Beijing, China.
MSS headquarters.
Tang Zhigang of the Video Analysis Team was staring blankly at his monitor, steeped in exhaustion.
To be honest, he no longer knew what he was doing.
He did not even know whom he was supposed to find.
They were telling him to find someone whose identity he did not even know.
There was no evidence and no clue.
They simply told him to find him.
He could not remember the last time he had gone home.
He merely washed himself roughly in the bathroom, ate cafeteria food or boxed meals,
and slept in snatches at his desk.
He had not set foot outside the building.
That was the atmosphere at the moment.
It felt as though if he stepped outside the building now, he would never be allowed back in.
Director Zhou Qiming had ordered them to uncover the seller of Asand or its distribution route, no matter what it took.
Every employee of the MSS was searching for Asand distributors.
But they could not find a trace of them anywhere.
They had arrested several people who had sold Asand, but none of them knew anything.
There was only one thing those people all said in common.
Whenever they received a contact and went to the warehouse, the Asand was already there.
Thinking it would be enough to check who had brought it to the warehouse, they went through the CCTV footage.
No one had entered or left at all.
It was maddening.
In the case of rented warehouses, there were rental ledgers, so they checked those as well.
Naturally, the person who had rented the warehouse did not exist. It was an alias.
According to the ledger, the goods had already been placed in the warehouse two months before Asand began circulating.
Just in case, they checked the warehouse’s CCTV footage, but it had already been deleted.
Normally, all CCTV footage was erased after a month and replaced with new recordings.
Even so, they collected everything.
They had it all recovered through forensic analysis, and were now checking every frame.
Watching corrupted footage that had not been cleanly restored for eighteen hours a day made his stomach churn.
He felt as though he might vomit at any moment.
Despite that, not a single clue had emerged.
There was no way to find out who had brought it there.
But could he report, “I’m not sure”?
He had to at least pretend to be doing something.
Rather than being determined to catch the culprit, he was checking the monitors all day simply to show that he was taking some sort of action.
In any case, the Video Analysis Team was analyzing every piece of CCTV footage brought in from across the country in order to find someone whose identity they did not even know.
It was truly like looking for a needle on a beach, or looking for Mr. Kim in Seoul.
No evidence came to light.
Just as he was beginning to wonder whether they should give up, he saw someone familiar in footage from an airport.
It was immigration footage, and the man had caught his eye because although he was Pakistani, his appearance was not what one would expect of a Pakistani.
But in the current footage, he was identified as Vietnamese.
He had definitely been a Pakistani man named Sakib.
Now he was using a Vietnamese passport under the name Nguyen Minh Khang.
‘Huh? That’s strange.’
They decided to use an AI tool to search for footage of the man.
With the help of the AI Team, they cross-referenced not only CCTV footage from airports and railways, but also footage of passports and identification cards.
The results that came back after three full days of searching were shocking.
It was the same face, but the man had twenty-one identities.
If one person possessed enough passports to use twenty-one different identities, there was a problem even if Asand was not involved.
He was someone who needed to be caught.
And wherever that man had been, Asand had appeared without fail.
They seemed to have found something.
Tang Zhigang reported the matter to his team leader.
A short while later, investigating the man in the footage became the MSS’s top priority.
Every department of the MSS was mobilized.
They intended to dig up everything about the man in the footage.
******
Edward was checking the Asand samples he had prepared the day before in the laboratory early that morning.
It was disappointing.
Contrary to his expectations, not a single sample had produced proper crystals.
‘This one failed, this one failed, this one too… failed.’
Edward was growing slightly exhausted from the continued failures.
He was beginning to feel the limits of his own abilities.
The approach of creating a new Asand instead of reproducing the existing one had been a good idea,
but producing a new Asand while preserving all of its medicinal effects was by no means an easy task.
All he could do was sigh.
The future looked bleak.
It felt as though he had run into a wall.
Still… he would have to try again.
He could not give up.
