Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 159
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 159
Tap tap tap!
Hudson Riverside where the sunrise light shatters like jewels.
Johann with earphones kicks off the ground lightly, and Rick Bottom silently follows behind.
“Hello?”
“Hello.”
The leisure of greeting people coming their way.
Even in bleak New York, this place at least has some leisure.
“I wonder if Central Park is like this too?”
Central Park, a massive 843-acre (3.41 square kilometers) park within the city. Being a park, there would probably be many people seeking leisure there too.
“It’s better not to go there in the evening.”
Central Park in the evening is a hotbed of drugs and crime.
If you go in after sunset, you might be found as a corpse the next day.
“I heard that police don’t patrol inside Central Park in the evenings either.”
“…America indeed.”
Wherever you go, it’s connected to crime.
Bzzzz!
“It works well.”
The phone sent by SJ.
Since signing the sponsorship contract, Johann had been using only SJ’s Space phones.
“It’s the world’s second-ranked smartphone.”
SJ Electronics’ Space Phone, which has less than an 8 percent market share difference from Apple’s iPhone, the number one.
This would be impossible without technological capability.
‘Though there are rumors about being a copycat…’
The patent lawsuit between Apple and SJ that started in 2011.
‘But this lawsuit increased SJ Group’s global recognition.’
It could be said that Apple helped raise the Space Phone’s recognition.
“I hope they continue investing in technology…”
Having seen countless companies that neglected technology investment after success and then collapsed, Johann couldn’t help but worry.
“But aren’t you going to answer the phone?”
“It’s Lynch. He seems to have arrived, so let’s hurry.
Thud!
“Oh no.”
Rick Bottom gritted his teeth and hurriedly followed behind Johann.
Whoosh!
“…Nice.”
The morning Hudson Riverside is nice because it’s quiet.
Maybe it’s because this is near SoHo where fairly wealthy people gather to live.
Tap tap tap tap!
Lynch turns his head and clicks his tongue.
Johann running fast like an approaching wind, like a predator pouncing on prey.
He gets 10 yards (about 9 meters) closer each time you blink, making you wonder why he doesn’t do sports.
‘If he played running back, he’d make history…’
Even looking at his face, it doesn’t seem like he’s running at full strength.
“No, that might be exactly why he wouldn’t do it.”
Because it would be too easy.
That makes him want it even more.
Tap!
“Good morning, Lynch.”
“Huff! Huff!”
Unlike Rick Bottom who’s catching his breath, Johann’s voice sounds like he’s not even winded.
“Is that mine?”
When Johann points to the disposable cup placed next to Lynch, Lynch hands it over.
“Thank you. Rick, catch your breath too.”
“Huff! Yes. Huff huff!”
Johann sits next to Lynch and brings the cup to his lips.
“Mm. Morning coffee indeed.”
The faint drowsiness that remained even while running disappears instantly.
Johann smiles and holds out his phone.
“Her name is Linda Sun. She’s the deputy director of the Asia department at the New York Governor’s Office, and she was reporting the governor’s schedule to someone in Chinese.”
Her name and affiliation were listed on the governor’s office website.
“Chinese…”
Leaking a superior’s schedule is definitely illegal, but it happens often.
With many things to buy and limited salary, someone eventually gets involved in such crimes.
Such information usually flows to reporters or politicians from opposing camps.
But in Chinese.
China, a socialist country with a population approaching 1.5 billion, desperately trying to challenge America’s dominance.
The CIA had no choice but to take this sensitively.
That’s why he temporarily left the transport operation regarding Inoue’s treasure to Swallow and flew here like this.
“Of all places, the aide’s office…”
The aide’s office is the department that knows the governor’s secrets best.
They could potentially face attacks from the current New York governor.
But if they told the New York governor, the Chinese intelligence agency behind Linda Sun would cut their tail.
“Surveillance of Linda Sun would be difficult, right?”
“Not at all.”
Seeing Lynch frown as if asking what he’s talking about, Johann nods as if relieved.
“I thought China’s intelligence agency wouldn’t trust Linda Sun 100 percent…”
So he thought they would definitely have assigned a surveillance agent.
