Chapter 162 ·Did We Fall into a Checkmate?

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In-hyuk continued to ride through the mountain path with Jin Jong-man on the back of the motorcycle.

"Aaaagh—!"

Meanwhile, Jin Jong-man's screams never ceased from behind.

That was because the speed at which they were shooting past trees in the forest was truly terrifying.

"Could you quiet down a bit?"

"Aaaagh—!"

But Jin Jong-man's screams kept echoing.

As a result, In-hyuk was on full alert, occasionally glancing up. He had known since the beginning that a drone was following them.

BRRRMMM—

At that instant, he turned the handlebars, running along the mountain ridge, then climbed a slope.

With his fast speed, the motorcycle lifted into the air.

At the same moment, In-hyuk took his right hand off the handlebar and threw an iron bead, the size of two finger joints, behind them from within his jacket.

THUNK—

The motorcycle broke out of the forest, landed on the road, and kept going.

Meanwhile, the drone flying overhead was struck by In-hyuk's iron bead and plummeted.

"..."

At some point, Jin Jong-man's screams had stopped.

He was left speechless, having just witnessed In-hyuk's actions and the result.

At that moment, the vehicles from the Kooou side, whom they had briefly shaken off, started to close the distance from behind.

"We'll go back into the forest."

"Then why did you come out?"

"Had to bring down the drone. And if you keep screaming like that, I'll bring you down too, Director."

It was difficult to target the drone from within the forest.

In-hyuk soon dropped down through a gap in the guardrail and entered the woods again.

SCREEECH—

The pursuing vehicles abruptly stopped, trying to relocate the now-disappeared motorcycle.

Since even their drone had crashed, they could no longer track which direction In-hyuk was heading.

"Damn—!"

The man in the passenger seat picked up his phone.

"This is BETA. The target has become difficult to pursue. Since the target can't stay in the forest forever, we'll search the nearest roads."

But there was only silence on the other end.

.

.

.

About thirty minutes later.

The motorcycle, still running through the woods, finally stopped in front of a road.

"Whew—! Why are we stopping?"

"We'll transfer to a vehicle from here."

In-hyuk got off the motorcycle with Jin Jong-man and covered it with nearby branches.

When they climbed up to the road, there was a car already parked.

"... Was everything moving according to your plan?"

"You'll see."

Jin Jong-man was still in disbelief.

Everything, from racing a motorcycle through the dark forest, downing the drone, and shaking off the chasing cars—it all seemed unbelievable.

Not to mention he had been riding on the back the whole time, making it all the more amazing.

"What exactly do you do?"

"The guys chasing us will be coming down from above. I'll explain on the way."

"Hmm..."

The flow Jin Jong-man had hoped to lead was cut off.

Clearing his throat, he climbed into the passenger seat.

"Then hold on tight. We're leaving here as fast as possible."

"... What?"

As In-hyuk started the engine, the instant Jin Jong-man threw a question back, In-hyuk spun the car 180 degrees in reverse.

From that moment, he picked up speed, racing through seven consecutive downhill corners without slowing down.

"Aaaaaaaagh—!"

With the car skimming the guardrail, Jin Jong-man in the passenger seat could see the pitch-black cliff below.

Having barely kept it together on the motorcycle, Jin Jong-man's screams erupted again.

'You said you'd explain in the car!'

The crazy cornering and acceleration lasted for nearly twenty minutes.

But eventually, as the grade and corners eased and houses began to appear, In-hyuk slowed down.

"This should keep those guys from catching up."

Before they knew it, the car was entering Yangyang.

"Are you trying to kill me by heart attack?"

"You're still alive, aren't you?"

Jin Jong-man was about to voice his complaints, but gave up.

"Whew... So, what's really going on? What's behind Deputy General Manager Im Deok-chang?"

"You already guessed there's someone behind him?"

"Honestly, with his abilities, he's nowhere near enough to pull off the Notex and Hwain Techon incidents."

He seemed to have a pretty clear grasp of Im Deok-chang.

"Then why not hear it directly from him?"

"You mean from Deputy General Manager Im? But he's—"

Jin Jong-man, who'd come from the National Intelligence Service, had confirmed that Im Deok-chang was inside headquarters.

"We've already secured him."

With that answer, Jin Jong-man stared at In-hyuk in shock.

"Don't tell me... Did you infiltrate the National Intelligence Service using me as bait?"

"Precisely, it was to use you as bait and also to filter out traitors within the agency. Among those tracking today, there were bound to be agents on the inside."

Jin Jong-man's expression grew even colder.

"So, you set this up to draw the internal agents out? By the way, who are you that Im Deok-chang is after you?"

He couldn't help but have many questions.

Especially since In-hyuk was still wearing a full-face mask with a black skull drawn on it.

Unable to even read his expression, Jin Jong-man felt even more frustrated.

"They call me 'Skull.'"

"Are you telling me to call you that too? Then what about HERMIT?"

A skull and an ascetic hermit—neither had a positive connotation.

"Call me whichever you feel comfortable with."

"Honestly, 'Skull' just sounds like some edgelord, so I'll just go with Hermit."

"Well, it's not much different either way."

A strange lull fell with the bizarre shift in topic.

Soon, Jin Jong-man spoke again.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Deputy General Manager Im for all this to happen?"

"Isn't everything just a matter of friend or foe? If you're not an ally, you're an enemy."

"So who's behind Deputy General Manager Im?"

In-hyuk, hands on the wheel, asked in turn:

"Can you handle it?"

Jin Jong-man thought briefly but then answered.

