Chapter 112.2: Absurd Events Unfold (1)
“That’s why your expression was like that a moment ago!” Kim Tae-Jin smiled as if he now understood. “I was so worried while I was watching the TV. I immediately ran over because I couldn’t contact Kim Hyung-Jung either, but I at least got to talk to him a little today. Let’s keep each other informed, okay? Mr. Seok Kang-Ho, you shouldn’t keep things to yourself either.”
“I’ll do that.”
Kang Chan nodded because there was sincerity in Kim Tae-Jin’s words.
“Oh Gwang-Taek called me about ten times as well. It should be on the list of your missed calls, so give him a call later,” Kim Tae-Jin added.
“There were too many notifications, so I erased all of them as soon as I got my phone. I’ll call him later after I see how things go.”
“Alright. No matter how busy we are, we should update each other every now and then,” Kim Tae-Jin said. He then leaned back against the chair and looked at Kang Chan. “I saw Section Chief Jeon today. He talked about you.”
“About me?”
“Yeah. He suddenly called me and asked what I thought about you. He also told me that we needed a lot of people like you in the future and that we can’t lose you to France no matter what.”
Shaking his head, Kim Tae-Jin, “How come that gentleman hasn’t changed at all despite having grown older? Kim Hyung-Jung, I heard that you said that Kang Chan and I are close?”
“The section chief told me to tell him about what happened since I met Mr. Kang Chan, so I also told him that I asked you to introduce me to Mr. Kang Chan. When I did, he asked if you and Mr. Kang Chan are close, and I replied, ‘Yes.’”
Kim Tae-Jin glanced at Kim Hyung-Jung and ended up laughing.
Being alive was quite a good thing—especially if he was with good people.
***
Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook dropped by the hospital the next morning, then headed to work. Kang Chan then told Yoo Hun-Woo that he was going to be discharged.
“Will you be okay? Moving around is still uncomfortable for you.” Yoo Hun-Woo said.
“Yes. It would be better to be at home instead if I’d just be lying down anyway.”
“Alright. But if you get dizzy or if you feel like vomiting, then we need to hospitalize you immediately.”
“I’ll do that.”
Yoo Hun-Woo looked at Kang Chan as if he was joking. “You looked much cooler on TV. I had a hard time avoiding the reporters the day after the announcement. It’s been quiet since then though, perhaps because the people involved with the announcement kept them at bay for me. Anyway! You did something huge. I feel proud that I treated you.”
“You know that what you just said doesn’t suit you, right?”
Yoo Hun-Woo smiled slightly and jokingly tapped Kang Chan’s forearm. He then left the room.
Kang Chan couldn’t get discharged right away, however, because he didn’t have clothes to change into.
As Kang Chan was thinking of what to do, Seok Kang-Ho opened the door and came in.
“I also decided to be discharged,” Seok Kang-Ho said.
“Will you be okay?”
“What would I do by myself here once you leave? Staying at home and telling them I’m just having body aches is much better. Let’s go to Misari and have a cup of tea this evening.”
“Alright. That’s certainly better. We can’t even smoke a cigarette in peace here since we don’t know who will be visiting and when.”
However, despite having reached a conclusion, they still didn’t have clothes to change into.
In the end, Choi Jong-Il bought clothes and shoes for both of them.
***
When Kang Chan returned home, he felt as if everything was coming to an end.
He saw the familiar building, elevator, entrance, living room, and his room.
Kang Chan went into his room and sat at his desk.
South Korea had become part of the Eurasian Rail, and the announcement had been made.
It was as if he had just woken up from a long dream and sat on his bed.
Why would he feel that way?
His surroundings were so quiet that it seemed everything had calmed down. However, Lee Ji-Yeon came across Kang Chan’s mind.
He remembered her hand trembling as she put down a teacup and her tired and frightened eyes when he called out and stopped her.
She held up a sign to protest and ask people to reveal her unnie’s unjust death while looking around blankly like a child.
However, before she could unearth her unnie’s unjust death, she hanged herself to death.
How scared and wronged could she have felt?
Kang Chan slowly inhaled, then exhaled.
No matter how much money or power a person had, there were things that they should and should never do.
Not only did Yang Jin-Woo attack Kang Dae-Kyung and try to go for Yoo Hye-Sook, but he also killed two young and pitiful women like bugs even though they were dreaming of earning as much as they could and being happy with their widowed mother for the first time since all of their hardships had ended.
“Yang Jin-Woo,” Kang Chan said as if Yang Jin-Woo was inside his monitor. “You messed with the wrong person, you son of a bitch.”
Glaring at his monitor and tightly gritting his teeth, Kang Chan continued with a smirk, “Just you wait, motherfucker.”
Kang Chan had fought countless battles, but this was his first time hating someone as much as Yang Jin-Woo.
Kang Chan decided to start again from the beginning.
He would do things perfectly one at a time.
Although he had always done that, he thought of finishing things especially perfectly this time.
After replacing the battery on his phone, Kang Chan pressed the call button.
- Mr. Kang Chan.
“Mr. Ambassador, how do you feel?”
