TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: None.
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Walking along the stone wall path.
The early morning turned into a full morning, and the number of people walking along the road and cars driving by began to increase.
Office workers busy with their commute, tourists who had come early, and residents out for a walk.
Yeonwoo circled around the outskirts of Gyeongbokgung Palace, stopped by a convenience store to buy coffee, and ate a simple triangular kimbap.
The police at the checkpoint gave him strange looks when they saw his cooperation document.
After walking for a long time, Yeonwoo muttered to himself.“My legs hurt…”
It was now 9 AM, meaning he had been walking for almost three hours.
Not only were his calves and thighs sore, but his shoulder and neck, where he carried the eco bag, hurt as well. There was a strange feeling in his feet, as if blisters had formed.
A tired voice came through the earpiece.
-I’m in pain too. The prosthetic is crushing my thigh…
Yeonwoo's complaints stopped. Lee Seoyeon must be in more pain than he was. Yeonwoo cleared his throat and muttered again.
“Where’s the restroom?”
He meant he needed to make a quick stop, and Lee Seoyeon’s response came quickly.
-See that building on the left? I noticed it when we passed by earlier; there's one inside.
“….”
Wearing an awkward expression, Yeonwoo headed to the restroom.
He stopped in front of the sink. Yeonwoo glanced at himself in the mirror.
Despite it being morning, his face looked tired. Even though it was a cool morning in late summer, his face, neck, and arms were sticky with sweat.
Ssshhh—
He washed his face several times with cool water, rinsing the sweat off his arms too. Then Yeonwoo suddenly froze.
“What’s this, first thing in the morning?”
“Why are they sending us for this…?”
Two men entered the restroom, chatting loudly. Their eyes met Yeonwoo's in the foggy mirror. Both the men and Yeonwoo stopped, scanning each other quickly with only their eyes.
‘They’re not ordinary people.’
They had the air of someone who worked in the same field. Yeonwoo sensed it, and so did the two men.
Only the sound of running water filled the tense silence.
Yeonwoo moved first. He opened his mouth and shouted loudly.
“Support, now!”
“Subdue him!”
The two men charged at him. Yeonwoo, unable to think of drawing his gun, swung the eco bag with his wet hands.
Thwack—
The eco bag, filled with various tools, hit one man in the face. The weight and the hardness of the metal tools inside caused him to stagger, clutching his face.
The other man closed in and reached out with both hands.
“You!”
His hands targeted Yeonwoo’s shoulder and wrist while his foot aimed at his ankle. It was a judo technique.
‘If I get caught, I’m dead!’
Slamming into the floor without a mat would result in serious injury.
Yeonwoo lifted both legs, pushing the man’s solar plexus as he sat on the sink. But perhaps due to all the walking, he couldn't muster enough strength.
The man didn’t budge and grabbed Yeonwoo’s ankle. His grip was crushing.
“Restroom! Here!”
“These bastards!”
At the same time, the two agents, Kim Gapdong and Lee Seoyeon, rushed in and joined the fight. Just as exhausted as Yeonwoo, they tackled the two men.
Crash, bang, thud—
The two men fell, and the grip on Yeonwoo’s ankle slipped.
Yeonwoo quickly ran to the back of the restroom, assessing the situation.
“Give up now!”
“There are three of them! Request backup!”
“Argh!”
It was chaos. The four of them were entangled in a brawl.
One man, nose bleeding, kept punching, blocking, and grappling with Kim Gapdong. The judo-trained man grabbed Lee Seoyeon's ankle, but he was thrown off balance when her prosthetic leg came off. Lee Seoyeon's body tilted dangerously.
‘I can’t win this.’
Yeonwoo quickly reached into the eco bag and pulled out the gun.
“Stop.”
They didn't listen. Their entire focus was on the fight.
Yeonwoo aimed the pistol.
“I have a gun here.”
As if it were a lie, their movements stopped. In their entangled positions, they turned their heads to look at Yeonwoo, their eyes fixed on the dark homemade pistol.
“…Goldberg Club?”
A model different from any other gun on the market. A homemade pistol from the Goldberg Club.
The expressions on the two men’s faces twisted strangely.
“You’re terrorists?”
“Terrorists? Us? Aren’t you the terrorists?”
Yeonwoo's expression also changed oddly. Something was off. Instead of catching the expected fish, they had caught something else.
One of the men spoke quietly.
“We're from the Anomaly Management Agency…”
Awkwardly gauging the situation, Kim Gapdong and the man lowered their fists, and the other man returned Lee Seoyeon’s prosthetic leg to her.
Rubbing his bruised face, Kim Gapdong spoke.
“It seems we need to have a conversation. Yeonwoo, you too.”
