Chapter 95
Nothing related to Yoo Ho-min could appear in the news.
Naturally.
Besides, they hadn't even properly decided how to make use of the Japanese people captured this time, so it would be difficult to just blurt everything out.
Of course, I had also signed a confidentiality agreement.
Since I had no particular intention of telling anyone, it wasn't much of a burden.
Still, they said they would let me know once they had the results, so I decided to wait.
"But why are you going to the National Intelligence Service?"
After the matter at Yeoseodo was settled and I returned home, I remembered what Manager Ryu In-su had said.
Would you come to the National Intelligence Service?
There was no particular reason I couldn't.
So I was on my way there now.
"Shouldn't we contact Deputy Director Lee Baek-gon separately?"
There was another person who had stationed NIS agents around me to watch over me.
When Mr. Cheolhon, who was behind the wheel, mentioned him, I nodded.
"I already did."
As soon as I returned to Seoul, I received a message asking me to call when he wasn't busy, so I called him.
He had sincerely thanked me for what I had done this time.
"And just as Manager Ryu said, he asked me to come visit the NIS."
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"
"In what way?"
"What if the NIS forcibly detained you or something...?"
"Hahahaha! That's a funny joke!"
"....."
"The NIS has no reason to do that. Besides..."
There was no such future, either.
The future reflected in the mirror I had looked into before leaving showed me returning home after finishing my business at the NIS and dancing wildly.
"The reason Deputy Director Lee Baek-gon wanted me to come is the same as Manager Ryu's reason."
That was how we arrived near the NIS headquarters in Seocho-gu.
As one would expect from one of the country's most important institutions, getting in wasn't easy from the entrance onward.
Of course, since we already had an appointment, we weren't stopped.
"Oh... I've only ever seen this place in pictures online. It's fascinating to see it in person."
"You've seen it too, sir?"
"It gets posted as a meme quite often."
As we moved past the main gate, another security checkpoint came into view.
There was a familiar face there.
Lee Baek-gon.
He was the NIS's Second Deputy Director.
"It's been a while, Mr. Kang."
"It has. Have you been well?"
"Yes. I should have come to escort you myself... I'm sorry."
He felt quite sorry that he hadn't been able to escort me himself, even though I was visiting the NIS.
Come on. It's not as though I came from that far away.
Since it wasn't a big deal to me, I waved my hand with a smile, but he seemed quite embarrassed.
"Actually, I considered sending someone from another department."
"I told you I'm fine. But you must be very busy?"
"Yes. Extremely busy."
With my help last time, they had caught Kim Cheol-gwan.
Besides interrogating him, they were also overwhelmed with rebuilding the HUMINT network and black agents who had been compromised.
And now this incident had happened as well, so naturally there was no one left to spare inside the NIS.
They must have been so busy that even people at the deputy-director level had to pitch in with fieldwork.
"Hang in there."
"Haha. Thank you..."
Lee Baek-gon laughed heartily.
Then, as if he had absolutely nothing to hide from me, he confidently held out his hand.
"I'll draw a card."
"I like how straightforward you are."
He drew the card I held out.
The card he turned over was the Star reversed.
It didn't mean anything in particular.
"We'd like you to take a look at someone."
"The North Korean Ministry of State Security agent, Ri Jeong-sul, is the one you caught through Kim Cheol-gwan. And it seems you're planning to use him to deal with the spies infiltrating South Korea."
Kim Cheol-gwan.
He had been an NIS agent, but had betrayed them for money and advancement.
With my help last time, the NIS had succeeded in arresting him.
"Yes, that's right. Wow. It's nice talking to you, sir. I don't have to explain anything."
"Though you can't keep secrets from me, either."
"It's enough that we have nothing to hide from you. In any case, after being attacked, we can't just sit still, can we?"
But Ri Jeong-sul refused to open his mouth.
Even after they had tried both torture and interrogation.
"It's for the sake of the country."
"That is true."
"Of course, if this is too much of a burden, you may refuse."
"It isn't much of a burden. Let's do it."
"...Huh."
"What?"
Even when I said I would help, he was acting like this?
Lee Baek-gon stared at me for a moment, then let out a sigh.
"Sir. I sincerely thank you. I don't know how we could ever thank you or repay you. Um... If you'd like to run a nightclub or a bar, perhaps..."
I stopped him as he tried to hand me several businesses the NIS used as fronts.
Why on earth would I run bars and nightclubs?
He was trying to hand them over to someone who didn't even know how to run a company...
.
.
.
We entered the NIS headquarters.
Apparently, all the truly important facilities were underground to avoid satellite photography.
"Then this place is just..."
"Yes. It's practically just a shell."
There were only NIS operations, public relations, and other miscellaneous departments aboveground, he explained as we entered the elevator. He naturally pressed the button for the second basement level.
"This is rather simple."
"Pardon?"
"I expected we'd use all sorts of methods instead of simply going to the second basement level."
