Actually, Dad Was a Hero

Chapter 16: Homecoming

[Dad!]

“Uh, Seong-Gyun? Why are you answering your sister’s phone?”

Jin Beom-Min asked in a puzzled tone. He had made a video call to Su-Yeon using the Dae Joyeong’s communication system and his smartphone, but his son, Seong-Gyun, answered.

Ignoring Jin Beom-Min’s question, Seong-Gyun poured out his words in a hurried tone.

[Dad, Nuna is going to kill me!]

“What?”

[Jin Seong-Gyun, open the door!]

Su-Yeon’s voice could be heard in the distance. She sounded furious.

“No, why are you two fighting again?”

[See that! He’s such a barbarian!]

[You’re really dead! Open the door quickly!]

“Seong-Gyun, wait a minute. Dad has some work, so it’ll take a while to get home……”

[Jin Seong-Gyun!]

A loud bang came through the smartphone speaker.

The shaky screen briefly showed Seong-Gyun’s door bursting open.

[Dad, help me! Nuna is going to kill me!]

[Jin Seong-Gyun, you! I told you not to eat my ice cream!]

[Thud, thud!]

The dull sound of hitting could be heard from beyond the screen. Jin Beom-Min sighed, covering his forehead.

“Hey, guys……”

[Ah, it hurts! Why are you making a fuss over one ice cream! You pig!]

[What? Pig? Me! (Thud) Ice cream! (Thud) Don’t! (Thud) Eat! (Smack)]

Su-Yeon’s resentful voice rhythmically mixed with the sound of hitting. The smartphone was now lying on the floor, showing only the white ceiling.

Jin Beom-Min sighed once more.

[Tsk━! Ah, really! Just buy another one!]

[Is that the problem now? The problem is you ate mine! You haven’t been hit enough yet?]

[Wow, damn. How can a girl be so strong?]

“Guys……?”

When Jin Beom-Min called the children again, Su-Yeon finally answered.

[Huh? Dad?]

“Yes, it’s Dad. Answer the phone.”

Su-Yeon’s face appeared on the smartphone screen.

Seong-Gyun was writhing in pain behind her, clutching his back.

[Dad, where are you? When are you coming home?]

“Well, Dad has some work. It’ll take a while to get back.”

[How long?]

“About……a week?”

[In a week, that pig will probably eat all the rice in the house?]

Seong-Gyun teased from behind, and the screen shook again, followed by a loud crashing sound.

[You little shit, get over here!]

[Dad! Nuna keeps hitting me!]

[No, Dad! He ate my ice cream! The one I only get to eat once a week!]

Su-Yeon was on a diet to compete in the National Sports Festival fencing competition.

So recently, she had been refraining from snacking and relieving her stress by eating ice cream once a week. Therefore, her anger was understandable.

“Anyway……It’ll take a while for Dad to get home, so make sure you eat properly……”

[When have you ever seen Nuna not eating properly? She eats like a pig even if I don’t get any……Ouch!]

[Stay there! Just you wait until I hang up!]

“Su-Yeon, don’t be too hard on your brother……”

[It’s okay, Dad! Take your time! I’ll keep him alive until you get back! He won’t die, probably!]

“Uh……Okay. Alright……”

At any rate, the children seemed to be healthy and doing well, as usual.

******

“Have you contacted your family?”

Sandman asked as Jin Beom-Min entered the cabin after finishing the video call. Jin Beom-Min scratched his head and replied.

“Yes. Well, the kids seem to be doing fine.”

“How old are your kids?”

“My eldest daughter is a senior in high school this year, and my son is in his third year of middle school.”

“Ah……They’re still young, but they’re remarkable.”

“I used to go on business trips often……They can take care of their own meals.”

Sandman nodded and said with a bright face.

“That’s a relief. I was worried because the schedule was delayed……”

“……But I’m sure I’ll be paid accordingly.”

Jin Beom-Min replied, trying to suppress his rising smile.

Originally, Jin Beom-Min and Ghost Squad were scheduled to return to South Korea via a military transport plane from the Hanbit Unit, the UN Peacekeeping Force stationed in South Sudan, after reporting on the Dae Joyeong.

However, the aftermath of the Somalia incident was bigger than expected.

According to Lee Sang-Jun, all the intelligence agencies of the world’s superpowers were focusing on Africa.

Moreover, many Western media outlets were flying to Africa every day for survivor interviews.

He said that if they carelessly visited the Hanbit Unit at this time, the identities of Jin Beom-Min and Ghost Squad could be exposed.

‘Since things have turned out this way, you’ll have to stay on the Dae Joyeong for a few days until the media calms down. It’s surrounded by the sea, so there’s no chance of being exposed to the media.’

That was Lee Sang-Jun’s suggestion.

Actually, the phrase”surrounded by the sea”was inaccurate. It would be more appropriate to describe it as being surrounded by steel walls.

For security reasons, Jin Beom-Min and Ghost Squad would be confined to their cabins for a few days without being able to move.

Anyway, it wasn’t something Jin Beom-Min could complain much about.

His children seemed to be doing well, and most importantly, his pay was accumulating while he was just staying here.

‘Let’s see……Then the daily wage……is 100 million won based on 8 hours a day……So, 100 million won for the basic 8 hours, plus 150 million won for 8 hours of overtime, and another 200 million won for 8 hours of night overtime……That’s a total of 450 million won……And since it’s an overseas deployment, multiply that by 1.5……675 million won?’

Even a rough calculation resulted in a staggering amount. Moreover, this was just the daily wage.

It meant that he could earn nearly 700 million won a day just by spending time on the Dae Joyeong without doing anything.

So, it didn’t matter if he was surrounded by steel plates or hot plates; he could only wait with a smile.

