21st Century Goguryeo

December 6th, 2023, 09:00 (Macao time 08:00)

Accommodation in Macau Special Area, Republic of China

Three days later, the agents of the Foreign Intelligence Division One gathered again at a cheap hotel in Macau, not in Hong Kong, and had a brief meeting in the living room early in the morning.

Manager Lee Ja-seong, who arrived from Hong Kong at dawn, stood in front of a portable whiteboard on one side of the living room, looked around at the agents, and began the meeting.

"Team 1 and Team 2 worked hard for a few days. I think you have probably outperformed your duties while working as an agent for the National Intelligence Service. So I have two pieces of good news."

Manager Lee Ja-sung made a meaningful expression while holding up two fingers.

"The first is that our great Manager Namgoong-won has successfully hacked the server in the president's office and is deciphering the encrypted documents, and the second is that we received information related to Jjang Chun from Qingdao's gang members."

Manager Lee Ja-sung started writing something on the whiteboard.

"This is the Hong Kong bank account that Jjang Chun uses and the mobile phone number of Qingdao's boss."

Early this morning, Lee Ja-sung received a call from Ryu Chingji. He had the information Lee Ja-sung needed, so it was a call to exchange the information for a cure. In response, Manager Lee Ja-sung met Ryu Chingji at a dock warehouse at dawn, gave him a cure and left for Macau immediately after receiving the information.

"The current account number and Qingdao's boss's mobile phone number are being tracked by the Cyber Security Bureau of the headquarters. It is said that Qingdao's boss deposits money into this account every ten days. If we are lucky, we will be able to know where he is when he's transferring the money. His cell phone number is also being monitored in real-time, so we'll be able to track his location when he contacts Jjang Chun."

"Manager! Well, I don't think that's good news."

Chief Park Gi-oong, who was very much looking forward to it, shouted out.

"I think this is enough…When was the last time you had been on a mission that could be accomplished in an instant? It seems that Chief Park has a lot of complaints about coming here after returning from his vacation?"

"Haha, that is not true. It is not. Manager!"

At the staring eyes of Lee Ja-sung, Park Gi-oong clapped his hand and gave an awkward smile.

"As I said earlier, if Manager Namgoong-won releases the encrypted documents, we will be able to receive more helpful information."

"Manager, I have a question."

Chief Youn Tae-jin raised his hand high.

"Yeah, what?"

"Didn't the headquarters say they were monitoring the voice call tracking system or something? What happened to it?"

"Unfortunately, I don't think we've learned much yet. Still, the possibility of getting caught has increased by narrowing the surveillance zone to this area and Southeast Asia. Let's wait and see."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, then, let's not starve the team members. Feed them breakfast and then get to work!"

Lee Ja-sung, the manager of the department who was talking while looking at Oh Hyuck-soo, gave a slight thumbs-up.

"Come on! I'll make sure to treat everyone to breakfast at a nearby hotel."

Chief Park Gi-oong shouted raising the money that he had exchanged yesterday at the VIP floor.

"Woah! You'll be caught if you spend your special expenses on your own."

Said Chief Yoon Tae-jin, who tapped Chief Park Gi-oong's shoulder. Chief Park Gi-oong smiled while looking at his money.

"This is the money I won from the VIP floor last night. Hahaha."

"Hey! Did you gamble on special expenses?"

"Gambling, you son of a b*tch! I just did a little to check out the VIP floor!"

"What did you play? Slot machines? Blackjack? Poker? Baccarat?"

"Blackjack!"

"Oh! Blackjack? How much did you win?"

"Don't worry about that and eat what I buy for you."

Manager Lee Ja-sung snatched the bundle of money while the two chiefs were sparring.

"Just spend this on special expenses and grab a quick bite for each team. If things go well later, we'll have a get-together."

"Oh! That's too much."

When Chief Park Gi-oong, who was left empty-handed, made a tearful face, Chief Youn Tae-jin stuck out his tongue and made a joke.

"Come on! Get out of here! Chief of Team Four organize the photos of teams one and two."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

December 6th, 2023, 11:00 (New China Time 10:00)

New World Beijing Hotel, Dongcheng, Beijing, New China

After the successful hacking, Namgoong-won and his party, who had moved to the New World Beijing Hotel, were concentrating on deciphering the encrypted data among the downloaded files. All of the important data were encrypted.

"What kind of encryption module are these bastards using? It is not like the Chinese to do this. Maybe this is not from the Chinese."

Assistant Manager Na Seong-hyeon, who was counting the nights till this was over, muttered as he stretched.

"Huh, that's why. I was wondering if it would work out by hacking it, but what is this encryption module?"

Director Kim Young-gyun, who was happily tapping the keyboard next to him, sighed deeply and lamented.

As the two agents grumbled, Namgoong-won silently tapped the keyboard to decipher the encrypted data in full concentration.

"Manager Namgoong-won is full of passion! Great."

"It is not passion! He should hurry up and go home. A foxy wife is waiting at home."

"Ah! Manager Lee Hye-jin, who is said to be one of the most beautiful in the NIS? I am so envious. I even don't have a girlfriend waiting for me."

"Aren't there many female agents in the NIS?"

"Even if there were, what can I do? Every day I go from country to country and do this in the corner of the room. I wish I could transfer to a full-time job at the Security Bureau. How can I, manager Namgoong-won? Are you able to help me and give me an internal job?"

"Haha, I got it. I'll tell the director when this job is a success. So why don't you just go to work instead of playing?"

