AGENT 63

Lee Suji seemed not to know that Seo Soo had aimed a gun at me and fired. If so, then yesterday’s event was Seo Soo’s independent action, and it meant there had been no discussion among the others about needing to eliminate me.

I held the handgun Lee Suji handed over in my hand and lifted it. I had seen it a few times, but it was my first time actually gripping one. However, the weight was lighter than I thought. I had thought handguns were all made of steel, but the material of this gun was polymer.

“It’s lighter than I expected.”

“Yeah. That one is especially light without a magazine. But once you put a magazine in, it’ll probably have some weight to it, right?”

“Are bullets heavy?”

“They aren’t super heavy, but still, the weight feeling is completely different between having them and not.”

“…I will try practicing with this.”

Yongnae looked down at the handgun in his hand for a long while before saying he would practice firing with it. At that, Lee Suji said it was a good choice and pulled out three magazines loaded with bullets from a lower cabinet.

“The P320 takes 16 rounds in one magazine, and there are three magazines total. You can load one and take the other two as spares, though Mister probably won’t need spares.”

After Lee Suji put a magazine into the handgun, clack-clack. He chambered a round and handed it to Yongnae, who flinched for a moment—his body trembling—thinking the muzzle was pointed toward him. He tried to act as if it were nothing, but it seemed he was somewhat shocked by the fact that Seo Soo had shot at him yesterday.

“What, going to faint again?”

“No.”

“That was my first time seeing someone faint just from looking at a gun.”

Ignoring the snickering laughter, Yongnae accepted the loaded gun. Just as Lee Suji said, there was a big difference between this handgun having bullets and not. It felt like about double the weight had been added.

“There’s a human-shaped target over there. Fire at that, and if you press this button, the target will automatically come forward so you can check where you hit. Put these on and give it a try.”

I thought he would fix my stance for holding the gun or adjust my hand shape, but Lee Suji was the type to just tell someone to do it however they could, and he just stood a step back and watched. Or, did he bring me here to just get roughly familiar with a gun because he thought I would never have a reason to use one in the first place?

Yongnae put the shooting headphones over his ears, and after aiming at the target in front of him, he pulled the trigger.

Bang—

At the recoil, which was more severe than he thought, Yongnae’s body was pushed back. A startled Yongnae steadied his balance and looked down at the gun in his hand.

In truth, because of the headphones, he could barely hear the gunshot, so he felt a sense of disparity at the recoil being inversely proportional to the noise. He had wondered if these headphones would provide good soundproofing, and the effect was considerable. The firing sound reaching his ears felt like it was only about 1/10th of the bang sound the one with curly hair had fired before. So he wondered, Did I actually shoot? but the thick smell of gunpowder spreading out announced that it was real.

So this is what it feels like to fire a handgun.

Bang— bang— bang—

After firing three more rounds in succession, Yongnae stared silently at the distant target. Since his vision was on the good side, he could tell roughly where the bullets had hit without having to bring the target forward, but seeing that no holes were visible at all, it seemed he hadn’t hit the target even once.

Tap, tap—

Feeling Lee Suji tapping his shoulder from behind, Yongnae put the gun down and turned around.

However, since the man was only speaking with his mouth movements, Yongnae just stared silently, wondering What on earth is he doing? until Lee Suji made a motion of tapping his own ears as if telling him to take off the headset.

“Ah…….”

Embarrassed by the foolish mistake, Yongnae quickly took off the headset.

“It seems Mister is only smart in the head.”

“………”

“Practice and then come to the dining room by 7:00 PM. There are more bullets over there.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t practice too hard. You’ll have muscle pain tomorrow.”

After saying he’d teach some shooting, Lee Suji was a bit absurd as he just gave the location of the guns and the target and went trudging back down the forest path. He looked truly like a person who had zero expectations for my marksmanship.

Spurred by spite, Yongnae put the headset back on, aimed at the target, and fired the gun again.

Bang—

Five rounds.

Bang—

Six rounds.

Bang—

Whirrr—

The target paper moved toward Yongnae. He had fired an entire magazine, and unless his eyes were mistaken, this couldn’t be right.

“…I didn’t hit it even once?”

Out of 16 rounds, not a single one hit the body? Having missed the entire human-shaped target and seeing the bullet marks only on the white background, Yongnae let out a hollow laugh, feeling absurd. He thought he was above average at most things, but marksmanship apparently wasn’t one of them. Though, when he fired the K2 in the military, he did hit the circular targets.