Even if he said he could not do it and gave up here, no one would blame him.
The boss would understand as well.
Even so, he did not want to disappoint the boss.
At the very least, he wanted to become someone the boss needed.
He was preparing to begin the experiment again when—
‘Huh? What is this?’
The last sample was reacting strangely.
He had made a small mistake at the end of the previous day.
While mixing the drugs, he had poured in far too much fentanyl.
That crazy bastard Shin Junggi had suddenly poked him from behind…
But this was producing crystals that were much clearer and purer than he had expected.
He hurriedly tested the ingredients.
Huh? This shouldn’t be happening…
It retained Asand’s effects while becoming even more potent.
Should he call it an improved version, in the literal sense?
With this, mass production of Asand would be possible.
It was a recipe capable of mass-producing ten times—not merely ten times, but even a hundred or a thousand times—the original amount.
His joy lasted only a moment.
Then he let out a hollow laugh.
It had refused to work no matter how hard he tried.
He felt miserable knowing that he had succeeded because of Shin Junggi.
He was infuriated that Shin Junggi’s suggestion to pour in the fentanyl had apparently been correct.
He did not want to use this sample, simply because he felt as though he had lost to Shin Junggi for no reason.
Even so, Edward wore a peculiar smile and carefully stored the sample.
Then he called the boss.
“Boss. It’s finished.”
*****
“Boss.”
“What?”
Simon had come into the lodging early in the morning and woken me up.
“They say Simon caught some strange guy.”
“What are you talking about this early? Who did he catch?”
“I don’t know the details either. They say he’s Korean.”
“Where would there be a Korean in Mindanao? Ah, he could be from Daeyeon Development. But why did they bring him in?”
“I don’t know. They just said they caught a Korean.”
Scott’s face was full of curiosity as he spoke.
He looked as though he was hoping something interesting might happen.
I liked life in Mindanao precisely because nothing ever happened, but Scott seemed to be getting a little bored with this quiet existence.
He made a huge fuss over even the smallest things.
“So?”
“They’re asking you to come over.”
“Simon, that bastard, always catches people himself and then tells me to come over.”
“Shall I get you ready?”
“Can’t I just not go?”
“You should go. While you’re there, you can eat kimchi stew for once in a while. Wasn’t that kimchi stew restaurant built because of you, boss?”
“Hey! Did I tell him to open a kimchi stew restaurant? Simon was the one getting carried away. He heard that all Koreans liked kimchi stew and opened it himself.”
“He opened it so you could eat there, boss.”
“I grew up poor and couldn’t eat things like kimchi when I was young! I can’t speak for everyone else, but kimchi isn’t my soul food.”
“But you still have Korean DNA, don’t you? That should be enough for you to like kimchi.”
“Don’t give me that DNA nonsense. I do have DNA for beating the hell out of you, though. Want to experience it?”
“If it’s that kind of DNA, I’ll pass.”
.
.
.
“You’re here?”
“Why do you keep ordering me around?”
I had gone to Simon’s office.
“I called you because I was wondering what to do with this bastard.”
“You can handle it yourself. Why call me?”
“This bastard says he’s with Daeyeon Development.”
“What? Daeyeon Development?”
“Yeah. So I thought I’d ask you and then decide what to do with him.”
“But what did he do to get arrested? Aren’t people from Daeyeon Development just office workers? Even if guys like that get into trouble, isn’t it usually just a little fistfight somewhere?”
“If they had gotten into a fistfight, I would have just sent them away. But they caused something disgusting.”
“Something disgusting?”
“These bastards went to a KTV—one of those Korean hostess bars—and asked for an underage girl while drinking.”
“An underage girl? How young?”
“Very.”
At those words, I immediately realized what Director Lee Seonghun had been looking for.
“These fucking bastards have really lost their minds. Bring them in.”
A short while later,
two men were dragged inside.
They did not look well,
but it seemed to be from their hangovers and exhaustion rather than from being beaten.
