"I know it's impossible, but I dreamed for a happy ending."
(Grim Reaper–Lee Dong Wook from the drama Goblin-The Lonely and Great God)
President Building
Government Square
Palion
The President Building was a large, Medieval-era building that was perfectly preserved and served as the living quarters and the workplace of the late President. It was the most iconic building in the capital, with its grand design and its unique orange lighting that sets it apart from other buildings around it. It looked rather grand at night with those lightings. In addition to the grand design and the lightings, the other great feature of the Building was a fountain built at the mouth of the entrance. The fountain was the latest feature of the building, built approximately a decade ago. It might look ordinary to normal eyes, but for those with artistic eyes, the feature of Virgin Mary in her greatest stature, holding a vase facing sideways and downwards, the fountain had a profound meaning.
It was as if Virgin Mary had blessed the building with purity.
Well, one can say so. This building had stood the test of time–from the chaotic Middle Ages to the the Second World War, and escaped without a scratch. Even during the civil war, the building remained relatively untouched by opposition forces even though the capital fell. In fact, everything stood where they were when the current government took it back. Nothing was looted out of it. The fountain was also in perfect shape. It seemed that the place was perfectly blessed by her powers, which led some people to believe that the soul of Virgin Mary had actually lingered in the compounds, keeping it safe from harm as if this was her sacred place. In fact, some went crazy over this allegation that there were several attempts made by civilians to break into the compound just to get the water from the fountain said to be pure water. It was strange how people could get so caught up with those rumours that they lost their real sense of judgement. Luckily, during this chaotic times, no one attempted to make such a foolish move again, for if they do, they would be shot on sight.
Still, how blessed was the building in reality? Was it real, or was it just a hoax just to boast its grand stature?
Mo Yeon was about to find that out.
There were two Uruk soldiers guarding the checkpoint which led directly to the entrance of the compound. Other than that, there was nothing else. Just two men with their rifles, yawning away as the night dragged on. The streets were otherwise empty, void of life. It was so silent that literally anyone could actually hear the battle raging on thousands of miles away. Jets continued to streak at a distance, followed by the beating of helicopter blades against the wind.
"Damn it, Lukas." One of the soldiers who spoke in Hellenic sighed heavily. "I'm tired of this. I just want to sleep." He yawned the second the said the word 'sleep', causing the other soldier, named Lukas, to stare at him with dreadful eyes. The soldier's action really irritated Lukas, not because of his slackness, but due to the way which also made Lukas sleepy.
"Shut it, will you?! Keep your eyes peeled to the front!" Lukas purposely raised his gun to his eye-level while looking at his mate. "Like this!"
Lukas's mate just shrugged it off, chuckling lightly at Lukas's action to make him stay awake. the truth was that he just couldn't keep his fatigue longer anymore. They were a mere two hours away before the next change of shift, and the wait's sapping away his energy. "Whatever, Lukas." He walked to wards the said soldier. "Put that thing down, before you do something stupid." He placed his right palm on top of the handle of the rifle, and then slowly pushed it down. "I don't think you want to cause a ruckus with your irrational act of yours. Do you really have to do that just to wake me up?"
"Yeah, right. If I don't, I bet you'll–WHOA!" Lukas immediately raised his rifle back to his eye level the moment he looked back to the front, and saw a hooded figure approaching them under the darkness of the night. This time, his mate, who wondered initially why Lukas did that until he saw what Lukas saw, raised his rifle too. Both men were now aiming at the person whose face was unrecognisable because of the hood. "Who goes there?! Halt or I'll shoot!"
In an empty road in the middle of the night and all of the sudden, a person appeared in front of them out of thin air? That sent chills down the two soldier's spine. Whoever the person was, that person appeared undetected like a ghost. The person was wearing a grey hooded jacket and a pair of long black trousers along with a pair of white shoes, the most apparent feature of the mysterious person the soldiers could see and recognise. Not only that, the soldiers noticed too that the person had a figure of a lady, but with the head covered by the hood, they couldn't tell exactly whether the person was really a woman or not. The hands hung freely by the sides, but her head faced down to the floor. The person instantly stopped the moment the two soldiers started squawking.
"You there, who are you?! Take off your hood and come over here, now!" Lukas yelled out loud in Hellenic. "Don't you know that martial law is enforced, and you're not allowed to wander around until six in the morning?!"
