CIRO (1)
Kang-hae brought Seong Ha-yeong back to the hotel.
There was nothing more he needed to ask Kamajo Rei. He already knew the man who had orchestrated all of this was a regular at the twins’ jazz bar.
But before tracking him down, he had to catch Lee Jeong-tae first.
So after escorting Seong Ha-yeong to her room, Kang-hae left the hotel again.
He took a taxi to the Toyosaka Business Hotel, where Lee Jeong-tae was said to be staying.
＊ ＊ ＊
At the same time, in Room 804 of the Toyosaka Business Hotel, Lee Jeong-tae, who had crossed from Korea to Japan two weeks earlier, lay on the bed.
Ever since he began doing business with the Okamoto-gumi, Lee Jeong-tae had visited Japan regularly. Then, ten days ago, he heard that the Ansan factory had been raided by the police.
At first, he thought only that it was providence—that it had happened while he was in Japan.
But as time passed, doubts began to gnaw at him.
In nearly ten years, he had never once been investigated by the police. More importantly, only a handful of people even knew the Ansan factory existed.
Only the elder brother imprisoned in Wonju Prison and the organization’s core executives scattered across Southeast Asia knew about it.
That was why the workers at the factory had been illegal immigrant foreigners rather than Jeguk-pa members.
Suspicious faces drifted through Lee Jeong-tae’s mind one by one.
Knock, knock.
Then came the sound at the door.
Since arriving in Japan, Lee Jeong-tae had called in sex workers to his hotel room without fail every single day, and this time was no different.
He got to his feet.
Just the thought of taking a woman to bed sent blood rushing through his body. He would settle his lust first, and worry about the rest later.
Click.
Lee Jeong-tae opened the hotel door and came face to face with two broad-shouldered men standing outside.
“W-What the hell……!”
He froze, and before he could react, the two men were already moving into the room.
Backing away, Lee Jeong-tae drew the knife tucked at his waist.
“Who, who the fuck are you!”
He cursed and slashed the air, but neither man looked remotely afraid.
Whoosh—
The younger of the two seized Lee Jeong-tae’s knife hand and twisted his wrist the wrong way.
“Aaagh—!”
With a scream, Lee Jeong-tae dropped the knife to the floor.
Thud.
The man put strength into the hold and drove him down hard onto the floor.
Lee Jeong-tae looked up at the two men, his arm still wrenched.
One appeared to be in his late thirties, while the man twisting his arm looked to be in his late twenties. The hierarchy between them was obvious.
Lee Jeong-tae tried to guess who they were.
Police.
Soldiers.
Gangsters.
One of the three.
Then the man who looked to be in his late thirties gave the younger one a gesture to stop, and the younger man released Lee Jeong-tae’s arm.
“Mr. Lee Jeong-tae.”
The older man spoke. His Korean was fluent.
“Ten years ago, after you acquired Hansin Textiles, you used the Gaeseong Industrial Complex to bring Phil-xon from North Korea into South Korea.”
“……!”
“Not only did you distribute the drugs domestically, you exported them to Japan as well. Because of that, you rose to power within the organization you belong to. It was a brilliant idea.”
“H-How…….”
Lee Jeong-tae was in chaos.
Even the Okamoto-gumi faction that supplied the drugs did not know about it. Bringing North Korean Phil-xon in through the Gaeseong Industrial Complex had been a secret sealed tight.
“P-Police……?”
That was Lee Jeong-tae’s first guess.
At first, he thought they might be police. But almost immediately, he revised that conclusion.
If they were police, they wouldn’t have done this much. They would have slapped on handcuffs and taken him straight in.
If not police, then perhaps they were killers sent by the yakuza.
Maybe they belonged to a rival group of the Okamoto-gumi, or maybe the Okamoto-gumi itself wanted to eliminate him in advance before he became a problem.
But……
Something about that didn’t feel right either.
If they meant to kill him, they wouldn’t have bothered with such a long explanation.
“What do you want……?”
