The Black Curtain Gradually Revealed
Honglyeonbang's hideout. Outside, the bloody war between Gangryonghoe and Honglyeonbang raged on, and the tide had turned decisively against Honglyeonbang. During the chaos, key executives Jang Caoping and Li Xiaokan had suddenly vanished, and even the remaining influential figures had been cut down by Gangryonghoe's officers. Leaderless, the Honglyeonbang members fell into complete panic.
"{Screw this, I don't know anymore!!}"
"{Run! We can't beat that!!}"
Several triad members hurled their weapons aside and bolted into the jungle. The rest quickly followed, scattering in every direction. One Gangryonghoe member turned to Kang Hun.
"Should we chase them down and finish them?"
"Leave them. Even a cornered rat will bite the cat. Let them run scared for now."
"Understood."
Kang Hun scratched his head and glanced around before asking another subordinate, "Hey. Have you seen Park Jaehyuk?"
"Chief Park… he just went into the Honglyeonbang hideout."
"Really? That guy moves fast. When did he even go in?"
Sanggyu, gripping a submachine gun, scanned the surroundings while steadying his breathing. What the hell…? Is it finally over…?
At that moment, Jaehyuk and Jeonghan emerged from the hideout with Shin Jaeguk in tow. Taehyun immediately checked on the president of the company.
"President Shin? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Ah… No… I'm fine."
Gangryonghoe had successfully rescued Shin Jaeguk. On the way back to the hotel, Jaehyuk asked Jeonghan, "By the way, who was that person who helped us back in the building?"
"No idea. If I knew, I would've told you."
"No guesses at all?"
"Hmm… Nothing comes to mind."
Shin Chaeyoon sat beside Jeonghan, still visibly annoyed as she grumbled, "Does it even matter? It's not like we'll ever see them again. Just forget it."
"How can you be so sure we won't meet again?"
"I don't know. Anyway, that rude bastard rubbed me the wrong way."
Jaehyuk looked back and forth between the sulking Chaeyoon with her arms crossed and the silent Jeonghan. That Shin Chaeyoon girl seems to have a thing for Jeonghan…?
To Jaehyuk, it was obvious Chaeyoon was interested in Jeonghan, yet Jeonghan appeared oblivious—or rather, fully aware but simply drawn to someone else. The vehicles carrying the Gangryonghoe members left the jungle and sped along the road toward the hotel.
Meanwhile, Li Xiaokan was fleeing through the jungle with a handful of subordinates.
"{Are they chasing us?}"
When Li Xiaokan asked in Chinese, one of his men glanced back and replied, "{No, they're not following.}"
"{Phew… What about the big brother?}"
"{It looks like he escaped separately.}"
"{That son of a bitch… He just ditched everyone to save his own skin?}"
One of the subordinates shot Li Xiaokan a look that clearly said, "You're one to talk after running away scared yourself." Li Xiaokan kept walking and addressed his men.
"{Once we get out of here, we'll regroup the others and—!!}"
A gunshot rang out. One of Li Xiaokan's men dropped with a bullet to the head. Li Xiaokan yanked out his pistol and swung it wildly toward the darkness.
"{What the hell!! Is it Gangryonghoe?!}"
"{I don't know!!}"
More shots followed. Two more men fell. The remaining subordinates, gripped by panic, sprayed their assault rifles and submachine guns in every direction. Moments later, one of them ran dry and was shot in the head while trying to reload.
"{Take cover!!}"
Li Xiaokan shouted while returning fire. His men ducked behind rocks and trees, but their counterfire seemed useless. Soon, a man's silhouette appeared before them. Three of Li Xiaokan's remaining subordinates charged the figure. The shadow moved his hands in a blur, driving blades into their torsos and slashing their carotid arteries in an instant. They collapsed, blood pouring from their chests and necks.
Li Xiaokan, who had been trying to reload, froze as the man's face became visible in the moonlight. His eyes widened in horror.
