Yes, Prime Minister of Japan

"And you are...?"

Lee Ju-yeon touched her hand shyly:

"He is my own brother."

The female police officer who came to investigate strongly suspected that the male head of the household was involved in prostitution and insisted on questioning Li Xinghe himself.

But when she saw Li Xinghe's handsome appearance and the scene of him kneeling on the carpet to put socks on Xinze Taifeng, she immediately understood everything. Looking at Li Juyan's strikingly similar beautiful face, she finally confirmed that this was the kind of story where a wealthy young master keeps multiple wives.

"Wow, he's so handsome, he is..."

Ping Yingmei stepped forward and stopped the policewoman from getting any closer.

"He is a member of the Japanese diplomatic team, and I am his wife. This is our daughter."

“He is my husband, and my father is the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea.”

Zhao Lieshu also tried to stop them.

The policewoman was driven out by Li Xinghe's two wives, and the body on the balcony was put into a body bag and carried away by emergency personnel.

The hotel's deputy manager rushed over to apologize: "I'm very sorry, the manager should have responded immediately, but he jumped first."

Li Xinghe took two steps back and looked at his blood-soaked balcony:

"Jumped?"

"Yes."

Li Xinghe was a little afraid of the Koreans' extreme personality, and tentatively asked the deputy manager:

"You're not going to jump, are you?"

The deputy manager smiled broadly:

"No, actually I had already lost everything during the stock market crash in 22. I jumped into Dongbaek Bay from here and was lucky enough to survive. I still haven't paid off my debts."

"..."

Li Xinghe can only offer his evaluation:

"South Korea is truly an amazing country."

Hope you have fun.

The two of them were talking past each other.

With people flying everywhere all morning, Shinze Taifeng's travel plans have completely fallen through.

"It's better to have sex at home." Tai Feng pouted and muttered, only to be tapped on the head by Ping Yingmei and Zhao Lieshu.

……

Leaving the hotel where he could not stay for the time being, the city of Busan gave Lee Sung-ha a new shock.

Walking through the bustling coastal commercial district, Li Xinghe would see buildings around him randomly displaying images of young people jumping off buildings with perfect poses, luxury store windows splattered with the blood of dead people, and beautiful female shop assistants wiping the glass while crying—scenes that Li Xinghe would never forget.

Beneath the bustling yet cramped alleyways of the city's buildings, one can see numerous beautifully dressed, artificially enhanced women speaking fluent Chinese, soliciting international tourists as they pass by.

"300 RMB, 300 RMB!"

Because the South Korean won has depreciated in recent years to cope with the strong US dollar, Busan's international red-light districts have started to earn money in the more stable currency, the Chinese yuan. If you pay in Korean won, you'll need to pay 150,000 won. Five years ago, that price was 80,000 won, and that was only for a low-end red-light district.

Li Xinghe wanted to go take a look, but was stopped by three women and a girl. Ping Yingmei covered his eyes.

"Hey! You're not allowed to look!"

Zhao Lieshu then took Li Xinghe's hand and walked to the side, avoiding these hateful women in the streets.

Li Xinghe could only smile, then closed his eyes and was led and pushed by the three women, while Zhao Lieshu, Li Juyan, and Ping Yingmei showed fierce expressions to the women who wanted to solicit customers.

Walking along Haeundae Beach, Cho Yeol-sook attempted to reason with Yeong-mi:

“My father wants to meet my husband. We had planned to meet in Tokyo a while ago, but it was delayed because of diplomatic affairs.”

However, beneath her calm and gentle exterior, Hirae Miyako strongly objected:

"Let's go together then. We can always explain it."

A subtle tension ignited between the two women.

Li Xinghe gently squeezed Zhao Lieshu's small hand:

"Is it actually the South Korean intelligence agency that wants to see me?"

"not quite."

Seeing that Ping Yingmei was unwilling to back down, Zhao Lieshu had no choice but to take the mother and daughter with him into the car, and the five of them headed to the Zhao family manor located northwest of Busan.

After all, for South Korea, Lee Sung-ha is a superhero character created by novelists from the entire South Korean intelligence agency.

They infiltrated Japan and held a high position.

The South Korean intelligence agency, which spends its days in its Seoul offices fabricating 'North Korean tales,' desperately needs a hero to bolster its prestige. Therefore, Lee Sung-ha needs to prove himself.

