City of BalonaWon waited for almost half a hour and wondered if her travel had been in vain. She started to wonder if Seo would be annoyed about a third empty travel in two weeks. However, her own thoughts were suddenly interrupted when her mobile phone suddenly rang.
"Mrs. Won, I suppose?", a young woman asked in front of her, almost before she was able to reply.
"Yes...sure", Won answered. "Who are you?".
"If you are still interested with the meeting", the woman replied, "you can come with me. But let's move quickly, if you don't mind". As she spoke, her head turned right and left several times.
They left the square in front of the local train station and walked for about ten minutes. "It's not to far from here", the young woman said.
They turned left, approaching a clearly visible impoverish neighborhood, which narrow streets barely allowed a person to go through. Suddenly, the woman stopped and turned his head back to Won.
"It's not far from here", she explained. "But I was told that you should turn your phone off and remove the battery. Sorry, but those are the conditions".
"Ah, sure...", Won replied, looking on her bag.
After another five minutes walking, they finally arrived. The house was on the top on a small hill, which was completely covered by poorly built houses. It was the type of housing from the mid-1960s, before the first National Development Program established by the Social Republic of Djabidjan, Won thought.
Another woman opened the door. "Hello...", she simply said. Won found that the apartment did actually look rather decent from inside, even if it wasn't too big. She wondered if the two women were relatives, as they seemed of the same age, even if they do not look exactly alike.
"Ki-t...", the first woman intervened, "he's waiting in the guests' room", she told Won. They invited her to enter.
He was already standing when Won when she entered the room. He was wearing a tracksuit, and Won wondered how long he had been living in the town.
"Good morning", Won said.
"Hello", Im coldly replied.
"I'm glad we could meet at the end", she added.
"You can sit down", Im said while pointing out at the old chair next to the bed.
"Thanks", she replied. Meanwhile, in the background, she could hear the two women talking in a lively way, but she did not recognize the language. The conversation ended with one of the women, she seemed to identify the one she had meet in the train station, exclaiming "
Eya!" or something similar.
"Manyen told me about you", said Im, interrupting Won's thoughts. "That's why I accepted to contact you. I hope it's not the wrong decision".
"I'm sure that will not be the case", Won replied.
"Did not you feel that anyone could have follow you?", Im asked while sitting down as well.
"Oh no", Won, "I don't think that was the case".
"Only two people in the newspaper knows about this situation...", she continued. "And they are trustworthy enough. You don't have to worry about it". As she spoke, she realized that the drawer at the other side of the room, which was opened, seemed to have a small gun over some papers. She tried not to keep her eyes on it too much.
"I hope you don't mind we record our conversation", Won added, taking out an old voice recorder from her bag. "It's the only way to assure that the information is the most faithful to your version, and to serve in case this results in any legal process”.
“You and me know well that this is going nowhere”, Im replied. “Anyway, I don’t care...My only condition is that any information about conversation is neither shared nor released until I have left the country”.
“Or if something happened to me”, Im simply added.
“Yes, sure”, Won replied. “You have my word”.
“So why do you know about Hyeoul Road attack?”, Won suddenly asked.
“They were from my unit”, Im replied.
“Yes, I know”, Won said, as she felt that he was not too talkative.
“We knew that something went wrong the day before”, he suddenly added.
“What do you mean?”, she asked.
“It’s difficult to say”, Im answered. “And I wouldn’t like to endanger more and my people...But I was not as confident as they were and I decided to leave. Lately things were going wrong in the State Department. I felt the situation was too unpredictable after what had happened”.
“Gone wrong?”, Won asked. “What do you mean?”.
“It was strange at first place our assignment that day. It was unusual regarding how roles and missions are typically assigned in our unit, which has been mostly dealing with background security for the last years”.
“I understand your concerns”, Won replied. “But you had just returned from Djabidjan City, isn’t that right?”.
“Indeed, we did”, Im answered.
“Were you in the theatre that day?”, she asked.
“No, no”, Im answered. “We were there the days before, only two days”.
“Regarding your security role?”, Won asked again.
“That’s right”, Im replied. “We did an inspection of the place, as it is typical of such events. Although we were given unusual orders, such as depositing certain materials”.
“Such as?”, Won asked.
“Well”, Im replied, “mostly boxes who were already on the theatre, just to make space for the security team in the dressing rooms and storehouses, as well as some sand or cement sacks, I can’t remember, who were transported from a military truck”.
“Did you inspect them?”, Won asked. “Was it a normal procedure?”.
“No, not me personally at least”, Im said. “I wouldn’t say that was the case for such venure, but not too unusual”.
“How many people knew about that assignment?”, Won asked.
“Not many, besides those who were there that day”, Im replied. “Mayor Jang Han-woo informed us personally the day before”.
“I see”, Won replied.
“I could not find a map of the theatre, though”, Im said, “but this is everything I could do”. He gave a sketch of a plan. I hope it could be helpful for you”.
The conversation continue for a few minutes more. “Machwè will let you know when anything has changed”, Im said, as Won turned her recording divice off and put it back into her bag.
“Alright”, replied Won, wondering which was exactly the connection between him and the two women.
“Anyway”, Im added, “I’ll be likely leaving during the next week. As my experience tells me, during the presidential inauguration is the best moment to leave, as security will tighten around Djabidjan City”.
“Yes, it makes sense, I assume”, Won replied, wondering if he will really try to cross the border through Nassau. But it was not, after all, her business. “Good luck”, she added.
“Will you be able to return back?”, Im asked. “I’m not to happy with expose them too much, after all…”.
“Oh”, Won replied. “I understand. I don’t think it will be a problem at all. I have someone in this city which may help me, don’t worry”.