Chapter 128: Shall We Rob the Warehouse?

President Go Yeongjun, who had stubbornly remained silent and attempted to exercise his right to remain silent, ultimately had both of his arms broken by Chief Secretary Kang Inhan.

Only then did he completely lose the will to resist and begin obediently answering my questions.

"How much of the company's assets did you move overseas in total?"

"...One trillion eight hundred billion won."

I had estimated that Go Yeongjun had funneled around one trillion five hundred billion won overseas.

Contrary to my expectations, however, he had transferred another three hundred billion on top of that.

"You managed to steal that much in such a short period."

"...I've committed an unforgivable crime."

"Fine. How much money do you still have left?"

"That's... around five hundred fifty billion won."

I immediately concluded that Go Yeongjun was lying.

He had siphoned off a total of 1.8 trillion won in company assets.

Of that, 1.15 trillion won had gone toward purchasing fifty gold bars from Politburo member Liu Peiqi.

That should have left roughly 650 billion won.

By that calculation, he had spent a staggering one hundred billion won over the past eight months.

Unless he had been throwing money around like water, spending that much in such a short time would have been nearly impossible.

"You're lying."

"I... I'm not lying!"

Judging by the desperate way Go Yeongjun denied it, he wasn't lying.

That meant only one thing.

There were still pieces of this puzzle I didn't know.

"Fine. Tell me how you spent one trillion two hundred fifty billion won."

"I spent one trillion two hundred billion won buying gold bars from Politburo member Liu Peiqi."

"The contract says the discounted price—fifteen percent below the LBMA rate—comes to roughly one trillion one hundred fifty billion won."

"The thing is... I paid fifty billion won in commission to Vice President Liu Shen, who arranged the transaction."

"Isn't that an absurdly large commission?"

"Politburo member Liu originally offered to sell me the gold at twelve percent below the LBMA price. But Vice President Liu Shen persuaded him to increase the discount by another three percent."

In other words, that additional three-percent discount had gone straight into Vice President Liu Shen's pocket.

"I understand. You don't need to explain any further."

"..."

"Still, spending another fifty billion won in eight months is a problem in itself, isn't it?"

"I have nothing to say about that."

"We're going to seize the remaining five hundred fifty billion won. You have no objection?"

"...No."

Go Yeongjun's voice was filled with bitterness.

"I think you're misunderstanding something. That remaining five hundred fifty billion won belongs to the creditors—including our company—who earned it through blood, sweat, and tears. You simply squandered the money we entrusted to you."

"..."

Unable to find anything to say, Go Yeongjun fell silent.

"Now let's get to the important part. Where did you hide the other forty-nine gold bars you bought from Politburo member Liu?"

"Haa..."

Go Yeongjun suddenly stared blankly into space and let out a long sigh.

Sensing that there was some complication, I asked why he had sighed.

"Th-The remaining forty-nine gold bars... are still with Politburo member Liu."

"What are you talking about?"

"Fuuu..."

He let out another heavy sigh, as though the ground beneath him had collapsed, before continuing.

"Three days ago, Politburo member Liu and I signed a contract for the purchase of 1,250 kilograms of gold. To verify its authenticity, he first gave me one gold bar as a sample. After confirming it was genuine, I transferred the full payment this afternoon."

"Shouldn't the money and the gold have changed hands at the same time?"

"You're right, Director Cha. But Politburo member Liu had urgent business to attend to, so we agreed that the gold would be delivered tomorrow morning."

"Isn't there a chance he simply pocketed the money?"

"From what I know of Politburo member Liu... he's not the kind of man who breaks his word."

The situation had become utterly insane.

If we wanted to recover the 1.15 trillion won Go Yeongjun had practically thrown away, we had to obtain those remaining forty-nine gold bars from Politburo member Liu.

But Go Yeongjun himself was now our prisoner.

To retrieve the gold, we'd have to send him back to the hideout, yet both of his arms were broken and he looked like he'd been beaten half to death.

If Politburo member Liu became suspicious of his condition, everything could spiral into the worst possible outcome.

That ruled out pretending nothing had happened.

"Chief Secretary Kang, how do we solve this?"

"I honestly have no idea."

At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.

It was so absurd that I instinctively shook my head.

But we couldn't simply let 1.15 trillion won vanish into thin air.

Clinging to that ridiculous idea like a lifeline, I continued questioning Go Yeongjun.

"When you signed the contract with Politburo member Liu, did you verify the number of gold bars?"

"He only brought one sample bar to the meeting."

"You complete idiot!"

Smack!

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan exploded with a string of colorful curses before driving a vicious kick into Go Yeongjun's chest.

"Gah!"

Bang!

Caught completely off guard, Go Yeongjun let out a short cry as he toppled backward.

I shared Kang Inhan's feelings, but now wasn't the time to let emotions take over.

"Team Leader Lee, pick him up."

Lee Hyeonsol grabbed Go Yeongjun by the hair, hauled him upright, and forced him back into the chair.

I looked at him with open contempt before continuing.

"Is there any chance Politburo member Liu deceived you?"

"That thought crossed my mind too, so I asked to see the gold. He showed me a video of a warehouse stacked to the ceiling with gold bars."

"But the gold in the warehouse could have been fake."

"He showed me footage where the bars were filmed one after another, and every single one bore a hallmark indicating its weight, purity, manufacturer, and serial number. The manufacturer was a world-famous company."

"I see. Do you happen to know where that warehouse is located?"

"How would I..."

