Echoes of the Red Princess
I couldn't piece together every detail of what had unfolded beyond the wall during my phone call with the Red Princess, but I could grasp the overall shape without any real difficulty.
Hmph... Though I had no desire to dwell on how the two of them had been cozy while I was buried in my work.
The deputy position within the organization was one that could really strain the nerves.
If there was any way to ease that strain, it would benefit both of them and, by extension, me for placing them in those seats.
That was why I had merely let out a quiet chuckle. It was an unnecessary question to probe further.
I gave instructions to my two subordinates.
" I just finished talking to Chiyoko Tokugawa. She says she'll arrive in Tokyo either today or tomorrow."
"It looks like everything has finally been decided. What did they say on their side?"
" Nothing that strayed far from expectations. It felt exactly like the role we initially assigned—focusing on boosting visibility and expanding influence within the archipelago."
" Hmm. The information from the Intelligence Bureau also suggested something similar, so it seems quite plausible."
As Pavel had described, the activities of the Japanese Communist Party were already largely under the control of the Intelligence Bureau.
Sources of information came from various directions. First, the operatives embedded by the organization in France, West Germany, Korea, and Hong Kong, among others.
Naturally, the role of the organization's local branches in Japan included communication with local collaborators.
Whether that was mutual exchange or one-sided surveillance, tracking, and tailing varied by individual.
Nevertheless, the Japanese branch of the organization continued to harvest local intelligence within this "communication" with the Japanese Communist Party.
But that wasn't all. Now, even the British government's intelligence network, which had previously existed independently, was effectively within the organization's grasp.
Everyone pretended not to know, yet the roles of the embassies and consulates included intelligence gathering.
This applied especially to white operatives operating under diplomatic cover abroad, rather than black agents.
To truly understand Japan's political landscape, it wasn't enough to analyze just the major and minor parties.
After all, the Far East was filled with far too many small, loud humans screaming at each other.
Perhaps because it was a border region where ideologies clashed, it meant that humans with strange ideologies from the north were particularly active.
Most of them were communists or anarchists.
There were also those who claimed to fight for workers' rights, but the intensity of the red water varied—more or less, it was still there.
The Japanese Communist Party was thus naturally a force that stood out against the established powers, drawing attention from observers outside Japan.
Of course, the presence of Chiyoko Tokugawa had been decisive.
Therefore, no matter what achievements the Japanese Communist Party might achieve, people who were interested in them would always exist.
Consequently, the British government had shown no small interest in them—though direct contact had been absent. I could use the organization's separate British intelligence network to additionally monitor the movements of the princess and her faction.
That was also why I had quickly positioned myself as their primary patron. No one with my appetite for greed would allow me to be deprived of what I had already claimed.
The Japanese Communist Party now needed to be fully recognized as my partner alone.
After thoroughly examining both the information gathered through local branches and the separate channel of the British government, it seemed that the Japanese Communist Party was handling the allocation of my patronage funds with considerable caution.
' Quite a wise choice.'
If the intelligence reports had indicated that Chiyoko Tokugawa or other decision-makers were acting on their own whims, I would have definitely reconsidered my patronage.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case. Finding another suitable partner would have been troublesome enough.
As I quietly reflected on the cautious actions of our Japanese friends, Delis, who had been silently listening to me and Pavel, finally spoke up.
" It looks like we're finally leaving this country."
" Why do you sound so pleased to be leaving?"
"... Denying it would be pointless, I suppose. For my part, I don't regret it at all, but Pavel seems to have settled here quite a bit."
"Ah, so you really thought that, did you?"
What Delis meant by "Pavel seems to have settled here quite a bit" had a different implication.
' It was referring to Pavel's bloodline.'
Though it was only a quarter, Pavel still carried ancestry from the Korean peninsula.
However, as I— that is, Yerina—had observed over the past fifteen years, Pavel didn't seem particularly aware of his own origins.
Before joining the organization, he had been in survival mode, living day by day with no time for such thoughts.
If anyone had brought up his bloodline to Pavel, he would have flattened them and searched their pockets for ruble notes.
Even after joining the organization, it hadn't changed much.
He had simply been training in methods of murder, day after day, as ordered by the organization's second leader, Willo Bronski, in service of protecting me.
At no point had racial or ethnic sentiments entered the picture. If they had, my father would have been the one to take offense.
Right from the start, the organization's first leader, Willo Bronski, had been a Polish Soviet—a Pole whose country had been trampled by the Nazi boot, who had earned Soviet citizenship and the title of Hero of the Fatherland through service in the Great Patriotic War.
Thanks to that, the organization had long been far removed from the sentiment of discriminating by blood origin. The leader himself was from across the Soviet Union, making him a minority.
