Execution (2)
The President’s Chief of Staff’s office.
Under Yoo Jeong-hun’s direction, the presidential staff continued their meeting late into the small hours of the morning.
According to the public opinion poll the Policy Chief’s office had compiled, the president’s approval rating had already fallen into the twenties.
“If further reporting on Mirae Construction continues, it could drop even lower.”
“Then it’ll really slide into the teens.”
“We need a breakthrough.”
“We may have to bring out the constitutional revision or parliamentary cabinet system card.”
The presidential aides voiced their worries one after another.
But unlike the rest of them, Yoo Jeong-hun did not look especially troubled.
“For now, Mirae Construction will be dealt with properly. Don’t worry too much.”
At his words, everyone looked at him with puzzled faces.
Yoo Jeong-hun went on.
“And to turn the mood around, let’s get the Kaesong Industrial Complex running as quickly as possible. Chief of Civil Affairs, narrow down the candidates for the new National Security Office director as fast as you can as well.”
After giving those instructions, Yoo Jeong-hun dismissed the staff.
And the moment they were gone, he sat at his desk and opened The Prince.
When he had been a twenty-two-year-old undergraduate in Seoul National University’s Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, he had read that book, written in the sixteenth century, and decided he would become a politician.
Yoo Jeong-hun had always carried it with him.
And whenever he needed to clear his thoughts, as he did now, he always opened to its pages.
Every line struck home.
A prince must not fear being criticized as cruel when it is necessary to unite his subjects and win their loyalty. For a ruler who governs with a very slight amount of cruelty is more admirable than one who, out of excessive mercy, instead invites war, slaughter, and plunder.— The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by Shin Dong-woon, Starbooks
As Yoo Jeong-hun read the passages printed on the page, he believed, more than anyone else ever could, that what he was doing now was right.
The people of this country were ignorant and unenlightened, and the leader they deserved reflected that fact. That was the reality of South Korea.
The situation in East Asia around South Korea could not be predicted even one step ahead, and wars were still raging across the world.
Even manufacturing, along with the industries hailed as the future—AI and semiconductors—had already been caught up to by China.
And Yoo Jeong-hun believed that only he could save a Republic of Korea in crisis.
So what did it matter if a few people had to die?
Buzz—
At that moment, the phone he had left on his desk vibrated.
Yoo Jeong-hun quickly set the book down and picked up the phone.
A notification on the screen said that a Telegram message had arrived.
He unlocked the phone and checked it.
-Done.
The corners of Yoo Jeong-hun’s mouth lifted.
The suicide of the National Security Office director, after all the corruption he had been involved in, would clearly damage the president’s approval rating immediately.
But there was that famous saying, wasn’t there?
Politics is a living thing.
Something would surely appear to reverse the mood.
If nothing appeared, he would create it.
In any case, the most important thing was to remove Ko Jeong-un, who was threatening him.
Yoo Jeong-hun imagined the political storm that would follow.
Then another message arrived.
-By the way, you’ll have to pay more money.
Reading that, Yoo Jeong-hun frowned before he even realized it.
And then, in the next moment, the phone vibrated again.
The instant he opened the new message, his heart lurched and dropped.
-I know who you are.
-If you don’t pay more money, I’ll make this public to the press.
-Chief of Staff Yoo Jeong-hun
His hand tightened around the phone and began to shake.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
How could they know his name?
Yoo Jeong-hun called Choi Hyun-su, the head of the NIS Strategic Assets Operations Team.
On the surface, the Strategic Assets Operations Team was known as the division that managed the NIS’s assets, but in reality, it was the department that controlled black operatives.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The moment Choi Hyun-su answered, Yoo Jeong-hun exploded at him.
[What?]
A flustered voice came through the receiver.
“You son of a bitch! What the hell kind of job did you do?”
Yoo Jeong-hun shouted again.
[I’m not sure what you mean.]
“Why does the broker know my name?”
Choi Hyun-su, who had been awakened by the call, was completely bewildered.
And then he realized something had gone wrong.
“I’ll check immediately and call you back.”
[If this goes wrong, both of us are finished.]
“Yes, sir.”
[Check it right now!]
Choi Hyun-su hung up.
Three weeks earlier, he had received an order from the dead NIS director, Oh Ji-hoon, to eliminate an intelligence agency employee who had gone on a business trip to Macau.
Of course he knew that above Oh Ji-hoon stood Chief of Staff Yoo Jeong-hun.