{Dou Yuan…!! If that Jawolbang butcher is here…!!!}
Li Xiaokan had no spare magazines left. Under the moonlight stood Dou Yuan—a towering man in his mid-thirties with broad shoulders and unkempt hair, gripping a blood-stained Bowie knife.
"{Li Xiaokan. First time seeing you since the war eight years ago.}"
He was referring to the clash between Jawolbang and Honglyeonbang in Taiwan back in 2019. Li Xiaokan glanced at his empty pistol, its slide locked back, then tossed it aside.
{If he's here, then Wu Caojin must be here too.}
"{I'll only ask once. Where's Jang Caoping?}"
Dou Yuan stopped in front of Li Xiaokan, knife in hand. Behind him, Jawolbang members armed with assault rifles and submachine guns emerged from the shadows.
"{More precisely… where's the file he's carrying?}"
"{H-How would I know that!!! Go ask Jang Caoping himself, not me!!}"
"{You really don't know? He never told you anything?}"
Of course Li Xiaokan knew. As the second-most influential figure among the Honglyeonbang remnants after Jang Caoping, he understood exactly what was at stake. He was hiding the file's location not for Jang Caoping's sake, but for his own survival.
{As long as we have that file, Jawolbang won't dare touch us. It's their fatal weakness. The moment we hand it over… we lose our only shield against them.}
Li Xiaokan took a step back. His mind raced.
{I don't care anymore!! It's all or nothing!!}
He drew a hidden OTF knife and lunged at Dou Yuan's throat. Dou Yuan dodged, and Li Xiaokan reversed his grip, slashing again. Dou Yuan parried with his own blade, the steel screeching, then grabbed Li Xiaokan's wrist with his left hand. Before Li Xiaokan's fist could connect with Dou Yuan's jaw, Dou Yuan's knife plunged into Li Xiaokan's shoulder.
Li Xiaokan screamed. A voice spoke from the darkness.
"{Tsk. The great Li Xiaokan, screaming over something like that?}"
Dou Yuan pulled the blade free and stepped back respectfully. Li Xiaokan trembled violently at the sight of the newcomer.
"{I knew you'd come… Wu Caojin…!!}"
Wu Caojin appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties, similar in height and build to Dou Yuan but with neatly trimmed hair and a handsome face. He stared coldly at Li Xiaokan and spoke in Chinese.
"{You failed to carry out the task I entrusted to you. You succeeded in kidnapping Shin Jaeguk, yet you falsely reported that you hadn't caught him yet. Why?}"
[Wu Caojin. Third-in-command of Jawolbang]
The mastermind who had ordered Honglyeonbang's remnants to kidnap Shin Jaeguk was none other than Jawolbang.
"{That's… At the time of the report, we really hadn't caught him yet…!!}"
In an instant, Wu Caojin appeared before Li Xiaokan and seized his throat with one hand, squeezing.
"{Kuhk…!! Kk…!!}"
"{Lying again. Do you really think I came all this way without knowing anything?}"
Wu Caojin stared directly into Li Xiaokan's eyes, which were beginning to roll back, and asked, "{Why did you lie to me?}"
"{Kkh…!! Th-That…!! Jang Caoping!! Jang Caoping ordered it!!}"
Wu Caojin loosened his grip slightly. "{Hmm… So it was Jang Caoping acting on his own?}"
"{Yes. That's correct.}"
"{Then what were you doing while your boss made that mistake?}"
"{Uh… Well…}"
Wu Caojin changed the question. "{Let me rephrase. Who is managing the file Jang Caoping is hiding?}"
Li Xiaokan remained silent. Wu Caojin sighed and gave orders to his men.
"{Take him. We'll need to torture the information out of him.}"
Li Xiaokan shook his head frantically. "{Wait!! I really don't know anything!! I swear I don't know!!!}"
"{We'll see. Your answer will change after my interrogation.}"
Li Xiaokan was seized by Jawolbang members. One of them punched him in the stomach, knocking him unconscious, and they dragged him away.
