CIRO (2)
Na Kang-hae returned to the hotel.
But instead of going up to Seong Ha-yeong’s room, he called her.
"Yes?"
"Come down to the hotel lobby now."
"Right now?"
"Yes."
"All right."
Kang-hae believed the men who had taken Lee Jeong-tae were from Japan’s Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.
The CCTV clip had been brief, but their gait and their tightly restrained movements were those of trained men.
From here on out, he would have to be careful.
He assumed the room was bugged.
And, just as he suspected, it was.
While waiting for Seong Ha-yeong, Kang-hae spotted people watching him through the glass wall.
One employee at the front desk, staring straight at him without even pretending not to.
And a couple in their thirties seated in the lobby chairs, reading a newspaper.
Five minutes later, Seong Ha-yeong came down to the lobby without makeup.
"Let’s take a walk."
With that, Kang-hae led the way out of the hotel.
Through the lobby windows, he confirmed that the couple sitting in the chairs had followed behind them.
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong walked side by side around the hotel.
Then Kang-hae spoke first.
"Listen carefully to what I’m about to say."
"Yes?"
"Don’t show it on your face. And don’t look back."
"All right."
"We’re being tailed. There’s probably a bug in your room, too."
"...!"
"The Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office in Japan intercepted Lee Jeong-tae."
"The Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office...?"
"Don’t make calls in the room from now on. If you need to talk, use a subway station, stand in front of a fountain, or, if that’s not possible, only speak where there are lots of people."
Kang-hae went on, telling her everything she would need to be careful about from here on out.
And Seong Ha-yeong sorted through her thoughts.
If even Japan’s Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office had moved.
Then she would have to report to Ko Jeong-un as well.
"I should report this to the director first."
"Do that."
Kang-hae agreed that was the right move.
That didn’t mean, however, that he intended to give up on finding Lee Jeong-tae.
Regardless of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office’s surveillance, he planned to find him.
He had something to ask Lee Jeong-tae.
For a moment, silence hung between them.
"And, also..."
"...?"
"Last night... thank you."
"It was nothing."
"I, uh, maybe..."
"...?"
"Never mind..."
But Seong Ha-yeong stopped herself before she could go on.
She wanted to know who was behind the people who had tried to harm her.
And she thought Kang-hae might be able to find that out for her.
But asking him for that kind of favor while they were being tailed by the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office felt shameless.
"You want to know who did it?"
"...!"
Kang-hae had guessed what she’d been about to say.
And from the wavering look in Seong Ha-yeong’s eyes, he knew he was right.
"I’ll look into it."
"You don’t have to go out of your way."
"It’s fine."
"Thank you..."
After saying that, Kang-hae escorted her back to the hotel entrance.
Then he called Lin Xiaojing.
He asked about the man who had come to the jazz bar last night and spoken with her about Seong Ha-yeong.
And Lin Xiaojing gave him the address of Seto Masaki’s office.
Near Kanocho, Chuo Ward, Kobe.
Kanocho was a district of entertainment venues, offices, and old buildings thrown together in no particular order.
It didn’t have much in the way of a distinctive character.
Seto Masaki’s office was in a five-story building that had been standing for forty years.
By the time Kang-hae arrived, it was already past nine in the morning.
He could have gotten there sooner.
But to shake the man and woman tailing him, he had switched between the subway and buses several times.
That had cost him time.
“Welcome.”
The moment the office door opened, Seto Masaki stood up from his desk and said that.
And the instant he saw Kang-hae enter, his hand drifted toward his waist.
Ever since becoming a private detective, Seto Masaki had been forced to deal with every kind of bastard imaginable, from stalkers to yakuza to gangsters.
He always carried a gas gun for protection.
"If you draw that, you die."
And Kang-hae said that to the man whose hand was moving toward his waist.
Gulp.
Seto Masaki swallowed without a word.
A young Korean man...
He understood instantly that the man standing before him was the one who had ruined everything the night before.
The one who had dropped three hulking men, each over a hundred kilos, in an instant.
And who had then gone on to smash the face and balls of the top ace at Tokyo’s most exclusive host club.
"Did you need something, or...?"
But Seto Masaki played dumb, acting as though he knew nothing.
In that instant, Kang-hae shot out his left hand and clamped it around Seto Masaki’s throat.
Then, tightening his grip, he pressed hard against Seto Masaki’s carotid artery.
"Kekh... khekh..."
Seto Masaki coughed and thrashed.
He reached for his waist again, but by then the gas gun tucked there had already been taken into Kang-hae’s other hand.
"Cough, cough..."
When Kang-hae let go, Seto Masaki erupted into a violent fit of coughing.
"The park in front of the hotel last night."
"...."
"Who ordered it."
"I-I don’t know what you mean..."
Bang.
Kang-hae fired the gas gun into Seto Masaki’s face.
The CS gas inside blasted across his features.
"Aaaagh!"
Seto Masaki screamed and collapsed to the floor.
After that, feeling unimaginable pain in his eyes and nose, he clutched his face and kept coughing for a long time.
Then Kang-hae stepped down on the man’s testicles as he lay there on the floor.
"Aaaagh—!"
Seto Masaki’s scream was even louder than before.
"I won’t ask twice. Who ordered it?"
Only then did he understand.
This man acted first and talked later.
If he didn’t say it now, he’d never be able to function as a man again.
"I-I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!"
Seto Masaki shouted in a panic.
Kang-hae lifted his foot from the man’s crotch.
