Prologue

May 11, 2011, Sunday, 11:00 AM

As the bells tolled, Agent Lee Chang-su of the Special Protection Team stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking and straightened his clothes. The sound of the bells signaled the end of the service and, at the same time, heralded the imminent filling of the small church’s front square with numerous people.

He glanced around the empty square before looking up at the sky. The blue sky of May was clear, without a single cloud, and the sunlight was dazzling. With practiced ease, he took sunglasses from his top pocket and put them on while surveying his surroundings again. Wearing sunglasses was part of his job, not just for the sunlight. They subtly invoked a sense of intimidation, helping to prevent any unforeseen incidents and, if prevention failed, to gain the upper hand in any confrontations. This was a lesson he had learned repeatedly since the first day at the Bodyguard Academy.

Another pair of sunglasses across the square nodded at him. He responded with a wave of his hand and climbed halfway up the stairs leading from the church’s main entrance to the square, taking up a position. It was a spot that was not too conspicuous yet offered a clear view of both the church and the square. The distance from the church’s red wooden front doors to the start of the stairs was about 15 meters – not too far.

Of course, he wasn’t hoping for any special incidents to occur. ‘Situations’ were best if they didn’t happen at all and ideally should be suppressed before they arose. In unavoidable cases, he would throw himself in harm’s way to stop them, but his modest wish was to continue this job for as long as possible without getting hurt. After all, there weren’t many jobs that paid 4.5 million won a month for standing still for eight hours a day.

As the large doors of the church swung open, people began to stream out. Given the season, it was a wave of bright primary colors. Agent Lee’s eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, rapidly scanned the crowd. A woman in a yellow dress holding a child’s hand, a man in a beige suit, a lady in a somewhat prematurely worn red mini-dress with thick thighs, and then children, more children… In an instant, dozens of people exited the church doors and descended the stairs.

The most dangerous moments were always when one could get lost in such a crowd. Agent Lee tried consciously not to tense up, but he couldn’t help the stiffness creeping into the muscles at the back of his neck. The nature of a bodyguard’s job is inherently contradictory. To protect someone without being noticeable is like being asked to throw punches with hands tied. After all, even the famed U.S. Presidential Secret Service lost Lincoln and Kennedy, and almost Reagan.

Of course, the person he was currently protecting, Assemblyman Song, was neither of the stature of a U.S. President nor likely to be a target for snipers. However, due to his position as Chairman of the Construction Committee, it was not uncommon for him to attract troublemakers. These were usually construction company CEOs involved in national large-scale projects, ranging from those who shouted and pointed fingers to those who wept and clung to his legs. Although they weren’t armed or physically violent, calming them down verbally was part of the job. But it was a constant worry for someone in charge of protection. If even one bitter individual, harboring a grudge, were to come at him with something as simple as an iron skewer, it would be chaos. Moreover, due to controversies over the Su-Pung Power Plant bid, the security detail had been strengthened to three members since last week.

Agent Lee slowly turned his head, continuing to scan the colorful crowd. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and the flow of people emerging was thinning. He turned his head towards the church upon seeing a signal from Agent Choi at the square’s bottom. Behind the pastor, who was shaking hands with the congregants, Assemblyman Song was stepping out of the church door with another elderly man. Following them was Agent Kim, also wearing sunglasses.

Assemblyman Song was shaking hands and exchanging words with an elderly man before smiling and beginning to walk towards the stairs. On closer inspection, the old man was Chairman Park of Taehan Construction, who was also smiling. Under the sacred roof of the church, Agent Lee couldn’t know, nor did he want to, what heavy sins were being traded, but it wasn’t hard to guess that Taehan Construction would likely be handling the controversial Su-Pung Power Plant project.

As he made a mental note to call in and buy Taehan’s stocks as soon as the market opened the next morning, Agent Lee stepped up a stair. The plan to wait for Assemblyman Song here and then escort him, with Agent Kim at his back and Agent Choi paving the way in the square below, was already set.

Then, a man in a brown suit emerged from the church door. He was a sturdy man with dark, tanned skin. His back was turned, so Agent Kim couldn’t see him. The man with a scruffy beard stood at the door, looking around. Agent Lee tensed up until he saw the man walk in a different direction from Assemblyman Song, then relaxed. However, he did not miss the blue badge pinned to the man’s suit collar.

Just as Assemblyman Song was shaking hands with the pastor, something flashed at the edge of his vision, causing Agent Lee to turn his head to the right. A young woman in a yellow two-piece suit, holding two roses, brushed past him, leaving a trail of light perfume. Perhaps it was the contrast between the white and red roses in her hand that caught his eye. He didn’t see her face, but from the back, she looked like a model. He thought about following her if he wasn’t on duty, then turned his attention back to Assemblyman Song.

