The President's Declaration
"Good evening. This is MBC 9 o'clock News Desk anchor Lee Young-seok."
"Happy Chuseok. The full moon was particularly beautiful on my way to work today. I hope you're all enjoying quality time with your families."
"I hope tonight's 9 o'clock news brings nothing but good tidings for the holiday."
"Let's begin. The recently elected President of the United States has issued a statement."
"I'll summarize the key points first."
The American President pointed to illegal immigrants from Mexico and Canada as the primary cause of the rampant drug problem in U.S. society. "This measure will remain in effect until the invasion of drugs into our country stops," he declared. He continued, "We possess the absolute right and authority to resolve a problem that has been simmering for far too long," warning that "we will demand they cease using the rights and authority we hold, and they will pay a very steep price until that happens."
"The President expressed deep concern over the massive influx of drugs into the United States and issued a stern warning. He stated that the death penalty would be imposed on every drug dealer involved in such activities, noting that 'drugs are pouring into America at unprecedented levels, primarily through Mexico.' He added that additional tariffs would be levied on all products entering the U.S. until the flow stopped."
"We will immediately halt the drugs flooding across our borders," he affirmed with resolve.
In connection with this, we have Professor Kim Cheon-su, an expert in international trade, joining us for a discussion. "Good evening, Professor."
"Yes, good to be here."
"It seems like something the American President says every time. Will this have any impact on our country?"
Yeah, probably a lot. Especially for me.
After hearing Boston Uncle's story, I stopped making additional purchases and decided to wait and see. There hadn't been any requests for more buys anyway. During the brief Black Friday sales period, my main suppliers hadn't brought anything to me. "Buy from us next time," they'd said.
The community was in an uproar. Especially on the American side—some urged to wrap things up quickly since preparations weren't ready, while others figured it was the usual talk and a little caution would suffice. There were even suggestions of collusion to hold onto stock rather than release it, letting prices rise before selling later.
About a week after the announcement, transactions had clearly slowed. The number of posts dropped, there were more people trying to sell than buy, and reports of incidents began appearing. Stories of shipments getting caught coming out of Mexico, tunnels being discovered, vessels detained by the U.S. Coast Guard, and so on. Among them was some guy gloating and teabagging, claiming he'd been right all along.
Well, I'd made good money for two months, so maybe it was time to close up shop. I should give Secretary Ko some time off too—he'd worked himself to the bone handling my orders.
When I visited the school after a long absence, the class president and Myung-jae greeted me. They were enlisting next month—the president had been assigned to KATUSA, while Myung-jae had been rejected and was going in as a regular conscript. Their expressions were a study in contrasts.
I told them the military was still the military and wished them well. When I tried to give them some spending money for the road, they refused, saying they had plenty of funds. They also reported that the new third-generation recruits had fully adapted. They hoped the newcomers would still be around after they returned from service.
If I kept at this line of work, they'd probably still be here. Shipping goods overseas through trading companies had been convenient—easy to create plausible reasons, and after a few air and sea shipments, the kids had gotten the hang of it. Of course, Secretary Ko had handled the actual preparations; I'd only given the orders.
While Uncle Flag prepared the merchandise and continued supplying Mexico, processing my orders for two months had left the financial statements looking robust. Profits alone came to around two billion won. Nearly all assets were in cash, which was satisfying. And since I held 100% of the shares, it was all my money.
Back home, I was having tea with Madame Lee when Secretary Ko walked in. I'd told him to rest as much as he wanted, but he'd only taken two days before returning. He looked refreshed—probably because I hadn't been giving him orders.
"Chairman, I have something to report."
He usually avoided interrupting tea time, so it must be urgent. Since it wasn't something to discuss in front of Madame Lee, we went up to the third floor.
"What is it?"
"We've received word that matters in China have been resolved."
China? Ah... I'd sent the security team on that trip. What were they doing, dispatching employees abroad like that? I needed to keep my expression in check.
"Good work. Are they all returning?"