After the second leader took over and the base shifted to London, and the organization's policies expanded across the world, things had changed somewhat.
As the bodyguard of the second leader, Pavel had accompanied him on many missions, including to various East Asian countries like Korea.
Naturally, those destinations included Korea. For Pavel, it must have been a somewhat strange feeling.
In the past, while walking the streets in Korea, the three of us—myself, Pavel, and Delis—had been given quite curious looks.
Whether due to my Western appearance or Delis's, or perhaps Pavel's familiar yet slightly exotic vibe that I couldn't quite place.
Even I could sense those glances in an instant, but what about Pavel, who would inevitably have recalled his experiences in the back alleys of Odesa before joining the Syndicate?
I asked Delis, as if to confirm the discomfort she must have felt.
" It's not just about staring, is it, Delis?"
" Of course not. The looks themselves didn't carry any malice."
" Exactly. Then, that incident must have been particularly irritating, right?"
"... Just as you predicted."
" Of course it would be."
The 'incident' I referred to was, of course, the unilateral notification from the chairman of the Special Committee for National Reconstitution that had delayed our trip to Japan.
It had been insufficient to simply tie up the feet of our highest decision-makers for weeks; after meeting him directly, he had even scraped at our wounds by questioning our bloodlines.
Of course, the bloodline he had questioned here wasn't on the Korean side, but rather the Ukrainian one.
It had been the side with only a quarter that had sparked the conflict, while the three-quarter side's involvement would have been a refreshing new experience for Pavel.
But being fresh didn't necessarily mean the feeling was pleasant.
" The man didn't insult just Pavel. He also lumped in Yerina-nim's bloodline, claiming it was from a communist country and swearing at us."
" Well, he probably realized it was a baseless excuse and spoke in a somewhat cautious tone."
" The tone doesn't matter. What matters is that he made that absurd claim while knowing it, and tried to extract money from our organization."
" For me, that was actually the fresher experience. It's rare to see Delis show emotions like this."
" Hmm... I suppose one could look at it that way."
When I answered with some hesitation, Delis continued with a confident expression.
" If Pavel or Yerina-nim had turned down their 'requests' even once, the chairman would probably have tried to scrape at Pavel's bloodline again before resorting to intimidation."
" I agree with that point. It would likely have been the opposite bloodline."
Humans naturally enjoy dividing into sides.
When convenient, they claim commonalities are enough to be on the same side; when inconvenient, they claim minor differences make them the opposite side.
If Delis's wish had come true, he would have argued using the common point of being Korean.
For Pavel, listening to that, it would have been unbelievable.
Simply having that side of the bloodline, and having never had any real connection to Korea in his life, he would be forced into the absurd position of being told 'We're the same side?'
" Of course, since accepting the chairman's demands brought far greater benefits, he wouldn't have raised the issue. After all, it was after Yerina-nim had assessed the pros and cons and decided to accept."
" However, from the perspective of someone who wasn't even present at the scene and had no choice but to merely watch the situation unfold... it's an incident that can't be entirely denied as somewhat unpleasant."
How long had it been since Delis had revealed such private emotions? In other words, my meaning was that these were private emotions beyond the ones exchanged with her other half.
What the Intelligence Bureau chief said was naturally all perfectly reasonable. Without even asking, the surprise and disgust that Pavel had felt upon suddenly being targeted over bloodlines was something I could fully understand.
Delis then suddenly apologized to me.
"... I'm sorry. I forgot to consider the time you spent reflecting on Yerina-nim's words and spoke out with private emotions."
"..."
" When considering the public good of the entire organization, it's obvious that Yerina-nim's judgment was correct. I hope you can forgive me."
" No, I understood exactly what you intended to say. I didn't just not express it; I was angry too."
I pushed Delis's apology aside. That feeling wasn't one I was willing to receive.
Instead, I calmly continued.
" So, then, shouldn't the one who caused that debt pay it instead?"
" Wait..."
" You know the reason behind the judgment I made. By throwing our organization's cash at them now, aren't we essentially obtaining troops that the organization can freely use in the Far East someday?"
The tacit agreement I had made with the chairman. Although the other side might not have been aware of the hidden terms, at least the conditions the organization wanted weren't the ones written on paper.
' When the time comes for a physical clash with the Soviet Union, South Korea will dump all its national power and start a war in the Far East like a joke.'
That would be more than enough time for me to make my move from Moscow. After burning the parliamentary fools, the entire world would be under my feet.
In that case, how to handle the rulers of South Korea, whose national power had been considerably depleted, would be entirely up to the organization's discretion.
I said as much.
" So, then, why not just pour out all the unresolved anger at once? Giving Delis full authority over it would be fine too."
Ten years? Revenge wasn't something that came quickly, but it wasn't late either.