thenovelthief Chapter 153
Chapter 153
Translator: Dreamscribe“.......”
Dobe’s assassination was not only a great shock to Japan, but also to our country.
After all, Japan and Korea were considered gun-free nations.
But now, it wasn’t just anyone- a former prime minister had been shot to death. The aftermath was beyond words.
“So now, every time Japanese politicians go on a campaign tour, they all wear bulletproof vests. It looks like we might have to do the same here.”
It was the right judgment.
Because the culprit didn’t obtain the gun through smuggling, but rather used a 3D printer to craft a handmade firearm himself.
There are currently many people in Korea who use 3D printers.
It’s a world where, using blueprints easily found abroad, anyone with the will can make a gun.
“The motive hasn’t been revealed yet?”
“No. From what we hear, it seems related to a cult, but the Liberal Democratic Party is trying to pin the blame on the opposition. And the media outlets supporting the ruling party are all launching attacks together.”
Cruel as it is, it seemed the ruling party saw Dobe’s death as an opportunity.
The Liberal Democratic Party was originally expected to suffer a crushing defeat in this election.
Their approval ratings had dropped that low.
“But they held a grand state funeral, and ruling party members are continuously releasing public statements, so they’ve managed to turn the tide in approval ratings.”
And their decision turned out to be right.
They managed to successfully reverse their approval ratings by exploiting Dobe’s death.
“It’s not really the opposition that killed former Prime Minister Dobe, is it?”
“Honestly, they had no reason to. Former Prime Minister Dobe was actively campaigning, yes, but he’s the one who wrecked the Japanese economy, isn’t he? Public opinion about him wasn’t good. Letting him be would’ve been more advantageous.”
That means it could only have been someone with a personal grudge against Dobe who killed him.
“But the media is really scary, isn’t it? They’re all pinning it on the opposition from every direction, so the public truly believes it and is cursing the opposition.”
“.......”
It didn’t feel good.
Someone had died, and yet people were using that for political gain, I couldn’t help but wonder why this world had become so cold.
No, maybe it was like this from the beginning.
‘So what I heard back then really was a gunshot.’
When I was reading the profile of former Prime Minister Dobe, I had seen an image filled with the color red along with the sound of a gunshot.
At the time, I couldn’t believe a shooting could occur in Japan, a gun-free country, so I brushed it off, but it had been real.
“.......”
But even if I had realized it was an assassination by gunfire, could I have stopped former Prime Minister Dobe’s death?
If I had sent a message warning that someone might fire a gun, they probably would’ve dismissed me as a crazy guy.
Moreover, the message would likely have become a problem even after Dobe’s death.
Everyone would interrogate me, asking how I knew about the shooting in advance.
‘I can’t prevent every single one of those outcomes.’
Even my intuition hadn’t told me to rush over and stop it immediately.
“What about the Vice President?”
“He departed yesterday with the staff. As a mourner.”
The Vice President went all the way to Japan not just to pay respects, but in truth, his purpose was different. It was to precisely coordinate the conditions Japan had laid out for us.
The Liberal Democratic Party hasn’t won the election yet, but their current approval rating has overtaken the opposition, hasn’t it?
So the plan was to be there in advance, work on the preliminary coordination, and immediately wrap things up after tomorrow’s vote.
“But will the Japanese side really go along with it?”
“I'm also doubtful about that. The conditions they originally proposed were so bold. This whole incident happened before we even did anything. So maybe they’ll end up scrapping all the conditions......”
When Japan presented such bold terms, they only asked one thing from us.
To give them a secret strategy that could turn the election around.
But how could we possibly create something like that?
And before we could do anything, this sudden shooting incident gave the Liberal Democratic Party the perfect chance to reverse the election.
“Still, just in case, let’s be prepared. Even if we don’t expect much.”
“Yes. Let’s hope the Vice President can salvage at least a few things.”
Yeah. Let’s not expect too much.
It’s a shame, though.
***
The House of Councillors election was a day of destiny for the ruling party.
In the past, they wouldn’t have worried much.
As always, the ruling party would win.
But this election was different.
The opposition, united under the banner of judging the ruling party, launched a fiercer attack than expected.
