February 12, 2021, 08:30 (Russian time 02:30)

  A motel in Greshskaya, Moscow, Russia

  Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong, who had arrived in Moscow on the CFS/A-31SP Three-toed Crow early in the morning, knocked on the door of a motel room on Greshskaya street with two large bags. Park Won-ho, who confirmed his identity through the peephole, opened the door and greeted him.

  “Welcome. I am Park Won-ho, Chief of the Russian branch.”


  “Hello. I am Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong of the Department of Foreign Intelligence Division 2.”


  Chief Ahn Ki-cheol, who was solving the password inside, also stood up and greeted him.

  “Nice to meet you. I am Chief Ahn Ki-cheol.”


  “We don’t have much time left, so let’s get down to business. Please give me Team Leader Kim’s smartphone that you have.”


  “Yes. Here you are.”


  After arriving at the shabby motel in Greshskaya, Chief Park Won-ho and Ahn Ki-cheol had been trying tirelessly to unlock the location information code for Kim Jin-joong’s smartphone but continued to fail. However, Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong had received the password directly from the headquarter. So, when he entered the code, the location of Team Leader Kim Jin-joong flashed with a blue dot at a point close to Moscow, Russia. To be precise, it was not the location of Team Leader Kim Jin-joong’s, but the location information of his protective suit.

  “Yes! We got it! Where is he?”


  “It’s Moskovskaya in Balashikha city, 18 kilometers from our location.”


  “It’s not that far. Let’s go right now.”


  Chief Ahn Ki-cheol got up and started packing with excitement.

  Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong pointed out the two bags he had brought and said, “Please take the equipment first. I only brought the latest equipment.”


  “Oh, that’s good to hear. If there was only such equipment from the beginning, the team leader wouldn’t have disappeared like this.”


  At this, Chief Park Won-ho asked a question with concern, “Sir, did Team Leader Kim Jin-joong’s protective suit work properly?

  “Until I left our country, his protective suit was operating normally. So, the headquarter didn’t destroy the protective suit.”


  The functionality of the protective suit was determined by the X-C01 device screening of the user’s heartbeat, brain waves, and skin information. In other words, if the user died or the protective suit was taken off and worn by another user, the protect function would be stopped by the X-C01 device. Also, the device would send the signal back to the main computer of the home country and the suit would be destroyed after several verification procedures. However, the X-C01 device of Team Leader Kim Jin-joong sent a normal operation signal. That meant that Team Leader Kim Jin-joong was alive at the moment.

  “Thank God.”


  “Please pack your equipment.”


  When they opened one large bag, there were three CS5 laser pistols, one CS1, one CS2 equipped with a smart bullet launcher, and lastly, a CS14, an anti-personnel sniper laser rifle. In the other bag, there were three sets of personal gear, including the C-01 BP bulletproof helmet and various types of grenades and advanced equipment used by special soldiers.

  “We will surely get rid of the enemy with those.”


  After about ten minutes, the three men had armed themselves with all the equipment. Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong took out a small case from his pocket and opened it. He took out three small chips from the case and handed them to two people and said, “Take this and exchange it with the old chip of your X-C01 control device.”


  “What is this?”


  Chief Park Won-ho and Chief Ahn Ki-cheol took the chips. And as they were ordered, they removed the old chips from the X-C01 devices that were mounted on their left arms and put on the new chips they had just received.

  “This is a chip with the latest software. The development is complete, and it is currently being tested. The transparent concealment system has been added.”


  “Really?”


  It was a new technology that incorporated the transparent concealment system (TCS) function, which was currently only applied to some combat planes and the latest satellites, into protective suits.

  When Chief Ahn Ki-cheol asked in amazement, Assistant Manager Park Ki-woong continued his explanation.

  “There is a new button called TCS on the device, right?”


  “Yes. There is.”


  “Try pressing it.”


  As soon as Chief Ahn Ki-cheol pressed the button on the device screen, Chief Ahn Ki-cheol faded and disappeared into thin air.

  “Wow! Hey, Ki-cheol, you disappeared! I can’t see you!” Chief Park Won-ho, who was watching from the side, exclaimed with his eyes wide open.

