Chapter 113: The Choice

TL: LittlePeach

“Anyway, it’s good that you came early. I just finished all the paperwork for the hotel investment.”

Now that the end result was sitting right in front of her, namely that I had kidnapped Hu Tao, how I had gone about kidnapping him was no longer important.

Leaving the subject of the Qingshe Gang aside, Yang Mi-ryeong rose from her seat and took something out of a desk drawer.

[Shangri-la Hotel Joint Investment Agreement]

Apparently, she had already finished preparing all the paperwork for the Macau hotel investment.

“I put the entire three billion won fee I promised you for this job into it too. No awkward decimal-point percentages. I set your stake at exactly ten percent.”

“Perfect. I didn’t have anything to spend it on anyway.”

While I slowly looked through the documents, Yang Mi-ryeong continued with a newly satisfied expression.

“You’ll be the first and last person in my life I ever give part of my stake to.”

“I see.”

“You’re happy, right?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Hmph. I shouldn’t have to force you to thank me.... Take this too. It’s yours now.”

After putting the documents in order, she suddenly pulled out a passport and held it out to me.

It was a passport from the British Virgin Islands, famous as a tax haven.

[Nguyen Kodam]

I opened it, and the contents were quite a sight.

Looking over my new passport, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It’s not just a forged passport. It’s a real passport with an actual identity and records behind it. As long as you don’t use it to enter Korea, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

When I glanced at her, the corners of Yang Mi-ryeong’s mouth twitched strangely.

‘I should’ve come up with something cooler than Kodam.’

Regret always came too late.

There was no escaping it now. I had officially become Nguyen Kodam.

Anyway.

“From now on, every quarter, you’ll look at the dividends hitting your bank account and call me to thank me.”

“....”

“What do you think? Don’t just give me some boring, predictable thank-you. I’d like to hear something fresh and original this time.”

I rolled my eyes as though I were seriously thinking about it.

Whenever I saw someone puffing out their chest with a proud smile like that, I had a bad habit of wanting to tease them.

A mischievous itch began creeping up inside me.

“Perfect timing. As a token of my gratitude, I’ll show you this.”

The timing happened to be just right, so I dropped the backpack I had brought with me onto the table.

Thud.

At the heavy sound, Yang Mi-ryeong’s eyes widened.

“What’s this?”

“Would you like to take a look? I’d say Hu Tao’s entire life is probably stuffed inside.”

“...What is that supposed to mean?”

She peered into the bag with wide eyes.

The first things that appeared when I opened the zipper were gleaming gold bars and crisp bundles of dollars.

“None of this matters....”

But as expected, Yang Mi-ryeong wasn’t distracted by pocket change like that. She immediately snatched up the leather notebook lying underneath.

“Could you deposit everything in the bag into my account later?”

“Of course. Don’t worry.”

Her fingers rapidly flipped through the pages before suddenly stopping.

“Mmm.”

Before long, a pleased sigh slipped from Yang Mi-ryeong’s lips.

She gave an incredulous chuckle, then shot me a coy sideways glance.

“Do you even know what you brought me?”

“Looked like a bribery ledger.”

“That’s right. The Shenyang Public Security Bureau director is in here, and even CPPCC delegates.... They’ve managed to rope in just about everyone.”

“Oh.”

The CPPCC, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

It was China’s highest political advisory body, a major institution with enough influence and authority that even the Chinese Communist Party sought its input on certain policies.

“I was wondering how the Qingshe Gang had managed to openly engage in human trafficking throughout Shenyang and the surrounding areas without getting crushed all this time.... Now it all makes sense.”

Apparently even she found it absurd once she said it aloud, because the tension suddenly drained from her shoulders.

Looking back and forth between the notebook and my face, she let out a long breath.

“This notebook alone will make swallowing the Qingshe Gang a whole lot easier.”

“What are you planning to do with it?”

“Absorb every single backer the Qingshe Gang has listed in here. From our perspective, it means gaining a whole new set of powerful patrons.”

“What if the people in that notebook hold you responsible for kidnapping Society Head Hu Tao?”

