"Long time no see! Why did you get a different girl this time? You're the playboy FBI, after all."
Seeing Jack and Anna descend the gangway, Ma Xidao, his face trembling with flab, approached them. Having not seen him for over six months, the "beast cop" had visibly bulked up.
Anna had traded in her flight attendant-like uniform for a professional secretary wearing gold-rimmed glasses. She wore a black suit with a white shirt, a one-piece skirt, and flesh-colored stockings. Her long legs were so white they were impossible to look away from.
The handsome man and beautiful woman, with the luxurious corporate jet as the backdrop, made this scene perfect for a poster for a short drama about a domineering CEO.
"I'm sorry to bother you again. This case is a tough one. We're dealing with a ruthless terrorist." Jack clenched his bear paws, and after feeling the immense force from them, he calmly returned the blow.
Ma Xidao's rough face flushed slightly. He patted Jack's arm and sighed, "What's the point of saying trouble between friends? Let go, let go."
The FBI had contacts at the local embassy. Jack's current rank wasn't as high as the higher-ups, but more than enough for the lower-ups. The embassy directly sent an Audi S6 with diplomatic plates—finally, a step beyond the conspicuous Saab.
The pilot helped unload two heavy black boxes from the business jet. Ma Xidao couldn't help but feel curious, after all, the last time they came, the entire group didn't bring so much luggage.
"Is this a local gift for me?" the guy asked, a little embarrassed.
"If you like it, I can give it to you after this mission."
Jack smiled at him, unlocked the combination lock on one of the boxes, and lifted it a crack, revealing a local American specialty inside.
This box contained a partially disassembled Barrett MK22.
In addition to two full 10-round magazines, neatly arranged on the hollowed-out shock-absorbing foam were .338 Lapua Magnum rounds, each as thick as a carrot and painted in three different colors: red, green, and black.
The word "Magnum" comes from the Latin word for "huge," which is why European and American arms companies refer to most calibers of ammunition with larger charges as "XX-caliber Magnums," meaning they can simply be interpreted as "powered-up versions.
"
The .338 Lapua, a round between the .50BMG and the .300 Winchester Magnum, was originally developed for long-range, high-precision sniping.
While the .50BMG, the most commonly used anti-material weapon, possesses enough power to penetrate light armored vehicles, the recoil it produces is difficult for the average person to handle.
This Barrett MK22, chambered for the .338 Lapua round, theoretically has nearly half the recoil of a Barrett using the standard .50BMG, making it easy for even Anna, despite her small frame, to handle.
Of course, this was also the result of Anna's weight gain at the University of Tokyo. A normal person of her stature would risk a broken collarbone if their shooting posture wasn't correct.
"Just because someone used a machine gun on the streets of New York doesn't mean you're going to use it on the streets of Seoul, right?" Ma Xidao's face trembled, his eyes shifting.
"I know you're furious about that incident, but how about I treat you to dog meat hot pot tonight and invite a group of girl band members?"
Jack waved his hand, indicating that now wasn't the time to discuss such matters. Flying from New York to Seoul was a long journey, and even on a business jet, it was tiring.
The rapid progress he'd made in that day had made him feel like a sage. His mind was completely focused on the case. "Let's find a place to stay first, and then we'll figure out how to find Jang Myeong-jun and his men."
This
time, Jack didn't choose the traditional Korean house he'd stayed in last time; private homes were too insecure. Instead, he booked a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Gwanghwamun, near Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Anna didn't stay with him. She vanished without a trace the moment she left the airport, carrying out the mission Jack had assigned her.
For confidentiality reasons, Jack's ostensibly mission was to assist the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in solving the case of the specially formulated tung oil poison.
The new tung oil poison Jang Myeong-jun's gang was not only inexpensive and high-quality, but also had a distinctive appearance, deliberately painted a striking red. This malicious metaphor itself made Jack very uncomfortable.
After spending nearly a day and a half in the hotel suite, Jack and Ma Xidao finally sorted through the intelligence data sent by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the National Intelligence Service (NIS). After weeding out the reams of highly unprofessional speculation and perfunctory reports, he gained a new understanding of Jang Myeong-jun and his men.
The NIS, short for the National Intelligence Service of H-country, was formerly known as the KCIA (Central Intelligence Agency). As the name suggests, it was modeled after the CIA and, for the time being, there are no plans to apply for World Heritage status.
As an intelligence agency of an abstract country, the NIS is also somewhat abstract.
The NIS can be considered the headquarters of the extreme Y-wing pro-Japanese faction in H Country. This intelligence agency's greatest strength lies not in intelligence and counterintelligence, but in funding and supporting domestic traitors to
South Korea and engaging in anti-Korean and pro-Japanese activities. Of course, the intelligence provided by the NIS is certainly valuable when targeting their sworn brother in the North.
While the details of Jang Myeong-jun's past remain unclear, much of the NIS's intelligence corroborates the FBI's knowledge.
Around seven or eight years ago, during the North's arduous march, Jang Myeong-jun appeared in Southeast Asia, leading a group of individuals into a drug trafficking operation.
The NIS suspected that Jang Myeong-jun, while ostensibly a "defector," was in reality a North Korean operative, forced to resort to this method to earn foreign currency due to the severe economic blockade imposed on that country.
Due to the group's mysterious origins and the new synthetic drugs they were selling, they provoked a collective counterattack from the local drug cartels, hindering their development.
After operating intermittently for several years, this relatively insignificant drug trafficking organization suddenly vanished without a trace.
Three years ago, this deliberately red-dyed tannin reappeared in Southeast Asia, gradually spreading to Australia and Canada.
Appearing alongside this tannin, Zhang Mingjun's gang, having previously maintained a low profile, displayed ruthless tactics and a high degree of organization, preying on small local gangs and quickly establishing a reputation.
Simultaneously, the supply of this new tannin increased by more than tenfold.
Rumors circulated that Zhang Mingjun had truly "defected" and brought with him a chemist who had also "defected," giving his gang considerable production capacity.
Strangely, after Zhang Mingjun's escape from New York, the tannin quickly reappeared on the market, but only in South Korea.
It seemed as if they had suddenly abandoned their years-long sales network in other countries and focused solely on dumping the drug. In less than a month, South Korea's underground drug market was flooded with these small red pills, even causing a sales slump for other similar drugs.
"Where do you plan to start?" Ma Xidao, a man of action, wasn't good at this kind of intelligence analysis. After nearly two days of simmering in the hotel, he finally couldn't help himself.
Jack rubbed his stubble as he looked at the whiteboard covered in photos and small notes. "My mission is to find Zhang Mingjun. Since he's back to his old ways, why not start by investigating this as a regular drug case?"
(End of chapter)