Just before sunrise, black vans appeared in the dark, silent old district.
Ignoring the traffic lights, the vans came to a stop in front of an old commercial building.
The vans halted, and people in bulletproof vests burst out.
“Move!”
Carrying guns fitted with suppressors, the people who had leaped from the vehicles surrounded the building at the direction of the man who got out from the passenger seat.
After they had encircled the building, drones emerged from another van.
Painted black, the drones flew soundlessly into the building.
The man who had gotten out of the passenger seat glared at the building with a frown.
A team member, having confirmed that the drones had entered, came to his side.
“We should be able to confirm it soon.”
At the team member’s words, NIS Team Leader Han nodded.
Seeing him nod, the team member asked again.
“Do you really think they’re in there?”
Team Leader Han spat the gum he had been chewing onto the ground.
He had been chewing it to keep himself alert, but it seemed he no longer needed it.
Glancing down at the gum stuck to the pavement, he answered the team member’s question.
“I don’t know either. Still, the Americans contacted us, didn’t they? They have no reason to lie.”
Even at Team Leader Han’s words, the team member did not let go of his suspicion.
“It hasn’t even been a day since the incident happened. I don’t understand how they could have obtained information and found the target in that time. What if…”
“You think it might be an operation the Americans set up? And what are you going to do if it is?”
“……”
At Team Leader Han’s curt reply, the team member could say nothing.
“Even if that’s true, it’s not like this is the first time. Who doesn’t know that ever since the war, things have been moving strangely between America and the higher-ups?”
Team Leader Han’s grumbling was not only his own dissatisfaction, but a complaint felt by the entire NIS.
When the war broke out, they had expected the NIS’s authority to be strengthened, but during the war, it had instead been reduced.
As the war continued, the number of secrets the NIS could not access steadily increased, and the agents’ dissatisfaction grew along with it.
This time was no different.
It was yesterday afternoon when they heard that an object and a person being transported to Seoul without their knowledge had been seized en route.
The higher-ups had caused an uproar, saying they had to recover what had been stolen, but they would not even tell them what the object was.
While they were searching in coordination with the police, dumbfounded by the whole situation, the Americans contacted them.
The CIA branch in Korea had sent word that they had found the culprits.
And so the agents had rushed out here.
“Whatever it is, I just hope it ends quickly. What the hell are we doing at the crack of dawn…”
It was then, as he let out a huge yawn.
A voice from another team member came through the headset in his ear.
—We found them. Two on the second floor, two on the first floor. Foreigners who appear to be Russians are tied up.
It was the report from the team member in charge of the drones.
Hearing the report, Team Leader Han nodded.
“The information was accurate.”
The report did not end there.
—There are people in the basement too. One foreign male, one Asian woman! Identity confirmed. It’s the target. She’s still alive.
Team Leader Han put a hand to his headset, then issued an order to the people surrounding the building.
“We’re going in!”
At his command, the agents entered the building.
Those who went inside quickly scattered.
Some went upstairs, others headed down to the basement.
A few checked the foreigners lying on the first floor.
—First floor clear. Two people. They’re injured and unconscious, but both are alive.
—Second floor clear. Two people. Same situation here.
—Basement confirmed as well. No abnormalities.
Listening to the reports through his headset, Team Leader Han entered the building.
An agent who was examining the bound foreigners spoke to Team Leader Han.
“Their arms and legs have all been broken. It looks like they were all broken in one blow. Whoever did this had incredible strength and skill. I don’t think it was one of the agents. More like a different kind of specialist.”
Team Leader Han’s eyes widened as well when he saw the broken limbs, but he forced himself to look away.
“Someone from America must have come in.”
At his words, which clearly showed his intention to ignore it, everyone firmly shut their mouths.
After ordering them to take the foreigners outside, Team Leader Han went down to the basement.
It was an ordinary basement with nothing particularly special about it, containing a simple bed and a metal chair.
The target woman was lying on the bed, and beside the chair, a man bound with rope had collapsed.
Team Leader Han pointed at the woman.
“Is she injured?”
“No. There are no signs of injury. Shall we wake her?”
“Do it.”
The agent tapped the woman’s cheek.
Smack. Smack. Smack.
Her cheek turned red, and a moment later, the woman opened her eyes.
“Huh? Where is this? Eek! Help me!”
After coming to her senses, the woman looked around, then screamed with a frightened expression.
“Please don’t worry. We are from the Korean government. Miss Oh Yeonhui, you have been rescued by us.”
Team Leader Han and the agents worked hard to calm the woman down.
“R-really?”
“Yes. All the kidnappers have been arrested.”
While they were calming the woman, the unconscious Russians were carried outside.
Once the Russians were no longer in sight, the female college student finally calmed down.
Team Leader Han was able to hear the situation from her.
“I was picked by lottery, so among the later group I was the first—ah, not the first, I guess. Anyway, I was able to come back with the Americans and the expedition leader. But then, all of a sudden, we were going to Seoul, and in the middle of the trip, Russians appeared and started shooting, and killing people… Sob, sob. I had only just escaped from that terrifying planet.”
Unfortunately, he could not hear much from her.
