Mining And Construction Tycoon [EN]: Chapter 183

183. Kneel (2)

Taesu raised his hand.

At that moment, Shin Ji-soo, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who had been watching, entered the interrogation room with his subordinates.

“Take him away. You may proceed as planned.”

It was Taesu’s death sentence for Han Cheong-ho.

Shin Ji-soo nodded with a relieved expression.

“It has been delayed for too long. I couldn’t wait any longer, so this is good.”

Shin Ji-soo whistled and turned to his subordinates.

“Take him to the torture room. Get a confession.”

Once dragged into the CIA’s torture room, confessing to even non-existent crimes and dying was the obvious outcome.

A CIA agent grabbed Han Cheong-ho’s arm.

There was no more time to hesitate.

Thud.

Han Cheong-ho finally knelt before Taesu.

“S, save… me.”

Han Cheong-ho squeezed his eyes shut.

Taesu liked the sight of his face, twisted with humiliation.

Taesu looked down at him with great satisfaction.

“Please… just spare my life…….”

Han Cheong-ho pressed his forehead against Taesu’s feet and groveled.

He had to beg on his knees.

He had to live, no matter what.

Dying like this would be a dog’s death.

“Spare me.”

Han Cheong-ho heard it.

The sound of his pride, his future, everything that was Han Cheong-ho, breaking apart.

Taesu sat in his chair and watched.

Taesu closed his eyes.

This was the reason he had deliberately created this situation.

‘That arrogant Han Cheong-ho is finally kneeling and bowing his head at my feet.’

He was reminded of the past.

In his previous life, Han Cheong-ho was remembered as a figure too great for Taesu to approach.

‘The monster Han Cheong-ho, magnified in my imagination, was an overwhelming opponent for me.’

Taesu always led Cheongil, using the deceased Han Cheong-ho as a role model.

What would Han Cheong-ho have done? What choice would Han Cheong-ho have made?

He spurred himself on, chasing after the image of the already dead Han Cheong-ho.

‘In my imagination, I was always a loser.’

You can’t beat a dead man.

Thus, to Taesu, Han Cheong-ho was an insurmountable figure among giants.

A monster among monsters, to whom he would have had no choice but to submit if they had met in the same era.

It was only after his regression that he realized.

That he had been brainwashed for a long time.

‘But when I actually met him again, the real Han Cheong-ho wasn’t as great as I thought.’

He remembered the day he first met him at the molybdenum mine.

That day, Han Cheong-ho had offered Taesu to come under him, disguised as a proposal to lowball the price.

When his trick didn’t work, he turned away heartlessly.

Taesu was the victor in that simple probing.

And ever since then, consistently, and even at this moment.

‘I met you again, fought you, and won. Thanks to that, I surpassed the limits I had been drawing within myself.’

Taesu had grown one step further.

“I keep my promises.”

As Taesu raised his hand, the CIA agents released Han Cheong-ho’s body.

“You will go to prison.”

“Prison?”

Han Cheong-ho’s eyes darted around incessantly.

Calculating gains and losses, turning his head.

“Going to prison means… I won’t die.”

Before he knew it, Han Cheong-ho was smiling slyly.

“Heh, heh heh. Heheheh. Hahahahaha.”

The laughter grew louder and louder.

“I didn’t know you would really keep your promise.”

Han Cheong-ho rose from his kneeling position.

“Revenge is not too late as long as I’m alive. You will regret leaving me alive, Kang Taesu.”

The humiliation can be returned even more.

“Beliefs don’t matter. What matters is that I don’t die. Opportunity is hope.”

Han Cheong-ho did not give up.

“The one who laughs last is the real winner. Kang Taesu, I will laugh last. When that time comes, you will bitterly regret today’s decision under my feet.”

Han Cheong-ho’s eyes gleamed.

“The scars of today’s defeat will heal and become medals. I promise you, Kang Taesu.”

Han Cheong-ho vowed with sincerity.

“The wounds I will inflict on you will take your life before they even have a chance to heal. Wait for that day.”

Taesu stood up from his seat.

Breaking his beliefs was just for amusement.

“You know that your prison life depends on me.”

