East

Chapter 13

June 03 | 19:45

Sora wasn't sure that she liked Rae-Won's idea about descending underground. However she thought about it, she couldn't get the image of trapping herself out of her mind. But, she reminded herself, he is the expert. And she hadn't forgotten the lesson of a few minutes ago: keep moving and turning.

So she forced herself down the stairs and in to the arcade. She looked around as she walked, knowing exactly what she needed to do. She was dressed all in black, carrying a black backpack, and that needed to change. Ten minutes later, she had purchased two windbreakers, of different colors, and two matching ball caps. Before she left the arcade, she replaced her black jacket with a light blue one, and put the old jacket in the backpack.

On her way to one of the south exits, she found a multicolored scarf, which when tied on to the backpack made it look decidedly less black.

Satisfied that she looked different from before, even if not completely fashionable, she started up the stairs, and kept walking when she reached the street. A quick turn took her in to the Namdaemun market streets. Making her way through the people, she found her next turn, a sign pointing to the police station. Gate Eight appeared ahead of her and at the street, she exited the market and turned left to head south, looking for a place to wait without being too conspicuous. Once she reached Gate Seven, she crossed the street to the west side and took-up position near a food vendor. Despite the wonderful smells from the food, she was too nervous to eat.

From here, traffic permitting, she had a reasonable view of the two gates across the street and she didn't feel as though she was just standing and waiting with a neon sign attached to her back. The view was a compromise of being in cover versus being able to see everything. She felt confident that she would see Rae-Won when he arrived and could cross the street fairly quickly. 

Sora was starting to feel more awake and the fatigue was drifting away, bit by bit. She felt more focused than she had for a while and her confidence was returning. If people were going to try and kill her, the least she could do was be an active participant rather than a sitting duck. Her uncle had been right, life was dangerous.

***

Park Ye-Jin had spent the afternoon editing some photographs from a portrait session and generally organizing images. Tired from sitting in front of the computer for so long, she leaned back in the chair and stretched. She glanced at the time: 19:20. That was enough, she decided, time for a drink and perhaps something to eat.

As she was thinking about what to eat, the phone rang.

" - - Yes, everything okay? - - What! Is she hurt? - - What? - - Tell me - - "

She listened as Rae-Won briefly described what Sora was going though.

"A photo? Of course. Look, we have to help her."

With Rae-Won's assurance that he was on his way to help, the call ended. Ye-Jin waited for the photo to arrive from Sora, pacing around, the second hand on the clock barely moving.

A few minutes later, the message arrived in her email. Opening the attachment, the image of a pretty woman reaching out for a cap was on the screen. She stared at it in amazement. Ye-Jin recognized the woman instantly. How could it be the same person, though? What kind of coincidence was this? They had to help Sora, Ye-Jin was sure of that.

She called Rae-Won, her hand starting to shake as the ramifications of this information ran through her head.

"Rae-Won, what are we going to do? I don't know what this means! - - We need to know - - Yes, and we know who it is - - the job I did for the NIS, it's the same woman - - Yes, of course I'm sure - -" The line went dead.