“As long as I keep the money flowing properly, they won’t make a bigger issue out of this than necessary. What matters to them is whether the kickbacks keep coming in, not who happens to be paying them.”

A fierce ambition she couldn’t possibly conceal churned within Yang Mi-ryeong’s burning gaze.

Then, at some point, a peculiar gleam entered her eyes.

Suddenly.

“Huh?”

Yang Mi-ryeong tossed the notebook onto the table and abruptly threw herself on top of me.

Flop.

Just like that, we ended up sprawled across the sofa, lying side by side and facing each other.

“With this ledger alone, it’s no longer such a far-fetched dream for me to swallow up Shenyang’s underworld before long. These are backers powerful enough to influence the balance among underworld organizations across all three northeastern provinces. That’s how valuable this thing is....”

Her low voice tickled my ear.

Her finger provocatively traced its way down my chest.

“What would you like me to give you in exchange for giving this ledger to me?”

She smiled confidently, as though she already knew exactly what I would choose.

The gaze of a predator hunting its prey, without the slightest hint of hesitation.

My bad habit reared its head once again.

“Then how about we just call it your birthday present?”

“....”

The expression on Yang Mi-ryeong’s face, which had looked as though she were floating on air, came crashing back down to earth in an instant.

“Ha....”

She let out an incredulous laugh.

Then she pinched my side hard.

“I told you. Something like this isn’t nearly enough.”

“Ungh.”

It didn’t hurt in the slightest, but I deliberately rubbed the spot vigorously anyway.

Yang Mi-ryeong gave me a soft smile at my exaggerated reaction, then pushed herself upright with a hand against my chest.

“Did you really want to give me a birthday present that badly?”

“Well, I mean....”

As I sat up as well, a suggestive heat flickered in her eyes.

“If that’s the case, I don’t need anything else. Just don’t go anywhere tonight.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? Tomorrow’s my birthday. Surely you can at least keep me company while I drink tonight.”

“That much is fine....”

Grandmother’s warning that beautiful women were foxes suddenly came back to me again.

She had always told me to be careful, or they would eat my liver right out of me.

“Just so you know in advance, I can hold my liquor.”

“Hehe. So can I.”

Apparently, today was the day I finally let that fox bewitch me.

At my answer, she gave me a bright, innocent smile.

***

They said humans were creatures of adaptation.

After several days, even living on the penthouse floor of the Kowloon Hotel, which had felt so burdensome on the first day, had started to feel as comfortable as my own home.

Riiing.

“Mmm.”

A call came through to my personal phone, which I had left on roaming.

Still lying in bed, I lazily reached over to check it and saw that it was Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin.

Click.

“Yees, I’m here.”

-Team 5 leader, it’s me. Can you talk right now?

At first, he had seemed like some impossibly high-ranking big shot, but after speaking with him on the phone several times, I had grown more comfortable with him.

Apparently that was another result of getting used to things. I slowly rolled over as I answered.

“Of course.”

-I’d like to hear an interim report on your assignment. I also have a few things to pass along. Can you come back to Korea now?

“Understood. I was actually just wrapping things up here.”

-Good. We’ll discuss the rest face-to-face.

“Yes. I’ll see you at headquarters.”

After ending the call, I flopped back onto the bed and let all the strength drain out of my body.

As I stretched, the sunlight seeping through a gap in the blackout curtains dazzled my eyes.

“Nnngh....”

A quick glance at the clock told me that if I left now, I could have lunch in Korea.

I suddenly had a craving for the tuna kimchi stew they sold at Incheon Airport.

After lazing around for a while and finally getting my head together, I noticed a small note sitting on the bedside table.

[You looked like you were sleeping well, so I didn’t wake you. Just send me a message when you leave.]

It was a note Yang Mi-ryeong had left behind.

Over the past few days, she had meticulously prepared by contacting every high-ranking Chinese official listed in Hu Tao’s ledger one by one.

She was supposed to begin the actual takeover of the Qingshe Gang today, and I had heard that she probably wouldn’t even be able to show her face at the Kowloon Hotel for a while.

‘I didn’t even get to see her off properly.’