[The Liberal Democratic Party has won a sweeping victory, securing 141 out of 248 seats!]
“That’s right!!”
“We won!!”
However, there was no upset.
Or rather, should this really be called a lack of an upset?
If former Prime Minister Dobe hadn’t died, the opposition would have secured the majority and overturned the government.
But the heavens chose the ruling party, not the opposition.
There would be no election more dramatic than this one.
“The problem is, who exactly are those heavens?”
“.......”
“If Kwangwoon hadn’t gone to such extremes, the ones laughing right now wouldn’t be us, but the opposition.”
“Yes. It was really close. But still, no matter what, to do that to a former prime minister who represented an entire country.......”
At the aides’ words, Prime Minister Yoshida furrowed his brow.
“Watch your words, all of you. If someone hears this, they’ll think we instigated Kwangwoon to have the former prime minister killed.”
“S-sorry.”
“Besides, the culprit already confessed, didn’t he? Said he believed former Prime Minister Dobe was deeply connected to that cult.”
“Yes. Apparently, he was a man whose family was destroyed by a certain cult. Whether former Prime Minister Dobe was actually connected to that religion isn’t clear, but there are rumors of deep ties between it and our political circles.”
“And that cult came from Korea?”
“Yes. Its origin is Korea. The name of the religion is supposedly... ‘Unification Church’ or something. A religion that started in Korea.”
It was quite a peculiar situation.
An incident caused by a cult that originated in Korea.
“What’s the connection to Kwangwoon?”
“They asked the suspect about Kwangwoon, but he seemed completely unaware of why they were bringing that up. He truly believes his family was ruined by that religion, and that our ruling party was strongly supporting it.”
“So it’s really a personal grudge?”
“Yes. There’s no connection found with Kwangwoon, so maybe this really was just an accident?”
At those words, Prime Minister Yoshida shook his head.
“Am I the only one who finds this strange?”
“Sorry?”
“If his family was destroyed by a cult, wouldn’t it make more sense to target the cult leader, or to storm that religious organization and go on a shooting rampage? But out of nowhere, he goes after former Prime Minister Dobe?”
“......”
“And this cult started in Korea no less, And right after our Liberal Democratic Party reached out to Kwangwoon, this happens.”
At first, when former Prime Minister Dobe was killed, everyone thought it was Kwangwoon’s doing.
But once the suspect’s confession came out, thoughts started to change.
Maybe, just maybe, this really was an accident.
But listening to Prime Minister Yoshida now, it was starting to feel like something was seriously off.
“Moreover, the decisive factor is that Kwangwoon sent their Vice President here as a mourner. He may have come pretending to pay respects, but he’s really here to finalize negotiations with us.”
“Th-then what should we do?”
“If they really are the ones who had former Prime Minister Dobe assassinated, shouldn’t they be held accountable?”
“How? Do you have any evidence? The man who killed former Prime Minister Dobe is fully convinced that the ruling party and that cult were in bed together.”
“.......”
Only then did they realize.
This is how Kwangwoon operates.
Why their name never surfaced in all the major incidents that had occurred until now.
Why no one had been able to find any connection to them.
This incident made it clear.
“This is how Kwangwoon leaves no trace behind.”
“They’re... truly terrifying people.”
“Yeah. They’ve shown us that they can make even a prime minister vanish without a trace. And we can never say that Kwangwoon killed former Prime Minister Dobe. Because we’re practically accomplices.”
They hadn’t directly asked Kwangwoon to kill Dobe, but the fact remained that they were the ones who first reached out to Kwangwoon, so the truth of this incident must never come to light.
“Then what should we do about the person Kwangwoon sent?”
“What do you mean, what should we do? Just tell them everything will proceed without any issues regarding the conditions we proposed.”
“What? B-but Prime Minister, didn’t you say last time that you would delay things as much as possible......?”
"I don't want to do anything that would upset Kwangwoon like former Prime Minister Dobe did."
“.......”
The conditions were far too bold.
They were filled with terms that were extremely disadvantageous for Japan.
But they couldn’t bring up the idea of renegotiation.
Those people weren’t here to negotiate.
They were here to collect what had already been contracted.
