It seemed that my brother had made some arrangements beforehand. All these arrangements were made just a few hours ago, not long after the vessel disappeared. Our planes can't just fly cross borders for the security of a shipment; authorization takes time.
A legal boundary is the only thing that keeps The Snows under limits. Though we often break those boundaries, if that were to happen on a more aggressive basis, then we would face pressure from the government. Unlike cartels, who deal completely illegally, Snows do it both ways.
That's because for cartels, neither are the dealings conducted in mass nor is any of their combined scales enough to compare to how large The Snow group is. It operates on enough wealth to buy off small countries. And that's the least to be expected from the number one defense organization on the globe.
"So this is where we'll be staying from now on?" I asked, looking at the Hanok we were entering. Hanoks are traditional themed houses in Korea.
"Right," Jinsoo replied. I had left Ethan back at the suite; he's working on the case. If things take an unexpected turn, then I'd have two mysteries to solve.
"Color me impressed, soldier!" Of course, this Hanok was not just any normal house. It was themed to be dark, covering around four thousand square feet, with a semi-basement just beneath it.
Traditional curved eaves and tiled roof in dark slate gray. Windows and doors feature black-framed hanji screens to diffuse light softly. Zen garden featuring dark river rocks, small black basalt sculptures, and bonsai trees.
A koi pond with black-stoned edges, illuminating subtly from underneath at night. Pathways made of large dark slate stepping stones, bordered by moss and low shrubs.
The doors to the parking opened up vertically as Jinsoo drove the car inside and parked it. The floors in the parking were made of polished black marble with warm hidden ceiling lights. And there were already a number of cars here.
The one we were in right now was a Cadillac, but here we had a range of ten cars, from high-end SUVs to record-breaking hypercars. The exterior walls are a mix of charcoal-hued wood and black stone, preserving the natural aesthetic.
Jinsoo handled my suitcase as we walked upstairs, directly entering the main hall. Dark-stained wooden floors with a high gloss finish, ceiling with exposed beams in rich ebony wood, paper lantern-style lighting with black metal accents, emitting a soft golden glow.
Low black-stained wooden tables surrounded by dark gray floor cushions upholstered in silk. A large, minimalist clay pot in a corner held a single branch of cherry blossom.
Looking around the house and getting familiar with it, I chose a personal room and unpacked my stuff in the dressing area. A few bottles of scents, two analog watches, and some casual clothes. I plan to buy formals here itself. Carrying them along would have been just extra luggage.
Setting everything up, I laid down on a bean bag in the main hall where Jinsoo was setting up a drive on the TV.
"Shall we begin with a briefing?" he asked.
"You made a presentation about this?" I asked. That would be convenient but not really like special forces personnel.
"Absolutely not, just some images and the words are mine. Taking notes is up to you," he replied.
"How much do you know about me?" I asked him.
"Everything that I could find," he replied and added…
"In your professional background, you graduated with honors in criminal law from Boston. 92 cases fought, 100% win rate. Known for your expensive charges. Psychologically, everything you do serves your own interests, even if it appears altruistic on the surface. Minor OCD and BDD, you let your intrusive thoughts control you in some situations." Jinsoo paused and took a breath.
"PTSD, probably due to childhood."
"You listed out all the main points. You really did research on me," I complimented. "I'm guessing there's more you know, but let's just leave it."
"It wasn't easy to get this information. You're a high-profile individual." Jinsoo picked up the TV remote and opened the folder with a map of Korea on it.
"We have 12 main ports in Korea, all capable of docking a 400-meter vessel: Busan, Incheon, Gwangyang, Pyeongtaek-Dangjin, Ulsan, Masan, Donghae, Mokpo, Gunsan, Yeosu, and Pohang."
"We requested the satellite images for the last six hours on these ports but couldn't spot 'Snow Titan'," Jinsoo said, pointing at the images and the map with a laser pen in his hands. Snow Titan was the name of the vessel.
"However, the ship followed the trans-Pacific route, with one-way fuel capacity. Diverting it midway, the only possible country would be Korea," he added.
"There were forty-two men on board—fifteen crew and twenty-five security personnel. With four surveillance and guarding ships escorting it, they all disappeared from the radar at the same time," he continued as the image turned to a pentagon-shaped crane with a large metal shield antenna on top of it.
"This is the radar jammer with a radius of one hundred kilometers. This is military-grade equipment and cannot be accessed by just anyone. And to make sure that the ships vanish from the radar without making any sort of communication, this thing is required."
"That means within a one hundred-kilometer radius, there was another ship carrying this," he then briefed me about the shipment, the kind of equipment in there, and everything.
"What about the ports that are not active?" I asked.
"The ports that are not active are not maintained in a position to dock this vessel," he replied.
"That's why there's always a strategist. You're wrong. Ports that are not active may not be maintained enough to dock that vessel but they still can," I said.
"I don't think I follow you here," Jinsoo asked.
"Ports are not considered retired or inactive just because of their infrastructure. There are many reasons. But again, here we'll view it from another scenario. Remove all the active ports from the list and make a list of retired and inactive ones," I explained to him.
"Focus on the ones that may be retired due to economic depression, decline in infrastructure quality, environmental concerns, and privatization."
"Now that's just about the trade route and the shipment. If we want to catch the ones who did it, we need to have another angle," I said.
"Another angle?"
"Illegal demand of firearms, costing eighteen billion dollars. Millions of guns and billions of ammunitions. No group makes such exaggerated demands. But the deal was accepted with a 40% downpayment."
"Unexpectedly, there was little to no pressure from the buyers and the deal was called off with the return of payment. But here is the thing: it was pre-planned. Now there's no way to prove that."
"So we'll divide this search into three parts," I told him.
"Ok," Jinsoo nodded.
"The first is an inside investigation within Snows, which my brother will be personally overseeing. The second is finding the ship and the payload. The third is understanding the buyers. Infiltration or whatever the need is, finding everything about them. And for that, we have a man in Japan who's already on the move," I concluded.
"Then I'll make a renewed list of the ports and divide this search into three parts. Majorly, that sums up four people: your asset in Japan, your brother, you, and me," Jinsoo nodded as he said that and disconnected the drive.
"I'll update you in the morning," he said and left for his room. He has quite a sophisticated lifestyle.