Freedom Day

Chapter 10 - "Half a World Away"

Two hours later

...

A black KUH-1 Surion hovered hundreds of feet above Yongsan District. Peering out of the fuselage, one could see the busy streets of Seoul below, nightlife at its finest. Throngs of people heading home, hanging around, or simply going about their business. None of them were aware of the covert mission taking place. Hopefully it would stay that way, because the next few hours would decide the fates of the dozen heavily armed men and women inside the helicopter's cabin. They'd been watching the slow-paced action for a while since it started in Incheon, all the way to Gangnam.

At their PDAs was a 3D-map for reference, which was constantly updated with real-time information. Drone feeds confirmed that the white van they were following had just entered Mok Myeok's underground parking area. Its occupants, presumably, had dismounted and gone inside the premises, their intentions completely unknown. Beyond the perimeter, GROM's vehicle was parked only a short distance away, keeping out of sight.

"Ela.", Zofia Bosak radioed the pursuit team. "Ilu pasażerów w pojeździe?" ("How many people were in the vehicle?")

"Nie wiem. Okna w aucie były barwione." ("I don't know. The van's windows were tinted.")

"Kurwa... Utrzymać pozycję. (Fuck... Hold your position.)", she ordered. "Niech nikt nie wchodzi do budynku." ("Make sure nobody else enters the building.")

"Tak, tak. Nie musisz mi powtarzać..." ("Yeah, yeah. You don't have to tell me twice...")

With one last sip of her favorite energy drink, Grace 'Dokkaebi' Nam adjusted her glasses and continued fumbling with her laptop. She smirked sheepishly while the pale-skinned lady seated in front of her continued to talk in her native tongue, unaware that her speech was being decoded by an auto-translator in a different dialogue box. It was obviously rude for the hacker to eavesdrop on the Polish woman, but she wanted to know why Captain Won agreed to join forces with these waegukin. Foreigners. GROM and White Tigers working together was practically unheard of before, and it showed. The relationship forced upon them this week had been uneventful so far, as gleamed from the silence inside the helicopter's cramped space. Two sets of people, donning different uniforms, separated by mere inches of distance. White folk in green and brown camo, opposite another group of soldiers in jet-black sneaking suits- the best of the 707th Special Mission Battalion.

Among the latter's number was Grace: a skunk-striped, pig-tailed hellion, with a portable computer on her lap and a custom SMG-12 under her seat. Her chic glasses reflected the bright monitor; her focus was unbroken even as the rotor blades chopped incessantly above her head. She processed walls of code in milliseconds, even while listening to a pop song beating from her earphones. Her fingers pattered against the imaginary keyboard, almost syncing with the drumming beats. Soon, she was humming to herself in a louder voice as the crescendo neared, turning a couple heads from her seatmates. She was full of smiles and confidence; one could almost accuse her of slacking off in the middle of a job. She gave zero fucks to such slander, just as she paid no attention to everyone else inside the cabin.

"Yes!", she cheered for herself.

She was working on another dialogue box: the custom smiley-face on the screen blipped a bright yellow, indicating a successful breach. After hours of piggybacking on dummy servers to cover her tracks, she finally succeeded in bypassing one firewall in the London Data Center, thousands of miles away. Only two more to go. It was rather a small victory, just worthy of another smirk. The hacker glanced to her right side, briefly looking for another soul to confide her success with. Disappointingly, the only face she saw was the cold stare of Chul Kyung Hwa, hidden behind a lifeless ballistic mask. 'Vigil'. His visage reeked of disapproval and chastisement, like that of a doting parent. 'This is not the time to indulge in petty games', he'd likely say.