The Imperial Hunter Chapter 64 - Light and Shadow (6)

First. My personal problem.

I once declared I would smuggle and detonate nukes if necessary, but that was strictly for when needed – or rather, when no other options remained. Where should I draw the line of necessity? Should victory be seized even at the cost of slaughtering millions including children? Aside from the line of necessity, is there not another line I must consider?

Before a call of conscience, this was a call of disgust.

I disliked imperialists.

Regardless of right or wrong, I simply physiologically disliked them.

Though I aimed for values and outcomes different from theirs, on the methodological level, the line distinguishing them and I hung on a huge margin of sacrifice placed on the scale of desire. The unit of sacrificial objects. Walking the path of overly increasing that unit was to me like traversing a tunnel teeming with cockroaches in a torrent, barefoot. A path I disliked to walk before it imperiled my life.

Because the motive was unrelated to ethics, impeding the new world order of imperialists was merely ideological justification to instill in subordinates.

Here the second problem arose.

Who should I entrust this cruel plan to?

There were limits to justifying means through pretenses. Preparing for biological terror would burden even loyal subordinates with moral distress. There was also no guarantee the spread of disease would be contained one hundred percent. Yet if I tried brainwashing subordinates to the level of gibbering idiots raving about fictional divine judgment and nuclear weapons, I could end up with subordinates causing who knows what accidents devoid of rational thinking capabilities.

I could probably trust Kyung-tae and Suyeon, as well as a few others like the former chief secretaries and security chiefs. Not that they were devoid of any chance of wavering, but because if they did waver, they would surely confide in me first. However, it was impossible to burden that small minority with the entire process from start to finish.

I recalled what Suyeon had said in Singapore.

「If you wish it, I can pick up a knife this instant and go kill any noticeable people in sight, young or old, without discrimination.」

Blind faith lacking for nothing, regardless of reason.

Sensing my gaze, Suyeon turns her head. With the rare expression of embarrassment.

“Are you perhaps concerned about Perucho?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maria’s father, the dock worker Pedro Santos Sanchez.”

“I didn’t forget him. But why bring that guy up?”

“…I thought you looked this way after hearing the news. But I was mistaken.”

News? Only now did I notice the voice of the announcer I had vaguely listened to as background noise from the dangling earbud. Sensing my interest, Suyeon turned in her chair to a better angle for conversing, removed the earbud jack from the laptop, and played the voice reporting on the port situation through the speaker.

「…A contract discovered at the late El Juego’s residence stirred great controversy in the Puerto Vallarta community. With the signatures and seal of the Bucerias market mayor verified as not forged, the disappearance of Korean businessman Huang is showing signs of becoming a political scandal.」

「Mayor Bucerias, at the center of suspicion, held a press conference stating ‘There were threats and coercion from the Sinaloa Cartel side in the process of drafting the contract.’ He explained he himself, along with the missing Huang, were both merely victims.」

「In response, dock office clerk Pedro Santos Sanchez categorically dismissed the mayor’s explanation as preposterous lies, insisting the smile he saw from the mayor was by no means the result of coercion. Mr. Sanchez further raised his voice declaring the civic solidarity alongside him would surely bring corrupt officials like Mayor Bucerias to justice.」

「Meanwhile, the South Korean embassy in Mexico City stated the identity confirmation of the businessman ‘Huang’ is difficult and—」

“Strange.”

While listening to the news, I felt doubt about Perucho.

“Surely he wasn’t the sort of man to step out like this. Is his life not precious?”

The stout dock worker I saw was the epitome of an egocentric petty citizen confusing weakness and righteousness. His motive for following Huang was limited strictly to his own and his daughter’s lives. Even if Huang’s disappearance brought him tremendous frustration, if the scales were frustration and survival, they would invariably tilt towards survival for that petty man.

What Perucho was doing now bordered on suicidal behavior. Whether Mayor Bucerias or El Tiro lurking in alleyways with his men, they would not want to leave loose a lesser official senselessly provoking them.

Suyeon answered my question.

“Maria died.”

“How?”

“That night, while escaping the city, she was shot by an assailant. Not fatal, but as their vehicle was hijacked by the assailant, and the path to the hospital was blockaded, she was unable to receive timely treatment. Perucho believes the attacker’s identity was a hoodlum of the Sinaloa Cartel. Apparently, he had tattoos characteristic of Sinaloa.”

Ah. The picture comes together. While hugging his daughter growing steadily colder, drenched in sweat and tears, the stout dock worker official wandered the gunfire and smoke-filled streets at night.

If he had such an experience, it might change a person. Whether an irreversible change or a temporary transformation from anger and sorrow as opium faded, there was no telling.

“He won’t live long.”

Whether he died or lived wouldn’t make much difference for a human like that, so if he conveniently died on his own, so much the better. The sooner traces of Huang’s disguised identity were erased, the more it would benefit us.

But Suyeon made a different prediction.

“On the contrary, his lifeline may prove surprisingly long.”

“Why?”

