Chapter 1341. Establishing (1)

After climbing into the hotel's elevator, Kang Jin-Ho asked Lee Hyeon-Su without turning around.

“Was it always part of your plan to get additional compensation?”

Lee Hyeon-Su shook his head. “No, sir. I wasn’t thinking of making the government cough up more money. It’s just that I knew they needed to give us something. But I couldn’t think of anything we particularly need from them. So the next best thing was money.”

“Do we have to, though?”

“Definitely, sir. We must.”

Lee Hyeon-Su noticed a hint of discomfort in Kang Jin-Ho’s tone. Demanding money while doing something noble for the country didn’t feel right or pleasing to Kang Jin-Ho.

“Sir, making the government compensate us is not the important thing here. No, the point of this exercise is to make them pay.”

“...I’ll be honest, I don’t really get it.”

“I wasn’t trying to fatten our wallet, sir. My aim was to make them remember that we don’t work for free.”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Su explained while sounding a little more cynical than usual. “Yes, we’re doing something noble for the country, so doing it for free should have been fine. However! If we let that happen over and over again, the government will start taking us for granted, sir.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, sir. Every person is the same. At first, they’ll be grateful. However, if we demand appropriate compensation and privileges next time, they will completely forget about their gratitude and start mouthing off about why we’re acting differently and how saddened they are by our lack of patriotism.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded in agreement.

“If we do nothing, people will think we don’t care. And they will think we’re pushovers and idiots if we keep humoring them. It’s not important how much we get from them. But it is important to instill the idea of paying us the appropriate amount if they want us to do something for them. If we don’t...”

That was when the elevator stopped moving, and its door slid open.

“When another crisis hits our country, the government will come to us and say this task is more important than the last. They can only rely on us again, but they don’t have enough to compensate us. When they come out like that, it’ll get difficult for us to say no.”

Every nation needed the foundation of the “sacrifice” of its people to grow more prosperous. Over the years, though, some countries learned they didn’t need to force their people to sacrifice themselves anymore. But many others still thought of their citizens making sacrifices for the so-called greater good as par for the course.

As for South Korea, it unfortunately belonged to the latter category.

“We mustn’t let patriotism color our decisions, sir. This is strictly business, after all.”

“I understand,” said Kang Jin-Ho as he walked down the corridor. He remained expressionless.

Despite saying he understood, though, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t agree with Lee Hyeon-Su completely. He wasn’t as ruthlessly objective in every matter as Lee Hyeon-Su, after all.

Even so, he still knew that listening to Lee Hyeon-Su’s opinion was correct in this situation. And that was what made the current Kang Jin-Ho different from his past self—knowing his shortcomings and trusting other people’s advice.

“By the way...?”

“Yes, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “How much are you thinking of making the government cough up?”

“I’m not quite sure yet,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while scratching his cheek. “How about 100,000,000,000 Won, sir?”[1]

“...?!”

Kang Jin-Ho stared agog at Lee Hyeon-Su as if his subordinate was a total nut job. It had been quite a while since he last reacted so viscerally to something.

Lee Hyeon-Su frowned slightly. “What’s the matter, sir?”

“A hundred billion? Really?”

“It’s actually not that much, sir. Think about what we’re doing here.”

Kang Jin-Ho was rendered speechless. Maybe his sense of money was out of whack? Or was Lee Hyeon-Su the one with a severe lack of sanity? One of them must be seriously wrong with their head right this moment.

“Even so, a hundred billion?”

Lee Hyeon-Su lightly tutted. “Sir, if something goes wrong during this mission, how much do you think the government stands to lose?”

“...”

“Several dozen trillion won? No, sir. It should be around hundreds of trillions, maybe more. We’re here to fix this crisis for them, so a hundred billion is a pocket change in comparison.”

“But this isn’t everything the government is paying us, right?”

Indeed, hadn’t the Martial Assembly already received everything it had asked for already?

Lee Hyeon-Su coolly replied, “And that’s why we’ll only demand around a hundred billion this time. That’s pretty cheap, if you ask me.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head. He thought he had more or less gotten used to Lee Hyeon-Su’s antics, but no—in moments like this, he couldn’t help but wonder if his subordinate was really a human being like the rest of them.

“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll take good care of it.”

“...”

That assurance only made Kang Jin-Ho more scared, though!

They stepped inside the suite. It was empty. Choi Yeon-Ha and Han Eun-Sol had already left to attend various business meetings.