"We've received a request for them to stay on deployment."
Probably asking for training like in the Philippines.
"If there are volunteers, leave them. If not, decline."
"Understood."
"Also, Chief Kim contacted me requesting permission to recruit additional personnel. There are vacancies."
Someone must have gotten hurt again.
"Were there many injuries?"
"No. It's a personnel transfer request. The security team felt it required your approval, Chairman."
That was a relief. From what I heard, the team had liked their time in China. One squad had volunteered to remain as training instructors and assist Manager Kim. So there were volunteers after all.
"Sounds fine to me."
Since I didn't know the details, I called Chief Kim directly.
'Chief Kim, are you available to talk?'
'Yes, go ahead.'
'I heard one squad wants to stay in China.'
'Correct.'
Her tone was crisp—typical of a former soldier.
'Will recruiting more people cause any issues?'
'No. Plenty of applicants. Many recommendations from existing members too.'
Times like this reminded me that Korea was still technically at war.
'We'd also like to establish a support unit,' she added.
Listening to her explanation, it made sense. With IT increasingly involved in urban combat and counter-terrorism, they needed people to handle operations. When I asked why they hadn't recruited earlier, she explained that with such a small headcount, they'd barely managed to fill field positions. The China operation had made the need clear.
'Send me the proposal.'
"Secretary Ko, once the security team's plan comes up, review it first and report to me."
I tossed the work to the freshly rested Secretary Ko.
"And how exactly did things wrap up in China? I was too busy to follow."
"Yes, the security team went in and—"
Our security team had performed exceptionally well, just like with the Japan job. They always delivered beyond expectations. I'd thought they'd just help out in the inter-organization conflict, collect some service fees or secure clients, and that would be enough—but the scale had grown. At first, the team had gone with that limited objective in mind: adapt locally, gather intel on the opposing organization. Then an opportunity arose, and they took out the enemy's leadership in one strike.
According to the operation report, they'd received a tip about a regular meeting in downtown Tianjin and struck. Most of the key executives were present, so it went smoothly. Manager Kim's guanxi contact turned out to be the organization's number three. Hadn't the Cider guy from before also been number three?
Returning to the main story—the security team interrogated the captured executives and learned the full picture. The reason we'd been hit three times wasn't because of an internal plant by the rival organization, but because their boss had sold us out for information. Blinded by greed, that group had come after us, and we'd suffered the consequences.
Their house was a mess. Furious, the number three had asked Manager Kim for help. When asked what kind of help, he said he planned a coup and needed support. In exchange for making him the new boss, he'd hand over his territory and the surrounding product markets. Manager Kim couldn't decide on his own, so he reported to headquarters. Executive Director Ha gave the green light, and the operation proceeded.
"Secretary Ko, I don't recall receiving a report on this."
"You told us to handle it at our discretion at the time."
Right. My mind had been elsewhere. I shouldn't have asked. It felt like I'd lost some trust.
"So the territory transfer went through?"
"Yes. There's a related request. They're handling the handover locally, but the required volume is quite large."
Well, it was the neighboring country with the world's largest population—scale was to be expected.
"How much do they need?"
"Roughly three times our domestic demand."
At first I thought I'd misheard. But no—it wasn't an exaggeration. The hinterland population alone was a hundred million. Tianjin itself had over twenty million, and Beijing, the capital, was nearby. This was why global companies had flocked there when China first opened its markets.
They casually requested fifty kilograms each of marijuana, opium, and cocaine for the first shipment. I approved it, which meant I now needed to secure a new supply chain. At least the retirees were gradually preparing marijuana deliveries, so time would solve that. Opium was the problem. Duke Vladimir had probably sold out during the boom, so I'd have to contact Yangcho once. He'd mentioned collaborating with Yeongcheon on strain improvement last time.
That evening, Secretary Ko brought the reviewed proposal, and I approved it. A twenty-five-member security team, including a five-person support unit. Fifteen of them would be new hires. Would it work? I'd have to trust them.