Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: Cooperation II
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Armed police agents with pistols and submachine guns smashed through the living room window and stormed into the single-family house.
The information that this house was the enemy's hideout had come from Na Gang-in. But even he had no hard evidence. Their conversation had been enough to confess they were the culprits, but he hadn't recorded it to play for the police.
The police judged that Na Gang-in's intel might be wrong. So this time, they didn't use flashbangs.
Instead, the SWAT team members disengaged the safeties on their submachine guns, ready to fire at a moment's notice, and charged in.
Shouts erupted from inside almost immediately.
"Wh-what the hell!"
"Do these bastards know where this... Ack!"
"G-guns!"
"I'm not a spy!"
No one inside was reckless enough to stand there wielding a knife against agents decked out in helmets, goggles, bulletproof vests, and submachine guns who had burst through the broken window.
Na Gang-in waited outside the house with the Joint Investigation detective.
The commotion ended quickly. Moments later, a radio report came in.
- We've found multiple weapons inside the house. Military daggers and jackknives...
There was a brief burst of noise, then the report continued.
"We found two pistols in a box inside."
AI Jeon Ji-in spoke up.
More reports kept coming.
- We've found documents related to XVE gas! These are definitely the guys we've been after.
The Joint Investigation detective turned to Na Gang-in.
"So they really fled from that building over there and were hiding out here. Finding them this quickly... You're incredible."
"Just got lucky. I went into a restaurant to grab some food, and there they were."
"Luck is a skill too, isn't it? If it had been me at that restaurant, I wouldn't have recognized them."
"Anyway, once you've rounded up all of them, you'll grill them about Director Cha in detail, right...?"
Something flickered in the distance.
AI Jeon Ji-in reported immediately.
A holographic arrow appeared in midair. Na Gang-in turned his head in that direction.
A man who had entered the alley, spotted the scene in front of the house, and was quietly backing away locked eyes with Na Gang-in.
Na Gang-in looked toward the man and said,
"Looks like not all the guys we need to catch were holed up in that house. There's one more over there."
The Joint Investigation detective understood immediately and charged toward the man.
The man dropped a plastic bag containing a few bottles of soju and turned to flee.
But the man was running way too fast. The detective chased after him in confusion.
'What the hell is he, some kind of track star...?'
Na Gang-in shot past the detective. He was faster than the detective and even faster than the fleeing man.
The man abruptly veered into another alley. Na Gang-in lightly jumped, kicked off the opposite wall, and changed direction almost at a right angle, flying into the alley.
The distance between Na Gang-in and the man shrank rapidly.
The man bolted desperately, glanced back, and gave up the chase. Instead, he spun around and swung his arm wide. A jackknife gleamed in his hand, slicing through the air in a sharp crescent arc.
Na Gang-in tilted his body to dodge the blade, closed in, and seized the man's right hand.
A pressure like a hydraulic press crushed the man's hand and the knife together.
"Argh!"
The knife clattered from the man's grip.
Na Gang-in grabbed the man's collar and shoved him down.
"You're one of them too, huh?"
The man's legs buckled halfway as he looked up at Na Gang-in.
"That's not..."
"Investigation will reveal everything anyway. We've arrested everyone in that house."
"D-Detective. It's not like that. I mean..."
The man mistook Na Gang-in for a detective. His eyes darted for a moment before stopping.
"I just run errands... I'm just a minor accomplice..."
"You handle that knife pretty well for an errand boy."
"Th-that's..."
"I don't care who you are."
"Huh?"
"What I want is Director Cha."
Na Gang-in still didn't know if Director Cha was in that house or not. So he hadn't outright asked for his location.
The man said urgently,
"We've lost contact with Director Cha too."
"You wanna spend a long time in prison?"
"It's true."
"Why'd you flee your original hideout and hole up in that house?"
"Director Cha called this morning with a warning to get out fast. So we knew. But after that, we haven't been able to reach him."
Whether the man's words were true remained to be seen.
'The police investigation will sort it out.'
He now knew why they had hastily evacuated their original office.
'How did Director Cha catch on? Did info leak internally? Or did he predict it from the situation?'
Both scenarios were plausible. Which was true was still unknown.
"Lost contact with Director Cha?"
"Yes. We got his call on the emergency burner phone this morning, but he hasn't picked up since when we tried calling back."
Na Gang-in thought,
'Did he cut off the tail?'
The Joint Investigation detective arrived, panting heavily.
"Huff huff. Huhk. Huff. Urk!"
Na Gang-in said,
"You should work out more."
"No, huff huff. It's not that I'm slow... Did this guy spill anything?"
"He's with them. He confessed."
"Figured as much."
A few more detectives arrived. They cuffed the man's hands.
Na Gang-in said to the Joint Investigation detective,
"After investigating the guys you caught today, you'll let me know what you find out, right?"
The detective suggested,
"Why not watch the interrogation from outside the room with me? I can get you cleared as a civilian expert."
"No. I don't think I need to get more involved. I just want the results. Especially anything on Director Cha."
The next day, the Joint Investigation detective came to see Na Gang-in.
The detective looked apologetic.
"Well... About those guys we nabbed yesterday. They did team up with the Cougar gang."
"But you didn't find Director Cha."
"We analyzed everything overnight: the confessions from Cougar's international mercenaries and yesterday's catch, plus all the data our Joint Investigation team has gathered so far."
"You must've worked hard."
