Chapter 182: I Firmly Believe in Your Resolve

Secretary Kang Inhan simply couldn't understand what was going on.

They had already obtained all the information they needed from Politburo member Liu Peiqi and Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua.

Therefore, there was no reason whatsoever to remain at the Crown Hotel.

And yet Cha Jiham was lounging comfortably on the sofa as though he had no intention of leaving.

"Director, aren't we going back to the Dandong Palace Hotel?"

Before answering Secretary Kang Inhan's question, there was something I needed to confirm.

"Team Leader Seo, when will Politburo member Liu and Bureau Chief Pu regain consciousness after being shot with the tranquilizer?"

"Since we used high-powered tranquilizers, they'll sleep for at least another twelve hours."

It was ten at night now, which meant they wouldn't wake up until ten in the morning.

"Secretary Kang, once Liu wakes up, he's guaranteed to raise hell trying to catch the culprits."

"Naturally."

"If I were him, the first thing I'd do would be to check the surveillance footage from all over the hotel. If we leave right now, he'll inevitably point to us as the culprits. But if we blend in with the crowd and leave the hotel tomorrow morning, the chances of us falling under suspicion will be extremely low."

"Ah, now I understand what you mean."

Leaving Secretary Kang Inhan's response unanswered, I turned to Team Leader Seo Donghun.

"Now I'd like to see the recording of the interrogation of Politburo member Liu and Bureau Chief Pu."

"Yes, understood."

After giving a brief reply, Team Leader Seo Donghun connected the camera to the television with a cable.

Then he turned on the television with the remote and started the video.

He had interrogated Politburo member Liu Peiqi and Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua in Chinese, so he simultaneously translated everything into Korean for us to understand.

There was nothing particularly noteworthy in Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua's interrogation, so we fast-forwarded through almost all of it.

Politburo member Liu's interrogation, however, contained a great deal of important information, forcing us to pause the video several times.

"Who do you think Politburo member Liu believes stole the gold bars from his villa?"

"He was firmly convinced it was Vice Chairman Tang Guochang."

"Vice Chairman Tang is going to find himself in serious trouble for absolutely no reason."

"I agree with you on that, Director."

"I see. Let's keep watching."

While we were watching the video, Secretary Kang Inhan addressed Team Leader Seo Donghun.

"Liu has two billion dollars' worth of cryptocurrency. Why did you only take four hundred million?"

Team Leader Seo Donghun paused the video with the remote and answered Secretary Kang Inhan's question.

"I heard that every cryptocurrency except Bitcoin is a scam."

"The hackers from North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau are capable of separating the wheat from the chaff. The cryptocurrency they stole is highly likely to be legitimate rather than worthless junk."

Team Leader Seo Donghun turned toward me.

I immediately understood the meaning behind his gaze.

He was thinking about taking the rest of Politburo member Liu's cryptocurrency as well.

Originally, I had never intended to rob him and take his money or cryptocurrency.

We had only done so to convince him that we were mercenaries.

"Team Leader Seo, let's limit ourselves to the 500 million yuan and 400 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency we've already taken."

"I'll follow your instructions, Director."

At that moment, Team Leader Lee Hyeonsol joined the conversation as though something had occurred to him.

"Director, Politburo member Liu's accounts still contain records of the transfers of 500 million yuan and 400 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency. What should we do about that?"

Instead of answering Team Leader Lee Hyeonsol's question, I gave Secretary Kang Inhan an instruction.

"Send the interrogation video to Director Om Giyeon, Vice Chairman Wei Chen, and Director Griffin. And give Director Griffin the account numbers."

"You mean you want Director Griffin to launder those accounts?"

As expected, Secretary Kang Inhan was far quicker on the uptake than the others.

"Exactly right, Secretary Kang."

"What if the CIA gets greedy and decides to take the money and cryptocurrency we seized from Politburo member Liu?"

"They know the value of this recording, so they won't get greedy over such small change."

"Then how about selling the recording of Liu's interrogation to the CIA instead?"

"All right. Do that."

"Ha-ha. Understood. And what should we do with the 500 million yuan and 400 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency?"

"We'll pay it out as bonuses to our employees and the National Intelligence Service operatives putting themselves at risk here."

"Thank you very much, Director!"

The simultaneous shouts of Team Leader Seo Donghun and Team Leader Lee Hyeonsol echoed throughout the living room.

***

Ring-ring-ring.

A melodic ringtone came from the phone lying beside the head of the bed.

Half asleep, I picked it up and looked at the screen. NIS Director Om Giyeon was calling.

The fact that he was calling at such an early hour could only mean one thing: something unexpected had happened.

Quickly coming to my senses, I sat up in bed and answered the call.

"Director Om, I'm listening."

[Cha, judging by your sleepy voice, were you still asleep?]

"I couldn't sleep properly because of the unfamiliar surroundings."

[Unfamiliar surroundings? Aren't you at the Dandong Palace Hotel?]

"If we'd left the Crown Hotel last night, it might have made Politburo member Liu suspicious."

[Ah, I understand what you mean.]

"In any case, did Commander Kwak Taesu arrive safely at Incheon Port?"

[He arrived safely at one thirty in the morning.]

A passenger ferry took sixteen hours to travel from Dandong Port to Incheon Port.

The vessel carrying Commander Kwak Taesu had departed Dandong Port at seven yesterday morning.

That meant it should have arrived at Incheon Port at eleven at night.

However, it had arrived two and a half hours behind schedule.

I asked NIS Director Om Giyeon whether he knew the reason for the delay.

[A North Korean patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line, so ferry traffic was temporarily suspended.]

"Don't tell me..."

