Chapter 156
Chapter 156: Gangster Vs. Yakuza (1)
He parked in the Cheongdam apartment parking lot and stretched languidly from the driver's seat.
"Right, I'd say I've tidied up things around me well enough. Our enemies will fight each other on their own."
Things were going well.
Park Je-hwang, Park Jae-yeol.
And the people who had hurt Kim Tae-yang.
Hwangbo Geom, who seemed to be conspiring with the Murim Tower, would also be targeting Park Je-hwang.
Those who had targeted Ghost and Nameless Hero would have their attention fixed on Park Je-hwang as well.
"Ah! Louise Ferrand too."
Having piled all those heavy burdens onto Park Je-hwang, he felt this unbearably light.
"Everyone, fight hard."
Whoever wins is on our side.
"Now I need to build up the foundations a bit."
He also had to grow the Red Dragon Gate, and to do that, he needed to deal with the yakuza bastards who were steadily eating into the Black Market.
"I need to expand the Poison Herb Field too."
Omar was managing the human oxen remarkably well, but—
When it came down to it, more hands were needed.
"I'll have to bring in more workers."
And once Min-jeong returned to Korea, the chocolate business would have to start in earnest.
‘One thing at a time, nice and slow.’
"The Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon."
Those eternal enemies of his were reaching their hands beyond the Tower and into reality, and at the end of that reach was unmistakably Hwangbo Geom.
"I need to find out what the Murim Tower is plotting through Hwangbo Geom."
This was the top priority.
Until this was resolved, blindly continuing to climb would only be a losing move.
The yakuza matter had Chief Han's vigilante group working on it.
Red Dragon Gate's Lee Won-ryong was handling one task at a time as directed.
After pulling back the Gu Poison, the murky energy that had blinded his eyes cleared.
Lee Won-ryong, having regained his firearm, moved swiftly.
The gains from that would be considerable.
"Now I just need to connect 2 people and they'll handle it themselves."
‘That meeting ought to be interesting.’
He was about to head inside when—
[Kim Tae-yang points to a corner saying, 'Hey, that's Im Ye-rin's car!' +10 Happiness]
Kim Tae-yang's message came through.
"It really is. That's Im Ye-rin's mother's car that I saw before."
‘Not that I need reminding—I remember everything.’
This kid Kim Tae-yang.
‘When did he even memorize the license plate?’
[Kim Tae-yang boasts, 'I was a top student once, you know'. +1 Happiness]
He thought for a moment, then put on Nameless Hero's Human Skin Mask.
He took the elevator up.
He stood in front of the apartment door.
Ssss—Haa.
Faint, but—
……The scent of lilac drifted through.
Beep-beep-beep-
He opened the door and went inside.
The apartment was dead quiet.
He called out into the darkness.
"Chief Han. Come out."
A heavy silence.
"You'll die if you stay like that."
At his razor-sharp warning—
Slooowly.
2 people peeked their heads out.
"Sur……prise."
2 women wearing party hats like the kind used at birthday parties.
Their expressions were dejected.
The party poppers they each held went to waste in that moment.
"It was supposed to be a brilliant surprise party."
"Was it."
"A party to celebrate Hero's return to Korea."
"What on earth are you doing in Kim Tae-yang's home?"
Click.
He turned on the lights and let out a sigh.
"And what about you, Hero?"
"This is my student's home, so it's the same as my own."
"Just as I thought! I believed my Hero would be here."
At that, Im Ye-rin stuck out her lips in a pout.
"Oh, Chief. That was my idea."
"Who said it wasn't?"
Chief Han patted Im Ye-rin on the backside with a pat pat and approached him.
"This is a welcome-home gift."
What she held out was 1 box of Handsome Bungeoppang.
"Hmph."
"I bought it at your student's shop. Will you give me some praise if I mention I stood in line?"
"Well done."
He put a bungeoppang in his mouth.
"Would you like some tea?"
"I'll do it, Hero."
