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When Kang Chan woke up in the morning, the first thing he saw was the droplets of water on the window. As soon as he sat up, the gentle autumn rain came into view.
He yawned, stood up, and stretched.
According to the clock on the desk at the corner of the living room, it was only six in the morning.
Kang Chan thought he should let Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook sleep a bit more. He took out a bottle of water from the fridge and drank it, then went into the bathroom lightly washed his face.
“Huh? Why did you sleep in the living room?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“It was just more comfortable to sleep here.”
“Was I snoring that loud?”
“Not loud enough for me to kill you.”
Seok Kang-Ho grinned, then drank water. After a while, he went into the bathroom in the living room even though the bedroom that he slept in had its own bathroom.
“Let’s order coffee,” Seok Kang-Ho said afterward.
“Sure.”
Seok Kang-Ho ordered for them. Afterward, they wore their earpieces and sat on the sofa in just their pants and shirtsleeves.
“My wife and daughter want to go to Australia. I told them that South Korea was sending them on a trip to compensate for what happened a while back. They looked like they didn’t believe me, but since they couldn’t verify what I said, they just accepted it for now. What about your parents?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“I don’t know what they think yet since I had to keep our conversation yesterday about it short. It’s Sunday today, right? That means we have some extra time.”
Ding dong.
The doorbell rang.
Chk.
“We checked the coffee.” At the same time, they heard an agent on the radio.
Seok Kang-Ho opened the door after checking who it was through the peephole.
A metal carafe and coffee cups had been delivered to them.
When the server left, Seok Kang-Ho poured two cups of coffee.
Chk.
“Any of you want some coffee?” Kang Chan asked.
Chk.
“We have a lot here, sir,” someone answered.
Chk.
“We shouldn’t have ordered this much, then!”
All of the agents in the hotel heard the conversation with Kang Chan through the radio. There was laughter at the end of his sentence.
The coffee and cigarettes fully awakened their senses. At around half past seven, they headed back to their respective rooms.
Kang Chan pressed the doorbell. Kang Dae-Kyung opened the door soon after.
“Did you get enough sleep?” Kang Chan asked.
“Phew, I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but I slept like a rock. Your mom is still in the shower. Did you get some sleep?” Kang Dae-Kyung asked.
“Yes.”
Kang Dae-Kyung turned on the news channel on TV. Kang Chan sat on the sofa with him.
“It looks like your mom finds it hard to go abroad because you’re not going. A lot of other things seem to be bothering her as well,” Kang Dae-Kyung said.
“If so, then just stay at the hotel with me. I only suggested going to France because living here for an entire week might be uncomfortable for you two. We’re not in enough danger to force yourselves to go on a trip.”
“Can we really just stay here?”
While Kang Chan was talking with Kang Dae-Kyung, Yoo Hye-Sook came out to the living room looking quite haggard.
“Did you get some sleep?” Kang Chan asked Yoo Hye-Sook.
“I did, Channy. I feel heavy, though.”
“That’s probably because it rained. Let’s have a delicious breakfast, then you should just get some rest for the rest of the day.
“Here?”
“Just consider this as our family staying in an international hotel.”
Yoo Hye-Sook seemed to like Kang Chan’s cheekiness.
“Let’s order something delicious for breakfast. You should try the sauna while I’m meeting the Ambassador of France. I heard the hotel’s fitness club is quite amazing,” Kang Chan continued.
“Sure! That sounds great. I was also thinking of working out anyway,” Kang Dae-Kyung said.
Kang Dae-Kyung then held up the menu in the room. “Honey! It’s been a while since we had an American-style breakfast. We should try it. It comes with toast, juice, and coffee. What do you think?”
“There’s also a breakfast buffet downstairs,” Kang Chan added.
“Since it’s raining, let’s just order food and eat in our room. Whenever I ate toast alone in the hotels I stayed in during business trips, I would often think about how nice it would be if you or your mom were there with me.”
They followed Kang Dae-Kyung’s strong wishes to have an American-style breakfast in their room.
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The meal that they ordered soon arrived.
They ate their breakfast while watching the autumn rain pour down on the living room window. When Yoo Hye-Sook drank coffee after breakfast, she finally looked like she could breathe again. Meanwhile, Kang Dae-Kyung appeared to be enjoying himself. He was even pestering his wife to go with him to the fitness center and the sauna. He really seemed to be on vacation.
Kang Dae-Kyung was trying hard to console Yoo Hye-Sook, who experienced quite the shock, while also trying to make Kang Chan feel comfortable.
“You’re going to meet the Ambassador of France today, right?” Kang Dae-Kyung asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you should go while it’s still early. We’ll just watch TV for a bit before going to the fitness center to exercise.”
