Shovels In Spades

"I already told you, you American idiot! I don't work for the Chinese and I'm not a spy!"

Daz squinted as he heard a few more similar shouts being thrown around in the mall. They seemed to be coming from the centre of the building and everyone nearby was trying to ignore it.

Freddy could be seen standing over a tied-up young man of Asian heritage who was wearing a seemingly ordinary set of clothes though he did have a single metal pauldron covering his left shoulder.

About a dozen or so of Daz's people were gathered around just watching the pissing contest of words between Freddy and the captive.

"Our 'spy', I presume?" Daz asked Dalton.

Nodding, the man answered, "Yup. I was 'avin' ma late brekky on account of not gettin' much kip last night, right? It was then that we- uh, that Fred caught 'im skulkin' about the entrance to the shoppin' centre. Thought it was wise to capture the bloke an' see what he wanted so 'e's down there doin' that while I came up 'ere to get ya. Simple enough, eh?"

"Well, for a start, the guy's telling the truth when he says he doesn't work for China or that he's a spy, and, based on his accent, he likely isn't from China at all," Daz said coldly as he walked down the broken escalator with a now slightly-nervous Dalton following behind him.

"Right... But the drongo was sneakin' about and ya can't be too careful when you're an invadin' force tryin' to take over a country an' all was our, I mean, uh, was Fred's thinkin'," Dalton defended himself.

Daz nodded. "You're not wrong, regardless, we'll find out who he is, either through discussion or Identification. I would rather not have another local worry alongside China and Gǒng."

"Fuckin' too right, mate. My point exactly. That's why we nabbed him. If only ol' Miller was with us... He's good at talkin'. I bet he could make that guy sing like the fat lady in a few hours tops. The things that fella will get ya to spew when he talks... Charismatic bloke," Dalton praised with genuine admiration in his tone.

"He is not a diplomat nor an interrogator," Daz answered, "he is a general. He leads men, he does not try to determine if a hostage is a spy or not."

"Do kings do that these days?" Dalton laughed as he took off his wide-brimmed hat and scratched his head.

"Ones that can detect lies do, yes." Daz approached Freddy's side and said, "Hello, Freddy, and hello to you too...?"

"Oh, uh, I'm Jung Hyuk," the tied up man said. "Uh, you're Daz, right?"

The man's English was good though he spoke slowly. Clearly, he had no skill or item to help him translate and his accent was thick, yet he was still very fluent in the language.

Daz nodded his head. "Indeed, Jung Hyuk. That's a Korean name, isn't it? Does that mean what I think it does?"

Jung Hyuk smiled in relief. "Yeah! I work for President Ho Ran! Some of our men in China caught wind of the most high-profile person from the auction appearing in Taiwan meeting with the Chinese and even their Emperor, supposedly."

"Who's President Ho Ran?" Freddy asked as he cocked his head in confusion, one hand still holding his frying pan cautiously. "That someone we should be aware of?"

Daz didn't answer that and neither did the captive. "What does she want with me?"

"Wow. You know that's a woman's name? Impressive. Korean is tough for foreigners. The names aren't so obvious thanks to the vastly different languages and whatnot, haha... Right, right, I'm getting off-topic. Uh, I was sent here to ask you if you wanted help? Also if you wanted to arrange a meeting with the president of our United Korea?" Jung Hyuk said in a very perplexed manner, unsure of how exactly to answer.

'Honestly, no on both accounts. I wish for no aid from a grandmother I've never met nor one who allowed Father to mistreat her grandchildren as he did but... this is an opportunity. He isn't lying. He really works for her... I should meet her and see what kind of person she is at the very least,' Daz thought.

"United Korea?" Dalton whistled with raised eyebrows. "That's nice. Guess that insane dictator up north is a few feet under then, eh, mate? Serves the rocket-boy right."

"Uh, well, obviously, what with nukes being super hard to use and with the north being so reliant on old-world tech, it wasn't much of a fight. The south has a pretty heavy gaming culture so we took to the system like fish to water, haha," the man chuckled proudly before sadness overtook his expression. "Well, those of us that survived this long did, at least..."

"Kids and their games," Freddy sighed. "I should have tried to be interested in that shit when my niece showed me those computer games of hers... Might have helped me get stronger in this crazy new world."

Daz stared into Jung Hyuk's eyes and said, "Let me ask you two questions. First, do you have any ill intent towards me or my people?"

"What? No, 'course not. I'm just a messenger. Deliver messages, that's what I do, not, uh, have ill intent?" he answered with a bit of confusion.

"Good. And secondly, do you know anything about what Ho Ran wishes to discuss with me?" Daz questioned. 'Rose did say that she had spoken to our grandmother and that the woman would try to become my ally at the first opportunity but blindly believing that would be foolish. This is the woman that birthed Father, after all.'

"Nah, not really. Like I said, just a messenger. I would, uh, assume she wants to talk about politics? She's a president, you're a king... Makes sense if you ask me," Jung Hyuk answered.

Daz slowly began pacing back and forth in a very calm manner. "Hmm... Would you be against me checking your status? You clearly don't wish us harm and my people have been rude to you by tying you up when it clearly wasn't necessary, but I hope you can forgive them for that and grant my request. Seeing your status description would give me some peace of mind."

"Sure, man. I don't mind. I don't have anything to hide, but, uh, don't spread my information around, would you? I'm no one important but everyone's got some secrets, y'know? I don't mind a foreign king who my president wants to meet knowing about my class and stats, but, yeah..." Jung Hyuk seemed willing which Daz was thankful for.

"I'll only look at your description. Thankfully, the system is flexible in these areas," Daz responded. "System, show me his status please but omit everything that is not his description."

"Oh, that's cool. Never knew you could do that," Jung Hyuk said while Dalton unconsciously nodded his head. Apparently, the Australian was unaware of this too.