A shabby commercial building in Seoul.
Passing through a grimy glass door leads to a set of steep stairs.
Ascending past the smell of food wafting from a Korean buffet on the first floor reveals a steel door on the third floor.
While the crooked door appears neglected at a glance, highly clandestine activities are unfolding behind it.
Inside that steel door, within a spacious office, were three men.
They were not Koreans, but foreigners.
One was casually slurping cup noodles, another was lying on a bed, and the third sat in a chair staring at a laptop screen.
The screen was divided into four sections, each showing a different location.
It looked like CCTV footage.
“As expected, Korea makes great ramen.”
It was just as the man eating ramen was admiring the broth.
The foreigner watching the screen ripped off his headphones and hurriedly turned to the others.
“The target has left the nest!”
His voice was urgent.
“What?”
The man eating ramen immediately set it down and rushed over.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.
Look.”
As they zoomed in on the screen and enhanced the resolution, a person sitting in a passenger seat became visible.
It was definitely the target they had been waiting for.
“Contact them quickly…”
It was at that moment.
Crash!
With a sudden explosion of noise, the steel door was blown inward.
Despite being made of steel, the door was sent tumbling across the floor.
The men in the office dove under their desks in surprise.
The man sleeping on the bed instinctively rolled onto the floor.
“Exposed…?”
The eyes of the two men hidden under the desk met.
“We have to call…”
One man reached up, fumbling to find the communication equipment on top of the desk.
However.
Thwack!
A rubber bullet flew through the air and struck the man’s hand with precision.
The man had no choice but to grimace and nurse his hand.
“Do not move.
We will fire if you fail to comply.”
An agent in a black suit had approached before they knew it, aiming a Taser.
Behind him, four or five more special forces members armed with guns loaded with rubber bullets were entering.
“Damn it.”
The foreigners raised their hands and stood up.
The man who had been hiding behind a cabinet after rolling off the bed had no other options either.
The three foreigners were immediately taken into custody.
The special forces members escorted them down to the first floor.
A van was already waiting.
The foreigners were seized by the team members and forcibly loaded into the vehicle.
The van sped out of the alley like the wind.
From entry and securing the targets to the retreat, it took only two minutes and ten seconds.
The lone agent in the black suit walked down to the first floor and held a phone to his ear.
“Targets secured.”
After a short report, he hung up.
He glanced around the area and then walked straight into the Korean buffet.
It was because he hadn’t had breakfast yet.
***
“Understood.”
Kang Hak-sang, the Director of NIS, who was sitting in the back seat of a car next to Kim Myung-joo, hung up his short call.
“We’ve even picked up the Russians, so eleven operation centers have been neutralized so far.”
He briefly shared the current progress along with the details of the call.
“What about the United States, China, and Japan?”
“We haven’t located the ones from China or Japan.
Hmph…
Aren’t they near yet far neighbors?
Even if there are operatives, we have no way of knowing how long they’ve been here…”
“And the United States?”
“There are signs that the United States has sent a Hunter.”
“A Hunter?”
“Yes.
But…
we have no information on them yet.”
“That can’t be helped.
Still, we might be able to flush out the Chinese and Japanese operatives this time.
They’re bound to move.”
Operation Truman was not simply at the level of ‘preventing Kim Song-cheol’s exposure to foreign operatives.’ If Kim Song-cheol moved, they would surely move as well.
They would wait for that moment to catch them.
Flushing out the clandestine operatives was another objective.
Protecting Kim Song-cheol was a long-term battle.
It was necessary to weed out threats in advance.
Though they hadn’t expected to start the operation this early.
“For now, we’re catching those whose locations are known as we find them, so you can consider it starting with half of them cleared out.”
While Kim Myung-joo and Kang Hak-sang conversed, the car entered an underground parking lot of a building.
As soon as they got out of the car, they practically ran to the elevator and went up to the 25th floor.
It was the NIS Operation Truman Headquarters.
Dozens of personnel were already deployed at the headquarters, and several screens were being broadcast on monitors fixed to the wall.
These were body-cam feeds from agents out in the field.
Without even sitting down, Kang Hak-sang and Kim Myung-joo stood and watched the screens.
