Board of Audit and Inspection.
Auditor Jeong Useok went to work holding a cup of hot Americano in his hand.
He sat at his desk and took a sip of the Americano while waiting for his computer to boot up.
Opening his inbox out of habit, he found it full of tip-off emails.
Dozens of these kinds of emails arrived every day.
But most of them were nothing more than baseless claims.
Caught up in resentment, anger, misunderstanding, and delusion.
Emails sent to harm someone.
Garbage not even worth verifying.
Even so, fact-checking was necessary.
Procedures had to be followed.
Civil petitions could not simply be ignored.
Only by going through the procedure of fact-checking could they be concluded as "unfounded."
That was the job of Auditor Jeong Useok at the Board of Audit and Inspection.
He clicked through the tips one by one to check them.
[Tip-off regarding suspicion of corporate card misuse by Team Leader Bak Dojin of the NIS Overseas Department]
I am submitting this tip-off because I believe an audit of Team Leader Bak Dojin's public funds usage is necessary.
This individual has repeatedly used the corporate card for personal meals and private purposes, and some of the usage history appears completely unrelated to work.
The relevant records can be verified by cross-referencing the card usage history with his schedule.
I am submitting this anonymously as I do not wish to reveal my identity.
I hope the National Intelligence Service will not recklessly spend the people's tax money.
Jeong Useok snorted after reading the email.
Anonymous.
No specific dates.
No specific facts.
No receipts.
No supporting evidence.
A typical tip-off steeped in spite and jealousy.
Most of the time, these were sent due to internal squabbles or by someone who had lost out in personnel matters.
"Good grief..."
Jeong Useok let out a sigh and took a sip of his Americano.
It likely had no merit, but it was still procedure and regulations.
He had to check.
Only then could he grant the "unfounded" verdict.
He logged into the internal system and opened Team Leader Bak Dojin's corporate card usage history for the last six months.
He intended to skim through it roughly and close it.
But.
"...Huh?"
His mouse stopped.
Jeong Useok's gaze fixed on one spot.
Date: November 5
Merchant: Cheongdam Hanwoo Myeongga
Amount: 1,280,000 won.
Payment Time: 21:47.
Remarks: Dinner with overseas cooperative partner.
At nearly ten at night, he had eaten Hanwoo beef in Cheongdam-dong.
Well, if it was with a partner, that could happen.
To check who he had eaten with, he looked at the schedule.
But there was no official schedule that day.
He had eaten Hanwoo beef in Cheongdam-dong with no official schedule.
Worth 1.3 million won.
Date: November 16
Merchant: Apgujeong Luciano Italian
Amount: 360,000 won.
Payment Time: 20:12.
Remarks: External consultation.
Checking the schedule, it said "annual leave."
On "annual leave," he had swiped 360,000 won for spaghetti in Apgujeong-dong.
Must have had some nice wine.
Date: November 30
Merchant: Sinsa-dong Sushi
Amount: 960,000 won.
Payment Time: 21:08.
Remarks: Individual meeting.
Date: December 4
Merchant: Samseong-dong Private Bar
Amount: 780,000 won.
Payment Time: 23:52.
Remarks: Individual meeting.
There were several commonalities.
Evening hours, high-end establishments.
The schedule contained no explanation of who he had met.
He could understand to some extent.
The NIS was an organization with many secrets.
They met various people and did various things.
Naturally, they could go to such places.
But this was too much.
The locations were limited as well.
He couldn't help but be suspicious.
No matter how much he tried to understand, Team Leader Bak Dojin's corporate card payment history was strange.
It seemed an investigation was necessary.
He would likely need to hear an explanation.
Auditor Jeong Useok wrote an official request for cooperation from the NIS.
.
.
.
National Intelligence Service.
"Just what have you been up to?"
Team Leader Bak Dojin had been summoned to the Director's office right after arriving at work in the morning.
He hadn't even had his coffee yet.
