Empire of the Ring

At night, Youngho and Jongil with masks on their heads sneaked into Risaralda's apartment through the open balcony. Using the leather shoes, they could easily climb up to the third floor.

On the bed, half-naked Tevez and Risaralda were asleep. The two quickly tied them up and covered their mouths. Leaving Risaralda on her bed, they dragged Tevez into the living room.

In order to intimidate him, they started beating him without words. Tevez cried in pain when they hit his thighs with a revolver handle and pushed on a pressure point. They continued on torturing him more for the next five minutes, Tevez' eyes rolled as if he was going to pass out.

"Where is Edward?"

Although Tevez was a fluent English speaker, he pretended like he did not understand a thing Youngho was saying. Since he was also an agent, he was trained to be resistant in tortures. However, his behavior only brought more beating from the two.

***

Edward was locked in Tevez's private safe house in Bogota's downtown.

His was in such terrible shape that it was unbearable to see. His face was unrecognizable from swells, bruises, and blood. To prevent him from running away, Tevez had fractured his legs which were swollen so much. His occasional groaning was the only proof that he was still alive.

"Edward."

Youngho shook his body carefully.

"Lee?"

He recognized Youngho immediately.

"Can you breathe well?"

Youngho asked because Edward's breath was irregular. As if it was difficult for him to even speak, he blinked his eyes to answer the question. The two exchanged a look without saying words.

Youngho contacted the U.S. Embassy to transfer him to a hospital right away. He was taken to the hospital on a near US Army's base.

The embassy was shocked by the incident. Although Edward's true identity was an agent, his official identity in Panama was a US diplomat. The news of a US diplomat based in Panama was abducted and beaten up while visiting Colombia was a serious issue that could affect the relations between the two countries. The Colombian government was also startled upon hearing the news.

Youngho and Jongil, who were the ones that saved Edward, did not show their identities but let the embassy took care of the matter. It was not their place to show up since the CIA's Central and Southern American branch was involved in the middle.

If they revealed who they were, the Central and Southern American branch would be dishonored and this could trigger a bigger conflict between them and the European chapter. They should leave the credit to the regional CIA's branch.

Normally, agents could not be praised for their achievements if they hurt the organization's pride. The whole group was more important than the individual agents. They were like shadows working behind the scenes.

Youngho and Jongil were only visiting Colombia for a vacation.

***

The regional CIA branch took Tevez in without exposing his involvement in the recent abduction. It was because there was still a lot to hear from Tevez about Colombian government and agency, and moreover, there must be someone inside the CIA who had a connection with. Although Tevez still saved his life, his life was not his own anymore.

Edward's abduction turned out to be Tevez's independent doing. He confessed that he had lured Edward with an arms deal. However, there was still a mystery in his confession.

Edward would not agree to do an arms deal with anyone if he was not assigned by the CIA. This meant that Tevez had a connection with the arms deal agent whom he previously had a deal with. However, the one who called Edward for an arms deal was not alive anymore. He was taken down and buried after he did his part of contacting Edward for a meeting.

Tevez's purpose for taking Edward was to get the commissions he earned from arms deals, but even if a weak agent could not have followed some easily even if he was threatened at gunpoint. There must have been supporters who helped Tevez to subdue Edward.

The abduction of Edward left a bunch of mysteries to Youngho. There must be an insider in the CIA who leaked the information about Edward but he could not see why. Could it be that there were power struggles inside the CIA's Central and Southern American chapter and Edward was targeted for removal by an opposing force?

Since Edward was alive and Youngho and Jongil had done their part, they were not allowed to investigate upon the case anymore. Youngho finished his official work by sending a brief report to Michael and went out to shop for Zenep's gift.

Jongil was busy taking care of Risaralda.

Now that Tevez was gone, Jongil helped her sell the apartment and distribute some of Tevez's money to her. Because of Youngho and Jongil, Risaralda and her family members had lost the source of money to support their lives. Feeling guilty, Jongil was going to give her enough for her college and to support her family.

Since the two were the ones who caught Tevez, they were given the permission to distribute his money and properties. Because they were not officially sent by the CIA, they could not make commission from the trip. So, they also took some for their portions, Edward's portion for compensation for the beating, and Risaralda's portion. They did not touch any properties belonged to Tevez's family. What they were distributing were his hidden properties.

His hidden wealth summed up to millions of dollars. It was not a hard job to get the signature from imprisoned Tevez.

