How a Salaryman Became an Underworld Boss

The hotel where we were going to stay was located on the waterfront of the Kowloon Peninsula, right in the heart of Hong Kong.

After checking in and following the bellboy to my room, I couldn’t help admiring the place. Of all the hotels I’d ever stayed at, this one had by far the most luxurious interior.

After tipping the bellboy and seeing him out, I walked over to the window. Beyond it stretched Hong Kong’s famous nightscape. Fully deserving of its reputation, the city glittered in every color of the rainbow, so mesmerizing that I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

”Ah, so this is why everyone keeps going on about ’Hong Kong, Hong Kong’?”

As I quietly muttered my impressions to myself, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan approached me.

”Director, why don’t you change into something comfortable and get some rest?”

”I’d love to, but Vice Chairman Wei Chen is on his way here, isn’t he?”

”Ah! I completely forgot he was coming.”

”It happens. By the way, this room is huge. How about we stay together?”

”I’ll be sharing a room with Team Leader Seo Donghun.”

I could immediately tell from Chief Secretary Kang Inhan’s tone that he wasn’t at all fond of the idea.

”Well, if that’s how it is, nothing can be done. I’ll go unpack in the bedroom.”

Ding-dong!

Before I’d even managed to open my suitcase, the doorbell rang. Knowing exactly who had arrived, I quickly finished with my things and went out into the living room.

However, there was an unexpected development. Director Lee Menghong entered the room together with Vice Chairman Wei Chen and President Pan Kai.

Deciding to ask why he was here later, I warmly greeted our guests. Just as we were sitting down on the sofas in the living room, Director Lee Menghong spoke to me.

”Director Cha, you’re probably wondering why I came here.”

”I was just about to ask.”

”I introduced Vice Chairman Wei Chen to Director Kim Woncheol, who’s in charge of the Security Service in Sinuiju.”

Commander Kwak Taesu and Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol were doing everything in their power to overthrow Kim Jonghun’s regime. For their plan to succeed, it was critically important to deliver operational funds to their subordinates still inside North Korea. As a precaution, I’d entrusted the transportation of those funds to Vice Chairman Wei Chen. Apparently, Director Lee Menghong had arranged for him to meet Director Kim Woncheol, a trusted man of the two.

”Can Director Kim Woncheol be trusted?”

”Commander Kwak recommended him to me.”

Commander Kwak Taesu, as befitted the head of the Guard Command, was an extremely cautious man. If he had personally introduced Kim Woncheol to Vice Chairman Wei Chen, then the man could definitely be trusted.

”I see.”

”It was decided that President Pan Kai would personally hand the operational funds over to Director Kim Woncheol.”

I turned to President Pan Kai to express my gratitude.

”President Pan, I almost feel bad asking you to handle something this difficult.”

”Haha! Not at all. It’s nothing.”

”And when do you plan to begin transferring the funds to Director Kim Woncheol?”

”It’ll take at least six months to establish a system capable of getting the money all the way to Pyongyang.”

”Do you know why it takes so long?”

”I was told that North Korea has a comprehensive surveillance system in place, so it isn’t an easy matter.”

”Hmm, that makes sense. And how much does Director Kim plan to send to Pyongyang?”

”Once the system is in place, the plan is to transfer five million dollars once every two weeks.”

Kwak Cheolhun and his friend Vitor Gabriel had once been kidnapped by Antonio’s men. During the operation to rescue him, we’d managed to confiscate the hidden assets belonging to Gabriel, Antonio, and their associates. Since we’d played the key role, we received our share: 102 billion dollars in cash, 16 billion dollars in securities, and approximately 5 billion dollars’ worth of diamonds.

As a reward, I paid five billion dollars to Kwak Cheolhun, whose kidnapping had given us this opportunity in the first place. In addition, the nine billion dollars obtained from selling the gold bars found at Kim Juchol’s house had been given to Commander Kwak Taesu and Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol. Altogether, they intended to provide their subordinates in North Korea with no less than ten billion dollars in operational funds.

And despite all that, they’d only be able to send ten million dollars a month at most? A simple calculation showed that transferring the entire ten billion dollars would take more than eighty-three years.

”The limit for each transfer seems far too low.”

”I told Director Kim the same thing. He promised to look for a solution.”

”Understood. Let me know as soon as you hear that the system is ready.”

”Of course.”

”By the way, when are you planning to clean out the brokers operating along the North Korean border?”

”We’re currently gathering information on the situation, so the cleanup operation should begin soon.”

”Please make sure defectors can send money to their families in North Korea without having to worry.”

”Don’t worry. We’ll do everything we can.”

When the conversation reached a lull, Vice Chairman Wei Chen spoke up.

”Director Cha, how’s that bastard Chen Zhihui doing?”

I’d anticipated a question like this from Vice Chairman Wei Chen, so I’d already asked Director Nevers about the situation.

”He’s lying low on the Philippine island of Mindanao.”

”Do you know why he hasn’t left Mindanao?”

”He needs to deliver North Korean-made weapons to Abu Sayyaf.”

Only then did Vice Chairman Wei Chen understand what was going on. Chen Zhihui had signed a contract to supply North Korean weapons to Abu Sayyaf, an insurgent organization based on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

However, the Golden Mariner, the freighter transporting those weapons, had been detained by the U.S. military in Japan, resulting in all five forty-foot containers being confiscated. And the Silver Crystal, a container ship that had departed for the Philippines carrying twenty containers of weapons, had been sunk outright by Delta Force. Naturally, every container aboard had been completely destroyed.

To placate Abu Sayyaf’s dissatisfaction, Chen Zhihui had offered to supply them with long-range North Korean missiles. He was stuck on Mindanao precisely because he needed to deliver that shipment of missiles obtained from North Korea.

