Repatriation Request
The next day, Kang-hae returned to Korea with Ha Seok-jun.
Kang-hae headed straight for the presidential office in Yongsan and met with the National Security Office director, Ko Jeong-un, to report everything that had happened.
“So the Tianjin Team 3 leader is saying the NIS leaked Team 1’s information.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We haven’t received any report from Tianjin Team 3.”
“I can’t be certain, but they seemed unwilling to make a bigger mess of it.”
Kang-hae answered honestly.
All they had was one person’s testimony.
That alone wasn’t enough to blow the case wide open.
And Jo Seong-jun clearly didn’t want the matter to escalate.
If this slipped and made it into the press, the incident would become political in a heartbeat, and everyone involved would be dragged through police and prosecution investigations before the courts ever handed down a ruling.
In the meantime, all sorts of new variables could surface.
Jo Seong-jun didn’t want that kind of justice.
He wanted speed. Decisiveness.
He wanted to punish the informant with his own hands.
Kang-hae understood that better than anyone.
That was why he was pursuing the matter Jo Seong-jun had asked of him: he wanted to find out exactly who had done it.
“The one who told Tianjin Team 3 about it—was that a NIS agent?”
“I haven’t confirmed that much.”
“It was probably one of ours.”
“……?”
“At the time you were boarding your plane home, a NIS agent stationed at the Tianjin consulate died.”
“……!”
“Cause of death: acute alcohol poisoning.”
“…….”
As Ko Jeong-un had said, Kim Soo-hyun was dead.
He never showed up at the consulate, and when one of the staff grew suspicious and went to his officetel, they found his body.
The local hospital ruled it a death by acute alcohol poisoning.
His body would soon be sent back to Korea, and the National Forensic Service would perform an autopsy.
But Kang-hae and Ko Jeong-un both knew the truth.
Nothing suspicious would probably turn up in the autopsy.
“It sounds like Tianjin Team 3 is dreaming of revenge, just like you are.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kang-hae figured it was fine if Ko Jeong-un knew.
Even he wouldn’t be able to stop it.
“And you?”
“I’ll help however far my reach allows.”
“Very well. That will be all. You may go.”
“Understood.”
Kang-hae left the director’s office.
When he returned to his desk, Seong Ha-yeong spoke to him.
“How did it go?”
“Fine.”
“Nothing happened?”
“Do you have a minute?”
“A minute?”
“Yes.”
“Lunch is soon. Want to go out?”
“Let’s.”
A little later, lunchtime arrived.
Instead of eating in the staff cafeteria, Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong headed to a sandwich shop near the presidential office.
They each ordered a sandwich and took seats at a table on the second floor.
Kang-hae looked around at the people seated upstairs.
Most were office workers eating lunch alone.
Every one of them had earphones in and a smartphone in hand.
“The Information Command’s Tianjin Team 1 was arrested in China.”
“I know.”
Seong Ha-yeong was already aware of it.
“It looks like the NIS leaked the information.”
“……?!”
Shocked, Seong Ha-yeong set down her sandwich.
Then she muttered to herself, “Why would the NIS…?”
“I don’t know the details either.”
“Could it be because of the fight between the NSO director and the new NIS director…?”
“…….”
Kang-hae thought that might be possible.
But he also thought it shouldn’t have happened that way.
He opened his mouth again.
“The Information Command teams in Tianjin have all suspended operations. The teams in other regions probably have, too.”
Just as Kang-hae said, all of the Information Command’s overseas teams operating not only in Tianjin but in nearby cities had halted their activities.
With Tianjin Team 1 already in the hands of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, any careless move could mean another arrest.
Until safety could be guaranteed, the overseas teams would remain inactive.
And in the process, several teams might be dissolved or have personnel swapped out.
For Information Command, it was a crushing loss.
But for the safety of the other teams, it couldn’t be helped.
Kang-hae continued, “Now that Information Command has suspended operations, the NIS will be forced to take over its work.”
“Then naturally the NIS will gain even more ground than it has now. So it wouldn’t be completely absurd to think they leaked the information to cement their own position.”
“But in the process, my seniors would die unjustly.”
“…….”
As Seong Ha-yeong watched him, a chill ran down her spine.
For a moment, she was staring at that same eerie darkness she had seen in him before.
“Still, I suppose there’s some good news.”
“……?”
“The people who were arrested are still safe.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Chinese side said they’d deport the Information Command personnel instead.”
“Deport them?”
“They made a condition.”
“A condition?”
“Do you remember a man named Baek Kang?”
“The cryptocurrency developer?”
“That’s right. The one you brought back from Macau. China requested his repatriation. That was the condition. A kind of exchange, I suppose.”
“…….”
Kang-hae couldn’t make sense of it at first.
There had to be tens of thousands of cryptocurrency developers in China alone.
And yet they had specifically asked to trade for Baek Kang.
That meant Baek Kang might be something other than a simple cryptocurrency developer.
Seong Ha-yeong had the same thought.
“Maybe there’s something about Baek Kang that we don’t know.”
