Chapter 22 : Good Deal (2)

“It was a good deal.”

Han Siyeon’s eyes twisted at the corners on the screen.

Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes weren’t.

I told him clearly.

If they found out we handed over that data, we’d both be dead—

Even with my warning blasting like an alarm, Cheol-woo didn’t even flinch.

Then again, when you’re already being chased by the Geummyeong Group, what difference does it make if the Oriental Group joins in too?

Actually, with two groups chasing him, they might clash and cancel each other out.

From his perspective, that could be a win.

Even CEOs commanding hundreds or thousands of troops tremble in fear of a decision from the Oriental HQ,

But Min Cheol-woo? He didn’t give a damn about that kind of thing.

“He’s crazy, but not insane.”

At least he was someone you could reason with.

People like Manager Yoo often made you unsure whether they were calculating things behind your back or not,

But with Min Cheol-woo, it was clear he always thought through the consequences.

He never started something he couldn’t handle—
but the range of what he could handle was so vast it just looked insane.

His mind was definitely intact.

He was someone you had to go with, no matter what.

By now, the Geum-myeong Group had probably tried offering him team leader, department head, you name it—

But the fact he was holding out, refusing to go, meant he must have been seriously burned.

An S-tier asset showed up for free, all you had to do was pick him up.

Just don’t do anything stupid. Don’t try to leash him.

Treat him like a business partner, and you’re good.

How easy is that?

[Would it be alright if I asked what firearm you’re currently using?]

“I’m using 9mm Parabellum and 7.62mm NATO standard rounds.”

[If you need them, we have reserves of both types at your villa. We can arrange for resupply.
Also, we’ve prepared a small gift for you.]

The core of business ultimately came down to relationships.

Even the best contract could fall apart in a second if someone got rubbed the wrong way,
while even the toughest deals could succeed if you buttered the right person up.

When Han Siyeon on the screen gave a signal, an employee brought a small case to the laptop and clicked it open.

[Have you ever used 5.7mm rounds?]

“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never fired them.”

[They’re not common in Korea. I heard you prefer pistols over rifles, Mr. Cheol-woo?]

“Yes. Rifles are heavy and bulky, so I find them inconvenient.”

[Then this pistol will be perfect for you. The FN Five-seven.
It uses 5.7mm rounds—designed like rifle bullets for high velocity.
It surpasses regular 9mm or .45 caliber rounds in both effective range and penetration.
According to our tests, it penetrated the skulls of ‘blue pill’ addicts from every angle.]

“Heh…”

Cheol-woo let out a dry laugh he couldn’t hold back.

Wasn’t this a bit too on-the-nose?

Giving him that meant he’d be facing a lot of addicts soon, didn’t it?

They were basically admitting that Hong Kong was crawling with them.

And since the data had already been handed over, they weren’t even trying to hide it anymore.

Well, the better armed his bodyguard, the higher her own survival rate.

Or maybe this was just part of winning his favor?

Either way, Cheol-woo had no reason to turn it down.

“Hmm…”

Click-click.

He racked the slide and held it in his hand—it felt odd.

Its size was similar to a P226, but being polymer, it was much lighter.

The odd feeling was just from unfamiliarity, not because it felt bad.

He pulled out the magazine—it was definitely smaller than a 9mm or .45.

They said its penetration was nearly on par with a rifle, which was reassuring,
but he was concerned whether something that small could deliver meaningful stopping power.

Still, with its small size, the mag held more rounds.

If he just used it with a spray-and-pray mindset, it should work out fine.

“Since you’ve prepared this with sincerity, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“Great. And please make sure to burn and destroy the documents after reviewing them.”

Whiiirrrr—

Papers printed from a fax machine were gathered and handed over to Cheol-woo by an employee.

Having received everything they needed and passed on what they had to, Cheol-woo and Yuri stood up to leave.

Meanwhile, Mi-young, now freed from her restraints, was already glued to the laptop, giggling to herself.

Was it really okay to just leave her like that?

What if she went back out there and launched another suicide charge?

Yuri felt a lingering discomfort, but truthfully, there wasn’t much more they could do.

Live or die, that was her fate now.

Letting it go would be better for her own mental health.

“Those people really live such exhausting lives. Even after falling from grace, they’re still rich. Why not just go back to mainland China and live comfortably? What are they struggling for?”

“People say it’s hard to go back once you’ve had a taste of the high life. Maybe they just can’t stand breathing normal air again.”

Was that it? Cheol-woo felt half-convinced but still couldn’t relate.

He thought, even if he won the lottery worth billions, he’d just stash it all in the bank and live off the interest.

When he said that, Yuri snorted and replied,

“That’s because you’re the ultimate low-effort guy,”

And he had nothing to say to that.

Maybe some people were just born different.

There must be a kind of person who had to claw their way to the top and breathe the air up there.

Back in the car, Cheol-woo casually flipped through the documents they had just received.

“I—I’m not gonna look. If I do, I’ll be marked by Chinese assassins.”

“Won’t help. You and I are treated as a package deal.”

“Goddamn it…”

If they were heading to Hong Kong, it meant the two of them had to go together.

There was no way to guarantee safety by leaving his sister in Korea, and if they were going to face a bunch of drugged-up maniacs, a blade-wielder like her would come in handy.

No matter how good the pistol’s penetration was, guns still had the unavoidable drawback of loud noise.

