- I always tell this to everyone. This is what happens when you decide not to listen...
Kim Raon, current Director at the Dragon Division, looked at a huge black stain spread across a dry wooden floor, which was now petrified by a recent, sudden heatwave; at the epicenter of an abandoned main room, a negative silhouette imitated the contour of a young woman. Along the half-collapsed walls, charred fragments were scattered all throughout, with the rubble here and there showing dark stains left by the victim of a terrible misfortune; no one would ever cry for her, nor claim her whereabouts, for she, officially, never had any actual identity. That was the destiny of her and all of those like her; one way or another, death would come to them, whether by the yoke of a duty they'd never chosen, or by aspiring to freedom, and become something more than tools.
Every thought about having a normal life had to be ignored and suppressed if, unlike late agent Shin Ji Gong, an Awoken One wanted to keep their life intact and not end up the same, as dust.
Raon and the others alongside her were Awoken Ones too, psychic superhumans; her two older bodyguards, belonging to the first generation, contrasted as day does with night besides the three young men behind, which were second generation, barely reaching 25 and the peak of their lives. It was ironic then that, despite her rank and power, the sullen-gazed firstgens, bodies full of marks and wounds acquired with decades of field experience, looked like two tigers flanking her youth, a delicate chrysanthemum. She'd just turned 23 at the moment she managed to ascend to the highest dignity the agency could offer her, just as she planned, after everything she made go well, in fact, went well; sacrificing it all, and willing to keep doing such in order to hold her grip tight.
She turned to look at his taciturn guardians, who did not return their gaze, and remained standing as if nothing had happened while also looking up at the other three with a smile from ear to ear, to which she could not help but add a muffled laugh. They only returned their dead visages, full of resignation and bitterness; a second young woman went to her side from behind, skinny, narrow-faced and with quite a long hair, giving a defiant smile, staring back at Raon with yellow eyes which seemed to emit a lugubrious, spiteful, mocking shine. The director pursed her lips and, with a mocking snarl in response, streched her arms forwards interlocking fingers; the others stared at both with hidden signs of nervousness, tensing their muscles as if they were waiting for a nuclear bomb to drop over them.
- Gong Wu, do you have something to inform me? – Raon asked
- Weird, you know? – she answered – Ji Gong was supposed to meet this "informant" here.
- Did she? What was the fool trying to do? Tell me and don't waste my time.
- There are no traces. We've been checking for hours, but no activity beyond the implant's explosion has been reported by the few locals who informed the regular authorities.
- Maybe the informant tried to force sensitive data out of her, thus activating the implant.
- It could've been Qilin Division or some other Cardinal – said one of the secgens.
- I'd think the same if it wasn't for the fact those idiots in tights aren't so neat.
- It could also be a desertion attempt - the secgen interrupted.
- And who gave you permission to make me suggestions anyway, I wonder? - asked Raon.
The young man said nothing in response to that, and so the director continued:
- That's what I thought; now be useful and tell my driver to turn the car on.
While the henchman left to make her bidding, Gong Wu addressed her superior once more:
- Ji Gong was idealistic, dreaming to change the world and all that, but overly loyal nonetheless.
- And so, going to the extreme of throwing away her own life one day to betray us makes no sense.
- Someone else must have driven her to deviate from her assignment despite her tracking chip.
Raon was staring at the horizon, reflecting with apparent calm:
- Search again; check the nearby towns, interrogate any potential suspect, leave no stone unturned.
- Ma'am, I doubt we could find anything else in the area; the culprit would have already effaced any lead we could follow by now, especially if they have tech like ours or the cardinals'.
- You best hurry up, then, and don't return to HQ until you get them. Do not to leave witnesses, use the amnestics.
- And what will you do. ma'am? – Gong Wu asked her contemptuously.
- I must meet my sister, why do you ask? Do you want to come with me and do some warm-up with her? – the director responded, smiling mockingly.
- It won't be necessary. I understood well…director… – she responded, clenching her fists tightly.
- Then do what I ordered you - said the director, playing desperate - And get out.
Gong Wu did not say anything else, and only called to her companions for them to gather and execute the search plan; both her and Raon knew perfectly well that they wouldn't find the informant hidden in the thickets of that rural region. They, however, did need to have a trail to follow, because even if they had all used their remote viewing at the same time to look for their prey, they would not catch it either. For that, it was necessary to know who they were looking for.
Raon went to her car, parked next to other two of the same brand; the driver saw her enter from the corner of his eye, and hurriedly took her out of that place, crossing the winding dirt path for several hundred meters until they finally reached the cobblestone road, with grass growing everywhere. Heading towards the main highway to Mokpo, Raon blanked her mind to contemplate the boring landscape of gloomy hills covered in undergrowth, twisted pine trees, thorny brambles with small poisonous berries, and the remains of human presence scattered in the place. The occasional abandoned farmland and ruins of homes and stables passed before her uncaring eyes, dreams and hopes abandoned around thirty years ago as consequence of a major economic crisis.
The hours passed, and eventually the traffic on the highway, which had initially hindered their advance, became lighter and lighter as he moved away from the road to Busan, the country's main port; this was also evident by the grass growing between the retaining walls and amidst the asphalt. As they continued along the left lane, the distance between the surveillance posts besides the road grew; the first one they passed was similar to a huge pedestrian bridge, which served as a station, toll booth, and barracks for the superhuman police. These were in charge of crimes that did not endanger the stability of the state, their main duty being the enforcement of the law upon all of those minor superhuman troublemakers before they got too dangerous or powerful. For Raon, they were clowns to the point of her feeling tenderness for them; they did interfere with her plans in the past, and did endanger some operations, but not once they succeeded in stopping the Division.
