Tianjin (2)
“Follow me.”
The man with the pistol in his hand said it. His face was hidden beneath a beanie and a mask, so Kang-hae couldn’t make out his features, but he knew at once that this was the man who had just saved him.
From the spot where the gunfight had broken out, a commotion rose behind them. The man turned on his heel and started walking away without another word. Kang-hae didn’t know who he was, but the fact that he had shown his back was a silent gesture, and Kang-hae decided to follow him for the moment.
The man moved at a brisk pace through the maze of alleys, and before long a delivery van came to a stop in front of them. With a soft slide, the rear door opened. The man climbed in without a word, and Kang-hae followed. There was one other man in the back seat, also wearing a mask and covering his face, so Kang-hae still couldn’t see who he was.
The instant the door shut, the vehicle started moving. On the opposite lane, several public security cars screamed past with their sirens on, racing toward the gambling den. Once the van had left the busy district behind, the men removed their masks.
The man who had helped Kang-hae looked to be in his early forties. The other seemed to be in his late thirties. Both of them had unkempt beards like the agents from Tianjin Team 1, and they looked no different from ordinary laborers in Tianjin.
The man who had helped Kang-hae took out a cigarette and put it between his lips. A moment later, the van filled with smoke, and Kang-hae watched him quietly.
At first, he had thought the man might be an agent from the National Security Ministry who had stormed the gambling den. But shooting at comrades on the same side to pull off something like that didn’t seem likely. It looked more like another Tianjin team from the Information Command, just as Lee Min-su had mentioned. Still, he couldn’t let his guard down. The chances were slim, but there was also a possibility they were North Korean or even Japanese.
Kang-hae chose silence instead of questions. The man spoke first.
“We’re Tianjin Team 3.”
He was Jo Seong-jun, the team leader of Information Command Tianjin Team 3. He had moved from operations in Beijing to Tianjin three years earlier, and on paper he served as the representative of a company that imported agricultural drones.
But Kang-hae couldn’t take his word at face value. To be certain, he asked a question of his own.
“Which floor is the Development Group dormitory on?”
Jo Seong-jun let out a snort of laughter.
“Looks like we’re the ones who should be interrogating you.”
“Answer me.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then one of us dies.”
“Hahaha.”
Seong-jun laughed again. Kang-hae’s cheeky attitude, young enough to be his nephew, was both absurd and strangely endearing.
But Park Jae-yong, the other Tianjin Team 3 member in the van, didn’t find it endearing at all.
“You little bastard.”
Jae-yong cursed at Kang-hae with a murderous glare and looked ready to throw a punch at any second. Seong-jun stopped him.
Then he went on, “When I was at the Development Group, I don’t think you’d even learned how to walk yet.”
“Answer me.”
“Back in our day, it was on the second floor. It faced north, so in winter mold would crawl down from the ceiling.”
“Where was the instructor’s office?”
“Second floor.”
“The armory?”
“Hey, you little whelp. Back then, we didn’t even have an armory. We carried our own weapons at all times. We even slept with grenades by our heads.”
“Then where was the ammunition depot?”
“Beside the vehicle maintenance garage.”
“Where’s the memorial monument?”
“Halfway up the stairs behind the barracks, the ones that lead toward the hillside.”
Seong-jun answered every question without hesitation, and Kang-hae’s suspicion finally eased.
“My apologies. I’m Na Kang-hae.”
“Jo Seong-jun, Team Leader of Tianjin Team 3.”
“What happened?”
“That’s what I want to ask you.”
“……”
“The Tianjin teams are numbered in the order they were formed. That means Team 1 was the first one operating in Tianjin.”
In other words, Tianjin Team 1 had been active there first. Seong-jun continued, “Lee Min-su has been running his team out of Tianjin for five years now. In all that time, they never left a trail. Then the moment you show up, everything goes to hell.”
“……”
“So naturally, you look suspicious as hell. And don’t even get me started on the Defense Counterintelligence Command bastard who came with you.”
