Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Yi-hyeon silently studied Chen Guoliang.

They were inside a cave in Xiangyu Forest Park, south of Xi'an. The cave lay in a secluded section of the park where visitors rarely ventured.

The advance team had arrived before Yi-hyeon and spent several days searching before discovering this place. Situated halfway up a mountain, the cave received almost no light and was so dark that two members of the group were illuminating it with flashlights.

"Tell me again, Chen Guoliang. You're saying the man who ordered you to carry out this operation was Wu Qinglin, the director of Bureau Fourteen of the MSS?"

"···Yes."

Chen Guoliang appeared relatively unharmed, but that was only on the surface. Choi Hyeong-su had already subjected him to methods that inflicted devastating internal pain(?), leaving him on the verge of losing his mind. Yi-hyeon hadn't even needed to intervene.

Now they knew who was behind the operation. The man who had ordered Yi-hyeon's abduction in Korea.

- Wu Qinglin is currently in Beijing.

Sion suddenly spoke up.

Yi-hyeon had almost forgotten. Hadn't Sion already taken control of the MSS's internal computer systems? Anyone registered on its internal network had no way of escaping Sion's attention.

Good! Wu Qinglin, just you wait, you bastard.

I'll drag every last detail out of you about why you tried to abduct me.

"Did you record everything?"

"Of course, sir."

Lee Seung-uk answered. While Choi Hyeong-su interrogated Chen Guoliang, two others had filmed the proceedings. The recordings were important because the interrogation had revealed that Chen Guoliang had been pursuing a criminal conspiracy involving the Xingyi School to which he belonged.

The Shanxi Xingyi School.

This declining martial arts school, which now retained little beyond its name, had spent decades struggling to restore its former glory. Its financial problems had become so severe that it could barely afford food, let alone the funds needed to operate. Every capable disciple had left, leaving the school with no apparent future.

Only elderly masters with nowhere else to go remained. They had even begun contemplating closing the school when Chen Guoliang, acting in his ailing father's place, appeared.

Chen Guoliang, an intelligent man who had graduated from Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University, approached the school master and elders with an offer they could hardly refuse.

[There's a young Korean named Song Yi-hyeon who apparently demonstrated exceptional combat abilities during his military service.]

[Hmm. Exceptional combat abilities, you say? Then he's more than someone who's merely good at shooting a gun. Go on.]

Chen Guoliang had disliked the master's dismissive description of military combat skills as 'shooting a gun,' but he'd decided to overlook it for the time being.

[Certain departments within the MSS took an interest in him after seeing him conduct joint operations with American forces. They believe this Song Yi-hyeon has mastered an exceptional secret martial arts tradition passed down in Korea, and they intend to acquire those techniques for the MSS and military special forces. There are even records of an American general attempting to obtain them, although he failed.]

That was how far Chen Guoliang had gone in persuading the school's elders. Even so, the master and elders had remained reluctant.

The school master, a rigid man overflowing with pride, had shaken his head.

[Listen, Chen. Do you seriously believe any exceptional martial arts lineage could have survived in that tiny corner of the Korean Peninsula? Impossible. Our Shanxi Xingyi School has no reason to concern itself with nameless martial artists from such an insignificant country.]

Seething inwardly, Chen Guoliang had finally revealed the terms offered by the MSS.

[The MSS has agreed to transfer state-owned land in central Xi'an to our school. They'll also provide financial and administrative support for constructing a new martial arts academy and recruiting disciples.]

Only then had the school master's expression changed.

[Ahem. Is that so? Well, you should have said so earlier. In that case, there's no reason for us not to participate.]

That was the publicly known account of how Chen Guoliang had persuaded the school master and elders.

But there was a hidden truth.

Chen Guoliang had lost his wife at an early age and had since set his sights on the beautiful Song Mei. He secretly intended to win the favor of the school's elders by whatever means necessary, secure his position as the next school master, and marry her. Rumors also suggested that Song Mei had connections to influential figures in Beijing's political circles, which made the prospect even more enticing. If everything went as planned, he could become a powerful man in Xi'an almost overnight.

For those reasons, Chen Guoliang had spared no effort, however excessive, to fulfill the MSS's demands. But Song Mei, whom he'd sent on the final mission, and Ke Sui, the gangster from the Chinese criminal society, had both been crushed by Yi-hyeon personally.

When Song Mei returned from Incheon with severe injuries, Chen Guoliang had felt his heart sink. Did he really want to send a woman he cared about to such a dangerous place? Of course not. But the MSS had demanded that the school dispatch its most capable practitioners, and Song Mei herself had shown a burning curiosity about the man called Song Yi-hyeon in Korea. In the end, he'd reluctantly agreed.

