The True Purpose of the Report on the Next-Generation Stealth Drone Development Project (2)
In Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at the headquarters of Argon Air Systems.
The human resources staff at Argon Valley Air Systems, a company that developed defense drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, could not hide their bewilderment.
“So he doesn’t speak Korean?”
“Sorry.”
Even if it was only a formal interview, the man’s attitude was infuriatingly off-putting.
One of the interviewers asked again in English.
“Then would you introduce yourself in English?”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Daniel Kim. I was born in Seoul in 1988, but when I was three, my family immigrated to Canada. I studied accounting at the University of Vancouver, then built my career at various companies in Canada and the United States. I’m confident my background will be a tremendous asset to Argon Air Systems.”
“Is that your answer?”
“Yes.”
And just like that, the interview ended.
Afterward, the interviewers vented among themselves.
“Are we seriously supposed to hire that bastard?”
“The Defense Ministry’s planning a one-trillion-won project, you know.”
“Then who the hell is this Daniel Kim?”
“A parachute appointment from the Defense Ministry.”
“I heard it’s not the Defense Ministry, but the National Security Office.”
“Defense Ministry, National Security Office, ADD—it’s all the same rotten lot.”
“Why would they force someone in like that, though?”
“You know the lawmaker’s son who got a five-billion-won severance package last year?”
“Yeah.”
“Same thing.”
“Those in high places have transparent accounts, so if they want a little cut, they need another account to funnel it through.”
“Ah…”
“Later on, they’ll probably set up a shell company, sign a contract with it, and siphon the money off.”
“There are too many thieves in this world.”
“Then what does that make us, handing money to those thieves?”
“……”
“Anyway, that bastard’s major was accounting. I wonder how big a kickback he’s planning to skim.”
“No kidding.”
After the meeting between Ko Jeong-un and Choi Byeong-cheol.
Rumors began to spread through the defense industry.
The Defense Ministry was pushing ahead with a one-trillion-won project.
Defense contractors mobilized every connection they had to find out what the project was.
And within a day, word got around that it involved a stealth drone.
From companies already contracted with the Defense Ministry to newly established firms, everyone was desperate to get a foot in the door.
And Argon Air Systems, which had been supplying reconnaissance drones to the Defense Ministry since 2022, received a discreet call from a ministry official.
It was an employment request.
The official did not promise any compensation, but Argon Air Systems had no way to refuse.
Meanwhile, after finishing his interview at Argon Air Systems and stepping out of the building, Daniel Kim climbed into the passenger seat of the car parked in front.
“How’d it go?”
“It’s been a while since I used American English, and my palms are sweating like crazy.”
The man in the driver’s seat was Kang-hae.
And the Daniel Kim who had just returned from the interview was Jo Gwang-il.
The next day, Jo Gwang-il received a call telling him to start work the following week.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Some office tower on Teheran-ro in Gangnam, Seoul.
The top floor of a building that housed world-renowned investment banks and consulting firms.
That was where the Korean branch of Vestrich Investment, a company incorporated in Singapore, had its office.
Within South Korea, Vestrich Investment was known as a company that aggressively invested in startups.
It was active not only in investment but in publicity as well.
It contracted with a viral marketing firm to manage its blog and social media accounts.
It also ran a YouTube channel with more than 200,000 subscribers.
Every week, that channel uploaded videos featuring university professors and researchers from famous economic institutes.
Some of those videos surpassed two million views.
And not a single one of those two million viewers had the slightest idea that Vestrich Investment was a shell company operated by the External Intelligence Bureau of China’s Ministry of State Security.
Not even the employees who worked there knew the truth.
The head of Vestrich Investment’s Korean branch, Michael Jang, was a Singaporean in his early forties.
Thanks to his gym-honed, lean physique and the periodic dermatology treatments he received, he looked at least five years younger than he really was.