"Oh yes, I see. Hey! Chief Kim, what are you doing? You need to focus."

"I like the way things are now as I am still young. I have a good future ahead."

"Sh*t! You too, wait another two or three years. See if you would still sound like that?"

"Haha!"

* * *

December 6th, 2023, 14:00 (Macao time 13:00)

The Sands Cotai Venetian Hotel (Room 2015), Macau Special District, Republic of China

The man who gambled all night in the VVIP room, returned to his hotel room, drank whiskey and fell asleep, got out of bed, took a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator, and gulped it down. This man was the one who Park Gi-oong met the day before in front of the elevator for the VVIP room.

The man who let out a disgusting burp sat on the sofa and let out a long sigh.

"How much did I lose so early in the morning? Damn."

Shaking his head and still feeling the effects of the alcohol, he recalled his memories.

"Twenty thousand dollars? Damn!"

It was about 200 million won. That morning wasn't the only time that this guy had gambled such a huge sum of money. Since he had arrived at Macau, he had been donating it to the casino every day.

Shaking his head in annoyance, the man went into the master bedroom, took out a briefcase from the safe installed on the wall, and returned to the living room sofa.

He put the briefcase on the table and turned the combination lock. When he opened the bag, there was a pistol, three magazines, and a transparent box containing passports of various countries and about 10 SIM cards.

The man took a SIM card out of its transparent box and swapped it with the SIM card in his Xiaomi smartphone. Then he made a phone call.

"Hey! It's me! Send me $100,000 by 7 p.m. tonight!"

"Yes? Suddenly…Don't we have three more days to collect the money?"

"Why are you so talkative? If I ask you to send it, just send it. Do it now, okay?"

"Alright. But a few days ago..."

"A few days ago, what? Why did you stop talking?"

"Oh, no it's nothing."

"What's going on?"

"No. During the expansion of power, there was a minor problem with the men below..."

"Hey! Shouldn't that be handled by you? How long do I have to keep looking after your back?"

"Yes, that's right. Which is why I stopped talking."

"You have until seven o'clock in the evening! Don't be late!"

The man who finished the call before he heard an answer took out his SIM card and broke it into pieces. Then he walked over to the living room window and tossed it through the small window at the top.

The man was naked and not wearing a stitch of clothing. He watched the Macau skyline spread out through the glass for a moment, then put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and took a deep breath.

And through the white smoke, a smug smile appeared on his face.

* * *

December 6th, 2023, 14:00

National Intelligence Service (Cyber Security Agency), Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Namju

It is safe to say that all the departments of the Cybersecurity Agency are currently working on Professor Woo Jin-gil's confidentiality plasma core technology leak operation. Cybersecurity Division 1 operated the tracking program sent by the Parthenon Research Center, and Cybersecurity Division 2 was in charge of a voice call tracking system that restored the hijacker's forged voice and compared and analyzed the voice calls coming and going through all communication networks in the world to track their location. In addition, Cybersecurity Division 3 was in charge of account tracking and real-time call monitoring for specific numbers requested by Manager Lee Ja-sung. Lastly, Cybersecurity Division 4 was supporting Namgoong-won and his group's hacking mission.

In this way, as all departments were operating 24 hours a day without a break, the two departments simultaneously searched for clues that could lead to tracking Jjang Chun down.

Suddenly, Cybersecurity 3 agents began to get busy. At dawn, a suspicious call was made to the number given by Manager Lee Ja-sung. By tracking the location, it was discovered that the call was made from Macau.

"Are you sure that the location is Macau?"

"Yes, that's right, Chief!"

"Find out as many details as possible!"

"Yes, all right."

The agent tapped the keyboard with quick hand movements. In an instant, the eyes of all agents were focused on the large screen that was fitted on the wall.

The red dot indicating the location flickered, and the digital map of Macau displayed on the screen was enlarged and finally stopped at the Venetian Hotel in the Sands Cotai area.

"Venetian Hotel?"

"Yeah, the signal just ended, and the place where the last signal was traced to appears to be the Venetian Hotel."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Chief"

"Great! Great job! I'm going to report to the manager right away, so keep an eye on him!"

"Yes. All right."

Meanwhile, excited voices erupted from Cybersecurity 2 and around the office.

It was because there was a response from the voice call tracking system that had not been activated for more than ten days.

They tried to restore the altered voice, but it wasn't perfect. Perhaps that was the reason, the location was tracked along with the comparative analysis data. It was about 90 percent similar to the voice call tracking system that had been silent.

"It's 90 percent. What are the odds of it being our guy?"

"It's hard to say for sure but if it's a 90 percent comparative analysis, there's a high probability that that guy is the culprit."

"Were you recording the call?"

"Yes, we started recording right after the results of the comparative analysis came out."

"Great! How about tracking the call's location?"

"We are still trying to trace the call. Please wait a moment."

"Hurry!"

Manager Kim Gi-won urged with an excited tone.

"Ah! The location has been secured."

Cybersecurity 2 and the large-screen digital map also marked the Venetian Hotel in the Sands Cotai area of Macau with a red dot.

"The Venetian Hotel in Macau?"

"Yes, the tracking system has shown that the location is the Venetian Hotel."

"B*tch! Finally caught him! Is he still on the phone?"

"Ah! He just hung up."

"Great! We don't know if he will call again, so everyone be on emergency standby and Chief Na!"

"Yes, manager!"

"Chief Na, check the recorded call file with Woo Eun-seo immediately! As in right now!"

"Yes, all right."