Kang Jin-Ho considered having Lee Hyeon-Su tag along, but decided not to. With the Crimson King’s involvement, there shouldn’t be any idiots trying to target Choi Yeon-Ha.

Although there was the matter of the Azure King’s influence to think about, according to Cai Kechang or Lee Hyeon-Su’s judgment, the Azure King would never lay his hand on Choi Yeon-Ha.

The Azure King was barely holding back the Crimson King’s forces in this protracted war, so the involvement of the enraged Kang Jin-Ho would easily tilt the scale away from his side. The Azure King’s faction wouldn’t even last a month before getting utterly wiped out of existence.

Unless the Azure King had gone senile, he’d not do something that stupid.

Besides, Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su didn’t come to China to act as Choi Yeon-Ha’s bodyguards, anyway. They couldn’t keep worrying about her situation when they had their own matter to deal with.

The first thing Kang Jin-Ho did after entering the suite was turn on the TV.

Lee Hyeon-Su smiled wryly at that sight. “Sir... Is the TV here that entertaining?”

“

Mm

...”

“But you don’t even bother to watch Korean TV shows...”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled slightly. This and that weren’t really the same.

Although he was entertained by these Chinese TV programs, the “entertainment” in this case differed slightly from the usual definition.

What Kang Jin-Ho felt while watching Chinese TV programs was something no one else could feel or even understand. He could see how much had changed over the course of centuries, and how many things had not changed despite the lengthy passage of time.

As a man who had been there during China’s ancient past, he could genuinely appreciate all these changes and non-changes. They felt so vivid to him, for a lack of a better description. No wonder he was so entertained by all these TV programs.

“It’s a little different from what you think. But I can’t quite explain it,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Lee Hyeon-Su asked weirdly. “And you seem to enjoy the local food as well.”

“Yeah... I can’t deny that,” Kang Jin-Ho replied with another smirk, although this time it was a lot more bitter than before.

He also didn’t expect this to happen. The situation during his last visit to China wasn’t exactly conducive toward relaxedly exploring proper Chinese cuisine, so he hadn’t noticed anything was amiss.

But now that he got to sample some of Beijing’s finest, it felt like he was back in his hometown.

While Lee Hyeon-Su, a man born and bred in South Korea, was struggling to adapt to Chinese food, Kang Jin-Ho was like a man coming home after many years away. He was even hoovering up—with great relish, one might add—the kind of food best described as something migrant workers quickly whipped up to fill their tummies on the fly.

What was even more amusing about this situation was that when Kang Jin-Ho had just returned to the modern era, he used to be obsessed with modern foods. More specifically, modern Korean foods. But now? He realized he missed Chinese cooking instead.

Some wise people once said that one’s reminiscence of the past would entirely depend on where they were at that given moment. That might be what happened here with Kang Jin-Ho, but still, he had to admit that his attitude had swung from one extreme to the other.

“If you want, we can always install Chinese TV channels in the Assembly’s... Please hold on,” said Lee Hyeon-Su, then picked up his phone. “Wow, that was quick.”

He didn’t recognize the number. In fact, the number appearing on the phone’s screen was weird, too. But that made it much easier to identify who was calling him.

“Hello, Mister Yi. How are you?”

-...Yes, this is Yi Jong-Wuk speaking.

“It’s nice to hear from you again so soon. Very much so.”

Lee Hyeon-Su plopped down on the sofa while chatting away. Kang Jin-Ho silently took out a cigarette and lightly tossed it to Lee Hyeon-Su, and the latter lit it up before mouthing it.

-Before we start, I’d like to get your confirmation first. Apparently, there’s a leak on our side. How sure are you about this?

“We don’t have physical proof, if that’s what you’re asking.”

-Your verbal assurance is enough for us.

“Then, yes, I’m 100% sure.”

A bout of silence descended on this phone conversation.

-Mister Lee, if that is true... I know what happened is unforgivable regardless of what we say. Even then, I should at least try to salvage this situation somehow. Starting with... Please accept our sincerest apologies.

Lee Hyeon-Su smirked softly. In his opinion, this Yi Jong-Wuk guy deserved to be in charge of an NIS department. Not only was his judgment quick, but his responses also made sense.

“Well, it’s fine. You didn’t do it deliberately, after all. Various niggles will inevitably rear their ugly heads when you’re trying to do important work, no? But we shouldn’t dwell on that. What matters right now is that the leak has made this mission much riskier than before.”

