The Empire Gang (1)
Kang-hae could hardly believe what Ko Jeong-un had said.
So my brother was a cryptocurrency developer…?
Something had to be wrong.
“That’s impossible.”
“How old were you when your brother died?”
“Eighteen.”
“Then it would have been difficult for you to know much.”
“But the police clearly said…”
“Did you hear it from the police yourself?”
“……”
No, he hadn’t.
The police had been the ones to notify the family of his brother’s death.
His parents had been the ones to meet with them.
“Then how do you know this, Director?”
It was information he had heard a few days earlier from John Smith, the CIA’s East Asia bureau chief.
And that the first cryptocurrency Na Dong-hae had participated in developing was a coin called Galaxy, which was believed to have first been created in North Korea five years ago.
Ko Jeong-un relayed to Kang-hae the information he had received from John Smith.
“It can’t be true…”
Kang-hae still could not bring himself to believe it.
“The National Security Office will be tracking the cryptocurrency developed by North Korea. Naturally, I’d like you to handle that for us. I’ll give you time to think it over. Until then, I’ll consider your resignation unreceived.”
Kang-hae left the director’s office without a word.
His head felt numb, as if someone had struck him there.
It took a long time before he could gather his thoughts again.
First, he had to confirm it.
Whether Ko Jeong-un’s words were true.
Kang-hae got to his feet and approached Seong Ha-yeong.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to take some leave.”
“Leave? How long?”
“A week.”
“Didn’t you say you were quitting today?”
“Something came up.”
“Hey, Na Kang-hae.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s not do this kind of thing from now on.”
“……?”
“If you’re going to take leave, tell me in advance.”
Seong Ha-yeong had known something was wrong from the expression on Kang-hae’s face when he came out of the director’s office.
But the day before, Kang-hae had drawn a line between them.
Seong Ha-yeong had decided she would not cross it.
Her chillier attitude than usual was for that reason, too.
* * *
President Kim Jin-cheol appointed Seo Seong-guk, the former Minister of National Defense, as the new Director of the National Intelligence Service.
The presidential staff worried that both the National Security Office director and the NIS director were military men.
And what concerned them even more was that Seo Seong-guk might repeat the same thing he had done during his confirmation hearing for defense minister, when he had traded barbs with opposition lawmakers.
As before, the opposition opposed the appointment.
They resolved to humiliate him at the hearing no matter what.
The hearing room of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.
After the chair declared the session open, the opposition lawmakers began their questioning.
“Nominee, do you remember the questions I asked at the last defense minister hearing about the abuse of the service attendant?”
“I do.”
“At the time, you refused to apologize to the victims because the military prosecutors had decided not to indict you. You still have no intention of apologizing, do you?!”
“That is not the case. Back then, I was afraid my wife would be hurt, and I lacked the courage to speak. Though belatedly, I’d like to use this opportunity to apologize to my wife and to the soldiers who were hurt because I failed to care for a wife like her properly.”
Seo Seong-guk rose from his seat, faced the cameras, and bowed deeply.
Click, click, click—
The reporters’ flashes went off in a storm.
The opposition lawmakers were momentarily thrown off by Seo Seong-guk’s changed attitude.
“Nominee.”
“You were the defense minister during North Korea’s shelling this October, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true you strongly argued that we should strike back at North Korea with force?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Don’t lie! You were the one who most forcefully insisted we shell North Korea, weren’t you?”
“That is not accurate.”
“Then if North Korea shells us again, what is your position now?”
“I would carry out precision strikes only on the point where the initial attack originated. I would not take any action that could lead to escalation.”
“At the Panmunjom talks, there was discussion about restarting the Kaesong Industrial Complex. I heard you opposed that as well. Is that true?”
“No.”
“Then do you support the resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex?”
“Yes, I do. Restarting it is the best way to improve the rigid relationship between the two Koreas.”
Seo Seong-guk had changed completely from the hardline anti-North stance he had once shown.
And until the hearing ended, he never once raised his voice or lost his composure.
