[We will now begin boarding for flight KA897 to Beijing. Please proceed to Gate 35.]
[Good day, ladies and gentlemen. We sincerely welcome all passengers aboard flight PJ8923 bound for Guangzhou. The scheduled flight time to our destination, Guangzhou, is 3 hours and 50 minutes.]
[Our aircraft will shortly be arriving at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. Please fasten your seat belts and return your seat backs and tray tables to their original positions.]
[It is an honor to have you with us today. The current local time in Shanghai is 15:30. The weather is very clear at 24 degrees Celsius.]
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I was waiting at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport for a flight back to Korea.
As I waited, the airport announcements made me nauseous.
At this point, even thinking about airplanes, in-flight meals, or airport announcements seemed enough to make me vomit.
That was how much I had flown these past few months.
These days, I was moving the Ascend produced in Darapanan into China.
I was placing Ascend in China in advance.
The reason?
Simple. To survive.
To avoid being tracked.
China tracks everyone’s movements through facial recognition.
Whenever you move from city to city, they can always tell where a person has traveled through facial recognition.
For foreigners, passports serve that purpose instead.
In my case, I had several passports, but I still couldn’t avoid all those countless CCTVs.
So I was bringing the drugs in advance, little by little, thinking that if they slowly started appearing in places completely unrelated to me, maybe I could avoid suspicion.
To avoid suspicion, I also reduced my luggage as much as possible.
Depending on the passport identity, I would carry only a simple backpack, or perhaps a briefcase or a small suitcase.
The fastest way to bring Ascend into China was by plane.
Even so, the reason this work was so hard was—
First.
My inventory was not infinite.
It had clear limits.
Ten slots.
And each slot could hold ten items.
In other words, I could store a total of one hundred items.
To increase the number and quantity of things I could place in my inventory, I used an item called a bag.
Because if I put things inside a bag, the inventory recognized it as one item, no matter how much was inside.
That was exactly why I stored everything—guns, money, all of it—inside bags.
So I searched for the largest bag that the inventory would recognize as one item.
Judging by the size, it was roughly a 100L bag.
The kind of bag we carry when we go play soccer.
A big bag that can hold a couple of balls, soccer cleats, clothes, water bottles, and the like is about that size.
I bought the first few,
but even after searching through every sports brand, there were only a few places that sold bags that size,
so in the end, I had them custom-made.
Just a bag that was large in size, with nothing but a zipper and handles.
Anyway, no matter how hard I tried, even if I filled my inventory to the brim with Ascend, it only came out to one hundred bags.
To be exact, ninety.
One slot absolutely had to be left open.
That was where my personal belongings had to go.
Guns, forged passports, cash, and an emergency survival bag in case of unforeseen circumstances.
I couldn’t move Ascend while giving up even the last slot.
Screwing over China was not more important than my life.
The last slot was my lifeline.
If I packed ninety bags tightly into the inventory, it was about enough to fill a one-ton box truck, with a few bags slightly left over.
It wasn’t a small amount, but it was hopelessly insufficient to fill an entire country, an entire city.
At that moment, I did regret it a little.
If I’d just made it into powder, I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble.
It would have been far more efficient.
In the case of Ascend, if I filled a 100L bag to the brim, about 70,000 pills fit inside.
On the other hand, in the case of powdered drugs, 1kg was enough for roughly more than 30,000 people to use.
In a 100L bag, theoretically, about 50 of those would fit.
That was an outrageous amount, enough for 1.5 million people to use.
It was 70,000 versus 1.5 million.
If I filled my inventory with powdered drugs,
that would be 50kg in one bag,
and since one slot could hold ten bags, 500kg.
Since I could use nine such slots, that would be 4.5 tons.
An enormous amount, enough for 135 million people to use.
If it had been powdered drugs, I would only have had to go back and forth a few times.
Leaving something this good aside, I had chosen something easy to consume for no reason and was now suffering for it.
As expected, you have to learn about and study people to avoid making mistakes.
Even so, if I had to choose again, I think I’d still choose oral medication.
It had to be easy to take.
The second reason was to keep the passports alive.