Seto Masaki pulled a wallet from his pocket.
Then he handed over a business card.
"Th-this person ordered it..."
Kang-hae took the card from him.
And checked the words printed on it.
Hanbando Construction
CEO Kang Man-sik
Meanwhile, while Kang-hae was on his way to meet Seto Masaki.
Seong Ha-yeong headed for the subway station closest to the hotel.
Just as Kang-hae had said, the station was noisy.
There, she figured, she wouldn’t need to worry about being wiretapped.
Once she arrived, Seong Ha-yeong called Ko Jeong-un.
She told him that Lee Jeong-tae had been snatched away by Japan’s Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.
Ko Jeong-un reported it to Kim Jin-cheol as soon as their call ended.
Kim Jin-cheol immediately summoned his aides and the director of the National Intelligence Service.
"So you’re telling me a Korean organized crime outfit was bringing drugs in from North Korea through the Kaesong Industrial Complex?!"
Kim Jin-cheol demanded, his anger rising.
"It was something that happened in the past."
"Strictly speaking, it has nothing to do with our current government."
That was what the aides said.
"So you’re saying it doesn’t matter even if this gets out?!"
At Kim Jin-cheol’s shout, everyone fell silent.
A frozen atmosphere settled over the office.
After a moment of thought, Kim Jin-cheol called his chief secretary, Jeong Seong-woo.
"Chief Secretary."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"The press?"
"Not yet."
"Then tell the police to keep their investigation as confidential as possible."
"Understood, Your Excellency."
Kim Jin-cheol issued the order to Jeong Seong-woo.
He knew the directive could be criticized as an abuse of power or political pressure.
But everyone present understood how serious the matter was.
No one could object.
"Why on earth did the Japanese take that gangster away?"
Kim Jin-cheol said, looking around the room.
"Maybe they want a spoon in on the second Kaesong Industrial Complex."
Jeong Seong-woo answered.
And everyone in the room nodded at his assessment.
If word got out that drugs from North Korea had been brought in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex, it would deal a serious blow to the second Kaesong Industrial Complex project.
"So does that mean Japanese companies want to take part in the second Kaesong Industrial Complex project?"
"Possibly. Or they may be trying to force the foreign resident companies we’re planning."
"Haaah..."
Kim Jin-cheol let out a long sigh.
He had no idea what Japan’s true motive was in holding on to Lee Jeong-tae.
But it was obvious there was something sinister behind it, and Lee Jeong-tae was no different from a ticking bomb.
"Director of the National Intelligence Service."
Kim Jin-cheol called Hong Gyeong-pyo, the newly appointed director of the NIS.
After Seo Seong-guk’s death, the NIS had been thrown into confusion.
The presidential staff decided to appoint an internal figure rather than someone from outside the agency.
And Hong Gyeong-pyo, the third deputy director who had long enjoyed strong trust within the NIS, was named director.
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"Don’t you have any good ideas?"
"There is also the option of eliminating him."
As someone who had spent more than twenty years in the NIS working as a black operative, he didn’t hesitate for even a second.
At Hong Gyeong-pyo’s words, the room went still.
And Kim Jin-cheol sank into thought.
Back at the hotel, Kang-hae called Seong Ha-yeong out again.
In front of the hotel, he held out the business card Seto Masaki had given him.
And the moment Seong Ha-yeong checked the name printed on it, she began to tremble.
"You know the place?"
"This Hanbando Construction...!"
"...?"
"...."
But Seong Ha-yeong still couldn’t bring herself to finish.
A moment later, tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
"Hanbando Construction... The cargo truck that hit my father’s car belonged to this company... And Hanbando Construction is also the company that signed a subcontract with Ilsung Plant."
"If it’s Ilsung Plant..."
"The man you saw at the restaurant before, Kang-hae... that’s my uncle’s company."
"...."
Kang-hae looked at her without saying a word.
In the end, Seong Ha-yeong could not hold back her tears.
Her shoulders shook.
Until that moment, there had still been a corner of her heart clinging to maybe.
No matter how much someone wanted to seize a company, could they really kill a brother?
But the instant she realized her uncle, Seong Jae-hyeon, had been the one trying to harm her...
she became certain that her uncle had killed her father.
"Do you want revenge?"
Kang-hae asked her that.
"...."
Seong Ha-yeong could not answer easily.
Of course she wanted revenge.
But she had no idea how to even begin.
"If you need my help, tell me."
Kang-hae said that.
And those words had come out unexpectedly.
What mattered most to Kang-hae was his own revenge.
He had run without rest for that revenge.
And if he helped Seong Ha-yeong with hers, his own could be delayed.
But...
He couldn’t bring himself to turn his back on her, not when she stood in such a similar place.
"Thank you..."
"...."
For a little while, silence passed between them.
"Then let’s go inside."
Kang-hae said that.
And just as the two of them were about to head back into the hotel, zzzzzzt—
His phone buzzed.
It was Ko Jeong-un calling.
"This is Na Kang-hae."
"Are you alone?"
"No. I’m with Seong Ha-yeong."
"Anything unusual?"
"Nothing so far."
"The NIS has decided to eliminate Lee Jeong-tae."
...!
The moment he heard that, Kang-hae shut his eyes tight, then opened them again.
The worst fear had finally come true.
Lee Jeong-tae had been taken from him.
And Lee Jeong-tae had to be killed by his own hand.
Before that, there were things he needed to confirm.