Chapter 213.1: Something I’ve Always Dreamed About (1)
Even a ten-year-old child would recognize that their reactions didn’t mean anything good.
When Kang Chan turned his head, he found Moon Jae-Hyun looking at him head-on with an expression that was hard to read.
What’s making everyone react like this?
Kang Chan looked at Kim Hyung-Jung with curiosity.
“Mr. Kang Chan, there is a provision in each country’s intelligence bureau that prohibits double agents. According to the regulations, you should not have even been allowed to enter this room,” Kim Hyung-Jung explained.
A double agent?
“Essentially, a spy,” Kim Hyung-Jung added.
What if someone overseeing a country’s intelligence actually belonged to a different country’s bureau? When Kang Chan put himself in their shoes, he could see why that would be problematic.
Kang Chan completely understood their situation, but he couldn’t help himself from smiling bitterly. He had been skillfully outplayed by France.
And there’s no way that snake didn’t know how things would turn out if he told me about this.
In that brief moment, many thoughts passed through Kang Chan’s mind.
“Did you obtain your information in this incident in Afghanistan from the French intelligence bureau?” Hwang Ki-Hyun asked.
“Yes, sir,” Kang Chan immediately responded.
“And it didn’t occur to you at all that you could be a double agent?” Hwang Ki-Hyun prodded on.
“I thought I would be of assistance to South Korea.”
“How so?” Moon Jae-Hyun chimed in. He didn’t seem to be rebuking Kang Chan. Rather, he looked as if he was genuinely curious.
“I’m sorry for being so direct, but I heard the level of our country’s intelligence bureau is ranked around 40th in the entire world. I believe information warfare will be critical to our goal to be a part of the Eurasian Rail. To that end, I think receiving the help of the DGSE would serve us well for now,” Kang Chan told him.
The ends of Moon Jae-Hyun’s eyes curved up in delight.
“Mr. Kang Chan, have you already come up with countermeasures to resolve this situation?” he asked.
Considering Kang Chan had already decided to give this a try anyway, he thought he might as well go for it. After taking a deep breath, he began, “I contacted France’s DGSE to send a plane from the Subic Base in the Philippines to Osan. Since the demand video is expected to be released within the next 12 hours, I plan to rescue our citizens before then.”
“For planes to fly directly from Osan to Afghanistan, they have to go through China first. We can’t expect China to give permission for a military plane to fly through their airspace. However, if you go around their territory, you won’t make it in time,” the first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service said in disbelief. He sounded quite flabbergasted.
Moon Jae-Hyun turned back to look at Kang Chan again.
‘What’s the solution?’
The president’s eyes seemed to be asking him that question.
“I will ask for help from Yang Bum, the Chinese intelligence bureau,” Kang Chan stated.
“This is a matter of life and death for our citizens, Mr. Kang Chan. Can you call China’s intelligence bureau now?” Moon Jae-Hyun asked.
“I will try, sir,” Kang Chan responded.
When he pulled out his phone, Moon Jae-Hyun added, “May we all listen to your conversation?”
It sounded as if the president had ulterior motives for his request. However, Kang Chan couldn’t get a grasp on it.
Seeing him about to make the call, Kim Hyung-Jung quickly gave him a small, thumb-sized compressor that had a cable connected to it.
“Stick this device to the back of your phone,” he explained.
All these theatrics were cumbersome, but Kang Chan decided to do his best—at least for the sakes of Jeon Dae-Geuk, who looked very anxious, and Kim Hyung-Jung, who was doing everything in his power to help him.
When he pressed the call button, the dial tone began to ring.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
- Mr. Kang Chan.
Yang Bum answering the call in Korean sounded as if it was coming from the desk because his voice resonated throughout the room.
Now that it’s come to this, I might as well do it!
“Mr. Yang Bum, this is Kang Chan speaking. Do you have time to talk for a bit right now?” Kang Chan politely asked.
- Nothing could be more important than your calls, Mr. Kang Chan.
At Yang Bum’s humorous response, the second and third deputy directors exchanged gazes of surprise.
“I’ll get straight to the point because of the urgency of the situation. In the next twelve hours, a military aircraft that I will be on has to pass through China. Do you think you can give us permission to fly through your airspace?” Kang Chan asked.
Yang Bum briefly paused before answering.
- If you are the only passenger on the plane, we can provide a flight for you.
“A fully armed special forces team will be on board with me,” Kang Chan added.
Awkward emotions of doubt and concern flickered across Hwang Ki-Hyun and Kim Hyung-Jung’s faces.
Should I not have mentioned that much to Yang Bum?
This was Kang Chan’s way of doing things, though.
There was an even longer moment of silence than before until Yang Bum spoke again.
