The Imperial Hunter Chapter 77 - Metamorphosis (4)

“I apologize for being late, Chairman. Because I suddenly got an important call.”

Park Miju bowed deeply, a long red line drawn across her left cheek as if slashed by a sharp blade. In addition, her right ring and pinky fingers had splints on them. Despite being able to use basic physical enhancement techniques, the strained ligaments still hadn’t recovered. At least there were no scars that would be visible.

“I didn’t hear you got hurt.”

At my words, her head bowed even deeper.

“It was a minor injury so I didn’t report it.”

“Stand up straight. No need to apologize.”

I had thought about magically healing her wounds but shook my head internally.

‘It’d be weird if her injuries suddenly disappeared.’

Instead, I looked over the four security department personnel who had come with Park Miju. The first duty of the organization’s security department was to ‘actively’ protect me as the head, but they were also in charge of on-site security for key executives and mid-level executives dispatched to dangerous areas.

“I don’t want to suspect you but I still have to check.”

At that, Kyung-tae who had come to greet me lowered his head this time.

“There were no cowards, hyungnim.”

“We’ll see about that.”

A procedure to check if there was anyone who had neglected their duties at the scene where Seo Gabsoo died. No need to waste my accurate eyes when something like a polygraph was available. It was also an important means of maintaining discipline in the organization.

I stared at the four very tense men and grasped their shoulders one by one, throwing straightforward questions.

Are you an honest man to me?

The answers that came back were uniformly concise. When the four questions ended, Kyung-tae noticeably relaxed. I lastly tapped the shoulder of the one I asked the question to and returned to my original position.

“Let’s get moving. I’ll listen to the story on the way to Guangzhou.”

“I’ll guide you. This way.”

Park Miju took the lead in guiding me.

The airport revealed a desolate landscape with few passengers but many deployed military and police. What stood out here was the presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The PLA blatantly entering an airport must be because of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, which were also gaining momentum amidst the worsening Black Children’s Party situation. On the other hand, it was probably China’s ostentatious response to the all-around pressure from the Western world, led by Britain.

After a short car ride, we arrived at the airport’s east side where there was a pier and passenger terminal. Waiting for me here was a coastal passenger ship with a hull that looked about 100 meters long. The sharp hull shape stood out for a passenger ship. This ship, which would take on no other passengers, had been prepared to serve as a safe house and mobile headquarters while operating around Guangzhou.

“How much did this cost?”

As I boarded the deck and asked, Park Miju answered.

“We signed a 1-year charter contract for 900,000 yuan.”

“900,000? Very economical.”

About 150 million won in Korean currency. A negligible amount compared to the utility of a mobile safe house with helicopter landing and vehicle storage capabilities. It was cheap even compared to the expected profits of this human hunt.

However, Park Miju’s expression darkened at my words.

“I’m sorry.”

“What is it now?”

“With such low demand for ships like this, if I had exercised sufficient negotiating power, I could’ve brought the price down further.”

What Park Miju was referring to was the state of the local tourism industry here, more devastated than Puerto Vallarta. With the unending recession, I couldn’t expect proper cleaning services to be available. But considering the circumstances, whether the ship owners and operators leased the ship out at any price, it was all profit for them. If negotiations had been dragged out to deal with multiple companies, someone eager to get rid of maintenance costs might have even proposed free rental.

However, there hadn’t been time to go through all that this time. Even though I had a casino in Macau and didn’t need to establish a separate corporation, how much could I save hastily concluding a contract in just a few days?

“Don’t blame yourself unnecessarily. We should be glad we at least used bags to pop our corn over the open fire.”

With a sense of disbelief, I calmly took a few more steps and then stopped to look back at Park Miju. The downcast expression on her shadowy face persisted.

As I gazed silently, I let out a sigh.

“Is it tough?”

“…”

Park Miju, her lips tightly sealed, had moistness welling up around her eyes. My question seemed to trigger the emotions she had kept bottled up. I understood. She was my subordinate, prepared to repay her life debt to me, but until now, she had taken on tasks that were low-risk. Furthermore, she had worked alongside her former superior for a long time until he died right in front of her. It was natural that her mental state was strained.

Not all my subordinates could be like Kyung-tae and Suyeon.

“If you want, you can step back from this operation.”

“Hyungnim, that’s…”

Suyeon, with a furrowed brow, was about to voice an objection, but I raised my hand to stop her. Pushing people to overcome difficulties with sheer mental strength was a method I didn’t particularly favor. Using people like that wore them out too quickly, depleting their lives as tools. If I wore out my subordinates this way, eventually, the organization would collapse from within.

My subordinates should always be kept in a state of mind where they could sacrifice their lives at any time.

“I…”

Park Miju, who was about to say something, closed her eyes and swallowed her words. She took a deep breath, then opened her eyes again and slowly but firmly pointed.

“I want to see this through to the end, even for the late Director Seo. Even if it’s my last job, I want to finish it with my own hands.”

“I see.”

“If I step back, you won’t be able to make the most of Gao Shusen’s department. He’s shown me deep favor because of Director Seo’s…sacrifice, and his kindness to me, who was with him at that time, is significant. The halo I wear is just like an inheritance from Director Seo. I must not let it be meaningless.”

This was the reason why Suyeon opposed my decision in the first place.

I accepted Park Miju’s determination.

“In that case, you’re the director now. Step up for Gabsoo and do it right.”