"We haven't gone home for two days straight since the chemical weapon alert. Of course, you must've had it rough too."
"Nah, I didn't suffer that much."
"Lucky you."
"I'd like to hear the results first."
The Joint Investigation detective explained.
"Cougar's mercenaries were indeed after the jewels at the exhibition. They mostly grabbed gems, worth billions in total from the bags."
"Stuff they could smuggle abroad and sell without getting tracked."
"Exactly. And they smuggled the XVE gas hidden in trucks carrying seafood from Japan."
"Couldn't source it domestically. But there was a lot of gas."
"A ton. Busan's quarantine system's in chaos over this."
"What about yesterday's catch?"
"The ones we grabbed yesterday were industrial spies trying to steal and sell Yulmyeong Bio's antidote formula."
"Looked like murderers to me."
"We leaned on them hard too. But they insist they never planned to release the gas."
"Cougar actually did release it."
"They claim they just heard rumors someone would release XVE gas to steal the jewels and saw a chance to make some cash off it."
Na Gang-in was dumbfounded.
"What a load of creative bullshit."
"Total bullshit."
Na Gang-in pieced it together.
"So, chemical weapon goes off, lots of people die, the weapon gets famous, antidote formula skyrockets in value? That's why they tried to steal the formula?"
"Yep."
"Talk about a massive promo event."
Na Gang-in had a question.
"But if that's the case, shouldn't they have secured the formula first before starting all this?"
"They say they only learned about Cougar's chemical weapon plan after the fact, so they couldn't."
"What about the antidote Cougar had?"
"They stole it and handed it over. But not in person."
Na Gang-in thought for a moment. The picture came into focus.
"So Director Cha is the link between those two groups."
"Right. Director Cha learned of Cougar's plan and provided smuggling routes and escape paths. The spies left the antidote at a spot Director Cha designated."
"And Cougar took the bait."
"Yes. Cougar checked it out but figured no downside, so they took the info and antidote."
"Hmm... Those guys we caught yesterday. From how things went down, this probably wasn't their first contact with Director Cha."
"No. They'd done jobs through him before."
"Was the guy the hacker talked to on the burner phone Director Cha?"
The Joint Investigation detective shook his head.
"No. The boss of yesterday's group impersonated Director Cha in the call with the hacker. That's how we tracked their location."
"Director Cha cut off the tail when things got hot. That spy group was the tail. Any other info on Director Cha?"
The detective sighed.
"No leads at all. Same with the group from the Yi Bora kidnapping case. Even guys who worked under him never saw his face."
"Cuts ties the moment exposure risks. So we won't catch him from investigating the recent catches."
The detective seemed reluctant.
"Director Cha won't try contacting them again?"
"Doubt it. He'll treat them like they never existed."
"Ruthless bastard."
"You putting out a warrant for Director Cha?"
The detective shook his head.
"We don't even know his face or name. A public warrant just tips him off that we're after him."
"Internally?"
"Unofficial top-priority wanted status, of course."
The chemical weapon attack on the jewelry exhibition hall near Jongno was handled by the pre-existing Joint Investigation Headquarters.
The Joint Investigation team had been taking over cases Na Gang-in solved. Not their original purpose, but that's how it had gone.
This case was a bit different.
The Joint Investigation team had prepared for and investigated the chemical weapon terror alongside Na Gang-in even before it happened. Cougar's men outside the exhibition hall were caught by the team's counter-terror agents.
They caught the guy who stole the antidote from Yulmyeong Bio, and they uncovered the industrial spy group after the formula. Na Gang-in snagged one who nearly slipped away during the arrests, but the operations themselves were led by the team.
If there had been multiple deaths at the exhibition hall, they'd have taken heat, but luckily, there were no serious injuries. The fainted guards weren't badly hurt, and the XVE gas victims recovered without side effects.
The Joint Investigation team's mood was sky-high.
The Joint Investigation chief had held several press conferences, gathering reporters.
After one, back in the meeting room, he said,
"Hahaha. These are the best days since our team was formed."
A police executive said,
"Tell me about it. Teaming up with Na Gang-in for investigations yields results like this."
Another executive chimed in.
"Exactly. Look at this case: Na Gang-in finds the crime scene, wipes out the enemies inside the hall, and we nab the ones outside plus the spy group, total victory. We even covered each other's misses. Synergy's amazing when we work together."
"No idea why he insists on going solo and suffering."
An executive from another agency said,
"On that note, maybe we propose he help our department next time. For the synergy."
The police executive grinned.
"Sorry, but we're first dibs. We've built a good rapport with him. Lots of our staff are close to him. Hahaha."
An intelligence agency exec cut in.
"Hold on. One of our staff took his Total Fist Rights class too."
"They just took it; didn't get anything out of it, right?"
"Uh, well..."
"And one of your overzealous staff tried strong-arming him to make Dragon Plates for your department."
"That was a rookie's mistake..."
The police exec laughed.
"So your department's out. We'll make the cooperation request, since we're tight with him. Hahaha."
Na Gang-in met the Joint Investigation detective during the day and Surgical Chief Lee Jeong-ho in the evening. Surgeon Kim Jung-seok was there too.
Kim Jung-seok asked,
"You must be busy these days."
He'd been pretty tied up lately with the chemical weapon incident.
"Was a bit, but it's all wrapped up today."
"Won't get busy again...?"
"Even if they request cooperation, I'll turn it down. Suyeon's treatment prep comes first now."