NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 23



Only Krnovel

Shanghai Romance – 1

In the heart of Gyeongseong.

In Jongno, which could be said to be the center of Japanese colonial rule, a police station exploded, a commercial building was completely burned down, and a Japanese person was killed.

Even those Japanese were not ordinary people, but people with connections to high-ranking officials in the mainland.

The police chief who was kidnapped there returned as a semi-crippled man.

“These days, the newspapers are in an uproar over the Gyeongseong incident.”

“······.”

It was so bad that Crown Prince Hirohito of the Japanese Empire, who was running the government in place of his fallen father, mentioned the Gyeongseong incident at a cabinet meeting.

Governor-General of Korea Makoto Saito, who was present, was so embarrassed that he could not even raise his face.

“Senior… Are you perhaps struggling to govern?”

“······.”

It was so bad that he heard a subtle remark from his junior and Prime Minister, Kato.

Governor-General Saito’s face was extremely sinister as he concluded all his official schedule in Tokyo by visiting the Prime Minister, who was grumbling.

“Oh my.”

“Did you call? Your Majesty.”

“Until I return to Gyeongseong, the chief of the Government-General should either place a letter of resignation on my desk or send a telegram telling me to return my badge.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The series of events that took place in Gyeongseong angered Makoto Saito, who was usually known as a gentlemanly and polite person and rarely got angry.

To quell his rage, it was necessary to capture the ghost of Gyeongseong.

That is why the Government-General of Korea mobilized all its capabilities to launch an operation to arrest the arrogant ‘Bulyeongseonin’.

And the result is.

******

“hmm.”

Modern Shanghai remains in my memory as a beautiful city with a skyline represented by the Oriental Pearl Tower and streets that are clean and well-organized, unlike other Chinese cities.

Of course, even now, the concession and its surrounding areas are as neatly organized as modern Shanghai and boast a beautiful streetscape.

However, the problem was outside the concession.

“Wow… Are these all people?”

The downtown area outside the concession was packed with people.

People looking for jobs, people working, people just hanging out, people just blankly staring off, etc… I was suspicious of how they had gathered such a diverse group of people.

The streets were chaotic with carriages, cars, and trams going back and forth, and people moving between them made the already hellish roads even more hellish.

The traffic police blew their whistles to control this hellish road, and with the shouts and screams of the impatient Chinese, the scene of the Six Paths Banquet was completed.

“If you want to get killed, go to the slaughterhouse. Why are you making a fuss on the road, you pig!”

“I see a rotten smell coming from your beak. Did you visit your mother?”

“Squid~ Squid is cheap~ Tasty squid~”

Also, why are there so many pickpockets on the streets? Today alone, five of them were caught while groping my arms.

“I thought Gyeongseong was quite a lawless place, but compared to here, it was heaven.”

Finding the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai, a world in turmoil, is as difficult as finding Mr. Kim in Seoul.

“Found it.”

······wasn’t done.

Thanks to the efforts of the Japanese Government-General of Korea to spread spies among independence activists, the location of the provisional government’s headquarters was widely known as an open secret.

That is why many independence activists were able to ask around and come to the provisional government.

However, the reason the Japanese government could not do anything about the provisional government was not because they were incompetent or indecisive.

Independence activists who had no money to spend on the independence movement right away were a real headache for building owners as tenants.

It is a daily occurrence for rent to be late. Incidents and accidents are a constant occurrence in the places where they live.

Because of this, there were countless cases of people being kicked out for not being able to pay rent or being sued by the building owner for causing trouble.

The irony is that because they moved their residence frequently for this reason, the provisional government was able to avoid Japanese surveillance several times.

Is this the irony of history?

“hmm.”

The provisional government building was a three-story building wedged between two red brick buildings, and it looked quite old.

The moderately wide streets were lined with begging buckets every three steps, as if they were filled with all the beggars and homeless people of Shanghai, but no one walking down the street paid them any attention.

The behavior of the people living around here was so poor that one could tell at a glance that they were quite poor, and they looked emaciated as if they had skipped meals for several days.

‘What a dangerous neighborhood.’

Yet everyone’s eyes were fierce.

From the moment I entered the street, I felt eyes watching me.

From the homeless on the street and beggars begging, to women drying their clothes and children playing with their friends without realizing the passage of time… everyone was watching me.

Some of them were so blatant that it made the back of my head tingle.

As I got closer to the provisional government building, the gazes and pressure pouring in from all sides became more intense.

Now, it seemed as if he would pounce on me as soon as the signal was given.

When the gazes pouring down from all around me became so harsh that it made the back of my head tingle.

“Young man, the way out here is on the other side.”

An old man who was resting on a chair spoke to me.

The old man’s words made the harsh gaze and pressure pouring down on me disappear as if it were a lie.

“It looks like you are one of our compatriots who came to Shanghai to find work. It is dangerous here, so go towards the coast.”

The old man smiled warmly like the morning sunlight.

Although this was clearly the first time I had met him, I knew him.

I took off my hat and asked in a polite tone.

“Professor Park Eun-sik, is this the Shanghai Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea building?”

As soon as I finished speaking, something hard touched the back of my head.

And then he thrust his gun at me from the side.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m so sorry.”

“what?”

I took a $100 bill out of my pocket and put it in the front pocket of the man who was pointing a gun at me.

“A moneylender has come from Gyeongseong. If you tell him this, everyone will understand.”

“······?”

