In The Dark (SNOWDROP)

"stop talking"

❄︎ — chapter 6 — ❄︎

No one noticed as Kim Mandong snuck out of the secret shrine exit from the university dorm that evening. The full moon was his only light as the old facility manager opened the creaky metal door and stepped into the surrounding woods. Dry leaves crackled under his feet as he walked. He only brought with him a backpack of weapons and other equipment.

Once he got to the main road, he hailed a taxi to take him to the southern side of Seoul, where he knew the ANSP office was, disguised as a toy factory. He paid the driver and got out a few blocks away from the tall building. The light from the street lamps illuminated the sidewalk he followed down to the factory.

It was closed once he got there, but he wasn't worried about that. He'd told Pi Seunghee that he was going to visit his niece's family in the countryside, and would be back by the end of the week. That gave him plenty of time to catch only one agent.

The Black Tiger may have dealt with many spies in the past, but he's never faced off against Haegeumseong 1 before.

❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎

Jang Hanna pulled her black Jeep into the parking lot of the toy factory. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, her sunglasses on and brown leather bag slung over her shoulder. Sooho had given her the updated file on Eun Yeongu with the information about where the director's son been with his sister the previous night. He'd already volunteered to check on the Eun siblings later in the week as well.

For Hanna, that meant that the majority of her time would be dedicated to getting more information on Haegeumseong 1. She passed a few toy factory workers on her way towards the office, including one who crashed into her with a cart piled so high with boxes that he couldn't see over it.

"Ya!" Hanna yelped in surprise as the cart slammed into her side, a few boxes tumbling off the top and onto the floor.

"Oh!" The operator of the cart hurried over to check if she was all right. "Mianhamnida."

He was an elderly man with fluffy, white-grey hair that almost covered his kind and concerned dark eyes behind glasses, and the same uniform as the rest of the factory workers, though it was slightly dirtied.

"Are you all right, ma'am?"

Hanna rubbed her hip where the cart had made contact. It was only a little sore. "Yes. I'm fine."

"Mianhamnida," he said again, hastily bowing to her before scrambling to pick up the fallen boxes. A few other workers helped him gather them up, and Hanna went to the back of the factory, where she unlocked the secret door to the ANSP office. She ignored the agents standing to greet her, and just went straight towards Kangmu's office.

"Hanna?" Lee Kangmu said as she walked inside, the door slamming shut behind her, and slumped into her chair with a heavy breath. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she grunted. "Just got hit by a cart."

Kangmu had no idea what to say to that. Hanna opened her bag and pulled out her folder full of every bit of information she could get on Haegeumseong 1 and his espionage work, including detailed biographies of his victims and the government schemes he'd been confirmed to have worked on.

Kangmu resumed filing away old, solved cases, but he was dreading another long silence like the one yesterday.

"So..." he said, running a hand through his hair. "Did Eun Yeongu's status yesterday get updated?"