Tianjin (1)
The men who had picked a fight with Kang-hae were operatives from the Overseas Team of the Information Command.
To gauge Kang-hae’s abilities, they had disguised themselves as street muggers.
Lee Min-su.
Choi Seong-beom.
Kim Yeong-chan.
Their hair was greasy, their beards were grown out in ragged scruff, and the clothes they wore could have passed for the worn uniforms of laborers in a Chinese industrial park, but all three were veteran agents who had spent more than ten years in the Overseas Team alone.
Several years earlier, the Information Command had used a local intermediary to acquire a failing clothing factory on the brink of bankruptcy.
They had then hired actual local workers to produce work clothes and bags sold in traditional markets.
And among those laborers were Information Command operatives from the Overseas Team.
Their mission was to keep watch on North Korean trading companies operating in Tianjin.
Recently, they had obtained intelligence that Ri Gyeong-su, North Korea’s Minister of Railways, would be visiting Tianjin.
Since then, they had been investigating the matter.
“Follow me.”
Lee Min-su, the leader of Tianjin Team 1, said as he looked at Kang-hae.
Then Choi Seong-beom, standing beside him, hauled Kim Yeong-chan to his feet after Kang-hae’s kick had sent him sprawling on the ground.
Lee Min-su turned and walked off, and Kang-hae and Ha Seok-jun followed without a word.
Five minutes later, a shabby single-story building came into view.
Lee Min-su shoved open the iron door, the concrete peeling from its surface.
When the door swung wide, rusted shipping containers were packed tightly together inside, and one of them served as the three men’s quarters.
Kang-hae followed them into the container.
It was a single cramped room with no bathroom, and filthy blankets had been tossed down haphazardly across the floor.
Bottles of Chinese liquor rolled around on the ground.
“Damn it, getting beaten by a kid. Boss, I’m retiring.”
At that moment, Kim Yeong-chan muttered the complaint and picked up a bottle of baijiu lying on the floor.
Then he drank it as casually as if it were bottled water.
Gulp, gulp—
Lee Min-su, standing beside him, looked at Kang-hae and asked, “You’re that masochist from Seorak Squad?”
The masochist was Kang-hae’s nickname.
“Yes, sir.”
Kang-hae answered.
“When did you figure it out?”
“I became suspicious the moment you said the word ppangz.”
“Then when did you know for sure?”
“When you swung the Chinese cleaver.”
“How?”
“Too skilled for someone who was supposedly just mugging people on the street.”
Lee Min-su looked impressed, but Kim Yeong-chan, standing nearby, grumbled, “This bastard’s a real piece of work.”
He rubbed at his jaw, which still throbbed.
“I’m sorry about that earlier.”
Kang-hae lowered his head toward Kim Yeong-chan.
“Forget it.”
Then Lee Min-su turned to Ha Seok-jun and asked, “And who’s this?”
“Ah, I’ve been specially assigned this time to assist with your mission at the request of the Director of the National Security Office. I’m Major Ha Seok-jun, currently with the Defense Counterintelligence Command.”
At the words Defense Counterintelligence Command, all three men’s expressions stiffened.
Ha Seok-jun hurried on. “Ah, I’m with the Counterintelligence Command now, but I spent a year in the Information Command when I was a captain. I’ve known Agent Na Kang-hae since then.”
The three men looked at Kang-hae as if asking whether that was true.
“Yes, sir. That’s correct.”
Kang-hae cleared up their curiosity.
Of course, if they knew how Ha Seok-jun had actually served in the Information Command, there was no doubt the senior agents would never let him leave alive—but Kang-hae decided not to mention that for now.
Lee Min-su spoke again. “Okay. We’re Tianjin Team 1.”
“If you’re Team 1—”
“There are several teams in Tianjin besides us. Each one handles different work. We don’t know each other. We operate as a cell structure.”
Kang-hae thought that was doubtful.
No matter how important security was, there had to be times when cooperation overseas was unavoidable.
Or maybe Lee Min-su simply didn’t trust him yet.
Lee Min-su continued, “You know that North Korea’s Minister of Railways, Ri Gyeong-su, visited Tianjin a few days ago?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Two days ago, Ri Gyeong-su went to a bearing company and placed an order for bearings. But there’s a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“We don’t know whether those bearings are for a railway or for missiles.”
“Then—”
“We need to find out.”
“What do you need me to do?”
Kang-hae asked, and Lee Min-su stared at his face for a long moment before speaking.
“Can you play mahjong?”
“You mean gambling…?”
“Yeah. Gambling.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
In an alley off a busy street in Heping District, Tianjin, there was a shop with a sign that read Hongyunge.
As evening fell, men getting off work began drifting in twos and threes toward the place.
Seen from the outside, it looked like a teahouse, but inside it was a gambling den where cards and mahjong were played.
Cigarette smoke hung thick in the air.
The Information Command’s Tianjin Team 1 agents were seated at a mahjong table, waiting for someone.
As evening deepened into night, a man in his fifties with graying hair finally appeared.
Jang Run-hwa.
He was the head of overseas business for Tianjin Jinrun Precision Machinery Co., Ltd., and until recently he had been visiting Hongyunge every other day to play mahjong.
The Tianjin Team 1 agents from the Information Command had become acquainted with him by playing alongside him.
When Jang Run-hwa appeared, Lee Min-su lifted a hand in greeting.
“Hey there.”
Jang Run-hwa smiled and sat down at the table where the Tianjin Team 1 agents were seated.
Lee Min-su addressed him warmly. “Well, well. You vanished for a while, old man. What wind blew you in today?”
“Don’t ask. I worked overtime again today.”
“Then finish up and get back to it. It’s all going into my pocket anyway.”
“Hahaha. Have you already forgotten the twenty thousand yuan you lost to me last time?”
