The Dream Building
"Finally, we're done. Good work."
Even after the Lunar New Year holiday, on every free day in their schedules, Yeon-woo had coordinated with Han Hae-un to contact all six people on the list, one by one.
"Still, we managed to land three of them."
Two special agents who had past ties with Yeon-woo, and one special forces soldier who had been Hae-un's comrade in his previous life.
Three had accepted the offer in total. The remaining three declined before even hearing them out, saying they simply wanted to live ordinary lives like everyone else.
"Three is enough. Too many would be hard to control."
"True enough. Both you and I have our day jobs, Team Leader."
Not only Yeon-woo but Hae-un as well was busy with his work as a prosecutor, which meant most of the operatives would have to be assigned long-term missions and operate independently.
And the ones who had accepted were more than capable of handling that role.
"Kim Su-hyeok, Lee Gyu-jin, Park Jung-hyeon. All of them have résumés that wouldn't fall short of any active-duty operator."
"Agreed."
"For the first order, tell them to warm up and stand by. Before we move in earnest, we'll need to launder the money and take time to get everything in order."
"Yes, sir. Understood."
The profits from White Blood would be distributed soon.
With a total production budget in the range of thirty billion won, White Blood's projected revenue was approaching six hundred million dollars.
Six hundred million dollars translated to well over seven hundred billion won.
A return of more than twenty times the investment — a hit of that magnitude was almost unheard of.
Across the entire domestic film and drama market combined, there was no precedent for a figure like that.
Distributed in a hundred and ninety countries worldwide, it had claimed the global number-one spot and was still holding it, so the numbers were, in a sense, only natural.
There were even reports claiming that six hundred million was an underestimate.
Of course, not all of that is ours…
Seven hundred billion was the projected total revenue going forward, and the first settlement would fall well short of even half that amount.
Fortunately, CEO Kim Ju-seong had taken no outside investment and contracted with Netflix while LN Entertainment retained full ownership of the IP, so the fees siphoned off were smaller than for most other productions.
The guarantee that would be paid out to Yeon-woo alone would almost certainly clear ten billion won.
Yeon-woo cast his mind back to the day he had signed the contract.
He hadn't agreed to a running guarantee because he expected the project to generate this kind of revenue.
I just wanted to defer my own appearance fee and bring the production costs down a little.
If the lead actor signed a running-guarantee deal and took no upfront fee, the production budget shrank by that much, and the break-even point dropped with it.
At the time of production, the genre had been so experimental and the odds of success so uncertain that the choice had simply been a way to lighten the burden.
"In the end, it means we've secured more than enough war chest to take on Baeksol."
Modern espionage was, at its core, a gear war.
Even after taxes came out of the profits, funding at this level was more than sufficient.
"Looks like shopping time is coming soon."
Imagining that Hae-un would be even more excited about it than he was, Yeon-woo let out a quiet snort of laughter.
That moment arrived sooner than expected.
A few days later, the revenue share paid out to Yeon-woo came to a hundred and fifty billion won even after taxes.
Yeon-woo handed most of it over to Hae-un and ordered him to launder it.
The funds cleaned in the first pass through Hae-un were entrusted to Baek No-ya, then laundered a second time through multiple channels before being deposited into an account under the corporate name of Teren Williams.
Teren Williams was the Canadian cover identity Yeon-woo had previously handed off to Hae-un.
CEO of a corporation headquartered in the Virgin Islands and Barbados.
On paper only, of course — a shell company built for tax avoidance.
"How does it feel, sitting on more than ten billion?"
"It's the largest operational fund I've ever managed. Though the real owner is still you, Team Leader."
Hearing Hae-un's reply, Yeon-woo smiled.
"First priority is buying a building with that money. You've got the source-of-funds investigation prep locked down tight, right?"
"Yes. If anything, having a foreign national process everything through an overseas bank works in our favor for the financing-plan verification. When we ran operations abroad, even with everything prepared it was harder than this — and now the domestic side is actually easier…"
"In our current situation, that counts as good luck."
On the screen Yeon-woo was watching, Hae-un was in disguise, driving to meet a real estate agent.
"You've been in disguise so often lately — your skin must be raw by now."
"I'm grateful someone notices, Team Leader."
Frequent disguise work left the skin flushed and red; eventually it started to peel.
How could Yeon-woo not know? He had lived that way his entire previous life.
"Is the agent I'm about to meet any good?"
"Mm. Clean work, from what I've seen."
Yeon-woo had passed Hae-un the contact for the high-end property specialist who had handled the purchase of his own house.
"I've arrived at the meeting place. Once I get out, I'll keep talking to a minimum."
"Got it."
Hae-un stepped out of the car and spoke with the agent Yeon-woo had dealt with before.
Then he climbed into the agent's car and set off to inspect the prepared listings.
Yeon-woo's voice came through Hae-un's earpiece.
"The first thing we look at is structure. We need clear sightlines on the surrounding movement, no sniper or surveillance points nearby, and a building that makes counterattack and escape easy if things go wrong."
Hae-un tapped the mic wired into his tie twice to signal he understood.
The agent's car stopped in front of one building, and Hae-un got out.
As he looked up at the structure, the agent fell in beside him and launched into the pitch.
"Total floor area of two hundred fifty-seven square meters, gross floor area of thirteen hundred twenty. Seven stories above ground, two below. Vacancy rate is low, so the return on investment is quite solid for this neighborhood. Asking price is fourteen point three billion won."
