Chapter 86.2: Things Went Wrong and Got Messed Up (1)

Kang Chan could hear the nearby people’s boisterous laughter. They had spread out a mat, sat around in huddles, and were drinking alcohol. Kang Chan shook the cigarette and extinguished it, then put the cigarette butt in a garbage can. As he looked at the river, he felt as if he could breathe easily again, at least a little bit. Amidst the noisy surroundings, he turned his head when he felt someone approaching him.

Kang Chan smirked.

“What are you doing?” Someone asked Kang Chan.

“Did you put a tail on me? As far as I can recall, all of my security guards were changed to Yoo Bi-Corp employees.”

“I used the tracking device on your phone to find you.”

Kim Hyung-Jung perched next to Kang Chan, then bit on a cigarette and lit it.

“Did it bother you that I met with Lanok?” Kang Chan asked again.

“That’s not it. I came here to see you in person. Should I buy canned beer? We should have some on this riverside to liven things up.”

“Go ahead.”

Kim Hyung-Jung went to a shop. He soon came back with a convenience store bag.

Chk!

“Here!” Kim Hyung-Jung handed him a canned beer, then grabbed another for himself.

Kang Chan felt much more refreshed after drinking it.

“Let’s have a toast, Mr. Kang Chan,” Kim Hyung-Jung suggested.

Kang Chan just watched him in response.

“I’m leaving tomorrow,” Kim Hyung-Jung continued.

Didn’t he say that he was going to leave in a week?

“I’ll be back. Please look after the ‘Unicorn’ until then.”

“Can you even come back?” Kang Chan asked.

Kim Hyung-Jung took a big gulp of the beer, then took out a cigarette and offered it to Kang Chan.

“I’m glad to be a part of this mission.”

“Mr. Manager, more than twenty agents and members of the Foreign Legion are going there. Don’t ever assume everyone’s going to be happy about their deaths. Do you think your sacrifice will instantly make the enemies leave the ‘Unicorn’ alone? They’ll keep coming for the project.. Are you going to keep sending more people to their deaths whenever that happens?” Kang Chan continued.

“This is the best that we can do right now, which is why I’m asking you a favor. I want to make South Korea stronger for the next generation. That would stop people from ever daring to do things like this again. If the ‘Unicorn’ is connected, we’ll be able to buy good weapons with the enormous wealth that’ll come with it, and we’ll be able to adulate the agents like kings and ask them to turn South Korea into a very powerful nation. That’s why I can go there smiling.”

Kang Chan almost fell for Kim Hyung-Jung’s words. However, he soon shook his head and argued, “this isn’t an operation. Entering a dangerous location fully aware that no matter what you do in there will result in your death is not an operation. It’s suicide.”

“Mr. Kang Chan.” Kim Hyung-Jung held out his beer toward the river. “The Selenga river is so long that I heard it goes along the border.”

In front of Kang Chan, who was looking at him with suspicion, Kim Hyung-Jung smiled strangely. “This originally isn’t part of the operation, but I plan on going along the border to get to Russia, climb the mountain, and head to Kazakhstan. Please help me when I arrive there.”

“How are you going to contact me?” Kang Chan asked.

“Let’s use a satellite phone. That should be enough to have a toast with me, right?”

Kim Hyung-Jung didn’t seem like the person who would lie about something like this.

Kang Chan clanked his beer against Kim Hyung-Jung’s and took a big gulp.

“We need Lanok’s help in Kazakhstan,” Kim Hyung-Jung told Kang Chan afterward.

“He already promised to help with that matter.”

“I knew he would. After all, you didn’t have any other reason to meet Lanok at the embassy yesterday aside from asking him for help in this operation.”

Kang Chan looked around them.

“There isn’t a country that neglects a special security target. You can trust us because it’s on a different level than simply trailing you,” Kim Hyung-Jung reassured Kang Chan.

“It seems like this phone is the problem, then?”

“If you throw that away, then I’ll have to write a detailed explanation.”

They both smiled.

“Thank you, Mr. Kang Chan,” Kim Hyung-Jung said seriously while looking straight at Kang Chan.

“That came out of nowhere.”

“France has given us more detailed information than what we had been aware of. Our guess is that France’s DGSE is making a move, and they urgently handed over the intel they gathered to us through France’s branch office between yesterday evening and this morning.”

“You and the members returning safely is far more important than things like that.”

“I’ve found a way to survive because of the information they recently gave us. It included the Mongolian border guards’ locations, shifts, and even the path we should follow while going up the river.”

Tsk! Kang Chan suddenly felt very apologetic toward Lanok.

Ah, shoot!

He had been holding onto Kim Hyung-Jung for too long.

“You should go, Mr. Manager. You should spend time with your family as well if you’re going to go to Mongolia tomorrow,” Kang Chan said.

“I should, shouldn’t I?” Kim Hyung-Jung stood up without complaints. “Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride.”

“It’s okay! Please go home quickly. I’ll head home after having another beer. I doubt I’ll be able to sleep like this anyway.”

Kim Hyung-Jung nodded, then walked up to Kang Chan. “I’m glad to have met someone like you.”

“Please tell me that after you’ve returned alive. If you don’t come back, then I don’t care if it’s the ‘Unicorn’ or whatever. I’m throwing it all aside and running to you.”

Kim Hyung-Jung held out his hand after smiling in a cool way. Kang Chan held onto it tightly, enough for his hand to hurt. After Kim Hyung-Jung swallowed dryly, he turned around, headed to the parking lot, and got in his car. Kang Chan stared blankly at him as his car’s lights turned on and he drove away.

