107. Five of eighty seven
“Someone is in danger. perhaps… He may have already been killed.”
Both of the deputy commander’s eyebrows rose at my words.
“that is… What are you talking about?”
Lee Jeong-sik.
He is the most elite figure in North Korea who fled to South Korea through the Chinese embassy in China right after the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992.
At the time of the defection, it became a hot topic because the nephew of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had defected.
As a royal family member of the North Korean regime, during the election season, he participated in various political events to criticize the North Korean system and cry out against communism.
And three years ago, on February 16, 1998, the birthday of Kim Jong-il, Lee Jung-sik was kidnapped and killed by a North Korean agent who had left the South.
At the time of the incident, the method of killing was so brutal and horrific that it was difficult for the bereaved family to recognize the body.
The 67-digit string on the note handed to me by the deputy platoon commander, that is, the CW code message that Lee Jung-sik received two days before he was murdered, was similar to the Morse signal I received yesterday morning.
In particular, the XXX and ZZZ parts matched perfectly, and the only other places were numbers representing the date and target number.
The text received two days before Lee Jung-sik’s murder is deciphered as follows.
＜29 XXX, Feb 16, ZZZ.>
This means ZZZ XXX on February 16th, 29th.
Judging from the fact that Jung-sik Lee was brutally murdered on February 16, it is clear that XXX is a word with the meaning of ‘target’ or ‘target object’, and ZZZ is a predicate word for ‘kill’ or ‘remove’.
In other words, the full text of the CW cipher I received two days ago was… .
On April 15, the birthday of Kim Il-sung, it meant killing the 19th target.
When I finished my explanation, the deputy platoon commander took out his cell phone with a stiff expression and made a call.
After talking a few words, the deputy platoon commander held out his cell phone to me and said:
“It would be better for you to explain yourself.”
I took his phone and opened my mouth.
“Pr. Chae Jung-ho received a call.”
– It’s me, it’s me!
“ah… ! Team Leader Kim Jung-soo!”
– I heard the story from Sgt. Park. Did you crack the V19 random number table?
“It’s not, I received the same CW text as the order to kill Lee Jung-sik yesterday morning.”
-What exactly happened to the CW text that came in at dawn yesterday?
“It’s about killing target number 19 on April 15th.”
-If it’s April 15th, it’s today! But you don’t know who the 19th target is?”
“yes.”
In response to my answer, I heard a voice over the receiver, Kim Jeong-soo giving instructions to his subordinates.
It was an order to gather information about Target 19.
In other words, the NIS does not know who the 19th target is.
With the sound of such a busy movement, Team Leader Kim Jung-soo said.
– Jungho-ya, thank you. We’re busy right now, so we’ll talk later.
“Chief, wait a minute.”
-why? What’s going on?
“Finding that target #19… I think I can help.”
-ah… ! okay?
“If you look at the CW signal report from June last year to March this year, target 19 was mentioned 4 times. If you can decipher that part, I think it will help you find target number 19.”
-OK. give it a try Then, change Sgt. Park a bit.
I returned the phone to the deputy platoon commander.
Here are two pieces of information I just found out about the V19 random number table.
The numeric string ＜18-33> means ‘target/target object’, and the numeric string ＜812-05> means ‘remove/kill’.
read at noblemtl.com
Now, we use this information to predict the meaning of another string of numbers.
First, find another CW cipher text containing a string of ＜18-33> that means ‘target’.
In the cipher text found in this way, the numeric string corresponding to the predicate is found.
For example, let the predicate number sequence be ＜11-11>.
Then, ＜11-11> should be a verb that matches the object of ‘target’.
That is, the predicted word corresponding to ＜11-11> will be as follows.
1. Deliver (to target)
2. Protect (target)
3. Watch (target)
4. Find (target)
5. Eliminate (target)
That’s all.
That is, the number of 5 cases is made, and the same operation is repeated for each case.
For example, if the numeric sequence ＜11-11> is predicted as ‘transmit’, another cipher text containing ＜11-11> is found, and the numeric sequence corresponding to the object word of the text sentence is ＜22- 22>, the prediction words that can fit into ＜22-22> will be as follows.
1. Money (transfer)
2. Command/message (deliver)
3. Gun/weapon (pass)
In this way, three predictive words appear, and for each predictive word, the next sequence of numbers is found and the same operation is repeated.
If you continue to create a list of predicted words corresponding to a sequence of numbers in this way, it will happen that two or more predicted words you have found so far are included in one sentence.
At this time, if the predicted words match each other and make a plausible sentence, the predicted words are left, and the predicted words that make an awkward sentence are deleted from the list.
If the number of cases is continuously reduced in this way, the set of prediction words remaining at the end becomes the V19 random number table.
This sounds simple to explain, but actually deciphering a random number table is not an easy task.
For reference, the number of random number pairs used in intercepted CW ciphertexts from the third quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year is 487 in total.
That is, there are 487 types of numeric strings like ＜11-11>.
If you subtract the number of random number pairs representing numbers, dates, and units, 463 are left.
Assuming that one random pair has an average of 4 predicted words, the total number of cases to check is 4 to the 463 power, and 4 to the 463 power is 278 digits.
In other words, to decipher the V19 random number table, it is necessary to check the number of cases as many as 278 digits.
