Chapter 160: < Protect – Episode 159 – Hong Kong Noir [5] >

After Hong Kong was returned to China, many routes within the continent were eased and many used this to their advantage to gather in Hong Kong. As a country that was China but not really, their economics made it appealing for the countries nearby. The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as Taiwanloved Hong Kong for a very long time.

No matter how financially powerful Hong Kong was, they still needed labor power, so they were a great alternative for them. Of course, once they got enough work out of them, they deported them soon afterward because there were lots and lots of illegal immigrants there. As a result, they were repeating both the acceptance of illegal immigrants and deportation in an implicit manner.

When people gathered, groups naturally formed.

In Asia, people of each country stuck together quite closely, like how Vietnamese people stuck together, how Filipino people stuck together, and how the natives stuck together. In no time, North Korea was also one of them. Hong Kong was Chinese land, but Chinese people were discriminated against. Strictly speaking, it was the commoners who were discriminated against while the rich were welcomed with open arms.

Ahn Soo Ho left the center of the city.

The population of Hong Kong was a killer, but they still didn’t reduce their park sizes. Rather than plowing down all the mountains and forests to build more buildings, they restricted construction that was insensitive to the environment. Hong Kong’s land value was astronomically expensive. So there were many illegal immigrants who were too busy trying to make money rather than touring around before they got deported.

Goreo Village was at the very border of Hong Kong, and even though 95% of Hong Kong’s industries were in service, the remaining 5% of the manufacturing industry couldn’t be disregarded. That was because, among the household items that Hong Kong people used, they produced what couldn’t be imported. For those who couldn’t speak English or Chinese, labor was what they mainly pursued. The only jobs illegal immigrants could have were either to be janitors or factory laborers.

‘Wait, was there one more?’

Criminal.

Whether they were thugs, minor criminals that engaged in organizations that murdered each other, or major criminals that engaged in human trafficking or organ trafficking were all simply criminals. The only thing they produced to make a living was pain. A light industry cl.u.s.tered with factories. The region, which was a mix of residences and factories, looked like a true slum. Ahn Soo Ho stopped in his tracks. He then took out his vibrating phone and answered it.

“Henry.”

“Chairman Hw.a.n.g is alive!”

He was certainly not someone who would die easily.

“I don’t think even China knew about North Korea’s provocation this time. The Chinese intelligence agency managed to find Chairman Hw.a.n.g.”

“Did Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin do a shabby job?”

“No, it’s not that. I think the Chinese intelligence agency just didn’t’ give up this time.”

Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin was never shabby at his job. On the contrary, it was likely that they would have failed to track him down if it wasn’t for Ahn Soo Ho. Who would have had the guts to look for the person involved and forced them to talk? He was the only one who could use that method.

Ahn Soo Ho caught on to the full story of the Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin terrorist attack.

“It’s because of me.”

“Premier Yuhaipung does always have his focus on you.”

There was no way China didn’t know about Ahn Soo Ho’s visit to Hong Kong. Unless the Chinese intelligence agency was stupid, they likely got the whole picture after a.n.a.lyzing North Korea’s provocation.

“Did Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin agree to go through with it?”

“I don’t know the full details, but I think so. China wants to send North Korea a strong warning while also making Pyeongyang responsible for the cold relations.h.i.+p between America and China. It’s highly likely that Chairman Hw.a.n.g agreed to stay low on the independence movement in return for digging up the truth.”

“If Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin’s shameful truths get exposed, Hong Kong’s independence movement will wither away.”

“Do you really think that way, Soo Ho?”

Ahn Soo Ho smirked in response to Henry’s question.

‘Hong Kong’s independence movement is just an illusion.’

On the outside, it seemed like many Hong Kong people were chanting for Hong Kong’s independence, but from a closer view, both the Chinese Communist Party and the leaders of Hong Kong needed each other.

“If he didn’t die, his survival will be on the news soon.”

“And on top of that, North Korea will probably make Kim Taek Sun take responsibility for their provocation. They’ll probably pull their feet out as if they already punished the one who was responsible.”

“Is that the story that China wants?”

“Yeah. They’ll probably make it look like the political director ignored his leader’s orders and provoked South Korea.”

“What about Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin?”

“The crime of bribing Kim Taek Sun for mining rights in North Korea? They’ll probably claim that as things unfolded, Kim Taek Sun’s underlings terrorized Chairman Hw.a.n.g.”

It was a well-planned scenario.

“Good work.”

“Are you still going to go to that Goreo Village even though Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin is alive?”

He hung up without answering.

If Hw.a.n.g Chi Rin was still alive, there was no need to judge the North Korean a.s.sa.s.sination group, but he already came all the way here. So it wasn’t a bad idea to check out Goreo Village anyway. He used his magic so that no one could see him. Goreo Village looked like the beginning stages of the Kowloon district.

They did anything as long as it made money.

They were willing to work with smuggling, prost.i.tution, and drugs.

The illegal immigrants from Vietnam were mainly working in the garbage industry while the ones from the Philippines were involved in violent activities. In terms of scale, Goreo Village was the smallest, but no one could mess with them. Why? Because North Koreans weren’t afraid to fight to the death.

The madness of having one’s wife, children, family, and lover captured as hostages were something that couldn’t be dealt with by an average thug.

The people working for such evil were more devoted to their work than anyone. Every single person in the slums had tragic circ.u.mstances of hating their country but not being able to leave would make anyone want to tear up.

The two faces of one country, two systems.