The person didn't move a muscle. The person stood there like a piece of rock, confusing the two soldiers as they looked at each other. They were curious now. What was that person trying to do right now?
"Hey, can't you here me?! I said, come here! Move or I'll shoot!"
Still, the person remained rooted to the spot, refusing to move.
"Shall I radio command?" Lukas's mate asked.
"No. I got this."
"You sure?"
Lukas gave him a cold stare, which caused the mate to shut his mouth completely. "There's only one person over here. We got this. Why bother contacting command when we can settle this punk over here?" Lukas hissed with irritation as he looked back to the hooded person. That was it. He needed to check that person himself. From his observation, the person appeared to not carry anything dangerous. There were no abnormal bulges anywhere that could indicate a hidden weapon or worse–a bomb. The figure stood out pretty well. Plus, if the person were to be alerted by his warning, the person would have placed his hands in the pockets or simply walk away, or obediently approach them as ordered. The person did none of that. Something told him that the person was relatively harmless. "Come on, let's check that guy out." Lukas began to approach the person cautiously, his rifle aiming directly at the person.
"Wait, you can't be serious!" The mate tried to stop Lukas, but he was already moving. Reluctantly, he followed.
The two soldiers approached the person cautiously, the sound of their boots tapping the tarred road softly echoing in the air. While they approached, the person, as if lack in fear or just trying to provoke the soldiers, or simply lacked any common sense, just stayed there for so long. It took nearly a minute for the soldiers to get just a few inches feet away from her when they finally stopped. Lukas covered the person's right side while his mate shifted to cover the left, thus preventing the person from any means of escape.
Lukas, relying on his strong right hand to hold his slightly-heavy rifle upright, used his left hand to dig out a flashlight attached to his weapons belt. When he got it, he turned the flashlight on and then flashed directly at the person. As expected, the person flinched slightly from the flash of the light, the right hand raised slightly to cover the face. Still, the person never moved from the spot. "You there. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He quizzed the person in his native language. When it became apparent that the person was not responding to his calls, Lukas decided to switch to his second languageEnglish. "Are you a foreigner? From England? America? Canada?"
This time, the person shook her head, thus responding to the soldiers for the first time since their encounter. Lukas glanced at his mate.
"Then, where are you from? Are you alone? Take off the hood so that I can see you." Lukas used a lower tone this time, trying not to be so threatening. For all he know, the person could probably be a lost visitor.
However, Lukas was dead wrong.
When the person finally removed the hood from the head in a slow fashion using both hands, Lukas and his mate were surprised to see who that person was. Their eyes bulged wide, and then they faced each other in wonder as the person in front of them revealed herself to be an Asian woman, approximately in her early to mid-thirties. The face was so recognisable that it was so hard to miss. Both eyes glanced at the standing woman, their minds struggling to believe what they had just saw. "You are the doctor!" Lukas exclaimed, his rifle raised to her head level and trigger ready to fire. So was his mate.
"Yes, I am." Mo Yeon replied. "And I'm here to surrender."
*****
The Prime Minister, who had been working in his office for so many nights, could not believe his ears when he heard the news from one of the Guards. The Korean doctor Kang Mo Yeon–the doctor who 'killed the President', had came forward to surrender. How convenient. If he knew that this case would be so simple, he wouldn't have spent so much resources on guarding the UN camp and the hospital anyway. Curious but elated, the Prime Minister got up from his seat, a sinister grin appearing on his face.
"Take her in." he ordered the Guard in Hellenic. "And remember–no one must know about this. Get a firing squad ready at the back porch. I'll send her to you for execution later on. Silence those who ask. Is that clear?" The Prime Minister ordered cold-heartedly.
"Yes, sir." The Guard left the room.
The Prime Minister sat back down, placing both his feet on the table while adjoining his hands together. This was going to be his lucky day. He heard from eyewitnesses that the doctor was quite beautiful, and he longed for one, naughty woman to fill his lust. This mysterious Kang Mo Yeon seemed to fit into his category, and he's going to have some real fun with her before sending her to her death. He chuckled sinisterly, his sexual craving already making his body all heated up. However, before he could go down to the act, he needed to seek some confirmation first.
The knock on the door told him that the time has come.
"Come in!"