At that moment, one screen enlarged, pushing the others to the side monitor.
Within the large screen, a bus was shown stopping at a station.
After a short wait, the rear door of the bus opened and Kim Song-cheol stepped out.
Kang Hak-sang lightly pressed the earpiece in his ear and spoke.
“Stay sharp.
We don’t know who might approach.
Wait a second.”
Kang Hak-sang’s gaze fixed on the right side of the screen.
It was a woman walking toward Kim Song-cheol.
She wore a plain shirt and ordinary jeans.
To Kim Myung-joo, she was a woman who didn’t even stand out.
“Grab that woman, now!
The blue shirt.”
Kang Hak-sang’s voice was urgent.
One screen began moving rapidly.
It left the alley and gradually closed in on the woman.
Kim Myung-joo could see the agent through another screen.
It was an agent dressed in a matching set of ordinary tracksuits.
He approached as if he were someone who already knew the woman and put his arm around her shoulder.
When the agent whispered something, the woman showed no particular reaction and simply walked forward.
Through another screen, he caught a glimpse of the two passing by.
Once Kim Song-cheol was further away, other agents appeared, grabbed the woman from both sides, and took her away.
The woman’s indignant expression was captured clearly on the screen.
“Was there…
something strange?”
Kim Myung-joo, who had been watching quietly, asked.
To him, she had looked like a truly ordinary woman.
“Her gait was a bit strange to begin with…
but the decisive factor was her gaze.
She looked exactly once at each of the undercover agents.
That means she noticed them.”
“…I see.”
Neither the woman who found the hidden NIS agents nor Kang Hak-sang, who noticed that she had found them, were ordinary humans.
Kim Myung-joo felt that these were the kind of people who should be Hunters instead.
Meanwhile, Kim Song-cheol entered a coffee shop under the protection of invisible NIS agents.
It didn’t seem like he had an appointment.
He sat by the window alone, sipping coffee and enjoying his leisure.
While Kim Song-cheol enjoyed a warm spring day for the first time in a long while, the NIS, conversely, entered a state of high tension.
This was because the location and time were perfect for someone to approach.
“That one, grab that Westerner!”
“Why aren’t you moving faster!?”
Accordingly, Kang Hak-sang’s tone grew increasingly rough.
He had been acting dignified as the Director of NIS, but his true personality when in the field was clearly revealed.
Kang Hak-sang’s eyes moved ceaselessly as he stared at the screens.
There were over twenty agents deployed in the vicinity.
Kang Hak-sang was performing the feat of checking all those screens and giving individual instructions for each one.
“Get your heads in the game!
You, you punk.
Would you just stand there and watch if a thief broke into your house!?”
Under Kang Hak-sang’s severe command, any approach toward Kim Song-cheol was fundamentally blocked.
Foreign operatives, who hadn’t expected such thorough interference, were repeatedly caught with bewildered expressions and dragged away to parts unknown.
“…”
Kim Myung-joo quietly took a step back and sat in a chair.
To be honest, he didn’t feel like staring at the screens with them would be of any help.
The tense situation continued for quite a while.
After finishing his leisurely coffee time, Kim Song-cheol left the cafe.
It would have been better if he had taken a taxi, but Kim Song-cheol walked for a long time and arrived at a busy downtown area.
He exchanged greetings with a man in front of a restaurant.
Seeing them talk happily, it seemed the man was the friend he had mentioned meeting.
Kim Song-cheol and the man entered a nearby pork rib restaurant.
“12, 13.
Enter.”
Following Kang Hak-sang’s order, two agents entered the pork rib restaurant and began grilling ribs they hadn’t planned on eating.
Because they were seated nearby, the conversation between Kim Song-cheol and his friend could be faintly heard through their microphones.
“But why did you quit being an Accountant?
You haven’t even worked enough years to start your own firm.”
“Well…
I’m trying to find myself.”
“Yourself?
What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?
Are you starting a business?”
“Something like that.”
“Is it something good?
If it is, let’s do it together.”
“It’s not something we can do together.”
“Why?
If there’s something, let’s do it.
What is it?”
“Ah, I don’t know.
Just have a drink.
You can see it on the news later.”
“What?
The news?
