The Imperial Hunter Chapter 45 - Starving Port (7)

`El Juego pulled the couch closer to me and leaned his body diagonally on the armrest.

“I saw you something you shouldn’t have for a moment.”

“… No.”

“Don’t be too scared. Tiro here is a bit edgy right now. We need to gather our forces before the main unit lands, and if things continue like this, we’ll get a beating from the commander.”

“Speaking of which, that ‘war chest’ that was mentioned earlier, is it a bribe for the commander to cover up any failures?”

“Hey, businessman, you catch on fast! That’s right, exactly!”

El Juego easily affirmed it. Even though the word “bribe” came up, El Tiro showed no signs of embarrassment. For them, it was just a natural part of their thinking.

“About 4 million pesos should be fine, right? Think of it as the peacekeeping fee for this city. It would be even better if you paid it in dollars. The Mexican currency is very unstable these days.”

4 million pesos was roughly 200 million won. It was a manageable amount if you were going to give it, but it was best to avoid unnecessary waste. I rolled my head and asked a question that might be meaningless to me but would be natural for ‘Huan’.

“I can’t just give that amount of pesos or dollars without conditions. Earlier, you mentioned that the organization would provide some convenience to me. What specific convenience can you offer me?”

‘Huan’ might see the risk in the business environment more significantly or be scared enough to give up on this port, but in El Juego’s position, it would be difficult. He had already offered ‘concessions’ and talked about ‘my perspective.’ El Juego made the proposal.

“I’ll grant you a tax exemption for ten years, but only for the businesses you own in this port.”

“Tax exemption?”

“Yes, a tax exemption! ‘Derecho de Piso,’ in other words, the protection fee collected by the organization.”

“Well…”

“We usually collect 10% of your operating profit as a tax. Imagine how much of an advantage a 10% difference will be when you compete with businesses in the same industry. Most competitors won’t even dare to do business! What I’m offering is practically a monopoly!”

“That… would indeed be advantageous.”

To be honest, the condition itself was quite favorable.

‘It’s not necessarily a promise that will be kept to the end.’

Once ‘Huan’ had a lot in this port, and thus couldn’t easily withdraw, El Juego would finally reveal his intentions. He would cancel the promise, make more and more unreasonable demands, and force the foreign businessman to spit out more profits. It was like raising livestock. Whether in a gambling den, a business deal, or the criminal underworld, the wisdom of surviving as a human being was ultimately quite similar. Could you really not see through this arrogant guy? El Juego’s temptation continued, transitioning from a rude attitude to a technically gentle one.

“Yeah, that’s right. And with connections to the organization, you won’t need to pay ‘express fees’ here and there, right? Within our cartel’s territory, no government official or cop will be able to ask you for ‘grease’ money. I’ll stake my name on it and make a clear promise.”

“Express fees” and “grease.” These two words summarized the business environment in Mexico succinctly. In particular, “grease” was such a well-known concept in Mexico that there was even an idiomatic expression called “Mexican ointment (Ungüento mexicano).” Just as one applies lubricating oil to a machine, not greasing the bureaucratic wheels in Mexico meant that your business would continue to squeak.

Before becoming an idiomatic expression, “grease” (ungüento) originally referred to ointment used as a salve or to the anointing oil applied to delay the decay of a corpse. The decay of a corpse and the decay of bureaucracy shared a common thread—the act of applying oil covered the stench of corruption.

I nodded and said. 

“So, essentially, it’s about making one-time payments for all the unofficial expenses going forward, right? At a very steep discount?”

“That’s right! We understand each other.”

“…Okay.”

“Hallelujah!”

“In that case, I’ll make a larger investment. I’d like to establish a good relationship with El Tiro this time.”

“Perhaps because you’re of the yellow race, you’re very quick at calculating! So, how much are you willing to spend?”

“Under the condition that the agreements we’ve discussed so far will be notarized by the market owner, I’ll have $2 million in cash ready within four days. However, please ensure that the notarized document has three seals. Signatures alone won’t do.”

In three days, my ship would arrive. Since I wouldn’t be leaving anyway, I decided to call a large sum. Chellino, who had to guarantee a political suicide, looked very uncomfortable but would likely be in this position already. He’d collect a commission too.

“Wait a minute, three seals…”

Chellino tried to say something uncomfortable, but El Juego, who had risen to his feet with arms raised, blocked him. El Juego, who was rejoicing silently in his own world, suddenly turned to El Tiro like firing a machine gun and shouted.

“See that? Did you see it? This is how you have a conversation! Follow the example of El Juego! This muscle-bound guy! Two million dollars! Try to match that! Two… mil… lion… dol… lars!”

Despite El Juego’s explosive vulgarity, El Tiro surprisingly didn’t seem too upset. Of course, it was all because of the money. Two million dollars wouldn’t be a small amount even for cartel executives who frequently handle large sums of money.

“But four days seems too late. I’ll already be on my way when you return.”

“Until the expedition is over, you can leave it on my side. I’ll handle it. Besides, for the paperwork, you can add Chomo’s signature. Don’t worry.”

In context, “Chomo” would likely be a nickname for the “Double A” commander.

‘If his nickname is Chomo, his real name is probably Jerónimo.’

Due to Hugo’s reckless remark, Tiro gave me a slightly suspicious look, and I pretended not to notice anything.

To civilians, this might seem surprising, but criminal deals often relied heavily on trust. This was especially true for transactions within criminal organizations. Deception could lead to facing off with the other party’s faction and potentially even loss of life. Establishing a faction to avoid being deceived was an individual’s ability. The one who got scammed was a fool.

