The Irreversible Alliance
Ryu Geum-cheol, who had identified himself as a North Korean Workers’ Party overseas intelligence operative, finally spilled the beans about the mission he had been given.
“…Yes. The task that was handed down to me up until now was to infiltrate the major chaebols in South Korea—or the mid-tier companies with strong growth potential—and build a network of connections with the high-ranking people in every sector.”
“So you infiltrated Cheonma Sangsa, which is at the bottom of one of the big companies, just like that?”
Ryu Geum-cheol slowly nodded. The way he held his head struck me as weird, so I kicked his knee hard.
“Answer me.”
I gave his shoe a sharp kick until the sole made a loud smack. The communist writhed in agony.
No, the word “writhed” might not even fit. How could he move his body when his limbs were all bound?
All he could do was shiver in pain and let out a high-pitched wail.
He probably hadn’t even thought about showing his teeth at me, so he simply answered whatever I asked, obediently.
“That also… Yes, it’s true. The other South-North operatives kept getting demoted in the records, but I was lucky enough to attach myself directly.”
“Lucky… If you had been there when Cheonma Sangsa wasn’t as powerful as it is now, maybe that’s why. Compared to those who were eyeing the threshold of other big companies, you had it easier.”
Being the chief bodyguard to the head of a company isn’t something anyone just gets handed. You had to roll around in the security office for years and build trust.
A clear example: the moment this guy turned and pulled out his knife against Ham Cheon-ho, my puppet’s reaction was flawless.
“You…? No, why…?”
He looked so dazed, like he couldn’t understand, so of course his response was slow.
If I hadn’t stepped in, my puppet would have been stabbed in the carotid artery and bled out long before.
Even if I cast regeneration magic right away, it wouldn’t have healed the blood loss completely. He would have had to stay in the hospital for a while just to get blood transfusions.
From Ham Cheon-ho’s pathetic reaction, it was clear that the guy who had been guarding Ham Cheon-ho up close was actually a South-North operative. It must have been quite the shock for my puppet.
“Snap out of it. How much longer are you going to keep this up?”
“But… I still don’t believe it…”
He was too weak now. I let out a soft sigh and pressed him again.
“I don’t know and don’t care what kind of relationship you had with this guy. But as long as you’re on a leash that I hold, you’re going to move according to my will, aren’t you?”
The neighbor’s dog that used to play nicely with the dog I raised turned on me and almost killed me, yet the dog I raised actually looked sadder. What kind of situation was that?
Since he didn’t seem to be getting better no matter what, I had no choice but to walk closer to Ham Cheon-ho and make eye contact.
The Charm that always activated on its own. I gave the order to the puppet who had my soul completely bound.
“Enough. Forget it. If you want to be useful to me, don’t just keep whining like that. You have to dump out the information you know, honestly.”
After using the magic that only two people in the world are allowed to use, rationality finally started trickling back into Ham Cheon-ho.
The story he heard from the puppet didn’t stray far from cross-examination.
“You were one of the bodyguards he trusted most, so he even brought you along on this trip, right? Of course he didn’t know you were a South-North operative who had infiltrated deep into Korean society.”
“It’s true, believe me! How could I lie when my own son is in your hands…?!”
That made sense. With the Charm in effect, even a non-mage like Ham Cheon-ho couldn’t be spitting out lies in front of me.
In summary, here’s what happened.
First, while I was setting up Cheonma Sangsa as South Korea’s base, the North Koreans had already been planting agents in various companies, including Ham Cheon-ho’s, faster than me.
Admitting that North and South are exchanging spies and saboteurs is just common knowledge.
So the plots that were already in motion long before I dropped into this world had nothing to do with me.
Even when I extended Ham Cheon-ho and Cheonma Sangsa as a foothold in South Korea, their paths didn’t overlap at all.
The fact that two foreigners from Britain had stormed the chairman’s house and swallowed the whole company was something I knew nothing about.
My puppet had been carrying out his duties without suspicion from anyone. That was confirmed by the reports my organization members left behind in Korea.
So the assassination attempt that had just happened should be viewed as separate from my own footsteps.
‘Of course, there might have been some overlap because I tripped backward at some point.’
The parts that overlapped were like this.
On the surface, North Korea, which claims to follow socialism, was still closely tied to the Soviet Union and had probably been warned in advance about some kind of disturbance in Hong Kong.
That was the chaos that had happened in Kowloon Walled City last night. I still had no idea how the Council of Materialists had read my movements.
Even if the inference was low-probability, it was worth considering that the target might have been not me but Hong Xiuquan, the shadow mage of Kowloon Walled City and its undisputed lord.
In summary, the only fact I needed to know was that the North Korean communists had somehow received news of some kind of disturbance in Hong Kong from the original communists. That was it.
And soon, a single order would have been issued to Ryu Geum-cheol, who had successfully infiltrated as the head of a South Korean company’s chief bodyguard.
