Chapter 59: One Thing Led to Another

TL: LittlePeach

Russian people tend to eat a big lunch.

So the usual way they took dinner was a leisurely affair, sipping tea and chatting with close companions.

And so, after finishing a light dinner of bread and tea, right around the time Mikhail had returned to his office and was savoring a relaxed glass of vodka.

"B-Bureau Director! Comrade Bureau Director! Please, you have to save me!"

Mikhail could only frown at the uninvited guest who came bursting into his office.

It had been maybe ten minutes, no more, since he'd wrapped up his meal with Aleksei, seeing him off with a word about looking after the Bratva going forward.

"Th-that woman.... Yelena, that viper of a bitch, she's swallowed up every last one of the Bratva's enforcers!"

"...What did you say?"

Even the story he came barging in to shout was such a preposterous complaint.

Mikhail let out a bewildered, hollow laugh.

It felt like barely a few hours had passed since he'd warned the man to be careful of that woman....

'Just how badly did he fail to command any loyalty?'

Under Mikhail's reproachful gaze, Aleksei shrank back, fidgeting.

"What in the world happened?"

"I-I don't understand how this happened either! Please, Comrade Bureau Director, if you would just give that woman a direct order yourself...."

"If it takes me giving the orders, are you really the boss of the Bratva at all?"

"No, that...."

"I'm starting to regret ever choosing you, you know."

"B-but this is truly something impossible, right now...."

Yet Mikhail was in no position to be covering for a cornered Aleksei; his own situation was hardly comfortable at the moment.

Bang!

Craaash!

At the sudden roar, the safe house's firmly shut front door was half smashed apart and flung wide open.

"Hands up, everyone!"

"Don't move!"

Through the gap, heavily armed Spetsnaz special forces poured in, shoving their way clear into Mikhail's office.

"Guh, heek!"

"Wh-what the hell is this!"

As Aleksei crawled along the floor, trembling, Mikhail too froze, his expression aghast.

"Th-this.... You bastards, do you have any idea where you are...."

He stepped forward, trying to throw around his authority as bureau director of the Regional Security Bureau.

Just then, one more person followed the special forces into the office.

"It's me, Bureau Director Mikhail Volkov."

"Y-you're...."

"Since it's been a while, I thought I'd bring you some very welcome news."

None other than the FSB envoy, Vladimir Simonov.

As unease crept over him at the sight of the envoy standing so brazenly, Vladimir thrust a hastily scrawled summary search-and-seizure warrant right up to his face.

"As of this moment, Mikhail Volkov, I am placing you under emergency arrest on charges of treason against the state, abuse of authority, and murder. You will be escorted to Lubyanka in Moscow at once."

"L-listen here, Comrade Envoy! What in the world is this! You've got the wrong man, and badly!"

"Save the rest of your excuses for the interrogation cells beneath Lubyanka. Take him away."

The moment the order dropped, the special forces roughly pinned Mikhail down and cuffed him.

"Let go, you bastards! Let go!"

"Hng, hnghh...."

As Mikhail, thrashing all the while, was dragged out like a piece of baggage, Aleksei lay sprawled on the floor, trembling as he watched the scene unfold.

Something flickered in Vladimir's eyes when he spotted that dazed figure.

"So you must be that Aleksei."

"C-Comrade Envoy. You, you know me?"

"I can't say I know you, but that woman there probably knows you quite well."

The spot Vladimir gestured toward with his chin.

"Hello, Aleksei."

"Gh, gaah!"

"Oh my. Why so startled?"

There, Yelena and three of the Bratva's enforcers were quietly waiting for him.

Vladimir smiled brightly and gladly stepped aside so they could catch up.

"All we wanted was an honest little chat among ourselves, so why did you run off like that? Like a man with something to hide."

The instant Yelena walked in after him and comfortably planted herself in Bureau Director Mikhail's chair.

"A-aah...."

Aleksei could sense, on instinct, that everything that had happened was born from the palm of her hand.

At the sight of the despairing Aleksei, Yelena's sharp smile turned all the more murderous.

"Don't worry. I'll let you live."

It was the moment Yelena's Bratva completed itself, automatically.

*****

And this news.

"While I was passed out for a bit.... you're telling me what happened?"

