Chapter 193

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“How could we have missed this information?”

Until now, headquarters had never once reprimanded Sentinel or questioned their capabilities.

But this time, a lengthy official document came down stating they would evaluate everything from Sentinel’s overall structure to their systems.

“With an intelligence agency like this, if higher-ups interfere too much, there would normally be some pushback, but we have nothing to say here.”

Sentinel wasn’t established simply for protection purposes.

While they do have the mission of escorting shipping vessels, their main duties are operations and intelligence gathering.

“Yet we failed to detect in advance that someone was trying to assassinate the core of Gwangwoon Group, of all people.”

Anthony Watson was greatly shocked upon hearing that Jeong Jin-ho had nearly been assassinated by someone.

He understood why headquarters had sent such an official document.

Sentinel.

True to their name, they were supposed to play the role of sentinels, yet they hadn’t even known that Jeong Jin-ho had almost died.

“So, what about the investigation?”

“There have been three confirmed assassination attempts so far. The first used a Korean mercenary, the second had a hotel staff member put drugs in President Jeong Jin-ho’s glass. And the third seems to have used a cargo truck driver addicted to gambling.”

“Have you caught all of them?”

“Yes. We’ve caught them all, but they don’t know exactly who gave the orders. They were contacted via burner phones, and the payment was sent in Bitcoin.”

“Who could be behind this?”

“We’ve looked carefully. We normally maintain real-time surveillance and receive intelligence from cartels, mafias, military governments, and various other places. But no matter how much we search, we can’t find anything on this one.”

“So you’re saying we lack the capability?”

“It’s because this happened somewhere our intelligence doesn’t reach.”

A place Sentinel’s intelligence doesn’t reach.

Through negotiations with the EU this time, Sentinel bases were being established in Europe, and they were already conducting intelligence on surrounding countries.

Beyond that, from Africa to America, Mexico, and so on.

Intelligence on various criminal organizations and governments was also actively being conducted.

Looking at this, it might seem like Sentinel was conducting intelligence worldwide, but there were two places their capabilities couldn’t reach.

“China or Russia?”

“Russia at least has free movement and fairly decent intelligence activities. But China is different. Although we’ve planted agents in Sichuan Province, our reach isn’t wide enough yet to penetrate China’s core agencies.”

“So you’re saying China did this?”

“Although our reach in Russia is also narrow, Russia has no reason to make Gwangwoon an enemy right now. In contrast, China is being destabilized internally because of our Gwangwoon.”

“Seems like sufficient reason for them to lash out.”

“Yes. They seem to have tried to throw Gwangwoon into chaos by killing President Jeong Jin-ho. They could also send a message as an example.”

Gwangwoon had been building up and shaking China for a long time.

What exactly Gwangwoon wants China to become isn’t clear, but they clearly don’t like the current system.

But there’s no way China was just watching as Gwangwoon tried to destroy their system.

So they took action.

Planning to assassinate Jeong Jin-ho—something no country had even attempted until now.

“However, part of the reason we couldn’t predict this was that it was too unrealistic. Honestly, China made a stupid move. Killing President Jeong Jin-ho wouldn’t bring down Gwangwoon.”

Jeong Jin-ho, called Gwangwoon’s core.

He’s not the mastermind.

Just pulling up his profile tells you that.

How could a basement-dwelling unemployed person become the mastermind moving global finance?

In other words, someone is putting him in front and controlling everything.

The problem is that the identity of who’s behind this still hasn’t been revealed.

“Right. They definitely did something stupid. If Jeong Jin-ho dies, a replacement would quickly emerge, and ultimately they’d just be provoking Gwangwoon’s anger. No, they’ve already poked the sleeping lion’s nose.”

Right now, Gwangwoon is thoroughly angry.

They’ve sent official documents to Sentinel and are conducting aggressive investigations wielding Korean public authority.

“Moreover, they say Gwangwoon sent all personnel from their security companies to sweep away organizations connected to this incident. Police forces were also deployed.”

“If they move that forcefully, word will leak out.”

