Chapter 65: The Common Enemy

TL: LittlePeach

"...What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure how you arrived at four million won apiece, but if we're going strictly by contribution, shouldn't I be the one walking away with the biggest share of the reward money here?"

"Hold on now, Team 5 Leader, what a truly bizarre thing to say...."

Choi Woo-seok, who for a moment had gone blank and just sat there with his mouth hanging open, let out an incredulous, dry laugh.

Shaking his head, he added, almost pleading.

"Team 5 Leader. Strictly speaking, this was our operation, in Team 4's jurisdiction. You barged in on your own initiative; this was never Team 5's business to begin with, was it?"

"Mm-hmm. Right, sure. Go on."

"...Tracking the Irobuchi-kai, investigating the site, pinpointing the location of their base, every step of it was driven entirely by Team 4. Did you lift so much as a single finger in any of it?"

"Nope."

"That's exactly my point. Someone who slid his spoon on at the very last second really shouldn't go throwing ashes over another team's meal that's already cooked and on the table."

Soft, measured, unhurried.

Watching Team Leader Choi Woo-seok pick my claim apart point by point, I nodded coolly.

"Right. Well, every last word of that is correct. Pinpointing the Irobuchi-kai's base was entirely thanks to the three members of the Cambodia dispatch squad here, who stayed up night after night for days on end to make it happen. I'll admit that cleanly."

"Good. There, you've clearly admitted it, yes? Then, as for this part, there's no further need to...."

"Except."

I stuffed the last piece of red bean bun into my mouth.

Munch, munch.

As if waiting to see what I'd come out with next, Team Leader Choi Woo-seok watched me with a flat stare.

Gulp.

"Let's do a much clearer fact-check from here on. Just as you said, Team 4 Leader, the Cambodia dispatch squad brought back excellent intel. And? So what?"

"...So what, you say?"

"You could write a hundred, a thousand pages of reports and file them, and HQ still wouldn't recognize any of it as a result, would they?"

At my blunt fact, Choi Woo-seok's face stiffened slightly.

I jerked my chin, jabbing at the air, and went on.

"If that plant had been left alone, it would've kept churning out drugs bound for all of Northeast Asia for a thousand years. Ramming that plant's steel gate with a pickup truck and smashing it open, then dodging a hail of bullets to burn the production facility to the ground, that was my result, wasn't it?"

"That's...."

"No matter how many reports got filed, they never counted it as a result. But oh? The moment I destroy the plant, HQ recognizes it as a result right away?"

"...."

"So in this scenario, who's the meal and who's the spoon?"

I leaned my upper body slightly over the table and stared straight into his eyes.

At that, Choi Woo-seok flinched and pulled his neck back.

"The blood and sweat the Cambodia dispatch squad poured out, you'd write off as Team 4's collective achievement; and the result I forged risking my life, you'd snatch away, claiming it was all thanks to your intel? I honestly can't understand what gives you the right, Team 4 Leader, a man who never once showed his face at the site, to sit here dictating how the divvying-up should go."

"...."

"Even going by proportion, I'm the one with the claim. Isn't that right?"

Struck right where it hurt, Choi Woo-seok's face flushed a deep red.

Straining to hide his emotions as much as he could, he pushed back in a heavily suppressed voice.

"...I wouldn't say so. The reason our Southeast Asia Team's results don't stand out is because of HQ directives; and your exploits, Team 5 Leader, were only possible because we handed over the intel first, weren't they? You seem to be seriously underestimating the importance of intel."

"When did I ever disregard intel?"

"That's exactly the intent behind what you're saying right now, isn't it?"

Team Leader Choi Woo-seok started changing the subject.

Now that he'd landed in an unfavorable position, he was trying to spin the frame however he could to his advantage.

"You've only just pinned on the team leader title, Team 5 Leader, so I don't suppose you'd know, but...."

"Ah, right. Since you bring up the importance of intel, Team 4 Leader, a good idea just occurred to me."

"What is it now, out of nowhere...."

I cut clean through his attempt to keep spinning his shabby excuses.

Pretending a brilliant idea had struck me, I pulled my phone from my jacket.

"Care to take a look at this? As it happens, just this morning I turned up a brand-new drug production complex out on the outskirts of Sihanoukville."

