Dear Comrade

Chapter 7. Ryugyong Hotels (5)

Chapter 7. Ryugyong Hotels (5)

The voices of the loading and unloading workers, who were making a lot of noise, soon became as quiet as a mouse as the security guards who had their eyes on them approached.

However, in the meantime, the workers who ate at the port for a long time discovered that the usual quarantine was different from usual today.

“What is that? Why are there so many of mine?”

“It really is. I thought they were going to Pyongyang or Pyongyang because they wanted to work in Pyongyang, where the Central Party is located, wherever they are. Did you come all the way here to Wonsan to find something to eat?”

The ignorant workers just tilted their heads and looked at the security guards who were stabbing and stabbing the cargo ship that had just been docked around the house as if it were their own.

And, as they said, today at Wonsan Port, several times more security officers than usual were busily roaming around, and many of them were even those from the First Bureau of Pyongyang.

This was very unusual, considering that security guards whose main job was political police (like all other North Korean institutional and business personnel) were reluctant to leave Pyongyang, the center of power.

And the reason for the unusual incident that happened today at Wonsan Port was a special order from Kim Young-ryong, the head of the National Security Agency.

“Ki, comrade Kim Young-ryong! Without a message to such a shabby place as a fisherman…”

“Stop nagging and give me the shipping documents for the ship that has just entered port. And bring some of the captain’s comrades here too.”

Surprised by the visit of the Central Party executive, which was not forewarned, Kim Young-ryong fixed his sharp eyes on the cargo ship overlooking the office, ignoring the port worker who gave him a salute.

The cargo ship that arrived from Japan carrying materials for the construction of the Ryugyong Hotel at Wonsan Port, where entry and departure was not very active in the first place, boasted an unrivaled size.

Seeing his men and security guards entering the big cargo ship like ants, Kim Young-ryong remembered the face of a young kid who had recently approached the center of power.

‘What the hell is your heart? Why did you leave the ports of Haeju or Nampo, which are close to Pyongyang, and let them enter Wonsan, far away?’

That was the reason why Kim Young-ryong personally came out of Pyongyang, dragging his heavy body to Wonsan Port, which faces the East Sea, far from Pyongyang.

When General Kim Jong-il first introduced Jeong-hwan, a young man with a pale face, saying, ‘I now have a new brother’, he smiled on the outside, but on the inside, he was wary of Jeong-hwan.

Rather than intuiting what kind of regime and republican Jung Hwan was plotting treason, it was because he was a new competitor who had to compete for the favor of Kim Jong-il.

‘Please take good care of me, Comrade Kim. Ah, now you’re the manager’s representative. please take a look Because I’m not used to central politics yet.’

‘You bastard!’

Thousands of dollars burned inside, but there was no way for the general and the president to watch.

And technically, it was true.

Yes, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Young-ryong, the current head of the Ministry of National Security, a group of grim reapers whose name makes mountains and streams tremble, was not a ‘Secretary of the National Security Agency’, but ‘a deputy chief and deputy chief of the security department’.

Of course, it was hard to find anyone in the party or the military who doubted his authority because even the deputy head of the security department was a security guard, but nonetheless, the director and the deputy chief are quite different.

Kim Young-ryong is very aware that the former manager, Jin-su Ri, will perform his duties as a deputy manager ‘until he finds a suitable person’ after his retirement, but if he likes Kim Jong-il a little more, he can remove the ‘wealthy’ character from the title of deputy chief. I knew it well.

So (as everyone knows now), he was spending several months under secret but bloody expectations while trying hard to please Kim Jong-il, the future power of the republic.

‘And what? Ryugyong Hotel Construction Material Supply and Demand? Even if you cut off your tongue, it’s not enough, you bastard…’

And when that bastard melted the hearts of the general and the president with his honey-coated tongue and foreign currency and took over at a young age, Kim Young-ryong’s alertness to Jeong-hwan increased several times.

Even though Jung-hwan is of pure Baekdu descent from Kim Il-sung, the position of the head of the security guard is a position where everyone except the general must be investigated, monitored, and suspected.

In fact, it doesn’t matter if you’re guilty or not.

Kim Young-ryong never forgot that it was the essence of the job as a security guard to make the former without guilt and without the latter (although, of course, I do the former much more often than the latter) according to the directives of the Republic of Korea.