While Jin Beom-Min was lost in pleasant thoughts, Sandman spoke again in a cheerful tone.

“Anyway, there’s nothing to do……Let’s have a drink.”

“Ah, shall we?”

Come to think of it, the Ghost Squad members were already settling into their cabins and taking out bottles of alcohol. It seemed that this was the reason why Sandman’s face was brighter than usual.

“Just in time.”

“Here, take this quickly.”

As Jin Beom-Min took his seat among the Ghost Squad members, Ogre filled a glass and handed it to him.

“Well done again.”

Sandman said, and Reaper chuckled and replied.

“Well done? What well done? ‘Jin’ did everything, we didn’t even fire a single shot.”

“Haha, that’s why it’s even better.”

“Kekeke, that’s right! Mr. Jin, please keep up the good work!”

While everyone was chatting noisily, Sandman raised his glass and shouted a toast.

“Then……To tomorrow!”

“Cheers!”

******

“So, are you saying this is a success?”

NIS Director Kim Gil-Ho spat out the words with a displeased expression.

However, Lee Sang-Jun, sitting opposite him, answered calmly without changing his expression.

“We rescued all the hostages except for one missing person, and there were no casualties on our side. The agents’ identities were not exposed either. Of course, I consider it a successful operation.”

“Sigh……This guy, really……”

Kim Gil-Ho shook his head in disbelief and sighed. Then he continued in a stiff voice.

“Act like a director. What did we gain from this operation? We spent money, owed favors to the Ministry of National Defense, and did we gain even a tiny bit of profit?”

“We gained clues about where the monsters are invading from. And how they are coming……”

Bang!

Kim Gil-Ho slammed his hand on the table, interrupting Lee Sang-Jun.

“What good is that to us now! Do you think we’re running a charity? We need to gain diplomatic advantages like we did in Vietnam last time! Are we some kind of monster extermination agency?!”

Kim Gil-Ho stopped Lee Sang-Jun from arguing with a gesture and continued.

“And why do you keep asking for help from the Ministry of National Defense? Do you know how much they’re looking down on us? Take us here, take us there, let us stay on the ship for a few days. They’re asking for everything, huh? Are you really going to work like this?”

“……For the national interest.”

“National interest, my ass.”

Lee Sang-Jun’s eyes sharpened at Kim Gil-Ho’s curse.

But he wasn’t angry because of the curse. He was angry at the NIS Director’s narrow-mindedness, clinging to immediate gains without seeing the bigger picture.

Even if they suffered losses in the short term, even if they owed favors to other government departments, ultimately, gaining greater benefits in the long run would be beneficial to the nation.

Everything he, Jin Beom-Min, and Ghost Squad had done so far had been judged based on that standard.

But Kim Gil-Ho didn’t seem to think that far.

‘Well……It’s not surprising. He’s not fit to be the NIS Director in the first place.’

Lee Sang-Jun swallowed his anger with a sigh.

Kim Gil-Ho, who only cared about saving his own skin and was obsessed with promotion, had become the NIS Director not because of his competence.

He had achieved his position by freely using the NIS’s intelligence resources and sometimes even resorting to illegal means to collude with the ruling party.

It was for the same reason that Lee Sang-Jun had fallen out with Kim Gil-Ho when the latter was the Deputy Director of the NIS.

Lee Sang-Jun had opposed Kim Gil-Ho’s attempt to surveil politicians and NGOs that had nothing to do with national security.

Since then, Lee Sang-Jun had been a thorn in Kim Gil-Ho’s side, and Lee Sang-Jun was well aware of that fact.

But it wasn’t time to bare his teeth yet.

The Monster Incident Response Headquarters’ position was still unstable, and it was uncertain how the monster situation would unfold.

He had to lie low until he had more concrete information and power.

“……I’ll correct it.”

“Correction, my foot, get your hands off this case.”

“What?”

“I’m telling you to step away from this Jin Beom-Min or whatever his name is and the monster-related incidents. Hand it over to Department 1.”

Lee Sang-Jun bit his lip in anger for a moment, but he didn’t lose his composure. He couldn’t be pushed aside by something like this.

He had a good card in his hand.

“……That would be difficult.”

“What? Are you disobeying a direct order?”

“We received a request for cooperation from the CIA and MI6.”

“What, what? Where……?”

The contact from the US and UK intelligence agencies had come just yesterday.

The ‘Mystery Marketing’ operation in Somalia had proven effective.

While the media hadn’t caught on yet, the intelligence agencies of the superpowers, who were closely watching the Somalia incident, had accurately identified the origins of Jin Beom-Min and Ghost Squad and reached out.

Of course, the testimonies of the survivors who had heard the conversations of Jin Beom-Min and Ghost Squad would have played a significant role. In this era of the Korean Wave, there would be hardly anyone who had never heard Korean.

“I sent you the details via email this morning……”

“Email……?”

Kim Gil-Ho was terrible with computers.

It was ridiculous that the head of the department handling the nation’s most important and sensitive information was computer illiterate. In this day and age, where even someone like Jin Beom-Min, who seemed to have come from the Middle Ages, could use a smartphone.

“……What’s your point?”

“We need to cooperate with foreign intelligence agencies. Would it be appropriate to change the department and personnel in charge? Even a small mistake could bring national shame.”

“……Hmm……!”

Kim Gil-Ho groaned uncomfortably, shifting in his seat.

But there was no other way. No matter how incompetent he was, he knew that Lee Sang-Jun was right.

“I’ll make sure there are no mistakes next time.”

“……Be careful. I’ll be watching.”

As the incidents continued, Lee Sang-Jun would gain more power and justification. Until then, Kim Gil-Ho had to endure, no matter how unpleasant it was.

Lee Sang-Jun politely bowed to the uncomfortable Kim Gil-Ho and left the room.