The door opened, and two Guards entered with a woman in their hands. She was apparently short in nature, and the height difference was so apparent that she looked like a dwarf from Lord of The Rings compared to the two tall men in dark suit. Her hands were cuffed with a rope, and she seemed to struggle to keep up with their wide steps. Every move she made was like a drag, and her short stature never helped either. As soon as the Guards brought the Asian woman in, the Prime Minister, in his forties, could not help but be mesmerised by her goddess-like looks. Even the beautiful, exquisite furniture in his semicircular, white office failed to outshone her beauty. The moment he saw her, he was in a daze. He stood up slowly from his chair, and for a moment, studied her from head to toe. He couldn't believe that such a beautiful woman like her, would end up doing a hideous 'crime', and also ended up in his lustful hands. Still, he found himself completely numb in his senses all of the sudden. Her aura was just too much for him that by simply fulfilling his lust on her wouldn't work. He needed some sort of a consent to make one.
He ordered the two men to leave, thus leaving Mo Yeon and the Prime Minister alone in the office. As soon as the door was shut, the Prime Minister approached her with his hands in his pocket, trying no to look so flirty just yet. He sensed the angry eyes of the Korean woman staring back at him, following his every move the moment he stepped away from his table. Her angry stare did not do much to him, only that it made him even more excited. This woman really had the naught in her, and he loved it so, so much. He stood so close to her in the end that their faces nearly touched, but she never moved an inch. She continued to glare at him angrily. He could feel her warm breath touching the skin of his neck, turning him on. He smirked devilishly before suddenly holding her chin roughly with his left hand and then pushed her face up so that their eyes met.
Mo Yeon was visibly irritated by that act, but she chose to stand her ground.
"So, you're the woman we're looking for. I admit that when I saw your face in the cameras, I was mesmerised. However, with you appearing in front of me right now, I'm more than just mesmerised." The Prime Minister spoke in English in a mocking tone. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "You know, you're too beautiful to be in such a place like this."
Mo Yeon stayed silent, allowing him to continue with his assault.
"What did you do, little one? Let me help you." He spoke in a flirtatious way, thus revealing his deepest intentions to Mo Yeon. "Forgiveness? For your sins? Or do you want money? I can give you that. Just...surrender yourself to me, and I'll grant your wish. You know, like genie in a bottle? Make your wish and it'll come true?" He smirked widely. "Or do you want a honourable death?" The wide grin disappeared suddenly, and his expression instantly changed into a serious tone. "Which one do you want?"
"None of it!" Mo Yeon hissed in English, surprising him a little. "I don't need anything from your dirty hands!"
Her act of defiance impressed him very much, and he smiled once more. "Wow, you did good!" He exclaimed. He removed his left hand off her chin. He knew immediately that this woman would be a hard one to tackle with. "I'm...kind of impressed. Who taught you to be this naughty?" He walked away from her, approaching a coffee table to their direct left and poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle that was already on the table. He returned to her while drinking the content in the glass with a sip. He unbuttoned the first two buttons of his white formal shirt. "Drink?"
"No, thank you." Mo Yeon jibed back sarcastically.
"Take a sit?"
"No."
"Can we introduce?"
"No."
The Prime Minister sighed. Indeed, this woman's hard to subdue. Beautiful yet as hard as jewel–easy to see, but hard to possess. Eventually, the Prime Minister gave in, deciding finally to just go with her flow, since she wasn't going his way. Maybe he could use it to his advantage too. "So, you don't want to drink, neither do you want to sit, nor to even properly intorduce ourselves. He emptied his glass of wine and then strolled back to his desk. He slumped onto the black leather chair with a soft grunt, the squeaking of the chair so loud that it seeked lubrication. "Then, what do you want?"
"Discuss the terms of my surrender." Mo Yeon replied with the same degree of sarcasm.
"I'm listening."
"First, let my friends go."
The man rubbed his forehead with the tip of the glass before placing it on the table with a rather loud clang. He couldn't believe that he was actually doing this against his will. Nevertheless, he seemed confident that he still got everything under control. It wouldn't hurt to grant her at least one of her wishes before she went straight to Heaven. "Your friends?" He tried to feign ignorance. "Who could that be, by the way? I'm afraid I don't even know them. Still, I'll put that into consideration, since you're the one who did all this and surrendered voluntarily anyway so it's not your friends' fault. Anything else?"
