21st century Goguryeo

Chapter 31

December 13th, 2016 09:00. Choong-nam Cheonan-si Kyunboo Highway Entrance Rest Stop (Seoul Direction) 10 kilometers out.

A black sedan was headed to Seoul on the four-lane Kyungboo Highway. It was Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Ahn Sang-tae’s assigned car that started off from Sejong-si.

Ring ring ring

Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho was sitting next to Minister Ahn Sang-tae when his phone started ringing.

“Hello. This is Kang Man-ho speaking. Yes, I spoke with him. Yes, no need to worry. Yes, yes, I understand.”

Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho kept his phone call short and whispered to Minister Ahn Sang-tae, as he seemed to be aware of the man seated on the passenger seat. A few seconds later, Minister Ahn Sang-tae nodded his head slightly and closed his eyes without reacting much.

As the car got closer to the rest stop’s entrance off the highway, Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho quietly spoke to Minister Ahn Sang-tae. “Minister, why don’t we take a break at the rest stop...?”

“Yes, I wanted to use the restroom anyway. Let’s stop by.”

Soon the sedan glided into the entrance rest stop.

“Hey, my man... Go get some of the iced coffee that the Minister likes!”

Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho ordered the black-suited man who got off the passenger seat to follow Minister Ahn Sang-tae.

The man wearing the black suit seemed irritated by the order and spoke to Kang Man-ho with an upset look on his face. “I’m sorry. I’m a bodyguard. That type of work isn’t my responsibility, so you should ask another employee to do it.”

“My, my, this man. A young man like you should be a bit more flexible. Are you really going to speak to me in that tone just because I asked you to do an errand? The driver needs to put gas in the car, so couldn’t you do this for me?”

The man in the black suit curtly answered Kang Man-ho, “I apologize. I prefer not to.”

Minister Ahn Sang-tae, who was listening to the conversation, said, “Your name’s Lee Ja-sung, right?”

“Yes, Minister.”

“I know you’re a bodyguard so I understand, but you’re being so stiff about a simple favor! A young man like you shouldn’t be like that! I beg you, please get me a cup of iced coffee.”

Lee Ja-sung hesitated for a moment, but since the Minister was asking him for the favor, he decided he had no choice and answered, “Yes, I will, sir.”

“Good, thank you.”

“Lee Ja-sung, get the coffee and wait for us on the bench at the rest stop over there. I’ll take the Minister to the restroom, and we’ll go meet you there.”

Lee Ja-sung headed to the coffee shop without paying attention to Kang Man-ho’s words. Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho glared at him and quietly whispered to the Minister, “Let’s go, Minister.”

“Yes...”

The man in the black suit, Lee Ja-sung, took the NIS group training with Namgoong-won. He became a bodyguard for the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport after the six-month group training and an additional month of training.

A few minutes later, the two men arrived at the restroom. Minister Ahn Sang-tae entered the restroom, and Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho waited at the entrance as if he was on the lookout for someone.

A few minutes passed before Minister Ahn Sang-tae came out from the restroom. He looked at Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho with an expression signaling that nothing had happened, then he waved at him to move towards the bench where Lee Ja-sung was waiting.

Lee Ja-sung, who was waiting at the bench, handed over the iced coffee when Minister Ahn Sang-tae walked over. Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho seemed bewildered and asked Lee Ja-sung, “Did you not get one for me?”

“Didn’t you ask me to get coffee just for the Minister?”

“My...my...since he’s from the military, he’s not very flexible, is he...?”

Minister Ahn Sang-tae started laughing while he glared at Lee Ja-sung and said, “Ha, ha, ha! My, I see Secretary Kang has met his match, ha, ha, ha.”

A moment later, the black sedan that went to the gas station for fuel drove up near the bench. The three men each walked towards the sedan with different expressions on their faces.

* * *

December 13th, 2016 20:00. Seoul Mapo-ku Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Ahn Sang-tae’s Home Study.

Minister Ahn Sang-tae stopped by the Blue House in the afternoon to take care of some business, then he stopped by his home to drink tea and take a break with Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho.

When just the two of them were in the Minister’s study, Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho quietly said to Minister Ahn Sang-tae, “Minister, did the business at the rest stop this afternoon go well?”

“Hmm...I was short on time...I couldn’t speak of important matters, but I was mostly able to confirm the contents they wanted me to know.”

“So, have you decided on what you’ll do...?”

“This is no simple matter...I need some time to think it over.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Speaking of which, they’ll contact you again in a few days...find a sure way to keep Lee Ja-sung off of us when the time comes.”

“Yes, Minister. I’ll find a way to distract him.”

Meanwhile, Lee Ja-sung, who was sitting in the living room of Ahn Sang-tae’s home, thought about the suspicious activities of Chief of Secretary Kang Man-ho and Minister Ahn Sang-tae. Nothing stood out as suspicious, but perhaps it was the instinct of an intelligence agent? His gut was telling him something was wrong. He felt conflicted about whether or not to report this to the superiors immediately, or if he should wait until more clues were found to report. A hasty report to the superiors would only put him in an awkward situation, so he decided to just continue observing for now.

