An Uninvited Guest from the NIS
“……You're from the National Intelligence Service?”
“Yes.”
“But this business card says…… you're a publishing company employee?”
“Ah, that's a cover company. It's not exactly like I can walk around announcing I'm an NIS agent and handing out official cards, now is it?”
“Hmm……. Well, I suppose that's true.”
An unidentified man had shown up out of nowhere right when everyone else was clocking out for the day. But given his claimed affiliation, I turned to the security company staff, who were eyeing him with open suspicion, and waved them off.
“It's fine, let him through. I don't know what he wants, but let's have him come in and talk.”
Only at my word did the security guards finally step aside and let him pass. He followed me straight into the office, then pulled out some strange gadget and began sweeping it around the room.
“Excuse me. What exactly are you doing right now……?”
“One moment, please. I need to check whether any listening devices have been installed.”
He wandered from corner to corner of the room, checking something for a good long while, and only after confirming that everything was clean did he finally sit down with a look of relief.
“Fortunately, it doesn't appear anyone has infiltrated the office.”
“…….”
“Have there been any suspicious people approaching you recently, by any chance?”
“Hmm……. Well, there's been one, I think.”
The single most suspicious person I'd met lately was sitting right in front of me. But he waved my words away with an awkward laugh.
“Haha……. Not me, of course. I'm not a strange person, so you can trust me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
An uninvited guest I trusted not one bit. Still, under my doubtful gaze he cleared his throat repeatedly, then spoke with a somewhat more serious expression.
“Well then……. let me formally reintroduce myself. I'm Section Chief Jung In-ho, an agent with the Industrial Technology Protection Center under the National Intelligence Service. I called you some time ago—do you not remember?”
“A phone call……?”
“Yes. You apparently thought it was spam and blocked my number……”
“Hmm……. Oh. So that was you calling?”
“Haha. Yes. Most people at least hear you out a little, but you were remarkably decisive.”
“I've been getting a lot of strange calls lately. I figured you were a scammer.”
“Well handled. We were going to have to meet in person eventually anyway, so it worked out. It's been a while since I've taken a business trip this far out, too. Hahaha!”
Whether he genuinely meant it or not, he laughed heartily and began explaining the purpose of his visit.
“So……. the reason I've come all this way is……. well, I'm not quite sure how to put it. To get to the point: Mr. Kang Gun, you are currently in a very dangerous situation.”
“Excuse me……?”
Section Chief Jung In-ho driving the point home with a blunt fastball right out of the gate.
But as his explanation continued, I began to understand why he had come all the way out to Cheongju.
“Hmm. So what you're saying is, there are spies who've infiltrated this area targeting me. Lots of them. Is that it?”
“Yes. If they were merely spies gathering information, we wouldn't go to the trouble of warning you like this—but based on our assessment, a number of them have infiltrated with something far worse in mind.”
“And if it's something worse than that…… you mean they're planning to assassinate me?”
“Oh, if it ended with an assassination, you'd be getting off easy. My guess is they'd kidnap you and whisk you off to their home country before you knew what hit you.”
The semiconductor technology that had turned the entire world upside down.
Unless they secured this technology as quickly as possible, they would inevitably lose all influence over the semiconductor industry of the future—and so it seemed the intelligence apparatuses of entire nations had begun moving in secret.
“Ah, of course, there's no need to be too frightened. It's probably the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau types who'd contemplate anything that extreme. Most nations will approach you with the aim of winning you over or courting you.”
“I doubt you'd ever do such a thing, but if you do receive such offers, be careful. Accept one carelessly, and you could find yourself spending the rest of your life never setting foot in a foreign country again—right up until the day you die.”
I couldn't tell whether he was trying to reassure me or scare me, but Section Chief Jung In-ho waved a hand as if to say don't worry, then made me an offer.
“That's why the NIS has concluded that you are currently in a considerably vulnerable and dangerous position. It seems you've taken your own security measures for these facilities, but…… in my professional opinion, they fall well short.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. However well-trained your private security staff may be, going up against black-ops assassins who carry guns is realistically beyond them. Besides, I don't see any dedicated personal security detail on the payroll?”
Section Chief Jung In-ho gave a wry smile, as if to say they'd tried, but this wasn't enough. Then he said to me:
“In any case, we've racked our brains over ways to protect you. So here's my question……. Would you consider relocating your company to Seoul?”
“Seoul?”
“Yes. As you know, this is a quiet rural area, so our resources here are limited. The nearest military base is a twenty-minute drive away, and as for police, all we have is the local substation.”
A small farming village on the outskirts of Cheongju.
Most of its residents were elderly, its infrastructure was sorely lacking, and once night fell, darkness swallowed everything in every direction—nothing around but rice paddies, fields, and orchards. In other words, it was precisely the kind of sleepy town no one ever had reason to visit.
And there, in a lone building standing isolated far from the village, was where Limitless had set up shop. If armed assassins were to storm this place one day, an immediate response would be realistically impossible—that was Section Chief Jung In-ho's explanation. With that, he showed me a photograph.