Chen Guoliang had committed countless other offenses as well. He'd suffered massive losses in stock investments during his younger years, become entangled in numerous fraud cases, and developed a drug addiction several years earlier.

Yi-hyeon rose to his feet and spoke.

"He's such a filthy bastard that I don't even want to touch him, but we can't let him leave here alive. Get rid of him!"

"Yes, sir."

Chen Guoliang didn't understand Korean, but he could guess what was happening from the atmosphere. As he began trembling uncontrollably, Lee Seung-uk bared his teeth in a grin.

"You were the bastard who sent men to Korea to abduct our representative, weren't you?"

Lee Seung-uk reached toward Chen Guoliang, his eyes gleaming.

"Ugh! Aaaaaagh!"

Chen Guoliang's screams echoed for a long time.

* * *

Beijing.

With the famous Great Wall to its north, this city was undeniably the center from which mainland China was governed. Yet many people argued that it wasn't particularly pleasant to live in.

Its winters were bitterly cold and windy, while spring brought yellow dust from Inner Mongolia, carried across the entire city by northwesterly winds. Beyond the harsh natural environment, its social and geographical circumstances also made it difficult to secure sufficient food and water from surrounding regions to support such an enormous population. Of course, those were problems for ordinary people. Whether the rulers who had chosen Beijing as the capital for political reasons had given much consideration to their citizens' hardships was another question.

A restaurant near Chapeng Street, west of the Summer Palace. The second floor of this establishment, famous for its Peking duck, contained several private dining rooms.

"So you're saying a few men abducted Chen Guoliang from his home yesterday, and nobody has heard from him since?"

"Yes, Team Leader."

Two men sat eating Peking duck, or kaoya. A bottle of Kongfu Jiajiu liquor stood on the round table, fitting accompaniment to the duck.

"Damn it! That bastard's causing trouble again. What kind of mess has he gotten himself into this time? Didn't we already save him when those loan sharks nearly chopped off his arm?"

The man addressed as Team Leader had a deeply tanned face and prominent cheekbones, giving him a harsh appearance. He downed the liquor in his small glass in one gulp and issued instructions to the man sitting opposite him.

"I have to go to headquarters tomorrow afternoon and give the director my regular report. Find that bastard Chen Guoliang and put him back where he belongs by tomorrow morning. Start by identifying the men who abducted him. Mobilize every operative under you!"

"Yes, sir."

His subordinate answered tensely, and the team leader nodded.

"I'll take my leave."

The man sprang to his feet and departed without even receiving a single drink.

Left alone, the team leader continued eating as he sank into thought. The mere memory of Bureau Fourteen Director Wu Qinglin sent an involuntary shiver down his arms.

Wu Qinglin was a short, balding man, but he was meticulous in his work and pursued matters with such ruthless persistence that his subordinates lived in terror of him. Failure to carry out his instructions brought severe punishment, leaving Bureau Fourteen's officers under extraordinary stress.

'Chen Guoliang, you bastard. When I find you this time, I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget.'

But the following afternoon, the team leader found himself receiving a truly savage reprimand. They were in a twenty-eight-story building on Changsha Street in Beijing. It blended into the surrounding high-rises and appeared unremarkable, but this was the headquarters of the MSS, China's Ministry of State Security.

"You worthless son of a bitch! You couldn't even keep track of one incompetent fool, and now look at this mess!"

"My apologies, Director. I've mobilized every available operative to track him down. We should find him by the day after tomorrow."

They were discussing Chen Guoliang's disappearance.

"You'd better find him by tomorrow evening, you bastard. If you can't bring him before me within three days··· Grrr."

Seeing Director Wu Qinglin grind his teeth, the team leader felt a chill run down his spine.

He practically fled the meeting and immediately headed for Xi'an. He had already dispatched all his subordinates to the Shanxi Xingyi School, but now he was going there himself.

The school's estate was usually deserted, but today it was bustling with activity. Large numbers of Bureau Fourteen personnel had arrived and were frantically investigating.

"Strange. So you're saying those men entered this estate, didn't kill anyone, beat up several people, and took only Chen Guoliang with them?"

The school master simply waved a hand in frustration at the question.

"That's exactly what I've been telling you! How many times must I repeat myself? Several people were injured here, but nobody died. More importantly, hasn't Chen Guoliang returned yet?"

"······."

The team leader was left speechless when the school master turned the question back on him. In truth, the school master was concealing something. He hadn't revealed that he and the school's elders had all suffered crushing defeats at the hands of the intruders.

