The Seoul Yongsan Police Station went on emergency alert.
Because they had received an urgent call from the Presidential Security Service.
“The President is coming?”
“And a VIP on par with him, too.”
Radio chatter flew back and forth without pause.
Police cars poured out onto the roads,
and traffic control began in an instant.
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Wei Zhonglin arrived in Seoul,
but he could not go to Cheong Wa Dae.
This meeting was unofficial.
An unofficial meeting could not be held at Cheong Wa Dae.
Wei Zhonglin was a major figure.
The very fact that Wei Zhonglin had visited Korea unofficially was a huge event.
The mere fact that Wei Zhonglin had come to Korea would generate countless rumors.
It had to be concealed as much as possible.
The Chinese side had requested the same.
They said they did not need an official schedule, nor any protocol.
They asked that he simply be regarded as one man who had come to see a younger brother he was close to.
So they looked for somewhere other than Cheong Wa Dae.
There were too many eyes on Cheong Wa Dae.
Too many reporters as well,
and the conditions were demanding.
- Its routes must not be visible from outside at all.
- Access control must be perfect.
- Nearby roads must be immediately blockable.
- The structure must be capable of responding to sniper and drone threats.
- Communications security must be ensured.
- Medical response must be possible within ten minutes in the event of an emergency.
- It must not be too far from Cheong Wa Dae.
But surprisingly, there were not many places like that.
Places with the right feel had weak security,
places with perfect security were awkward for the President to use,
and places that seemed decent were too far away.
If everything was good, someone was already using it.
Seeing them struggle to choose a location, I casually threw out a suggestion.
“How about my place? It’s pretty decent.”
The security team checked the blueprints,
then the terrain, elevation, access roads, CCTV, and even the building structure.
It matched every condition the security team wanted.
“Let’s go and check it for now.”
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Before Chairman Wei Zhonglin arrived.
The security team arrived at Unity Village first.
The Presidential Security Service, the police special protection unit, even the communications security team.
Normally, they would have had to move busily.
“…There’s nothing to do?”
Upon hearing those words, the head of the security service looked around the site and froze on the spot.
“The security facilities here seem denser than Cheong Wa Dae’s.”
The outskirts were surrounded by Maebongsan,
and there were two access roads.
Five minutes was more than enough to block them off.
In fact, unless one was going to Unity Village, there was no reason to use those roads.
That meant no one would be inconvenienced even if the roads were controlled,
and it also meant reliable control was possible.
“Escape routes?”
“Routes A, B, and C secured. There is even an underground connecting passage. No issues with safety.”
“No issues with communications.”
“No sniper risk.”
The head of the security service could not speak for a while.
A private residence was at this level?
The head of the security service looked at me strangely.
Don’t look at me like that.
I didn’t do it. Allen did.
Every condition lined up perfectly.
So the meeting place was decided as my house.
President Kim Minsu, Big Brother Wei Zhonglin, and I decided to have a housewarming.
President Kim Minsu and Chairman Wei Zhonglin arrived.
The moment they got out of the car, the fresh air greeted them first.
The two admired the foot of Maebongsan as they looked at it.
“The mountain’s energy is good.”
“This is what you’d call an auspicious site, isn’t it?”
Kim Minsu nodded.
“I don’t know how you found this place, but it’s wonderful.”
“Come often. You’re welcome anytime.”
I lit the charcoal.
A sharp, smoky heat passed by briefly, then the fire settled.
I picked up the tongs.
“You two just sit. Today, I’ll grill the meat.”
Beside me, the chef watched me anxiously.
“I used to be a guide, didn’t I? How much meat do you think I’ve grilled? I’ll make it incredible for you.”
At my words, President Kim Minsu nodded.
The chef left his spot.
The bodyguards were moved even farther away.
It felt as though there were only the three of us in Unity Village.
I grilled the meat with care.
They were guests who had come to my home.
It was only natural that I should treat them.
The pork belly was giving off its fat as it browned beautifully.
I took out soju and cut the kimchi into thick pieces.
I put mushrooms on the grill as well.
I added sesame oil, minced garlic, and a little gochujang to ssamjang to make a dipping sauce.
“This is my special sauce. It should be pretty good.”
I spoke as I placed the well-grilled meat onto a plate.
“If you dip the meat in this, it’ll be absolutely incredible.”
At my words, President Kim Minsu and Chairman Wei Zhonglin looked at me as though amused.
Kim Minsu familiarly dipped the meat in the sauce.
Before eating, he smelled it first.
“The smell is incredible.”
“The taste will be incredible too.”
The President’s eyes widened after he ate the pork belly.
His brows furrowed in that telltale way, and he raised his thumb.
“Wow—this is really delicious. This is the best pork belly I’ve ever had.”
President Kim Minsu spoke with a bright smile.
