The place where the Planning Section Chief opened his eyes was a very cramped room.
One without a single window.
It was much like a solitary confinement cell.
“Sleep well?”
A stranger’s voice.
When he turned his head, a young man was looking at the Planning Section Chief.
Perhaps because the room was so small, the man seemed to be right before his eyes.
It was suffocating.
Whether because of the man in front of him,
or because of the cramped room, he couldn’t tell, but he felt stifled.
But he was a veteran who had worked in intelligence for a long time.
The Planning Section Chief began to act.
“Why are you doing this. I’m just an ordinary office worker.”
His voice trembled, and his pupils shook.
He put on a terrified expression.
No matter who looked, he was unmistakably an innocent civilian caught up in a crime.
But the man didn’t blink an eye.
“I’m in a bad mood. If I were in a good mood, I’d keep you for days, peeling your skin and cutting your fingers while having fun, but right now I don’t feel like it. I’m not very interested in you, and I don’t have the heart for it. You were just doing your job too. I understand that well enough. I’m only curious about one thing. Who ordered Kagero to be sent. That’s all I want to know.”
“What?”
At the word Kagero, the Planning Section Chief’s expression cracked for a moment.
“Kagero. I’m asking who ordered it. I’m only curious about that. If you just tell me that, I’ll send you back. I told you, I have no interest in you.”
“I don’t even know what Kagero is…”
The Planning Section Chief continued his act, still maintaining a servile expression.
The man looked at him and spoke as if annoyed.
“Scott. Take this bastard to the waste disposal plant and burn him. And go to Arata and grab a few more.”
“Yes.”
“If we keep burning them, some bastard will talk.”
The man muttered as if to himself.
“Understood.”
“When you burn this bastard, make sure you burn him fully conscious. Don’t bother killing him first out of some misplaced mercy.”
“Yes. Killing him is a hassle too. I’ll just throw him in like this.”
Scott answered.
The Planning Section Chief’s expression changed slightly.
He was bewildered by the situation flowing in a completely different direction from what he had expected.
He had hoped his acting would work.
So if he could get out safely, that would be best.
If this man was not fooled?
If he knew the Planning Section Chief’s identity?
He would endure for now.
He could endure torture to a certain degree.
While enduring, he would try to entice his opponent.
By leaking a few trivial pieces of information,
he had planned to beg them to believe that was everything.
But to burn him alive?
To say that if they burn a few people, an answer will come out?
This wasn’t a normal interrogation process.
They should threaten him.
They should scare him by saying they’d kill him if he didn’t answer.
But all of those processes were entirely omitted.
He was bewildered.
He had never once imagined a situation where they would dispose of him immediately after a single question.
They wouldn’t have kidnapped him just to dispose of him this easily.
Could there be something else?
He thought about it, but nothing came to mind.
His head grew complicated.
Regardless of the Planning Section Chief’s complicated feelings, the man named Scott came in to get him.
With three people in the small room, it felt even harder to breathe.
He felt that if he went out that small door, he would never return.
It felt like he would fall straight into a furnace.
“Kuroda! Kuroda. The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance ordered it.”
The words spilled out of the Planning Section Chief before he realized it.
But the man didn’t even turn his head.
He merely said one thing.
“Continue.”
Buoyed by this, the Planning Section Chief continued.
“He said to eliminate Anna of Korea.”
“The reason?”
“I don’t really know the reason. He just said that for Japan to survive, Anna had to disappear.”
“Was sending Kagero your decision?”
“Ah… no. I looked at the file, and there was no security detail, just one woman, so I was going to send Team B, but Kuroda kept wanting Kagero. So I just sent them.”
“Okay. Disposal is canceled for now. Scott.”
“Yes. Boss.”
“Keep this bastard stored somewhere safe for now. If need be, we should be able to send him to Korea and have him meet Han Seunghyeon.”
“Yes. Will do.”
Scott answered with a sly grin.
So now, should I go catch Kuroda?
But before that, I should give Japan a gift, right?
I smiled slightly, thinking of the bombs in my inventory.
******
I had placed containers filled with explosives at Kobe and Osaka Ports.
But this time, it was absolutely not easy.
The explosions in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Yokohama had awakened Japan’s security system.
