Chapter 33: 2.12 – Counterattack – Zhenyaaaaaaa

A vague humming. The shadow swayed rhythmically flashed through Kwon Taek Joo's eyelids. The fingers were cut off, the limbs and body were cut in half. The body is cut into pieces like a fish and quickly loses body temperature. All the blood was drained, leaving only a bloodless mass of flesh washed in bleach. I don't feel pain at all. His mind is still empty. Am I dead? All are just vague thoughts that reign in the head in the last days of life.

His limbs froze. His body seemed to float in a vacuum, and also seemed to be sinking into the water. The strong smell of alcohol entered his nose and a dark area immediately appeared. Cold water flows through every hole in the body. There is a fishy odour.

A black snakehead fish appears in the dark. One, two, three... They kept coming in droves, their eyes glittering. They wander around and look for prey that has been thrown away. Then a guy suddenly rushed in and all at the same time began to tear off the white meat to eat.

A shadow swaying in the dim vision. But Kwon Taek Joo could neither see his face nor hear his voice. When he approached to take a closer look, they stepped back in the same way. A certain distance is maintained and a black shadow surrounds it. It moved slowly, then so fast that his eyeballs couldn't keep up. His breathing became hard. When the rotational force reaches its peak, the black shape becomes a water bubble and bursts.

Don't forget the promise to dad.

A sound resounded in the bubble was gone. It's not the human voice. Kwon Taek Joo quickly returned to the place where the sound came from, but the separated black shape did not reappear. Have you completely stopped breathing? So you can see the souls of the dead and even hear their voices? Why is consciousness not lost but still here?

Kwon Taek Joo floated vaguely, but a huge water bubble suddenly emerged that quickly passed by his side. He turned to look. The bubbles have receded very quickly and then formed a shape. It's bigger and more dynamic than anything Kwon Taek Joo has ever seen.

It's that bastard. The moment he realised the identity of that shape, his body reflexively took a step back, but the more Kwon Taek Joo stepped back, the bigger he got bigger and bigger.

Don't come here.

The quiet scream shook the space.

The next moment, that huge shape slammed into him. His body was sucked into the thick darkness. Kwon Taek Joo suffocated. The forgotten pain came back to life as if every joint on his body was shredded. The skin is unbearably flaky. The black shape that enveloped his body in the blink of an eye quickly turned white, emitting a cold laugh.

"Stupid rabbit. "(Foolish Zainka)

"…."

Kwon Taek Joo's eyelids widened. The vision fades and then becomes clearer. Everything was in front of his eyes. Is there a problem with your vision?

Kwon Taek Joo closed his eyes and opened them again. Nothing has changed. The ceiling is still white, the faint sound of the air conditioner, the smell of familiar disinfectant.

The feeling of the cushion supporting his back was solid. From what he saw, it seemed that this was a hospital.

Kwon Taek Joo raised his hand. An intravenous needle was stuck to the back of his hand. There are up to two injections. He even brought a cylinder of oxygen for an emergency. It was clear that he was still alive after thinking he was dead.

So what is illusion, what is reality? His head was waterlogged and he couldn't remember anything clearly. It's hard to know if the images left in the brain are real or not. The only thing Kwon Taek Joo is sure of is just before he gets off the train. When he tried to recall the memories afterwards, his head seemed to explode. Kwon Taek Joo moaned softly gripping the bandaged head tightly.

"Are you awake?"

Suddenly a strange voice intervened. Kwon Taek Joo was startled and relieved to get up. His hands involuntarily groped around his waist. However the guns that should have been there are gone.

After identifying the opponent, Kwon Taek Joo quickly relaxed his vigilance, because the person facing him was also in a bad condition. He was cast from shoulder to wrist. Kwon Taek Joo raised his head for a bandage around his neck. His eyes were bruised and swollen, and his lips were congestive and dry. A bandage was wrapped around his head and adhesive tape was applied to his torn forehead and cheekbones. Judging from the fact that he is on crutches, his legs also seem to be in a bad condition. It seems that this person has been treated for at least 12 weeks.

But somehow, that face caught Kwon Taek Joo's eye. It may be just a hallucination, but he had a deep sense of deja vu. Not long after, the man's identity came to his mind. Kwon Taek Joo could recognise him, but he didn't recognise him immediately because of his miserable appearance.

It's Psych Bogdanov. No, he is the man that Kwon Taek Joo mistooked with that bastard. On the day of the hotel terror attack, he disguised himself as an ambulance officer and followed Kwon Taek Joo. At the time, he thought he was Psych Bogdanov. Now you know it's not, but what the hell is he talking about? Recalling that he aimed to shoot the helicopter as soon as he saw Zegna with a bazooka, it is best for Kwon Taek Joo not to be close to this person.

"Who are you?"

"You asked too early."

"There must be a time to ask."

"Ah, there probably won't be that. You must have been so busy that you didn't recognise your partner."

"…Partner?"

Kwon Taek Joo frowned. The man approached to face him.

He heard from the head of department Lim that there was a partner who was randomly assigned. After weighing the attention of those around him, the partner will approach him naturally and they say they will send the photo at the appropriate time. The next day, two pictures were sent to him. One is a photo of Zegna, and the other is of the man standing in front of him. At that moment, Zegna started a conversation and Kwon Taek Joo immediately thought he was his colleague. He was very brave and he was helped by him on the first day of entry, so Kwon Taek Joo was not too sceptical.