It was hardly strange that Nikolai, rising and clutching his throbbing head, lost his soul the instant he heard it.

He'd just been dead drunk on vodka and had only shut his eyes and opened them again.

And in that time his sister had suddenly become the boss of the Ivanskaya Bratva?

"...Must've been a crazy dream. I need to sleep it off and wake up again."

Snoooore.

Before long, Nikolai lay back down in the office and started snoring away.

Leaving him be, I headed straight out of the office.

Vroom, vroom-vroom.

Forklifts moved busily, hauling freshly processed pollack, cod, and king crab into enormous container boxes.

Before long these containers would be moved to Vladivostok Harbor, loaded onto a large cargo ship, and sent straight for Busan Harbor in Korea.

The scene at Ocean Sigma, running nonstop even into the late night.

In front of one of the many containers, Yelena came out with her arms crossed to see me off.

"Thank you, Yelena. For rescuing the NIS agents in my place."

"...It's not like I did it for you."

She gave a light scoff.

Then jerked her chin at the container beside her.

"Your stake in the process of me seizing the Bratva is probably around twenty percent, so I did you a favor, factoring in that share."

Maybe her conscience pricked her a little even after saying that?

She seemed to mull something over, then quietly raised her eyes and stole a glance at my reaction.

"Twenty percent seems like I lowballed you a bit.... call it, roughly forty percent?"

I hadn't done a thing, and my stake had abruptly doubled.

When I just stared blankly at her, Yelena checked my expression one last time and blew out a puff of breath.

"Tch. Even being generous, forty-five percent is the absolute ceiling. Anyway.... make no mistake, my share is bigger."

"I mean, I didn't really do anything."

"...I'm giving it to you and you still complain?"

Yelena irritably kicked at the puddle under her foot, splashing it.

For the first time in her life she was living with a debt owed, and it seemed to leave her bloated and stuffy with the discomfort of it.

At that sight, something suddenly came to mind.

"By the way, what are you going to do about that thing I blurted out to the enforcers without thinking?"

"You mean you running your mouth about becoming an advisory board member or whatever?"

"Yeah. If I just leave without a word about it, I feel like it'll definitely get me grilled later."

At that, Yelena scoffed.

My needless question apparently struck her as laughable.

"Russia's divorce rate is a full sixty percent. If it's that high even between married couples, then a mere dating couple splitting up is an everyday occurrence, isn't it? Later I'll just say we broke up over irreconcilable differences and that'll be that."

"Will that really fly?"

"Those people don't fully believe you'll actually join either. That was never more than a pretext. Working under me is a blow to their pride, so it gives them their own way out."

"Ahh."

"And anyway, sooner or later they'll go dizzy for the taste of the money I hand out, until they can't help but obey my orders. No need to look far ahead. It'll be soon."

She looked supremely confident.

Now that she had the Bratva fully in her grip, there was nothing left standing in her way.

"If it worries you that much, then, well, why don't you actually come work under me? I could give you something like a post as the boss's personal aide...."

As she said it, her eyes flicked over me a few times.

I smiled and shook my head.

"I'll keep it in mind. May your business flourish in the meantime."

"...Hmph. I wasn't expecting anything."

Yelena scoffed and irritably kicked the container in front of her.

Before she could kick it any more, I hurriedly slipped through the open door.

"See you again next time, Lena."

Instead of a reply, Bang!

The container door slammed shut.

With her farewell behind me, I squeezed past the layers of decoy frozen-cod boxes and stepped inside.

Beyond them stretched a wide, comfortable space.

At its center, a lantern glowed softly.

"Everyone's all set to sail, I trust?"

"Ah!"

Five people sat huddled in a circle, turning toward me by the lantern's light.

The NIS Russia Team agents who'd been detained at the Primorsky Regional Security Bureau.

Every one of them was wrapped up in a thick sleeping bag, shivering, looking like a bunch of frightened caterpillars.

"Ah, y-yes.... We're all ready."

"Let me give you a quick rundown. From here on, you'll be making an illegal sea passage aboard a Russian trade vessel all the way to Busan. It'll probably take about two days."

"Ah!"

"For bathroom needs, there's a toilet set up in the inner space, so you can use that."

"Aah...."

