Chapter 41
It would have been easier to ask me to find an expensive and good baby stroller. After all, don’t newlywed couples sometimes have a list of desired gifts from those around them? Things like dishwashers, robot vacuums, or food waste disposers, for example.
But ignoring the request from a pregnant friend, whose husband has unjustly been detained, was even more difficult than granting her request. Besides, I owed Eunjin a lot. I might even consider it a life debt.
So…
“So.”
Min Ahyeon presented an absurd proposal to Shin Hae-jun.
Shin Hae-jun gave a puzzled expression at Min Ahyeon’s suggestion to go rescue Choi Daero. Then, he furrowed his brows and stared at her.
“Rescue innocent civilians?”
With a bitter laugh mixed in, his question made Min Ahyeon shrug her shoulders. In fact, she was so anxious that Shin Hae-jun wouldn’t listen to her. But she managed to keep her face impassive and indifferent.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I said.”
“Why should I?”
“I said the innocent civilians are being held captive.”
“So why do I have to rescue innocent civilians?”
Min Ahyeon stared silently at Shin Hae-jun, as if she couldn’t understand his bewildered expression. With irritation, Shin Hae-jun pulled out the request form from his pocket.
“We’re only here to gather information on the mutant infected. Don’t you remember, Lieutenant Min?”
Flap.
The neatly folded requisition form fluttered in front of Min Ahyeon’s face. Clenching her fist, Min Ahyeon remembered the power she held in her hands because of this thin piece of paper containing military orders.
“I remember.”
Shin Hae-jun nodded, hoping that she had come to her senses.
“Right. Obtaining mutant infected samples or verifying their behavior patterns—that’s our mission. No, it’s the assignment I gave you.”
“Didn’t we do that last night? Collect samples from the giant infected.”
Min Ahyeon retorted with frustration, but Shin Hae-jun, who seemed unwilling to bend his rigid demeanor even in the face of any compromise, simply clicked his tongue with a stern face.
“That was a separate matter from this request form.”
“How can you say it’s a separate matter?”
“The mutated infected we encountered on our way to Gangwon were not the ones I was ordered to investigate.”
But the mutant infected was still an infected, yet Shin Hae-jun seemed determined to enter Gangwon and obtain samples of the mutant infected.
Wow, how to deal with this diligent son of a b*tch.
Remembering Shin Hae-jun’s tendency to obey any order from the higher-ups and even handle more tasks than assigned, Min Ahyeon furrowed her brow irritably.
“Moreover, Lieutenant Min, one mutant infected sample is not enough.”
Shin Hae-jun added with a dry tone, looking down at Min Ahyeon.
“You can’t interpret the orders from above according to your convenience.”
Min Ahyeon let out a hollow laugh at Shin Hae-jun’s rigid tone. Ha! A sharp, mocking laughter divided the space between Shin Hae-jun and Min Ahyeon.
Well, from his perspective, he just encountered the mutant infected on the way to Gangwon, and that would be considered a separate matter, so it wouldn’t need to be reported.
But Min Ahyeon thought differently.
“Sir Client, I was tasked with investigating the mutated infected. There wasn’t a condition in the task requiring me to come to Gangwon Shelter specifically, was there?”
Min Ahyeon dropped the honorific “General” she had been using, and Shin Hae-jun sniffed in disbelief.
“Lieutenant Min. Enough with the word games.”
Only at times like this, when he tried to impose the military’s way on her, did he call her “Lieutenant Min” so rigidly.
Expecting that Shin Hae-jun wouldn’t easily comply with her request, Min Ahyeon bit her lip with a heavy heart. Why am I feeling so disappointed?
Logically speaking, it was only natural for the military dog Shin Hae-jun to reject Min Ahyeon’s request to circumvent the superior’s orders slightly.
Yet, even as her head understood the rationale, her heart ached unreasonably. After all, Shin Hae-jun’s whispering voice calling her “Ahyeon, Ahyeon” still lingered in her ear.
Shin Hae-jun really was a bad guy. It was foolish to be disappointed, considering she had never considered him a good person.
“Damn bastard…”
Min Ahyeon cursed silently, unable to hold back the words of contempt for Shin Hae-jun. But whether he heard it or not—she was sure he did, even if he pretended not to—he simply rechecked the superior’s request form with an indifferent expression.
“Even upon reviewing it, there’s no specific order to rescue civilians.”
“Do you only move when you receive a direct order?”
“I don’t feel like answering obvious questions.”
Shin Hae-jun nodded absently, then tucked the neatly folded requisition form back into his chest. Judging that there was no need to waste more time here now that he had received the shelter’s assistance, he quickly put on the coat lent by Min Ahyeon’s friend.
“Now that the nonsense is over, let’s head to Gangwon.”
Shin Hae-jun seemed ready to leave the shelter immediately, as if he would drive the jeep and leave without delay.
“Just a moment.”
Min Ahyeon hastily opened her mouth, thinking she had to offer some tempting information to soften the resolute Shin Hae-jun.
“But all the people being held captive have come into contact with the mutant infected, haven’t they? If we meet them, won’t we be able to gather more useful information?”
Shin Hae-jun’s hands, swiftly gathering belongings, suddenly stopped at Min Ahyeon’s words. His large hands, suspended in the air, were adorned with numerous long scars and burns from bullet wounds. Yet, despite such marks, they looked surprisingly beautiful. Was it because of the elegant fingers and the slightly swollen knuckles that looked as delicate as his face?
It was just a few days ago that he had caressed my body with those rugged hands, as if they were carved from solid rock yet beautiful like works of art.
‘Hey, snap out of it, Min Ahyeon.’
Shaking her head in surprise at the memory of that moment with Shin Hae-jun before her, she had to remind herself to stay vigilant. Allowing herself to be swept away by those sensations again would only lead to trouble.
“Other information?”
Approaching Min Ahyeon, Shin Hae-jun’s lips curled into a snarl.
“What information are you talking about?”
“Such as the ecology of the mutant infected you mentioned, or where they are gathering, and so on.”
“Didn’t you say that the people taken were ordinary citizens who might have been infected with the mutant virus?”
Once again, Shin Hae-jun wasn’t easily swayed by Min Ahyeon’s persuasion. She wrinkled her nose, adding credibility to her argument.
“There must be researchers observing them. If we try to rescue the people, they’ll definitely come out, and if not, we can at least gather research data.”
At Min Ahyeon’s words, Shin Hae-jun let out a small grunt, thinking it didn’t sound too bad. Of course, it wasn’t that he had come to sympathize with Min Ahyeon’s good intention of rescuing the civilians.
But Min Ahyeon, trying to convince him with weak arguments, wasn’t bad. Her furrowed brows, then relaxed, seemed almost inviting for a detour in their journey.
But still, going to the captives was unreasonable, as it would be the same as picking a fight with the Gangwon shelter.
Shin Hae-jun let out a short sigh, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“Then let’s go meet the mayor first.”
Meeting the mayor could provide crucial information, and if they were lucky, they might even learn about the whereabouts of the trapped civilians. If that happened, they could gather information without taking unnecessary risks. So, wasn’t it a good idea?
But Min Ahyeon’s expression subtly twisted at Shin Hae-jun’s words.
“Huh? I don’t think I heard correctly?”
Even though she had clearly heard him, Min Ahyeon acted as if Shin Hae-jun’s words didn’t make sense, rubbing her ear.
“I said, let’s go meet the mayor.”
Stunned by her reaction, Shin Hae-jun clicked his tongue briefly, then repeated himself, but she firmly shook her head.
“General, you can’t go.”
🕂
Thank you for reading! ♡