Lee Jeong-tae asked again, and the older man answered.
“The South Korean government requested joint investigative cooperation recently. You are now the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.”
“…….”
“You have only two choices. Be arrested now and deported to Korea, or come with us.”
“Who the hell are you……?”
“The Cabinet Intelligence Investigation Office.”
“The Cabinet Intelligence Investigation Office……? What is that……?”
“Think of it as Japan’s equivalent of the NIS.”
“Japan’s NIS……? Why would a place like that want me……?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
“…….”
“We don’t have time to dawdle. Choose quickly.”
Lee Jeong-tae fell silent, thinking.
He couldn’t begin to guess why an agency like Japan’s NIS would want him.
But as the man said, if he were deported to Korea, no matter how talented the lawyers he hired, he would be sentenced to at least ten years in prison.
That was impossible.
Lee Jeong-tae left the hotel with them.
＊ ＊ ＊
The moment Lee Jeong-tae slipped out of the hotel with the Cabinet Intelligence Investigation Office agents, Kang-hae arrived at the Toyosaka Business Hotel.
It was a hair’s breadth too late, though he did not know it, and he took the room next to Lee Jeong-tae’s.
Then he waited until sunrise, straining his ears for any sound from next door.
But nothing came from the adjoining room.
Click.
Only in the early morning did he finally hear the door to the next room open.
Kang-hae came out of his room at once.
He saw the housekeeper about to clean Lee Jeong-tae’s room.
Kang-hae checked the room Lee Jeong-tae had been staying in, and only then realized that Lee Jeong-tae was gone.
His rage rose to the top of his head.
Someone had clearly warned him that Kang-hae was coming. It had to have been one of the yakuza.
Kang-hae left the hotel and headed for the home of Kurosawa Genji, the Okamoto-gumi oyabun.
Bam, bam, bam.
He pounded on Kurosawa Genji’s door hard. The moment it opened, Kang-hae shoved past the yakuza and stormed inside.
The yakuza in the garden blocked his way, but—
Thud.
Thud, thud.
Kang-hae dropped them in an instant and went to Kurosawa Genji’s room without even taking off his shoes.
Several yakuza shouted when they saw it, but the murderous aura rolling off Kang-hae kept them from rushing him.
Swish—
Kang-hae violently shoved Kurosawa Genji’s door open and saw him in pajamas, drinking tea.
“What brings you here?” Kurosawa Genji asked in Japanese, then seemed to remember that Kang-hae didn’t speak it and called for one of his underlings who knew Korean.
While they waited for the interpreter to arrive, he looked past Kang-hae at the men standing behind him.
The times really have changed……
Watching his men fail to stop the Korean beast, Kurosawa Genji sank into thought.
Back when he himself had been a subordinate, men had been willing to stake their lives to protect the oyabun.
But yakuza no longer accepted death so readily.
What mattered most to them now was their own lives and their money.
By then, the interpreter had arrived.
Kurosawa Genji asked again what had brought him there.
“I didn’t know you could lie so easily with one mouth.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lee Jeong-tae has disappeared.”
“…….”
“One of two things happened. Either you or one of your men told him I was coming.”
“Wait a moment.”
Kurosawa Genji took out his phone and called the hotel manager where Lee Jeong-tae had been staying.
“It’s me.”
[Mr. Kurosawa! What brings you to call so early in the morning?]
The hotel manager’s voice on the other end was deferential.
“Did my guest leave the hotel last night?”
[Yes, sir. He checked out last night!]
“Last night?”
[Yes!]
“Alone?”
[Would you mind if I looked into it a little more and called you back?]
“I hope it won’t take long.”
After hanging up, Kurosawa Genji looked at Kang-hae.
There was still nothing but distrust in Kang-hae’s eyes, and not a trace of fear.
Buzz—
Just then, the hotel manager called back.
[Sorry to keep you waiting!]
“No matter.”
[I just checked the hotel CCTV. Lee Jeong-tae checked out last night with a group of men wearing suits.]
“I’d like to see the CCTV footage.”