  “The duration is about 1 minute due to the high battery consumption. You can use it again by replacing the battery. Five batteries for the device are in the pouch on the lower right of the tactical vest. And to cancel, press the TCS Off button.”


  As Chief Ahn Ki-cheol pressed TCS off button, he showed up again. Chief Ahn Ki-cheol took out the battery from the right pouch of the tactic vest with bulletproof function and replaced the battery of the device.

  He said with a broad smile. “This is such a cool technology! When did our country’s technology develop like this?”


  “If you are done, let’s go.”


  ***

  February 12, 2021, 09:00

  An interrogation room in the Department of Foreign Intelligence of National Intelligence Service, Seoul

  At dawn, Yagumachi Genzo had been brought in by the CFS/A-31SP Three-toed Crow space fighter jet. He was sitting on the chair bounded in the interrogation room between sleep and wake. In the room on the other side of the reflective mirror, NIS Secretary Na Bong-il and other foreign intelligence agents were watching him.

  “What happened to Team Leader Kim of the Russian branch?”


  “Sir! Chief Park Won-ho and Chief Ahn Ki-cheol are looking for him right now,” Director of Foreign Intelligence Youn Ho-il answered NIS Secretary Na Bong-il based on the report he had received in the early morning.

  “What on earth were they? Russian SVR?”


  “In the words of Chief Ahn Ki-cheol, it seemed not. I think they were from the U.S.A.”


  “America? It very well could be! Anyway, it is important to gather solid evidence above all else. Don’t you think we need to send additional support to the Russian branch?”


  “Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, I received the report that Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong from the Department of Foreign Intelligence Division 2 went to Russia and joined them at 3 a.m. today with the latest equipment.”


  “Park Gi-oong? Oh! The man from the last case of Kim Soon-hee in China?”


  “Yes, sir. He is very competent.”


  “Yes, he is a trustworthy man. If it weren’t for Team Leader Ji Dong-chul who died on duty and Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong, how would we have known about that enormous conspiracy? It does bother me a little to give him such a dangerous mission again……”


  “Ha-ha. He volunteered, sir.”


  “Ha-ha. Is that so?

  “He is a man with a sense of duty. Well, I trust him. Anyway, let’s start interrogating that Japanese man.”


  “Sir. Before that, this is the information about that man.”


  An agent who was waiting behind them stepped forward and handed Secretary Na a tablet PC. The screen was already on. NIS Secretary Na Bong-il began to read the documents slowly.

  “Well. It looks like he was a competent guy in the Japanese cabinet. He was a former defense ministry negotiator and promoted to assistant to the Prime Minister’s office after visiting the US several times.”


  The screen of the tablet PC contained the personal information of Yagumachi Genzo, collected by the Foreign Intelligence Agency.

  “He is an elite of the elites of the extreme right. Okay. Let’s start, then.”


  “Yes, sir.” As Director of Foreign Intelligence Youn Ho-il answered, two sturdy agents, entered the interrogation room. They administered a drug to Yagumachi Genzo who was half asleep.

  Then, within a few minutes, he opened his eyes and shouted in English, “Who the hell are you guys? Why are you kidnapping me and doing something illegal like this?”


  He screamed like hell. The tendons on his neck stood out. Then, his face flung sharply to the side. One of the agents from Foreign Intelligence who looked like a UFC player started to smack Yagumachi Genzo’s face mercilessly.

  Bam!

  Argh!

  Yagumachi Genzo yelled in pain. He dropped his messy head and vomited blood, three or four teeth falling as well.

  “W-why are you doing this to me, sir?”


  Yagumachi Genzo, who had previously been shouting, turned into a gentle lamb and began to beg.

  “I don’t think you figured out what is going on yet. You are in the interrogation room of the Foreign Intelligence Department. Depending on how you do, you may or may not see sunlight again. Okay?” The middle-aged man sitting in the chair opposite Yagumachi Genzo said quietly with a creepy low voice.

  “I’m Manager Oh Dong-gyu, an expert in torture.”


  He was actually the manager of the Foreign Information Analysis Division from the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. He just joked to tease Yagumachi Genzo and also wanted to scare him to dominate the interrogation.

  “Shall we begin?”


