Chapter 351: It’s A Hard Battle (2)

Du du du du du du du.

Three helicopters flew in and landed on the ground.

The men at the base unloaded the boxes first, which were filled with car parts that Kang Dae-Kyung had requested and food ingredients for Yoo Hye-Sook.

“It’s just a routine drill,” Kang Chul-Gyu, who was standing behind Nam Il-Gyu and Yang Dong-Sik, gently told Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook.

Contrary to what he had said, though, Kim Tae-Jin, Nam Il-Gyu, Yang Dong-Sik, the men staying behind, and the soldiers who were leaving all had grim expressions.

“Have a safe trip.”

Kang Dae-Kyung extended his hand, and Kang Chul-Gyu shook it. He then clasped Kang Dae-Kyung’s right hand with his left.

“Thank you.”

Kang Dae-Kyung curiously looked up.

Kang Chul-Gyu bowed to Yoo Hye-Sook. “Thank you for bringing your family’s affection and delicious food to this desolate place.”

Afterward, he nodded at Kim Tae-Jin and turned around.

“Let’s go.”

Nam Il-Gyu and Yang Dong-Sik let them all into the helicopter.

Du du du du du du du du.

The helicopter rose into the air, kicking up a cloud of dust.

***

As soon as Seok Kang-Ho reached his destination, he downed a soju and cried. Tears, snoot, and drool dripped down his face.

“

Heegh

!

Heeeegh

!

Heeeeegh

!”

The large man had sharp eyes, a pointed chin, and a bulky physique, making him look as if he could throw a solid punch.

The elderly woman wiped her nose and sniffled.

She recalled her son saying that he had met an amazing senior... but he seemed more like a bandit.

The bandit had unexpectedly come into her home. Crying, he looked around the small house, gazed at her, and visited her son’s room.

The old woman inhaled through her nose, wiped away her tears, and stood up.

Then, she poured water into a pot and put it on the stove.

Clatter. Click.

“

Heeeeggh

!

Heegh

!”

How could she starve the person her son had admired?

“What are you doing?

Heegh

.”

“I’m about to boil some soup. You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“It’s okay. I don’t have an appetite right now anyway. ”

“What do you mean you don’t have an appetite? You need to eat!”

Seok Kang-Ho broke into tears again. A long stream of snot dripped from his nose, but he didn’t bother to wipe it.

“Goodness! What should I do? What do I do for my poor son?”

The old woman hobbled over and wiped Seok Kang-Ho’s eyes, nose, and mouth with her sleeve.

“

Heeegh

.”

For the first time, the teary woman’s and Seok Kang-Ho’s eyes met.

“I feel so wronged!

Heeegh

!”

“Why? What’s making you feel that way?”

“There was so much I wanted to do for Ji-Hwan! But I lost him!”

The old woman let out a choked cry.

“That mean, rotten boy! How could he leave his kind senior and poor mother behind?”

After more than half a day, the old woman hugged Seok Kang-Ho for the first time.

***

Not long after being informed that Kang Chul-Gyu had left the base in Mongolia, Kang Chan picked up his phone.

He pressed the call button. It rang a few times.

- Hello?

Kang Dae-Kyung had answered.

“Father!”

- Channy?

He didn’t expect Kang Dae-Kyung to be so happy to hear from him. Although Kang Dae-Kyung had always been expressive, this was the first time that Kang Chan heard him so delighted.

- The people here have left for training with Mr. Kang.

“I see.”

- Are you joining this training?

Kang Chan couldn’t answer. At the very least, he didn’t want to lie.

Kang Dae-Kyung sighed deeply. It seemed he already had an idea.

“I know this will make you worried, Father, but I don’t want to lie.”

- Good! As you should. You can tell me anything.

Kang Dae-Kyung spoke rapidly, likely because he was trying to accept the situation.

They talked to each other for about twenty minutes. Talking about life in Mongolia and saying that they missed each other eased some of the awkwardness.