"What do you mean? I've been working day and night for the country."
Team Leader Bak Dojin answered with a shrug.
The Director and Team Leader Bak Dojin had served on the same team together for a long time.
That was why this kind of relationship was possible.
The Director tossed the document he had been looking at onto the desk in front of Bak Dojin.
"What is this?"
Bak Dojin, having received the document, asked as if he had no idea.
The Director let out a deep sigh.
"It's a document saying the Board of Audit and Inspection has begun an investigation on you."
"What? What kind of nonsense is that?"
Bak Dojin's voice shot up.
Bak Dojin was speechless for a moment.
Who? What crazy bastard said they were investigating the NIS?
"You heard me. A tip-off was submitted to the Board of Audit and Inspection. They're suspicious of your corruption."
"That's absurd. Who would frame me like this?"
Bak Dojin immediately retorted.
The Director looked at Bak Dojin for a moment and shook his head slightly.
"You know. That's why I called you in to tell you personally, isn't it? If you had really been corrupt, I would have launched an internal audit."
"But this is too much."
Anger rose on Bak Dojin's face.
"What can you do? The petition has already been filed with the Board of Audit and Inspection, and we have to submit a response. Get ready."
"Haah... An investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection... You know how annoying this is. I have to explain everything, and this... there's so much secrecy... haah..."
"Be thankful if that's where it ends. You know the government has its eye on the NIS these days? If this gets reported in the media by mistake, it won't end with just you getting cursed out. The whole organization will take heat. So watch yourself."
Bak Dojin clenched his teeth.
"Haah. This is really absurd. Who filed this petition?"
"Do you think the Board of Audit and Inspection would tell us that?"
The Director said with a bitter smile.
"I'll catch the bastard who did this."
"Don't do anything stupid and take the documents I gave you. Go write up the paperwork and come back. Just wrap this up cleanly."
"No, but I didn't do anything wrong, so what am I supposed to write?"
"If you didn't do anything wrong, just write that you didn't do anything wrong. What's so hard about that?"
When the Director, who had been accommodating him, raised his voice slightly, Bak Dojin immediately shrank back.
"No. It's not that, it's just unfair."
"You don't write these things emotionally. You have to leave a paper trail saying there's no problem so there won't be any fallout."
"Even so..."
"You're the only one who feels wronged? I feel wronged that my man is being suspected too. So I'm going to come out damn strong. You know what I'm saying?"
"Yes..."
Bak Dojin answered reluctantly.
"Bak Dojin. I'm really only going to ask this once."
"What now?"
"You're really not, right?"
The Director asked, adding a hint of suspicion.
"Ugh, you really don't trust me?"
Bak Dojin got truly angry.
But he seemed to be trying to hide something behind that anger.
But the Director pretended not to notice and let it pass.
"Then prepare the materials and send them over."
"Understood."
Team Leader Bak Dojin left the Director's office muttering under his breath.
*******
"Thank you, boss."
Geunsu, whom I met in Daehoon's office.
Geunsu, who had returned from his honeymoon, expressed his gratitude to me.
"You had a good trip?"
"Yes. Thanks to you, we had a really great trip. Eunseo and Hayul said it was a truly satisfying vacation too."
This guy's face has brightened up?
It must have been really good?
I've never even been on a trip to China.
I figured you'd just be dropping off drugs.
"That's good. I was worried because I didn't really do much for you."
"What do you mean you didn't do much? Thanks to you, we had a great trip. But boss."
"Hmm?"
"What exactly do you do in China?"
Geunsu asked in a low voice.
"What do I do? Just work."
"It's just that I can't understand it at all by my standards."
"Why are you trying to understand everything? Just let it go."
"No, I just don't know what you do that makes government officials treat us so nervously. Thanks to that, we lived like emperors, but..."
"If you had a good trip, that's enough."
I cut the conversation short.
This kind of talk couldn't go on for long.
