Covert Chapter 9

Sungjae~
 

He was so quiet. Every action of his was made with least amount of sound possible. It made sense that he was skilled at making his movements unheard, but to be that quiet in daily life was puzzling. Despite the fact that he held a gun to my face minutes prior, he placed a cup of hot coffee in front of me as a means of displaying hospitality.

Since I had no information at all regarding his identity or background, I scanned his residence to see if I could ascertain anything. His industrialized loft was devoid of any personal effects, for there wasn’t a single picture frame in sight. I quickly glanced above to the upstairs bedroom. The glass walls enabled me to see through the bedroom. Everything was perfectly in place and neat, however there was an undeniable dreariness and hollowness to the place. The blackout curtains were pulled to the sides of the window, allowing in light to fill the otherwise dim loft. I could see that he enjoyed his strong liquor as a steel cart held a wide array of liquor beside the kitchen entrance. I couldn’t figure him out. I turned toward the man.

“You know a lot about me. But I don’t know a single thing about you. BoGum told me that you’re a former NIS agent, yet there’s no record of you anywhere. Who are you?” I tapped my thumb over my hand, filled with curiosity as to who this man could be. Who was he? Why was he nonexistent in the federal database?

“Your occupational habit is peeking through. Federal agents maintain their sense of superiority amongst others due to all the background checks they run. I bet you were disappointed when you couldn’t find anything about me,” The corner of his lips twitched upward. The fact that I had no information about him irked me, because it felt like walking into a precarious situation with blindfolds on. How could I know whether to trust him or not? “All you need to know is that I won’t harm you while helping you find SoHyun.” His slyness was quickly replaced with a sense of honesty. His words were believable.

“Fine, let’s say that I believe you. But why should I trust you?” With SoHyun’s life at stake, I couldn’t risk anything.

“Because you can trust in knowing that I want the same thing you do, which is for SoHyun to come back alive.” His words made me recall my earlier conversation with BoGum in front of the elevators. SoHyun and SungHoon were engaged in the past. It was evident to me that SungHoon still cared for her. I briefed him on the case that I speculated SoHyun was working on. The case was classified so there was no exact way to know for sure.

“Park SoYoon. After you gather every piece of information about that person, come back to me and I’ll fill in the details.” I made a mental note of the name and was about to ask him another question when the door opened. Stealthily, SungHoon stood up and aimed a gun to the man’s head. Somehow his defensiveness didn’t surprise me, for it seemed to be engrained within him.

“Don’t shoot! It’s me! I’m here to drop off your stuff!” I immediately got up from the chair when I realized that the deliveryman was none other than Jung IlHoon himself. He swore under his breath, threw the metal briefcase onto the couch and was about to run out of the house when SungHoon said something to him.

“I only told you to use the code if I’m not home. Are you really that dense for a delivery boy?”

“I would appreciate it if you weren’t so dismissive towards the delivery boy. After all, if it weren’t for my deliveries you would be dying a very painful and slow death right now.” IlHoon expressed his spite toward SungHoon, and then his words piqued my inquisitiveness.

“Need I remind you I can lodge a bullet into your head without an ounce of remorse, so if you want to continue being a delivery boy watch your words.”

“You sick bastard.” IlHoon muttered under his breath before walking out the door. Everything happened too quickly for me to get a grip. There was definitely a connection between those two. 

It was my third night sleeping on the couch of my office. I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t handle being home without knowing what was going on with her. MinHyuk visited me in my office and his expression fell when he saw the blanket folded on the sofa. He shook his head as he pointed at my blazer, which I was using to cover up yesterday’s shirt underneath.

“How do you profile someone?” I asked MinHyuk, who handed me a cup of black coffee.

“Bio, social, and psycho. Those are the three aspects we l