“Any word?”
Sato, CEO of Mizuhara Heavy Defense, asked his secretary without taking his eyes off the documents.
“Not yet.”
But the secretary quietly shook her head as she answered.
Sato’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
He could have brushed it off as nothing, but unease was growing inside him.
It was strange.
That had certainly not been the atmosphere on-site.
It had felt as though all that remained was to sign the contract.
The terms, the schedule, the scope of the technology transfer—everything had been agreed upon.
Everyone knew that “We’ll be in touch within a few days”
meant they would be signing the contract soon.
And yet too much time had passed.
The thought of contacting them first had crossed his mind several times, but Sato held back.
If he reached out now, he would look impatient.
He would go from the party in power to the subordinate.
He could not allow himself to be dragged around.
‘Let’s wait just a little longer.’
Sato once again went over the countries they had negotiated with.
Mongolia and India were one thing.
But the Philippines was truly unexpected.
Sato skimmed through the report on the Philippines once more.
The Philippines resembled Japan.
An island nation.
A structure that required simultaneous surveillance of the sky and the sea.
For that reason, they had a strong understanding of radar, and the working-level officials had responded very positively.
‘At this point, it was practically a done deal.’
Then why was there no contact?
It was then.
“Sir, we have a serious problem.”
“What happened?”
The head of the Import-Export Division rushed in.
“The Korean Ministry of National Defense has sent an official letter to defense industry officials in each country.”
“An official letter? Saying what?”
“It said that Korea’s radar technology is under suspicion of technology infringement, and requested that contracts be put on hold until the facts are clarified.”
“What?”
For a moment, Sato was at a loss for words.
It was an approach he had never anticipated.
Infringement?
There was no such thing.
They had merely taken a jab at them.
While Korea was floundering internally, they would finalize the contracts.
Before Mangwol became known to the market,
they would sell off the radars.
That was all there was to it.
But they had made all of that public?
Even though it could look like exposing their own shame?
It made no sense.
For now, an official letter had been distributed through formal channels.
Now that the officials had received it, it would be difficult for the working-level contract teams to ignore it.
Pushing ahead with a contract in the middle of such controversy would be difficult.
The working-level officials would take a step back.
They would wait until the situation was resolved.
Damn it.
Everything they had worked so hard for had gone up in smoke.
They had put so much effort into the contract teams.
The head of the Import-Export Division added,
“Including the Philippines, all the other countries we were negotiating with have gone into full review.”
Sato’s hand clenched tight.
It was not only Mizuhara Heavy Defense’s problem.
The situation was similar for other defense companies such as Ishikawa and Toyo.
Everything had come to a halt.
The stone they had thrown to buy time had come flying back.
It had not bought time.
It had stopped time altogether.
There was nothing Sato could do in this situation.
All he could do was clench his fist even tighter.
******
“So I told them to send an official letter. When I said to send an official letter, the faces of the Ministry of National Defense officials went white. Hahaha.”
Hwang On-yu talked about what had happened that day as if recounting a heroic exploit.
There was no worry on his face as he spoke excitedly.
If anything, he looked relieved, as though a long-standing weight on his chest had finally been lifted.
Honestly, I was quite surprised.
I hadn’t expected Hwang On-yu to come out so boldly either.
What was even more surprising was the fact that he had moved independently, on his own.
Unless the NIS permitted it,
I thought he would remain under the NIS’s shadow.
While staying under that shadow,
I thought he would snap at me instead, saying,
“What am I supposed to do when they won’t give me permission?”
But he had moved alone.
He had agonized over finding an answer,
and after finding it, he had worked to make it the answer.
He met with and persuaded the working-level heads of the Ministry of National Defense and the Agency for Defense Development.
I still didn’t know exactly how he had pulled it off, or what words he had used to move people.
In any case, he had done it.
That alone deserved applause.
The method he had thought up was astonishing,
and the way he moved was fresh as well.
He had even produced results without any data.
I had not handed the data over to Hwang On-yu.
I had merely told him to find a way.
In that situation, Hwang On-yu found the best method and resolved the issue.
He had found the simplest yet deadliest tactic.
It was neither a head-on collision nor a retreat.
At that moment, a thought occurred to me.
Perhaps what we had been lacking was not the development logs or data,
but the will to stand up and fight Japan.
Japan had always tried to reign above us.
This incident was not all that different.
Japan also seemed to believe, subtly, that they held the upper hand.
Naturally, Japan seemed to think they were allowed to do so.
They seemed to think that if Japan hit us, we had to take it.
Strangely, we had never been able to stand up and fight Japan.
There had been many unreasonable things.
But this time, we had fought back.
We fought back, yet it didn’t look like we were fighting back.
