Chapter 175.2: An Eye For an Eye (2)
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho went down to the first floor and found more than five agents at the specialty coffee shop. Kim Hyung-Jung likely contacted them about Kang Chan’s plan.
“Go get a table. I’ll order us some coffee,” Seok Kang-Ho said.
Kang Chan sat on the terrace, then bit on a cigarette.
What would have it been like if he didn’t know Choi Seong-Geon or if he didn’t know what kind of person he was?
Kang Chan’s rage grew further, making it even harder to hold back his anger.
If only he didn’t die! Even if he was on death’s door, for as long as he survived, I could’ve tried everything! I wouldn’t even care if I collapsed from too much blood loss!
South Korea had to be wary of its neighboring countries' moods?
If that’s the case, then do I have to make South Korea powerful enough to eliminate any need for it to keep worrying about how other countries would treat it?
Kang Chan gritted his teeth.
“Let’s have some coffee for now,” Seok Kang-Ho suggested.
Seok Kang-Ho put the coffee down on the table when he saw the look in Kang Chan’s eyes. He then took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He was trying to put Kang Chan at ease, but his eyes were glinting as well.
If they did go to North Korea, they most likely would not come back alive. Such an operation would be on another level than any of the other operations they participated in so far. Nevertheless, Kang Chan didn’t want to back off.
Rather than seeing those precious to him die one by one, he thought that preventing his enemies from doing something like that ever again was the right thing to do.
“Do you think that traitorous fucker Huh Ha-Soo is also aware of this incident?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
That’s right—I forgot about that son of a bitch.
Kang Chan smiled, his eyes burning.
“What’s wrong?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“I’m going to fuck that son of a bitch up.”
As Seok Kang-Ho cocked his head, Kang Chan took out his phone and started to search through his call history.
I talked to him some time ago.
After scrolling for a while, Kang Chan found the number and dialed it.
He didn’t have high hopes. He could ask Lanok for this if he had to anyway.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
It was almost nine in the evening.
- Hello?
Much to his surprise, Yang Bum answered the phone.
“It’s Kang Chan.”
- I’m aware of that.
Yang Bum sounded confident.
“I have a favor to ask.”
- Well, I certainly can’t refuse a favor you’re asking from me. What is it?
Seok Kang-Ho, who was in front of him, looked at him with a face that asked, ‘Who is he talking to?’
“You said that you arrested Huh Sang-Soo, right?”
- I arrested him under the suspicion of being a spy. We have also secured evidence.
“Can you kill him for me?”
Yang Bum remained silent for a moment.
- Can you tell me why you want me to kill him?
“I’m working on something right now, and I need him to die for it to work. It doesn’t matter whether he dies from an accident or from a gunshot. I just need him dead,” Kang Chan answered.
Another moment of silence passed.
Now that Kang Chan asked, he finally realized how difficult his request was to accomplish. No matter how powerful China was, they couldn’t just kill a member of South Korea’s National Assembly.
“It seems I asked for something quite hard to execute. He has to die for what I’m doing right now, but it’s fine if you can’t—”
- I’ll have him taken care of tomorrow.
Kang Chan couldn’t believe his ears.
- I’ll also announce his death by then. In return, please just make sure that the South Korean government doesn’t misunderstand.
“This is a personal favor for me, so the government would probably have different conclusions about it.
Kang Chan heard Yang Bum laughing.
- You just need not interfere.
What does that mean?
Kang Chan couldn’t understand what he was saying.
- The situation in China will be settled within a week. Please consider Huh Sang-Soo’s death as me returning the favor to you for helping me last time. I’ll officially invite you in a week. Is there anything else?
“Thank you.”
- I should be the one thanking you. I’ll announce his death tomorrow, and I’ll contact you in a week.
When Kang Chan hung up, Seok Kang-Ho grinned and asked, “Are you thinking of provoking Huh Ha-Soo?”
“I’m just doing what I do best.”
“How about meeting up with Ambassador Lanok?” Seok Kang-Ho was trying to say that they should call the Foreign Legion’s special forces team.
Kang Chan smirked instead of answering his question. After a while, he said, “I never thought about working for South Korea.”
“Then what have you been doing all this time?”
“I did all of that for the people that I like—for you, my parents, and the people who impressed me. But I changed my mind when I heard the news that General Choi Seong-Geon had been killed.”
Seok Kang-Ho had been understanding well until now, but then he cocked his head.
“Would we have acted like this if we were born in France or if we were American? Starting now, I’ll try turning South Korea into a country powerful and tenacious enough to make others start preparing for war before they can even plan to mess with a person like General Choi Seong-Geon.”
“There’s going to be so many things to do,” Seok Kang-Ho commented.
