Chapter 215: Why Am I Even Putting Myself Through All This?

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

The moment I opened the front door and stepped inside, Saho came charging toward me at full speed and leaped into my arms.

I stroked his head and spoke affectionately.

"So, how have you been without me?"

Saho shook his head from side to side.

There was no need to guess what had happened while I was away. This little troublemaker had undoubtedly pestered Cha Hyeonji to play with him and gotten a thorough scolding from her in return.

Normally, I would have taken my sister's side, but not this time. After all, Saho's contributions in China had been enormous.

"Want me to give Hyeonji a good scolding?"

The cat nodded vigorously.

At that moment, having heard the commotion, Cha Hyeonji came down from the second floor.

"Whoa! Oppa, you're back?"

"Yeah. Has everything been quiet around here?"

Cha Hyeonji shot Saho a fierce glare and replied,

"Aside from this rascal's antics, yeah, nothing special."

"And what exactly did Saho do?"

"You already know perfectly well. By the way, why did it take you so long to get back?"

I had flown to Dandong, China, on a business trip to oversee the operations to eliminate the hacking organizations based at Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa and destroy the Golden Trading warehouse where components for missile launchers were being stored.

However, circumstances had caused the scale of the operation to snowball. As a result, I had been forced to remain in China four days longer than originally planned.

But no matter how close my sister and I were, I couldn't tell her what had happened in China.

"There was more work than I expected. Where's Mom?"

"She went grocery shopping with the housekeeper from Chairman Park's residence."

"How are things going with her plans to open a restaurant?"

"She seems to still be looking into different options, but there are plenty of things she's worried about."

"So she might give up on the idea?"

"Oppa, it's like you don't know our mom at all."

In other words, she was going to open that restaurant no matter what.

I decided to change the subject and, while Saho wasn't looking, signaled to Cha Hyeonji with my eyes.

"All right, forget it. Just imagine how bored Saho must have been if he kept pestering you."

"I had my end-of-semester exams. I didn't have time to play with him."

"Then you should've just explained the situation to him."

"I did explain it to him... Oh, whatever. Saho, I was wrong. I'm sorry, okay?"

Apparently deciding to forgive her, Saho jumped out of my arms and into Cha Hyeonji's embrace.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I picked up my suitcase and hurried up to the third floor.

Bzzzz.

The moment I opened my suitcase to unpack, the phone in my pants pocket buzzed.

I took it out and looked at the screen. NIS Director Om Giyeon was calling.

"Director Om, did you make it home safely?"

"Haaa..."

Director Om Giyeon's heavy sigh sounded extremely troubling.

"Director, did something happen?"

"Director Griffin and Director Nevers are already driving me out of my mind. I can't take those two anymore."

"And why are they bothering you so much?"

"They're demanding that we immediately discuss what to do with the hackers we captured alive at Liu Peiqi's villa."

I immediately understood what Griffin and Nevers were after. They were eager to pry the methods of hacking cryptocurrency out of the hackers.

Naturally, I already had an excellent plan for cooling their enthusiasm.

"Director, why don't you simply tell them you're dead on your feet because you haven't slept all night?"

"Director Cha... Griffin and Nevers, on the other hand, slept perfectly well."

"You know we took the hackers' laptops from Liu Peiqi's villa, right?"

"Of course I know, but..."

I knew perfectly well why Om Giyeon had trailed off.

"If we analyze those laptops, we'll easily figure out exactly how they hacked cryptocurrency."

"Well, yes. Naturally."

"I distributed the laptops among our people and ordered each of them to personally bring one back to Korea. Six of them are currently with Team Leader Lee Hyeonsol and his men, who are escorting Director Peng Yuxiang."

"Hahaha!"

As if he had read my mind, NIS Director Om Giyeon burst into delighted laughter.

When his laughter subsided, I continued,

"When will Director Peng arrive at the Port of Incheon?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, around eleven tonight."

"Well, then Griffin and Nevers will just have to wait."

"Haha. I understand. We'll talk tomorrow."

Click.

I hung up and collapsed onto the bed.

"Why am I even putting myself through all this?"

***

Ring-ring-ring.

A pleasant melody flowed from the phone lying on the bedside table.

Still half asleep, I picked it up and looked at the screen. Chief Secretary Kang Inhan was calling.

Quickly coming to my senses, I sat up on the bed, cleared my throat, and answered.

"Chief Kang, what happened?"

"Director Cha, the Chairman is inviting you to dinner."

There was no need to ask why Chairman Park Yeongil wanted to see me. He wanted to hear the details of what had happened in China directly from me, which was why he had arranged this dinner.

Either way, there was no avoiding this procedure, so I readily agreed.

"Should I come to the Chairman's residence?"

***

"Come to the NIS safe house."

There could only be one reason for holding dinner at an NIS safe house: President of the Republic of Korea Cho Seokchin would be attending the meeting.

To confirm my suspicion, I asked Kang Inhan.

"You're absolutely right, Director Cha."

"Understood. I'll head to the NIS safe house right now."

NIS safe house.

Escorted by an agent, I entered the living room, where NIS Director Om Giyeon, Chairman Park Yeongil, and Chairman Yoon Jongu were already sitting on the sofas and talking.

I bowed politely to them and took an empty armchair.

NIS Director Om Giyeon looked at me apologetically and spoke.

"Director Cha, I didn't want to drag you out again today, but even I don't have the full picture of everything that happened in China."

"Don't worry about it. It's fine."

"That's a relief. We've agreed to meet Directors Griffin and Nevers tomorrow morning."

"Considering tomorrow is Sunday, how about postponing the meeting until the day after tomorrow?"

