“Sorry, I think No. 9 has been captured.”
"what?"
The first sentence I heard when I received Ariel's call made me doubt my ears.
At least, I had a belief that the number 9 inside me was a strong person, unrivaled by anyone on this team in terms of physical ability.
Number 9, who had endured Ariel's chair torture for over 30 minutes, was tortured.
“The opponent was that strong?”
"That's not it. It's just that it's a weakness of No. 9, or a chronic problem, and it's hard to explain over the phone."
Weakness? Chronic disease?
He looked so healthy, but he was actually sick?
no way!
“No way, that’s why you have your hair shaved like that-”
“Yeah, no.”
"no?"
“That’s absolutely not true. Don’t worry.”
Ariel's attitude of refusing outright made him feel a bit sullen, but he soon shook his head a few times and opened his mouth.
“Are you going to rescue me, No. 9?”
"Of course. Losing your exclusive driver would be difficult. It'd be awkward getting to know your new driver again. And above all—"
“Above all?”
On the other end of the phone, she took a deep breath and spoke firmly.
“I feel like I wasted all the time I spent training it.”
At her words, I just kept my mouth shut.
Yeah, you are.
“How was your meeting with No. 5?”
“Oh, of course it’s fun-”
When Ariel asked me a question, I was about to calmly say that I was fine, but then a picture of her tight-fitting latex suit flashed through my mind, and I froze.
match-
Wake up, Inma.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s because there are mosquitoes flying around. It was fine with No. 5.”
“If it’s fun, then it’s fun, and what’s okay?”
"Nothing happened. I just had a physical and some other tests. I'm home now."
"Really? Then tomorrow, we'll have a strategy meeting in our usual conference room to rescue No. 9. Thanks for the mission. Good night."
“Yeah, you too.”
The phone call ended, and I collapsed onto the bed.
“What is this feeling?”
It was just a normal business report call, but I felt a pang of guilt pricking my conscience.
It feels like I'm lying to my girlfriend.
“No, Ariel and I have no relationship, so why-”
“Who is that?”
“Wow!”
As I was muttering to myself, I was startled by the words of my younger sister Ain, who was looking down at me from right next to the bed. I jumped up from the bed.
“Oh, since when?”
“No, my sister said she bought chicken and asked me to eat it with her, so I called her, but she was just lying around in bed.”
“Oh, chicken? Well, I have to eat it. Of course.”
“So, who is Ariel?”
As I was trying to quickly leave the room, I stopped and quietly turned my head when I heard Ain's words.
“He’s my boss at work.”
“It’s almost 10 o’clock at night and you’re making a work call?”
“I’m a new employee, so they’re going to take good care of me.”
“Really?” I said, but Ain glared at me with eyes full of suspicion as I hurried out to the kitchen.
“What are you doing that you can’t hear me even when I call you?”
As I walked into the kitchen, I saw the father lying listlessly at the table.
A worn-out t-shirt with the neck stretched out to below the collarbone from long wear.
Baggy shorts that prioritize comfort only.
My older sister, with her shoulder-length auburn hair roughly tied back with a black hair tie, has an overall comfortable look.
That was the first scene at Jeong Eun-woo's house.
“What’s going on? You always come home late, saying you’re working overtime.”
“Today, it’s my off-duty day.”
“Do civil servants have passwords?”
“Successful career women have it.”
If you look at her now, no one will believe it, but for a civil servant, she is on a very capable path to success.
A person who fits the description of the ideal 'competent, well-dressed, and stylish career woman' that every woman dreams of.
Yes. Even if she was now clutching a crumpled beer can, her face flushed from drunkenness, monopolizing a delicious chicken leg, she was still someone's idol.
“I heard you got a new job recently?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
"That's fortunate. I thought I'd never be able to shake off my old habit of working hard in theater and end up doing some kind of manual labor at a construction site. What kind of company is it?"
I froze for a moment at her question, thinking, then quietly opened my mouth.
“Sales of various items?”
“You, do you really go door-to-door to sell things like water purifiers?”
“That’s not it!”
“Sis, I told you to act, so I worked hard to support you so that you could become an unknown actor instead of going around selling water purifiers to other people’s houses.”
“Oh, that’s not it!”
My sister, who had been chuckling at my reaction, soon handed me a perfectly good beer can.
"Okay then. Come on, have a drink. I got a new job, so I need a drink."
“I just need someone to drink with.”
“If my older sister gives it to me, just say yes and drink it.”
"yes."
“Oh, you took the bridge by yourself again!”
While talking to the older sister in front of him, Ain, who had gone to wash her hands for a moment, returned to the table and clung to him, angry at the already-spread drinking party and his older sister's misdeed of taking a chicken leg all by herself.
