Hansin Textile (1)
“Aah!”
With one kick from Kang-hae, the foreigner tumbled across the floor.
Whoosh—
Another foreigner swung a steel pipe toward Kang-hae’s head.
Ha-yeong screamed when she saw it.
“Look out!”
But Kang-hae had already expected it.
He snapped his waist back and slipped the pipe with ease.
Bang—
The missed pipe slammed into the floor, and Kang-hae drove his fist into the man’s jaw.
The foreigner crumpled and collapsed to the ground.
Kang-hae picked up the steel pipe he had dropped.
The longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for him.
More of them could show up at any moment.
Kang-hae swung the pipe toward his opponent’s weak point.
Crash—
Steel pipe met steel pipe in midair.
Unlike the other man, who froze where he stood, Kang-hae’s legs kept moving.
Knee.
Stomach.
Jaw.
The foreigners cried out and fell in a heap.
Kang-hae grabbed one of them by the shoulder.
The fierce look in the man’s eyes from a moment ago was gone.
“I, I don’t know… I don’t know anything…”
The foreigner kept repeating the words in broken Korean.
Kang-hae held him by the shoulder and tightened his grip.
His thumb pressed hard into the man’s collarbone.
“Aaaagh!”
The scream burst from his mouth.
“When did you start making the drugs?”
“……!”
His eyes filled with even greater terror than before.
Again, Kang-hae tightened his grip.
Crack—
The foreigner’s collarbone broke.
Kang-hae released him, then got to his feet and walked over to Seong Ha-yeong.
She still looked stunned.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes… What about you, Kang-hae?”
“I’m fine.”
“But drugs…?”
Ha-yeong asked in disbelief.
“I smelled it.”
“……!”
When they’d first entered the factory, Kang-hae had assumed, just as Ha-yeong had, that the odor inside was some chemical used in the garment industry.
But the instant he saw the machines standing still, the water containers scattered across the floor, and the gas masks lying about, he realized what was happening here.
They were manufacturing drugs in this place.
“We should call the police first.”
With that, Ha-yeong quickly pulled out her phone.
Kang-hae picked up a length of rope discarded on the floor.
Then he bound the arms and legs of the foreigners sprawled on the ground.
A short while later, sirens wailed.
The police arrived.
Ha-yeong explained everything that had happened, and the police requested that they come in voluntarily for questioning.
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong rode together to the station.
Once the officers realized the two of them worked for the National Security Office, their attitude changed.
A few brief questions were asked and answered.
“You two came close to getting into serious trouble.”
When the questions were over, the detective said that.
“Then we can go now?” Ha-yeong asked.
“Yes. You’re free to leave.”
After hearing that, Ha-yeong rose from her seat.
But Kang-hae remained where he was.
He turned to the detective and asked, “Has there been any recent drug-related incident in Banwol Industrial Complex?”
“Huh? Well….”
“Have you received any suspicious tip-offs?”
“I don’t think so….”
“When was the most recent crackdown on illegal immigrants?”
“Immigration enforcement is under the Ministry of Justice, so….”
“Is the CSI still at the scene?”
“I think they’re still there….”
Kang-hae sounded less like a witness than an interrogator.
The detective looked flustered by the unexpected barrage of questions.
Ha-yeong was just as confused.
She tugged at Kang-hae’s collar.
“Kang-hae, I’m sure the detectives will investigate it properly.”
Only then did Kang-hae stand.
He handed the detective his business card, stamped with the National Security Office seal, and said, “If the investigation moves forward, I’d appreciate it if you could keep us informed. If needed, I can send an official request for cooperation.”
“Oh? No, no. I’ll call you myself.”
“Thank you.”
Only then did Kang-hae leave the station.
Ha-yeong followed after him and got into the car parked in the lot.
As Ha-yeong started the engine, she said, “Something does seem off.”
Kang-hae felt the same.
