Project 247, Part 2

Ji Hyo’s hands were trembling. She politely excused herself from her conversation with Dong Wook and Bom and tried to catch her breath as she moved aimlessly through the crowd. In the three years that she and Jong Kook had been partners, they had always retrieved the information they were assigned to find and had always escaped with their covers intact. Nothing had ever gone wrong before.

She breathed in deeply, trying not to panic. The protocol in a situation like this required her to find a safe place out of sight and earshot, and to contact the agency at once. Trying to abide by that now, she walked briskly through the crowd toward the elevator. As she waited there, she caught the attention of Kwang Soo, who soon approached her.

“I don’t think Yuri-ssi likes me,” he said, leaning against the wall beside the elevator with a sullen expression on his face.

Ji Hyo continued staring ahead, clenching her fists as she waited.

Kwang Soo eyed her curiously. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, fighting to hold back her tears.

“What’s wrong, noona? Did you have a fight with Jong Kook?” Kwang Soo had never seen Ji Hyo and Jong Kook argue before, but he could think of no other explanation for why she was upset.

The elevator doors opened at that moment. Ji Hyo rushed inside and pressed the button for the lobby. Kwang Soo followed her in.

“Please,” Ji Hyo said, holding the elevator door open and gesturing him out. “I can’t have you here right now.” When Kwang Soo shook his head and didn’t move, she said, “I’m in a rush. Please.”

“I’m staying right here,” Kwang Soo said. “If you’re that much in a rush, you’ll just have to take me with you.”

Ji Hyo sighed and let go of the elevator door, ignoring Kwang Soo as they descended down. She had planned on exiting at the lobby floor and heading outside to call the agency, but her emotions got the better of her and she quickly decided to press the button for the seventh floor, breaking protocol.

“What’s with the seventh floor?” Kwang Soo asked. “Is this like an obsessive tic or something? You just always have to press seven when you get in an elevator?” He stared at her goofily, trying to cheer her up, but he really was curious about her interest in the floor.

Ji Hyo didn’t answer. The elevator doors soon opened, revealing that dark office space. She peeked her head out, scanned both ways, and then slowly stepped out while Kwang Soo held the elevator door open. She could see one computer , the bright glare of the screen like a beacon, beckoning her there. She walked toward it and looked around. When she saw Jong Kook’s earpiece on the floor, she dropped to her knees and quietly cried.

Kwang Soo called out from the elevator. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

Ji Hyo slipped the earpiece into her purse and wiped the tears from her eyes as she stood back up. “Nothing,” she said, trying to pull herself together and not think the worst. She stared across that dark space to the light of the open elevator. “I need you to go, Kwang Soo-yah. I have to make a call. I need some privacy.”

Kwang Soo was about to protest but Ji Hyo walked quickly toward him and lightly pushed against his chest. “Go back upstairs,” she said. “I’m okay. I just need some privacy for this call.”

Kwang Soo lowered his head and stepped back into the elevator, feeling like he had failed as a friend. Still wanting to help, he said, “Okay, but instead of going back to the dinner, I’ll go wait outside by the car. If you need me for whatever reason, to take you home or wherever you need to go, I’ll be there, okay?”

Ji Hyo, having no time to argue, nodded and then waited as the elevator doors closed between them. When he was gone and she was finally alone, she reached into her purse, pulled out her phone, and called the agency.

“This is Agent 64,” she whispered as quietly as she could. “Confirmation 134987.”

The voice on the other end of the phone was masked by a voice disguiser, which made it sound somewhat robotic. “Agent 64, confirm your location.”

“I’m on site, but…” She breathed in deeply and crouched down low on the floor. “A63C,” she said, squeezing her eyes closed as that code consumed her thoughts. Agent 63 Compromised. Agent 63 Compromised…

“Please confirm. A63C?”

“A63C affirmative,” Ji Hyo said.

“Transferring you now.”

As Ji Hyo waited in that crouched position, she realized that her legs were shaking and tried now to stand and believe that Jong Kook would be okay, but the sound of him struggling, and those voices – multiple voices of those whom presumably attacked him – weighed heavily on her and she soon returned to her crouched position.

