Chapter 67: The More Brazen, the Easier

TL: LittlePeach

Under normal circumstances, our mission would have ended right here.

'A place called the Shanyuan Society is holding a business briefing, and a bunch of Korean gangsters have gathered to attend it.'

Wrap up the intel at exactly that level, hand the whole thing over to the Busan MIU intact, and we'd be done.

Whatever the Shanyuan Society actually did, and whatever the specifics of that business briefing were, all of that was the job of the MIU detectives running the case.

But that was no longer an option.

'This is turning strange.'

Since I'd personally smashed the Dandong hideout to pieces, I'd naturally assumed the whole operation would be dead in the water.

.

And yet, out of nowhere, they'd rounded up a crowd of Korean gangsters and thrown a business briefing?

Cooperation memo from the MIU aside, I had to see for myself what these people were scheming.

When I headed for the banquet hall without a moment's hesitation, Sparrow No. 10 grabbed my sleeve in a panic.

"Te, team leader?"

"Ahem."

I shot him a look, and he hurriedly licked his lips.

"H, hyeong-nim? Just how, how far in are you planning to go?"

"What are you talking about, little brother? All the way inside, obviously. We all came here together to sit in on a business briefing, didn't we?"

"Ah, aah..."

Whether Sparrow No. 10 glared at me in reproach or not, I blended into the crowd of gangsters and made my way inside, step by careful step.

The entrance to a hotel banquet hall with a huge chandelier hanging overhead.

'Security's sloppy.'

People who looked like Shanyuan Society members milled about here and there, but they weren't checking headcounts or guest lists.

Amid the hundred-odd gangsters buzzing around the hall, a few empty seats remained near the podium.

"Excuse me, boss. Mind if we take these open seats?"

"Go ahead."

The moment I dropped into an empty chair, several gangsters who'd claimed their seats earlier fixed on me with open stares.

When I flashed a brazen little smile, the man beside me studied me with a puzzled look.

"You mind telling me where you're from?"

"The name's Jang Chan, from the Gucheon Gang."

"Gucheon Gang? Never heard of it."

"You probably wouldn't have. We operate between Guro and Geumcheon, hence Gucheon Gang."

"That so? Nice and to the point. I'm Lee Jin-cheol, of the Yeonggwang Gang."

"Is that right. It's an honor to meet you."

"Ha, an honor? Heh heh heh... You're the first man to ever react like that."

Maybe my bold attitude had won him over.

The man nodded with a soft smile.

"If you ever happen to pass through Yangpyeong down the line, come find me. I've got a building near the Yangpyeong bus terminal. Least I can do is treat you to a meal."

"Oh, thank you."

While Lee Jin-cheol of the Yeonggwang Gang and I chatted back and forth, the look on Sparrow No. 10's face as he watched me turned utterly bewildered.

Before long, the hall filled to capacity and the murmuring began to die down.

-Ahem. Please take your seats.

A man climbed onto the auditorium podium and took hold of a microphone.

Fluent Korean, and a clean, comfortable casual suit.

At a glance he looked like the young CEO of some IT company stepping out to unveil a new product.

-I'm Yang Zhenghu, equipment office chief of the Shanyuan Society, and I'll be presenting this meaningful venture today. I'm delighted to be able to lay out our vision for our Korean brothers, who've traveled such a long way to be here.

At that, several attendees offered polite applause.

Up on the podium, mic in hand, Yang Zhenghu's expression softened.

-The mood is excellent. Buoyed by this energy, I'll happily begin. There'll be plenty of time for a separate Q&A afterward, so for now, please keep your attention on the screen.

No sooner had his brief self-introduction ended than the hall lights slowly began to dim.

At the same time, the enormous screen mounted at the back lit up bright.

[Shanyuan Society Voice Phishing Business Briefing]

The briefing had begun in earnest.

As Yang Zhenghu pointed his laser pointer at the screen, blunt lines of text surfaced one after another.

