NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 63



Only Krnovel

As before – 4 (last episode before paid conversion).

Jongno, the center of Gyeongseong.

Even there, it was the most backward and remote alley where only animals like rats and cats roamed instead of people.

In this place where no one would visit, there was a small teahouse waiting for people to visit.

It was located at the very top of a three-story brick villa, a rare sight in Gyeongseong.

Thanks to this, the view of Gyeongseong from a high place was spectacular, but there were no guests who would come all the way to this rugged place to see it.

Usually, in cases like this, the owner of the shop would be unable to bear the deficit and would close the shop, but strangely enough, this teahouse quietly kept its place even though no one was visiting.

Although the young proprietress who managed this place was beautiful, it was difficult to find and the food wasn’t particularly tasty, so no one came here on purpose.

Although a few men who were smitten by Madame’s beauty came to visit, they all ran away after climbing up the stairs a few times to get some coffee.

Well, here’s the problem.

How has a place like this where business is so poor been able to maintain its business until now?

“Well, that’s because he’s a spy for the Shanghai Provisional Government.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve come here to talk to you…”

“I felt that desire even more strongly as I drank the coffee that Madame had brewed for me after a long time, which tasted like the water from a rag I had washed.”

“Shall I really give you the water you used to wash your mop in?”

“If you’re going to do it, add some salt.”

“······Why don’t you say a word?”

“I’m a bit like that.”

He succeeded in creating chaos at Geumchon Station and quickly hiding in Gyeongseong while the police were distracted.

But when I actually went into hiding in Gyeongseong, there was no suitable place to hide.

I couldn’t stay at the house of Chun-sik or Kim Hu-dong, who I had become friends with in Gyeongseong, because I felt like I would be causing trouble to them.

“So that’s why you came here?”

“Okay~”

After eliminating them one by one, this was the only place I could go.

It also happened to be a place connected to the provisional government in Shanghai, and since it was a place where people rarely went, it was a perfect place to hide.

And since I was already well acquainted with the owner, I was able to live there without any hesitation.

“I’m planning to stay here for the time being. Do you have any rooms available?”

“It doesn’t matter since the room is left, is that okay?”

“what?”

“Just because you came, the police are making a fuss like they’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest… Aren’t you going to get caught if you go out?”

Madam said as if she was worried about me.

“Madam, it’s good that you’re worried about me, but I think you chose the wrong person to worry about.”

“Why? If you keep complaining, are you going to blow up the police station?”

“Oh, I’m not that violent of a person, Madam.”

“If the gentleman who blew up the train station in Geumchon hadn’t been so violent, the world would be a beautiful place overflowing with peace and romance.”

Madam said that and took the coffee away from me.

“Huh? You haven’t finished drinking it yet.”

“You weren’t planning on drinking it all anyway.”

“That’s true.”

As expected, it was a cool insight worthy of the person who knew me best in Gyeongseong.

Madame cleared the dishes, brought out a few ripe apples, and slowly peeled them for me as she asked me:

“So why did you come to Gyeongseong?”

“I came because I had some business to attend to.”

“Are you trying to kill someone?”

“Sometimes it can be.”

Madam peeled an apple next to me, and I ate the well-peeled apple whole.

“Rumors coming down from the north say that the Uiyoldan attempted to assassinate Governor-General Saito, but the news leaked out and they returned to China… Is that true?”

“Why are you asking this when you already know everything?”

“What I know, what I hear from the testimony, and what I write in a report are completely different things.”

“Tsk tsk… Madam must be tired too.”

I took a quick look around and it seemed like there was some way information was being transmitted from here to Shanghai.

He is a spy operating in the middle of Gyeongseong, where surveillance by the Japanese Government-General of Korea is at its peak, so his methods must be more elaborate and unique than I could ever imagine.

Thinking about it that way, I became a little curious.

“Madam.”

“why?”

“I have a question. Can I ask it?”

“Are you going to ask me something weird again?”

“Hey… When did I say that?”

Madame lifted the corners of her lips slightly, tucking her slightly disheveled hair behind her ears.

“Really? Then···.”

“Oh, that’s not it either.”

“······You haven’t said anything yet?”

“I’m not really curious about Madam’s personal life.”

“Oh, I see.”

Madame quietly picked up the knife with a smiling face.

Then he finished off the apples on the tray.

“You’re quite good at killing fruits, aren’t you?”

“Thanks.”

She sliced ​​the apples on the plate in an instant with dazzling knife skills that no one knew from whom she had learned them.

“I never thought that this teacher, who has driven countless nails into the chest of the Governor-General of Korea, would be curious about someone like me who doesn’t receive much attention!”

“It’s nothing special, just a letter from Madame to Shanghai. How do I send it?”

“That’s it? If you go to the Gyeongseong Post Office and mail a letter to a company called Iryongyanghaeng in Shanghai, the Japanese will deliver it safely.”

