Chapter 158: There Are More Urgent Matters

After finishing Lee Jonghyeok's interrogation, Director Nevers immediately made a phone call.

He carefully listed the names of the spies, their affiliated organizations, and their positions.

At the same time, he ordered the investigation to be conducted both discreetly and swiftly so that none of the spies would become suspicious.

As soon as he ended the call, Director Griffin picked up his own phone.

["Director, this is James speaking."]

“Deputy Director James, have you found out where Chief Inspector Hayden fled?”

["We've activated every intelligence network we have, but we still don't have the slightest lead."]

“There's a high probability he escaped to Venezuela, so activate our assets there.”

["Understood."]

“Keep this in mind. If we don't capture him alive, neither you nor I will keep our jobs.”

["What do you mean? Why all of a sudden?"]

“He secretly smuggled drugs from North Korea and distributed them throughout our country.”

["What?!"]

Deputy Director James' gasp of shock came through the speaker loud and clear.

“It's true. I heard it directly from Lee Jonghyeok, the man who recruited him.”

["Understood."]

After Director Griffin finished discussing the details and hung up, Director Om Giyeon, who had been waiting patiently, immediately spoke.

“Director Griffin, may we continue questioning Lee Jonghyeok now?”

“Yes, please.”

Bzzzz—

Director Griffin's phone vibrated across the table.

After glancing at the screen, he informed Director Om Giyeon that it was Cha Jiham calling before answering.

“Chief of Staff Cha, I'm listening.”

["What do you intend to do about the gang that Chief Inspector Hayden supplied with drugs?"]

“As soon as I return to the United States, I'll have the police move in and wipe them out.”

["That sounds as though you're planning to fly back to America and then return here afterward. Am I right?"]

Director Griffin suddenly came to his senses.

At Liu Peiqi's villa in Dandong, a North Korean hacking group was operating.

At this very moment, they were breaking into cryptocurrency exchanges.

His agency and the National Intelligence Service had already agreed to conduct a joint operation next week to eliminate that hacking group.

He had completely forgotten about it and was about to fly back to the United States.

“Chief of Staff Cha, that was my oversight. I'll remain in Korea until next week.”

["I see. There's also a high probability that the gang receiving Hayden's drugs already knows he fled overseas."]

“Most likely.”

["Those gangsters may also go into hiding. Wouldn't it be better to ask the Gomez family to eliminate them instead?"]

“That would be the wiser choice. I'll ask Chairman Gomez a little later.”

["I'm going to contact him anyway, so I'll pass the message along myself."]

“You can do that?”

["Of course. Now I'd like to change the subject for a moment."]

Director Griffin tilted his head in confusion.

It wasn't surprising. As far as he knew, there was nothing else left to discuss with Cha Jiham.

“Is there something else you wanted to tell me?”

["There's a high probability that Chief Inspector Hayden didn't escape to Venezuela on a commercial flight."]

“You mean he left by ship?”

["No. If I were in his position, I'd use a forged passport and a private jet."]

“A private jet?”

["He made an astronomical amount of money distributing North Korean drugs."]

“A private jet... That never even crossed my mind. I'm sorry, but I'm very busy. I'll have to hang up.”

Click.

The moment he ended the call, Director Griffin immediately called Deputy Director James.

He instructed him to thoroughly investigate every private aircraft that had departed for Venezuela, just as Cha Jiham had suggested.

When he finished the call, Director Om Giyeon addressed him.

“Director Griffin, are you planning to remain in our country until next week?”

“Chief of Staff Cha told me to stay.”

“If Chief of Staff Cha said so, then he clearly has his reasons.”

“I think so too. Please continue questioning Lee Jonghyeok.”

Leaving Griffin's reply at that, Director Om Giyeon turned toward Lee Jonghyeok.

“As you know, there are countless North Korean spies in our country. Tell us about the ones you know.”

“In order not to expose myself, I lived quietly and kept to myself, so I'm not acquainted with any other spies.”

Director Om Giyeon almost laughed at the sheer audacity.

After all, Choi Cheolgyeo had already provided him with information on fourteen spies closely connected to Lee Jonghyeok.

But to avoid exposing his source, he approached the matter from another angle.

“We've known you were a fake defector for a long time, and we've been monitoring your every move from the very beginning. Shall I continue?”

“...”

“If you keep lying, we'll pretend you never died. Then we'll leak the list of spies we've obtained to the media and announce that you were the one who gave it to us. What do you think will happen then?”

Lee Jonghyeok began trembling at the mere thought of the consequences.

Watching him, Director Om Giyeon realized the hardest hurdle had already been cleared.

Only the final push remained.

“I'll ask you one more time. Name every spy you know.”

“...”

Lee Jonghyeok fell silent, gathering his thoughts.

Director Om Giyeon and everyone else simply waited without interrupting him.

The interrogation room fell into complete silence.

After a long while, Lee Jonghyeok finally made up his mind and spoke grimly.

“Promise me that the fact I handed over the spy list will remain secret forever.”

“Agreed. Now talk.”

“To begin with... Vice President Kim Hyeokjin, who works at my company...”

As Director Om Giyeon listened carefully to Lee Jonghyeok's testimony, he was genuinely astonished.

He had expected perhaps three or four more names than Choi Cheolgyeo's list contained.

Instead, Lee Jonghyeok gave them an entire ten additional spies.

What shocked him even more were those ten people's positions.

Among them were senior government officials, parliamentary aides, university professors, judges—people occupying key positions across every sector of society.

