The Real Purpose of the Report on the Next-Generation Stealth Drone Development Project
As he had promised Seong Ha-yeong, Kim Jeong-min submitted the report to Ko Jeong-un.
If it had been a report from another employee, he would have scrutinized it carefully. No—he would probably have scolded them for wasting their time in the first place.
But by then, Kim Jeong-min wanted Seong Ha-yeong to take the lead on something inside the National Security Office.
And the fact that she had gone ahead and prepared a report without being told pleased him.
After meeting Seong Hun, the chairman of Ilseong Group and Seong Ha-yeong’s grandfather, Kim Jeong-min had decided that her achievements would reflect well on him, too.
And the moment Ko Jeong-un checked the report, he called Seong Ha-yeong to his office.
“Did you find it?”
“What is this report?”
“Exactly what the title says. Report: Next-Generation Stealth Drone Development Project. If you don’t like it, I’ll bring you another one. It’s a proposal China will definitely need to take seriously….”
Ko Jeong-un immediately understood what she meant.
“Did you write this alone?”
“I prepared it together with Na Kang-hae.”
“Do you have a plan after this?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then meet with the Minister of National Defense today.”
“Thank you.”
“Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“We need to place one of our people in the department or company related to this project.”
“You mean as bait?”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as Seong Ha-yeong left the office, Ko Jeong-un called the Ministry of National Defense and set up an appointment with the minister.
Minister of National Defense’s Office, Yongsan District, Seoul.
Choi Byeong-cheol, Seo Seong-guk’s successor as minister, sat at his desk waiting for Ko Jeong-un.
Knock, knock, knock—
After a short while, the office door opened.
“Minister, the Director of the National Security Office is here.”
The minister’s aide announced Ko Jeong-un’s arrival.
Choi Byeong-cheol stood and straightened his clothes.
“Oh, Director. To come all the way here yourself. I could have come to you.”
The instant Ko Jeong-un stepped into the office, Choi Byeong-cheol greeted him with an affable smile.
“Not at all. I contacted you out of the blue, so thank you for making the time.”
“Think nothing of it. Please, have a seat.”
Choi Byeong-cheol naturally offered him the place of honor on the sofa, but Ko Jeong-un politely declined as a guest should.
He took the seat on the left instead.
Shortly after, a ministry staff member brought in tea.
“You’ve always liked corn silk tea, haven’t you, Director? I had some prepared separately for you.”
“Thank you.”
Choi Byeong-cheol had been Ko Jeong-un’s senior at the Korea Military Academy, and the two had once worked together in the Joint Chiefs of Staff during their field-grade officer years.
But unlike Ko Jeong-un, Choi Byeong-cheol was a political soldier, and that meant their relationship was hardly close.
If anything, one could even call it bad.
Choi Byeong-cheol disliked the way Ko Jeong-un never made a special effort to take care of fellow academy alumni.
And he always envied and resented the respect Ko Jeong-un drew from the men under his command.
Huff—
Ko Jeong-un took a perfunctory sip of tea, then set the cup down.
After that, he placed the folder containing Seong Ha-yeong’s report on the table.
“This is a project the Ministry of National Defense pushed three years ago. It never got off the ground back then, but our office has determined that it’s necessary now.”
“May I read it briefly?”
“Go ahead.”
Choi Byeong-cheol quickly opened the folder and skimmed the report, reading mostly the subsection headings and bolded lines.
“The ministry is also focusing on drones as a top priority right now. Thank you for your attention to the matter. We’ll review this positively.”
Ever since North Korea’s drone crossed into South Korean airspace the year before last, the importance of drones had become undeniable.
The drone combat unit once operated by the Army had since been elevated to a command-level formation.
But Ko Jeong-un knew Choi Byeong-cheol’s words were nothing more than polite surface talk.
“Minister.”
“Yes, Director?”
“May I ask one more favor?”
“Please, speak freely.”
