Free Web NovelWhen Jessica woke up, she didn’t tell the commander who had come down to escort us about what had happened inside.
Even while riding in the vehicle the U.S. military had provided, all the way to Black Bear’s Iraq branch, she didn’t say a word.
The moment the soldiers who dropped us off disappeared, she spent a long time venting her resentment.
I apologized verbally, letting her complaints go in one ear and out the other.
“This is really too much, Charlie. What did you talk about without me? This can’t just end like this—”
Whether she kept rambling or not, I spotted someone standing in front of the Iraq branch building and the corner of my mouth lifted.
“Charlie. Are you even listening to me?”
Jessica complained again, clearly annoyed, but greeting a welcome face took priority.
“Igor.”
At the name, Jessica stopped mid-sentence and turned her head toward where I was looking.
Igor walked over slowly and bowed his head.
“Boss, you’re here. It’s been a while.”
I lightly patted the shoulder of Igor, who was saluting with perfect posture.
“Yeah. It’s been a while. Did you get some good rest?”
“Thanks to you, I had a proper break with my family. Thank you, Boss.”
I had lent my island in Greece to the mercenaries.
After their grueling missions, I wanted them to enjoy a proper vacation with their families.
“Everyone loved it.”
Seeing Igor answer brightly put my mind at ease.
People really do need to rest properly when they rest. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
“Let’s go inside first.”
As I was about to head in with Igor, Jessica caught my eye.
She was still pouting, arms tightly crossed.
“Sorry, Jessica, I’ll call you in separately later. Get some rest for now.”
“Charlie.”
“Are you trying to interrupt ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) a long-awaited reunion?”
“...I have a lot to say, so you’d better call me soon.”
I nodded. Jessica glanced once at Igor, then spun on her heel and left.
“Is that woman Jessica?”
Once Manager Ma firmly closed the door, Igor asked. I led him to a seat as I answered.
“That’s her. Let’s sit for now. We don’t have much time.”
Including me, Manager Ma, Igor, and Yuri, all four of us took our seats.
“I went to see Hussein.”
“I heard. What kind of man was he?”
I paused for a moment at Igor’s question, then answered.
“He had a sharp eye for people. The moment he saw Manager Ma, he pegged him as a human butcher—someone with a lot of blood on his hands. If he hadn’t been a dictator and had practiced proper politics, who knows how Iraq might have developed.”
Well, no matter how capable you were at governing, once you fell out of favor with the United States, it was over all the same.
Yuri, who had been listening quietly, picked up the thread.
“Come to think of it, I did hear he was competent before becoming president.”
I vaguely remembered hearing that Hussein had been considered capable when he was vice president.
But the moment that capable man became president and seized power, he began with bloody purges.
That’s why money and power are terrifying—they’re never shared, and they consume people.
“Hussein is already finished, so let’s drop that topic. You’ve heard the rough outline, right?”
“Yes. Yuri filled me in.”
When I turned to Manager Ma, he pulled a notebook from his jacket.
I took it and handed it to Yuri.
“Yuri. Contact the person listed in the notebook and start negotiations.”
“Who is he?”
“Apparently a contact for a terrorist organization. If you mention Hussein’s name, he’ll cooperate actively. Say we’re willing to pay a ransom—five hundred thousand dollars per hostage. They’ll probably demand more. Negotiate as much as you can without provoking them.”
Yuri frowned as he memorized the name and number written in the notebook.
“Boss, are you really planning to pay the ransom?”
“First, we rescue the hostages safely. After that, we retaliate. If we attach tracking devices to the money, we can locate them. Then Igor’s team will wipe them all out.”
Thanks to Hussein, we had been introduced to the contact.
So paying the ransom to secure the hostages’ safety came first.
Then, when the ransom was handed over, we’d track the kidnappers and annihilate them.
That was my plan.
“Won’t the kidnappers notice?”
