongjin could have pulled his hand free and attacked. But Junho didn’t give him an inch, ready to break his finger if necessary.

Junho glanced at his watch and said,

“We have about seven minutes until the teacher arrives. If you keep this up until then, your tendons will be damaged. If I misjudge my strength, it might even break.”

“…”

“If your thumb breaks, you won’t be able to fight. You won’t have any strength in your fist, so even when you get hit, it won’t hurt. Suit yourself.”

While Yongjin’s face turned crimson, unable to move, a voice cut through the tension.

“Hey, cut it out.”

The classroom’s attention snapped towards the male student who had entered.

The tall, handsome student with fair skin glared at Junho.

Jeong Hyeonuk.

Yongjin was essentially Hyeonuk’s number one lackey.

Junho made a strange expression at Hyeonuk’s words and released Yongjin’s finger.

Naturally, Yongjin, now free, wasn’t going to back down.

“You son of a…”

Whack!

With the sound of leather cracking, Yongjin crumpled to the floor.

Hyeonuk’s face hardened, and the class gasped. They were too shocked to even make a sound. They looked back and forth between Junho, the collapsed Yongjin, and Hyeonuk.

Junho, the instigator, returned to his seat as if nothing had happened and said to Hyeonuk,

“What are you doing? Aren’t you his friend? Take him to the nurse’s office or something.”

Junho desperately suppressed his pounding heart.

‘I knocked Yongjin down!’

The adrenaline rush and his ability to calmly withstand the gazes of his classmates wouldn’t have been possible without absorbing Jo Gyeongcheol’s countless experiences.

Meanwhile, Hyeonuk, who had been watching the scene unfold with amusement, intending to tease Yongjin for struggling to escape Junho’s grip, felt a chill run down his spine. This nerd, who had supposedly been in a car accident, was definitely different. Very different.

“Hey, take him downstairs.”

Hyeonuk kicked the chair of the student in front of him and sat down.

The designated student and another friend helped the wriggling Yongjin out of the classroom.

The situation calmed down, but the class began communicating silently with their fingers.

Group chats with close friends exploded, and the rumor spread throughout the school like wildfire.

[Are you on the wrong meds? Or did you suddenly get a status window after the accident?]

Daeseong, extremely excited, messaged Junho.

[Yeah, I awakened as a hunter.]

[Crazy bastard, what’s your class?]

[Warrior. Still low level.]

[When does the gate open?]

[I don’t know. The server’s supposed to open soon.]

They exchanged silly jokes, but Daeseong couldn’t hide his astonishment. The person was the same, but the Junho who had just struck Yongjin was not the friend he knew. Daeseong seriously wondered if his friend had started seeing a status window.

Of course, he soon forgot about it.

***

Lunchtime.

Daeseong sat across from Junho, eating lunch, and asked,

“Are you going to be okay?”

“About what?”

“What do you mean, about what? Yongjin.”

“Ah~”

Actually, Junho had forgotten about the Jo Yongjin incident. He was too preoccupied with thoughts about ASA. Was Jo Gyeongcheol really murdered? If so, what happened to the data he had? And how would ASA react to Jo Gyeongcheol’s declaration that he was still alive?

He didn’t have time to worry about the likes of Jo Yongjin.

Of course, Daeseong couldn’t understand his friend. Even now, he could feel the eyes of their classmates on them, so how could Junho forget about it? 

“Yongjin went to the emergency room. They said his tooth got knocked out.”

“I slapped him, so his teeth should be fine.”

“It was a slap?”

“Yeah, I thought it would be bad if I punched him.”

“Be honest. You weren’t in a car accident, you were learning boxing, right? But it’s only been a few days since the accident… Hey, what’s that phone? Did you buy a new one?”

While Daeseong was muttering to himself, Junho’s eyes, looking at his phone, sparkled.

Jo Gyeongcheol mainly used a small European shopping mall website for email, and he had saved the address, ID, and password on a burner phone that only used Wi-Fi.

When Junho logged in during lunch, another email had arrived.

[Urgent, Target Retrieval]

[Upon acceptance, target information will be transmitted. Down payment: $300,000. Success: $700,000.]

The English message was short, but its contents were serious. First, the sender was KI, which stood for the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Since it mentioned target retrieval, it was highly likely that it was the stolen Daewon Chemicals confidential data that Jo Gyeongcheol had.

