Chapter 91

He gripped Elina’s hand tightly as she was about to pull the trigger.

It must have been incredibly painful, yet Elina’s eyes were hollow, as if her soul had already fled.

Her hand went slack, and their eyes met—slowly, up close.

“Ah… so you want this too?”

Rip.

He abruptly tore her dress.

Her upper body was exposed.

He turned his head away, but Elina suddenly grabbed Jang Bokdong’s other hand—the one not holding the pistol—and pressed it to her bare chest.

“Do whatever you want. I’ll give you everything. But in return, just make me one promise.”

Drip.

A sliver of soul seemed to still remain in her empty eyes.

A tear slid down her cheek, and she exuded a faint chill, like someone waiting to die.

“You have to kill me…”

She didn’t even sob.

She just squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing her sorrow.

“No. After I confirm things, I’m sending you back.”

He yanked his hand away and took the pistol.

At that, Elina lunged at him.

“No! Absolutely not!”

Like a starving hyena, she clawed for the pistol with obsessive persistence.

He did his best to hold her back, but Elina’s desperate, life-or-death struggle finally forced Jang Bokdong to shove her away.

“Agh!”

Sent flying by the powerful push, Elina collapsed limply onto the sofa.

Then, in a completely hoarse voice, she sobbed as she spoke.

“Kill me… Please, kill me… I don’t want to go to Makdu Habah… I don’t want to go to that bastard…”

Nearly naked in her torn dress, she no longer tried to cover herself.

Like someone who had given up on everything, she just cried endlessly.

Swoosh.

Jang Bokdong draped his shirt over her exposed torso.

He sat down beside her as she continued to cry, not even looking at him.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

= = =

The team members entered the barracks, their boisterous voices arriving before they did.

“Captain! We’ve confirmed the…”

The first sight that greeted them was Elina, wearing what looked like Jang Bokdong’s shirt.

Every team member who’d piled in stared at Jang Bokdong and Elina with dumbfounded expressions.

“Captain?”

“Right, what happened? Let’s hear the report.”

Seeing Jang Bokdong acting strangely—almost cheerful, unlike his usual self—Mike asked with narrowed eyes.

“Have you been drinking? Your face looks a little redder than usual…”

“Stop talking nonsense and give me the report.”

“It’s just as Elina said. Her mother passed away recently… But why is Elina wearing your shirt, Captain…”

Elina suddenly grinned, her expression brightening as she asked Jang Bokdong,

“So, I can sleep here for a while, right?”

The direction she pointed was none other than Jang Bokdong’s room.

“Captain!?”

“Hee hee.”

Most of the team members were still staring in shock as Elina dashed into Jang Bokdong’s room like a tomboy.

“Hoo, nothing happened. Don’t get the wrong idea. I’ll explain later. Just report.”

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Jang Bokdong forcibly herded his teasing, playful team members out of the barracks.

= = =

“So Elina’s mother came back as a corpse?”

Matching Jang Bokdong’s grave expression, everyone else’s face turned grim.

“Yes, sir. It took exactly two days after she joined the Qudus Army.”

“The reason?”

“They said they don’t know for sure, but there are some suspicious circumstances.”

“What are they?”

“Apparently, Makdu Habah’s son tried really hard to woo Elina. She turned him down every time.”

“So that’s how it was…”

“But you know what’s really funny?”

Mike continued, sounding excited.

“Makdu Habah, who’s over sixty, also proposed to Elina. Isn’t that insane?”

For Elina, who had just become an adult, it was an absurd proposition.

“So what did Elina do?”

“She refused, of course. But you know how it is. That village is under the Qudus Army’s jurisdiction. How could she refuse an order from the Qudus Army’s commander?”

“She must have given in eventually.”

“No, sir, she didn’t. And that’s how things ended up like this.”

The pieces clicked into place in his head.

“So that’s what happened.”

He immediately understood why Elina hated Makdu Habah so much—why she had asked him to kill her.

But there was one part he still didn’t understand.

“But was there a need to kill her? A commander should know that would be counterproductive.”

“Turns out, you know the commander’s son who was courting Elina? There’s a rumor he had her quietly eliminated without the commander’s knowledge. That’s also why the villagers have been shunning Elina. They think Makdu Habah’s son sent an assassin.”

“A case where a beautiful face became a curse, not a blessing.”

Elina’s life—just as it was beginning—seemed like nothing but tragedy.

If she’d been born in South Korea, her looks would’ve brought her countless things, but because she was from a different country, her life had been thrown straight into the abyss.

“What are you going to do? She’s safe here since assassins can’t get in, but…”

Mike’s brow furrowed.

“It’s going to be hard to explain.”

Outside the barracks were American soldiers and the mercenaries they had hired.

“They won’t search our barracks, but if they do a surprise inspection, we’ll have no way to explain this.”

“You’re right. Just bringing Elina here, when she might be tied to the Qudus Army, is a breach of contract.”

“Are you… thinking of sending her back? Elina… she’ll be killed the moment she leaves here.”

“That’s what I find strange. Was there really a need to kill her? Even after they’ve seized power?”

“If he thinks his relationship with his father was ruined because of Elina, he might.”

That alone wasn’t enough reason to kill.

If the son had truly broken with his father to get what he wanted, he would’ve tried to take Elina by force—not send an assassin to kill her in the middle of a war.

Jang Bokdong’s eyes shifted toward the room.

It was then.

Knock, knock, knock.

“…?!”

At the knock on the door from outside, everyone in the barracks stiffened.

“Who is it?”