- Mr. Kang Chan, may I know where you will be headed?
When Kang Chan lifted his gaze in question, Hwang Ki-Hyun swiftly nodded at him.
“I will be going to Afghanistan,” Kang Chan replied.
- Well… hmm…
Yang Bum sighed, clearly deep in thought.
- The aircraft will be cutting straight through China. During that time, we will have to temporarily lift our air defense system. That’s not something we can easily do.
The first deputy director made an “I told you” expression upon hearing Yang Bum’s response. However, Yang Bum soon continued.
- Is there any other assistance you require from me?
“That should be enough, sir. Oh! Of course, I’ll also need your cooperation when we’re returning to South Korea,” Kang Chan added.
Yang Bum’s astounded laughter echoed from the other end of the phone.
- Mr. Kang Chan, in return for doing this favor for you, I would like to request your mediation for our negotiations with Russia’s Vasili. Would you be able to do that?
This was the condition that Yang Bum was offering. The three deputy directors looked beyond stunned at how things were turning out.
- Vasili has always had a close friendship with Suo Ke. You and Ambassador Lanok are the only people who can connect me to him. I thought I should ask since we have a matter to discuss that involves the borders of Mongolia, Russia, and China.
When Kang Chan lifted his gaze again, Hwang Ki-Hyun didn’t seem to have an answer for him.
“Mr. Yang Bum, I don’t know exactly what you require from me, but I promise you that I will do my best with whatever you need my help with,” Kang Chan firmly replied.
- Thank you. I know your promises can be trusted. If you let me know when you will be going through China, I will make the arrangements. I wish you the best of luck with your business.
“Thank you, sir.”
Once the phone conversation ended, a heavy silence fell upon the conference room.
“Mr. Kang Chan,” Moon Jae-Hyun spoke up, breaking the ice.
“Yes, sir,” Kang Chan replied.
“Do you love South Korea?”
Song Chang-Wook, a lawyer and descendant of an independence activist, had asked him the same cringeworthy, embarrassing question just a few days ago,
“I actually don’t quite know the answer to that question, Mr. President,” Kang Chan truthfully answered.
Jeon Dae-Geuk dropped his gaze to the table. However, Kang Chan wasn’t finished.
“But when I saw the men who were killed in the recent operation and the bereaved daughter of one of them, I became determined to accomplish something.”
Moon Jae-Hyun gazed intently at Kang Chan while he waited for him to continue.
“I want to create a South Korea that our fallen and the families they left behind can be proud of. I want to make their sacrifice worth it, to show them that they lay down their lives not in vain but for the development of this country, sir.”
“Is that why you sent money to the families of the fallen?” Moon Jae-Hyun asked.
He knows about this too?
Kang Chan looked at him with curiosity.
“Director Hwang, what is the current position that Mr. Kang Chan has?” Moon Jae-Hyun asked before Kang Chan could answer his first question.
“He is a special-grade agent of the special forces, and he holds no official position,” Hwang Ki-Hyun answered.
“Then what of the position of assistant director in France’s DGSE? What kind of rank is that?”
“It would be right below the Deputy Director-General position. They have the authority to issue assassination orders for up to second-grade personnel as classified by the DGSE.”
“What rank would you fall under the France DGSE’s classification, Director?”
“Second grade, sir,” Hwang Ki-Hyun responded, causing the atmosphere in the conference room to tense up.
“It would seem France has preemptively called dibs on Mr. Kang Chan by giving him extremely high authority and rank. If we are sharing a double agent with them, which country would be at a greater disadvantage?”
“Mr. President, this kind of situation cannot be assessed simply in terms of each side’s advantages and disadvantages,” Hwang Ki-Hyun cautiously replied.
“Is that so? Well, I think France has done something that is disadvantageous to them. Am I wrong?” Moon Jae-Hyun asked, but he sounded as if he didn’t really want an answer, so everyone just remained quiet and waited for him to continue.
“France, who recognized Mr. Kang Chan’s talents and gave him a position of authority, versus South Korea, who is contemplating whether he is a double agent or not. Which side is at the disadvantage here? What do you think, Director Hwang?”
“As the Director of the National Intelligence Service, I have no choice but to follow the protocol, sir. Making decisions is a unique power of the highest-ranking individual in charge.”
Moon Jae-Hyun turned to Kang Chan and looked directly into his eyes. “Mr. Kang Chan, there are currently two years left in my term. Until then, I will do my best to protect you. I have just one request,”
This man didn’t have a sharp gaze, but his eyes were definitely filled with enough conviction to make up for that.
Even Jeon Dae-Geuk and Hwang Ki-Hyun were looking at Kang Chan with nervous expressions.
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