Chapter 46 – Two out of forty

There once lived a young man, some might even have called him a boy, who wanted to get his revenge for what the world had done to him.

He was void of all human feeling. He never laughed. He never cried. All he did was follow the orders he was given without ever looking back at all the lives he ruined on his way.

He was mysterious. Nobody knew how he worked or what his usual patterns were.

He was anonymous. Most people didn't know what he looked like, so they started using a nickname they had picked up on.

He was the one they called turtle.

I was moving quickly, eyes fixed on the tower's main entrance while my fingers slowly let go of the walkie talkie in my pocket. This is it. You did similar stuff before, it's not that hard, I kept repeating in my head like a mantra. Another look at the whole building, another glance over my shoulder. And then I focused on the first uniformed man I could spot, walking up to him.

He saw me from afar and I could see how his stance got defensive but I raised my hands as if to surrender, not slowing down until he was within earshot. Chinese. Remember that. “I've got bad news for you.” Several Chinese sentences shot through my mind but I kept my cool and put on my mask, slipping back into the cold-hearted mode I had been so used to for a long time.

“Who the are you?”, the guard replied in horribly impolite Chinese and I suppressed the urge to purse my lips when he pointed his rifle at me.

“Spy”, I just replied, opening my jacket and raising my shirt to reveal the numeric code on my side. “Now listen, this is urgent.”

“What's going on here?”, another guy joined our conversation and I turned to him in a hurry, maintaining my serious face.

“There's a revolt planned.”

“A revolt? Yeah, right-”, the first guy mumbled but the second interrupted him with a raise of his hand.

“What was that?”

“You heard me”, I hissed, clenching my fists instead of crossing my arms. I couldn't show dumb and dumber that I was annoyed with them. “They're already around, we have about thirty minutes until chaos breaks out. Now let me in, please. I need to see the cameras.”

The two guards exchanged a longer look before they told me to follow them into the building. They didn't ask what was inside my bag, only shot it several mistrusting looks. As long as they didn't ask, I wouldn't tell them I had weapons on me. Always remain mysterious and anonymous. I was led through several corridors on different levels until we reached the third level where a few screens were showing me different views of what was going on on the in- and outside – which wasn't much. Yet.

The plans Kwangsu had shown me of the building had been right and I could tell the broadcasting room was only one level higher from where I was at that moment, calmness spreading in my chest. It was much easier to infiltrate a building when people thought you were on their side from the start.

Well, more or less. A man looked up from a nearby computer with a frown while the guards that had accompanied me took off their helmets. “What's going on, who is that?”

“I am-”

“This kid said there's a revolt planned”, guard number one interrupted me, causing the one at the computer to raise his brows.

“Really? That would explain the weird noises we heard earlier. How do you know?”

I stepped forward and sighed when guard one let out a low growl. “I'm a spy on outdoor use, I report whenever there is something to report and I picked up on this only today. My number is zero four one three nine four.”

“Are you one hundred percent sure this is real?”

I nodded, hands clasped behind my straightened back. “I'm usually staying in a city near Shŏu'ĕr where I have many connections. One of my acquaintances told me about this revolt, asking me to join. I played along and they told me everything. It wasn't that hard, I can change the plan in the blink of an eye but I'll need your compliance.”

Shŏu'ĕr was the Chinese version of Seoul; took me three months to get that into my head because it sounded so weird. I snorted at the memory of how mad my instructor was at me for still calling it Seoul during my fourth class. I hated that guy-

The computer guy furrowed his brows. “What a strange story.” He doesn't believe me. “Do you have actual proof of this or are you ing with us?”

“I'm not ing with you”, I replied, fishing for the walkie talkie in my pocket and showing it to all three of them. “This is all it takes to change their plan. I'm part of the inner circle.”

“Inner circle? As if you'd get in that easily.” The two guards behind me got defensive and I turned around with a groan.

“Did you ever deal with spies before? This is routine work, I can enter any revolutionary group I want to because I'm of Korean origin. As I know how to fight well I'm gladly accepted into any inner circle. Calm your and let me do my job. Those organisations are never really organized, getting in is a no-brainer.”

“Let's suppose you're right about this”, the computer guy brought us back to the main point, standing up. “How many people are involved?”

