In The Dark (SNOWDROP)

"we must catch him"

❄︎ — chapter 19 — ❄︎

At first, Oh Dongjae wasn't having the best of luck tracking down Kim Mandong.

He'd started searching around the neighborhood where Mandong's niece and her family lived, but he found no one matching the description. From there, he scoured the Seoul street market on his way to Hosu Women's University. Finding no one at the street market either, he drove to the base of the mountain near the university, hiking up towards Haegeumseong 1's former hideout. The door was locked, but he had the key, and in no time he found himself in the basement of the university, looking through the custodian's messy room.

He had to be careful and work as silent as a mouse, leaving no trace that the items in the room had been disturbed. If he was caught, he had no search warrant to show. Luckily, there were plenty of hiding spots he'd found in case of an emergency, and the staircase up to the hideout wasn't far away.

Working with only a flashlight, he rifled through the desk, finding nothing but letters from Mandong's son, written in messy and almost illegible handwriting. The tiny closet only held old clothes and mothballs.

Dongjae was getting frustrated, his nerves growing more and more frayed with every minute spent in the dank basement. Finally, as he searched under the bed, he found a crumpled piece of paper. He took it out and unfolded it, shining his flashlight down at the neatly handwritten words:

Haegeumseong 1, you have a new mission.
The other agents' attempts to keep the South Korean agent Galaxy in America failed. The Black Tiger has risen to power in the ANSP. He needs to be brought down. If you cannot capture him alive, you are to eliminate him without mercy.

❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎

As soon as Jang Hanna got back from the auto shop with her repaired Jeep, Lee Kangmu was waiting by the security desk. Joo Gyeokchan was saying something to her, but he didn't care as he caught Hanna's wrist as soon as she tried to walk by.

"If you don't mind, Gyeokchan-ssi," Kangmu said. "I need to talk to her."

Gyeokchan cast him a suspicious look before glancing over at Hanna. She just gave him an apologetic smile.

"Mianhae. I'll be right over."

Gyeokchan's eyes dropped down to Kangmu's hand, which still had Hanna's wrist in his grip, before he stalked away silently.

"Did something happen, timjangnim?" Hanna asked before he closed the door to his office behind her. He pulled down the blinds to block anyone from looking inside.

"Here," he said, pulling out a white plastic bag with a tinfoil-covered container inside. "You didn't eat yet, right?"

"Where did you get that?" Hanna asked as he took off the lid of the kimbap.

"Street market."

"You went out alone-"

"Anniyo," he assured her. "Sooho came with me."

Hanna breathed a sigh of relief before accepting the pair of chopsticks he offered her.

"Don't tell me you've been waiting for me to eat," Hanna said.