After graduating from New York University, Michael Jang had worked at Goldman Sachs and then at private equity firms in Hong Kong and Singapore, but that résumé was a lie.
Michael Jang was in fact an operative of the External Intelligence Bureau of China’s Ministry of State Security, based in Beijing.
His real name was Sun Wei.
After finishing a call with someone, Sun Wei summoned Mei Xin, the head of the investment screening team.
Knock, knock—
Mei Xin was also an operative of the External Intelligence Bureau.
She was a woman in her early thirties, not the kind of person one would call beautiful at first glance, but she possessed a distinctly sensual allure.
“You asked for me?”
“I found it.”
“……?”
“The company that will produce the stealth drone the Korean Defense Ministry plans to develop.”
“Which one is it?”
“Argon Air Systems.”
Sun Wei and Mei Xin both had a full grasp of the companies contracted with the Republic of Korea’s Defense Ministry, and Argon Air Systems was on the smaller side.
“That’s unexpected.”
“Which means there’ll be more money to intercept along the way.”
Sun Wei handed Mei Xin a manila envelope.
“I hear a parachute appointment recently landed at Argon Air Systems. His full background is in there, so take a look.”
“Understood.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Kim Yeong-woo, an assistant manager in the facilities team at Argon Air Systems, could not stand the new hire who had come in through the back door.
The man was older than him, yet showed not the slightest desire to work, and the way he carried himself—like the company was some college club—was deeply irritating.
What he disliked even more was that he had been the one assigned to look after the newcomer.
It was only because he was supposedly the best English speaker among the assistant managers.
Kim Yeong-woo shuttled back and forth to the factory in Cheongju.
And each time, Jo Gwang-il went with him.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“You really don’t know how to speak Korean?”
“Koreans are too suspicious.”
“Still, your parents are Korean. You must’ve spoken Korean at home.”
“Tolstoy said it best. Happy families are all alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
“……”
“Everyone has a painful story, Mr. Kim.”
With that, Jo Gwang-il took out his phone and began taking pictures of the scenery outside.
Click, click—
The sight made Kim Yeong-woo seethe.
He felt like a servant.
“Daniel.”
“Then you can’t drive either?”
“Of course I can~. I was the Lewis Hamilton of Vancouver.”
“So when we go from the factory to headquarters, do you want Daniel to drive?”
“Sadly, I don’t have a Korean license.”
Kim Yeong-woo swallowed his anger.
Then he tried again.
“Daniel seems like a very free-spirited person.”
Jo Gwang-il knew it was a dig, but he flashed a friendly smile and said,
“Thanks, Mr. Kim.”
“And since Daniel’s a Canadian citizen, I guess you didn’t serve in the military either?”
“Oh, the military. Back when I thought of life as a war, I was a soldier too.”
“Still, it’s good for a man to serve.”
Especially for a bastard like you!
He wanted to add that, but Kim Yeong-woo held the words back.
Jo Gwang-il, too, fought down the laughter threatening to burst out.
Then, suddenly, he grew curious.
What kind of expression would Kim Yeong-woo make if he knew Jo Gwang-il had once been a special operative from North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau?
And Kim Yeong-woo no longer wanted to talk.
The more this Daniel talked, the better he seemed at ruining a person’s mood.
But Kim Yeong-woo had been given one more order from above besides looking after Daniel.
He was supposed to determine exactly what line in the Defense Ministry Daniel belonged to.
And to figure that out, he had no choice but to keep talking.
In the end, Kim Yeong-woo, despite himself, kept exchanging words with Daniel.
And each time, he had to swallow the rising heat in his chest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
As soon as the weekend came, Jo Gwang-il headed to the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul.
There, he took in the exhibits.
From young couples to families with children in tow, the museum was packed with people admiring the displays.
Jo Gwang-il knew someone was watching him closely.
But he did not get impatient.
He wandered leisurely through the museum, and then stood for a long while before the ceramics displayed in the World Culture Gallery.
