NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 55



Only Krnovel

Wolf’s Den – 5

It was as easy as an elephant stepping back and catching a mouse, finding an empty space more easily than expected.

But there was no trace of a person named Jeong Chae-san.

Even when I asked the employees, they only said they had never seen anyone like that.

‘I’m going to go back.’

In the first place, it was questionable whether Kim Won-bong had even stopped by here.

The reason he asked me to meet him at the empty house might have been just to try to get me to leave.

‘Hmm… Should I also go to Gyeongseong?’

For now, the only thing that can be inferred is that Kim Won-bong entered the country with the Uiyoldan.

Last time, I heard from Kim Won-bong that Uiyoldan was planning a large-scale bomb transport operation into the country and that they were even recruiting a collaborator named Hwang Ok to push the project forward.

As he said, if you were interested in me, let’s meet at the empty house… Since Kim Won-bong and the members of Uiyoldan were not here, it seemed like they had already entered the country.

“hmm.”

Even though I looked through newspapers from Joseon just in case, I couldn’t find a single article related to Uiyeoldan.

Of course, it was a time of press censorship, so it is possible that such important news was censored, but there seemed to be no reason to censor the arrest of a huge terrorist group that had been threatening the Japanese Empire.

So, since we couldn’t find such news in the newspapers, it seemed that Uiyoldan had not been caught by the Japanese police.

‘Where the hell is it?’

It was impossible to follow the movements of Uiyoldan.

We had to contact them as soon as possible, explain the situation, and make them give up the attempt to assassinate Governor Saito.

“My head hurts.”

I lifted my coffee cup and sighed lightly at the stifling situation.

“What’s bothering you so much?”

“?”

As I was taking a sip of my coffee, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

When I looked back, the Soviet spy I had met during the last train robbery was looking at me with a big smile.

“no?”

“······This is Ivana.”

“Yeah, Iva.”

“That’s not Iva… Huh… Okay. Let’s move on from that.”

She naturally sat down across from me, took out a water bowl, and held it out to me.

“why?”

“Can you light a fire for me?”

“Sorry, I quit smoking.”

“Oh, I see.”

She seemed slightly embarrassed, but then took out a match and lit a cigarette as if nothing had happened.

Then he took a few sips and asked me.

“I heard from far away that the Shanghai Bank was robbed.”

“Yeah, I heard some Chinese guys were trying to rob that big bank without any fear.”

“Really? I heard that the bank robber was not Chinese, but Korean···.”

“Really? I heard you’re Russian?”

“There are no Russians in Shanghai.”

“If I say I exist, it will happen.”

“······?”

Eva looked at me as if to ask what I meant, but I simply ignored her and shook the cup.

“Don’t look at me like that. Could you please fill my glass? I haven’t slept well for a few days, so I’m tired.”

But she pushed the kettle aside and asked me.

“When did you come to Tianjin? You were in Shanghai until the day before yesterday.”

“Well… I don’t know about that either.”

“yes?”

“I closed my eyes and opened them again, and they were innocent. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that right, Miss Iba?”

“······You bought a train ticket to Tianjin at Shanghai Station the evening of the day before yesterday, right?”

Eva handed me a photo.

It contained a picture of me buying a train ticket at Shanghai Station.

“The picture quality is good. Was it taken with a Leica camera?”

“······This was taken with a camera made by the Federation.”

“The picture quality is really good for something like that.”

“Because it’s something the Federation put a lot of effort into making.”

“aha.”

“So, where will this teacher go next? Are you planning to return to Joseon? Or to the Manchurian independence army? Or to the Lee Hoi-hyung family in Beijing?”

She spoke to me with a confident face.

It was a nuance that put pressure on the country by boasting about the Soviet Union’s intelligence capabilities while secretly showing the gap between the individual and the huge country of the Soviet Union.

“Wow… You did a lot of research?”

“Of course. The comrades in Lubyanka are very interested in you.”

“I’m not really interested in old people.”

“That’s fortunate. All the capable comrades in Lubyanka are young.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.”

Iva’s mention of my activities in this way was a roundabout way of expressing that the eyes of Soviet intelligence were all the way to Shanghai.

I think they think that by saying this, I might be scared of their power and majesty and become a little more friendly towards them…

‘Why do Russians always do it the same way?’

It was a typical Russian-style negotiation, either an interrogation or an attempt to recruit a collaborator.

First the whip was pulled out, then it was time to offer the carrot.

“Come join us. Your comrades are already on the same page as us or are helping us on the side, so why can’t you?”

“hmm···.”

“If you just say you will join the Federation, we can provide you with some useful manpower and operating funds for your immediate use. If you wish, we can immediately provide 400,000 rubles to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai.”

400 thousand rubles.

For the provisional government, which operates alone and is always under financial pressure, this may be a huge amount of money, but for the Lubyanka intelligence service, which manages the entire Soviet intelligence network, it may not be such a large sum of money.

“Um… 400,000 rubles….”

“I can give you more if you want.”

“It’s probably short-term support?”

“No. At least ten years. That’s what the Lubyanka chief has guaranteed.”

When he showed a slightly hesitant reaction, Iva threw out more bait.

“We won’t ask for much. In our Federation, we are satisfied that the Japanese Empire does not have its eyes on the Soviet Union’s eastern territories.”

“So… are you saying that I should attract some attention from the Japanese and take some money from them?”

“Yes, well… If you have time, you could run some missions with our agents sometimes.”