It seemed Simon had merely kept them there after learning they were from Daeyeon Development.
The men did not even seem to understand what was going on.
I asked them,
“Daeyeon Development?”
When I asked, Director Lee Seonghun looked delighted.
“Korean? Ah~ You came to take us home? Good, you found us. Let’s go already. I don’t want to stay here any longer.”
The moment Director Lee Seonghun opened his mouth, the smell of alcohol filled the room.
How much had he drunk?
I turned my head away from the foul stench of alcohol mixed with sweat, but Director Lee Seonghun continued speaking without a care.
“By the way, don’t you have any water? I’m dying of thirst. When you come to a place like this, you should bring some honey water. Well, I suppose you Filipino bastards wouldn’t have that kind of sense. Let’s go already. I’ll have to drink something at a convenience store outside.”
The instant I heard the way this bastard spoke, the back of my neck tightened.
I had not been there last night, but I could roughly guess what this bastard had done.
Just how much of a nuisance he must have been.
“What are you doing? I said let’s go. And while we’re leaving, find out what these bastards do. I’m still furious when I think about what they did to me yesterday. I’m going to screw them over no matter what.”
“What did they do to you?”
“What do you mean, what did they do? I was drinking at a bar when they barged in and slapped me. Then they dragged me here and locked me up. Does that make any sense? I’m going to report them to the police, tell the embassy everything, and throw every bastard who hit me in prison.”
“Didn’t you hear that you weren’t supposed to leave the hotel?”
“I just came out for a light beer… But when did we become close enough for you to speak informally to me? What an ill-mannered bastard. If you came to take me home, just take me home. Why are you interrogating me?”
“You’re speaking informally too.”
“What? You little punk, watch your mouth. Do you want to go to prison with these bastards? If you want to go to prison, go ahead and do whatever you want.”
“Stop making empty threats. Go ahead. Try sending me to prison.”
“What?”
“Before that, you should worry about whether you’ll be able to leave this place. I’m getting a little angry.”
“What are you going to do if I make you angry?”
“You went looking for an underage girl at a bar last night?”
“You can choose a girl at a bar. What’s the problem with that?”
“That part isn’t a problem. If you’re paying and having fun, who’s going to say anything? There’s no problem.”
“Then why?”
I walked slowly toward Director Lee Seonghun.
As I approached, I could feel Director Lee Seonghun shrinking back slightly in fear.
It was completely different from the way he had been shouting at the top of his lungs.
Smack!
I immediately slapped Director Lee Seonghun across the face.
“Then just choose someone.”
Smack!
“Why were you looking for a child?”
Smack!
“An underage child, at that!!”
Smack!
“A child who didn’t even work there!!”
Smack!
“Did you hear some strange rumor and come here? Did you think you could do that here?”
Smack!
“You can’t, you fucking bastard.”
After several slaps, Director Lee Seonghun collapsed to the floor, and Manager Jo Hyeonmin, who had been standing behind him, was startled.
Director Lee Seonghun had momentarily tried to rush at me in surprise, but when our eyes met, he simply tucked his tail between his legs and stayed still.
Perhaps his face hurt, because he rubbed it gingerly.
“There’s something you’re misunderstanding. I’m not the person who came to take you home.”
“Then?”
When I glared at him again,
“Th-then what? Why did you come here?”
“I came to decide whether you live or die.”
“To pass judgment?”
I took out my phone and called Daehun.
On speakerphone.
“Oh~ Bro. What’s going on this early in the morning?”
“Don’t call me ‘bro.’ Your bastards are causing trouble here, and you still have the nerve to call me that?”
“Huh? Causing trouble?”
I could hear the shock in Daehun’s voice, which had initially answered the call so leisurely.
I briefly explained what had happened.
After hearing the story, Daehun became even angrier than I was.
“Hey! Fire that bastard.”
“Fire what? Fire him from the company? That’s your job.”
