[Commissioner, if you can hear me, please say “negotiation table.”]
[Negotiation table.]
On the American side, the people seated at the negotiation table were the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the FBI Director, four in total.
On the Korean side, however, only the Hunter Management Agency had stepped forward to negotiate on its own.
It was a measure taken because the Hunter Association was currently being pointed to as a hotbed of various corruption.
The Association had a history of thirty years, which could be called long or short depending on how one looked at it. That also meant it had spent a long time cooperating with various government agencies.
Therefore, if the negotiations were conducted together with another government agency, the secret could leak through some route or another.
At this moment, maintaining secrecy was that important.
Given the nature of the meeting, the presidents of Korea and the United States both joined by video so as not to draw the attention of other media outlets. This, too, was done through a channel Ms. Su-a had finished setting up.
<Commissioner, the channel with Section Officer Lee has been connected! Section Officer Lee’s voice will also be transmitted through the simultaneous interpretation receiver.>
The voice that converted Ms. Su-a’s typing into TTS also came through the receiver in my ear.
<If you press and hold the volume control switch once, the interpreter’s voice will become the main audio. If you press it twice, Section Officer Lee’s voice will become the main audio.>
Click.
Click.
I heard the Commissioner press the switch according to Ms. Su-a’s instructions.
<Ah! The American side is attempting to wiretap us. One moment...>
Tap-tap-tap.
Tap.
<Blocked! I rerouted them to the WTV broadcast signal! SU-02 has also secured control over all CCTV inside the hotel. I will maintain alert status as is!>
No matter how many times the other side tried, they would probably hear nothing but WTV Music Live throughout the negotiation.
As expected, Ms. Su-a was a reassuring person to have on the same side.
The first speaker in the negotiation was the American president.
Now in his eighties, he was the second-oldest among the world’s leaders.
He, who had remained silent until now, finally opened his mouth.
[First, I would like to express my gratitude.]
Our president received those words in a calm tone.
[Thank you for agreeing to negotiations.]
[That is what we should be saying.]
As several people began speaking, the simultaneous interpreter identified each speaker one by one.
[FBI Director: May I ask how you did it?]
[Commissioner: That is top secret, so we cannot disclose it. I apologize.]
[Secretary of State: My apologies. I was discourteous.]
[Commissioner: Not at all. I think it is only natural that you would be curious. However, we also have circumstances of our own, so I ask for your understanding that we cannot reveal it.]
[American President: Ah, should we really begin by putting one another in such an awkward position?]
[FBI Director: I apologize! I was thoughtless.]
[American President: Please accept my apology, our Korean friends.]
[Korean President: It is all right. You simply did not know. It is also that urgent a matter.]
For a moment, a period of mutual compliments and pleasantries passed.
However, America, pressed for time, soon began revealing its true intentions.
[American President: I will ask directly. How many days are possible?]
This was something we had discussed beforehand.
We could not reveal every card in our hand.
The Time Delay Tickets were far too valuable an item to be spent only on negotiations with America.
[Commissioner: A maximum of sixty days. We can extend it up to sixty days.]
[FBI Director: That many...!]
[Secretary of State: Ha ha ha! The fact that Korea is our ally shines so brightly at a time like this!]
[American President: Korea has always been a nation that shows possibility.]
After threatening us earlier, America was now showing a completely different face.
That was how desperate they were.
[American President: Then what are Korea’s demands?]
[Korean President: First, we demand the withdrawal of the 200% tariff plan.]
[American President: Naturally.]
The interpreter said that everyone in the room nodded.
[Korean President: We also want the terms of the FTA agreement to be respected. However, we will not permit the opening of agricultural and livestock products.]
[American President: Hm. Continue.]
[Korean President: Furthermore, please enact the Korea Partner Act and establish the corresponding E-4 visa.]
In the past, the United States had treated Korean specialists like illegal overstayers, bound them in chains, and driven them out.
