First Move
Ri Su-jin decided to launch a preemptive strike. It wasn't a decision made in the heat of anger.
I need to finish this quickly.
Joo Sung-hyun didn't have much to begin with.
But her position was different. Dozens of mouths she directly fed, hundreds of girls she had to look after indirectly...
If she couldn't avoid it, a preemptive strike was the next best option.
Ri Su-jin immediately called one of her girls.
"Hye-ryun. You're in your second year of overstaying, right? Do a job for me before they deport you."
Of course, she was a fellow Chinese-Korean.
She could use Vietnamese, Thai, Filipino, Lao, Cambodian, or even -stan girls, but for this kind of work, Chinese-Koreans were the best. ...Hateful as they were, they were close. Sometimes more contemptible than the bāngzǐ, but easy to use.
"Unni, is this really okay?"
"Just do as I say. I'll take care of the money."
"What if I can never come back to Korea? I still need to make money. At least until I can put down a deposit for a shop."
"I'll give it to you. Now."
"What?"
The bewildered Chinese-Korean girl. Ri Su-jin paid the price.
Two 10-gram gold bars. Four brand-new unlocked smartphones.
"Unni...?"
"Go cash them out."
She could have arranged for a money changer to give it to her later, but for this kind of work, physical goods were better.
No risk of having them confiscated upon deportation, and she could quickly sell them at market price back home.
The Chinese-Korean prostitute Ri Su-jin had recruited as a pawn was already wavering in her eyes. Why wouldn't she be? The job was simple, the compensation generous.
Ri Su-jin knew better than anyone. Her fellow countrymen...
"I'll do it...! I'll do it right, unni. I swear I'll do it!"
...would never refuse gold and smartphones.
The Chinese-Korean prostitute, who already had a deportation order hanging over her head and was only waiting to be caught, moved faithfully according to Ri Su-jin's instructions.
Her destination was the Immigration Office.
"Excuse me... I'm an illegal alien. But I can't just be deported. I have something to say before I go."
"Something to say?"
"A city hall official did something bad to me."
A self-surrender by a Chinese-Korean woman who looked like a prostitute to anyone.
The immigration officer at the counter stood with a flustered expression before guiding the prostitute to an interview room.
Exploitation of illegal aliens was an extremely sensitive issue.
The statement was specific.
"My name is Oh Hye-ryun. I'm from Yanji. I became an illegal alien last year. On August 27th, at 4 AM, I went on an outcall. It was a 7th-floor officetel, no security, just a place anyone could walk in and out of. The man first gave me 120,000 won in cash for the base rate. During the massage, he kept asking... if a two-shot was possible, if I'd kiss him. When I said no, he laughed and said, 'You're an illegal alien, aren't you? If I go to the police, you'll be deported tomorrow. If you just pretend this never happened, it'll be fine...' So I ended up doing a free two-shot. Then on September 5th, early in the morning, he called again..."
A current public official who had called a Chinese-Korean outcall massage girl to his home in August and September.
The gist was that he'd noticed the massage girl was an illegal alien and demanded services (two-shot, oral finish, extended time).
No additional payment.
On the second call, he even got two rounds of sex for free.
On top of that, he made degrading remarks and threatened her... It was a scumbag move, and from the Immigration Office's perspective, it couldn't be ignored. Since she had turned herself in knowing she'd be forcibly deported, the credibility of her statement was also recognized.
"I couldn't stand the humiliation, so while he was washing up, I looked through his wallet. I saw his government employee ID and identification card, and that's how I found out who he was."
"Who is it?"
The public official accused of being a scumbag who exploited an illegal alien prostitute was a Grade 7 civil servant at Annam City Hall.
His name was Joo Sung-hyun.
****
To be honest, I had planned to use impotent Kim Ho-chang to take down Ri Su-jin. Digging into the side of Ri Su-jin's younger sister, a naturalized police officer, would have been fine too...
But this whole thing started because of Kim Ho-chang in the first place.
It was Ri Su-jin who had brokered the Lao girl, Xaina, as a surrogate for Kim Ho-chang, who needed one. Kim Ho-chang was suspicious of Xaina and hired me to do a background check. Ri Su-jin was so uncomfortable with that fact that she sent her girls after me.
Using Kim Ho-chang is the fastest way.
He was a semi-gangster at heart, given that he was a land developer in Annam City.
A man with enough initiative to cripple two local bigwigs.
I was planning to provoke Kim Ho-chang just enough and send him after Ri Su-jin...
"Joo Sung-hyun deputy manager. A moment, please?" (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
As soon as I arrived at work, I was summoned by Yoon Seo-young, the secretary who was also Mayor Min Sung-bae's mistress.
Her gaze kept flicking toward me, arms crossed nervously...
Going by her count, it seemed she and Mayor Min had had a fun time at the hotel last night. She was probably enjoying a much higher quality of life than when she was getting banged in the annex or the mayor's office.
But her expression was grim.
I had a feeling it was related to the Chinese-Korean hag. My intuition was right.
"There's an official document that's been reported to the Inspector General's office." (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
"Is my name on it?"
"Yes... but the content is a bit..."
"Just tell me."
Secretary Yoon Seo-young kept checking my reaction.
Maybe because she was sleeping with a boss old enough to be her uncle, or because she was a woman who even planned a future with him, she was quite perceptive. She might not have known exactly what was going on, but she had once said to me, "Your eyes are strange."
I understood why she was acting this way, but right now, what I needed was a quick exchange of information.
