21st Century Goguryeo

November 17th, 11:20

The outer roads near the North State, Pyeong-yang, Yongsung-ku

Oh Ji-wan and his entourage drove the black van to leave downtown Pyeong-yang and started rushing down the outer roads leading back to the warehouse near the Limwon-dong, Yongsung-ku.

"That bastard won't pick up the call, sir." Kang Tae-woo attempted to call Goo Sang-sik multiple times, but it only rang endlessly instead of being picked up.

"I'm sure it's nothing, huh? He must be busy making the preparations," Oh Ji-wan, who was seated on the back seat with his eyes closed, spoke casually.

The speeding black van that was rushing down the Jungsung-dong roads carried the ex-North Korean agents that had just committed the terrorist bombing that wiped out the Labor Party's members and Kim Jong-un.

"Well, he wouldn't have run off with the money, would he, sir?" Nam Sang-won, who was seated next to the captain, spoke while frowning

"Hey, Nam Sang-won, can't you trust your men? Don't be unnecessarily worried and sit still!"

" Comrade Captain Oh! That bastard is evil and rough, don't you know?"

"I also agree with Nam Sang-won, sir."

When Kang Tae-woo joined in, Oh Ji-wan opened his eyes and shouted, "Why, you little- Is that how you talk about your comrade whom we've worked with through thick and thin for years? Shut up!"

While the agents were busy talking to each other, two vans had been tailing them quietly. The vans with dark tinted windows started to speed up and got on both sides of the black van.

"Who are those guys?"

Nam Sang-won looked at the vans closing in on the driverside. The doors of the vans opened up and the black barrels of guns started to gleam. The black van started getting pelted by bullets from the other vans.

Bang bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang!

Creeeeeeeeak!

Gwon Hyuck-gyun died immediately after being hit on the head and shoulder. The black van lost balance and crashed into the guardrails before toppling over a few times.

Ugh! Ugh!

Moans from those aboard filled the black van.

Oh Ji-wan was also hit on the shoulder and seemed to be in a daze after hitting his head.

"Captain Oh, comrade! Are, are you alright?" Kang Tae-woo, who was in the passenger's seat, turned around to check on Oh Ji-wan. Blood was running down his head.

"I'm, I'm all right. Are you hurt?"

"No, no. Argh!" Kang Tae-woo puked up blood mid-speech. He gave a bloody smile after puking. "I think it's over for me. You need to run, Captain Oh. I'll cover… for you."

"Screw that. We're leaving together!"

Oh Ji-wan undid the seatbelt that was holding him upside down and readjusted himself. When he looked at his surroundings, Nam Sang-won was dead with a broken neck and Oh Gil-soo had half of his head shot off. The only reason Oh Ji-wan was alive was thanks to having Oh Gil-soo taking all the bullets for him.

Park Sung-sik, who was cramped in the trunk, had been flung to the guardrail after the crash.

A short time later, Oh Ji-wan checked over the window to see a few shadows approaching. There were men in black masks armed with rifles.

"You need to get out of here. I'll cover for you," Kang Tae-woo coughed up blood after every syllable. Despite that, he pulled the pistol out of dead Gwon Hyuck-gyun's hip and started to fire at the armed men.

Bang! Bang, bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The armed men, who had been carefully approaching the van, were shocked by the gunshots and started to scatter. A few of them fell after being shot by Kang Tae-woo.

"Now's our chance. Run, sir!" Kang Tae-woo, who had been coughing up blood, started to shake every time he fired his pistol from losing energy.

"Kang Tae-woo! Make sure to get out of this alive. When you do, I'm coming for you!"

"Yes, captain! Argh! I'll survive, so you need to get going!"

Oh Ji-wan ran through the broken window and jumped over the guardrail. When he did so, numerous bullets started to pelt him from all directions. Small and large sparks started to fly.

Oh Ji-wan pulled out his pistol and started to fire back after hiding behind the guardrail.

He was outnumbered 10 to 1! It was no use fighting against 10 men armed with automatic rifles with only a pistol. Oh Ji-wan retaliated but started to look around to find an escape route.

That was when a large pillar of red flame rose from the black van. Either the fuel tank blew up or one of the armed men must have thrown a grenade at it.

"Those bastards! I swear I will avenge my comrades!"

When Oh Ji-wan retaliated with his pistol, one of the approaching men fell.

Bababababang! Bababababang!

Now, all the armed men started to fire their rifles at Oh Ji-wan. The armed men scattered on both sides and attempted to hit Oh Ji-wan from the rear. He had already reloaded his gun by exchanging his magazine and started to run towards a concrete gutter while shooting his gun.

Bababababang! Bababababang! Bababababang! Bababababang!

Oh Ji-wan zig-zagged to avoid the bullets and threw himself into the gutter. It was as deep as an adult's height, but there was no water since it was winter. Oh Ji-wan used all of his strength to run forward.

* * *

November 17th, 2023, 11:20

The North State, Pyeong-yang, Hyungje Mountain-ku, Shinmi-dong (the ex-Reconnaissance Bureau director's hideout)

"How did it go?" Jo Myung-rok, dressed in a neat suit, walked out of the room to ask Jo Won-jin.

"The strike team at the warehouse is chasing after the one man who is attempting a getaway. The others were already dead by the time we got there. They must have fought amongst themselves."

"What about Oh Ji-wan?"

"That team assaulted him as his men were making their getaway from Jun-ku and killed three of them. We are chasing after the surviving two men."

"Why are they chasing after so many targets? They're doing a sloppy job."

"Apologies, sir. We are dealing with the best after all…"

"No matter. Keep me updated and let's get outta here!"

"Yes, sir. We have prepared a vehicle outside."