Kang-hae could understand their suspicion. If he were in their place, he would have thought the same.
“Now I’m going to ask you a few questions.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you come to Tianjin?”
“It was the National Security Office Director’s order.”
“What reason did that old man have for sending you?”
“We heard that North Korea’s Railway Minister, Ri Gyeong-su, had visited Tianjin a few days ago.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“They said Tianjin Team was short-handed.”
“So they sent you to help with manpower?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ko Jeong-un thinks we’re a bunch of pathetic assholes.”
“……”
“Sending us some raw kid like you.”
“……”
“Hey, whelp.”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“I have.”
“You have...?”
“Yes, sir.”
“……”
Seong-jun and Park Jae-yong exchanged a look. Not everyone in the Information Command took part in operations, especially not agents at Kang-hae’s level of service.
Seong-jun studied Kang-hae with a curious expression and realized he wasn’t lying.
The men in the van traded glances among themselves. Then the vehicle slowed.
Screech—
It came to a stop.
“Get out.”
The place they had arrived at was a residential complex on the outskirts of Hebei District, Tianjin City, where single-story buildings were packed together so tightly that it wouldn’t have been surprising if one of them collapsed at any moment. Somewhere nearby, the smell of spices mingled with rotting food drifted through the air.
Seong-jun got out first and led the way toward an old apartment building that Tianjin Team 3 used as lodging. There, the rest of Team 3 and Ha Seok-jun were waiting.
“Kang-hae!”
The moment Ha Seok-jun saw him, he called out in a panicked voice. Kang-hae looked him over in silence. From the pallor of his face, it was clear that he had been questioned in an intimidating atmosphere, though apparently not tortured.
And the instant Kang-hae saw him, a question surfaced in his mind.
“Were the people who raided the gambling den from the National Security Ministry?”
“Yeah. Those bastards were from Division 2 of the Overseas Counterintelligence Bureau.”
“Then you already knew they were coming?”
Seong-jun said nothing and only stared back at Kang-hae, while the faces of Team 3 hardened.
Then Park Jae-yong, who had disliked Kang-hae since the moment he got in the car, kicked the chair at his feet.
Bang!
The chair skidded across the floor, and Jae-yong strode toward Kang-hae.
“But this little asshole’s been spouting nothing but bullshit since earlier.”
Kang-hae and Jae-yong faced each other, and Jae-yong went on, “You fucking punk. You think we didn’t save Team 1?”
Kang-hae did not deny it. From the fact that they had brought Ha Seok-jun along after waiting near the gambling den to appearing armed like this, it was clear they had known what was happening in advance. And Kang-hae believed that if Team 3 had known, they should have warned Team 1.
“Enough.”
This time Seong-jun stepped between them.
“Hey, whelp.”
Seong-jun called Kang-hae over.
“By the time we got the information, Team 1 had already gone into the gambling den. The National Security Ministry bastards from Division 2 were already camped out around it. If we’d started poking around there, we’d have exposed ourselves too. Do you really think it was right to go charging in?”
“……”
“We were probably already in enough danger just from helping you.”
“……”
Kang-hae couldn’t answer at once. He also realized he had been hasty. The fact that the Information Command operated multiple teams was precisely to prepare for situations like this, and if a team that had spent years building a perfect cover got exposed while helping another, the loss to the organization would be immense.
The lives of Information Command personnel were always the lowest priority, no matter where or when.
“Hey, whelp.”
“Yes.”
“Team 1 is gone. There’s nothing you can do.”
“……”
“So go back tomorrow.”
“There’s something I need to confirm.”
“Confirm...?”
“Who gave the information?”
At Kang-hae’s question, the expressions on Team 3’s faces hardened even more than before.
“You little shit, if I keep indulging you, you’re really going to—”
Park Jae-yong grabbed Kang-hae by the collar.
Asking who the informant was had been a taboo.
“Enough.”
Seong-jun stopped Jae-yong again. Then he stared straight at Kang-hae.