“How’s Mother?”

- She’s in the kitchen. The ingredients she asked for came today, so she’s probably busy cleaning them up.

“Is she having a hard time?”

- What are you talking about? Your mom’s been sleeping really well lately. She even snores through the night.

The two shared a laugh, then talked for another twenty minutes.

“Father, I’ll call Mother now. Take care of yourself.”

Before Kang Chan could hang up, Kang Dae-Kyung quietly called him.

- Channy.

“Yes?”

- Are you sure I’ve got nothing to worry about? You’re coming back safely, right?

“Of course. I’ll call you as soon as we’re done. I might go to Mongolia too. I’ll buy some sushi on the way.

-

Haha

!

They hung up laughing.

Kang Chan exhaled quietly and then called Yoo Hye-Sook.

- Channy!

Where else in the world would he be able to hear someone as thrilled?

“Mother! Are you in the kitchen?”

Getting to talk to Yoo Hye-Sook again made Kang Chan feel overjoyed.

- Channy! I miss you!

“Me too. I miss you so much.”

He normally wouldn’t say such cringey lines.

“Don’t overwork yourself.”

- I won’t.

Kang Chan knew that after the call, Yoo Hye-Sook would brag about it to Cha Min-Jeong. “My son was worried about me!” she’d likely say.

“I love you, Mother.”

- Me too, Channy!

He still found it awkward to say such things. After all, they felt foreign to him. Nevertheless, he said them anyway because he knew how happy it made Yoo Hye-Sook.

Their call lasted for quite some time. After hanging up, Kang Chan stared at his phone.

***

NIS counter-terrorism team barracks.

Kang Myung-Gu scratched his eyebrows and glared at the five people sitting in front of him.

The agent sitting to the very left began to speak, putting forth their close relationship. “Hyung-nim!”

These men had been through thick and thin together. They should have been able to recognize the strange tension in the air.

“Punks! Didn’t you say tomorrow’s your father’s birthday? What about you, huh? Isn’t your little sister’s wedding today? Why are all you off-duty bastards here right now?” Kang Myung-Gu rebuked.

“I already told them that I couldn’t make it home.”

“I also said I’m on standby.”

When Kang Myung-Gu sighed, one of the agents quickly added, “We have all already missed going home several times because we were on emergency standby, sir!”

Turning to his peers, he continued, “And you bastards! You’re putting me in an awkward position too! My father’s birthday will come around next year again, but your sister’s wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event!”

“How can you say that, sir? You know her temper! She’s definitely going to get married again. I can just go then.”

Kang Myung-Gu and the other agents all laughed in disbelief.

Kang Myung-Gu looked at the agent sitting at the end. He was holding his bruised left hand with his right hand.

“You punk! Go put the cast back on!”

“It’s fine. That’s why I took it off.”

“Don’t be silly!”

“Look, sir.”

The agent raised his left arm, balled his hand into a fist, then opened it. He grimaced in pain.

“What’s wrong with all of you?!”

“I know you’re going out on a mission, hyung-nim! Please let me go too. I’m begging you.”

Kang Myung-Gu had already selected thirty people for this operation.

However, when he adjusted everyone’s shift schedule, the agents swiftly realized something was going on and requested to speak to him. Since then, they had stuck to him like ticks.

The agents who weren’t around during the International Building incident were especially clingy. Losing their seniors, colleagues, and juniors to that operation had made them so anxious to sign up for missions first.

Even the off-duty agents bustled around the barracks, constantly cleaning their rifles and bayonets.

“Hyung-nim! I just have to switch shifts with someone, right?”

“

Haah

.”

Kang Myung-Gu sighed loudly.

***

Click. Click. Click.

Three fully armed men in black uniforms entered the training center of the 606.

“What are you doing here?”

Jeong Won-Min looked scary. Nevertheless, the three sergeants didn’t back down against his sharp glare in the slightest.

“We’re here to ask you to adjust the work schedule, sir.”

“Go on.”