Kang Chan nodded. “Let’s take care of the son of a bitch in South Korea first.”
Seok Kang-Ho grinned. His eyes glinted.
***
It was late at night.
Jeon Dae-Geuk was sitting in Kim Hyung-Jung’s office, still glaring at the desk.
After they heard Kim Tae-Jin sighing softly…
“Manager Kim,” Jeon Dae-Geuk called, then looked up from the desk. “How would the United States react if we retaliated?”
Kim Hyung-Jung quickly looked at Kim Tae-Jin.
“Wouldn’t they pressure us as much as possible again like in the old days? There was the Korean ax murder incident[1] and the fact that when we were visiting foreign countries, North Korea bombed us and killed all of our talents who were supposed to showcase their abilities[2]. Even then, we didn’t have a choice but to bow down to the United States’ pressure, did we? What do you think would happen if we ignore the United States’ opinion like what we did during the last operation, though?” Jeon Dae-Geuk’s cheek twitched after he finished talking. He seemed to have gritted his teeth.
“An operation against North Korea is at a completely different level. The United States has wartime operational control, and in the worst-case scenario they also have the CIA, which would probably plan an assassination,'' Kim Hyung-Jung responded.
He didn’t say who the CIA was going to assassinate, but it was so obvious that they could all guess who it was.
“Kim Tae-Jin, will you be able to go over to North Korea through the DMZ?” Jeon Dae-Geuk asked.
“If an active soldier helps out, then it’ll be possible. We also have Sang-Hyun, after all.” Kim Tae-Jin unexpectedly didn’t stop Jeon Dae-Geuk.
“Kang Chan’s comment about our country not doing anything is really painful. I know that our country has been acting like that until now, though. Even though we have gone on an operation to France and attacked China, we have never retaliated against our enemies for directly attacking us,” Jeon Dae-Geuk added.
“This matter is too big for the president to authorize,” Kim Tae-Jin said.
“That’s true. We can’t ask him to handle all of this. We don’t have enough power to do that yet anyway,” Jeon Dae-Geuk said. “I still don’t think it’s right to just do nothing, though. Our enemy has just killed a general who devoted his entire life to our country, so I really don’t feel right just worrying about how others would react.”
“Section Chief, please take a moment to think about this first,” Kim Hyung-Jung said.
“What made you think that I’ll suddenly go to North Korea? I’m already old, you know.” Jeon Dae-Geuk smirked. He then lifted his head and looked at Kim Hyung-Jung and Kim Tae-Jin, seemingly having just woken up from a spell. “Even so, I can’t just bury Choi Seong-Geon like this. If I do that, I will never be able to tell my juniors that bleeding for our country is something that we should be happy about.”
A complicated emotion circulated around the office.
“I’ll meet the president and tell him about our honest thoughts,” Jeon Dae-Geuk said.
“Section chief, it would be best for us to meet the director first,” Kim Hyung-Jung said.
Jeon Dae-Geuk shook his head. “If I do that, then this will turn into a national affair.”
“How will you handle this, then? Mr. Kang Chan is probably just acting like that because he got angry at the spur of the moment,” Kim Hyung-Jung said, but he abruptly stopped when he saw the look in Jeon Dae-Geuk’s eyes.
“You didn’t get a good look at Kang Chan’s eyes a moment ago, did you? He’s never going to back down. If we old people hesitate and keep saying that we’re calculating what to do as an excuse, then we’re going to lose another extremely talented person. We don’t know when we’ll come across someone as talented as him again,” Jeon Dae-Geuk said.
“Section Chief, we can’t expect our men to come back alive from an operation that requires infiltrating North Korea,” Kim Hyung-Jung responded.
“Why not? The ordinary North Korean soldiers managed to return to North Korea after infiltrating our country using a submarine and crossing it. If they listened to me and did the operation as I instructed back then, that never would’ve happened. I can still clearly remember Choi Seong-Geon’s cry due to the indignation he felt at the end of the operation.” Jeon Dae-Geuk said. He looked as if he had firmly made up his mind. “I failed to protect my junior who once said that he would gladly die for our country. I understand that our country can’t interfere since we failed to make our country that powerful, but even then, I still refuse to let us plummet down again.”
Jeon Dae-Geuk’s determination filled the office.
1. The Korean ax murder incident refers to an actual murder incident where two US Army officers were killed by North Korean soldiers in the Joint Security Area in the DMZ in 1976. Afterwards, South Korea and the United States launched Operation Paul Bunyan to intimidate North Korea into backing down 👈
2. this refers to the Rangoon bombing in 1983, which was an actual assassination attempt against the President of South Korea in Rangoon, Burma. It was orchestrated by North Korea, and as stated by Jeon Dae-Geuk, 21 people died 👈
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