Numerous vehicles were parked outside the hideout and they were ready to go.

"So, did you take care of everything?"

"Yes, sir. We burned everything we don't need, and the important ones are all loaded into the car by the agents."

"All right. Let's go."

Suddenly, there was a big commotion and the sounds of automatic rifles filled the air.

Bang! Bababababang! Bababang!

"What was that?" Jo Myung-rok, who attempted to go outside, shouted to Jo Won-shin in a panicked tone.

" Comrade Director Jo, wait a moment. I'll go see what's going on." Jo Won-jin pulled out a pistol from his hip and ran downstairs.

The agents were busy firing back at the infiltrators from the stairway leading to the second floor from the first, and the 1st floor was full of tear gas.

A minute later, numerous rounds of tear gas canisters came flying through the air.

Pew! Pew! Wooosh! Shhhhhhhhhhhh~

Four tear gas canisters fell on the second floor and the gas started to spread.

The agents without any gas masks attempted to hold their breath and fire back, but the gas went into their eyes and lowered their vision. All of them ended up losing their visibility. No matter how much special training they went through, it was difficult for the agents to withstand the pain of tear gas in their eyes.

Argh!

Jo Won-jin also covered his mouth with his hand and ran back up to the 3rd floor.

"What is it?" Jo Myung-rok in an urgent tone asked Jo Won-jin, who was leaking snot from his nose.

"I, I don't know, sir. It's either South Josun's special forces or the police..."

Babababababang! Babababababang!

Suddenly, gunshots filled the second floor.

The men in gas masks started to pick off the agents who were disoriented by the tear gas. All of them started to fall to the floor after screaming.

"These bastards… Who the hell are they?" Jo Myung-rok started to fire towards the stairway after undoing his tie. There were only 6 agents in total at the hideout including himself. The remaining agents were all deployed to the field to take out the ex-Foreign Intelligence Unit 1 agents.

The sound of gunshots ringing out across the building stopped. All the agents on the second floor seemed to had been killed.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

Jo Won-jin leaned on the wall and shouted towards the stairs. The men in gas masks answered by throwing more tear gas canisters.

Shhhhh! Shhhhh!

When one of the canisters fell onto the floor and started emitting its gas, Jo Won-jin jumped over and grabbed the canister to throw it out the window.

Crash!

When he was about to pick up the second canister, a high-caliber bullet flew through the window and struck him on the head.

Smack!

The 12.7mm anti-personnel round from a sniper rifle cracked open Jo Won-jin's head like a watermelon. Blood and flesh were sprayed everywhere.

The windows of the hideout were covered by black sheets and prevented anyone from looking into the building. However, Jo Won-jin throwing out the canister and breaking the window gave an opening, and he was taken out by the sniper.

"Ugh!" Jo Myung-rok's stomach lurched from seeing the ghastly scene in front of him. "Who are you guys? Let's talk first!" Jo Myung-rok changed his magazine and shouted angrily.

All he had to do was take out Oh Ji-wan and his men before living a lavish life, but the emergence of these random men had thrown a wrench in his plans, and that angered him.

However, the men in gas masks from the second floor did not answer him. They just responded with more gas canisters again.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Multiple flashes of light and noise came from the canisters. These were flashbangs instead of tear gas canisters. Jo Myung-rok had lost visibility and rolled on the floor from severe pain and losing his vision.

Argh!

Jo Myung-rok covered his eyes and stood back up. The men on the second floor in gas masks started to run up to the third floor. Then, they pointed their guns at Jo Myung-rok's head.

"Who, who are you guys? What do you want? Money? I can pay you as much as you want. Just spare me."

Jo Myung-rok was pitiful before death despite him being the ex-director of the reconnaissance department. He bowed his head while on his knees.

He heard a faint voice from the men wearing gas masks despite his ringing ears and being blind from the flash-bangs. He heard Chinese instead of Corean.

"Wait, are these guys Chinese?" he thought.

When he realized the men attacking him were Chinese, he rolled to the side and picked up his pistol. Then, he carefully aimed his gun at the throats of each man and fired his gun repeatedly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The quick and accurate gunshots caused the masked men to fall to the floor without being able to scream.

When the flashbang went off, Jo Myung-rok covered his eyes with his arm to a certain degree. But he pretended to be affected by the flashbang to trick the enemy.

Jo Myung-rok had miraculously avoided death from the men in gas masks through his acting. He immediately took a gas mask off of one of the dead men and grabbed his automatic rifle. It was an AK-47 that he was very familiar with.

He could hear Chinese coming from the second floor. Since he was able to understand a bit of Chinese, he assumed that the men were telling the ones on the third floor to return if they had finished taking out the targets.

"I'll figure out where you bastards came from and kill you all."

Jo Myung-rok looted grenades and flashbangs off the dead bodies and walked down to the second floor. He wasn't caught because of the gas masks. However, someone spoke to him. He knew his bad accent while speaking Chinese would give him away, so he turned around and shot him in the chest.

Bang!

Then, he did a 360-degree turn before mercilessly pulling his trigger. He had already figured out the approximate position of the other men while walking down the stairs.

"5 of them are dead, and 4 died on the 3rd floor, so there're 9 in total!"

He heard sounds of rushed footsteps coming from the first floor.

"What's that? Were there more people on the first floor?" He thought.

Jo Myung-rok leaned to the wall of the living room and poked his head out. The men downstairs were shouting in Chinese and running up the stairs to figure out what had happened.

Jo Myung-rok pulled off the grenade's safety clips and pins while shouting in Chinese. He basically told them everything's fine and continue searching the first floor.

Because he spoke while wearing a gas mask, the Chinese men did not realize he spoke in a bad accent and did not suspect anything. They continued to search the first floor and did not come up the stairs.