But Chairman Wei Zhonglin hesitated a little.
“Eat. It’s K-ORIGIN.”
I placed a well-cooked piece of meat on his plate.
Wei Zhonglin hesitated slightly, then coated it in sauce and put it in his mouth.
After chewing for a long while, Wei Zhonglin tilted his head.
“There’s nothing special about it. So why is it good? Isn’t this cheating? I watched you make it right beside me.”
Whether he could not understand the situation or could not understand the taste,
Wei Zhonglin kept tilting his head as he ate the pork belly.
The drinks started going around as well.
Their words grew lighter.
The cautious conversation gradually turned into stories that smelled more human.
For a while, they set aside the nation, diplomacy, and interests.
Stories they had not been able to share when they first met.
They began bringing up embarrassing stories from the past.
Laughter burst out.
It should have been uncomfortable.
And yet, strangely, my heart felt at ease.
Here, we were not a president, a chairman, and a guide.
We were simply three men.
The night deepened.
We lit a bonfire and leaned back in our chairs, looking up at the night sky.
It was the sky of Seoul, but from here, the stars could be seen quite clearly.
“I don’t know when the last time was that I looked at the stars like this.”
Kim Minsu murmured.
“A position can imprison a person, too.”
Wei Zhonglin answered quietly.
No one responded to those words.
But somehow, it felt comforting.
After evening passed, after we crossed over sleep, until dawn arrived, we stayed together.
Laughing, chatting, and joking around.
It felt as though we had returned to being twenty years old.
The weight of the positions that had pressed down on our shoulders,
and the burden called the nation, seemed to have been set aside for a little while.
Here, it felt like we could lay everything bare.
It was a night that would not remain in any official record,
but for the three of them, it was a night they would never forget.
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The next day.
Through the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an emergency briefing was announced.
Major domestic and international media outlets were connected at the same time.
A short while later,
Chairman Wei Zhonglin, looking somewhat hungover, stepped up to the podium.
His expression was calm, but his tone was clear.
“The government of the People’s Republic of China clearly states that it will further deepen and expand its strategic cooperative relationship with the Republic of Korea.
Korea is China’s important neighbor, a trustworthy partner, and an eternal friend with whom we will continue to walk together.
Any act that fails to respect the Republic of Korea is no different from failing to respect China.
Under the principles of mutual respect and mutual benefit, we will strengthen our cooperation with Korea across the board.”
The remarks were not long, but their impact was enormous.
The international community reacted immediately.
Washington said, “We are paying close attention,”
and Japan, driven into a corner, was busy activating diplomatic channels to grasp the situation.
Major European media outlets offered analyses that this was a signal that the order of Northeast Asia would be reorganized.
But the place that received the greatest shock was the North.
Pyongyang.
A meeting was hastily convened.
Outwardly, they downplayed it as “routine diplomatic rhetoric,” but the internal atmosphere was completely different.
It was extremely unusual for China to use the expression “eternal friend” toward Korea in an official setting.
Moreover, the sentence “to disregard Korea is to disregard China” was essentially close to a declaration that China would become Korea’s shield.
The Chairman of North Korea’s State Affairs Commission was sighing deeply enough to cave in.
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.
.
Chairman Wei Zhonglin stepped down after finishing the announcement.
He thought it would be nice if this were the foot of Maebongsan instead of China.
That quiet air.
The smell of meat cooking over charcoal.
The conversations shared while looking at the stars.
The time when they had briefly set aside position and face.
Wei Zhonglin did not regard that night as a simple meeting.
In a meeting where he had had to digest many schedules and agendas in a short span of time, he had not been able to see it,
but there, he had seen the sincerity and trust one person possessed.
Wei Zhonglin wanted to honestly show the emotion he had felt.
******
Tokyo Port Explosion Accident Investigation Headquarters.
No, the office now renamed the “Japanese Port Explosion Accident Investigation Headquarters.”
Only the name had changed; the space remained the same.
However, the number of personnel had doubled.
Since they had to investigate not only Tokyo Port, but Nagoya and Yokohama as well, they needed more manpower.
The police, prosecutors’ office, Public Security, the Japan Coast Guard, the Self-Defense Forces’ intelligence line, and even the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office had joined.
It was a large space, but it was packed tightly with desks.
On the walls were site photos, port structure diagrams, shipping routes, and container movement records.
On the other side were enlarged photos of the explosion points, fragment analysis results, printed communication logs, and the like.
Red lines connected one place to another,
but nowhere did they converge into a single point.
The atmosphere was heavy and sharp.
It felt as though it would shatter at the slightest touch.
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A meeting of the investigation headquarters officers.
“Have the explosive components been identified?”
The head of the investigation headquarters, who oversaw the investigation, asked.