How the hell is it so messed up? A perfect confusion is created by the mistake of the headquarters in forcing a partner he does not want and mistakenly sending a really important photo as well as the time to meet Zegna.

But there is still something confusing.

"Why didn't you reveal your identity earlier?"

"Did I have time to reveal? If you had such a time, why don't you tell me? How the hell can I approach you when you keep sticking to Bogdanov? I waited until you were alone to approach you but I almost died trying to take you to a quiet place to explain. Did you forget that you beat me until I lost consciousness and drowned in water?"

He wears irony with a lot of resentment towards Kwon Taek Joo. Why not? It's all because of Kwon Taek Joo, but now this man is in such a bad state. He was embarrassed to raise his head and wondered what the hell he was doing.

"It sounds like an excuse now, but I have a reason... Ha, it's really an excuse. Sorry for not recognising you. I sincerely apologise for that."

"I feel like I'm being teased because you've admitted your mistake so easily. The price of wasting time is like this."

"Because of the mistake of my teammates, I also almost died several times. If that doesn't comfort you, I might take a few hits right now."

Suddenly Kwon Taek Joo held out his left cheek. That's not empty talk. He thought that if that man wanted that, he would obey. The man clenched his hands. But immediately after that, he loosened his hand and scolded him for being ridiculous.

"I really want to too, but that's it. Look at me."

The man clicked his tongue to disappouse. What's enough to arouse his compassion? Only then did Kwon Taek Joo raise his hand and touch his face and body. That alone gave him a clear idea of his condition. His head was bandaged, and his forehead, cheekbones, earlobes, nape, and collarbones were all bandaged. Even the lightest turnaround made his back ache.

So what about your fingers? Kwon Taek Joo remembered the old memory and then suddenly spread his arms. A bandage wrapped around the ring finger was in severe pain. That's the case, of course.

"Fingers..."

"I heard it was a broken bone."

That's right, of course it was then... huh?

Kwon Taek Joo nodded and stared blankly at the man.

"…What?"

"Are your ears also deaf? I said you have a broken bone. The first time you had a finger bandage."

"Isn't it cut off?"

"Is there any reason to cut it off? You've seen too many mafia movies."

He shook his head with an incomprehensible expression. Before he lost consciousness, Kwon Taek Joo received a strong shock from his little finger. He clearly heard the click of the cigar knife, and he thought he would cut his finger, but it was just a simple fracture. In addition, except for the little finger, all other fingers are normal. Kwon Taek Joo couldn't believe it and turned his hand.

"But didn't Morgan's body have all ten fingers cut off?"

"That's right, but you're alive and he's dead. So you don't have to be upset when your fingers are still in the same position."

Kwon Taek Joo is confused. He thought that, just as Zhenya killed Morgan, so would Kwon Taek Joo. How am I still alive?

"How did I get here?"

"You were left by the riverbank near Olkhon island. Just when the Bogdanov family moved there and our agents were still chasing them, they found him. The doctor said that if you slow down a little more, your heart will stop beating."

Is that how it is? Zhenya didn't save Kwon Taek Joo himself, he just didn't care if he lived or died. He didn't even know that his joke was lucky to save his life, that he would try to save his miserable life.

No, right? Kwon Taek Joo recalls the injection he was injected with before he passed out. He also felt the bandage on his neck. Really if it was 'polonium-210', could he still open his eyes?

"I hit by Polonium-210, didn't I?"

"Who said that?"

"It was obviously Zhenya at the time..."

"Zhenya, that madman? Yevgeny Vissarionovich Bogdanov. I mean your best friend?"

He raised his sarcastic voice. 'Zhenya, Zhenya...' he repeated his name many times.

"How can you call him by such an intimate name? Even his blood relatives don't call him that."

He clicked his tongue with a tired expression. What an intimate name. Kwon Taek Joo was about to get angry but he closed his mouth. A vague thought came to his mind. From the beginning, he introduced himself as Zhenya. Of course he didn't think it was his real name, because it wasn't a popular Russian name. So he thought it was just a nickname he often used. Since the arms trade is the main job, he seems to hide his identity as a habit. In some ways, he resembles Kwon Taek Joo himself, and he feels a close relationship with him.

He also knew that 'Psych Bogdanov' was a scandal. Even so, he still forgot that Psych has a real name. Also, Yevgeny's nickname is 'Zhenya'. While learning Russian, he also learned about ethnic composition, history, society, life and culture. But nicknames don't really matter. At that time, he didn't know that Kwon Taek Joo would go to Russia or call the Russians by nickname.

What did he think when he told him his intimate name? And what did he think when Kwon Taek Joo called him by that name without any doubt? He gave him a clear hint of his identity, but how interesting it was to see an idiot who always believed him to be a colleague. Climbing backwards on the walls, cycling in Siberia in the cold of winter and passing through dusty vents.

Zhenya's face was smiling like a demon, sparkling before his eyes. Kwon Taek Joo gritted his teeth, holding his hand trembling.

"Zhenyaaaaaaa!"