Ch.381Extra Episode – Same Day, Same Place, Different Deed

Getting off the elevator on the fifth floor, you’re greeted by a row of iron doors lining a dimly lit corridor where fluorescent lights cast a faint glow.

On one of the iron doors, thickly coated with gray paint, hangs a modest signboard bearing the name “Hanbyeol World Tour.”

“Hanbyeol World Tour” was a small travel agency that had managed to survive with steady sales even as major airlines and travel agencies went bankrupt during the COVID pandemic.

However, apart from the building manager who came to complain about excessive electricity bills and delivery riders who came and went daily with hands full of food, there were hardly any visitors with personal business at the travel agency.

The section chief of Hanbyeol World Tour, a man whom others addressed as “Chief Kim,” didn’t belong to any of the three examples mentioned earlier. He was an employee of this travel agency.

But those who knew Chief Kim personally—his military academy classmates and those who visited the office on official business—referred to this obscure small travel agency by a different name:

Defense Intelligence Command Outpost.

Chief Kim of Hanbyeol World Tour, Lieutenant Seo of the Defense Intelligence Command, called out to his senior with a yellow binder in hand and a respectful posture.

“Director. Director, please wake up. It’s lunchtime.”

I, who had been dozing with my chin propped on my hand at the desk, checked the time with bleary eyes.

“…Lunch, you say.”

Lunch. That rare pleasure that Korean office workers eagerly await, one of the few joys in workplace life.

Normally, I would have gone to feast on the hearty Korean meal prepared by the cafeteria lady, but today I felt too lazy to even move.

“Let’s order delivery.”

“Delivery again? Didn’t you order kimchi stew just yesterday?”

“Then let’s get Chinese food. I’ll have jajangmyeon.”

“What about sweet and sour pork?”

“If you pour the sauce on it like last time, I’ll kill you.”

I placed my card on the desk and sighed as I looked at the mountain of operation plans.

“…Sigh.”

Another business trip.

Extra Episode – Same Day, Same Place, Different Business.

A business trip has been scheduled.

The destination is Sudan, located on the African continent. A fucked-up country where a third civil war has erupted due to a rebel coup.

I twirled a pen between my fingers as I flipped through the document. It was a new operation manual sent from headquarters.

The hundreds of pages were packed with detailed explanations. It contained comprehensive information on Sudan’s politics, society, culture, and economic overview prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as data on the civil war situation collected by the National Intelligence Service.

Most of the document consisted of photographs and personnel files.

From colorful flags inscribed with Arabic to warlord combatants wearing military uniforms that seemed to have been picked up from anywhere and everywhere, to top leaders and key officials—information that appeared to be shared by British SIS. Some materials were even prepared by intelligence agencies from countries neighboring Sudan.

Even at a glance, the materials were headache-inducing.

Regions with active civil wars are perfect for arms dealing. And the security in civil war zones is as dangerous as the slums of Latin America, rural Afghanistan, or foreign residential areas in Central African countries.

With the government’s influence weakened and security in shambles, neither the North Koreans nor we would hesitate to deploy force.

If we entered the area as planned, the operation was likely to get messy. So what could I do? I needed to prepare before calculating the angle of entry.

I called for Chief Kim across the office desk.

“Chief Kim!”

“Yes, Director! Did you call for me?”

“Contact the workshop and warehouse in Sudan.”

“Workshop” was code for the Intelligence Command’s local branch, while “warehouse” referred to the embassy.

After delegating the task of seeking cooperation from the branch and embassy to my second-in-command, I turned my attention back to the operation manual.

I checked not only the general requirements for the operation but also the personal information of the target commie and the security guidance officers dispatched from their embassy. This was the crucial part.

While jotting notes and searching through documents, I noticed truly important information.

“What the hell? Why is the deadline like this?”

The deadline stated in the manual was the end of this month—less than three weeks away.

It’s tight. There’s no time to send an advance team to establish an information network and get things moving. They were essentially telling me to either reuse existing networks or figure it out myself on the ground.

“Damn it.”

What major incident did those commie bastards cause this time? I tossed my pen to the corner of the desk and grabbed my smartphone, dialing a number irritably.

Given Cairo’s seven-hour time difference from Seoul, it would be dawn there. Nevertheless, the person on the other end answered promptly after just a few rings.

“Peace be upon you (ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ). This is Team Leader Choi from Dongil Trading.”

-“And peace be upon you as well (وعليكم السلام). It’s been a while. What brings you to call?”

“I called urgently regarding a business matter. Is now a good time to talk?”

I contacted an acquaintance in Egyptian intelligence to seek cooperation.

-“Of course. How could I refuse when a friend needs help?”

“I’ve heard that rebels who staged a coup in Sudan and local warlords have been inquiring about military electronic equipment recently. Do you know anything about this?”

*

The information gathering for the Khartoum trip was nearly complete. Arranging flights for the team members, establishing emergency contact networks and escape routes, and checking key points just in case—all were taken care of.

As evening approached and quitting time drew near, I left the office and smoked a cigarette on the rooftop overlooking the city’s night view.

That’s when I received news of a problem with the smoothly progressing trip preparations.

“What? No equipment?”

“That’s right.”

The news was that there was no equipment available on-site for us to use during the trip. The section chief, who had come up to the rooftop after making phone calls, began to explain.

“I asked the workshop and warehouse, but they said they’re completely out of supplies.”

