Chapter 122: My Guess Was Right After All

I concluded that Wei Fei was, with a very high probability, Vice Chairman Wei Chen's daughter.

The reason was simple.

I knew for a fact that Director Pan Kai had only one older sister.

Why is Wei Fei here? Did Vice Chairman Wei Chen send her personally to assess the situation?

As these thoughts ran through my mind, the secretary served tea for everyone present.

After taking a sip to wet his throat, Director Pan Kai looked toward NIS Director Om Giyeon.

“I'd like to hear the real reason you wanted to meet with me.”

“Team Leader Cha will answer that question,” Om Giyeon replied.

Just as we had agreed beforehand, the NIS Director passed the conversation over to me and quietly stepped into the background.

I mentally reviewed our planned approach once more before speaking slowly.

“Director Pan, may I ask whether you're acquainted with Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui?”

At that instant, Wei Fei visibly flinched.

Hmm. It looks like my guess hit the mark.

While smiling inwardly, Director Pan Kai finally broke the silence, his expression clearly irritated.

“Team Leader Cha, you already know exactly how I'll answer that. Why would you ask such a question?”

“My apologies if I offended you. I intentionally asked such an impolite question solely to confirm Ms. Wei Fei's identity.”

“And have you reached your conclusion?”

“I have every reason to believe that Ms. Wei Fei is Vice Chairman Wei Chen's biological daughter.”

Director Pan Kai glanced briefly at Wei Fei, who still looked utterly stunned, before replying,

“That's correct. Wei Fei is my brother-in-law's only daughter.”

“So my guess was right after all.”

“Now I expect an explanation. Why did you need to uncover my niece's identity?”

“I had no choice. The matter we're about to discuss is simply too significant.”

At that moment, the situation took an unexpected turn.

Wei Fei suddenly stood up, opened the office door, and walked outside.

A few minutes later, she returned and quietly resumed her seat.

“Uncle, just to be safe, I locked the reception area from the outside.”

“Well done. Team Leader Cha, you may speak now.”

I instinctively scanned the room before lowering my voice.

“Everything I'm about to tell you must remain absolutely confidential.”

“You have my word. Now tell me.”

“I've met Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui in person.”

“When, where, and under what circumstances?” Director Pan Kai's voice instantly turned icy, making his deep hostility toward Chen Zhihui unmistakable.

“The Triad's Korean branch was led by Chen Shao, Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui's only son.”

“I already know that.”

In other words, he was telling me to stop wasting time and get to the point.

“As I'm sure you also know, the Triad's Korean branch was completely destroyed not long ago. To bring Chen Shao back to China, Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui enlisted the help of his eldest brother-in-law, Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.”

“And how did that turn out?”

Pure curiosity had driven Director Pan Kai to lean forward, urging me to continue.

“Despite every effort they made, they ultimately failed to take Chen Shao back to China.”

“And why did the Korean government refuse to hand him over?”

“He committed serious crimes. He caused a traffic accident, fled the scene, and later murdered the two key witnesses.”

“Hm...”

Director Pan Kai fell into thought for a brief moment before speaking again.

“Tell me, Team Leader Cha... are you actually with the police?”

I'd expected that question eventually.

“The Triad's Korean branch wasn't destroyed by the police. It was eliminated by employees of our company.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Our organization completely controls South Korea's entire criminal underworld.”

“What did you just say?”

Director Pan Kai's eyes widened in genuine shock.

“That's not particularly important, so let's leave that topic aside.”

“...Fine.”

“I participated in those negotiations as the authorized representative, and that's where I met Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui and Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan. Now listen carefully, because this is the important part.”

“I'm listening.”

“It was during the investigation into the accident caused by Chen Shao that the authorities uncovered the Triad's Korean branch. However, Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui became firmly convinced that Vice Chairman Wei Chen had been the one who betrayed them to the Korean police.”

“That son of a bitch!”

Director Pan Kai suddenly exploded with a furious curse.

Almost immediately afterward, he looked embarrassed.

“My apologies, Team Leader Cha. I let my emotions get the better of me.”

“It's perfectly understandable. Don't worry about it.”

“Thank you. Please continue.”

“During the negotiations, Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui repeatedly declared that he intended to take brutal revenge on Vice Chairman Wei Chen.”

“I wouldn't expect anything less.”

“That naturally piqued our interest, so we decided to investigate the true nature of their relationship.”

Of course, every detail of the conflict between Chen Zhihui and Wei Chen had actually been recovered from Chen Shao's electronic storage device.

But I couldn't tell him the truth, so I presented it differently.

“And what did your investigation reveal?”

“We learned that Chen Zhihui and Wei Chen are engaged in a fierce struggle over the position of Supreme Leader of the Triad.”

“What struggle? That's nonsense. The current Supreme Leader has already officially chosen my brother-in-law as his successor.”

“As far as I know, Chen Zhihui strongly disagrees.”

“Ahem... Fine. There's some truth to that. Go on.”

“To oppose Wei Chen, Chen Zhihui has been aggressively expanding his own influence. According to our assessment, his current power significantly exceeds Wei Chen's. What do you think, Director Pan?”

“I won't deny the obvious.”

The truth was, I had absolutely no idea how their actual strength compared.

Everything I'd just said was merely intended to seize the initiative and steer the conversation where I wanted it [N O V E L I G H T] to go.

Fortunately, luck was on my side once again.

My guess had been exactly right.

Silently relieved, I continued.

“We've decided to significantly weaken Chen Zhihui's position.”

“And why?”

“He crossed a line that absolutely should never be crossed. You'll understand which line soon enough.”

“I believe I understand.”

“Our first step was to completely destroy the Triad's American branch, which served as the primary source of his influence, and—”

“Wait a moment.”

