As soon as I spotted him, I couldn’t breathe. Why did he come here instead of to the white box? Could it be that the people heading to the white box were a decoy, and the real objective was this side? But if so, what was the reason? I wracked my brain, then first squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head.
{We’ll need to commandeer this plane for a moment.}
{Who are you?}
{I am Suo Weiqian of Pamundong. Go and tell the esper associations around the world.}
{……!}
{That Pamundong has the only guide who can guide Kim Haewon.}
‘What? Me?’
At Suo Weiqian’s words, I felt my eyes snap wide open. But thinking of his psychic ability technique, I should close my eyes again, but I was worried about Director Kim Jeongseon who was facing him head-on.
Director Kim Jeongseon pulled out a gun from her breast and aimed it. Her hands were trembling. Suo Weiqian showed no agitation at all at the muzzle pointed at him.
{You can’t shoot me.}
{Wh-what are you saying……!}
“Director, close your eyes! You can’t make eye contact with that bastard!”
Director Kim Jeongseon squeezed her eyes shut. Suo Weiqian slowly turned his head at her reaction and looked at me.
{You know a lot, kid. Yes. You were the starting point of all the problems.}
He looked at me and giggled. But only his mouth was smiling; seeing his eyes were ice-cold blue, it was obvious he was furious. He had clearly waited for the SS-class espers to descend before approaching the plane. He had chosen the management bureau people and me as a means to threaten and exchange with Kim Haewon.
I quickly wracked my brain. In the novel, for the reason that he almost killed me, he had Liu Xiqiang, who he was holding, injected. That meant he had done wrong. Because he had gone against the Leader’s will. Recalling that fact, I continued speaking.
“After losing Esper Liu Xiqiang from touching me, do you feel like touching me again?”
Suo Weiqian’s lips trembled violently. So did the area under his eyes. He wavered as if unable to properly control his facial muscle spasms. I was so scared my palms sweated. But I tightly clenched my palms and continued speaking triumphantly.
“Surely the Leader must have told you to take Liu Xiqiang if you could, so why did you capture me? Do you still want more punishment?”
{Who told you? That’s something only known within Pamundong!}
Suo Weiqian trembled with a sense of betrayal. While I was arguing, Director Kim Jeongseon slowly moved toward the management bureau side. I hoped she would safely pass to the front cabin, but Suo Weiqian didn’t let that happen. He instantly turned his head and muttered something at the corner of his mouth as if chanting a spell.
Even though he had become an esper between A-class and B-class through punishment and drugs, it was a powerful force against civilians. Just like how D-class esper Jeong Sanghyeop had beaten adult men to death.
Director Kim Jeongseon immediately lost consciousness. One employee came out from the management bureau cabin. It was that employee who had been continuously reporting the situation to us. I screamed in shock.
“No! Go inside!”
{Chairman, you’ve arrived.}
But unfamiliar Chinese came from his mouth. The polite greeting was a bonus. I had thought there might be a spy within the Diplomatic Management Bureau, but I didn’t know they would be this close. In Department 1, which was famous for being picky, no less.
He had continued to stay in this cabin, pretending to deliver urgent information. He had heard the entire conversation between Director Kim Jeongseon, the two espers, and me.
Yes, that was it.
That’s why he precisely matched the timing of the two espers’ descent with when the plane raised altitude again. From where to approach, how many people were inside. Since Suo Weiqian had been reported that this one person alone was enough scale to subdue, he must have come alone.
“Son of a bitch.”
A curse immediately came from my mouth. There was no trace of the flustered appearance he had shown in the urgency of the situation before Suo Weiqian arrived. The employee had become so calm he didn’t react at all even to my cursing.
{Answer my question first!}
Suo Weiqian stamped his feet in anger as he spoke. It was the appearance of being unable to control his anger, just as described in the novel. He rapidly spat out words. The translator struggled to interpret his words.
{Who is it? Who told you that?}
He was noticeably anxious. Depending on where my existence was entangled, his judgment could be completely wrong. Alexa Lu. Will Taylor and the white-haired man and the Leader. That was all I knew. Very fragmentary information.
I fidgeted with the radio. I didn’t know if it would connect to Kim Haewon or who I would contact. But I had to turn the mic on first. While casually fiddling with the button, I looked at Suo Weiqian.
“I don’t know.”
