Echo || NCTau ||

1 - About Echo

Name: Park Jisung

Kim Yeoreum stared at the folder in front of her. What she was met with was the information of a guy who was one year younger than her, lived in Seoul with his friends and was preparing for the university entrance exam. He had no criminal record or ties to gangs and no political or economic influence whatsoever – he didn't even have unpaid library fines. The only abnormal thing about him seemed to be his unclear background, as he had a fake ID, no formal education after middle school and, apparently, no family but even that didn't explain why she was presented with his information.

"What is this?" Yeoreum voiced her confusion, lifting her eyes from the folder. Her voice was raspy as if she was recovering from a cough.

Doctor An, the woman on the other side of the table, was taken aback by her question. "Didn't your superiors fill you in on what is going on? This is your target."

"I was told that you had a job for me but we don't do stuff like this." Yeoreum pushed a long brown lock of hair over her shoulder, already regretting that she had decided to wear such a heavy wig. Even though February was supposed to be one of the colder months in Taiwan, her scalp and neck were already getting sweaty underneath all the hair. "If you are joking, I do not find it very funny, doctor."

"But you're the Echo", doctor An pointed out. "You're an assassin. As long as I pay you enough, the target shouldn't matter. I discussed this with your organization and everything was supposed to be clear."

Kim Yeoreum inhaled, preparing to explain to the doctor that she wasn't the Echo but only one part of the system, how they didn't get entangled with grassroot level issues, and that the doctor should just rely on the triad if she wanted to get rid of someone inconsequential since she already had arranged the meeting in one of their clubs.

She exhaled. The doctor wasn't worth the explanation and she had no energy to even try.

"You must have misunderstood something about our organization", she said instead and put the folder down. "I don't know how you managed to get so far in our system with such a mundane request but this isn't something we handle. They should've told you that before arranging this meeting."

She made a mental note that she should have a word with director Barros Carvalho afterwards. Clearly something was up when random doctors thought that they could start ordering hits on high school drop-outs.

Yeoreum pushed her chair back but, upon realizing that she was planning to end the meeting, the doctor started digging through her briefcase that was on the extra seat.

Immediately, Yeoreum's hand slipped to her coat pocket where she had a folding pocket knife. In case the doctor had a weapon hidden in her briefcase and would try something funny, Yeoreum was prepared to use the knife. She could either hit the wall behind the doctor to scare her, nick her or kill her.

Without realizing the reaction her movement had caused, doctor An pulled out a picture and slid it over the table towards Yeoreum.

"This is your crew, isn't it?"

It was a picture of Shotaro and Sungchan walking down the Cheonggyecheon river. The picture had to be relatively new since it had been taken after Sungchan got a haircut – which Yeoreum had only seen in the selfies the guy had been bombarding her with. It must've been taken from far away since the two guys appeared to be completely unaware of what had happened but still the picture was very sharp, meaning that it was taken by someone who knew what they were doing.

Yeoreum assessed the picture for a second before looking at the woman in front of her. Her hand was still in her pocket, caressing the familiar, smooth surface of the knife but her face didn't give anything away.