Mercenary Black Mamba

Garuda had minimized his body but still, it was no duckling. When Gye Soon referred to it as a duckling, there was a palpable hunger surrounding the words.

Ha Dong Daek's family only owned some fields on the foot of Mt. Wolsong and the bank of the Nakdong River. It was said that the third daughter was born with the luck of food, but Gye Soon was an exception to the case, born among the many daughters of Ha Dong Daek. She suffered from a lack of protein throughout her growing years.

The only memory she had of eating meat plentifully was late winter, right before Mu Ssang left them. That winter, Mu Ssang would hunt wild ducks and bring them home. She had no idea how he could catch them, but on such days, she could eat meat plentifully.

'That winter was so long. The Nakdong River thawed and wild ducks flocked to it. Mu Ssang still hadn't come.'

At the end of each winter, Gye Soon would miss Mu Ssang dearly. Maybe she missed the ducks he used to bring home. For Gye Soon, Garuda wasn't a duckling but a delicious, tasteful source of protein.

They had been preparing to boil and stir-fry some chicken for the Day of the Dog. That duck was quite odd-looking but Gye Soon wasn't picky about her ingredients. Boiled or stir-fried duck wasn't so bad either. That duck was quite fleshy. She only needed to boil it in advance before cooking to get rid of excess fat. Then it would taste just like chicken. Gye Soon's eyes glinted with greed. Her esophagus rose, sensing incoming workload.

Garuda, sensing hostility, flinched. The scouter at the top of its head scanned the combat power of the source of the hostility. The being was quite feeble. It could be obliterated with a single blow of the low-output particle-accelerated laser. The red crest on Garuda's head turned blue. Mu Ssang, sensing that Garuda was about to transform, addressed it telepathically.

[You! Stay calm.]

The absolute order shook Garuda's head. Garuda dropped its head then raised it again. Gye Soon flinched. The big eyes, not quite those of a duck, had welled up. Teardrops were going to fall at any moment.

'No. I will get some duck from the market.'

Gye Soon's esophagus dropped. Garuda glanced back at Mu Ssang. Its big eyes were smiling, the pupils squashed like a half moon.

'Look at it! It's not a rooster but a sly fox.'

Mu Ssang exclaimed. He hadn't lived for many years in the world but he still hadn't heard of a smiling chicken.

"A duckling!"

Mina shouted. This "duckling" was vastly different from Gye Soon's utterance, in its connotation. The eyes were directly connected to the brain. To see something meant the brain was feeling it directly through the eyes. For Gye Soon, it was a lump of meat. For Mina, it was a cute bird.

"Where?"

"Is there a duckling?"

The girls huddled around Garuda.

"It's so cute!"

"It's like a character from a cartoon."

"It has lost its feathers. How poor."

"Did ducks have eyes this big?"

"There can be one with big eyes!"

This was a mess. Mu Ssang felt dizzy. He didn't understand how they could perceive a plucked rooster as a duckling. Moreover, he could never relate to descriptions such as "cute" and "poor." If Garuda was cute, the Komodo lizards and anacondas had to be the loveliest beings on Earth. Mina lifted up Garuda.

[Garuda, I forbid any hostile action whatsoever.]

[Understood.]

Garuda, warned by its master, tried to save itself in innocuous ways. Garuda rubbed its head on Mina's chest and tried to act cute.

"I am loving this big-eyed duck!" Mina exclaimed ecstatically.

"I do too!"

A bomb deadlier than a hydrogen bomb was moved around the young women's bosoms.

"Dad, what's its name?"

"Garuda."

"That sounds weird. I will call it Wangnun. You are Wangnun now. Do you see?"

Garuda clucked and nodded.

"It seems to understand language!"

Yeongji exclaimed.

"Are you sure? Is your name Garuda?"

Malsun asked. Garuda nodded.

"This is so awesome!"

"No. Its name is Wangnun!"

Mina held Garuda and ran to her room. The girls followed her. Like that, the half-plucked rooster became Eungsimje's family.

'This is quite messy. When was I able to use telepathy at will?'

Mu Ssang wondered.

- Friend, I caught a thief last night.

- I am aware of it. They are not a thief.

Mu Ssang answered indifferently, without stopping his chopsticks. Kamdoong's scouter was superior at long-range scanning but for short-range scanning, Dimensional Sight was superior. For the past fortnight, he was aware that someone was slinking around the walls. He let them do it. Eungsimje was quite a sight to behold. Many tourists and neighbors would come to see it.