The security system had completely changed.
Checkpoints were established at every approach to the ports, and high-performance thermal cameras were installed atop the barbed wire fences.
It was no longer at a level where one could climb over walls or cut barbed wire to sneak in like before.
Interior security had become airtight as well.
But just because the walls are high doesn’t mean there is no path.
While they were fixated on land routes, I chose the sea instead of land.
Deep in the night.
Cutting through the cold sea, I secretly approached Osaka Port.
When I raised my head above the water, giant cranes and containers stacked like mountains were visible.
I avoided the eyes of the CCTV and guards and entered the center of the storage yard.
I took out three containers I had prepared from my inventory and stacked them ‘prettily.’
It was in the middle of a storage yard packed full of containers.
I placed containers that would cause chaos if even one exploded right in the middle of the yard.
And three of them at that.
If these went off, the surrounding containers would probably be destroyed as well.
They couldn’t help but be caught in the blast.
They were containers with that much tremendous explosive power.
I wanted to show my will.
I wanted to show how angry I was.
That’s why—why the hell did you take my old man?
I finished setting up Kobe Port in the same manner.
Having finished the installation, I returned to the hotel.
I washed my wet body and ordered room service.
This was now my sacred ritual.
Drinking soju, I ate the well-prepared room service.
A breaking news report appeared on the TV.
If I was to keep that ritual, now was the time.
Click.
I pressed the detonator.
Osaka and Kobe.
Explosions occurred simultaneously in both places.
Enormous flames shot up.
This explosion was on a different level from before.
It wasn’t for a show like last time.
Not to show that there was a problem with the ports,
nor to list items that couldn’t clear customs,
nor was it an explosion done to attract attention.
Literally, it was to show that I was angry.
As such, the explosion was powerful and destructive.
It was a powerful explosion that shook the entire port.
This was my answer to them taking the Yakuza.
Now it was their turn to answer.
I was ready to hear their answer.
But they’d better answer well.
I still have many containers in my inventory.
.
.
.
Japan Port Explosion Incident Investigation Headquarters.
Inside the investigation headquarters was a scene of hell with screams, shouts,
and the nonstop ringing of phones.
On the monitors filling the walls, enormous flames rising from Osaka and Kobe Ports were visible in the photos.
It was a tremendous explosion, one whose impact could be felt even through photos.
The chief of the investigation headquarters, having checked the breaking news, could not say a word.
He merely stared blankly at the breaking news.
It had been only two days.
That he had held a press conference and announced the criminals were completely rounded up.
That the incident was resolved, that they could now return to daily life.
That crime would not be tolerated in Japan, and shouted it loudly.
Only the disbandment of the investigation headquarters had remained,
when another explosion incident occurred.
And a major one at that.
This time, the explosion was so massive the ports truly had to be stopped.
The chief’s temper exploded as well.
“What happened? We locked all those Yakuza bastards up in detention centers. Then who the hell set that off!”
At the chief’s roar, everyone could only hang their heads.
With this explosion, the Japan Port Explosion Incident Investigation Headquarters became liars.
They had said the criminals were rounded up in one net, yet another explosion had happened.
If they could not respond properly here,
the investigation headquarters would become people who were not only fundamentally incompetent at solving problems but also liars on top of that.
They had to resolve this problem quickly.
If they could not solve it, they had to at least fabricate excuses.
If they could not handle this, the career they had built until now, their promotion, everything was over.
“Is there no one at the scene? What’s the situation?”
The chief asked.
“According to the field team, the firepower of this explosion is incomparable to last time. They say several hundred containers in the storage yard exploded.”
“No, does that make any sense? We strengthened the security system this time. There’s no way to get in, so how did they get in? What about the CCTV?”
“There’s nothing. It’s as if a ghost placed them there. There were no objects in that spot yesterday or today, and there is no vehicle entry record for that D-area whatsoever. The guards say they didn’t hear any vehicle movement at all.”
The investigation headquarters office fell silent as if doused with cold water.
This was not simple terrorism.
Mocking the national security network,
and placing bombs right in its midst.
The chief was unconsciously sensing it.
That arresting the Yakuza had instead enraged the true culprit.