“Can your testimony be trusted?”

“Verify it yourselves.”

“I understand.”

Director Om Giyeon immediately gave an order to the duty agent.

“Verify whether the individuals named by Lee Jonghyeok are spies.”

“Yes, sir!”

After replying briefly, the agent opened the interrogation room door and hurried out.

Watching him leave, Director Om Giyeon continued.

“Now let's move on to another subject. Do you know the company Choson Trading in Dandong, China?”

“I do.”

“Good. Then tell us what kind of company it is.”

“The registered president of Choson Trading is Lee Hyeoksan. On the surface, he's an ethnic Korean, but in reality he's an operative of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau. Choson Trading purchases and supplies goods that North Korea needs from all over the world.”

North Korea was currently under United Nations sanctions.

China had also joined those sanctions, so trade between the two countries was nowhere near as active as it had once been.

Yet Lee Jonghyeok spoke as though Choson Trading was able to supply North Korea with everything it needed without the slightest difficulty.

Director Om Giyeon asked how that was possible.

“I'm only repeating what President Lee Hyeoksan himself told me. You'll have to verify its accuracy yourselves.”

“We will. Continue.”

“Most Chinese companies trading with North Korea have powerful political protection. Choson Trading is protected by the Deputy Secretary of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.”

In other words, Choson Trading was backed by Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan.

That conclusion didn't occur only to Director Om Giyeon. Director Griffin also spoke up.

“Director Om, that Deputy Secretary Zhang seems to have his hands in everything.”

“Tell me about it. Is there any way to impose sanctions on someone helping North Korea smuggle goods?”

“If we look hard enough, I'm sure we'll find one.”

“I'll be looking forward to good news.”

After finishing his exchange with Director Griffin, Director Om Giyeon returned to Lee Jonghyeok.

“Why did you supply the entire output of cooling system pumps manufactured by your auto parts factory to Choson Trading?”

“North Korea imports mobile ballistic missile launchers from China and Russia. But because of their size, smuggling them has become extremely difficult. So three years ago, they decided to develop their own launchers.”

Lee Jonghyeok paused to catch his breath before continuing.

“The cooling system pumps manufactured by my company are used when assembling those mobile launchers.”

“I see. How many pumps have you supplied to Choson Trading so far?”

“Until last year we were still in the development phase, so there were no shipments. Full-scale exports began at the start of this year. So far we've delivered around five hundred.”

“Have all of them already been transferred into North Korea?”

“I spoke with President Lee Hyeoksan the day before yesterday. He said there are still about four hundred sitting in the warehouse.”

“Do you know why those four hundred still haven't been delivered?”

“The Triad handles transportation into North Korea, but they keep claiming they're too busy and constantly postpone it.”

Director Om Giyeon now fully understood the situation.

The pumps were supposed to be transported into North Korea by Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui, the brother-in-law of Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan.

However, the Korean side had provided Director Griffin with intelligence that the cargo ship Golden Mariner, operated by Eastern Shipping, was carrying North Korean weapons to the Philippines.

After receiving that intelligence, the U.S. government deployed forces stationed in Japan to intercept the Golden Mariner.

At the same time, they leaked information to Vice Chairman Wei Chen that Chen Zhihui was preparing a coup.

Wei Chen had gladly seized the opportunity and crushed his rival's faction.

As a result, Chen Zhihui's people had been unable to transport the pumps into North Korea.

Seeing this as a stroke of luck, Director Om Giyeon continued.

“Do you know where Choson Trading's warehouse is located?”

“No.”

At that moment, Director Griffin interrupted with a question.

“Director Om, why do you need to know that?”

“To destroy the pumps and prevent North Korea from producing mobile launchers.”

“I see. Then we'll destroy Choson Trading's warehouse.”

“We have many agents operating in Dandong.”

Director Om Giyeon's answer amounted to a refusal.

But Director Griffin had no intention of backing down.

“Director Om, we're conducting a major operation in Dandong next week. Why don't we work together in advance and use this as a chance to test our coordination?”

“Well... that isn't the worst idea.”

“Haha, thank you! Shall we discuss the plan for destroying the warehouse?”

Bzzzz—

Director Om Giyeon's phone vibrated across the table once again.

Looking at the screen, he saw that Cha Jiham was calling from the observation room.

After informing Director Griffin, he answered.

“Chief of Staff Cha, I'm listening.”

["Director Om, there's no need to destroy Choson Trading's warehouse right now."]

“You mean there are more urgent matters? Am I understanding you correctly?”

["Exactly. In order to begin mass-producing mobile launchers, North Korea is almost certainly smuggling components from numerous countries, including ours."]

“That's highly likely.”

["And President Lee Hyeoksan very likely knows exactly which components are being smuggled."]

Bang!

It felt as though Director Om Giyeon had been struck on the head by a massive hammer.

To prevent North Korea from establishing mass production of the launchers, they first had to identify every smuggled component.

And to do that, they needed to capture President Lee Hyeoksan alive and make him talk—not blow up the warehouse.

He couldn't believe he had overlooked something so critical while focusing on destroying the stockpile of pumps.

“I almost overlooked the most important thing! Chief of Staff Cha, thank you.”

["You're welcome. Capture President Lee Hyeoksan alive as quickly as possible."]

“Of course. That's exactly what we'll do.”

Click.

The moment Director Om Giyeon hung up, Director Griffin immediately asked,

“What did Chief of Staff Cha say?”

“To enable North Korea to establish mass production of mobile launchers...”