***
“Games are funny, aren’t they? You end up getting close with people you’re not even that familiar with. Before you know it, you’re calling each other hyung and dongsaeng. I think I made a good choice joining here. Hehe.”
“.......”
Kim Doo-young glanced sideways at Vice President Kang Ji-hwan, who was particularly unresponsive today.
He was originally a man of few words.
But he’d usually say a word or two, at least give some kind of reaction.
Was something bothering him?
"Ah. I heard. You really hit the jackpot when you went to Japan this time? I thought it was a lie at first. Did Japan really agree to accept all those conditions? How did you sweet-talk them?"
"......Who knows."
Even this time, his response was lukewarm.
Was it because he’d brought up work on a day off?
“And our CEO Jung, I gotta say, he’s really a genuine guy. Honestly, I used to think our CEO was behind all the incidents Kwangwoon got tangled up in. That made him kind of scary. But playing games with him, meeting him personally... he’s really kind and gentle. I don’t know why I had that terrifying image in my head. Haha.”
At that, Vice President Kang Ji-hwan smiled.
“If anyone’s being naive, it’s you.”
“......Huh?”
“Let me give you a word of advice. Our CEO isn’t as gentle as you think. He’s much scarier than you can imagine.”
“Wh-what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
He then carefully glanced around.
“You said earlier I hit the jackpot in Japan, right? The truth is, all I did was go there and get a confirmation.”
“Hey. Getting a confirmation is a big deal. To negotiate to that point......”
“What negotiation? I’m telling you, I literally just got the confirmation. Before I could even bring up our terms to the government officials, they just told me they were going to go ahead and implement the conditions they initially proposed to us.”
“......?”
Kim Doo-young tilted his head in confusion.
“Japan, without any conditions?”
"There was a condition. To give them a brilliant strategy that could turn around the election for the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan."
“But where’s the trick? That election only turned out that way because Dobe died.”
“.......”
Vice President Kang Ji-hwan silently lit a cigarette.
Realizing what that meant, Kim Doo-young suddenly stood up from his seat.
“Wh-what? Don’t tell me, this whole incident......!”
“Shh. Keep your voice down.”
“Screw keeping quiet! What the hell are you saying right now? If what you’re implying is true, then our Kwangwoon really was involved in that incident. That’s why Japan accepted all those terms. Did you see it yourself? Did Kwangwoon Securities actually hire a killer or something?”
“No. I didn’t see anything. And of course, we didn’t hire a killer. But......”
“But what?”
Vice President Kang Ji-hwan looked around once more with tense eyes.
“Can you take this secret to your grave?”
“What? Wh-what is it now? You’re scaring me.”
“Our CEO. A few days before the shooting, he asked me something.”
“Asked what?”
“He asked me... whether Japanese Yakuza still smuggle in a lot of firearms these days.”
“!?”
Startled, Kim Doo-young quickly regained his composure.
“But that alone isn’t enough to draw a connection......”
“Right. It’s a leap. But still, as soon as he saw the proposal from Japan, out of nowhere, he brought up Japanese firearms. And then, a few days later... this happened.”
“.......”
Vice President Kang Ji-hwan, having already smoked three cigarettes, dusted himself off and stood up.
“Our CEO… he’s not such a naïve person. I’ve served him for years, but even now, I still don’t know his true nature. Not even the Chairman knows that, I bet.”
“.......”
“So don’t be too naïve either. Always stay on your toes around the CEO. He sees through everything. I wasn’t planning to tell anyone this, but I’m saying it because I’m worried about you.”
Kim Doo-young swallowed hard.
“Oh right. And remember what you said the other day.”
“...Huh? Uh, what about?”
“This Guild. You said it’s not just a simple gaming Guild. That it has another purpose. At first, I brushed it off, but now… I think you were right. There’s no way someone like our CEO would create something like this just to play games and socialize.”
“.......”
After Vice President Kang Ji-hwan left the smoking room, Kim Doo-young stood there blankly in place.
The conversations he’d had with CEO Jung Jin-ho, the way he had acted toward him, and so on.
For some reason, those scenes began flashing through his mind like a film reel.
*****
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