“Since you’re all the way here in Korea, take a few more days off before you head back.”
“No. The construction project is almost finished, so I need to go back and check the site.”
“I need to check on the competition entry too.”
“Do you have any idea how much Gogo Casino pulls in per day? Now’s not the time for such leisurely talk.”
I spent three days in utter revelry.
As if to drink every drop of alcohol in Mokpo.
I partied with the intention of eating every dish in Mokpo.
After all that partying, it was time for everyone to return to their positions.
Jang Yunmi’s Seoul team was the first to leave,
and Sandro and his organization returned to the Philippines.
In the process, I told Nam Yongu, Gang Jaeho, and Im Yuna—who were Korean—to rest a bit longer since they were in Korea, but they said they had a lot to do and needed to get back.
They too boarded the chartered plane with Sandro and returned to the Philippines.
I stayed behind.
There was nothing to sort out, but I just wanted to remain a little longer.
Perhaps I wanted to drift a while longer?
I sat face to face with Daehun, drinking a cup of coffee.
“Thanks for taking care of things. Thanks to you, I was able to hold the funeral.”
“Of course I had to. I too partied like a madman for the first time in ages. It was fun.”
“Sandro said he’d invite me to the Philippines next time?”
“Yeah. He said the same to me. I should set a date and go. Gotta party properly there too.”
Thinking about Daehun’s faction and Sandro’s group running wild in the Philippines gave me a headache, but
even so, part of me looked forward to it.
“By the way, you spent a lot, right? I’ll cover it.”
“It’s fine, Boss.”
Daehun lightly refused my offer.
Still, I wanted to give it to him.
Daehun must have spent an enormous amount of money.
Including the funeral expenses, I heard he paid for everything the others ate, drank, and stayed in during those three days.
Trying to cover the costs for so many people by himself had to be quite a burden.
“What ‘boss’? I have plenty of money. You have a lot of mouths to feed. So take it.”
“You crazy bastard. Do you not know how much Gogo Casino pulls in per day?”
“Gogo Casino? I’d heard it earns well, but I don’t know the exact figures.”
“These days, Gogo Casino’s daily net profit exceeds a billion won.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So don’t worry about money. And our organization has grown too; the income from our businesses isn’t anything to scoff at either. You think I can’t do at least this much for a friend?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Anyway, I’m glad I could help you out.”
“Then I’ll gratefully accept.”
“How long are you planning to stay here?”
“Not sure. I just want to be here for a while.”
“Stay a long time. So we can see each other often. Want me to have Geunsu tag along?”
“No thanks. I just want to be alone for a bit.”
“Alright. Do as you please. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Without returning to the Philippines,
I enjoyed my alone time with my phone turned off.
I went into any old restaurant and ate,
sat at a café with a nice view and drank coffee,
and sometimes sat for a long while blankly staring at the sea.
Here, I was neither Alex nor Inbae.
I was just one of the ordinary people.
Merely an unemployed drifter wandering about by day.
I really liked the title of “unemployed.”
I wanted to hide inside that title of “unemployed.”
I wanted to disappear into this crowd of people.
Even so, I had to return to the Philippines.
Because the people I had chosen to stick it out with were there.
.
.
.
“Hey, try contacting him again.”
“We can’t reach him.”
“Ah. Where did this bastard go? I told him to have it ready in ten days. Fuck. Where did he go?”
Simon was stomping around in frustration with a well-made PowerPoint, searching for Alex.
There was no finding him.
He waited, contacting Alex endlessly.
*******
“Sorry. I was out of touch for a bit?”
“What happened? Do you know how hard I looked for you?”
“Sorry, sorry. Something came up.”
“What kind of situation makes you completely unreachable like this?”
Simon asked irritably.
“My father passed away.”
Simon flinched in surprise.
Perhaps feeling his own behavior had been excessive, he looked sheepish.
“When someone reliable like you goes unreachable, I figure there must be a good reason. So, were you able to hold the funeral properly?”
“Yeah. Thanks to that. So shall we look at the materials you prepared?”