“What have they been doing all this time instead of restocking?”

“They said the previous operation team took everything, down to the last speck of dust. They barely have enough for themselves… What should we do?”

“We’ll have to go to the factory and get some. Take the guys and start the car.”

We got into the section chief’s car and headed to headquarters. The Defense Intelligence Command, located somewhere in Gyeonggi Province, was referred to by employees as “the factory.”

After crossing the Han River and taking the highway, we finally arrived at the factory where I encountered a familiar face.

“Oh, Director, you’re here?”

“Senior Beomsu. Long time no see. Have you been well?”

“Of course I have. I was surprised to get a call so suddenly at quitting time. You’re here to check out equipment, right?”

“Yeees.”

“Come on in.”

My stocky, good-natured senior smiled as he held his RFID-embedded access card against the iron door.

The supply warehouse at the factory. Inside the warehouse, secured with triple locks, various electronic equipment was stacked in layers.

With skilled hands, my senior pulled out a heavy Pelican case and tapped the exterior with his thick fingers as he spoke.

“Here’s the Israeli eavesdropping equipment you requested. When you shoot the laser, this thing will analyze the sound waves automatically. You know how to use it, right?”

“I’ve used it a few times.”

“Good, good. Anti-bugging equipment is over there, and here are the radios you’ll be using. They have frequency hopping, text messaging via keypad, remote monitoring, deactivation, and can even intercept and listen in on other people’s communications.”

“Nice.”

As I received the radio, I asked my senior:

“What about the other items?”

“Other items? Don’t tell me you need guns too?”

My senior pointed to a sign that read “Armory” at the back of the warehouse. I shook my head.

“Guns are everywhere on-site.”

While precision firearms like sniper rifles might be a different story, ordinary weapons can be obtained on the black market. If reliability is a concern, one could always get decent parts separately and assemble them.

But guns weren’t what I came to borrow today.

“I wanted to get some body armor.”

“Body armor? Didn’t you buy one last time? That, what was it… something you got from airsoft enthusiasts that was supposed to be really good?”

“I have the plate carrier, but I don’t have the ballistic plates.”

I had used up all my previous ballistic plates. Of course, I could try to find some locally, but…

“Why risk buying questionable stuff that might get someone turned into SpongeBob? Do we need that kind of trouble?”

It’s all too easy to end up at a disadvantage. Better not to take unnecessary risks in the first place.

Eventually, my senior brought ballistic plates from the warehouse.

“I packed plenty. Don’t get hurt.”

“Thanks, senior. I’ll contact you when I return.”

“Just make sure you bring the equipment back safely, you punk.”

*

The next day after checking out the equipment, passports and IDs were issued by the higher-ups. From that day on, I finished the final checks while communicating with the local branch.

And so the day of departure arrived.

“We’re going to be late. Let’s hurry up and board.”

“I want to sit by the window.”

“You had the window seat last time too. If you have any conscience, take the aisle this time.”

The plane carrying several ethnic Korean-Chinese with Chinese passports took off from the airport.

The destination was Cairo.

The plan was to cross the border into Sudan within two days of arriving in Egypt. In a way, this was the starting point of the business trip.

“Eat the in-flight meal and get some sleep. We’ll have to head straight to the south when we arrive.”

“Yessir.”

“Eunjeong, prepare in advance. Don’t suffer alone from jet lag like you did during the last trip.”

“Come on. Jet lag? I just need to eat a meal and take a nap after we arrive.”

“What nonsense.”

I plugged in my earphones while drinking the beverage brought by the flight attendant.

In the video I had downloaded just before boarding, an Al Jazeera announcer in a formal suit was covering news about the civil war in Sudan.

An international flight from Incheon Airport to Cairo.

The massive silver wings pierced through the clouds, soaring toward the dark continent.

*

London’s sky was overcast followed by more overcast.

London, gloomy year-round, was famous for its ashen skies. The morning mist created by the early dawn shower blended with the murky air emitted from factories and homes, painting the city in shades of gray.

Though it was a sight that greeted me every morning, I still couldn’t get used to England’s mornings without even a single ray of sunlight.

When I graduate, I must find a job that sends me to sunny countries on business trips.

The college student who made such a resolution even while sleeping burrowed deeper into the blanket like a caterpillar.

“Wake up.”

A familiar voice accompanied the sound of knocking on the door.

“Wake up. We need to leave now.”

“Mmm… just 10 more minutes…”

“We’re going to miss it.”

Baby-like mumbling emerged from under the blanket.

The room from which the sleep-talking echoed had quite a view. There stood a suitcase that looked ready to burst with clothes at the slightest touch, however it had been packed.

On the table behind the suitcase were numerous cute picture frames. They contained photos taken against backgrounds of Eastern Europe, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and South Sudan.

Though the backgrounds varied, it was easy to guess who the protagonist of the photos was.

If you stopped any random London citizen and asked who the person in the photos was, all one hundred out of one hundred would answer that it was the red-haired girl with the bright smile.

Sigh.

A deep sigh erupted from beyond the door.

It wasn’t particularly loud, but it was enough to disturb someone trying to get a good sleep.

In response, the college student, who had brought her charging Apple smartphone under the blanket, checked the time on the screen and jumped out of bed.

“Aaaack! The, the plane. The plane…!”

With disheveled hair that she ran her fingers through, Camilla sat on the bed and screamed.