Meanwhile, Jaehyuk left the hotel and walked through the streets of Vietnam in casual clothes. Even at night the city buzzed with life. He was on the phone.
"How's the situation?"
"Nothing suspicious so far."
Jeonghan, walking a different street, answered the call. The two friends continued their conversation while strolling separately.
"Where did we say we'd meet?"
"David SFR. I'm near there now."
Jaehyuk spotted the sign reading "David SFR" and saw Jeonghan on his phone nearby. He ended the call.
"You're sure it's here?"
"Yeah. Positive. Let's go in."
The two entered the restaurant. Jeonghan approached a table where four men sat and addressed the one with droopy eyes in Korean.
"What did you have for breakfast this morning?"
"Mint chocolate sauce on chicken steak."
[Baek Dongjin. NIS Black Ops Agent]
Jaehyuk nodded. Once he and Jeonghan sat down, Dongjin spoke.
"You've both worked hard carrying out your mission."
"Now that we've secured Shin Jaeguk, is the mission over?"
Kwanwoong answered Jeonghan's question. "No. We still need to gather solid evidence that Shin Jaeguk violated drug regulations so he can be properly punished back in Korea."
"Once we have the evidence, we'll coordinate with both Korean and Vietnamese police to arrest him."
At Seunggyeom's words, Jaehyuk suddenly thought of Seo Yeonjeong, the North Korean defector girl who had suffered terribly because of Gangryonghoe's human trafficking. He asked, "Will you also investigate the human trafficking Gangryonghoe was involved in?"
"Of course. That will be part of the investigation as well."
Jaehyuk silently prayed that this operation wouldn't fizzle out. If the investigation succeeds, Gangryonghoe will take a serious hit. We won't be able to save everyone who's suffering, but at least some of them. I just hope connections and bribes don't make it all go away…
Baek Dongjin's phone rang. He excused himself and stepped outside.
"What's going on? …What? Is the information reliable?"
His expression hardened as he listened. His eyes gleamed. "So where are they now?"
Early the next morning, in a rundown building in Ho Chi Minh City, Dongbeom and Gayoung were organizing the information they had gathered in Vietnam. The files concerned the criminal activities of Cha Jinyong, the ruling party leader who was trying to eliminate Park Minhyeok and his Bukdutchilseong team.
"I felt it during 'White Night' too… If a guy like this becomes president, this country's going to be something to see."
"White Night" had been the NIS operation name for the election-rigging scheme. During that time, the Bukdutchilseong agents had witnessed Cha Jinyong's true nature—using presidential candidates as puppets while committing crimes. When they reported it to their superiors, their team was disbanded, they were abandoned by the NIS, and Cha Jinyong's faction began hunting them.
"If that really happens, the country won't last long before it collapses."
As Gayoung spoke, she continued sorting the files on Cha Jinyong that the Bukdutchilseong agents had collected. The information detailed how Cha Jinyong, while serving as a chief prosecutor, had accepted massive bribes and turned a blind eye to countless crimes, including Gangryonghoe's criminal enterprises. After becoming a National Assembly member, he had illegally gathered North Korean defectors to form a private army, used that army to assassinate political opponents, created his own cartel to manipulate the media and evade taxes, and rigged the presidential election to install a candidate he could control.
"Compared to this guy, Gangryonghoe's crimes look like petty street thug stuff."
Dongbeom added, "Street thugs or big-shot gangsters—it's all the same. They're both scum."
"Now we just need to send this information to Director Jang, right?"
"Let's not send it online. We could get tracked. Cha Jinyong's dogs are still chasing us."
"You're right. Better to put it on a USB and deliver it in person once we're back in Korea."
At that moment, the lights in the building went out. Gayoung and Dongbeom tensed in the darkness and drew their Glock 19 pistols.
"What is it?"
"Looks like our location's been compromised."
"Already?"
"Grab the USB and get out of here."
They tried to escape the building. Outside, Baek Dongjin stepped out of his parked car and walked inside. Once in the building, he drew a fourth-generation Glock 17 from the holster at his side and attached a suppressor.