It was a soft and friendly voice. Sun WooHyun was confused as to whether it was his own. The young girl hesitated before answering in French.
“Oui, qu’est-ce que tu veux de moi?”[1]
“Oh, yeah!” Sun WooHyun shouted enthusiastically.
He had done well by pressing down on his boonie hat. His face looked like a tubilis[2]. All the women, including those in North Korea and Africa, screamed when they saw his face. It was only Rudrey Edel who had treated his knife-scarred face with normalcy. That was why Sun WooHyun had come to be in Edel’s faction.
“J’ai une question a vous posez. Ou-est le Samaria Farm?”[3]
“Devant votre nez!”[4]
“Merci, merci!”
His fortune continued. The girl was one of the Samaria Farm’s main house workers. He had gotten rid of the idea of kidnapping someone for information. There was no need to wait until nightfall anymore.
“Isn’t there a well on the farm?”
The girl’s face turned dark.
“I’m being punished right now.”
“Who? Who is the b*stard that is punishing such a pretty girl?”
The girl’s mouth fell open. Women possessed emotional processing, which was 100 times faster than men. Empathy was the way to a woman’s heart.
“The master. I was found talking about Sir Edel.”
“Hm, what’s wrong about that?”
“The master doesn’t let us talk about Sir Edel. Men are beaten by sticks while women have to draw water all day.”
“Huh, I’ve never seen such a bad man.”
When Sun WooHyun took her side, the girl’s face grew bright.
“What’s your name?”
“Akra!”
“Oh, Akra! Your name is as beautiful as your face. How many men work on the farm?”
Tubilis Sun WooHyun had tried his best. He had learned 30 different ways of treating women from Edel in the hospital. Firstly, one had to agree and praise their beauty. He had to comment on a half-chewed dumpling with praise.
“There’s many. A lot.”
Sun Woohyun’s energy seeped out at the uncertain answer. He wanted to ask how many of those men had carried guns but decided not to. Chad’s illiteracy rate was 97 percent. It could be said that its entire population was illiterate. Some children couldn’t even count.
I guess I need to check it out myself.
Sun WooHyun carried the water buckets on Akra’s behalf and followed her. A lopsided, weak wired fence door stopped his path. There were two entrance protector bars and no guards.
The girl passed the entrance and kept walking. On both sides were fluffy cotton fields. Sun WooHyun walked along without a hint of nervousness, enjoying the scenery.
A huge white concrete building appeared 10 minutes into the walk. It was a two-story house of Romanesque architecture. A short acacia tree was seen around the house with a wooden fence protecting the parameters.
Sun WooHyun’s eagle eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. There was a guardhouse in front of the house’s entrance. There were two b*stards with Lee-Enfield rifles on guard. Lee-Enfield was a mass-product rifle from the English Royal Small Arms Factory in 1930. It was old but more powerful than the modern rifle.
There was a guard net set up on the right side of the house. Edel had said the farm was 900 pyung. Considering Chad’s security, it was possible to have a separate guard force.
Sun WooHyun’s head began to work quickly. 900 pyung meant five and a half kilometers per side. It was basically over 1,000,000. In military terms, it meant at least 100 nets.
There were around 20 rooms in the house, and there was a Jeep located to the left of the house’s garage. Edel’s uncle and his dog of a son could be in the house.
100 meters away, he could see a barrack-type building made of bricks and wood. He had guessed that it was the personnel’s quarters. In COTS, that meant 80 people in size. From the farm’s size, it was likely that the workers’ accommodations were scattered.
“Who the hell are you?”
A harsh voice rang while Sun WooHyun was analyzing his surroundings. It was a young, African teenager holding a gun upside down. He had approached in a swagger. There was a scent of alcohol. The guard slapped Sun WooHyun’s arm. He had predicted the b*stard’s actions, but he had sacrificed his shoulder, pretending that he was an idiot.
“Ugh!”
Sun WooHyun tilted in an exaggerated motion, spilling the buckets. Even then, his eyes were busy observing the surroundings.
“Takali, mean! That man helped me carry the water buckets,” the young girl protested at the young teenager.
“Go away. You can’t bring a stranger in.”
The black teenager shoved the girl away. The girl rolled on the sand.
“You…I’m going to tell the butler on you!”