And there, reflected in the glass installed to protect the works, he spotted a woman approaching him.
It was Mei Xin.
Mei Xin came to stand beside Jo Gwang-il, and when he turned his head, she greeted him with a smile and a nod.
Jo Gwang-il returned the greeting in English.
“Beautiful.”
“……?”
“I mean this ceramic.”
Jo Gwang-il pointed to one of the pieces inside the glass.
Mei Xin smiled and replied in English.
“I misunderstood for a moment.”
“You’re beautiful too.”
“Haha. Nice to meet you. I’m Rachel.”
That was how Mei Xin introduced herself.
And in that brief instant, Jo Gwang-il studied her.
A woman in her early thirties, overflowing with sensual allure.
And that sensuality made him think she might just be the woman he had been waiting for.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Daniel Kim.”
“Are you Korean American?”
“I’m a Korean Canadian. But I can’t speak Korean, and I know a little English and Chinese.”
“That’s unusual. A Korean descendant who can’t speak Korean but can speak Chinese.”
“My ex-girlfriend was Chinese.”
“I…”
Mei Xin was about to introduce herself further, but—
“It’s all right.”
Jo Gwang-il cut her off.
“……?”
“I’d rather get to know you slowly.”
At those words, Mei Xin gave him a charming smile.
And something unspoken passed between Jo Gwang-il and Mei Xin.
Far from them, Kang-hae watched the two of them.
Kang-hae had worried whether Jo Gwang-il would be able to act the part convincingly.
But then he remembered that Jo Gwang-il had also lived under false identities while drifting through Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Macau during his days in Unit 35.
He believed he could pull it off.
And true to that belief, Jo Gwang-il seemed to be doing quite well.
Jo Gwang-il and Mei Xin moved to the café inside the central museum, where the former North Korean spy and the current Chinese spy drank coffee, talked, and exchanged business cards.
“You work for an investment company.”
“Yes. I majored in economics.”
“Sexy.”
“Hahaha.”
Mei Xin burst out laughing, and Jo Gwang-il laughed with her.
And inwardly, he thought the same thing he had suspected from the beginning.
She was an operative from the Ministry of State Security.
And at that same moment.
Director’s office of the NIS in Naegok-dong, Seoul.
Seo Seong-guk summoned Cha Tae-yeon, the NIS’s first deputy director.
Cha Tae-yeon, who had been spending a leisurely day at home with his family, came straight to the NIS and headed immediately to the director’s office.
Knock, knock—
“You asked to see me?”
“First Deputy Director.”
“Yes, Director.”
“There’s a department in the domestic division that tracks the movements of high-ranking figures inside the country.”
“Yes. It’s operational.”
“I heard something interesting.”
“What is it?”
“The National Security Office director allegedly put in a personnel request to the Defense Minister.”
The rumor that Ko Jeong-un had made a personnel request to Choi Byeong-cheol had become a topic of conversation among retired generals.
And naturally, it had reached the ears of Seo Seong-guk, himself a retired full general and former Defense Minister.
When he first heard it, Seo Seong-guk had not believed it.
Ko Jeong-un was not that kind of man.
But after current Defense Minister Choi Byeong-cheol told him the story personally, he had no choice but to believe it.
Seo Seong-guk called the first deputy director back again.
“First Deputy Director.”
“Yes, Director.”
“I heard he even handed the Defense Minister a project report.”
“Then…”
“Back when I was the inspector general at Army Headquarters, thirty billion won was deposited into the account of a company belonging to the fifth cousin of my senior from the Military Academy. The company that made the deposit had a contract with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Doesn’t a certain picture start to take shape?”
“I’ll look into it.”
“Ko Jeong-un is an extremely meticulous man. Make sure you investigate it thoroughly.”
“Understood.”
“You may go.”
The first deputy director left the office.
Seo Seong-guk clenched his fist.
This time, the opportunity had come.
An opportunity to really screw Ko Jeong-un over.