Blades, on the other hand—shhk-shhk—you could quietly slit a throat.

So much better.

Cheol-woo regretted not taking up kendo instead of wasting time on games.

“Hey. But this… Hong Kong’s seriously messed up, isn’t it?”

“No wonder there hasn’t been a single line of news about it. Damn…”

Cheol-woo and Yuri kept letting out dry laughs as they went through the rest of the documents.

Hong Kong was the kind of place that became a global issue even with a little protest like the Umbrella Movement.

With all the world’s media attention focused there, the fact that nothing had leaked out—
what did that mean?

“This is nuts. We need to charge four hundred million each, not three.”

“Four? Don’t be stingy. Let’s make it five billion.”

Whatever this was, it was clearly a one-way ticket to hell.

United States.

Langley, Virginia – “The Company.”

A small group of men in suits had been seated in a conference room for some time when—
a middle-aged man in jeans shuffled in wearing slippers.

Completely out of place.

Everyone else had ID tags clearly marked for “Company” employees.

Only he wore a tag denoting civilian status.

Yet no one dared give him a strange look.

“This is the contractor who partnered with our company to send an investigation team into Hong Kong.”

“Call me Max. Ask whatever you want.”

“What was the status of the investigation team? I mean, under what guise did they enter?”

“They went in as policy research students affiliated with a think tank in LA. Their identities are all clean, so there’s no need to worry about cover issues.”

Did the Company send spies into Hong Kong?

No.

Just some suspiciously well-armed, suspiciously well-connected grad students.

They happened to be very good at finding weapons on the black market.

As questions started flooding in—about the team’s current status, whether they’d escaped—

Max cut them all off.

At this rate, he’d spoil everything in the Q&A before even presenting.

“Let me start with the core points. Our investigation team arrived in Hong Kong over a month ago and got settled.
However, three weeks ago, the first earthquake severed undersea cables, and we lost all contact.
Two weeks ago, radio jamming began, cutting off all satellite and radio comms.
Eventually, one of our members had to smuggle themselves out by boat and deliver a physical report—hence the delay.”

“So what’s the situation in Hong Kong now?”

“It’s a hellscape.”

Without hesitation, Max answered and pressed a button on the remote.

Images of downtown Hong Kong flashed onto the screen.

The bustling streets, once teeming with crowds, were now burning, collapsing—utter chaos.

It was a far cry from the Chinese government’s daily declaration of “No issues in Hong Kong.”

“I’m sure you’re all familiar with the Blue Pill. And you know its origin is Hong Kong.”

All the men in suits nodded.

The mysterious drug that had exploded out of Hong Kong and spread worldwide.

It was notorious for turning about 90% of its users into mindless monsters, while the lucky few experienced drastic enhancements in physical abilities.

Some people even nicknamed it the “Super Soldier Serum.”

“In Hong Kong, the Blue Pill leaked into the tap water. Currently, about one-third of the population is addicted.”

“…Christ.”

“Most survivors were killed by addicts. Aside from a few areas, Hong Kong is basically a living hell overrun by them. The only people surviving in those zones are our investigation team and a handful of foreign PMCs.”

No way that was an “accident.”

It was obvious—they had intentionally contaminated the water.

Were these lunatics seriously running a super-soldier gacha with the citizens of Hong Kong?

The radio jamming, the blackouts—it all made sense now.

If this got exposed, China wouldn’t just be branded a human-rights violator…

It’d be classified as a country where “human rights” flat-out didn’t exist.

“This next image shows Hong Kong’s coastline.”

“What’s that piled up over there?”

“That black jelly-like substance is the raw material for the Blue Pill. It washes ashore from the sea and piles up along the coast like trash. And this red mineral you see here…”

Tap.

Max placed a small red stone on the table.

“Lab tests showed it has virtually zero electrical resistance at room temperature. In other words, a superconductor.”

“…And this stuff is just piled up like garbage along Hong Kong’s beaches?”

If the Blue Pill alone was enough to make people lose their minds, now there’s… superconductor stones?

And it was literally trash on the shore? What the hell was happening in the waters off Hong Kong?

What kind of event was dredging up materials that didn’t even exist on Earth?

Of course, that wasn’t the Company’s concern.

What mattered was that Hong Kong had become a treasure trove, overflowing with strategic resources that could open up a “new world.”

If they let China swallow all of Hong Kong, what would happen?

If they allowed China to monopolize all of that?

It wouldn’t be surprising if global dominance really did shift from the U.S. to China.

“Are there Chinese troops in Hong Kong?”

“Their entry failed. Not sure if the Hong Kong government blocked them or if the risk from addicts was too high, but… they gave up.”

At least, for now, Hong Kong still held onto some semblance of autonomy.

They called it “One Country, Two Systems,” but if push came to shove… there was still room for separation.

It had been less than 30 years since Hong Kong was handed back from Britain.

Who’s to say it couldn’t become “foreign soil” again?

If Chinese forces tried to force their way in, sure, they’d lose the New Territories and Kowloon Peninsula.

But Hong Kong Island? That was still in play.

“Thank you for the report. One last question—do we have any secure routes for deploying additional personnel?”

“Of course. I can even personally guide you.”

Max grinned.

The United States was ready to risk war.

And wherever the U.S. went to war, business always boomed.