“Agent 64?” the voice asked. It was a different robotic tone than before. Ji Hyo knew that she was speaking to someone else but had no idea who was on the other end of the line. All calls to and from the agency were always kept anonymous.

“Yes,” she said.

“Stay at your location. Special Agents 11 and 12 will arrive in one hour.”

“One hour?”

“Affirmative.”

“No, you don’t understand…” Not caring about codes or protocol anymore, she said, “They took him. He’s gone. You have to come now.”

“Stay calm, Agent 64.”

Ji Hyo’s breathing was quick, her heart racing. She couldn’t wait an hour. She wouldn’t. Thinking quickly, she said, “Trainee 3 is on site. I’ll contact her for assistance.”

“Negative,” the voice said. “Do not contact Trainee 3. Stay on site and stay calm.”

Ji Hyo hung up. She squeezed the phone between her palms, knowing that what she was doing went against everything she had learned in her training, but doing nothing was worse. If something happened to Jong Kook, she… she couldn’t even think about that. Scrolling through her contact list now, she found Go Ara’s number and waited for her to pick up.

Upstairs, everyone had quieted down and had taken their seats after Lee Soo Man approached the podium. He had just begun thanking everyone for attending the dinner when Ara felt her phone vibrate inside her purse. She saw that it was Ji Hyo calling and discreetly walked to the back of the room to answer. Ji Hyo explained very little on the phone, saying only that she and Jong Kook were on assignment and that he was taken by two, maybe three men. Not wanting to stay on the floor where Jong Kook was captured, Ji Hyo told Ara to meet her outside.

The few minutes that Ji Hyo waited out front, staring at the entrance while trying to avoid eye contact with the doorman, felt like hours. She was worried about how she had hung up on the agency, realizing that she was now considered an RA – a renegade agent. But most of all, she was worried about Jong Kook. He was her whole world. She couldn’t imagine life without him.

When she saw Ara step outside in her shimmery blue dress, her long hair swept to the side and her eyes wide and bright, Ji Hyo gestured her away from the doorman and the late guests just arriving. The two women walked quietly toward the alley around the side of the building where they could talk without worry of anyone hearing them.

“We need to do a full sweep of this building,” Ji Hyo said.

“What? Unni, did you call the agency?”

“Yes, but we don’t have time to wait. We need to find him before…”

“Unni, nothing’s going to happen to him,” Ara said. “They’re not… evil. Are you sure S.M. is even involved?”

Ji Hyo didn’t want to debate this. “I don’t care who’s involved,” she said. “I just want to find him. Will you help me or not?”

Ara sighed. “Will I be considered an RA if I do?”

Ji Hyo bit her lip and looked down. “I don’t know,” she said.

Just then, further down the alley, a side door slammed open and three large men came barging out, clutching onto and pushing Jong Kook, who was gagged with his hands tied behind his back.

“Oh my god,” Ara cried, not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

The men turned, having heard Ara, and then ran down the alley, dragging Jong Kook with them. Ji Hyo immediately took chase while grabbing her gun from her purse. She ran as fast as she could down that alley, losing sight of them for a moment when they turned the corner but then seeing them again when she had emerged at the other end where the alley opened up to the parking lot. The men were pushing Jong Kook into the back of a black Hyundai. Ji Hyo stopped and lifted her gun to aim, but there were too many cars parked between them and she couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t accidentally injure Jong Kook.

The Hyundai screeched as it reversed out of its parking spot, the gears grinding as it then jerked forward out of the lot. By then, Ara had caught up. Ji Hyo grabbed Ara's hand and pulled her toward Kwang Soo’s car.

Kwang Soo had been sitting inside his car, bored and lonely, not knowing if he should return to the dinner or not. He had been listening to an American song by a singer named Celine Dion and was now singing along with the chorus. All by myseeeeelf, he sang. Don’t wanna be all by myseeeeelf... anymore…

Suddenly, the driver’s side door was yanked open, startling Kwang Soo out of his melancholia.

“Quick, get out, Kwang Soo-yah!” Ji Hyo yelled.

“Wha–what?” He quickly turned off the music, embarrassed that he had been caught singing.