But fearing complications, he had used a broker in Incheon—a hardware store owner at Sejin Hardware, a man the NIS dealt with often—instead of a black operative.
And two days ago, he had received another call from Yoo Jeong-hun, this time ordering him to eliminate the National Security Office director.
At first, he thought he had misheard.
Eliminate the National Security Office director?
Choi Hyun-su had thought Yoo Jeong-hun was insane.
But Yoo Jeong-hun had offered him the post of First Deputy Director of the NIS if he completed the mission.
In the end, Choi Hyun-su had accepted.
Still, he had used a broker instead of an NIS black operative.
But something had gone wrong.
Choi Hyun-su called the broker.
The ringing continued.
And then the other end answered.
“Hey, you—”
Choi Hyun-su snapped.
But instead of the broker’s voice, a voice he knew well came from the receiver.
[It’s Ko Jeong-un.]
“……!”
[Let’s meet for a moment.]
“…….”
Choi Hyun-su froze in panic.
He had no idea what to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
[Come to the Yongammun Park Security Post parking lot. If you don’t show up within an hour, I’ll tell the press that you conspired with Yoo Jeong-hun to kill me.]
“…….”
[Come alone. Tell no one.]
Then the call ended.
After a brief hesitation, Choi Hyun-su eventually grabbed his car keys and left the house.
* * *
The broker could not stop his heart from pounding.
Several times on the way down from Bukhansan, his legs had nearly given out beneath him.
He was one of the brokers who handled all kinds of illegal work, much like the owner of Sejin Hardware at Yeonan Pier, and he had not only a taxi but delivery vans as well.
On top of that, to cut labor costs, he did the fieldwork himself.
“Will he come?”
Na Kang-hae asked Ko Jeong-un, who was walking beside him with a gun trained on the broker’s back.
“He will.”
Ko Jeong-un believed Choi Hyun-su would come.
As Ko Jeong-un had expected, Choi Hyun-su appeared in a car at the Yongammun Park Security Post parking lot less than an hour after the call.
Na Kang-hae and Ko Jeong-un watched him from about five minutes away after he had arrived.
After confirming that no one had followed him, the two of them approached.
The broker came with them, naturally.
When Choi Hyun-su spotted Na Kang-hae and Ko Jeong-un, he felt as though he were facing reapers from the underworld.
Na Kang-hae even had a gun trained on the broker’s back.
“I won’t waste time. Yoo Jeong-hun had you try to kill me.”
“…….”
Choi Hyun-su could not force a single word out of his mouth.
He could not even think of an excuse.
“You have only two choices. Go to prison with Yoo Jeong-hun, or else get rid of Yoo Jeong-hun and make all of this disappear.”
“……!”
“What’ll it be?”
“My eldest is entering high school next year. I can’t go to prison…….”
“Then from now on, you do exactly as I say.”
* * *
The President’s Chief of Staff’s office.
Yoo Jeong-hun kept pacing back and forth.
Choi Hyun-su, who had said he would check, had been unreachable for hours.
Buzz—buzz—
Then Yoo Jeong-hun’s phone rang.
It was a call from Choi Hyun-su.
“Why are you only calling now?” Yoo Jeong-hun barked.
But the voice on the other end was not Choi Hyun-su’s. It was a stranger’s.
[Chief.]
“Who are you……?”
[The one who sent the message earlier.]
“……!”
[Don’t hang up. Check your messages.]
Yoo Jeong-hun did as he was told and checked his messages.
There were screenshots of the Telegram messages he had exchanged with Choi Hyun-su.
And at the end, there was a photo of Choi Hyun-su bound and bleeding.
“Y-you…… right now…….”
[You need to come to the Yongammun Park Security Post in Bukhansan with twenty million won, right now.]
“Do you really think a threat like that will work?”
[I’ll give you exactly one hour. If you don’t come, I’ll hand this over to the press tomorrow.]
“Hey!”
[Beep—]
Before Yoo Jeong-hun could say anything else, the call was cut off.
His clenched fist trembled.
He was trapped, with no way forward and no way back.
Oh Ji-hoon, the NIS director who had followed him, was dead.
And now even Choi Hyun-su, the last one left, had been kidnapped by a hired killer.
And that hired killer knew everything.
For now, he had to put out the fire.
Yoo Jeong-hun left the presidential office.
He drove himself to Bukhansan.
And before arriving at the Yongammun Park Security Post parking lot, he stopped at convenience stores nearby and withdrew cash from ATMs.
With bills stuffed into every pocket, Yoo Jeong-hun arrived at the parking lot.