To eliminate her if necessary.
“I thought it would be hard for even the CIA to infiltrate the governor’s office, but I guess I was wrong.”
So he had carefully thought of ways to confirm the information Linda Sun was trying to leak without arousing her suspicion, but it turned out to be unnecessary.
At those words, Lynch chuckles.
‘I guess the discovery of Inoue’s treasure lit a fire.’
Inoue’s treasure that would make anyone’s heart race.
It seems to have ignited the adventurous spirit of this teenage boy.
Even if Johann is a genius, this was an unavoidable human instinct.
“May I hear what method you were thinking of?”
“Using accessories.”
Inserting listening devices inside bracelets, necklaces, or watch straps.
‘A classic method.’
Either giving it as a gift or deliberately dropping it for her to pick up.
But it’s a method rarely used nowadays.
‘Because modifying luxury goods is immediately noticeable.’
Linda Sun is likely not a spy directly dispatched by Chinese intelligence, but rather someone recruited by them.
Because of her vanity.
People with such vanity know luxury goods well, so they immediately notice when luxury items are modified.
But Lynch gestures for him to continue.
‘These kinds of thoughts accumulate to make an intelligence agent.’
“Disguised as luxury goods that only real wealthy people know about.”
This is also an existing method.
“The wiretapping method is like what the Soviet Union did to America.”
Flinch!
“…The Thing?”
The Cold War era after World War II ended.
There was a legendary wiretapping incident called The Thing, which was quite embarrassing from America’s perspective.
Soviet Boy Scouts gifted a wooden eagle sculpture to the American embassy as a commemoration of the World War II alliance, but a wiretapping device was hidden inside it.
A wiretapping device that didn’t get caught even in electronic equipment inspections.
It was a simple device with just an artificial eardrum and antenna attached without any electronic devices like batteries, and the American embassyed important information to the Soviet Union for a whopping 7 years. This wiretapping device was only discovered when Britain found out while wiretapping the Soviet Union and informed them.
“I thought this company here would be good for disguising as luxury goods.”
Roni’s Accessory Shop.
It has a website, but the total visitors so far are less than 30 people, and even those are all Ronnie’s acquaintances.
Ronnie’s SNS follower count is also just 15 acquaintances at most, and even those acquaintances are people who created SNS accounts solely because of Ronnie without a single post.
The probability of getting caught had to be considered almost zero.
Johann hands Lynch a business card and gets up.
“Well then, good luck with your work. I’ll enjoy drinking this.”
This is as far as he goes.
‘The rest is work that America’s guardians should do.’
Johann headed to the dormitory with Rick Bottom, and Lynch quietly gazed at the Hudson River, lost in thought.
‘The Thing…’
It’s such an old relic that it’s the kind of material you’d have to go to the underground library where the CIA keeps paper documents that should be discarded soon or don’t need to be digitized.
“Youth really is the best.”
Seeing such fresh ideas come out immediately shows that youth is indeed the best.
Lynch picked up his phone.
“It’s me. I need to send some agents.”
Lynch drank the remaining coffee and headed toward the road.
* * *
“It would be better not to sell for a while. The prices will go up.”
“Really…”
How can I express all this gratitude?
Although she had boldly opened a shop, her daily sales were at the level of selling barely three pieces on a good day.
But Johann not only bought over a hundred accessories but also said he would promote them.
Johann, who has nearly 400,000 fans.
“Please make many good works.”
That was enough.
After patting the shoulder of Ronnie who was tearing up, Johann turned around, and Ronnie, who came out to see him off to the door, waved until Johann was no longer visible.
Then she hurriedly ran back into the store to check the card receipt.
“Wi-with this money, I can pay the overdue payments and loans…”
Ding!
“We-welcome…”
‘On such a hot day, wearing a black suit.’
Even wearing sunglasses.
A customer who doesn’t match her shop that mainly targets young women.
“Do you also do custom orders?”
“…Of course! How can I help you!”
Ronnie hurriedly pulled out her design notebook with sparkling eyes.
* * *
“Did you see that? The madam bought another bracelet?”