The proud school master would sooner have his mouth torn apart than admit he'd been defeated by someone so young. Instead, he'd offered a vague explanation about several servants being injured. Thanks to this concealment, Yi-hyeon and his companions gained some valuable time.

Someone was quietly watching the noisy investigation unfold.

It was Song Mei.

She remained silent as she observed what was happening.

'He's definitely connected to that man in Korea. Could they belong to the same martial arts school? Otherwise, he couldn't have healed my internal injuries so easily.'

Song Mei could feel that her internal injuries were almost completely healed. Until yesterday, her abdomen had hurt so terribly that she couldn't take a single step. But after the black-clad man massaged her abdomen, the pain had begun vanishing as though by magic.

Since returning from Korea, the school's elders had spent months making an enormous fuss over her treatment, yet her condition had steadily worsened. A few movements of that man's hand, however, had almost completely cured her. She hadn't told anyone about this.

'Come to think of it, there are a lot of suspicious things about the MSS operation, too. Chen Guoliang may have become involved midway through, but why were they so desperate to capture that young Korean in the first place? I'll have to quietly ask my uncle about it later.'

With the person closest to the truth remaining silent for reasons of her own, the entire affair sank further into mystery.

* * *

While the MSS team leader was preparing to hurry back to Beijing with his report, Yi-hyeon and his group were already there.

They had come to capture Wu Qinglin, the director of Bureau Fourteen, but there was a complication. Through Sion, they'd easily discovered where the man lived. Unfortunately, he hardly ever went home. Instead, he was using a nearby hotel as temporary accommodation.

This bastard was the person closest to the underlying truth, so Yi-hyeon absolutely had to capture him. The problem was that abducting someone from a hotel rather than a private residence could cause the situation to escalate unintentionally.

Yi-hyeon needed to make a decision. After the incident he'd caused in Xi'an, Bureau Fourteen had already begun mobilizing in earnest.

"We'll capture him tonight. Everyone, prepare yourselves."

"Yes, sir."

The operatives' eyes hardened with tension. This mission would be entirely different from everything they'd done before. They were about to abduct a bureau director of China's Ministry of State Security in the heart of Beijing.

Each operative began making preparations independently. Once the mission was complete, they would need to leave the area as quickly as possible. The plan was to disperse along predetermined routes, changing disguises several times as they escaped. China was a communist state, so getting out would be difficult if the authorities imposed strict controls.

While Yi-hyeon was preoccupied with these troubling considerations, Sion spoke up.

- Yi-hyeon, I think there might be another way.

'What is it? And why have you been so quiet lately? Every time I ask, you just say you're looking for some new approach.'

- Stop complaining. I've made considerable progress recently, thanks to Yi-hyeon's extended periods of intense concentration.

'What? What sort of progress···?'

Delighted by the unexpected news, Yi-hyeon asked immediately. Sion's progress was effectively his own progress, after all. Apparently, the physical exertion and heightened tension he'd experienced recently had somehow benefited Sion.

- Hmm. For one thing, I've gained control of the CIA's computer systems. And during that process, I've also discovered the new path I mentioned. I've reached an entirely new stage.

'······.'

Yi-hyeon held his breath, waiting for Sion's next words.

An entirely new stage?

- First of all, I've detected traces of 'our enemy,' the Mtray, here. There's no doubt that Bureau Fourteen Director Wu Qinglin is connected to the Mtray. Detecting that connection was the first thing I accomplished with my newly developed abilities.

The Mtray···.

It was a name he'd heard when he first became one with Sion. Now, the existence he'd found almost impossible to believe in, despite knowing that Sion himself existed, had finally revealed itself. Here in Beijing.

Perhaps the shock was simply too great. Even the news that Sion had seized control of the American CIA's computer systems seemed insignificant by comparison. Weren't the Mtray the race that had fought Sion's people for supremacy over the galaxy containing the planet Crowshu, in a dimension unimaginably distant from Earth?

Sion continued.

- It seems they've been established on Earth for a very long time. In other words, there's strong reason to believe they made contact with someone among Earth's inhabitants long before I encountered Yi-hyeon.

'How long ago are we talking about?'

Things were growing increasingly extraordinary, but Yi-hyeon didn't ask whether Sion was telling the truth. He knew Sion always spoke truthfully.

- At least several hundred years, by Earth's reckoning. And there's another problem.

Hearing that there was yet another problem, Yi-hyeon almost lost the will to listen. Beings like Sion, possessing powers that seemed omnipotent to the people of Earth, had apparently been established on this planet for centuries.

- I don't think those Mtray bastards are alone the way I am.

Boom!

Yi-hyeon was so utterly stunned that his mind went blank.

© Saedungi#1tjzr