The Captain and the Wind

The Bait and the Trap

The invitation came three days later, delivered by a stone-faced courier. It was not from Colonel Park, but from the State Logistics Directorate. Captain Ryu Jun was requested—a polite term for ordered—to attend a strategic planning conference in the city. The topic: "Optimizing Border Security Supply Chains." It was to be a two-day event.

It was a perfect, reasonable request. A rising star like Jun, with his firsthand experience, would be a valuable asset. But both he and Yuna knew it for what it was: a test. Park was separating them. He was pulling the wolf away from what he cared for most, to see if he would still heel.

Jun stood in his cabin, holding the orders, his expression granite. "It's a probe. He wants to see how I react. How you react alone."

"What do I do?" Yuna asked, her voice steady despite the chill in her veins.

"You do nothing," Jun said, his gaze intense. "You are Kim Haneul. You sew. You help Mrs. Oh. You speak to no one. You are boring, uninteresting, and forgettable." He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "But be ready. If anything feels wrong, if anyone approaches you with strange questions, you go to the dead drop behind the latrine block. Leave a mark. Min-gi's people are watching."

He was preparing her for his absence, arming her with paranoia and a escape plan. The trust between them was now a finely tuned instrument, a shared understanding of the deadly game they were in.

The morning he left, the atmosphere on the base was different. With the Captain gone, a subtle laxity crept in. The men were still disciplined, but the driving force, the relentless energy of Jun's presence, was absent. Sergeant Min-jae was in command, competent and steady, but it wasn't the same.

Yuna felt the change like a drop in barometric pressure. She felt exposed. Eyes followed her as she walked from the cabin to the mess hall. Whispers seemed to trail in her wake. Were they just her imagination, or was Park's net tightening?

On the second day of Jun's absence, the test came.

She was in the sewing hut with Hana, mending a pile of torn trousers, when a young, nervous-looking corporal entered. It was Corporal Han Dae-ho.

"Miss Kim?" he said, his voice hesitant. "I... I have a message. From the Captain."

Hana looked up sharply, her needle stilling. Yuna's heart froze. This was wrong. Jun would never use Dae-ho. He was too loose-lipped, too easily read.

"He is well," Dae-ho continued, not meeting her eyes. "He asked me to tell you... to meet him. At the old watchtower on the southern ridge. Tonight. After dark. He said it was urgent."

The words hung in the air, clumsy and false. The southern ridge was exposed, far from the main base, a place no one would go for a secret meeting. It was a blatant, amateurish trap. Was Park behind this? Or was it someone else, trying to exploit the situation?

Yuna kept her face a placid mask. "Thank you, Corporal," she said softly. "I will be there."

Dae-ho nodded jerkily and almost fled the hut.

The moment he was gone, Hana turned to her, eyes blazing. "You are not that stupid. It is a trap."

"I know," Yuna said, her mind racing. This was the moment Jun had prepared her for. "But if I don't go, they will know we are suspicious. It confirms we have something to hide."

"So what will you do?"

Yuna looked down at the trousers in her lap, at the neat, strong stitches she had learned to make. "I will go to the latrine block. And then, I will go to the watchtower."

She would play her part, but she wouldn't walk into the trap unarmed. She would summon the Nighthawk's allies.

That night, under a sliver of a moon, Yuna slipped out of the cabin. The air was biting cold. She moved first to the latrine block, finding the loose brick at the base that Jun had shown her. She scratched a small, pre-arranged symbol onto its surface—a circle with a line through it. Danger. Trap.

Then, she turned and walked toward the southern ridge, her heart a frantic drum against her ribs. Every shadow seemed to move. Every rustle of the wind sounded like a footstep. She was the bait, walking willingly into the jaws of the trap to see what she could catch.

The old watchtower was a skeletal silhouette against the starry sky. As she approached the clearing at its base, a figure stepped out from behind a tree. It wasn't Dae-ho.

It was Major Oh, a battalion executive officer known for his ambition and his loyalty to Colonel Park. He smiled, a predatory flash of teeth in the darkness.

"Miss Kim. Or should I say, Miss Seo? So good of you to come."

So, it was Park. He was making his move, testing her loyalty, her connection to Jun.

"I was told the Captain needed me," she said, injecting a tremor of confusion into her voice.

"The Captain is many miles away," Oh said, taking a step closer. "We are here to talk about you. About who you really are. It would be so much easier for everyone if you just told us the truth. How you really crossed the border. What your mission is."

He moved closer, crowding her. "A pretty thing like you, all alone out here... accidents happen."

Yuna stood her ground, her fear a cold stone in her stomach. She had to stall. She had to believe the signal had been received.

Before Major Oh could take another step, a new voice cut through the night, low and lethal.

"Step away from her, Major."

From the tree line, Sergeant Min-jae emerged, his rifle held at a ready, low-ready position. Behind him were two other soldiers from Jun's core unit, their faces hard and determined.

Major Oh spun around, his confidence evaporating into shock and fury. "Sergeant! This is none of your concern! This is a state security matter!"

"My concern is the Captain's orders," Min-jae replied, his voice like iron. "And his orders were that the woman is to be protected. From any threat."

The standoff was tense, silent. Min-jae and his men were outranked, but they were the point of the spear, the most lethal soldiers on the base. Their loyalty to Jun was a tangible force.

Major Oh calculated the odds. A firefight here, over this woman, would be impossible to explain. It would expose Park's hand too early.

He forced a laugh. "A misunderstanding, Sergeant! I was merely ensuring the young lady was safe on her evening walk." He gave Yuna a final, venomous look. "Be careful where you walk, Miss Kim. The mountains are full of dangers."

He turned and strode away, disappearing into the darkness.

The moment he was gone, Yuna's knees buckled. Min-jae was at her side in an instant, steadying her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice now laced with concern.

She nodded, breathless. "You came."

"The Captain taught us to watch the shadows, not just the light," Min-jae said grimly. "We've been watching Dae-ho since he spoke to you. He confessed under pressure. He was promised a promotion."

Jun's men. His true men. They were not just following orders; they were protecting their commander's interests, his heart. The network was stronger than Jun had even known.

Back in the safety of the cabin, Yuna sat by the fire, trembling. The trap had been sprung, and they had survived. But the message was clear: Park's patience was wearing thin. The indirect games were turning direct.

Jun was due back the next day. She couldn't wait to see him, to tell him what had happened. But more than that, she needed to see the cold fire in his eyes when he learned of the threat. She needed to see the Nighthawk ready to strike.

The game was escalating. And the bait had just grown teeth.