Zero Encounters

Operation Zero

       The sun ushered in the moon, giving off it's last glow before reaching the horizon. Zero came out from hiding behind a old junkyard and followed the illuminated path. She walked through the slum, closest to the countryside where she had been tipped off recently. She spent countless days and nights interrogating everyone she knew that could possibly know the whereabouts of Taejoon. It took a lot of physical and mental strain to dig up everyone who had gone into hiding. She met with one informant in a abandoned tunnel and he spoke of the whispers he heard through the vines. He kept his words vague and only spoke in code to which she understood. Although they didn't meet each other face to face, she could tell by his voice he was nervous and a heavy smoker with the raspiness of his voice.

She followed his directions to the building where a loan shark and his company resided. The eerie building once had plans to be the catalyst to new development plans to attract buyers to the impoverished area. However, it's been left bare due to a deadly protest with three causalities and many injured. The insides were hollowed with just one room with electricity on the third floor. She made her way up the stairs, looking around each floor she climbed to. The state of what was left made her apartment building look sophisticated. She reached the third floor and saw a group of men staggered in the hall, dealing cards and drinking beer to pass the time.

"Who the hell are you?" A grisly looking man stood up from his seat. He threw his cards on the ground and arrogantly leaned his metal bat on his shoulder. She brought him to his knees in an instant and his yelp caused a chain reaction. The other men immediately retreated into the room after realizing who had shown up on their turf. They blocked the door immediately with furniture and backed away from the door. Some hid behind the remaining furniture while others on the furthest side of the room.

"What do you want?" The bald headed leader shakily asked from inside. "We stopped harassing the old woman already." The rest of his group remembered the hefty price they paid with their bodies upon interacting with her. They shuddered at the sound of the door knob shaking.

On a stakeout with SIU, Zero had seen the men terrorize an elderly woman who refused to give up her home or pay what they called protection tax. Her strong-willed nature only scolded the men as she recognized a few from when they were children. It only took a few beatings and threats from Zero to where they had stopped approaching the woman completely. Now, she lives with her grandson who had just returned from the mandatory military service.

"I just wanted to talk." She said through her voice changer.

"What a freak." He swore under his breath and cowered to the corner with the rest of his men. He still experienced recurring nightmares with the distorted voice. She noticed the wiring sticking out from the light switch outside the door and yanked on it. The lights immediately went out inside and the men screamed at the top of their lungs. She climbed out the window and moved across the railing directly facing the window directly behind them. They saw her shadow and before they knew it, she had swung in with her legs. The glass shattered and she cleared the rest of it off with her heels. The men scrambled to the door, taking a part their mountain of defense.

"Relax." She said and the men froze. She threw a paper tissue box at the head of one who still tried to squeeze his way out the door. "We're going to sit in chat. I'm not in the mood to play today." The men stood frigidly along the wall in a single file line. They faced the ground and bowed their heads. "I heard you may have some information for me. The men had no issues with revealing what they knew. They sang in a matter of minutes and only asked her to keep their names out. She got the men to remove the furniture and she walked out the door with a pep in her step.

She had plans to return home and start on her neglected chores. She thought about a long bath with Epsom salt and a well deserved dinner as a treat to herself. Her cheerfulness came now and then as Yeonwoo, but as Zero she knew to truly celebrate her win.