NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 30



Only Krnovel

Age of emotion – 2

The young man opened his eyes.

Then my whole body screamed, crying out for a quick solution to this pain.

“Euuugh···.”

The young man twisted his body involuntarily as he experienced excruciating pain for the first time in his life, but his body did not follow along as well as he thought.

I looked around, feeling suffocated as if I was tied up somewhere, and saw a small fish tank on a gray cement wall, numerous tools and weapons hanging on the wall, and other people tied up around it.

Among them were people he knew.

“Hyunbae hyung? Hyunbae hyung! Wake up! Hyung!”

“Leave it alone. He just fell asleep a little while ago.”

“······.”

The young man felt as if all the blood in his body froze at the cold voice coming from behind him.

“Did you say Hyunbae? That guy talks about you a lot.”

No matter how much I turned my head, I couldn’t see behind me, so I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing.

But the sound of the grindstone grinding along with his voice stimulated his imagination and made the blood in his body feel cold and congealed.

“Hwang Jae-Hwang. He was born as the youngest child in a family of merchants who sold goods in Gunsan-bu, Jeollabuk-do… He tried to hand over military funds to the provisional government at his father’s request, but ended up settling down here?”

“······.”

“You’re going to keep your mouth shut? That’s not a bad attitude. I really like challenging people.”

The sound of the whetstone sharpening suddenly stopped.

And then, with a dragging sound, the teacher appeared.

“Tch, tch.”

The teacher came in, holding a sharp, shiny dagger in one hand and a folding chair in the other. He placed the chair in front of him, sat down across from me, and thrust the shiny dagger at me.

“Okay, now I’m going to ask you a question. So what should you do?”

“······.”

“Great. Okay, let’s see how long we can keep this up.”

The teacher continued speaking with a big smile.

“Before you ask the question… I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m a nicer guy than you think. I mean, I have my own rules.”

And then he suddenly stuck the dagger between his legs.

Whether he was aiming for it or missing it, the teacher’s dagger stuck between my legs in the chair.

“So, there will be rules to this interrogation as well.”

The teacher explained the rules with a kind smile.

As I listened to him quietly, I felt like I could smell something fishy and pungent coming from his body.

It was similar to the smell coming from my father’s body when he came home carrying the dog he had killed on Boknal when I was young.

‘The smell of blood…?’

At that moment, my eyes met with that teacher’s.

“Hey, Jaehwang.”

“Yes, okay?”

“Oh? You’re good at answering?”

The teacher pulled out the dagger that was stuck between my legs.

“Just do that and I’ll spare your life.”

Then my pants started to get damp and soon something hot was soaking through them.

******

“Funatsu and Sasaki···”

Those who attacked me last night said they came to kill me on the orders of Sasaki, a direct subordinate of Consul Funatsu at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai.

I don’t know exactly where the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai is or which part of the Japanese government’s organizational structure it receives orders from, but I couldn’t help but think that someone other than the Governor-General of Korea was involved in this incident.

“If there is anyone in Japan who can operate a consulate abroad… he must be a high-ranking official.”

The Japanese Empire had its own king, so its ministerial officials were called ministers.

Then, among them, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of diplomatic affairs would be involved, and one interesting thing is that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs is forming some kind of collusive relationship with the Black Dragon Society.

According to information leaked from Jongno Police Station, some of the Black Dragon Society’s funds were directed to the Foreign Minister’s residence.

“The Foreign Minister and the Black Dragon Society are connected, and the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, which is under the Foreign Minister’s command, sent someone to deal with me.”

I could clearly see how things were going without having to use my head.

“It looks like the Black Dragon Society has put in some effort.”

I thought I had cut off their tails in Gyeongseong, but it seems their eyes continued all the way to Shanghai.

“Inside, there are groups with strong opinions raising their voices, and outside, the Governor-General and the Black Dragon Society are strangling me, trying to kill me alone.”

Things got really messed up when Jongno Police Station collapsed due to an unexpected accident.

Since it was something I had to do someday anyway, I didn’t regret it or feel sorry about it.

If I regret something like that, then the people who died then will literally die like dogs.

I am an agent who works for the national interest, not a crazy psychopathic serial killer who kills people for personal pleasure.

“Should I meet Sasaki first… or should I meet the provisional government people first?”

The provisional government’s people attacked me.

But then it turned out that he was a Japanese spy?

This was an issue that could completely divide the already chaotic provisional government.

‘And it’s also a card that can completely send one side away.’

It is safe to say that the future of the provisional government depends on who I show these to.

