“We have the thermal imaging camera.”
At Kim Su-hyeok’s words, Lee Gyu-jin rummaged through the operation bag and pulled out the thermal imaging camera.
“Here it is. But for a building of this level, won’t the thick exterior walls prevent us from detecting human body heat?”
Whirr─.
As Kim Su-hyeok powered up the thermal imaging camera, he handed the manual to Lee Gyu-jin.
“Look at 23-E. Alpha-Beta wrote instructions for situations like this. As expected from someone with an unimaginable wealth of experience.”
Then Kim Su-hyeok put his eye to the thermal imaging camera and looked at the 7th floor where Skullcap Corporation, which housed ‘Gold’, was located.
– 23-E: To confirm if a target is actually inside a building with thick exterior walls in winter, check the boiler pipeline with the thermal imaging camera.
The boiler pipeline on the 7th floor of the building was marked in deep blue.
It was in stark contrast to the other floors, which were all marked in red due to their boilers being on.
On such a cold day with sub-zero temperatures, not running the boiler to the point where there’s not even residual heat means there’s no one inside.
For at least two days, at that.
“He’s not there. Baek Sol has dealt with Gold. Whether he was incinerated somewhere or sunk in the waters off Incheon, I don’t know.”
Kim Su-hyeok handed the thermal imaging camera to Lee Gyu-jin and picked up his smartphone.
– λ(Lambda): Top-secret report. Face-to-face briefing required.
– αβ(Alpha-Beta): Understood. Meet at the company in an hour.
Han Hae-woon and the agents began moving towards the 5th floor of Mokwha Building.
Han Hae-woon entered through the back door of a closed Chinese restaurant and headed for the kitchen.
Opening an unplugged commercial refrigerator revealed a new door leading to a secret passage.
Beep─.
The door opened when he presented the security card.
Upstairs, they were probably monitoring Han Hae-woon, disguised as Terrence Williams, through surveillance cameras.
Even if someone somehow obtained an access card, pressing a button inside would seal both doors, trapping them with no way out.
The same security system was installed even if one entered through the main entrance of Mokwha Building and came up to the 5th floor.
When Han Hae-woon arrived on the 5th floor via the secret space’s elevator, agents greeted him.
“You’ve arrived, sir.”
“You’ve all worked hard in this cold weather. What’s the report?”
No matter how secure the messaging system is, for matters that require reporting without leaving any online traces, they either report in writing or deliver verbally in person.
A face-to-face report means it’s quite important and requires high security.
Kim Su-hyeok nodded and opened his mouth.
“It seems Baek Sol has dealt with Gold. Even if he’s not dead, it’s certain that Baek Sol has removed Gold from that officetel. And in the process, we’ve secured information on a vehicle suspected to be Baek Sol’s hound and are tracking it.”
“What’s the basis?”
“It’s 23-E, sir.”
“Good work.”
After listening to Kim Su-hyeok’s report and nodding, Han Hae-woon walked to the safe on one side of the office.
Beep beep─.
After entering the password and opening the safe, Han Hae-woon took out a yellow envelope from among the densely organized files inside.
The envelope was labeled ‘Target 1’ on its surface.
‘Target One’ refers to the first target that Baek Sol sacrificed after Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon met.
In other words, Ahn Jun-ho.
‘Now we can finally wrap up the Ahn Jun-ho case.’
If Baek Sol has started cutting ties related to Gold, then the usefulness of ‘Jung Tae-seon’, the mid-level actor who drove Ahn Jun-ho to the brink, has come to an end. It’s time to dispose of him.
‘I should report this matter to the team leader either in person or in writing. The variety show filming location was in Gapyeong, wasn’t it?’
Han Hae-woon looked at the agents.
“You’ve all worked hard. I have some business to attend to, so I’ll be moving out first. Take it easy until further instructions.”
“Understood, sir.”
===
**
===
Meanwhile, at that time, a song guessing game was in full swing at the pension.
“Oppa! You don’t know this song? Really?!”
After all the other actors had guessed correctly and left, only Jung Cheol-min and Yeon-woo remained, engaged in a lonely battle.