Because as she spoke, the female college student began to sob.
He wanted to hear more, but he could not.
A call came from outside.
—Representative Lee has arrived.
“The VIP’s lackey?”
—Yes. Representative Lee Junho.
“Good grief, a National Assembly member came all the way here at this hour?”
—I suppose it’s that important.
“Got it. I’ll be right up.”
Together with the agents, he took the female college student and went upstairs.
The moment he stepped out of the building, a man in a suit blocked his path.
Team Leader Han recognized him at once.
It was Representative Lee Junho, said to be a powerful figure in the ruling party.
As soon as Representative Lee saw him, he asked without preamble.
“Where is it?”
“Pardon?”
“The Darkstone.”
“I don’t even know what that is.”
At Team Leader Han’s words, Representative Lee’s expression hardened.
He glared at the female college student following behind him, and she shook her head in shock.
“I didn’t see it. I lost consciousness as soon as I was captured.”
“Could America have taken it?”
This was a disaster.
If things turned out like this, they might have to obtain the Darkstone they had finally acquired from America all over again.
And this time, what would they have to give up?
Representative Lee looked around and bit his lip.
***
I was watching the National Assembly member get angry from the building across the street.
Before the NIS agents arrived, I had come to a vacant room on the third floor of the building across the road.
I was also the one who had called the NIS agents.
Calling them had not been difficult.
It was enough to contact Margretha and borrow the name of the CIA’s Korea branch.
Before three hours had passed since the contact was made, the agents arrived here, and thanks to that, I was able to watch the scene from the building across the street.
The building I was in was right in front of the one the agents had stormed, but I was not worried.
I had hidden both the light and the line of sight with magic, so there was no concern of being discovered by ordinary people.
I was not the only one here.
The Russian who had been in the basement with the female college student was behind me.
Right now, he was sprawled on the floor bound with rope, but among the Russians in the building, he had seemed to be the highest-ranking.
That was why I had brought only this man out of the building.
I also had the Darkstone he had been carrying.
[The Darkstone was far too small… Could there be more?]
At Sop’s words, I shook my head.
“I checked several times. This is probably all of it. In any case, they have nowhere to use it. They must have taken it under the pretext of research, but in the end, it’ll be useless except as an exhibit.”
Sop clicked his tongue.
[Tsk. To cause this much trouble over such a tiny Darkstone. I don’t like it at all.]
“They can’t help it because they don’t know anything. That’s probably why they keep looking for me.”
The same was likely true of their attempt to take the female college student who had returned to Earth to Seoul.
Russia, which had kidnapped the female college student and seized the Darkstone, was no different.
Russia, excluded from America’s plans, was desperate for information.
Even so, before, they had only gathered information in hiding, but after the spatial transfer ruins were revealed, it seemed they could no longer do that.
Like seizing the Darkstone and kidnapping a person on Korean soil, bloody battles were breaking out all over the world.
All of this was information I had heard from the Russian behind me.
He had a few more broken places than the Russians I had left in the building.
Under normal circumstances, his injuries would have been enough to make him pass out, but unfortunately, there was a mage in front of him.
[I never imagined pain suppression magic would be used for something like this.]
“What? You mean this magic wasn’t used for torture?”
[Someone may have used it that way, but I never knew of it. We had many ways to obtain information without resorting to such crude methods.]
Come to think of it, the Magic Kingdom had mental magic too, even if it was forbidden magic.
They might secretly use forbidden magic, but they probably would not obtain information by torturing someone through repeatedly blocking and releasing pain.
“Still, I found out everything I wanted to know.”
As Sop said, it was a crude method, but I was able to obtain all the information I needed.
The Russian agent who had told me everything was dying from his injuries.
Fortunately, he was not feeling pain, but even now, he wore an expression as if begging me to kill him.
I granted his wish.
After putting the agent into a box, I spoke to Sop.
“If things are like this, they won’t last long.”
[They won’t. There are far too many people and countries on this Earth. In a situation like this, it will be difficult for anything to proceed properly.]
“I’ll have to hurry. I don’t know when the destruction will come, but it feels like trouble will break out before then.”
I had come here partly to recover the Darkstone and rescue the female college student, but more than that, I had come to obtain information.
As Margretha had said, I wanted to know how fierce the battles between agents had become, and I was curious what countries that knew nothing of the situation would do.
And I had heard enough.
“If war breaks out with Russia, it’ll be World War III. And if it’s a World War III with nuclear weapons flying around, it’ll be no different from destruction.”
The situation on Earth was no simple matter either.
It was not as if I could do anything immediately, but for my brother and the people I knew, I could not simply stand by.
If I wanted to do something on Earth too, I had to raise my value.
And to raise my value, I could not cling to just one side.
It seemed it was about time to make the greedy ones compete against each other.
The next day.
Representative Lee Junho contacted me.
It was a message saying the ruling party leader wanted to meet.
“Let’s do that. I happen to have something to give them as well.”
I intended to return the Darkstone they had lost yesterday.
And there was something else I would give them.
Something that could move those greedy people called those in power.
I intended to release information to Korea as well.
Deal (1)