Cheongganghoe (1)
“Cheongganghoe began as a social club for former NIS officials.”
From the past to the present, high-ranking figures who retired from the National Intelligence Service had usually moved on to public institutions, major conglomerates, large law firms, or accounting firms.
For most of them, that was the standard path: take on an advisory or audit position, build a tidy nest egg, and settle comfortably into old age.
But not everyone was content with that.
There were those who were consumed by the belief that they themselves were the ones truly steering the Republic of Korea, and who could not stomach the idea of becoming mere servants to corporations.
Cheongganghoe had begun as a gathering of people like that.
And they were not limited to the NIS.
Every organization had them.
Military.
Police.
Prosecution.
Courts.
National Assembly.
National Tax Service.
Korea Customs Service.
Financial Services Commission.
Even the Presidential Office.
People who used their influence to carve out advantages for themselves and, through that, found the reason for their own existence.
Cheongganghoe recruited them one by one, and their network kept growing larger.
From the shadows, they exercised their power.
It was businesspeople who found them first.
Later, politicians came looking for them too.
They mediated disputes between companies, pulled conglomerate chairmen back from the edge of arrest, and carried out tasks like manipulating public opinion for politicians.
And at some point, they began involving themselves in all manner of vested interests, making money however they could.
Of course, not a single one of those acts was for the sake of the country.
Hong Gyeong-pyo told Kang-hae all of this, and Kang-hae listened in silence.
When the story of Cheongganghoe finally came to an end, Hong Gyeong-pyo looked at Kang-hae for a long moment and said, “Cheongganghoe is scattered all across the Republic of Korea.”
“Then the ones who assassinated the Director were also from this organization called Cheongganghoe?”
“That is my conclusion.”
“Why would they kill the Director……?”
“Because they were the ones who brought drugs in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
“I thought it was the Imperial Faction that brought drugs in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
“Do you really think gangsters could have come up with the idea of smuggling drugs through a North-South cooperative complex?”
“……”
“And identifying the North Korean figures supplying them with narcotics?”
“……”
“That is not a crime ordinary gangsters could carry out. The gangsters were just errand boys. Cheongganghoe was behind them.”
“……”
Kang-hae fell into thought.
He could not accept Hong Gyeong-pyo’s words at face value.
Still, they were plausible.
“There was an incident on the Hannam Bridge not long ago.”
Kang-hae brought up the attack he had suffered there a few days earlier.
“You’re saying a dump truck attacked you.”
“Yes.”
“Who do you think was behind it?”
“At first, I thought it might have been the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.”
“But not anymore, I take it.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Within a few hours, the CCTV records had been tampered with. The scene itself had also been cleaned up. A foreign intelligence service wouldn’t be able to erase every trace of a failed operation on foreign soil.”
Hong Gyeong-pyo nodded.
“Only Cheongganghoe would be able to bury an incident like that inside the country.”
“……”
“So what do you plan to do now?”
“……”
Kang-hae didn’t answer.
Hong Gyeong-pyo was the director of the NIS, but Kang-hae still could not trust him completely.
Hong Gyeong-pyo seemed to read that thought on his face.
“Do you have evidence?”
“……”
“Looks like you do. Can you give me that data?”
“……”
Kang-hae thought it over.
What Ko Jeong-un had wanted was the truth to be revealed.
And he worried that if he handed the external drive over to Hong Gyeong-pyo, things might end up moving in a direction he hadn’t intended.
“The Director wanted the truth exposed.”
“Then that’s what you want too?”
“Yes.”
“You were planning to leak it to the press?”
“……”
“There’d be a stir for a while. But in the end, it would be buried. Some of the incidents they’ve touched have caused a huge uproar before, but sooner or later they create something bigger and smother their own scandal under it.”
“Then what is it you want, Director?”
“Elimination.”
“You mean the organization called Cheongganghoe?”
“The Cheongganghoe that has taken root this deeply cannot simply be uprooted. But at the very least, we must remove the ones currently inside the NIS who are cooperating with it.”
“……”
Kang-hae sank into thought again.
For now, he needed to find out exactly what kind of man Hong Gyeong-pyo was.
“I need time.”
Hong Gyeong-pyo took out his business card and a pen.
There was no phone number printed on the card.
He wrote his mobile number on it with the pen, then held the card out to Kang-hae.
“I’ll wait for your call.”
“Understood.”
The moment Kang-hae took the card, he prepared to get out of the car.
“I’ll take you home.”
“It’s fine.”
