In The Dark (SNOWDROP)

"new suspect"

❄︎ — chapter 17 — ❄︎

Kim Mandong tightened the nearly-invisible string of the booby trap to the trigger mechanism he'd stuck inside the door of the shoe closet in the Black Tiger's apartment.

He'd gotten intelligence about the location of the South Korean agent's home, and had easily picked the lock on the door. He'd left the factory after seeing the Black Tiger arrive at the headquarters, so he was fairly confident he wouldn't be spotted.

The thin tripwire was attached to an automatic firing box that held a single tranquilizer dart, loaded with enough potent serum to instantly subdue an adult human for a couple of hours. Once triggered, the sharp-tipped dart would fire into the leg of whoever set it off. The box was aimed slightly upwards to give it a better chance of hitting its target around the thigh rather than the ankle. That way, the drug could enter the bloodstream faster.

Once he was confident in his trap, he installed a listening bug into the wall of the closet, behind the firing box, so he would hear when it went off. He slipped out of the apartment, locking the door from the inside so nothing would seem amiss. If all went according to plan, by the end of the day, the Black Tiger would be his captive.

❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎

Lee Kangmu woke a bit after seven, the morning sunlight streaming in through the crack in the curtain covering the single window of the guest bedroom in Hanna's apartment. He'd ended up sleeping there alone instead of with Hanna in her own bedroom, since she'd somehow gotten it into her head that they shouldn't make sharing a bed a habit. To Kangmu, that was a stupid reason, but she wouldn't be swayed on it.

He got up, changed his clothes, and brushed his teeth in the small bathroom adjacent to the guest bedroom. When he went out into the main living area, Jang Hanna was already there, sitting in the dining room with a book in her hand and coffee mug on the table in front of her.

"Joeun achim, jagiya," he said, sitting next to her after dropping a brief kiss to the top of her head. There were already two plates of kimchi toast and fried eggs on the table with a bit of fruit. Hanna's plate was already half-empty.

"Annyeong," Hanna replied, smiling as he sat down. She looked a bit tired, her normally vibrant dark eyes subdued and her hair more tangled than usual, like she hadn't bothered combing it. "Jal jasseo?"

He nodded and began eating. It had been a long time since he'd had her cooking. Hanna didn't cook very often, but she was excellent at it when she wanted to be. It was one of the small things he hadn't really noticed until she'd been gone for four years.

"Jal jasseo?" Kangmu asked. "You look a little tired."

"I'm fine," she smiled reassuringly, although he could tell it was fake.

He gestured to her half-finished plate. "Eat. It's good."

She gave him a dry look. "I made it."

"Exactly."

Hanna rolled her eyes affectionately, putting her book down and picking her chopsticks back up. They passed the rest of breakfast in comfortable silence, with Kangmu only getting up once to refill Hanna's coffee mug for her and pour himself one as well.