{Don’t do anything foolish!}
“Who are you suspecting? Alexa Lu? Or Will Taylor?”
{How on earth do you know those names?}
“Don’t you know why the Leader won’t kill me? Chairman Suo Weiqian. This time it won’t end with just gouging out the eyes of a cherished subordinate.”
I spoke while scraping up all the descriptions I had seen in the novel. His pupils were shaking beyond measure. The information that I knew everything about how Pamundong tried to overcome the crisis seemed to be information that shook Suo Weiqian.
“You know hypnosis doesn’t work on me, right? Because Jeong Sanghyeop failed too.”
{He was an idiot. He was D-class!}
“What class they are doesn’t matter from the start. What matters is whether you can endure or not.”
I recalled Jeong Sanghyeop standing in the abandoned hospital. Suo Weiqian’s eyes widened at the word ‘endure.’ He looked quite surprised after hearing my fragmented information.
{Rather, this is good, very good! Better than taking a complete idiot! Because I can pressure even the Leader!}
Unlike his boastful tone, his facial muscles were convulsing. I turned my head toward the window and continued speaking.
“I don’t know if that utterly vicious and disgusting old man will really be pressured though.”
{Wh-who told you my words? Who is it? Did you wiretap?}
“We’ve had too much conversation. I’m afraid your mouth might reach even when you’re angry.”
{Don’t be ridiculous. I will win. I will protect Pamundong. I, I……!}
Suo Weiqian couldn’t hold back and lit a cigar. Acrid smoke rose in the cabin. I didn’t say anything. The mic was still on, but there was no answer from the other side.
{Wuxin! You changed course to Pamundong, right?}
{Yes, I did as you ordered.}
{Enter at full speed like this. There’s no place safer in Pamundong than there.}
Safe zone. Pamundong was already in a state where entry was possible by the Chinese government. But he said it was a safe place even among those. It seemed to mean a secret space that even the Chinese government couldn’t approach.
I had boldly pretended to know, but I knew jack shit. The information I read in the novel was also almost exhausted now. I stared out the window as if this situation wasn’t frightening at all.
Suo Weiqian was far more hideous than what I had seen in the mugshot before. His face was bizarrely melted down as if his appearance had also been ruined by being controlled by hypnosis or psychic-type abilities, so it was honestly scary just to look at.
The cigarette smell got closer. Suo Weiqian was walking toward me. He instantly grabbed me by the collar.
“Urk!”
He looked at me while smoking close enough to burn my eyes with his cigar. One eyeball was hot.
{I didn’t know there was a gang that joined hands with you to trample Pamundong. Even so, you’re just a tile that’s good to hold briefly. In the end, you’ll be discarded. Because you won’t lead this game to victory.}
Seeing him say things like discarding or having tiles, he seemed to be comparing it to mahjong. Though I didn’t know much about mahjong rules, I roughly knew how it went. Because at field barracks, during downtime waiting, they would play every gamble in the world. Even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years. I pushed Suo Weiqian away and retorted. My eyes stung too much to stay closer.
“Do as you please. You’ll see someone else win with the tile you discarded.”
I had roughly pieced it together because I had seen one of my seniors win by picking up tiles others discarded. Suo Weiqian became enraged and struck my face with his palm as sharp as dried bamboo. It was a force strong enough for my body to fly and hit the plane’s window.
“Ugh.”
{Impudent thing. I didn’t like using you from the start. I knew it would turn out like this!}
“Augh!”
Suo Weiqian continued speaking while putting out his cigarette by pressing it on my thigh. My thigh hurt as if burning, but I couldn’t move.
{Once we arrive, I’ll make you show everything you know. You’ll probably suffer so much you’ll want to stick your hand down your own throat and pull out your organs.}
Half the thought was that I had acted cocky for nothing, half the thought was that if I hadn’t, I would have suffered worse long ago. The plane was rapidly heading somewhere. Suo Weiqian stepped on Kim Jeongseon and passed forward. I couldn’t see what the management bureau employees were doing. Only Suo Weiqian’s voice could be heard.
{The negotiation condition is simple. Bring Liu Xiqiang to Pamundong.}
On the screen, people from various countries could be seen saying something. But Suo Weiqian had muted everyone. He acted as if only his words needed to be conveyed.
{Then I’ll at least send them in a living state. That impudent guide and the rest of those things.}
Suo Weiqian said that and cackled. His bizarre laughter filled the plane.