Simon showed him the materials.
They contained detailed information on the four representative rebel groups of the Philippines.
And he explained them for quite a while.
“So. Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Freedom Front (BLF), the New People’s Army (NPA). And your Damaya, right?”
“Right.”
“Abu Sayyaf is number one, BLF is number two, NPA is number three. Damaya. You guys are dead last.”
“I’d appreciate it if you called us rebels who pursue peace and humanitarianism rather than dead last.”
“Rebel bastards talking about peace. Then go found an NGO or the UN instead.”
“……Still, we try to be as peaceful as possible……”
“Peacefully kill them?”
“That’s not it. It’s to create peace.”
“This is exactly why I hate rebels. They found rebel groups out of pure greed while their excuses are fucking plausible. Anyway. So number one and number two are both Islam-based, right? Why are they fighting? If they teamed up, wouldn’t taking over the rebels happen in an instant?”
“That’s true, but the number one Abu Sayyaf and the number two Bangsamoro Freedom Front (BLF) pursue completely different agendas.”
“How so?”
“Simply put, think of Abu Sayyaf as the Philippine branch of radical Islamism. The Philippines isn’t their goal. Their goal is to establish an Islamic state across the entire world, beyond the Philippines. Naturally, they receive a lot of support from other Islamic nations, and their weapons are state-of-the-art.”
“Oh, fuck. An Islam franchise?”
“Yeah. Exactly. Spot on. So they get massive support from headquarters. They give plenty of money, plenty of weapons, and they have the most manpower too. But conversely, the Philippine government hates Abu Sayyaf the most. Because Abu Sayyaf wants the Philippine government to collapse and an Islamic government to take its place.”
“Aha. So they aren’t simply expanding Islamic influence—they want to overthrow the government if possible and establish an Islamic country? Those little bastards are operating on a blockbuster scale?”
“So to accomplish that, they use extremely violent and extreme methods. If there’s a terror attack, kidnapping, or anything like that in the Philippines, you can pretty much assume Abu Sayyaf did it.”
“Now those are real rebels. Rebels should be at least this level. So what about the Bangsamoro Freedom Front (BLF)?”
“The BLF is an alliance of Islamic adherents living in the southern Philippines. Their main goal is to secure political autonomy from the Philippine government. Literally, securing their own territory is their ultimate objective. Naturally, they want to maintain good relations with the Philippine government. Because the government has to grant permission. So they’re trying to negotiate with the government and making an effort to appear legitimate.”
“Aha. So they throw a tantrum demanding a separate autonomous zone in the Philippines, but they’re also the type to play along nicely?”
“Right.”
“What’s the relationship between the two?”
“They want to kill each other. Abu Sayyaf calls the BLF traitors. That they beg for a victory that should be won through blood. Conversely, the BLF dislikes Abu Sayyaf’s extreme actions because they harm the peace and cause distrust from the Philippine government and international community.”
“Oho… Interesting. A bunch of equally shitty bastards fighting with their own justifications.”
“They talk like they’ll devour each other, but they don’t actually fight.”
“Is that so? That’s a shame. What about the New People’s Army (NPA)?”
“They’re a communist guerrilla organization, mainly active in the mountainous and rural regions of the Philippines. They claim a revolution is necessary in opposition to the wealth gap.”
“Communist Party? Revolution? Are they trying to stage a Cultural Revolution or something?”
“Cultural Revolution? What’s that?”
“It’s a thing. A movement where they destroy with their own hands what they built with their own hands. What’s their scale?”
“We assess them at roughly around 1,000 strong. And it seems they secretly receive support from communist countries.”
I listened to Simon’s information about the rebel groups.
To summarize:
Abu Sayyaf.
Rebel group #1. Philippine branch dreaming of Islamizing the world. Receives sponsorship from headquarters.
Goal is to overthrow the Philippine government and establish an Islamic state.
Extreme and violent.
Bangsamoro Freedom Front (BLF)
Rebel group #2. Ultimate goal is securing an autonomous zone for Islamic adherents within the Philippines.
