Chapter 83
Los Angeles, California.
The weather was beautiful.
It was almost a shame to go meet a Mexican cartel that had killed dozens of people and trafficked enough drugs to get tens of thousands high.
But what could I do?
I had come here for work, so I had to work.
"I've been to America several times, but this is my first time inside an FBI office."
Han Yu-na looked around in fascination.
Then again, why would anyone with a normal job ever come here?
"Should I go in, too?"
"I think we can leave the interpreting to Rowan... Rowan, would that be all right?"
"Of course."
"Then would you wait here, Ms. Yu-na? It'll be over soon."
"All right."
She smiled and sat down in the waiting room.
Perhaps she intended to do some work on the laptop she'd brought, because she immediately set it on the table.
"I actually had some business to take care of with a hotel we're affiliated with here."
"Oh... Are you busy?"
"Not really. I figured I'd take care of it while I'm here. Oh, and the hotel we're staying at is the Beverly Hills Hotel."
Rowan was even more surprised when she casually mentioned that they were affiliated with the place.
"Good heavens. You're staying at that luxury hotel?"
"Yes. I've already reserved a room."
Rowan's reaction must have pleased her.
Han Yu-na looked at me confidently, her face smug with pride.
I was the sort of person who could sleep on the street, so I wouldn't have minded a less expensive place, but Han Yu-na was a member of a chaebol family, after all.
It was probably better for her to sleep somewhere nice.
"Then I'll see you later."
"Yes. Good luck in there."
Leaving her behind, I went with Rowan and Mr. Cheolhon.
Rowan drew up beside me and asked seriously,
"Mr. Kang. What is your relationship with Ms. Han?"
"We're friends."
"Oh... I'm jealous. Being friends with a rich beauty like that... I used to associate with beauties like her when I was young, too. Heh. You wouldn't believe how many beautiful women asked me to go to parties with them back then..."
"I'm sure your wife would be delighted to hear that."
Rowan's wife also worked for the FBI.
In fact, she was his superior.
When I said that with a smile, Rowan subtly averted his gaze.
"...Please keep this between us and don't tell my wife."
We arrived while making small talk.
It wasn't much different from when I'd gone to Washington, D.C., before.
"That must be him."
"Yes."
Diego Lobita.
One of the Mexican drug cartel members.
The man sitting handcuffed in an empty room was no ordinary bastard.
Wow. How could a human being be like that?
Murder and rape were the bare minimum, and he didn't care whether people died from the drugs he sold.
He had stabbed the man he called his brother in the back and swallowed up his interests, and was even plotting to betray the boss who had taken him in when he was living on the streets.
"Let's begin."
"Yes."
Watching him through the magic mirror, where he couldn't see me, I turned over a card.
Then I told him about his crimes.
"You know he's a Mexican drug cartel member. He's killed quite a lot of Americans."
"That's right. As far as we know, James Cuttingwell, Origin Vice, and Lloyd Tell Jr...."
"There are two more. FBI agent Kel Boas, and CIA agent Eugene Hawkins."
"...What?"
Rowan was flustered.
The employees beside him, who didn't understand Korean, looked puzzled by his reaction.
"There's a desert near Borrego Springs, right? The bodies of those two men are there. I'll give you the coordinates."
I had seen a scene from Diego's past in which he killed the two men and buried them in the desert.
At the time, he had checked the coordinates on his phone's map, so I could simply give them the same coordinates.
Rowan listened to me with a grave expression and immediately gave orders to his subordinates.
The employees hurried around with grim expressions.
"And... it looks like some celebrities were among the people who bought drugs from him."
"...Who?"
"Steve Zane Sweeper. S.S. Charlotte. Creven Toisa. Wilbur Entry Crown..."
And several others.
Rowan gritted his teeth when he heard them.
"...We'd confirmed Creven Toisa, but the rest..."
"The evidence that they dealt with him is in the cloud. I'll give you the ID and password."
I gave him the cloud ID and password Diego used.
He logged in immediately and squeezed his eyes shut.
"The American entertainment industry is going to be turned upside down."
"Yes. And I've kept a video of Roberto Anthony's transactions with him separately. Diego has a secret villa in LA that he used. Its location is..."
When I told him the address, Rowan immediately picked up the phone.
He issued a series of rapid orders.
When the call ended, he looked at me expectantly.
"However, this alone will make it difficult to arrest him. Diego filmed those dealings to create leverage over Roberto, too, but it wasn't enough to gain any leverage over him."
"It'll still be fine."