- Refreshed, thanks to you. As a matter of fact, I was thinking about visiting you at the hospital this afternoon or tomorrow morning.
“I’ve been discharged.”
- You never cease to surpass my expectations.
“Mr. Ambassador, I’d like to meet with you for a moment if that’s okay with you.”
- Of course. Where should we meet?
“Anywhere you’re comfortable.”
- It would be difficult to meet at the hotel since you’re too well known right now, so let’s just meet at my office.
“Sounds good. What time would be comfortable for you?”
- Would you like to have lunch together?
“Alright. I’ll be there by 12 pm.”
Kang Chan hung up, then went out to the living room and slowly warmed up.
There was already a scab on the stab wounds the fragments inflicted, but the area where he was hit by a big chunk of cement was so stiff it was as if he got badly beaten up.
‘Ugh.’
Nevertheless, he continued warming up.
For as long as his bones weren’t broken and his muscles hadn’t been ripped apart, nothing could warm him up as much as stretching.
Kang Chan was straining himself. He should probably rest, but they were lacking too much time for him to just be lying around.
Kang Chan warmed up for about thirty minutes, got changed, and left the apartment.
His body was screaming at him, but as usual, he ignored it.
‘Ugh, you were given to the wrong owner.’
Kang Chan held out his hand toward the taxi.
***
“Mr. Kang Chan!”
Kang Chan smiled when he saw Lanok.
They hugged and exchanged noisy cheek kisses like Frenchmen, an odd sense of comradeship flowing between them.
“Have a seat. We should have a light cup of tea before we eat,” Lanok suggested.
When Lanok pointed to the table with his long arm, the assistant poured out black tea.
After asking each other how they were doing, Kang Chan confessed everything to Lanok about Xavier visiting him.
“Xavier is the adopted son of Fabrix, the Serpent Venimeux leader. He’s also the only successor crueler than Fabrix,” Lanok said afterward.
“He has a lot of successors?”
Lanok nodded. “Having a lot of successors is insurance for Fabrix. He gets to keep living because of them. With his adopted sons and subordinates keeping each other in check, nobody can mess with Fabrix. He’s the most cunning, cruel, and vicious Serpent Venimeux leader in history.”
Kang Chan drank tea while nodding.
That kind of man begged Lanok for his life. How cunning, cruel, and vicious was this sly and wily fox?
“I just want one piece of information from Fabrix,” Lanok said.
What kind of information was it that Lanok couldn’t get from even the DGSE? Sincerely curious, Kang Chan waited for Lanok to continue.
“I just want to know where the Serpent Venimeux bought the C4 and the Iglas from.”
Kang Chan cocked his head. “Can’t you just get that information from the Intelligence Bureau or the DGSE?”
“That’s true.”
Kang Chan slowly inhaled.
Protecting the seller was the first rule in arms dealing. Revealing who they got their weapons from would result in a punishment incomparable to drug dealing.
Like Kim Hyung-Jung had said, this sly and wily fox planned to perfectly beat up the Serpent Venmeux and proceed with what he wanted.
“But if that happens, then the Serpent Venimeux will have to fight a war with the seller,” Kang Chan commented.
“That’s their problem to choose, not mine. However, I will firmly punish them for selling those commodities to use for an event that I’m attending to avoid something like this from happening again.”
When Kang Chan laughed out loud, Lanok continued with a faint smile. “We have different ways of fighting, but that’s what scares me every now and then. If you start fighting in the same way I do, I will be no match for you.”
“I’d rather not fight you at all.”
“I feel the same way.”
For the first time in his life, Kang Chan felt sorry for the Serpent Veniemux. They were even willing to kill Yang Jin-Woo’s children to save themselves, but revealing the identity of their arms dealer would be far more humiliating than erasing their tattoo, which was what they had been doing until now.
“Mr. Kang Chan,” Lanok called after he put down the teacup. “Will you arbitrate this issue with the Serpent Venimeux?”
“If I was their leader, I wouldn’t reveal our arms dealer.”
“They wouldn’t either.”
What’s Lanok thinking this time?
“Please tell them that I’ll hold in my anger around here if they make Xavier the leader.”
“Mr. Ambassador, may I ask the reason behind that decision?”
“Xavier is an agent of the United States’ Intelligence Bureau. The United States has worked hard for so long to put him in France.”
Why was Lanok living such a complicated life? Kang Chan smirked and laughed feebly.
“If so, then wouldn’t it be bad if he becomes the leader?” Kang Chan asked.
Lanok smiled meaningfully. “He will pass over the military intel that he received from Huh Sang-Soo to the United States. After all, what the United States wants is the list of names of the weapons brokers, the transactional information, and the military secrets of other countries. We’ll instigate a fight between Japan and China.”
It was a great answer.
Kang Chan thought that Lanok was just getting revenge on and warning the Serpent Venimeux because he was angry and to avoid something like this from happening again. However, Lanok had actually secretly calculated something like this as well.
Kang Chan wanted to learn how to use people in a cool way instead of just being able to kill his enemies.
Damn!
Kang Chan never imagined that he would become jealous of the sly and wily Lanok.
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