Chapter 96
***
National Intelligence Service First Deputy Director Jang Min-su was bewildered when he received Lee Baek-gon's call.
But he had no reason to refuse.
The reason was that the person he wanted to meet was none other than Kang Noah.
The genius fortune-teller who could see the past and future.
This time, he'd even correctly predicted an American typhoon.
Was that all?
Hadn't he also caught that damn bastard Kim Cheol-gwan at Lee's request?
He was clearly the real deal, and if Jang formed a connection with him, he might be able to solve the recent problems involving black agents and HUMINT as well.
His pace gradually quickened.
"Huff... huff..."
He flung the door open.
In the spacious lounge sat Second Deputy Director Lee Baek-gon and a young man.
It was Kang Noah.
"Mr. Kang!! It's a pleasure to meet you!!"
The NIS First Deputy Director.
Jang Min-su showed no disrespect toward the startlingly young man.
Knowing how important he was, he greeted him courteously, and Kang Noah, who had been staring at him, gave him a broad grin.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kang Noah. Um, if you don't mind, could you turn this over for me?"
"Pardon? That... Oh, all right."
To gain his cooperation, he couldn't have anything to hide.
He was confident.
Of course, it wasn't as though he had nothing weighing on his conscience.
But wasn't the same true of Lee Baek-gon?
Even so, seeing that Lee got along well with him, this much should be fine.
Thinking that, Jang Min-su heard Kang Noah speak gently.
"First Deputy Director."
"Yes. What is it?"
What came out of his mouth was completely beyond Jang's expectations.
"Did you know that your daughter has had a boyfriend for three years?"
"What bastard dared lay a hand on my precious daughter?!"
He hadn't known.
So she really was the daughter of an NIS deputy director, he thought.
But that was that, and this was this.
As Jang Min-su's eyes rolled back, Kang Noah burst out laughing.
"Your daughter's boyfriend is going to become your son-in-law. He's a good man, so don't give him too hard a time. And, uh, what was it..."
"Huff... huff..."
"There's also a grandchild in your daughter's belly, so don't scold her too much..."
"Graaagh...!!"
At his daughter's behavior—coming home pregnant after causing trouble without even getting married—Jang Min-su looked ready to pull out a gun.
Lee Baek-gon hurriedly restrained him, but Jang Min-su continued to tremble.
"S-Sir... What should I do? What?!"
"I'm just a fortune-teller, not a problem solver. And that son-in-law of yours seems like a pretty decent person, so don't be too hard on him."
"What insane decent person gets a woman pregnant without marrying her?!"
"Haha. Have you heard of a pregnancy attack?"
......
The man hadn't done it.
The woman had.
Jang Min-su sat there blankly, as if he had lost all words.
A similar sight appeared in his future, too.
His daughter had told her father, "I'm the one who pregnancy-attacked him," and he had looked just like this.
"Um... Well, um. There, uh, hang in there."
Lee Baek-gon, who had only two sons, tried somehow to comfort him, but Jang Min-su soon began to choke up.
It seemed thinking about his daughter had brought tears to his eyes.
"May I comfort this friend for a moment?"
"Of course."
They were more softhearted fathers than I'd expected.
***
It took First Deputy Director Jang Min-su thirty minutes to calm down after hearing that his daughter had pulled a pregnancy attack.
The dejected man approached me.
"...I apologize for the trouble."
"No, no. What is there to apologize for?"
If the daughter he'd raised like a precious gem came home after pregnancy-attacking someone and brought her prospective husband with her, it was understandable that he would feel dizzy.
"I just called her and asked, and apparently she's coming with my son-in-law tomorrow."
"I see."
"Yes. Thanks to you, I won't have to point a gun at my son-in-law's head the moment he arrives."
Haha.
If he'd heard that without any mental preparation, there really would have been chaos.
"But is the man who's really going to become my son-in-law a good person?"
"I haven't met him myself, so I don't know, but if he's good enough for you to approve of him, wouldn't he be all right?"
"Is that so..."
"Yes. If you'd like, I could take a look at him with you later."
"Really?!"
"Haha. I don't usually do that, but I'll make an exception for you, First Deputy Director."
"Please! Please, I beg you!!"
First Deputy Director Jang Min-su looked ready to prostrate himself before me.
I stopped him and got to the point.
"All right. Let's talk business now. To get straight to the point... You have agents stationed in Vietnam right now, don't you?"
"Yes..."
"You're trying to bring out a North Korean scientist in Vietnam, right?"
"That's correct."
Apparently, the scientist had been entrusted with important work related to North Korea's nuclear weapons development.
NIS black agents were moving to bring him out.
"It's a trap."
"...Pardon?"
"It's an operation by the North Korean Ministry of State Security. The scientist has already returned to North Korea, and North Korean agents are waiting in his place."
The agents would suffer heavy losses in the process.
I told him about the outcome I had seen in Jang Min-su's future, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"I understand. Then it would be best to call off the operation."