Unless they climbed over the wall, they were not a thief. For intrusion to qualify legally, their both feet needed to be located within the walls. If they set only one foot inside the front gate, it was no intrusion. If they snooped inside the walls, stretching their neck, it was no intrusion. They didn't take anything, so they were not a thief. There was no reason to catch them.

- Even if they looked inside with night-vision goggles? They had a map drawn too.

At the second telepathic message, Mu Ssang dropped his spoon and chopsticks and stood. This was quite a problem. Garuda followed Mu Ssang hurriedly.

"Mu Ssang, what about your food?"

"I'll be back in a moment."

"Okay. I will re-heat it."

Mu Ssang waved and went to his quarters. Jin Soon's gaze landed on the tottering Garuda and its buttocks. It looked quite cute, tottering with its short legs.

'He is not the type to keep a pet though?'

Her sisters marveled at it but Jin Soon knew that it was no ordinary animal. It was not quite a chicken but it wasn't a duck either. Ducks were quite smart animals but she had never heard of a duck that understood language.

"Is it the same kind as Kamdoong? If it is Mu Ssang's friend, I don't mind."

Jin Soon's insight was on point.

Mu Ssang disabled the security measures on the first basement and got in the secret elevator. The elevator was the only access to the second basement, which was 25 meters below. Kamdoong was not affected by the security measures because he could teleport in an energy state. But he was a human. He was annoyed by the bothersome security measures so had stopped going to the second basement altogether. In the storage, there were gold and artifacts worth trillions of won, but he had no interest in them.

A strong motor gently opened the 350-millimeter thick steel doors. His eyes, submerged in the ink-like darkness, were filled with light. The second basement was a secret training room. The storage was further inside the room.

"F*cking hell!"

The middle-aged man covered his eyes with his hands and frowned deeply. Jang Pal Soo, caught by Kamdoong, had spent hours in his captivity in the ink-like darkness. He was about to explode.

Garuda, spotting Kamdoong, screeched. Its crest turned blue. Kamdoong, lying comfortably on a painted mat, glanced at Kamdoong and teleported elsewhere at once.

"You awoke thanks to Kamdoong. Don't be hostile and get along."

Mu Ssang tapped Garuda's buttocks with the tip of his shoe. Garuda rubbed its head on Mu Ssang's legs. It was a sign of subordination.

"Are you that cat's master?"

Jang Pal Soo recognized Mu Ssang but feigned ignorance and yelled. This was officially a French cultural institute. If his identity was revealed, it would turn into a diplomatic issue. He had to pretend to be an innocent citizen kidnapped illegally.

"A thief shouldn't yell. Well, even the president is a thief in this country. Like boss, like subordinate."

"What are you talking about? Are you the big cat's master?"

Jang Pal Soo's face reddened. With his elevated blood pressure, he felt a sharp, piercing pang of pain at the back of his head where he was smashed by Kamdoong. He had no time to strike back and passed out at once. When he came to, he fumbled around everywhere but the room had no single window. His pager had no signal either. He was not used to this kind of treatment as an agent of the ANSP. He was used to afflicting this kind of treatment to others.

"I am."

"You are? Listen to yourself. You are rudely terse."

"If I am terse of not, it is not your business. Why were you skulking around my house?"

Jang Pal Soo flinched.

"I came for sightseeing! Do you not know the law or politeness? How could you beat me up without warning and lock me up? This is illegal!"

Jang Pal Soo yelled. Mu Ssang took out an ID card from the long black wallet he held in his hand.

"Jang Pal Soo of the Daedeok Company? You seem to match the photo."

Mu Ssang grinned. The world seems to be lawless but in the end, it didn't forget to punish the wicked. The combination of the name Jang Pal Soo and the ANSP instantly reminded him of Uncle Samchul who was crippled. During the Sabuk crisis, the agents sent by the ANSP, Jang Pal Soo, Yu Yeongchul, and Gim Yeongno, had tortured the poor miners and extorted from them like three leeches. Also, he belonged to the Jang family.

"What?"

Jang Pal Soo hurriedly fumbled the inside of his jacket. His wallet was missing. Jang Pal Soo's face hardened. The young man in front of him hadn't budged. Why was his wallet in his hand?

"Mr. Jang, my house is quite luxurious but no one would look at it for a fortnight, at night at that."