Of course, it was a minor perk of the position of the chief of the department that in the process, the monitoring of the next security officer, Kim Young-ryong, who was a sidekick who hated himself became ‘slightly’ stricter than the average.

‘Have you tried any craftsmanship on the materials, no, as long as you find out that you have imported even a little wet (cheap) materials, I will show you the taste of that day.’

“Comrade Manager! Shipment confirmation complete! Comrades of quarantine officers just got off the cargo ship and reported the results.”

“Um, Gi-rae, it’s worthwhile to bring half of the Pyongyang security guards all the way here. Girae, what do you say? That bastard named Jeonghwan… Oh, is there any defect in the material that Jeonghwan has imported from Japan?”

The answer that Kim Young-ryong expected as an answer to this question was, of course, ‘Yes, it is.’

Something was strange from the moment I said that I would leave the ports of Haeju and Nampo in front of Pyongyang and bring materials from Wonsan to Pyongyang.

Whether it was stealing materials in the middle or loading something other than materials on a cargo ship, it was clear that there was something he wanted to hide.

And if he finds something like that, he can use it as a pod to get rid of the guy named Jeonghwan and solidify his position.

However, this thought of Kim Young-ryong was shattered in an instant with a single reply from the military officer.

“Nothing is wrong!”

“……What is it?”

“The inspection reveals nothing on the cargo ship that could be problematic! The comrades of the Labor and Peasant Red Guard transport corps mobilized for construction are now requesting that we move materials to Pyongyang, but they have given us permission…”

“…Tell me one more time, look me in the eye.”

At Kim Young-ryong’s eerie tone, like a moan coming up from the bottom of hell, the aide stopped what he was reporting without noticing and looked at him with a frightened expression.

With a look like a Seungnyang in front of meat, Kim Young-ryong looked at him and slowly opened his mouth.

“Just answer the truth and be honest, there’s something odd about the material on that cargo ship, isn’t it?”

“Go, go, go… no matter how you look at it…”

“Answer me straight! Jeonghwan or someone doing something must have done something, isn’t it?”

“Lord, I have sinned to death, comrade director! But… no matter how close you look, rebars are rebars, wires are wires, and everything from interior materials to window glass is of the highest quality! I went in and checked it myself, so it’s really true, comrade!”

“………………”

Kim Young-ryong’s eyes widened and he stared at the aide who bowed his head in front of him.

I wanted to sink the cargo ship right away and report that Jeong-hwan drove a wet boat and all the materials sank into the sea, but Kim Young-ryong knew well that the problem could not be solved.

No, once the opponent rots, they are of Baekdu bloodline.

If you conjure a simple conspiracy rather than grab solid evidence and make a accusation, there is a high possibility that you will be counterattacked and go straight to the correctional center.

“Damn it! Starting today, we will double, no, triple the number of quarantine agents here! Please tell us that we will quarantine all of the Ryugyong Hotel-related cargo coming into Japan!”

“Ha, but comrade director… Then we have to get the majority of our agents in Pyongyang, are you okay?”

“Originally, all port and airport searches in this republic are under the jurisdiction of our Security Department! This Ryugyong Hotel is a key revolutionary project ordered by the General! It is not the General Guards Bureau, the People’s Security Agency, or the Military Guard Bureau that finds even the slightest flaws, but it’s our security bureaucracy! Algan?”

“Oh, I see!”

“We don’t know what to do in the middle of shipping, so we also move materials from Wonsan to Pyongyang! I mean, even if you mobilize all the agents of the National Security Agency, you have to put a day and night guard on every truck, okay?”

“……Yes, yes, I understand, comrade manager!”

Kim Young-ryong’s eyes blazed like a torch in his will to defeat the unsightly competitor.

“Excessive. If that’s the case, we, from Frunze, cannot have Comrade Jeonghwan as the next leader.”

“………………!”

Meanwhile, in Pyongyang at that time, Jeong-hwan raised his eyes slightly at the words of the middle-aged man sitting in front of him.

On the other hand, Baek Seung-cheol, the organizer of today’s meeting, who was sitting next to the middle-aged man, smiled triumphantly as if to see him.

Jeonghwan wanted to pour hot tea on his smiling face, but since there was a seat, Junghwan just slurped the tea he was holding and swallowed it quietly.

Because he had his own card.