As a prominent family in Haman, Gyeongsangnam-do, the Zhao family has scattered throughout the country, but they still have their own estate in Busan.

After leaving the main city blocks, Busan's cityscape suddenly transformed into a 'village,' resembling a rural area in Japan. Driving through farmland not far from the city center and appreciating the peninsula's barren mountain scenery, Lee Sung-ha and his party arrived at the Zhao family's rural territory.

At their doorstep, they encountered a balding man in his forties who didn't look very good.

But he was very outgoing and shook hands with Li Xinghe, saying:

"Hello, my name is Zhao Juhuan, Zhao Lieshu's cousin."

Zhao Lieshu whispered:

"This is Lieutenant General Cho Koo-hwan, the coordinating staff officer of the 19th Army Theater Command of the U.S. Forces Korea in Daegu."

People from the US military stationed in South Korea?

As Li Xinghe was pondering how to determine his identity, he suddenly saw a huge burst of sparks erupt in the north, followed by an astonishing explosion.

"Boom!"

A massive explosion was heard at a US-ROK joint military base in Daegu, north of Busan.

Zhao Juhuan turned around and smiled:

"Wow, what a loud explosion! Aren't you happy?"

Li Xinghe became nervous:

Is another coup about to occur in South Korea?

Zhao Juhuan shrugged his shoulders in the middle of his collar:

"Pretty much. But don't worry, this is South Korea."

The author says:

Author's Note: Thank you all for your support. This is a shorter one today, only 3200 words. Partly because it's very cold, and partly because my brain just shut down, so I'm digressing a bit to talk about the Korean plot to give me time to think about what's coming next.

Chapter 499: Is My Face Suitable for Advancement? (4900 words)

"Is this a mutiny?"

Li Xinghe looked anxiously at the black clouds that were bursting into flames in the north.

"This is the South Korean army."

Zhao Guhuan, the leader, showed no concern whatsoever about the explosion in the direction of Daegu.

He teased Li Xinghe, full of complaints: "A prosecutor like you, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, probably doesn't know much about the South Korean military. Now, after the currency devaluation, the average income of South Koreans is only about 2500 million won. Although the annual salary of privates has increased slightly, the new government has reduced it again, citing reasons such as the government not having enough money for the 2024 coup. The local soldiers here only earn 36 won a month now. That's only enough for 18 small bowls of cold noodles. Even in the back alleys of Busan, they don't bother to serve the soldiers. They'd rather lick the boots of Chinese people than give South Korean soldiers a single ounce of face."

Due to the appreciation of the RMB and the depreciation of the Korean won, the per capita purchasing power of China and South Korea has reversed according to the current exchange rate. Busan prostitutes, charging 300 RMB (for 20 minutes), are too lazy to cater to ordinary men; earning foreign money from Chinese men is clearly more profitable. Therefore, Busan, like Tokyo, has become a new hotspot for Chinese men seeking prostitution. This has also added significant workload to the local consulate, as too many women have absconded after becoming pregnant.

Hearing her cousin complain, Zhao Lieshu hurriedly urged him:

“Brother Gu Huan, don’t talk about military affairs at the door, you should go to the army.”

Zhao Juhuan drove his small Hyundai onto the narrow, cramped road, heading back to the military camp.

Li Xinghe, on the other hand, pondered this person's intentions:

"Was this explosion orchestrated by him? Either he blew up the warehouse to settle accounts, or he did something outrageous."

"Don't think about it anymore, my dad is waiting for you."

Zhao Lieshu pushed Li Xinghe into the manor.

Cho Yeol-sook's father was Cho Ki-jun, a short, middle-aged man with a full head of white hair who was not yet fifty years old. He was said to be a vice minister in the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had influence in diplomacy and intelligence.

Zhao Qijun had a very good first impression of Li Xinghe.

He praised repeatedly:

"What a handsome young man, much better than the one you found before."

Of course, this isn't because Li Xinghe is truly exceptional, but rather because his family background matches the prestige of the Zhao family. A legal aristocracy and a family of prosecutors are significant advantages.

In addition, Zhao Qijun pretended not to know and asked Qiping Yingmei and Niizawa Taifeng:

"And this is...?"

Zhao Lieshu intervened first, cutting off Zhao Qijun's doubts:

"They're all family."

Lee Ju-yeon is Lee Sung-ha's younger sister. Ping Ying-mei and Shin-ze Tai-feng are arranged wives and daughters, so in a broad sense they are indeed family. They follow the Christian belief that they do not lie but can describe things from different perspectives.

