21st Century Goguryeo

January 19th, 2024, 18:00 (Russia time: 18:00)

11 kilometers southwest of Balaysi, Jabaikal, Russia

When the 7th East Corps, which had contacted the border sweep operations and had accomplished remarkable feats on the Northern Front, entered the Northwestern Front and defeated the 20th Guards Army and the 41st Army in the Central Military District, resulting in all Russian troops retreating to the western Onon River, the corps headquarters issued orders to all subordinate units to rest and reorganize at their current positions until further orders were given.

Accordingly, the 20th Armored Division (decisive battle), which was sweeping along the Unda River's water stream, set up a large-scale campsite on agricultural land in northern Bali, a small city with a population of 18,000, and began rest and reorganization.

Major General Kim Joo-myung, commander of the 20th Armored Division, even allowed them to go out under the platoon leader's command. As a result, all subordinate units of the division split into morning and afternoon groups and went to explore the city.

They went to the city's tourist attractions and shopped for their daily necessities, just like tourists. Normally, soldiers dispatched to the battlefield did not receive such preferential treatment, but this was an exception. The weather, on the other hand, was an issue.

Since a few days ago, the northeast wind of Siberia seemed to be strong, but today the wind was accompanied by a snowstorm, and as a result, snowfall increased over time. At night, white snow piled up to the height of adults' knees and covered the entire area. As a result, the soldiers' permission to leave had been revoked.

"No! It was our platoon's turn tomorrow morning... f**king weather!"

Staff Sergeant Yeom Hoon-gi, a gunner of 712 of the 7th Company of the 26th Tank Battalion of the 60th Armored Brigade, emerged from the barracks and cursed the sky.

Staff Sergeant Yeom Hoon-gi planned to go downtown tomorrow and eat whatever he wanted while admiring the beautiful Russian girls. Anyway, his plans were shattered when his trip was canceled due to the unexpected heavy snowfall. As a result, he ran out of the barracks like a crazy dog and screamed, "Nigiri F**k! How can this happen?"

"Hey! Stop barking like a dog! You're too loud!" Sergeant Kim Young-joo emerged from the four-man barracks, made a harsh remark, and screamed at him.

"Do I appear to be able to be quiet now?"

"If the company commander catches you, you'll be sent to military training college."

"I think the military training college would be better than here."

Staff Sergeant Yeom Hoon-gi entered the barracks, his face expressionless.

"You didn`t even do that when you were a private soldier. Are you behaving like this now that you're a non-commissioned officer? Corporal Kim will be ashamed because of you."

"Are you ashamed of me, Corporal Kim?"

"Haha, would that ever happen? I'm not ashamed of you at all." Corporal Kim Il-soo, who was preparing to go to the company restaurant to have his dinner, covered his mouth and replied with a smirk.

"Oh! I should have just gotten out of the military...I should not have applied for the position of non-commissioned officer. What is this?"

"Look at this child! Didn't you like it because they gave you a big salary? And now, if you add the war allowance and the life allowance, won't you be able to buy an apartment outside of Seoul after being discharged from the military?" Staff Sergeant Yeom Hoon-gi murmured

"That's not important right now. Going out! Going out tomorrow! Going out tomorrow is the most important thing right now."

"Hey! Due to the heavy snow, no one will be out tomorrow, so all stores will be closed. Even if you plan to go out tomorrow. You won't be able to do anything! Come on, you punk."

<Flapping>

Staff Sergeant Yeom Hoon-gi lay on the bed and covered his face with his sleeping bag.

"Hey! We should go to have our dinner!"

"I don't want to eat."

"Il-soo, it seems that he doesn't know what's on today's menu?"

"I think so. Sergeant Kim! Today's menu is braised kimchi pork."

"Huh? Braised pork with kimchi?"

Staff Sergeant Yeom Hoon-gi jumped up like a robot, put his beret in a lightning-like motion, and smiled.

"Child! Let's go eat!"

* * *

January 19, 2024, 20:00 (Latvia time: 13:00)

Latvian city

Second Vice Minister Kim Myung-hwan, who had only minor abrasions thanks to the protective suit he was wearing, was now resting after being treated by the accompanying medical personnel. The problem was with manager Lee Ja-sung's injuries.

Even though he wore a protective suit that could stop most large-calibre bullets, manager Lee Ja-sung's right shoulder bone was completely dislocated, and therefore he was taken to a large hospital nearby for emergency surgery.

Manager Lee Ja-sung, who was hospitalized again a few days after coming back alive from the brink of death in Tianjin, ended his surgery later than expected. It took a long time to locate not only the dislocation but also the shattered bone pieces and to reassemble them.

Due to his schedule in London, Second Vice Minister Kim Myung-hwan had to move to the outskirts accompanied by foreign ministry bodyguards and was secretly transferred to the CMV-100 Skybus by activating the TCS mode, while Team Leader Park Gi-oong remained to identify the assassins.

As a result, Team One was divided into two teams, one in charge of guarding the hospital and the other of leading the investigation.

During the investigation, they encountered a slightly strange situation. Despite the bomb explosion and the gunfight at the hotel, public broadcasters in Riga or Latvia reported that a fire broke out, resulting in several casualties. It was a ridiculous report, but they could guess it.