Kang Chan then smirked.

Kim Hyung-Jung gave him a military salute just as the car was turning around.

***

On Wednesday, Kang Chan loafed around at home all day. He didn’t exactly have it in mind to go out. After all, their current situation was chaotic because of what Kim Hyung-Jung was doing.

Kang Dae-Kyung went to work, and Yoo Hye-Sook left after saying she’ll be back after meeting a friend and dropping by the Foundation’s office.

‘Time to get to know you better, you son of a bitch.’

Kang Chan again put Yang Jin-Woo’s information on the screen and examined it as if he was going to memorize it. It wasn’t easy. To put it bluntly, he could easily run over and beat him up with Seok Kang-Ho if that was all he had to do. However, beating Yang Jin-Woo up was completely different from beating up gangsters or David from Alion. He didn’t want to start something that even the National Intelligence Service would have trouble covering up just so he could punch him a few times.

‘Should I actually incapacitate this man forever?’

Don’t do that

. If Kang Chan did an awful job in finishing him, Yang Jin-Woo would spare no effort in getting revenge. Moreover, if that fucker desperately tried his best to make them suffer even more than he did rather than just getting even, then it would only become burdensome in the future.

‘Should I kill him?’

That wasn’t easy to do either. If he suddenly killed the country’s best chaebol?

Kang Chan shook his head.

“Phew! How can I deal with this son of a bitch in a way that would make me feel relieved and not worry about future troubles?” Kang Chan asked himself.

As Kang Chan was scratching his head…

Buzz— Buzz—Buzz—

.

Buzz— Buzz—Buzz—

.

Buzz— Buzz—Buzz—

.

Kang Chan held up his phone.

“Hello?”

- Channy! I’m going to get upset if you’ve forgotten about me.

That was right–Kang Chan had forgotten about Smithen.

“Weren’t you doing well with a girl? You can just call me if I suddenly come across your mind.”

- I’m living by myself nowadays.

“What about the girl with the big breasts?”

- We broke up last week.

I knew it!

- Channy, I received a weird offer. Let’s talk in person.

“A weird offer? What is it about?”

- I said that we should talk about it in person.

Was this fucker stringing him along? Now that he had thought about it, Smithen had become very relaxed.

“When can we meet?”

- Let’s have dinner tonight. Why not bring Dayeru with you?

“Alright. I’ll contact you after I talk to Daye.”

- Okay, Channy. By the way, I enrolled at a language institute.

“Let’s talk about that later.”

- Alright, Channy. Keep me updated.

After ending the call, Kang Chan contacted Seok Kang-Ho and set up a time to meet. He then called Smithen again. His schedule suddenly became hectic. He had to wash up, change, and call Yoo Hye-Sook to tell her he was going to go out. Moreover, he decided to meet Seok Kang-Ho an hour before meeting Smithen.

When Kang Chan walked out of the entrance of the apartment, Seok Kang-Ho was already waiting for him looking excited.

“What’s with you?” Kang Chan asked.

“Why haven’t you gone anywhere lately?”

“Hey! It’s only been two days since I last went out. My father hasn’t been well.”

“Please look after me as well. I’m lonely.”

Kang Chan usually smiled whenever he met this guy.

They headed to a specialty coffee shop near Smithen’s house.

“Speak of the devil,” Seok Kang-Ho commented.

“Smithen knows how to string someone along by saying that he got a weird offer.”

“What’s the point in doing that when he’s just going to chatter about everything on his own anyway?”

They bought iced coffees and put them on the table. They then smoked cigarettes.

Kang Chan beat around the bush for a moment, then confessed what was going on with Kim Hyung-Jung.

“Were you thinking of going to Mongolia with him without telling me?” Seok Kang-Ho asked afterward.

“That’s not exactly true.”

“Hmph! No wonder you were acting so weird the other day! I should’ve known better when you changed the subject and said something about sleeping with Michelle and whatnot. I’m upset.”

“I said it’s not like that!”

“Fine. I’ll just let this slide, then. I don’t want to be narrow-minded. However, I have a favor to ask in return.”

“What is it? Just name it. Should I buy dinner?” Kang Chan asked.

“Please swear on the name of the God of Blackfield that from now on, you’ll never leave me out if something like this happens again.”

Kang Chan thought Seok Kang-Ho was taking this a bit too easily, but he soon turned to look at Kang Chan seriously.

“Captain, I’m letting this slide even though I’m very upset that you didn’t tell me. If I could, I’d probably be bawling my eyes out right now. Put yourself in my shoes. How would you feel if I talked about sleeping with other people for your sake, then suddenly disappeared without telling you that I’m actually heading to my death?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.

Tsk! Why does this fucker suddenly turn into a great speaker when talking about topics like this?

“Captain!”

“Okay. I promise.”

“Please do it properly.”

This fucker. I can’t believe he’s really doing this.

“Captain?”

Kang Chan sighed when he saw Seok Kang-Ho’s eyes. The only way to stop Seok Kang-Ho whenever he acted like this was to beat him up to death.

“I swear on the name of the God of Blackfield that I’ll include you in every operation from now on.”

Seok Kang-Ho grinned, which made Kang Chan feel as if he just made a big mistake.

1. a chaebol is a powerful conglomerate run by a single family

2. The raws actually used a Korean idiom, which is ???? ? ??? ??. It’s literally translated as ‘the tiger will come when you talk about it’, and in chapter 77.2, Seok Kang-Ho suggested that they meet Smithen to see if he knows anything and Kang Chan agreed to do so.