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CHAPTER 02
Three hours earlier, two men stood at the boarding gate of Namdaemun Station.
“What perfect weather for achieving independence.”
The shorter man with the mustache spoke first.
At his words, the taller man lifted his head to look at the sky. It was perfectly clear, without a single cloud.
“Watch your mouth, Joseph.”
“It’s just us here. What’s the harm, Michael?”
The tall man called Michael frowned in annoyance but said nothing further.
Among his comrades, he was known by the alias “Michael,” but his real name was Lee Dowoon.
Dowoon’s mind was consumed entirely by the success of the mission. If even one police officer overheard their conversation, everything would fall apart.
“Don’t forget. The tunnel is the signal.”
“Y-yes, I know, Michael. Don’t worry! Even I wouldn’t forget that.”
Ignoring Joseph’s grumbling, Dowoon stepped aboard the train waiting at the platform. Joseph followed soon after, his expression now serious.
“Good luck.”
Joseph nodded at Dowoon’s words.
Soon, the two men turned their backs to each other and walked toward separate train cars.
Moving carefully so as not to attract attention, Dowoon headed toward the very front of the train. There, he secretly loosened a specific coupling he had inspected beforehand.
His mission was simple:
Separate the train cars before the train reached Sinuiju Station.
Since Dowoon himself had supplied the train components, he was the only one capable of carrying out the task.
The rest would be handled by his comrades aboard the train.
By the time the train neared Pyongyang, Dowoon finally released the last coupling he had been working on. Even to the naked eye, the connection now shook dangerously loose.
He let out a short sigh of relief.
Now all he had to do was stay hidden until it was time to leave the train.
To do that, he needed to avoid the police officers patrolling the train.
Dowoon decided to hide in first class. Since only Japanese passengers rode there, the police patrolled it less frequently.
“Jackpot.”
What caught Dowoon’s eye was a sleeping woman—and the compartment she occupied.
Chohee barely managed to stop herself from screaming at the sight of the unfamiliar man.
Was he simply a passenger who boarded late?
She had assumed she would be traveling alone, but perhaps not.
Chohee recalled a conversation her fellow teachers once had.
“Did you hear Laura is getting married? She’s marrying the man she met on the train to Busan!”
“He happened to sit beside her. Well, it’s uncommon, but those things happen sometimes. Love at first sight and all that.”
Though Chohee had never ridden a train before, their words made it seem that sharing a compartment with strangers was normal enough.
Truthfully, hearing about Laura’s romantic marriage had made her heart flutter a little.
Calming herself, Chohee looked carefully at the man seated before her.
Was he asleep?
The man sat with his arms crossed and his head slightly lowered.
His neatly parted pomade-styled hair exposed his smooth forehead. From his thick eyebrows, a sharp and straight nose descended elegantly. His jawline looked firm and masculine, yet refined at the same time.
Thin round glasses concealed his eyes, but they couldn’t hide the fact that he was handsome.
His worn-looking suit, slightly too small for him, clung tightly to his body and clearly outlined his broad, muscular frame.
The moment her gaze lingered on his wide chest, Chohee blushed and quickly turned away.
“You shouldn’t stare at someone sleeping!”
Lightly slapping her cheeks, she regained her composure.
No matter how handsome the man was, he had nothing to do with her.
“…Though, is this man even alive?”
If he were sleeping, shouldn’t he at least be breathing audibly? The man sat perfectly motionless, like an assassin waiting in ambush.
{…Where—!}
{—Look over there!}
Sharp Japanese voices suddenly rang out from outside the once-quiet corridor. Chohee turned toward the door. Heavy footsteps rapidly approached.
“What’s going on?”
At that moment—
The man who appeared to be sleeping suddenly opened his eyes.
No, he had only been pretending to sleep.
Before she could react, he moved instantly to the seat beside her. By the time Chohee turned her head, he was already close against her side.
“What—”
Before she could scream, he grabbed her face with both hands.
The firmness of his touch against her cheeks felt strange and overwhelming.
“Mmph!”
Chohee found herself staring directly into the black eyes behind his glasses. He was so close she could see her own reflection in them.
From outside, it would look as though the two were sharing a passionate kiss.
In reality, however, the man was merely covering her mouth with one hand while wrapping the other around her waist and leaning close to her face.
His large hand completely covered the lower half of her face.
Realizing she was being restrained, Chohee desperately grabbed his wrist with both hands, trying with all her strength to pull his hand away.
But his grip didn’t budge an inch.
For a brief moment, confusion flickered in his eyes.
“Wait.”
The man whispered urgently in Japanese.
Then, with the arm around her waist, he caught both of her struggling wrists and pinned them down.
“Please stay quiet for a moment.”
The sound of shoes stopped right outside their compartment.
Someone seemed to be peering through the window.
“Tsk tsk. In broad daylight, too.”
A faint mutter came from outside.
Chohee screamed with all her might.