“Which is exactly why we need to move fast. We’ve already narrowed down the possible areas where they might be. Once they collect the money, we track their movement route and move immediately. For the tracking devices, I plan to get help from the Americans. When it comes to technology, the U.S. military is still superior.”
Yuri’s face stiffened with tension.
After composing herself, she handed the notebook back and stood up.
“I’ll head out now and report back after making contact.”
“Understood.”
After saluting, Yuri left. Igor, who had been staring at the notebook on the table, asked quietly.
“Boss, once the location is confirmed... do we kill them all?”
“Yes. Use overwhelming firepower and wipe them out completely so they never even think about kidnapping Koreans again.”
There would be many construction projects involving Koreans in Afghanistan and Iraq going forward.
If we backed down this time, attempts to kidnap Koreans would only increase.
I intended to instill such fear that they’d never dare try again—show them exactly what happens when you touch Koreans.
If the state couldn’t do it, then I would take care of my own employees personally.
“Understood. I’ll go plan the operation.”
“Oh, Igor. Before you go—one moment.”
I took out the paper Hussein had given me and handed it to Igor.
After checking the numbers on the paper, Igor looked at me, asking for an explanation.
“Don’t tell Yuri about this. Quietly send just one person you absolutely trust to confirm the location.”
“Just confirm the location?”
“Yes. Confirm it and have them return immediately. I’ll go there myself.”
“Where is this place?”
“The site where the artworks and artifacts Hussein collected over decades are hidden. What people call the Hussein Collection.”
At my explanation, Igor’s gaze sharpened.
“Security will be critical.”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m giving this to you. The fewer people who know about this, the better. Just confirm the location—what’s there, what surrounds it—and report back.”
“Understood.”
After Igor left as well, I rubbed the back of my neck and stretched lightly.
Maybe because I’d been tense all day—my body felt stiff.
I smiled at Manager Ma, who was looking at me with concern.
“I’m just a little tired. It’s nothing. Please tell Jessica she can come in now.”
A short while later.
The moment Jessica entered the room, she started pressing me again about what had happened earlier.
Hearing the same complaints over and over was starting to get irritating.
“Enough. It’s already over. I can’t tell you what was discussed, but it will not cause any damage to U.S. national interests. So let’s leave it at that.”
“Charlie!”
“If you’re dissatisfied, report it upstairs. I won’t stop you.”
She had let her guard down at a critical moment and failed to hear important things.
Knowing that reporting it would only hurt her, Jessica frowned.
“Then let’s have a constructive discussion. With Hussein’s help, things should get easier.”
I explained the plan I’d put together.
Jessica listened without saying a word, her expression changing constantly.
“What do you think? Too difficult?”
“So you’re saying you’ll pay the ransom, for now?”
“That’s right. Of course, I’ll cover the ransom for the Koreans myself, but I have no intention of taking responsibility for the Americans’ ransom.”
“...Washington will never pay a ransom. Even if you wipe them out afterward.”
Negotiating with kidnappers was against policy from the start. Washington would never pay.
“I know. I’ll collect it from those Americans myself, so don’t interfere.”
“Well, if that’s the case...”
“What do you think? Igor’s team will handle the annihilation directly. The U.S. should already be well aware of Igor team’s capabilities.”
Black Bear had several mercenary teams.
Among them, Igor’s team stood out for operational performance.
From Afghanistan to North Korea, they had never failed a mission.
“With Igor’s team, their skills are solid. The problem is—what if you hand over the ransom and fail to wipe them out?”
“Then we’ll think about that when it happens. Report upstairs. We need support for tracking devices and reconnaissance equipment.”
“Alright. I’ll be back later.”
Jessica stood up and walked toward the door.
Her hand on the doorknob, she hesitated, then turned around.
“Charlie, don’t handle things like this next time. I’m not your subordinate—I’m your partner. If you want a partnership, then treat me accordingly.”
Petty to the end. I nodded and smiled.
“Understood. It won’t happen again.”
“Good. I won’t file a separate report about this incident.”
