Sniping - 00: Prologue

The sky was turning pale gray with the approaching dawn.

A chilly wind tousled Hyun-Se’s hair. Standing on the rooftop of the building, he habitually held an unlit cigarette between his lips, slowly but sharply scanning the surroundings.

 “Do you ever sleep? Do you even remember what time we went to bed last night?”

A hoarse voice crackled through the tiny in-ear device lodged in his ear. Hyun-Se’s smooth forehead furrowed briefly before relaxing again.

“Sweetheart, don’t lump us together. That’s disgusting.”

His low voice was so quiet that even someone standing right in front of him wouldn’t have heard it. At a glance, it might sound affectionate, but it was as cold and devoid of warmth as the weather.

“Ugh, damn. That ‘sweetheart’ always gives me the creeps.”

At a safe house thirty minutes away, Jae-Chan scratched his arm irritably while working the coffee machine. The humming noise of the machine came through the high-performance earpiece. A caffeine addict, Jae-Chan always sought coffee before even fully opening his eyes.

Hyun-Se was walking toward the rooftop’s railing when he stopped abruptly. A structure had obstructed his view, and now he noticed someone he hadn’t seen before. The figure, leaning over the railing to look at something, was small. Almost like… a woman.

“There’s someone here,” he muttered.

“What? Someone? No one’s supposed to be in that building right now, right?”

The building, awaiting remodeling, had been sealed off with a security system. Sure, Hyun-Se had entered thanks to Jae-Chan, but the other person…

He deliberately made his footsteps louder. The small figure flinched so noticeably that it was visible to the naked eye. When the figure turned around, it was, as he suspected, a woman.

Wearing a black cap and dressed in running gear, she appeared to be a young Asian woman. Her all-black outfit felt oddly familiar. Then he realized it was identical to his own. The realization almost made him laugh. Hyun-Se, too, was wearing black running gear. To a stranger, they might look like a couple.

Her small face, full of confusion and nervousness, lowered slightly. Then, as if deciding to get out of there, she moved quickly. Hyun-Se slipped the cigarette into the pocket of his lightweight windbreaker and neatly stepped in front of her path.

Startled, she tilted her chin up, wide eyes meeting his.

“About 165 centimeters, maybe,” he guessed, estimating her height. He looked under her cap and studied her face. In the pale early light, her white skin and strikingly beautiful features stood out. A rare kind of beauty.

His gaze briefly dropped to her sneakers, then traveled back up to her face.

“This isn’t a place you can just enter.”

…

Though he had entered without permission himself, Hyun-Se shamelessly opened his mouth. The woman bit her lip in frustration.

“What a hypocrite,” Jae-Chan scoffed, sipping his coffee loudly. Despite countless reminders to avoid slurping, he never listened.

Her intentions were clear—she wanted to run. But Hyun-Se moved faster, kneeling on one knee in front of her before she could take another step.

“Your shoelace is untied. You need to tie it properly if you’re going to run.”

Caught off guard by the unexpected comment, she froze. Hyun-Se reached into his pocket and tied her shoelace. As soon as he stood, she dashed toward the door and disappeared. He let her go.

“I didn’t even get a thank you.”

“Did you plant the bug?”

“She was suspicious.”

“And you’re not?”

“I’m always suspicious. But sweetheart, whose side are you on?”

“Ugh, stop calling me that, damn it!”

Jae-Chan groaned in disgust, practically shouting. Hyun-Se smiled faintly—a smile no one else could see—and walked over to where the woman had been standing. Something was off. Her beauty and her suspicious behavior didn’t add up.

He leaned over the railing, looking down and casting his gaze far into the distance. A sharp church spire stood out on the horizon, no bigger than a fingertip.

“A sniper, huh? The distance is pretty far, and the location’s not ideal. It won’t be easy.”

“Exactly. That minimizes the risk of being detected. But you don’t think that woman might be the sniper, do you?”

“She was a woman. I wouldn’t tie a guy’s shoelaces.”

Jae-Chan didn’t respond immediately, then muttered to himself, as if realizing something was off.