“I suppose there’s no other way.”

El Tiro nodded to me and said/

“Let’s do it this way. I’ll graciously accept the money. You won’t regret my favor.”

“I also hope this turns out to be a good investment.”

Afterward, Chellino reluctantly prepared the notarized documents.

“Sealing documents seems quite unfamiliar. Is this absolutely necessary?”

“There’s no more certain proof than that. Think of it as part of Eastern culture.”

“…”

Chellino hesitated, looking uncomfortable with the stamp ink pad in front of him. Fingerprints were not entirely absent in Mexican culture, but they were not common. Leaving fingerprints as a government official was much more burdensome than cartel bosses.

As Chellino hesitated with the ink pad in front of him, El Juego got irritated and said a few words.

“Hey, Chellino. Why are you hesitating so much? As always, 5% is yours. Work hard, earn more, move to a bigger house, get promoted, and make some hot new friends, okay?”

Even the promise of a 5% commission didn’t seem to brighten Chellino’s mood. Dealing with the burden of this guarantee was bad enough, and seeing cartel bosses easily pocket large sums of money must have been painful.

However, as El Tiro’s gaze gradually turned fierce, Chellino’s resistance had its limits. In the end, four documents, each with the signatures of four witnesses and four fingerprints, were completed and sealed in four envelopes. Ironically, the envelopes for official documents had the logo and phone number of the federal government on them.

‘It’s convenient to have the ability to control water, even at times like this.’

As the ink pad was water-based, I could distort the fingerprint shape by exerting a constraint force on it when stamping. I just had to press firmly and buy some time. The precise control capability from my sophisticated circuits allowed for such accurate forgery.

Even manipulating fountain ink wasn’t too difficult. By exploiting the nature of water and oil not mixing, you could easily forge fingerprints. You controlled the moisture content to create a mold and simply mixed in the ink.

Having captured my share of documents, I casually assumed an unimportant attitude and asked the most important question.

“Now that everything’s done, I have a question. What would have happened if I hadn’t provided the military funds?”

El Juego replied with a counterquestion.

“Why are you curious about that?”

“It’s just curiosity. As a foreigner, I’m interested in the realities of Mexico.”

“Well, you seemed to know quite a bit about the United States too.”

After being satisfied, Juego began to boast with a stern expression fitting of a cartel executive. The deal had been concluded, so he could confidently rattle off intimidating words. This allowed me to generously record his statements, which I could use as material for editing.

“May I ask one more question?”

“Anything.”

“There seem to be a significant number of military and police forces in this city. Is it possible for cartel sicarios to gather here on a large scale? Do you exert influence over the navy, army, police, and defense forces as well?”

The Guardia Nacional, or National Guard, was a unique Mexican organization that combined military and federal police functions. It operated under the direct authority of the Minister of Security and Civilian Protection in the federal government. In essence, it represented the military force directly controlled by the President, López Obrador. However, even as a member of the ruling party, an individual mayor could not cover for large-scale actions of a cartel’s combat forces unless they had used bribery.

‘But if bribes were used, it would be a loss-making business for the mayor.’

Chellino, the mayor, smiled and shook his head.

“This man wouldn’t go that far.”

“Then what?”

“It’s simple. For the sake of restoring order, the President has decided to tolerate the expansion of the Sinaloa Cartel this time.”

Hmm, quite a mess. Even when Sinaloa controlled the dark corners of Guadalajara, on the surface, things were peaceful. This was indeed a political decision that could only happen in Mexico.

‘If the cartels are fighting each other, the cartels will take the blame first.’

Last year, during the battle in Culiacán against the Sinaloa Cartel, the government had to admit defeat due to the accumulating civilian casualties. The worsened public sentiment continued to haunt the President. Therefore, what the President was attempting now was a very calculated political decision. The government would tolerate the Sinaloa Cartel’s expansion for the sake of restoring peace, as well as tarnishing the image of the Sinaloa Cartel in the process. During the process of expanding their influence, the Sinaloa Cartel would inevitably cause numerous civilian casualties. This would highlight the government’s incompetence but, given the President’s still-unrecovered image from the downfall last year, it seemed like a gain rather than a loss for the government. Meanwhile, Sinaloa’s forces would be worn down.

El Juego played his part well, offering praise.

“Do you understand, Don Huan? This is how powerful our cartel is. It’s like another government in Mexico.”

It was a statement that could make a splash in the devil editing.

“I see. As an ordinary person, I’ll rely on the discretion of El Juego and El Tiro.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve grabbed a really good lifeline. Let’s do well from now on.”

I shook hands once again with the three daredevils with dreams.

With this, all I had to do was wait for the remaining three days to pass. Until it was over, I couldn’t let my guard down, but I had removed all the obstacles that could be dealt with through effort.

However, in life, there were things that could go wrong in unexpected places, no matter how meticulously you plan. What turned the smoothly operating plan upside down wasn’t the Sinaloa Cartel or the Los Caballeros Templarios Cartel. It was a decision by the Mexican government to secretly accept foreign support, and one of the countries involved was the Nation, the United Kingdom, which was the first in the world to establish a special forces unit composed entirely of superhumans.

In other words, the Masters of the Round Table had their eyes on the leader of the Mexican Holy Knights, El Maestre, a supernaturally powerful awakened individual from the Los Caballeros Templarios Cartel.

I found myself in a distant parallel world, closer to the front lines of the Round Table than ever before.