After giving Hong Gyeong-pyo a single nod, Kang-hae got out.
Outside, the chief secretary was waiting.
He glared at Kang-hae, then opened the driver’s side door and got in.
A moment later, the car carrying Hong Gyeong-pyo pulled away from Hannam Riverside Park, and Kang-hae took out his phone and called Seong Ha-yeong.
[Yes, Kang-hae.]
“Were you asleep?”
[No. What’s going on?]
“Can you meet me now?”
[Right now?]
“Yes. I’ll head toward your place.”
[How long will it take?]
“I’ll be there within thirty minutes.”
[Okay. Call me when you arrive.]
“Understood.”
He knew Seong Ha-yeong needed rest.
But he also knew he had to discuss this with her.
The moment he hung up, Kang-hae called a taxi through the app and headed toward the neighborhood where Seong Ha-yeong lived.
Thirty minutes later, Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong were seated across from each other in a café near her home.
Kang-hae told her everything Hong Gyeong-pyo had said.
“So there’s an organization that controls the Republic of Korea from the shadows, and that organization killed the Director and tried to kill you too.”
“According to the director of the NIS, yes.”
“And he wanted you to hand over the data.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to do, Kang-hae?”
“I can’t trust the director of the NIS completely yet.”
“Neither can I, really……”
“For now, I’m going to look into this organization called Cheongganghoe.”
“That sounds best. I’ll help too.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If Cheongganghoe really exists, then you could be put in danger too. I’ll look into it myself.”
“Kang-hae.”
“Yes.”
“The Director was someone special to me.”
“……”
Kang-hae knew that already.
He knew very well how deeply Seong Ha-yeong had respected Ko Jeong-un.
“I want to find the person who turned the Director into what he became too.”
“……”
Kang-hae said nothing as he looked at her.
Before long, the corners of Seong Ha-yeong’s eyes were glistening with moisture.
She was clearly thinking of Ko Jeong-un.
“Then please search through the materials. I’ll be the one to move in the field.”
“All right.”
They spoke a while longer, and late that night Kang-hae returned home.
* * *
Director’s Office, Cheonggang Culture Foundation, Segok-dong, Gangnam, Seoul.
The door flew open without so much as a knock.
Second Deputy Director of the NIS Baek Dong-gyu walked in wearing a fierce scowl.
“What brings you here?”
Kim Seung-su, the representative director of the Cheonggang Culture Foundation, looked up at Baek Dong-gyu and spoke.
“I’m sure I told you to handle it properly.”
Baek Dong-gyu’s voice carried clear reproach as he glared at Kim Seung-su.
“Sit down first.”
Kim Seung-su stood from his seat and took the sofa in the middle of the room, and Baek Dong-gyu sat opposite him.
Even now, Baek Dong-gyu’s expression remained savage.
“Want something to drink?”
“You certainly have a lot of leisure for a man in this situation.”
“It’s all in the past now, isn’t it?”
“You didn’t find the external drive, and you weren’t even able to eliminate that NIS punk in his twenties properly.”
Baek Dong-gyu brought up the matter he had ordered by phone a few days earlier.
“We already deleted every piece of evidence. There won’t be any issues.”
But Kim Seung-su’s voice remained calm.
Baek Dong-gyu raised his voice again.
“If the external drive Ko Jeong-un had gets into the director’s hands, then we’re all finished.”
“I suppose so.”
“What……?”
“A few of the civil servants we managed may become a problem, but…… our Cheongganghoe will have nothing to do with it.”
“Hey, Kim Seung-su! You think I pocketed all that money alone? Cheongganghoe took half of what I received.”
“Half, you say……? Wasn’t it much more than half?”
“What……?”
“Your wife is living in a luxury penthouse in Malaysia, isn’t she? And your daughter’s attending an international school there too.”
“……”
“Did you really think we wouldn’t know that you were skimming money off the top as it came through?”
“……”
“Why do you think we left you alone until now?”
“So what? Are you planning to cut me loose?”
“Don’t be so frightened. Of course we’ll find the external drive. And we’ll eliminate the NIS bastard too.”
“……”
“You can go now. And if possible, don’t come looking for me again. Too many eyes are watching.”
“……”
Baek Dong-gyu stared at Kim Seung-su without a word.
He clearly had more he wanted to say, but there was no point in saying any of it.
In the end, he stormed out of the office, breathing hard.
And the moment Baek Dong-gyu left the room, curses spilled from Kim Seung-su’s mouth.