In the end, Seo Seong-guk became director of the National Intelligence Service without any major controversy.
* * *
On the first day of his leave, Kang-hae opened his eyes in the morning and headed straight for the Seoul Eastern Police Station.
There, he learned that the detective in charge of his brother’s case had died in a traffic accident two years earlier.
Something was suspicious.
“Then can I get the contact information for the other victims from that time?”
“Ah, well, due to the Personal Information Protection Act these days…”
The officer trailed off.
Kang-hae showed him the government ID card he had prepared in advance, the one stamped with the National Security Office seal.
“You’re from the National Security Office?!”
At the detective’s shout, the eyes of everyone in the station turned toward them.
The team leader, who had been seated nearby, came over.
“Uh, how can we help you?”
Kang-hae explained once more to the team leader why he had come.
“Hey, rookie. Didn’t we get the victims’ business cards last year?”
At the team leader’s words, the officer who had been dealing with Kang-hae searched through a drawer.
“Here it is.”
He handed the card to the team leader, and the team leader passed it on to Kang-hae.
“This man was the first person to report it in Cambodia. I think he said he runs some IT company now.”
Kang-hae looked down at the card.
ZeroEngine
Lee Jun-ho
+82 10 - 1*3*4 - 4*3*
219, Building B, 312-251 Gasan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul
“Thank you.”
After thanking the team leader, Kang-hae left the station.
Then he called the number on the card.
But no one answered.
Kang-hae went directly to the address printed there.
As the card indicated, a company called ZeroEngine was located in one of the buildings in Gasan Digital Complex, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul.
Knock, knock—
Kang-hae knocked on the door, but there was no sound from inside.
In the end, he pushed the door open.
Creak—
Several computers and pieces of equipment, along with a heap of unidentifiable junk, were piled up in a filthy mess.
Among them sat a man in a headset, absorbed in a game.
Kang-hae walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Aah!”
The man screamed and spun around.
“Who are you…?”
“Are you Lee Jun-ho?”
“Yeah, but…”
Lee Jun-ho stood up with a suspicious look on his face.
Kang-hae quickly sized him up.
He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties.
He was gaunt, with eyes that looked strangely hollow.
His height was about the same as Kang-hae’s, but his back and neck were badly hunched, making him seem shorter than he really was.
And the patchy beard and greasy hair showed he hadn’t properly washed in days.
“Do you know someone named Na Dong-hae?”
“……!”
At the name Na Dong-hae, his eyes widened.
“I’m Na Dong-hae’s younger brother, Na Kang-hae.”
“Ah…”
“I heard you were with my brother in Cambodia. That you were the first person to report it.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you happen to know what my brother was doing in Cambodia?”
“Please, sit down first.”
Lee Jun-ho pulled out a chair from the desk beside him.
It was covered in dust, but Kang-hae sat down anyway.
“To be honest, I wasn’t with Dong-hae from the very beginning. I only went to Cambodia a month before he ended up like that.”
“I see.”
“We didn’t even do the same work. I handled the database. As for Dong-hae, I’m not exactly sure, but he probably handled server security.”
“So my brother didn’t create the cryptocurrency?”
“Cryptocurrency…? You mean a coin?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“No. That’s the first I’m hearing of it. We only managed the sites…”
Lee Jun-ho looked genuinely bewildered.
Then there were only two possibilities.
Either the man standing before him, Lee Jun-ho, was lying.
Or the CIA had fed Ko Jeong-un false information.
“Understood.”
Kang-hae rose from his seat.
And just as he was about to leave—
“Hey.”
Lee Jun-ho called him back.
“……?”
“I’m sorry about Dong-hae. He was a good man…”
“……”
Kang-hae gave a silent nod and left.
Then he headed for Itaewon.
* * *
A worn three-story building in the alley behind the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.
On the building’s third floor hung a sign that read Smart Fix.
Smart Fix was registered as a clothing retailer, but in truth it was a private investigation office that handled all manner of illegal work.