We responded flexibly.
It was wise.
Honestly, to the point that I was impressed.
Even so, unease remained.
I was worried about Hwang On-yu’s safety.
He would not be evaluated favorably for this.
It was something he had done for the country, but the assessment within the NIS—or from Baek Dong-hyeon, director of the Overseas Intelligence Bureau—would likely be quite different.
That bothered me.
“Aren’t you worried? You caused trouble.”
Hwang On-yu shrugged.
“I did it half-intending to quit anyway. Well, I’m not going to starve, am I? I don’t have any dependents, so I’ll be fine.”
Hwang On-yu spoke lightly, but he looked a little sad.
He spoke as though it was nothing, but he was someone with great affection for the organization called the NIS.
There was no way he had no regrets.
Honestly, bringing Hwang On-yu over to our side would not be difficult.
If I set him up with a team, he would more than pull his weight.
As for salary… I could pay him two or three times as much.
Even so, Hwang On-yu was most useful when he was inside the NIS.
Once Hwang On-yu came out of the NIS, his destructive power would diminish.
“Try to hang on if you can.”
“My director looked like he wanted to kill me, though?”
Hwang On-yu spoke with a bitter smile.
Looking at him, I asked,
“Want me to make you director?”
“What?”
Hwang On-yu’s eyes went round.
At that moment, the phone rang.
It was Dennis.
“Hold on.”
I raised my palm as if telling Hwang On-yu, who looked like he had a lot to ask, to wait, and answered the call.
“Yeah. Dennis.”
—I got it.
“What?”
—I secured the item you mentioned last time.
“Really?”
—Yes. Honestly… I barely managed to get it. It was hard.
“Thank you so much.”
—What should I do with the item? I don’t think I can send it.
“I know. I’ll come.”
—Does that mean I finally get to meet you, boss?
“Kuhaha. Yeah, let’s see each other’s faces. I’m coming now. See you in five hours.”
I hung up the phone.
Hwang On-yu looked like he had many questions, but I deliberately gave him no time.
“Scott. We’re going to Dennis. Get ready.”
“I’ll prepare for immediate departure.”
************
I brought the item to the Philippines.
I brought it in my inventory.
With the item in hand, I met the yakuza.
The yakuza, whom I met again, welcomed me enthusiastically.
“Welcome. I’ve been wanting to see you again.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Do we need a reason to meet? It’s just an exchange. Asking how you’ve been and all that.”
The yakuza’s face was full of smiles.
Money really was nice.
The suspicious look in his eyes from when we first met was long gone.
He was extremely friendly.
It seemed the money we had spread around was paying off handsomely.
“So, what brings you all the way here?”
He seemed curious about why we had come.
He was expecting there might be another way to make money.
He kept glancing sideways at the bag I had brought.
His whole body was practically itching to see what else might come out of me.
And I decided to live up to those expectations.
“You did such a good job, I thought I’d give you a little incentive.”
“An incentive?”
“I mean, when you’ve done such good work, it wouldn’t be right to just let it pass.”
His eyes were filled with anticipation at the mention of getting something more.
“I’ll give you another one billion won as an incentive.”
“O-one… one billion?”
“Yes. And this too.”
I held out the bag.
Inside the bag was the item I had received from Dennis.
The yakuza’s face turned deathly pale when he checked inside the bag.
“This is…”
“It’s been processed cleanly. I’m giving it to you just in case.”
The yakuza’s expression turned serious.
“You have to protect yourselves. I’m giving it to you so you can prepare for any contingencies.”
After hesitating for a moment, the yakuza answered,
“I don’t think I should accept this.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll take it back. I was only trying to help you. Please don’t misunderstand.”
As I tried to take the bag back, the yakuza stopped me.
“No, there’s no need to be so decisive about it. Leave it for now. I’ll find some way to use it.”
“No, you seem uncomfortable. There’s no need to force it.”
“I’m not uncomfortable, I was just surprised. Surprised, that’s all.”
Hiding his complicated expression, the yakuza took the bag.
*******
Senryu, the boss of the yakuza organization Senryukai, sat in front of the monitor.
“They said I had to play at least five times to leave proof that I played the games, right?”
To cash out the coins he had received from Alex, Senryu logged into GoGo Casino.
The money Alex gave him every day—one hundred million won—came not in cash, but in coins.
GoGo Casino coins, at that.
In order to cash out those coins, he had to play games at GoGo Casino and then withdraw the coins that way.
They said there would be no issue with the laundering as long as he played at least five games.
It was merely a formality.
At least five games.
Minimum bets.
If he bet the minimum, it would hardly cost anything, so it was better to think of it as a fee.
