The Man Behind the Curtain
It had been an abrupt offer.
But Kang-hae refused it without hesitation.
"I'm sorry."
The first thing Kang-hae had to do was confirm whether what Lee Jeong-tae had said was true.
He needed to know, first and foremost, whether his brother was still alive—or already dead.
"If I recommend you, there won't be any special screening."
"I appreciate it, but I have something to do."
Kang-hae turned down Park Do-hyun's offer a second time, and Park Do-hyun didn't press him any further.
That night, with guidance from the Japan team of the National Intelligence Service's Overseas Intelligence Bureau, Kang-hae boarded a cargo ship bound for Busan Port.
It took more than a full day to reach Busan.
NIS personnel were waiting for him there, and they took Kang-hae to Seoul.
* * *
Near Sajik-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
A three-story building known publicly as the research center of the Unification Policy and Culture Foundation.
Seminars and academic conferences on unification were held there every quarter, but the building was also one of the NIS's covert interrogation rooms.
In the second basement level, there were interrogation rooms and detention facilities.
On B2, Kang-hae was questioned in an interrogation room.
The NIS agents had the full record of his calls and financial transactions from the last six months.
They kept up their questioning with relentless persistence.
And whenever Kang-hae's answers contained even a minor inconsistency, they would drag everything back to the beginning.
With patience, Kang-hae answered every question they asked.
Everything except the parts involving his brother.
The interrogation continued until the next day.
Kang-hae had to sit through it without a minute of sleep.
And yet he never once looked tired.
At the same time, in a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, National Intelligence Service Counterintelligence Director Cha Jeong-won was meeting with Arai Takahiro, who worked at the Japanese Embassy in Korea.
Arai Takahiro was an official seconded from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, and he met with NIS agents from time to time.
"Director."
"Go ahead."
"Let's speak plainly."
"Very well."
"An intelligence safe house near Tokyo was attacked recently."
"Is that so?"
"Don't pretend you don't know!"
"I truly don't know anything about it."
Cha Jeong-won played innocent, and Arai Takahiro glared at him before continuing.
"An Intelligence Command operative approached us, claiming he would hand over the NIS black-team roster."
"Are you certain that man was from Intelligence Command?"
"He was an employee of the National Security Office!"
"As you know, the NIS and Intelligence Command are entirely different organizations. The National Security Office is separate as well."
Arai Takahiro took a tablet out of his bag and played a video.
The footage showed Kang-hae interrogating Lee Jeong-tae in the interrogation room.
[After taking over Hanshin Textiles, which had moved into the Kaesong Industrial Complex, you deliberately drove it into delisting.]
[But tell me something. How did a delisted company keep staying in the Kaesong Industrial Complex?]
[Name the people who covered for you.]
Cha Jeong-won watched Kang-hae interrogating Lee Jeong-tae at the safe house in Japan.
When the video ended, Arai Takahiro spoke.
"The Korean NIS surely knows as well that Korean gangsters smuggled drugs out of North Korea through companies operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex."
"…"
"We also understand that when the Kaesong Industrial Complex was operating, the NIS deployed many personnel there."
What Arai Takahiro said was true.
When the Kaesong Industrial Complex was in operation, NIS agents disguised as managers from the resident companies had been placed all over the site.
Some of those companies were front businesses run by the NIS itself.
They kept a close watch on everything happening inside the complex.
"No matter how I look at it, I just can't believe an organization as capable as the Korean NIS failed to catch on to that."
"Hey now! Are you saying our NIS sat by and let those gangster trash bring in drugs from North Korea?"
"It's one or the other, isn't it? Either you were incompetent, or you were corrupt."
Cha Jeong-won shot Arai Takahiro a glare.
"Every organization has its cancerous growths."
"So what's your point?"
"Didn't I just say it? The NIS and Intelligence Command are different organizations."
"…?"
"So please remove this Intelligence Command operative for us."
"…!"
"Then we won't raise the issue any further."
"…"
It wasn't a decision Cha Jeong-won could make on his own.
After ending the covert meeting, he headed to Naegok-dong.
At the NIS Deputy Director's office in Naegok-dong, Seoul, Deputy Director Baek Dong-gyu received Cha Jeong-won's report.
When the report was over, he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha."
Cha Jeong-won was thrown off by his superior's sudden laughter.
"What's so funny?"
"Those little cross-eyed bastards. They're clever, all right."
"…"
"So they're telling us to remove the Intelligence Command operative for them instead."
"Surely you won't actually do it… Not after that mess in Tianjin…"
Cha Jeong-won said it with obvious concern, and Baek Dong-gyu fell silent, deep in thought.
Only after a long while did he speak again.
"You said that Intelligence Command operative is in Sajik-dong?"
"Yes, that's right."
"When does the interrogation end?"
"I'm not sure…"
"Report to me as soon as it's over."
"Yes, sir."
"You can go."
Baek Dong-gyu waved him out, and Cha Jeong-won bowed before leaving the office.