"Well, he has plenty of other crimes, too. My mouth hurts just thinking about listing them all. Could you give me a laptop? I'll type them up for you."
I told him about every crime Diego had committed.
Some of them had evidence, and some didn't.
When I checked those as well and handed them over separately, Rowan was deeply moved.
"Oh... Mr. Kang. You're a savior."
"Oh, come on. I'm not quite a savior."
"No! You're a savior sent down by God!!"
If I let him continue, it would never end.
"Then shall we go meet Roberto?"
"Yes!!"
We left the office at once and drove away.
Roberto's office was also in LA, so it didn't take long to get there.
"This is the place. I'll speak with him. Do I just need to somehow get him to turn over a card?"
"Yes."
"Understood. I'll take care of that."
We entered the office.
As employees who looked American watched us dubiously, a fairly tall, middle-aged Latino man came out, scowling.
Then he began shouting in a rough voice.
Hmm... He was swearing.
Papago, which I'd secretly left running, translated the colorful profanity.
"Shit!!"
The conversation must have ended.
The man who had been huffing at the unruffled Rowan held out his hand.
He wanted me to hand over a card, I supposed.
I held out a tarot card, and he roughly turned one over.
The Fool, upright.
That was the end of my meeting with him.
When we returned to the car, he asked seriously,
"Is that enough?"
"Yes. He received drugs from Diego and distributed them himself. But is this all right? It looks like there are other lawmakers involved, too."
"Yes. The U.S. Attorney's Office is determined to pursue this as well. What he received from Diego wasn't just marijuana or anything like that. Drug offenses are punished severely even in the United States."
He gritted his teeth as if determined to root the whole thing out this time.
The future changed in that instant.
I saw a scene on the news in which everyone who had received drugs from Roberto was ruined.
Rowan was watching it while drinking cold beer with his wife.
-Perfect. He's the best, just as I expected...!!
This should be enough.
"I've also recorded the transaction ledgers and videos Roberto secretly filmed of his dealings with them to protect himself. They're in a safe beneath the pool table in his house. The password is 488291. The key is under the mattress in the bedroom, so be sure to check there."
"Oh..."
Awe now filled his eyes.
"Would you really consider becoming an American...?"
"For now...?"
And so.
Until we returned to the office, he enthusiastically kept talking about the advantages of becoming an American.
.
.
.
"You're back? Nothing happened, right?"
"Yes. We've finished everything we needed to do here."
"That was quick?"
"It was always going to be quick."
The culprit was already in custody, and there was someone whose past I needed to see.
There was no reason to drag things out.
It felt anticlimactic for a trip that had involved a twelve-hour flight.
But Rowan and the other FBI agents felt differently.
"Move! Move!!"
Everyone rushed around in a frenzy.
Rowan, who had been directing them with a fierce expression, approached me with a completely different, gentle smile.
That face on that hulking body was actually more frightening.
"Mr. Kang. I don't know how I can ever thank you enough."
"I was paid for the work, after all. If anything like this comes up, feel free to contact me. Even if I can't come to America, I can help over a video call."
"You really were a savior!! Oh! My God! My soul! Mr. Kang! If you have a religion, may I convert to it?"
He showed me such overwhelming goodwill that he seemed ready to become a fanatic and carry me around on his back, then snapped his fingers.
"Come to think of it, you said you were going to Dazney Land, right?"
"Yes."
"I got some tickets for you. This isn't part of your compensation; it's simply a token of my goodwill."
Three three-day passes to Dazney Land.
They came with meal vouchers and Express passes, too.
"There are tickets to Universe Studios, too?"
"My kids like that place more than Dazney Land. If you're interested, you should give it a try."
Han Yu-na's eyes sparkled.
She certainly seemed interested, so we should think about it.
"Then we'll be going now."
"Oh... Do you need protection? We can send some of our employees with you."
"Thank you."
America was a country with gun laws, so we might as well accept the help.
Satisfied with my answer, Rowan immediately raised his hand.
A large Black man and woman approached.
"I'm Linda."
"Please call me JJ."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kang Noah."
It was nice that both of them could speak Korean.
We headed to the hotel with them, and when we arrived,
-Bang!!
We heard a gunshot.
"...Is this America?!"
"No, even in America, people don't just fire guns in the middle of the city. The police will be here soon."
JJ, the hulking man, immediately went outside, and returned a short while later.
"Some crazy bastard fired a gun at the supermarket across the street."
"Wow..."
As expected, the American style.
Shooting guns in a street like this in broad daylight.
How frightening.
Maybe I should think twice about living in America, just in case.