“Hmph, you do that.”
It seems like the ones in power are those with guns. Should I just slice off that s***’s neck? Wakil would have shattered him immediately.
The bulky African teenager didn’t realize that his life was hanging on the edge of a cliff. He raised his chin and threw his weight around.
“Look, get the f*** out of here. I’ll make a hole in your skull.”
Clack—
Takali pulled the rifle’s safety back.
“Number 49 you f****** b*stard, I’m going to leave your head on for now,” Sun WooHyun turned around as he muttered in North Korean.
There was nothing to see anymore. Lousy guards like them weren’t his match even before Wakil had raised his combat abilities. They were untrained b*stards who drank during work.
An arm poked out of the larva-looking object underneath a palm tree.
Zip—
The zipper came down. Sun WooHyun wriggled out of his sleeping bag like a grown caterpillar coming out of its larva.
He shook his head like a fluttering insect and washed his eyes with the water in his canteen. Countless stars filled the sky. A white milky way crossed the heavens while a half-crinkled light hung on the western horizon.
“It is a frightening yet beautiful day to see blood!”
Sun WooHyun organized his sleeping bag and took out the disassembled Pamus from his backpack.
“The Pamus is Over-Spec for dogs and f****** b*stards. Yes, it is. I should see some blood. It has been some time.”
Sun WooHyun’s thoughts changed as he assembled the barrel and head. He placed the Pamus back into his backpack and equipped the Spetsnaz knife on his lower left arm. He checked the Glocks on his calf and hip and placed four magazines in his small bag. He also checked the piano strings and 20 darts in his upper pockets. Even his mumbling habits had started to resemble Black Mamba.
“It’s showtime. Nick Wayneright Edel, wasn’t it? Let’s see what the f***** who killed his older brother looks like.”
Dadadada—
Sun WooHyun began to sprint at a fearsome speed. One leap was nearly two meters long. He had completely taken to his changed body. The Samaria Farm appeared at the corner of his eyes.
No, Wakil always did things head-on.
He changed his mind as he was about to jump over the fence and headed towards the house’s front door instead. Sun WooHyun had been deeply traumatized by Black Mamba’s teachings.
There were two guards. One was asleep in the guardhouse, while the other was sleeping outside.
Crack—
The guard who was sleeping outside the box had his neck twisted off. He ignored the guard’s newfound strange appearance and entered the box. Sun WooHyun grabbed the guard’s hair and slammed his gun on the guard’s head.
“Kegh!”
The guard’s eyes grew red from the unexpected attack, as though it would burst.
“I’ll kill you if you make a sound.”
The guard nodded his head like a woodpecker.
Crack—
Sun WooHyun cracked his neck with the back of his hand. The guard who had his airway opened started breathing rapidly. Sun WooHyun mockingly smiled after checking his face.
“Hear hear…it’s the f****** b*stard number 49! You’re well in my grasp. You see that?”
Sun WooHyun pointed at the guard whose neck had been twisted off. The long, dangling tongue, which had fallen out, flickered in green under the light.
“Uuuhhhhhh!”
The guard shivered violently, to the point that it was pitiful. Sun WooHyun’s anger dissipated instantly. They weren’t soldiers but simply countryside farmers with guns.
“They are at the guard’s quarters behind the worker’s quarters.”
“And how many workers are there?”
“120 workers are living on the farm. Around 400 to 500 came in since it’s harvest season.”
“Is the farm owner in the house?”
“What? Yes, he’s in the third room to the right on the second floor.”
The guard revealed information that he hadn’t even asked for, in fear.
How is it this easy?
Sun WooHyun tilted his head. There wasn’t a need to use his specialty or break the guard’s fingers, either.
Crack—
It was the sound of twigs breaking. Sun WooHyun tilted his body instinctively.
Clang—
The guardhouse’s window shattered. The bullet which had passed by Sun WooHyun’s cheek embedded itself onto the wall. A black line flashed the moment the guard’s face relaxed.
Schink—
Sun WooHyun, who had escaped the guardhouse, rolled into the drain. Takali, who had his Adam’s apple sliced by the knife, collapsed.
Bang—
Bang—
Bullets followed Sun WooHyun as he sprinted towards the fence.
“Damn it. I thought it was too easy. I’m not the stork yet, huh?”