"If you call it off, they'll raid the agents' safe house in Vietnam."
"Then, then what should we do?"
"How should I know?"
I'm just a fortune-teller who sees the past and future, remember?
You should plan operations like that yourselves.
When I shrugged, Jang Min-su gritted his teeth, then took me to his office.
Several agents looked startled when we entered an office called the External Affairs Bureau.
One of the younger-looking men saw me and spoke.
"Oh... Noah hyung...!!"
So there was someone who knew me here, too.
He seemed delighted when I gave him a casual wave.
Regardless, First Deputy Director Jang Min-su spoke firmly.
"I just had Mr. Kang Noah read my fortune."
"Read your fortune...?"
"That's right. Some of you may not believe it, but astonishingly, Mr. Kang's fortune-telling is real."
"Wait, you believe that kind of childish nonsense too, sir?"
There was someone who didn't believe in me.
How astonishing.
He had come all the way here and still didn't believe me.
In that case...
I approached the agent staring sullenly at me and held out a card.
"Would you like to turn it over?"
"Hah."
He snorted and flipped the card.
It was the Four of Spades.
I opened the memo app on my phone and typed.
[Mr. Gu Gong-won. Yesterday, at the lodging, you watched SVB-3889. Magical Girl. Ravaged by a Monster. on your tablet, didn't you?]
"....!!! W-What..."
[And you met separately with the woman you encountered at a club during your last business trip to China, didn't you?]
"......"
His complexion was growing darker by the second.
[There's nothing wrong with being a furry, is there? It's just one kind of preference, after all. There are furry events at KINTEX from time to time, so why don't you go to one?]
"...P-Please stop..."
Hearing the surrender spilling from his lips, I erased what I had written in the memo.
Everyone was curious.
What had I said to make Agent Gu Gong-won become so meek?
"Oh, that?"
"Please! Please, sir!! I'll beg you like this!!"
Apparently unwilling to have his preferences exposed, Gu Gong-won cried out desperately.
Since he was begging this much, there was no need to blab about it.
I smiled, and everyone stared at me with cold sweat beading on their faces.
"I hope no one will go around calling Mr. Kang a fraud after this."
"Uh. Um. Yes."
To those who answered awkwardly, Jang Min-su explained the current situation.
The agents waiting to carry out an operation in Vietnam.
They needed to find a future in which those agents could safely withdraw.
"To do that, you need to come up with a suitable answer. My job is to determine whether it's the right one."
If they left things as they were, not only the people in Vietnam but also the agents handling external operations would suffer heavy losses.
One of the agents I had seen earlier would be shot in the lung and die after crying out in pain.
Having seen that future, there was no reason to simply stand by.
"Think about it seriously."
"Yes!!"
From this point on, they had to plan the operation.
I stood up, praying that they would do their best.
"Mr. Kang. Where are you going?"
"Huh? Why? I don't need to be there while you plan the operation."
I should go get a drink.
.
.
.
It was after I bought a drink and accompanied Lee Baek-gon while he met a few more spies that...
One of the First Deputy Director's subordinates came running and brought me back to the office from earlier.
"We've come up with a few possible operations."
One of the operations he described involved obtaining the cooperation of locals.
They would work with them to extract our agents while avoiding the North Korean agents' eyes.
It fails.
"Then the next one..."
A preemptive strike before they could attack.
But North Korea had superior equipment and manpower, and was waiting in an ambush, so it failed.
"This is the last one, but... We could ask for America's help."
That was the best option.
If they joined forces with the American agents infiltrating Vietnam, capturing the North Korean agents would not be impossible.
There would be some wounded, but no one would die.
"The problem is how to negotiate with America."
No matter how friendly an ally was, they couldn't simply ask for help with something like this.
After hesitating, he cautiously opened his mouth.
"We'd like to ask for Mr. Kang's help with that part."
"Sounds good."
My name was fairly well known not only in Korea but also in the United States.
Since I was getting involved, the Americans wouldn't be able to ignore me.
"But if we do that, we may have to ask you to read their fortunes as well... Would that be all right?"
"Oh, come on. Reading fortunes isn't that difficult. Don't worry about it."
"Goodness... We owe you a great debt, sir... If there's ever anything you want in the future, I'll step up and help you no matter what."
With that, both the NIS First and Second Deputy Directors were indebted to me.
Things would be more convenient for me from now on.
"Thank you. Then could I meet the American representative first?"
"Yes. I'll show you there right away."
.
.
.
We drove in Jang Min-su's car and arrived at the U.S. military base in Yongsan.
It was the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
When we entered and reached the interior of the American camp...
An American in a black suit arrived and sat down in front of us.
He said something in English, but I couldn't understand a word.
"He says they can help, but they'd like you to meet someone."
"Who?"
"Apparently, it's the deputy director of the CIA's Asia branch."
Now not only the FBI but the CIA was looking for me.
My fame had gone beyond the nation and reached global proportions.