Like opening a hidden door, or pressing several elevator buttons at once.
Lee Baek-gon burst out laughing at my answer.
"We don't have the budget."
"Oh."
You can't ignore the budget.
He calmly explained that even the budget for making things like that was being used for the agents and paid to the families of agents who had died during missions.
"Here we are."
"Are we meeting Kim Cheol-gwan first?"
"Yes. We don't know whether he has information on any other spies."
"Do you think there are any?"
"We believe there are."
In that case.
When we entered an unmarked room on the second basement level, I saw a room similar to one I had seen at the FBI.
A blood-covered man was sitting beyond the window.
Kim Cheol-gwan.
The piece of trash who had caused countless HUMINT and black agents to die.
He was being held beneath the NIS, consumed by fear and despair.
Deputy Director Lee Baek-gon glared at him with hatred and growled as if he wanted to break his neck right then and there.
"Do I need to make him turn over a card?"
I stopped him, as he was practically saying that he would go in there, beat Kim Cheol-gwan up, and make him turn over a card if I gave the word.
"There is no need for that. In this situation, I can turn it over myself, right?"
"Ah. You mean like you did on the broadcast."
I looked at him, shuffled the cards, and turned one over.
The card that appeared was Death reversed.
"Could you give me something to write with? A laptop would be even better."
I had a lot to write, so a laptop for typing was preferable to paper.
"Yes. It's ready."
He held out a laptop.
In the notepad, I quickly typed information Kim Cheol-gwan hadn't revealed.
"...That son of a bitch...!!"
Besides what had already been uncovered, he had sold off a great deal of information.
The locations of safe houses used by the NIS throughout South Korea.
And information on the North Korean spies and black agents the NIS had identified.
Even things like operation plans.
"No wonder it's been so difficult to catch spies lately...!!"
He ground his teeth.
Then he pressed the button beside him, and agents entered the room where Kim Cheol-gwan was.
Then the curtains were drawn.
I knew what was happening without looking.
Kim Cheol-gwan was paying for the crimes he had committed.
"That's everything."
"Phew... Thank you, Mr. Kang."
"Then let's move on."
We moved with Lee Baek-gon toward another room.
A man was sitting there.
He looked ordinary.
He had the sort of face one might commonly see while walking down the street.
Slightly timid, the sort of person who couldn't do anything improper to anyone.
That was what he looked like.
Of course, the truth was the exact opposite.
Among the North Korean Ministry of State Security agents, he was one of the worst of the worst.
Kidnapping, murder, and rape were the basics, and he was ruthless enough to eliminate even his subordinates the moment they were no longer useful.
He even enjoyed personally executing HUMINT operatives active in North Korea.
He was, quite literally, a piece of trash among pieces of trash.
"Ri Jeong-sul. An agent from North Korea's Ministry of State Security."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Capturing him in China was a literal stroke of luck."
Lee Baek-gon stared daggers at him.
Regardless, the man beyond the glass looked relaxed.
It was as if he were saying that no matter what they did, he would never open his mouth.
"We've tried everything to obtain information from him... but there's no point."
They tried coaxing him and threatening him until it felt as though they would cry tears of blood.
They used drugs and even torture, but he didn't utter a single word.
"So, sir. Please."
"Yes. All right."
I immediately turned over a card.
The card that appeared was the Fool.
"I'll begin."
I immediately began typing what I had seen in his past onto the laptop.
Secrets of the North Korean military.
Spies currently infiltrating South Korea.
Spies active in China and Japan, as well as information on the Bitcoin and hackers they used.
Since he was a high-ranking person, he knew so much that typing it all out was a chore.
"Huh..."
The more information appeared on the laptop, the more ecstatic Lee Baek-gon's expression became.
"That's about it."
"I-Incredible!!"
Lee Baek-gon was delighted.
Apparently, he hadn't expected to obtain this much information.
"How can I ever repay this debt... Mr. Kang. If you're interested in running a club..."
No, thank you.
.
.
.
After discouraging Lee Baek-gon from repeatedly trying to hand me nightclubs and clubs, we went to get lunch.
I wonder what the cafeteria inside the NIS is like?
Today's lunch is... curry, apparently.
I like curry.
I piled my plate high with curry at the cafeteria.
I even got an extra frankfurter as a bonus, then sat down and began eating.
Wow. This place has great curry.
It's fucking delicious.
That was when I was marveling at the curry's deep flavor.
"Hmm?"
"What is it?"
"Hmm... Deputy Director Lee, what about those people...?"
"Ah. They're employees who work under the First Deputy Director. They work outside the office."
"External work... Hmm... Deputy Director, could you introduce me to the First Deputy Director later?"
"The First Deputy Director? I have no problem with that, but why?"
"I'd like to read the fortunes of the employees under the First Deputy Director."
Quite a few people among those working overseas end up dying.
I saw that, and I couldn't just leave them alone.