Sun WooHyun wanted to bang his head open for acting like Black Mamba. He had made a bigger mess out of things when it could have ended easily.
“God, it’s an intruder!”
“Catch him!”
Bang bang bang—
Guards poured out of the building. Bullets started pouring in heaps. If there was anything to consider fortunate, it was the guards’ lousy shooting.
Sun WooHyun jumped over the drains and buried himself in the cotton fields. The sounds grew louder. All the arc lights surrounding the house came on at once.
“I’ve become really stupid here, but this is my profession, after all. Let’s see some blood for the first time in a while.”
Sun WooHyun laughed with a twisted smile.
“What the hell?”
Surprised by the gunshots, Nick Wayneright Edel sat up. The woman he had wrapped around his leg fell to the floor and rolled underneath the bed.
“Master, please forgive me.”
She was barely in her mid-teens. The girl, whose chest had barely started rising, kneeled in her naked form.
“Move!”
Nick kicked the girl aside and wore his clothes. He hurriedly took up the interphone and pressed zero, which connected him to the guard box. The ringing continued. He pressed one which connected him to their lodgings.
Clack—
“Sir, it’s Enduma.”
“What were those gunshots?”
“There’s an intruder, sir. The guards are going after him.”
“How many intruders are there?”
“Don’t worry, sir. There’s only one.”
“One?”
Nick sighed in relief. The FROLINAT was pushed up north, but Doba’s security was like a doghouse. The starved locals turned into violent mobs randomly. The locals and some robbers swarmed his farm often to beg for food. He had to hire armed guards, separate from the province’s officers.
“Is it a robber?”
“Don’t worry, sir. It’s just a rat.”
“Good, there’s no reason to let a cotton rat live. Gather the vigilante and kill him. Report back to me.”
Crash—
Nick shoved the phone down and collapsed onto the bed.
“F****** damn Africa!”
A land without law or rules alongside dirty, smelly humans, increasing numbers of flies and mosquitoes, and insects crawling into his house—he was tired of it all.
He wanted to sell the farm and return to England, but the unstable market negotiations made it hard to sell. The negotiations that required him to hand over 50 percent of the farm’s share were still underway.
“Just killing that rat is enough.”
The plantation’s farm owner was a king, whether it was chaotic or not. He could order the laborers around or kill them. Nick went back to his bed. The black girl glanced at him and slowly laid down beside him. Even in his dreams, Nick wouldn’t have known that a wolf had entered his farm instead.
“Mukampa, the rat is hiding in the cotton field. Gather the corps, send two guys up on the roof, and turn on the searchlight. We’re going to catch the rat from now on!” Enduma shouted with vigor.
Including the 23 armed guards, there were 30 vigilantes with feelings, axes, and spears, rushing into the cotton field. The two strong searchlights set up on the house’s roof similarly searched the cotton field.
“The soil’s good!”
Sun WooHyun praised the black, fertile soil covering the ground, as it was soft. North Korea’s soil had been weakened by the weather, and therefore, grainy. The country even lacked fertilisers.
How much rice could he yield if he planted rice in this large land? Sun WooHyun calculated mentally to the best of his abilities. 300 pyung could bring 350 kilograms while 900,000 pyung could bring 10,000,000,000 kilograms.
North Korea’s food shortage was growing intense by the day. The land should be growing rice, not cotton.
Why am I thinking of that?
Sun WooHyun laughed at his silliness. He was a French citizen who served a South Korean master. North Korea was another man’s country now. It was a country filled with bad memories.
Drag—
Drag—
His bare feet that were covered in soil stopped his trail of thoughts. A guard walked through, tearing the cotton apart with his gun. Sun WooHyun’s combat abilities rose in the blue light.
Sst—
A small resonance, inaudible to the concentrated ear, rang.
“Kuh!”
A small groan was heard. Sun WooHyun snatched the handle.
Split—
The blood that streaked through the sky turned the white cotton, red. The guard, who had his neck sliced in half, fell to the ground. The murder weapon was a small dagger attached to the end of a piano string.
Sasasa—
Sun WooHyun escaped the cotton trees like a ghost.
[1] “Yes, what do you want from me?”
[2] Devil.
[3] “I have something to ask. Where is the Samaria Farm?”