"There's an important event scheduled for tomorrow evening, so we need to talk in the morning."

NIS Director Om Giyeon was referring to the planned operation in which Chinese forces were supposed to destroy the railway connecting North Korea and Russia, along with freight trains, cargo ships, the North Korean port of Rajin, and the Russian port of Vladivostok.

"Well, then it can't be helped."

"By the way, will everything go strictly according to plan?"

"There's still time, so all we can do is wait."

At that moment, Chairman Yoon Jongu curiously joined the conversation.

"Director Cha, what event is scheduled for tomorrow evening?"

I couldn't answer Chairman Yoon's question. If I revealed our cards now, it could completely throw our plans into disarray.

"I think it would be proper to report it to President Cho Seokchin first."

"Hmm... Now that I think about it, you're right. Then tell me just one thing. Does it have anything to do with our country?"

"Our country isn't directly involved, but we can't simply turn a blind eye to what's happening either."

Knock, knock, knock.

There was a knock at the door, and an NIS agent entered the room and handed Director Om Giyeon a note.

He unfolded it, quickly read the contents, nodded, and said,

"The President will be here in ten minutes."

Before long, a limousine accompanied by police vehicles pulled up at the gate.

A security officer opened the door, and President Cho Seokchin and his Chief of Staff Lee Jihun stepped out of the vehicle one after the other.

Chairman Yoon Jongu stepped forward on behalf of all of us to greet the President.

"President Cho, welcome."

"Sorry for the delay. My schedule ran a little behind."

"There's no need to apologize. Please, come inside."

Since it was already late, we headed straight to the dining room.

Taking his seat at the head of the table, President Cho Seokchin looked over the dishes and addressed Director Om Giyeon.

"Director Om, isn't this spread a little too modest?"

"Would you like me to order something in particular?"

"No, I just think we should treat Director Cha, who has returned after accomplishing such a monumental task, to something a little more impressive."

I couldn't simply pretend I hadn't heard that, so I spoke up.

"Mr. President, I had to eat far too much greasy food while I was in China. To settle my stomach, I personally asked Director Om to prepare something light and non-greasy."

"I know you're making that up, but I'll pretend I believe you. Well then, let's eat."

Figuring I had gotten off easily, I picked up my spoon.

As we ate dinner and chatted casually, Chief of Staff Lee Jihun suddenly asked,

"Director Om, when are Directors Griffin and Nevers planning to return to the States?"

"They'll have to remain in our country for a while longer to deal with all the fallout from the events in China."

"Are you saying something else happened besides the incidents that were reported to the President?"

"Yes, exactly. After dinner, I'll give the President a detailed report on everything."

At once, President Cho Seokchin put down his spoon and said,

"It seems we've finished dinner. Shall we move somewhere more suitable?"

"I completely agree."

"Me too..."

After receiving everyone's agreement, President Cho Seokchin rose from his seat. We followed him to the situation room located in the basement.

Taking the seat at the head of the table, the President drank some water from a bottle and spoke sternly.

"Nothing said in this room is to leave it. A leak of this information would cause tremendous harm to our country's national interests. I ask everyone present to keep that in mind."

"Yes, Mr. President!"

Our voices echoed through the room in unison.

President Cho Seokchin turned toward me with a warm smile.

"Director Cha, tell us what happened during your business trip to China."

"Give me some parameters, Mr. President. Where exactly would you like me to begin?"

"Tell us about all the key events."

"But there were too many key events..."

"Well, it looks like it's going to be a long night."

In other words, he was telling me not to waste time talking around the subject and to lay absolutely everything out.

"Understood. The objective of our business trip to China was Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa..."

I began recounting everything that had happened from the moment we arrived in China, in chronological order.

Whenever my explanations weren't enough, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan skillfully filled in the missing details.

"...The United States still has no idea that Commander Kwak Taesu fled to our country."

"Director Om, are you sure we don't need to prepare for the worst-case scenario?"

NIS Director Om Giyeon thought for a moment before answering President Cho Seokchin's question.

"To avoid arousing suspicion from the United States, China, and North Korea, we've already dispatched NIS agents to Shenyang."

"You think they're aware of what we've been doing?"

"You're absolutely right, Mr. President."

"Sooner or later, the fact that Commander Kwak fled to our country will come to light anyway, correct?"

"Of course. But we'll deal with that problem when the time comes."

"All right, I understand. Director Cha, continue."

I proceeded to report on the destruction of the kamikaze drone factory in Fengcheng and the destruction of the naval base in Dalian.

I tried to explain everything as clearly as possible, but that didn't save me from a barrage of questions.

"Director Cha, do you know why Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Tang Guochang personally went to Dalian?"

"After the naval base was reduced to ruins, he completely lost Chairman Xi Jinping's trust."

"You're saying he went to Dalian to regain Chairman Xi's favor?"

"That's how I interpret it."

"I see. And under what circumstances did you cross paths with him?"

"The villa where we were staying belonged to BYG Auto President Du Zhiguo. He intended to bribe Vice Chairman Tang Guochang so that Tang would lobby for the Chinese military to purchase BYG Auto electric vehicles."

"President Du planned to give him a golden Buddha statue as a gift."

Kang Inhan interjected at just the right moment, continuing my explanation.

"Director Cha, it seems you ought to thank Politburo member Liu Peiqi."

"I'm not quite sure what you mean, Mr. President."

"If you hadn't taken that golden Buddha from Liu Peiqi's villa, you wouldn't have been able to establish a connection with Vice Chairman Tang, would you?"

"Hahaha. I suppose that's true?"

All I could do in response was smile awkwardly.