“Because citizens mourning Huang are gathering around him. Thanks to raising suspicions about the mayor, his face and story took the media spotlight. As a figurehead of such movements, Perucho is a new face the Mexican government and FPDA+1 can highlight. A signboard vividly displaying the positive change the community underwent.”

“…They would send that guy into the political sphere?”

“If the current mayor is impeached and a by-election held, the possibility is ample, no? He can absorb a high percentage of the citizens’ favor towards the late Huang. Since he openly followed you everywhere acting as local secretary.”

“So I unintentionally assisted electioneering.”

“Yes.”

“That’s a bit troubling.”

Suyeon’s prediction was unexpectedly realistic. With his support base being citizens aided by Huang, and his only presentable career experience being Huang’s sidekick, as long as Perucho’s political life continued in the regional political sphere, he would have no choice but to keep venerating Huang’s name.

Should I kill him?

I tapped the armrest with my fingertips, lost in thought. As Huang’s disguised identity, the chances of him causing problems were slim. Though his recorded birth nation was Korea, his actual citizenship was in Colombia, currently at war with neighboring countries.

‘Not in any position to sincerely respond to identity confirmation requests for an individual businessman. Let alone ones not on a national level.’

Meanwhile, all assets I used under Huang’s name were prepared through funds transferred between paper companies knotted up more complexly than Apple Inc.’s infamous tax evasion structure. These money trails were works the field support team had labored over and perfected for over a decade.

Yet leaving Perucho alive gave me an unpleasant feeling.

“What do you think is best to do with that guy?”

As if expecting this question to arise at this point, Suyeon answered without hesitation.

“Killing him is fine and leaving him be is fine.”

“I understand why killing him would be good, but what’s good about letting him live?”

“Huang’s death, even now when it should draw the most attention, has failed to attract international attention, let alone domestic attention. Assassination attempt on the Hong Kong Chief Executive, serial burglaries targeting top CCP officials, Western bloc versus China confrontation, surging pirate damage, successive disappearances of Japanese fishing vessels, intensifying civil wars across Africa, the endless armed protests and looting by US blacks, the Paris terror, the war sparked in South America….”

Suyeon randomly lists international topics and then shakes her head.

“As you know as well, some time will pass before the world calms down again. Huang’s death does not qualify as an incident that can grab the Round Table’s attention. Rather, leaving whoever can make use of Perucho be, is more beneficial. Because the hidden powers’ interest will focus on political interests.”

Well…

Truthfully I wasn’t ignorant of this fact either, but it was a momentary obsessive impulse as the hunted prey, as well as a distortion of perspective summoned by that impulse. It wasn’t something to make a big deal of.

Because the subject itself arose out of context, my words lacked insight. Even now, half of my flowing thoughts were tilted toward the London conquest plan’s dilemma.

Chewing it over again, it seemed fine to kill him later even if I had to kill him. Waiting for the interest in Perucho to die down. Right now many citizens supported Perucho, but a politician who didn’t disappoint their support base was rarer than a mythical creature once stepping into the political arena. Due to environmental factors, not individual inclinations.

What more the corrupt political sphere of Mexico. Perucho lacked Mexican ointment. Neither political background nor financial assets. As such, the probability was high that he would lose his entire support base, excluding the cultic supporters, within a year even.

I had asked a question I wouldn’t have if I pondered a bit longer.

“I showed poor judgment.”

“No. I will have the edited transcript anonymously submitted if Perucho becomes disadvantaged.”

“That would be good.”

To put the somewhat uncomfortable Suyeon at ease, I switched topics to safer ground.

“Any new intel on Black Children Party?”

Black Children Party was the name awakened gangs fervently engaged in banditry activities in China called themselves nowadays. The righteous thief group targeting only high official residences for burglary on principle.

“I planned to report it alongside other matters later, but shall I inform you now?”

Suyeon’s rhetorical question subtly hinting perhaps I should rest more at this time. After all, the Perucho talk arose unintended as well. But the interrupted break had already lost steam.

“Tell me.”

“…According to Deputy Manager Seo of International Affairs and Assistant Manager Park’s inquires through local connections, at minimum seven provincial standing committee level senior officials are estimated to have been victimized in Guangdong and Hainan provinces alone.”

“According to Deputy Manager Seo Gapsu of International Affairs and Assistant Manager Park Miju’s inquiries through local connections, at minimum seven provincial standing committee level senior officials are estimated to have been victimized in Guangdong and Hainan provinces alone.”

“Seven? Seven cases at the standing committee level?”

“Yes. Guangzhou Party Secretary Mao Xiaodu, Hainan Provincial Standing Committee Executive Deputy Director Yang Hongzhong, Hainan Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission local bureau chief Peng Chunlan, Guangdong Province Deputy Minister Sun Xi….”

After listening to the titles and names Suyeon listed, I spoke with a somewhat absurd sense.

“If not handled properly, it could detonate a bomb on China’s economy.”

While saying a mere burglary could detonate an economic bomb was laughable, I was by no means joking.