“Of course I’ll fire him from the company. Cut that thing off too. If he doesn’t have it, he’ll live more decently.”
“Even if you cut that off, a crazy bastard will still do crazy things. It won’t have any effect.”
“Then cut off his hands, cut off his ankles too, and if that doesn’t work, cut off his head.”
“Why do you keep saying cut things off?”
“No. Just wrap those bastards up and send them to me. I’ll chop them up here.”
“Forget it. If we wrap them up alive, the shipping costs will be too high. I’ll take care of them here.”
“Don’t do that. I have to do something, too. I feel like dying of guilt for sending the guys out there. I have no face.”
“Then we’ll take care of this bastard ourselves.”
“Understood.”
“And send me these bastards’ personal information.”
“Yeah. I’ll send it now.”
Manager Lee Seonghun, who had been listening to our conversation, suddenly shouted.
“This is a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act. Huh? I said it’s a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act!”
But all he could do was scream at the top of his lungs. He was incapable of taking any action.
The lingering pain in his stinging cheek had strengthened Manager Lee Seonghun’s patience.
A short while later, the two men’s personal information arrived.
“Scott, send this to Chen Zihao and have him investigate these bastards. Tell him to find out what these bastards have been up to within an hour.”
“Yes, sir. But wouldn’t it be cleaner just to bury them?”
“These bastards look like they have more dirt on them. And we need to get paid for our labor, too.”
“They don’t look like they have any money. What are we supposed to collect?”
“If we cut them open, don’t you think something will come out?”
At my words, both their faces turned pale.
Only then did Manager Lee Seonghun remember the things his team members had casually mentioned.
The reason Daeyeon Development had suddenly been able to enter the Philippines was that one of the Philippines’ big shots was best friends with Daeyeon Development’s new president.
That man held absolute power in Mindanao.
The person who had just ended the call seemed to be Daeyeon Development’s president.
They said some gangster bastard had acquired the company. I guess it was true.
Then—
The man standing in front of Manager Lee Seonghun was undoubtedly the big shot who held absolute power in Mindanao.
Only then did Manager Lee Seonghun’s body begin to tremble violently.
He realized that this was no joke and that he could really die.
If he died here, no one would ever find his body.
He would simply become fish food.
While Manager Lee Seonghun trembled in fear,
Scott sent the files to Chen Zihao and made a call.
Once this information reached Chen Zihao, it wouldn’t take long for him to find out everything these bastards had been up to.
Chen Zihao was the man who had manipulated the users’ winning rates in real time.
Chen Zihao was the man who had created Asend’s sales website so that no one could track it.
Chen Zihao was the man who could find out anything with just a single photograph.
And now he even had their résumés.
Documents in which they had diligently written, in their own handwriting, how they had lived their lives.
At this point, it was like swimming with the ground beneath your feet.
A short while later, I skimmed through the file Chen Zihao had sent.
Incredible.
Manager Lee Seonghun was a much bigger bastard than I had imagined.
“Hey, Lee Seonghun, you fucking bastard. You came to the Philippines for a language program? You dated a woman here, got her pregnant, and then ran back to Korea?”
The moment I brought up the language program, Lee Seonghun’s face turned deathly pale.
“You gave the woman a fake number. Then you went on to marry a Korean woman and live comfortably. Your kid is wandering around the back alleys of the Philippines begging, while you came all the way back to the Philippines to drink and chase women again? This bastard really needs to be cut loose, doesn’t he?”
Manager Lee Seonghun, who had been trembling with fear, first tried to deny it.
“No. That’s a misunderstanding. It’s a misunderstanding.”
“What part of it is a misunderstanding?”
“I didn’t know she was pregnant. I swear.”
“Does that make any sense?”
“I swear.”
“Crazy bastard. Even when the woman found your number and contacted you, you pretended you didn’t know and ignored her? This bastard has lying installed as a passive skill, doesn’t he?”
“···..”
“And whether you knew or not doesn’t matter. First, we need to collect the child support you owe.”