278 digits.
Deciphering the V19 random number table with very large numbers… This means that it is practically impossible.
Since there are cases where they are deleted in the middle of work, the actual number of cases to be checked is much smaller than this, but the fact remains that it is still impossible.
If there’s one small hope, it’s that we don’t have to decipher the entire V19 random number table.
As I told Team Leader Kim Jeong-soo, you only need to decrypt the four CW ciphers that mention target 19.
After talking to Team Leader Kim Jeong-soo, the deputy platoon leader said to me.
“What do you need? How can I help you?”
“I just need a quiet place to be alone. I… and… .”
The deputy commander raised both eyebrows and opened his mouth.
“And what? Please feel free to speak.”
“I need to eat a chocolate bar, but I need a lot of this.”
At my words, the deputy platoon commander said with a smirk.
“Can I have five boxes?”
“yes.”
Room 304 located at the end of the corridor on the 3rd floor of the barracks.
This is the place where I ate with team leader Kim Jeong-soo when I was a private.
At that time, the deputy platoon commander called this place the communication room, and the objects covered with thick black cloth on one wall are probably communication equipment.
The deputy platoon commander handed his phone to me and said.
“Take the phone here.”
“The phone… Why are you giving it to me?”
“I am going to bed now.”
A full-time worker goes to bed in the morning of the next day after work, and that’s what I mean.
“If there is anything urgent, please contact the NIS directly. Do you know the number of Manager Kim?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I also told the company commander, so if you need anything, call the company commander directly. The company commander is shortcut number 8.”
“all right.”
“Okay, then go ahead.”
The deputy platoon leader left the communication room and I was left alone.
But here… It’s really quiet.
The walls and ceiling of the communication room were made of convex sound-absorbing material made in the shape of an egg plate, which seemed to completely block outside noise.
read at noblemtl.com
Not bad for focusing.
read at noblemtl.com
Now we have to start working.
For reference, the CW cipher text received yesterday morning was a command to remove target 19, and the number sequence for target 19 is as follows.
＜06-15-18-33>
Looking at the CW professional reports for the third quarter of last year, the fourth quarter of last year, and the first quarter of this year, the date that this number string appeared is as follows.
– July 21, 2000
– September 10, 2000
– January 17, 2001
– March 19, 2001.
By deciphering the contents of these CW texts, we need to find out information that can identify target #19.
I checked the watch.
8:35 am.
I sat in a chair with an upright posture, closed my eyes, and started working to check the number of each case one by one in my head.
right at 11 am.
Two and a half hours have passed since work started, and the deputy platoon leader has already eaten a box of chocolate bars.
read at noblemtl.com
No progress has been made on that yet.
I opened the second box of chocolate bars, took two chocolate bars, put them in my mouth, and washed my face dry.
“after—!”
After taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes again.
When I woke up hungry again, the clock showed 11:50.
read at noblemtl.com
Now my mind is starting to get nervous.
Perhaps… Isn’t target 19 already attacked?
I shook my head.
If something happened to target 19, team leader Kim Jung-soo would have contacted the deputy platoon leader by phone.
Okay, don’t fret, let’s focus.
If we further reduce the number of cases in the next two hours, we will be able to grasp the contents of the CW texts received in September of last year and January of this year.
I took out a bar of chocolate, put it in my mouth, and closed my eyes again.
How long has it been?
Someone’s voice was heard.
“under—! Baby, get out of here! Where does a private squid go around wearing an X-like face? yes!”
It was the voice of Corporal Park Kwang-soo.
His voice was coming from the hallway outside my communication room.
It seems that they are longing for a successor, but the voice of the successor is not heard.
“Baby! why? Isn’t the old saying the same? huh? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“… .”
“What? Are you chewing on my words now? huh? hey!”
“… .”
This is the atmosphere for the successor to open up… .
Who is it?
The first person that came to mind was Incheol.
Although In-cheol is not without his smirk, there are times when he acts without thinking back and forth once his numbers are wrong.
I quietly got up from my seat and walked towards the door.
Corporal Park’s voice continued.
“hey!”
“… .”
“Hey man!”
“yes… .”
Judging by the low-pitched voice, it’s not Incheol.
“You bastard, seniors call you, but don’t you even give your official name? yes?”
“… .”
“under—! This bastard is a complete asshole! hey!”
“… .”
“hey! Aren’t you going to give me an official name? You bastard!”
The atmosphere became even worse.
If anything happened, I jumped out and put my hand on the doorknob to dry Corporal Park.
After a long silence, a low voice was heard.
“Private Jin-goo Yoo.”
When Jin-gu made the official statement, Corporal Park began to pour out abusive language.
Seeing him swearing at him because he couldn’t overcome his anger without measuring back and forth, Corporal Park Gwang-soo is also really dirty with a dirty personality.
Jin Goo has a very good size.
He was a wrestler in middle school and wrestling in high school, and it is said that he even won a national championship.
It is true that, unlike his size, he has a bubbly appearance, which makes people look bubbly.
But this guy Jin-goo… If you look closely at the face, both ears are dumpling ears.
Those dumpling ears that tell you to manage your anger well when you get into an argument on the road.
After a while, Corporal Park’s abusive language was over, and the communication room became quiet again.