-Yes, I agree.

“So, the question now is...” Lee Hyeon-Su dragged in a deep puff before lazily exhaling the smoke. “What will you do about it?”

-I heard that you demanded monetary compensation.

“That I have, yes.”

-Then we’ll compensate you.

Lee Hyeon-Su’s brows rose ever so slightly higher. Wasn’t this too easy? Not only did the call come in quickly, but they were also willing to accept his demand without a push-back?

Didn’t that mean the government was anxious about this situation?

Lee Hyeon-Su’s arched brows quickly settled down, and he narrowed his eyes. It seemed he needed to drag this conversation out a little more to figure out what the other side was thinking of.

“Alright, I’m listening.”

-Before we discuss payments, I must explain that our financial situation isn’t healthy enough at the moment. As you already know, our annual budget is publicly viewable by anyone, so...

“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?”

-Yes, of course.

Lee Hyeon-Su abruptly cut Yi Jong-Wuk off. Tough financial situations and whatnot were their problem, not his. He didn’t see a reason to be considerate here.

-Due to our tight financial situation, we can only prepare three hundred billion won.

“How much?”

-Three hundred billion won, Mister Lee.”

“That’s... lower than I thought.”

Lee Hyeon-Su grimaced.

Goddamn it!

His voice quivered

very

briefly just then. However, how could he not make a mistake in this situation? When the other side threw the amount of three hundred freaking billion won in his face without any warning whatsoever?!

Was Yi Jong-Wuk insane?!

-I get that this amount isn’t what you expected to hear from us. However, all I can ask for is your understanding this time. This is the best we can offer you.

Yes, that amount wasn’t what Lee Hyeon-Su expected to hear.

By the way, what the hell is this? Do they see me as a money-crazed devil or something?

His original plan was to brazenly shout,

“A hundred billion!”

and then negotiate until they settled on somewhere around thirty billion won. But the sudden tenfold increase in the amount left Lee Hyeon-Su a bit punch-drunk, unable to recover quickly.

-However, we can only pay you upon the successful completion of the mission.

“That much is obvious.”

Lee Hyeon-Su wasn’t going to demand an upfront fee, anyway. Besides, they wouldn’t have a lot of uses for that money even if the government did pay them upfront.

Despite handling large sums of money until now, Lee Hyeon-Su still couldn’t quickly wrap his head around the amount being bandied about here. His perception of reality seemed to have flown all the way to the Andromeda galaxy.

Since when did NIS have so much money?

While puzzled by his own suspicion, Lee Hyeon-Su tried to glean more information from Yi Jung-Wuk’s voice, but failed to do so in the end.

-That’s why you must absolutely succeed.

“Understood. Then we’ll speak after the mission is all wrapped up.”

-I’ll pray for your success.

The call ended there.

Lee Hyeon-Su stared at his phone in a slight stupefaction. Meanwhile, his cigarette continued to sizzle away, and a lump of ashes fell on his clothes.

“H-hey?! Bloody hell!”

Kang Jin-Ho watched Lee Hyeon-Su urgently dust away the ashes from his clothes before asking curiously.

“What did he say?”

“The NIS is giving us three hundred billion, sir.”

“What? Thirty?”

“No, sir. Three hundred. Billion.”

“...!”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression grew somber just then.

Maybe I was too naïve all along? Or seriously lack money sense?

Here he was, thinking that the person talking about a hundred billion won was insane, only for the other side to offer three hundred billion instead!

Maybe this amount of money was normal in matters concerning national interests?

Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head. “Nope. I don’t know anymore.”

“Well... Since they want to give us that, we should just say thank you very much, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression grew unreadable. “What do you think, though?”

“It is a little suspicious, isn’t it, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su exchanged knowing gazes in silence.

There was no such thing as no-strings-attached benefits. Since the money offered easily exceeded both Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su’s benchmarks, the Korean government must have an ulterior motive.

“It’d be nice if it’s only a bribe to ensure our continued cooperation, but that would be too simple of an answer,” Lee Hyeon-Su muttered.

“

Hmm

...” Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head again. “Nothing will change even if we mull over it right now. Let’s take care of the mission first.”

“Understood, sir.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression grew cold as he replied.

If they were trying to play some cheap tricks here... Now that would be a terrible mistake on their part.

Some people in this world should never be provoked no matter what, after all!

1. At the time of TLing, around $68.5 million US. ☜