If we show this to Lee Dong-nyeong, Lee Si-yeong, and Kim Gu, who were the remaining faction led by Provisional Government Lee Seung-man, they will disappear without anyone knowing, or it will deal a great blow to the creative faction that is trying to destroy the Provisional Government.

On the other hand, if we hand them over to the anti-Syngman Rhee faction, they will attack the provisional government and destroy it.

‘I think it would be a good idea to handle it quietly on my own before a problem arises.’

Should we reveal the uncomfortable truth in the midst of the chaos of the provisional government? Or should we hide it for everyone?

That was the problem.

“This is driving me crazy.”

If we want to calm the chaos right away, we can just hand them over to Kim Gu and forcefully seal the division.

But if that happens, the next time a problem arises, the provisional government will be in an irreversible situation.

If I were to deal with them quietly on my own, what excuse would I have to give to the provisional government?

Since they have been embezzling money in the meantime, even if this incident is revealed, the provisional government officials will outwardly maintain a friendly attitude.

But it is impossible to know how the inside will change.

Even if I had hidden this well, their people had gone missing in large numbers, so there was no way the provisional government would have just ignored it.

‘It’s kind of funny to worry about this after already killing a few people.’

If we don’t consider things like future relations with the provisional government, we can just dispose of everything and throw a few drum cans into the sea off Shanghai.

But you can’t save the world alone.

If you keep bragging and thinking you’re better than everyone else, you’ll most likely get stabbed in the back of the head without anyone knowing.

In any case, it was important to establish a cooperative relationship with the provisional government for the great cause of Korea’s independence.

‘Ugh… Even if we can somehow deal with the living ones, how are we going to deal with the ones that are already gone?’

There were about seven guys who broke into my house, but only three of them are still breathing.

Those three were also suffering from health problems as they were undergoing several processes to become superconductors with no resistance, so they were not in a position to show themselves to anyone right away.

‘In modern times, you could just call the support team and ask them to take care of it, or you could just disappear without leaving a trace…’

It was at times like these that I missed my support team.

At that time, I had a lot of complaints that they couldn’t do their work properly, but now that I think about it, their work was actually pretty neat.

‘It would be nice if there was a support team in Shanghai too… huh?’

Come to think of it, there was something similar to a support team in Shanghai.

******

“It’s about time I got a call···.”

Inspector Sasaki, a special high-level police officer affiliated with the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, took out his watch and checked it repeatedly while calming his anxious mind with coffee.

If it were normal, I would have grumbled that the spies were being lazy when they were late, but today was a little different.

‘Why are you so late? Could it be that you were all attacked by the ghost of Gyeongseong?’

The opponent is the famous ghost of Gyeongseong.

He was a man who infiltrated Gyeongseong alone, blew up Jongno Police Station, and kidnapped the police chief, leaving a scar on him that would never be erased for the rest of his life.

At the time when he was active in Gyeongseong, there were hundreds of police officers mobilized to catch him, and even His Highness the Crown Prince, who would be responsible for the future of the empire, mentioned his name at a state council meeting.

But then he came to Shanghai.

They also blew up the Jongno Police Station, which could be said to be the center of the Gyeongseong Imperial Police, and even attacked the Chief of Police of the Government-General, which was the center of the imperial colonial rule.

When the higher-ups heard this news, they immediately urged the Consul General to kill the guy.

From above, Consul Funatsu, who had been kicking Sasaki’s joint, instilled hatred in him by kicking Sasaki’s joint and telling him to deal with the guy as soon as possible.

So I gave the order to mobilize spies and deal with him… but there was still no news from them.

‘I heard reports of gunfire in the French Concession last night… What on earth happened?’

Sasaki waited anxiously for the spies.

But as time passed, the spies never showed up.

“Hmm.”

It’s already been an hour since our appointment.

But the spies didn’t show up even once.

Sasaki was about to get up from his seat as he slowly realized that things were going wrong.

Hyunbae appeared in the alley.

He looked around a couple of times, looking for Sasaki, then approached him as he sat on the outdoor terrace of the cafe.

Sasaki looked around at the Hyunbae approaching him.

‘I’m quite nervous… Is it because I dealt with the ghost last night? I don’t see any visible trauma for that reason…’

Maybe it was because of the mood, but Hyunbae seemed a little bigger than when we met a few days ago.

Hyunbae naturally sat down across from Suzuki, looked around a couple of times, and then cautiously opened his mouth.

“This teacher died last night.”

“Really? Did you bring the evidence?”

“······yes.”

Hyunbae took out a paper envelope with only the ends sticking out and handed it to Sasaki.

“As you said···.”

Sasaki lifted the envelope slightly.

Then, inside it was a lost thumb.

“What proof is this his?”