[A massive apartment complex capable of housing 500 voice phishing callers]

[Complete external containment and a self-armed security system]

[The Shanyuan Society covers all costs of caller management]

What appeared on the screen was, as expected, all about the voice phishing operation.

A vertically integrated business that turned North Korean defectors, abducted through Dandong brokers, into callers and put them to work running voice phishing scams.

But what Yang Zhenghu was rattling on about now differed sharply from my memory of it.

[Now hiring for work in Cambodia]

[No experience needed, monthly income of 5 million won guaranteed]

[Visa, airfare, lodging, even meals, all covered]

[A cushy gig where you can earn big money in a short time]

The recruitment method, in particular.

Gone was the plan to abduct and detain North Korean defectors. Now the gangsters would each post their own job listings, recruit cash-strapped people as employees, and ship them off to Cambodia.

The targets had simply shifted from defectors to South Koreans; the plan to lock them up in Cambodia and work them as voice phishing callers hadn't changed at all.

[Free Cambodian tourism services included]

[100% safe laundering of profits guaranteed]

And on top of that, an option promising all sorts of extra perks.

A dry laugh escaped me before I knew it.

'Was blowing up the Dandong hideout the fatal blow, or was this two-track approach the plan all along?'

Judging by the obvious signs that the briefing had been thrown together in a hurry, the former seemed more likely.

They couldn't fill the complex with defectors on such short notice, so they had to put the suddenly-empty apartment complex to some use, and fast.

So, to put out the immediate fire, they'd extended a hand to Korean gangsters under the banner of "collaboration".

How the Shanyuan Society had known to blast out calls to Korean gangsters in the first place, I couldn't say.

"Ah, uh..."

As the briefing went on, Sparrow No. 10 sat beside me with his mouth hanging open in dismay.

Unlike me, who roughly knew the backstory, he had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, so the reaction was only natural.

-And there's one more thing here, a special offer we'll be extending to everyone who joins our venture.

A perk?

While I was cocking my head, Yang Zhenghu swiped the briefing to the next slide.

[Irobuchi-kai]

When the name popped up out of nowhere, the expression Sparrow No. 10 had worn all along shifted dramatically.

-Some of you may already know this to some degree, but there's a yakuza organization with a long and storied history called the Irobuchi-kai. This Irobuchi-kai, a major player in Northeast Asian meth distribution, has moved into our apartment complex.

"Hmm?"

"Oho. The Irobuchi-kai, you say..."

I was no different.

The Irobuchi-kai, here, all of a sudden?

-For those of you who join this venture, we intend to personally broker deals with the Irobuchi-kai, for interested parties only.

At the sudden offer to broker drug deals, the room stirred all the more.

As murmurs of reaction rose from all over the seats, Yang Zhenghu grinned.

-For those interested in the drug business, this will be a truly excellent opportunity. We can hand-select only the highest-grade, high-purity product.

"Hmm!"

-And for those already running a drug business, it won't be a bad deal either. We can pit you against each other to drive prices down.

Clap, clap-clap.

Clap-clap-clap-clap.

Soon a thunderous round of applause broke out all over.

Sparrow No. 10 and I read the room and clapped along with the gangsters.

First the Shanyuan Society I hadn't expected, and now the even more unexpected Irobuchi-kai.

Maybe it was because I thought of the coconut warehouse I'd blown sky-high a few days back.

My mouth watered before I even realized it.

'Can't I get my hands on a Claymore somewhere right about now?'

Anyway.

And with that, the briefing was over.

The hall lights came back up bright, and a lighter, looser mood drifted through the room.

Sharply dressed waiters rolled their trays around, setting each table with champagne, drinks, and finger food.

The gangsters who knew each other clustered in little groups, busy exchanging greetings, but I just sat there taking in the scene.

"Excuse me. Do you have a moment?"

"Oh."

Yang Zhenghu, who'd been presenting up on the podium, had come right over to our table.

