Chapter Nineteen: Plan Put to Action

                “Myung-soo,” Mrs. Kim said as she drove the car home. Myung-soo was sitting beside her, eyes trained outside the window. She came shortly after the talk with the general, and so Myung-soo wasn’t able to talk to Jung-won. “I understand that you’re mad at me. It’s –”

                “Mom, if that’s about Dad, I’m not mad at you,” Myung-soo said as he averted his eyes to his mother. “What happened in the police station… I’m sorry if I made you worry. I just came to the confirm… something, and I lost control.”

                “It’s okay. But you have to understand that I cannot pull the case off,” Mrs. Kim said.

                “I understand,” Myung-soo said. “I don’t care anymore, so you don’t have to worry. I already chose to forget about him.”

                Myung-soo averted his eyes back outside. He knew his mother wouldn’t let him go if he told her that he disagree. It’s better for he to think that I am already over with hyung. “Do you want to come back to the farm?” Mrs. Kim said. “To see… your father?”

                “I would love to, but I want to rest in my own room for a while,” Myung-soo said, and so his mother continued driving back to their house.

---o0o---

                “Myung-soo ah!” Dong-woo yelled on the other end of the line. Myung-soo was inside his room, and just like what Dong-woo told him to do back at the station, he quickly phoned him. “Yah! kwaenjanhayo?” Dong-woo said.

                “Ne, don’t worry so much,” Myung-soo said. “By the way, would you do me a favor?”

                “Sure, what favor?”

                “I need you to sleep,” Myung-soo said. “I’ll fill you in with the details later. ”

---o0o---

                It has been just a day after the incident in the station. Mrs. Kim’s vacation leave wasn’t over yet, so she tried spending time with his son, who was unfortunately asleep most of the time.

                 “I guess he’s having a hard time forgetting,” Mrs. Kim muttered as she closed Myung-soo’s room’s door as quiet as possible, but failed to do so when someone suddenly ringed the doorbell. “Oh, Dong-woo,” Mrs. Kim said, “Myung-soo is asleep. Do you want me to wake him up for you?”

                “Uh, no need auntie, I’m sure he’ll be waking up soon,” Dong-woo said. “Besides, I’m just here to send a great news!” Dong-woo told her soon after that his mother sent theirs and Mrs. Kim’s names in a raffle, and fortunately it was Mrs. Kim’s name that was chosen. After that, Dong-woo showed her two plane tickets to Jeju Island, complete with board and lodging, plus pocket money.

                “Mom! Take it and go there with dad! Please!” Myung-soo told his mother as soon as he emerged from his room.

                “How did you know about what we’re talking about?” Mrs. Kim said. Dong-woo chuckled beside her and said, “he must have heard us auntie.”

                “Yeah,” Myung-soo said, “with Dong-woo’s loud voice, I heard everything.”

                “About your dad, you know that I’m still not ready to do that, Myung-soo,” Mrs. Kim said.

                “Even just for being friends?” Myung-soo said. “Mom, I’m not asking you to marry him again and to live together with him so that we become a whole family, which is actually what I wanted, but still I don’t want to force you for that. What I’m asking is just for you to give yourself a chance to be friends again with Dad, please? Mom?”

                “Will you please…” Mrs. Kim said, “… give me some time to think about this?”

                “Sure mom! Will five minutes be enough?” Myung-soo said which made Dong-woo chuckle again.

                “Will you give me… at least a day to think about this?”

                “Sure! But you have to remember, the flight is tomorrow afternoon, so you have to decide right away and inform father about this.”

                “Myung-soo!”

---o0o---

              “Myung-soo, you know that I trust you so much, right?” Mrs. Kim said. Seung-woo was already outside, loading Mrs. Kim’s luggage at the trunk of the car. “Take care always, okay?”

                “Yes mom, you too,” Myung-soo said.

                “And, no visitors allowed at home after 4 pm,” Mrs. Kim said, “Especially a boyfriend, okay?” Mrs. Kim then turned to Dong-woo who was spending a lot of time with Myung-soo the past few days. “Dong-woo, I trust you. Phone me right away when you notice anything suspicious.”

                “Mom! Just go!” Myung-soo said. After a few more last minute reminders, Mrs. Kim and Seung-woo bid the two youngsters goodbye.

                “So, you’re already going?” Dong-woo said when they went inside.

                “Yes, so please cover me,” Myung-soo said. “Take care of Sung-jong, and my parents if something unexpected happens.”

                “Shut up! The last time you told me that, you almost got your throat slashed by a sword!” Dong-woo said. Myung-soo looked at his friend to find a hurt expression on his face. “Dong-woo, I’ll be gone for a little while. For now, just stay here, keep Agent Jung-won’s phone number with you, and tell your mom that you’ll be spending time with me while my parents are away. Don’t tell anybody that I left,” Myung-soo said.

                “Fine, just promise me you’ll be careful,” Dong-woo said. “If you think that things are getting complicated, run.” Myung-soo gave him a small nod before speaking, “I will.”

                “Another thing,” Myung-soo said. “Sleep, if you have time.”

---o0o---

                “Professor Yang, how is our specimen doing?” the general asked his most trusted scientist. They were just outside the glass room where Sung-gyu was, in front of a panel of controls and switches.

                “His recovery is almost at 93%. Once he reached 100%, we’ll be able to see the results of the experiment,” the scientist said.

                “How about the samples?”

                “The samples were already at the lab,” the scientist said before touching a control and zooming in to Sung-gyu’s face. “Once we extracted the genes that we needed, we can identify which race produced this wonderful creation!”

                “That’s not what I actually have in mind,” the general said.

                “If not, then why are we here?” Professor Yang said.

                “Remember the report? He was able to kill everyone in a station filled with top police officers.” The general stood up and pressed a button on the panel which made all of the screens inside display Sung-gyu’s face. “Imagine what will happen to our armed forces if we have powerful soldiers like him.”

                “You mean…”

                “Yes, gene cloning,” the general said, “and once we have an army of powerful soldiers, not a single nation will try to look down on us anymore.” The general smirked at his bright idea, but the scientist just looked at him, wide eyed. As if saying “you’ve gone crazy.”

                Suddenly, two soldiers came inside the control room. “General Sir! We think you have to see something.”

                “It’s a teenage boy!” the scientist said. “But… what is he doing here?” The general, as well as the scientist checked the recorded security footages outside the facility. The video showed a figure who was as if searching something on a pile of rocks inside the secret cave where the entrance to the facility was. His hands were outstretched in front of him, as if trying to feel something from the rocks. “Turn up the audio,” the general commanded.

                “…Come on, it’s behind this wall… now if I could just open it,” and the boy pushed a rock from the pile and the secret door to the facility opened up.

                “Where’s the boy?” the general said.

                “Sir, we’ve taken him in as soon as he opened the gate,” one of the soldiers said.

---o0o---

                The general and the scientist went to a room with a one-way mirror just like those in detective movies. In the room just beyond the mirror was the boy from the footage, pacing back and forth inside the empty, white room.

                “I know this boy,” the general said. “Interesting… so much for a coincidence.” Suddenly, the boy stopped walking and looked directly to the one-way mirror. He walked towards it and stopped only when his face was an inch away from it.

                “I know you’re there, and I know you remember me,” the boy lifted up his hand and touched the mirror, “I wish to see Angel… please.”