“If this project moves forward, I’d like to recommend someone for one of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s partner companies.”
“……!”
Choi Byeong-cheol could hardly believe that Ko Jeong-un, who was known as a stiff-necked man and a true soldier, was asking him to pull strings for a personnel placement.
But he quickly wiped the surprise from his face.
Then, keeping that pleasant, affable expression in place, he said, “Ha-ha. If you’re recommending him, Director, then he must be both capable and of excellent character. What problem could there possibly be?”
And after saying that, he thought to himself, Ko Jeong-un, acting so high and mighty all this time… In the end, you’re no different. What a hypocrite.
Without meaning to, a trace of mockery crept into Choi Byeong-cheol’s expression.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Yes. Take care on your way out.”
Choi Byeong-cheol escorted him to the door.
And the moment Ko Jeong-un disappeared, he did two things.
One was to order his subordinates below him to secure the report Ko Jeong-un had handed over.
The other was to call his friends, both active-duty and retired military men, and bad-mouth Ko Jeong-un to them.
“Ha-ha-ha. Senior, how have you been?”
[Oh, Minister Choi. You must be busy. What brings you to call?]
“Senior, do you know who I just met?”
[Who?]
“Ko Jeong-un came looking for me.”
[The Director of the National Security Office? Why? If you’re the Minister of National Defense, wouldn’t you meet him often anyway?]
“No, honestly. That bastard came looking for me privately.”
[Why?]
“He brought me some project the Ministry of National Defense could push through, then asked me to slip one of his own people in later.”
[What?! Ko Jeong-un himself…?]
“Haven’t I told you before? The ones who act spotless on the outside are dirtier on the inside.”
[I still can’t quite believe it.]
“Isn’t it obvious? He’s probably trying to use a front man to shake down companies for kickbacks.”
[Ha-ha-ha. In the end, Ko Jeong-un was the same kind of man after all.]
“I’ll call you again if anything interesting comes up.”
[Sure. Take care.]
“Yes, sir.”
After hanging up, Choi Byeong-cheol called someone else, and a similar round of calls continued for quite some time.
And before a single day had passed, rumors began to spread that the Ministry of National Defense was going to develop a next-generation stealth drone.
Jo Gwang-il had once belonged to the Reconnaissance General Bureau’s Unit 35 in North Korea, but after coming into South Korea with Kang-hae’s help from Macau, he underwent an intensive investigation by the National Intelligence Service.
He wasn’t just any defector. He had been a soldier in North Korea’s Bureau 5, and he had worked overseas to procure slush funds for North Korea’s supreme leader, so the scrutiny was only natural.
Jo Gwang-il cooperated with every part of the investigation, and the NIS found nothing suspicious.
He was then classified as a defector and sent to the Hanaa Center’s Branch No. 2 in Hwacheon County, Gangwon Province, a settlement support office operated by the Ministry of Unification.
There, he was living while receiving education to help him settle in South Korea.
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong came to see him in the evening, and after dinner, when he was resting in his room, he headed to the visitation room at an employee’s call.
“Ah! Comrade!”
The moment Jo Gwang-il spotted Kang-hae, an involuntary grin spread across his face.
It was a smile from the heart.
He was genuinely glad to see Kang-hae.
“You look well.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I’ve been wanting to see you too, comrade.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“Ha-ha-ha. You’re still just as icy as ever.”
Jo Gwang-il laughed as he said it, then looked at Seong Ha-yeong and added, “The lady comrade beside you is the same woman I saw in Macau last time.”
He remembered Seong Ha-yeong from the illegal Macau gambling den he had once run.
“You remember. I’m glad your face looks better than it did then.”
“Ha-ha-ha. That’s all thanks to you two, isn’t it?”
“How’s the training?”
“Don’t even ask. It feels like I’ve enlisted again. There’s so much I have to learn.”
“Still, if you learn it properly now, it’ll definitely help once you’re out there.”
