Chapter 227.1: The Guys That Are In My Heart (2)

Kang Chan reached the French embassy and entered the ambassador’s office around twenty minutes past eleven. He had told Lanok that he wanted to arrive a bit earlier than the time of their appointment so he could have a moment to collect himself. Lanok had willingly accepted.

“Mr. Kang Chan!” Lanok greeted as he scanned Kang Chan’s face with interest. Kang Chan had two big bandages on his forehead and one on his cheek right now, so he most likely wasn’t the best sight to look at.

“Do you regret it?” Lanok thoughtfully asked.

The incredible operation resulted in all the windows within a hundred-meter radius and a whole house right in the middle of Seoul being blown away.

Kang Chan just smiled awkwardly in response.

“Take a seat,” Lanok offered as he poured him some black tea. He then handed over a cigarette.

“The DIA was planning to use Kwak Do-Young to sacrifice several American intelligence agents in South Korea,” Lanok began.

Click.

After lighting up the cigarette for Kang Chan, Lanok paused and lit a cigar. He then took a long drag on it.

“They wanted to restrain you through Wui Min-Gook and hoped to use a list of spies to sow chaos in Korea. If North Korea and Japan had joined forces with them, they would have had achieved quite a lot of their goals.”

It was Kang Chan’s first time hearing of this, but it didn’t even come as a surprise to him anymore. He had been encountering things like this quite often lately.

“The United States was planning to announce you as the South Korean special forces’ commander in Afghanistan. That would have kept your hands tied,” Lanok added.

“Can’t they just announce something like that whenever they want?” Kang Chan asked.

“If they did without having any justifiable reason to, the masses would just criticize them and call it a political move. That’s why they wanted to mark you as dangerous through North Korea and Wui Min-Gook. Announcing this themselves would also expose their true intentions, causing them more harm than it would to you.”

“Do you know the United States’ motives?”

“They want to get rid of your power and influence in Korea.”

“Do I really have enough influence for them to target me?” Kang Chan questioned with a joking smirk.

Contrary to his expectations, Lanok’s gaze became serious.

“Intelligence bureaus all around the world consider you the most dangerous individual. The United States will likely target you again or make you an offer that you can never refuse.”

“Won’t the DGSE be able to uncover what it is?”

“It will be difficult,” Lanok responded, much to Kang Chan’s surprise. “You should not take the United States lightly, Mr. Kang Chan. Although it may seem as if their power has waned right now, they don’t simply keep an eye on individuals or countries that go against their national interests. Taking their influence and vast economic and informational power into consideration, the DGSE and National Intelligence Service would’ve had to make every effort in such a battle.”

Kang Chan let out a low sigh. He wanted to become stronger, but enemies even more powerful than him kept coming up.

“If you weren’t the Deputy Director-General of the DGSE, the United States would surely have eliminated you in Afghanistan. We have evidence to back this information.”

Damn it!

Kang Chan cursed internally. As he did, he remembered a certain bastard’s name and face.

“What happened to Ethan?”

“He has returned to England,” Lanok replied, his eyes glinting mysteriously. Kang Chan didn’t pry any further. With the gaze that Lanok had, Kang Chan trusted Lanok had taken care of it properly. If Lanok had left Ethan alive, there had to have been a good reason for doing so.

As if reading Kang Chan’s mind, Lanok smiled. “Ethan can still be of great use. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even have been able to leave the United States and come to Korea.”

“I trust your decision,” Kang Chan responded with certainty.

Lanok’s smile widened into a grin. Not long after, their meeting was interrupted.

“Mr. Yang Bum has arrived,” Raphael announced as he quietly entered the room.

Yang Bum walked in as Lanok and Kang Chan stood up.

“Mr. Ambassador, Mr. Kang Chan. It’s been a while,” Yang Bum greeted.

“Should I call you Director now?” Lanok joked.

“Not you too, Mr. Ambassador,” Yang Bum said with a mock groan.

It hadn’t been that long since Kang Chan last saw Yang Bum, but in that short period, it seemed the man had taken on the solemn weight that came with the Director of Intelligence position. His gaze, expression, and even movements had changed so much that he seemed to be a completely different person.

“Mr. Kang Chan.” Yang Bum offered a handshake to Kang Chan with a firm gaze. “Your performance was quite remarkable.”

Kang Chan just smiled at what Yang Bum said. What else could he do?

“If it’s alright with you, would you like to head to the dining area? How about we have lunch together, then enjoy some tea and cigarettes after?” Lanok suggested.

