Malbawi
Na Kang-hae stared blankly at the dog tags Go Jeong-un had left behind.
Army
88-11879463
Go Jeong-un
B+
There was no way a retired general and Director of the National Security Office would have written the wrong service number on his own dog tags.
Kang-hae spoke up.
“It looks like GPS coordinates.”
“Coordinates?”
“Yes.”
“The Director enlisted in ’87, but he wrote a number beginning with 88 on his dog tags. That means the numbers are code.”
“If it’s code, then... we have to decipher it.”
Kang-hae fell silent for a moment, deep in thought.
Then he remembered the cipher table he and Go Jeong-un could both have shared.
Military Information Command
And Operation Dust Storm.
A cipher table had been issued during Operation Dust Storm, and Go Jeong-un, who had been the commander of Military Information Command at the time, would have known it as well.
113 – 37.55
114 – 37.56
.
.
.
118 – 37.60
119 – 37.61
.
.
.
Kang-hae pointed at the numbers on the dog tags with a finger as he explained.
“The first two digits are fixed. They’re dummy values. The last eight digits are the coordinates. And the number 118 is converted to 37.50. The rest of the numbers are appended after the decimal point.”
“Then...”
“The coordinates are 37.6079463.”
Seong Ha-yeong took out her phone and opened a map app.
Then she entered the coordinates Kang-hae had given her.
“It’s Bugaksan Mountain!”
The coordinates pointed to Bugaksan Mountain.
“Let’s go.”
There was no time to hesitate.
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong got into her car, which was parked in the lot, and Ha-yeong drove toward the spot marked by the coordinates.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Near the Malbawi Information Center on Bugaksan Mountain.
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong took the same route several times, circling the area.
While they did, Kang-hae checked to see if they were being followed.
“I don’t think we’re being tailed.”
At his words, Ha-yeong pulled over at the roadside.
The two got out of the car and climbed the stone steps.
At the top, a concrete building came into view.
It was the security exhibition hall, formerly used as a military outpost.
And when they walked along the iron fence beside the building, a granite boulder the size of a truck emerged into view.
Malbawi.
“It’s definitely here...!”
Ha-yeong said, checking the coordinates on her phone.
The coordinates Go Jeong-un had left behind pointed to Malbawi.
Kang-hae silently looked around.
There were no hikers in sight.
Quickly, he climbed over the wooden deck that surrounded the boulder like a fence.
Then he searched between the cracks in the rock.
Found it...!
He spotted a walnut-colored wooden box wedged in the crevice and pulled it out before climbing back over the deck.
Carefully, he opened the box.
Inside was the external drive he had handed over to Go Jeong-un.
“That’s the external drive I gave the Director.”
“Found it.”
“Let’s head back down for now.”
“Right.”
Ha-yeong nodded.
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong headed back toward where they had parked.
“What do we do now?”
Once she was back in the driver’s seat, Ha-yeong asked him that.
“First, let’s copy the drive.”
“Then let’s go to Yongsan.”
Ha-yeong started the car and drove toward Yongsan Electronics Market.
There were cyber specialists at the National Security Office who could have handled it easily enough, but they couldn’t trust them.
An hour later, Kang-hae and Ha-yeong arrived at Yongsan Electronics Market and went straight to a forensic specialist on the fifth floor.
“Can you copy an external drive?”
“Of course.”
“Right now.”
“Right now...?”
“Yes.”
“If there’s some kind of encryption program on it, that won’t be easy. Could I take a look at the drive?”
Kang-hae handed the external drive to the head of the forensic shop, who plugged it into his computer.
“It isn’t encrypted. And it’s not very large. But I’ve got a backlog of orders right now...”
The owner let the end of the sentence trail off in a deliberately suggestive way.
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong immediately understood he was trying to raise the price.
“How much?”
Ha-yeong asked first.
The forensic shop owner smiled and held up three fingers.
Without a word of complaint, Ha-yeong took six 50,000-won bills from her wallet.
“The external drive itself is extra...”
She pulled out two more bills and held out 400,000 won to him.
“Please do it as quickly as possible.”
“Of course.”
The forensic shop owner took the money, unable to hide his smile, and got to work immediately.
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong waited beside him.
An hour later, the owner held out the original external drive and two copied drives.
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong took them and left the shop.
Then they headed back to the parking lot.
“Let’s take a look and see what’s in here first.”
Ha-yeong, back in the driver’s seat, said that and then took the tablet from the back seat and connected the original external drive.
1. SpecialList.xlsx
2. Entertainment_Expenses.xlsx
3. NIS_Line_Field_Operatives.xlsx
4. National Assembly_Line.xlsx
5. Ministry of Unification.xlsx
6. Immigration Office Staff.xlsx
7. Paju Police Station.xlsx
Ha-yeong ran the Excel files and found the names of the officials who had taken money from the Cheongganghoe, along with the amounts they had received and the nominee accounts used to hide them.
And the external drive didn’t just contain spreadsheets — it held hundreds of videos as well.
ClubRoom_108_20140315_2_30AM.mp4
VIPRoom_CCTV_WithAudio.mov
CreamHotel_Penthouse_Women2_Recording.mp4
OnSite_201503_Original_DoNotDelete.mp4
KaraokeRoom_SpecificScene_Clip.mov
BusanBusinessTrip_CommemorativeVideo(NoEncryption).avi
CourseA_SecondRoundFullSet(PoliceEntertainment).mov
.
.
.
Ha-yeong scanned the titles and frowned.
She didn’t need to play them to imagine what they showed.
There was no doubt these were covert recordings of bribe-taking and hospitality being arranged in private.
“Kang-hae.”
“Yes?”
