At the subtle noise, coming from the front door, Park Jae Woon snapped instantly awake. Casting a quick look around the dimly lit, quiet room and over to the fold-out bed in the back corner of the spacious cabin, he was relieved to find the boy still sleeping there soundly, curled up into a fetal position.
The doctor, seated in the large recliner next to the bed, was also asleep and snoring softly.
Jae Woon had chosen one of the less comfortable chairs, closer to the middle of the room and in line of sight to the entrance. He knew Lady Hae's guards were positioned outside in various locations, though none of them in plain sight. All windows were bullet-proof glass, and the solid wooden door was double-bolted, making any forced entry at least difficult, if not impossible, as long as the guards were on alert.
Still, when the noise was repeated, Jae Woon reached for his cell phone and typed quickly, aware that this was the first official 'field test' for the specially modified phones, he and his sister had created.
The guards outside were equipped with the phones that had a 'stealth' option which allowed them to receive and send text messages without the light of the screen compromising their position. In 'stealth' mode only the individual letters of a text message and those on the keyboard buttons were highlighted, while the rest of the screen remained dark. Furthermore, switching to 'stealth' mode automatically activated 'silent mode' which disabled all sounds on the phone, including the subtle buzz on vibration—an additional safety feature they had implemented to prevent any accidental exposure.
The modified phones had a one-hundred percent success rate in every test of their 'stealth' option, but Jae Woon still hesitated for an instant before he pushed the 'Send' button for his message.
'Name Code Status'
The first reply came within a few seconds. 'Yong Nam Gi Goryeo All Clear'
A short pause and Jae Woon unwittingly held his breath before additional replies arrived in rapid succession. …fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen... Come on, where are you?...Twenty! Wheeeewww! Took you long enough, Kang Ye Jin! We'll need to have a talk about that in the morning!
Having received all twenty correct responses with an 'All Clear' for each one, Jae Woon frowned when the noise from the direction of the front door was repeated again and typed another message.
'Whoever has eyes on the front door Name Code Status'
A long pause this time, and Jae Woon was almost ready to re-send the message when the reply came in.
'Kang Ye Jin Goryeo All Clear…except for the rat'
The WHAT? What's this clown talking about...A rat? Jae Woon paused for a moment, listening closely, and as the sound was repeated again he realized that it indeed sounded like something chewing on the front door.
He rolled his eyes and couldn't quite suppress a chuckle, picturing one of the little nuisance rodents chomping away on the heavy door, trying to work its way in. Ironically, the team outside was prepared for just about any kind of possible intruder—except the tiny four-legged kind.
'Ignore 4-legged rats...just watch for 2-legged ones!' he typed back, replying only to the single sender this time.
'? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?'
Jae Woon rolled his eyes at the question mark reply. Definitely need to have a talk with this dimwit!
'PEOPLE!' he typed back and was relieved to get a 'thumbs up' emoji in return. He stuck the cell phone back into the cargo pocket of his Jeans, cast another look at the peacefully sleeping boy in the back corner, then made himself comfortable once more.
Jae Woon didn't know what significance this boy, Jung, held for Lady Hae. They hadn't been told the boy's full name, though Jae Woon had recognized him as the youngest of the Wang brothers from numerous TV broadcasts about their family. Still, it wasn't his place to ask questions about keeping the boy's identity a secret. Any mission for Lady Hae was always on a 'need to know' basis, where everyone involved would receive just enough information to successfully complete his or her task, but not so much information that it might compromise the mission in case they were caught. None of those missions ever involved illegal activities, and most of the time they were just simple errands—which still paid very well nevertheless.
For many of the youths and even some of the homeless people in and around Seoul, being chosen to become part of Lady Hae's 'private spy network' was not only considered a great honor, but also a very rewarding allegiance.
He had been on his own since his mother passed away when he was twelve years old. The only thing Jae Woon knew about his father was that he was some kind of diplomat who moved around a lot.
He was three years old when his parents divorced, and went to live with his mother while his older sister, Soon Deok, left with their father and moved far away to America.
Jae Woon hardly even remembered having an older sister and didn't recognize her when she came to find him. At the time, he had been living on the street for almost five years, in and out of trouble and repeatedly jail—mostly for stealing food.
Soon Deok, however, had graduated with a Master's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Notre Dame at age seventeen, then returned to Seoul and started searching for her younger brother.
Soon Deok had almost given up on her quest when—three years later and by sheer coincidence—she had caught the attention of Hae Myung Hee at a Martial Arts tournament in Busan, where she won the final match against an 8th Dan Master. Lady Hae had approached her with a proposition—join her 'private spy network' and they would help her find her brother. Soon Deok had accepted, and less than a month later Park Jae Woon was reunited with his sister.
Jae Woon pensively studied the thin bracelet on his right wrist—the same bracelet Soon Deok had given to him as a reminder of her on the day they were separated. She had crafted two identical ones and worn hers on the day she came up to him on the street.
He cringed, thinking back on how stupid he had been, putting on his 'wanna-be tough guy' image and coming on to her like some ritzy playboy.
She had merely smiled at him calmly, let him babble and make a fool out of himself for about thirty seconds, before she put him on the ground with one swift move. Then she had yanked him up by his shirt collar, dragged him to her car by his ear, and took him to her apartment.
A hot bath, a change of clothes, and a large Bulgogi Cheese Crunch pizza later, Jae Woon actually looked and felt like a human being again for the first time in years.
Then his sister had proven her identity, not just with the bracelet that matched the one he wore, but also with papers that included his birth certificate, school registration, and medical records, and with the true story only the two of them knew about why the index, middle and ring finger of his right hand were missing their first two joints—vastly different from the story Soon Deok had made up and taken the blame for, to spare her little brother any additional punishment he would have been facing for playing with their father's forbidden swords.