In response to Jang Bokdong’s question, a familiar voice came from outside.

“It’s Bright. I’ve come to see Captain Jang with some important information. May I come in?”

Jang Bokdong walked over to the room and cracked the door open.

After checking on Elina, sleeping soundly, he closed it again and called out,

“Come in.”

= = =

Bright was the mercenary management officer specially dispatched by the US military, which had hired many mercenaries for this war.

He was the person Jang Bokdong met most often, but he had never once seen Bright outside of working hours.

So for Bright to come all the way here himself at this hour of the morning?

There was only one answer.

“A mission?”

“Wow, I’m pretty sure I said information, not a mission. How did you know? You have amazing instincts.”

“There’s only one reason for an officer to come in person at this hour. A rush mission is about to go down at dawn—or early this morning.”

Jang Bokdong’s sharp gaze studied Bright, who looked a little different than usual.

“It seems you’re planning to proceed right away.”

“Whew~ What made you think that this time? Is it that obvious? You’re like a ghost.”

“You’re wearing body armor. More importantly, is the information so critical that the mission has to be carried out immediately?”

“That’s right. We’ve just received some very important information.”

Bright said with a wide smile.

“If all goes well, you might be able to go home without even finishing the month.”

A file titled “Top-Secret Mission” was handed to Jang Bokdong.

Flipping one page, the mission name made his eyes widen as he looked at Bright.

“Is this… for real?”

“See for yourself.”

[Mission to Eliminate Makdu Habah]

The US military and the mercenaries still had a significant lack of information.

Although they’d gotten fairly close, they hadn’t been able to pinpoint Commander Makdu Habah’s hiding place, let alone his secret base.

In a situation bordering on ignorance, a sudden mission to eliminate Commander Makdu Habah?

It felt bewildering—like several steps had been skipped.

Flip.

Still, with Bright right in front of him, he feigned disbelief and turned to the next page—only to be genuinely shaken.

“Is this really true?”

“It’s the location and time of the meeting between Commander Makdu Habah and an Iraqi terrorist group. Hot-off-the-press intel we just got. What did I tell you? I said if you waited a bit, we’d bring you intel, didn’t I?”

For it to be a lie, the location, time, and date were far too detailed—along with operational specifics, as if the mission had already been fully planned.

The mission plan, personnel deployment, even the listed names—everything was meticulous enough to feel like it had been prepared long ago.

‘It’s too perfect.’

‘What is this?’

Everything fit together a little too neatly.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth, like he’d stumbled into a game someone else had already set up.

“It’s in two hours. We don’t have time.”

If he could, he would’ve refused on the spot.

But the US military was, strictly speaking, the employer that had hired Jang Bokdong’s team.

At Bright’s urging, Jang Bokdong had no choice but to nod.

“Our vehicles will escort you to the mission site. We’ll be departing in thirty minutes, so please get ready. Well then.”

After Bright left, Mike and the other team members closed in.

Only then did they see the contents of the file, asking with startled expressions.

“Captain, what’s going on? A sudden elimination mission?”

“It’s one of two things.”

Jang Bokdong’s gaze, now calm, turned toward the direction Bright had left.

“Either the US military is brilliant… or it’s a trap.”

“This is weird. Something’s really weird. Are you really going?”

Click-clack.

Without a word, he quietly drew the pistol from its holster and loaded the magazine.

“What can we do? When the employer gives an order, we follow it.”

Then he shouted at everyone,

“Everyone! Prepare for the mission.”

“Ah, shit. Prepare for the mission!”

“Prepare for the mission!”

Past midnight, at the dawn of a new day.

Thrown into a sudden, unexpected mission, Jang Bokdong and his twelve team members—fully in Armament—left the barracks.

Vrooom.

Just as the US military vehicle carrying Jang Bokdong’s team was leaving the base—

Click!

The moment Jang Bokdong’s team departed, the light illuminating their barracks went out, and a dark figure appeared near the building.

“Are they gone?”

The figure, speaking in an unfamiliar voice, boldly opened the barracks door and whispered into empty air as if into a radio.

“Nothing to report so far. It seems everyone in the barracks has left, just as you said. I’ll proceed further inside.”

Then, moving quietly through the darkened barracks, the man slowly opened the door to Elina’s room.

His gaze fell on Elina sleeping on the bed, unaware of everything.

Grin.

The moment he spotted her, yellow teeth glinted in the darkness.

“Found her. It seems he kept his promise.”

A voice came through the yellow-toothed man’s earpiece.

[Have you confirmed that no one is there?]

“Yes. I confirmed it’s empty. I think you can come in now.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than dozens of people appeared beside the unlit barracks.

After sweeping their surroundings with their eyes, the figures began filing into the wide-open building.

They arrived in front of the room where Elina was sleeping.

As the crowd parted to either side, one person stepped into the room.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The footsteps—confident, as if the barracks belonged to him—stopped right beside the bed.

Swoosh.

“Ummm.”

Half-asleep, Elina shifted onto her back. In the faint moonlight, her beautiful face made the waiting man’s breathing turn ragged.

“Hah…”

A faint moan escaped him at the mere sight.

“Finally… finally…”

The moment he saw Elina’s face, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, soaked it with an unknown chemical, and pressed it over her nose and mouth.

“Mph! Mph-mph!! Mph-mph-mph!!!”

Thump! Thump-thump-thump!

The yellow-toothed man pinned down Elina as she struggled.

Through his grin, a thin man’s voice rang out.

“Finally… Finally! You come to me. Elina… no, my victory! You are mine now!”