CHAPTER 3
UNIT: Four Members of The Team Investigate
SITUATION: Investigating the Questionable
LOCATION: Yalu Street, Seoul, South Korea
TIME: 1900 hours Local Time, Current Date
Olaedoen offered to take his car to transport him into town to Yalu Street. His car was a small Korean car. Slover, Dawn, and Dude looked askance at the car.
Slover asked, “Are you sure Olaedoen that all of us can click Internet car?”
Olaedoen said, “Oh yes! Car is very good. It is very sturdy. It can take us. You will need to sit up front with me. These two,” he waved toward Dawn and Dude, “in the back seat. This arrangement will work.”
Dawn and Dude inserted themselves into the back seat. Slover ducked and wedged himself into the passenger side of the vehicle.
Olaedoen grinned his grin and his car surged hesitantly toward the seamy side of Seoul.
As they traveled Dawn asked, “Slover, why did you make us wait late in the day to travel to Yalu Street?”
Slover shrugged, as if the answer were clear, “It’s because my source of information is not available before sundown. By the time we arrive at Yalu Street it will be just about dark.”
Dawn asked, “What does he, or she do?”
Slover shrugged uneasily and carefully said, “They…. provide …. uhm…. a service.”
Dude smiled as he said, “Oh, yeah, I’ll bet they provide a service!” He turned to Dawn and mouthed the word, “Prostitutes!”
Dawn rolled her eyes as she scoffed.
Olaedoen guiding his small vehicle carefully through the city of Seoul traffic. He could not find a place to park along the street. Therefore, he pulled into an alley. The group dismounted from his car and walked to the opening of the alley.
Dude asked, “What all of those people shouting about over there? Are they dangerous?”
Olaedoen stood for a moment, watching them carefully. He raised his eyebrows and made a face as he said, “They can be. Sometimes, they are. It looks like they are members of Gongsandang party.”
Dude stated them for a few moments. He asked, “What does that word mean? They seem to be highly agitated!”
Olaedoen nodded, “Yes, they are agitated. I think they are members of the Communist Party.”
Dude asked, “Is that legal in South Korea?”
Olaedoen smiled a tight smile, “At this time in our history, yes, it is. We still have, many political parties in South Korea!”
Dude observed, “It looks like they are shouting slogans at that group of people across the street from them!”
Dawn moved up to stand beside Dude. Slover moved beside her.
Olaedoen nodded toward the group across the street, “That looks like the Gungmindang party. They are locally known as the Nationalist Peoples Party.”
The four team members stood watching the two groups. They let their eyes roam over the angry people in both groups.
Slover put his hand on his forehead, “This is the first I had seen these two groups in this area of Seoul shouting at each other.”
Having seen enough of the display Dawn suggested, “Well, let’s get to the place where Slover says his contact will be.”
Slover shrugged, “Is just on the other side of the two groups. Maybe if we wait a few minutes, maybe they will get tired of yelling and go home.”
Dude offered, “I don’t think they will quit yelling at each other for a while because it seems that they are getting louder with each minute. I think we should find another way to get to where Slover wants us to go.”
Olaedoen smiled, “You read people very well not to be from their own culture! Are you a student of Nunchi?”
Dude raised his eyebrows. The question was in his eyes.
Olaedoen looked at him. He grinned his toothy grin and offered, “Nunchi is the subtle art and ability to gauge people’s moods!”
Dude volunteered with a shrug his shoulders, “That’s why I’m here.”
A voice rang out from the Gongsandang group, and Dude stopped and stood still.
Dawn saw him, and she asked, “What’s up Dude?”
Dude put his hand on the hair of his close-cropped blonde hair, “That voice! I have heard that voice before.” He turned to face the crowd. He gasped, and his face turned pale. He raised his arm and pointed at the Communist party. Slowly, he said, “Oh, my god! That is the voice of General Jagwi, or someone who sounds just like him!” He finished in a rush of voice!
Slover and Dawn turned to stand beside him. She asked, “Where?”
Dude commanded, “Look at the guy in front of the Communists, the one who is haranguing the Nationalist People’s Party!”
Dawn observed, “I have seen pictures of Jagwi, and I have seen him once in person when we saw him in Somalia. It looks like him!”
Slover took a large breath of air and let it out slowly, “Unfortunately, you are correct. It is either General Jagwi, or it is one of his body doubles!”
Dude shook his head, “I know that voice! It is him!” He emphasized the word, “Him!”
Dawn called out to Olaedoen and pulled him into a semicircle around Dude. They faced Dude. She asked, “Are you certain that this man is General Jagwi?”
Dude canted his head to the side. He answered slowly and honestly, “Without being in front of him, I can’t be completely certain. But the General chose me because I could read people and remember what they were like. But I can you this. His posture is the same as the man whom we came to know as General Jagwi. His facial features are the same, and he acts like a North Korean General.”
Slover observed, “Okay, even if he is not Jagwi but is one of his body doubles, I think if we can grab him, we will be one step closer to the real Jagwi!”
Olaedoen spoke softly.
Slover looked at him, then turned to look at Dawn, “What did he say?”