Friendly to the Philippine government; open to negotiation.
However, Abu Sayyaf and the BLF are sworn enemies.
The New People’s Army (NPA) is a communist force.
Receives support from communist countries.
Once organized, it’s simple.
“Anyway, their ability to rake in money from everywhere is unbelievable.”
“Huh?”
“Think about it. If those bastards were really carrying out an Islamic revolution, communist revolution, or whatever, would the country be this quiet? There’d be terror attacks every single day and chaos everywhere. But they’re moderately quiet, aren’t they?”
“Right?”
“So they just establish a decent position and contact headquarters: ‘We’ve done this much, but we need money to maintain it. Send some money. We’re planning this terror attack, but we’re short on operating expenses. Send it to our account.’ That’s what they do.”
“Ah…”
“Then headquarters has to send it even if they don’t believe them. Otherwise they’ll throw a fit saying, ‘You didn’t give us money so our forces weakened.’”
“Y-Yeah… right?”
Simon answered as if something had stung him.
“Simon, you’re not after money either, right? You said you do this for peace, humanitarianism, and all that?”
“Of course. We’re the last bastion protecting peace within the Philippines’ unique circumstances, you could say.”
“So what’s the solution?”
“Solution?”
“Didn’t I tell you to bring a plan for dealing with the rebels too?”
“Uh… I heard you…”
“This much is 50 points. Let’s hear the plan and decide.”
Simon continued, flustered as if he hadn’t prepared a solution.
“Well… We attack the weakest New People’s Army (NPA) first to expand our forces, then attack the Bangsamoro Freedom Front (BLF). Then we finish off Abu Sayyaf. How’s that?”
“Are we climbing a tower? Floor by floor from the 1st to the 100th? In order from 3rd place to 2nd to 1st? Is the protagonist going to defeat the villains? And do you actually think that’s possible?”
“Wouldn’t it work if we do it well?”
“I don’t think it would work even if you did it well. If you’re confident, go ahead. I’ll praise you if you pull it off.”
“No, we need to have something in our hands to formulate an operation, don’t we? We base our operations on firepower.”
Simon spoke as if feeling slightly wronged.
“You’re asking for sponsorship? Who would sponsor such a plan-less operation of yours?”
“What?”
“How much damage will Damaya take while you’re hitting 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place in order? Can you even win? In the meantime, will 2nd and 1st place just sit still and wait for you to come at them? Won’t they prepare? And if you defeat 3rd place, will all of their forces come under you? If they don’t, you’ll have to fight the BLF or Abu Sayyaf with your measly force of less than 200 men. If so, why not just fight Abu Sayyaf right now? I think that would be better in terms of combat strength.”
“Even now, if we set up detailed plans…”
“That’s exactly what I told you to prepare—the detailed plans.”
“Ten days wasn’t nearly enough to gather information.”
“What were you doing while I was unreachable? You should’ve been drawing up operations.”
“I thought about it. But what can I do if no good operation comes to mind! And this isn’t something that gets solved by browbeating me like that. Sigh… If these are the conditions, I’ll have to reconsider cooperating.”
“Cooperation? Who said anything about cooperation? I’m buying you. I’m using you, and you do as I say. If you don’t like it, feel free to storm out anytime. Even if I buy and sponsor you, I gain nothing. It’s merely so these disgusting rebels stay quiet. If you understand, then fuck off.”
Simon, having been insulted, trembled with uncontrollable anger, his hands shaking.
He looked ready to throw a punch at me again.
But he managed to hold back.
He must have remembered coughing up blood after getting hit by me.
As expected, fists cultivate patience.
History has long taught us.
Because since long ago, there’s no bargaining with a beating.
“Sigh… You frustrating bastard. The answer is already in the information you gathered.”
“Answer?”
“Didn’t you say number one and number two don’t get along?”
“Yeah. They don’t.”
“Then we have to make them fight.”
“They’ll never fight. They only talk about it all the time.”
“That’s why we have to set the stage so they can fight. Making them fight is our job.”