Chapter 259.1

Chapter 259.1

Outside the car window, the scenery of the highway rushed by quickly. Lee Wooshin held the steering wheel tightly, still staring straight ahead.

What is this? It felt like a short and dry response, yet no voice came out.

—I’m buying as much time as possible… but soon, breaking news will be released. The list of black agents dispatched overseas has been leaked… It has been determined that a military officer working at the Defense Intelligence Command has passed on classified information… The list includes–

The sound of tires rolling on the asphalt echoed low. Maybe I should have turned on the radio.

Lee Wooshin felt a fake pain as if his bones and flesh were being dismantled in the sharp silence. Na Won-chang could not finish his sentence, his voice trembling.

— As soon as we recognized the situation, emergency repatriation orders were issued to all agents. However, due to the delay in discovery… As of now, it has been confirmed that North Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian agents, including Russian secret agents, are being urgently withdrawn.

“How urgent?”

—It seems they left their local residences and operating businesses as they were. There is a high possibility they will move through a third country according to the manual.

So, it was a reassurance. But… Lee Wooshin let out a sharp laugh. He wasn’t naive enough to not understand the hidden dangers and implications behind those words.

So, it’s a scramble. That means it’s serious. A cynical laugh escaped him.

“So, they’ve already been discovered.”

It was an incident where the government realized too late that the list had been leaked. The authorities must have hurriedly issued repatriation orders, but the local human intelligence network that had been built over years of time and money could not avoid collapse.

Secret agents who had lived there for ten, twenty years. They might already be captured or undergoing torture.

In this chaos, how many would actually return alive? It was by no means a light matter. Lee Wooshin spat blood-tinged saliva into the tumbler he had brought.

“What about Seoryeong?”

—…Director Tae Mu-kyung has also received an immediate withdrawal order.

“I didn’t ask that.”

—….

“Won-chang.”

His voice remained calm, but it carried a pressure that crushed whoever heard it.

“My wife. So tell me. Is she returning home safely or not.”

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. His knuckles turned white as he clenched it, and his fingertips trembled.

“We are truly, truly sorry… We have lost contact with all members of the Second External Intelligence Team dispatched to Kursk.”

He said nothing.

“We are… currently classifying them as missing.”

His jaw locked. Each incomprehensible word burrowed into his mind.

He could not believe it. No, he refused to believe it. Lee Wooshin immediately reached for the tablet on the passenger seat and checked it.

Missing? That was impossible. Just a few hours ago, he had traced the faint traces she left behind on the fogged bathroom mirror.

But now, as if the connection had been severed, every signal lay silent. He detected no data, no movement.

He swiped his fingers across the screen and tried to reconnect, but the result remained the same. Her biometric data and the video feed were both completely cut off.

A sharp ringing pierced his ears, but Lee Wooshin did not let his composure slip. It simply could not be true.

Even when she removed the ring at Tae Moo-kyung’s instruction, she always slipped it into her pocket and tapped it from time to time. That had been her code telling him not to worry, her signal that the mission was going smoothly. There should have been some kind of response.

So why… why did it look as if the device had completely failed? He stared blankly at the frozen signal on the screen.

The steering wheel suddenly loosened in his hands, and the car swerved. A loud honk blared from behind, snapping his unfocused pupils back into place.

He had nearly caused a serious accident on the highway. The low, subdued voice on the line continued.

“During the transfer of the agent roster, we confirmed that multiple military secrets were leaked externally. That means… there is a high probability that the mission of our agents who infiltrated the prison camp under cover was also exposed…”

Fuck… fuck… A faint tremor flickered at the corner of Lee Wooshin’s eyes. His sharp mind raced, but he could not construct a single optimistic scenario. He had bitten the inside of his mouth so hard that the torn flesh of his cheek hung ragged.

If the list of agents operating in the Kursk region had been leaked, at least three forces were highly likely to eliminate them.

Kursk was an active combat border zone. Russian and North Korean troops were both stationed there. Once their identities were exposed, the agents’ chances of survival dropped drastically. The enemy would attempt to remove them through explosives, sniping, or close quarters combat.

Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. North Korean special forces. And the private military organizations Russia might have hired.

He did not know what orders they would receive. They had to leave the camp immediately. No, they had to get out of the region altogether and disappear. He pressed harder on the accelerator.

“We will… contact you separately as soon as we confirm the status of the External Intelligence agents.”

The scenery rushing past the car window suddenly felt unreal. He was stuck in the middle of the highway. He could not step out of the car. He could not turn back halfway. It felt as if someone had thrown him into a maze with no exit.

“Na Wonchang. Other than reminding me how fucking useless your organization is, is that all you have to say?”

“…We are truly sorry, Team Leader. Going forward… even if… even if you face difficulties as a bereaved family member… the National Intelligence Service promises to provide all possible support. We will also protect Agent Joo Seoryeong’s honor to the very end…”

Bang! He hurled his phone with all his strength. It slammed hard against the window and dropped to the floor. The glass did not crack, but a faint groove caught the light and glinted as if something had gouged it.

He glared at the window, his breath coming in ragged bursts as if it might explode out of him. He could not tell whether the trembling came from rage or regret. The emotions boiling in his chest refused to settle.