After Jessica left, only Manager Ma and I remained.
As the tension drained away, a deep sigh escaped me.
When I stood up and took off my suit jacket, Manager Ma accepted it naturally.
“I’m tired. Let’s call it a day.”
“What about dinner?”
Maybe because the meeting with Hussein had gone longer than expected—or maybe because it was late—I suddenly felt exhausted. I had no appetite at all.
“I’ll just rest today. You should head out too.”
After sending Manager Ma off, I collapsed face-down onto the bed.
My body was tired, but my thoughts were too deep for sleep to come.
I forced my eyes shut and slowly organized the chaos in my head.
For two full days, Yuri negotiated with a man named Khamis, who worked with the Red Crescent.
Meanwhile, Black Bear’s intelligence team gathered information on the Red Crescent, headquartered in Turkey, and on Khamis himself.
“We offered five hundred thousand dollars per hostage, but the kidnappers are demanding two million per person.”
Yuri briefed us on the negotiations.
“If we pay their demand, that’s ten million dollars total?”
One Korean, four Americans... no, three Americans and one British-American. Five hostages in total.
“That’s correct. And somehow they got wind of it—now the British government has contacted us as well.”
It seemed the U.S. government had passed the information to the British through unofficial channels.
“The family of the British-American hostage says they’re willing to cover the ransom.”
Unlike the U.S., Britain didn’t prohibit families or companies from paying ransoms and negotiating with terrorists.
“They’re willing to pay the ransom...”
Originally, I’d planned to extract the ransom from the company employing the hostages.
They were kidnapped on duty, so responsibility lay with the company.
I’d also planned to tack on an extra fee for the trouble.
“Tell the British government we’ll handle it. Tell them not to even think about sticking their noses in.”
“Yes. I’ll do that.”
“Tell them we’ll pay the full ten million dollars in ransom. What’s the exchange method?”
“They’re discussing exchanging the hostages and the money through an intermediary.”
Exchanging hostages and ransom through a middleman was the most traditional—and reliable—method.
“Wasn’t the intermediary named Khamis, based in Turkey?”
“He’s scheduled to enter Iraq today.”
I nodded and turned to Igor.
“Have you finalized the operational plan?”
“Yes. With U.S. support, we’ll have access not only to tracking devices but also satellite tracking. The equipment’s already been delivered, and we’re learning how to operate it.”
“Looks like Jessica put in some effort.”
“If it were just about paying a ransom, the U.S. wouldn’t have helped. But since Black Bear is stepping in to wipe out a terrorist group, they’re supporting us fully.”
From America’s perspective, it was a free win—they had no reason to hold back.
“Additionally, the U.S. wants us to capture at least one kidnapper alive and hand him over.”
“Greedy. We already handed one over.”
We’d already turned over one captured kidnapper to the U.S. military.
And they still wanted more. Shameless.
“Forget it. We’ll wipe them all out as planned. I want to make an example of them—so they can never attempt another kidnapping targeting Korea.”
Annihilation and capture operations were fundamentally different in weight.
Switching to a capture mission would significantly increase the burden on Igor’s team.
There was no reason to take that risk just to satisfy American demands.
As originally planned, exchanging the ransom for the hostages, tracking the kidnappers, and annihilating them all was the correct course.
“The most important thing now is eliminating as many variables as possible.”
If anything went wrong, the hostages would be as good as dead.
We spent a long time discussing and eliminating potential variables.
Most of Black Bear’s forces were on standby nearby for the retaking of Fallujah.
Pulling those forces would be tantamount to revealing the operation in advance. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
So we couldn’t deploy many personnel.
In the end, Yuri would support Igor’s team from the rear, while Igor personally led his team into the annihilation operation.
“We’ll proceed carefully to minimize our own losses—but we must wipe them out completely. Let’s show those lunatics who think they can summon Black Bear exactly what our power looks like.”
At my resolute words, the eyes of everyone gathered for the operation gleamed coldly.