He was planning to make his prison life very difficult.

Taesu was smiling.

Conversely, Han Cheong-ho’s laughter stopped abruptly.

“Kang Taesu, you never intended to kill me from the beginning.”

Taesu did not answer.

Instead, he turned his back and walked towards the interrogation room door.

‘You can’t die now. The time of suffering is too short.’

It is Han Il-kwon who must atone with death.

Han Cheong-ho must repay his sins with something else.

‘You will have to watch everything from inside prison. How your son ruins the Cheongil Group.’

Han Il-kwon is a genius at bad deeds but has no talent for management.

Han Cheong-ho knows that, and so does Taesu.

‘How Cheongil, which you have cherished more than your own life, collapses.’

Cheongil is what Han Cheong-ho has built over a lifetime.

In his previous life, Han Cheong-ho worried about Cheongil until his death.

That’s why he so earnestly asked Taesu to take care of things.

‘How the family you had to protect falls apart.’

Han Cheong-ho and Han Il-kwon killed Taesu’s family.

Han Cheong-ho must also feel the sorrow of losing his family.

‘Having to helplessly watch everything you have crumble.’

Taesu opened the CIA door.

‘That is the punishment I am giving you.’

Sometimes there is a punishment far more painful than losing one’s life.

‘Your humiliation and disgrace are not over yet. I haven’t even started yet.’

Han Cheong-ho clenched his fist and shouted.

“Kang Taesu! Why are you doing this to me? What’s the reason?”

It was the question he asked when he handed over Cheongil Oil and Heavy Industries.

Click.

Again, Taesu did not answer.

Taesu left the CIA interrogation room like that.

Left alone, Han Cheong-ho pounded the table and wailed.

“Kang Taesu! Come back! Come back and give me a proper answer!”

* * *

Central Intelligence Agency Director’s Office.

Taesu silently drank his coffee.

‘There are three things I came to the Central Intelligence Agency for.’

One of them was the issue related to Han Cheong-ho.

Breaking Han Cheong-ho’s beliefs and removing the ghost of Han Cheong-ho that had loomed for so long.

The work is not over yet.

Shin Ji-soo, holding a coffee cup, watched Taesu carefully.

“You don’t have to worry about the aftermath of Han Cheong-ho.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to torture him a few times to get a confession and send him to prison with a heavy sentence.”

“That’s weak.”

Taesu shook his head.

“Assign the best torture expert.”

“Hmm?”

“It doesn’t matter if he becomes disabled from intense torture. Just keep him alive.”

This means to cripple him and send him out.

Shin Ji-soo put down his coffee cup.

“Alright. I’ll assign the best torture expert.”

“I also want you to assign someone to him in prison.”

“What kind of person?”

“Someone with a terrible temper, even among heinous criminals. Not a prisoner who can be bribed with power and money like a gang member, but a dangerous guy who impulsively goes crazy and beats people indiscriminately.”

“…What if he dies in prison after assigning such a guy?”

“That’s none of my business.”

There’s no way I’ll let him live comfortably in prison.

Shin Ji-soo pursed his lips.

‘He’s a scary guy. Does he mean to crush him thoroughly when he steps on him?’

With Central Intelligence Agency Director Shin Ji-soo and Taesu behind him, Han Cheong-ho’s fate was sealed.

Shin Ji-soo swallowed hard and said cautiously.

“I’ll do as you say. So I hope you’ll use your influence a little…….”

The reason why he fully cooperated with Han Cheong-ho’s disposition as Taesu wanted.

Shin Ji-soo wants something else.

“I ask you to prevent the Central Intelligence Agency from being caught up and disintegrating.”

That was the second reason Taesu came.

‘There’s something I need to get from the Central Intelligence Agency.’

But Taesu did not open his mouth first.

The one in a desperate situation now should be Shin Ji-soo, not Taesu.

That’s how negotiations begin.

That was the reason why Taesu was just listening to Shin Ji-soo’s words.

Shin Ji-soo was burning inside.

“Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Kim Jae-guk is the main culprit in the presidential assassination. Moreover, several Central Intelligence Agency agents learned the truth of the incident while recording the wiretapping.”

