Sowing Discord
Zamboanga, Philippines.
"Dennis, I think we need to bring in more weapons."
"What kind of weapons are we talking about, Boss?"
"We need at least two hundred sets, including drones, bulletproof vests, and tactical vests."
"Are you giving them to Damaya?"
"Of course. We have to keep those kids alive, don't we? It might not seem like much, but that gear saves lives when it matters most."
"Haven't you already given them plenty? The expenses we've funneled to Damaya are no joke."
"I know. But we can't send those kids to their deaths just to save a few bucks."
"I'm just worried, Boss."
"Don't worry. I'm only doing this because we can afford it."
Though I said that, supporting Damaya was costing an astronomical amount. Honestly, it wasn't even proper support. It was more like charity for underprivileged neighbors. Giving them some food, some military uniforms, some weapons, some gear—that was about it. It wasn't like I was paying them a salary or providing social security. I was only taking care of the bare, essential necessities. That was all.
But even those basic necessities cost a fortune. If GoGo Casino hadn't been printing money like crazy lately, I would have been in deep trouble.
What on earth was I thinking when I said I'd buy Damaya? I should have just stuck to selling guns.
Yet, despite my regrets, seeing Damaya grow day by day brought a strange sense of pride. Humans are funny creatures. Even when your head knows it's not the logical answer, you find yourself rooting for them anyway. You know the right answer, but you deliberately choose the wrong one. It's foolish beyond belief.
But on the other hand, another thought crossed my mind. What if this is the right answer? What if I can make it the right answer? Maybe, just maybe, with Damaya by my side, it might actually be possible.
Such futile thoughts.
I sat in the office with Simon. Dennis was seated next to me. We were brainstorming ways to get the rebel factions—specifically, the top two—to tear each other apart.
If they didn't fight, if they didn't clash and bleed each other dry, the unification of the rebels would never happen.
Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Liberation Front (BLF) had to go to war. They needed to grind down each other's forces to create even the slightest opening for us.
"It won't be easy. No, it's practically impossible. As I've told you multiple times, those two will never fight," Simon said.
"Why?"
"They know each other too well. They can't merge, but they aren't reckless enough to encroach on each other's territory either."
"Simon is right, Boss. There have been several psychological operations in the past to instigate a fight between them, but none have ever succeeded," Dennis answered on his behalf.
This was tricky. Rebels avoiding a fight? That was a tough nut to crack. It meant psychological warfare alone wouldn't cut it.
"Can you tell me about the leaders of Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Liberation Front (BLF) again?"
"The leader of Abu Sayyaf is named Amir. He's a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, highly knowledgeable in military theory, and commands absolute loyalty from his subordinates. He believes violence is the only true path to achieving his goals."
"And the Bangsamoro Liberation Front (BLF)?"
"The head of the BLF is Murad. He's a man who pursues extreme pragmatism. He looks for solutions through negotiations and dialogue rather than violence."
"They're that different, yet they don't fight?"
"Every time Amir tried to start something, Murad would soothe him with words. He'd say things like, 'There's nothing to gain from us fighting.' That sort of thing."
"So, in this situation, our biggest obstacle isn't Amir of Abu Sayyaf, but Murad of the BLF?"
"On the surface, yes. But even without Murad, there are many difficulties that would prevent Amir from attacking the BLF."
Complicated. If you don't like someone, you should just throw hands. These guys overthink everything.
"Then what if Murad of the BLF is gone? What happens if he disappears?"
"If Murad disappears, his second-in-command, Karim, will take over."
"What's Karim like?"
"Karim is the exact opposite of Murad. He believes armed struggle is far more effective than dialogue."
"Perfect. If we get rid of Murad, Karim will fight Abu Sayyaf, won't he?"
"They might join forces instead. They share a lot of similarities."
I thought otherwise. Amir wouldn't want to share his established power with Karim, and Karim wouldn't hand over his hard-earned authority to Amir on a silver platter.
"I doubt it. Having similar personalities doesn't mean they have the same goals. If your goals are the same, you can join forces even if your personalities differ. But if your goals are different, it's hard to unite no matter how similar you are."
"Still, I don't think simply removing Murad will trigger a war between them."
Something was missing. They disliked each other, yet they maintained their boundaries, perhaps viewing each other as a necessary evil. I needed something to shatter that balance. But nothing came to mind.
"I wish we had a trigger, but I can't think of one."
"Indeed. If only gold were discovered like in the old days..."
I didn't miss Dennis's muttered words.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Pardon?"
