How a Salaryman Became an Underworld Boss

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang watched the video of President Qin Hao’s interrogation without much interest.

That was only natural. He had already heard everything the man testified to directly from me.

However, the moment footage appeared on the screen showing rows of rifles and crates of ammunition stored in Major General Jeong Sancheol’s hideout, his gaze instantly changed.

“Director Cha, are you saying Vice Chairman Chen was selling North Korean rifles and ammunition even here in China?”

Neither President Qin Hao nor Major General Jeong Sancheol had told me whether Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui had distributed North Korean weapons within China.

But I had no intention of telling the truth when my goal was to make Tang Guochang completely lose his peace of mind.

“Considering that dozens of rifles and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition were stored in Vice Chairman Chen’s hideout, we certainly can’t rule out that possibility.”

“I understand. Let’s keep watching.”

A few moments later, footage showing the contents of the massive safe began playing on the television: kilograms of drugs and mountains of cash.

To give Vice Chairman Tang Guochang a better grasp of the numbers, I added a few details.

“That safe contained three hundred kilograms of drugs, 5.7 million dollars, and 1.6 billion yuan.”

“And what did you do with the drugs and the money?”

The drugs and cash had been handed over to Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

Since I couldn’t reveal his involvement, I prepared a different version.

“We destroyed the drugs and kept the money to cover the expenses of our business trip to Macau.”

“And how exactly did you destroy the drugs, if I may ask?”

I immediately caught the implication behind his question.

Tang Guochang suspected that rather than destroying the drugs, I might have put them into circulation in China.

To nip any such doubts in the bud, I had to take a hard line.

“If I had coveted that filth, Vice Chairman Tang, I would never have shown you this video in the first place.”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

My rebuke struck home. Tang Guochang coughed awkwardly and hurried to apologize.

“My apologies. I had no intention of offending you, Director Cha.”

“I understand perfectly.”

“But surely you understand why I react so strongly to anything involving drugs?”

I knew the reason from Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

However, showing that I knew too much would only wound Tang Guochang’s pride.

Out of consideration for his dignity, I decided to pretend I knew only the tip of the iceberg.

“As far as I know, it has to do with some dark and painful chapters in China’s history.”

“You’re right, Director Cha, but only partly.”

“Is there something I don’t know?”

“Exactly. President Xi Jinping declared a merciless war on drugs, gambling, and prostitution, branding them the ‘three great evils’ ruining China.”

“Ah, now I understand perfectly.”

“I think we can stop watching here.”

Picking up on the cue, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan immediately pressed the stop button on the remote.

The first round was over. It was time for the second.

“Vice Chairman Tang, may I explain exactly why we flew to Dalian?”

“Of course! I’m listening carefully.”

“Are you aware that North Korea maintains an entire group of hackers in China for the purpose of stealing cryptocurrency?”

“Of course I am.”

I had obtained the information about the hacker cell operating in Dandong from Reconnaissance General Bureau Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol.

But I couldn’t expose him, so I decided to use the late President Go Yeongjun’s name instead.

There was zero chance Tang Guochang would see through my trick.

“Last week, I received some extremely interesting information from President Go Yeongjun {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} concerning Politburo member Liu Peiqi.”

“And what information would that be?”

“A group of North Korean hackers is permanently stationed at his villa in Dandong.”

“Don’t tell me...”

Tang Guochang broke off mid-sentence, as though a sudden realization had struck him.

Naturally, I knew exactly what had crossed his mind.

“Exactly. Politburo member Liu was protecting the North Korean hackers and covering up their activities.”

“That son of a bitch!”

Judging by how viciously Tang Guochang cursed, his relationship with Liu Peiqi was, to put it mildly, less than cordial.

I understood his feelings perfectly, so I silently waited for his burst of anger to subside.

A few moments later, he regained his composure and asked curiously,

“Director Cha, what did that bastard get in return for his services?”

“I was told that he converted the stolen cryptocurrency into cash and took thirty percent of every transaction for himself.”

“Ha! And trash like that sits on the Central Politburo!”

“I completely share your outrage. That’s precisely why our country decided to verify whether he really was colluding with the North.”

“Are you saying you were personally assigned to verify it, Director Cha?”

“You’re absolutely right, Vice Chairman Tang.”

“And I assume there was a good reason for that?”

Liu Peiqi’s villa was an impregnable fortress.

To eliminate the hackers holed up inside, I desperately needed Saho’s help.

And I couldn’t send Saho to Dandong alone, so I had followed him there.

Unfortunately, there was no way I could tell Tang Guochang any of that.

“Originally, NIS operatives were supposed to conduct the investigation. However, their identities have long since been leaked into the Ministry of State Security’s databases. Because of that complication, the task ended up falling to an ordinary civilian like me.”

“And you possess such exceptional physical abilities?”

Tang Guochang apparently thought I had personally participated in the assault.

“Of course not. Why would I? The actual investigation was carried out by employees of my company.”

“Well, those are just details. Let’s move on. What were the results?”

“My people infiltrated Liu Peiqi’s villa and confirmed that ten hackers and twenty elite North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau operatives were permanently stationed there.”

“You have evidence, of course?”

The footage had been recorded from Saho’s point of view.

If I showed it to Tang Guochang, Saho’s secret would be exposed.

Fortunately, I had prepared another move in advance for precisely this situation.

“Of course. But how about seeing irrefutable incriminating evidence instead?”

“And what evidence could make you sound so confident?”

“A video recording of Politburo member Liu Peiqi’s own interrogation.”

“What did you say?!”