“Do neither of you know? You can pass if you’d like.”
“Pass.”
“I’ll pass too.”
Although they were playing only hit songs, Jung Cheol-min and Yeon-woo, master and disciple, just tilted their heads in the same manner.
‘We’re doomed. We really don’t know a single song.’
‘Why doesn’t Yeon-woo know any of these? He’s young. I just wish this would end already.’
At that moment, the writer approached the main PD and showed him a note.
“How about this song? It’s somewhat related to the two of them…”
“Oh, that’s good. Let’s go with this.”
They played the next song on the laptop.
Suddenly, Yeon-woo stood up.
‘Hm? Is this…?’
Looking back, he saw Han Byul and Seo Ji-eun nodding vigorously.
Glancing at Jung Cheol-min sitting next to him, it was clear he still had no idea what the song was.
‘Since this is a variety show, a little provocation at this point would make for good editing.’
Yeon-woo looked at Jung Cheol-min with a triumphant expression, hands on his hips.
“Teacher. Do you really not know this masterpiece?”
“I don’t. How am I supposed to know recent songs?”
Han Byul, watching from behind, was rolling on the floor laughing.
Then Yeon-woo quietly raised his hand.
“The answer. Han Byul team from across the Garam River.”
“Yes! Yeon-woo-ssi. The answer is?”
“It’s our Prince Akhenaton’s latest title track. Axis’s ‘Universe’!”
At that, Jung Cheol-min jumped up from his seat.
“Ugh! Dong-ha!”
“Axis’s ‘Universe’. Correct!”
Jung Cheol-min immediately approached the camera, making excuses.
“No, Dong-ha, I even bought the album before receiving it as a gift. You know that, right? Huh?”
As Jung Cheol-min grabbed the ENG camera and started making excuses, sending a video message to Dong-ha, the other actors were rolling on the floor laughing at the sight.
Watching this scene, PD Joo Hyun-seok was secretly rejoicing.
‘Yes! We got a good shot. Excellent!’
With a satisfied look, the main PD shouted.
“Alright, let’s take a break and then continue!”
During the short break in filming, Yeon-woo checked his smartphone.
– Han Hae-woon: I have matters to report in person regarding Target One. I’ve confirmed 23-E.
23-E refers to the manual Yeon-woo had written himself.
‘It seems Gold has left his residence. If it’s related to Target One…’
Since Ahn Jun-ho in the military couldn’t have been harmed by Baek Sol, it must be good news.
‘If it’s good news about Ahn Jun-ho, that means it’s time to get rid of Jung Tae-seon. Does that mean Gold is dead?’
At that moment, he heard the voices of Han Byul and Jung Seo-yeon looking out the window.
“Wow, it’s snowing heavily.”
“Unnie. Can’t we go outside and make a snowman?”
“No. You’ll catch a cold. Byul, you didn’t even bring gloves.”
Then Han Byul smiled.
“I did! I brought three pairs of gloves just in case it snowed!”
“…Really? Then should we make a small one just in front?”
“Yes!”
Yeon-woo looked outside and saw snowflakes falling heavily as if the sky had opened up.
‘Is it trying to wash away Ahn Jun-ho’s unjust treatment?’
But the staff was in a panic.
“Ugh, trash is falling from the sky.”
“If this piles up more, I don’t think the bus will be able to get out tomorrow. From what I can see, we won’t be able to leave.”
Han Byul was the one who got excited at this.
“Wow! Unnie, does that mean we get to play here for one more day?”
“You haven’t forgotten that we came here to work, not to play, right?”
“But it really feels like we’re on a school trip.”
Jung Seo-yeon chuckled at the sight of the excited Han Byul.
Watching this scene, Yeon-woo picked up his smartphone and started typing.
– Hae-woon. It looks like an in-person report today will be difficult due to the heavy snow. This is a remote area, so any vehicle approach would be noticeable anyway.
Han Hae-woon immediately replied.
– Han Hae-woon: It’s fine. This is why we spent the money. I’ll approach the vicinity and deliver the report via military drone.
‘Oh, that method. If you’re going to send it by drone anyway, I should ask for one more thing.’