“I’d like to cancel my paid leave.”

“I’m canceling my overnight leave, too.”

Jeong Won-Min glanced at the soldier furthest to the left.

“I will never need an overnight or paid leave for the rest of my life, sir!”

The ridiculous response made the two sergeants standing next to him look as if they had been betrayed. Even Jeong Won-Min was flabbergasted.

“Why?”

None of the three sergeants answered.

“Are you guys joking around?”

“We believe our unit has been ordered to mobilize, sir! We’re willing to do whatever it takes to join the operation.”

“You idiots!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Choi Chul-Han replied.

“Enough with the nonsense. Leave.”

“Please let us join!”

“You bastards...”

“It’s alright if you beat us up and make us run a thousand laps around the training field with our army gear on, sir! If it would mean you’d take us, we’d be more than happy to accept any consequences!”

Jeong Won-Min snorted. “What made you think there’s even an operation?”

“At least let me cancel my paid leave, sir!”

“Choi Chul-Han!”

“Sir!”

Jeong Won-Min’s eyes glinted. He was especially scary when he was like this.

His fussiness and refusal to let even the slightest mistake in training go unnoticed had earned him the nickname “The 606’s Perfectionist.”

“Have you bastards been smoking? Get out.”

“Permission to speak before we leave, sir.”

Jeong Won-Min nodded at Choi Chul-Han.

“I haven’t slept well since the terrorist attack hit the International Building while I was off-duty.”

Jeong Won-Min coldly gazed at Choi Chul-Han.

“You’ve noticed, haven’t you, sir? I’ve been training more, running more, and practicing hand-to-hand combat alone far into the night.”

“So?”

“The guilt of being away while my colleagues and juniors sacrificed themselves has been making me restless. If there’s an operation, please send me! I want to stand tall in front of my brothers who have already left this world. Only then will I be able to sleep properly!”

Choi Chul-Han’s gaze remained unwavering even when Jeong Won-Min glared at him.

***

- Hello?

Kang Chan couldn’t help but chuckle.

Kim Mi-Young sounded the same as before—no, maybe she had changed.

“It’s me.”

- I know.

She sounded very upset at him. She didn’t respond with a “Yeah!” like she had always done.

It was only natural for her to feel that way, though. He was disappointed and sad, but maybe this was for the better.

Kang Chan thought about saying something nice and hanging up. However, before he could, he heard her sniffle.

- You’re mean.

“What’s wrong?”

Kim Mi-Young remained silent. The tears that she had been holding back seemed to have burst.

Kang Chan didn’t realize how hard it had been for her. He knew that she had been waiting for him, but he had no idea that she had been having a hard time because of it.

“I’m sorry,” he said, apologizing for not contacting her once and making her stifle her tears for so long.

About a minute passed.

- Can I keep waiting for you?

Caught off guard by the question, Kang Chan couldn’t respond.

- Dad said you can’t contact me because you’re too busy serving the country. He said I shouldn’t bother you, so I stopped myself from calling.

Kang Chan pictured Kim Gwan-Sik in his office ordering Kim Mi-Young not to contact him.

- Can I do that?

It was funny. Really.

The moment she asked the question, Kang Chan felt the regret and wistfulness he had thought vanished.

“Mi-Young.”

- Hm?

“Do you know what I do?”

- Yeah. I saw you on the TV. The International Building.

Kim Mi-Young sounded tearful again.

“Are you okay with that?”

Was that cowardly of him? Should he have asked if she was okay with him killing people and that he didn’t know when he could die?

Either way, never could he have expected her answer.

- Stupid!

He never thought Kim Mi-Young would ever call him stupid.

- So what? Does that mean you’ll stop seeing me if I don’t become a diplomat or I get fat?

Kang Chan chuckled. How could someone be so pure?

- Why are you laughing?

Now she sounded a bit more like herself.

“Because I want to see you.”

- Now?

She suddenly sounded excited.