I clenched my teeth. “I have no exact number.” I really didn't. “Around thirty, maybe forty. But they have few to no combat skills, they're easy prey. They do have guns though. How many guards do you have?”

“Like, twenty? Twenty-five tops.”

“That's fine”, I replied in an instant, trying not to sigh in relief. Only about twenty. I could take them out myself if I had enough time to plan but I didn't so I had to stick to my plan. “They wanted to lure everyone towards the main entrance so that they could get in through the backdoor.”

“Of course it had to be the back door. Idiots”, guard two said while guard one kept shaking his head.

“Still we need proof of your word.”

I knew they'd do this. I showed them the walkie talkie again. “Since I've got their trust, I might as well send them new orders. I'll get them to the east gate where you'll put a quick end to this. Any objections? Of course you can still guard the back if you don't even believe those who are on your side.”

The three guys exchanged a few glances before agreeing with slow nods and I smirked, raising the walkie talkie to my mouth. They wouldn't suspect the west gate as I had pointed out all the other entrances. They had taken the bait. “Do you know Korean?”

The computer guy made a face. “More or less.”

“Then listen closely.” I pressed a small button on the device and kept my eyes fixed on him as I rounded a table to stand at the screens showing the camera footage. “This is the main base. Do you hear me? Confirm.”

A few seconds passed until the familiar crackling noise was back. “A, listening.”

“B, listening.”

“C and D got together as planned. Listening.”

I tore my eyes away from the guards to look at the various screens. “Good. Now, there is a change of plan. Our observations were flawed. I rounded the building again and there's too many guards at the back. It's like Haechan said, they're suspecting something.”

A longer silence spread and I figured nobody would confirm they had understood what I was saying so I just kept talking. Rookies. “We'll go for the east gate instead. I don't know why but there are almost no guards there. I could spot only one there while all the other entrances had three or four.” I glanced at the computer guy who had narrowed his eyes at me but I just stared back. “Did you get that?”

He swallowed and gave me a slow nod while the walkie talkie came to life again. “Bases C and D. Confirmed. The...the east gate, yeah?”

I smiled and nodded in satisfaction. “Right. You know what I told you before, right? Do exactly as I told you to.” Because I told you to go with the original plan.

Yoongi's voice could be heard again and I could tell he was nervous. “Of course, we remember crystal clear. Just like you said. Going in in ten minutes.”

“Base A. Understood. We'll get ready.”

“Base B. Copy that.”

“Alright. Proceed. I'm out.” I glanced at the computer guy again and gave him a firm nod before releasing the walkie talkie's button and switching it off for the moment. Ten minutes left. This was okay.

The computer guy chewed on his bottom lip for a while, then looked at the two guards who were looking out of place as they hadn't understood a word. “Go gather the guards. One for the west gate, two each at the main entrance and back door and the rest goes to the east gate. We can't let those peasants take over a radio station of this scale.” They nodded and took off in a hurry, leaving me alone with the assumed brain of the tower.

I glanced around with a sigh, walking up to the computer that was logged into the Chinese intranet. I could see a warning field blink but didn't dare clicking on it so I turned towards the other guy with a raised brow. “There's an emergency notice. What's going on?”

He drew patterns on the nearby table, his jaw tensed as he took a deep breath. “America. They couldn't settle on an agreement with us. It's a war notice.”

I gasped with my eyes widening as though this was completely new to me. “Agreement? War? When did all this happen?”

The computer guy furrowed his brows before realization hit him. “How long were you undercover?”

I showed him several signs of nervousness to appear genuine. “A-about one month and a half.”

“So that's it. Yeah, went down for a couple weeks now. We're going to war in a few days.” A few days? . I had to get back to Monsta X, they needed to know. There would be more cars in the area to look for new soldiers and they mustn't leave the house if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Changkyun, Kihyun, Wonho, Shownu, Jooheon...Minhyuk. I couldn't let either of them run into a bunch of officers.

“That's...”, I muttered to give the other guy a reaction and he nodded, scrunching up his nose.

We remained silent for several minutes and I watched as the guards regrouped at the east gate, their black uniforms forming a contrast with the white walls. They entered the camera screens and left again, hurrying towards their new position and I smirked. Like brainless ants.

“You know”, the computer guy started again, standing next to me with his arms crossed. “I couldn't help mistrusting you but you really are on our side, huh? How does it feel, telling on your own people? B