"Please fund Dr Athena's project, and help deal with the virus in your country."
He played with his fountain pen for a moment, pruposely going into deep thoughts before nodding his head. "Well, that I can do."
"And please stop this war."
The moment Mo Yeon mentioned her last request, he instantly dropped his pen on the table, letting it roll sideways and then down to the floor. He remained frozen in his seat for some time, his right hand which once held that pen hanging mid-air. The Prime Minister struggled to get hold of what she had just said, and for sure he did heard it wrong. She couldn't be daring enough to make such a request, especially when death was at the front door. He turned his face around and stared deep into her eyes with his own agitated glare. So far, no one serving by his side ever since he took over the work after the President was killed had actually voiced out their disagreement over his declaration of war over North Uruk, and days had passed since the war began. To heed her demand and quickly called off the war would do no good to his reputation and his power. He, above all else, shouldn't be agreeing to prisoner's demands anyway.
This was the demand he couldn't agree with. Not a chance, especially when so much was at stake.
However, the look on her face told him that she was not done yet. He decided to hear her remaining requests first before making his final call. "Do you have anymore things to say?"
This time, it was Mo Yeon who paused for a moment, earning a curious stare from the man. An eerie silence enveloped the entire room before Mo Yeon finally broke her silence. "Stop working with Sun Yang."
The Prime Minister decided that he had had enough. He banged the table hard, rising from his seat in an aggressive stance as he pointed at the woman standing in front of him. "Do you realise what you've just said?" He snared, the once-cool demeanour now enveloped by waves of frustration. He had let his weakness be known by her, and he didn't like that one bit. One more word from her and he swore he would silence her off with his gun. "How dare you make such a request?! Do you know what position you're in now?! You're about to die in my hands, and you want me to stop this war, and stop working with Sun Yang?! I don't think you understand what you're trying to meddle in here."
"I understand that just fine!" Mo Yeon answered back defiantly, now stepping forward to the table with a total ignorance of the dangers ahead of her in her doing. No matter what, she needed to get this sorted out, then she could just die in his hands. "That's why I'm here–to plead to you. For once, think of what you're doing to your country, to your people. What will they think of–"
All of the sudden, the Prime Minister drew out his gun that was kept in one of the shelves, and aimed directly at her head, causing her to freeze instantly. The furious flames of anger were burning in his eyes now, and his heart beat in a rough way. His breathing was heavy, laboured, but the most vital point was his finger on the trigger. It looked eager to pull the trigger. Mo Yeon took a step back from the table, her eyes shifting from the Prime Minister's face to the dark black hole of the muzzle of the gun. There's a bullet in it, she knew that. One wrong move, and she would never see the light again. The Prime Minister observed her slight retreat as a sign of fear seeping into her heart, and he smirked. "Scared already?" He scoffed. "Pathetic woman! Who do you think you are?! You're a murderer, the killer of our President of Uruk! You collaborated with Sun Yang to accomplish that deed, and now you're telling me to reflect on myself?! I think you should be the one who should reflect on yourself!"
Mo Yeon stood her ground, despite her apparent shaking in fear. She tried her best to put up a brave front against a man filled with rage. Fear indeed crept in her soul, but overall, she's a different person now. All those confrontations with Sun Yang–which more often than not ended up with blood spilled on the floor, had subsequently shaped her up to be tough when it came to bad guys. No man with a gun could harm her will anymore. "I did reflect on myself, sir." She spoke. "Have you?"
The Prime Minister chuckled upon hearing her words. To him, this doctor really had a death wish. "Let's just say, I don't." He approached Mo Yeon, gun in hand and still aiming at her. "They say this place is blessed by Virgin Mary herself. Why don't we prove how pure this place is? Let's see if your blood is as pure as the divined ones in Heaven, or just a blood of a sinner."
"Be careful, sir. You don't want to do that." Mo Yeon warned, eyes narrowed on him.
"Why? Will I die? I think I can't though." The man proudly exclaimed with a wide grin, as if he was the centre of the universe and had nothing ahead of him.
"Let's just say that, you're very close to that now."
As soon as Mo Yeon finished her sentence, a faint yet definite sound of something piercing through the window echoed in the room. Before the Prime Minister could even react to the noise, half a second later, he heard a loud ping, followed by a strange wave of energy that caused the pistol to separate itself from his grasp. All he could do was to watch with complete surprise in a frozen state as his gun fell to the floor some few feet away from him, eyes bulging wide. He stared at the sidearm he carried earlier, struggling to apprehend what was happening.