When they took care of all of his properties and left Colombia, Risaralda came out to say goodbye to Jongil. She cried in his arms at the airport in appreciation.

Youngho was glad that he had seized another weakness of Jongil in front of his dear wife, Karajan.

***

From this incident, Youngho learned why agents should be secretive even to his comrades since others can sell the information about him for their own benefits. In easy words, he could not trust anyone except for himself. Edward must have trusted an insider and told about his recent arms deals, just like when he exposed Youngho's identity to Tracy of the Lincy Foundation. Although Youngho liked Edward as a friend, he was not a great agent.

Apart from his friendship to Michael, Youngho decided not to share any unnecessary information with him from now on, especially if it was a controversial matter because it could come back to get him like a boomerang in the future.

"What are you thinking? You haven't had any food or drink since you got on the plane. Is anything bothering you?"

Noticing Youngho's unusual behaviors, Jongil asked.

"It's nothing but… I just have a lot of thoughts after seeing what happened to Edward."

They spoke for hours before they landed in Frankfurt. Jongil also agreed on many things that Youngho felt like as an agent and shared his ideas to survive as agents in the CIA's power struggles.

***

"You two! You are my heroes!"

Chief Michael praised the two's work as he patted on their shoulders.

Since they had done what other agents in the region could not do, Michael was proud in front of other high-rankers of the CIA.

Youngho only wrote brief notes on the report he sent but to experts, it was a difficult mission like finding a needle in the desert. Not knowing Youngho and Edward's arms deals, anybody would have thought the same.

Michael's heart was warmed to think that if any agents went missing from now on, the European chapter would be the one to find him upon the request of the headquarters.

"Chief, don't you ever send us to anywhere to find other missing agents. We've gone through such troubles this time in the jungles in the mountains."

"What? You've rescued a person in Bogota's downtown. What mountains are you talking about?"

"We met up with the rebels to find out about Edward's enemy. We couldn't have found out anything if we didn't meet them."

"Those Central and Southern American agents can't even think of something like that. Some of the unqualified high-rankers who were only hired for their connections would be sent back to the headquarters soon. They're not even decent workers but they're just mimicking politics in the agency."

Michael's complaints were bursting out from his mouth.

He was only telling such stories to Youngho since he trusted him but he didn't know that he was leaking information about the high-rankers of the headquarters.

***

It was boisterous on the third floor of the Zeynep Wine's sales, where Yunsuh and Sangchun's family now lived. Jongil had given an emerald that he bought in Colombia with his savings.

"Jongil oppa. I wasn't harsh on you because I wanted something like this from you, but since you already bought it for me, I'll take it. Don't ever do anything like this for me from now on."

Yunsuh was obviously saying words she did not mean.

"Yunsuh, if you really think that I'm your brother, you should totally forget about my past. I can't live under pressure, you know."

"Alright, oppa. I'll never mention about you making some girls cry ever, but I still have friends who are single. They always give me stress when they talk about you."

Sangchun interrupted Yunsuh.

"Honey, please! You've got to stop giving him a hard time because of the past."

"What? Forget about the past? Do you know how many notes with your signature on I have? They say you won't drink anymore but you never kept your promises!"

"My notes and what Jongil did are completely different matters. He's done a horrible thing but I only had a few drinks to myself."

"Dude, are you trying to help or what? We've been talking and resolving things without you. Stop interrupting and get off!"

As they already had some drinks, they were enjoying their time together. Youngho was thinking that moments like this was the purpose his life.

Ever since Youngho became an agent, his life started to unravel.

Meeting Edward was the turning point of his life. Back then, he had to come to find opportunities in the Caucasus because he was about to sell his family's house if he did not receive any order soon. He was mistaken and beaten up by the militia but that became an opportunity and starting point for his new life.

To Youngho, Edward meant a lot. If it was not him, he could not have started his farm well.

After saving Edward who was his savior when he was weak, Youngho sent a million dollars to him, so that he could use it for hospitalization and re-establish his life. It was like Youngho just paid off the debt that had been on his mind for a long time, although everything was Tevez's money.

Since they received Risaralda's help, he gave her enough tuition till her graduation and living costs for her family. The rest of the money, which was 500,000 dollars, was given to Jongil. The emerald he got for Yunsuh was bought with Tevez's money.

Feeling satisfied that he took care of everything well, Youngho smiled.