Seoul Airport.
The hostages who had supposedly been kidnapped in the Philippines had been released.
From the beginning, this incident was not a simple kidnapping.
It was merely a pretext for an arms deal.
They had simply needed the excuse of rescuing their own citizens.
But the objective had already been achieved.
The necessary weapons had entered the Philippines,
and the contract had been completed.
They had obtained everything they needed.
There was no need to keep them any longer.
It had ended cleanly.
But the problem had arisen from a completely different place.
“Let’s put on some disguises.”
A National Intelligence Service agent said.
“The reporters and press are all gathered outside, but your current condition… you look too good.”
A brief silence.
The hostages and their families looked at one another.
Tanned, bronze skin from the sun.
Faces that looked peaceful from good rest.
Perhaps from all the outdoor activities,
they looked healthier.
They looked better than before the kidnapping.
It was a natural result of eating and resting well at the resort.
It had literally been heaven.
When told the operation was over and they had to return, most were disappointed.
A few even asked if they couldn’t stay a few more days.
To that extent, this time had been happiness itself.
“I think it will be problematic if you go out like this. Let’s change clothes.”
“Change your shoes too. Heels are a bit much.”
“Take off your makeup too… and tone down the color a bit.”
“Those of you who didn’t shave, good job. Those who put wax in your hair, mess it up a bit.”
“We have clothes prepared here, so please change into these.”
The families immediately understood the agent’s words.
Even they could see they didn’t look like people who had been kidnapped and released.
They looked like tourists returning from a pleasant trip.
Small laughs leaked out.
The situation was so bewildering, but funny.
Still, they obediently followed the agent’s instructions.
They changed clothes and wiped off their makeup.
They adjusted their expressions.
Sad thoughts, sad thoughts.
“Don’t forget. You did not go to a resort.”
“You’ve been held by kidnappers all this time and were barely released!”
“You know, hostages? You were locked in a warehouse.”
“You know nothing. There was no abuse. No actions were taken against you.”
“Family members, you simply waited at the accommodation we provided. Understood?”
“And absolutely no TV appearances or interviews.”
“Yes.”
The people answered the National Intelligence Service agent.
That was something they had been told several times a day.
“Alright. You look reasonably convincing now. Let’s go out.”
At the agent’s signal, the airplane door opened.
[Congratulations on Your Safe Return]
The placard was the first thing to catch their eyes.
Behind it, countless reporters and cameras were visible.
It was a barrage of flash photography they had never experienced before.
The reporters requested interviews, but were refused on the grounds of the hostages’ mental and physical instability.
Instead, one representative would briefly greet them.
“First… I sincerely thank the South Korean government for rescuing us.”
He paused briefly.
He seemed to have a lump in his throat.
“I really… never thought I’d see my family again.”
At those words, the family standing behind shed tears.
“The hardest part while I was there… was the anxiety of wondering whether I could return.”
“But South Korea did not abandon us.”
Camera flashes burst even more intensely.
“On this occasion, I once again thank the intelligence officials who worked hard for us, and everyone who worked toward our rescue. Thank you so much. And thank you to the citizens who worried for us.”
“Really… thank you.”
He bowed his head deeply.
The hostages and families behind him also bowed their heads together.
The story was reported swiftly.
It was reported as breaking news and decorated the evening news headlines.
“All Kidnapped Hostages Return Safely.”
“South Korean Government Succeeds in Overseas Hostage Rescue.”
“Dramatic Return Through Close Cooperation with Philippine Government.”
Not a single casualty.
Not a single injured person.
It was a perfect operation.
On top of that, they had even closed a large-scale arms export contract.
It was also a great diplomatic achievement.
The news anchor’s voice continued.
“Through this incident, relations between Korea and the Philippines appear set to strengthen further.”
“The two countries are expected to maintain close relations in security and defense cooperation as well.”
.
.
.
The Blue House.
President Kim Minsu was checking the approval rating graph.
The approval rating was soaring steeply.
It was the highest approval rating since his inauguration.
It was even higher than right after his inauguration.
The reason was clear.
He had safely rescued the hostages,
and protected the people.
At the same time, he had exported weapons,
and even strengthened military cooperation with the Philippines.
From a single incident,
he had produced results in all areas: security, diplomacy, and economy.
On top of that, he had clearly shown the message of saving the people.
Virtually killing three birds with one stone.
No, he had produced results closer to killing four birds with one stone.
The press reported this achievement extensively day after day,
and even forecast the future expansion of defense exports and economic ripple effects.
They highly evaluated the government’s response capabilities.
They praised President Kim Minsu’s leadership.