* * *
In the Seojong-myeon area of Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, the Bukhangang River flowed by.
Along its banks stood vacation homes built in the names of Korea’s conglomerates.
Among those estates was a single-story country house with high walls.
It was one of the protective facilities managed by the NIS.
Baek Kang was staying there.
When China first requested his repatriation, the NIS resumed its investigation into him, but nothing conclusive turned up.
The Koreans who had bought the North Korean cryptocurrency were judged to be nothing more than a speculative investment group.
At first, voices had risen insisting that, as a Chinese national, he should be sent back.
But in the end, the man who had developed North Korea’s cryptocurrency was selected as a subject for the national witness protection program, and the NIS decided to protect him for one year under its rules.
NIS agents were stationed at the house where Baek Kang was staying, and they all considered him unremarkable.
But after the Chinese ambassador requested Baek Kang’s repatriation under the condition that the Information Command agents arrested in China be deported to Korea, the situation changed.
Even an idiot could tell by then that Baek Kang was no ordinary cryptocurrency developer.
The security around his residence was tightened, and his outings were restricted.
Then the investigation into Baek Kang began again.
This time it was carried out in the basement of the house where he was staying.
Camera equipment monitored the movement of his facial muscles and gaze.
Voice equipment monitored the vibrations in his speech.
Biometric devices checked his sweat glands and heart rate, and specialists in neurology from the Armed Forces Capital Hospital and psychiatry from the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital took part in the questioning.
“The questioning’s over, isn’t it…?”
As the interrogation began, Baek Kang spoke in a trembling voice.
The investigator answered in a dry, businesslike tone.
“It’s less an interrogation than a few things we need to inform you about.”
“What things…?”
“A few days ago, China requested your repatriation.”
“……!”
Baek Kang’s eyes widened.
The cameras watching him and the machines attached to his body showed that his pupils had dilated and his heart rate was climbing.
“The Government of the Republic of Korea has decided to comply with China’s demand.”
“……!”
His pulse quickened even more.
“That’s why we’re conducting this final interview before we send you back to China.”
“Th-that’s not what you said before…” Baek Kang stammered.
“You are, after all, a Chinese national. For us, continuing to protect you carries a heavy diplomatic burden. Naturally, the manpower wasted and the cost incurred by the NIS in protecting you are not insignificant either.”
“Aren’t there Koreans who bought the cryptocurrency developed by North Korea?”
“The investigation showed they had nothing to do with North Korea.”
“Still…”
Baek Kang couldn’t continue.
His brain waves jittered irregularly.
It meant his stress response was rising.
“Isn’t there any way not to go back to China…? What do I have to do…?”
The investigator said nothing, simply staring at him.
Baek Kang swallowed dryly and waited for him to speak.
Only after a long silence did the investigator open his mouth.
“I have a feeling, you know, that Baek Kang is hiding something.”
“…….”
“There’s something you still haven’t told us, isn’t there?”
“Not at all.”
“If you had information that South Korea needed, and if we judged that information valuable enough to warrant protecting you, then you wouldn’t be repatriated.”
“I need some time to think…”
“At 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, a meeting will be held between the Chinese Embassy in Korea and the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to decide your repatriation.”
It was a lie.
Just a bluff to pressure Baek Kang.
“T-then…?!”
“Once 11:00 a.m. passes tomorrow, even we won’t be able to stop your repatriation.”
“…….”
“Like a train that’s already left the station—it doesn’t stop.”
After saying that, the investigator closed his laptop.
“You can leave now. An employee outside will escort you.”
After Baek Kang left the interrogation room, a NIS agent waiting outside took him to a bedroom.
Several cameras had been installed in that room.
The investigators, along with the neurologists and psychiatrists, watched Baek Kang inside it.
For a long time, Baek Kang paced back and forth across the room.
Even without being experts, anyone could tell he was agitated.
The next morning, at 6:00 a.m., Baek Kang asked the NIS agent standing guard outside his door to call his superior.
The investigator who had questioned Baek Kang the day before came to his room.
“Did you sleep well?”
“I didn’t sleep a wink…”
“Have you made your decision?”
Baek Kang nodded and said, “Just like you said, there’s something I didn’t tell you yesterday.”
“What is it?”
“Before that, can you promise I won’t be sent back to China?”
“That isn’t for me to decide. That’s up to my superiors.”
“…….”
“But don’t worry too much. If the information is useful, you won’t be sent back.”
“…….”
Baek Kang thought for a long time, then drew in a deep breath.
Slowly, he began to speak.
“In North Korea, they entrusted me with one more thing besides developing the cryptocurrency.”
“What was it?”
“It was sending the hacked cryptocurrency to a cryptocurrency wallet managed by North Korea’s Room 39.”
“A North Korean cryptocurrency wallet…”
The investigator thought that alone would not be enough to stop the repatriation.
Then Baek Kang spoke again.
“And I stole all the cryptocurrency that was in that wallet.”
“……?!”
“That means I’ve got North Korea’s slush fund.”