Macau (1)
The National Security Office director’s office.
After hearing Seong Ha-yeong’s report, Ko Jeong-un gave his orders while keeping his destination hidden. When he hung up, he fell into thought for a moment.
He had sent the three of them to Hong Kong for different reasons.
Seong Ha-yeong was there to trace North Korea’s suspicious flow of funds.
Na Kang-hae, on the other hand, might have looked like nothing more than a bodyguard at first glance, but that was not the case.
Ko Jeong-un believed the people behind the deaths of Kim Ha-jun and the senior civil affairs secretary would still be targeting Kang-hae. Hong Kong was the perfect place to kill someone.
Someone will definitely come after Kang-hae in Hong Kong.
That was why he had brought in Ha Seok-jun as well.
If anything went wrong with Kang-hae, he would immediately order Seok-jun to investigate.
Ha Seok-jun was a disaster as a soldier, but as an investigator, he was first-rate.
Of course, in the process of whatever happened to Kang-hae, Seong Ha-yeong and Ha Seok-jun might also be put in danger.
But catching the people behind it would require taking risks.
Knock, knock.
While Ko Jeong-un was still deep in thought, someone rapped on the door. A moment later, Kim Jeong-min, the head of the Crisis Management Center, stepped into the room.
“Do you have a moment, sir?”
“I do.”
“May I ask why the personnel sent on a business trip to Hong Kong are now going to Macau?”
There was frustration in Kim Jeong-min’s voice.
They were already short-staffed because of the crushing workload, and when word spread that the trip had been extended, grumbling broke out all over the office.
Ko Jeong-un knew Kim Jeong-min had come to him on behalf of the staff.
But he still could not reveal the truth.
“It’s classified.”
“Am I, as the head of the National Crisis Management Center, supposed to be kept in the dark too?”
“……”
Kim Jeong-min’s words came out with an edge.
Ko Jeong-un looked at him in silence.
He had the face of a typical elite who had gone through forty years without ever truly being tested by hardship. Born into a good family, educated through Gangnam’s top schools and a prestigious university, passing the civil service exam, then climbing the promotion ladder through the Blue House and the Ministry of National Defense until he entered the National Security Office—being left out of the organization must have felt like humiliation.
So that’s why he sided with the Second Deputy Director—no, with Seo Seong-guk.
Ko Jeong-un already knew that.
“I have something for you too, Chief Kim.”
“What is it?”
Kim Jeong-min had expected Ko Jeong-un to hand him something trivial. So his tone was cold and guarded when he asked. But what Ko Jeong-un said next went far beyond what he had anticipated.
“About the senior civil affairs secretary, Lee Sang-woo, who died not long ago.”
“……?”
“The day before he died, he spoke with someone using a phone that had been registered under a missing person’s name.”
“……!”
“And the sender’s and receiver’s cell tower locations matched.”
“You mean……”
“Would you take this on and investigate it?”
“……”
Kim Jeong-min swallowed without saying a word.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
There was too much hidden in Ko Jeong-un’s words: that he still found Lee Sang-woo’s death suspicious even after the autopsy was complete; that someone who came and went from the presidential office was using a burner phone; and that whoever used that burner phone had some connection to Lee Sang-woo’s death.
It was too risky to agree so easily.
“Why? Are you afraid?”
“……”
“Looks like you are.”
“It’s not that. There could be procedural issues. A parliamentary audit is already scheduled for next month.”
“No. You’re thinking only of yourself. The organization is just an excuse.”
“……”
Ko Jeong-un’s words struck some raw nerve inside Kim Jeong-min.
And so, in a voice he would never normally use, Kim Jeong-min blurted out, “And what if that’s wrong? What if I’m just trying to protect myself?”
“The three people heading from Hong Kong to Macau are gambling with their lives.”
“Then can you gamble with yours too, Director?”
“Of course.”
Ko Jeong-un’s eyes did not waver in the slightest when he answered.