Kang-hae might be a raw kid, but he would know that asking about the informant was forbidden. Seong-jun suddenly found himself curious.
“Why do you ask?”
“Was the informant from the National Intelligence Service?”
Seong-jun didn’t show it, but when the words National Intelligence Service came out of Kang-hae’s mouth, he was a little surprised.
“If the information came from the NIS, it could have been a counterintelligence operation.”
“Counterintelligence?”
“Yes. It needs to be confirmed.”
“……”
Seong-jun had the feeling Kang-hae knew something.
* * *
Republic of Korea Consulate General, Tianjin, China.
At six in the evening, An Hyeon-beom, a fourth-grade secretary at the consulate in Tianjin, began getting ready to leave work.
“See you tomorrow.”
He stopped what he was doing and left the consulate. Since he lived only a fifteen-minute walk away, he settled into the same street stall he always used.
Then he ordered beer and xiaolongbao.
A moment later, the stall owner brought the food out. The lukewarm beer still wasn’t something he had gotten used to, but the side dish was good.
It had been six months since An Hyeon-beom was assigned to the Tianjin Consulate General.
Before that, he had worked at the consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou. In Beijing he had been a counselor, and in Guangzhou a secretary.
But An Hyeon-beom’s true affiliation was the National Intelligence Service, and he had always dreamed of becoming one of the NIS Black operatives.
Ever since he was young, he had admired the work of carrying out missions in secret, and that was why he had joined the NIS in the first place.
But the higher-ups had judged that he lacked the qualities needed to work Black. Their reason was his indecisiveness and his strong humanist streak.
In the end, An Hyeon-beom lived as neither White nor Black, but Gray.
And it was obvious that he would remain that way.
Before long, dusk had begun to settle over the city, and An Hyeon-beom didn’t leave the stall until he had emptied three bottles of beer.
His apartment was a residential officetel near the consulate, and the moment he opened the door, he found someone sitting on the sofa.
“你是谁……? Who are you……?”
An Hyeon-beom asked in Chinese.
“Come in.”
Instead of Chinese, the stranger spoke in Korean. And only after hearing his voice did An Hyeon-beom realize that the man was Jo Seong-jun, the Tianjin Team 3 leader he had spoken to on the phone the night before.
“You tracked me down all the way here... Are you crazy?”
Employees stationed at overseas consulates were classified as persons of interest by the host country’s intelligence services. An Hyeon-beom even thought there might be wiretaps or cameras installed in his apartment by the National Security Ministry. Yet the fact that an Information Command overseas team had come here, and not just any member but the team leader himself, was unbelievable.
Seong-jun gestured with his chin for him to sit. An Hyeon-beom sat down on the sofa without a word, and only then noticed a pistol lying on the table.
“Don’t tell me you came here to threaten me.”
“I’ve got something to ask you.”
“……”
“You called last night and said Team 1 had been exposed. I didn’t get the chance to ask because things were too chaotic then, but how did you know Team 1 had been exposed?”
Seong-jun had received the call from An Hyeon-beom the previous evening. It had been news that Team 1 was compromised.
“You really think I’d tell you that?”
“These days, because of certain important people, things between your side and ours are pretty icy, aren’t they?”
“When were they ever warm?”
“Still, I don’t think we ever sold each other out before.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Team 1 leader Lee Min-su has spent nearly twenty years working overseas. He’s never failed a mission once. But then a man like that suddenly gets tripped up... ? Makes me think somebody betrayed him.”
“……”
“Let’s write a little story. The NIS wanted to screw us over, so they handed Team 1’s information over to the Chinese. But one of the NIS employees is an old friend of Lee Min-su’s, someone who’s known him since their Korea Military Academy days.”
“……”
“That NIS employee is torn between obeying the organization and watching his friend die. In the end, he tells them again that the organization leaked the information. To save his friend.”
“……”
An Hyeon-beom said nothing, and Seong-jun picked up the pistol on the table.
Then he looked at An Hyeon-beom and said, “Did the National Intelligence Service leak the information to China?”