Chapter 256: Maybe We Should Move the Gold Bars?

“Director Cha, we’ve checked the hidden room. No potential threats were found.”

“Good. Let’s get inside.”

We followed Agent Hong Jongsu inside.

The hidden room wasn’t very large, only about sixteen square meters.

Display cases lined the walls, containing various weapons, including handguns, just as I had expected.

Wooden crates of various sizes were stacked in one corner, while a meter-high safe stood in another.

As if to satisfy my curiosity, Agent Hong Jongsu spoke up.

“Director Cha, there are Stingers among the weapons.”

“Stinger surface-to-air missiles?”

“Yes. The wooden crates contain missiles and various types of ammunition.”

“Hmm, that’s strange. The commander of the 974th Unit soldiers should know the combination to the safe, right?”

“I think so too, Director Cha.”

“Would they wake up from the anesthesia if we poured cold water over them?”

“It’s only been about thirty minutes since they were injected, so they won’t be able to regain consciousness for quite some time.”

That was unfortunate, but there was nothing we could do.

“We’ll take the safe to the safe house and open it there.”

“Yes, understood.”

At that moment, Branch Chief Harrison, who apparently had an idea of his own, joined the conversation.

“Director Cha, to save time, why don’t we blast through the basement wall with a Stinger?”

Launching a Stinger would inevitably produce a powerful backblast and shock wave.

The tremendous force of the explosion might damage the gold bars.

I asked Branch Chief Harrison what he thought about that.

“Hmm... I hadn’t considered that problem.”

“Just to be safe, let’s take absolutely everything out of here.”

Branch Chief Harrison instantly caught the implication behind my words.

If we took only the safe, the North might suspect that the perpetrators weren’t ordinary thieves after all.

To eliminate such suspicions in advance, we needed to clean out the entire hidden room.

He had read my thoughts, so how could I pretend not to notice?

“Director Cha, what if we completely destroy the hidden room?”

“Excellent idea.”

After approving Branch Chief Harrison’s suggestion, I headed for the exit.

The key participants in the operation settled onto the sofas in the living room and began discussing the issues that had arisen.

“Director Cha, why do you think the 974th Unit soldiers have Stingers?”

That puzzled me greatly as well.

A Stinger was a missile designed to shoot down aerial targets.

The 974th Unit soldiers responsible for Kim Juchol’s personal protection had no need for surface-to-air missiles.

‘Maybe... Colonel Cho knows the reason? It can’t hurt to ask.’

Without delay, I dialed Colonel Cho Yeongil’s number.

After several rings, his surprised voice came through.

[Director Cha, did something happen?]

“No. Kim Juchol, the 974th Unit soldiers, and the housekeeper have all been safely neutralized.”

[Phew, thank goodness. Did you find what you were looking for?]

I couldn’t exactly tell him outright that I had found more than twelve tons of gold.

“We’re in the middle of searching right now.”

[I hope you find what you’re looking for. So, why did you call?]

“We found a hidden room in the 974th Unit soldiers’ bedroom, and there were three Stingers inside. Do you know why they have them?”

[That’s the first I’ve heard of it.]

Judging by how instantly Colonel Cho Yeongil answered, he genuinely knew nothing about it.

It was disappointing, but there was nothing we could do.

“I see. Now, about something else. Have your subordinates decided to defect to our country?”

[Hahahaha!]

The answer was contained in Colonel Cho Yeongil’s booming laughter.

“You did an excellent job persuading them.”

[That wasn’t thanks to me, Director Cha. It was thanks to you.]

“Me?”

[If you hadn’t paid half of their resettlement allowances in advance, I wouldn’t have been able to convince them.]

“Ah, now I understand.”

After exchanging a few more words with Colonel Cho Yeongil, I ended the call. Director Jean-Philippe immediately perked up.

“Director Cha, who were you just speaking with?”

Since the phone conversation had been in Korean, Jean-Philippe was naturally curious.

“Colonel Cho Yeongil.”

“Interesting. What were you talking about?”

“I asked whether he knew why the 974th Unit soldiers had Stingers.”

I openly relayed the contents of the conversation to Director Jean-Philippe and the others.

“...Unfortunately, he doesn’t know either.”

“Hmm, I see. Then what should we do?”

“It looks like the only way to find out is to ask the 974th Unit soldiers themselves.”

The moment I finished speaking, Branch Chief Harrison gave an order.

“Agent Guilford, take the 974th Unit soldiers to the safe house.”

“Yes, sir.”

With a brief nod, Agent Guilford and the other agents rushed toward the bedroom.

As though unwilling to be outdone, the FIS agents hurried after them.

They carried the deeply sleeping 974th Unit soldiers out of the bedroom on their backs.

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan, who had been watching them, addressed me in Korean.

“Chief Cha, why are the CIA and FIS agents working so enthusiastically?”

“They’re bending over backward to get a bigger share of the gold.”

“Ahh...”

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan nodded slowly in understanding.

Before long, the FIS agent who had gone to retrieve explosives returned.

He approached Director Jean-Philippe, gave a brief report, then headed down into the basement with his colleagues.

Some time later, they came rushing back upstairs after finishing the installation of a timed explosive charge on the wall.

The agents immediately slammed the heavy basement door shut.

Click!

About three minutes later, a deafening explosion erupted from the basement, shaking the ground.

At the same time, clouds of dust billowed through the gaps around the tightly closed iron door.

Judging the force of the explosion, Branch Chief Harrison asked Director Jean-Philippe in bewilderment,

“What kind of explosives did you use?”