Not for me, but for Lee Jin-cheol of the Yeonggwang Gang, who'd exchanged names with me a moment earlier.

"A pleasure to meet you, boss. Yang Zhenghu, equipment office chief of the Shanyuan Society."

"Likewise. Lee Jin-cheol, of the Yeonggwang Gang. Your Korean is remarkably fluent. Are you Korean, by any chance?"

"I actually graduated from a Korean university, that's why."

"Hmm. Impressive."

For someone as high up as the Shanyuan Society's equipment office chief to come over and pay his respects in person.

He was apparently a bigger fish than I'd figured.

I took a step back and quietly watched the scene unfold.

"This voice phishing venture, going by the content alone, looks like it'll do very well. I'm quite interested."

"Heh heh. Is that so? Hearing you say it puts me much more at ease, boss."

"But is there no way to actually go and see the apartment that'll be used as the work site? A complex housing 500 people, I'd like to see the scale and the defenses for myself."

At Lee Jin-cheol's courteous question, Yang Zhenghu gave a gentle shake of his head.

Then he picked up a champagne glass from the table.

"We're right in the middle of gutting and reworking the apartment's interior by function, so it'll be difficult to bring you in for a look in person. If it's the security or the guards you're worried about, that's one thing you needn't fret over at all."

"Hmm, a shame. If seeing the inside is truly out of the question, surely a quick look at the exterior from outside wouldn't hurt?"

"A glance at the exterior from outside is no problem... but the concrete wall is fairly high, so there won't be much to make out."

As Lee Jin-cheol kept pressing about the complex, Yang Zhenghu gave a reluctant nod, as though doing him a favor.

"There's a department store in Sen Sok, Phnom Penh, called Aeon Mall. From its entrance, look west and you'll see an apartment complex. That's the one."

"Right next to a department store? Isn't that a bit too dead-center in the city?"

"In Cambodia there are plenty of places running operations far more brazen and grand than that. You can rest easy."

"Ha, Cambodia, of course. Fine town for doing business."

"Naturally."

They chatted about this and that for a while after.

Cambodian real estate this, the Korean market that, plausible-sounding talk going back and forth for some time.

"I've got another appointment, so I'll take my leave here."

"I'll be in touch soon."

"Thank you. Until we meet again."

The two men smiled at each other in satisfaction and lightly clinked their champagne glasses.

As I watched Yang Zhenghu's retreating back from a distance.

"...."

For some reason I heard heavy, ragged breathing beside me.

I turned my head to find Sparrow No. 10, stiff as a board this whole time, busy wiping the cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Little brother. Not feeling well? You've been carsick since yesterday, come to think of it."

"Th, that's right."

"Then let's get moving. We've got somewhere else to be."

Bringing along Sparrow No. 10, who played along with me, we rose from our seats.

Of course, on the way out, I didn't forget to handle the gangster social niceties to the letter.

"Excuse me, boss. Looks like we've got to head out first, but we'll be sure to come pay our respects in Yangpyeong soon."

"Do that. See you again next time."

"Yes, sir."

Once we stepped outside the banquet hall, hot, muggy air dampened my cheeks.

The moment we flagged down a taxi and climbed in, for some reason my cheek was tingling.

"There were over a hundred gangsters in there... How could you be that natural about it?"

The two eyes Sparrow No. 10 turned on me were positively sparkling.

I gave a breezy shrug.

"Infiltration always goes down smoother the more brazen you are."

"But if they'd seen through your cover..."

"Then I'd take a couple of bullets and get thrown out, I guess."

"...Now I think I get how that hyeong-nim, I mean, how the team leader got promoted to team leader so fast."

"I told you, I'm a parachute appointment."

"Liar!"

"Ahaha."

Anyway, with that, everything we needed to confirm had been confirmed.

More than enough, if anything.

We'd gotten lucky in a lot of ways, but for the Shanyuan Society, it would probably spell disaster.

*****

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