The Japanese Desk of the National Intelligence Service, Part 1
Yesterday afternoon.
As soon as Lee Hyeon-cheol, the consular officer at the Consulate General in Kobe, hung up after speaking with Kang-hae, he called Park Do-hyeon, the team leader of the NIS External Intelligence Bureau’s Japan Division.
Park Do-hyeon was the overall commander of the operation to eliminate Lee Jeong-tae.
The moment he heard that Kang-hae had turned off his phone, he led his team straight to the hotel where Kang-hae was staying.
Members of the External Intelligence Bureau’s Japan Division spread out through the hotel parking lot and the area nearby.
Park Do-hyeon and one teammate parked in a public lot near the hotel and watched it closely.
And that night, they saw Kang-hae get into a black nine-seater vehicle parked in front of the hotel.
That black vehicle was clearly one operated by Japan’s Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.
And then, at that moment—
“Team Leader! The tracker is responding!”
One of the team members said as much.
Among the items Lee Hyeon-cheol had given Kang-hae at the Consulate General in Kobe was a tracking device.
The device was shaped like a Tylenol capsule, and it had been designed to activate when it came into contact with stomach acid.
Which meant Kang-hae had swallowed it.
Park Do-hyeon immediately called Lee Hyeon-cheol.
[Yeah.]
“What was the last thing that bastard said?”
[He said that if you followed him, that would be enough.]
Lee Hyeon-cheol relayed Kang-hae’s final words before the call ended, and Park Do-hyeon fell into thought.
Then, just then, the car Kang-hae was in pulled away from the hotel.
“Team Leader! The car’s moving.”
“Did the bastard get out?”
“No. He’s still inside.”
...
If he was taking the tracking device and going somewhere with Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office agents, then it had to be a signal.
Park Do-hyeon decided to follow Kang-hae.
* * *
Park Do-hyeon and eight team members were watching the safe house from the foot of the mountain behind it.
All of them were former special forces operators.
Park Do-hyeon himself had come from the UDT special assault unit.
Before long, the power-cutting team searching the area found a transmission tower connected to the safe house about three hundred meters away and sent word that they had cut the electricity.
Park Do-hyeon gave the drone team their orders.
Several drones modified from DJI Matrice 300 RTK models moved toward the safe house.
Each drone carried an HMX high-explosive impact round.
Then the high-explosive rounds dropped onto the safe house.
BOOM—
The blast rang all the way into the interior.
Hirasawa Shuichi screamed.
“What the hell is going on, Haruto-kun!”
“It looks like an attack.”
“An attack?!”
Sato Haruto glared at Kang-hae in the interrogation room and said,
“Probably the Koreans from the NIS or military intelligence.”
“Then...”
“This bastard must be behind it.”
There was an edge of accusation in Sato Haruto’s voice.
“We should evacuate first.”
“There’s no need.”
“What?”
“You know this safe house was built to withstand attacks like this.”
As Sato Haruto said, the safe house had been designed to withstand assault.
Even the windows were blast-resistant glass used in nuclear power plants.
And the basement was lined with military-grade seismic steel.
What was more, armed Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office agents were waiting inside.
Time, too, was not on their side.
But Hirasawa Shuichi was already terrified.
“We’ll use the underground passage to the back mountain.”
He decided to flee through the safe house’s underground passage connected to the rear mountain.
At that sight, Sato Haruto made no effort to hide his contempt.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and move!”
Hirasawa Shuichi shouted at the other agents, avoiding Sato Haruto’s gaze, and after weighing his mood, they guided him to the door connected to the emergency passage.
Then Sato Haruto entered the interrogation room.
He immediately drew his gun and pointed it at Kang-hae.
“You’re the one who did this...!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Sato Haruto slammed the grip of his pistol into Kang-hae’s head.
Drip—
Blood ran down from Kang-hae’s forehead.
“I’ve run out of patience. If you try anything pointless, I’ll shoot you on the spot.”
Sato Haruto issued the warning.
Then, after forcing Kang-hae and Lee Jeong-tae to put their hands behind their backs, he cuffed their wrists and led them toward the underground passage.
