My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 432 Scheming
“Okay, I understand what you mean,” Kim Jung-tae laughed on the phone. “I’ll contact the 55th Division again. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of this matter, we need to get them to reach a settlement with that guy’s family as soon as possible, so as not to put my brother Ru-song in a difficult position.”

“That would be the best, Zhongtai,” An Rusong added with a smile. “Just do me a favor, and I’ll treat you to dinner later.”

"Haha, okay, it's settled then," Kim Jung-tae said readily. "Wait for my reply."

In the commander's office on the top floor of the maintenance command building, Kim Jung-tae, with a smile on his face, took his phone away from his ear, glanced at the screen again, and then placed it on the desk in front of him. He hummed an unknown tune and reached for the landline phone on the desk.

Just as An Rusong had guessed, the 171st Infantry Brigade had not reported the true cause of Jiang Youli's death to the 55th Division. Similarly, the Maintenance Command was completely unaware of the matter. Of course, even if the 171st Infantry Brigade had reported the truth, it's unlikely that Kim Jung-tae, the Maintenance Commander, would have paid attention to such a "minor matter." After all, he had just taken office at that time, and all his attention was focused on the drug trafficking case involving US troops stationed in South Korea. He wouldn't have had the time or energy to care about the affairs of an ordinary soldier.

Even if Kim Jung-tae knew the whole story, he couldn't possibly stand in the deceased's shoes and try to uphold justice. After all, he had worked his way up from the bottom and had experienced far too many bullying incidents in his military career. He was even a bully himself. Asking him to empathize with the bullied was simply impossible for him.

Therefore, even if he already knew about Jiang Youli's matter, as the current commander of the Aircraft Maintenance Command, he would not arrange for the Inspectorate to actually investigate the case. More likely, he would choose to cover it up in order to save face for the military.

However, the situation is different now. Although he will not arrange for anyone to investigate Jiang Youli's case and find the real culprit, he will put pressure on the 55th Division, demanding that they immediately reach a compromise with Jiang Youli's family. No matter what the other party's conditions are, they will try to find a way to settle things peacefully so as not to make things difficult for his younger brother Rusong.

That's right. Jin Zhongtai really treats An Rusong as one of his own, his little brother. Now that his little brother has made such a small request, he has no choice but to handle things quickly.

Placing the landline in front of him, Kim Jung-tae reached for the receiver. He didn't dial immediately, but instead crafted his lines before dialing a number.

The call was quickly connected, but the person on the other end sounded very young. Kim Jung-tae said in a deep voice, "Maintenance Command, Kim Jung-tae, let Division Commander Lin answer the phone."

The young man on the other end of the phone answered respectfully, and a moment later, a middle-aged man's slightly hoarse voice came through the receiver: "Brother Zhongtai, this is Jizhi."

After saying this, before Kim Jung-tae could speak again, the voice on the other end continued, "I've already found out about the situation with the 171st Infantry Brigade. Yes, there are indeed some minor issues. I was just about to call you, Jung-tae, to report it."

According to Lim Ya-eun, Lim Ji-ji, the commander of the 55th Division, was a person with a very bad temper, difficult to deal with, and very protective of his own. Moreover, as someone who had studied in Germany, he was also a member of the so-called "German faction" within the South Korean military system and had close ties with the current Minister of National Defense, Kim Kwan-jin.

Without a doubt, such a person is someone who has both real power and a powerful background, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

However, that only applies to low-ranking officers like Lin Ya-en who have some background but not a very deep one. From Kim Jung-tae's perspective, Lin Ji-ji, who is one rank lower than him and has not yet entered the "Seoul Chief" circle, is just an ordinary person.

Most importantly, Lin Jizhi was born in 1950. As a graduate of the 29th class of the Army Sergeant School, he has served in the military for 31 years since 1977, but he is still only a major general. In essence, his future is probably just like that.

Look at Kim Tae-young, who graduated from the same class as him. He's only a year older than Lin Jizhi, but he's already the Speaker of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His next step will probably be Minister of National Defense.

Even disregarding Kim Tae-young, just looking at Kim Jung-tae himself, he had no experience studying at the Army Officer School, was almost five years younger than Lim Gil-ji, yet he was already a lieutenant general and had entered the "Seoul Chief" circle, serving as the commander of the Military Maintenance Command.

In this situation, although Kim Jung-tae still verbally addressed Lim Gil-ji as a brother, in his heart he actually didn't think much of him.