Tang Guochang’s eyes widened in astonishment, and he nearly lost the power of speech.

“My people maintained constant surveillance on the villa. At one point, they spotted a high-ranking North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau officer stationed there leaving the premises. They followed him and recorded him meeting Liu Peiqi at a hotel in downtown Dandong.”

“And why did that bastard come to Dandong?”

“The video answers that question as well. As for the details of how we captured him, with your permission, I’ll skip them to save time.”

“I understand.”

“Then let’s watch.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan stood up, left the office, and returned half a minute later with a flash drive.

With a practiced motion, he inserted it into the television and started the file.

However, we couldn’t watch the video uninterrupted. Tang Guochang immediately began firing questions.

“Director Cha, why are your subordinates wearing balaclavas?”

“To conceal their identities from Liu Peiqi and Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua.”

“Hmm, I see. And why did they shoot Pu Zhenghua?”

“To scare them and extract truthful testimony more quickly.”

“Fine. But why were your men pretending to be military personnel?”

Tang Guochang certainly had a keen eye. After only a couple of minutes of footage, he had correctly recognized Team One Leader Seo Donghun’s military bearing.

“There will be a detailed explanation at the very end of the recording. You’ll understand everything naturally once you see it.”

“All right. Let’s continue.”

After some time, Tang Guochang suddenly tore his gaze away from the screen.

“Director Cha, is it really true that President Go Yeongjun stole the gold bars from Liu Peiqi’s villa?”

Of course, Go Yeongjun had nothing to do with it.

But I had absolutely no intention of revealing the truth.

“President Go did indeed get his hands on the gold, but not without outside help.”

“He had an accomplice?”

“Go leaked the coordinates of the villa to him. For some reason, though, Liu Peiqi is firmly convinced that you were his accomplice, Vice Chairman Tang.”

“I see. Then who was Go’s real accomplice?”

“Let’s finish watching the recording, and then I’ll tell you everything.”

The longer Tang Guochang watched the interrogation footage, the more his anger boiled.

Cha Jiham’s subordinate was openly portraying him as an accomplice of the fugitive President Go Yeongjun!

He couldn’t tolerate it any longer and confronted me.

“Director Cha, let’s clear this up right now! I didn’t help Go Yeongjun, and I didn’t rob Liu Peiqi!”

“I know that perfectly well.”

“Then why does your employee keep insisting on connecting me to Go?”

Naturally, it was to set Tang Guochang and Liu Peiqi against each other.

But I couldn’t admit that even if my life depended on it.

“Thieves don’t go around announcing that they’re thieves. Yet my man repeatedly emphasized that he worked for you. Liu Peiqi isn’t stupid enough not to recognize such an obvious provocation.”

“Are you saying your employee did it deliberately to divert suspicion away from me?”

“You hit the nail on the head.”

“All right, fine. Then who is Go’s real accomplice?”

“I assume it’s someone Go built connections with while he was on the run.”

“Zhang Jinan!!”

Tang Guochang roared the name so loudly that my ears rang.

‘Well, I certainly didn’t put those words in his mouth. He came up with the accomplice himself.’

As I deliberately remained silent, the enraged Tang Guochang continued,

“Director Cha, I’m already sick of watching this. Turn the video off.”

As though he had been waiting for those exact words, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan immediately stopped the playback.

“Vice Chairman Tang, would you like me to summarize the gist of it for you?”

“Please do.”

“Politburo member Liu gave a full confession. He admitted that he sheltered North Korean hackers and helped them cash out stolen crypto assets.”

“We need to do something about the hackers and Reconnaissance General Bureau operatives holed up at his villa. What should we do?”

“We’ve already taken care of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“We leveled the villa to the ground. There’s nothing left but a pile of rubble.”

“Hahahaha!”

Tang Guochang burst into hearty laughter, clearly deeply satisfied.

Once his laughter subsided, BYG Auto President Du Zhiguo joined the conversation curiously.

“Director Cha, what happened to the hackers and the Reconnaissance General Bureau agents?”

We had taken the hackers and Major General Lee Cheolseung back to Korea, while the remaining operatives had been left amid the ruins of the garden.

But for security reasons, I wasn’t about to reveal my hand.

“I only gave the order to destroy the villa.”

“So they might have been buried under the rubble?”

“We can’t rule out that possibility.”

“And what will Liu Peiqi do about his destroyed villa?”

“If he makes a fuss, his ties to North Korean agents will come to light.”

The implication behind my answer was clear: Liu Peiqi would keep the incident quiet and avoid drawing attention to himself.

“I understand. And did you simply let that bastard go?”

“Of course not. We took five hundred million yuan and four hundred million dollars in cryptocurrency from him as ransom.”

“But he can trace the accounts!”

“All the transactions went through a chain of money-laundering accounts, so there’s no way to trace them back to us.”

“Thorough.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

It was time to put an end to the discussion about Liu Peiqi.

“To tell you the truth, Vice Chairman Tang, I feel somewhat guilty toward you.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“My men pretended to be your subordinates during the interrogation.”

“But you just said that was done to protect me.”

“That’s true, but the fact remains. So, as an apology, I’d like to give you the five hundred million yuan and four hundred million dollars in cryptocurrency we took from Liu Peiqi.”

“I’m embarrassed to say this, but I can’t accept such a gift.”

‘At least wipe that grin off your face before saying something like that.’

“It isn’t a gift from me. It’s from Liu Peiqi.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The five hundred million yuan and four hundred million dollars in cryptocurrency came straight out of his own pocket.”

“Hahahaha!”

Tang Guochang’s booming, delighted laughter echoed throughout the office.