Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 46
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046-06-Do You Know Gaengwan Lee?
Gaengwan hurriedly raised both hands and stepped back with an excuse.
"This guy is using tricks."
"Tricks?"
"He just doesn’t listen to the questions. In one ear and out the other. What’s the point of asking anything in that situation?"
At Gaengwan’s words, Kim Joon frowned, but his tone softened a bit.
"This is going to be a problem."
"It’s fine. I didn’t break it, just dislocated it for a moment. I can pop it back in."
Kim Joon, frowning tighter, spoke through his earpiece with someone and then continued.
"Alright. Then let’s fix the dislocation first."
"Sure."
With Kim Joon’s permission, Gaengwan grabbed Muhammad’s wrist. But would Muhammad, whose finger had just been bent back, stay still?
"Ah, damn! Stay still, you bastard!"
Smack!
A fierce slap exploded against Muhammad’s cheek, strong enough to leave his mind hazy. His lip must have burst because blood splattered from the corner of his mouth.
Kim Joon, overwhelmed by the series of sudden incidents, opened and closed his mouth without forming words, scratching his head in frustration. Meanwhile, Gaengwan grabbed Muhammad’s bent finger and pushed the dislocated joint back into place.
"Tada! Back to normal! Treatment complete!"
The way he said it, like a magician finishing a magic show, left everyone speechless.
Afraid the interrogation might be jeopardized, Kim Joon hurriedly told Muhammad that the incident was just a little mishap that happened while trying to reset a dislocated finger.
But who would believe that bullshit? Muhammad glared at both Kim Joon and Gaengwan with pure hatred.
However, to Gaengwan, the arrogant glare of an arrogant terrorist cooperating with an arrogant terror organization was laughable at best.
"What are you glaring at, you son of a bitch?"
Smack!
"Uaaaargh!"
When Gaengwan slapped the other cheek, Muhammad couldn’t stand the humiliation any longer and leapt from his chair to attack him.
Gaengwan twisted his torso slightly to dodge Muhammad’s headbutt aimed at his chin, grabbed the back of his neck, and slammed his face into the wall.
Then, pulling back Muhammad’s staggering body by the neck, he swept his leg and slammed him onto the floor before stomping down on his face.
Muhammad flailed, clutching his face.
Extending his middle finger, Gaengwan looked down at him and said,
"So you’re reawwy good at fighting? Come up to the wooftop."
But Muhammad was in no condition to go anywhere, and the FBI agents who stormed in were an additional obstacle preventing any rooftop showdown.
Kim Joon pressed his temples, clearly stressed, and spoke to Gaengwan.
"Let’s stop here."
"Stop what?"
"The interrogation."
"Why?"
Do you really have to ask?!
"Do you think we can keep interrogating him in this condition?!"
Calm, quiet Kim Joon raised his voice, a rare thing. Seeing that, Gaengwan muttered, "Oh, so you do have a temper," and then smirked like he had just scammed a gullible client.
"Exactly because of this situation, we can push through. This bastard’s completely lost his composure. It’s easier to read someone who’s agitated than someone who stays calm."
Kim Joon, looking troubled, again talked through his earpiece with someone and then stared at Gaengwan.
"There will definitely be a problem."
A problem… What kind of problem, and for whom? Probably for Gaengwan, or the people who decided to use his abilities. Or all of them.
But to Gaengwan, it was nothing. He shrugged.
"I’m a criminal anyway. Worst case, you dump all the blame on me, prosecute me, and ship me back to Korea. Clean and simple, right?"
"… But that would extend your sentence."
"Puahahahahahaha!"
At Kim Joon’s concern, Gaengwan suddenly burst out laughing.
Did these people really not investigate him enough? If they had, they’d know he wasn't someone who feared things like prison sentences.
To him, Kim Joon’s worry felt like someone worrying about the class valedictorian not getting a perfect score. Who the hell worried about him?
"If I cared about that crap, do you think I’d have stabbed a congressman?"
"…"
"You guys can’t, but I can. As long as I can screw this son of a bitch over, that’s enough."
With a sinister grin, he tapped Muhammad’s chair leg. Hatred-filled eyes met ridicule-filled ones.
Watching the two, Kim Joon sighed.
"Then let’s continue."
Orders must have come from above.
Placing a hand on Muhammad’s shoulder, Gaengwan resumed his twenty-questions game. Muhammad’s threatening expression gradually morphed into desperation as questions neared their conclusion.
"So your brother is here, isn’t he?"
When Muhammad saw the address and photo Gaengwan laid out, he began to freak out.
[Aaaaah! Lawyer! Get me a lawyer!]
"And your little brother is here, right?"
[I have the right to remain silent!]
Gaengwan looked at Kim Joon.
"What’s this bastard saying?"