Hae-un adjusted his sunglasses and surveyed the building as he listened.
Return on investment was irrelevant.
What mattered was whether the surrounding buildings offered any angle for surveillance or sniping, and how the approach and exit routes were laid out.
"This one won't work. No clear sightlines on the surroundings, and the rooftop of the building across the street is a sniper point for every single floor."
Hearing Yeon-woo's assessment, Hae-un nodded.
"Hmm. This one doesn't suit me. Let's move on to the next listing."
"Of course. Please, sir."
At Hae-un's word, the agent bowed at once and opened the car door.
A man who only handled premium properties knew better than to argue when a client said something wasn't right.
Once they were back in the car, Hae-un restated his conditions.
"Do you have anything with a more open field of view around it? Vacancy rate and yield don't matter."
Buying a building without regard for vacancy or yield.
It might have seemed strange — but then again, it wasn't.
These days, most of the wealthy buying buildings on Seoul land were chasing capital gains, and many of them intended to occupy the space themselves.
"Ah — are you thinking of running a café or something yourself? Or more of an office use…?"
"Closer to office, I'd say."
"Then I'll show you a few more that fit those conditions right away."
They looked at several more properties after that.
But each one fell short in some small way.
From the standpoint of an ordinary purchase, the agent's recommendations were excellent.
But they intended to put the building to a very particular use, and they couldn't explain that use in any detail — which made finding the right match difficult.
Then the agent, who had been turning it over in his mind, looked at Hae-un as if something had just occurred to him.
"Mr. Williams. There's one listing that just came to mind. It meets every condition you've described, but it has a few issues, so I'd completely forgotten about it."
"Issues?"
"I think it would be better if you saw it first and decided for yourself."
Hae-un nodded.
"Then let's go."
"Yes, sir. Understood. Manager Kim — take us to the Mokhwa Building."
The agent's car pulled out onto the main road and headed for Gwanak-gu.
After a long drive, they arrived at a building that was entirely vacant except for a small bakery on the ground floor.
Looking at a structure that sat in a reasonably good location yet stood empty as a ruin, Hae-un tilted his head.
"Why is nothing leased here at all?"
There was a small park out front, and the surrounding commercial district didn't look particularly bad.
It wasn't on a main thoroughfare, but there was no obvious reason for the entire building to sit vacant.
"Well… this building was seized after an illegal gambling den was shut down, went to auction, and when no buyer came forward, I picked it up cheap."
Yeon-woo's voice came through Hae-un's earpiece.
"When we were heading here, he said the building was called the Mokhwa Building, didn't he?"
Hae-un asked the agent.
"Is this building called the Mokhwa Building?"
"Yes, that's right."
The agent checked a note on his phone, then continued.
"The lot is three hundred three square meters total, gross floor area seven hundred sixteen. Five stories up, one underground level for parking."
Yeon-woo's voice came through again as he listened.
"Three-oh-three and seven-sixteen?"
Studying the building on his screen, Yeon-woo dug through the internet, found what he needed, and spoke to Hae-un.
"Ditch the agent and go up to the fifth floor alone."
On the screen, Hae-un tapped his tie twice and opened his mouth.
"This building. From the outside, I rather like it. Since it's vacant anyway, I'd like to go up to the top floor and take a look at the surroundings."
"Of course. I'll show you up right away. This way."
Hae-un shook his head.
"No. I'd prefer to look quietly on my own."
"Ah — yes. Then I'll wait on the first floor. If you need any explanation, just call. I'll come up immediately, sir."
Hae-un nodded, entered the building, and took the elevator to the fifth floor.
"Team Leader, I'm up. The interior is narrower than expected, but the surrounding buildings and sightlines are fine. The entrance is narrow and there's only one, though, so the entry and exit routes don't look great."
Hearing Hae-un's report, Yeon-woo looked at his monitors.
They displayed the building's blueprints alongside an aerial view from a portal site map.
"Hae-un. Go to the far end of the left wall."
"The far end of the left wall? Understood."
Once Hae-un was standing where he'd been told, Yeon-woo continued.
"Knock on the wall."
Thud-thud—
"Huh? The sound…"
Even over the speaker, the hollow emptiness of it was unmistakable.
"Try the other walls too."
"Yes, sir."
Thock-thock—
A distinctly different sound from the far left wall.
A solid, filled sound — exactly what a normal exterior wall should produce.
"If this isn't shoddy construction…"
"Right. I compared the blueprints against the aerial view. Someone's been playing games with this building."
"I did think the floor-area ratio looked low compared to what you see from outside."
Yeon-woo smiled at his monitors.
"According to the records, the original owner kept using it from the time it was completed in ninety-six until it first went on the market. And the fourth and fifth floors were never leased out — not once."
"The more I hear, the more suspicious it gets."
"He said the previous owner was arrested for running an illegal gambling den, right? Ring any bells?"
"It reeks of those Teheran-ro gambling types."
Floors that had never been leased since the building went up.
A history of use as an illegal gambling den.
An interior floor area that came in small against the lot size calculated from the aerial view.
One wall that rang hollow when you knocked.
To someone else it might have been a headache of a white elephant. To Yeon-woo and Hae-un, the conditions were a dream.
"Buy this building."
In their previous lives, stationed overseas together, they had seen buildings like this more times than they could count.
Structures built for the purpose of housing a gambling den always had the same feature.
A secret escape route for the gamblers.