“The wall turned out to be unexpectedly thick, so we detonated three charges of C-4 at once.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Shall we go outside and see if we made a breach?”

Following Director Jean-Philippe, we left the house and approached the section where the basement was located. Three holes were visible in the wall.

Unfortunately, they weren’t large enough for a person to squeeze through.

Director Jean-Philippe immediately ordered the FIS agents to plant additional C-4 charges.

The agents placed C-4 in the sections of wall between the holes, while we retreated farther away just in case.

Boom!

Before long, another thunderous blast shook the ground, accompanied by thick clouds of dust.

After waiting for the dust to settle, we approached the wall.

Fortunately, a breach had been blown wide enough for people to pass through freely.

“Well then, shall we move the gold bars?”

***

“Ugh, I’m going to die...”

After handing me the last gold bar, Branch Chief Harrison groaned heavily and collapsed straight onto the ground.

I passed the bar to Chief Secretary Kang Inhan, who was standing beside me, then dropped down beside Harrison, equally exhausted.

Harrison wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke.

“Director Cha, you worked hard.”

“You worked much harder than I did, Branch Chief Harrison.”

“You and I carried exactly the same number of bars.”

“But I’m younger than you.”

“Hahahaha! That’s true.”

While Branch Chief Harrison chuckled quietly, Director Jean-Philippe approached us and dropped heavily to the ground as well.

“Oh, dear God, I’m dead. Director Cha, we counted them. There are five hundred and ten bars in total.”

That meant twelve tons and seven hundred fifty kilograms.

“Ten more than we estimated?”

“Tell me about it. Should we evacuate now?”

“There’s something I need to say first. Gather everyone who carried the gold.”

Before long, around thirty people had gathered around me.

I slowly looked over them before speaking in a calm voice.

“If all of you hadn’t given it everything you had, we never would have managed to move all that gold in three hours. Thank you very much for your hard work. Under no circumstances can we leave any fingerprints behind. Keep that in mind and clean everything perfectly.”

“Understood!”

“Thank you again for your hard work. I’ll see you at the CIA safe house.”

***

As soon as I arrived at the CIA safe house, I rushed straight to the bathroom to wash off the dirt and sweat.

After refreshing myself under the shower, I stepped into the bedroom. Saho was sprawled comfortably across the bed.

I lightly patted Saho on the back and said,

“If you want to sleep on my bed, you’ll have to wash yourself completely.”

Like all cats, Saho hated water.

But to my surprise, the moment I finished speaking, he jumped off the bed and gracefully headed straight into the bathroom.

Writing it off as yet another miracle, I changed into comfortable clothes, opened the bedroom door, and stepped outside.

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan and the three team leaders from Korea Investment were sitting on the living room sofa, talking.

I sat down at the head of the table and asked Team Leader Lee Hyeonsol in surprise,

“You’ve already finished cleaning up?”

“No. The NIS, CIA, and FIS agents are still cleaning up the site.”

“I see. Where are the 974th Unit soldiers?”

“Locked in the basement.”

“When will they wake up?”

“According to Agent Hong Jongsu, the anesthesia will keep them in dreamland for another twelve hours or so.”

The 974th Unit soldiers had been injected with the sedative at around 11:40 p.m. yesterday.

It was now 5:20 a.m., which meant they had about six and a half hours of sleep left.

“Chief Kang, we’ll begin the interrogation after lunch.”

“I’ll pass that along to Director Jean-Philippe and Branch Chief Harrison.”

“Please do. Oh, and call Senior Colonel No Gwangcheol and tell him that our schedule for returning home is still up in the air.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to send Senior Colonel No Gwangcheol’s and Colonel Cho Yeongil’s subordinates to our country first?”

“That’s not a bad idea. Ask Director Jean-Philippe to assist with that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“By the way, when will Jean-Philippe and Harrison arrive?”

“They need to make sure the site is cleaned up perfectly, so they should be here in about twenty or thirty minutes.”

Brrrrr—

At that moment, the phone lying on the table began to vibrate. Looking at the screen, I saw Director Eddie Griffin’s name.

The reason for his call was obvious. Branch Chief Harrison had already reported what had happened at Kim Juchol’s house.

I answered the phone.

“Director Griffin, isn’t it the middle of the night in America?”

[It’s just past midnight.]

“I see. I’m listening, Director.”

[First of all, I want to congratulate you on your tremendous success.]

“What tremendous success? It was only twelve tons and seven hundred fifty kilograms of gold.”

[According to our intelligence, Kim Jonghun has hidden around fifty billion dollars in slush funds around the world. Twelve tons and seven hundred fifty kilograms of gold are worth a little over one hundred million dollars.]

Well, that changed things.

Either way, we had just deprived Kim Jonghun of one-fifth of his secret funds.

“Kim Jonghun is going to faint when he learns that the gold is gone.”

[Most likely. The fact that we seized his gold must never leak to the outside.]

“I’ve already ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut.”

[Glad to hear it. Now, about something else. Why do you think the 974th Unit soldiers needed Stingers?]

“The best way to find out is to ask them ourselves, but right now they’re sleeping like the dead.”

[And when will they wake up?]

“Not before noon, Swiss time.”

[In that case... there’s still plenty of time. All right, we’ll talk later.]

Beep. Beep.

Director Griffin hung up so abruptly that it was as though he were rushing off somewhere.

And at that very moment, a vague, sticky sense of foreboding began to grow from the deepest recesses of my heart.

‘No way... He wouldn’t, right?’