After getting out of the car, he immediately called the taxi driver.
[Have you arrived?]
“Yes.”
[Keep going straight up in the direction of Doseonsa.]
Yoo Jeong-hun looked toward the direction he had been told to take.
Because it was winter, the surrounding darkness was as black as pitch.
He had a bad feeling about this, but he had no choice but to go.
Without knowing that it was the place where he would die.
* * *
That afternoon, every media outlet in the Republic of Korea was flooded with emergency breaking news.
-Chief of Staff Yoo Jeong-hun Dead
-First discovered by a hiker around 4:00 p.m. today on Bukhansan
-Reportedly under severe stress due to the president’s recent approval rating
-Said to have made self-reproachful remarks to those around him
-Presidential Office still has no official statement
-Funeral altar set up at Sinchon Severance Hospital
-Opposition lawmakers also pay their respects
* * *
The presidential office was busier than ever.
With the sudden death of the President’s Chief of Staff, all work had come to a halt.
Kim Jin-cheol had stopped everything as well.
At that moment, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Jeong Seong-woo came to see him.
“Your Excellency.”
“What is it?”
“I’m sure you’re deeply shaken.”
“…….”
“But you can’t keep grieving like this. Perhaps now is the chance to turn the political tide.”
“……?”
“If we emphasize the late chief’s devotion and sacrifice, it could generate sympathy.”
“He’s dead, Chief.”
It sounded like a rebuke, but the tone was nothing of the sort.
Jeong Seong-woo noticed that Kim Jin-cheol was interested in what he was saying.
So he kept going.
“Your Excellency should release a memorial message for the deceased yourself. The opposition won’t be able to make much of a move right now, either. I’ll work with the ruling party lawmakers and shift the atmosphere.”
For a man who had served two terms as a National Assembly member, it was entirely possible.
“Your Excellency, I think this is the final gift the Chief of Staff has left us.”
“Please leave.”
After Yoo Jeong-hun revealed the thoughts he had hidden for twenty years, Kim Jin-cheol had been deeply shaken.
And after his weakness had been used against him, he had felt as though everything had been taken from him.
He had even thought of himself as nothing more than a figurehead president.
But when he learned of Yoo Jeong-hun’s death that afternoon, he felt an enormous sense of liberation.
And now, on top of that, he could even turn the situation around with his death.
Kim Jin-cheol forced down the corners of his mouth as they tried to rise.
Knock, knock—
There was a knock at the door.
A secretary entered and announced that the Minister of the Interior and Safety and the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency were requesting an urgent meeting.
Kim Jin-cheol called them in.
“What is it?”
“Your Excellency, I know you’re grieving, and I’m sorry to trouble you with a visit.”
“It’s fine.”
“To be direct, I received an urgent report from the Commissioner General.”
Kim Jin-cheol turned to the police chief.
“Yes, Your Excellency. Nothing major, but several suspicious details were found before the late chief of staff’s death.”
“What kind of details?”
“Before taking his own life, he withdrew money several times from convenience store ATMs.”
“Money?”
“Yes. And according to the scene investigators, there were marks on his body that appeared to be from an assault.”
Kim Jin-cheol fell into thought for a moment, then spoke again.
“Who knows about this?”
“Pardon? Only the minister, me, and the investigators.”
“What about the bereaved family?”
“We haven’t told them yet.”
“He must have fallen from a cliff, so the body was probably badly damaged.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then can ordinary people even tell those injuries apart?”
“It would be difficult unless they were experts.”
“Then…….”
“……?”
“Don’t say anything.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you just say they were only suspicions? If the family hears about it, won’t they want an autopsy for no reason?”
“…….”
“And make absolutely sure none of this gets out.”
“Yes, understood.”
Both men understood exactly what the president meant.
Yoo Jeong-hun had to be ruled a suicide, no matter what.
And as soon as the two men left, Kim Jin-cheol called in an aide and ordered a press briefing.
An hour later.
Reporters packed the briefing room at the presidential office.
Kim Jin-cheol stood at the podium himself.
Then he read the memorial statement written by his speech secretary.
It was only two pages long, but Kim Jin-cheol shed tears several times while reading it, and the time stretched far beyond the scheduled length.
When the memorial reading was finally over, Kim Jin-cheol left the room supported by his aides.
Three days later.
Kim Jin-cheol’s approval rating recovered to 30 percent.
Just as Senior Secretary Jeong Seong-woo had said, Kim Jin-cheol thought Yoo Jeong-hun had left him a gift before dying.
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