Let’s Reunify
Team Leader Park Hae-soo went straight up to the Section Chief’s office. “Section Chief! Hunter Cheon Yooshin says he will attend the Inter-Korean Summit!”
At his words, Section Chief Lee Eun-soo stood up from his seat. “That’s a welcome sound to my ears.”
Section Chief Lee Eun-soo walked over to the coffee machine and brewed a cup. “He agreed more easily than I expected. The Minister was actually quite stressed about it, worried that Yooshin might refuse to attend.”
Cheon Yooshin’s position is extremely unique. He is a mere hunter of the Hunter Management Department, yet he has become the hunter who represents the department. No, he has become the hunter who represents the Republic of Korea. Furthermore, unfortunately, his contract has no expiration date. Naturally, he can leave the Hunter Management Department whenever he wants if he so chooses. Therefore, neither the team leader, the section chief, nor even the Minister can give him orders. No, the reality was that they were actually walking on eggshells around him.
“Then I can tell them to speed up the preparations for the summit.” Section Chief Lee Eun-soo handed the coffee he had brewed to Park Hae-soo.
“But there is one more thing I need to report.”
“What is it?”
“Hunter Cheon Yooshin’s father was involved in a hit-and-run accident five years ago.”
“…Is that so?”
“And Hunter Cheon Yooshin becoming a vegetable was also due to that hit-and-run accident.”
“That is truly unfortunate. So, why are you bringing this up?”
“Hunter Cheon Yooshin has requested it. He wants a reinvestigation of the hit-and-run case. The statute of limitations for the case has not yet expired.”
“If he wants it, we should do it.”
A reinvestigation—what is so difficult about that? Even if we have to amend the law, we should dig up cases where the statute of limitations has passed. Because the person who requested it was none other than Hunter Cheon Yooshin.
“Then may I proceed?”
“Do so. Use the activity budget without restriction. As Section Chief, I authorize everything necessary for the investigation, whether legal or illegal. It means you should act first and report later.”
“Understood, Section Chief.”
…Thus, the reinvestigation of the hit-and-run case related to Cheon Yooshin began.
Team Leader Park Hae-soo was reading the mountain of documents piled up on his desk.
“The CCTV happened to be broken? And the dashcam didn’t have an SD card inserted?” His eyes shone with suspicion. “When coincidence meets coincidence, it becomes fate….”
Something smells fishy. He stopped in front of the whiteboard hanging on the wall. The board was filled with notes he had organized.
“On top of that, the police did a sloppy investigation. This looks like it was intentionally destroyed, doesn’t it?”
He couldn’t find the culprit. He couldn’t find the evidence. Then what?
His eyes fixed on one point on the whiteboard. If there is no culprit and no evidence, he just needs to trace the case back from the beginning. The detective in charge at the time was a man named Kang Do-cheol. Of course, as time passed, he had gone from being an ordinary detective to sitting in the position of Investigation Division Chief at a police station.
Before he knew it, Park Hae-soo was holding a paper containing Kang Do-cheol’s history. Some suspicious points stood out. A luxury apartment worth 2 billion won and a high-end foreign car. And all his family members were studying abroad in the United States.
“This is absolutely impossible with a police salary.”
It’s not like his parents or his spouse’s side has a lot of money either. Therefore….
“But there is nothing unusual about the flow of his bank account. That means….” Park Hae-soo’s gaze deepened. “Could it be that he has a borrowed-name account?”
Yooshin thought about the upcoming Inter-Korean Summit. He didn’t know why he had to attend it. When he asked for a reinvestigation of the hit-and-run, he was told he had said he would go there. That must have been what he agreed to.
He wanted to complain to Team Leader Park Hae-soo, but he shut his mouth after seeing his face recently. He looked like he had lost 5kg from stakeout investigations while reinvestigating the hit-and-run case he had requested.
Cheon Yooshin, who smacked his lips, shook his head. This is why you have to be careful with your mouth. Anyway.
‘I should see that Mr. Kim Seong-ryong too. I wonder if I can eat some of that Pyongyang naengmyeon this time.’
If he’s going, he should enjoy it.
‘Surely another accident won’t happen like last time, right?’
Time passed quickly. The day of the Inter-Korean Summit. Centered around the President’s bulletproof limousine, about 30 vehicles were heading toward the Military Demarcation Line with the sound of engines. Barbed wire and guard posts began to appear on both sides of the road, and the tense appearance of North Korean soldiers came into view.
“Yooshin, how does it feel to go to Pyongyang for the second time? Since the division of North and South, you are the first person to go twice.”
Cheon Yooshin and President Cha In-soo were sitting together in the dedicated limousine. Yooshin smirked.
“How does it feel? Well. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s all the same land, isn’t it?”
“…That’s true. The same land….” President Cha In-soo muttered quietly.
For ordinary people, they would be tense from the moment they cross the Military Demarcation Line. Not to mention himself, the President, the ministers participating in this summit, and the security team guarding them. However, this young man next to him didn’t seem to feel any sense of crisis at all. If he thought about his first trip to Pyongyang, he shouldn’t be able to act like that.
“To be honest, I’m a bit scared.”
Cheon Yooshin, who was looking outside through the window, looked at the President.
“Scared?”
“Of course. If the North Korean side has strange intentions, we would all be dead.”
At those words, Cheon Yooshin giggled.
“Can you tell me why you’re laughing?”