“Don’t talk about these things over the phone,” Jin Zhongtai said after hearing what the other person said. “Prepare a report and send it to me. Make it detailed. I mean, detailed and truthful, understand?”

During the phone call, Lin Jizhi seemed hesitant, stammering and not replying immediately.

"Ji-ji, is it really necessary for the Air Defense Command to send someone to investigate this matter again?" Kim Jung-tae said with dissatisfaction. To be honest, since the Air Defense Command was established, regardless of its specific name or who held the position of commander, it has indeed been very capable in intelligence gathering and coup operations. Of course, its achievements are also outstanding. After all, it was with the full support of this organization that the President of the Republic of Korea seized power.

However, aside from its traditional skills of intelligence gathering and orchestrating coups, the Airborne Maintenance Command's performance in monitoring military crimes can only be described as lackluster and ineffective. On the contrary, more often than not, the Airborne Maintenance Command has been covering up and protecting the criminal activities of military personnel.

Just like in the case of the US military's drug trafficking in South Korea, the Military Maintenance Command's attitude was quite ambiguous from the beginning. If the US military hadn't been involved and An Rusong's identity hadn't been simple, the Military Maintenance Command would probably have arranged for someone to kill An Rusong from the start.

However, the Aircraft Maintenance Command's inaction in monitoring military personnel crimes is not due to incompetence, but rather their unwillingness to act, as their stance aligns with the military's overall position: "Don't wash your dirty linen in public." But if the Aircraft Maintenance Command were truly determined to investigate a particular matter, there's really nothing they wouldn't uncover.

“Ah, no need, no need, Brother Zhongtai, I will take care of everything,” Lin Jizhi said repeatedly over the phone. “I will submit the relevant reports later, and I guarantee they will be detailed and accurate.”

"That's good," Kim Jung-tae hummed softly, then sighed after a moment's thought, adding, "Ji-ji, I didn't mean to make things difficult for you, it's just that the Maintenance Command is having a tough time too, that Kang something-or-other."

“Jiang Youli,” Lin Jizhi replied over the phone.

“Yes, Jiang Youli’s side isn’t without any background either,” Jin Zhongtai continued. “Now that someone has died, it’s understandable that they might make some demands, even if they’re a bit excessive, emotionally. Don’t you think so?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Lin Jizhi on the other end clearly understood what he meant and hurriedly said, “That’s understandable, understandable.”

“Alright, since you understand, that makes things easier,” Kim Jung-tae tapped his fingers on the desk before concluding, “The Blue House is currently undertaking some kind of major institutional reform, and a rectification campaign for civil servants emphasizing ‘openness, self-discipline, and creativity.’ If nothing unexpected happens, our military will probably have to follow suit. I’m under a lot of pressure, so, Gil-ji, please don’t make things difficult for me at this time.”

"I definitely won't make things difficult for you, Brother Zhongtai. I'll arrange for someone to handle it right away," Lin Jizhi said sincerely over the phone.

Without saying goodbye, Kim Jung-tae hung up the phone.

To reiterate, he had absolutely no interest in the incident. He didn't care who was involved or what the truth was. The reason he asked Lin Jizhi to provide that report wasn't because he wanted to know anything; he just wanted to put some pressure on Lin Jizhi.

In the previous phone call, An Rusong had already made it very clear that he was only involved in this matter at someone else's request, and that he judged that Jiang Youli's family had probably made some new demands, which were not met by the 171st Infantry Brigade, which led to the disturbance.

Therefore, the best way to resolve this matter is to get the 171st Infantry Brigade to make some concessions, meet the demands of Jiang Youli's family, and not put An Rusong in a difficult position. That would be enough.

As the commander of the Aircraft Maintenance Command, Kim Jung-tae also wanted this result. However, he would not make this request directly to Lim Gil-ji, because he was worried that such a matter might cause trouble and implicate him.

Moreover, the two sides were communicating by phone. As the head of the Aircraft Maintenance Command, Kim Jung-tae was well aware that this method of communication was unsafe. He was not worried about someone eavesdropping on his call, but rather whether Lim Gil-ji on the other side would record it.

The current approach is excellent. He speaks vaguely, so even if the other party records the conversation or something happens later, he has plenty of excuses to use to defend himself. Given his current status, as long as the other party can't find any concrete evidence, they can't do anything to him.

As for whether Lin Jizhi would act according to his wishes, Jin Zhongtai was not worried at all. Under normal circumstances, as long as the other party was not mentally unstable, he would not go against his wishes.

(End of this chapter)