Assemblyman Song had already reached the top of the stairs. Agent Lee turned around to maintain a distance of 2 to 3 meters from the assemblyman as they began to descend. Even as he did so, his eyes continuously scanned the plaza below and the crowd that filled it.

The distance to where Agent Choi was located was about 30 meters, which could be covered in a minute. However, Agent Lee’s eyes had already spotted half a dozen unsettling elements in the plaza. The man with the blue badge had somehow made his way down to the square. Also, two men who looked like students were talking and sneaking glances at Agent Choi, and a man in a dark navy suit was seen furtively looking around behind Agent Choi.Trained to spot every anomaly, the bodyguard’s eyes also caught a woman in a forsythia-yellow two-piece suit stopping in her tracks with her back turned and a short young man in a lime green jacket moving against the crowd towards the church, but these did not seem to be threats.

Slowly descending the stairs, Agent Lee kept an eye on the man with the blue badge. However the badge-holder manturned and disappeared into the crowd. The man in the navy suit seemed to have found who he was looking for, waved his hand, and began walking to the opposite side of the plaza.Agent Lee’s attention, relaxed by the chatting men, snapped back to alertness upon seeing a long tube, about 1 meter in length, in the hand of the young man in the lime green jacket who was pushing through the crowd.

However, the young man, with thick horn-rimmed glasses and a slight build that suggested he might be an aspiring artist, did not seem to pose any threat. The contents of the tube were likely to be a painting or a blueprint.

As Agent Lee turned his gaze back towards the two men while descending the stairs, he halted his steps when the young man in the lime green jacket, having passed the woman in the two-piece suit, suddenly began to approach at a fast pace. Lee had thought the woman in the two-piece suit was striking, with a back profile that could rival a model’s.He thought wistfully about following her if he wasn’t on duty and then turned his head back towards Assemblyman Song.

However, a sudden searing pain shot through his right calf, causing his knee to buckle. Then, a powerful blow, unbelievably from the seemingly frail young man, struck his jaw, and Agent Lee tumbled to one side of the stairs. He caught a glimpse of the young man holding a sword upside down, climbing the stairs. The young man had flipped the handle in less than 0.1 seconds to slash at Lee’s calf after the blade passed under his armpit.

“He’s a master.”

Struggling to regain his balance, Agent Lee staggered to his feet. Assemblyman Song was backpedaling up the stairs, and Agent Kim had drawn his gun to block the young man. But in the next moment, something white flashed, and Agent Kim’s arm, still gripping the pistol, flew into the air.

“Move aside, Baroque!”

The young man, shouting something incomprehensible, shoved Agent Kim aside and leaped towards Representative Song with a grace and fluidity that seemed impossible for a human.

“Sa-save me!”

Standing in front of Assemblyman Song, the young man ignored his pleas and raised his sword.

“Spare me your mockery, Velya!”

Uttering another strange exclamation, the young man swiftly swung his sword, decapitating Song Kyung-ho, the chairman of the National Assembly’s Construction and Transportation Committee and father of three. The severed head rolled towards the church door, while the headless body convulsed meaninglessly, crawling around on the stairs.

Amid the screams from all around and the mist of blood spurting from Assemblyman Song’s severed neck, the young man turned towards the plaza. Raising his sword high, he bellowed with all his might.

“At last, justice is served!”

“What in the world have you done!”

The elderly pastor, who had been standing on the stairs, shouted in panic as he descended. The young man, with a triumphant expression, turned to face the pastor.

“I’ve killed the god you worshipped! Now it’s your turn!”

“What are you sa-…”

Agent Lee, struggling to climb the stairs, couldn’t even see the sword move, but the pastor collapsed, spewing blood before finishing his sentence. More screams erupted.

The young man then turned and descended the stairs, driving his sword into the chest of the fallen Agent Kim. Agent Lee, frozen in place, was overwhelmed by a profound terror he had never experienced before, watching the young man plant his sword into a human chest with a blood-smeared smile, appearing utterly unfazed.

As the young man with the sword descended the stairs as if on a casual stroll, he stopped before the agent and raised his blade high.

Bang!

Suddenly, a dark hole appeared on the youth’s forehead, and blood similar in color to that of Assemblyman Song spurted out like a red fountain.

Bang, bang!

As two more gunshots rang out, two more blossoms of blood opened on the young man’s chest. Frozen for a moment with the sword still raised, he suddenly flailed his arms and legs like a traditional Korean mask dance before collapsing on the stairs. Dark red liquid cascaded down the steps like a stream.

“Agent Lee, are you alright?”

Agent Choi, who had run up with a gun in his hand, crouched beside him and asked.

The anxious face of Agent Choi and the spreading red wave of blood on the stairs below intertwined in Agent Lee’s vision. Suddenly, he burst into tears. He tried to stop crying while looking at the bewildered face of Agent Choi, but he couldn’t control it.

It felt like it would never end.