Don’t tell me you’re…?”
“…What?”
“Are you doing something bad?
Are you handling taxes for people who run illegal gambling sites?”
“What the hell are you talking about…”
It was an ordinary conversation.
Kim Song-cheol ate with his friend, played a quick game of billiards, and then they parted ways.
He headed straight for the bus terminal.
This time he took the subway, and four or five agents boarded the same car with him.
By the time Kim Song-cheol arrived at the bus terminal, one operative had been flushed out, and while he waited for the bus at the terminal, another was caught.
Kim Song-cheol was practically a live fish trap.
Kim Song-cheol took an express bus and traveled for a long time before getting off at Cheonan.
It was where his family home was located.
The agents who had followed the express bus by car scattered as soon as Kim Song-cheol exited the terminal.
Some followed Kim Song-cheol, while others headed to the apartment where Kim Song-cheol’s parents lived.
Fortunately, there were no approaches made while Kim Song-cheol entered the apartment.
It seemed they had realized the NIS was guarding the perimeter like an iron fortress and had given up.
Only then did the tension that had gripped the NIS headquarters slightly dissipate.
The NIS left a few agents around Building 105 and withdrew most of the personnel.
Since he had entered his home, it was safe to assume there would be no more attempts.
“Phew….
It’s a lull for now.”
Only then did Kang Hak-sang slump into his chair.
His face looked very weary.
Many years had passed since he stepped back from the field.
It seemed his stamina wasn’t what it used to be.
“Please, have some of this.”
Kim Myung-joo handed a bowl of delivered jajangmyeon to Kang Hak-sang.
The delivery had arrived a while ago, but there had been no time to eat.
The two shared the bloated jajangmyeon and ate together.
About six hours passed like that.
It was 11:20 PM.
It was getting to the time when people would soon head to sleep.
The lights in Kim Song-cheol’s house had also been turned off.
Just as Kim Myung-joo was considering closing his eyes for a moment.
[Academy Director, a trace of Magic has been detected.]
This time, it was Kim Myung-joo’s earpiece that rang.
“What?
Explain in detail.”
At Kim Myung-joo’s urgent voice, Kang Hak-sang’s expression turned sharp in an instant.
[I’m not sure what it is either.
It’s a Mage with a higher Circle than me…
so it’s not reacting well to Detecting Magic.
But it’s certain that Magic was used.
My guess is…]
“What is it?”
[Teleport.
It seems they entered Trainee Kim Song-cheol’s house directly.
There are two mana signatures inside the house.]
“Teleport…?”
Teleport was a 6th Circle Magic.
There weren’t many Hunters on Earth at that level.
“What’s happening?
Did you say Teleport?”
Kang Hak-sang asked urgently.
“It…
seems a Hunter entered Trainee Kim Song-cheol’s house directly.
They are a high-level Mage, so they couldn’t be stopped…”
“Such…
an act of God…”
Kang Hak-sang looked devastated.
Despite causing such a commotion and arresting countless operatives, he had been easily bypassed by a single Hunter.
It was as if his entire career was being mocked.
Kim Myung-joo’s stomach also twisted, but there was nothing they could do right now.
They hadn’t even considered high-level Mages when designing the operation.
It was because they weren’t the type to show up for something like this.
Regardless, that high-level Mage would be making a proposal to Kim Song-cheol, and if Kim Song-cheol accepted the offer, he might vanish right then and there.
To begin with, the opponent was a Mage capable of using Teleport.
Taking Kim Song-cheol away would be a simple task.
“Entering the house means…
they intend to make a first and final offer.”
“A Mage, a Hunter…
then it must be the United States…”
“There were signs that the United States had dispatched a Hunter, after all.”
“Hmph…
They’ll be offering conditions incomparable to other countries…”
“For now, we have no choice but to trust Trainee Kim Song-cheol.”
In the end, the person holding the decision was Kim Song-cheol.
Just as it had always been.
It was then.
[Trainee Kim Song-cheol…
his mana signature has disappeared.
It seems he moved via Teleport.]
As soon as Kim Myung-joo heard that news through his earpiece, he leaped up from his seat.
He disappeared.
Where could he have gone?
No other place but the United States came to mind.