Cheong Wa Dae, Republic of Korea.
“Stop looking around so much. You’re embarrassing us.”
Team Leader Hwang Onyu nudged me.
He’d been here a few times and now he was acting all high-and-mighty.
It was my first time. I was allowed to look around a little.
What a show-off.
“It’s my first time, so I’m curious.”
It was my first time at Cheong Wa Dae.
I’d been to Zhongnanhai in China,
and to Malacañang Palace in the Philippines, but I’d never been to Cheong Wa Dae.
The blue roof tiles soaring high above, the ornaments engraved with phoenix patterns.
Now that I was inside, I felt strangely small.
It had a different feel from Zhongnanhai.
So this was what power was,
a place where you could feel power, perhaps?
Before meeting the president, we waited for a while in the reception room.
Hwang Onyu glanced at me and asked,
“By the way, why do you look so tired? What did you do after we parted yesterday?”
“I studied. Studied.”
“Studied? Studied what?”
“You think I could just come here empty-handed? This and that…”
“Please come this way.”
I was in the middle of answering when we were told to come in.
We cut off our conversation and headed for the president’s office.
.
.
.
The president’s office.
The man sitting behind the large desk rose from his seat.
President Kim Minsu.
A former lawyer.
A pragmatist who put practical interests before ideology.
He was a president who empathized well with people, yet at the same time had the cool-headed eye to see through incidents.
“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you.”
The president greeted us with a smile.
“I’m Hwang Onyu, team leader of the overseas division at the National Intelligence Service.”
“I’m Gong Inbae.”
“Let’s sit down and talk.”
We moved and took our seats.
As soon as we sat down, he got straight to the point.
“I hear you have a way to resolve this incident?”
The president asked, looking at me.
“That’s correct.”
After hearing my answer, the president thought for a moment, then asked another question.
“Before I hear the solution, let me ask one thing. How did you learn about this?”
“Are you asking how I obtained the information?”
President Kim Minsu looked at me and said,
“Yes. I’d like to hear it. This is information our side is treating as top secret, yet you not only obtained it but even brought a solution. I can’t help being curious.”
At the president’s words, Team Leader Hwang Onyu’s face turned pale.
If I answered honestly, Hwang Onyu would be reprimanded regardless of my solution.
Even if it didn’t go as far as a reprimand, at the very least, a good performance evaluation would be out of the question.
I’d finally raised him to the director line. I couldn’t let him collapse here.
My solution would also be doubted.
Honestly, I’d expected this much.
“To be frank, I would have to reveal that I did something illegal. Would there be any disadvantage for me because of that?”
When I asked in return, the president’s expression subtly wavered instead.
He probably hadn’t expected me to ask back like that.
But he soon regained his composure and answered.
“No. I’m not curious about whatever crime you may have committed, Mr. Gong Inbae. I’m only curious where you obtained this information.”
I paused for a moment before answering.
“I received it from the Japanese yakuza.”
“The Japanese yakuza?”
President Kim Minsu looked surprised.
“There was a time when I ended up working with the Japanese yakuza by chance. They were old, and the yakuza seemed to be struggling, so I set them up with a small business. While I was at it, I told them to let me know if they heard anything interesting, and they did.”
At my answer, the president wore a look of surprise,
while Hwang Onyu nodded as if relieved.
After Team Leader Hwang Onyu left yesterday, I looked over the incident again.
I figured the countermeasures would be more complete if I knew the details.
I examined information gathered from the yakuza and the triads.
There was quite a lot of information in the daily intelligence network reports.
Together with Chen Zihao, I spent the whole night breaking down the information and piecing it back together.
Only then was I able to roughly uncover the whole story.
In particular, the information gathered from the yakuza was quite decent.
The reason I was so tired today was also because I had stayed up almost all night yesterday.
At the very least, I should know what I was talking about before coming here.
“Mr. President, do you know why Japan is blocking reinsurance right now?”
The president couldn’t answer my question.
He kept his mouth firmly shut.
Hwang Onyu was the same.
They didn’t know.
They hadn’t even guessed at that part at all.
So I told them.
“It’s simple. The Qinghua Association.”
“Pardon?”
At the unexpected words from my mouth, his voice went limp.
“Wasn’t the Qinghua Association annihilated recently? This is a very petty act of revenge for that.”