[I’ll send it right away!]
After the call ended, the hotel surveillance video arrived as a message almost immediately.
Kurosawa Genji held out his phone to Kang-hae, and Kang-hae watched the footage.
After replaying it several times, Kang-hae was able to guess who they were.
＊ ＊ ＊
In the forested outskirts of Akiruno City, on the edge of a valley far from any private homes, stood a two-story wooden house known locally as a family villa for forestry inspectors.
In truth, it was one of the safe houses used by the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence Investigation Office, and in the first-floor interrogation room, Lee Jeong-tae, who had come over from Kobe the previous night, sat in a chair.
Through the large glass window of the interrogation room, Shuichi Hirasawa, head of Section 4 of External Intelligence Division 2, and Senior Investigator Haruto Sato of Team 2 watched him.
Section 4 of External Intelligence Division 2 of the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence Investigation Office was the department responsible for North Korea, South Korea, and the zainichi-related organizations in Japan.
“Hey, Haruto-kun.”
Shuichi Hirasawa called out to Sato Haruto.
“Yes, Chief.”
“Up above, they seem to want to use that Korean yakuza bastard as a bargaining chip.”
“I see.”
Hirasawa Shuichi stared at Lee Jeong-tae like a predator eyeing prey and said, “You know, my major in college was history.”
A year earlier, Hirasawa Shuichi, a former aide to a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, had been appointed chief of Section 4.
There had been plenty of talk about a Nagatacho man being placed in a post usually filled by someone who had built a career in the Foreign Ministry or the Self-Defense Forces. Nagatacho was where Japan’s National Diet, the House of Representatives and House of Councillors, and the headquarters of the major political parties were concentrated.
Hirasawa Shuichi went on.
“Do you like history too?”
“I can’t say I know much about it.”
“During the era of Japan’s annexation of Korea, our Great Japanese Empire laid rails in Joseon, paved roads there, and built schools to civilize the place. That country swarming with savages, I mean.”
“Is that so.”
“And that Korean yakuza bastard will help us again.”
Sato Haruto only listened quietly to his superior’s words, while Hirasawa Shuichi continued in high spirits.
“If it becomes known that the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in Korea was used all this time as a channel for North Korean drugs, do you think the new industrial complex the South Korean government is trying to push now can still be built?”
Last year, the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters investigated drug smuggling from overseas and picked up intelligence that yakuza in the Kobe area were bringing North Korean Phil-xon into Japan through Korean gangsters.
The matter was reported to the Cabinet Intelligence Investigation Office, and External Intelligence Division 2 set up a separate team.
After a year of investigation, they discovered that a Korean gangster had acquired a company that had been operating inside the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and used it to smuggle North Korean drugs into South Korea.
And the moment they learned that Lee Jeong-tae, the Korean gangster who had led the operation, had entered Japan, they began tracking him.
“Oh, right. Have you identified the staff who came over from Korea?”
“Yes. The employees from the Korea Chamber of Commerce weren’t involved in anything unusual.”
“Then?”
“But two people from the National Security Office, one man and one woman, seemed a little suspicious.”
“Why? Were they sweet on each other or something?”
Sato Haruto found his superior’s imagination pathetic, but he didn’t show it.
He continued.
“After the man came to Kobe, he made contact with the yakuza.”
“The yakuza……?”
“Yes. And last night, a physical incident occurred in front of the hotel.”
“A physical incident?”
“A host bar man and the men he hired approached the female National Security Office employee.”
“A host bar……?!”
Hirasawa Shuichi frowned.
“You said that woman comes from a chaebol family.”
“Yes. She’s the eldest granddaughter of South Korea’s Ilseong Group.”
“Well, that makes it obvious. She came all the way to Japan, so he probably just wanted to have some dirty fun.”
“I’ll verify it.”
Hirasawa Shuichi dismissed the matter without much thought.
But unlike his direct superior, Sato Haruto felt they needed to look a little more carefully into the South Korean National Security Office staff.