“I’m a bit good at reading faces, and Mr. Kim Seong-ryong is not the type of person to cause trouble.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
“And if they have strange intentions over there, I’m here, so why would we be dead? I’m a citizen of the Republic of Korea too, so would I just stand by while the President is killed? So let’s just eat some Pyongyang naengmyeon and come back.”
President Cha In-soo’s expression became much more comfortable.
“Before, our Republic of Korea was truly weak.”
It was weak militarily, economically, and politically. It couldn’t even respond properly to North Korea’s provocations, couldn’t protect its own country on its own, and had its safety guaranteed under the American umbrella. It was just being swayed between the world’s economic powers. The Republic of Korea is exactly the kind of country that can’t even raise its voice in international society.
“But it’s different these days.”
The status of the Republic of Korea is rising steeply. The British Prime Minister, who used to look down on the Republic of Korea, asks how we are doing through a hotline, and the President of the United States, the world’s police, contacts us to ask for a visit sometime. Unlike before, when he had contacted them like that, but even connecting was not easy.
The center of that change was naturally the young man in front of him. Hunter Cheon Yooshin. He was an individual, but his influence was spreading to the world. And the Republic of Korea, to which he belongs, is benefiting as well.
While they were having such calm conversations, the visiting group had already entered Pyongyang. Cheon Yooshin, who was looking outside the window, widened his eyes.
“Huh? It’s changed a lot?”
The streets were lively. People were walking on the streets. The stiff expressions and uniform clothing of the past could not be found. Instead, people wearing various styles of clothes were roaming the streets. What should he call it? Should he call it transitional clothing to go toward fashion similar to South Korea? It was clumsy and shabby clothing, but Cheon Yooshin could tell just by the clothing. That it was very different from before.
“It really is.”
President Cha In-soo was also stepping on Pyongyang soil for the first time in his life. However, it was quite different from what he had seen in the reference videos. Especially.
“Haha. I never expected to see a Korean drama poster here.”
The place that caught President Cha In-soo’s attention was a street lined with shops. Among them, it was precisely a place called ‘Pyongyang Theater.’ Below it, posters of Korean dramas and movies from the past were lined up. That’s not the end. While the vehicle they were riding in was passing by, they couldn’t help but be surprised. K-Beauty, 4 foods that Koreans love, and even a record store with a ‘BTS (Bangtan Senior Citizens)’ poster attached. It was very similar to the streets of Korea. As if they had even benchmarked it.
The vehicle stopped in front of a modern building labeled ‘Pyongyang City Hall.’
“Huh? This isn’t the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun?”
He naturally thought they would go there.
“You must not have heard. They say Chairman Kim Seong-ryong demolished the Kumsusan Palace. He is cleaning up all the remnants of the past. That’s why the summit venue was set at Pyongyang City Hall.”
“It seems Mr. Kim Seong-ryong is working hard.”
President Cha In-soo laughed heartily.
“That’s right. He seems to be working very hard.”
When they got out of the car, Chairman Kim Seong-ryong came out to greet them in person. Instead of a stiff expression, it was the warm smile of a kind neighbor. “Welcome. Yooshin.”
He asked Yooshin for a handshake right away. Then, camera shutter sounds were heard continuously from around them.
“Ah, you’ve gained a bit of weight in your face since last time.”
Yooshin also shook his hand. “Can I eat Pyongyang naengmyeon today?”
Chairman Kim Seong-ryong nodded his head vigorously.
“Hahaha. Don’t worry about that! I’ve prepared thoroughly so you can eat until you burst for 3 nights and 4 days!”
“You must have practiced your Korean. You’re not using that unique North Korean accent.”
Chairman Kim laughed heartily.
“Is it okay? I studied South Korean very hard.”
Then he turned his gaze to President Cha In-soo.
“Welcome, Mr. President. You had a hard time coming here.”
“We came comfortably by car. By the way, the streets of North Korea have changed quite a lot.”
“We have to follow diligently. Haven’t we fallen too far behind in the meantime?”
The two giants began to laugh heartily.
Across the long oval table in the summit hall, the highest-ranking officials from both North and South sat facing each other. On one side, centered around President Cha In-soo, were the Minister of Unification and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and opposite them, Chairman Kim Seong-ryong and his aides were seated. Behind each leader, men who appeared to be security teams stood with hardened expressions. Unlike the friendly atmosphere from a moment ago, the air was now very heavy. It was a solemn and rigid atmosphere.
“Why is it so solemn?”
However, at that moment, a relaxed voice that didn’t fit the atmosphere at all cut through the air. It was Cheon Yooshin.
“If it was going to be like this, you shouldn’t have called me. Didn’t we meet to cheer each other on?”
Starting with his words, Chairman Kim Seong-ryong smiled brightly.
“That’s right. Yooshin is right. We didn’t meet to fight, did we? Hahaha.”
President Cha In-soo also laughed heartily. As smiles appeared on the faces of the leaders on both sides, the tension on the faces of the ministers and aides was fading. As the atmosphere became flexible, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stood up and cleared his throat.
“Then, from now on, we will begin the Inter-Korean Summit that will go down in history. First, we will listen to the keynote speeches from both sides…,” that was when it happened.
“Could you stop for a moment?”
Chairman Kim Seong-ryong’s voice crossed the summit hall.
“Yes. Please speak.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs said with a nervous face.
“I have something to say before the summit begins.” Chairman Kim Seong-ryong’s face became serious. But warmth could be felt in his eyes.
“Let’s reunify. Aren’t we originally one people? Can’t we live divided between North and South forever?”
At that one word, the summit hall fell into complete silence. As if time had stopped.