Almost as soon as Jubal and Jack left the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, before they could even get into their car, a swarm of reporters swarmed the area, surrounding the entrance.
Soon, several officers were seen escorting Lee Gun-woo, pushing their way through the crowd and placing him in a prison van. Kim Jun-ho remained invisible throughout the entire process.
"I can't tell for a moment whether Prosecutor Kim listened to our advice or not," Jubal muttered, leaning against the side of the van as he watched the scene unfold.
"He probably listened, didn't he?" Jack couldn't be completely sure. "If he didn't, he wouldn't miss this opportunity to face the media. Judging by Lee Gun-woo's behavior, it seems like they've clashed before."
Seeing the prison van leave, Jubal opened the door and got in. "I'll have Alice check it out when we get back, but judging by the way they're interacting, this definitely isn't their first encounter."
"It's definitely not their first encounter," Alice turned her notebook around, facing the two men who had just entered.
"Back when Kim Junho first became prosecutor, Li Jianyu was investigated for his alleged involvement in the death of a prostitute. He was ultimately acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
Rumor has it that the witness was bribed into changing his confession."
"So it all makes sense. After our investigation led to Li Jianyu, Kim Junho felt he had finally gained enough leverage to successfully end this feud," Jubal suddenly realized.
"So what do we do next?" asked Jiejie, who had walked in just after them, followed by Hannah.
Jack replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, we'll continue the investigation. Li Jianyu has a lawyer now, so he probably won't talk anymore. We'll have to look elsewhere."
"Come to think of it, he seemed so confident at the time, so why did he immediately demand to see a lawyer after you laughed at him?" Jubal asked curiously. The brief interaction between the two of them hadn't escaped the old FBI's notice.
Jack reminded him with a chuckle, "Did you forget he actually has a case?"
"Aha, Dubai? That scumbag has a criminal record in Dubai and is a fugitive. I'll contact the embassy tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, Jiejie, do you have any connections at Interpol?
Now that Li Jianyu has been arrested, no matter what the final outcome, we can have Dubai initiate an extradition proposal to South Korea. Until then, we just need to ensure he remains in custody."
Jubal slapped his forehead, remembering this. No wonder Jack had been grinning so strangely.
"But regardless, it certainly doesn't look like the scumbag you're talking about was responsible for this crime."
Alice smoothed her messy hair and handed Jubal a printout of Google Maps. Three circles were drawn on the map, forming an intersecting area.
"What do you mean?" Jubal looked at the English place name and struggled to pronounce it. "Gangnam?"
Alice yawned lazily. "Jack asked me to track Li Jianyu's phone to determine his whereabouts over the past 48 hours.
I found out he wasn't at his Myeongdong residence last night, but he wasn't in Itaewon either. He went to Gangnam."
Jack was also surprised. He took the map from Jubal and frowned. "Gangnam and Itaewon are separated by the Han River. How big is the error in this location?"
"No more than one street at most. As for how to verify it, I'll leave it to you. I should go to bed. My skin was so much better before, but it seems to have gotten worse recently."
Alice stood up and stretched, rubbing her arm, muttering to herself.
"We bought some Olive Young skincare products in Myeongdong on the way back. I heard it's the hottest skincare brand in Korea. You can try it together." Hannah and Jiejie took Alice's arms, one on each side, and the three girls walked to the inner bedroom together.
"Okay, then you guys take a break. I'll go find someone local to verify Alice's findings." Jack shrugged, picked up his phone, and called Ma Xi.
Whenever people mentioned the porn industry, especially men from a certain large Eastern nation, they always thought of Japan first. And when it came to the status of women, they always thought of Sammo Hung.
But when it comes to comparisons of the worst, South Korea is always far ahead.
Despite its legal protections, including the "Entertainment Business Act," Japan's performance in certain industries (excluding romance and action films) is far inferior to that of its neighbor, South Korea, making it a prime example of a country's national treasures failing to outperform the interests of others.
President Roh, whom Ma Xidao mentioned, enacted the "Special Act on Sex Trafficking" in 2004, officially outlawing the porn industry in South Korea.
In one fell swoop, nearly 50,000 businesses were shut down and over 300,000 practitioners were arrested. For the next 20 years, the law remained in effect, and South Korea's crackdowns on pornography grew in scale. Remarkably, during these same 20 years, South Korea's porn industry flourished, rapidly employing over a million people and contributing 4% of GDP, a figure comparable to agricultural output.
Traditional direct-sale venues gradually disappeared, replaced by new formats branded as cafes, private cinemas, karaoke bars, bars, and nightclubs.
After President Roh, who was hell-bent on changing South Korea, committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, South Korea's porn industry reached a new scale in just a few years.
In 2011, Japan's per capita spending on porn was $157, ranking second in the world, while South Korea, with a significant advantage of $527 per capita, firmly held the top spot.
Ten years later, according to a survey by a South Korean non-governmental organization, the number of women working in the porn industry had exceeded one million, considering the country's total population of just over 25 million.
Given this, it's not surprising that when Jack and Ma Seok-do entered a private room at a Gangnam nightclub to investigate, they were accompanied by two graceful hostesses.
"Brother, this is what you asked for," a nightclub manager respectfully placed a printout on the table in front of Ma Seok-do and bowed before leaving the room.
The printout was a screenshot from a surveillance video, showing a man and woman in an intimate embrace. The man was none other than Lee Jae-woo, and the woman was a young white woman, not his naive American fiancée.
Jack took a screenshot of the video and sent it to Jubal. Then, calmly, he gently brushed away the increasingly unruly hands of the scantily clad woman beside him, a bit unsure who was supposed to be paying here today.
"Is that why he lied to the police? Because he cheated on his fiancée?"
Ma Xidao was a seasoned expert at this. Though he appeared to be speaking seriously, his hands were even more dishonest than the proactive girl next to Jack, whose face was already so red that even her makeup couldn't cover it.
"Clearly, he wasn't lying because he was worried about being exposed for cheating." Jack finally lost his patience and gestured for the girl to sit across from him, next to Ma Xidao.
He wasn't pretending to be a gentleman; he was simply picky and had no interest in women with busts even bigger than his own. He declined the idea of androids.
It's worth saying that the hostesses here, despite being completely rigged, are incredibly professional. Though somewhat reluctant to part with this rare foreign handsome man, they quickly adjusted their expressions and slumped coyly into Ma Xidao's arms.
"He's just deliberately playing a trick on Kim Junho, trying to humiliate him again after his comeback, just like before." Jack took a sip of the soju in his glass and nearly spit it out.
"Damn, what did you order?" He picked up the bottle on the table and took a look. It was clearly marked with the Chinese characters for "Zhenlu." No wonder it smelled like industrial alcohol diluted with water.
(End of Chapter)