NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 94



Only Krnovel

Kyungsung Blues (2)

After finishing the separate work instructions to Shanghai, I was about to get up when Madam suddenly blocked my way.

“Are you leaving already?”

“Well then, I guess I should go now that work is done.”

“Well, maybe not?”

“what?”

She quietly handed me a letter.

“The one I sent earlier was from my fellow teachers in Shanghai. This one was sent by the elders in Shanghai.”

“If you are an elderly person in Shanghai… … .”

They said it was something sent by the provisional government.

“Are these gentlemen trying to give me orders now that their lives are a little easier?”

“Well, I don’t know because I haven’t read it.”

“Do the provisional government people really treat people like phoenixes?”

“Hey… … . Let’s work together, okay?”

“Isn’t that what it is after all?”

That’s what they said, but I knew that the provisional government officials were people who would often look out for themselves.

When those people ask me to do something, it’s most likely because they judged it to be something they could never solve on their own.

Otherwise, the stubborn nobles would not have complained to me.

“Let’s go and see what problem the elders of the provisional government are struggling with… …?”

As I opened the envelope and checked the contents, countless hooks formed in my head.

It was a letter written in the handwriting of a child who had just learned to read Korean, and the handwriting was so bad that the contents spread out before my eyes and made me dizzy.

“Is this a new code created by the provisional government?”

“No. I heard it was sent from the North to Shanghai?”

“North? Three Pigs?”

“Huh? What about the pig?”

“Oh, come to think of it, it’s not over there yet.”

He waved the letter in front of Madame’s nose.

“So where in the North did you come from? Is that the Kim Dong-sam I met in Shanghai last time? Then it looks like he was sent by the independence army in Manchuria.”

“That’s true, but isn’t this the Kim Dong-sam that the teacher is talking about? This person’s last name is Hong.”

“Mr. Hong?”

When I think of people with the surname Hong among those active in the independence army, there is one person who immediately comes to mind.

“General Hong Beom-do?”

“It’s not him?”

“Oh, really?”

It seemed like it was a different person.

“This was sent by a man named Hong Yong-hwan.”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard the name Hong Yong-hwan, and the handwriting in the letter is so bad that I can’t even tell what it was written in.”

Madame snatched the letter from my hands and looked at it with bleary eyes.

“Cursive writing in Korean… … . It’s similar. I don’t think I ever learned it properly, but I think I learned it by looking around here and there… … .”

I’ve been doing that for several minutes.

Soon her lips moved.

“Dear teacher, I am Hong Yong-hwan, a volunteer soldier in the southern part of the Maritime Province. Thanks to the funds you sent to General Kim Dong-sam, I was able to receive good treatment and save my life. I know you may not know how I can repay this favor, but my father told me that it was my duty to send you a letter of thanks, so I am writing this short letter. Thank you very much… … . Is that it?”

“Ha! Thank you… … .”

It was a very rustic and prestigious school that was filled with gratitude towards me.

Even though he was someone I had never heard of or seen before, I couldn’t help but smile when I heard that he saved my life and was expressing his gratitude for that.

“Ugh… … Madam, this is the kind of person I am.”

“What kind of person are you?”

“He is a person who helps those in need, and punishes those who only look after themselves and trample on others.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

In the past… … . So, in modern-day South Korea, even if you risked your life and sacrificed yourself for your country, no one would recognize it, so all you could do was successfully complete your mission and receive a little praise from your superiors.

I was afraid that my identity would be exposed, so I couldn’t receive any medals or anything like that, and even if I did receive one, it was only given to a few superiors and colleagues as a sort of report card, rather than a grand ceremony.

But it’s a thank you letter… … .

“Hong Yong-hwan… … . Later, when I go up to Manchuria, I should at least see your face.”

“As an additional note, it is said that among the volunteer soldiers who were active under your father, you led your own unit and crossed over to South Manchuria to join General Kim Dong-sam’s Korean Independence Army?”

“okay?”

“Yes, he also said that he definitely wants to see me face-to-face and thank me later.”

“As expected, wherever a talented person goes, people will start to recognize him.”

My head nodded involuntarily.

“Aren’t you making a big fuss over just a letter?”

“Oh, Madam! Even though you are Madam, you should not insult this great person who thanked me for my dedication to Korean independence.”

“An insult… … ? Did I… … ?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I brought home an impressive letter with handwriting that resembles the marks left by an earthworm crawling around on the ground on a rainy day to survive.

“I feel like I can kill a few Japanese people today without feeling guilty.”

“… … ?”

“I’m going back now, Madam.”

“Are you leaving already? It seems like the Japanese military is really looking for Kuroda… … .”

“Haha, if those guys are looking for me, they’ll probably have to tell me something regrettable.”

“They might be trying to blackmail this teacher with the contents of the newspaper.”

The corners of my mouth went up at Madam’s words.

“If that was the case, they would have brought the military to the Chosun Ilbo, destroyed it all, and arrested the reporters first.”

Now it was time to return from Mr. Lee in Shanghai to Kyuichi Kuroda, the owner of the Chosun Ilbo.

As I was about to leave the teahouse, putting on my hat and coat, the madam waved her hand and saw me off.

“Take care.”

“If possible.”

If a field worker takes care of his body, he is likely to make mistakes.

Isn’t field work originally something that involves physical exertion?

Safety is important, but achieving great things is also important.

“Ugh… … .”

I looked around, stretching slightly.