Ji Hyo, having no time to explain, pulled him out of the car and jumped into the driver’s seat while Ara ran around the side and hopped into the passenger seat. Kwang Soo quickly dove into the backseat, the back door still swinging ajar as Ji Hyo drove off.

“What… what’s happening?” Kwang Soo asked, trying to pull the door closed as Ji Hyo sped out of the lot, nearly hitting the steel gate bordering the entrance. “Yah! What are you doing?” he yelled.

Ji Hyo turned in the same direction the men had gone and then stomped on the gas pedal, holding it down to the floor. She passed her gun to Ara and then gripped the wheel with both hands. “Roll down your window,” she said to Ara. “When they’re in sight, you aim for the tires.”

Kwang Soo leaned forward in that backseat and stared at the gun with wide eyes, his mouth agape. “A gun?” he asked. “Noona, are you crazy?”

Ara examined the gun in her hands. She had only been in training for a few weeks and hadn’t yet had lessons in firearm use. “Unni, I… I don’t know if I can do this,” she said.

Ji Hyo didn’t answer. There were a line of cars on the dark street ahead and she now swerved into the oncoming lane, weaving in and out of them. Ara squeezed her eyes closed while Kwang Soo screamed. Ji Hyo spotted the black Hyundai just up ahead and nudged Ara. “Yah, open your eyes!” Ji Hyo yelled. “Look! See them up there?”

At that moment, the Hyundai quickly cut right, heading down a side street. Ji Hyo followed and soon caught up with them. It was a narrow lane with no sidewalks, made narrower by the cars parked all along the side. She pressed down on the gas and bumped the back of the Hyundai just a bit, nearly sending the car careening toward the parked cars on the side, but the driver regained control and drove even faster, swerving left when the road ended at a T-junction, and then skidding right toward another narrow street.

Ji Hyo could see the silhouettes of the men inside the Hyundai, the two up front and the one in the backseat with Jong Kook. “Ara, the tire,” she said, glancing over at the gun in Ara’s hand.

Ara rolled down her window, about to lean out to shoot, but the man sitting on the passenger side of the Hyundai had the same idea and was much quicker than Ara, his entire torso nearly hanging out of that window as he aimed his gun on them and fired.

The tire on Kwang Soo’s car popped loudly, the rubber swinging wildly around the rim as it deflated, causing the car to jostle down that street sideways toward the major intersection at Apgujeong-ro ahead. Ji Hyo slammed on the brakes, the smell of that burning rubber soon filling the car as it screeched to a halt. She caught her breath and then turned and watched as the Hyundai slowed down before the intersection and parked just behind a cream-colored building on the corner.

Ara was holding her chest, trying to calm her heart. “That’s the old S.M. building,” she said.

“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?!” Kwang Soo yelled.

Ji Hyo glanced back at him. “Just stay here, okay?” Looking at Ara now, she said, “You have your phone on you?” When Ara nodded, Ji Hyo said, “Call the office. Tell them where we are and then stay here and wait for them.” She grabbed the gun from Ara’s hand and turned her attention on the building ahead, which was covered by shadows.

“Unni, you can’t go in there by yourself,” Ara said.

Ji Hyo sighed. This was supposed to be her last mission. While she hadn’t expected that she would end her three years in the agency as a renegade agent, she’d had no choice, not if she wanted Jong Kook to still be alive. But she did have a choice when it came to Ara helping her in this impromptu rescue mission. Not wanting to jeopardize Ara’s future with the agency, Ji Hyo left her there in that car with Kwang Soo and crouched low as she hurried over to the right side of the street, where she pressed her back against a red brick building that bordered the sidewalk. She breathed in deeply once more and tightened her hold on the gun before slowly making her way down that dark sidewalk, keeping her back close to the wall.

The Hyundai was parked on a small section of pavement just in front of a single garage door in the back of the S.M. building. She hurried over to the car and crouched low beside it as she peeked into the windows. No one was inside. She glanced around the car and saw a dark brown door just beside the garage. After mustering her courage, she ran toward the door, standing just alongside it as she reached for the handle. It was unlocked. She swung it open and lunged into a firing position in that open doorway, seeing nothing in front of her but a long dark hallway. She carefully entered, trying to stick to the walls and feel her way down in the darkness. Up ahead, a light bulb hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly back and forth and lighting up just enough of the hallway for her to see another door at the end. She made her way there, slowly opening that door and finding herself in a room covered with sawdust and remnants of insulation foam.

