Cheongganghoe (2)
2nd Floor, Cheonggang Culture Foundation, Segok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Ping—
The man who came to meet Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong as they stepped out of the elevator was Kim Seung-su.
He looked to be in his mid-forties, impeccably maintained, and the suit on his back, along with the watch on his wrist, was luxury worth tens of millions of won.
“Welcome.”
Kim Seung-su extended a hand for a shake, but neither Kang-hae nor Ha-yeong took it.
“This way, then.”
Without the slightest change in expression, Kim Seung-su led them to the exhibition hall on the second floor.
The gallery was hosting a solo exhibition by a young painter sponsored by the Cheonggang Culture Foundation.
“This is artist Lee Ho-jae. He won the National Art Exhibition last year. We’ve been supporting him for over five years now.”
The National Art Exhibition was one of the most prestigious art competitions in South Korea, and Kang-hae and Ha-yeong silently looked over the works hanging on the walls.
Most of them were paintings related to the sea.
“Lee Ho-jae’s pieces sell for more than ten million won apiece. If there’s one you like, we’ll give it to you as a gift.”
“……”
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong exchanged a brief look, and Kang-hae spoke first.
“Why did you ask us to come?”
Kang-hae spoke to Kim Seung-su, who was far older than he was, without any honorifics.
But Kim Seung-su didn’t seem bothered.
He continued in the same courteous tone.
“I understand you’ve been looking into Cheongganghoe.”
“……”
“As you can see, the Cheonggang Culture Foundation supports talented young artists. Not just painters, but sculptors, architects, playwrights—artists from all kinds of fields. We also provide scholarships to students from difficult backgrounds. We even give scholarships to the children of wounded soldiers and national merit recipients. The cumulative amount we’ve paid out by last year was over ten billion won.”
“Then where does that money come from?”
“There are quite a lot of anonymous patrons in this country.”
“……”
Kang-hae stared at Kim Seung-su in silence.
And Kim Seung-su did not avoid his gaze.
Kang-hae spoke again.
“You didn’t invite us here just to show us a few paintings.”
“Haha. Mr. Na Kang-hae, you’re quite direct.”
“……”
A brief silence settled in.
Then Kim Seung-su spoke again.
“People have been trying to investigate Cheongganghoe for a long time. You two are certainly not the first.”
“So every time, you stuffed a painting worth more than ten million won into their hands and shut them up?”
It was Seong Ha-yeong, who had said nothing until then, who spoke.
Kim Seung-su looked at her and replied, “For most of them, yes. For someone like you, born into the Ilseong Group, ten million won may not be much, but for salaried workers like reporters, it’s a fairly large sum.”
“……”
“Chairman Seong Hun, your grandfather, also contributed a rather significant amount to our foundation.”
“……!”
Ha-yeong was startled at the sudden mention of her grandfather’s name, and Kim Seung-su turned back to Kang-hae.
“Men from the Information Command, like you, Mr. Na Kang-hae, are active within Cheongganghoe as well.”
“……”
“To be honest, I never expected a few paintings would persuade you. The reason I wanted to meet was to make you an offer.”
Kang-hae and Ha-yeong exchanged another glance, and Kim Seung-su went on.
“I know that you infiltrated the North, Mr. Na Kang-hae, and that you carried out all sorts of missions overseas. Your work in Japan goes without saying. Personally, I thought it was remarkable that you found your way to a covert safe house in the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office all by yourself.”
“……”
“Our Cheongganghoe places a very high value on your abilities, Mr. Na Kang-hae.”
“……”
Most of the missions Kang-hae had carried out were classified.
But the fact that Cheongganghoe knew about them meant they had their hands deep inside South Korea’s major institutions.
“Mr. Na Kang-hae.”
“……?”
“How would you like to join Cheongganghoe?”
“Haha.”
The moment Kim Seung-su finished speaking, Kang-hae burst out laughing.
Kim Seung-su did not laugh.
His expression remained serious, and he spoke again.
“I acknowledge that, from your perspective, this may seem absurd.”
“Do you know why I’d find it absurd?”
“Of course. Barely a few days ago, you nearly died on Hannam Bridge. Run down by a dump truck.”
