Pricking The Persimmon That You’re Not Allowed to Eat (2)

As I called out the name, Ju Sa-Oh, Wi Yeon-Gil turned to stare at me.

Since it was a title that only those inside his organization should know him by, I guessed that he must be alarmed.

He might even already be thinking that someone had betrayed him.

“You’ll die without even getting to see the faces of your family in your home country. The Chinese government has ground its teeth down to the bone. Because of you, they’re being shamed across the world.”

“You… who on earth are you?”

We things called humans are so complicated.

He was a murderer who had slaughtered many while treating people as objects.

Yet before he was executed, a guy like this had wept while bowing down to his mother who was watching him from afar.

Even though his victims were definitely part of someone else’s family.

I swallowed back the bile rising up my throat, and skillfully coaxed him.

“Since that’s the case, as the time has come for you to go, shouldn’t you at least try to wash your hands clean. If you do, I can bring your mother to you so that you can at least see her face one last time.”

Wi Yeon-Gil stared at me as if he was trying to look right through me.

He must be wondering what I was plotting.

“Where have all the harvested organs gone?”

“…”

“What about the rest of your conspirators? And how are you connected to the Cheonyonghoe?”

Hm. I didn’t think it would be easy, but he isn’t even making any responses.

I folded my arms and released a sigh.

Even if I requested more time from our Chinese counterparts under the pretext of investigating Quodu, there was no guarantee that they would accept my request.

If that’s how it was, then it sounded like we would just need to resolve the case within a week, at all costs.

For a long moment, within that hospital room, I just faced him in silence.

“That’s it. I’ll come back again.”

As I left the hospital ward, I made a request to the police officers who were stationed there.

Just in case the Cheonyonghoe or any other forces might be aiming to keep the thugs within from flapping their lips.

“Please keep your guards up.”

“Roger that. Take care on your way back.”

With that, the only remaining breakthrough point was the Aeryuwon.

It looks like I would just have to wait and see how helpful the future scammer, Sang-Beom, could be.

***

It was the day that Sang-Beom and I had agreed upon

As I finished writing up a report at the office, I checked the time.

If I set off now, it looks like I could get there without a rush.

“Ah. Newbie. It’s about what you suggested last time. That thing with asking the Chinese for a time extension.”

Suddenly appearing to have recalled something, Team Leader turned to face me.

“It was a bust.”

Shit. I had thought that might happen.

Since this was a matter of national dignity, I guessed they didn’t feel the need to round up everyone.

They might also be confident that they could catch the Cheonyonghoe without our help.

“Well that sucks.”

“Can’t be helped. It’s what we expected.”

“If so, that means that we only have five days left until those punks are extradited.”

“That bastard Wi Yeon-Gil doesn’t seem like he’ll say a word even with his life on the line, and the small fry bastards would have to actually know something first before they could spill it.”

Black said all this with a reluctant tone of voice as he tore open an envelope.

It was the records sent by the bank of all the transactions made by the arrested gangsters.

The amount of records was smaller than expected for such a large group of people.

This was because more than half of them didn’t have a bank account, let alone a credit card.

“Since Mong-Doo is looking through their cell phone records, Newbie is in charge of the bank records.”

“Okay. Understood.”

I took the files and flipped through them slowly.

In order to find any traces leading to Aeryuwon.

Let’s see… as expected, they made most of the payments in untraceable cash.

Most of the payments on the list were made to Chinese restaurants, or similar dining places.

And in the midst of all this, there was one name that stood out.

‘The Thrifty Grocery Store.’

As if mistakes were being made, there were traces of money going in and then getting refunded.

I looked them up on the internet, but there was nothing to be found, not even an address.

I marked them down with a highlighter and kept flipping through the pages.

There were a lot of ways to launder their money.

Travel payments, bank transfers, currency exchange, mixing funds, and etc.

‘From what I can tell, the method used by Aeryuwon seems to be mixing funds.’

They probably combined the occasional authentic donation with their ill-gotten gains to disguise it as ordinary money.

Since there were many cases where donations were made anonymously, this made it a business model that was ideal for money laundering.

I checked the time and headed over to the changing room.

In my locker, I had prepared a luxury set of suits and shoes in advance.

As well as the black bag I had bought from the old man of Yongsan.

Unlike last time, today I was making an authentic donation pledge; so not only was I fully dressed, I had also made all the necessary preparations.