Kim Jeong-min knew he meant it.
* * *
Macau was often called the Las Vegas of the East.
But that expression was wrong.
Las Vegas was the Western Macau.
In 2006, Macau surpassed Las Vegas to become the largest casino city in the world.
If one compared the GDP of the two cities, Las Vegas came out higher, but in terms of casino revenue, Las Vegas had never once surpassed Macau since 2006.
It was no exaggeration to say that everyone living in Macau worked in the casino industry.
Traces of its old Portuguese colonial past remained everywhere.
Senado Square and St. Paul’s Ruins were packed with tourists, but once the sun went down and the neon lights of the city came on, everyone drifted toward the casinos.
Even the people who sold food to tourists at the sights.
Na Kang-hae, Seong Ha-yeong, and Ha Seok-jun arrived in Macau a little after three in the afternoon.
As soon as they received Ko Jeong-un’s order to head to Macau, they packed their bags and left the hotel at once. Then they made their way to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge terminal near Hong Kong International Airport.
Until 2018, the only ways to travel from Hong Kong to Macau were by ferry or helicopter.
But in 2018, the world’s longest cross-sea bridge connecting Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, and Macau was completed.
It was not only cheaper than the ferry, but the travel time was shorter as well.
Best of all, it ran around the clock at fifteen-minute intervals.
The three of them bought tickets, went through a brief departure inspection, and boarded the bus.
The shuttle carrying them crossed the undersea tunnel and sped smoothly along the six-lane highway without once slowing down.
Forty minutes later, the bus arrived at the Macau Taipa Terminal.
“What is this, some kind of wild goose chase?” Ha Seok-jun muttered as he got off the bus.
He wasn’t exactly wrong, so Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae kept their mouths shut.
“Why don’t we just stop wasting time, play a little at the casino, then go back and say we couldn’t find him?”
At Ha Seok-jun’s words, Seong Ha-yeong frowned.
As soon as he met her eyes, Seok-jun waved his hands frantically.
“Ha ha. Just kidding. I’m kidding……”
Seong Ha-yeong knew he wasn’t joking.
Still, rather than fight, she chose silence.
“Let’s go to the casino first.”
Na Kang-hae, who had not said a word since they left Hong Kong, finally spoke.
Seong Ha-yeong looked at him as if asking what he meant.
“Because this is Macau.”
Then Kang-hae headed for the bus stop at the terminal.
There were shuttle buses there operated free of charge by the hotels in Macau.
Kang-hae boarded one of them, and Seong Ha-yeong and Ha Seok-jun followed.
A short while later, the bus headed toward the Venetian Casino.
* * *
Venetian Casino, Macau.
“Waaah!”
“Bravo!”
“Amazing!”
The people gathered around the baccarat table clapped and cheered.
Na Kang-hae couldn’t hide his baffled expression. It was only after Seong Ha-yeong, seated beside him, threw her arms around him that his face finally turned bright with delight.
The dealer pushed a stack of chips toward Kang-hae.
In front of him, countless chips were already piled up in neat stacks of different colors.
If he exchanged them, they would easily be worth at least 30 million won.
A little earlier, after the three of them arrived at the Venetian Casino and checked into the hotel, they gathered in their room.
Kang-hae laid out his plan to the other two.
“First, we’re going to lose money.”
On the bus from Hong Kong to Macau, Kang-hae had overheard a conversation between some Koreans seated beside him.
Seong Ha-yeong had been listening to music with earphones in, and Ha Seok-jun had been asleep, so Kang-hae was the only one who heard them.
According to their conversation, if you lost money at the casino, loan sharks would start sniffing around.
The loan sharks would approach those who lost money at the tables, then lend them cash or drag them to illegal gambling dens they ran themselves.
Places like Padoiyagi, illegal game rooms that had once been common on the streets of South Korea, were now operating all over Macau under legitimate-looking signs.