I made dozens of forged passports for this work.
Among them was a Cambodian passport under the name “Raborabi.”
Imagine entering China with Raborabi’s passport.
That passport had to receive its first stamp in Cambodia, not the Philippines.
By plain common sense, if you want to go abroad, you need a passport,
and the country that stamps that passport first should be your homeland.
But a Cambodian person uses his passport for the first time, and it’s on a ticket from the Philippines to China?
It might pass the first time, but there was a high chance problems would arise.
I didn’t want to use a passport I had struggled to obtain as a disposable.
So I took the route of going to Cambodia on a Philippine passport,
entering China on the Cambodian passport, storing the drugs in a warehouse,
then returning to Cambodia, and then going back to the Philippines.
In other words, I had voluntarily chosen the path of suffering.
That was how I traveled nonstop between the Philippines and neighboring countries.
Couldn’t I return to Cambodia, then go to nearby Thailand or Vietnam and reenter?
Of course not.
I wasn’t traveling.
I was moving Ascend.
So I had no choice but to go back to the Philippines, load Ascend into my inventory, travel to another country, and then use that route to enter China.
That was why I felt nauseous just looking at airplanes.
It was so exhausting that I looked into whether there was a way to smuggle it.
There wasn’t.
They were stricter with medicine than I expected.
Due to the nature of medicine, crossing borders with it was difficult.
I was truly so exhausted that I tried it just in case.
I sent some by international mail.
I sent it to eight countries, and every single one got caught.
Ascend or whatever, I’m going to die.
Another announcement telling me to board a plane plays.
My stomach is already churning.
*******
Emerald Resort.
Park Dojin, the head of the NIS Overseas Team 2, and Hwang Onyu, who had come to the Philippines to catch Shin Junggi after he went into hiding there, were sitting in the lobby.
“The person the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is dispatching?”
“They say he’ll arrive soon.”
“Haa. This is frustrating. It’s not like anything will change just because someone from Foreign Affairs gets dispatched. The higher-ups are making a fuss, telling us to catch him quickly and retrieve the blueprints, and that bastard Shin Junggi has vanished without a trace. Has any new lead come up?”
“No. It’s clean. Maybe he’s only using cash, because he isn’t using any cards either. No withdrawals, either.”
“No tips?”
“There are a few, but none of them are credible.”
“Where the hell did that bastard hide?”
The two had flown to Bohol for the time being, based solely on one lead that someone had seen him there.
But they were at a loss.
At that moment, a man in a suit approached them.
“Are you perhaps from the company?”
“Ah! Foreign Affairs?”
“That’s right. I’m Secretary Seong Junhui.”
“I’m Park Dojin.”
“I’m Hwang Onyu.”
The three sat down again, exchanged brief greetings, and continued their conversation.
“So you’re saying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasn’t found any leads either?”
“That’s right. We can’t track every single person who entered the country illegally, and we’re in a situation where we have to rely somewhat on the Philippine police, but over there, if you give them money, they’ll turn away even if it’s right in front of their eyes.”
Just as they were sighing in frustration,
“Huh? Secretary Seong Junhui?”
******
Today, too, I had stockpiled Ascend in China, then returned to the Philippines through Hong Kong.
And tomorrow, I had to cross over to Mindanao again, pick up Ascend, go to Vietnam, then go to Xi’an in China to drop off the Ascend, and return to the Philippines through Vietnam again.
Just thinking about it made me want to throw up.
Still, the thought that I could sleep at home tonight made my heart feel a little lighter.
After eating a light dinner, I was passing through the lobby to head up to my room when I saw a familiar face.
Who was it? Who was it? Who was it?
After thinking for a while, the answer came to me.
Secretary Seong Junhui, whom I had met when I was in Congo.
That man was here.
He had company with him, but I thought a greeting would be fine, so I spoke to him.
“Huh? Secretary Seong Junhui?”
“Who are... Ah! Mr. Gong Inbae?”
“That’s right. It’s been a really long time.”
“It has. This is the first time since we met in Congo, isn’t it?”
“Yes. But did you leave Congo now?”