The fact that she had quietly left for Shenyang without bothering to wake me was probably Yang Mi-ryeong’s way of being considerate.

Me giving it everything I had, and her giving half of herself.

Maybe it was her own way of seeing me off, telling us to each do our best as black agents in our respective domains.

‘It was about time for me to leave anyway.’

After taking my time washing up, I came out to find that today’s clothes had been prepared for me as well.

A shirt and trousers, a belt, socks, even shoes.

Yang Mi-ryeong liked people who dressed neatly, so a freshly pressed outfit like this had been laid out for me every single day.

It had been nice spending some time without ever having to worry about what I was going to wear.

‘I wonder what the hotel in Macau will be like.’

After packing all my things, I headed straight for the elevator.

I could have simply disappeared without saying anything, but there was still one person who would probably be disappointed if I did.

“Ah! Welcome, sir. Good morning.”

“Yes, Miss Lu Yangyang. Thank you for everything while I’ve been here.”

“Huh? Why are you talking like someone who’s about to go far away....”

Before leaving the hotel, I stopped by Lu Yangyang’s office.

She looked busy handling her duties as acting manager from Yang Mi-ryeong’s office.

“The thing is, my next assignment has been scheduled. I’ll be leaving the hotel today.”

“Ah! I seeee....”

Lu Yangyang stared at me with wide eyes.

She saw me off with a complicated expression that seemed both disappointed and a little reproachful.

“Boss Yang Mi-ryeong had a smile on her face the entire time Mr. Kodam was staying here.... She might go back to looking gloomy again now.”

“Do you realize that the face of the Miss saying that looks much brighter than it used to?”

“Ah! Hehe, does it?”

There was a perfectly good reason Lu Yangyang’s complexion had noticeably brightened lately.

I had quietly tipped Jin Hao off that, second son of the boss or not, Lu Yangyang might soon become the single most powerful figure in the Chongqing Society.

“Actually, Jin Hao came to see me the other day carrying a bouquet of flowers. Can you believe it? He said looking at the lilac petals reminded him of my hair or something....”

As expected of Jin Hao.

Maybe a bastard with such a long thread of life had enough sense to figure out what he needed to do right away.

It hadn’t even taken him a few more days to face reality, come to his senses, and stop wasting his time bouncing back and forth between clubs and casinos.

“Once our boss gets her promotion transfer to Hong Kong, does that mean you’ll never come back to Dandong either, sir?”

“Of course not. I’ll come back from time to time to see you, Miss.”

“Hehe. That’s a promise, okay?”

After exchanging our farewells like that, I made my way out of the hotel.

In the past, I would have considered it a virtue of a black agent to leave without so much as a phone call.

-I’m leaving now. I suppose we’ll meet in Macau next time.

But as I climbed into a taxi, I naturally sent off a message.

For some reason, leaving felt much lighter than it had before.

***

[Thank you for flying with us. We have arrived at our destination, Incheon International Airport. Please remain seated until the aircraft has come to a complete stop and the seat belt sign has been turned off....]

An announcement flowed through the cabin speakers.

Feeling lighthearted, I passed through immigration and headed straight for a Korean restaurant tucked away in a corner of Incheon Airport.

Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble.

“Sluuurp. Khaa!”

Meeting Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin or whatever could wait. If I was back in Korea, this kimchi stew came first.

Whenever I spent too much time overseas, I always ended up craving this sharp, sour flavor.

“Slurp.”

Munch, munch.

After scraping the bowl completely clean, I leisurely made my way to NIS headquarters.

“Huh?”

For some reason, the atmosphere at NIS headquarters was absolute chaos.

It looked even busier than when Minister Ri Jong-il defected after we wrapped up the New Bilibid operation.

“The embargo on Minister Ri Jong-il’s defection was lifted. The Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all sorts of other places have been flooding us with requests to meet him.”

“Aha.”

Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin, who welcomed me warmly into his office not long afterward, kindly explained the reason.

It seemed the news had finally been released to the public through the media.

A fair amount of time had passed, so I had wondered how North Korea had somehow managed not to realize what had happened.

