Chapter 61 - Strategies

I was glad the others hadn't been allowed to come along when I was pushed into a military van without a word. I knew they would have freaked out over how they were simply going to ride a damn car – something that had been a bad sign, an absolute no-go, for the past six years now. I on the other hand was used to being driven around to my next mission and everything.

It was relaxing to just look out of the window as the dark landscape rushed past me. With the uniformed man and woman from the inspection right by my side and my hands cuffed. Yeah, so relaxing, I thought with a suppressed huff, keep your sentimental together.

I was wondering how the others were dealing with the revelation of me being a spy, Wonho and Minhyuk aside nobody had known about that after all. Would they drop me? Would they not trust me anymore? I thought of Minhyuk's scared eyes and how they had stared back at me. How he had tried to run after me. How he had caused havoc instead of remaining silent because he didn't want me to be dragged away from them. A proud smile raised the corners of my lips. He hadn't abandoned me. And as long as I had that confirmed I didn't need much else. One person is enough to hold on to.

The car slowed down after some time and I found myself in a big city I concluded to be Ulsan. The buildings around us were rather tall and I was led across a big plaza into one of the broader buildings. The interior had the familiar layout of a police station and I frowned when I was brought to one of the closest cells.

“E-excuse me”, I started in irritation but the man behind me just raised a brow.

“You go in there.”

“But I-”

“You will wait, spy”, he growled dangerously low and I groaned in frustration as the door was locked behind me again. The woman and the man then left me alone with a guard sitting behind some nearby desk and silence wrapped around us. Great. There was a small window near my cell and I could see the lights of the city at night like hundreds of fireflies.

What were the others doing right now? Had they already reached Ulsan? Had they started arguing because of me? Where would they sleep? How was Minhyuk doing? I figured I couldn't get an answer to my questions and squatted down with a groan. Why did I have to bring all the guns? If I had made it past the inspection first getting the information across would have been no problem but as things were now... You're not dead, that's better than nothing, don't you think?

My stomach growled loudly as if to warn me I would be dead if I didn't eat anything and I caught the gaze of my guard with my lips pressed together. “Hungry?”, he asked with a voice that was softer than expected and I nodded in resignation. What did I have to lose anyway?

“Yes. You have food?”

The guy stood up and walked into the small kitchen next door only to come back with a bowl of gruel. “Only this. Eat up.” It looked weird, gray and sticky but my stomach didn't care. It wanted food. And food it would get. I raised my gaze to look at the guard who was still crouching on the other side of the cell. His light brown hair was a little bit too long, it almost covered his friendly dark eyes and I was sure he was still pretty young. He looked curious. “What's your name?”

I furrowed my brows, filtering the English words through his heavy American accent. “Hyungwon. Chae Hyungwon. You?”

“I'm Eric. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, uh. Yes. Nice...to...”

“Nice to meet you too?”, he finished my sentence with a smile and I nodded, scolding myself for not paying more attention to Jooheon's use of grammar and vocabulary yet again. Eric gestured towards the bowl in my hands. “Is it good?”

“Okay”, I mumbled between two bites. It didn't taste any special but it helped a lot with my hunger so I couldn't complain. Let's say I ate gruel worse than this before. “How long...I stay here?”

The young man thought for a moment. “Not sure. One day tops? Not too long.” A whole day? I had to find the others again, Minhyuk had to be worried sick. My fingers clenched around the small bowl and I swallowed hard. Eric seemed to notice. “Why? Is there a problem?”

“My friends”, I explained quietly while going through my imaginary vocabulary list. “I come with six friends. They worry now. I am sorry.”

“Oh, so you arrived here with six others? You were seven people?”, Eric repeated with big gestures to make sure I could follow and I nodded. “You're right, they must be worried! You came today?” Another nod. “What are their names? Your friends' names?”

“Minhyuk”, I replied on the spot, putting down my emptied bowl and swallowing the last bite. “Jooheon, Kihyun, Shownu, Changkyun and Won...ho...” Why did I keep calling him Wonho if I knew his name was Shin Hoseok? I should have asked about what to call him when I had the chance to, I thought with another sigh. I looked at the overcharged guy in front of me and my lips in a hurry. “Minhyuk. Lee Minhyuk. White hair. Very white.”

“Minhyuk”, Eric repeated as though he was making a mental note and then nodded. “I'll tell you if I hear something. But there's a lot of people coming here so don't get your hopes up too high.” I blinked rapidly, only getting 'but's and some verbs, but my opponent didn't seem to mind as he kept talking on and on without even stopping to breathe. I guessed that he had been bored to death until I arrived.