Go Yeongjun stopped mid-sentence, as though something had suddenly come back to him.

We remained silent, giving him time to gather his thoughts.

After a while, he finally spoke.

"Last night, while drinking with Vice President Liu Shen, I overheard something strange. He casually mentioned that about ten years ago, he'd visited Politburo member Liu's villa and had seen a warehouse filled to the ceiling with gold bars."

Unable to contain his curiosity, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan questioned him.

"Do you know where Politburo member Liu's villa is?"

"I have no idea."

"My God..."

Kang Inhan pounded his own chest in frustration.

"Chief Secretary Kang, Politburo member Liu's villa is most likely somewhere near Macau."

"Director Cha, how do you know that?"

"He promised to hand over the gold to President Go tomorrow morning. Given that, his villa can't be very far from here."

"I understand your reasoning, but we still don't know its exact location."

"We don't. But the CIA might."

"That's right! The CIA!"

Thinking it was a brilliant idea, Kang Inhan slapped his knee.

I gave him a brief glance before turning to Team Leader Jeong Gwangseok.

"Put splints on this man's arms, at the very least."

"Understood."

"All right. Let's go upstairs."

I returned to the living room and called CIA Director Eddie Griffin.

After several rings, his surprised voice came through.

"[Director Cha, what happened at this hour of the night?]"

I couldn't jump straight to the main topic.

"I wanted to ask about the results of the full inspection of the cargo containers aboard the Golden Mariner."

"[Fortunately, no illegal goods were discovered.]"

"I see. What's the Japanese government's position?"

"[They intend to lodge a formal protest with both China and Russia.]"

"And what about the North Korean weapons found aboard the ship?"

"[I've already reported everything to President Douglas, but I haven't received any concrete instructions yet.]"

"I understand. I hope you'll succeed in dealing China a heavy blow this time."

"[Haha. I'll take that as encouragement.]"

Now it was time to get to the real reason for my call.

"May I explain why I actually contacted you, Director Griffin?"

"[Of course. Go ahead.]"

"I'm sure you're familiar with Chinese Politburo member Liu Peiqi."

"[Naturally.]"

"I've heard he owns a villa somewhere near Macau. I need to pay it a visit, but I don't know the address."

"[May I ask why you want to meet him?]"

"I never said I intended to meet him."

"[Then...]"

I knew exactly why Director Griffin had hesitated.

"You're thinking along the right lines, Director Griffin. We intend to pay his villa a secret visit."

"[Then I assume you have a very good reason for doing so?]"

"Earlier tonight, we captured K&J Bio President Go Yeongjun alive."

I openly explained the entire situation to Director Griffin.

"...If we fail to recover the remaining forty-nine gold bars, 850 million U.S. dollars will simply disappear."

"[Are you saying the gold is stored at Politburo member Liu's villa?]"

"Right now, we're grasping at every straw."

"[I understand. If I mobilize our intelligence network, locating his villa shouldn't be difficult. However... I'd rather not provide this service for free.]"

I had expected exactly that response from Director Griffin and already had my answer prepared.

"You promised to reward us generously for the intelligence about the North Korean weapons aboard the Golden Mariner. How about we call that debt settled in exchange for the villa's address?"

"[But that would leave you at a loss, Director Cha. Are you sure?]"

The words You wouldn't tell me otherwise unless there was something in it for you nearly escaped my lips, but I exercised superhuman restraint and swallowed them.

"In business, sometimes you have to accept a loss."

"[Since you put it that way... I feel a little less guilty. Give me a moment.]"

Click.

As though pressed for time, Director Griffin hung up first.

The moment the call ended, Kang Inhan immediately approached.

"Director Cha, what did Director Griffin say?"

"He'll look into it and call back."

"Whew... that's a relief. Still, shouldn't we report President Go's capture to Chairman Park?"

"We'll report it after everything is finished. It won't be too late."

"Hmm... understood."

Leaving Kang Inhan's response at that, I turned to Lee Hyeonsol.

"The moment we hear back from Director Griffin, we're moving out for Politburo member Liu's villa. Select ten strong, physically durable men."

"I understand the 'strong' part, but why do they also have to be physically durable?"

"Each gold bar weighs twenty-five kilograms, and we're carrying out forty-nine of them. That means everyone will be making about five trips."

"Ah... I see."

While Lee Hyeonsol nodded, Seo Donghun spoke up with a question.

"Director Cha, what if Politburo member Liu keeps the gold in a safe?"

"Vice President Liu Shen said he saw an entire warehouse filled with gold. There's a good chance it isn't locked in a safe. Still, we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario."

"By worst-case scenario, you mean we'd have to crack the safe?"

"Exactly, Team Leader Seo."

"But the gold will probably be hidden in a secret compartment. How are we supposed to deal with that?"

I looked at Saho, who was lying comfortably on his stomach across the floor, before answering.

"I think we should leave that job to Saho."

"Haha! I'd completely forgotten about Saho. We can definitely count on him."

Bzzzz—

As the tense silence stretched on, the phone in my hand began vibrating.

Knowing exactly who it was, I answered immediately.

"Director Griffin. I'm listening."

"[Director Cha, Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa is located approximately thirty kilometers from your current position.]"

"Excellent news. Send me the address."

"[I'll send it the moment we hang up.]"

After exchanging a few brief words with Director Griffin, I ended the call.

A moment later, a message arrived containing the address of Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa.

"So then..."

"Shall we rob Politburo member Liu's warehouse?"