The fact that a company in the Kaesong Industrial Complex was manufacturing drugs sat badly with him.
“We need to look into it more closely.”
“Yes.”
The two of them drove back to the Government Complex Gwacheon office and immediately began digging into Hansin Textile.
Founded in 2001, Hansin Textile had moved into the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2007.
It manufactured garments for domestic clothing brands.
Among the apparel companies in the complex, it had posted the highest revenue.
In 2011, it was even listed on KOSDAQ.
By then, it had signed contracts not only in Korea but also with clothing brands in China and Europe.
But in April 2013, operations in the Kaesong Industrial Complex were suspended.
The company was thrown into crisis.
When the complex resumed operations that August, Hansin Textile was sued because it had taken advance payments over four months but failed to produce the clothing orders it had accepted.
In the end, it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.
“By 2015, it was delisted from KOSDAQ too. And Hansin Textile’s CEO changed as well—from Kim Seong-ju to someone named Lee Jeong-tae.”
As Ha-yeong sifted through the documents, she told Kang-hae what she’d found.
Then she went on, “Maybe debts became a problem when the Kaesong Industrial Complex shut down.”
At that moment, Kang-hae’s phone rang.
Bzzzzt—
It was the detective he’d met at the station earlier that day.
“Yes?”
[Yes. This is Detective Lee Seong-ju from Ansan Sangnok Police Station. We met earlier.]
“Did anything turn up?”
[We questioned the foreigners. They’re illegal immigrants.]
“Do you know when they came in?”
[According to the owner of the villa where they live, it’s been a while. More than five years, apparently.]
Five years.
Then they might have been making drugs for five years already.
“Did you find the CEO?”
[No. We filed a telecoms search warrant for now, but in cases like this, they usually go underground before the warrant even comes through…]
The detective trailed off.
“I understand.”
[Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. I’ll contact you if there’s any new information.]
“Thank you.”
After hanging up, Kang-hae said to Ha-yeong, “Could you look into Hansin Textile’s current CEO?”
“The current one?”
“Yes.”
“All right. I’ll check.”
“Then I’m going to meet Hansin Textile’s former CEO.”
If this were just a simple drug case, the police could handle it.
But this had happened at a company inside the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
North Korea might be involved too.
He needed to see for himself.
After work, Kang-hae went straight to Daerim to find the owner of Smart Fix.
“What is it now…?”
The moment the Smart Fix owner saw Kang-hae appear in his office, he grimaced as if the sky had fallen.
“I need you to find someone.”
“Someone…?”
“The man who founded a company called Hansin Textile. His name is Kim Seong-ju. Find him.”
“Th-that’s it…?”
“……?”
“No, I mean—at least tell me his age, family, or, hell, where he’s from.”
“So you can’t find him?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying it’ll take time….”
“Two days.”
“Two days?!”
The Smart Fix owner’s face turned even more wronged.
“Hansin Textile founder Kim Seong-ju. Exactly forty-eight hours.”
After saying that, Kang-hae walked back out of the office.
“Goddamn it, that kid’s younger than me and still talks like that….”
The Smart Fix owner muttered a curse under his breath.
Then he dug through his phone contacts and started making calls here and there to track down the man Kang-hae had described.
While Kang-hae was eating in the company cafeteria with Ha-yeong, his phone rang again.
“Yeah?”
[Yes. I found the former CEO of Hansin Textile, Kim Seong-ju, like you asked.]
“……!”
Kang-hae was a little surprised.
He had given the two-day deadline to pressure the man, and he himself had thought it would take longer because the information was so thin.
[Honestly, this wasn’t easy. But who do you think I am?]
The Smart Fix owner tried to boast about his own abilities.
“Cut the crap.”
[Huh?]
“Tell me where he is.”
[Yes. He’s working at an apartment construction site in Suwon right now. He’s even staying there, eating and sleeping on-site.]
“Got it.”