The owner of that office had been the broker who, not long ago, had tried to kill Ko Jeong-un on Bukhansan and ended up helping kill Yoo Jeong-hun instead.
Noon.
The owner of the office was lying on a sofa, waiting for the jajangmyeon he had ordered for lunch.
Ding—
So when he heard the sound of the door opening, he assumed the delivery man had arrived.
But the person who came into the shop was Kang-hae.
And the owner’s heart plummeted.
It felt like he was looking at a grim reaper.
He had clearly been told he would be spared…
“W-what brings you here…?”
The owner, tense beyond reason, barely managed to get the words out.
And before he realized it, his hand had drifted toward the pocket where his self-defense knife was kept.
“What, gonna stab me?”
Kang-hae caught on instantly.
“N-no! It’s, it’s just a habit…! Pl-please, don’t misunderstand.”
The owner raised his voice, stammering even harder than before.
He knew how strong Kang-hae was.
The ethnic Chinese killer he had hired to murder Ko Jeong-un hadn’t been some random thug either; he had come from the Snow Leopard Commando Unit, an elite Chinese special forces unit.
But Kang-hae had killed him in an instant.
He had followed them through that silent mountain without making a sound.
And in the darkness, he had put a single round straight through the killer’s head.
The owner knew that even with a gun, much less a knife, he would never be able to kill the man standing in front of him.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“A-about what, exactly…?”
“I’m wondering whether it’s really right to keep you alive.”
“……!”
Half of Kang-hae’s words were sincere.
The owner had tried to kill Ko Jeong-un, and he was one of the two witnesses who had seen Kang-hae kill Yoo Jeong-hun.
But Kang-hae thought a man who handled all kinds of illegal work would prove useful later, when it came time for revenge.
Of course, he still needed to make certain of things.
He had to make the hierarchy between them clear.
The terrified owner dropped to his knees.
He knew he was ten years older than Kang-hae.
But that no longer mattered.
“Pl-please, s-spare me. I really don’t know anything.”
“Why should I trust you enough to spare you?”
“I’ll do anything, from now on.”
“Then can you do a job for me?”
“Leave it to me.”
“Look into the Empire Gang.”
“The Empire Gang…? You mean those thugs?”
Kang-hae nodded.
“Everything you can find about them. As fast as possible.”
“Understood.”
The owner answered with a violent nod.
“If I think you’re useful, I’ll let you live. But if I don’t think that…”
Kang-hae didn’t finish the sentence and simply gave the owner’s shoulder a light pat.
And the owner understood exactly what those words meant.
Shuddering, he trembled without meaning to.
“And one more thing. Do you have a wiretap device right now?”
“A wiretap device?”
“Yeah.”
“Y-yes, I do!”
The owner quickly got to his feet and rummaged through a drawer.
Then he handed Kang-hae a small wiretap device shaped like a fountain pen.
Kang-hae took it, gave him his phone number, and left Smart Fix.
After leaving, he stopped by a nearby bike shop and bought a 251cc Honda motorcycle.
He needed transportation for quick movement.
Kang-hae rode the motorcycle back to Gasan.
Then he sat in a café and waited for the sun to set.
When evening came, people began leaving the building after work.
Kang-hae spotted Lee Jun-ho among them.
After waiting another thirty minutes, he headed for Jun-ho’s office.
Opening the office door was no difficulty.
Click—
Deep inside the clutter piled haphazardly throughout the office, Kang-hae shoved the fountain pen-shaped wiretap device out of sight.
Then he left the office again.
That night, just before going to sleep, Kang-hae received a call from the private investigator.
“I’m truly sorry for calling so late.”
“Did you find something?”
“Yes. I looked into the Empire Gang you asked me about earlier today.”
Already?
He kept it off his face, but he was mildly surprised.
Less than half a day had passed since he’d given the order.
Kang-hae realized his threat had worked.
“Talk.”
No sooner had Kang-hae spoken than the taxi driver began spilling everything he knew about the Empire Gang.