To swap in the second magazine, Yongnae pressed the magazine release on the handgun and took out the existing magazine.

“Uh…….”

However, unlike what Lee Suji said about it being 16 rounds, one more bullet remained, perhaps because the P320 accommodates 17 rounds. Because the handgun with the bullets removed felt as light as when he first held it, to the point he didn’t think one more round would be inside. Still, thinking he might as well just swap the magazine since he’d already taken it out, Yongnae swapped in a new magazine loaded with 17 rounds. And aiming at the target again, bang—.

The target paper fluttered a bit more loudly than before. It seemed he had hit the body area. Since it felt like he was gradually getting the hang of it, Yongnae stared at the target again to check where he had hit.

“Ah…….”

He hit the body, but it was at the very edge.

Bang— again.

This time too, the edge.

Bang—

The edge.

Bang—

“…Why is it missing so much.”

He wanted to hit the center of the body or the head area, but the bullets were heartlessly piercing only the ends of the arms or the edges of the shoulders. Just how on earth are you supposed to hit this well? As Yongnae let out a sigh at the shooting not going as he wished,

Amidst the thick smell of gunpowder, a strong vanilla scent that matched it overlapped as someone came up and stood behind Yongnae.

“………”

Then, the person took Yongnae’s hunched shoulders and pushed them down, made him tuck his splayed elbows toward his chest, and even changed the shape of his hands holding the gun.

“………”

At his hands, which were very warm in contrast to himself, Yongnae trembled and took a deep breath.

Because of the headset, he hadn’t heard when the person came up, and he didn’t know when the person had approached behind him. Even now, because of the very quiet silence where not even a breath could be heard, although he knew the man was standing behind him, it didn’t easily feel like reality.

Bang—

The man’s finger, merged over his own, pulled the trigger. And then again, bang— bang— after a total of three shots, the man pulled his body away and pressed the button to bring the target forward.

However, Yongnae couldn’t even look back; he remained frozen, holding the gun, just staring blankly at the target paper approaching him.

“………”

Whirrr— clack.

And looking at the stopped target paper, Yongnae took another deep breath.

Three shots. And three piercings.

In the exact center of the head, only one large bullet mark remained. It meant all three had pierced the same spot.

“………”

Yongnae, who had been staring intently at the target, slowly took off the headset and turned around. However, the person he expected was not behind him; there was only a white figure walking away down the forest path in the distance.

Is he giving the disease and then the medicine……?

Listening to the sound of his pounding heart, Yongnae stared at that forest path for a long while.

∞ ∞ ∞

After swapping through four more magazines using the stance the man had taught him, Yongnae entered the dining room at exactly 7:00 PM. In the dining room, there were only organization members including Lee Suji and Weizhen; his figure was not to be seen.

“Did you manage to hit the target a bit? You seemed to have no talent at all.”

As Yongnae entered the dining room, Lee Suji motioned for him to come and sit. As Yongnae approached the table, Weizhen greeted him with just a slight tilt of the head. Yongnae also gave a tilt back. After exchanging greetings, he pulled out the chair across from Lee Suji and sat down. Tonight’s dinner is the fried noodles Lee Suji had been singing about.

“I hit it.”

“You didn’t just shoot the background paper?”

I wanted to blurt out the terrifying words, ‘Shall I show you me shooting a gun directly at your head?’ to Lee Suji who was snickering with food in his mouth, but Yongnae, who was used to dealing with more than a few difficult citizens, suppressed it and ignored him.

“I put the same gun in your room.”

“In my room?”

“Yeah. I hear we’re heading out first thing tomorrow?”

At Lee Suji’s words, the heads of Weizhen and Yongnae turned toward him simultaneously. The reason was the same for both. However, Lee Suji was eating with his nose buried in the plate as if he were possessed by the fried noodles he wanted so much.

“Susu is going?”

Is it true that Seo Soo is going himself, with me? Yesterday he killed me, today he saved me. Is he going to be with me tomorrow?

“Yeah. Susu is going.”

“Just the two of them?”

At Weizhen’s question, Lee Suji, who had been answering indifferently while eating with his nose down, raised his head and looked at Yongnae.

“Yeah. Just the two of them.”