Afterwards, they had sat and talked until daybreak, and then Soon Deok had—with the warning to be on his absolute best behavior or get his ass kicked again—taken him to meet Lady Hae.
Now he was here, on this mission that appeared to be by far the most complex and important mission, Lady Hae's 'private spy network' had ever taken on—at least in the ten years he had been a part of it. He couldn't recall any previous occasion where every team in every district of Seoul, and even the 'outside' teams had all been mobilized at once.
There was no doubt that—for one reason or another—Wang Jung, whom they were currently protecting in this cabin, was of the utmost importance to Lady Hae.
Reaching this point in his reminiscence, and noticing that over an hour had passed since he last checked the status of the outside guards, Jae Woon reached for his cell phone again and repeated the earlier check-in sequence.
All twenty replies arrived quickly this time, and 'Rat Boy' Kang Ye Jin even reported in among the first ten. Jae Woon grinned, recalling the previous exchange and realizing that the guard's reply had likely been delayed the first time because he was debating on whether to report the rat or give an 'All Clear'.
The chewing sound had since stopped—perhaps the little critter had worn out its teeth on the solid door—and it was quiet in the cabin, except for the doctor's soft snoring and the boy mumbling something in his sleep.
Looking over, Jae Woon noticed that Jung had also started moving restlessly, apparently dreaming something. He strained to listen, and was able to make out the words hajima (don't), Eomeoni (Mother), jebal (please) and apa (it hurts). The rest was unintelligible, but just those four words were disconcerting.
When he had spotted Jung in Namdaemun Sijang and first brought him to the safe house, he hadn't been aware that the boy was injured. Only when Dr. Choi arrived to examine him did they discover that Jung had been severely beaten. Someone had obviously treated the countless cuts and welts on his body before—as good as possible—but a lot of the bandages and bandaids had come loose and some of the deeper cuts had reopened. Dr. Choi had stitched and re-bandaged the wounds, yet every attempt to get information from Jung as to who had beaten him had so far been unsuccessful.
The boy was moving more now, and Jae Woon was starting to get concerned that he might worsen his injuries that way. He hesitated for a moment, but then got up and walked over to the bed.
Hearing Jung mumbling again, a sudden idea popped into his head. He pulled out his cell phone, turned on the voice recorder, and placed the phone onto the small night stand beside the bed. Even if most of Jung's words were garbled, perhaps some of it could still provide a clue as to what had happened to him.
Jae Woon had barely finished the thought and startled when Jung actually screamed out.
"Hyung, help me!...Don't let her take me!...Eomeoni, NO! DON'T!"
Choi Ji Mong sat up in alarm. "What...what's going on?" He pushed down the recliner's footrest and quickly moved over to the bed.
Jae Woon stepped aside to give the doctor more room. "He started talking in his sleep and moving around," he explained. "I heard some of what he said...it... it sounded like..." He hesitated to voice his thoughts.
"It sounded like what?" Ji Mong inquired sternly, yet without looking up as he cooled Jung's forehead with a damp towel.
"I don't know if he was just dreaming, but it sounded like he was begging his mother to stop beating him," Jae Woon disclosed. "And just now, he screamed for his brother to help him and said 'don't let her take me'...It's recorded!" he added, motioning to his cell phone on the night stand.
"Not a bad idea, Jae Woon-ssi," the doctor mused. "Did you also record what you heard before?"
"No, sorry I didn't! I was checking in with the guards outside when he started mumbling."
"Well, let's be quiet and leave the phone on for a while...and could you please get me some fresh water," Ji Mong said, handing him the water bowl.
"Ye, Uisaseonsaeng-nim (Doctor formal)!" Jae Woon took the bowl with a courteous bow and started toward the small kitchen area at the other end of the cabin.
"We might be here quite a while, so...just Ji Mong-ssi will do!"
"Ye, Ji Mong-ssi," Jae Woon replied with another bow, yet slightly uneasy about addressing the doctor less formally.
Choi Ji Mong grinned, having very well noticed the young man's apprehension. Unlike most of Lady Hae's 'private spy network' members who barely knew each other by name, Ji Mong was familiar with nearly all of them. He knew their names, had studied their backgrounds, their family histories, and Myung Hee hardly ever started any 'mission' without asking his opinion on which individuals or teams would be best suited for the task at hand.
Also unlike the other members, Choi Ji Mong was privy to all the details of each mission, and he knew exactly what their current mission—the largest one they had ever taken on—was about and what was at stake. They needed proof—rock-solid proof—to clear Wang So and his half-brothers, Wang Eun and Wang Baek Ah, of the ridiculous charges against them.
The sworn statements from Eun and Baek Ah were not enough since they had been charged as 'accomplices' themselves, and the only other person who could clear their names was Wang Jung.
Of course, any recordings of what Jung might be saying in his sleep would never hold up in court, but perhaps they could at least be used as leverage against the accuser.
Better than nothing! Ji Mong thought as he accepted the water bowl that Jae Woon handed back to him silently, yet with another polite bow.
A/N I am aware that Korean age count is different and you're considered one year old at time of birth. However, to avoid making things too confusing (especially for myself) , I'm going with the international age count in this story. If you want to figure out every character's age in Korean age count for yourself, just add 1 year... and hope that your brain doesn't start spinning by the time you get halfway through. ;)
Also, this chapter introduces some new characters I made up (feel free to imagine your own favorite actors in their roles). They will all play a part later on somewhere in the story too.