Their eyes stayed fixed on the gun. Yeonwoo shrugged and put the gun back into the eco bag.
“Let's move to a different place. This isn’t suitable.”
---
---
They entered a nearby café.
Yeonwoo placed his coffee in the center of the table. Everyone took their coffees but remained silent.
Kim Gapdong and the Anomaly Management Agency staff glared at each other while pressing on their bruised faces or bloody noses.
It was a subtle power struggle between competing agencies within Korea. Neither wanted to speak first.
‘This is not the time for this.’
Yeonwoo tapped the table and spoke first, addressing Kim Gapdong.
“I didn’t join the Goldberg Club.”
“…Then how did you get that gun?”
“I stole it.”
“What?”
Kim Gapdong looked at Yeonwoo with his swollen eyes, disbelieving. Yeonwoo remained calm.
“It happened under certain circumstances. The details are confidential, but the higher-ups have been informed.”
One of the men squinted his eyes. So it wasn’t the Goldberg Club.
“Who are you people?”
“We’re from the company.”
“Humanity Protection Company?”
Yeonwoo showed his cooperation document. It was wet and crumpled but genuine, not a forgery.
“Ah, we’ve made a mistake…”
The two men simultaneously relaxed, holding their heads and leaning back in their chairs with a sigh. Then they suddenly straightened up.
“You must have heard the intel too. Since it's come to this, how about we cooperate?”
“…What intel did you hear?”
“You must know. The cabinet meeting today.”
Kim Gapdong and Lee Seoyeon exchanged glances for a moment.
‘How do they know? This is an internal company matter.’
‘I have no idea.’
Their silent conversation ended quickly with the Anomaly Management Agency staff’s words. One of the men spoke.
“We don’t know the exact details. The Anomaly Hazard Security Bureau predicted a possible threat, that a terrorist attack involving anomalies would happen. Do you know more?”
Kim Gapdong responded skillfully.
“We know about the same. We predicted an attack on the cabinet meeting and came to stop it.”
There was no need to reveal everything. Informing a government agency that a company faction planned to brainwash government officials wouldn’t be beneficial.
The Anomaly Management Agency staff didn’t suspect anything and glanced at his watch.
The wristwatch, cracked from the fight, showed the time. The staff member painfully confirmed the time.
“It’s 9:20…. Let’s head to the Blue House. Whoever the enemy is, they’ll be heading there.”
After quickly gulping down their coffee, they stood up. They left the café, heading towards the Blue House.
---
---
“You can't come in. It's not allowed.”
The five people walking silently were stopped at the main gate of the Blue House. An employee of the Anomaly Management Agency raised his voice, arguing with the gate security, but the guard ignored him.
The employee stomped his feet, waving some kind of ID card.
“You have no authority to block us!”
“If you keep causing a disturbance, we won’t stand by.”
The guard spoke bluntly, his eyes momentarily flashing pink.
Ready to signal the Presidential Security Service, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Security Division, and the Capital Defense Command without hesitation.
The Anomaly Management Agency employee pursed his lips tightly.
At that moment, the three members of the Humanity Protection Company stepped past the employees and approached the gate naturally.
“Excuse us, we'll be passing through.”
“Understood. Please proceed.”
Clang-
The firmly closed gate opened. The two Anomaly Management Agency employees widened their eyes, watching the company members.
Wearing fluorescent vests, they naturally entered the Blue House. Kim Gapdong gave a slight smile and waved to the employees.
“We’ll take care of the inside of the Blue House. Please handle the outside.”
The natural-looking fluorescent vests were civilian response team equipment. Specialized infiltration anomaly equipment, they moved away beyond the closing iron gate.
The Anomaly Management Agency employees couldn't follow, only watching the company employees with bewildered eyes.
Once they were a little farther from the main gate, Kim Gapdong smirked.
“Did you see their faces? They looked like dogs chasing chickens. How dare a mere agency try to mess with the company.”
Despite his face being bruised and swollen, he couldn't hide his smile. Lee Seoyeon had a subtle expression.
“Senior, this isn't the time to be celebrating.”
Kim Gapdong’s smile stiffened. After all, they were here to stop the company faction from brainwashing government officials.
Kim Gapdong chewed on his lip and then noticed someone walking ahead of them.
“Uh…”
A man wearing a fluorescent vest, like them, was walking leisurely, swinging a phone emitting a pink light in his left hand.
He suddenly sensed their presence and turned around. He was a middle-aged man with a face full of wrinkles from hard work.
Kim Gapdong's lips trembled as he spoke.
“Manager of the First Response Division?”
---
[raei: uhm, I apologize if I reiterate any of the names of agencies/ departments etc. incorrectly.. There's so many at this point, my list is starting to dizzy me. We're only at ch48!]
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