Codename Anastasia Novel (End) - Chapter 43

On the night a secret party was held at the Bogdanov mansion, Zhenya had said: ‘Isn’t this a strange place? It’s so crowded, but there are no real people here.’ He had dismissed it as a sudden, random comment then, but he never imagined it would become such a crucial hint. Of course, even now, he wasn’t 100% certain. He was just trying to piece together the clues like a jigsaw puzzle.

“And in that castle, a very large and old tree grows, and its age is the same as Koschei’s. The Bogdanov mansion is adorned with various garden trees, and there are exactly four birch trees planted at its edge. In ancient times, Slavic people used to plant young birch trees when a child was born, right? Coincidentally, Psyche has exactly four motives, and the mansion is south of those trees. So, the ‘large jewel box’ said to be south of the trees must refer to the building itself. And the individual rooms filling it would be the ‘small jewel boxes’.”

He drew intersecting lines on the satellite photo, dividing a building into a collection of small squares. Each square represented a room.

“Psyche said there’s one jewel box among them that no one looks for, and it’s neither excessively large nor lacking compared to the others. I thought that if the blueprints were anywhere in the mansion, that would be the place. He also said Koschei’s heart might or might not be inside it. Doesn’t that mean that even if we find the room, we might not immediately discover the blueprints? Perhaps there’s a special device inside the room or certain conditions need to be met.”

“So, Psyche told you where the blueprints were in such a roundabout way?”

Salman remained unconvinced. Kwon Taekjoo nodded in response. A sigh escaped Salman.

“Hey, get a grip. Why would he spill such information so freely?”

“I don’t know that, but he’s never given false information before. He’s overflowing with arrogance.”

Kwon Taekjoo did not waver in his resolve despite the sincere advice. Then, he threw out an offer that might tempt Salman.

“I’m not forcing you to come along. If you’re not interested or don’t feel up to it, you can just back out now. I can’t give you much time, so just make your decision quickly. If the blueprints really are there, I’ll give them to you.”

Salman’s lips pressed into a tight line. It was dangerous work. Too reckless. Yet, he couldn’t immediately give up. He couldn’t return empty-handed after such a failure.

“Are you sure the blueprints are in that room?”

Salman remained suspicious to the very end. Kwon Taekjoo shrugged.

“When I infiltrated the Bogdanov mansion, I saw one room. All the lights in every room were on during the party, right? And all the curtains were drawn. But only that room’s curtains were wide open. There was no furniture in the room, and no one staying there, mind you. Of course, it might have been a simple coincidence. So I looked for more photos of the mansion. And it was obvious at a glance, wasn’t it? That room was always lit, day or night, throughout the year. And the curtains were always open, regardless of the weather. Thinking back on my memory of that room, it did seem suspicious. At the time, I misunderstood something and loitered in front of that room’s window. My shadow fell on the floor, and for a moment, something flickered faintly. I wondered if it was moonlight, but it seemed different from that. There’s something in that room.”

The conversation he had with Zhenya at the time also clearly came to mind. ‘Why on earth are you going to that odd place?’ Watching Kwon Taekjoo struggle, he definitely blurted out those words. Perhaps he was annoyed by Kwon Taekjoo lingering in front of that particular room.

Kwon Taekjoo stared at Salman, as if he had said all he needed to say. After a moment of deliberation, Salman abruptly stood up and retrieved his firearm.

“I must be out of my mind.”

“What is there in a place like this?”

Salman grumbled, looking around the surroundings. They had traveled relentlessly from Irkutsk to Moscow, and then to its outskirts. They were searching for the arms depot Kwon Taekjoo had guaranteed. But there was nothing where they landed. The surroundings were all unpaved roads, and not even a single streetlamp was visible. Kwon Taekjoo simply followed, without much explanation, saying only, “Just follow.”

Before long, the two arrived in front of a dilapidated building. Salman stared blankly, then chuckled in disbelief.

“It’s not here, is it?”

Kwon Taekjoo shattered his flimsy hope by opening the shutter. As soon as he stepped in, dust billowed up. He couldn’t suppress the burst of coughs.

Leaving Salman, who was constantly sneezing, behind, he examined the floor. His busy flashlight beam quickly found a small groove. Like Zhenya had done, he gripped the groove and slowly pushed it open. Another cloud of dust surged up, then slowly settled. Beneath it, a flight of stairs inevitably appeared.

It was a descending path where not an inch ahead could be discerned. Kwon Taekjoo led the way. Salman constantly peered left and right, taking bewildered steps. Perhaps because they moved cautiously, the stairs seemed endless. It was much later that his feet touched a flat floor. The surroundings were still pitch black.