If only he had noticed the rather large hole at the left face of his sidearm.
And to his surprise, the doctor never seemed to be spooked at all. She eyed him with a glance of sympathy. "See? I told you that you shouldn't do that."
Not long after that, the man heard some faint noises outside the room. It was so faint that the Prime Minister had to pull his ears to hear it with even greater clarity. Whatever the sound was outside, it became clearer as seconds went by, until at one moment, the two people in the room were left jumping in shock when they heard a loud thud on the door. As the Prime Minister struggled to figure out what was going on all around him, he heard the door opening.
The Prime Minister shuddered in fear when he saw a man with his sidearm came into the room. The gunman wore black overalls, had a black cap, and was aiming directly at the Prime Minister. He creeped forward in a militaristic stance, his eyes spelling death to those who saw it. Whoever the man was, he got to the left side of the woman and ahead of her. That was when the Prime Minister noticed that the gunman was an Asian, leading him to believe that the man and the doctor were related.
"Nice to meet you, sir. How have you been treating my person?" The man spoke with a mocking tone, smirking at the Prime Minister.
*****
Uruk International Airport
The convoy arrived at the airport safely and without any mishaps, a lucky escape from the watchful eyes of the Uruk army. The moment the convoy stopped near two large military C-130s from the Air Force already on station and ready for flight, the passengers unloaded from the trucks.
When Myeong Joo got down from the truck, she was quite mesmerised by the atmosphere around her. Although dark at night, the airport was full of life. A few days ago, the airport, which also served as the base for UN peacekeepers force, was just in normal operational order. Tonight, the airport was busy. In preparation for the full withdrawal of the Korean peacekeepers force in Uruk, the Republic of Korea Air Force was in full swing, deploying its aircraft in Uruk as well as from home to bring back the men and women from the war-torn country. In the airport alone were six large American-made C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft–four-engine turboprop military aircraft capable of carrying more than ninety military personnel or two large Infantry Fighting Vehicles. Although the Americans had a relatively larger one in service, the Koreans made do with the current one in service. In fact, the plane was a really good aircraft to operate.
Myeong Joo's convoy wasn't the only one outbound to home. There were other withdrawing countries as well. From the far end of the airport where most transport aircraft were stationed, Myeong Joo could see a few other planes from other nations; the most apparent one was from the PLAAF. They too were already on the retreat and had already begun withdrawing days before the Koreans did. There were Americans, British, Japanese–you name it, they were all there. It was as if the world had gone into a chaotic phase of a global conflict, and made a grand gathering in this war-torn country as a show of force to whoever nation opposing them. Myeong Joo saw a large tank being loaded into one of the Chinese transport aircraft at a distance, and it made her wonder just how far the Chinese could go in breaking the normal military norms the world used to operate within. It seriously made the Korean C-130s look like a toy plane.
Two military jets from a country she never had the chance to recognise because of the dark atmosphere took off from the base, pulling her back into reality. She almost forgot that she was supposed to guide the disguised medical team to their aircraft, and she quickly raced towards them. There was a specific aircraft they could go into, the one her father had secretly prepared and assigned to do the job. Sure enough, the plane was there, second to the leading plane in front. Its hatch was open, thus exposing the brightly-lit belly of the beast inside.
Halfway there, Hong Guan suddenly stopped her, as if demanding attention. Seeing how lost the medical team looked before returning a serious gaze at the Chinese officer, she decided to attend to the officer's needs first. Probably, he had something really important to tell which required her attention. And so it did.
"I think that we've reached the point of our job, Yoon Jungwi." The Chinese plastered a small smirk at the smaller-sized lady. "We too have orders to withdraw, and as hard as it is for me to say this, my team is needed back home as well. I hope you understand this." He had a regretful tone as he spoke.
Myeong Joo let his words seep into her heart, and in the end nodded understandably. She knew it all to well that she couldn't ask them to stay with them anymore. They had done more than enough to ensure the safety of the convoy during the journey to the airport, and she had no right to ask them to anymore. This meant that this was the time to part ways. How she wished that those brothers were on their side rather than the Chinese, but what more could she ask for? She's obviously not a person inside the Chinese Politburo to overturn the order to her favour. She's a Korean, and they were the Chinese–two different nations sharing a same line of history. Myeong Joo sighed.