The old S.M. building was in the process of being renovated and transformed into a training center for its up-and-coming idols. Most of the rooms, such as the one Ji Hyo was in, were still under construction. Clear plastic sheeting hung haphazardly from the ceiling, which Ji Hyo waded through as she walked further inside, searching for any sign of Jong Kook or the men who had taken him.

She heard a noise behind her and stopped. Turning around now, she could see shadows moving behind the plastic sheeting. She aimed her gun and then yanked the plastic sheeting aside.

“Noona!” Kwang Soo shouted. “Don’t shoot!”

Ji Hyo lowered the gun and sighed. “I told you to wait in the car,” she said.

Ara was clutching onto Kwang Soo’s back. She peeked her head around Kwang Soo now to look at Ji Hyo. “I called them. They’re on the way.”

“We were too scared to stay in the car,” Kwang Soo whispered.

“And so you came in here?” Ji Hyo shook her head. “And why are you hiding behind him?” she asked Ara.

Ara shrugged and stepped around Kwang Soo, embarrassed.

“You two just stay behind me,” Ji Hyo said, resuming her search.

The three of them searched two more rooms without incident, seeing and hearing nothing. There was only one more room left on that floor. As they walked toward the door, Ji Hyo turned to look at Kwang Soo and Ara, holding her finger to her lips so that they’d stay quiet. She turned back to the door now and slowly opened it.

Jong Kook was tied to a chair in the center of that empty room, the rope tight around his wrists and ankles and the gag still in his mouth.

Ji Hyo rushed over to him, setting her gun down on the floor as she kneeled before him and struggled with the gag in his mouth.

“Hyung?” Kwang Soo ran over to Jong Kook now, too, trying to untie him from the chair.

Ji Hyo managed to pull the gag down and then kissed Jong Kook frantically, overwhelmed with relief that he was alive. “You okay?” she asked, when their lips parted.

“I’m okay,” he quietly said. He closed his eyes, wincing from the strain of the rope around his wrists, which had cut off the circulation to his hands, leaving them numb and dead white. He stared at Kwang Soo, who was trying to unknot the rope, and then looked back at Ji Hyo. “What does he know?”

“I don’t know anything!” Kwang Soo said, standing up now. “One minute I’m singing away my troubles in my car, and the next minute I’m diving into the backseat and praying I don’t die while this crazy noona is chasing this car, and then these guys shoot at us…” He stopped, his mouth open as he thought about everything that had happened. “Whoa, wait, are you two… spies?”

Ji Hyo pushed Kwang Soo aside and finished untying Jong Kook from the chair. Now free, Jong Kook stood and rubbed his wrists, trying to massage the blood back into its hands.

Kwang Soo was still in shock. “Daebak,” he whispered. “Spies? Really?”

Ara had been standing by the door, unable to move. She couldn’t believe that anyone in S.M. would do this. “I don’t understand,” she said, walking toward the three of them now. “Who did this to you?”

“I did.” The voice came from behind Ara. She quickly turned now and backed away from the shadowy figure in the doorway.

Ji Hyo, Jong Kook, and Kwang Soo stood together in the center of that room, looking past Ara to the man who emerged from those shadows.

Kwang Soo’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “What? No way…”

It was Ji Suk Jin.

Until now, Jong Kook had only seen the three men whom had taken him. He’d had no idea that Suk Jin was behind this. He thought back on those files he had seen on the computer screen but couldn’t imagine how or why Suk Jin would be involved in what he had read.

Ji Hyo stared blankly at Suk Jin and then eyed the gun she had dropped on the floor.

Suk Jin raised his gun, pointing it directly at her. “Don’t move, Ji Hyo-yah,” he said.

Jong Kook stepped forward with his arms out at his sides, guarding Ji Hyo, Kwang Soo, and Ara behind him.