“I’ll pay you hundreds of thousands of rubles for a few tasks? Haha….”

To sum up, what she meant was that the Soviet government would support what I always did.

Of course, it would be unofficial support, not official support, but in any case, it was a statement from the Soviet Union that they would provide a relief service.

You keep doing what you were doing and you even get paid for it?

It would have been foolish to refuse this.

“This is my first time eating kimchi. Do you know how old I am?”

“······Suddenly?”

“Why? It’s fun~ Try guessing.”

Even though it was a trivial question, Eva thought about it seriously and then carefully gave an answer.

“Well… maybe around 7 years old…?”

“No, it started when I was over twenty.”

“Ah, yes···.”

Eva looked at me as if to say, “What does that matter?”

“We should also ask why that happened.”

“······Why did you do that?”

“Let’s see… Why did it happen?”

I leaned back against the back of the chair, pretending to catch the mood, and glanced around.

Then, when I first sat down here, I saw several large Westerners sitting near me who I hadn’t seen before.

“At first I didn’t like it because it was too spicy, but then my mom kept forcing me to eat it, so I gritted my teeth and didn’t eat it.”

“Ah… Your convictions are firm.”

“Don’t people usually say you’re stubborn?”

“You could say that too.”

I smiled, took something out of my pocket, and hid it in my sleeve.

“But later, when I was taken to the facility to receive training, I ate what was served there and it tasted good?”

“Facilities···?”

“Oh, there is such a place···. So what I want to say is···.”

I picked up my photo that was lying on the table and tore it in half.

“I was saying that I don’t listen to my mother.”

“I see… That must be because you have such strong beliefs.”

“That’s why I felt awkward listening to our lovely Aritaun Iba’s proposal.”

“······yes?”

“Somehow, working with the communists makes my whole body ache here and there… So let’s just pretend this never happened.”

I declined their sponsorship offer.

“Oh, why? It’s a perfect condition!”

“Yeah, that’s why I hate it.”

Spy Principle Number Three.

Beware of smiling people.

“The Soviets aren’t stupid or idiotic. They’re pouring so much money into me, but I wonder if they didn’t put any restrictions or conditions on it?”

“I told you that I already received permission from the Lubyanka committee members.”

“That may be the case now, but there’s no guarantee that it will be like that forever.”

“Are you saying that because of something that hasn’t even happened yet?”

“It’s going to happen someday, Miss Iba.”

“How can you be sure of that!”

“I’m a person who is full of confidence in everything. That’s why I came here.”

I would also prefer to receive support from the Soviet Union.

But independence is not something that can be achieved in a day or two, and in the meantime, the upper echelons of the Soviet Union will change several times.

Especially if a bastard from Georgia takes power, the upper echelons of the Soviet Union will change by the minute.

Then, what will the successors who come in one after another think when they see this useless contract that only costs money?

And then there’s the possibility that they might just pocket the money if they think someone is swindling them somewhere.

If that happens, it will become part of a very Russian-style administrative process where you don’t get paid for your work and have to do it anyway.

Of course, I didn’t need to explain this dynamic to her, so I just said it was because I had a dirty personality, like I usually do.

“Phew… We didn’t want to use such a rough method, but we have no choice.”

“Oh! What is it? What is the rough method?”

The large men sitting around her stood up at once.

“Ah… You brought your friends?”

“Did you say this teacher? I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come with me for a while.”

Iva was smiling happily, as if she had gotten revenge for the humiliation she had endured last time.

“If our Iba-yang asks to go, I can definitely go… but I’m a bit busy right now.”

“I didn’t ask the teacher’s opinion just now.”

“Oh, I wasn’t trying to persuade our Iba Yang either.”

I took out the grenade I had hidden in my sleeve.

And when I showed it to everyone so they could see, they were all so surprised that they tried to grab me.

“Oh, then that won’t work.”

But my hands were faster than theirs.

There was already a safety pin on my index finger.

“Everyone, life is precious, right?”

“······.”

“Ugh… Is it just me?”

“······Where did the bomb come from? Surely you didn’t bring it from Shanghai?”

“I don’t know.”

While she was talking, the guy behind me quietly approached me and extended his arm.

“Oh no, that won’t work!”

But I grabbed his arm and pulled him down onto the table and gave him a passionate kiss.

The other person’s nose was bleeding profusely, perhaps because it was his first time kissing her so passionately, but the bomb was still intact.

“First of all… Please calm down.”

“I’m always calm, Miss Iba.”

I smiled and calmly tossed the grenade I was holding to the side.

“It’s a bomb!”

Then the men surrounding me threw themselves onto the grenades rolling on the ground and made a tower.

I admired their spirit of sacrifice, which brought tears to my eyes, and gave them a helping hand for their hard work.

-Pishuuuu···.

White smoke rose in puffs along with a squelching sound from the human tower built by physically fit Russian youth.

I spoke to Iva Yang while sitting on a human tower built by idiots who risked their lives on fake bombs.

“Long ago, in ancient China, Master Sun left these words to people: Winning without fighting is the best victory.”

“······.”

He took a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at her dumbfounded forehead.

“I looked all over Cheonjin, but I can’t find Jeong Chae-san… Instead, all I see are communists?”

“Who is Jeong Chae-san···?”

I answered with a smile.

“You know, Miss Iva.”

“······If you say it like that, how would I know?”

“Then you’d better remember quickly. The Nambu pistol that I just stole from Jongno Police Station was not properly managed, so the safety device has become loose.”

“······.”