“The Korean government has stated they’re cracking down on organizations related to serious gambling problems, and Gwangwoon is controlling social media and communities to prevent the story from leaking incorrectly.”

Back when people only got news from newspapers and TV, manipulating public opinion was quite easy.

But as smartphones developed and social media and large communities kept emerging, they could no longer manipulate opinion so crudely.

Because now it’s a world where everyone monitors.

“But that’s people’s misconception. Look at Korea. Gwangwoon controls everything. Chillingly, people don’t recognize it at all.”

Gwangwoon owns not only social media but also various large communities in Korea.

And not just Korea.

Their tentacles have extended overseas as well.

If they reject Gwangwoon’s acquisition offers, they’ll take down the servers that community uses, making operation itself impossible.

This was the terrifying thing about having a large cloud server company.

After acquiring Bluezone, there was nothing left for them to fear.

“I understand why they were so obsessed with and invested in AI. It wasn’t simply for humanity’s advancement. It was for use at times like this.”

Public opinion control using AI.

Gwangwoon was actually doing something that seemed like it would only appear in movies.

“But what I’m curious about is this. There’s no way China planned this carelessly, so how could they fail the assassination three times? They must have known they absolutely couldn’t fail.”

“Are you saying… President Jeong Jin-ho already knew about the assassination plan?”

“Right. No matter how lucky you are, you can’t dodge more than twice. Unless you’re prepared in advance. But he dodged three times in a row? If China really did this, their Central Operations Bureau would have handled it, and we know those guys’ skills best.”

They’re not the type to make mistakes. Yet they failed three times, which means information was leaked in advance.

“Then why are they putting us through all this trouble…”

“It must have been a test. To check how far our intelligence reaches, how capable we are. Plus, our Sentinel’s size has suddenly grown. They probably thought it was time to tighten the reins while conducting internal discipline.”

“And also securing pretext to strike China?”

“Right. Ultimately, Gwangwoon induced this assassination attempt to proceed. Thanks to that, they verified Korean press control and the government’s loyalty, and got pretext to shake up our Sentinel, so it’s all profit for Gwangwoon.”

Using Jeong Jin-ho—Gwangwoon’s core and so-called God’s agent—as bait to do this.

Gwangwoon was really doing outrageous things.

But since they’ve always been that way, that’s how they became what Gwangwoon is today.

“Then… what should we do?”

“What else? The master has decided to raise the whip, so we should prostrate ourselves. Tell them we’ll follow everything headquarters says. Like you, I also don’t want to lose this fun job.”

***

When I came to work, the employees first showed worried expressions.

“President. You should rest more…”

“Phew, I’ve rested enough. Work must have piled up a lot over the week. Show me everything.”

The employees hesitated but had no choice and brought me reports.

“The Vice President handled the minor things.”

“No, why is the person who was in the same accident working instead of resting?”

“We tried to dissuade the Vice President several times, but he wouldn’t budge.”

Anyway, the Vice President was a recognized hard worker.

I’d probably have to take care of all today’s work myself and forcibly send the Vice President on a week’s recuperation leave.

Even young me could feel some aftereffects, so would the Vice President be any different?

“But there’s something the Vice President couldn’t handle.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a negotiation document from the Chinese government. China is also suffering from a severe food crisis due to the extreme crop failure. The financial crisis that just broke out is also playing a big part, making the internal situation serious. The most important thing is food.”

Good thing I bought up a lot of food in advance.

Otherwise, from Africa to China, and even our country, would have suffered greatly from the food shortage.

“Our country will just end up with higher prices, but if prices rise in China, there will be countless people who will have to starve, so riots are highly likely. That’s why they want to quickly break through the negotiations.”

Our conditions were the same as always.

Opening the Chinese market so our subsidiaries can enter.

“The Chinese government initially wouldn’t accept, but eventually raised the white flag. So they say they’ll help us quickly take root by receiving the list of subsidiaries we need to enter with top priority.”

This is the first time I’ve seen China being this cooperative.