"The part about gold."
"Ah... A long time ago, a very long time ago, there was a rumor that gold was found in the BLF's stronghold. An exploration company even came and caused a huge stir, but when they actually surveyed the area, there was nothing. So it ended there. It was just a minor incident."
This was it. My gut was tingling. If we set this up right, we could paint a beautiful picture.
We leak a rumor that gold has been discovered in the BLF's stronghold. And what if we claim the reason the BLF has been stubbornly demanding an autonomous zone is because of that gold?
Would Amir of Abu Sayyaf just sit idly by? Even if he receives funding from his international backers, would he ignore the BLF getting rich and just go his own way? A man as greedy as Amir?
Besides, from my own experience supporting a rebel group, the expenses are astronomical. It wouldn't be any different for Amir.
On top of that, the BLF's stronghold isn't even that far. If he conquers their stronghold, he gets the gold and absorbs the BLF. For a greedy bastard like Amir, it would be an irresistible temptation.
Conversely, the BLF has Murad, who wants to solve everything through dialogue. If Murad is around, our plan might fall apart. Murad has to be eliminated.
And it has to look like Abu Sayyaf killed him to get to the gold.
Then Karim will naturally go to war. Even if the BLF is outnumbered compared to Abu Sayyaf, defending is always easier. It's a well-known fact that the defending side holds the advantage in war.
Wait, isn't that game over then?
Spread the rumor of gold, assassinate Murad. Abu Sayyaf attacks the BLF, and Karim defends. In the process, massive casualties will occur on both sides.
All we have to do is sweep in and finish off the bleeding beasts.
Perfect. The plan is set. Let's make it happen!
Son of a bitch.
It's me again. I'm the one doing it.
I was traveling along the river near Darapanan, the BLF's stronghold, scattering gold dust. I was on a boat, throwing gold into the water.
What the hell am I doing?
I came up with the plan, I paid for the materials, and now I'm the one executing it. If it was going to be like this, I don't even know why I'm funding Damaya. Isn't it an unwritten rule that the guy who pays the bills gets to sit out the manual labor?
It felt unfair, but I had brought this on myself. The gold had to be scattered secretly and stealthily. Since I had my Inventory, moving and dispersing it was incredibly easy, making me the only logical choice for the job.
As a result, I was literally throwing money—no, gold, which is more expensive than money—into the riverbed.
No matter how I looked at it, this plan was flawed. A plan to throw gold into a river. It came out of my own head, but it was a terrible idea. Completely absurd.
Gold is ridiculously expensive. A 1kg gold bar costs nearly 200 million won. But if I grind that 1kg into sand and throw it into a river, would it even show?
And since it's supposed to be placer gold, 24k gold wouldn't make sense. The purity had to be low. It needed impurities.
So, I bought 14k gold instead. It was about half the price of 24k.
Then, I found a gold mine and bought 10 tons of gold-bearing ore. The raw ore from the mine was actually quite cheap. It was literally in its raw, excavated state. Low purity, with tiny flecks of gold embedded here and there. It cost money to process, and processing it wouldn't yield much gold anyway, so I was able to buy a massive quantity relatively cheap.
Of course, "cheap" compared to actual processed gold, not the price of regular sand.
Why was I throwing gold into the river? Well, we had to spread a rumor that gold was discovered, but we couldn't just say it out of thin air. At least a few pieces of gold had to turn up. People needed to spot something glittering as they passed by for the rumor to catch fire, right?
So my plan was to scatter a little gold, but the problem was that gold was far more expensive than I thought, and the river was much wider than I expected.
Anyway, that was why I was currently scattering gold dust onto the riverbed, right in the middle of the BLF's stronghold.
To prevent anyone from getting suspicious of a clear foreigner like me throwing things into the water, I brought Dennis along. Dennis steered the boat while I scattered the gold dust.
On the side of the boat, a sign was written:
UN Environmental Improvement Disinfection Project
Today, what I was spraying wasn't gold, but disinfectant.
Marco, a low-ranking member of the BLF, had recently seen a strange post on social media.
He could have just brushed it off, but the background looked strangely familiar. It was a place he had seen many times.
'Isn't that near Darapanan?'
No matter how many times he looked, it was definitely Darapanan.
Darapanan—the place where Marco lived.
Driven by a sliver of hope, he decided to go check it out. Of course, there wouldn't be any gold. The video was obviously fake.
He wasn't seriously expecting to find gold, but out of sheer curiosity, he wandered around the riverbank. Suddenly, he spotted something glittering.
