Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 535 - 523: Preliminary Work

Chapter 535: Chapter 523: Preliminary Work

Going to an entirely unknown country, and not being able to bring familiar weapons, was a very painful thing for Yang Yi.

But after getting off the plane and seeing everyone around him with the same kind of face, Yang Yi felt a lot better.

However, once he realized that everyone was speaking a language with which he wasn’t familiar, Yang Yi started to feel uncomfortable again. But luckily, he was a person with a strong capacity for adaptation. Besides, he had already been learning Korean, so he was merely unfamiliar with the language, not entirely ignorant of it.

But when he had his first meal after disembarking the plane, Yang Yi felt insulted.

"What the heck is this! It’s even worse than airline food, this is ridiculous!"

Xiao Ran couldn’t help but complain, as for her, who grew up in the United States, eating traditional Korean cuisine was truly a harrowing experience.

As for Kate, although she grew up in a country notorious for its dreadful cuisine, it didn’t mean she had a stomach adapted to endure such fare.

After stirring the kimchi in her small dish back and forth several times, Kate finally couldn’t resist saying, "Actually, this stuff isn’t bad, with its sour, sweet, and spicy flavors... But I want to eat meat."

Yang Yi put down his chopsticks and said, "You finally understand. Maybe there are some good things in Korean cuisine, but clearly, this restaurant isn’t suitable for us. Alright, my suggestion is to go for fast food first, and wait until we’re accustomed to this place before attempting the so-called authentic Korean cuisine."

Without any hesitation, Yang Yi abandoned the table full of dazzling... kimchi, and then the three of them resolutely walked into the fast food restaurant they had long scorned.

While eating a burger, Yang Yi mumbled, "Eat quickly, after we’re done we need to find a hotel in Seocho District to settle down."

Xiao Ran whispered, "Do we have a plan?"

Yang Yi shook his head and replied, "What plan? Take it one step at a time. First, we need to set up surveillance here, then bring in Tang Guo or Schultz. We mainly need to rely on technical means."

The so-called technical means mainly relied on eavesdropping and surveillance, as well as using hacking techniques to infiltrate the Anderson Research Association’s computer systems. Although Yang Yi thought that the Grey-cloaked People wouldn’t let their computer systems be easily infiltrated, he didn’t really expect to obtain anything particularly valuable through this method.

After hastily finishing lunch, the three of them took the subway to a large hotel in Seocho District, Seoul. The main reason for choosing this hotel was its proximity to the headquarters of the Anderson International Research Association, separated only by one street, with a direct distance of merely two hundred meters.

After presenting their passports and completing the check-in at the front desk, Yang Yi and his colleagues arrived in their own rooms.

Yang Yi’s room didn’t offer a view of the building where the Anderson Research Association was located, because even if it did, it wouldn’t make any difference.

To investigate a company’s business dealings and personnel composition, one certainly couldn’t just look at the building from a hotel room; it would necessarily require contact, and in-depth contact at that.

So Yang Yi was considering how to start his investigation.

Firstly, Yang Yi ruled out the possibility of directly entering the Anderson Research Association as an employee. Although this method would be effective, it would take too long and was also very likely to expose him, especially when the Grey-cloaked People might abandon Anderson as a shell soon. Sending an undercover agent would be a very cost-ineffective choice.

Apart from sending in undercover operatives, the only other option was to use technical means to obtain the desired information. Besides eavesdropping, monitoring, and hacking into the Anderson Research Association’s computer systems, bribing the employees of the research association was also a good tactic.

Of course, "bribing" is a general term that includes but is not limited to using money as the means of bribe, and while acquiring information through bribery of Anderson Research Association’s employees is quick and profitable with minimal expenditure, the only drawback is the high risk of exposure.

The first step was to understand the Anderson Research Association through publicly available information, which the cleaner had already done.

"Forty-five employees, of which twenty-nine are local staff who are just responsible for some simple administrative tasks. There are sixteen foreign employees, and Lloyd Gibson is among these sixteen, only here he goes by the name Fick and holds the position of a financial analyst, without any fixed post."

After briefly repeating the information provided by the cleaner, Yang Yi spoke in a firm tone, "If we want to find our target, we must hurry to find out if Lloyd has returned to Seoul. If he has arrived, then we need to keep a close watch on him and consider him as a breakthrough point."

Xiao Ran asked in a serious tone, "Do we know who the main clients of the Anderson Research Association are?"

Shaking his head, Yang Yi replied helplessly, "According to public information, the client base of Anderson Research Association is very complex. They have a good consulting business. If we want to find clues among Anderson’s publicly listed clients, the workload would be too great. But we must figure out who the regular and stable major clients of the Anderson Research Association are, as those will be our primary targets."

Kate spoke calmly, "In this situation, pretending to be a client and getting in touch with the Anderson Research Association is also possible, but it’s complicated."

Xiao Ran said gravely, "I can speak Korean, I can try to make contact first."

Kate, with her experience as a corporate spy, knew what to do after having been immersed in that world for so long.

"To pretend to be a client, first you need to carefully craft your background—what company you come from, what position you hold there, and why you are seeking consultation from the Anderson Research Association. If the Anderson Research Association were a normal company, we wouldn’t need to consider these aspects, but if it’s a company belonging to the Grey-cloaked People, it’s different. Without these details well planned, down to ones that cannot be traced or found abnormal, I think the risk is too great."

Kate discussed freely, then spread her hands helplessly and said, "But to properly craft these details takes too much time, and it’s something we can’t do on short notice."

Waving his hand, Yang Yi said, "Contact with the Anderson Research Association is necessary, but we can’t use a South Korean company as our cover. It would be much easier to pretend to be a company trying to enter the South Korean market instead. The cleaner will provide us with a shell company from the United States to use. I plan to have Chris first go in as a pretend client since he’s good at that."

Xiao Ran spread her hands and asked, "What about us?"

Yang Yi smiled and said, "We can only do technical work now, but as for the specifics, we’ll discuss that after everyone arrives. For now, let’s focus on getting the preliminary work done and at least get to know the local geography."