If Joint Investigation Headquarters Chief Lee Se-hoo steps in, a bloodbath will ensue.

It was obvious that he would be beaten mercilessly when the next regime came in.

‘In reality, in my previous life, the Central Intelligence Agency was disintegrated because of Central Intelligence Agency Director Kim Jae-guk, who caused the Park Jung-hwan assassination. Jeon Doo-hwan created the Agency for National Security Planning instead.’

Agency for National Security Planning.

Abbreviated as ANSP. [South Korean intelligence agency established in 1981.]

There were offices in Namsan, which was in charge of domestic affairs, and Imun-dong, which was in charge of overseas affairs, but ANSP usually referred to Namsan.

After Han-soo entered the ANSP, he became a star as the ‘ANSP Awl’ by catching Ahn Jung-woo, who was accused of being behind the Park Jung-hwan assassination.

“What exactly do you want?”

“I want the Park Jung-hwan assassination to be passed off as Kim Jae-guk’s personal affair, not something led by the Central Intelligence Agency.”

Click.

Taesu put down his coffee cup.

“You must have heard about the records of what happened in the Cheongil Hotel VIP room that day.”

Kim Jae-guk confessed in front of Park Jung-hwan.

-All the agents have learned about Your Excellency’s acts of treason.

-They all raised their guns and rose up, saying they had to kill Your Excellency. Is it easy to dissuade patriotic youths?

-I came to this place representing my subordinates.

That was the problem.

For that reason, the Central Intelligence Agency was turned upside down.

Director Shin Ji-soo was anxious and restless.

“I hope you will step in and smooth things over. Cover it up as something Kim Jae-guk, full of patriotism, did on behalf of the country.”

Instead, Shin Ji-soo moved to get closer to Taesu.

“It’s for the country.”

Everyone says it’s for the country whenever they do something.

Park Jung-hwan and Jeon Doo-hwan did the same.

In reality, they must be doing it for their own benefit.

‘The only people who act for the country, not for their own benefit, were Kim Jae-guk and Elder Ahn Jung-woo.’

But Shin Ji-soo was serious.

“Think about it. The two agencies that deeply handle the information of this country have both been caught up in this and are paralyzed.”

The Central Intelligence Agency, which covers domestic and foreign information, and the Defense Security Command, which is in charge of domestic and foreign military information.

The heads of the agencies, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Kim Jae-guk and Defense Security Commander Jeon Doo-hwan, were deeply involved in the presidential assassination.

“According to martial law, the Army Chief of Staff became the martial law commander, and he and the military forces intervened in the incident.”

That was the reason why Shin Ji-soo was anxious.

“What do you think will happen if Lee Se-hoo has bad intentions? Even to prevent the second military force from entering this country, the intelligence agency must be alive to keep it in check.”

Lee Se-hoo has already declared that he will only focus on reorganizing the military.

But Shin Ji-soo doesn’t know.

If the Central Intelligence Agency disintegrates, what will happen to Shin Ji-soo, the head of the agency?

That was Shin Ji-soo’s biggest concern.

“Help me. No matter how I think about it, you are the only one who can change this situation.”

Everything that Ahn Jung-woo brought out was actually what Taesu had.

That means that Ahn Jung-woo and Taesu are related in some way.

Also, Lee Se-hoo directly introduced Ahn Jung-woo.

That means Taesu even moved Lee Se-hoo.

‘The survival of the Central Intelligence Agency depends on Lee Se-hoo. But right now, I have no connection with Lee Se-hoo at all. Except for Kang Taesu sitting here, there is no way to do anything.’

There are quite a few Central Intelligence Agency agents who came from the military.

But there’s no way they would have a relationship with the Army Chief of Staff.

Moreover, Army Chief of Staff Lee Se-hoo was a person who stayed holed up in the military and didn’t come out often.

Lee Se-hoo’s only interest was the military unit.

“Shouldn’t we prevent the collapse of the Central Intelligence Agency for the sake of this country?”

Shin Ji-soo bowed his head.

“I will never forget your help.”

Does Shin Ji-soo know?

That all of this is a game set up by Taesu.