“Mmph! Mmm—!”
But his hand muffled her cries into little more than faint noises.
“If you don’t want people saying you were behaving improperly with a strange man, stay quiet.”
The man growled softly.
A chill ran down her spine.
Realizing struggling was pointless, Chohee stopped fighting.
Instead, she glared at him with all the hatred she could muster.
Eventually, the presence outside the window faded away.
“Haa…”
The man sighed in relief and slowly released her.
“My apologies.”
The instant she was free, Chohee shoved him hard and swung her fist wildly.
Smack!
She felt her fist connect, and the man’s glasses flew through the air.
When she came to her senses, the now-unmasked man was clutching his right eye with one hand.
Had she actually hit him properly?
“You lunatic! You shameless pervert!”
Chohee clenched her fist again, ready to jab his left eye too if necessary.
Her hands trembled violently.
“If you come any closer, I’ll hit you again!”
Too shocked to think, she shouted insults in Korean instead of Japanese.
“Wait!”
Still covering his eye, the man picked up his glasses and put them back on before raising one hand as though surrendering.
“You’re Korean?”
“Korean or not, what exactly is wrong with you? Why would you suddenly do something like that—”
“You were in first class, so I assumed you were Japanese. I apologize.”
This time, his tone was far softer than before.
Only then did Chohee realize he had switched to Korean as well.
Knowing he wasn’t Japanese eased her nerves somewhat. If he had been Japanese, he might have retaliated for being hit. But with another Korean, things were different.
“You told me to stay quiet if I didn’t want rumors spread about being improper with a strange man. What kind of threat was that?”
“You were about to scream. I had no choice. For that, I apologize.”
“You’re the one who made me scream in the first place!”
“I apologize for that too. What would it take for you to calm down?”
While she fumed, the man remained irritatingly composed. There was even something teasing in his attitude, which only made her angrier.
Perhaps because of that, Chohee blurted out something she normally never would have said.
“Tell me honestly. You just wanted an excuse to touch a woman’s hand, didn’t you?”
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
The man let out a disbelieving laugh.
Then he smirked slightly, one corner of his mouth lifting. Smiling only made his handsome face shine more brightly.
“Do I look like the kind of man desperate enough to force himself on women?”
His expression practically radiated confidence.
The nerve of him.
Was he really that arrogant because of his good looks?
Crossing her arms, Chohee slowly looked him up and down.
“Judging by your appearance, you seem more than capable of it.”
Her reply was ice-cold.
The corner of the man’s mouth twitched downward slightly.
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“If you don’t understand, forget it. I’m not about to explain that your irritatingly handsome face and those clothes that look stolen off someone else make you look like a beggar.”
“Ha!”
He lifted one eyebrow and let out a short breath at her words.
But soon enough, that mask-like smile returned.
“I didn’t come here to do anything to you. It was merely coincidence that our paths crossed—”
“That’s exactly what shameless men always say.”
“Then what should I say for you to believe I’m innocent?”
“Start by disappearing from in front of me.”
Chohee snapped.
Expecting another shameless retort, she waited—but surprisingly, the man fell silent instead. He frowned faintly, as though something displeased him.
“I sincerely apologize. I never intended to frighten you.”
“I’m not accepting your apology, so stop apologizing.”
“That’s unfortunate. Then perhaps you should apologize to me instead?”
“W-what?”
Chohee exploded at the absurd suggestion.
What unbelievable audacity! Why should she apologize?
Unlike the furious Chohee, the man simply smiled again, clearly amused by something.
He casually removed his hand from his right eye.
“You hit me, didn’t you?”
“You’ve got some nerve—don’t expect an apology! That was self-defense!”
“Very well. Then let’s agree neither of us owes the other an apology.”
“You’re unbelievably shameless.”
Muttering under her breath, Chohee glared at him. Looking closer, it didn’t even seem like she had hit him that hard.
Even though she had deliberately spoken loudly in hopes of pricking his conscience, the man remained completely unfazed.
“So the train romance the teachers talked about was all a lie. There are only weirdos here!”
Chohee glared at him for quite some time.
Eventually, perhaps tired of her stare, the man stood and placed the fedora beside him onto his head.
“Then this unwelcome guest will take his leave.”
“Please do.”
“Until we meet again.”
“Maybe in the afterlife.”
In other words: Let’s never meet again in this life.
Before she had even finished speaking, the man opened the compartment door with a click and stepped outside.
The train continued endlessly across the vast fields.
The unfamiliar scenery of Pyeongan Province stretched outside. Sinuiju was getting closer.
Chohee reread the address on the note Chihoon had given her over and over again. The paper was already worn from being unfolded hundreds of times.
She had memorized the address perfectly, yet for some reason she still couldn’t take her eyes off it.
That was when—
The firmly shut compartment door was suddenly thrown open roughly, and a police officer conducting inspections entered without warning.
“There will be a brief inspection. Stand up.”