Director Pan Kai abruptly interrupted me, as though a sudden realization had struck him.

We all stared at him in silence.

Feeling our eyes on him, he immediately explained.

“Wasn't the Triad's American branch destroyed by the FBI?”

“Certainly. But it was our organization that provided the FBI with every piece of intelligence regarding the American branch.”

“And you simply handed over such priceless intelligence without asking for anything in return?”

“Of course not. However, I won't discuss the compensation we received during this meeting.”

“Very well. But how did you manage to obtain intelligence that valuable?”

Every detail about the American branch had been stored on Chen Shao's electronic storage device.

Revealing that would have created enormous complications, so I'd already prepared another explanation.

“We obtained the information while interrogating Chen Shao.”

“Hm... I see.”

“Director Pan, I'm sure you're aware that Chen Zhihui managed to escape while the FBI was dismantling the American branch.”

“Of course. The only question is where that bastard is hiding now.”

“He's already back in China.”

Director Pan Kai could scarcely believe his ears.

According to the information he'd received, Chen Zhihui was still hiding somewhere in San Francisco's Chinatown.

“Can I trust your information completely, Team Leader Cha?”

“We began tracking Chen Zhihui from the very moment the FBI launched its operation against the American branch. He fled the United States, traveled through Nicaragua, Venezuela, and the United Arab Emirates before finally arriving in Hong Kong. At this very moment, he's at a facility owned by Eastern Shipping, which secretly belongs to Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan.”

“And do you know why he's there?”

“As far as we know, he rushed there personally to deal with the aftermath of a very unpleasant incident that occurred last night.”

“What incident?”

“A cargo ship owned by Eastern Shipping was intercepted and seized by a United States Navy warship in the East Sea. Hidden aboard were ninety-five Chinese and Russian nationals attempting to enter Japan illegally, along with five forty-foot containers filled with North Korean weapons.”

“Could it be...”

I knew exactly why Director Pan Kai had suddenly fallen silent.

“It's exactly what you're thinking, Director Pan. Behind Supreme Leader Gui Tao's back, Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui secretly established North Korean drug and weapons smuggling routes.”

“What did you say?!”

Director Pan Kai shot to his feet in genuine shock.

A moment later, noticing everyone staring at him, he quickly composed himself and sat back down.

At last, Wei Fei, who had remained silent until now, spoke.

“Team Leader Cha, where exactly did such astonishing information come from?”

Naturally, everything had been extracted during the intense interrogations of Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol, Jeong Sanhak, and Qin Hao.

But explaining how we'd captured senior North Korean intelligence officials would only drag the conversation on forever.

So I offered the shortest version possible.

“Director Qin Hao personally told us everything in detail. As you know, he's Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui's closest aide and right-hand man.”

“He isn't the sort of man who would talk so easily,” Director Pan Kai replied before Wei Fei could speak.

“I'll answer with an old saying: every lock has a key.”

“So you captured him alive?”

“I won't deny that.”

“I see. Why did you specifically target him?”

The truth was that Qin Hao had simply been caught up in the operation when we captured Jo Ilcheol and Jeong Sanhak.

Needless to say, I couldn't reveal that.

“Our objective was to uncover every hidden corruption scheme orchestrated by Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui.”

“Ah. That makes sense.”

“We recorded Director Qin Hao's entire testimony on video, and after thoroughly verifying it, we confirmed that everything he said was true.”

“Can you give me that recording?”

Up until now, everything had merely been the appetizer.

Now it was finally time for the main course.

“We're prepared to hand it over at any time—but it comes at a price.”

“Tell me your price.”

“Our reason for coming to Macau is to capture the fugitive former CEO of K&J Bio, Go Yeongjun. As soon as you determine his exact location and hideout, the recording will be yours.”

“Is that truly all you want?”

“That man caused our company enormous financial losses.”

“I understand. Can you provide me with detailed information about this Go Yeongjun?”

As though he had been waiting for precisely that moment, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan calmly removed a thick plastic folder from his leather briefcase and handed it to Director Pan Kai.

Pan Kai immediately opened it and carefully examined the documents.

Some time later, he closed the folder and looked back at me.

“Team Leader Cha, is the recording really enough to completely destroy Vice Chairman Chen?”

“Destroy him? He'll be on his knees begging Supreme Leader Gui Tao to spare his life.”

“Hm. By when do you need me to locate Go Yeongjun's hideout?”

“The sooner, the better for everyone.”

“I'll do everything I can to make it happen as quickly as possible.”

“We would be extremely grateful.”

“Now let's change the subject for a moment. In your opinion, what happens next regarding the seizure of that cargo ship?”

“The moment news of the seizure becomes public, Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan's political future will be plunged into complete darkness.”

In other words, I was telling him that Zhang Jinan would use every resource at his disposal to bury the incident.

“Is there a reliable way to finish Zhang Jinan once and for all?”

“Simply ensure that news of the ship's seizure dominates the world's leading media outlets.”

“Team Leader Cha, you may be overlooking one important detail. Every domestic media outlet in China is under the Communist Party's complete control.”

“As far as I know, the Chinese Communist Party still hasn't figured out how to control the Japanese and American press.”

“Hm... If it reaches the United States, they'll certainly react very strongly.”

“According to our intelligence, the American government already harbors considerable hostility toward Mr. Zhang.”

“Hahaha!”

Director Pan Kai burst into genuine laughter, immediately catching the hidden meaning behind my words.

Once his laughter subsided, I concluded firmly,

“Use this perfect opportunity to completely destroy Zhang Jinan.”

“Believe me, we intend to.”

Just as the atmosphere in the office had become warm and friendly, Wei Fei suddenly asked an entirely unexpected question.

“Team Leader Cha... do you have a girlfriend?”