"Well, what can I say? You have your orders, I have mine." She replied. Then, she drew out her right hand for a handshake. "It's been a great few days working with you guys. I have to admit, your presence has made our job a little bit easier."
Hong Guan smiled and shook her hand. "The pleasure is mine, Jungwinim." Then, he withdrew his hand. Myeong Joo stood in attention and then snapped a salute to the officer a rank higher than her. Despite the difference in ranking system, it's the most general thing to respect the one higher in status. Hong Guan returned back the salute. "Till we meet again, if we had the chance."
"We will." Myeong Joo dropped her hand.
With that, Hong Guan turned around and returned to his line of men waiting for him. She could hear him ordering something in Mandarin and in an instant, Hong Guan's men stood in attention in a single line. It amazed her just how disciplined the Chinese were. They were obviously way more humane then the North Korean counterparts, tough and well-trained with the right doctrine and mindset. This were the future of the Chinese military, and she concurred that the Chinese were making a tremendous progress in remodernising its military. Perhaps ,there were more interesting things to learn from China, the closest superpower to home, rather than to depend on those stubborn Americans who only wanted name and money rather than effort. Hong Guan spoke a few things before apparently ordering his team to move towards the other end of the airport. As he began to move, she noticed that the brothers looked back and glanced at her with a smile on their faces and a slight nod.
They were saying goodbye.
And so, she nodded back. The brothers went off.
If only Dae Young and Si Jin were here to see them off. This could be the most heartwarming goodbye she could ever see. Too bad though, they were too busy covering Mo Yeon's back in the capital, and it made her wonder how they were doing.
*****
President Building
"So, you're the man who saved her, I suppose?" The Prime Minister spoke to Si Jin with an evil smirk. "Guess you've made a lot of effort coming all the way here. Too bad though, you've fallen to my trap."
"Trap? Oh, you mean the tactical force in the building? Don't worry about that, sir. They are all silenced." Si Jin replied back with a smile of his own. This time, it was the Prime Minister who had his last laugh. Upon hearing Si Jin's words, the smirk on his face faded and he shuddered. "What's wrong, sir? Had a weak knee? I suppose a nice, comfy chair would help."
"Do you really think that I'll believe you?" The Prime Minister tried to stay defiant, shifting his posture slightly to a commanding one to show the two Koreans that he still had power. "I am the Prime Minister of this country, and I have power! With one call, I can call for help and they will come to me in no time! You will all die!" He pryed out a smirk. "You're an idiot to think that I'll lose to a single person like you."
Another shot was released and the bullet pierced through the glass, hitting the table with a loud thud. It stunned the man who jumped upon hearing the sudden sound, as he turned around to see a bullet hole on his table. One thing was certain for him–the Korean guy's not alone.
"How about now? Do you believe me? I can tell you that my sniper out there had a really bad nervous disorder. One twitch of the finger and the bullet will go flying straight to your head." Si Jin nodded towards the Minister's right chest area. "You should take a look on your chest, sir. My men's aiming straight at you."
The Prime Minister glanced to the said area, and was shocked out of his wits to find a small, red dot moving around his right chest area. He darted his eyes nervously towards the window and to the world outside where the sharpshooter was aiming from one of the buildings. Although he couldn't see it, fear wrecked havoc in his brain as he realised how fragile his life was right now. Nervous sweat trickled down his face and wet his back, as he now trembled in fear as if an earthquake had occured in him.
Si Jin wasn't joking at all.
The man turned his head nervously towards Si Jin and Mo Yeon, the pride in him all but gone for he now feared for his life. If the shot from the sniper that hit the sidearm failed to spook him, the laser dot on his chest would. Now he felt it–the feeling of isolation. There's no one responding to all the pandemonium inside, thus proving the Korean man's point that the entire building–or possibly the entire compound, had all been taken. With no backup left, he resented to his fate. "What do you want?" He finally asked.
The couple glanced at each other, with Si Jin smirking at her. With a nod from Si Jin, Mo Yeon took a few steps forward, her hands now freed by Si Jin some time earlier. "Look, all we want is just to talk. We get through this quick and clean, and we'll leave you alone. How does that sound to you?"
"What if I don't?"