But only one person came to President Kim Minsu’s mind.
Gong Inbae. No, Alex.
All this glory was no different from something he had created.
He suddenly thought of the samgyeopsal he had eaten with him.
He remembered that night when they had looked up at the sky until late.
He missed him.
.
.
.
An apartment in Seoul.
The man who had spoken at the airport and his family were eating dinner.
A late dinner.
Familiar home cooking.
The sound of the TV chattering.
The ordinary daily life they had longed for was unfolding.
The man, who had been eating silently for a while, cautiously opened his mouth.
“Why were you crying earlier?”
The woman stopped her chopsticks.
“When?”
“At the airport. While I was giving the statement, you were sobbing in the back.”
“Ah..”
The woman made a low sound as if she had just remembered.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
“What? Tell me.”
The woman hesitated briefly, then cautiously opened her mouth.
“Just… thinking about that place.”
“That place?”
“The resort.”
A brief silence.
The man barely held back his laughter and asked.
“…You cried because of that?”
The woman nodded.
“I don’t think we can ever go back, and I heard it’s super expensive…”
The man burst into a laugh.
The woman laughed too.
“It was good, too good. But isn’t home better?”
The man said, looking around the apartment that was their home.
“No.”
But the woman’s answer was short and firm.
The man burst out laughing.
At the table, small laughter spread.
******
“It’s all finished.”
Toto said quietly.
The place Toto led me to had hundreds of thermobaric charges lined up.
I picked up one of them.
Light.
The feeling in my hand
was similar to a butane canister.
The size and weight were exactly similar.
“Be careful. It’s more destructive than it looks.”
“Really?”
Though it looked like a butane canister,
what was inside was completely different.
I carefully set the object down.
“I’ve named it ‘Air-less.’”
“Air-less…”
I rolled the word Air-less around in my mouth.
Not bad.
As the name suggested, it was a weapon that stole air.
Then Allen opened his mouth beside me.
“Deployment preparations are complete.”
I nodded.
The plan had changed.
We waited, but Adrian did not come to Zamboanga.
He did not attack.
I had thought he would attack Zamboanga, attack me, no matter what, but that thought was wrong.
Instead, he had hidden.
We, who had been thinking defensively, had no choice but to think of another way.
We searched for the hidden Adrian.
He did not show up on CCTV or the Trace Net.
So we changed direction.
Instead of people, we searched for the flow of money.
The place we found that way was none other than Luxembourg.
Now we become the seekers and go to find Adrian.
“Chen Zihao. What about Adrian’s location?”
“Adrian’s location has still not been confirmed. However, judging by the banks he’s been using, he seems to be around the Bock.”
“The Bock…”
The fortress located in the center of Luxembourg.
Along the cliffs, massive underground tunnels and bomb shelters intertwined like a maze.
In the past it had been a military fortress,
and now it was an underground passage connected to the entire city, as well as a tourist attraction.
I laughed briefly.
“No wonder he was nowhere to be seen.”
If he had only moved underground, finding him was nearly impossible.
There were dozens of entrances and exits, and the passages intertwined like a maze.
There were quite a few places not open to the public.
If Adrian was utilizing it to that extent, it was natural that we couldn’t find him.
Though we went through a complicated process,
the conclusion was one.
There was nothing we could do here.
“Let’s go.”
At my words, Allen nodded.
Toto organized the Air-less charges.
We headed for Luxembourg.
******
Luxembourg.
A small country, but the optimal city for hiding.
If you mixed among tourists,
it was hard to tell who was who.
So we too became tourists.
We became tourists and slipped in through the gaps.
The Obsidian Unit scattered.
Some acted like couples,
some like friends,
some like tourists traveling alone.
They held cameras, turned on map apps, and scanned Luxembourg.
But their eyes constantly surveyed the surroundings.
They weren’t sightseeing.
They were combing the area.
They were focusing their search particularly on the Bock fortress.
“East passage. No sign of the target.”
“The observatory side has too many people. Can’t secure visuals.”
“Exit 12. Target not confirmed.”
Reports continued ceaselessly through the earpieces in their ears.
I too was searching for Adrian with my eyes at the Bock fortress.
But actually coming to the Bock fortress,
I realized it was not as easy as I had thought.
Dozens of entrances and exits.
Passages intertwined as complexly as a maze.
People constantly mixing together.
Was it possible to find a disguised Adrian here?
It seemed difficult after all.
Did we have to change the operation again?
I pondered seriously.
.
.
.
At that moment.
Adrian was at the same location.
Hat, sunglasses, light clothing.
