Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1372. Returning (2)

“Okay, so...”

Prime Minister Kim Myeong-Chan’s face stiffened considerably.

“We lost him?”

The Director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Choi Gi-Nam, nervously swallowed his saliva.

“No, sir! It’s still too early to say we’ve lost him for good, Prime Minister!”

When Kim Myeong-Chan’s expression remained icy, Choi Gi-Nam quickly explained some more.

“It’s obvious where they are headed to, sir. Their destination must be Vladivostok via the city of Harbin!”

“Vladivostok, you say?”

“Yes, Prime Minister! They must be thinking of finding a smuggler to...”

Kim Myeong-Chan cut Choi Gi-Nam off. “How sure are we about this?”

“Very sure, sir! We have already confirmed that Yi Jong-Wuk has multiple contacts in Vladivostok. To be more precise, they seem to be Chang Piljae’s contacts, but Yi Jong-Wuk also...”

“Listen here, Director Choi.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How many times do you think you’ve given me your assurance?”

“I... My apologies.”

Choi Gi-Nam subtly bit his lower lip. Hierarchy-wise, the Director of the NIS was obviously lower-ranked than the Prime Minister. Even so, it wasn’t low enough for Kim Myeong-Chan to bite Choi Gi-Nam’s head off like this.

Unlike those who got elected into their office, a Prime Minister was appointed to his office by his boss. Which meant he could get “relieved of his duties” at any given moment. The NIS was tasked with handling the country’s sensitive information, so its director being micro-managed by an appointee would only make that job so much harder.

As such, the NIS and the Prime Minister’s office rarely interacted with each other, historically speaking. Unfortunately for Choi Gi-Nam, though, Kim Myeong-Chan wasn’t any ol’ regular Prime Minister like his predecessors.

Some people opined that Kim Myeong-Chan was the heart and soul of the current administration; the closest of all close confidantes of the President. That meant the level of power he wielded was incomparable to his predecessors.

“Director Choi, didn’t you say the Chinese would mobilize their military?”

“Yes, they have, sir.”

Kim Myeong-Chan furrowed his brow. “Then... Are you telling me their military still couldn’t stop him?”

Choi Gi-Nam clamped his mouth shut, unable to respond.

Although such a response could be seen as rude in the presence of his superior, Kim Myeong-Chan didn’t have enough mental leeway to criticize Choi Gi-Nam for it. The thoughts in his head were far too tangled up to care about trivial matters like that.

“Despite mobilizing the Chinese military, we still couldn’t stop two people from reaching the city of Harbin...?”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s expression hardened even more. He mulled something for a long while before looking up directly into Choi Gi-Nam’s eyes.

“So? How are we dealing with this?”

“The Chinese military will monitor the borders like a hawk, sir.”

“They couldn’t even stop Kang Jin-Ho traveling from Beijing to Harbin, yet you think they can monitor such a vast border? Even ordinary people will find it easy enough to cross into Russia. Do you really believe they can stop Kang Jin-Ho from doing so?”

“I... think that their odds of stopping him are low. In my opinion, however, stopping them isn’t important, but figuring out their route is.”

“I see. Carry on.”

“Thank you, Prime Minister. For them to return to Korea, they don’t have a choice but to travel on a ship. And, as you may already know, even martial artists are rendered helpless on an open sea.”

Kim Myeong-Chan narrowed his eyes. “Oh, so... You’ll wait until they reach somewhere in the middle of the ocean and sink their ship? Is that the plan?”

“Yes, Prime Minister.”

Kim Myeong-Chan suddenly slapped his desk, hard. Anger clouded his expression as he began shouting loudly. “Are you serious right now, Director Choi?! If we could kill those bastards with such a simple method, we wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble in the first place!”

“But, sir. We’ve already taken into account all potential variables in this operation. As we believe the target has the power to take over our ships, we’ve strictly forbidden ships from approaching him. The operation this time will entirely be handled by a submarine. Better still, it won’t be one of ours, but the Chinese navy’s.”

“...”

“There is no need to worry here, Prime Minister. Once the target foolishly climbs on a ship, he’s as good as dead. All we have to do is find out whether he will enter the country via the east coast or the west. That is all.”

Kim Myeong-Chan glared at Choi Gi-Nam, his expression now fully taken over by irritation. However, he eventually spat out a lengthy groan and shook his head.

There was no other way, now was there?

This problem stemmed from the unfortunate fact that the Korean government couldn’t deploy its army against Kang Jin-Ho.

