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Upon reaching the hospital, Kang Chan had his wounds stitched up before being moved to a patient room. Much to his surprise, Lanok and Louis were already inside, waiting for him.
The nurses stopped pushing the hospital bed, and Kang Chan raised himself up.
“Mr. Ambassador, have you been waiting for me?”
“I arrived a little while ago.” Lanok pursed his lips while examining Kang Chan’s body. “From what I heard about the situation, I didn’t think that something like this would ever happen. Why did you do all of this?”
Kang Chan couldn’t explain it either.
The nurse helped Kang Chan transfer to the patient bed, propped up the head of the bed, then left the room.
“Are you feeling better?” Kang Chan asked Louis.
Louis nodded solemnly.
“Then make us a cup of coffee.”
Lanok laughed. Louis suppressed his.
“Did the matters with the American embassy put you in a difficult position?” Kang Chan asked.
“I’m in a predicament,” Lanok admitted. “In the information warfare between the United Kingdom and the United States, even Russia is involved. The international situation is like a loose cannon right now… or a crazy woman dancing.”
Kang Chan listened to the unexpected news.
“Now that we’ve started this, we might as well give it a proper end. It would be best to take down National Assembly Chairman Huh Ha-Soo and Assemblyman Huh Sang-Soo as well. Those two will definitely look for opportunities to kill you,” Lanok added.
Kang Chan decided to use this timely opportunity to ask for advice. Lanok was, after all, more informed about South Korea’s situation than Kang Chan.
“Mr. Ambassador, is there a way to stop Japan’s underwater tunnel project?”
Louis brought over coffee in paper cups, stopping their conversation for a moment.
“They’ll hesitate for quite a while since the bodies and guns of Japanese agents were discovered in Yang Jin-Woo’s house. The National Assembly and the opposition party will most likely just assert those as a political maneuver, but the South Korean government hasn't approved the underwater tunnel yet, so there’s still time. If we can reveal that Huh Sang-Soo sold state secrets, then things will become easier,” Lanok explained.
“So the best course of action is to catch those two?”
“That’s correct.”
Lanok only took a sip of his coffee, making it seem as if he only put his mouth on the paper cup. “It’s going to be a difficult fight.”
“You’re probably right.”
Lanok put the paper cup down beside him.
“Louis? Do you have cigarettes?” Kang Chan asked, suddenly getting the urge to smoke.
Lanok and Louis looked surprised.
“It’s okay. I have permission to smoke in this hospital, which is why I did everything I could to get confined here.”
“So that’s why there are several air purifiers installed in this patient room,” Lanok commented as Louis placed cigarettes and a lighter in front of Kang Chan.
“Mr. Ambassador.” Kang Chan offered a cigarette to Lanok, thinking he probably didn’t bring a cigar. Lanok accepted it. The cigarette looked short between his long, slender fingers.
Chk chk.
“Mr. Kang Chan,” Lanok called after they had lit up their cigarettes.
“Yes?”
Lanok, who was looking at his cigarette as he exhaled smoke, looked up. “You should get naturalized in France.”
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Lanok had recommended the same thing before. This matter wasn’t urgent enough to be brought up this seriously in a patient room, though, so Kang Chan only stared at him in response.
There had to be a good reason why this sly and wily fox opened the topic now.
“The South Korean government might not be able to protect you. I’m not saying that they will abandon you, but South Korea is still inferior when it comes to information warfare, and the situation is becoming more and more complicated,” Lanok added, ignoring the cigarette smoke from the lit cigarette in his hand. “My country’s Intelligence Bureau and the DGSE would likely have to put lives at risk to cling onto this. Hence, no matter how much I assert my influence, it will be difficult for me to mobilize everything in my country for you. You should get French nationality for now. That would allow me to publicly say that I’m your supporter.”
He was definitely hiding something.
“Mr. Ambassador, I think it would be best for you to tell me what this is about instead,” Kang Chan said.
“I can’t say for sure yet since the information we received is so ridiculous and absurd that we’re still processing and confirming if it’s false information. Even so, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia have been making unusual moves. In information warfare, there’s a lot of times when it’s a fight that’ll end when people die after rising up against false rumors, so we need a little more time.”
Lanok changed the subject, which made Kang Chan assume this issue was simply that sensitive.
“You should focus on recovery for now. I’ll update you once I’ve gotten more accurate and reliable information. That aside, the agents that Louis is leading will be guarding the hospital’s perimeter for now. They naturally won’t cause any conflicts with the South Korean agents, so don’t worry,” Lanok added.
Cocking his head, Kang Chan dropped the cigarette butt into the paper cup. No matter how curious he became, Lanok wouldn’t tell him any more than what he had already revealed. Hence, moving on for now would be for the best.
However, Kang Chan was certain that something was up—something important enough for Lanok to appoint guards to him and even mobilize French agents.