‘Since the company executive you serve just happened to be heading to Hong Kong, where a disturbance is expected thanks to the Hong Kong Governor’s invitation, you should follow and watch for an opportunity to assassinate that executive. If possible, take the Governor with you.’
That was the order.
If the North Korean Workers’ Party’s command to Ryu Geum-cheol had been successfully carried out, there would have been hell to pay.
Two men with immense political and economic influence dying in broad daylight right in the middle of Hong Kong.
Looking for similar examples in the original history… would be the North Korean bomb terror in Myanmar.
When the South Korean president was visiting Aung San Suu Kyi’s grave in Myanmar to pay respects to an independence fighter, the bomb exploded and more than twenty people died.
If my memory was right, the president had survived thanks to being late. Instead, the North-South relationship afterward became extremely cold.
‘Of course, that didn’t happen in this world.’
The flow of history had already twisted long ago.
The bullet from the Demi-God Slayer Jaguar hadn’t pierced Yu Shin’s heart, and thanks to that, the fifth president of South Korea was still sitting in the Blue House.
If it had succeeded, the ripple effect would have been massive.
The mages would have been driven crazy by the aftershocks of the magic battle in Kowloon Walled City, and the politicians and the rest of the world would have gone mad over the assassination.
Ryu Geum-cheol, after being subjected to brutal torture, finally spilled the facts honestly.
“…I had an excuse. Why would the Party officially recognize the existence of agents like me?”
“So I was going to claim that I was carrying out the mission under my South Korean citizen identity.”
“The bourgeois reactionaries’ capitalist corruption has reached its peak, and the suffering of the South Korean people is unbearable. It’s only right for people like me, the educated masses, to voluntarily wield power…”
The pro-capitalist attitude of the South Korean corporate conglomerates was so well-known that even English dictionaries had entries for chaebol.
Therefore, if the assassination succeeded, Ryu Geum-cheol’s claim would have been that he was not a North Korean communist but a South Korean citizen who killed a capitalist executive sucking the blood of the people.
Who would believe that? The eyes were crossed and the thumb was up.
However, the important thing was that officially it would not be attributed to North Korea, but that a South Korean citizen had voluntarily carried out such a motive for crime.
Given that the foreign exchange crisis had already been on the verge a few months ago, it was a realistic motive.
The North Korean friends who planned this had probably wanted to shake South Korean society and the Western world with it.
That made sense. In the original history, North Korea had already seized Pyongyang itself, so the gap in national power wasn’t narrowing no matter how much it was run after; it was only widening.
So shouldn’t they actively demonstrate power to assert their share in the international community?
Influence in the international community comes from strength. Our “Korea” may be objectively weak, but we can strike at your hearts like guerrilla warfare whenever we want.
That was a truly pathetic way of thinking.
If this inference was correct, the Soviet Union had also been slapped in the back by the North Korean leadership.
The Soviet Union, who already knew from their own intelligence that North Korea had sent an agent to Hong Kong, had probably given Kim Jong-il a heads-up.
“Why did you send people to Hong Kong? That’s where we’re going to make a move soon. If you’re going to do something, stay quiet for now.”
As I mentioned earlier, the plot the Soviet Union was planning was in Kowloon Walled City.
Whether they were targeting me or the fake Hong Xiuquan of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still unclear, but one thing was certain: the North Koreans had received some kind of information too.
And the North Korean friends had made a truly perverse decision.
“If the Soviet Union is making a move, why not put a spoon in it?”
“Since the company executive you serve was heading to Hong Kong to meet the Governor, why not go with them?”
“What’s that comrade’s name… Oh, Ryu Geum-cheol comrade. If Ryu comrade killed that executive on the spot and turned it into an Asura hell, wouldn’t the picture look much better?”
In this way, I had gotten myself caught up in a really unlucky situation.
In conclusion, the Soviet friends did get involved, but it was an incident that the real Moscow communists could use as a pretext even though it was unjust from their side.
“This… is… ridiculous.”
I let out a stunned sentence that didn’t make any sense. Information department people would have been glued to me forever and still couldn’t catch up.
The most troublesome part is when the irrational ones don’t follow your orders as planned.
I left Ryu Geum-cheol tied to the chair and slowly let my thoughts sink in.
If this plan had succeeded, the international situation would definitely have shaken.
The Soviet Union had no connection and felt unjust, but as the head of the “communists and friends,” they would definitely get blamed too.
In other words, if I offered the British Hong Kong Governor and the South Korean company chairman as sacrifices…
“…The Soviet Union’s international political influence would definitely be cut in some way.”
After thinking it through, I pushed the chair back and stood up lightly. Coordination with the staff would be needed, but the outline seemed solid enough.
As I stood from my seat, I approached the Ryu Geum-cheol, who was still bowing his head and barely breathing, and asked.
“Want to succeed in the assassination…?”