"Then, I'll just let my fiancé do what he does best. One thing you should know is that he never misses. If he shoots, he shoots." Mo Yeon replied flatly. "Maybe, you should think twice about trying to do anything funny. Your life is not in my hands, but to my fiance's." She crossed her arms, making a tough stance. She didn't know where she possessed this kind of courage to stand up to a man like him, but she guessed it was all thanks to Si Jin. She made a mental note to thank him for that if they ever survived this one. "What do you say? To talk, or not to talk?"
The Prime Minister could only stay silent for a moment..
*****
Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House)
Seoul, South Korea
Lieutenant General Yoon sat alone in the President's office for almost half an hour, wondering when the President would arrive to give him an earful. In the early hours of the morning, the General had been requested to see the President at the Blue House, and he left at the moment's notice. Now that he had arrived, the only thing that greeted him was an empty office.
General Yoon had probably known what the matter was all about. Not even a day ago, he had secretly ordered a plane to be flown to Uruk under the pretext of a secret mission, in which it really was, and it probably–in some ways unknown, had got into the President's ears. That was just his assumption though, and he could only speculate the reason why he was here until he heard it from the President himself.
He needn't have to wait any longer, when the President came into the room with a face full of agitation. It proved his point though, that he was about to be bombshelled by the Commander-in-Chief. No sooner when the General stood up and saluted the President, he was instantly bombarded by the President's heart-stopping roar. "What in the name of the great Heaven are you doing, Jungjangnim?! Have you forgotten your place?!"
"Sir, I did it for the sake of our peo–"
"Don't give me that reason, Jungjangnim!" The President cut in, raising his left hand as the President walked towards his table. He slumped onto the black leather chair. "You know damn well that you shouldn't have interfered in Uruk's affairs! Why in hell do you send one of our aircraft to get those volunteers out without my consent?! Have you forgotten that I'm the Commander-in-Chief, and therefore, I decide the fate of the people there?!"
Clearly, the President was not getting the message right, all thanks to that damn Minister Lee Han Soo. For some reasons, that Minister always had a conflict in perspective of a situation, and it was made worse during a crucial moment. Lieutenant General Yoon decided not to play nice anymore. The lives of their people in that country were at stake and there's no time to lose. "Pardon me, sir, but what you're doing is totally incorrect!" He raised his voice, forgoing all formality. That earned him a surprised stare from the President in which he never bothered anymore. "We, as the protectors of our people in this country, should do our part in getting our people home! I get it if they had done a serious crime, but those volunteers had done nothing wrong and you're going to leave them there?! Dare I ask, what kind of President are you to just leave them there?! How are we going to explain to the people in this country if they die without a single help from us?!"
"Do you think I have a choice?!" The President banged the table hard, rising from his seat with anger flustering inside him. He looked like a wild bear ready about to pounce it's enemy. Lieutenant General Yoon happened to be in that plate of dinner. "This is for the interest of our nation! We, above all, should not interfere in this conflict! I'm protecting our men and women as it is!"
"By leaving them there and entrusting their safety to the Uruk forces?!" General Yoon continued. "That's not protecting, sir! That's abandoning!" General Yoon had had enough. This conversation was going nowhere, and he knew where it might lead in the end. He decided to leave. "I'm not going to leave our people there, sir. Like it or not, I'm doing it. Go ahead and stop me, or strip off my rank or whatever, but I will not regret the choice I've made. Keep in mind that you're a leader chosen by the people, from the people and to the people, not by personal hierarchy."
With that, he walked away and left the room, leaving the dumbfounded President to ponder all by himself.
*****
Uruk International Airport
After a certain amount of time, Dr Song realised something was amiss. He looked around him, trying to catch the familiar feminine face amongst the crowd. Strangely, he found that the person was not around.
"Has anyone seen Kang-sonsaeng?" He asked around, and everyone began glancing around them. "I thought she's in the last truck."
"Now that you say that, I realise she's not here." Min Ji supported. "Where is she?"
Everyone in the plane began whispering around, looking for the leader of the volunteer team. Eyes turned left to right but the person was nowhere to be found. Anxiety and worry sank in as they feared that they had unintentionally left her behind. "Did we just left her? We need to go back and get her!" Dr Song unbuckled the safety belt from his seat and trotted towards the ramp to meet Myeong Joo who was talking to a certain officer outside. "Yoon Jungwi, we need to go back and get Kang-sonsaeng!" He voiced out loudly, causing Myeong Joo to stare at him with a slightly surprised face.