Dawn shrugged, “it sounded like he said, ‘The strength of the mind is infinitely greater than the strength of the body!”
Slover turned to look at Olaedoen. He asked, “Hey! Was that meant for me? “
Olaedoen, as if refocusing, said, “I’m not sure, for whom it was intended, but look at now!”
The other three turned their eyes from him toward the crowd. They saw that the two groups representing political parties were edging into the street toward each other.
Olaedoen said, “I think they were to fight!”
As they looked toward the crowd, they saw that the man in front of the communist crowd looked their way. He paused as if in recognition of them. He turned to look at five young men beside him. He pointed at the team of four and appeared to order them to go toward the team.
Olaedoen muttered, “Uh oh! Kkangpae!”
Slover questioned, “What does that mean?”
Dawn responded, “Kkangpae means gangster or street thug. Maybe hoodlums. They are running toward us, so, I guess they are thugs. We had better take defensive stances.” She shook her shoulders and her on as he readied herself.
Slover said, “Oh, hell!”
Dude, remembering his defensive and offensive, training, assumed a position. He used the position. he had used had used on the train in Russia when he defeated two assailants. The thug resting toward him leapt into the air with a foot aimed at Dude’s head. Dude ducked, and as the thug flew through the air, Dude struck a powerful blow to the thug’s back. The blow paralyzed the thug from the waist down. The thug was unable to rise.
Olaedoen shook himself and took up a stance.
Slover Street himself and grunted, “Old man!” As the five Communist thugs neared, he stepped out in front to meet the closest one. The thug leapt into the air with a foot aimed at Slover’s chest. With an unusual speed, Slover caught the foot with an outstretched hand and quickly pushed it down as the body of the public continued toward him. Slover caught shirt front of the thug and through him 10 feet through the air up against a wall. The slid to the ground unconscious.
As Slover was handling the thug, Olaedoen stepped forward to meet his attacker. The thug was carrying a club. He swung in the side of Olaedoen’s head. Olaedoen deftly moved aside from the arch of the club’s swing. With his hand, he batted down the arm of the thug and back handed the thug’s face. The thug was offended by the backhand. He swiftly took in a lungful of air and began, an offensive move. Olaedoen slapped him with the other hand. The thug reeled backward. Olaedoen followed him. Olaedoen quickly swept his legs from under him. The thug’s head hit the pavement, knocking him unconscious.
Dawn stepped back to give herself room to handle her attacker. The attacking thug thought her retreat was her fear of him. He smirked to himself and continued his aggressive maneuver toward her. She danced up and quickly executed a turn through the air. Her foot caught the head of the attacker, knocking him to the side. Dazed, he stood gathering his senses. Dawn, not waiting for him to recover, with her other foot, kicked him in the solar plexus. He went down in a heap.
The fifth thug saw what had happened to his friends. He changed his mind quickly. He was unable to stop his forward motion, and he slid into the arms of the waiting Slover. Slover grabbed him and held him to his chest tightly. He said, “Hello, buddy! Have you got fighting on your mind?”
The thug did not understand English, and he looked at Slover with a blank expression on his face. Then he realized his friends were all down, and he wanted to leave. He struggled against Slover’s powerful arms. Slover head butted the thug into unconsciousness. He led the assailant slip to the ground. He looked at the others and said, “Let’s go get that son of a bitch!”
The four looked at the turmoil of the two groups fighting each other, but not see Jagwi.
Dawn said, “I don’t see him!”
Dude, looking up and down the street muttered, “Nor I!”
Olaedoen muttered, “Mu Jagwi!”
Slover complained, “He is always saying something. What did he say this time?”
Dawn patted him on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, Slover. I think he used an old Buddhist word for without. Means something like, ‘Without Jagwi,’ or, ‘We don’t have Jagwi!’”
Dude looked around and said, “That’s for sure!”
Slover grunted, “Crap! We gotta tell Spence about this for sure!”
Olaedoen nodded, “Yes, we must!
Dude asked, “Don’t we need to take one of these thugs with us?”
South Korea police began arriving at the tumult of the class between the political parties. Olaedoen turned to the others and said, “I think we need to leave now!”
Slover nodded wearily. “Yeah, we don’t need to the arrested with either political party!”
They quickly left the scene and inserted themselves into Olaedoen’s car.
As they rode, Dude asked, “Olaedoen? What kind of martial arts where you using against your opponent back there?”
Olaedoen maneuvered his car skillfully through the South Korean traffic. As he drove, he considered Dude’s question. Hesitantly, he answered, “Mister Dude, I was using Hyeong!”
Dude raised his eyebrows and looked questioningly at Dawn. Noting his confusion, she turned to him and spoke quietly, “Hyeong means pattern or form. It was probably Tang Soo Do. One who is trained, and is ‘advanced’, can move easily between Tae kwon do and Tang Soo Do. ”
Dude said, “I don’t know if I could have handled his attacker with the ease that he did. I would like to learn that style someday.”
Dawn replied, “I doubt that you would need to. You handled yourself well back there.
”Dude smiled and crossed his arms over his chest.