Kwon Taekjoo, who had been close by, suddenly moved away. As he tried to follow, a click sounded, and the indoor lights came on. A vast, empty bookshelf entered his abruptly brightened vision. There wasn’t a single book, only a dial phone sitting there. He was immediately disappointed.

“What? You came all this way just to show me this?”

He walked past a dumbfounded Salman and stood in front of the phone. He didn’t easily forget something he had observed carefully. The same went for the password Zhenya had entered. Of course, this would be useless if he had visited again in the past few days. What if he had even changed the password, conscious of Kwon Taekjoo himself? But for some reason, he had a hunch he hadn’t.

3, 9, 1, 6. He dialed the numbers in sequence. The wheel, which had been stuck on ‘5’ last, spun around and then stopped moving. Immediately after, a familiar mechanical sound rang out. Salman, who had been standing disoriented, flinched and pulled out his gun. His eyes, wary of his surroundings, darted about frantically.

Soon after, the empty bookshelves rotated one by one. Unlike the flustered Salman, Kwon Taekjoo was calm. No, his face was even more hardened.

“You underestimated me, didn’t you?”

He grumbled discontentedly, checking the advanced weapons that had appeared before him. He haphazardly grabbed rifles and pistols and tossed them to Salman. He also swept TNT and various other explosives into a bag.

Around that time, he felt something blinking. Turning his head, he saw a surveillance camera flashing red. Without hesitation, he raised his middle finger. Then, he pulled the trigger, aiming at the smoothly reflective lens.

“There are largely two feasible approaches. Either going up the drainage pipe connected to the river inside the mansion, or infiltrating from high altitude.”

The former offered a better chance of survival. If he attempted high-altitude infiltration, he’d be riddled with bullets before his feet even touched the mansion grounds.

The Bogdanov mansion’s drainage pipes were connected to the river flowing through the center of Moscow. The water was quite deep, so diving equipment was essential. On the architectural diagram, it didn’t seem to pose much concern. However, Salman seemed to think differently.

“Even if we manage to approach the mansion, the next part is the real challenge. They’ll probably have propellers spinning at the drainage pipe entrance to create whirlpools in the river water. Even if we’re lucky enough to get past that, we don’t know if the inner passage is wide enough to go through with diving gear.”

The two simultaneously looked down at the winding river. It felt as if they would be swallowed by the swift currents at any moment.

“…Isn’t there another way?”

He asked with a thoroughly dubious expression. Salman coldly shook his head. With a long sigh, he put on his diving gear. Then, without either of them speaking first, they plunged into the river.

His heavy body sank deep before surging up. Without time to catch his breath, he gestured for Salman to follow and started swimming against the current. As he swam, he checked the device on his wrist. The red dots indicating their current positions were gradually getting closer to the Bogdanov mansion’s drainage pipe. The closer they got to their destination, the more violent the current felt. This meant there was a device nearby that amplified the water flow. It was the propeller Salman had mentioned.

The reality he encountered up close was truly colossal. Two propellers were spinning, one at the front and one at the back. He was intimidated, but calmly measured their rotation speed. He would have to time it perfectly to pass through safely. If he were to get caught, he would be shredded beyond recognition, and his survival would be impossible to guarantee.

This time, Kwon Taekjoo went first. He kept enough distance to avoid being sucked into the propeller and carefully observed its movements. He had to make good use of the fleeting moment. He steadily regulated his rapidly quickening breath. Then, he abruptly kicked his legs and approached the propeller.

Due to the powerful rotation, the surrounding water currents swirled violently. He desperately held on and pulled out his underwater gun. He intended to drive a high-strength steel harpoon between the continuously meshing propellers to temporarily halt their operation.

He calmly aimed the gun. As he focused all his attention on one spot, the propeller seemed to slow down for a moment. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger. The harpoon, ejected from the muzzle, swiftly cut through the water and lodged itself between the propeller blades. The violent recoil lasted only for a moment; the propeller’s rotation gradually slowed down and then completely stopped.

Success?

“…!”

As if punishing his premature judgment, the propeller started spinning again. The rope connected to the harpoon quickly entangled, pulling Kwon Taekjoo’s body. He quickly let go of the gun barrel, but it was useless. His body was swept away by an uncontrollable force and sucked into the giant propeller. The steel blades, which shattered large volumes of water, loomed right before his eyes. He instinctively squeezed his eyes shut. The moment he sensed his end, a thudding friction sound echoed. Simultaneously, a dull pain shot through his entire body.

