novelraw Chapter 89 : I Will Take Responsibility for Your Life to the End, Section Chief
Chapter 89 : I Will Take Responsibility for Your Life to the End, Section Chief
Chapter 89: I Will Take Responsibility for Your Life to the End, Section Chief
From behind me, Oh Chung-seong’s urgent voice grabbed at me. I did not turn around.
I simply held onto the doorknob and waited for his next words. The moment I turned back here, the initiative I had struggled to seize could slip back into his hands.
“……Please, sit.”
After a long silence, his voice was heard again. The authoritative air from before was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by a deep fatigue, as if he had resigned himself to everything.
I slowly turned my body around. He had a cigarette in his mouth, but he had not even managed to light it and was only staring at me.
That look in his eyes was not that of an intelligence agent. It was the desperate gaze of a man searching for a lifeline to survive a massive storm.
I quietly returned to my seat and sat down. I lit a match from the ones on the table, leaned forward, and lit the cigarette in his mouth before speaking.
“Why don’t you tell me again. Who is the one above?”
He inhaled deeply, enough for his cheeks to hollow, then exhaled pale smoke along with his words.
“……It was a special directive from His Excellency Chairman Han.”
“As expected.”
“Except for a few who were to be punished as examples, an order came down to release everyone on the condition that they surrender half of their assets. We had no choice but to comply.”
It was exactly as I had expected. Oh Chung-seong must have been painfully realizing the reality that even a powerful authority like the KCIA was ultimately nothing more than a chess piece moved by the fingertips of a single chairman.
“Director Kang was furious. He went to see Deputy Director Noh Gi-tae and lodged a strong protest, but after seeing the document bearing His Excellency’s handwritten signature, I heard he couldn’t say a word and just came back.”
So Kang Byung-woo had also realized that he had been discarded. I waited until Oh Chung-seong finished burning through one cigarette, then asked,
“So, what did Deputy Director Noh Gi-tae say?”
“…….”
“Was trying to use Jin Tae-rim to monitor me your own unilateral decision, Section Chief? Or was that also Deputy Director Noh’s instruction?”
If it were the Noh Gi-tae I knew, even if he felt favorably toward me, he was not the kind of man who would refrain from digging into my background.
Oh Chung-seong swallowed dryly. Depending on his answer, the nature of the relationship between him and me would be decided.
“That was…… my own decision.”
After hesitating for a long time, he answered with difficulty.
“When Baek Min-woo asked me to get Jin Tae-rim out, I tried to use him to figure out your intentions. I did not report it to Deputy Director Noh.”
“Is that so. That’s a relief.”
At my words, he looked at me with puzzled eyes. It was better that it was not Noh Gi-tae’s instruction but his own independent move.
However, the puzzled look lasted only a moment before he continued speaking.
“Deputy Director Noh has taken a very strong interest in Baek Min-woo because of this incident. During the interrogations, several traces of Baek Min-woo’s activities were discovered.”
“My activities?”
“Yes. While interrogating the money changers, testimony came out that someone had exchanged a considerable amount of money into dollars through an old man. Deputy Director Noh seemed convinced that person was Baek Min-woo.”
“Hmm…….”
“On top of that, he is also convinced that you are among Elder Hwang’s clients.”
It seemed Noh Gi-tae had decided to dig deeply into me.
“And he gave me an order.”
“What kind of order?”
“He told me to find out, very thoroughly and without being noticed, exactly what kind of person this Baek Min-woo is and how he moves around in Busan.”
“Then what are you planning to do, Section Chief?”
At my question, Oh Chung-seong’s eyes widened. I looked straight into his eyes and asked,
“Should I interpret you telling me this as you wanting to take my hand?”
It was time to choose. Oh Chung-seong remained silent for quite a while.
He chain-smoked two or three more cigarettes, then finally crushed the cigarette out in the ashtray and said,
“……What do you want me to do?”
He had crossed over. I drew a gentle arc at the corner of my lips and spoke.
“When you report about me to Deputy Director Noh, just convey only what I tell you to convey. And keep sharing the internal situation of the KCIA with me.”
“…….”
“In return, even if you leave the KCIA later, I will take responsibility for your life to the very end.”
I took an envelope out from my pocket. Seeing its thick heft, Oh Chung-seong’s eyes naturally drifted toward it.
“Use this as activity funds.”
Inside the envelope were ten one-hundred-dollar bills. Oh Chung-seong hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.