Then I switched on the screen with the notes I'd prepared in advance that morning and thrust it right under his nose.

"The local junkies call the place Mango Farm; word is they're stamping out meth in the mango processing warehouse next door."

"...Why are you suddenly showing me this?"

"I'll hand this intel over to you, Team 4 Leader, with no strings attached."

"What?"

As if he hadn't grasped the intent behind my words at all, Choi Woo-seok blinked in bewilderment.

Looking at him, I put on an innocent, guileless smile.

"This time, the credit for destroying the Irobuchi-kai is a result I produced, so I'll take it."

"Ah, n-no...."

"In exchange, you go there yourself, Team Leader, and ram a car in, nice and clean. Set an example for your team in person."

"...."

"Then it becomes Team 4's sole achievement, one no one can dispute, doesn't it? Isn't it the perfect chance to prove, with your own body, all that unity and sacrifice you kept stressing so much?"

Was my brutal fact-check chilling him to the bone?

For a while Choi Woo-seok only worked his mouth open and shut, unable to manage any reply.

Then, after a moment, it seemed his senses returned to him.

"Uh, Team 5 Leader? Could you come over here for a moment...."

He called to me urgently, heading toward the corner of the hideout.

At the signal that he wanted a word one-on-one, I too readily got up and dusted myself off.

I was inwardly curious what more he had to say.

"...Look, I'm sorry, Team Leader."

"...?"

Glancing at his team members' faces, he abruptly bowed his head.

I hadn't expected him to open with an apology like that, so I blinked in spite of myself.

"You know how it is too, don't you, Team Leader? For desk types like us, without an opportunity like this it's terribly hard to climb any higher.... Promotion review is right next month, so it seems I let my head spin for a moment there."

Just as I thought.

Otherwise there was no way he'd throw out such a reckless play at the cost of crushing his own team's morale.

I folded my arms and waited to see what more he'd rattle off.

"This team leader post is just.... Haah. It's truly hard. I think I'm out there running myself ragged for everyone's sake, but the team members feel otherwise, and it's not as if I can take just one side either.... Once you have direct reports of your own soon, Team Leader, you'll surely come to sympathize with how I feel. You really will."

"Hmm."

"I'll offer you a sincere apology, so couldn't you concede this result to our Team 4 just this once? I know full well it makes me look like a pathetic team leader to my people, but I'm shamelessly begging you...."

Still, seeing him lay it all bare this sincerely, it seemed he'd had a change of heart in time.

Meaning to give a little ground myself, I began slowly to nod.

"Well, all right. In that case, you'll be handing the reward over to the Cambodia dispatch squad, correct?"

"...No?"

The nerve.

"Ah, Team Leader. I'm truly, earnestly begging you from the heart. Aren't our Southeast Asia Team agents, all of them suffering out here in a foreign land, just so pitiful?"

A change of heart, my foot.

In the end it was a ploy to somehow butter me up and get his way.

Without any need to watch how far he'd take it, I snorted.

Then I whipped my head around.

"Everyone. Would you prefer won, or dollars?"

"...Huh?"

Three pairs of eyes went wide at my sudden question.

The Cambodia dispatch squad agents just blinked in a row, baffled.

"What do you mean by that...."

"When the reward money comes to me soon, I'm going to split all of it among you."

"...Ah?"

"Ah!"

Only then did life rush back into the three faces that had been thoroughly deflated.

Owl No. 11 was so flustered he even asked back.

"Th-that's true, sir?"

"Of course. It was fifty million won, right? The moment the reward money comes in I'll withdraw it straightaway, so the three of you in the dispatch squad divvy it up fairly."

"Wh-what about you, Team Leader?"

"I never meant to take any for myself in the first place. You're the ones who suffered gathering the intel; I can hardly be the team leader and go shoving my spoon in."

My calculation was simple.

A reward that, split four ways, came to a little over ten million won a head anyway.

Rather than getting greedy over that chump change, turning the credit over to the Cambodia dispatch squad and making them my people was by far the better bargain.

At that, Team Leader Choi Woo-seok, who'd been listening beside us, gaped and stammered in confusion.

"N-no, hold on. Team 5 Leader! We haven't finished talking...."

"What more is there to talk about? The conclusion's already in. You asked whether I felt no pity for the Southeast Asia Team's agents, didn't you?"

"That's...."