"He says he has the right to remain silent."
"What a load of bullshit."
A terrorist claiming the right to remain silent. Ridiculous.
"Criminal bastards don’t give a damn about others’ rights but cling like hell to their own. Isn’t that right, Mr. Kim?"
Kim Joon gave a weak smile. From his perspective, Gaengwan was just as much a criminal.
Anyway, by the end of the “truth game,” Gaengwan pinpointed another link in the terror cell’s chain. The next day, he interrogated two more people, then three the day after. With Kim Joon adapting to the pace and tone of his method, things sped up significantly.
"Good work."
"Are we done?"
"Yes. That’s all the interrogations we prepared."
"Did you get anything worthwhile?"
Kim Joon tried not to show it, but his voice held satisfaction.
"We gained quite a lot. It seems we’ll be busy for a while, Mr. Lee included."
"We should only talk about that after verifying whether that haul is trash or treasure. I’m not celebrating early."
The terms trash and treasure were unfamiliar, but Kim Joon understood from context and nodded.
"True. It’s too early to call it a result."
They couldn’t pop champagne before arrests were made. Only then could they evaluate Gaengwan’s ability and contributions.
Kim Joon felt strange. Criminals sometimes cooperated in exchange for leniency, but letting a criminal take the lead in interrogations… even the FBI had never seen something like this.
"So when am I going back?"
"Are you eager to leave?"
"I don’t care. I just need to know the schedule so I can decide what to do with my time."
Normally, when people said “I don’t care,” they always cared, but with this man’s thick skull and bizarre behavior, Kim Joon thought maybe it was actually true. Given how often Gaengwan had shown borderline insanity, he seemed like someone who liked being imprisoned.
"You've worked hard, so you’ll probably get a day of free time."
"Shorter than I thought."
"This isn’t a vacation."
"It’s still technically a furlough…"
"Only technically."
Feeling the conversation dragging, Kim Joon clapped sharply.
"Anyway, there’s someone you need to meet first."
"Who?"
"Our section chief."
He led Gaengwan to an office with the name ‘David’ on the door.
"He’s the head of the FBI Counterterrorism Division C-Team, and my superior."
"What about Tom?"
"My senior and mentor."
Gaengwan nodded, and Kim Joon knocked.
"Come in!"
A deep male voice answered. Kim Joon opened the door, and Gaengwan followed him inside.
Behind the desk sat a chubby white man, David Brown.
The moment he saw Gaengwan, he stood up and exclaimed,
"Oh! You are fucking good badass!"
Was that a welcome? When Gaengwan looked at Kim Joon, he translated, means you're one hell of a badass.
Courtesy must be returned.
Gaengwan replied,
"You too."
"HAHAHAHA!"
David burst into hearty laughter and gestured for Gaengwan to sit. Kim Joon translated his words.
"He says you worked hard coming all this way."
"He says thanks, your help sped up the investigation tremendously."
"He says not to worry about the violence against Muhammad. He actually found it refreshing."
"He says you’ll be sent home after a day of rest. Even if it feels abrupt, he hopes you understand. In exchange, he prepared a nice gift."
"He’s asking if you have anything you want to ask."
At the last question, Gaengwan shrugged.
"Not really."
"Unexpected."
"What is?"
"I thought you liked talking."
"I do, but that doesn’t mean I like making friends."
David cut in, curious about what they were discussing. When Kim Joon told him honestly, he burst out laughing again.
A very cheerful man.
"He says he looks forward to working with you."
As they left the office, Gaengwan asked,
"So it’s confirmed I’ll be helping the FBI?"
"Well… as things stand, almost certainly."
For investigators, the greatest difficulty was this: finding the truth by inferring from evidence. No matter how advanced forensic science or profiling became, human crime and human darkness remained murky.
But if Gaengwan’s ability was real, it was like suddenly switching from poking around riverbeds with a stick to using a modern sonar system.
Normally, there would be massive backlash, but under the banner of national security, even using a foreign criminal as a core investigation asset was acceptable, at least to David, the C-Team chief.
Besides, this was America. If it produced results, they could cover up small problems, such as bringing a foreign criminal into the country for use.
Gaengwan said,
"The world sure has some weird surprises."
"More than you think."
Kim Joon escorted him to his hotel.
"The plane leaves tomorrow afternoon. Rest until then."
Gaengwan nodded. He ordered room service for dinner and enjoyed good internet access.
But late at night, someone knocked.
When he opened the door, there stood a blonde beauty wrapped in a coat.
"Who are you?"
He tilted his head. She tilted hers too, then said,
"David send me."
"Aha!"
So this was the ‘nice gift’ David mentioned.
When Gaengwan stepped aside in awe, the blonde woman entered the room.
Closing the door, Gaengwan shouted,
"God bless America!"