The assassins couldn't be behind Latvian media outlets.

Team Leader Park Gi-oong and Chief Kang Won-il, who had spent the entire morning investigating the hotel where the incident occurred and the building on the other side where the sniper was located, entered the cafe for lunch and some rest.

Team Leader Park Gi-oong and Chief Kang Won-il sat at a table by the window and discussed their investigation throughout the morning, after ordering a brunch set with an Americano from a cafe employee.

Despite the strange appearance and interference of the local police whenever they tried to investigate, they were able to find some important clues.

The first one was information about a front desk employee who turned a blind eye to the assassination in Room 1513, where the elderly couple stayed.

His name was John Halfdale and he was 42 years old. He was a regular employee who had been with the Radison Blue Regenne Hotel for 11 years. There was nothing out of the ordinary about him. However, security footage of the hotel lobby revealed that the assassins appeared around 2 a.m. in the middle of the night. They spoke to him for a considerable amount of time before they exchanged something.

When they zoomed in on the security footage, they were able to confirm that John Halfdale gave the assassins the room key in exchange for a bag. It wasn't particularly large, and it was assumed to be a bag full of money. Currently, Assistant Manager Yang Jung-suk and Chief Youn Gil-soo were in charge of John Halfdale.

Thereafter the man and woman who received the smart key of the room took the elevator, got off at the 12th floor, and entered room 1205.

In other words, the assassins stayed in Room 1205 until 5 a.m., took the elevator back to Room 1513, staged the kiss scene in the elevator, and then they used the smart key to enter the room where the old couple was staying.

The second one came from the building across the street where the sniper was stationed and shot manager Lee Ja-sung. According to the investigation, the adjacent building was an office-style structure. Among the offices, there was an office on the 18th floor where interior construction was in full swing.

Because construction was only done during the day, the door to that office was locked at night. However, the lock was broken when Team Leader Park Gi-oong and Chief Kang Won-il arrived. It was reasonable to assume that the sniper was staying there at the time of the shooting.

Therefore, they carefully searched the area for any evidence that the sniper might have left behind, but they couldn't find any.

The last one was to use pupil and fingerprint information to identify the two assassins who have become underworld figures. It may be delayed because they had currently handed over the two pieces of information to their home country and requested that they be identified. If the data with all of the information is already in the secured database, identifying the assassins would be much easier.

"When we will be able to get the information?" Team Leader Park Gi-oong asked while looking outside the window.

"It takes about a day to check in all existing databases."

"A day? It's too long. It's not like they'll check on their own; the computers will do all of the work."

"Team Leader! Don't be impatient."

"I'm not impatient, I'm just upset."

<Boom!>

Team leader Park Gi-oong put the coffee cup down harshly on the table, making a loud noise.

<'If I could only find those b*stards behind this. I'd show them what hell is.'> Team leader Park Gi-oong continued to mutter as he looked out the window. He kept looking out the window because among the vehicles parked on the road, an SUV with dark tinted windows was looking especially suspicious because usually when someone parks their car, they should come out. However, no one got out of the SUV for the entire time he was watching.

"Is something there?" Chief Kang Won-il turned to look outside the window.

"Chief Kang, Don't look at them; instead, pretend to use the restroom and exit through the back door to check the fourth SUV!"

"Yes, I will."

Chief Kang Won-il stood up from his chair as soon as he answered and asked the staff for the restroom location. He pretended to walk toward it, then exited through the back door. Soon after, he put on his shield glasses and examined the SUV pointed out by Team Leader Park Gi-oong.

Since the shield glasses was switched to the inverter mode, he could easily see through the dark tinting and checked the inside of the car.

<'Oh! Is there a total of four people inside? I can see the pistols in their holsters under their back waist and left armpit.'>

<'These punks got caught!'>

"Team leader! There are four people and all armed with pistols."

"Really? Well, they could be local police officers, so keep looking!"

"Yes, I will."

After completing the communication, Chief Kang Won-il scanned the bodies of those in the car one at a time.

If they were cops, they should have a metallic police badge inside their wallets or pockets. However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find any. It was likely that they were not cops.

"Team leader! I don't believe they're cops. I couldn't find any badges indicating their identity, no matter how hard I looked."

"Okay! Get the car number and come back in as naturally as possible!"

"Will we leave them?"

"What do you mean? We'll track them down and figure out who's behind them and what they are up to!"

"Ah! Okay. I'll come in."

After a while, Chief Kang Won-il returned to the table and sat down, pretending to dry his hands with tissues as if he had gone to the restroom.

"Let's leave in 10 minutes and go to the taxi stand. We'll be taking different taxis. You'll go to the hotel, while I'll go anywhere. Let's see who they're following, and whoever they're not following, let's follow them instead!"

"Well, that's a good idea."

"If they follow your taxi, just go to the hotel and rest!"

"What if they follow you?"

"I'll go around the city before heading to the hotel. Then, you should get the taxi to turn around and follow the SUV!"

"Okay."

Team Leader Park Gi-oong, who set up a simple operation, and Chief Kang Won-il intentionally continued their brunch pretending to be relaxed.