"Thank you once again. It was truly an incredible experience."
Geunsu bowed his head and thanked me once more.
Shortly after, Daehoon entered through the door carrying an ice box.
"You got here first?"
"Why'd you tell me to come if you were going to act like that?"
Daehoon grinned broadly.
"I brought something absolutely amazing back from Gunsan this time. That's why I told you to come—to share it."
"What is it?"
Daehoon sits down and begins taking things out of the ice box.
"This is the seasoned pen shell you enjoyed last time. And this is sliced raw fish, abalone, and sea cucumber. There are oysters too."
"Why are you taking these out here?"
"We have good stuff, so we have to have a drink. Geunsu, sit down too and eat with us."
"I'm fine."
"Sit down. Let's just eat today."
"Understood."
Daehoon, who looked after his juniors, looked cool.
I should look after Scott too.
"Sco..."
Scott was already sitting and had even torn apart the chopsticks.
I guess I don't need to look after him particularly.
What right do I have to look after others.
I can barely take care of my own body.
"We need to have some soju too."
Daehoon takes out soju and glasses from the office refrigerator.
What kind of refrigerator only has soju in it.
"Come on. Let's have a drink."
"It's broad daylight, what do you mean alcohol."
It wasn't even noon yet.
But here, a drinking session was about to unfold.
"This is the good thing about being a CEO. The employees love it when you drink during the day."
"So this is for employee welfare?"
At my answer, Daehoon's expression brightens.
"Exactly. I knew Alex would get it. Shall we have a drink first?"
And so, the drinking began.
When the drinks had gone around a few times.
Daehoon spoke.
"Right. Eat this."
Daehoon pulls something out of his pocket wrapped in gold foil.
"This was made at a really famous Eastern medicine clinic there. Um... what was it called?... Anyway, they only put good things for the body in it."
Black, crumbly-looking herbal pills.
Just looking at them completely killed any desire to eat them.
I really didn't want to eat them.
"Do I have to eat them?"
"Hey. We all have to eat them together."
Daehoon says and gulps his down immediately.
"We need to take care of our health now too. It's really good for your body. You eat too. Geunsu, you eat, and Scott, you eat."
Unlike me, who felt nothing but revulsion just looking at them, Geunsu and Scott popped them in their mouths and swallowed in one bite.
And all three of them looked at me.
It's been a while since I've gotten this much attention.
Then I have to eat it for them.
I picked up the black herbal pill and put it in my mouth.
Unlike its appearance, it went down smoothly.
There was no need to even chew.
It just went down.
A peculiar herbal medicine scent lingered slightly at the end.
It wasn't as bad as it looked.
"Uha ha ha. Then shall we have another drink?"
Daehoon holds out his glass.
I'll go along with him today.
The glasses clink together.
Scott, having emptied his glass, spoke.
"Can't we just burn them? I think that would be clean."
In the Philippines, that would work.
But not in Korea.
In the Philippines, burning something like that wouldn't be a problem, but in Korea, it would be.
"Then the plastic burns with it. Don't you think about environmental pollution? It's against the law too."
Scott thinks for a moment and answers again.
"Then we just remove the packaging, don't we?"
Does Scott not know that there are a million Desands?
Well, eating is all he's good for. He's a guy with no interest in this sort of thing.
“Wouldn’t that be impossible? There are a million of them.”
That was when Geunsu answered.
“Hyung-nim. There’s something called high-temperature incineration. If we process them with that, it should take care of them cleanly.”
“High-temperature incineration?”
“If you burn them at over 1,000 degrees, even the components are completely broken down and combusted. Nothing remains.”
“There’s something like that?”
“Yes, hyung-nim. The exhaust gases can become an issue afterward, but the air purification system is well-equipped, so there won’t be a problem.”
“That’s good. I should go burn them all. Where is that thing? How do we rent it?”
“We have one.”
“But? Why do you have something like that?”
