Chapter 514: Juyoung Hong (41) |
In Tokyo, Japan.
While the United States has the CIA and Korea has the National Intelligence Service, Japan has the Cabinet Intelligence Office under the prime minister.
As it directly reports to the prime minister, the Cabinet Intelligence Office has a huge power because those in high positions want to monopolize and control the intelligence they have access to.
In fact, after taking office, the first thing the prime minister did traditionally was to plant his own men in the Cabinet Intelligence Office.
Of course, there were times when the Cabinet Intelligence Office had little power.
The term of office of the prime minister once elected was four years, but if the ruling party lost at the general elections or the cabinet's approval rating fell below 50%, the prime minister usually stepped down, according to traditional practices.
Because of that, there were quite a few prime ministers who stepped down in two years or sometimes in one year after taking office.
But it was a different story when it came to the far-right incumbent Prime Minister Abezo. He had already won his third term, and no one disputed that he would succeed in winning a fourth term. As a result, the Cabinet Intelligence Office under Prime Minister Abezo, which served as his eyes and ears, had more power than ever before.
It's been 10 years since the Japanese people elected the current leader as the prime minister, so all the top positions of the Cabinet Intelligence Office were filled by those that Abezo handpicked.
As soon as Director Suchihara appeared, Abezo shouted, "Korea! Korea! Korea! I keep hearing only Korea in my ears these days! What the heck are you doing?"
"…"
Director Suchihara remained silent as the prime minister shouted.
Actually, he had already reported to the prime minister several times based on the reports from the Cabinet Intelligence Office, but he was rebuked every time.
Of course, there was one thing he wanted to correct.
It was not Korea, but Myongjin.
It was rumored widely that the United States was taking great care of not Korea, but the Myongjin Group.
But Suchihara didn't dare to correct the prime minister because it would make him even more upset.
Prime Minister Abezo said impatiently, "Don't just remain silent like that! I hear our lobbyists who had connections with the US politicians lost their contacts, but you said you still didn't know why. Do you think that makes sense? Are you sure you are the Director of the Cabinet Intelligence Office? Okay, let me give that a pass. Japan is the foremost country in Asia, and our people are the elite. So how can the United States reach out to the second-rate Korea and its people instead?"
"…"
Prime Minister Abezo berated him continuously.
But Director Suchihara felt it's unfair because he had already reported to the prime minister in detail:
[The fact that all our lobbyists who have connections with the US political circles have lost their contacts seems to be related to South Korea, or more precisely, to a company called the Myongjin Group. ]
[After our lobbyists lost their contacts, the US government has focused its attention only on the Myongjin Group.]
[The Debius headquarters was robbed by an Asian, and the next person stationed there is affiliated with the Myongjin Group. I've attached his picture below.]
Director Suchihara, who had years of experience in this field, knew well that a coincidence could take place only once, but not twice.
In other words, he reported to the prime minister that the Myongjin Group had something that could make even the United States surrender to them or win their favor, but the prime minister was not persuaded.
The prime minister argued that it was impossible for Korea to have what Japan didn't have.
Because of that, Director Suchihara could not tell him about the more recent reports her received from the Cabinet Intelligence Office:
[The man named Chaesan Lee, who controlled Korea's underground economy, has been ruined. Since it happened without warning, our people are currently investigating. ]
[Report 1.
- There was no sign that the financial authorities were involved in his downfall at all. Rather, they are instead startled by it as well.]
[Report 2.
- There is a bizarre rumor about a superhuman spreading. A superhuman appeared, who blocked incoming bullets with his bare hands, emitted ice shards from his palms, and even tore apart a huge iron wall easily. That superhuman allegedly took everything from Mr. Lee.]
[Report 3.
- The credibility of the rumors mentioned in Report 2 is questionable, but we can infer one thing from it. It's related to the sudden creation of a huge glacier in the Arctic and the sudden change in the US attitude. So we have theorized that the superhuman might have appeared in South Korea. And if that superhuman is real, it seems highly likely that he is affiliated with a company called the Myongjin Group in Korea.]
The downfall of Chaesan Lee as reported by the Cabinet Intelligence Office could not be treated lightly because he had monopolized South Korea's underground economy.
And the Cabinet Intelligence Office and the Japanese government put a lot of effort into making him what he was.
Like everything else, the bigger the underground economy became, the more the official economy would shrink, which would naturally make a country's economy go bankrupt. That was the case with the Philippines and Italy.
In fact, the Cabinet Intelligence Office helped Chaesan Lee with the hope that South Korea could follow suit.
Contrary to their wishes, Chaesan Lee, in whom they invested a lot, was ruined overnight. As a result, the Cabinet Intelligence Office had no other choice but to investigate the cause of his downfall, and soon found hints leading to the Myongjin Group in the process.
Based on their investigation, it was 100% certain that there was something that Myongjin had hidden from outsiders.
However, Director Suchihara did not tell the prime minister about this because he knew it would be futile as his boss would not believe it.
That's why he decided to take the brunt of his harsh rebuke without any resistance.
***
In my house in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, at that time.
"Hmm. As they are so eager to see me, let me see them. It's nothing special, so I don't want to involve the United States."
The US spies really had their ass kicked all over the place when I caught them trying to spy on me.
I could easily find out where these guys were waiting for me now because unlike the US spies, they seemed to have no intention of hiding their identity.
It would be more appropriate to say that they were keen to reveal themselves to me.
So I got out of my room using Blink with zero cooldown, and moved to a coffee shop that opened overnight, which was one block away from my house.
Ting!
As soon as I opened the door, a refreshing sound of a small bell echoed.
However, there were only empty tables as if business here was not good.
Of course, it would not be a big problem for them because their only client was me.
And they didn't have to make money by running a coffee shop because they were affiliated with the NIS.
I approached the table in the middle, pulled out a chair and sat down.
Then a man who seemed to be the owner came up to me and opened his mouth.
"May I take your order, sir?"
At first glance, he seemed to be acting very naturally.
But I retorted, "This is no old coffee shop. Who the hell takes a customer's order like that?"
"..."