[The North doesn't know that Commander Kwak fled to our country.]

As though reading my thoughts, NIS Director Om Giyeon immediately continued.

"Then why did the North Korean patrol boat cross the Northern Limit Line?"

[Last night, five North Korean citizens escaped aboard a fishing boat. The patrol boat crossed the line to intercept them, but turned back after our Navy fired warning shots.]

"I see. Are the defectors safe?"

[Our Navy responded quickly and rescued them safely.]

"That's a relief."

[Now I'll tell you the actual reason I called.]

The only urgent matter between NIS Director Om Giyeon and me was Commander Kwak Taesu's defection.

At dawn today, he had successfully received asylum in the Republic of Korea.

But Director Om Giyeon was saying there was another matter.

"Director, is there something else you need to tell me?"

[Yes. Director Griffin has been driving me up the wall.]

"Don't tell me... did he find out that Commander Kwak defected to our country?"

[There's zero chance of that.]

"Then why is he giving you such a hard time?"

[Secretary Kang offered to sell Director Griffin the recording of Politburo member Liu's interrogation.]

"I know about that."

[Good, then you're aware. Secretary Kang demanded five billion dollars for the recording.]

Secretary Kang Inhan certainly understood just how enormous five billion dollars was—approximately 6.75 trillion won.

And yet he'd still slapped an astronomical five-billion-dollar price tag on the video and presented it to Director Griffin.

"Could it have been five hundred million, not five billion?"

[I asked again just to make sure. No, it was definitely five billion dollars.]

Director Griffin had obviously decided that Secretary Kang's asking price was far too high.

That was why he was now putting pressure on NIS Director Om Giyeon, hoping to bring the price down at least somewhat.

I cautiously asked Director Om Giyeon whether my assumption was correct.

[You're absolutely right, Cha.]

"And what do you think, Director?"

[If the recording of Liu's interrogation leaks to the press, President Xi Jinping will suffer an enormous blow to his reputation.]

The Chinese government had outlawed cryptocurrency and completely prohibited all transactions involving it.

Despite that, Politburo member Liu Peiqi, one of President Xi Jinping's closest associates, had been laundering cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau hackers.

On top of that, he'd implied that President Xi Jinping knew about his illegal activities.

"I completely agree with you on that, Director."

[It seems Secretary Kang set such a high price precisely because he took that into account.]

"From what you're saying, I should insist on five billion dollars?"

[At least, that's my opinion.]

I needed to help NIS Director Om Giyeon, who had found himself in a difficult position.

"Director Om, if Griffin keeps pressuring you, push back hard."

[Do you have some clever idea?]

"There are six operations being carried out here in Dandong altogether. I don't need to explain each one to you, do I?"

[Of course not.]

"If the Chinese naval base in Dalian is reduced to ruins, China's naval strength will inevitably be weakened for a while. And if the kamikaze drone factory in Fengcheng is destroyed, it'll put China and Russia in a chokehold."

[Absolutely.]

"The hacking group at Liu's villa is operating right on Chinese soil. The Golden Trading warehouse where parts for mobile launchers are being stored is also in China. And enormous quantities of North Korean weapons are being transported aboard Eastern Shipping container ships. However..."

I deliberately paused to emphasize the importance of what I was about to say, then continued.

"Would the U.S. government have learned about any of this if it weren't for our country?"

[Of course not.]

"Our country gave that intelligence to the U.S. government completely free of charge. What's more, two of the six operations will be carried out by NIS operatives and our company's personnel. Lay all of that out clearly for Director Griffin, and he'll have no choice but to tuck his tail between his legs."

[Ha-ha-ha!]

NIS Director Om Giyeon burst into genuine, hearty laughter.

After waiting for his laughter to subside, I continued.

"Politburo member Liu Peiqi and Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua, whom we tranquilized, will wake up in three or four hours. If we haven't laundered the accounts that received the 500 million yuan and 400 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency by then, things could get very complicated."

[I see... We have less time than I thought. I'll call you later!]

Click.

Apparently in a hurry, Director Om Giyeon hung up first.

After getting dressed, I left the room. Secretary Kang Inhan, Team Leader Seo Donghun, and Team Leader Lee Hyeonsol were sitting on the sofa talking.

The moment they noticed me, all three rose from their seats.

I gestured for them to sit and asked Secretary Kang Inhan,

"When did you get up?"

"We didn't get a wink of sleep all night. We were keeping watch on Liu's room."

"You could've taken turns standing watch."

"Well... we just couldn't shake the feeling that something might happen."

"I told you there was nothing to worry about."

All three nodded in agreement with my confident words.

"Secretary Kang, did anything suspicious happen around Liu's room?"

"No one came to see him."

"That's good."

"However, there's one thing that's bothering me."

"What is it?"

"The CIA still hasn't laundered the accounts that received the 500 million yuan and 400 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency."

The words, 'Isn't that because you got on Director Griffin's nerves, Secretary Kang?' were already on the tip of my tongue, but out of respect for the situation, I kept them to myself.

"I heard you demanded five billion dollars from Director Griffin for the recording?"

"...Is that too much?"

Secretary Kang Inhan's voice was extremely cautious.

"I think it's a perfectly reasonable amount, but Director Griffin apparently considers it excessive."

"So he's holding up the accounts because he wants to drive down the price of the recording?"

"Exactly right, Secretary Kang."

"Then what should we do?"

"I firmly believe in your resolve."

In other words, I was telling him to stand his ground and demand the full five billion dollars to the very end.

"I'd like to do that myself, but Director Griffin refuses to budge."

"I asked Director Om to help with the matter."

"Phew..."

Secretary Kang Inhan let out a relieved breath, as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.