Im Ye-rin quickly ran to the kitchen.
And with practiced ease, she took out the tea, poured hot water from the water purifier, and let it steep.
He let out a sigh first.
"How many days have you been here?"
"3 days?"
"Good grief."
Im Ye-rin brought over 2 cups of tea.
"This one's for Chief. This one's for Hero."
"Oh my, why does Hero's cup have 2 teabags?"
Chief Han shot Im Ye-rin a sideways glance.
"He went through twice the hardship, so 2 teabags."
"Look at this one."
"Hero. It's only teabags today, but I make really great coffee, you know."
"Tae-yang told me."
Im Ye-rin's face brightened.
"Oh! Really? Haha. Next time I'll brew you a cup—"
"He said the Aegis' Shield. About the Scarlet Scale Shield."
"……He said that too?"
He shook his head slowly, and Im Ye-rin's shoulders drooped.
Chief Han picked up the tea Im Ye-rin had made, blowing on it gently, and laughed.
He asked her.
"Why are you here?"
"A high-security luxury apartment. Spacious and comfortable, with an owner who's been away a long time. It's hard to find a better hideout than this."
"You've taken over someone else's home and you're saying it far too boldly."
"You try it and see. Bear with me."
He had nothing more to say.
He looked around and asked again.
"And Minister Han?"
"Father had something to attend to and went out. About 2 hours ago."
The father-daughter pair had practically moved in.
"That small room over there is Father's room. The 2 of us are sharing that middle room."
"I didn't give permission."
"There are plenty of empty rooms. We left the rooms that looked like yours or Tae-yang's untouched. The doors were locked anyway."
"You tried to open them."
"No! It seemed like you'd hate it so I absolutely didn't touch them."
He pressed his hand to his forehead.
Just in case something like this happened, he'd moved all the important items and dangerous things to the Poison Herb Field—
But now that it had actually come to pass, it gave him a headache.
And on top of that—
……The faint smell of gunpowder drifting through.
"You've brought firearms into my home?"
"You really are psychic."
Chief Han shook her head.
"Chief!"
"More importantly, the 'Secret Room' was absolutely left untouched."
She pointed to the innermost room of his apartment.
"But what is that room?"
"Just a room."
"Is there such a thing as a plain room with a 40mm-thick steel door?"
"I had Tae-yang install it. I value my privacy."
"Hmm. Men."
Im Ye-rin backed her up.
"Chief. Men are like that—they lock their room doors. My younger cousin locks his door every single night, and I wonder what he's doing in there—"
"Enough!"
His head throbbed.
The quiet of his daily life was changing again, just like it had in Paris.
There were no signs the Secret Room had been opened.
Given Chief Han's skill, she could have opened it, but it seemed she hadn't forced it. The other rooms were the same.
‘Perhaps that's her last shred of conscience.’
In any case, he had been planning to seek her out himself, so her coming first was a convenience. It saved him the trouble.
"I hear you've been busy lately."
"Somewhat."
"Senzo-gumi, I heard."
"You really don't miss a thing. Haah. That's right."
"Why not just live out your vigilante life to the fullest and show up at my home?"
"Temporarily closed for personal reasons……"
Chief Han let out a long sigh, and began to explain.
"Public order is in poor shape. Part of it is because of the Tower Climbers."
It wasn't just that Climbers were superhumanly strong.
The biggest problem was that they had grown accustomed to killing through their Tower climbs.
"Those accustomed to killing now hold power that surpasses law enforcement—it's truly a crisis."
It wasn't just the Climbers' problem alone.
The overwhelming, terrifying atmosphere they generated.
Ordinary citizens were gradually being infected by it too.
"The reason violent crime is surging worldwide right now is all because of that."
A world where human life was becoming worthless.
It was starting to resemble the Gangho he had once lived in.
He said to her.
"Then couldn't you just arrest and imprison them?"
"We do arrest them. We've been arresting them and we'll continue to. But that's been going on for over 10 years now."