Yeon-woo wrote down the necessary items and sent them, and Han Hae-woon replied with an acknowledgment.
After confirming the reply and nodding, Yeon-woo went outside to join Han Byul and Jung Seo-yeon who were making a snowman.
Seeing this scene, the camera director, sensing good footage, quickly started rolling the camera.
“Oppa! Please put the head on top of the body.”
“No, if we make it this small, it’ll break when we try to lift it. Let’s pack both the body and head tightly and make them a bit bigger.”
When monitoring the Russian oligarchs’ secret weapons warehouse in Sakhalin, with nothing but snow around, he’d often make rows of snowmen out of boredom.
Yeon-woo started rolling the snowballs into large, round shapes with practiced hands, making them look like snowmen from a movie.
The key was to continuously pat the snowball with his palms while rolling it in a spiral pattern.
“Wow! It’s so big and round!”
As the commotion outside grew, Son Jin-yuk and the staff came out too.
“What’s this? Making a snowman? It’s huge.”
When the head and body were combined, it was almost as tall as Yeon-woo.
“Jin-yuk hyung. Can you help me lift the head?”
“Okay.”
As Son Jin-yuk approached, Jung Seo-yeon took off her gloves and handed them to him.
“Wow, it must be heavy.”
Heave-ho─.
With a grunt, Yeon-woo and Son Jin-yuk lifted the head together and placed it on the body.
“It’s huge!”
“Han Byul and Seo-yeon, you two decorate the face prettily.”
“We need a carrot! A carrot! Writer unnie!”
Han Byul busily stuck a carrot for the nose and used chocolate cookies for the eyes.
After adding branches for arms and wrapping a muffler around it, they had completed a snowman so beautiful it looked like it came straight out of an animation.
The main PD’s eyes lit up at the sight of the snowman.
“Actors, let’s take a group photo with the snowman. This is perfect for the thumbnail.”
The actors huddled around the large snowman.
“Alright, we’re taking the thumbnail for ‘New Star Family’. One, two, three.”
===
**
===
After that, several games followed and it got dark.
At the lodging, the production team was having a meeting, worrying about what to do tomorrow.
Thanks to the falling snow, they had captured good footage, but the aftermath was the problem.
“The road surface will definitely be frozen solid tomorrow, but the hill in front is the issue. The bus might slip.”
“Even if we call for a snow plow, it won’t come all the way out here.”
“We’ll have to pray it melts overnight. Otherwise, we’ll have to mobilize the staff to shovel the downhill path, spread some dirt if we have any, and do whatever we can. Sigh.”
The staff sighed with gloomy faces.
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo’s smartphone rang as he was resting on the second floor of the lodging.
– Han Hae-woon: I’ve arrived as close as I can by vehicle. The coordinates are 37.90···, 127.46···.
– Got it. I’ll move away from the lodging a bit and send a signal.
While the staff and actors were taking a break, Yeon-woo quietly went outside.
He entered the coordinates into the map on his smartphone to confirm Han Hae-woon’s position and moved away from the lodging in that direction.
After walking for about 10 minutes into the forest with no streetlights and only bare trees, Yeon-woo raised his smartphone with the flashlight on towards the sky.
Whirr─.
Then, a sound like a swarm of bees could be heard, and a large drone with green and red lights blinking approached in the sky.
Yeon-woo held up his smartphone and said to Han Hae-woon,
“Drop it from there.”
– Yes, understood.
Thud─.
The pouch attached to the drone fell to the ground.
Yeon-woo approached and picked up the pouch, finding a heavy object along with a waterproof-packed report inside.
“Target secured. Good work.”
– Not at all. I’ll see you tomorrow in Seoul.
Whirr─.
As the drone made a buzzing sound like a swarm of bees again and flew away, Yeon-woo put the report in his inner pocket and then slung the heavy pouch over his shoulder like Santa Claus, returning to the lodging.
“Someone might think it’s a gift. Well, come to think of it, it is a gift. I’ll say I found it in the shed behind here.”
Inside the pouch were snow chains for large vehicle tires.