As El approached the neighborhood where she lived, she slowed her pace from a run to a brisk walk.

Her back was drenched with sweat, though whether it was from running or another reason, she wasn’t sure. Feeling the dampness on her forehead, she took deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart.

Who would’ve thought she’d run into someone there?

Her heartbeat refused to slow, still pounding from the unexpected encounter.

Who was he?

The man was another East Asian like her, but he was exceptionally tall. Chris was about 180 centimeters, and this man was easily a handspan taller. His small face and broad shoulders gave him a striking physique.

Even at a glance, his build was impressive—lean, strong, and agile, not bulky or cumbersome. As El recalled his face, she found herself lowering her head unconsciously. He was more handsome than the actors Chris admired in Korean dramas.

Her gaze fell on her sneakers, specifically the neatly tied laces he had done for her. The clean bow seemed to unsettle her stomach for reasons she couldn’t explain.

Turning a corner, El walked past a newly renovated shop near her home.

A café is opening here?

She remembered the words of Mrs. Catherine, her elderly neighbor, who had scoffed about some rich fool wasting money on a café in this neighborhood. A café was out of place in a place like this, where almost no one would bother visiting one.

But El felt a small flicker of excitement. If it stayed empty, maybe she could go there sometime.

Walking past the soon-to-open shop, she resumed jogging and reached her home. After locking the front door, she leaned against it for a moment, taking comfort in the warmth of her home.

She removed her sneakers, and as she did, a tiny, translucent listening device—no larger than half a fingernail—slid off and adhered to the floor.

As always, El tossed her clothes into the washing machine, showered, and then, with her hair still damp, sat at the kitchen table eating cereal with milk.

That building is perfect.

If I go back tomorrow, he won’t be there, will he? I should check just to be sure. If he hadn’t said anything more to her, it probably meant he wasn’t the building’s owner.

El’s expression remained deadly serious as she munched on her cereal.

“Is that woman mute?”

Hyun-Se, crossing the living room, raised an eyebrow at Jae-Chan’s question as if to say, What are you talking about?

“There’s no point in bugging her.”

Jae-Chan stood, mug in hand, and walked to the coffee machine. His ivory-dyed hair was a messy tangle.

“She doesn’t live with anyone, has no pets, and doesn’t interact with anyone. She doesn’t even make phone calls. She doesn’t sing in the shower or talk to herself—nothing.”

Which makes her even more suspicious, Hyun-Se thought as he picked up his vibrating phone. The caller was Brandon, the FBI chief.

Pressing the phone to his ear, Hyun-se walked to the window and peeked through the blinds.

“This is Kwon Hyun-Se.”

“The sniper we’re looking for is a male East Asian in his late twenties, code name Alice.”

Brandon wasted no time getting to the point, maintaining their give-and-take relationship. Hyun-Se’s gaze settled on a house with perpetually drawn curtains as he listened.

“Are you certain?”

“Got it from the agency head. D-Day is in a week.”

“What time?”

“1600 hours.”

“Understood. I’ll be in touch.”

Ending the call, Hyun-Se glanced once more at the curtained house. He had been observing it for days, and the curtains had never been opened. No one seemed to come or go.

There was something inexplicably off about it.

Jae-Chan, now sipping his freshly brewed coffee and rummaging through his wardrobe, spoke up abruptly.

“Hurry up and get changed. It’s opening day; we need to look sharp.”

He fussed over his bleached hair with essence, comparing shirts in front of a mirror.

Hyun-Se shook his head and headed downstairs, still in his black jeans and a navy blue knit sweater.

Although they had opened several cafés as cover operations, this one was in the worst possible location.

Opening the café door, Hyun-se stepped out, drawing the attention of the few locals passing by.

As he set up two small outdoor tables and four chairs, someone caught his eye.

El, passing by, flinched, her shoulders jerking slightly when their eyes met.

Does he recognize me? I hope he doesn’t.

But as she thought this, Hyun-Se smiled, lifting the corner of his mouth.