“Ha-ha-ha, thank you. Starting next week, I’m supposed to learn welding too.”
“I’m sure you’ll do well.”
“Lady comrade, you speak so prettily. You should learn a thing or two from her.”
Na Kang-hae looked at Jo Gwang-il silently for a moment.
Compared to Macau, the man had more color in his face now, and maybe because he had put on a little weight, his sharp edge had softened as well.
“Now then, spit out the reason you came all this way.”
“Listen, Jo Gwang-il.”
“Speak.”
“You haven’t forgotten that I risked my life to save you, have you?”
“Of course not. I’ve been wanting to find you as soon as I got out of here. You’re my lifesaver.”
“Then I figure you can do me one favor for your benefactor.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I knew it. You came all the way here because you had a favor to ask.”
“I risked my life for you and even set a cargo ship on fire.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I think I’ve got the wrong man here.”
“……?”
“Since you’ve come all this way, stop beating around the bush like a man and get to the point.”
“……Before that, let me ask you one thing.”
“I’ll answer.”
“This could be dangerous. Can you do it?”
“I don’t know what you think of me, comrade. Back in Macau, I lived an immoral life, skimming off the government money and all that. But I’m no beast. The difference between a man and a beast is knowing gratitude.”
“Then I’ll take that as a yes.”
“So what do you need me to do?”
“You’ll go into a company we assign you under a cover identity. Then agents from China’s Ministry of State Security will approach that company. Can you catch them?”
The moment he heard the words Ministry of State Security of China, a solemn smile touched Jo Gwang-il’s face.
“That sounds interesting.”
“Can you do it?”
“I’ve had more than enough grievances with the Chinese back in my Unit 5 days.”
“I’ll come back again.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong left the Hanaa Center and got into the car they had parked outside.
Seong Ha-yeong took the wheel.
“Mr. Kang-hae.”
“Yes.”
“Can we trust Jo Gwang-il?”
“If his life is threatened, he may change his mind.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen….”
“If I’m there to support him, it’ll be fine.”
“You know something? Mr. Kang-hae.”
“What do you mean?”
“You always talk about difficult things so casually.”
“…….”
“But I like it. That confident side of you.”
“…….”
Kang-hae kept silent because he didn’t know what to say, while Seong Ha-yeong, though shy, didn’t regret what she had just said.
It was something she had wanted to say once, just once, for a long time.
In his room, Liu Jianhao, head of external espionage at China’s Ministry of State Security, was reading a report.
It was the same report Ko Jeong-un had handed Choi Byeong-cheol a few days earlier.
Choi Byeong-cheol had ordered it secured, and in the process, the report had passed through several hands.
It took less than three days before the report was neatly translated and placed on Liu Jianhao’s desk.
After reading the entire thing, Liu Jianhao lifted his head.
Across from his desk stood Chen Zhiyang, the head of Section 2 in the external espionage division.
“This is certain?”
“Among the companies that produce drones and partner with Korea’s ADD, the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality, research has already begun.”
“Which companies are in the lead?”
“Ocean Systems and Korea Aviation. Those are the two most likely candidates, since they already supply drones to the Korean Ministry of National Defense.”
“Look into it.”
“But, Chief….”
“……?”
“This is still only a rumor, but apparently the head of South Korea’s National Security Office asked the Minister of National Defense for a personnel favor.”
“A personnel favor?”
“Yes. He supposedly said he wanted to plant one of his own people in the company developing the drone. If that’s true, then the company that person joins is likely to be the one selected as the production contractor.”
Liu Jianhao thought it made sense.
Across the world, the defense industry was the one where the most under-the-table money changed hands.
And the higher the rank, the more money one could receive.
“Should we send more people to South Korea?”
“No. We already have enough personnel deployed there.”
“Understood. Find out as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
Liu Jianhao issued his order, and the moment Chen Zhiyang left the room, he placed a call to South Korea.