“We own a building. It's right near Yangjae Station, in a prime transit hub, with heavy foot traffic all around.”
“If you moved in there, you'd be…… well, far better off than here. Plenty of amenities nearby, and it's not far from our headquarters, so if anything were to happen, we could respond immediately.”
“If you'd like, we can provide a private residence as well. We own several officetels right next to the building. They're normally provided to our agents as an employee benefit, but they're quite clean and newly equipped—you'd be comfortable there for the time being.”
“Oh, and don't worry about the cost. They're sitting vacant anyway.”
A building on the golden yolk of the egg, right next to Gangnam Station.
He was offering to lend me, free of charge, a building whose monthly rent alone would make anyone wince at a nine-figure sum—to say nothing of the residence—and all I had to do was move. I fell silent.
……That's an absolute steal, though?
Any ordinary company owner would shout “Deal!” without a moment's hesitation. But a strange suspicion crept over me—why show up out of nowhere with such a generous offer…… and why frame it as being for my personal safety?
[ Hmm……. Something smells fishy. Grandpa, shall we take a look? ]
Alex, whispering in my ear, seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me. At his words, I gave a small nod without answering aloud.
Vrrrrmmm.
In that instant, my head began flooding with torrents of information.
Alex had slipped into the network in the blink of an eye and started harvesting every scrap of data he could find. With a sensation like every drop of energy being drained from my body, the crushing pain that washed over me nearly sent me collapsing to the floor.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. My blood sugar just dipped for a moment.”
“You look far too pale for someone whose blood sugar merely dipped……”
Sorting through the information that had landed in my head one piece at a time, I hurriedly yanked open a drawer and started wolfing down the mountains of snacks stacked inside.
“……You must have been quite hungry.”
“Yes, when my blood sugar drops, my brain stops working.”
Section Chief Jung In-ho stared at me, dumbfounded, as I tore open packet after packet of every kind of snack and inhaled them in a frantic rush. But heedless of my body's screaming demand for sugar, I kept shoving snacks into my mouth for a good long while.
Ha……. If I have to do real intelligence gathering twice in one day, I'll starve to death.
Alex burned through a staggering number of calories every time he attempted a large-scale data collection or a breach of a security network. Each attempt left me wracked with hunger that felt like dying—but he was more than earning his keep, so I couldn't exactly complain to him about it.
Spies, huh…….
Section Chief Jung In-ho's warning that countless spies were closing in on me.
And that warning was no lie.
I didn't know where he'd dug it up, but among the documents Alex had retrieved, there was even one laying out a kidnapping plan targeting me in fairly specific detail.
But…….
That still didn't mean I should smile and accept the NIS's offer of protection on the spot.
[ I took a look at the building the NIS is offering—it's absolutely stuffed with listening devices inside. Move in there, and they can monitor your every move, twenty-four hours a day. Knowing those guys, they'd probably even keep tabs on what color underwear you wear each morning. ]
For now they claimed they'd shield me from the gathering danger, but from the NIS's perspective, I was ultimately a target that needed close surveillance. I couldn't say for certain, but the odds were high that any technology researched or developed in their building would flow straight into NIS servers.
I'll have to decline.
I'd never had any intention of moving to Seoul in the first place, so the offer held little interest to begin with. And once you factored in that its real purpose was surveillance and intelligence gathering on me, it became even less appealing.
Of course, that didn't mean I planned to flare up right here and now with “You think I can't see through your little scheme?!” If I did, they might drag me off somewhere and force-feed me seolleongtang through my nose for figuring it out.
And so…….
Wearing the bright, sunny smile of a naive twenty-something who knew nothing at all, I said:
“Well, thank you for the offer.”
“A wise decision. Then first of all——”
“However, moving is going to be difficult.”
“I'm sorry……?”
He looked back at me with an expression of pure incomprehension.
“Seoul's great. Lots of people, solid infrastructure, a developed city and all.”
Seoul, where all the talent and capital of the nation pooled together. A megacity packed with every convenience, home to government agencies and corporate giants—but precisely because of that, its land prices soared to truly unimaginable heights. It wasn't a place where even mountains of money could buy me the amount of land I wanted in the first place.
“But that's exactly why I came down here. Few people, quiet, clean air. It's perfect for developing new technology.”
Faced with an explanation he couldn't accept, Section Chief Jung In-ho stared at me with a strangely stiff face.
“Then…… you're prepared to accept the current situation as it is?”
“Well……. I don't imagine there'll be any big problems.”
“Someone could die. Or be seriously hurt.”
“And doing your utmost to protect the citizens from that would be…… the role of our National Intelligence Service, wouldn't it?”
“…….”
I won't move to Seoul—but you'd better protect me anyway.
At my shameless demand, Section Chief Jung In-ho said nothing, but the look on his face said it all: what kind of little punk is this?
“Oh, and while we're at it—how about establishing a brand-new NIS branch here in this town? It seems like the NIS is going to have plenty of work to do around here from now on.”
“…….”
“You catch spies and pad your performance numbers…… and I get to be safe. Everybody wins.”
“Wouldn't you call that a win-win for everyone?”