”And how does Chen Zhihui intend to deliver the missiles to Abu Sayyaf?”

”On a North Korean submarine.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen’s heart seemed to drop into his stomach. Submarines traveled underwater, making them incredibly difficult to track. If North Korea sent the missiles to Abu Sayyaf aboard a submarine, stopping them would be practically impossible. In a frightened voice, he asked Cha Jiham whether there was a solution to the problem.

”The moment the submarine carrying the missiles leaves North Korea, Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol will inform me.”

”But didn’t Deputy Director Jo defect to South Korea?”

”He still has plenty of loyal men in North Korea.”

In other words, Jo Ilcheol would quickly receive the information from his loyal subordinates in the North.

”Ah, now I understand. So when does North Korea plan to export the missiles to Abu Sayyaf?”

”We haven’t received any definite information yet, so I can’t say one way or the other.”

”Suppose Deputy Director Jo receives the signal. What do you intend to do about the North Korean submarine?”

”There’s a U.S. naval base in the Philippines.”

”You intend to use an American submarine to sink it?”

”Exactly, Vice Chairman Wei.”

”Hahaha!”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen suddenly burst into loud laughter. Not understanding what was so funny, I merely stared at him in bewilderment. Noticing my gaze, he quickly restrained himself and continued.

”Ah, I just pictured Chen Zhihui’s face filled with despair as all his hopes come crashing down.”

”I see.”

”Well then, how about we have a drink?”

Since it was already late, we had to order alcohol and snacks through room service. When the drinking was in full swing, Vice Chairman Wei Chen spoke in a coaxing tone.

”Director Cha, when should I meet Director Nevers?”

Antonio’s syndicate, based in Colombia, had been the largest supplier of drugs to the United States. But Antonio himself had been arrested in Lucerne, Switzerland, during a joint CIA-FIS operation. With the sudden collapse of his organization, the volume of drugs entering America would decrease substantially. His laptop contained information on every gang involved in distribution within the United States. The U.S. government was currently carrying out a massive cleanup of those organizations with the help of the FBI, the military, and the Gomez family. And Vice Chairman Wei Chen intended to occupy the newly vacated niche.

”Director Nevers is a man who strictly adheres to the principle of ’Give and Take.’”

”You’re saying I should prepare a gift he’ll appreciate?”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen’s instincts were as sharp as ever.

”That’s exactly what I think.”

”And what kind of gift should I prepare?”

”As you know, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang is aiming very high. Our country and the United States are secretly helping him realize those ambitions.”

”We’ll give him our full support as well.”

”Haha, that’s very reassuring. But for his plan to succeed, the first thing we need to do is cut off Chairman Xi’s arms and legs.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen recalled the conversation that had taken place in Dandong between Cha Jiham, Director Griffin, and Director Nevers. At the time, Cha Jiham had pointed out that for Tang Guochang’s coup to succeed, they needed to eliminate Chairman Xi Jinping’s closest associates—Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan and Politburo member Liu Peiqi. He had asked that they be kept under close surveillance, and in return, Director Nevers had promised to open a legal (?) route for supplying drugs to the United States.

”We’re keeping Deputy Secretary Zhang and Politburo member Liu under surveillance and regularly passing the information we obtain to Director Nevers.”

I shook my head in disagreement and continued.

”When I spoke of Chairman Xi Jinping’s ’arms and legs,’ I meant his personal secretary, Deng Zhiping.”

”And why does he specifically need to be eliminated?”

”It’s been confirmed that he manages Chairman Xi’s personal slush fund.”

”Ah, I see.”

”If you present him to Director Nevers as a gift, he’ll be delighted.”

”Is that really necessary?”

I instantly recognized the reason for Vice Chairman Wei Chen’s displeasure: he himself had his eye on Xi Jinping’s slush fund under Deng Zhiping’s control.

’He certainly isn’t lacking in greed.’

”Deng Zhiping, as Chairman Xi’s confidant, must possess a vast amount of classified information.”

”You’re suggesting that the classified information we extract from him will be the gift for Director Nevers?”

”I won’t deny it.”

”Haha. Understood. By the way, how much money is in this slush fund that Deng Zhiping manages?”

”According to the information we have, about 73.5 billion dollars.”

”How much?!”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen was genuinely astonished, clearly not having expected such an astronomical figure.

”The information came from Minister of State Security Peng Yuxiang, who defected to the United States.”

”Then it must be true.”

”But keep this in mind: Deng Zhiping is one of Chairman Xi’s closest confidants.”

There was an obvious implication in my words: he shouldn’t recklessly attempt to kidnap Deng Zhiping.

”Don’t worry. I’ll only abduct Deng Zhiping after I’ve devised a flawless plan.”

”Good. And what is Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan doing these days?”

”Living as usual. Nothing new.”

Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan was the actual owner of Eastern Shipping. The 6,000-TEU container ship Silver Crystal was also registered to that company. It was the very ship that had departed Dalian Port carrying North Korean weapons before being sent to the bottom by Delta Force.

Fearing that an official investigation into the cause of the ship’s sinking might expose the smuggling of North Korean weapons, Zhang Jinan had hurriedly assumed full responsibility. There had been 6,000 containers aboard the Silver Crystal, which meant the compensation for the losses would be enormous. By all logic, he should have been running himself ragged dealing with the aftermath of the disaster. Yet, contrary to expectations, he continued living his life as usual. I asked Vice Chairman Wei Chen if he knew why.

”That bastard Chen Zhihui was responsible for the Silver Crystal sinking. So they dumped the entire compensation bill on him.”

”That guy certainly has money to burn.”

”Hahaha! You can say that again!”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen’s thunderous laughter filled the entire living room.