“It’s too much… I think it’s a fair deal in my own way. Are you saying that Comrade Viktor Chebrikov didn’t introduce me to you? Comrade Hong?”

“……………!!! did it He said that he met a friend who knew how to negotiate properly. But Russia is Russia, and this is Joseon. The matters that Comrade Jeong Hwan insisted on to Major Paik is too disrespectful of us, who have defended this republic against the Kim family.”

‘You’re talking like a protester. I’m so stunned that I can’t even make sense of it.’

Jeonghwan thought so and watched the Pyongyang Defense Commander Baek Seung-cheol and four or five middle-aged men sitting in front of him.

He is now sitting in an office located in the building of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces.

There are few places in North Korea that are free from the threat of wiretapping, but, unfortunately, Jeong Hwan had to laugh bitterly at the fact that one of the few places was the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, a military security area.

‘It’s dark under the lamp. Therefore, no matter how much cameras and wiretapping devices are used, human error and human betrayal cannot be prevented.’

In fact, those people, who sent Jung-hwan a car to secretly invite him to their meeting, were among the few who didn’t have to worry about being eavesdropped in their office.

They start with the deputy director of the Operations Bureau of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, military officers at the North Korean embassy in Moscow, high-ranking political officers of the General Political Bureau, and the head of the communications bureau of the General Staff. took in

However, Junghwan’s gaze was fixed on the middle aged man who was sitting at the top among them.

He was a person who had a negative stance on the words he had just conveyed through Baek Seung-cheol.

‘He is the brother-in-law of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Korean People’s Army Hong Gye-seong and Choe Ryong-hae, and the second-in-command of the Korean People’s Army. And now, he is also the person who directly leads this Frunze clan.’

“…I don’t know where I was ignoring Mr. Hong and Comrade Baek. Could you please explain in detail?”

“Comrade Jeong-hwan’s words are reasonable at first glance, but if you consider all those conditions, it will become too difficult. Let’s say that delaying the South Korean revolution is like that. But, you know, the revolution is accompanied by blood. Without presupposing some sacrifices from the people, it is impossible to carry out a great event.”

With such a long introduction, Hong Gye-seong, a middle-aged old man, flashed his eyes hidden in the wrinkles and raised Jeonghwan up and down.

“…and the last one is even more so. Isn’t this a condition that puts only Comrade Jeonghwan’s fortunes ahead of him? As a leader of this Frunze faction, it was unacceptable.”

“I want you to know that it was not for my personal gain, but my sincere advice for driving out Kim Jong-il and for the success of the event.”

“It’s not for my personal gain, so you’re saying you don’t want to be the leader?”

“…………”

At Hong Kye-sung’s sharp yet direct question, Jeong-hwan had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

Hong Gye-seong, who had gained momentum, put pressure on Jeong-hwan with an old-fashioned smile that could not be compared with Baek Seung-cheol.

“Look at that. Comrade Jeong-hwan and us are trying to make a big deal for the survival and profit of each of us. We intend to drive out these two rich men, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, in order to stop them from polluting this republic with their own nonsense such as their Juche ideology and turning it into a Stalin-style, one-man dictatorship. This republic belongs to the Workers’ Party of Korea and the People’s Army, and not to them.”

“……So, what do you want? If you’re just saying you can’t be with me, you’d have sent me a bullet instead of inviting me here… I don’t think he’s without the ability or the guts to do that.”

“If you want to be a chieftain, show your qualifications to be a chieftain. I want to see if I can become a dignitary enough to lead and lead us. It’s true that Comrade Chebrikov is scary. I also admit the resourcefulness that brought him in. But he is in Russia, thousands of kilometers from here. The only thing he can do right now for this Joseon and comrade Jeong-hwan is to give him a call of encouragement.”

“……”

“People often say that it is a non-gong peddling. In a Western capitalist way of saying it, you could say it’s a stake. Our Frunze clan occupies 40% of the army. In other words, if this event succeeds, most of us will have the stake, not Comrade Jeonghwan. So, if Comrade Jeonghwan stands above our heads, that is, if we want to receive a fair share…”

Hong Gye-seong, who had said this up to this point, leaned slightly in front of the desk and finished his speech by looking straight at Jeong-hwan.

“……You have to pay a price for it. There are no compromises or conditions unless the matter is resolved. To make this event a success, what can Comrade Jeong Hwan do for us ?”