That wasn’t the story in China, as its government could deploy its troops with little to no concern when trying to kill a few martial artists. However, doing that in South Korea? That would be unthinkable. This was all because of this country’s dark history.

The trauma from the Korean government deploying soldiers within its borders still cut deeply for its citizens, perhaps more than most people from other countries might realize. And that trauma would be even worse if the deployment order had come from authority figures like Kim Myeong-Chan or Choi Gi-Nam!

Not only did Kim Myeong-Chan not have the authority to mobilize the army in the first place, but if someone discovered him trying to do exactly that? Regardless of what his intentions were, he’d find himself in a cold, hostile holding cell in less than twenty-four hours, anxiously waiting to hear what his fate would be from an irate judge.

Since he was stuck in a frustrating position where he had to borrow the strength of someone else to handle his business, the answer seemed fairly obvious to him.

Kim Myeong-Chan glared sharply at Choi Gi-Nam. “Director Choi.”

“Yes, Prime Minister.”

“What do you think will happen once he safely returns to South Korea?”

“...”

“This matter won’t simply end with you and me losing our lives. Do you understand that?”

“Of course, sir.”

A look of intense anxiety now filled Kim Myeong-Chan’s expression. “So? Have you contacted your Russian counterpart yet?”

“The... Chinese should be doing that, as we speak.”

Kim Myeong-Chan smirked helplessly. “Hah... This is our business, yet all we can do is sit here and suck on our fingers until China is finished.”

Choi Gi-Nam bowed slightly. “My apologies, Prime Minister.”

“No... No need to apologize,” Kim Myeong-Chan muttered, then began rubbing his tired eyes.

The Prime Minister’s office was enveloped in a bout of weighty silence just then. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Eventually, though, Kim Myeong-Chan muttered quietly. “Listen, Director Choi.”

“Yes, Prime Minister.”

“I choose to believe you. That’s why you better not make any mistakes this time.”

“Do not worry, sir. I will perfectly fulfill my mission.”

“Understood. Now, leave me.”

“Sir.”

Once Choi Gi-Nam left the office, Kim Myeong-Chan mouthed a cigarette and lit it up with a lighter. He leaned against his chair and contemplatively puffed away.

What a pitiful state he was in.

It felt like the lack of sleep from the past few days was interfering with his ability to think clearly.

Now that the situation had reached this point, one gnawing thought took a hold of his mind and didn’t want to let Kim Myeong-Chan go.

Just from where did things start to go wrong?

He believed they had a perfect plan.

Objectively speaking, eliminating Kang Jin-Ho with South Korea’s strength was almost impossible. The difference in strength didn’t even deserve to be considered here. No, the real issue was with how much strength the Korean government could utilize while trying to get rid of Kang Jin-Ho.

As long as Kang Jin-Ho made home in South Korea, the government wouldn’t have a method to kill him. Imagine if it was even possible to deploy armored divisions and even call on the air force for aerial support for a battle in the middle of Seoul. Of course it’d be unthinkable.

Then, what about special forces? Those poor soldiers wouldn’t even get a chance to fire a single shot before getting eliminated first.

Kim Myeong-Chan was convinced that his calculations had not been wrong. The floundering Chinese military had proved him right, after all.

To eliminate Kang Jin-Ho, two prerequisites had to be fulfilled first.

One, an organization with enough power to kill him must be in the picture. Two, they needed a location where deploying the required level of military might wouldn’t cause an issue.

In that regard, China seemed to fit the bill the best, so why?

Kim Myeong-Chan began chewing on the cigarette filter absentmindedly.

Only one place met both conditions, which was China. And its People’s Liberation Army.

Those two presented the perfect location and the perfect level of military strength. So, Kim Myeong-Chan did what he did best and negotiated terms that disadvantaged his side the least.

As long as the outcome was favorable, Kim Myeong-Chan believed this event would become the greatest achievement of his political career. Unfortunately for him, however, the outcome was not favorable at all. And now, the entirety of East Asia was paying the utmost attention to the movements of a single person.

Just what could have been the problem?

A hollow chuckle left Kim Myeong-Chan’s lips.

Well, there wasn’t a problem. Initially, at least.

However, if he was being honest with himself, he could say there was a problem. And that was how wrong his evaluation of Kang Jin-Ho’s strength was. That evaluation was supposed to be perfect, yet Kang Jin-Ho easily surpassed it, and then some!

Kim Myeong-Chan got up, then stubbed his cigarette on the ashtray. He stepped outside his office and headed to the elevator.

He reached the second floor of the basement, then waved aside his bodyguards before heading to a room at the far corner of the corridor.

