Free Web NovelI opened the door to the drawing room in the annex of the mansion.
Ivanov was seated in a chair, surrounded by mercenaries keeping him under watch.
Yet there was no trace of tension on his face.
On the contrary—when he saw me walk in, he even smiled.
“President Kim, we meet again,” Ivanov said in a tone of feigned ease.
“That we do. Good to see you like this, Ivanov,” I replied, settling comfortably into a chair Ma Manager had brought over, crossing my legs.
“I should have realized back when you had Igor with you, but you’re far more aggressive than I imagined. To launch a raid openly in Moscow...”
Ivanov’s face stayed unreadable as he spoke. Perhaps it was the KGB training—he was skilled at hiding his expressions.
Even having captured him alive, I couldn’t quite see why this man felt the need to move against me.
“If you’d been warned, you should have known it could be turned back on you. Couldn’t you judge whether I’d be more useful to Putin than you?”
“I didn’t think I’d lose out to someone who’s only known Putin for two years. I must have lost my touch,” he said, voice tinged with self-deprecation, though his expression remained calm.
“It’ll be hard for you to leave here alive. I’ll be making an example for those who underestimate me.”
“Haha, I’m aware. I’ve been through situations like this plenty of times before,” he said, as if it were nothing.
I could guess now why he seemed so unruffled.
“The only difference this time is that I was the one sitting in your position back then,” he added.
“If I let you go comfortably, will you answer my questions?”
That was the very reason I’d ordered him captured alive.
I needed to know whether this move against me came from the siloviki as a group, or from Ivanov alone—and why.
“I’ve got questions too. Let’s take turns asking one and answering one. If you refuse, I won’t answer either. How about it?”
I studied Ivanov’s eyes in silence.
Looking into those sunken eyes, I briefly considered trying torture.
Catching my thought, Ivanov gave a faint smile.
“Even with torture or drugs, you won’t get the answers you want. The very first training in the KGB is building resistance to interrogation and drugs.”
That’s the sort of thing you only know after trying.
As the cruel thought crossed my mind, Igor, standing beside me, added,
“It’s true. KGB veterans are immune to confession drugs or other substances. We train for it too, but their training is on another level entirely.”
I turned back to Ivanov.
“Seems you’ve got a lot of questions about me.”
“That makes two of us, doesn’t it?”
“Fine. Let’s do it that way.”
I dismissed the mercenaries, leaving only Ma Manager and Igor.
“President Kim, if we’re going to have an honest talk, we can’t do it without a drink. I’d like one last glass of vodka,” Ivanov said.
This bastard really was something else.
I almost decided to just kill him then and there, but my curiosity wasn’t satisfied yet. I held back.
I glanced at Ma Manager and gave a nod.
“Anyone would think you were the guest here, Ivanov.”
“When you see no way out alive, you take what little you can on the way. It’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“Don’t push it. I might just kill you without bothering with the questions.”
My tone was shortening.
The door soon opened, and Ma Manager came back with a bottle.
I poured him a small shot of vodka.
“I’ll start. What’s the real reason you came for me?”
Ivanov downed the shot in one go.
“As I told you before—just to warn you to stay away from Putin. You’re an obstacle [N O V E L I G H T] to what I want to do.”
“What exactly is it you want to do?”
“Calm down. Isn’t it my turn now?”
Chuckling, Ivanov took the bottle and poured himself another shot.
“What’s your real identity? I couldn’t figure out why you approached Putin. You’re not short on money—the assets publicly tied to Dreamhigh alone are massive.”
He tilted his head back with the next shot.
“What do you hope to gain in Russia by backing Putin?”
“Wealth without power is nothing. I’m going to make Putin the Emperor of Russia. And when I want something, he’ll use Russia’s power for me.”
“I thought so,” Ivanov said, nodding.
Without pause, he fired off another question.
“Why do I stand in your way? What is it I’m doing that bothers you?”
“Putin must have promised you—shares in Gazprom and other prime Russian companies.”
It seemed Ivanov had guessed at our deal.
I watched him silently.
“But I wanted to give those to someone else. That’s why I came to warn you. Should have just killed you then.”
He smiled bitterly and drank again.
“I didn’t expect you to move this fast. I misjudged.”
Even as de facto head of the siloviki, Ivanov couldn’t move the military without Putin’s approval.
If he’d come to warn me, it was because warning was all he could do.
And to think—he wasn’t keeping the spoils for himself, but handing them over to someone else.
“Your turn. How did you know Putin would become president? No one saw that coming. Everyone thought Zyuganov or Primakov would succeed Yeltsin.”
His voice carried genuine curiosity.
“You came to Russia and went straight for Putin—no one else. And you backed him, like you knew the future.”
As an intelligence elite, Ivanov had pieced together bits of information to reach his conclusion.
That gap in the chain must have fueled his curiosity.
When I first came to Russia, my primary goal had indeed been a private meeting with Putin.
But I wasn’t about to tell him I knew the future.
“I didn’t think he’d be president. I just wanted to get close to the head of the FSB so I could do business in Russia,” I said casually, shrugging.
“By chance, he moved into the center of power. I was lucky.”
Ivanov burst out laughing.