“I’ll be in touch, Mr. Kang Chan,” Lanok said.
Lanok stood up and left the patient room. Soon after, Kang Chan sighed while looking out the window.
It felt like things were getting messier.
Kang Chan just wanted to live a normal, comfortable life, but the world kept preventing it.
Would he finally be able to achieve his dream once he had taken care of every fucker that he had to kill?
Rattle.
The door to his room soon opened. Seok Kang-Ho entered not long after.
“Was it Lanok who visited you?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“How did you know?”
“Two Frenchmen are outside your room right now, guarding the door.”
Kang Chan nodded, then told Seok Kang-Ho exactly what Lanok had told him.
“If he was going to tell you, then he should’ve confessed everything. Lanok has a petty side to him,” Seok Kang-Ho commented afterward.
This fucker definitely wouldn’t fit in the information field.
The two shared a cigarette.
Seok Kang-Ho and Kang Chan had the majority of their entire upper body wrapped in bandages. Kang Chan’s left hand was bandaged especially thick, making it look large enough to be a boxing glove.
“What do you plan on telling your family?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“I’m not sure. I’ve thought about it every now and then, but I still don’t know what to tell them.”
Kang Chan remembered Yoo Hye-Sook becoming pale with fright.
“What about you?” Kang Chan asked.
“I’ll just tell them I got hurt doing something that Yoo Bi-Corp asked me to do. I’m thinking of taking out about fifty million won from my bank account as well. I’ll give it to them and tell them I got a bonus.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“Anyway, someone has to bring over the phone that I left in the van…”
Rattle.
Before Seok Kang-Ho could finish what he was saying, someone opened the door.
Four men, all of them clearly agents, stood along the room’s wall. Afterward, a man with sharp eyes came inside.
Seemingly around his late fifties, the man was slightly overweight and looked quite nice, but that was perhaps why his gaze felt fierce.
“Mr. Kang Chan?” The man asked.
“Yes?”
“If that’s the case, then you must be Mr. Seok Kang-Ho.”
“That’s correct.” Seok Kang-Ho looked at the man with suspicion as he answered.
“I’m Hwang Ki-Hyun, the Director of the National Intelligence Service. I should’ve introduced myself to you two ways earlier, but I’m cautious about making public appearances,” Hwang Ki-Hyun politely greeted them. Afterward, an agent placed a chair behind him.
“I brought some coffee. Would the two of you like some?” Hwang Ki-Hyun asked.
Another agent brought forward three disposable cups that were clearly bought from a specialty coffee shop.
They had certainly brought something unusual for a patient visit.
“Please have some coffee. Feel free to smoke as well. I don’t mind,” Hwang Ki-Hyun continued.
“I already did a little while ago,” Kang Chan responded.
Hwang Ki-Hyun nodded, then drank coffee. “I heard that tomorrow is the critical moment for the section chief. I’m sure he’ll survive. I went over and told him things that would wind him up, after all.”
His expression and the way he talked made him seem friendly.
“What did you tell him?” Kang Chan asked.
“That I’ll disband the special forces if he dies. If he does survive, I told him I’d establish a new specialized team in the National Intelligence Service.”
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho burst into laughter when the image of Jeon Dae-Geuk suddenly waking up popped into their heads.
“Many more weapons were discovered in the basement of Yang Jin-Woo’s building. We’re thinking of closing this matter by having the joint investigation headquarters make an announcement about it tonight.” Hwang Ki-Hyun observed Kang Chan’s mood, then continued, “Mr. Kang Chan, we’re thinking of appointing you as the South Korean Representative of the Eurasian Rail. The President has already approved of it, so there shouldn’t be any problems unless something comes up. The position is new, so we don’t even need the National Assembly’s consent for this.”
The people visiting him kept bringing up unexpected news. He didn’t even want to take any position.
“We would need the National Assembly’s consent to give you better treatment than what a vice minister receives, so we’ll just give you the same level of treatment on the surface. However, we’ll also give you the authority to issue orders,” Hwang Ki-Hyun added when he saw Kang Chan pursing his lips, seemingly already prepared for Kang Chan’s disapproval. “Only those ranked equal or higher than the Assistant Director of the National Intelligence Service have that authority. You don’t have to report to me since you’ll be doing special missions, and you’ll get a yearly budget of a hundred billion won, an unlimited amount of reserve funds, and an unlimited number of employees that you can mobilize.”
“One moment, Mr. Director. I don’t want to take on that position,” Kang Chan said.
Hwang Ki-Hyun nodded. “Manager Kim told me you’re definitely going to refuse. There’s still time, so I hope you at least give some more thought to it before deciding.”
Kang Chan frowned. Hwang Ki-Hyun wasn’t the type to easily back down.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t that happy about Hwang Ki-Hyun’s suggestion. Even though it was worth joining the information warfare since his identity would be kept undercover, he simply didn’t want to butt into it.