Kang-hae ended the call immediately.
Then he looked across the table at Ha-yeong, who was watching him with curious eyes.
“I found him.”
“Who?”
“Hansin Textile’s former CEO.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. I’ll need to take a half-day.”
“You’re going to meet him yourself?”
“Yes.”
“All right. I’ll report that you’re taking a half-day.”
“Thanks.”
Kang-hae stood.
“Um, Kang-hae.”
“Yes?”
“Be careful.”
“I will.”
Kang-hae gave Ha-yeong a short nod, then left the cafeteria.
And immediately drove to Pyeongtaek.
* * *
At a newly built apartment construction site in Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.
The moment Kang-hae arrived, he was greeted by the thick stream of curses echoing from all directions.
“Hey, Mr. Kim! What kind of twisted mess are you calling rebar? You run a pastry shop or something?”
“Pastry shop, my ass. Then do it yourself.”
“What was that, you say? You little shit. How old are you, anyway, you bastard?”
“Quit calling me bastard, you bastard!”
It was the kind of thing that happened on construction sites all the time.
The other laborers paid the people arguing no mind.
Kang-hae approached a group of a dozen or so men.
One man in his fifties looked at him and asked, “Who’re you?”
“I’m looking for someone.”
“Someone? I thought maybe you were from headquarters.”
He had mistaken Kang-hae’s suit for the kind of outfit someone from headquarters would wear.
“Do you know a man named Kim Seong-ju, the CEO of Hansin Textile?”
“CEO? Hey, young man. Who around here isn’t a former CEO in his prime?”
At that, one of the men who had heard Kang-hae chimed in.
“Didn’t the Kim guy under this foreman used to run some big clothing factory back in the day?”
“You actually believe that? Half the guys here claim they were executives at conglomerates or drove a Benz in their prime.”
Just then, a group of workers appeared carrying sacks of cement on their shoulders.
“Oh, there he is. That gentleman who used to run a clothing factory.”
Someone pointed at one of the new arrivals.
Kang-hae looked at him and saw a small, gaunt man well into his sixties.
The man met Kang-hae’s eyes too.
Then he stumbled backward and took off running.
Kang-hae chased after him.
Before long, the man was cornered at a dead end.
“Mr. Kim Seong-ju.”
Kang-hae called to him.
Kim Seong-ju, his face drained of color, snatched up a piece of lumber from the ground.
“Goddamn it… I said I’d pay you back! Why the hell are you coming all the way out here and making trouble…!”
Kang-hae realized that this was indeed Kim Seong-ju.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not here to collect money.”
“Don’t lie to me…!”
Kim Seong-ju swung the lumber through the air after that, but it was less a threat than a desperate attempt to keep Kang-hae from getting closer.
Kang-hae took out his identification card from his inner pocket.
“I work for the National Security Office. I came to ask about the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Put the lumber down.”
“Is that true…?”
“Yes.”
Kim Seong-ju still looked suspicious, but in the end, he lowered the board.
* * *
At a budae-jjigae place near the construction site.
“Sorry about earlier.”
Kim Seong-ju said that as he tossed back a shot of soju.
Kang-hae looked at him in silence.
Wrinkled skin, a face that looked like his health was hanging by a thread.
Hair thinned to a sad fringe.
Teeth missing in chunks.
There was no trace left of the man who had once headed a KOSDAQ-listed company with annual sales of 30 billion won.
“All right. What do you want to ask?”
“I understand that you used to run Hansin Textile before handing the company over to a man named Lee Jeong-tae.”
At Kang-hae’s words, Kim Seong-ju shuddered and spat out a curse.
“Damn that gangster bastard…!”
“Gangster?”
“Yeah. Gangster. Young man, have you ever heard of the Jeonguk gang?”
“……?”
It was unexpected.
Kang-hae’s eyes widened.
And Kim Seong-ju, now drunk, began to talk about the Jeonguk gang.