For Korean companies that had sent high-level personnel at the request of local authorities, it had been like a bolt from the blue.
The president was now trying to correct that issue.
[American President: How many do you want?]
[Korean President: We need up to twenty thousand work visas every year.]
[American President: Twenty thousand... Secretary of State, is it possible?]
[Secretary of State: Legislation through Congress will be necessary, but for the time being, it is possible with your executive order alone, Your Excellency.]
[American President: Good. Then I promise it. I will issue the executive order as soon as this meeting ends. Are there any additional demands?]
The American president continued asking for further demands.
It was only natural.
Korea had stated only two demands so far.
He fully understood the meaning behind Korea’s words that it could extend the deadline by up to sixty days.
That depending on our decision, the number of days could be reduced or increased.
The effect of having extended the Washington Tower deadline in two separate steps was being displayed here.
[Korean President: Finally, we want to be able to conclude a currency swap with the United States whenever Korea requests it.]
A currency swap that exchanged dollars and won.
Foreign exchange reserves were a problem like Korea’s Achilles’ heel.
It was trauma left behind after experiencing the IMF crisis.
What could resolve such a problem was a standing currency swap that allowed dollars and won to be exchanged at any time, but several difficult conditions were required to establish one.
Things like fully opening the foreign exchange market.
However, what the president was demanding now was essentially to let Korea enjoy the effects of a standing currency swap at any time, without the conditions that could cause a corresponding economic crisis in return.
[American President: Ah, that is only natural! We can do that as much as you wish. Twenty years, no, even thirty years is possible.]
We could have demanded more, but for now, this was where we would stop.
From America’s perspective, Washington D.C. was, of course, an extremely important place.
But even if Washington Tower collapsed, the country called the United States would not vanish entirely from the face of the earth.
Korea was the dominant party in this negotiation right now, but considering the future, we were not in a position to simply run wild either.
In truth, America had once left a Tower in the middle of the Grand Canyon, where not a single person lived, to collapse on its own.
Therefore, depending on the situation, America also had the option of moving its capital altogether.
What we had to remember was the reason America was sitting here right now.
It was the symbolism unique to Washington D.C., the capital of America that had been maintained for more than two hundred years.
In other words, this was not a matter of survival, but of politics.
At a time like this, one had to walk the tightrope well.
Not too excessive, yet not in a way that caused us to lose out.
In any case, the conversation was flowing smoothly.
To America right now, the Tower deadline extension we had offered was their only lifeline.
No matter how reckless the current American president was, with his country’s capital about to be blown away without a solution in a few days, he was not stupid enough to nitpick every condition and kick away his final chance.
But then.
<Intruder detected!>
Flash! Flash! Flash!
Ms. Su-a’s monitor began flashing brilliantly.
“Th-they are here!”
[BANG!]
[Do not move!]
A loud sound came from the monitor.
Federal agents poured into the room with guns drawn, leaving the shattered door behind them. The letters FBI were clearly visible on their bodies.
At the same time, I heard the interpreter in the negotiation room speak.
[FBI Director: We found him, Your Excellency!]
[American President: Good. Then the negotiations related to the Tower are complete. Now, the next agenda.]
[Commissioner: ...What do you suddenly mean by that?]
[American President: Ah, since Korea would not tell us, we found him ourselves.]
[Korean President: When you say yourselves...?]
[American President: I mean Jack Rich. Did he not come with you?]
[FBI Director: Your Excellency, entry is complete!]
[American President: We have a network-related Awakened on our side, you see.]
The moment she heard those words, Ms. Su-a looked startled.
“Net... network?”
However, she soon narrowed her brow and stared hard at one place, then began typing rapidly with an angry expression.
[FBI Director: It is exactly as Hans said!]
[American President: Good. Capture him and bring him here. Then shall we begin a new conversation? Ah, before that, I would like you to extend Washington Tower’s deadline first.]
“......”