“Ha! Lucky, you say? Seems all the world’s luck follows you. Fine, let’s leave it at that.”
He clearly didn’t buy it, but didn’t press further.
It was time to end this tedious Q&A.
“One last question—who were you going to give the Gazprom shares to instead of me?”
“Hmm...”
He’d answered quickly before, but this time he hesitated.
“Russians don’t like Jews, and you wouldn’t hand them to Americans. That leaves European aristocrats, doesn’t it?”
I already knew the answer, but played dumb. Ivanov raised his brows.
“So Putin told you that much. You two must be close. Well, choosing you over me says it all.”
“Who is it?”
I let the remark about ‘choosing’ slide.
“They’ve been my patrons for a long time, but I don’t know exactly who they are. I was just told to secure some of Gazprom’s shares and a few companies being stripped from the oligarchs.”
“And where were they to go?”
“UT Investment Bank.”
I remembered the name—Han Kyungyeong had made an options deal with them recently.
Coincidence? No—impossible.
“How many like you are there in Russia?”
“No idea. I’ve had their backing since before I joined the KGB. I’m sure there’s more than one of me. But that’s two questions.”
He gave a sly smile.
“Stop the games.”
“I still have a question.”
“You don’t look curious anymore. Forget it—just give me whatever you know about them.”
When I didn’t rise to the bait, Ivanov clicked his tongue lightly.
“I don’t know much. What would they tell someone like me? I know about as much as Putin—maybe less, since he was FSB Director.”
His steady expression suggested he wasn’t lying.
There was nothing more to get from him.
The only takeaway was that UT Investment Bank was a proxy for someone else.
A bit of a letdown, but not a bad result.
This move against me wasn’t personal—he’d been acting on orders from someone who didn’t want me establishing a foothold in Russia.
‘A force big enough to use someone like Ivanov as a mere errand boy...’
Something much larger than I’d thought was in motion.
“Any last words?”
I had no further use for him.
“It was fun. A shame it’s over,” he said, hands trembling slightly as he poured another vodka.
No matter how tough the act, no one stayed calm forever in the face of death.
“Can I smoke one last cigar?”
I nodded and rose. I had no reason to deny him that.
“Your body will float in the Moskva River. It’ll be a warning—to the siloviki, the oligarchs, and whoever’s behind you.”
Telling him his fate was, in its way, a courtesy.
Used though he’d been, Ivanov was worth that much.
Before leaving the drawing room, I turned to Igor.
“End it cleanly. Dump the body in the Moskva.”
“Understood.”
I walked out without looking back.
A moment later, just as I stepped outside the annex, a single gunshot tore through the night.
‘Russia’s about wrapped up.’
I gazed up at the night sky for a moment, then turned away.
The parliamentary elections would be soon. It was time to head back to Korea.
* * *
“Ivanov’s body turned up in the Moskva,” said Lorenzo Medici, looking at the man across from him.
“Really? A shame. He was a loyal dog, Lorenzo,” the man replied.
“Yes. For now, we’ll halt operations in Russia. We need to build forces to keep Putin in check.”
Even with the death of a subordinate, they spoke as if it were of no consequence.
“Our family’s never paid much attention to Russia,” the man said.
“You should have been head of the family, Michael.”
Michael Wallenberg chuckled.
“How could I take the head’s seat with my elder brother there? That’d be absurd.”
“Your family loves primogeniture too much. You’ve got more ability, but they won’t give you the chance.”
“Let’s drop it, Lorenzo.”
Michael’s smiling face hardened.
Lorenzo waved a hand, still smiling.
“Just saying it’s a pity. I wasn’t insulting your family.”
“I know.”
“In any case, leaving Russia to Kim Muhyuk won’t do. Everyone underestimates him.”
Lorenzo tapped the table with his fingers, thinking.
Muhyuk had moved faster than they’d expected.
“It can’t be helped. We haven’t faced a real threat in over half a century.”
“When water stagnates, it rots. Our own family nearly faced annihilation once, despite our guard,” Lorenzo said lightly.
Michael, knowing the history, didn’t smile.
“Still, I appreciate your help.”
“I wouldn’t turn down a chance to make money. Though it’s costing more than I expected.”
Lorenzo laughed at the mock complaint. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
“Don’t worry. This is a bet we can’t lose. Right?”
“True. Unless something on the scale of World War II happens, Microsoft or Amazon stock isn’t going to fall below half its price.”
“My thoughts exactly. I don’t know what gives Dreamhigh such confidence, but they always make money this way.”
Dreamhigh’s strategy could be summed up simply:
“High risk, high return. Of course, that was when we weren’t paying attention. Now, things are different.”
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed; Michael nodded.
“Exactly. Easy money, hahaha.”
The contract between Dreamhigh and UT Investment Bank wasn’t a normal options deal.
If, from the contract date, the stock prices of the top 10 Nasdaq companies fell below a set price, they’d have to pay out.
The monthly losses for Dreamhigh would be enormous.
“If need be, we can call on the Rothschilds. Most of Wall Street’s banks are under their influence. Bastards they may be, but useful ones.”
Losing to Kim Muhyuk wasn’t something that existed anywhere in their minds.