The sun is shining so brightly that it seems like it could melt people, and people are walking down the streets wearing clothes that are as light as the warm weather.

It was an ordinary appearance, but there was something strange within this ordinariness.

It’s as if a table of food has been brought out and there’s a fly sitting on it.

I’m talking about the kind of look where your face reflexively scrunches up and a disgusted feeling wells up from deep within your chest.

It’s still like that now.

There’s one in the shadows of the alley, another one leaning against a telephone pole and glancing over here, pretending to read a newspaper, and finally another one circling around the same spot, pretending to just pass me by.

‘Let’s see… … . Could it be the Government-General? Or the Japanese military?’

Maybe it was both.

It could be that the high-ranking officials who were furious at the Army’s internal strife last time were sleeping, or it could be the Imperial Police chasing the ghost of Gyeongseong with fire in their eyes.

If it was the former, I could just follow the army guys and listen to their demands and instructions, but if it was the latter, I thought I would have to do something physically for the first time in a while.

“Are you Mr. Kyuichi Kuroda?”

A man who had been leaning against a telephone pole and reading a newspaper a moment ago suddenly blocked my path and spoke to me.

Then the other two guys joined in quietly, blocked my path, and asked politely:

Judging from the other person’s polite attitude, it seems like the former was the correct answer.

“That’s right… …. Who are you?”

“The commander of the Korean garrison in Yongsan invited Mr. Kuroda to dinner.”

“Oh, is that so? But I’m busy with work so it might be difficult right now… … .”

“The Commander would like to see Mr. Kuroda attend.”

He lifted his coat slightly to reveal a gun tucked into his trousers.

‘What? Are you asking me to blow your head off with that?’

It seemed like they were trying to threaten me, but the distance between them and me wasn’t that far, so I was able to grab my gun in an instant and take care of these idiots.

“Ahem… … If that’s so.”

But that wasn’t the case.

The current me is not the ghost of Gyeongseong who made Gyeongseong noisy, but Kuroda Kyuichi, the owner of the Chosun Ilbo.

Kuroda is a man who is greedy for money, but is also very self-preserving and takes great care of himself.

So now it was right to slow down.

“I’ve prepared a car over there, so please follow me.”

“Yes? But my current outfit is… … .”

“It’s okay. The Commander isn’t the type of person to worry about such trivial things.”

“okay!”

According to my information, Lieutenant General Shinnosuke, the commander of the Korean garrison, was a man who did not go against the trend much.

There was a person there who had some level of ability behind him.

That is why, even though he was not from Choshu, he was able to rise to a fairly high position within the Japanese army.

Of course, the position he held was not a highly preferred position even within the Japanese military, but the fact that he was able to advance so easily in an army where factional conflicts were intense was proof of his considerable worldliness.

‘Or you could have grabbed another string.’

It is not known which faction he was affiliated with, but if we take a quick guess based on the circumstances, the answer is clear.

‘Is it the anti-Choshu faction? Then it must be Ugaki’s side.’

These were the people who would be called the control faction in the near future.

Now, they are just lumped together as the anti-Choshu faction without a specific name.

Now that my thoughts have been somewhat organized, it’s not hard to see why they’re looking for me.

‘Didn’t you say that the Army Ministry in Tokyo recently launched a large-scale internal inspection? Army Vice Minister Ugaki appointed Chief of Staff Hideki Tojo as special inspector general and is completely destroying the Choshu faction.’

Ugaki, the leader of the anti-Choshu faction that had gathered all sorts of scattered forces, drew his sword, and with the capable hunting dog Dojo in action, there was a high possibility that the Choshu bastards would be swept away all at once.

Even if they tried to do something, it would have been easy for them to lose their justification if they had raised an army in a situation where the public’s view of the military, riddled with all sorts of corruption, was not favorable.

‘So, after all this has died down, those Joshu guys will need someone to vent their anger on.’

There was a high probability that the target would be Commander Shinnosuke.

He was the cause of this incident and was also a member of the opposing faction of Choshu.

So, Shinnosuke, who was in dire straits, had to find a way to survive, so he called me.

‘I made a big deal out of it, so he probably thought he could get out of it if he could just trick me.’

It’s not a bad decision.

Rather, it could be said that it is a flexible way of thinking that makes one not seem like someone at the top of a rigid organizational society.

However, Commander Shinnosuke was unlikely to achieve what he wanted.

Why!

‘In a few days, the Great Kanto Earthquake will hit, turning the Japanese archipelago upside down, and people will be gripped by sadness and anger.’

It was an incredibly horrific incident in which people were killed indiscriminately after being fooled by the absurd story that Koreans had poisoned wells, and soldiers also killed people without reason for the purpose of maintaining public order.

A time of madness is approaching, when the cold reason of humans will be paralyzed and hot emotions will erupt in strange ways.

However, Commander Shinnosuke and other Japanese people are unaware of this fact.

This fact is known only to me.

There, in my hands, is the Chosun Ilbo, which has been rapidly gaining recognition in Korea and Japan through the popular Soseong contest.

As the old saying goes:

It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword.

If things go according to plan, I will be involved in the deaths of many more people than I have ever killed with my own hands.

‘It’s like taking the express train to hell.’

But I have no regrets or fears.

Because this was my job originally.

‘If the Japanese Empire falls into chaos and flounders, and surveillance becomes lax, we should seriously train the independence army in the north and draw up a plan for an invading operation within the country.’

It took several steps to break a rock with an egg.

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 95