“That bastard…… doesn’t know his place……”
Kim Seung-su took a cigarette from his pocket and put it between his lips.
Then he flicked on a lighter.
“Hoo……”
Cigarette smoke drifted through the room.
* * *
The next day.
Seong Ha-yeong used one of the vacations she had been saving and threw herself into using every connection she had to meet reporters from various outlets.
SBC
MBS
KBC
JTBS
Jo-guk Ilbo
Goryeo Ilbo
Mirae Ilbo
Naeil Newspaper
Hana Newspaper
From early morning until late at night, Seong Ha-yeong moved through the areas around Gwanghwamun and Yeouido.
When meetings were difficult to arrange, she called the reporters instead.
But none of the reporters knew anything about Cheongganghoe.
And so a day passed.
Then, the next morning, when Seong Ha-yeong woke, she answered a call from an unfamiliar number.
“Hello?”
[Is this Seong Ha-yeong?]
The voice on the other end belonged to a man in his mid-forties.
It was a voice she’d never heard before.
“Yes, it is. Who’s this?”
[I heard you’ve been looking into Cheongganghoe.]
“What?! Yes, that’s right! Are you a reporter?”
[No. I’m Kim Seung-su, the representative director of the Cheonggang Culture Foundation.]
“……!”
[Do you have time today? I’d like to meet and talk.]
“……”
[I take it you need some time to think. Call me once you’ve made up your mind. I’ll be waiting for your call.]
Click.
The line went dead.
Seong Ha-yeong felt a shiver crawl over her skin.
It had been less than a day since she started looking into Cheongganghoe.
And already they had contacted her first.
This was not the kind of matter that could be brushed aside so easily.
Seong Ha-yeong immediately called Kang-hae.
[Yes, Ha-yeong.]
“Kang-hae!”
[What happened?]
“It’s nothing else. Cheongganghoe contacted me first.”
[They contacted you first?]
“Yes. Yesterday I met with reporters and asked them about Cheongganghoe. And just now, I got a call from a man who said he’s a director at the Cheonggang Culture Foundation, telling me to meet him.”
[……]
“What should I do?”
[I’ll come to your place first.]
“My place?”
[Yes.]
“Okay.”
[I’m coming right now.]
Seong Ha-yeong hung up.
And less than thirty minutes after the call ended, Kang-hae rang the doorbell to her officetel.
Ding-dong.
Seong Ha-yeong opened the door, and Kang-hae, a bag slung over his shoulder, stepped inside.
“Come in.”
“Excuse me.”
The moment he entered, Kang-hae opened his bag and took out an RF detector.
The RF detector could locate hidden wiretaps and miniature cameras by using frequencies.
He had brought it separately when he was gathering weapons from the SmartFix office a little while ago.
Kang-hae scanned the living room, bedroom, and bathroom.
Fortunately, he found no devices anywhere.
“At least there doesn’t seem to be any sign of a break-in.”
“That’s a relief……”
But Seong Ha-yeong still looked worried.
“I met more than seven reporters yesterday. And they all said they didn’t know anything about Cheongganghoe. So how did they contact me first……?”
“……”
Kang-hae silently recalled what Hong Gyeong-pyo had said.
[Cheongganghoe is scattered all across the Republic of Korea.]
Maybe Hong Gyeong-pyo had been telling the truth.
“Kang-hae.”
Seong Ha-yeong called to him, and he had drifted into thought in silence.
“Yes.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“Meet them.”
“Meet them……?”
“Yes. With me.”
“With you, Kang-hae……?”
“They already know we exist. Let’s meet them first and hear what they have to say.”
“……”
Seong Ha-yeong thought about it for a moment.
Then, after a short silence, she decided to follow Kang-hae’s lead.
“All right.”
She took out her phone and, using speaker mode, called Kim Seung-su.
[I take it you’ve made your decision.]
“Let’s meet.”
[Would today at lunch work for you?]
“Yes.”
[I’ll send you the location by text.]
“And I’ll be bringing someone with me.”
[That’s no problem. You can come with Na Kang-hae.]
“……!”
When Kim Seung-su let Kang-hae’s name slip from his mouth, Seong Ha-yeong felt a fresh chill run up her spine.
But Kang-hae’s expression did not change.
[Then I’ll see you later.]
Click.
The call ended, and soon after, a message arrived on Seong Ha-yeong’s phone with the meeting place.
- 28, Hunnung-ro 645-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
It was the building where the Cheonggang Culture Foundation was housed.
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