They had to play the games,
but the members hesitated in front of the monitor.
Dozens of games were displayed on the screen.
Slots, baccarat, poker, roulette, and even games he had never heard the names of before.
There were so many games that they seemed flustered.
“Move aside.”
Senryu sat down in front of the monitor.
There were many games, but he chose pachinko, the one he was most familiar with.
Because he had played it the most.
Because at one time, he had sat in front of the machines morning and night, smoking cigarettes.
First, he pulled the lever.
The balls began spinning madly.
‘Wow, they really recreated it well. It feels real.’
It was as if he had come to a pachinko parlor in Shinjuku.
The sound of steel balls rolling.
Cheap sound effects rang out endlessly.
At last, a fanfare burst out.
Flashy animations filled the screen one after another,
and an atari hit.
It was Fever Time.
Watching the balls, his heart began to pound.
Dopamine burst through his head.
He wanted to keep pulling.
But he held back.
He steadied himself, telling himself this was merely a process to convert coins into cash.
It was only because it was his first time that he had won,
he must not be swayed,
he should just pull five times quickly and get out.
He had to cash out.
Barely holding on to his reason, he cashed out.
He pressed the withdrawal button.
Withdrawal amount: 100,010,000 won.
Senryu tilted his head.
The withdrawal amount was not 100 million won, but 100,010,000 won.
An extra 10,000 won had been added.
It was the amount he had won from playing five games.
After that, every time he played games in order to cash out, atari kept hitting.
The steel balls kept going into the heso, and the balls poured out.
The flashy animations dazzled his eyes.
They completely overwhelmed his mind.
Then one of the members spoke up.
“Boss, how about raising the betting amount a little?”
“What? Raise the betting amount?”
“Your skill is no joke, boss. You’re absolutely not losing, so wouldn’t it be fine to raise the bet, take a nice bite, and get out?”
He realized that in the first five games, he had not lost even once.
Then wouldn’t it be all right to bet once or twice? he thought.
An amount that would not be a major problem even if he lost.
So the next day, he raised the betting amount.
He raised the amount from ten thousand won per game to one million won.
As the money increased, his heart pounded even more wildly.
Thump, thump, thump.
Adrenaline surged through his entire body.
He could feel his blood coursing.
Da-da, dadada, tak.
When he pressed the button, the steel balls began spinning madly.
A ball dropped into the heso pocket.
The roulette began to spin.
The number on the roulette matched.
Atari!!
Now it was Fever Time.
With the wager so high, the balls poured out in droves.
One million won became seven million.
But Fever Time did not stop.
Atari kept hitting again and again.
Fever Time continued.
He kept going.
He had started with one hundred million won, but before he knew it, it had become one hundred thirty million.
Then he pressed cash out.
“Cash-out complete.”
He received one hundred thirty million won.
It felt as though his entire body had been steeped in dopamine.
Thinking about it, this was a good item too.
It was not something to be dismissed as a mere cash-out method.
With this, it seemed more than enough to become a new source of income for the Senryu-kai.
From that day on, the one hundred million won he received every day became business capital.
He sat in front of the monitor and played pachinko all day long.
He won an incredible amount.
The time he spent sitting in front of the monitor grew longer and longer.
The number of times he won increased.
Strangely, however, the amount of money he cashed out gradually decreased.
The longer he played, the more money he lost.
His concentration dropped.
To make back the money he had lost, he raised his bet.
He lost.
He raised it again.
In the end, only after losing all his money could he finally shake off his hands and stand up.
GoGo Casino was no longer a procedure for cashing out.
Senryu’s mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of pachinko.
All that kept flashing through his head were Atari and Fever Time going off.
The roulette kept spinning.
But he had no money.
He had already spent all of today’s one hundred million.
He had even spent the money his men had collected.
He needed more money.
With one big hit, he felt like he could recover everything he had lost.
If only he had just a little more money, he felt like he could strike it big.
At this moment, the regret was endless.
Then the action captain beside him spoke.
“Boss. It’s not just us. All the organizations that were there that day receive one hundred million won a day.”
That day.
In other words, the day Alex had come and told them to do the job.
It meant that every organization that had been there received one hundred million won a day.
At those words, his mind snapped awake.
‘If I swallow up the organization next to us, that’ll be two hundred million a day.’
There was no reason to hesitate.
The Senryu-kai.
A yakuza organization based in Osaka.
An extremely aggressive and rough organization.
He was confident there was no organization that could defeat the Senryu-kai by force.
If it came down to strength, the Senryu-kai would win no matter what.
And they had a trump card.
Senryu’s gaze turned downward.
There lay the bag Alex had left behind.
“Gather the boys.”