Just that simple briefing brought the agents' faces roaring back to life.

Only a few hours ago they'd been bound hand and foot in the security bureau's underground interrogation room with nothing but a horrific future to look forward to, so it was a natural reaction, really.

"Before we set off, if there's anything else you need, tell me now."

"Ah, no. We've got cup noodles, boxed meals, even snacks right now.... Asking for anything more would be pure greed."

As we were chatting away like that, the one who looked to be the most senior among the agents cautiously spoke up.

He snuck a downcast, sheepish look at my face.

"So, Owl No. 5 gave us the rough gist. You're Agent Sparrow No. 7, correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

"We were in no state to take anything in the whole way they dragged us here, but.... might we get a share of the operation outline that was handed down to you?"

He clearly seemed convinced that I'd come on orders from NIS headquarters.

NIS headquarters, as expected!

They came to rescue us!

At the agents' starry-eyed gazes, I sheepishly scratched my cheek.

"No. It's not an official operation. To be honest, I didn't even know you were all being held here."

"What?"

"I only heard that Owl No. 5 had gone missing, so I just came slipping over on my own."

"Oh."

"But well, one thing sort of led to another."

"...."

NIS headquarters had no idea the detained agents were being rescued like this, either.

As the agents realized that fact, their expressions tangled into a mess.

Anyway.

"Zzz, zzz...."

Whether the vodka buzz still lingered, Owl No. 5 was curled up all by himself in a corner of the container.

When I plopped down beside him, several dumbfounded stares followed.

"S-so it wasn't an official operation, then how in the world did you even get across to Russia, Agent?"

"By illegal sea passage."

"...."

"So I'm honestly a little worried. That once I'm back in Korea, I'll get disciplined for going abroad without permission."

"S-surely not! After you rescued us all like this...."

"That's right! If they hand down discipline instead of a commendation, then headquarters has truly lost its mind!"

As they were passionately defending me like that, a sound of muffled chatter drifted in from outside.

Before long, clunk.

"Urgh!"

"Wagh!"

A dedicated forklift lifted the container with a heavy metallic groan.

Then, having settled somewhere on the deck of the moored ship, thud.

Fwooooooo.

"Ah, seriously...."

"Aah.... We're really going home."

Before long, with a booming blast of the ship's horn, the vessel swayed and set off somewhere.

At last they were escaping this godforsaken, bitterly frozen land of Russia and returning to the Republic of Korea.

Only then did warm hope begin to fill the agents' faces.

"Th-then, Agent, might you at least give us a rough idea of what's happened up to now? If it's not too sensitive for security reasons, please...."

"Sure, why not. You're all involved parties, so there's nothing I can't tell you."

With the tension broken, people naturally started talking first.

Naturally, the starry-eyed stares gathered in.

It was a long way to Busan anyway, so to pass the time, I started telling the story bit by bit.

"As for how I ended up here...."

I started with how, while working as watcher in Owl No. 5's place in Dandong, I'd gotten word that he'd gone missing.

Crossing over to Korea, then stowing away on a Russian fishing boat out of Busan for an illegal sea passage to Vladivostok.

Then finding Owl No. 5, and so on.

I laid it all out step by step, in chronological order.

The trouble started from when I arrived in Russia.

From here, a certain amount of judicious adjustment was needed.

Nikolai, Yelena, Ocean Sigma, and the rest.

There was a whole lot mixed in that I personally had to keep confidential.

So as I patched things together loosely, following my stream of consciousness.

"And so, joining hands with a mafia organization, I toppled the Primorsky Regional Security Bureau director, then persuaded the Moscow envoy and was able to get you all out."

"...."

Somehow I'd become a lunatic who'd colluded with the fund manager of a Russian mafia, pulled off a coup, then sweet-talked an FSB envoy into framing the Primorsky Krai bureau director for treason and toppling him, all as the price for rescuing the agents.

While I was glossing over it that way, the souls had all flown clean out of the listening agents' faces.

Fwooooooo.

As the ship's horn blared raucously.

"Well, anyway, it's nice that we all get to head back to Korea together like this."

"...."

And that was everything that had happened in less than half a day since I entered Russia.

*****

For 20 advance chapters, you can check out my Patreon here -->

If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