* * *

December 14th, 2016 13:00. Choongbook Chungju-si 17th Fighter Wing Underground Research Facility X-12 Lab (Biology Lab).

The X-12 lab’s mood was high, as if they found an oasis in the middle of the desert. After they received the analysis data of the alien serum, Namgoong-won, Head of Research Dr. Ahn Young-gil, and his staff were highly motivated and hard at work experimenting with the serum sample and the analysis data.

They had received data from Biologist Dr. Kim Yoon-gi, who was from the National Defense and Science Agency, but the new data he got was incomparable, for it was able to be used to develop new medicine immediately.

“This is...I’m at a loss for words.”

Research Assistant Jo Tae-il, who also came to the lab with Professor Ahn Young-gil from Korea University’s biology department, asked with a curious tone. “Is it that big, professor?”

“If we use this well, then we can make vaccines for diseases like AIDS or other terminal illnesses that we couldn’t cure before...the only problem is, can we make the cure that won’t cause any side effects to the human body?”

“If we succeed as you say, wouldn’t this cause a huge storm in the field of medicine?”

Professor Ahn Young-gil observed the progress of the experiment and read the analysis data in his other hand while exclaiming. “It’s not the storm that’s the problem...this is more like a nuclear storm...I can’t believe I got to conduct research like this in my lifetime...oh my...” He looked at Research Assistant Jo Tae-il and said, “Please tell all the doctorate staff related to this department to attend the meeting at four, including all the research staff.”

“Yes, Professor! I’ll make the announcement and pass it along.”

* * *

December 14th, 2016 12:00. Choongbook Chungju-si 17th Fighter Wing Underground Research Facility X-2 Lab (Namgoong-won Lab).

Namgoong-won conversed with Hocula to collect information, just like any other day.

-Hocula! Your operating capacity is at 32%. Is there any way to increase it?

-Currently, the main plasma engine of the Rose Ferry is critically damaged. If this part is not fixed, then there is no way to increase the operating capacity.

-If that’s the case, can we just try fixing the plasma engine?

-Current human scientific technology is not enough. Approximately 300 years will be needed.

-Hocula! With your help, it seems recovery would be possible with our technology. Don’t you think so?

-Namgoong-won! Hocula will not help the human race.

-Why do you have to be cold like that?! Hocula, don’t you need to take your four Splithian master’s bodies back to their original planet? Are you going to abandon them here on Earth?

-Hocula wants to bring the masters back to the planet Splith.

-Right? If that’s the case, don’t you need to recover the main system? Self-recovery is impossible, correct? If you tell us about your scientific technology, then we can fix your main system. Then you can take your masters’ bodies back to your home planet. So? Does that sound like a good plan?

-It’s against my protocol to transfer technology from planet Splith, but my top priority is to bring back my masters’ bodies, so I’ll allow your request.

-Great. Thanks, Hocula.

-I’m only allowing this because my priority is to bring the Splithian masters home.

-Ha, ha, ha! Thanks, Hocula.

-I’m only allowing this because my priority is to bring the Splithian masters home.

-Alright. Alright. Ha, ha, ha, Hocula. Call me Won from now on. You and I are friends now.

-Won? Friends?

-Yes. My name is Won, and you and I are friends. Okay?

-Alright. Won! There’s no concept of friendship on planet Splith. There’s only a master-servant relationship in planet Splith.

-Hocula! Don’t look at everything from the Splith planet’s point of view. This is Earth...so why don’t you try following Earth’s point of view? We don’t operate as master-servant relationships; we are equals. We are friends, now friends!

-Friends? Equals? I’ll conduct my own research.

-Ha, ha, ha. Alright, Hocula.

“Namgoong-won!!”

“Ahh! You startled me.”

Namgoong-won was so immersed in the conversation with Hocula that he didn’t notice Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin come in. She had been calling him, which eventually startled him. He held his pounding chest and looked at Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin. He asked, “When, when did you get here?”

“You! Aren’t you taking it a bit too far?”

“Wha, what?”

“You don’t pay attention to me, and it seems like you’re just obsessed with that Hocula computer, you know?”

“What? Ha, ha, ha, are you jealous of a computer?”

“Hmm! Who said I was jealous?”

“Ha, ha, ha, it seems that way to me!”

“You really want to try me?”

Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin rolled up her sleeves and playfully put Namgoong-won in a snake chokehold.

“Gasp! Gasp! I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Hmm! Words won’t save you now!”

“What will then? Today’s Saturday, so we should go out shopping.”

“Eh? Shopping?”

“You don’t want to?”

Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin tightened her grip on Namgoong-won’s neck.

“Ah, ahh! Alright. So, please let me go.”

“Ho, ho, ho, you promised, yes?”

“Yes.”

When Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin heard the answer, she released her grip and smiled brightly as if nothing happened.