"I can't back out after coming this far, can I?"

Even if it wasn't for the drone, Im Deok-chang would have realized that the informant was Skull.

Naturally, Jin Jong-man would also be tied up with him, so even if there'd been no dealings, it would be hard to deny their connection.

In-hyuk shot him a sidelong glance, smiling behind his mask.

"In that case, let's go see Im Deok-chang. It'll take a while, so I'll tell you what's behind him on the way."

The two of them quickly exited the streets of Yangyang they had just entered.

* * *

Choi Dong-hoon, at the third deputy director's office in the National Intelligence Service, went looking for Im Deok-chang, who'd said he was going to the restroom.

But even after searching for over twenty minutes, Im Deok-chang was nowhere to be found, so Choi visited the security office to check the CCTV first.

"... He never left the office."

On the footage, the third deputy director's office door remained closed at the relevant time.

After that, only Choi Dong-hoon could be seen coming out and looking for Im Deok-chang, restrooms included.

"Any sign of tampering?"

"That is..."

The person in charge at the security office tapped the keyboard, checking the state of the server where the CCTV footage was stored.

"As of now, none..."

Choi Dong-hoon couldn't just stand by.

"The third deputy director has been kidnapped within headquarters. Trigger an emergency code, seal all entrances, and search the building now!"

"W-what, now?"

"You want to wait until tomorrow?"

"What's going on?"

A voice came from the security office door.

It was Choo Jae-min, the head of the First Division.

Upon seeing him, Choi Dong-hoon clenched his teeth but spoke calmly.

"Deputy General Manager Im is missing within headquarters. All signs point to abduction."

Choo Jae-min tilted his head and asked back.

"An abduction within headquarters? Does that even sound plausible?"

"He said he was going to the restroom, but there's no trace of him anywhere in the CCTV—from the office to the hallway to the restroom entrance. That doesn't just suggest abduction, it means someone's hacked the National Intelligence Service's servers."

With his detailed explanation, Choo Jae-min's brow twitched.

"Is this true?"

The question was directed at the person in charge.

"I'll need to check in detail."

Getting frustrated, Choi Dong-hoon turned his head and raised his voice.

"What more do you need to check?!"

Choo Jae-min shook his head at the sight.

"Have the security team check for hacking. And as for you, come outside and give me a full explanation of the situation instead of making a fuss here."

Within the National Intelligence Service, as a Level 6 agent, Choi Dong-hoon had no choice but to follow Choo Jae-min's orders.

So the two stepped into the hallway.

Then Choi Dong-hoon, with a hint of suspicion, asked Choo Jae-min:

"By the way, didn't you leave earlier in the evening? When did you come back—!"

Suddenly, someone tackled him from behind and clamped a damp handkerchief over his mouth.

As Choi Dong-hoon struggled, his strength faded from the drugs, and he slumped.

Meanwhile, Choo Jae-min, grinning smugly, wheeled over a cleaning cart from the emergency stairwell and loaded Choi Dong-hoon into it.

"Second gift all wrapped up."

"Let's hurry up. Otherwise the CEO will get here first."

"Even so, it'll take some time for him to come all the way from Gangwon Province."

Choo Jae-min's real identity was Hong Yu-geon, and the man who had tackled Choi Dong-hoon from behind was Van Hester.

The two bantered lightly as they quickly left the area.

.

.

.

A few hours later.

With his vision blocked by a hood, Im Deok-chang groaned, then heard Choi Dong-hoon's voice.

"Deputy General Manager, is that you?"

"Ugh... Chief Choi?"

Clinging to consciousness, he waited for a reply.

"Yes, it's me. Can you see anything right now?"

"N-no... What the hell happened?"

He fleetingly recalled being attacked by someone in the restroom.

"I can't see anything either. I'm tied up and blindfolded, so I can't figure out what's going on."

Im Deok-chang realized his own hands and feet were also tied to a chair.

"Same here..."

But besides Choi Dong-hoon, he didn't sense anyone else nearby, so he spoke cautiously.

"What in the world happened to you?"

"I was attacked in the restroom. But why are you here?"

"I was ambushed too. One of those guys was disguised as Deputy General Manager Choo Jae-min."

A long sigh escaped Im Deok-chang's lips.

He hadn't considered that the enemy would infiltrate the National Intelligence Service just to target him directly.

Then another thought struck him.

"What happened to Skull? Did the tracking unit catch him?"

If the tracking unit had succeeded, that outcome might help him escape.

But the atmosphere felt grim even before Choi Dong-hoon replied.

"... Judging by what I saw last, it seemed they failed."

"So this is what it's like to be checkmated?"

Once again, heavy silence followed.

Just then, dull footsteps approached.

"So you still have the presence of mind to chat after getting captured?"

With the disguised voice echoing, both Im Deok-chang and Choi Dong-hoon fell silent.

The person approaching them was In-hyuk.

In-hyuk pulled the hood off Im Deok-chang's head.

At the same time, Im Deok-chang looked around at the still-darkened surroundings, trying to get his bearings.

"This place is..."

"You don't recognize it? It's the safehouse of UID you guys used until recently."

UID was a special unit under the Ministry of Defense, originally created by the Organization as an experiment. Naturally, unless you were related to the Organization, you wouldn't know about it.

With that, Im Deok-chang's eyes went wide as he stared at In-hyuk in the skull mask.

"... How do you know about UID? Don't tell me, Skull, are you one of those guys who got disposed of?"

"No. I was discharged without a problem from there."

Given such incomprehensible information, Im Deok-chang's eyes wavered.

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