“Today or tomorrow, the police in the settlement will announce that a Korean with a missing thumb has died.”

“Um… Thanks for your hard work.”

Sasaki folded the paper envelope neatly, put it in his inside pocket, and handed the thick envelope to Hyunbae.

“This is the bounty I promised.”

Hyunbae glanced at the envelope, then frowned and asked Sasaki.

“You said you’d give me 80,000 won as a reward if I successfully completed the task, but no matter how I look at it, this doesn’t even amount to half of that.”

“You misunderstood. I said I would give you 80,000 won if you brought me those guys alive.”

“······This is different.”

Sasaki snorted at the sharp voice.

“If you don’t want it, give it back.”

“That’s not it.”

As Sasaki reached for the envelope, Hyunbae quickly snatched it away like an eagle and held it in his arms.

Then he asked Sasaki with an anxious look.

“Then… what happened to the ship that you promised to take to get out of Shanghai last time?”

“Ship? What ship?”

“······You said that you would find a ship to escape Shanghai regardless of whether things were successful or not.”

“Oh, that?”

Sasaki scratched his head and pretended not to know.

“I bought a ticket, but… I think I lost it on the way here.”

“Sasaki-san···!”

“Whoa, whoa… Calm down. I’m also doing everything I can to ensure your safety.”

Even though he said that, Sasaki’s face was smiling.

“It seems like it will be difficult to get out of Shanghai right away. I think it would be better to stay in the provisional government for the time being.”

“I told you I’d get you out of here!”

“That’s right. But you also said it would be difficult right now.”

“You said the same thing last time, and the time before that! Why do you change your words every time!?”

“Um… I don’t remember saying that?”

Sasaki had no intention of letting go of Hyunbae.

From his point of view, it was more advantageous for Hyunbae to remain in the provisional government for a longer period of time and extract high-level information from within the provisional government.

It was easy to give a few bucks to a random person and have them act as a spy, but it was a tedious, expensive, and time-consuming task to recruit and train someone who could access high-level information.

Rather than pouring money into an unproven guy, it was more profitable to suck the life out of a proven guy.

That’s why Sasaki had no intention of letting Hyunbae and his group go.

“Sasaki!!!”

Hyunbae’s voice grew louder in anger at Sasaki’s calm lie, but Sasaki sipped his coffee as if nothing had happened.

“People are surprised. Sit down.”

“Rather than this, I would rather run to the police station, confess everything that happened, and be punished!”

“Haha… That won’t work, buddy.”

Sasaki tapped the table with his fingers exactly twice.

This was a signal to the consulate soldiers and detectives who were lurking around him.

If he knocks on the table twice, those who were hiding will jump out and grab Hyunbae.

And we will take him to the consulate, give him separate re-education, and then send him back to the provisional government.

“?”

That should have been the case, but for some reason the soldiers and detectives were nowhere to be seen.

Sasaki knocked on the table several times, wondering if there was a nail, but there was still no response.

“Inspector Sasaki, who are you waiting for?”

“······?”

At that time, the Chinese person sitting next to Sasaki naturally called his name and pretended to know him.

“what?”

Sasaki looked back at him with a trembling expression.

Then the Chinese man smiled and stood up from his seat.

“This is our first time meeting in person, Sasaki.”

“······?”

“Don’t you know who I am?”

“Who are you pretending to know? It’s a bit unpleasant···.”

“Isn’t it me who almost got shot while I was resting at home that’s the unpleasant one, Inspector Sasaki?”

At the Chinese man’s words, Sasaki instinctively reached for the gun, but his opponent’s hand was faster.

The opponent quickly picked up a fork from the table and struck the back of Sasaki’s hand with it.

“Kuaaaah!!!”

“Nice to meet you, Inspector Sasaki.”

“You, who are you···?”

“Someone you don’t know.”

The opponent stole Hyunbae’s hat.

Then, the Chinese man from earlier disappeared somewhere and appeared as Hyunbae, who had been sitting in front of Sasaki.

Sasaki was frozen in awe at the skill that he could not understand even after seeing it with his own two eyes.

“This, this is···?”

“You’ve worked hard, Hyunbae. Can you please get out of here now?”

“Yes, yes!”

The fake Hyunbae chased away the real Hyunbae and sat in front of Sasaki.

Then he snatched Sasaki’s coffee and brought it in front of him, taking a leisurely sip of it.

“Hey, the ghost of Gyeongseong···!”

“Inspector Sasaki, did you think I was just spreading rumors because I was stupid?”

“······.”

“If you were going to outsource, you should have given it to guys who could handle the job properly… Isn’t that right, Inspector Sasaki?”

“······.”

“answer.”

The ghost came to visit him without dying.