'No way. It can't be.'
He carefully climbed down to the river and checked.
He picked up a tiny, glittering stone, no bigger than a grain of sand, with his fingertips. The moment he held it, he knew.
It was heavy. Unusually heavy.
This was definitely gold.
He looked around, and the riverbed was sparkling all over.
"Eureka!!!!"
Members of the BLF were scooping up dirt with shovels and dumping it into baskets to pan for gold. The riverbanks were packed with people panning for placer gold. Some had even begun surveying the area to find the main gold vein.
The BLF members started walking around with their eyes glued to the ground.
A gold rush had swept through the BLF.
"Boss, have you heard the rumor that a gold mine was discovered in the BLF's stronghold?"
"A gold mine?"
"Yes. Right now, an incredible amount of placer gold is turning up in the river running through Darapanan. The BLF kids are doing nothing but panning for gold."
"Is that true?"
At his secretary's report, Amir's eyes gleamed with raw greed.
"They say everyone in that area is out in the river panning for gold."
"But for gold to suddenly appear like this?"
"They seem to believe the recent earthquake is the cause."
"An earthquake..."
"They think the shifting ground from the earthquake caused gold to wash out from a hidden vein. Currently, the BLF is also running search operations to locate the main vein."
"Do they know how much is buried?"
"We probably won't know until they find the vein. However, they say the purity of the placer gold they're pulling out is exceptional."
Amir fell into deep thought at his secretary's words.
He wanted it.
In truth, the BLF's military strength was laughable. Compared to Abu Sayyaf, they were playing house. He could roll over them and take their territory whenever he wanted. He had only been holding back because of Murad's constant pleas for Muslims not to fight Muslims, and because his international backers had advised him to preserve Islamic unity if possible. But this was a different story, wasn't it?
The BLF's stronghold wasn't even that far. If he absorbed the BLF, he could conquer all of Mindanao. The New People's Army (NPA) and Damaya existed, but those pests weren't even worth a handful of dirt.
This was a golden opportunity—to seize a gold mine and unify Mindanao all at once.
And yet...
Amir held back with superhuman patience.
Let's let this pass for now. No, let's wait.
It wouldn't be too late to roll in after they finished exploring and confirmed the actual scale of the gold mine. Let the BLF do all the tedious, backbreaking work. Once the table was fully set, he could just pick up his spoon. There was no need to rush. He had to let it simmer. He didn't know how much gold was buried yet, but once the feast was ready, he would run the numbers then.
The BLF stronghold.
People were still entirely absorbed in panning for gold. As if they had found a new form of entertainment, they would head out to the river the moment they opened their eyes. Gold kept appearing from somewhere. The gold panners chatted idly as they worked.
"There really must be a massive vein here. The gold just keeps coming."
"I know, right? If we knew where the source was, I'd go dig there directly."
"By the way, did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Some professional agency is coming here to do a geological survey to find the vein."
"Really? Where is the vein?"
"How should we know? The experts will find it. Anyway, a foreign company is coming to investigate."
"I heard about that too. I also heard some rumor that they're partnering with the provincial government to take the mining rights."
"What?! This is our land! Why is the government taking the mining rights? That's ridiculous!"
"They say that's the law. All underground resources belong to the government."
"Nonsense. This is our land."
"Strictly speaking, it's not our land legally."
"What did you say, you bastard?"
"Legally, it's not ours."
"We live here, so it's our land! How long have we lived here? This is our territory, given to us by Allah."
"I also heard another rumor. They say Abu Sayyaf is targeting this place."
"What?!"
"I heard they're planning to invade and take over once they heard about the gold."
"Crazy bastards. Just let them try. I'll put a bullet right through their skulls."
"With your skills? Yeah, right."
"Just wait and see. If they dare show up, I'll—"
BANG!
As they were talking, a gunshot rang out. Just a single shot.
But the sound was slightly different from the gunshots they usually heard. It was much heavier, much more powerful. The gold panners quickly ducked and took cover.
"Is anyone hurt?"
"I'm fine!"
"Me too..."
"I'm okay."
"Then who was it?"
Just then, a sharp scream pierced the air. The men quickly ran toward the sound.
There, lying on the ground, was Murad, shot dead.
Confirming that his target had fallen, Allen quickly packed his gear and left the scene.
According to what he had been taught, he was supposed to erase all traces of his presence perfectly. But he didn't.
He left a faint trace behind.
Not his own, but a trace pointing directly to Abu Sayyaf.