The true culprit was asking.
I’m the real culprit. What are you going to do now? He was asking.
The chief had to answer.
But no suitable answer came to mind.
He had no intention of revising the answer he had already given.
To revise that would be to admit his own mistake.
That was impossible.
So he decided to look away.
He called the prosecutor and the person in charge of the Cabinet Intelligence and Investigation Office to the meeting room.
The three who had pinned the crimes on the Yakuza gathered in one place again.
“What are we going to do about this?”
The chief pressed aggressively.
“Releasing the Yakuza…”
“That can’t happen. Then we’re all finished. Do you want to get fired here?”
“Then what should we do?”
“Say that those were planted by the Yakuza and just went off now.”
“That won’t work.”
The person in charge of the Cabinet Intelligence and Investigation Office objected.
“Won’t work? Why?”
The chief asked back, looking extremely displeased.
“Even now, logistics insurance premiums have surged because of problems in the port system. Cargo volume has also dropped tremendously. But if this explosion is not a new crime but rather a failure to eliminate existing dangers, an even bigger problem arises. That absolutely cannot happen.”
“What?”
“If it becomes known that even though we arrested the Yakuza long ago, we still haven’t identified containers with bombs, Japan’s logistics are finished. It is the end of Japan’s port system. Irreversible.”
“Then what the hell are we supposed to do?”
To the chief’s annoyed question, the prosecutor’s officer spoke carefully.
“How about expanding the playing field?”
At the prosecutor’s officer’s words, the chief looked at him with an interested expression.
“We expand the playing field. The Yakuza are but one of several action groups. There is a larger force behind them. We need to push the mastermind theory.”
“A mastermind?”
“Yes.”
The chief seemed to calculate for a moment.
Whether his career would end here, or whether he would create a nonexistent mastermind to expand the playing field.
His deliberation was brief.
After all, the Yakuza were also culprits who did not exist.
“Then who do we set up as the mastermind? Are there suitable guys? We need something to arrest, don’t we?”
“Do we need to decide that now? For now, we just need to send the message that the Yakuza were hands and feet. And we can slowly look for the mastermind. Aren’t there guys somewhere who have a name but no power, like these Yakuza?”
“What?”
“For now, mention the possibility of a mastermind and resume the investigation, then pick suitable guys and frame them.”
The chief showed a faint smile, seeming to like those words.
“Good. Find some suitable guys for now. Then plant the evidence. You know?”
“Yes. We’ll proceed immediately.”
In the meeting room, the three smirked meanly under the dim lights.
This was not an investigation.
It was merely a struggle to survive.
.
.
.
“The Japan Port Explosion Incident Investigation Headquarters is strengthening its investigation, viewing the explosions at Osaka and Kobe Ports as the work of remnant forces. The headquarters announced that they have captured the substance of the massive force manipulating them from behind, and will mobilize national capabilities to uproot this existence that shakes the foundation of Japan.”
On the TV, the brazen face of the investigation headquarters chief was showing.
His expression was extremely solemn.
As if he would even lay down his life for Japan.
‘Look at these bastards?
The lies are getting bigger?
How can they say that so seriously when they obviously know it’s a lie?’
Of course, I hadn’t thought a single bomb would make them admit their crimes.
Still, I had thought they would at least agonize over it.
I had thought they would calculate this and that about what to do.
What? A mastermind?
It’s absurd.
A hollow laugh escaped.
But it was also amusing.
I wanted to dissect their brains to see how such a conclusion came about.
Anyway, I had become both the sole executor and the mastermind.
They’re calling me the mastermind, so I should act like one. Mastermind.
Since they want it this much, doing that much is only natural.
They’ve written a scenario just for me, so I have to make an appearance.
.
.
.
The next day, an explosion occurred at Japan’s Kitakyushu Port.
Once again, the Japan Port Explosion Incident Investigation Headquarters was in chaos.
They were still insisting on the mastermind theory.
Then, a letter was delivered to the investigation headquarters.
[It’s me, the mastermind. Release the Yakuza who are my hands and feet. If you don’t release them, it can’t be helped.]
Together with the letter, there was a photo of an airport runway.
The chief who received this stood frozen stiff.
This was a warning, and a sneer.