“What should we do now...?”
“The reason the Director was going to hold a press conference at the National Assembly was probably to announce all of this.”
“Probably...?”
“I think he left these to us in case he couldn’t do it himself.”
“I think so too.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“We will...?”
“Didn’t we meet a lawmaker at the Director’s funeral?”
“Representative Kim Moon-ho!”
Ha-yeong remembered Kim Moon-ho, the lawmaker she had met at Go Jeong-un’s funeral altar.
“Let’s hand the materials over to Representative Kim Moon-ho. And let’s also leak them to a few reporters.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“I’ll make the tip-off.”
“You will?”
“Yes.”
During the process of leaking it, Ha-yeong’s identity could be exposed.
And he was worried that what had happened to him a few days ago might happen to her as well.
“I’ll contact Representative Kim Moon-ho.”
“No, I’ll do that too.”
“Still...”
As he took the external drive connected to Ha-yeong’s tablet, Kang-hae said,
“Take a break today and let’s meet again tomorrow to talk it through.”
Neither of them had slept a wink since the funeral began, and Ha-yeong’s face was full of exhaustion.
“I’ll take the original with me. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”
As Kang-hae started to get out of the passenger seat, Ha-yeong stopped him.
“I’ll drive you home.”
“No need. I’m close.”
Despite her protest, Kang-hae got out of the car.
It was almost quitting time, and if she drove him home, she would end up stuck in a traffic jam for no reason.
He left Yongsan Electronics Market and headed straight for the bus stop.
Then he got on a bus bound for the goshiwon.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
In front of Kang-hae’s goshiwon in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
The bus stopped across from the goshiwon, and when Kang-hae got off, he spotted a familiar black sedan parked at the entrance.
He immediately checked the license plate.
97-Woo-1182.
It was the same car he had seen at the entrance to the funeral hall after being attacked by the dump truck on Hannam Bridge and returning there.
There’s no way that’s a coincidence.
The engine was off.
Because the windows were tinted, he couldn’t tell whether anyone was inside.
And then he saw someone coming out of the goshiwon building.
A man in a suit, in his forties.
Someone Kang-hae had never seen at the goshiwon before.
The man took a car key from his pocket.
Then he pressed the button.
Kang-hae quickly checked the road.
The light was red, but no cars were coming.
The crosswalk was about ten meters long.
Kang-hae crossed it, and just as the man opened the driver’s-side door, Kang-hae kicked out the back of his knees from behind.
“Gah—!”
Before the scream had even died away, Kang-hae grabbed the back of his neck and slammed his face into the car seat.
For one brief instant, he saw it.
There was someone sitting in the back seat too.
He gave no reaction at all, simply watching what was happening in the driver’s seat.
The face looked familiar.
He was someone who had also paid his respects at Go Jeong-un’s funeral altar.
It was Hong Gyeong-pyo, the Director of the National Intelligence Service.
The moment Kang-hae met Hong Gyeong-pyo’s eyes, he loosened his grip, and the driver, freed from his hand, clutched his face and staggered to his feet.
He was Kim, the Director’s chief secretary, and blood was streaming from his nose.
The chief secretary wiped his nose with the back of his hand, then grabbed Kang-hae by the collar.
“You little bastard...”
To have to go through this in front of the NIS Director he served...
There was no humiliation greater than this.
The sedan’s back window rolled down with a whir.
“That’s enough.”
Hong Gyeong-pyo’s voice came through the window.
The chief secretary, his expression burning with resentment, let go of Kang-hae’s collar.
“You get in too.”
Hong Gyeong-pyo said, looking at Kang-hae.
Without a word, Kang-hae climbed into the back seat.
“Secretary Kim.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
It was the voice of someone who was not fine at all.
He still sounded furious.
“Let’s go somewhere quiet.”
“Understood.”
The chief secretary started the car.
He drove toward Ichon Hangang Park.
Hong Gyeong-pyo did not say a word until they reached Ichon Hangang Park.
Kang-hae remained silent as well.
He couldn’t think of any reason the Director of the National Intelligence Service would have come looking for him.
Thirty minutes later, the car arrived at Ichon Hangang Park.
“Then let’s talk.”
The chief secretary got out of the car.
“Do you smoke?”
“No, thank you.”
“I’ll have one.”
Hong Gyeong-pyo took out a cigarette and put it between his lips.
Moments later, cigarette smoke filled the car.
“I heard the late Director Go was very fond of you.”
“Why did you come looking for me?”
Kang-hae wanted to know why someone of the NIS Director’s stature had sought him out, and he didn’t want to waste time.
“Do you think Director Go Jeong-un died of overwork as well?”
“...”
“High-ranking public officials in the Republic of Korea undergo regular health checkups. Director Go’s last checkup was last month, and no underlying disease was found.”
“...”
“I think Director Go Jeong-un was assassinated. What do you think?”
“I think so too.”
“Then do you have any idea who might have done it?”
“...”
Kang-hae fell into thought for a moment.
Hong Gyeong-pyo was the Director of the National Intelligence Service.
He would know that the Cheongganghoe had brought drugs in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and he would certainly also know the details of the investigation Kang-hae had been subjected to at the NIS after returning to Korea from Japan.
“I’m guessing it was the people who took kickbacks while bringing drugs in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
In the end, Kang-hae told the truth.
Hong Gyeong-pyo looked at him steadily and said,
“Do you think the Director of the National Security Office of the Republic of Korea was eliminated by nothing more than such people?”
“Then...?”
“Do you know of an organization called the Cheongganghoe?”
It was the first time Kang-hae had heard that name.
“No.”
That was Kang-hae’s answer, and Hong Gyeong-pyo began to speak about the Cheongganghoe.