To anyone who looked, he appeared to be a tourist.
Adrian was walking among the tourists.
He had to go to the bank today as well.
Adrian was gathering funds here in Luxembourg.
He was collecting funds that had been scattered here and there into one place.
He needed escape funds.
Fortunately, there were no problems transferring funds from old accounts.
Far from giving interest,
they were secret accounts that charged fees instead,
but in this situation, he was even grateful for them.
Honestly, visiting several banks in a day was not easy work.
It was cumbersome and tiring.
He wanted to order his subordinates to do it.
In fact, he was having subordinates handle simple matters.
But money was different.
He had to handle it directly.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t trust the guys guarding him now.
He simply couldn’t trust them enough to entrust the account money entirely to them.
Seeing valuables breeds greed.
Anyone would become greedy when they saw money.
And if it was enough money to change one’s life, even more so.
Adrian intended to use the Bock’s underground passages to move to the bank.
But he stopped briefly at a subtle gaze.
It was strange.
An inexplicable sense of dissonance.
It felt like someone was watching him from somewhere.
Adrian did not check for that gaze.
Instead, he naturally opened the bag on his shoulder.
And rummaged through it,
then turned around as if he had forgotten something.
By a different path than the one he came.
His act was so natural,
that he really felt like a tourist who had left something at the hotel.
It was so natural, so perfect, that even the Obsidian Unit searching for Adrian right in front of him didn’t notice.
.
.
.
“No sign of the target.”
With the continued reports, we decided to change the operation for now.
Continuing to comb the Bock fortress seemed meaningless.
It seemed better to leave only a minimal number of personnel and have the remaining Obsidian Unit take rest.
“Reorganize into teams of two. Total of five teams. Switch to patrol pattern.”
“Rotate through sectors and monitor. No fixed positions.”
“No contact. Keep your distance. If spotted, report immediately, then follow.”
“Understood.”
After giving the order,
I stared blankly at the entrance to Bork Fortress, where people came and went.
People streamed in and out without end.
Tourists, guides, people taking pictures, people buying things.
Watching them made my confidence falter.
I had thought that if I only came here, if I only searched Bork Fortress, I would be able to find traces of Adrian.
But no.
When I looked at the people passing by,
when I looked at Bork Fortress, I began to wonder—could I really find Adrian here?
Should we continue the operation as planned?
Should we change it? I was confused.
At that moment, someone who looked like a traveler hurriedly turned back.
It felt as if he had left something at the hotel, so I was about to turn my head away,
but the direction he was heading was strange.
He wasn’t going back the way he had come. He was going in a different direction.
‘Huh? That’s odd.’
If he had left something behind,
if he had lost something,
the natural thing would be to go back the way he came.
But he was taking a completely different road.
Suspicious.
And he was limping.
Not severely, but he was clearly limping.
He didn’t have a cane, but he was limping.
It was worth suspecting, at least once.
“9-W entrance. Beige slacks, gray windbreaker. Limping. Confirmation requested.”
“Team Two moving in.”
“Do not approach under any circumstances. Confirm only from a distance.”
“Roger.”
.
.
.
Adrian left Bork Fortress and entered the city streets.
There was nowhere better to hide than the city.
The roads were complicated,
and they continued in irregular patterns.
Stairs and hills were mixed together.
Lines of sight were often cut off,
and routes were hard to predict.
It was the ideal terrain for shaking off pursuers.
He didn’t know who it was,
but someone was definitely following him.
He did not confront them.
He simply let it flow past.
He hoped it was an illusion born of over-sensitivity.
But he could feel it clearly.
They were following him.
They were keeping their distance,
but he could feel them trailing behind him.
Even so, he absolutely did not quicken his pace.
Changing his speed would only give them certainty.
The limping leg he had once worn like a medal felt nothing but inconvenient today.
He turned a corner and entered a narrower alley.
There were hardly any people.
Then, at the next corner, he turned again.
The moment he rounded the corner, he dropped what he had been holding in his hand.
Thud.
With a small sound, white smoke burst out.
His vision was obscured in an instant.
Adrian did not pass through the smoke.
Instead, he opened the door of a building on the opposite side and went inside.
He climbed the stairs and looked down from the rooftop.
Sure enough.
A few seconds later, someone entered the alley where the smoke had spread.
Cautiously,
they began checking beyond the smoke.
Watching this, Adrian’s expression did not change.
He simply stopped looking down.
He did not confirm the person who had been pursuing him.
There was no need to confirm.
He knew who it was.
Without a shred of lingering attachment, Adrian turned away.
He left quietly.
Nothing remained where Adrian had been.