I had wondered if this might happen.
Even though it was bait, we had maintained security to the greatest possible extent.
Had Ms. Su-a not been here, we would have been helplessly caught.
Still, I had not expected America to be this shameless.
Did America think things would proceed properly even after provoking its negotiating partner like this? I had not even used the Time Delay Tickets yet.
[American President: Director, is the situation over?]
[FBI Director: Th-that is...]
If it had been me, I would have at least confirmed that the Tower deadline had been extended before doing something like this.
On the CCTV displayed on Ms. Su-a’s monitor, FBI federal agents were moving busily.
They began searching every part of the suite room where the Korean negotiation delegation’s luggage was located.
However.
[He is not here!]
[This is not the place!]
Of course.
We were somewhere else.
That was the place where the Commissioner had changed clothes earlier.
In addition, it was also the place Ms. Su-a had repeatedly rerouted as the signal’s final destination.
The place we were currently in was a room another black operative had separately booked under their cover identity.
[It is a trap!]
Our situation had already been fully conveyed to the Commissioner sitting at the negotiation table.
[American President: Director, what happened?]
[FBI Director: Y-Your Excellency!]
[American President: Speak quickly!]
Had America perhaps been certain that once they captured the target alive, they could shake Korea around as much as they wanted?
<The target is trapped in the fox den! Shall I block them?>
“Wait.”
At that moment, the Korean president spoke in a cold voice.
[Korean President: I did not know you had another plan.]
[American President: No! This is merely...!]
Even America could only commit such an act because it failed to properly understand its current position.
Then we simply had to make them understand clearly.
“Commissioner, can you hear me?”
[Negotiation table.]
“Please tell them that since America has betrayed our trust, today’s negotiations are over.”
We had practiced various possible situations that could arise during the negotiations, and this was the scenario we had judged to be the least likely among them.
I had not expected we would actually have to use it.
The Commissioner repeated my words exactly.
Naturally, the negotiation room descended into chaos.
[Secretary of State: Wait! What are you saying...?]
[American President: Everyone, calm down!]
The ones who needed to calm down were not us, but America.
“The operation is over. Please withdraw.”
Then I spoke to Ms. Su-a.
“Block them.”
Ms. Su-a’s hands moved busily.
Tap-tap-tap! Tak!
<I will execute it!>
FLASH!
A bright, soundless light enveloped the entire building.
An EMP, an electromagnetic pulse bomb that destroyed every electronic device within its radius.
However, this was an EMP that applied Mana Pulse technology to selectively choose and destroy targets.
In other words, it was an MEMP.
BEEEEEP───!
With the light, all American communications were paralyzed.
Before that, America’s final words came through like a death cry.
[Secretary of State: N-no...!]
Meanwhile, every member of the Korean negotiation delegation left the JW Marriott Washington DC hotel.
Building trust was difficult, but losing it took only an instant.
The Commissioner, who was the last to board the van, showed a bitter expression.
“I did not expect America to act like that.”
“The other party’s greed was too excessive.”
Once the fire at their feet had been put out, other thoughts had begun to occur to them.
“That is right! They got too full of themselves!”
Thinking of what would happen later, we would eventually renegotiate with America, but we had no intention of reaching out first before the final day.
For the next few days, America would spend hellish days.
At that moment, Ms. Su-a’s TTS voice, like an extension of herself, rang out.
<Rabbit has moved!>
Our next destination was where another target waited.
The second objective of this operation: finding the spies.
<Rabbit has arrived!>
At last, the target had been caught in the trap we had laid.
The traps had been placed in two locations.
The Graham Georgetown and the Washington Hilton.
The moment when the spy would soon be caught had arrived.
“All we have to do is smoke them out of the rabbit hole now, right? So where is it? The Graham Georgetown? The place where those three special recruits are?”
<That is...>
The Commissioner’s eyes widened the moment he heard Ms. Su-a’s answer.
“...Both places?”