Myeong Joo excused herself and approached Dr Song. "What's the matter?"
"Kang-sonsaeng isn't here. We need to get her back."
"She's in the second plane. Geokjeonghajima." Myeong Joo lied, knowing that sooner or later, the team would discover Mo Yeon's disappearance. She just hoped that the lie she pulled off would buy her, Mo Yeon and the rest of the team in the capital some time before they leave this country for good. However, with Dr Song, and possibly the entire medical team sensing a missing person, it seemed that those chances were getting slim. Her lie wouldn't last long.
"Anigodeun. I didn't see her board the second truck, and I didn't see her boarding the second plane. If you say so, then why must she board the second plane when we still have plenty of space in this plane we're on?" Dr Song showed Myeong Joo the inside of the transport plane. True enough, the medical team only filled one-sixth of the seats in the plane. "Plus, you said that this plane's reserved only for us. Why must she board the other one?"
Indeed, her lie wouldn't last long.
Myeong Joo suddenly found herself in a very grim situation. The secret's out, and she could see the concerned look on their faces. The faces of worry for their team leader bore a big hole in Myeong Joo's heart, and she felt guilty for having to lie to them. However, she did it for a good intention, and one of them was to ensure that they return home safely, with or without Mo Yeon. Myeong Joo hate lying. A part of her reminded her to keep that secret safe and continue playing dumb, but the conscious part of her told her that it would be best to just spill it out, since the team had already knew that someone was missing. There's no point in hiding something that was so obvious.
Myeong Joo didn't know how to answer.
All she could do was to wait and pray for the best.
Where the hell are you guys?! Come back here quickly!
*****
President Building
"You're saying that I should just let you go because you're being set up by Sun Yang?" The Prime Minister asked with a mocking tone. "That's not a liable reason to do this, you know."
"How about I inform this matter to the United Nations. I mean your deal with Sun Yang. What do you think the world will feel about that, selling your own country to a man like him?" Si Jin replied with a serious tone, meaning that he was dead serious. "If that happens, I bet you'll do the same thing we're doing now."
The Prime Minister wasn't bothered. He calmly approached the table and poured himself a glass of wine. Fear had waned a little bit but it still lingered in him, and he was trying his best to stay as calm as possible. He took a sip of his drink before returning to the couple. "What makes you think I'll fear that part? The Americans hate me, I know that. Russia's reluctant to take sides, I get it. United Kingdom's a hell for a safe refuge. The world hates me. I get it." He walked towards his table, ignoring the bullet hole on the brown wooden table. "Use something else to convince me, soldier."
Mo Yeon and Si Jin glanced at each other, their eyes speaking a thousand words. It was obvious that the Prime Minister was a hard man to convince, and using a gun to gain some leverage wouldn't do the trick. All that was left was the one and only thing the Prime Minister cared about more than anything else in the world, even his reputation and his life. There was a single person the Prime Minister was so fond to.
Mo Yeon didn't want to use that person as a bargaining chip to let themselves free, but she felt that she had no other options. The man's done so much wrong in his life to survive in this world, using politics and name to gain what he wanted that he no longer had the fear of the world being against him. Certainly The Hague wouldn't have any effect on him. However, this person would.
In fact, he did all these from the start just to save his son–a five-year-old kid suffering from the viral infection that had no cure at all.
She knew she was being totally heartless to use the Prime Minister's son as a means of escape, but she did have a plan for the son. The problem was whether the father of the dying child could just let go of his egoistic roots and face the brutal reality for the first time. She could only pray and hope that this would work.
"I have to do this." She whispered to Si Jin in Hangul.
Si Jin seemed reluctant, but he eventually nodded his head slightly.
"Mr Silvanos..." Mo Yeon called out, earning a glare from the man himself. "What about your son?"
================================
Will they succeed?
Wait for the next update to find out...
Happy reading!
PLAAF: People's Liberation Army Air Force
Korean military ranks
Jungjang=Lieutenant General
Jungwi=First Lieutenant
Romanised Korean Words and Expressions
Sonsaeng: Mr/ Mrs/ Miss
Geokjeonghajima: Don't worry
Anigodeun: No