"If any of the other Southeast Asia Team agents feel put out and ask whether there's nothing in it for them, pass along a message for me. Tell them I'll soon be heading out to nice and cleanly overturn the Irobuchi-kai's main stronghold, the one they say is over in the Philippines."

"...Huh?"

"They can collect their share then. Right?"

"Ah, that...."

"Of course, just like now, I'll take the results and only divvy the reward money out to each of them."

"Ah."

"If that displeases you, well, then you go drive a car out and hit the target before I do, Team 4 Leader."

Whether that was even possible aside, it was a line I'd tossed out purely to give him a sharp pinch in the first place.

The sight of Choi Woo-seok gaping open-mouthed with a dazed face was satisfying.

"Aw. I'm kidding, kidding. Even so, I'd never tell anyone to drive a car into a drug plant over a single result."

"Ah, ha, haha.... Kidding...."

"On the off chance someone imitates it, it'd be a real disaster, so please warn your team members never to try it."

"Th-that, I wouldn't even need to warn them in words...."

"Ah, that's right. Isn't it?"

"Ah, haha...."

They'd probably built up plenty of resentment, because not a single one of the agents made any move to defend Choi Woo-seok.

If anything, they all wore expressions cheering me on, egging me to give him more.

"Still, since you've come all this way, Team 4 Leader, why not just tour Cambodia while you're here and then head home."

"...."

"I'll contact Group Director Oh Dong-cheol directly with the report on the results, so."

Sure enough, when it came to awkward strangers warming up to each other fast, setting up a common enemy like this was just the ticket.

*****

Among the many Triad organizations, the Shanyuan Society had a rather peculiar streak.

'You want someone dead? And just how far did you dig into it before you came?'

This was a place that had grown at breakneck speed by specializing, as a service, in the assassinations, terror attacks, arson, and body disposal that even other Triad organizations found distasteful.

Because these days there were truly almost no places that would step forward and offer to kill people this openly.

"I'd like to place a commission with the Shanyuan Society."

"You've come to the right place, Yamamoto-san. This way, please."

"Mm."

Yamamoto Shigeharu, the Irobuchi-kai's Southeast Asia branch chief, was visiting the Shanyuan Society.

He had originally used the Hongmen Society's guard and security services within Cambodia, but he'd been badly disappointed by their helpless response in this recent bombing-terror incident.

'Come now.... How were we supposed to stop a lunatic who comes charging in driving a truck?'

And so the attitude of the Shanyuan Society he'd come to, contrary to the rumors he'd heard, was exceedingly courteous.

Naturally, now that the voice phishing operation they'd been preparing on a grand scale had abruptly run aground, from the Shanyuan Society's standpoint the Irobuchi-kai was a far more precious guest than one might expect.

"As you're well aware, Yamamoto-san, we of the Shanyuan Society do not shy away from filthy, sordid conditions; we stake our lives to see a commission through."

"I've heard tell of your methods of doing business. They struck me as rather trustworthy."

"But of course. However much the Hongmen Society may throw its weight around within Cambodia, we are on an entirely different level from those who put on airs and pretend to be so refined."

"Mm-hmm."

In place of Zhang Hai, the Shanyuan Society's Cambodia branch chief, who had left in a hurry for Dandong, Yang Zhenghu, the Shanyuan Society's equipment office chief, guided him to the seat of honor with a bright smile.

Wearing a leisurely smile, he offered Yamamoto tea.

"So, would you tell me who it is you'd like us to kill for you?"

"I do not know who he is, either. The bastard blew up the entire meth production plant we'd set up in Cambodia and then vanished without a trace."

"Oh my. A nasty piece of work, that one. What did his features and appearance look like?"

"Nothing but vague details. A Hawaiian shirt and shorts, a straw hat and sunglasses, a mask.... From the way he brazenly hid his identity behind a tourist getup, it's clear he holds a grudge against our organization and carried this out with deliberate intent."

"Hmm. Very good. An unidentified terrorist, then...."

Yang Zhenghu stroked his chin and sank into thought for a moment.

Chasing after a figure whose identity and affiliation were both unknown, like banging one's head against a bare wall, simply wasn't cost-effective.

In that case, there was only one way.

"All right. Then how about we do this?"

"Do what?"