That means they’re in quite a hurry too.

And I had no intention of playing games with food when people’s lives are at stake.

“Hmm. Then…”

I looked through the list.

We needed to hand over the list of companies we need to enter with top priority so they can cooperate.

“…”

Did we have this many subsidiaries?

I realized anew just how big Gwangwoon Group had become.

But not all these companies can enter at once.

And my intuition, knowing that well, had lights blinking on a few companies.

“…”

But among them, there was one subsidiary shining brightest.

I circled that name largely.

“Please tell them to let this one enter quickly first.”

***

Hwang Dae-woon put down the report he had been reading after finishing it all.

A deep silence briefly flowed in the conference room.

“…Is this confirmed?”

“Yes, circumstantially as well, and we’ve found several pieces of evidence of connections to China.”

The person Hwang Dae-woon cherishes most in the world is Jeong Jin-ho.

Thanks to that kid, he became a chairman he never expected to be and the richest person in Korea.

Yet that kid had never once lorded it over him.

Always calling him Hyung-nim, he had become closer than blood brothers.

That’s how much Hwang Dae-woon dearly cherished Jeong Jin-ho—and the Chinese government had tried to assassinate him.

“These bastards aren’t even worth chewing up…”

Naturally, rage was rising.

“How can we punish these bastards?”

“Chairman, I know you’re very angry but… the opponent is the Chinese government.”

“So what! Just let this slide? If we do, they’ll try to kill Jin-ho again!”

They got lucky this time, but who knows what will happen next.

That anxiety led him to triple Jeong Jin-ho’s security personnel and change the vehicle he rides to a bulletproof vehicle worth tens of billions, on par with the American president’s.

But he still couldn’t feel at ease.

Because who knew when those bastards would target Jin-ho again.

“Then would you look at this report?”

“What is this?”

“The strategy team made it.”

The report detailed methods for attacking China.

“Quite a lot of our Sentinel staff have entered China?”

“Yes. They infiltrated in large numbers disguised as volunteers during the Sichuan earthquake. If you approve, Chairman, we’ll execute operations utilizing those personnel to the fullest.”

The operation they were talking about was surprisingly simple.

Distributing funds supported by Gwangwoon to the generals.

“In Bitcoin, no less. Didn’t President Jeong Jin-ho accept the food negotiations with China this time?”

“Yes. I wanted to oppose it. Why should we share our food with those bastards?”

“This is a good opportunity. Chairman, the top priority President Jeong Jin-ho placed when opening the path for our subsidiaries to advance was the KW Exchange.”

“Then that means…”

“He wants to use the KW Exchange as a channel connecting the generals with our Gwangwoon.”

“…!”

Interpreting that differently meant Jin-ho also knew China was behind it.

“Currently, there are many generals dissatisfied with the Li Jinping regime. When the Evergrande Group bankruptcy and real estate bubble burst simultaneously and the Chinese real estate economy completely broke, the generals suffered severely. The value of land they owned dropped, and their money-making opportunities dried up.”

“And we can transfer money to such people through the KW Exchange?”

“Yes. That seems to be President Jeong Jin-ho’s purpose. If we transfer money to the generals so they can use it as their personal military funds, won’t people with other ambitions start emerging one by one? The Reform Faction already seems determined to oust the current regime.”

“But reading this report, it looks like the strategy team isn’t just backing the Reform Faction but planning to spread it indiscriminately.”

“Yes. That’s exactly what we’re aiming for.”

“…?”

Hwang Dae-woon still didn’t understand.

What exactly were the strategy team and Jeong Jin-ho looking at?

“Think about it, Chairman. If generals suddenly get funds to realize their ambitions, would they want to listen to anyone?”

“Then…”

“Everyone will rise wanting to become king, and like the old Three Kingdoms, a contest of warlords will begin. If things go well, the country called China could be split into dozens of pieces.”

“!?”

Only then did Hwang Dae-woon grasp the meaning.

Hadn’t China repeatedly united and split throughout its long history?

They were trying to trigger that super cycle once again.

End