"Speak!", the man said, holstering the gun in his pants.
"You have a ship. Large. We just want to see it," Jinsoo said.
"The ship. Why?" he asked.
"Just a look, from afar. Ten bags for the view. Twenty more for a name. The one who gave you," Jinsoo said as the man thought for a moment. He sat on the desk as a guard approached him. They whispered something among themselves, and the guard nodded.
"Fine. You see ship. You will leave ONLY after money," the man said in English as the guards cut our hand ties.
"Follow!" he said, leading us out of the camp. After a few seconds of waiting, two military jeeps arrived at our location with armed men inside.
Jinsoo was made to sit in the back seat of the first jeep, while I was in the second.
"Go!" On command, the jeeps began their route.
For fifteen minutes, we traveled at a fast pace on the rough ground, navigating through the jungle. All the men in the jeep were quiet. No one spoke up. The ones in the back of the jeep had their guns pointed in front of me.
----[Donghae Defense Airfield]----
(BGM: Diplo - Revolution)
Spectre Unit, a group of elite ground infiltration specialists from a special forces division. Experts in high-stakes, covert operations, with enough autonomy to conduct unofficial side missions.
Seo Hyun-Jin, the captain of the Spectre Unit, stood in front of the Black Kite Chopper, a KUH-1 Surion. Seo Hyun-Jin is the kind of man that loves to play off the books. He is a former member of Black Lotus. Lean but muscular, with a height of 6'1". He has short, jet-black hair, a sharp jawline, and high cheekbones.
He always wears a black tactical watch on his left wrist. He turned around as three men, wearing lightweight tactical vests over black combat shirts and fitted pants with reinforced knee pads, walked towards him. Each had an Icepiercer-7 in their hands—a hi-tech, stabilized automated rifle made by the Snow Group.
"Alright, boys. It's a simple mission. We go in, wipe them out, and exit. No lingering." Hyun-Jin said, clasping his hands as the chopper started up.
"Aye, Sir!" the three members of the team replied.
"Who's taking the cars?" Hyun-Jin asked.
Joon Pyo, a member of the team, raised a tablet in his hands, and everyone nodded.
"Aight, buckle up. We're leaving!"
----[Baekho Gyeokdae' Base]
After what felt like fifteen tense minutes, the trees abruptly thinned, giving way to an open expanse. The jungle seemed to retreat, revealing a broad river. For a moment, even I was surprised. To call this a river would be an understatement. This kind of path between the jungle was basically an unexplored route.
There were at least fourteen motorboats on the riverside. And on the other end was a large white vessel, an enormous cargo ship with a logo of frost on the side.
It was the Snow Titan. But what I didn't understand was why it was just there. No one was working on it, no renovation or anything.
Jinsoo looked at me and nodded, asking the same question to the man in the front jeep.
The man looked back and shouted, "The ship arrived…yesterday."
That explains everything. Repainting that and changing the AIS systems would require enormous funds, not to mention the time, considering they are just sixty people.
"Turn! We talk in camp!" the man shouted, and the jeeps revved their engines once again, leading us back to the camp.
This time, the return route was different. We went from the backside of the camp. It seemed they had hostages. Not surprisingly, all of them were women. On the backside of the camp were at least ten cages, all guarded by a man each with armed rifles.
It was pretty obvious at this point that they were human traffickers. And now they have a big cargo for easy transport. Plenty of women, abducted, raped, and transported. Drugs were just a front.
The camp was divided into three parts. One was the riverside. Not many were there, just four to five.
The second is the entrance. From the entrance to the tent was a single road. Here were most of the men, their weapons, and payload, everything.
Third was the backside, which continued from the other side of the tent. Here were the cages in which the women were held. The second and third parts were connected, and the men here often visited the third part for an obvious reason.
Getting off the jeeps, we entered the tent again, where a young woman sat bare naked, curled up with her hands wrapped around her legs and her head rested on her knees in the corner of the bed. We stood again in the same place, guards stationed outside.
"We want the name, the one who gave you that ship," I said, my tone firm.
"The money?" he asked, his gaze shifting to the bags.
"You'll get the money," I replied, leaning forward slightly. "We're not leaving without the name. There's no guarantee you'll talk once you have it."
The man thought for a moment, scratching his temples with the muzzle of the gun he took out.
"I'll make one call, and cars with money will be here. You say the name, I make the call," I said.
"Okay!" the man said, and I looked at Jinsoo. Their accent was not Korean, so a name that is Korean, only Jinsoo will be able to remember it.
"Min-Seok Lee," he said. And just that only. A man very true to his deal, only said the name.
"That makes thirty bags. Ten for looking at the ship, twenty for the name," I said as he nodded.
Taking out my phone, I made a call. "Are the cars ready?"
"On your mark!" the man shouted on the other side of the phone. The noise of the air was cutting the voice, but it was bearable.
"Bring them in!" I replied and disconnected the call.
After a few seconds, there was a commotion outside. We walked just outside with the man, seeing seven Cadillac SUVs making their way slowly into the camp. However, there was no one inside them. They were being controlled via remote.
Without warning, the SUVs accelerated, slamming into guards, supply crates, and structures scattered across the camp like unstoppable bulls.
The man froze as his hand instinctively moved to his gun.
(Korean) "What the hell is this?!" he barked, his voice rising in panic.
Inside each SUV weren't bags of money. They were loaded with C4, wired and ready.
(Scoffs)"Welcome to the shitshow!" I said as all the cars honked at the same time and the entire camp lit up in a series of deafening explosions. The shockwaves tore through the jungle, throwing debris, fire, and men into the air like ragdolls.