Chapter 367
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Former Director's Alliance
The way they had detonated the Armenia issue to land a blow on the United States was a tactic no normal country would even dream of attempting.
"Dragging up historical issues from some unrelated foreign country and ruining relations with a perfectly fine diplomatic partner? Are you insane? Do you think diplomacy is a game?"
In a democratic nation, pulling something like that would tank approval ratings faster than you could say "national bankruptcy" and strip away all political momentum.
But this country, the Republic of Korea, was a dictatorship.
The angry voices of the people couldn't pierce the thick walls surrounding President Yongseong's residence.
"I'll show you results, so just wait."
The opposition erupted in complaints over the Korean government's one-way street style of rule.
"Is this how a proper country is governed?"
They fiercely denounced Bae Seong-jun in parliament over the hastily passed resolution condemning the Armenian massacres.
But no amount of criticism would change a thing.
Lee Se-eun knew that better than anyone.
'Bae Seong-jun isn't the type to crumble under a few words like that.'
To bring down Bae Seong-jun, she had to corner him in a trap he couldn't escape.
Lee Se-eun's brown eyes lingered on the portrait of her father for a long while.
If it were Father—if it were him—how would he have backed this cunning enemy into a corner?
'Father wouldn't have even had to agonize over it like this.'
Lee Seong-jun was the kind of man who shoved his opponents into traps before they could do the same to him.
As Lee Se-eun sat lost in thought, her secretary spoke up.
"Miss."
"Yes. What is it?"
"There's someone here who wishes to see you."
Lee Se-eun accepted the meeting without hesitation.
The person who appeared was the last one she had expected.
"I'm Kim Daegyu, Miss. It's an honor to meet you."
Jang Dong-yun's former KCIA director bowed his head to Lee Se-eun.
A flash of wariness crossed her eyes at the arrival of this heavyweight among the real power brokers.
"If you're Director Kim Daegyu, I believe you're a key figure from the previous regime, correct?"
"That's right."
Kim Daegyu gave a wry smile as he spoke.
"And your hands are stained with the blood of citizens, I presume."
"You wouldn't be wrong."
"So why have you come to me? I think you've got the wrong address. If you're looking for someone to treat you well, shouldn't you be going to Bae Seong-jun?"
"You are exactly where I need to be."
Lee Se-eun's gaze grew subtly sharper at Kim Daegyu's calm reply.
"I'd like to know your reason."
"I believe power should return to the people."
"Power to the people? That's not the kind of talk I'd expect from a former KCIA director."
"After going through it myself, I understand now. Just how rotten a dictatorship can be."
Kim Daegyu held no particular conviction about democracy.
Even so, he had learned through Jang Dong-yun just how far off the rails a dictatorship could go.
And Bae Seong-jun, who followed in his footsteps?
No different.
You could tell Bae Seong-jun's brutality just from how he seized power.
A monster who would do anything for power.
Men like that shouldn't hold the reins.
Kim Daegyu's voice was utterly sincere.
The wariness in Lee Se-eun's eyes, which had been there at first, softened.
"I understand what you're saying, Director. But are you sure about this? If you raise the banner of democratization, you'll become a target of the regime."
No, he could face something even worse.
A man who knew things he wasn't supposed to.
For someone like that, the regime had only one punishment.
Kim Daegyu knew it too.
"I've steeled myself for it."
Lee Se-eun could see from his eyes that his resolve was firm.
She extended her hand toward Kim Daegyu.
He looked puzzled by her gesture, but she smiled and said,
"If we're aiming for the same goal, then we're comrades, aren't we?"
Kim Daegyu took her small, outstretched hand.
"As you say, Miss."
No sooner had Kim Daegyu joined Lee Se-eun's camp than he began taking decisive action.
"From now on, you need to be careful with water and food too."
"Why?"
"The KCIA has over a hundred ways to make someone fall ill without a sound."
To counter wiretapping, Kim Daegyu recommended setting up record players.
"Wiretap countermeasures?"
"Even if you don't know for sure, there won't be a single listening device here. To avoid them, always play music during conversations, and use written notes as much as possible."
With Kim Daegyu's help, Lee Se-eun began building her defenses bit by bit.
His advice didn't stop at wiretaps and poisoning.
He even vetted the people around her.
"You should replace your personal secretaries."
"Why?"
"Their walk and mannerisms scream agency operative."
Military or intelligence.
At his words, Lee Se-eun swapped out her secretaries without argument.
Seeing this, her secretary said,
"Miss, aren't you trusting Director Kim Daegyu a bit too much? He was Jang Dong-yun's hunting dog."