“It is not military-grade. There are traces of modification. It appears C4 was mixed with ammonium nitrate.”
The forensic investigation team replied.
“The source of the bombs? Can you identify it?”
“Impossible. These were not made in Japan. To trace them, we would have to expand the scope to the entire world… It’s impossible.”
The head of the investigation headquarters turned his head.
“What about CCTV?”
“Nothing at all. It seems they used only blind spots. It is to the point that we must suspect internal assistance.”
“What about container truck entry and exit records and crane usage records?”
“We conducted a full inspection of the records and the actual goods, but there were no abnormalities. They’re clean.”
At the negative answers, silence fell.
The head of the investigation headquarters asked, somewhat irritably,
“It has been nearly a month since we began this investigation. Does it make sense that we have not found a single piece of evidence?”
No one could answer, and they only lowered their heads.
“If those things came in from overseas? How about focusing in that direction?”
A Self-Defense Forces official cautiously suggested.
“That direction is possible, but we have no evidence to present in court. And… if we formalize the theory of overseas involvement, it becomes a diplomatic issue. It may instead invite an even bigger problem.”
The officer from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office replied.
As the meeting continued without answers, the head of the investigation headquarters ended it.
“Understood for now. Please reorganize the parts currently under investigation and report back. And the prosecutors’ office and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, stay behind.”
The officers nodded,
and only the officers from the prosecutors’ office and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office were left alone in the conference room.
The conference room door closed.
The air changed.
After confirming that the door was closed, the head of the investigation headquarters spoke in a low voice.
“Can we leave this case unsolved?”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
This case could never be left unsolved.
Explosions had occurred at three core ports, and they failed to catch the culprit?
More than two hundred investigators had been assigned, and they failed to secure any evidence?
If it ended as an unsolved case like this, the problem would become severe.
Powerful doubts about Japan’s investigative capability would inevitably remain.
“Public anxiety has already reached its limit. Explosion accidents occurred at three core ports. We have to catch the culprit, but we have not found any evidence whatsoever. Correct?”
“…Correct.”
The two answered as though ashamed.
“Even so, we must catch the culprit. Wouldn’t you agree?”
At the words of the head of the investigation headquarters, the officers from the prosecutors’ office and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office looked at him.
Because the end of the investigation chief’s words had carried a subtle nuance.
“The investigation can’t drag on too long. We have to catch the culprit, too. So what can we do?”
The eyes of the prosecutor and the officer from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office widened.
“Surely, you don’t mean…”
The investigation chief raised a finger and brought it to his lips.
It was a signal to be quiet.
They closed their mouths, but their tense hearts did not settle.
They thought they understood what those words meant.
He was talking about creating a culprit.
Even if it wasn’t the real culprit, they would simply make someone into the culprit and close the case.
It was an extremely dangerous and reckless thing to say.
But right now,
the situation was so bad that even that recklessness seemed attractive.
To be honest, they were strongly tempted.
The investigation chief added,
“I’ve been thinking… What about the yakuza?”
He spoke very cautiously, gauging their reactions.
“The yakuza? Aren’t they a group with no power left now?”
The prosecutor shot back.
“That’s exactly why they’re perfect. They’ve lost the influence they used to have because they no longer have power, haven’t they?”
“It’s a good idea. The yakuza’s funding channels are blocked now, and all their personnel have aged. There are many organizations struggling with poverty as well. We’ve already received reports that more groups have turned to smuggling.”
After some thought, the prosecutor agreed with the investigation chief’s words.
“What do you think?”
The investigation chief asked, looking at the officer from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.
“During smuggling, they mishandled explosives and caused an explosion. It’s persuasive enough. On top of that, there would be no social resistance. If we say the yakuza did it, everyone will nod.”
“If anything, it’ll be welcomed. We can deal with the yakuza and solve the case at the same time.”
“We could also show a signal that the government is determined to crack down on crime.”
They had not even thought of it, but once they settled on the yakuza as the answer, everything fit perfectly.
The yakuza, no longer able to live as they once had, had switched routes to smuggling.
While forcing through a smuggling operation, explosives had detonated.
Using that as grounds, they would arrest the yakuza.
With this, they could wipe out the endlessly troublesome yakuza in one sweep.
The government’s approval rating would naturally rise, and their investigative ability would also be acknowledged.
It was killing two birds with one stone.
“Would there be any political or diplomatic burden?”
The investigative officer asked, as if making one final confirmation.
“No. None at all. The yakuza of today aren’t the yakuza of the past.”
No one voiced agreement, but the yakuza unanimously became the culprits.
The atmosphere in the conference room changed strangely.
In place of helplessness, calculation took root.
If they made the weakened yakuza the scapegoat, the case would be solved.
The government would look strong, the people would feel reassured, and they could save face.
That day, the investigation headquarters changed the direction of the investigation.