"It's fine. After all, it's a special favor for the secretariat to personally deliver word of a mere deputy manager's alleged misconduct."
(7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
"Even if it's a matter for a disciplinary committee."
They said an official document had arrived at the Annam City Hall Inspector General's office.
The title was 『Notice of Receipt of Statement Regarding Alleged Misconduct of Annam City Government Employee』
The document was sent by the Annam Branch of the Immigration Office.
The person who had reported my misconduct was a Chinese-Korean woman who had turned herself in as an illegal alien. She claimed she was so aggrieved by the humiliation and exploitation she had suffered at my hands that she included a statement along with her surrender. She said even if she was going to be deported, she wanted to settle the score first.
"This is a pretty serious matter." (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
"The one who stabbed me in the back was a prostitute?"
"I... suppose so."
"So the gist is that I used the fact that the prostitute was an illegal alien to threaten her. But she probably didn't mention sexual assault or extortion. Stabbing me with a serious crime would be overkill. There would need to be a he-said-she-said, and that prostitute needs to stay in Korea."
So she had just pinned a free-BJ charge on me.
It was a fairly efficient attack.
After all, the illegal alien who falsely accused me would just leave the country anyway. That's why Chinese-Koreans were scary.
A prostitute who had sold her body as an illegal alien...
But by turning herself in, she could get a lenient disposition. Just deportation. From the Immigration Office's perspective, they would have mechanically forwarded the statement of an 'alien already scheduled for deportation' to Annam City Hall and the Foreign Affairs Division of the police station. That's how public officials work.
"I won't even get a chance for a confrontation. Since the person I'd be confronting has already been deported."
"Look. This is a really serious situation...?" (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
"I know. I'm screwed."
Of course, I had never called an outcall massage girl.
But proving my innocence was going to be extremely difficult.
The place I lived was an old officetel with no security guard. It wasn't sexual assault, just a case of a public official mistreating a prostitute, so I couldn't pin the burden of proof on her side. She would have framed it as something that happened late at night or early in the morning, making it impossible for me to establish an alibi.
I probably wouldn't face criminal charges. But.
"I can't avoid the charge of damaging the dignity of a public official."
"Yes, that's... ugh." (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
Disciplinary action against a public official isn't a criminal trial.
The official document of suspicion sent by the Immigration Office.
And the police would probably say something like, 'It's not certain that it will lead to a criminal case, but it does appear to have the potential for misconduct.'
That alone would be sufficient grounds for disciplinary action. Even if I could prove my innocence and avoid the punishment itself, there was no way I could avoid a temporary suspension of duty and a summons to the disciplinary committee.
That was probably why Secretary Yoon Seo-young was nervous. She couldn't cut me a break.
"I'm sorry, but I can't grant you any favors." (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
"I understand."
"Do you remember? Last year, when the head of the main office's general affairs section got caught up with a room salon madam."
"I know. You don't need to explain."
I couldn't receive special treatment just because I knew about the affair between Mayor Min and Secretary Yoon.
Of course, if I strong-armed them, I could probably sweep it under the rug.
After all, he was the mayor. Why wouldn't he be able to quash a disciplinary committee? But right now, Mayor Min Sung-bae was preparing for the next local election, and giving special treatment to a specific public official (especially one who had received an unprecedented special promotion recently) would be self-destructive.
But, fortunately for them.
"Secretary Yoon Seo-young. I don't want any special favors."
"Are you sure you don't hold a grudge?" (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
"None at all."
The one behind the Chinese-Korean prostitute who stabbed me was definitely Ri Su-jin.
Looking at it now, that bitch's prostitute network was beyond my imagination.
She had a resource pool of prostitutes and thugs she could use at any time, and she was a hag who knew how to cut me off from Mayor Min Sung-bae's support... Just how many prostitutes did she have?
Probably less than 999, but it was enough to be called the boss of a prostitute cartel.
She was different from the two I had sent packing before.
I could deal with Han Chae-kyung through her husband, and Kim Yu-ra through her fiancé.
Just drop the bait and watch how they get fucked. Even if I had to intervene, it was just a matter of fiddling with my smartphone a few times.
But Ri Su-jin was a different breed. Manpower, money, and even skill.
I need to change my plan.
Attack by using Kim Ho-chang? That wasn't enough anymore.
"Secretary Yoon Seo-young. I have a favor to ask."
"Should I delay your suspension? I could manage that much..."
"No. Quite the opposite."
"Huh?" (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
What I wanted was a quick suspension and removal from my post.
"Please."
So I could focus solely on taking down Ri Su-jin.
Yoon Seo-young stared at me as if I were bizarre.
"Alright. I'll do it." (7 / 257 / 11 hours ago)
She immediately called the mayor.
The order for my removal from post came down thirty minutes later.
The official reason was suspicion of damaging the dignity of a public official. Along with that, an order to stay away from work.
"Thank you."
I immediately left the office.
...
Returned my electronic access card, had my access to the approval system blocked, and my administrative network account was suspended.
I was now a ghost.
If I stayed still, the expected disciplinary action would be a pay cut.
What if an article came out?
I might even get a full suspension. Damaging the dignity of the organization was also grounds for disciplinary action.
But I didn't have time to make it go away.
I didn't have enough time to take down 999, who had pinned the free-BJ label on me, either. Ri Su-jin was a woman with more resources and international connections than I had thought.
Thanks to her, I can see where to start.
I headed to the Annam Multicultural Citizens Exchange Center near Central Station.
From the signboard, it looked like a shabby NGO. Its activities were minimal.
But its true nature was an NIS field office.