They weren't even capable to catch her all those years ago, when she was acting on her own, and much less could they do when her former persona died after the Port Incident of 2021; currently, neither them nor anyone else in Bear Division knew that she, one on their list of most wanted villains, was now circulating freely in her chauffeured jeep every so often, just under their noses. Now, as the director of a state agency, these would not have been able to touch her anyways, however Raon might not blame them if tried, even if she wasn't commiting any crime as of now; it was a country where superhumans were free after all, and so yes, the gene sensors would ring sometimes because of people like her, nothing suspicious there lest the contrary be proven. The fact that, outside Korea's big cities, police checks and searches were near to non-existent, and that, as a top member of the secret intelligence community, she had her own identity secure under a documentary alibi, allowed her to rest peacefully wherever she wanted within the country.
This is how Director Kim went, with one elbow resting on the window frame, and a half-closed hand under her cheek; drowsy, she soon stopped listening to Blackpink on the radio, the friction of the tires on the asphalt, the hum of the engine, and the very slight rattle of the chassis beneath her. Everything turned dark all of a sudden, and it was as if her being ceased to exist along with everything else, even the daily struggle to not only survive a world on which she never asked to be born, but to prevail in its dimmest, most disgusting corners and come out winning most of the time. And then, once more, there came to her from her dreaming, that nauseating vapor that carried with it the decrepitude of thousands of centuries of cloistered rot and uncontrollable cacophonous waves of cursed lamentation, mummified specters that had long ago turned to dust in the grave
There came the laughter, the one that screamed at her, the one that mocked her and gloated on it.
She woke up unwittingly bursting armored glass with her mind, the one separating her from the driver who, covering himself from the shards fired at him, managed to hit the brakes after tracing a narrow skidding arc just in time to prevent the car from falling hopelessly into the sea. It was too much luck; if he reacted a split second later, the steering wheel would probably be emitting a permanent beeping sound with his neck broken while sinking underwater. Once the man turned off the vehicle, he turned to look at his boss; Raon had quickly regained composure, wiping the blemishes from her eyes and holding back a yawn behind her fist, then climbing off the vehicle, going out stretching her legs, relaxing both shoulders, and then taking the glass off her jacket.
- Are we there yet? – she said, turning to him, who could barely stand up from shock.
- Yes, Miss Kim, a yacht is waiting for you - answered the old man, bowing dumbly - although as you can see, we stopped a little afar.
The man looked at the boat in the distance, a stylized gray, three story high and glossy marvel that reflected the timid afternoon sun in the distance, full with tinted window rows; it was definitely something that several chaebol would envy, considering its exorbitant price and maintenance cost.
- Take some free time while I return - she said without looking at him - Just stay tuned to my call.
Raon began to walk away from there, crossing the entire remaining distance towards the boat; Once arrived, she was greeted by one of the crew members, dressed in the attire typical of his profession (including his buttoned jacket and cloth pants), informing her that they would depart in ten minutes directly to the port in Jeju. The director only nodded, then traversing the hull until reaching the command bridge, where the captain gave her a military salute; his black uniform and the crimson leather sleeve covering his left arm contrasted with the white-blue unifrom of the crew and the gray bulletproof vest of the security guards.
- Director.
- Rest, captain - she said with disinterest - tell me, will there be any complications on the established route?
- No ma'am, the arrival should occur within the estimated timeframe.
- Good. Is the vice-director already at the arrival point?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Can we go, then?
- Everything's ready.
The cabin crew entered the room, greeting the director as she left the place, heading to her personal cabin; once there, she sat down to review the general reports which had arrived from all her area overseers during the day; she made the observations, attaching them to mailed responses along with new instructions, or accepting their tasks as completed. Next, she began making calls to the organization's private investors, national corporations interested on the Division's advanced research, all in order to secure next month's full budget. She devoted all her time to it while the yacht calmly sailed the ocean, and a waiter brought her pre-ordered room service with her lunch, a thin tenderloin of Korean beef in rum sauce with lettuce salad; then came afternoon coffee with a selection of sandwich breads handmade by the on-board chef.
Time kept going and with her remote viewing she finally glimpsed the bay; on a dock, S-1 waved and smiled at her, doing likewise, to which Raon smiled back, using her extrasensory perception to make sure no one else saw her, raising then a hand to greet the vice-director. She went towards the prow, but not before taking her long jacket with gold buckles left on the rack; it waved against the strong wind while she remained standing, crossing her arms as the boat approached, and the silhouette of S-1 grew little by little along with the concrete structures, caressed by the waves. Around the bay one could see the seagulls flying around, perching on the posts marking the edges of the gray structures which dove into the sea; the director could clearly see the birds' nests in the cliff face, and telepathically hear the hubbub produced by hundreds of squawks.
It took less than she thought. Before Raon could realize, the yacht was already lining up parallel to one of those gray promontories while beginning to dock with nauseating slowness, as she returned inside, going down to the entrance below and to her right. The crew had barely finished placing the metal bridge when she walked down onto it, without even looking back at them, all the while S-1 arrived to receive her, being the Division's vice-director, but even more, her fraternal twin:
- Tell me, what do you have? - said Raon.
- The capture mission on HQ's South Annex was successful.
- I guess your dregs moved him to the detention zone.
- Already done; So far the containment method seems effective, and he is anesthetized. Any further instruction, sister?
- Order Soo Young to apply her new method on him, but first we should wait him to wake up. I want to be there, so make Control notify me once that's ready.
- I understand, I'll get in touch right now - she said, placing index and middle finger to her temple.
One could see how, by closing her eyes, and without moving lips, S-1 was capable, like every secgen nowadays, of speaking with the words of thought, and straight to the mind of whoever she wanted.