The president looked as though he had known nothing about it.
Hwang Onyu beside him was equally surprised.
I smiled faintly and said,
“I suppose you didn’t think I’d have an intelligence network of that level? But this is solid information.”
I was smiling now, but do you know how much money I poured into building that intelligence network?
Opening shops, opening bars, setting up trading companies—do you know how much information I scraped together?
Money could always be earned again.
So just gather information.
I gave them a mission and poured money into it.
Not only for the triads, but I even set up stores for the yakuza.
The funny thing was, they were starting to turn a profit now.
I figured restaurants had to have lots of customers if they were going to hear all sorts of stories, so I went with cost-effectiveness.
For the bars, I went with a VVIP concept, and people swarmed in.
Tribute money started coming up.
Of course, I had no need for such petty cash.
So I returned it all in other ways.
It was just fascinating that even this could become a business.
I asked the two people staring at me in shock,
“Do you happen to know about the steps after the reinsurance issue?”
“There are next steps?”
Hwang Onyu asked.
“Of course. They’re going to cause an accident. At Busan Port, or perhaps Incheon Port. A pilot will make a mistake while guiding a container ship, or a crane will knock over containers while moving them. Then rumors will spread that Seiryu Re Insurance’s decision to put Korean insurance on hold was correct. That’s stage two.”
“Don’t tell me there’s more?”
Hwang Onyu asked as if frightened.
“The most terrifying stage remains. Seiryu Re Insurance will publicize this fact loudly. ‘Korea has no system,’ ‘the aging of its workforce is the problem.’ Once that spreads, Korea’s logistics will become even more difficult, and companies will face the risk of bankruptcy. The won’s volatility will grow, and foreign investors will all pull out. If we don’t stop it now, it will expand into a national-level problem.”
The president pressed a hand to his forehead.
Just thinking about it felt like standing at the edge of a cliff.
But it wasn’t an absurd plan.
In fact, if logistics continued to remain halted like this, it was entirely possible.
I added one more thing there.
“Japan is pleased. If Korea collapses, they can bring the cargo volume that was being processed at Busan Port over to Japan. But we can’t do anything. Because this isn’t a matter between states, it’s a decision made by private companies.”
The president’s hands trembled.
It seemed he was more shocked than I’d expected.
The fastidious man who had been prying into the source of my story was gone now.
I’d gotten a bit heated yesterday too.
Japan had laid out the operation more meticulously than I’d thought.
They put a private company forward and played innocent.
Those annoying bastards.
Looking at the president, who sat there as if broken, I said,
“But… to be honest, it may seem like a big problem, but it’s not much.”
“Pardon?”
Hope entered President Kim Minsu’s voice.
“It’s all an insurance issue, isn’t it? An insurance company says it has suspicions, so it won’t provide insurance. That’s all. We just have to solve that part.”
“We’re aware of that as well, but no matter how much we try to explain away the suspicions, it doesn’t work. Even contacting them is difficult.”
“Those suspicions can’t be eliminated.”
“Pardon?”
“Those suspicions didn’t arise because there was a problem. So they can’t be eliminated.”
“Then what are we supposed to do? If we can’t eliminate the suspicions.”
“Mr. President, have you ever dated anyone?”
“What are you talking about in a situation like this?”
“When you’re in a relationship, there are times when you want to break up with the other person. That’s when you start finding faults. Using vague things like, ‘You’re too selfish,’ or ‘You don’t understand me.’”
The president seemed to recall some past romance, but soon shook his head and focused his thoughts.
“It’s not that you break up because you dislike some specific part of them. You find a reason because you want to break up. So no matter how much you say, ‘I’ll fix it,’ or ‘I’ll change,’ it has no meaning. Their heart has already left. This situation is exactly like that. No matter how much we say we’ll resolve the suspicions, they won’t even listen. They have no intention of changing.”
“……”
“So what do you do at a time like that? You meet someone else. If they’re asking to break up, just break up. What’s the problem with that?”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds.”
“It is easy. It’s not difficult. First, I have two insurance companies. Taerim Insurance and Del Rosario Insurance in the Philippines. And I’m also willing to put up my personal assets. With that, I’m going to create reinsurance.”
The president looked at me with slightly doubtful eyes.
