Chapter 212.1

Chapter 212.1

“What?”

W-who? Even through the thick bandages, his pupils trembled violently. Wait. Damon… Could it be that Damon, the CIA deputy director mentioned in Joo Seolheon’s documents?

A shiver of black dread crawled over his skin. His guts went cold, his insides freezing solid, and fury surged until his vision turned red.

Dmn it, dmn it! He had only been gone for five days.

But in that short time, someone had breached the mansion’s defenses, and now everything had gone to hell. Why? How?

With that thought, he jammed the gun into the man’s other ear. Yoo Dawit, who’d been hiccuping and gagging, muttered vacantly.

“Sonya belongs to America. Bring her back.”

“…!”

Lee Wooshin gritted his teeth and smacked his palm across the man’s cheek. The blow cracked like metal. He hit him again and again until the skin split, and sticky blood smeared across his hand.

Joo Seolheon’s face flashed before him; pale, desperate, overly alert. His dead superior’s face. And now he was sure he wore the same expression. His hands began to shake.

“Sonya belongs to America…”

The stabbing fear in his ribs was something he hadn’t felt since watching his parents die before his eyes. Was he about to lose someone again, helpless before some untouchable power?

“Team Leader! There are hundreds like me outside.”

No. He had survived all this time, no matter how hellish it got, precisely so he wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.

He’d clawed his way through every day to protect someone next time. He wouldn’t let anything be taken from him again.

Wooshin steadied his crumbling mind and ripped away one side of the bandages. Beneath them, his old squadmate’s face came into view, torn to shreds and soaked in blood where an ear should have been.

“Deputy Director Damon saved people of color who were on the brink of death and gave them new lives. From that day, I swore to follow his voice…”

“Don’t fool yourself. The ones who died from botched surgeries number in the thousands already.”

Wooshin’s voice cut cold.

“You just got lucky.”

It had always been a gamble; live or die. But now, hearing how this Damon had targeted people of color, Wooshin felt a murderous chill rising toward the man who’d once pledged blind loyalty to that voice.

For ten years as an NIS agent, he had never once felt any sense of duty or noble calling. But this time, a personal desire burned in him so fierce that he wanted nothing more than to destroy this informant completely.

He couldn’t damage both ears if he meant to interrogate him. Gritting his teeth, he fired another bullet straight into Yoo Dawit’s thigh.

“Why did you join the Blast Agency?”

“Argh!”

The man’s neck strained, veins bulging as he writhed, but Lee Wooshin’s face didn’t so much as twitch. He simply shoved his fingers into the bleeding wound and twisted mercilessly. Yoo Dawit screamed and clawed at the floor, blood vessels bursting in his eyes.

He couldn’t even touch the ragged remains of his torn ear, his trembling hand only hovering nearby. His face contorted with despair.

“I joined after receiving intel, that CEO Kang Taegon was a lobbyist for Russia!”

“Since when? When exactly did you start targeting Han Seoryeong?”

“I-it hasn’t been… long. After Deputy Director Damon passed away… I received a document. Ugh! It was a photo.”

A curse ground between Wooshin’s teeth. He hadn’t been deeply involved with the Owl, but their situations were eerily similar.

From what he knew, Deputy Chief Joo Seolheon had gone to great lengths to hide Sonya, giving her a new Korean name, a new face, and completely fabricated background information. It had been her only way to survive.

Which meant Damon should never have known Sonya’s real face. Then how had Yoo Dawit recognized her? Wooshin’s grip tightened unconsciously.

“I heard the name Sonya… once, in Sakhalin. So I, ugh… asked the higher-ups to reconstruct the child’s photo that Deputy Director Damon gave me… using artificial intelligence. The adult face that came out looked exactly like Agent Han Seoryeong…”

Something so small, so trivial, and yet the wrong person had heard the one name that should have remained buried.

Joo Seolheon used to warn him that even a dam can collapse through an ant hole. Only now did he understand how true that was.

He should have left Yoo Dawit to die back in that minefield. The thought stabbed through his gut, and he bit down hard on his molars.

“Right after I got out of detention. I attended Deputy Director Damon’s funeral and began tracking Agent Han Seoryeong. But I lost her trail in Azerbaijan, so I had no choice but to follow you, Team Leader. I was sure… you two would meet eventually… argh!”

Wooshin stumbled but fired another round into the same wound. Yoo Dawit shrieked, cold sweat pouring down like rain as his body convulsed.

He’d been watching me to find Sonya.

Yoo Dawit must have seen through every look, every reckless move Wooshin had ever made toward her.

So in the end, was Seoryeong’s location exposed because of my own damn feelings?

The realization tore through his insides, guilt clawing deep into his gut.

“My part ends here anyway.”

There are plenty like me out there. Sonya will be taken back by the United States… Thud. Roll.

Before Wooshin could react, Yoo Dawit pulled something from his pocket and yanked the pin out with his front teeth.

Wooshin shouted.

Boom! The leather sofa burst apart, and the entire parlor shook violently.

It was a grenade.