It was a grim situation with countless guns pointed at me, but I felt as comfortable as if I was sitting in my own living room.

I naturally sat down next to Mr. Park Eun-sik and lit a cigarette.

“Mr. Park, I wanted to meet you once.”

“What are you going to do when you see an old man who is about to die?”

“Who could say that to the scholar of Seonpungdogol, who is a role model for all people?”

“Just stop trying to dazzle my ears with sweet talk, it’s embarrassing for everyone listening.”

“Hahaha, I really mean it.”

Teacher Park Eun-sik turned his head away and pretended not to know, as if he was not used to receiving compliments.

“Haha, even if you flatter me like that, there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“You have already done so much.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well? What do you mean?”

After exchanging a few such pointless remarks, a boy ran out from inside the building.

“The Prime Minister is looking for the teacher from Gyeongseong!”

Then the gun pointed at me disappeared.

People returned to their original positions and the streets returned to their usual routine.

“You all are on edge.”

“That’s because the bounty of those gathered here alone can spread out one’s fortunes.”

“If my fate was to unfold like that, it would have unfolded long ago.”

I grabbed my hat and got up from my seat.

And I bowed to Mr. Park Eun-sik.

“Then I’ll see you later.”

“Come in and take a look.”

******

The inside of the building was much narrower than it looked from the outside.

Although each room itself was spacious, it felt quite cramped because it was packed full of furniture, objects, and people.

“This way···.”

Following the boy’s instructions, the hallway was so narrow that two or three adults would have to pass through at once, and each room was strewn with luggage in such a disarray that it was hard to tell if it was a government office or a private residence.

In some places, people were seen sleeping soundly with beds brought in, or cooking with dishes brought in.

“The first floor is like any other house, where government officials eat and rest.”

“It looks like that.”

It wasn’t much different because it was the second floor.

Every room was filled with people, and shouting was heard here and there for some unknown reason.

“The second floor is the government building, up to there is the National Assembly, and up to here are the judiciary, police department, and the Ministry of the Interior.”

“hmm.”

A large table was placed in a large room, and the departments were divided by simple partitions.

There, in the so-called parliament, there was a small room about ten square meters in size, with people sitting around it.

“The facilities are a bit poor.”

“Everyone thinks that way when they first see it… But after some time, everyone gets used to it.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

After all, humans are animals of adaptation.

“The third floor was originally the presidential office, the prime minister’s office, a guest room, and a conference room. The president is in America, and Mr. Seok-oh is staying on the first floor with his family, so he is letting the guests in.”

“okay?”

“Oh, but right now, we’re using the conference room as a meeting place because many guests are coming to decide the future of the provisional government.”

“I see.”

The boy stood at the door, looking slightly nervous.

There was a lot of passionate voices going around in the room, and it looked like an argument was going on to anyone who heard it.

The boy knocked cautiously on the door.

“Sir! Sir Seok-oh! It’s me, Won-il. I’ve brought the guest you mentioned.”

Perhaps because of the knocking on the door, the shouting and angry voices coming from inside died down.

And then a gentle voice was heard.

“Okay, come in.”

As the door opened, a thick odor of cigarette smoke, musty mold, and the stale smell of alcohol greeted me.

Oh, and the endless amount of attention pouring in was a bonus.

‘Wow… Kim Gu, Lee Dong-nyeong, Kim Won-bong, Yeo Un-hyeong, Ahn Chang-ho, Park Yong-man, Shin Chae-ho, Lee Si-yeong, Kim Dong-sam, Lee Dong-hui… All the famous people regardless of left or right have gathered here.’

The gazes of the people in the conference room were a mixture of goodwill, curiosity, and a little suspicion.

“Ahem… Nice to meet you. I am Lee Dong-nyeong, the Prime Minister and Acting President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.”

“Yes, I have heard a lot about it, sir.”

On behalf of the others, Mr. Lee Dong-nyeong took up the mantle and spoke to me.

“I heard that… you helped Kim Sang-ok, a member of Uiyoldan, in Gyeongseong and provided activity funds to the provisional government and Uiyoldan… Is what I know true?”

“Yes, it’s true. I gave him some money.”

“Haha… What Yak-san said was true.”

“I thought that little brat would just open his mouth and spout lies…”

“This was true···.”

The murmur of the people gathered in the conference room grew louder when I told them I had handed over the money.

As the surroundings became noisy, Master Lee Dong-nyeong frowned and struck the gavel.

“Quiet, please be quiet for a moment.”

“That’s good. Now that the owner of the money is here, shouldn’t we ask him how the money was used?”

There was someone who raised his voice like an angry bull in response to Lee Dong-nyeong’s words.

“I am Kim Dong-sam, the representative of the Great Korean Council and the Western Military Government Office in Manchuria and of South Manchuria.”

“Oh, yes, nice to meet you.”

He was a person who had connections with Kim Jwa-jin and attempted to unite the independence army in Manchuria.

“I’ll ask you straight out. This money you sent here to the provisional government for activity expenses. Can you send half of it to our Great Korean Government? Right now, weapons are being sold at used prices in Russia’s Maritime Province, but these guys won’t accept our country’s money, so they want to receive dollars instead?”

“We already said that it won’t work!”

“What do you mean it can’t be done? The owner of the money is here right now, what the hell are you talking about!”

“What the heck? Nonsense?! This little bastard···!”

Exactly two minutes and 42 seconds after I entered, the conference room was thrown into chaos as two people grabbed me by the collar.