“······That’s the end?”

“yes.”

“······.”

“What more could you possibly need?”

My evaluation of the Japanese Empire has dropped one notch.

I never thought I would fall further from here… The more I heard about this and that, the more I began to wonder if I had overestimated the Japanese Empire.

‘Or is it that the Government-General knows about it but is just waiting to see if it can strike at the crucial moment?’

The Japanese government and the Governor-General are not stupid.

High ups are greedy beggars, and if you’re stupid it’s hard to get there.

So, those people would have known that there were spies from the Shanghai Provisional Government hiding inside Gyeongseong, and they would have also received information through spies that a company called Iryong Trading Company was connected to the Provisional Government.

‘Maybe… Is it because their information source was cut off during the large-scale operation to eliminate spies last time that they are relying on this side?’

This seemed to be the most likely possibility.

Last time, the list of spies I had smuggled from the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai swept away a large number of spies who had been hiding between the provisional government and the independence army in Manchuria.

From the perspective of the Governor-General, they had to sit still and find some way to replace their eyes and ears, since they had lost them all.

‘If not, then I guess I needed something that would at least save face in my home country…’

Somehow, even though Kim Won-bong, the leader of the Uiyoldan, had appeared, I thought that there were too many soldiers and police officers deployed at Geumchon Station. It seems that there were complicated circumstances behind it all with the Government-General of Korea.

‘Then Governor Saito tried to cover up the incident and ended up creating a bigger incident.’

For a bureaucrat, trying to cover up an incident only to end up causing a bigger incident was the worst thing that could happen.

If this news had been reported to his home country, it would have been such a big deal that he would probably not have been able to avoid being fired.

but.

‘That foxy Saito is so smart that he might try to shift all the blame for this incident to the military guys…’

Maybe they could work with the military to make it seem like nothing ever happened.

Since soldiers are often killed in attacks by the Manchurian Independence Army from the north, it wouldn’t be that difficult to fabricate a report.

So, the Government-General will negotiate well with the Korean garrison and get this matter over with.

‘But there is no such thing as a perfect secret in this world… Even Governor Saito will have to make a choice in the end.’

Even if Governor-General Saito, who was from the Navy, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Korean Garrison, who was from the Army, joined forces, no one could guarantee how far they would go.

Perhaps both sides cannot trust each other.

so···.

‘Even if you put a petition in front of his nose right now, there’s a high chance it won’t work.’

To Governor Saito now, I am nothing more than a slightly difficult and troublesome person.

Although he caused various problems on the scene, it was his subordinates who saw the blood, not he.

‘Um… Should I start by threatening him?’

Even a person with no ambition for success would become restless if a knife was held to his throat.

So now was the perfect time to make contact with Governor-General Saito and get things done.

“good!”

“That’s surprising… Why are you making such a loud noise all of a sudden?”

“Madam, I’ll be back later when I get out for a bit.”

When I told her that I would go out for a moment, Madam put down the apple and asked me.

“There are police and soldiers outside. Are you going to go out now?”

“When was I the kind of person who would go around worrying about each and every one of those little things?”

“If you keep running around like a rabbit with your liver exposed, you might end up in big trouble later.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at her words.

“Huh, do Joseon people have any enmity with rabbits? Why do they like rabbits so much?”

“Guess who told the rabbit story again?”

“Yeah, that guy really liked rabbit holes.”

“I guess you were a mole in your past life.”

“That is···. a very interesting interpretation···.”

He roughly folded his hat and coat and stood up from his seat.

Then the madam asked me again.

“So you have to tell me where you are going.”

“Really… Madam, you’re not even my wife, so why do you have to report every single thing I do?”

Then Madam sighed lightly and answered.

“I don’t want to be this teacher’s wife either, but the elders in Shanghai ask me to take good care of this teacher, so what can I do?”

“Could you please tell those people to stop worrying about me and just focus on their own work?”

“I’ll make sure to tell you that. So where are you going now?”

“To see the Governor!”

“yes?”

Madame looked at me as if she needed a little more detailed explanation.

I showed the madam a camera I had received as a gift from a Korean tycoon I had met on the train a while ago.

“I’m going to meet the governor with this.”

“With a camera?”

“huh.”

“How?”

“I have to take a picture.”

“So, how exactly are you going to meet Governor Saito?”

“I’m sure you’ll take really good pictures.”

“······.”

The way she looked at me was unusual.

“Why? Madam, would you like to take a picture too?”

“Okay.”

******

And the same was true for Governor Saito.

“Yeah, did you like the food?”

“Yes, I think this is the first time I’ve had such delicious food since my hair grew out.”

“I’m glad that happened.”

After the dinner with the Governor, the other reporters were dragged out like dogs, but I stayed behind and was able to have a private conversation with the Governor while tasting coffee that had been brewed with real aroma, not coffee that tasted like rag water.