I looked at my hands that were chained by the silver handcuffs and revived the image of Minhyuk trying to run after me as though he would fight an army to get to me. A warm smile spread on my face. Maybe he actually would. I just couldn't get that short scene out of my mind. It looked like no matter what obstacle he was confronted with he was determined to overcome it – me being a spy, me running away, me not listening to him, me being taken away by American soldiers. He would still be there. Suddenly, I wanted to see him just to thank him for these things. Why did we always have to get separated by force for me to realize how dear he had grown to me? I wanted him near me. I wanted to tell him so many things. I wanted him to tell me it's okay. I wanted to say the same to him. Just once more.

“Hey, Hyung...Hyung...”

“Hyungwon”, I helped Eric absentmindedly and his hand reached through the bars to retrieve the bowl I had emptied before.

“Right, Hyungwon. You look happy. Weird, considering your situation. What are you thinking about?”

I blinked and fumbled with my words for a moment before simply resting my head on my drawn-up knees. “Minhyuk. I...I want see him.”

“He's quite important, huh?” I nodded carefully and Eric muttered a few more words to himself, then got up to go back to his desk with a frown. “You should sleep”, he said, beginning to type in stuff on his computer. A real computer that wasn't just connected to the intranet, who would have guessed I'd get to see one again? Sleep? He sounded pretty focused all of a sudden, had I said something wrong?

A few more words I didn't understand could be heard and Eric looked up with a reassuring smile, hinting that they were meant to be comforting. Doesn't look like it. I just nodded and leaned against the wall behind me with a sigh. There wasn't anything I could do anyway, why not sleep? I closed my eyes and hoped for a good outcome. What if they didn't believe me? Would I die without seeing the others again? If I had been oblivious to death before it was now a horror scenario. I wanted to see them all again, couldn't wait to get rid of the tight handcuffs around my wrists. So I kept hoping for everything to go well. And for Minhyuk to be safe. Of course.

I started awake upon hearing the sound of heavy boots trudging into the police station and got to my feet in a hurry blinking the sleep out of my eyes. A tan dark-haired woman, definitely not the same as the day before, came to talk to Eric for a moment until they walked over to me and unlocked the cell. Eric gave me a reassuring smile. “Don't be scared. It's just some normal procedure.” Again I could only guess what he meant and followed quietly – not that I was given much of a choice.

Getting into another car. Riding for five minutes while trying to understand what the woman was saying to Eric to make him laugh loudly. Being led into another building with my hands still cuffed. The former city hall, as I could decipher from the sign on the outside. It was early in the morning.

The woman exchanged a few words with another one standing behind the counter, definitely someone of Asian origin. My hopes increased concerning this new person and I forced myself to keep calm staring at her from relaxed eyes when she rounded the counter to give me a slight bow of her head. “Hello.”

Korean. I held back a sigh of relief and smiled at her. “Hello, my name is Chae Hyungwon. I've got information regarding-”

“Mister Chae Hyungwon, we will bring you to the person in charge first, please refrain from stating your problem, I'll only be your interpreter in this matter. My name is Amy Lee.” I was quick to shut my mouth and bow my head in return. I didn't think hearing someone talk in Korean would be this relieving, I definitely had to work on my English skills once the time was right. An interpreter increased my chances of being believed immensely and my heart felt a little lighter.

I was then pushed forward as Amy Lee led the way. Up the stairs, down the corridor, left, right, third door to the left. A big desk, several bookshelves, some chairs and a big window were all you could see when entering the office of medium size. Behind the desk, a beefy man with short blond hair – natural blond unlike Wonho – was sitting in his army uniform and he muttered something incomprehensible in English upon which Eric and the nameless woman left, leaving me with him and Amy Lee. Let's call her Amy to keep it shorter.

He hadn't said anything to me so far but I was already beginning to shiver. He had the same intimidating aura as my former general, the mere thought of him giving me goosebumps. We've got the young lady here, I reminded myself swallowing heavily, you'll be alright. You're strong enough now anyway.

Amy told the man my name, at least that's all I understood, before he leaned his elbows on his desk, mumbling something in return. “He would like to know how you got to possess all the guns your inspectors found.”

I stood up straight and folded my cuffed hands in front of my body as if to report something to my superiors by reflex and cleared my throat. “I was a spy of the Chinese army for a little more than four years. They trusted me and I was good at my job, so I got to reach a high rank that allowed me to borrow several weapons from nearby arsenals for all kinds of missions. Thinking I was undercover for the past months they let me borrow weapons I then stored at my friends' house without them knowing. We decided to come d