Chief Han sighed.
"Even before the Murim Tower, prisons and detention centers were already at capacity. Additional prisons are being built, but that's no easy matter. The moment you try to build one anywhere, residents immediately make a fuss."
He had witnessed citizens protesting about falling property values on several occasions himself.
"The world is falling apart, yet even now people are worried about property values! And ever since the Golden Tower appeared, thinking it means greater safety, people are now crying out to cancel even the prisons currently under construction."
"Still, it has to be pushed through."
"Yes. The government has been making continued efforts, and a bill passed 2 years ago gave it real momentum."
He knew that bill too.
It was the bill proposing to build prisons near the Murim Tower.
A bill introduced by Pyeon Jae-yeong during his time as a member of the National Assembly.
It was the 1 thing Pyeon Jae-yeong had done that he actually approved of.
This had started first in the United States, where Micky Drumpet had immediately built a prison right next to the Murim Tower.
Pyeon Jae-yeong had benchmarked this in Korea.
10 years after the Murim Tower emerged.
The surrounding 1km radius was wiped out, but over time, various buildings for Tower management began appearing near the Murim Tower.
However, residential use was not permitted.
And after witnessing 15km radius obliterated when the African Murim Tower collapsed, restrictions were tightened even further.
"Then why aren't they building the prisons?"
Chief Han shook her head.
"There are groups crying about human rights and whatnot, but the real problem is Pyeon Jae-yeong."
Hm?
"Once he became Minister of Justice, he abruptly changed his position."
He's the one who introduced the bill.
"Turns out Pyeon Jae-yeong had been buying up land around the Murim Tower hand over fist using borrowed names."
……Ah.
"The Murim Tower is near a major city. It should normally be incredibly expensive land, but with people fleeing out of fear, it had become dirt cheap."
Taking advantage of the low prices to buy up the land—
And then having announced the prison construction on top of that, people must have been selling their land at a steep discount in a rush to get out.
Once Pyeon Jae-yeong himself had finished buying it all up, he then turns around to oppose the prison construction.
"Even with the land prices fallen as they had, it would have required an enormous amount of money."
"It appears funds flowed in from the Miraejegwa Group."
The Miraejegwa Group—that was Ye Bo-yeong's family.
Ha! Well, well.
[Kim Tae-yang shouts that Pyeon Geom-sa and Ye Bo-yeong are all in cahoots and every last one of them needs to be properly taught a lesson. +100 Happiness]
"If the Murim Tower collapses, everything within 15km gets wiped out, doesn't it."
The Miraejegwa Group or Pyeon Jae-yeong—
Wouldn't they end up suffering enormous losses?
Chief Han answered with a smile.
"Our Republic of Korea is different."
She pointed at him.
"Because we have the Golden Tower."
"But the Golden Tower was made by Park Je-hwang."
"Who's going to believe that?"
‘Chief Han really isn't fooled.’
He stroked his chin.
"And President Park Jae-yeol's involvement?"
"Same story. Park Jae-yeol's son is notorious for being a scoundrel, and that person bought the land outright in his own name."
"Brazen."
"That's exactly why he's a scoundrel."
‘A wolf that spawned a dog.’
"Though the circumstances would be somewhat different. I know President Park Jae-yeol has enormous political ambition, but he doesn't leave traces in financial matters. It was probably the scoundrel son doing as he pleased."
Im Ye-rin, who had been listening quietly, cut in.
"This Senzo-gumi yakuza business also seems to have the hands of the powerful involved."
The Senzo-gumi's Black Market dispute.
Park Jae-yeol, Pyeon Jae-yeong, and the like were entangled in that too?
His head had been entirely occupied with ‘Hwangbo Geom’, so he had intended to end things by offering just enough assistance—
But an instinct told him this was no small matter.
‘Could it be connected to Hwangbo Geom, the Changbai Sect, and the Murim Tower?’
"Tell me more."