Governor Saito, who had been drinking coffee in silence for a while, cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Ahem… I hear there’s been some disturbing rumors going around in Gyeongseong these days. Have you heard them?”

“What kind of rumor are you talking about?”

“Well, how can it be possible that the police are being violent towards citizens and arresting and persecuting them for no reason?”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. I don’t think I’ve actually seen it either.”

I nodded in agreement with Saito’s words and glanced around.

‘Except for the guards guarding the entrance, there aren’t many security personnel for a governor… Even if something were to happen here, it would take time for the soldiers and police scattered elsewhere to gather.’

Governor-General Saito seemed to be a person who cared less about security than I had thought.

Like many politicians with a military background, he seemed to feel the presence of bodyguards as a somewhat burdensome burden.

After talking to him a few times, I realized that he was a person with very clear personal opinions and beliefs.

In cases like this, no matter how much pain, torture, or threats were applied, there was a high probability that it would not work.

‘Ugh… Things are getting complicated…’

If I had come to kill Governor Saito, I could have just beaten him up a few times and stuffed a coffee cup in his mouth.

But the reason I came here today is not to kill Governor-General Saito, but to tease him and create chaos within Japan.

‘The plan is on hold for now.’

Anyway, as long as I was in Gyeongseong, Governor-General Saito’s lifeline was practically in my hands.

If I make up my mind, he won’t see the sun rise tomorrow.

So, for now, I think I should take it easy and proceed with a long-term project.

“Even in this case, the police were questioning a suspect, and the suspect resisted, which caused the incident, but people don’t even know the details and are just busy pointing fingers at the police.”

“I see! It’s really unfortunate that whenever something happens, Joseon people like to point fingers at the opposing side.”

“That is exactly what I am saying!”

I gently scratched Saito’s itchy spot and told him what he wanted to hear the most, and he was so happy he could die.

“So, what I’m saying is… Couldn’t you act as a bridge to resolve misunderstandings between the citizens and the police?”

“I···. Are you saying that?”

“Yeah, you said that.”

“I would appreciate it if that were the case, but···.”

I checked the reaction, trailing off slightly.

Then, Governor-General Saito’s expression slightly shifted and he looked restless.

Looking at his appearance, it seemed like he could probably get some money to spend in Gyeongseong for a while if he did well.

“Is there a problem?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“What’s going on? I’ll take care of it, so tell me frankly!”

“Oh, it’s nothing much… I recently left the newspaper company I was working for and was planning to start a new one, but the government office won’t give me permission for it or something.”

“Oh, my… I told him to take care of that.”

Of course, I never applied.

However, here in Gyeongseong, the order of the Governor-General of Korea was as good as law, and this made it possible to establish a new branch of the independence movement in Gyeongseong.

“Oh my… Thank you very much, Your Excellency the Governor! I have nothing to give you… but please accept a deep bow!”

“Ahem···. Why even something like this···.”

When I bowed deeply, Governor-General Saito waved his hand with a smile that seemed to indicate that he was in a good mood.

“Don’t be like this.”

“Ahhh… No. Thanks to Your Excellency the Governor-General’s efforts, today the path has finally opened for me to be able to devote myself to the Empire of Japan with peace of mind. How can I express this joy in words?”

“Is that so? Hahaha! I feel really good now that I have a patriot like this!”

“No way. As soon as I get back today, I must inform the entire Gyeongseong area of ​​the truth about this incident through an extra edition!”

“The truth behind this incident···?”

“Yes! Those wicked traitors insulted His Excellency the Governor-General and the police officers who work tirelessly for the Empire of Japan. As a son of the Empire of Japan, I cannot stand to watch!”

Governor Saito was impressed by my words.

“Ugh… Your warm loyalty is almost bringing tears to my eyes…!”

Although he said that, there was not even a hint of moisture in Governor-General Saito’s eyes, let alone tears.

Instead, a thick wad of cash popped out of his desk drawer.

“What, what is this···?”

“You’ll need some money to open a business. So I put in a little bit as a congratulatory gift.”

“Oh my! Oh my!! Your Excellency the Governor!!!!”

Following His Majesty Emperor Gojong of the Great Korean Empire and the Black Dragon Society, the twisted conscience of the Japanese Empire that could disappear at any time, even the Governor-General of Joseon has donated valuable funds for the independence of Korea.

“I will use this money for something very valuable!”

“Haha, that’s right! Our Empire of Japan doesn’t spare its wallets for those who are loyal to it!”

“I will do my best!”

Governor Saito was delighted to have found a new trumpeter for himself, and I was delighted to have found a new source of funding for independence.

“Your Majesty, the Chief of the High Police Department has arrived.”

“Manager Miwa?”

That is, until the guests arrived.

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 64