"We dig a trap. If that lunatic is after the Irobuchi-kai's drug production plants, then we simply toss out bigger, more tempting bait, gladly."

Yang Zhenghu leaned in and tugged his lips into a grin.

"Our Shanyuan Society happens to have an apartment complex out on the outskirts that we purchased separately for another venture we'd been planning. A fortress of a mega-complex, roomy enough to house a full five hundred people."

"An apartment complex, you say...."

"A place that boasts extreme seclusion and security. Solid enough that even if some lunatic drove a truck in and rammed it head-on, not a single stretch of the outer wall would so much as budge."

Yamamoto shut his mouth and blinked.

'Was he this eager to brag about that apartment complex?'

At an expression to that effect, Yang Zhenghu smiled and shook his head.

"My plan is this. We quietly leak a rumor into the local Cambodian market that the Irobuchi-kai has secured that apartment complex as a new drug production base, and that you'll be pushing a large-scale operation three or four times the size of the old plant."

"Ohh...."

"Then the one who catches the scent will surely come slinking around nearby."

As Yamamoto's reaction was favorable, Yang Zhenghu leisurely carried on.

"And that's not the end of it. If you so wish, Yamamoto-san, we'll turn over an entire block within the actual apartment complex to you, in full. Rather than leaving it at a fake rumor, you'd be quite welcome to genuinely establish a new plant right there."

"Truly?"

"In exchange, you'd have to share out some equity, in the form of a joint venture with our Shanyuan Society."

"Mm."

From Yamamoto's standpoint, it was a tempting proposition.

With the plant blown away in its entirety, he was in desperate need of a new site.

He briefly turned over the calculation on the condition of sharing equity, but the judgment quickly settled that there was nothing to lose.

"But if I may be so bold as to say it, I dare boast there's no safer place in all of Cambodia to stamp out drugs."

"Mmmmm."

"Our fortress will transform into a trap the bastard can never escape from. Now then, what do you say?"

Running a plant inside the Shanyuan Society's fortress meant, in effect, having their muscle at his back.

At a joint venture with nothing to lose, Yamamoto's eyes glinted like a snake's.

"Very well. Of course I'll have to confirm the site with my own two eyes, but at the very least I'll be spared wandering under the blazing sun in search of my next plant site."

"Heh-heh. Once you see it for yourself, you'll be far more satisfied. It's a hideout we ambitiously prepared by pouring in the entirety of our Shanyuan Society's capital and manpower."

"But as I understand it, the Shanyuan Society is also in the midst of preparing a major venture of your own. Are you truly all right with me setting up a plant there?"

"...Ah. About that, our operation over here has stumbled a bit for the moment. We've hit a snag in recruiting manpower, so a fair amount of empty space is going to be left over."

Yang Zhenghu shrugged with a sheepish expression.

After all, the core hideout they'd set up in Dandong had been raided by some madman and blown away in its entirety.

As it was, Zhang Hai had just headed to that very hideout himself to confirm the circumstances of the explosion.

"We do intend to resume the operation before long, but handing over a single block there is no problem at all."

"I see. I ought to have come to the Shanyuan Society far sooner."

"Thank you for understanding. Then, shall we get straight to work on the commission starting today?"

"Please do. How much should I give you as a deposit?"

"We don't take deposits separately."

At Yang Zhenghu's reply, Yamamoto raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Is that true?"

"It's our Shanyuan Society's own way of showing our resolve, that if we don't succeed, we won't take the money. Once the whole job is wrapped up cleanly, we'll send you the invoice."

"Even so.... Can business really run properly being that stingy? The money you get stiffed on can't be trivial."

"Haha, there's no need to worry so much."

Yang Zhenghu shook his head, a sly grin spread wide.

"Of course, I can't claim there's never been a single place that left the job to us and then refused to pay in the end.... but every one of those bastards vanished from this world without a trace long ago."

"Aha...."

There was a reason an organization only a few years old had been able to join the Triads.

Just because they took on filthy, sordid work, one shouldn't take them lightly.

"So don't worry in the slightest about the job. We'll set it up so you can catch the bastard alive and chew him to pieces at your leisure."

"Mm.... I'll trust you."

Yamamoto felt a cold sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

At Yang Zhenghu's soft smile, he was only now feeling the Shanyuan Society's infamy on his own skin.

*****

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

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