“……!”
Kim Seung-su was the one who brought it up first, as if it were nothing at all.
“In this world, yesterday’s enemy becoming today’s friend is common.”
“A friend, huh…”
Kang-hae fell briefly into thought.
“Then if I were to work for Cheongganghoe, what exactly would I be doing?”
“The same sort of work you’ve been doing until now.”
“Does that include assassinating the Director of the National Security Office?”
“……”
“Smuggling drugs into South Korea through the Kaesong Industrial Complex?”
“……”
“Killing an innocent woman who happened to work at a bar, just to erase the evidence?”
“I understand how you feel, Mr. Na Kang-hae.”
“Understand?”
“I don’t think people consumed by righteousness are hypocrites. I worked for the National Intelligence Service myself.”
“……?”
“I was the first to uncover that a domestic gang was secretly bringing drugs in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
Kim Seung-su had once worked for the NIS, and while assigned to the inspection office, he discovered suspicious transaction records involving NIS employees dispatched to Kaesong.
Then, as he investigated further, he learned that the Imperial Faction had swallowed up Hanshin Textiles and was bringing drugs in through the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
He immediately began an internal probe, but his superiors blocked him.
“I resigned. And I even prepared a press conference to expose everything.”
But just before the press conference, several reporters who shared in the corruption, along with insiders from the NIS, disappeared.
“I was gripped by fear. And that was when Cheongganghoe came looking for me.”
“So you became Cheongganghoe’s dog?”
“Even if you reject our offer, nothing will change. Even if you uncover the drug smuggling through the Kaesong Industrial Complex, you won’t find any proof linking us to it. The investigation will end with the corruption of domestic gangsters and the senior officials who took money from them. But what about you, Mr. Na Kang-hae?”
“……”
“Do you think we’d just leave you alone?”
“……”
Kang-hae said nothing and looked at one of the paintings on the wall.
It had caught his eye the moment they entered the gallery.
The work depicted a lone figure in a boat out on the open sea.
Kim Seung-su followed his gaze in silence.
“That’s not so different from your own situation, Mr. Na Kang-hae.”
“……”
“Take our hand. Opportunities like this don’t come often.”
When Kim Seung-su finished speaking, Kang-hae looked away again.
Then he stared directly at Kim Seung-su and said, “No matter how thirsty I get, I still can’t drink seawater.”
“So you’re refusing our offer.”
“I’ll give it all back to you. The Director, Lee Na-yeon, and everything you tried to do to kill me on Hannam Bridge.”
“Do you really think we’d be afraid of just one man?”
“I don’t know about Cheongganghoe, but you would be.”
“……?”
“You said it yourself a moment ago. You became Cheongganghoe’s dog because you were afraid of dying.”
“……”
“The way you keep saying ‘we, we’ probably means you’ve handed your sense of self over to that organization. You’re a coward.”
“……”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t be frightened when my comrades disappeared. I’d be furious. And for the sake of the dead, I’d keep fighting to the end.”
For the first time, Kim Seung-su’s expression, which had shown no sign of emotion until then, hardened.
“You can wear designer suits and a luxury watch, but you can’t hide the fact that you’re a coward.”
“……”
“We’ll meet again. Until then, I hope you stay alive.”
“……”
After saying that, Kang-hae left the exhibition hall, and Ha-yeong followed him out.
Kim Seung-su stood there dumbly, watching their receding backs, then clenched his fist.
Before he realized it, his hand was trembling.
* * *
Seated in the driver’s seat, Seong Ha-yeong looked quietly at Kang-hae in the passenger seat.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Did I get something on my face?”
When Kang-hae asked her that, still under her unwavering gaze,
“Because you were cool.”
Ha-yeong hit him with a straight shot.
“……”
“……”
An unidentifiable air settled inside the car.
“Ahem…”
Ha-yeong cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Um, Kang-hae.”
“Earlier. The man mentioned my grandfather’s name. He said he had made a donation to the Cheonggang Culture Foundation.”
“I heard it too.”
“I should check on it.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. Could you go with me…?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.”
“No need.”
Ha-yeong started the car and drove toward Seongbuk-dong, where her grandfather lived.