He glanced at the guards manning the door. “Open it.”

“Yes, sir!”

The door was unlocked, allowing Kim Myeong-Chan to step inside. The guards also wanted to enter, but he briefly waved his hand to stop them.

“I’ll talk to him alone, so let us be for now.”

“Sir? But...”

“Do as I say.”

“...Understood.”

Kim Myeong-Chan closed the door behind him, then slowly turned around to take in the sight of this dark, cramped room. Another person, a man, was squatting by the far corner of this dark interior.

“Looks like you’re not having any troubles with the meals being served, then,” said Kim Myeong-Chan.

The man with a familiar face silently looked up.

“...Someone unawares might think you’re a member of the resistance apprehended by the Japanese occupation forces. It’s not like we’ve tortured you or anything, so stop looking at me like that.”

“Prime Minister, don’t you know that this is also another form of torture?” said the man with a smirk. “Taking away a modern man’s phone, his computer, and locking him up in a room with no TV or radio is definitely torture in this day and age, wouldn’t you agree?”

“But we gave you books, didn’t we?”

The man, Yi Jong-Wuk, shook his head. “I didn’t think you’d be so old-fashioned, sir. People these days hardly touch books.”

Kim Myeong-Chan chuckled slightly.

Was Yi Jong-Wuk simply a gutsy character? Or had he already given up? Either way, it seemed he found enough leeway to crack jokes in this situation.

“Look, Mister Yi.”

“Yes, I’m listening, Prime Minister.”

Kim Myeong-Chan stared at Yi Jong-Wuk in silence for a while before finally saying something. “Your... stay down here. How has it been? Anything to complain about?”

“I wouldn’t dare complain, sir. I should thank three generations of my ancestors for not getting hauled off to God knows where and getting my nails pulled out one by one. And my kneecaps blown out. In that case, how can I complain?”

“Come on, Mister Yi. We don’t live in that era anymore.”

Yi Jong-Wuk chuckled again. “Yes, I am grateful for the era we’re in. If this had happened thirty years ago, I’d already have become chicken feed by now.”

He spoke in a friendly-enough tone, but there was barely any attempt to hide his displeasure.

“Besides... I’m pretty sure you didn’t come all this way for an idle chat, sir. Let’s not waste your time and get to the main topic. I’m prepared to answer whatever you want to know, anyway.”

Kim Myeong-Chan took out a packet of cigarettes and tossed it at Yi Jong-Wuk. The latter easily caught it, then tilted his head.

“Is this a new form of torture? Giving me cigarettes but no ligh...”

Kim Myeong-Chan tossed his lighter at Yi Jong-Wuk before the latter could finish his sentence.

Yi Jong-Wuk didn’t say anything else and lit up the cigarette. He then got up and walked over to Kim Myeong-Chan before politely returning both the cigarette packet and the lighter.

Kim Myeong-Chan also mouthed a cigarette, then asked, “Why did you do it?”

“...Do what exactly, sir?”

The gray cigarette smoke lazily drifted away from Kim Myeong-Chan’s mouth.

“I trusted you not because of your abilities. No, I saw potential in your loyalty and patriotism.”

“...”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s expression grew colder.

“Yes... Indeed, I believed you’d never betray me, no matter what. Choi Gi-Nam might, but not you. I firmly believed you’d willingly sacrifice yourself for the sake of our nation.”

Yi Jong-Wuk didn’t reply and continued to suck on his cigarette.

“Then, why? Why did you betray me?”

The cramped room quickly filled up with cigarette smoke. The haziness of this room seemed to mirror the reality confronting these two men. And that reality could be described as frustrating and unpleasant.

“Did you say I betrayed you?”

“Yes.”

“Looks like there’s a misunderstanding here, sir. I’ve never betrayed anyone.”

“Sophistry won’t help you this time, Mister Yi.”

“You’re the one relying on sophistry, sir. Not me. Actually, that’s not quite right, either,” Yi Jong-Wuk shook his head. “Prime Minister, it looks like you are not aware of what you’re doing.”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s expression crumpled slightly. “What are you trying to imply here? That going along with Kang Jin-Ho’s antics is in the best interest of our nation? I hope that’s not what you had in mind, Mister Yi!”

That was when a subtle sneer floated up on Yi Jong-Wuk’s lips. “Prime Minister.”

“What is it?”

“People who are respected by their peers and the public, people who are willing to risk their lives to pursue ideals greater than themselves... Even such people change after entering politics. Why do you think that is, Prime Minister?”

“...!”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s face hardened indescribably.