“I’ll be in touch.”
“Yes. Let’s meet again next time. I’ll be leaving first. Finish your Ssanghwa tea. You look very tired.”
I stood up and left the teahouse just like that. I could feel Oh Chung-seong’s complicated gaze on my back.
But my own mind was just as complicated.
‘Noh Gi-tae is investigating my activities?’
Even without definitive proof, he could have grabbed me based on circumstantial suspicion alone. But Noh Gi-tae did not do that.
Because of his favor toward me? I shook my head. I could not bet everything on a vague emotion like favor.
‘Just because the wanted notice on the old man ended, there’s no way Noh Gi-tae wouldn’t look for him.’
In the end, all the keys were in the hands of Han Sang-hoon, that old fox. If he were to open his mouth…… A cold light rose in my eyes.
When Kang Byung-woo’s blade dance came to a halt, an awkward peace, however brief, came to the back alleys of Seoul as well.
Taking advantage of the slackened razor-sharp surveillance of the KCIA, those who had been hiding like rats began to crawl back into the open one by one. Among those who returned was the old man.
The second floor of an old multi-family house in Myeong-dong, Han Sang-hoon’s secret hideout.
The place that had been turned into chaos by the KCIA’s sudden raid had been cleaned up so neatly it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Han Sang-hoon sat by the window, calmly tilting his teacup as if the commotion of the past few days had been something from an entirely different world.
His subordinates fidgeted and watched his mood, but he remained quiet, no different from usual.
At that moment, the heavy sound of footsteps climbing the stairs was heard. His subordinates tensed and moved their hands toward their waists, but Han Sang-hoon stopped them with a gesture.
“Leave it. The person who should come has simply arrived.”
A moment later, the door opened and Noh Gi-tae revealed himself.
Only one subordinate stood behind him like a shadow. It was an unspoken signal that this was not an arrest, but a visit for conversation.
“It’s been a while, old man.”
There was no emotion carried in Noh Gi-tae’s voice.
“What brings the Deputy Director all the way to this shabby place?”
Han Sang-hoon also observed proper etiquette, but there was not the slightest hint of intimidation in his eyes. He did not even stand up, merely jerking his chin toward the chair across from him.
Noh Gi-tae did not take issue with the rudeness. Sitting comfortably, he did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
“There is something I want to know.”
“I don’t know whether what I know will be of any help to the Deputy Director.”
“Baek Min-woo. Tell me everything you know about that bastard.”
For a brief moment, Han Sang-hoon’s brow twitched slightly, but he soon regained his composure.
“Baek Min-woo…… That’s a name I’m hearing for the first time.”
“There’s no way you wouldn’t know.”
Noh Gi-tae took several documents out of his coat and spread them across the table.
On them were densely written statements from money changers and transaction records testifying that, just before the currency reform, an enormous volume of dollars had flowed into Han Sang-hoon’s exchange.
“Right before the currency reform, you swept up every dollar on the market. And all of it flowed into the hands of a single person. Baek Min-woo. Wasn’t it that bastard?”
He was merely laying out facts, but Noh Gi-tae’s voice was cold as ice.
“This is not a simple exchange. It is clear evidence that top-level state secrets about the currency reform were leaked in advance. It is a serious crime that shook the very foundation of the nation.”
Despite the pressure, Han Sang-hoon did not even blink. He quietly answered as he filled his teacup with fragrant tea.
“Deputy Director. I am nothing more than a merchant. There are sellers and there are buyers, so transactions are made. Asking, one by one, where that money comes from and where it flows to is not the rule of this world.”
“Rules, you say…….”
A cold sneer crept onto Noh Gi-tae’s lips.
“Under the revolutionary government, such outdated rules no longer apply. You should know that well yourself.”
“So are you planning to lock me up?”
Han Sang-hoon set down his teacup and, for the first time, looked straight into Noh Gi-tae’s eyes. The eyes of a man who had long reigned over the heads of black-market money changers were deep and chilling.
“If you lock me up, can you handle the consequences? You know full well how many people would get hurt if I opened my mouth—not just here in Myeong-dong, but even among the lofty gentlemen above.”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“A threat? Not at all. I’m simply stating facts. I know nothing. And even if I did know something, selling out my clients is not how I do business.”
The old man continued with a smile.