"I know."
But Kim Daegyu had staked his life to stand by her side.
A sincerity backed by his very life.
Wasn't that worth betting on?
That's what Lee Se-eun thought.
The news that Kim Daegyu had attached himself to Lee Se-eun soon reached the KCIA.
Bae Seong-jun looked puzzled upon receiving the report.
"Director Kim Daegyu went to Lee Se-eun?"
"Yes."
"He has nothing to gain from her, yet he went and sided with her. Was Director Kim a man of convictions after all?"
Thinking back, Kim Daegyu lacked the cold ruthlessness fitting for an intelligence chief.
"What shall we do?"
"I'll meet him once."
"Pardon? You'll handle it personally, Director?"
"Yes."
Bae Seong-jun canceled all his schedule and went to meet Kim Daegyu himself.
"8 p.m. is when Director Kim gets off work."
"Ten minutes left."
Bae Seong-jun sat in the back seat of his car, staring only at his watch.
Five minutes passed.
Kim Daegyu's car entered the alley in front of the mansion.
Spotting it, the security detail got out of their vehicles.
"Here to arrest me?"
Bae Seong-jun stepped out of the car before Kim Daegyu could get too tense.
As he strode over briskly, the security team bowed at the waist.
"Long time no see, Director."
Wariness flickered in Kim Daegyu's eyes at Bae Seong-jun's greeting.
"Director Bae. It's been a while."
"Talking here isn't ideal, so how about a cup of tea?"
"I have no intention of that. We'll talk here."
Kim Daegyu drew a cold line with his former subordinate.
"You've grown colder since we last met."
"Isn't that even more true for you, Director Bae?"
"Fine, then."
Bae Seong-jun lit a cigarette, and a security member lit it for him.
He took a deep drag and said to Kim Daegyu,
"Director, if you'd just lived quietly like this, it would have been fine. Why stir up trouble?"
"You and your kind are the ones who made a quiet life impossible."
Bae Seong-jun blew out a puff of smoke at the barbed reply.
"Has anything gotten worse compared to Jang Dong-yun's days? We've switched to a presidential system with direct elections, and we're arresting fewer people. What exactly doesn't sit right with you, Director?"
"Because everything we've done is wrong. That's why I'm trying to fix it."
Bae Seong-jun's gaze, shrouded in smoke, turned subtle at Kim Daegyu's response.
It reminded him of Oh Gye-jang's stubbornness.
"You know what consequences those words will bring, don't you?"
"I do."
He could vanish, or turn up as a corpse.
Would a former KCIA director not know that much?
"Director, I don't want to be harsh with you."
"Then step down."
Unless he did that, there would be no backing down.
Bae Seong-jun flicked away his cigarette butt at Kim Daegyu's reply.
Kim Daegyu braced himself, taking it as a signal to attack, but unexpectedly, nothing happened.
Bae Seong-jun and his security detail simply got back in their car.
As they passed by Kim Daegyu, Bae Seong-jun left these words,
"Director, this is the path you've chosen."
"I know."
Bae Seong-jun raised the car window and drove off.
Kim Daegyu stared at his retreating figure, entranced.
As Kim Daegyu's house faded into the distance, his accompanying secretary cautiously asked,
"Director."
"I'm listening."
"Shall we let Director Kim live?"
"I'm thinking about it."
"Sparing him could send the wrong signal inside and outside the regime."
"For example?"
"Some in the military and bureaucracy who were loyal to Director Lee Seong-jun might line up with the young lady."
Bae Seong-jun didn't deny it.
"So we kill him?"
"Yes."
"Secretary Kim."
"Yes, Director."
"I do the thinking, judging, and deciding."
The secretary hurriedly bowed his head.
Even an active-duty colonel with his rank insignia meant nothing before a man who held the nation in his grip.
"I overstepped."
Only then did Bae Seong-jun's gaze return to its languid hue.
"Connect me to the 1st Deputy Director at Geumsusan."
"Connected to Geumsusan."
"1st Deputy Director?"
"Yes, Director."
"Put some people on surveillance for Director Kim Daegyu for the time being."
"Yes. We'll handle it."
Bae Seong-jun decided to observe Kim Daegyu for a while.
His thinking wasn't complicated.
If it was clear Kim Daegyu was scheming to manipulate Lee Se-eun for his own ends, he'd end up as a porcelain vase sold in the back alleys of Nampho.
But if he truly intended to serve her sincerely?
Then he'd get a stay of execution.
Until when?
Until he wasn't needed anymore.
Bae Seong-jun leaned back in the car seat and closed his eyes.