“Shit, if you can’t pay them back, they’ll probably rip out your liver or kidneys too.”
“You’re screwed, that’s what.”
“But who the hell are those guys?”
“Obvious, isn’t it? Korean gangsters, or maybe Joseonjok bastards.”
What the men in the seat beside the bus had said was nothing more than speculation.
But that was all Kang-hae had to go on.
He told them what he had heard and said he planned to lose money at the casino.
“Then I’m doing it with you.”
Seong Ha-yeong said it.
Kang-hae tried to refuse on the grounds that it was dangerous, but she wouldn’t back down.
She was still smarting over the fact that the operation she had planned in Hong Kong had turned out to be nearly useless.
In the end, Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong agreed to play the part of a spoiled couple on vacation from Korea.
Kang-hae immediately rummaged through Ha Seok-jun’s suitcase.
It was stuffed full of counterfeit luxury goods Seok-jun had bought in Hong Kong.
Gucci cap.
Versace T-shirt.
Louis Vuitton shorts.
Rolex watch.
Chrome Hearts ring.
Dior shoes.
Once he put them on, he looked the part of a proper rich brat.
But his eyes still had the same sharpness they’d had in special operations.
Seong Ha-yeong dug through Seok-jun’s suitcase again and handed Kang-hae a pair of sunglasses.
Once he put them on, his eyes disappeared behind the lenses, and only then did he look like some pampered son from a wealthy family.
Transformed into the rich boy he was pretending to be, Kang-hae took Seong Ha-yeong’s hand and headed for the casino.
Then he sat down at the baccarat table.
Baccarat was a very simple game.
The player and the banker each received two cards.
Then the numbers on the cards were added together, and whoever came closer to nine won.
An ace counted as one, while jack, queen, and king counted as zero.
If the total exceeded ten, only the last digit was used.
So many people lost their heads to the game’s simplicity and speed.
The fate of gamblers who won with a beginner’s stroke of luck and never got up from the table was already decided.
Broke.
Of course Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong had expected the same.
But after sitting down at the baccarat table, Kang-hae won eight rounds in a row.
How the hell is this working out……
Seong Ha-yeong was just as stunned.
“Honey, should we try another table?” Seong Ha-yeong said, slipping her arm through his.
It looked as if they would never lose money at the baccarat table, so they should probably switch games.
“Think so?”
Kang-hae got to his feet, following her lead.
While a casino employee was organizing Kang-hae’s chips, a man in a black suit approached the two of them.
“May I ask if you two are from Korea?”
He looked to be in his mid-thirties.
Kang-hae gave him a quick once-over.
The man was wearing an expensive-looking suit and shoes, and his manners were clearly well drilled.
“And if we are?”
To play the part of a nouveau riche fool, Kang-hae answered in casual speech on purpose.
Very casually, in fact.
Yet his expression did not waver in the slightest.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Tony Jung, and I’m in charge of VIP guests here at Venisia Casino. Thank you sincerely for visiting our casino.”
After introducing himself, he bowed with perfect courtesy.
An immaculate suit.
A faint smile directed at them.
Even the angle of his bow.
There was nothing lacking in the way he handled himself, nothing excessive either.
He was flawless.
He raised his head again and went on, “In China, the number eight is a symbol of good fortune. I’m very pleased that the two of you seem to have had such great luck today.”
“Oh, this little pocket change? Hardly what I’d call luck.”
Seong Ha-yeong, standing beside Kang-hae, said it.
Her voice was about two octaves higher than usual, and her tone had little in common with refinement.
“Then how about testing your luck for real today?”
“Testing it?”
“Our casino has private rooms reserved exclusively for VIP guests to enjoy.”
It was a sudden proposal.
Kang-hae looked at Seong Ha-yeong and shook his head.
“What do you think? Come on, let’s go big tonight and win a fortune.”
But what came out of Seong Ha-yeong’s mouth was completely different from what Kang-hae had expected.