“Do you know how much was traded on the black market in a single day right before the currency reform? At least one hundred thousand dollars changed hands. Excluding places like Busan or Incheon, that’s one hundred thousand dollars here in Myeong-dong alone.”
Noh Gi-tae fell silent. The corners of Han Sang-hoon’s mouth lifted. His voice grew even more insinuating.
“And yet, strangely enough, about two weeks before the currency reform, the price of the dollar suddenly began to rise. Why do you think that was?”
Han Sang-hoon was asking whether he could really handle it.
“I know nothing.”
“Are you really going to keep this up?”
Han Sang-hoon shrugged. Further conversation was meaningless. Noh Gi-tae stood up from his seat. At that, the subordinate standing behind him moved.
Han Sang-hoon let out a hollow laugh, as if he had resigned himself to everything—or perhaps as if he were mocking it all.
“There’s no need to trouble yourself, Deputy Director.”
He drained the remaining tea in his cup, stood up, and walked toward Noh Gi-tae. Then, as if offering a handshake to an old friend, he neatly extended both hands forward.
“Go ahead and take me.”
Faced with his dignified attitude, it was Noh Gi-tae who ended up flustered.
In the end, Noh Gi-tae could do nothing. Chairman Han had ordered that all investigations into Han Sang-hoon be halted.
Grinding his teeth, he left the room with rough steps.
Han Sang-hoon sat back down, refilled his empty teacup, and walked over to the window.
As he watched Noh Gi-tae’s retreating back disappearing outside, an unreadable smile spread across his face.
After my meeting with Oh Chung-seong, I immediately started doing what I could.
I spent time with Min-soo, and I contacted Cheonsangdo in Seoul, instructing them to prepare in advance so they could move the moment I returned.
Time slipped by in vain.
Then one day, after having lunch with Min-soo, I returned to Deokhwa Hall.
The kid, who had brightened noticeably over the past few days, now chattered away while imitating the Busan dialect quite convincingly.
When we came up to the third floor, Lee Cheong-ho was standing at the end of the hallway like a shadow, waiting for us. His face carried a tension unlike his usual self.
“Min-soo, go in and get some rest.”
Min-soo caught the meaning behind my words and went straight into his room without complaint. The moment the child’s door closed, the air in the hallway sank coldly.
“What’s going on?”
“Han Sang-hoon has returned to Myeong-dong.”
“Already?”
“Yes. Apparently, it’s been a few days since he came back. As if he had known in advance that he would be released, he immediately started swiftly cleaning up the black market that had fallen into chaos.”
“Heh……. A remarkable man really is a remarkable man.”
I took Lee Cheong-ho into my room.
“What about the KCIA’s movements? Is there any sign they’re investigating the old man?”
“They aren’t doing anything at all.”
Doing nothing at all. There was no way Noh Gi-tae hadn’t gone to see Han Sang-hoon.
Either he moved in secret and came back empty-handed, or he was drawing a bigger picture. One of the two.
“For now, ask Seoul to keep a close watch on Han Sang-hoon’s movements.”
“Yes. I’ll do that.”
Given the state of the times, Yang Sobo’s information network was essentially on standby, doing nothing. I was merely borrowing it for the moment; I was not their master. I changed the subject.
“Did you look into Wang Hai? Whether Wang Hai deliberately hid the truth.”
No matter how much I thought about it, what had happened that night didn’t sit right with me, so I had asked Lee Cheong-ho to look into it separately.
“There were almost no people who knew much about Wang Hai, but…….”
Lee Cheong-ho’s eyes glinted coldly. The anger toward the act of trying to use the son of someone who had sacrificed himself for the organization seemed not to have faded.
“The story that Wang Hai and Wang Sogun were blood brothers was not true.”
“Not true?”
Lee Cheong-ho nodded with a heavy expression.
“Yes. It’s true they were sworn brothers, but they were not related by blood. Wang Hai taking in So-ryong was probably not just out of pity for the son of his deceased sworn younger brother. I suspect he was planning to use him someday as a blade to strike at the great man.”
“Ha! A mere second-in-command smuggler thinking he could strike Teacher Yang?”
“If So-ryong had returned, the great man would have kept him close without hesitation. If only out of a sense of debt toward Wang Sogun. Wang Hai was aiming precisely at that point.”
My scoff lasted only a moment as I quietly整理ed my thoughts. The memory of the greed-filled look in Wang Hai’s eyes surfaced, leaving me with an inexplicably uneasy feeling.