This is the daily life of our family who lost their parents at an early age.
This was the daily life of my older sister, Jung Eun-woo, my younger sister, Jung Ah-in, and me, Jung Woo-jin.
'If they heard I belonged to a secret terrorist organization, would they both be surprised?'
Will this daily life of laughing and chatting change?
Will the smile and warm gaze directed at me change?
'Let's not think about useless things.'
He stares at the beer can in his hand and takes a sip.
For now, let's enjoy this daily life even a little.
There's no use fearing a future that hasn't even arrived yet.
***
“So, this guy?”
"yes."
A small space about one pyeong in size.
Kwak Chun-pal and Kim Si-wan were looking at the masked man sitting on the chair in front of them.
His shirt was already torn in many places, with nothing left except the sleeves on his back and both arms, and red blood was dripping from dozens of wounds that seemed to have been cut here and there on his chest and upper body.
His pure white mask was covered in black, hardened blood from his wounds, giving it an even more gloomy atmosphere than before.
"When they raided our organization's business premises alone, I thought they were some special forces unit from another organization or something, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Could it be that Ariel sent them?"
Kwak Chun-pal kept pushing the mask with his finger while grimacing, but the masked man just quietly raised his head and held on.
"Ha, kid. I can't tell what expression you're making or what you're thinking because you're wearing a mask. Did you try taking it off?"
"Three or four kids tried to take it off, but it wouldn't come off. I wonder if there was a gap between the face and the mask, but it's like it's completely integrated with the skin, with no gaps."
Kwak Chun-pal frowned, placing his hand on his forehead.
"Just a little bit from now on. Just a little bit from now on. Our organization was torn apart by those heroes and the police a year ago, but we just need to hold on a little longer to rebuild it—or even grow it stronger than before. If that bitch or the task force stops us, we're in big trouble."
Even now, when I close my eyes, I can vividly recall Kwak Chun-pal.
The night I was arrested a year ago.
Just one person.
At the time, over 50 members of the organization were neutralized by a single hero.
Hero Splendid.
Even if they rush in with countless guns and weapons, ordinary people cannot defeat the Ability Enlightener.
It was a night when I felt those words in my own body, painfully deep in my bones.
So, this plan, this business, was prepared for that.
“Siwan.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Do you still have that thing I spent a lot of money on last time?”
Kim Si-wan frowned at Kwak Chun-pal's words.
When my brother says the word 'that', only one thing comes to mind.
A few years ago, I remembered a toy that Ariel had almost half-sold in the name of "good price."
“Are you going to use that?”
"Well, then, should I use it for my daughter's wedding? What else can I do but use it for something like this?"
“You should have written it a year ago.”
"Well, back then, I just left it because I felt bad for the money I lost every time I saw that little thing. Besides, do you think it would work against that 'super-fast' Splendid?"
"So, does that work with that woman who's called a walking disaster?" Siwan wanted to say, but he didn't bother saying it out loud.
If we unilaterally cut off ties with Black Crown, who had been our long-time trading partner, we would inevitably end up fighting them, whether we liked it or not.
Still, Siwan was confident.
If the masked villain in front of her is one of her confidants, then her ability to send confidants of this level is ultimately nothing more than a bluff.
“I’ll have the kids bring it to the trading site.”
“Yeah. I guess we should use it even in times like this.”
As Gwak Chun-pal was smiling and patting Si-wan on the shoulder, the warehouse door opened and a member of the organization wearing a colorful tiger-patterned T-shirt came in.
"older brother."
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“I found it.”
At the report that the organization member had been found, Kwak Chun-pal's eyes widened and a smile spread across his lips.
“Really? Are the kids ready to go?”
"Yes. We're planning to split into two groups tomorrow. Brother Torch will be going on one side."
"Good job, good job. Yeah. You should have done that a long time ago. Siwan, let's go."
Kim Si-wan followed behind the delighted Kwak Chun-pal and closed the door.
Left alone in the darkened warehouse room, No. 9 thought about the 'thing' they had mentioned.
"Is that it? It's the item that headquarters passed on to me, saying that output control failed."
It was a prototype made by the headquarters' development department, and it was handed over to Ariel with a pitiful request to sell it somehow. Ariel, who rarely criticized items sent by headquarters, said the same thing as she saw it, and No. 9 still couldn't forget it.
“Who would use something like this?”
Well, in the end, it was something that was handed over to Kwak Chun-pal almost by force, but what if Kwak Chun-pal fought Ariel with it?
Number 9, who had been thinking for a moment, quietly came to a conclusion.
'It might be a little dangerous.'