The fact that the NIS, notorious for being stingy, offered a total of $1,000,000 meant that, aside from its importance, the risk involved could be extremely high.

If Jo Gyeongcheol had seen this before he died, he would have scoffed and refused, even if he hadn’t touched the Daewon Chemicals data himself. The risk was too high and the reward too small for someone who lived only for money.

As Junho hesitated for a moment before sending an acceptance email, Daeseong noticed.

“What’s that phone?”

“Oh? This? I bought it for games.”

“What kind of game?”

“World of Heroes. My other phone overheats and gets calls and texts, so I bought a cheap one.”

“Oh~ Can I see it?”

This was definitely not something he could let others see, so Junho was wondering how to refuse when someone interrupted them.

“Hey, Kang Junho.”

A female student wearing a short skirt that revealed her thighs sat down in the empty seat.

“Huh?”

“You should be careful.”

The girl, resting her chin on her hand with a strange smile, was Ahn Suyeon, one of the prettiest girls in class.

Suyeon, who was not only beautiful but also hung out with the bullies and had decent grades, earning her the teachers’ favor, had never spoken to Junho before.

Daeseong mouthed “Ooh~ Kang Junho~” expressing his surprise, but Junho was just relieved to be out of the previous predicament.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

Junho nodded and buried his face in his food tray again, and Daeseong muttered “Idiot” under his breath.

“Is that all?”

“Should there be more?”

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you different?”

Suyeon’s posture was the same, but her smile was gone.

She looked like she desperately wanted to say something, so Junho asked,

“…So, why should I be careful?”

“Yongjin’s older brother is coming to kill you. They say he knows a lot of gangsters.”

“Is that so?”

With the possibility of ASA, an organization linked to the Chinese Triads and the Communist Party, sending killers after him, why would he be nervous about some random high schooler’s brother coming to kill him?

“I’m scared.”

“Right? You’re screwed, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

“Do you have something to say?”

Suyeon tilted her head and smiled.

“Should I help you?”

“…”

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you think I’m lying?”

“How can you help me?”

“I know a lot of older guys.”

“And?”

“I’ll introduce you to them, and you can ask them for help.”

Junho nodded, quickly finished the rest of his food, and stood up with his tray.

“Thanks for your concern.”

He patted Suyeon’s shoulder and left with his tray. Suyeon, stunned by the sudden touch, stared at his back with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hey, wait up!”

Daeseong, just as bewildered, grabbed his unfinished lunch and hurried after Junho.

“Why? She said she’d help.”

“She’s lying.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“Girls smile when they feel guilty or want something. If she really wanted to help, she wouldn’t have smiled.”

“What the… Are you really Kang Junho? How do you know that?”

“I saw it on YouTube.”

“Ah…”

Just then, his burner phone vibrated.

“I need to use the restroom.”

Junho rushed into an empty stall and locked the door.

[The data to be retrieved is the graphene energy storage solution leaked from Daewon Chemicals, leaked ten days ago via an external storage device. Strangely, Michael Hwang, who was supposed to leave Korea with the data, is still confirmed to be in the country.

You must retrieve the data before the unidentified industrial spy hands it over to Michael Hwang. Killing anyone other than the industrial spy and Michael Hwang is not permitted. Michael Hwang will be leaving for the Philippines in 68 hours.]

He already knew the situation, even without the additional information from the NIS. However, the fact that they wouldn’t allow him to kill anyone other than Jo Gyeongcheol (who was already dead) and Michael Hwang implied that the NIS would take responsibility if he did kill those two.

Although he hadn’t checked, $300,000 would likely already be in Jo Gyeongcheol’s Panamanian account. Since the Panamanian account could be accessed with just the account number and password, the money was practically his now.

The problem was that he had to go to Panama to get it.

Even if he did go to Panama and withdraw the money later, Junho didn’t intend to use it. Thinking about the bad things Jo Gyeongcheol had done, he planned to donate it to a good cause.

Anyway, he had 68 hours left, and the NIS would consider the data handed over if Michael Hwang left the country.

They wouldn’t send killers after him if he failed the mission, but it was obvious that Gorilla’s rating as a competent spy would drop.

Junho was certain of one thing. There wasn’t another agent who could handle this mission better than him.

Junho, a nineteen-year-old who had lived a life of a nerd, subtly adjusted his glasses.

‘Hehe, is it my turn now?’

Recalling a line from an anime he had watched, Junho trembled with excitement and nervousness.