Over and Out

Chapter Five

It was stupidly hot. Lisa was considering dragging her pillow and mattress up the god-knows how many flights of stairs to sleep outside, but for now her laziness was overriding the uncomfortable, inescapable heat that pervaded the room. The broken air conditioning only made the situation worse—she was dedicating her time to glaring alternatively at it and the creaky fan that was set up at the foot of her bed, which seemed only to be pushing more hot air towards her than having any cooling effect. It was one of those restless, damp summer nights that she hated; they felt too long, too stifling, made her crave the solace of winter, when it was at least possible to pile on blankets to combat the chill. The longer days of summer were always more appealing to her in many ways, but it was nights like this that ruined her good mood.

That's not the only thing ruining your mood she speculated to herself, unable to stop her mind drifting back to the debriefing. She'd already known that the world of Mr J was a puzzle she had no interest in solving, but after hearing what Jiyong had to tell them, she realised that it was much more peculiar than she had imagined. There was something off about the whole situation, and the frustration of not being able to pin it down was contributing heavily to her sense of discomfort. She threw her thin blanket off herself again, flipping on to her front on the bed, mind already playing back all of the information from the meeting.

---

"Before you all went on this assignment, what information were you equipped with about the target?" Jiyong asked, resting his arms on his knees as he looked around at them.

"The target is new on the scene, but already notorious for his violent methods." Started Jisoo, leaning back in her chair.

"He showed up a couple of years ago—he doesn't have any prominent family ties, or links to any other gangs, certainly not enough to justify his enormous wealth." Added Chaeyoung.

"He mainly deals in arms—we don't have much indication on his supplier, but from what we found yesterday, we can start to make tentative links." Bobby chimed in, arms folded. "He's also becoming known for not being scared to take on more... dirty jobs. He's been supplying people we wouldn't dream of giving the time of day, genuinely awful people. There's no back he wouldn't stab for the right price." Lisa shivered at the last sentence. She knew that her work wasn't noble or particularly ethical—but she still knew that there was a line that she would never cross. She could not bring herself to imagine how someone could exist without that boundary, how someone could live with that sort of burden. At least she knew that the people she fought would do ten times worse to her—but he was focused on how large of a figure he could put above someone's head, how he could eradicate someone simply to amass more wealth that he clearly didn't need.

"That was the information that you went in with. And so, after you got to know him better, some much more closely..." Jiyong smirked at Lisa, "than others, what would you say you learned about him beyond that?"

"He's paranoid." Chan took in the confused looks around him and continued. "Any man who hires twenty armed men to guard his door alone must be aware of the threat to his own life, and of his own inability to protect it. Plus, once we looked through the rest of the layout and plans, we figured out that he always has around seventy men at a time stationed at his residence. We also found plans for large bunkers under the ground floor, and what seems to be dozens of hidden passages and doors scattered around the place. If we hadn't found the layout, we could have wandered around that place for days and not found his quarters." Jiyong nodded in approval as he concluded.

"I think the fact that the jewels were displayed in the form of a necklace is significant." Chaeyoung raised, leaning forward. "When we were briefed earlier, they were always just referred to as jewels, but them being in a wearable form raises questions right?" Jiyong gestured for her to continue her line of thought. "Well... it's an unconventional choice for most men to take unless...unless there's something or someone that could cause it. If there is someone in his life like that then they become a point of vulnerability, that could be targeted if..." She trailed of, seemingly unsure of how to finish her sentence.