Love is Stronger than Blood (Snowdrop Oneshots)

44- "because..."

Requested by tara14_15

===

"There are cameras from TV stations too," Lee Kangmu said. "So let's hang a banner outside of the windows of the lounge that says this is all a scheme for the election."

Lee Kangmu, Lim Sooho, and Jang Hanna all sat around a table in the dorm housemother's office, debating what to do to foil the plans of the North and South governments and escape the dorm alive with the hostages. Hanna had brought in several bags of fried chicken at Sooho's request, but she didn't have much of an appetite. She hadn't even drank much from the open soda can in front of her. Kangmu and Sooho, though, had been living off food from the dorm cafeteria and cup noodles for the past several days. The fried chicken was a welcome change.

"Are you insane?" Sooho asked. "Once we hang the banner, the North will think I've betrayed them. Then my sister, Eungcheol's, and Joo's families will all be put in danger."

There was a heavy silence around the table.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Kangmu asked. He glanced over at Hanna. She'd barely even looked at him since they'd sat down next to each other. Her sitting next to Sooho wasn't really a logical option, as the spy-turned-ally was still under the impression that she and Kangmu were engaged. Still, there was a hefty amount of tension between them, which Sooho seemed oblivious to.

Hanna felt Kangmu's gaze on her, and an idea came to mind. "Duplicate the recording I gave you, and send it out to the press."

Normally, Hanna had a poor opinion of the media at large, from newspapers to radio and television stations. Ever since becoming an agent, she had witnessed firsthand how the media was used to control the minds of the public. The irony of a government who claimed to support 'freedom of speech and the press' while at the same time preventing countless articles about political and military machinations from ever seeing the light of day for the sake of preserving the so-called security state was not wasted on her.

Kangmu had the same worries. "Will it work? Our agents are stationed at every newspaper and TV station."

"We'll directly send them to managing editors," Hanna said, looking straight at Kangmu. "They won't stay quiet if they see hard evidence, would they? Especially the TV station that covered the abduction of Han I-seop."

She turned away from Kangmu and back to Sooho across the table. Sooho may have inadvertently caused this whole hostage scenario and put all their lives in danger, but still Hanna found it easier to look at him than at Kangmu.

"Besides..." Hanna continued. "I think that's the only way to get Gal Sangsik out."

She may have barely known the reporter, but she still felt guilty about getting him arrested by the ANSP. If it hadn't been for Sooho's demand that she specifically be sent into the dorm, she would also still be locked up in a basement interrogation room. Hanna owed it to Sangsik to get him out of there. She knew firsthand how brutal the interrogation methods could be, not because she'd suffered them herself, but because she'd seen them performed by her colleagues, sometimes even on innocent people.

"Then let's try that first," Sooho said.

"Okay," Kangmu agreed. "Then we should duplicate it first, right?"