-Minister Ri Jong-il has already been away from his post for several days. Do you happen to know what happened?

-How should I know? The Party must have secretly assigned him to something important.

-Perhaps we should at least try contacting....

-Comrade, are you questioning the Party’s decision?

“N-no, Comrade.”

Given the nature of the North Korean system, where even openly discussing something among fellow embassy staff could be enough to get someone branded a reactionary, it was entirely plausible.

I took a sip of the green tea Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin had given me and asked another question.

“What happened with the large-scale defection operation targeting embassies around the world?”

“That’s still under embargo, so things are quiet for now. But it seems North Korea is finally beginning to suspect something. I hear they’re rushing inspection teams out as we speak.”

“May I ask how many people are expected to defect?”

“You’re the biggest contributor to that operation. There’s no reason I can’t tell you. It should be around thirty.”

“Oh.”

“Once North Korea gets a proper handle on the situation, all hell is going to break loose over there.”

A disbelieving laugh slipped out before I could stop it.

At this point, it felt less like a defection and more like a mass exodus ahead of a regime collapse.

“Won’t North Korea try to retaliate somehow? I doubt they’ll just take this lying down....”

“We’re preparing thoroughly on every front. We’ve also coordinated with the Ministry of National Defense to raise the counterterrorism alert posture, so there’s no need to worry too much.”

As Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin said, I decided not to dwell on it any further.

There might already be an entire high-level defensive apparatus in place, too vast and intricate for a lowly team leader like me to even imagine.

Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin set down his teacup and gave me his usual relaxed smile.

“By the way, how is the assignment I gave you as an Eagle agent? Is it going well?”

At last, we had reached his real purpose for calling me in.

One thought came to mind at that moment.

‘There are other Eagle agents besides me.’

I was certain there had to be at least two or more.

If this were an assignment where I had simply been sent in alone, there would have been no reason to invent a grandiose title like Eagle agent for it.

Once my thoughts reached that point, I caught a glimpse of what Bureau Director Yang Ui-jin, sitting across from me with his benevolent smile, was really thinking.

‘The Eagle agent’s primary role is to monitor black agents who are slacking off on the job and take action against them.’

The foundation of intel was cross-verification.

The interim report I gave today regarding the Northeast Three Provinces would almost certainly be compared against information gathered by another Eagle agent planted in the same region.

In other words, they were putting me on the scales to see whether I was someone they could trust and use.

Would I let personal feelings cloud my judgment and cover up a colleague’s failings?

Would I exaggerate problems that weren’t there just to pad my own record?

I thought of the notebook tucked inside my clothes.

[Owl No. 2]

[Owl No. 4]

[Owl No. 8]

[Crane No. 14]

[...]

There were twelve people in total whose names had been written in the notebook after accumulating problems within the Special Operations Group.

They were scattered all over the place, and five of them, including Owl No. 8 and Crane No. 14, were agents assigned to the Northeast Three Provinces.

And during my stay at the Kowloon Hotel, I had personally gone around and checked on every single one of them with my own eyes.

‘Owl No. 8 and Crane No. 14 are probably busy working their side jobs in Ji’an right about now.’

Every one of them was working some kind of side job for one reason or another.

One hauled bottles at a club, while another worked a wok in a restaurant kitchen.

One took jobs from the CIA, while another worked as a courier for smuggling operations.

But did that really mean they were unfit to be black agents?

“I’ve just finished checking on the agents stationed throughout the Northeast Three Provinces one by one.”

“And what did you find?”

“At least by my standards, every Special Operations Group agent in the Northeast Three Provinces was doing their part.”

That was how I genuinely felt.

Every agent in the Northeast Three Provinces deserved a passing grade.

Hell, I was busy working side jobs myself. I didn’t exactly have the nerve to hold everyone else to some absurdly strict standard.

‘If working side jobs was a problem in the first place, then assigning this job to me was the mistake.’

Rather than exhaust myself overthinking it, I decided to just brazenly push ahead.

After all, the choice was mine.

Whether I left it as a side job.

Or turned that side job into their main job.

*****

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