Baek Dong-gyu took out his phone and called someone.
"It's me."
[Yes, Deputy Director.]
"Something's come up."
[What is it?]
"An Intelligence Command operative who knows about Kaesong Industrial Complex is being interrogated by our side right now."
[…]
"I'll let you know when the interrogation ends."
[Do we eliminate him?]
"No. For now, just keep watch. Monitor him only."
[Understood.]
Baek Dong-gyu hung up.
He had no intention of moving the way the Japanese wanted him to.
For now, the priority was to find out what Na Kang-hae knew.
And after confirming that, he thought, it wouldn't be too late to decide whether to eliminate him or not.
* * *
Seong Ha-yeong, who had returned to Korea two days before Kang-hae, also underwent an NIS interrogation, just like him.
And as soon as it ended, she went to Seong Hun's house.
The household staff led her to Seong Hun's study, where Seong Hun and her uncle, Seong Gi-hyeon, were both waiting.
"I heard you went to Japan."
"Then do you also know what I went through there?"
As she said that, Seong Ha-yeong shot Seong Gi-hyeon a glare, and Seong Hun immediately sensed that something was wrong.
"I want to speak to Grandfather alone."
"You can leave us," Seong Hun told his son.
Seong Gi-hyeon left the study without a word.
"Looks like something happened."
"I kept thinking ever since I heard you were going to make room for me at Ilsung Trading."
"And what did you think?"
"I kept wondering why you were suddenly doing this for me."
"Ha. Is it such a hard thing for your old grandfather to make room for his eldest granddaughter?"
"You did it because you felt sorry for me. Because your second son killed your eldest son. You were trying to make it up to him."
"…"
Seong Hun looked at Seong Ha-yeong in silence.
"You knew, didn't you…? You knew my uncle killed my father…!"
Seong Ha-yeong said it, and tears spilled down her face.
She had tried to hold them back, but they came anyway.
"Ha-yeong."
"How could you… know that…? No matter how much he was your son, how could you just let it go…?!"
"Then what should I have done?"
"T-That is not something you ask me now…!"
"Should I have sent a son who was alive and well to prison?"
"Of course you should have!"
"And what would have become of the Ilsung Group then?"
"Are you saying the Ilsung Group means more to you than your own children?"
"Your father, Jae-hyeon, is dead. Sending Gi-hyeon to prison wouldn't bring your father back."
"…!"
Seong Ha-yeong's hands trembled violently.
"Do you know what? Your precious son tried to have me killed in Japan too!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Ask your precious son."
With that, Seong Ha-yeong turned and left the study.
At the door, the household staff and Seong Jae-hyeon were standing there.
"What in the world did you say to Grandfather!"
Seong Gi-hyeon raised his voice.
Smack.
Instead of answering, Seong Ha-yeong slapped him across the face.
The faces of the people nearby went white.
"Trash… I'll never let you get away with this…!"
After saying that, Seong Ha-yeong left the house.
Not long after, Seong Hun's voice rang out from inside the study, calling for Seong Gi-hyeon.
Rubbing his still-burning cheek, Seong Gi-hyeon went back inside.
Seong Hun's furious shout thundered through the room.
"What exactly did you do in Japan!"
"F-Father…"
"Speak properly!"
"I-I…"
Seong Gi-hyeon was flustered.
But in the end, he still didn't say a word.
"Not only did you kill your brother, you tried to kill that girl too?"
And at Seong Hun's words, Seong Gi-hyeon went pale.
After his elder son died, his father had never once asked about it.
"W-What are you talking about…? Kill my brother…?"
Only after the fact did Seong Gi-hyeon try to deny it, but the look in his father's eyes remained ice-cold.
"Sending you to prison won't bring the dead Jae-hyeon back to life! If this gets out, the Ilsung Group my father built over a lifetime will be torn apart! And because your mother, who died last year, told me to bury it in my chest before she passed!"
"…"
"You worthless fool… No matter how badly you wanted the company, how could you…"
As Seong Hun spoke, deeper lines etched themselves into his face than usual.
And in Seong Gi-hyeon's eyes, which had been terrified only moments before, there was now resentment.
"This is all your fault, Father…!"
"What…?"
"You planned to hand the company only to my brother, even though I went to prison in your place!"
"You miserable bastard…! So you killed your own brother?!"
"I don't know what Ha-yeong told you, but please act like you don't know this time too."
Seong Gi-hyeon said that and left the study.
Seong Hun sank into deep remorse.
He knew it.
He had known for a long time that his greedy, inadequate son had killed his own brother.
But instead of revealing it to the world, he had chosen to bury it.
If the truth came out, the Ilsung Group would collapse.
"Is Chief Secretary Choi outside?"
Seong Hun called for his chief secretary, Choi Tae-seong, who was waiting outside.
"Did you need me, Chairman?"
"It looks like Gi-hyeon did something to Ha-yeong."
"…"
"Find out what Ha-yeong went through in Japan."
"Understood."
Choi Tae-seong lowered his head and left the study.
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