As someone from the diplomatic system, the old man naturally knew why Li Xinghe and the two women had come to Busan. It was precisely because of this that he felt Li Xinghe had great potential.

"A mother and son are both prosecutors!"

Soon after, Zhao Lieshu's mother returned, and she was extremely pleased with Li Xinghe. In South Korean society, prosecutors have reached a privileged, almost omnipotent level, and people hold a kind of unspoken, special reverence for them.

Dinner was rather bland. Li Xinghe looked at the various kinds of kimchi on the table and felt rather uncomfortable, thinking that it would be better to have Western food.

As night fell, Zhao Qijun and his wife left looking nervous, and instructed Li Xinghe and the others not to go out unnecessarily.

“Let’s sleep together tonight. We’ll keep a pistol and an iron bar handy,” Li Xinghe said.

For safety, the five of them slept on the floor in one room.

At night, videos of soldiers looting began circulating on South Korean social media.

The inexplicable explosion in Daegu was more violent than Li Xinghe had imagined.

As evening fell, Cho Gu-hwan, who had returned to his garrison in Daegu from his family estate northwest of Busan, joined forces with the local 50th Local Division, nicknamed the "Iron" Division, to instigate a local riot. The soldiers first vandalized their own mess hall, beat up the officers' families who fed them swill every day, and then robbed the officers' canteen, stealing the expensive snacks and treats to distribute.

The reason is simple: all of these soldiers' cryptocurrency accounts were liquidated.

Faced with a soldiers' riot, the military leadership, unwilling to take responsibility, chose to run away, abandoning the suppression and letting the soldiers go mad.

The riot within the army lasted for three hours. As night fell, a large number of wildly motivated soldiers began to try to break out of the camp and go to the vicinity to 'forcibly collect' their rightful pay.

The South Korean army is generally divided into three army groups. The First and Third Army Groups are stationed on either side of the 7th parallel, while the Second Army Group was reorganized into the Second Operations Headquarters, responsible for the defense of areas other than the front lines. Therefore, the seven local divisions under the Second Operations Headquarters were generally poorly trained, poorly paid, and even lower-paid. The 50th Local Division was an old local division that Kim Jong-hwan and Jung Ho-yong both led in the TV series "The Fifth Republic."

The South Korean government did not stop the Daegu riots because the central government was nearly paralyzed and various departments had long been acting on their own.

Lee Sung-ha didn't know why Cho Ku-hwan participated in the military uprising, but he could almost imagine that anyone would be filled with resentment when they saw the street girls in Busan and Daegu chasing after Chinese tourists shouting "300 RMB (20 minutes)" every day, while their own wages couldn't even afford a meal at a restaurant.

Zhao Lieshu knelt in front of the computer, collecting information, and exclaimed in surprise:

"It is said that due to the black stock market crash today, at least one-third of the young people's accounts have been wiped out."

With young people all investing in cryptocurrencies, this means that one in ten young people will go bankrupt.

These young people are widely distributed across all walks of life; some jump off buildings, some go insane, and those with weapons go mad.

If Li Xinghe were to describe it, the Busan Peace Forum originally brought the Taiwan Strait standoff to a successful conclusion, but instead led to an unexpected Black Monday in the US stock market, which greatly impacted South Korea's turbulent economy and caused the long-suffering military to go berserk and run wild.

This is how a tiny butterfly can stir up a super hurricane on the Korean Peninsula.

Soon, not only was there an uprising in the 50th Division in Daegu in the north, but Zhao Lieshu, still shaken, discovered:

"Luckily, we escaped during the day. The 53rd Local Division stationed in Busan is also committing atrocities!"

Standing by the window, Li Xinghe observed Busan city through binoculars and, unsurprisingly, spotted the South Korean 53rd Division, whose soldiers, codenamed the "Loyal and Valiant" mission, were driving military vehicles and heading towards Busan city with resentment.

"What...what are they doing..." Shinze Taifeng nervously tiptoed and leaned against the window. Because she was too heavy on her chest and light on her legs, Li Xinghe quickly held the child down to prevent her from losing her balance.

To explain directly what the army would do, Li Xinghe held up two fingers:

"Humans only have two basic desires: to be full and to have sex. The 50th and 53rd Divisions in Daegu and Busan have long been starving and unable to have sex. Now they're going out with rifles. Guess what they're going to do?"