“I appreciate what you’re saying, but I suspect it would be difficult to draw out reinsurance with those two insurers and personal assets alone.”
I nodded.
“That’s right. So I requested reinforcements. The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) has agreed to join us.”
For a moment, President Kim Minsu’s eyes gleamed faintly.
But that soon faded.
He realized it still wasn’t enough.
“Even with that…”
Just then, my phone rang.
“One moment. I need to take this call.”
President Kim Minsu was flustered.
It was his first time seeing a man casually take a call in front of the president.
“Yes, hyung.”
“I’m here with the Korean president.”
“Ah! Hyung, you know the Korean president, right? I saw on the news last time that you two shook hands and all.”
“Should I put him on?”
“It’s okay? You get embarrassed easily too, huh.”
“Sure. Let’s have a glass of soju together next time.”
“So what did you decide?”
“Ah—you agreed to join?”
“You’re excited to screw Japan over? You want to do it together? Sounds good.”
“Let’s screw them over properly.”
“Thanks. I’ll visit China soon.”
“Yes, yes, yes. Got it. See you then.”
Since I had taken the call right beside them, the two of them heard everything.
But they couldn’t even begin to guess who the other party was.
Someone who had shaken hands with the Korean president?
Someone who appeared on the news?
Someone who could participate in this matter?
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Hwang Onyu asked,
“May I ask who you were just speaking with?”
“Chinese President Wei Zhonglin.”
“Huuuh.”
“Hic.”
The president and Team Leader Hwang Onyu were too shocked.
Chinese President Wei Zhonglin.
Their surprise came out first as hiccups.
In diplomacy, there is no such word as equality.
Instead, they use the word balance.
What that means is that what the powerful guy says is the truth, and what he says is right.
It means that if you listen to the powerful guy, at least your current position will be maintained.
From that perspective, China had always been the truth for Korea.
If China said no, then it was no.
Even if fine dust flew in like that, if China said, “It’s not ours,” then it wasn’t China’s.
That was diplomacy.
That was why even having a hotline with China wasn’t easy.
When China called, we picked up immediately, but when we called China, China only picked up when it felt like it.
That China.
No, I was speaking directly with China’s president, Wei Zhonglin.
It wasn’t that I had called and pleaded to be put through; Wei Zhonglin had called me personally.
The fact that such a person existed in Korea left President Kim Minsu so shocked that his mouth fell open.
Honestly, even President Kim Minsu wasn’t confident he could speak with President Wei Zhonglin on the phone.
Hwang Onyu felt the same way.
He knew Inbae was an unpredictable bastard, but he had never dreamed that I was on direct-call terms with President Wei Zhonglin.
Leaving their shock aside, I continued.
“The Insurance Association of China (IAC) has agreed to join us. China will provide reinsurance.”
“Korea, the Philippines, and China will combine to create a single reinsurance pool.”
“Hong Kong and Singapore may join as well.”
“Then Europe will naturally follow on its own.”
“We don’t need Japan anymore.”
President Kim Minsu clenched his fist.
This is it.
A solution that could perfectly resolve the current problem.
If Korea, China, and the Philippines joined forces, they could create reinsurance.
And if Hong Kong and Singapore joined in as well, it was certain.
At that point, there was no way Europe wouldn’t follow.
The president felt both relief and emptiness at the same time.
He had spent days racking his brain over it.
All the government officials had gathered and held meeting after meeting.
Even after mobilizing every capability of the government, they had been unable to resolve the problem.
Yet a civilian he had never seen before had resolved all of it with a single phone call.
The man’s next words were even more shocking.
“Mr. President, don’t do anything.”
“Pardon?”
“This is a fight they brought in through the private sector. If the government intervenes, people will start talking for no reason.”
“When it’s private, the best part is letting the private sector beat the private sector senseless.”
“My specialty is dogfights.”
“I’m specialized in fighting dirty and ugly.”
“I’ll show you a dogfight.”
“If you don’t want to get caught up in the dogfight, the government should do nothing.”
“You and I, Mr. President, do not know each other.”
The man spoke firmly.
President Kim Minsu could only nod.
Hwang Onyu and I left Cheong Wa Dae.
The record of my meeting was deleted.
It was changed so that only Hwang Onyu had met the president.
After leaving Cheong Wa Dae, I headed straight to Taerim Insurance.
There was a lot to do.