The underground passage connecting to the back mountain was a little over a kilometer long.
Its height was less than two meters.
Lee Jeong-tae followed the group walking ahead, with Kang-hae behind him.
Sato Haruto walked at the very back, keeping his gun trained on Kang-hae’s back.
Half an hour later, the three of them reached the point connected to the back mountain.
Hirasawa Shuichi and the agents were waiting for them there.
Kang-hae looked up.
A huge cylindrical shaft like a well opened overhead, and ten meters above them a large manhole cover was visible.
Along one side of the shaft, a steel structure had been built into the wall, serving as a ladder.
“Then let’s go.”
Hirasawa Shuichi sent his subordinates up first, just in case, and followed after them.
Kang-hae looked at Sato Haruto and said,
“My hands are cuffed behind me.”
Sato Haruto kept his gun on Kang-hae’s chest and said,
“If it were only your hands bound in front, you could still climb.”
At Sato Haruto’s order, a subordinate unlocked the cuffs on Kang-hae’s wrists and then recuffed them in front of him.
“I’ll say it again: if you pull any nonsense, a bullet goes into the back of your head.”
Lee Jeong-tae went up the shaft first.
Then Kang-hae followed.
As he climbed the steel structure, Kang-hae quickly slipped his finger into his mouth.
Then he pulled out the three-centimeter ceramic pin he had hidden deep in his gums before coming here.
A three-centimeter pin was enough.
Enough to unlock the cuffs on his wrists.
The moment Kang-hae emerged from the manhole, he got the cuffs off and found his target.
Hirasawa Shuichi.
Hirasawa Shuichi was also scanning his surroundings with a frightened expression, and the instant Kang-hae came out of the manhole, he lunged at him.
Then he ripped the gun from Hirasawa Shuichi’s waist.
The Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office agents immediately raised their weapons, but they couldn’t fire for fear of shooting their superior.
Kang-hae did not miss that split second.
He stood behind Hirasawa Shuichi and pressed the gun to his temple.
“この野郎!”
Sato Haruto swore in Japanese the moment he saw it and aimed his gun.
“Sorry about that.”
“I’ll kill you...!”
“Then this man dies.”
Shuddering, Sato Haruto’s hand trembled on the grip of his gun.
If it had been up to him, he would have fired regardless of whether his superior lived or died.
But he couldn’t do that in front of his subordinates.
It would cause problems later.
“Drop the guns on the ground. And go back inside.”
That was what Kang-hae said.
Hirasawa Shuichi didn’t understand Korean, but he realized Kang-hae had given some kind of order, and he shouted in order to stay alive.
“What are you doing? Do as this man says, now!”
...
In the end, Sato Haruto set his gun down on the ground.
The other agents, after hesitating, also laid their guns down.
Kang-hae pointed with his chin toward the manhole cover, and Sato Haruto ordered his men to head back into the secret passage.
“If that door opens again, a bullet goes into this bastard’s skull.”
Before the door closed, Kang-hae left Sato Haruto with a warning.
Bang—
The secret passage door shut, and Kang-hae trained his gun on Hirasawa Shuichi’s back.
“Lead the way.”
Hirasawa Shuichi realized what that meant.
Then Kang-hae pointed his gun at Lee Jeong-tae, who was trembling with fear and said,
“Stay close.”
Lee Jeong-tae nodded hard.
He had no idea what was going on.
But it was clear that this young man was not one of Japan’s intelligence-service bastards, and he was gripped by the fear that he might be shot at any moment.
So he stood behind Hirasawa Shuichi as Kang-hae ordered.
Hirasawa Shuichi took the lead and walked up the mountain path, while Kang-hae followed the two of them from the rear, keeping watch for Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office agents who might come after them.
Twenty minutes later, they reached a village with private homes.
Kang-hae took the pistol in both hands, reversed it, and smashed Hirasawa Shuichi on the head.
Thwack—
Hirasawa Shuichi lost consciousness at once.
Kang-hae then pointed the gun at Lee Jeong-tae.
“P-please... spare me...!”
Lee Jeong-tae cried out in panic.