* * *
Seong Hun’s residence, Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul.
Seong Hun received his granddaughter and Kang-hae in his study.
Kang-hae gave him a slight nod and noticed that his face looked more haggard than the last time he’d seen him.
“I have something to ask you.”
Without even a greeting, Ha-yeong said that to her grandfather.
“And the first thing you say when you see your grandfather is that?”
“……”
Their last meeting had been after her return from Japan.
As soon as the NIS investigation ended, Ha-yeong had come to see Seong Hun.
She learned that he had known her uncle, Seong Gi-hyeon, murdered her father and had pretended not to know.
And Seong Hun, too, learned that his younger son had tried to do something vile to his granddaughter while she was on a business trip in Japan.
Afterward, Seong Hun had contacted Ha-yeong many times, asking to meet, but she had avoided his calls because of her piled-up work and the sudden death of Ko Jeong-un.
Of course, if she had wanted to make time, she could have.
But she couldn’t bring herself to face her grandfather.
Even now, it was the same.
That was why she had asked Kang-hae to come with her.
Silence drifted through the study.
After a moment, Ha-yeong spoke.
“Do you know about Cheongganghoe?”
“……!”
The moment he heard his granddaughter’s question, lines deepened across Seong Hun’s brow.
“So you do know.”
“How do you know of Cheongganghoe?”
“Are you part of Cheongganghoe too, Grandfather?”
“I am not.”
“Then why did you donate to the Cheonggang Culture Foundation?”
“……”
“Please tell me.”
Ha-yeong raised her voice.
After a long while, Seong Hun slowly opened his mouth.
“It was before your father took over as president of Ilseong Commercial.”
Problems had arisen when Seong Jae-hyeon, Ha-yeong’s father, began buying up unlisted affiliates at bargain prices and funneling work their way in order to seize control of the Ilseong Group.
Of course, the best law firms in South Korea handled the matter, but public opinion was far worse than expected.
They became a target in political circles too, and Seong Hun and Seong Jae-hyeon faced the threat of arrest.
“That was when I learned about Cheongganghoe.”
There had been lawyers and advisers from the prosecution and the courts within Ilseong Group as well, but Cheongganghoe’s capabilities were on another level entirely.
They mobilized their army of online commenters to create public sentiment favorable to Ilseong Group, and whenever Seong Hun and Seong Jae-hyeon were summoned by the prosecution, they would leak celebrity scandals.
They approached the spouse of the prosecutor handling the case and delivered expensive gifts, then devised roadmaps for the judge’s children to be hired by companies connected to Ilseong Group.
And through it all, not a whisper ever leaked out.
In the end, Seong Jae-hyeon was cleared of all charges.
Seong Hun’s own case ended with a suspended sentence.
Ha-yeong was shocked to learn that her father, too, had received help from Cheongganghoe.
“Now tell me. How did you learn of Cheongganghoe?”
“They killed Director Ko Jeong-un.”
“……”
Seong Hun sank into thought for a moment.
“Surely you’re not planning to involve yourself.”
“I am.”
“Ha-yeong.”
“Yes.”
“Stop this.”
“……”
“Fighting them won’t bring back the dead.”
“Like my father?”
“……”
“Grandfather.”
“Yes.”
“I applied for ROTC because of you. Do you remember?”
“……”
“Ilseong Group started in defense manufacturing. As the eldest granddaughter of the Seong family, you told me I should serve in the military. Because of that, I spent every vacation in training. And it was also you who suggested I work in the National Security Office after my discharge. You said that gaining experience in an institution responsible for the nation’s security would be a great help when I worked for Ilseong Group later on.”
“……”
Seong Hun listened without a word, and Ha-yeong went on.
“You sent me there only for the sake of Ilseong Group. That’s why I ended up serving in the military, even though it wasn’t in my fate, and working at the National Security Office up to now. And thanks to that, I even gained a sense of patriotism I never had before. Naturally, I also came to feel responsibility and duty as an employee of the National Security Office.”
“……”
“I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do. So you don’t have the right to stop me.”
“……”
Ha-yeong bowed to Seong Hun, who continued to watch her in silence, then left the study.