Hong Kong and Macao were like stress outlets for the maintenance of the daily wage system. No matter how many reforms they enforced, countries based on socialism never changed. However, a Chinese who got a taste of capitalism couldn’t escape from temptation that easily.

‘More! More!’

Before their greed got the best of them, they needed an escape to deal with their suppressed desires.

‘What’s scary about China is that they think it’s a given that an outstanding leader leads a dull public.’

This was something that couldn’t happen under orthodox socialism, but in the process of the cultural revolution, they were unable to completely rid themselves of traditional customs. It was impossible even if Premier Mao returned. The current super China of the 21st century was all about the group rather than the individual, and it was impossible to deny that Orientalism had a strong effect on that.

When the economists of North America and Europe discussed the developments of Korea, China, and j.a.pan, the one topic that always came up was nationalism. They believed that the nationalist way of thinking was the best in producing optimal results. The problem was after the achievement of the economic growth objective.

A battlefield of the past, present, and future. The countless problems that America faced during the 20th century were all hitting China in the span of just over 10 years. And this was something that couldn’t be controlled by just the Chinese Communist Party alone.

Strong against strong.

The patriotic Chinese citizens might have wanted war against America, but the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party had no interest in starting a war. The reason why China put up all sorts of small disputes against other countries was so that they could avoid the ultimate fight.

That was also the reason why they didn’t let go of North Korea despite the international pressure. If they didn’t put North Korea in the forefront to block all the bullets, they might have had to really fight with America.

They had no chance of winning.

So China was looking 100 years into the future rather than trying to beat the white people now. And in order to make the future come a little faster, they had to put the entire continent in their hands.

‘Asian unification.’

If they conquered all of Asia, they would stand a chance against America.

The chicken coups were lined up side by side to each other.

This was not a place where people should be living. Compared to this, the slums of Korea were half decent. It looked like they were being raised rather than living. Ahn Soo Ho stopped in his tracks. It was morning when everyone should have been at the factories, so it was suspicious that someone was roaming around a residence building.

‘Four? Five?’

He had guns on his belt. He looked behind him. He didn’t seem like someone who was dragged here to work. Or maybe he adjusted to h.e.l.l pretty quickly. Seeing how he was avoiding all the people that were pa.s.sing by, he was definitely a special agent from North Korea.

Ahn Soo Ho followed him while keeping a safe distance. The man went into the biggest building in the complex. He sensed at least 200 people in there. After sneaking in after him, he finally expressed an emotion.

Disgust.

Ahn Soo Ho’s face was full of disgust. They weren’t raising pigs, but they were poking at humans who were trapped in the pens. The reason why they didn’t scream or cry was because they didn’t have the energy to do so. Once Ahn Soo Ho saw real people trapped within the chicken coups, he remembered a rumor.

‘Organ factory.’

In a softer sense, people also called them organ banks. The organ trafficking market didn’t need labor. What they needed were humans themselves as their products. Once a person’s organs were all judged to be useful, that adult person’s worth was between 800,000 to 1 million US dollars in the black market.

In the eyes of criminals, all people looked like wads of cash. He went through laptops and books. There were many North Korean defectors, just as he predicted. They were mostly North Korean defectors who were caught in the middle of their escape, and there were also little kids and women. Inside the fridges were bodies that were already killed.

‘This is weird.’

At a scale this large, there was no way the Chinese government wouldn’t know.

‘If they get caught, Hong Kong’s reputation would go down in an instant… Oh, was that the objective?’

Rather than cracking down the foreign illegal immigrants, were they neglecting the crimes they were committing? That was a dirty method, but this was a scandal that could taint Hong Kong’s image.

Ahn Soo Ho took out his phone.

“Oh Chang Ik… did you know about this?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The organ factory.”

“I’m not involved in that whatsoever!”

Oh Chang Ik was quick to defend himself.

“That’s an organization directly managed by the guys in Pyeongyang! They judged that it was a waste of money to bring them back and make them work! So instead…”

“They decided to sell them off.”

That was an absurd way of thinking. North Korea was a trash of a country that was absolutely uncivilized, and all those who were living in Goreo Village were criminals. Their excuse about their wives, children, family, and lovers being held as hostages was brutal in itself.

“Did you also sell off your North Korean defectors to this place?”

“No, Sir!”

“You better not have.”

Once Ahn Soo Ho hung up, he took out a gun from his secret pocket.

“Haha. Huh?”

A man who was laughing at the TV turned around after feeling something cold on his head, but his head blew up before he could see.

Bang, bang-

The guy next to him got shot in the temple, and the one next to him got shot in his heart.

Bang, bang, bang-

He shot the lock and opened the door to the chicken coups and dog houses, but the response of the people inside was slow. The reason why they didn’t run right away meant that they endured so much fear and pain that they were brainwashed. He then took out the guns and bullets in his secret pocket and created a pile.

He heard mumbling from outside the building.

It was time to monitor the people in the pen and members responded to the sound of the gun. Ahn Soo Ho took his gun and left the pig pen, and then threw it to the man who was still hesitant.

“Pick it up.”

He picked it up as if he was possessed.

“Get up and fight.”

That suddenly woke the suppressed rage within him. The men, women, and children all picked up a gun. They heard the ruckus getting closer.

“What’s with the shooting? Did you damage our goods…”

A woman shot the man who just entered and opened the door.

Bang, bang, bang-

Ahn Soo Ho smirked.

“Get your revenge.”

Their hatred turned them into soldiers.

‘The Ultra Program is a piece of trash.’

‘Kneel in front of the superiority of magic.’

< Protect – Episode 159 – Hong Kong Noir [5] > The end.