“Will the two of you be okay?”
“Of course.”
With Kang Dae-Kyung urging him, Kang Chan stood up. He had to comfort Yoo Hye-Sook a few times first because of how worried she was before he could finally leave the room.
Click.
After Kang Chan left, Kang Dae-Kyung made green tea and brought it over to Yoo Hye-Sook, who was sitting on the sofa.
“You’re very worried, aren’t you?” Kang Dae-Kyung asked.
“Of course I am, honey. We saw him yesterday—I could feel my heart breaking while I was watching him run next to the car with a limp.”
“So that’s why you tossed and turned so much all night?”
“You couldn’t sleep either?” Yoo Hye-Sook asked.
“I also felt the same way. How could I comfortably fall asleep after watching our son suffer like that?”
Yoo Hye-Sook looked at Kang Dae-Kyung. Her eyes showed how bad she felt for him.
“We promised each other last time, didn’t we? We said that we would watch Channy grow up. And we decided to accept that he’s a bit different from the other kids.” Kang Dae-Kyung held Yoo Hye-Sook’s hand. “Let’s have a good time in the hotel even if we have to force ourselves to, okay? That will make Channy feel a bit more comfortable when he comes back in the evening.”
“Thanks, honey.”
“For what?”
“For being so understanding whenever I feel anxious and for always understanding our extraordinary son. I seem to be complaining too much even though I know you’re having a hard time as well. Thank you, and I’m sorry, honey.”
In response, Kang Dae-Kyung wrapped his arm around Yoo Hye-Sook’s shoulder while tightly holding her hand.
***
Seok Kang-Ho was always early.
By the time Kang Chan went into the room next door, Seok Kang-Ho already poured himself some coffee and was smoking a cigarette.
“Welcome back. I reheated the coffee,” Seok Kang-Ho said.
Their morning felt so peaceful that Kang Chan wondered if they could return home if things kept going at this rate.
After drinking coffee, Kang Chan radioed an agent to bring over a phone. He found it uncomfortable to call Lanok using the hotel’s corded telephone. When Kang Chan called Lanok, Lanok immediately said that they should meet at the Namsan Hotel. Hence, Kang Chan now had an extra hour to himself.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho sat around and talked about multiple matters.
Ring. Ring.
After a while, the phone in the room rang. Kang Chan answered it.
- The Ambassador has arrived. Please head to room eighteen-ten.
“I’m on my way.”
When Kang Chan stood up, Seok Kang-Ho said, “Make sure to bring back our phones.”
“If they didn’t find our phones, then let’s just buy new ones.”
Not having their phones was very inconvenient.
Kang Chan went down to the eighteenth floor and found a French agent waiting for him in front of the elevator. As the French agent guided him to the ambassador’s room, he noticed so many agents that he began to wonder if he was in a hotel or the headquarters of an intelligence bureau.
“Mr. Kang Chan.” Lanok gave Kang Chan a French greeting.
Now that Kang Chan thought about it, this was his first time meeting the ambassador since the operation in China.
Lanok guided Kang Chan to the sofa. An aide whom Kang Chan hadn’t seen before prepared tea, cigarettes, and cigars for them, then retreated into a room.
“Mr. Kang Chan, our intelligence bureau has now been sorted out, albeit barely. Throughout China’s long history, they had numerous forces fight to come into power. That’s why their intelligence bureau is extremely developed. Considering they’re geographically close to South Korea, they probably have a good number of agents in this country as well,” Lanok explained.
“Actually, something happened.”
Lanok nodded as he was pouring out tea for him, which meant that he was already aware of the incident. “Although Yang Bum is now the head of their intelligence bureau, he’s still in a precarious situation, and his foundation still isn’t stable. He still requires quite a bit of time to completely come into power.”
Kang Chan had a sip of the tea as Lanok stated the obvious. Lanok then held up a cigar, and Kang Chan bit on a cigarette.
Kang Chan was spending time with a very powerful ally that he could completely trust.
“Mr. Kang Chan, how about you take a step back from this incident?” Lanok asked.
Kang Chan lit up his cigarette as he silently waited for Lanok to continue.
“South Korea’s National Intelligence Service can take care of this level of threat by themselves. That’s why I can’t help but wonder if it would be best for you to take a step back and use this time to receive training.”
“What kind of training do you have in mind?” Kang Chan asked.
“Observe every country’s intelligence bureau, specifically Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and France. That will prove quite helpful in the future you will live in. During that period, you will only ever meet important figures.”
Will I really need that?
Kang Chan couldn’t decide.
“It will be beneficial for South Korea’s National Intelligence Service as well,” Lanok added.
Is he telling me to work for the National Intelligence Service?
Kang Chan didn’t like Lanok’s second suggestion either.