“Well, we work on rotation. I’m in the Philippines now. And you, Mr. Gong Inbae?”
“Yes. I’m living here while working as a guide.”
“I see. It’s really nice to meet you again after so long. You look much better than when you were in Congo. The shirt suits you.”
“Not at all. But you look exactly the same, Secretary.”
“I’ve aged terribly. There have been quite a few incidents and accidents. Haha.”
Park Dojin and Hwang Onyu, who had been listening to their conversation, were startled.
Gong Inbae, the man they had been considering asking for help, was standing right in front of them.
Could they possibly be this lucky?
There was no need to hesitate.
Team Leader Park Dojin gave Secretary Seong Junhui a signal.
Secretary Seong Junhui immediately understood that signal.
“If you have time, how about sitting down for a moment and talking with us?”
“I’m fine, but wouldn’t I be interrupting?”
“Interrupting? Not at all. I’m curious. About how you’ve been living, Mr. Gong Inbae.”
“Then I’ll sit for a moment.”
I naturally took a seat.
For my sake, Secretary Seong Junhui introduced the people sitting across from me.
“This is Team Leader Park Dojin. And this is Assistant Manager Hwang Onyu.”
“Good evening, I’m Park Dojin.”
“I’m Hwang Onyu.”
“Hello. I’m Gong Inbae. Nice to meet you.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you too.”
“Do these two also work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?”
“Ah... not Foreign Affairs. We’re just office workers.”
Team Leader Park Dojin answered on their behalf and handed me a business card.
“We mainly handle dried fruit and rubber from Southeast Asia, things like that. We also move Korean goods to the Philippines. If there’s anything you need, please contact us. We’ll get you good terms.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
But I knew.
I knew they were NIS.
Because the business card they handed me said, [Haegwang Industries, Manager Park Dojin].
I had received this business card before.
Right before I was discharged from the military, someone with that card had offered to scout me.
“Come to think of it, I’ve received this business card before...”
“Pardon?”
“Around the time I was being discharged from the military, someone with this business card came to see me. They told me to become a nameless star or something. So I refused, but now I’m seeing that company’s business card here.”
I could see Team Leader Park Dojin growing flustered.
“No, I’m just saying. I’ve received this business card before.”
“I apologize for deceiving you.”
“That’s basic procedure for your company, isn’t it? I understand fully.”
“Since it’s come up, I know it’s shameless of me, but may I ask you a favor?”
“What favor?”
Park Dojin glanced around again.
He seemed cautious.
I raised my hand and called an employee.
“If there’s an empty meeting room, set one up.”
“Understood.”
“Let’s move to the meeting room.”
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“So, you need to find a man named Shin Junggi, but you can’t find any trace of him. You want me to help. Is that it?”
“That is exactly correct.”
“Where did he come in through? You don’t have anything like that?”
“Even that is still difficult to determine.”
“It’s like looking for Mr. Kim in Seoul. Do you have a photo?”
“Yes. Here’s a photo.”
The man showed me a photo.
It was a face that looked like that of a model student, but somehow gave off a gloomy, sinister air.
“I think it’ll be difficult with just this photo, but I’ll show it to my friends for now. I’ll ask if they’ve seen him.”
“Even that would be greatly appreciated.”
I uploaded the photo I received from the men into the group chat.
[Have any of you seen this person? If you do, let me know.]
- First time seeing him.
- First time for me too. I’ll look into it.
- I’ll send the guys out and check.
Messages saying they’d never seen him and would look for him kept coming in, and then Simon’s message rang out.
- This is the bastard, right?
His face was a mess, so I couldn’t be certain, but it did seem to be that man.
[What the hell? What happened to his face? Did you guys do that?]
- Don’t misunderstand. We rescued him when he was about to die.
[About to die?]
- He was captured by the New People’s Army (NPA) and nearly killed, but we barely managed to save him. You said that last time, didn’t you? To check whether he was alive or dead. But if he died, it’d leave a bad taste in my mouth for no reason, so I brought him back alive.
[Good work. Keep him safe for now. I’ll come pick him up soon.]
- Okay.
I looked at them and spoke.
“I think we found him.”