23 The Cruise (2)

SD was on the phone with Orea while Jonghyun had gone upstairs to pick up Sunye for the cruise. He was driving the car for the night and drop them off at the docks where they would board the ship.

"I'm tracking Hyun's movements now," Orea's voice came through the speakerphone. "He's heading for a cabin on the third lower deck."

Her eyes were on the large screen in front of her. Straightening her dark glasses, she was typing in complex codes to remove all traces of her surveillance from the nano tracker which was latched on to Hyun's esophagus. It would not unstick itself unless Orea typed in the right code. Once their mission was over, she can easily type the code and the nano tracker will disable itself. Once disabled, it would be absorbed into the stomach acid and give Hyun a mild case of diarrhea before it was flushed out of his body via the feces.

"You sure the tracker is totally untraceable?" SD asked. "What if he finds it?"

"Unless he has a fetish of checking his own shit," Orea replied. "He won't find it. He's smart but we're smarter than him. I hope."

The screen showed her the entire ship and the people inside it. She had hacked into all the CCTV cameras inside and outside the ship in order to keep an eye on Shin Hyun. Only the third lower deck did not have any CCTV so she slid towards her laptop and opened a new screen. On it, she could hear Hyun talking in Japanese to a few people.

"Ugh, I can't understand what he's saying!" she complained. "I'm transferring the nano tracker's controls to you, SD. Maybe you can figure out what they're saying."

SD opened his own laptop and waited as Orea transferred the tracker's information to him. It was a good thing that Sunye was taking a lot of time to get ready because he was getting the important work done in the meantime. Hyun's voice began to play through his laptop.

"The drugs are hidden in these jewelry," he was saying in fluent Japanese to another person. "But these require a code to open."

"What is the code?"

SD raised an eyebrow at that voice. He knew that voice!

"What's the hurry, Kirishima?" Hyun gritted. "I'll give you the code! I told you I-"

But his voice was cut off by a rough struggle as if someone had attacked him.

"I am warning you, Shin Hyun," Kirishima threatened. "Do not dare to double cross us like you are doing with your partners. You see, we are not very merciful when it comes to treachery. If I find a single hint of betrayal from you, then I will cut your balls and burn it in front of your eyes. It's not like you use them like a man. I heard you're the one who bends over for your lover. Won't this be the perfect opportunity for you to remain the bottom one?"

He let out a wheezing laughter. SD could hear Hyun whimpering in the background. If he was not wrong, Hyun was being threatened with a weapon or being throttled.

"The code, Hyun," Kirishima ordered.

"T-the code is 4-0-9-8," Hyun stammered. There was a soft thud followed by a couple of footsteps. Kirishima keyed in the code and SD heard a small click. The code had worked.

"We will be taking the drugs once the ship has crossed the borders of the Capital," Kirishima was saying. "And replace it with fake goods. If your partners try to intervene, we'll kill them. As long as you keep your end of the bargain and give us sixty percent of the goods, we won't take your name and implicate Mikhael in it. That way, you'll remain our loyal lapdog."

Hyun did not respond. Kirishima's footsteps began to head somewhere else and soon disappeared, leaving Hyun alone. The Finance Minister was silent for a while before slowly turning towards the large safe carrying the drugs. SD held his breath as he heard Hyun typing out a code. But there was something wrong.

He listened carefully and realized that Hyun was typing in a six digit code. Was he hiding something more?

"Amateurs," Hyun scoffed. SD heard the opening of another box and immediately realized that there was a secret compartment inside the room which probably held more drugs. Hyun was not going to give neither parties the full consignment and was keeping a lot more to himself.

"These drugs are mine," Hyun said in an almost manic tone. "I've been toiling for the bloody government for years and got nothing in return! But these…these are mine! I'll get the money from these and frame the others. The Prime Minister will then punish them and reward me!"

SD sighed as he listened to the foolish plan. The idiot had no idea that he was courting death.

"Oh well," he shrugged, shutting the laptop. "As long as I'm getting paid for my work."

He then picked up the phone again to redial Orea's number.

"There's another compartment inside that room with more drugs," SD informed her. "Find it."

"I hope that our client is gonna pay us extra for this!" She said in annoyance. "Man, this Hyun guy is a pain!"

"If he doesn't pay, then we'll make him pay through other means," SD said in a cryptic tone. "He knows very well that we can uproot the entire country if he doesn't keep his end of the bargain."

"We're gonna do that anyway without his money," Orea said, rolling her eyes. "Why are you helping him anyway?"

"It's all good business my dear student," SD stated, his eyes lazily falling on the car's mirror and he froze.

"SD?" Orea's voice came from the other end but SD was not listening. He turned back to see Sunye had just stepped outside, wearing a strapless golden gown. Her smooth skin was glowing and even though she wore very little makeup, her delicate features were highlighted well. Her hair was tied in an elegant bun, revealing her pearly neck and for a moment, SD was mesmerized.

He got out of the car and was still staring at her in awe. Sunye noticed that he was ogling at her and in spite of herself, blushed. She felt a little strange to see him admiring her so openly and even though he had flirted with her many times, there was something different in his gaze.

SD was about to step towards Sunye but Jonghyun appeared from behind her and put his jacket over her shoulders.

"It's cold," he smiled. "You might become sick."

Sunye smiled back and said, "Thank you."

She put her hand around his arm and SD watched as they walked towards the car. Her lips were curved in a genuine smile as she gazed at Jonghyun who also looked enamored by her. She glanced at SD who was standing straight and no longer staring at her. Instead, he bowed at Jonghyun.

He opened the backseat's door for them. "Where to sir?" he asked in a formal tone.

"To the docks, Haein," Jonghyun replied. He reached out her hand for Sunye and led her into the car before getting into it himself. SD closed the door and took his place at the driver's seat. Revving up the engine, he sped off towards their destination.

All throughout the journey, his eyes were fixed on the road, determined not to catch a glance of the beautiful woman who was talking with Jonghyun. He was momentarily distracted by her but he could not repeat that mistake again.

Gripping the wheel, he refocused his attention on what he was about to do. No more distractions, he told himself.

Unbeknownst to him, Sunye's eyes had glimpsed at him for a fraction of a second. His blue eyes looked lost and conflicted, something which she had never seen in him before. What is going on? She wondered. What do you want, SD?