"What?"

Jang Pal Soo's face paled. He was cautious about his movement and time, but it turned out to be in vain.

"Does an ordinary salaried worker these days, equipped with night-vision goggles, snoop on someone else's home? An AN/PVS-5 is an export-prohibited item in France. How did you get it? Are you a pervert or a smuggler?"

'How did he figure that out?'

Jang Pal Soo's face paled further. It was all awry now. If it was revealed that a Korean intelligence agent infiltrated a French cultural institute, it will become a diplomatic conflict. The government will place all blame on Jang Pal Soo, claiming personal misjudgment.

Jang Pal Soo gritted his teeth. If he revealed his identity, he was done for. If he didn't, he had no way of getting out of here. Jang Pal Soo's brain, not quite of the highest caliber, toiled hard.

"You beat up and locked up an innocent citizen. If you release me now, I won't take it to the police."

Jang Pal Soo, oblivious to the fact that Mu Ssang was aware of his past, decided to feign ignorance.

"An innocent citizen? That is a common guise used by the members of a criminal gang. Are you a thug?"

Mu Ssang glared at him. He was not going to release him anyway, but the blatant lie of a government-hired thug that tortured innocent people, subsisted on bribes, and snooped on people, disgusted him.

"You shall hand me to the police then!"

Jang Pal Soo said boldly. If it were the prosecutors or police, he had a free pass. He would get told off by his superiors but he was not going to be charged with anything.

"You are an agent of the ANSP, aren't you?" Mu Ssang blurted out.

"If you have guessed my identity, let's part ways on good terms."

"Good terms? Where do you belong?"

"Agh!"

Jang Pal Soo gritted his teeth. This young man apparently had a lot of experience. He was forcing him to say where he came from on his own.

"Yes. I am from the ANSP. I am in a pickle but this isn't good for you either. Let's part ways on good terms."

Mu Ssang's face darkened. This one was dumb, didn't know the basics of spycraft, and had low morale. If an agent ever revealed their identity, they were done for. If this kind of rookie was an agent of the Agency for National Security Planning, Korea's intelligence unit had to be trash. On the global stage of intelligence, the ANSP was never even mentioned. It was known as a pathetic organization without any overseas capacities and it only dealt with the mistakes of the regime.

"All right. Let's negotiate. Tell me your real name, department, direct supervisor, and the mission you are tasked with. In return, I will spare your life."

"You are well aware that I will never be able to do that. Let's part ways here."

Jang Pal Soo cursed himself for leaving his revolver in his locker. He wanted to subdue the man and escape, but he was still wary of the hairy guard that ambushed him at dawn. If they had this kind of facility, they had to be of some caliber.

Mu Ssang didn't want to converse further with this piece of human trash. If he continued to breathe the same air with this kind of person, his lungs were going to rot away. He cut to the chase.

"Jang Pal Soo, you were tasked with the Sabuk crisis seven years ago, weren't you?"

"Who are even you?"

Jang Pal Soo, startled, stepped back. The Sabuk crisis was branded onto his reputation. It was the very reason that he had to skulk around Mu Ssang's house at dawn, soaked in dew.

"Who I am doesn't matter. I will give you a choice. First, you can tell me everything and repent for the rest of your life planting trees in a desert. Second, you will keep silent and die. For your information, Yu Yeongchul had all of his fingers and toes cut off, was skinned, and had his spine broken. Then he became a urnful of ash."

"Then you must be...!"

Jang Pal Soo was awestruck. Yu Yeongchul and the Chilseong syndicate had vanished as if they didn't exist in the first place. They used all police power and the investigative capacities of the ANSP, but there was not a single clue. The man before his eyes was the perpetrator of the unresolved case. He suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"You don't have much time. Choose."

The eyeballs of Jang Pal Soo rolled like cartwheels. He didn't understand what the man meant with planting trees for the rest of his life but compared to death, it was going to be a much better fate. When the man revealed that he was responsible for Yu Yeongchul's fate, Jang Pal Soo had lost all capacity for logical reasoning.

Jang Pal Soo gauged the distance between him and the man. The man was about three meters away. The man was sitting and he was standing. He might be able to crush the man's chest then snap his neck. He will think about what he will do next then. Jang Pal Soo, with his calculation finished, kicked the floor and leaped at once without notice. His steel-like knee struck the man's chest. It was the flying knee kick, a skill that he practised all his life.