Chief Han continued with a darkened expression.
"The Japanese yakuza, Senzo-gumi, came in and seized 30% of the Black Market. I'm sure you're well aware. Being the true owner of the Red Dragon Gate, the Black Market's majority stakeholder."
"Continue."
"However much of a Black Market it is, our government was still managing it. Actually, it's more accurate to say they were complicit in it."
She sighed as if in regret, then continued.
"Truth is, a substantial portion of the Black Market earnings was being received under the table."
"Hmm."
Slurp—
Chief Han took a sip of her tea. Perhaps embarrassed, both her cheeks flushed red.
"Politics takes a great deal of money, and so does the National Martial Affairs Headquarters. The government opened the Item Exchange, but there are limits."
"That would be so."
He had suspected as much.
There was no way they had simply left the Black Market alone—where enormous sums of money moved—just to give people an outlet for their desire to buy things.
As he had seen with the Paris Murim Tower, he had assumed there were deep ties with political circles and those in power.
"After the Murim Tower, costs became astronomical. People call the Murim Tower a new hope, but in truth it's despair."
Bitter.
"Climbing is just gambling too. Gambling with one's own life, no less. Dozens of people dying every single day as though a war has broken out—how could the economy hold up?"
She exhaled one sigh after another.
"Up till now, funds flowed from the Red Dragon Gate and the rest toward the government side. That money was laundered and became secret operating funds for the National Martial Affairs Headquarters."
Compensation for agents who died climbing during missions for the National Martial Affairs Headquarters.
And the black funds that could never see an audit, no doubt.
"And then?"
"The money stopped."
Clack.
Chief Han set her teacup down on the table.
"It started with the Red Dragon Gate. At some point, the funds stopped coming in, and then the Changbai Sect stopped sending funds too. The Goryeo Sword Sect alone is still continuing, though they seem to be watching how things go as well."
‘This was something even I hadn't known.’
Though he could guess.
After taking over the Red Dragon Gate and reviewing the secret ledgers, he had cut off all the outgoing funds.
And the one who had been managing those outgoing funds—
'Hwang Mu-yeol.'
The former elder of the Red Dragon Gate who had turned against him.
‘I see.’
‘So Hwang Mu-yeol, who was managing the Black Market, had been handling this task.’
"Could it be that the time you froze the Red Dragon Gate's accounts, Chief—"
"Yes……. The funds were dwindling."
"Hwang Mu-yeol had embezzled a considerable sum, it turns out. And that was the tribute money flowing to political circles."
"I apologize. I was truly ashamed when I froze that account."
"It would have been orders from above. There must have been a great deal of compensation needed for the National Martial Affairs Headquarters agents who died recently."
"I have no excuse, no matter how I put it. It was wrong."
‘So that's how it was.’
No wonder—even though it was a matter I had requested, she lifted the account freeze immediately.
The tacit approval of the Black Market's operations.
And the political circles who had been feeding off those funds.
The Red Dragon Gate had been making tribute payments through Hwang Mu-yeol, and by dealing with Hwang Mu-yeol, he had cut off the money supply.
At that point, the Senzo-gumi—Japanese Climbers and yakuza—extended their reach into the Korean Black Market.
And the political circles were turning a blind eye to it.
"There is 1 thing I don't understand."
"Please say it."
"No matter how much Park Jae-yeol and Pyeon Jae-yeong covet the Black Market funds, accepting money from Japanese yakuza carries enormous risks."
‘We're talking about yakuza bastards, after all.’
Could they really risk being grabbed by the scruff of the neck and dragged around by the yakuza after pocketing dirty money?
Chief Han nodded.
"Your point is precise. There are 2 reasons for that."
She extended her 1st finger.
"The 1st is National Martial Affairs Headquarters Minister Kim Mu-ok and his son, 'Kim Do-han'."
[Kim Tae-yang's eyes snap wide open at the name 'Kim Do-han'. +100 Happiness]