When he opened his tightly closed eyes, a strange sight unfolded. His body, which he thought would surely be shredded by the propeller, was tethered somewhere, floating. The swirling water currents around him had also calmed down. The propeller continued to emit mechanical roars like a whale’s cry, but it wasn’t turning properly. His breath hitched, and he turned his head. That’s when he saw his oxygen tank jammed between the two propellers.

He had narrowly escaped death. His highly constricted cells relaxed instantly. But there was no time for relief. He quickly took off the oxygen tank he was wearing. Then, he signaled Salman, who was on the opposite side, to hurry over. Salman swam over to Kwon Taekjoo in a single surge through the water.

It was just as Salman reached Kwon Taekjoo’s opposite side. Suddenly, the propeller juddered dully, and began to crush the trapped oxygen tank. Salman was in danger.

He hurriedly pressed the reset button on his wristwatch. A long line shot out and wrapped around Salman’s arm. Just before the propeller blade touched his body, he reeled the line back in. Salman narrowly escaped the propeller. He had been so tense that the strength drained from his limbs.

Having barely survived, Salman handed his oxygen mask to Kwon Taekjoo. He gulped down oxygen and swam again.

Soon, the two arrived at the desired drainage pipe entrance. The pipes, branching into several directions, led to the kitchen, bathroom, garage, and garden, respectively. With Zhenya’s unintentional help in escaping the mansion previously, he had learned that there was a secret passage inside. If only he could find its starting point, the path to their destination seemed smooth.

First, considering their movement, they moved to the garage-side drainage pipe. Soon, a long, open passage appeared above their heads. Its end would surely be connected to a manhole outside the garage. He took off his heavy diving suit while Salman took out the equipment he had prepared.

After exchanging a silent signal, Kwon Taekjoo alone climbed the temporary ladder attached to the wall. Just in case, he tried pushing the lid above his head, but it was firmly fixed and didn’t budge. As expected, he pulled out a card from his pocket and wedged it into the gap of the lid. The card quickly inflated, easily lifting the heavy lid. Through the opened gap, he could see security guards moving about in the garden.

From Kwon Taekjoo’s position to the garage was barely 2 or 3 meters. With luck, he might not be detected, but he needed to be fully prepared. He needed to distract the guards for a moment.

He rolled something onto the garden lawn. The spherical, bead-like object instantly rolled to the guards’ feet. When something lightly tapped his shoe, the guard innocently looked down. At that moment, a blinding flash of light, strong enough to hurt the eyes, burst from the bead. The guards in the area simultaneously covered their eyes. By the time they opened them again, their vision was blurred white, unable to distinguish anything.

In the meantime, he pushed open the manhole cover and climbed out. He sprinted to the front of the garage and pressed himself against the wall. When he pressed the external opening button, the garage shutter smoothly opened.

“Oh…!”

But there was also a guard inside the garage. The guard seemed quite surprised by the unexpected intrusion. Kwon Taekjoo kicked the flustered guard’s rifle. The long barrel struck the guard directly in the face. He clutched his nose and staggered back, then Kwon Taekjoo repeatedly struck his neck. The guard, struck instantly, collapsed without even a groan. Kwon Taekjoo grabbed his communicator and entered the interior.

Perhaps it was because it was a weekday afternoon. The inside of the mansion seemed unusually quiet. Occasionally, the clinking of dishes could be heard from the kitchen, but there was almost no other sign of people. Thanks to this, he could climb the stairs without much difficulty.

As soon as he reached the third floor, he pressed his back against the hallway wall and placed a miniature device on the floor. The device, shaped like an insect, was a spying tool that used its built-in camera to transmit panoramic video of the area to a connected account. Salman, who was checking the video from beneath the manhole, abruptly gave a warning.

—Wait.

He pressed himself even tighter against the wall. Holding his breath, he strained his ears for signs of movement from the other end of the hallway. A moment later, he heard a door opening and closing. Followed by footsteps. There were at least two people, and all of them were women. The women, who had been chatting in the hallway, soon dispersed in different directions.

—Now.

He moved agilely at Salman’s command. He navigated past the cleaning supplies lined up in the hallway and entered a nearby room. As soon as safety was secured, he began tapping the floor. He was looking for the secret passage.

A hollow sound came from under the sofa. However, there was no entrance connected to a passage anywhere in that room. The door wasn’t locked, and access was easy, so it seemed designed only as a thoroughfare.

—Hurry up. The maids are coming.

His heart raced, and Salman’s urging added to the pressure. There was no other choice. He knelt on the floor. Then, with a special tool equipped with a silencer, he cut the floor neatly. He gently lifted the cleanly cut flooring. As expected, a secret passage appeared. He swiftly jumped inside and replaced the flooring. Each cut edge perfectly aligned, seamlessly concealing the cut section.