Geunsu looked flustered.
Why was he flustered?
“…It’s a waste disposal facility.”
“A waste disposal facility?”
“Yes… waste.”
I didn’t know what kind of waste it was, but waste should be disposed of properly.
It should be burned.
Once even the disposal method for DeSand had been settled, my mind felt clear.
Then, shall we go another round?
We pushed our glasses filled with soju forward.
Clink!
We drank until the bright night turned dark.
.
.
.
“Code Blue. Code Blue.”
The radio call of Code Blue spread through the Obsidian Unit’s comms.
The words Code Blue alone were enough to convey the situation.
The agents who heard the transmission moved immediately.
Not only the agents on duty, but also those on standby at a nearby hotel quickly put on their gear and headed for Alex’s apartment.
The one who had sent the radio call was Scott.
Scott had urgently radioed the Obsidian Unit.
Everything had been fine while they were drinking at Daehoon’s office.
But on the way home.
To Scott, the boss’s expression did not look good.
He looked as if he was in a great deal of discomfort.
He was sweating, too.
The boss was someone who barely sweated even in the heat of the Philippines,
yet he was sweating in the middle of winter.
Scott had urged him to go to the hospital, but the boss said he was fine.
He stubbornly refused, saying he would be all right after he slept, so for the time being, they had come home.
After seeing the boss home, Scott returned to his own lodging.
He washed up and came out, but he couldn’t feel at ease.
Scott went back to the boss’s apartment.
The moment he opened the door, he knew from the smell.
Something had gone wrong.
On the living room floor was the boss, collapsed and drenched in sweat as if he’d been rained on.
Beside him were traces of vomit everywhere.
Startled, Scott immediately announced Code Blue—a medical emergency—over the radio and moved the boss to the hospital.
He did not call 119.
The Obsidian Unit headed to the hospital faster than 119 could have.
.
.
.
The emergency room at dawn was a battlefield every day.
Patients had passed through as if a storm had swept over the place, and only now could she finally sit down in a chair.
A woman wearing glasses, her hair tied tightly back, was leaning against the chair and catching her breath.
Her wrinkled gown seemed to show just how fierce the day had been.
‘I’d love just one sip of cold coffee.’
If she only made it to the station over there, she could drink coffee, but right now she didn’t want to lift a finger.
She just wanted to stay still like this.
That was when it happened.
A large sedan and SUVs screeched to a halt in front of the emergency room.
It wasn’t just one vehicle.
Two, three… the number of cars kept increasing.
She sprang to her feet by reflex.
This was not an ordinary situation.
There seemed to be dozens of patients.
A major accident.
But when the hospital doors opened, what came in were not patients, but unfamiliar men.
Without a word, they formed a path and surrounded the area.
And through the center of them, a man carrying someone on his back entered.
That man was the patient.
“Th-this way…”
At her words, Scott carefully laid Alex down on an emergency room bed.
The man’s shirt was soaked with sweat and vomit.
“What are his symptoms?”
“Vomiting, fever, cold sweat.”
Having spent a long time with Alex, Scott could speak Korean fairly well.
“What did he eat?”
“Some strange herbal medicine… seafood, oysters, alcohol.”
After hearing him, she shook her head slightly.
“Oh, dear. How could he eat all that together?”
She had grasped the situation.
Now she had to treat him.
“Check his blood pressure first, and give him oxygen.”
She said to the nurse.
Then she shouted to the patient.
“Can you hear me? If you can hear me, at least nod your head.”
At the doctor’s words, Alex gave a faint nod.
The female doctor’s expression hardened when she saw his face.
Her gaze remained fixed on the patient.
“…No way.”
She checked the patient’s face again.
It was hard to see clearly because of his pale face and hair soaked with sweat, but she could recognize him.
Those familiar eyes.
That face she had thought about for so long.
It was Gong Inbae.
And so, after ten years, Kwon Jua met Gong Inbae again.