Chapter 518: Juyoung Hong (45) |
Anyway, I chose to infiltrate the Prime Minister's Office secretly.
I stepped into his office through the open window on the 5th floor using Blink.
Then I walked inside naturally like a man who had worked there for several years.
I headed to the Prime Minister's Office on the 5th floor.
According to the documents I received from the NIS, he was always in the office at this time.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Who is this? I told you not to disturb the Prime Minister at this time!"
It was not Prime Minister Abezo's voice.
But I didn't care and knocked again.
"I obviously told you not to disturb…"
I didn't wear a mask this time, but I was still wearing a black hat and sunglasses.
The bodyguard, who noticed me, stopped right away, and quickly put his right hand to his left jacket pocket. By general standards, he was very swift.
Of course, he was too slow in my eyes. So I pushed him to the side.
I only pushed him gently, but he was pushed back, rolling a few laps on the floor and crashed into a corner.
Then I stepped into the Prime Minister's office.
Click.
After I closed the door, I looked into the office.
"Man, I heard that nobody but the prime minister would be here at this time, but there are more people than I thought!"
The NIS documents clearly said there would be at most only a few people here, including Prime Minister Abezo and some of his bodyguards.
But I found there were a total of nine people in the prime minister's office, excluding those who appeared to be bodyguards.
They sat around a wide table as if they were having a meeting.
Of course, it didn't matter because Prime Minister Abezo, whose face I recognized well, was at the head of the table.
At that moment, his bodyguards shouted, "Don't move!"
"If you move, I'll shoot!"
"Why the hell did the bastards outside not stop him?"
The bodyguards inside the office pointed their pistols at me while spitting out warnings.
I felt like they didn't know about me at all, given the way they treated me.
These guys holding pistols were full of confidence that they could handle me without any problem.
"Did I overestimate Japan too much?"
No matter how much he controlled Korea's underground economy, even Chaesan Lee, who was far inferior to a country in terms of prestige and size, knew about me.
How come these guys didn't know about me?
It was me who was rather baffled in this situation.
Somebody stopped the bodyguards and shouted, "Return your pistols back to your pockets. Tell them to quiet down outside."
Was it Prime Minister Abezo? No, it wasn't.
It was the voice of the person sitting right next to Prime Minister Abezo.
"But if we don't do anything about this intruder…"
"This guy has broken into the Prime Minister's residence!"
"That's right. I know you're the Director of the Cabinet Intelligence Office, but this is terrorism agaist the prime minister!"
The bodyguards who were still aiming their guns at me argued back, but the Director of the Cabinet Intelligence Office ignored them and spoke to Prime Minister Abezo who was sitting at the head of the table.
"This is the guy I've just briefed you about. I didn't expect he would show up so quickly, so I'm sorry that I haven't protected you enough. Since the bodyguards can't stop him with guns, I think you had better make them withdraw. Fortunately, it seems like he didn't come here to harm you physically. By the way, you know the Myongjin Group, right? This guy is Juyoung Hong, the third son of their Chairman."
I wasn't particularly surprised when he mentioned my name correctly because it was only natural, given his position.
So I said right away, "Alright. As you already seem to know who I really am, I will get straight to the point. I haven't come here for a good purpose, so I don't have to talk amicably."
When I finished my words, Prime Minister Abezo opened his mouth, pointing to an empty seat at the far end of the table.
"Let me listen to your story then."
Except for my family, no one spoke to me informally when they found out who I was, but I didn't bother to point it out because I was not narrow-minded enough to take offense at that.
So I moved to the end of the table and sat down.
As soon as I took a seat, I said, "I want you to give up the Seventh Mining Area. Let me be clear. I want you to give it up completely, not joint development. Japan should give up the Seventh Mining Area."
Even though I cut to the chase, I mentioned the Seventh Mining Area to him without any notice.
But I didn't have to worry because it seemed that all the nine people here including the prime minister knew well about the mining area and its value when I checked their expressions.
They opened their mouths one by one.
"The Seventh Mining Area is a very important oilfield that will lead Japan's industry in the future!"
"The Seventh Mining Area belongs to Japan because it exists in Japanese territorial waters!"
"Our joint development agreement with Korea will expire in only a few years. After that, we will own it permanently!"
At a glance, I knew that the people here were cabinet ministers aside from Prime Minister Abezo. Most of them voiced opposition to my demands.
Of course, Prime Minister Abezo objected by saying, "That is Japan's territorial waters. Japan has the right to develop the oilfield there, and the ownership of everything related to it."
What he said was not wrong.
It's clearly stated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which can be regarded as the constitution of the sea, which is superior to the laws of the seas of each country.
But I also had a lot to say about his statement.
If a judge voids a certain law called A in a legitimate situation and rules in favor of another law called B, what was previously affected by law A in the past won't become illegal or be denied overnight. That also applies to the conventions among nations.
So I said, "Our government has proposed joint development dozens of times over the past 10 years at the expense of South Korea, right? But you have rejected all our offers. Isn't that enough for our government to judge your rejection as your willingness to abandon it?"
"Willing to abandon it? We've never expressed such willingness! If you look at the agreement, there is no mention of our abandonment of the Seventh Mining Area!"
"You're right!"
I expected they would react like this because the US government did the same thing.
In fact, the US government even tried to lock me into something like a dungeon for the rest of my life.
Moreover, since these guys have not seen my capabilities with their own eyes, it was certain that they would not give up the oilfield of the Seventh Mining Area that had the oil reserves as big as the crude oil buried in Saudi Arabia.
So I quietly opened my mouth because I would have no choice but to take action if they didn't take my words seriously.