“Enough. Let’s deal the tiles.”
“Sounds good.”
Lee Min-su dealt the tiles, and the game began.
Meanwhile, Kang-hae sat at a poker table by the window, watching them.
His Mandarin was too shaky for him to sit at the mahjong table without drawing suspicion, so Lee Min-su had given him the order to stay put.
Thirty minutes later, the first round ended.
Jang Run-hwa won money and burst out laughing as he shuffled the tiles.
“Hahaha. Looks like I’m going home empty-handed again today.”
“You never know until you play it out.”
“That’s true. The night’s still young.”
Without a word, Lee Min-su took out a cigarette and put it between his lips.
It was the signal.
Kim Yeong-chan, seated nearby, took up the conversation.
“Say, old man. The company you work for—didn’t you say it was a steel company?”
“Something like that.”
“Damn. Our boss says raw material prices have been through the roof lately, so business is rough.”
“Clothing’s no better, I guess.”
“Don’t even start. They say this month’s wages are a whole week late.”
“If you wait, things will get better.”
“How about your side?”
“Same for us. Steel prices have gone up three times compared to last year.”
At that moment, Lee Min-su ground out his cigarette in the ashtray and said, “Hey, why are you talking business at a gambling table? Shut up and deal the tiles. Come on, old man. Give us a better hand this time.”
“Hahaha. Sure thing.”
Jang Run-hwa shuffled the mahjong tiles.
What Lee Min-su needed to confirm was what kind of steel Tianjin Jinrun Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. was dealing with.
Railway bearings used high-strength steel or special alloys.
Missile bearings used materials such as titanium or ceranium.
That was why he had sent Kim Yeong-chan a signal to open the conversation and let it flow.
But if the discussion went too deep, it might arouse suspicion.
So he cut it off at the right moment.
Lee Min-su wasn’t worried.
The night was long, and there would be another chance to bring up business again.
The game resumed.
Forty minutes passed before it finally ended, and once again Jang Run-hwa won the money.
“Hahaha. I think I might win the next round too. How about we call it a night?”
“Hey, old man. This is only the second round.”
“Whether it’s the second or the twentieth, I feel like I’m going to keep winning.”
“Enough. Shuffle the tiles properly.”
“Hahaha. All right. Don’t come crying later.”
With a twitch at the corner of his mouth, Jang Run-hwa shuffled the tiles again.
And the moment he began dealing them out—
there was a noisy commotion outside the door.
A moment later—
Bang!
The door flew open with a crash, and a group of people stormed inside.
They were a mix of police officers and men in suits.
The men in suits wore fierce expressions.
They headed straight for the table where Jang Run-hwa and the Information Command’s overseas team were seated.
Lee Min-su lit another cigarette and asked in a calm voice, “What’s going on?”
One of the men in suits said coldly, “Your resident ID.”
“What for?”
Lee Min-su shot back with a crooked smile, and a police officer barked, “Shut up and hand it over!”
Lee Min-su took his wallet from his pocket.
Then he held out his resident ID card.
It wasn’t a forged one, but the ID of a real, existing person.
The man in the suit glanced back and forth between the resident ID and Lee Min-su’s face before speaking.
“Your name is Park Hae-seong. You’re Korean Chinese.”
“That’s right.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me.”
“……?”
“I’d bet everything I have that you’re a dog of the Korean Information Command.”
“……!”
The man said that and drew a pistol from his waist.
Then he pointed it straight at Lee Min-su’s temple.
Clean. Efficient. No wasted motion.
Above all, fast.
There was no doubt he had trained for a long time.
The man aiming the gun at Lee Min-su’s temple—Wang Qiang, the chief operations officer of the Second Division under the Overseas Counterintelligence Bureau of China’s Ministry of State Security—looked at Lee Min-su’s eyes, steady even with a gun trained on him, and became certain.
He was indeed a dog of the Korean Information Command.
And Lee Min-su, without a word, took in the men pointing guns at him and the men standing behind them.
The men in suits were clearly from the Ministry of State Security.
There were eight of them.
Beyond that, there were more than a dozen police officers with pistols at their hips, and armed men would be waiting outside as well.
Lee Min-su tried to think of a way to get out of the room right now.
But nothing came to mind.
Kim Yeong-chan and Choi Seong-beom, sitting beside him, were thinking the same thing.
They only had two choices.
Resist here and die.
Or let themselves be taken, endure whatever torture came, and wait for the higher-ups to get them out.
Lee Min-su chose.
For now, he would trust the chain above him.
So he extended his arms without resistance.
And at that instant—
Crash—
The sound of glass shattering rang out.
It was Kang-hae.
Kang-hae hurled himself through the window.
Wang Qiang immediately fired at him, but Lee Min-su seized Wang Qiang’s wrist in time, and the bullet he had fired slammed into the ceiling instead.
“Contact the men outside!” Wang Qiang shouted.
The other Ministry of State Security agents relayed orders to the people outside through their radios.
Thud—
After smashing the window and escaping outside, Kang-hae immediately came face to face with the men from the Ministry of State Security.
There were four of them.
They advanced on him with their guns raised.
“别动!”
Kang-hae raised both hands.
Then he waited for them to close in.
If they were highly trained agents carrying firearms, taking them down might not be easy.
And then—
Phit—
He heard it.
Kang-hae knew at once it was the sound of a suppressed gunshot.
Someone had fired, and the bullet struck the forehead of the man approaching Kang-hae.
Phit—
Another gunshot sounded.
Another man collapsed.
The remaining two men looked around in confusion.
Kang-hae didn’t let the moment slip.
Thud—
Thud-thud—
He swiftly neutralized the two men and moved out of the area.
Then, after passing two blocks, he came face to face with a man holding a suppressed pistol.