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

The inside of the ship was dirty and chaotic. The operation had not been properly managed even before the passenger ship ceased operations. It appeared that cleaning services could not be used properly in such an economic downturn, but the situation combined with the ignorance of common-sense hygiene among irrational passengers yielded quite a spectacle. Even marks where someone had defecated were visible, adhering to the walls. 

The moment it became filthy, the rate of deterioration seemed to accelerate, creating a common pattern of broken glass-like consequences.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t clean it in time.” 

Park Miju said, and I raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Stop apologizing. Stop blaming yourself. Don’t you understand that there wasn’t enough time?”

“I’m…sorry.”

I wanted to sigh again at the preposterous feeling, but that would be a mistake in front of a subordinate leaning negatively. I straightened my expression and entered the briefing room. Although calling it a briefing room was the same here, it was just a cabin with a whiteboard and large table and chairs, not prepared either.

I could feel the ship accelerating. Kyung-tae instructed his subordinates to conduct security checks inside the ship. As I took my seat, Suyeon stepped up as per the set procedure.

“Executive Director Park. What are the specific destination and estimated time of arrival?”

“Could you wait a moment please?”

Park Miju had her team members fix a map on the board, tidied her attire, and newly composed her posture.

“The point we’re currently headed to is a pier under the Liede Bridge to the north of Haizhu District, estimated to arrive in 2 hours 10 minutes. Although the service speed of this ship is 34 knots, the crew is still getting accustomed and there’s also maritime traffic to consider, so we’re currently cruising at 20 knots.”

Haizhu District was one of the many mid-river islands along the lower reaches of the Pearl River, where overwhelming wealth and bottomless poverty coexisted in disorder.

I had also dropped by here a few times for human hunts. What came to mind were the buildings packed in a disorderly manner like garbage swept next to neatly developed blocks. Ranging from tens to thousands of large and small houses crammed in with barely enough space for a single person to pass through. Among them were no straight roads, only the stench of poverty, crime, and disease always lingered, and the viscous shadows receded only briefly when the sun passed the meridian.

Such were cities in China.

“What’s the reason for setting the anchorage there?”

Replying to Suyeon’s successive questioning, Park Miju slid the laser pointer she had marked the pier with slightly down.

“It’s because Gao Shusen, an important collaborator in this plan, and his subordinates are stationed 10 minutes away by vehicle from the pier. Originally the garrison where the Pazhou Division of Haizhu Precinct of Guangzhou Public Security Bureau was stationed, it’s been upgraded to one of the dispersed on-site command centers of the city security bureau.”

“Upgraded? Is security particularly worse in that area compared to other regions?”

“Yes to some degree, but I also heard it’s a measure to protect the local branch of the Bank of China in the same building. Although just speculation, I suspect there’s also intent to guard the neighborhoods where many party members reside.”

“What’s the equipment procurement plan?”

“For vehicles, we’ve agreed to be provided spare goods from the security bureau, and the concrete delivery schedule is-”

Suyeon’s barrage of questions proceeding swiftly and tightly was, in my eyes, a stress test performing the role of a manager. He was checking if Park Miju was in a state to properly carry out her role. Actually Suyeon herself probably already grasped most of the details from interim reports.

Listening to the ensuing Q&A, when sweat drops were about to form on Miju’s forehead, I slowly raised my hand to take over. It was at the part where that Gao Shusen guy used foreign mercenaries – meaning us – to bet his fate on.

“Is deceit a possibility?”

From the brief report, that typical corrupted bureaucrat’s original plan was to abandon his subordinates and spectate from a safe position. If it went well, he would steal the credit, if it went wrong, he would purge his subordinates and turn it into his achievement.

Those subordinates were precisely the three security bureau executives he had intended to use as puppets.

Replying to my slowly tossed question, Park Miju conspicuously relaxed her shoulders.

‘The one she should really be most afraid of is actually Kyung-tae.’

The security department’s security duties for executives also encompassed close surveillance. As an unofficial inspector general, Kyung-tae had the authority to preemptively neutralize and report any betrayers in the organization. Although it was an authority never exercised.

Anyway, having this one threat helps a lot as the head of an organization. All you have to do is do a decent job as a superior.

“I can’t say it’s completely impossible but the chances of sincerity are very high.”

What Miju was saying.

“That’s because his uncle who had been backing Gao Shusen until now, Gao Ninghui, Chief of the Provincial Inspection Commission, was suddenly impeached this morning.”

“That’s why you were late?”

“Yes, Chairman. The central party is currently handing down corruption crackdown quotas to each local party and ministry, but as you know, since there are no uncorrupted officials in the Communist Party, fulfilling the quota has become a game of hot potato between executives.”

“As Chief of the Inspection Commission, he must’ve held the initiative himself. Since the work he oversees is denunciation and purge. He probably also had the most evidence of corruption.”

Translated in Korean terms, as Chief of a provincial level local government, his actual power was at the minister or higher level of a nation, considering Guangdong Province officially had double Korea’s population and its GDP was almost on par with Korea. The chief of the Inspection Commission was in a good position to keep dirt on other chiefs.

Park Miju nodded.

“Which is why he seemed to have earned the vigilance of everyone else. Looks like executives of all factions combined forces to move the central party’s Inspection Commission.”

“Misfortune of the mighty. So his nephew Gao Shusen also became someone who could lose his head at any moment.”

“Yes. Although the impeachment trial is still ongoing, it’s unlikely his uncle will be able to clear the charges on his own. But that doesn’t mean he’s innocent either.”

I see…

After hearing the circumstances, an idea comes to mind.