The attitude he had shown in the interrogation room was long gone.
“Come with me.”
Lee Jeong-tae was still terrified and nodded without saying a word.
Kang-hae checked the cars parked in front of the houses and found the oldest one there.
Among them, an old black Toyota Corolla caught his eye.
Kang-hae smashed the driver’s side window with his elbow.
As expected, there was no break-in sensor.
He quickly pulled off the cover beneath the steering wheel, found the battery cable and starter cable, and stripped the insulation away.
Then he touched the two wires together.
Click—
After a brief shudder, the engine came to life.
Hah...
Kang-hae let out a sigh of relief, then opened the trunk.
And he said to Lee Jeong-tae, who was standing there blankly,
“Get in.”
Kang-hae pointed the pistol at the trunk.
Still terrified, Lee Jeong-tae obediently climbed into it.
* * *
Near Nakagawa Ward, Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
The place Kang-hae drove to was a derelict warehouse two hours from the outskirts of Tokyo.
About one and a half kilometers from the coast, it was an abandoned industrial complex.
It was the place the twin sisters had told him about.
The moment Kang-hae arrived at the derelict warehouse, he got out of the car and opened the trunk.
Whoosh—
The trunk had barely opened before Lee Jeong-tae’s leg shot out, but Kang-hae had been expecting it and twisted lightly aside to avoid the kick.
Right after that, he brought the trunk lid crashing down.
The lid slammed onto Lee Jeong-tae’s shin as he tried to get out, and with a crack—
At the same time as a fracture ran through Lee Jeong-tae’s shinbone,
“Aaaagh—!”
his scream echoed through the air.
Kang-hae grabbed Lee Jeong-tae by the hair, writhing in pain, and dragged him out of the trunk.
Lee Jeong-tae limped.
“Argh, m-my leg...! P-please, spare me...!”
He pleaded frantically, but Kang-hae wordlessly led him into the warehouse.
Swish—
He flung him onto the warehouse floor, and Lee Jeong-tae rolled across it.
“I-I’ll tell you everything...!”
“Tell me what.”
“W-who covered for us at Gaeseong Industrial Complex...!”
“Talk.”
“There’s a room salon in Gangnam called Blue Velvet...”
“A room salon?”
“There’s a bar hostess named Hana there, and it’s at the officetel where she’s living...!”
“You entrusted the data to a bar girl?”
“It’s a house we bought under our company name...! It was originally for storing the data, but that woman Hana said to find her a place to live, so we told her to use it for now...! I-I’m telling the truth...! B-believe me...!”
“Exactly where in the officetel is it?”
“There’s a hidden safe in the pantry...!”
“The password?”
“7777...”
Kang-hae looked down at him silently.
Lee Jeong-tae met his eyes, shaking with terror.
“I believe you.”
“R-really...? T-then you’ll spare me, right...?”
“I’ve still got more to ask.”
“W-what...?”
“There are records showing he went back and forth to Cambodia starting seven years ago.”
“O-our company’s servers for the illegal gambling sites were there...!”
“Then do you know a man named Na Dong-hae?”
“N-Na Dong-hae...?”
After that, Lee Jeong-tae racked his memory with everything he had.
“The SNU guy...?”
“That’s right.”
“B-but why the hell are you—”
“Na Dong-hae is my older brother.”
!
At Kang-hae’s words, Lee Jeong-tae’s face went white.
He had already been terrified a moment ago, but now his expression could not even be compared to what it had been then.
“P-please, spare me...!”
“For the past five years, I’ve been waiting for today and nothing else. I kept thinking about how I’d kill the trash who murdered my brother.”
Shaking his head, Kang-hae went on.
“Y-your brother... you mean Na Dong-hae is dead?”
“Don’t expect a peaceful death.”
“J-just a second!”
Lee Jeong-tae scrambled backward and shouted in a panic, and Kang-hae slowly advanced toward him.
Then Lee Jeong-tae screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Y-your brother, Na Dong-hae, i-isn’t d-dead...!”
Kang-hae thought he must have misheard.
But Lee Jeong-tae repeated the same words once more.
“Na Dong-hae is alive!”