“Stop right there,” Suk Jin said, now pointing his gun at Jong Kook.

Kwang Soo stared in disbelief at Suk Jin. “What’s wrong with you, hyung? Why are you doing this?”

“You didn’t think I was capable of anything like this, did you?” Suk Jin asked. “That’s exactly why I’m doing this. You underestimate me.” Looking at the rest of them, he said, “All of you always underestimate me.”

Jong Kook tried to connect what he knew about Project 247 with what he was now hearing from Suk Jin, but the pieces didn’t fit.

Suk Jin, holding the gun with one hand, now reached into his suit jacket with the other, pulling out the flash drive that Jong Kook had downloaded the files onto. He held it up for them to see. “I knew the agency was on to me,” he said. “That’s why I hired those three goons.” He took a step closer to Jong Kook. “But I never thought it would be you that they’d catch.”

“I know about Project 247,” Jong Kook said. “I know about the pharmaceutical company and the drug they’re making.”

“What drug?” Ji Hyo quietly asked.

Jong Kook glanced behind him at Ji Hyo and then looked back at Suk Jin. “They’re making some drug to give to the idols,” Jong Kook said, still staring at Suk Jin. “Something that’ll mess with their glands and have them shooting off adrenaline all the time for energy, that way the company can overwork them as much as they want.” Jong Kook clenched his fists as he thought back on his days as a young singer and all the times that he had been sent to the hospital for exhaustion and malnutrition from the company treating him like a slave. “What I don’t understand is why you’re involved with that, hyung.”

Suk Jin sneered at him. “I told you why. You underestimate me. I’m a joke on Running Man. The weak link. The first one out.” His hands were shaking, the gun unwieldy.

Jong Kook and the others backed away, afraid that the gun might go off in his shaky hand.

“But I won’t be the joke anymore, not if I get that drug made,” Suk Jin said. “If I have all that adrenaline rushing through me, I’ll have the strength to take down even you, Jong Kook-ah.” He paused a moment, his eyes glassy as if he was about to cry. “For once, I’ll get the respect I deserve,” he softly said.

Camouflaged by the shadows and their black suits, Special Agents 11 and 12 had been standing in the dark doorway unseen by those in the room. They stepped out at that moment, their guns aimed at Suk Jin’s back. “Drop your weapon,” Special Agent 11 said.

Suk Jin, hearing the agents their weapons behind him, squeezed his eyes closed, letting loose a tear that streaked down his cheek.

“Oppa, please surrender,” Ji Hyo said, nearly crying now, too. “Don’t die for this.”

Suk Jin opened his eyes and looked up at her. He breathed in deeply and then slowly held his hands up. While Special Agent 11 kept his aim on Suk Jin, Special Agent 12 grabbed the gun out of Suk Jin’s hands and handcuffed him before dragging him out of there.

Special Agent 11 his earpiece, connecting him with the agency. “We got the three big ones handcuffed and the main target in custody now,” he said.

“Daebak,” Kwang Soo said. He looked at Jong Kook, Ji Hyo, and Ara, and then back at Special Agent 11. “Erm, how do I get to be an agent? Is there like… an initiation?”

Special Agent 11 smiled and adjusted his sunglasses. “I’m glad you’re interested,” he said, putting his arm around Kwang Soo. “Because now that you know about us, you only have two choices. You either join us or get surveilled for the rest of your life.”

“Looks like I’ll see you in training tomorrow,” Ara said, smiling at Kwang Soo.

When Special Agent 11, Kwang Soo, and Ara left the room, Ji Hyo turned to Jong Kook, nearly collapsing against his chest.

Jong Kook put his arms around her, holding her tightly as he breathed in the scent of her hair. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know any other woman who would’ve done what you just did to save me.”

“I love you,” she said, her face pressed against his chest.

“I love you, too,” he said. “And that’s why I decided I’m not going to do freelance work for them. This was my last mission.”

“I thought you enjoyed this work,” she said, looking up at him now.

“I thought I did, too, but after this… I just want to retire with you, just enjoy life.”

Ji Hyo leaned in to kiss him. “Then let’s go live our life,” she said. “And enjoy every minute of it.”