  As Manager Oh Dong-gyu gestured, the sturdy agent put a strange-looking helmet on Yagumachi Genzo.

  “W-what the hell is this?” Yagumachi Genzo asked, his small eyes dilated with a terrified expression.

  “Listen up Yagumachi! The helmet you are wearing now is a lie detector made by Corean scientists with great care. So, if you like, you will get tremendous pain in your brain. If you don’t believe it, falsely answer my first question. Then you’ll find out if my words are real or not! Okay?”


  Manager Oh Dong-gyu recalled the interrogation scenes in movies and dramas, making similar expressions, and overpowering Yagumachi Genzo.

  “Yagumachi Genzo. Before we start the interrogation, we have some information that you told me when you were drugged in Russia. You know what would happen if what you say now is different than what you have said then, right? The first question: what is your name?”


  “Yagumachi Genzo.”


  “What are your birthplace and age?”


  “I am from Owari, born in 1985, and I am 35 years old.”


  “What is your final academic background and major?

  “I majored in Political Diplomacy at the University of Tokyo.”


  “Good! Yagumachi Genzo. You are doing well! Keep answering honestly like that. What was your purpose for going to the United States when you were the Deputy Strategy Negotiator at the Ministry of Defense?”


  “I went to the US to purchase US weapons from the Ministry of Defense.”


  “Who have you contacted in America?”


  “American defense, ahhhhhhhhh!”


  Yagumachi Genzo’s body shook and he struggled as he was bound in the chair while he was talking. White foam spouted out of his mouth, and both small eyes jutted out as if they would fall out, the capillaries in his eyes had burst. After a few seconds, he crumpled in the chair. If he wasn’t tied up, he would have collapsed onto the floor.

  “I warned you! If you lie, you will get great pain in your brain. Did you think I was kidding?”


  Manager Oh Dong-gyu seemed brutal and more eerie than any other evil interrogator in the movies.

  “I will ask you again. Who did you contact in the United States?”


  Yagumachi Genzo’s eyes shook. The will to keep a secret and memories of the shocking pain were fighting in his head. But the memory of pain won, so he spoke out the words that the agents of the National Intelligence Service waited to hear.

  “I contacted the USSC Congress.”


  Manager Oh Dong-gyu’s eyes sparkled and he continued to ask.

  “What is the USSC Congress?”


  “USSC is the unofficial supreme authority of the US government, and President Trump is also under the direction of the USSC.”


  “How is the USSC organized?”


  “I don’t know that much.”


  “Tell us whatever you know about USSC. If you miss anything, you know what will happen, right?”


  Yagumachi Genzo hesitated for a moment and then started talking.

  “USSC is the most practical supreme power agency that moves the United States. They have been directly or indirectly involved in all matters such as civil war and terrorism in Middle Eastern countries that have occurred in the international community so far. In particular, it is said that the last August 15th bombing was also ordered by the USSC.”


  “Why was the USSC involved in the Pyongyang bombing terror?”


  “As the North and South Korea situation suddenly turned peaceful, the US’s influence in Northeast Asia weakens, and it was judged that China, in its G2 status, could not be held in check.”


  “Are you sure?”


  “Yes. That is what I know.”


  “Who knows about this in Japan?”


  “Currently, Prime Minister Abe, Minister of Defense Shibasaki, and me.”


  “Do you mean that nobody else except those three people know about this?”


  “Yes, I am sure.”


  “Then, there are two left now.”


  “What do you mean?”


  “Prime Minister Abe was assassinated by a sniper two days ago.”


  “R-really?”


  “I would not say bullshit to you right now, would I?”


  Yagumachi Genzo didn’t know about it because he had been kidnapped in Russia before Prime Minister Abe was assassinated. Tears flowed from Yagumachi Genzo’s eyes.

  “I guess you are sad since he was your boss.”


  “How is this happening?”


  “Genzo. Who do you think is behind this assassination?”


  “Wasn’t it you guys?”


  “Wow, you Jap bastard. Hey, you. If we did it, we would not ask you about it while we are interrogating you, would we? You want to die?”


  “Isn’t that what Corean people are good at?”


  “I thought you are smart since you majored in Political Diplomacy at the University of Tokyo. But it looks like you are just a complete idiot.”