“That sounds great,” Yang Bum responded.

Lanok’s perfect mask was back on his face as he spoke to Yang Bum. Kang Chan thought that he should learn that trick someday.

Lanok guided them to the dining area. When they arrived, the staff waiting inside quickly brought out some wine.

One of the occasional mistakes Asians made during French meals was to take the bottle from the host and fill the host’s glass after the host poured the guests their wine. It was an act of courtesy in Asian culture, especially if it was a bottle of wine that the guest had brought as a gift. However, in French dining etiquette, only the host or guest of honor could pour others wine.

Kang Chan couldn’t help but chuckle to himself during situations like this because it reminded him of the first time he went to France.

“Is there something amusing?” Lanok asked.

Kang Chan told them about what happened when he was invited to his first meal in France.

“When was this?” Yang Bum asked, leaving Kang Chan speechless.

The timing wouldn’t be right, and Yang Bum’s eyes were glinting. He looked as if he was trying to uncover something.

“It hasn’t been that long,” Kang Chan replied with his best straight face. If he had to, he would wear a mask too. He would wear countless masks if that was what it would take for him to become strong enough to protect his people.

“Now! Let’s have a toast to celebrate this meeting,” Lanok suggested.

Clink!

The three sipped their wine, all with their masks on.

“I’m sorry for what happened with Wui Min-Gook. It seems I unwillingly put the burden on you,” Yang Bum apologized.

“It went well. I did get these battle scars, though,” Kang Chan said lightly as he pointed to the bandages on his face. The three burst out laughing.

They were soon served appetizers, marking the start of their course. Kang Chan was cutting into his lamb steak when he remembered something. He turned to Yang Bum and cautiously asked, “I heard you met with Vasili. May I ask what you spoke about?”

Yang Bum had a piece of meat in his mouth, so he lifted his napkin and dabbed his lips first. “China, Russia, and Mongolia all share borders in the Mongolian region called Chuluunkhoroot District. Russia calls it Zabaykalsky,”

Yang Bum lifted his wine glass and took a sip before turning to Kang Chan.

“It’s a key strategic point. Neither Russia nor we can afford to give it up. Russia has recently changed their methods to sending the Mafia there under the pretext of denadite mining.”

Denadite?

That was the name of the mineral that was used to fill in for the Blackhead’s energy shortage.

Kang Chan shot Yang Bum a suspicious gaze, but there was no knowing if the latter intentionally brought it up or if it was a coincidence.

“Have you heard of opencast mining?” Yang Bum asked.

“This is my first time hearing of it,” Kang Chan replied.

Yang Bum nodded understandingly.

“In that region, the ore is laid out just a meter below the surface within a radius of fifty kilometers, so there’s no need to dig underground tunnels.”

“There shouldn’t be an issue about who owns the mineral that comes from a mine in Mongolian territory, should there?”

“The head of Mongolia’s border defense cannot handle the Russian mafia,” Yang Bum explained.

Kang Chan set down his fork and knife and dabbed his mouth, focusing on what Yang Bum was telling him.

“Our involvement could lead to a regional war between us and Russia, so we plan to sell the development rights of denadite in that region to a third-party country instead. The condition is simple—the organization to be stationed in the area have to take down the Russian mafia.”

Vasili is going to go batshit crazy, isn’t he?

Thinking of Vasili’s cold gaze made Kang Chan smirk. However, there was something he had to confirm first. “What will the denadite be used for?”

“A variety of things. Glabonite, milabonite, and denadite are most commonly used for dyeing, bleaching, and washing. China, Europe, and the United States can no longer use the sulfuric compounds derived from petrochemicals, so there is a tremendous demand for denadite.”

Was Yang Bum giving him vague responses on purpose? Kang Chan was starting to doubt that the denadite would really be used as Yang Bum claimed.

“Denadite is a soft mineral, but when put into alcohol, it transforms into a substance as hard as a diamond. It also emits an energy that we are not familiar with yet.”

Kang Chan just nodded in response and took a sip of his wine.

“Combining it with cetinium in that state gives it an immense explosive power. Since Russia already has access to cetinium, we cannot just sit still and let them take the denadite as well.”

“Can’t Russia just buy the mine?” Kang Chan asked.

“Mongolia doesn’t have a strong enough economy to ignore our influence,” Yang Bum replied.

Kang Chan had a rough grasp of what was happening. If this was what was revealed on the surface, there had to be something related to the Blackhead hidden within.