Kang Chan glanced down at his watch. It was a little after ten at night. If he went out to drink tea or take a walk, he’d be giving the agents a hard time.

“I’m going on a business trip tomorrow. Let’s meet when I come back.”

- Is it dangerous?

“No.”

He didn’t want Kim Mi-Young to be more worried.

They talked for about ten more minutes. When the call ended, he came to a decision.

If he returned from this operation...

***

“Ma’am, I’ll visit again soon.”

The elderly woman worriedly looked at Seok Kang-Ho.

“I’ll be quick. I’ll take care of Ji-Hwan’s funeral myself.”

“You’re not heading into danger, are you?”

“Not at all.”

“No one will come to his funeral.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Make sure you come back!”

“I said I will!” Seok Kang-Ho reassured. He then added, “Make sure you eat properly. Keep holding on until I come back so we can send Ji-Hwan off properly, okay?”

“Of course! I’m going to keep holding on so I can send my baby off. You better come back!”

“

Whew

.”

Now that Seok Kang-Ho had vented out his emotions, his eyes glinted more sharply than ever.

***

Clunk, clunk, clunk.

After having breakfast, the Jeungpyeong special forces soldiers boarded a bus. The sun had yet to rise.

Cha Dong-Gyun stood at the entrance of the bus, watching them enter.

Kwak Cheol-Ho was the last to hop on.

Cha Dong-Gyun slowly turned to the barracks and his aide, who was standing in front of him.

Their team would surely return victorious!

That was what Cha Dong-Gyun had learned from Choi Seong-Geon.

If he could protect South Korea with his hot blood, the Jeungpyeong special forces team would be happy!

***

Click! Click! Click! Click!

The morning of the 606 was tense.

One after another, the soldiers met Jeong Won-Min’s gaze as they boarded the bus.

He was the Perfectionist of the 606. Still, if they were ever in danger, he’d willingly abandon his pursuit of perfection and stand at the front of their formation.

As they boarded the bus, he shouted the line he’d always shout during training.

“You are the 606! You must always be victorious!”

Afterward, he followed it up with the words he always told them before training or whenever he wasn’t satisfied with their performance.

“Your failure will put our motherland in danger!”

Those who couldn’t lay down their lives for the 606 didn’t deserve to wear the uniform. That was why the 606 went into battle treating their uniform as a shroud.

Today was no different.

***

The counter-terrorism team, wearing black, exited the barracks.

The tension in these moments was always accompanied by silence.

Click. Clack.

All they could hear were the noises from their rifles.

The counter-terrorism team had failed to protect Hwang Ki-Hyun and Song Chang-Wook. They had lost their colleagues to the terrorist attack on the International Building.

The pain from those failures had turned into the resolve that now burned in their eyes.

If it meant protecting the Republic of Korea, the agents wouldn’t mind becoming nameless stars! They’d willingly give their souls to the Taegeukgi and blood to the country!

***

Shortly after they arrived at the Incheon Airport, Kang Chul-Gyu and the DMZ team headed to the helicopter that had been waiting for them.

The flight was exhausting, yet Kang Chul-Gyu and his men’s eyes remained glinting.

The soldiers walked past Kang Chul-Gyu and then into the helicopter.

There was no telling who would return.

However, it didn’t matter. They had already given their lives to their country and comrades. They had even sinned against their families to do it.

***

After breakfast, Kang Chan and the others in the office drank coffee and smoked.

“

Hoo

.”

Kang Chan looked at Seok Kang-Ho, who had returned at dawn. He still emanated a murderous aura, but it was clear that he had shaken his emotions off.

Next was Gérard. His eyes were just as fierce as Seok Kang-Ho’s. He smiled, causing his scar to stretch.

Afterward, he turned to Choi Jong-Il, Woo Hee-Seung, Lee Doo-Hee, and the interpreter, who was smoking a cigarette. Nervousness was evident on the interpreter’s face.

Kang Chan stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

“Let’s go.”

They all stood up and followed Kang Chan.