“Right! That was pretty, wasn’t it? Which brand could it be?”
“I glimpsed the initials R&D…”
“Research and development?”
“No way, right? It must be one of those brands only the upper class knows.”
The break room was noisy with talk about the governor’s wife who appeared this morning.
Linda Sun smiles and turns around.
“Well, I have a lunch appointment, so I’ll go first.”
“Again? Linda, aren’t you and your husband getting along too well? Even for newlyweds!”
“Right. Play with us sometimes too.”
“Hoho. Since we’re talking about it, how about drinks? Friday evening.”
“Really?”
“I’m in favor!”
“See you later then.”
Carrying a mid-to-low-priced handbag with a lived-in feel, she exits the building and heads to the parking lot.
Thud!
“You came?”
As soon as she gets in the car, she throws her handbag to the back and embraces the handbag her husband hands her.
“Haah. My baby…”
I thought I’d die from missing it.
“You like that thing so much?”
“Men like you will never understand this feeling in your lifetime, so shut up and just drive.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll start driving.”
The wife who is the head of the household.
The unemployed husband suppresses his surging emotions and drives to the reserved Michelin restaurant.
“Tsk.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t brag even when coming to places like this.”
Even when coming to such Michelin restaurants or struggling to buy limited edition luxury goods, she can’t brag to people around her or on SNS. If an investigation into the source of funds comes up, she won’t be able to receive money anymore.
“It can’t be helped. If we make a mistake, we could go to prison…”
The husband who already knows about Linda Sun’s spy activities.
Not only that, but he also acts as his wife’s hands and feet.
“But you brag on your secondary account, so isn’t that okay?”
“Are secondary accounts and main accounts the same?”
“Ah, no?”
“…Never mind. What would I expect from you?”
It was the moment she was irritably picking at her dessert.
Click! Click!
As a red-haired white woman in a red dress approaches, Linda Sun’s eyes widen.
‘Birkin bag! Dior! Jimmy Choo!’
A Hermès Birkin bag that’s hard to buy even with money, a new Dior dress, and Jimmy Choo high heels that are every woman’s dream.
Linda Sun’s eyes glance at the man in his 60s whose arm is wrapped around the woman’s waist.
A Richard Mille watch on his wrist catches her eye.
A Richard Mille watch with a minimum price of 1 million dollars.
Their relationship is understood instantly.
A nouveau riche and a prostitute.
‘…Well, who else but a prostitute would buy such luxury goods for some Irish guy?’
Red hair is a characteristic of Irish-descended whites, who were once called “white niggers” and were despised in white society.
The surging envy and self-loathing she had been spitting out as curses suddenly gave way as one phrase seeped into her ears.
“You’re really going to buy me an R&D bracelet?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just hard to get one…”
‘R&D?’
The bracelet brand that had been the topic of conversation in the break room today, worn by the governor’s wife.
‘What exactly is R&D that makes it so…’
She took out her phone and searched, finding only a few posts.
A blog post by a teenage female model named Emily Sherman, saying her boyfriend had gotten one with difficulty.
‘This girl… she’s rich?’
Her other posts and social media were filled with luxury brand photos.
Other people’s posts were the same.
All the places they introduced as their homes were grand mansions that Linda Sun couldn’t even dare to dream of.
‘Rich people like this find it hard to get?’
Like her colleagues said, it seemed to be a rare brand known only to the upper class.
“The store location isn’t listed…”
‘Annoying. They only share the good stuff among themselves, right?’
“Get up if you’re done eating.”
“Huh? Oh…”
Her husband hurriedly stood up, reading the mood of Linda Sun who had suddenly become irritated.
As they left the building, the hot summer air hit their entire bodies.
“Get the car somewhere close!”
“Here, I’m here! I’ll get the car right away!”
“This is really annoying.”
She was someone who had to have whatever caught her fancy, no matter what.
With her head completely filled with thoughts of R&D, she bit her nails.
“How should I approach the governor to find out where… huh?”
Linda Sun’s gaze turned to a street stall right next to her.
A stall with bracelets, earrings, rings, watches and such scattered about.
The cute lettering “R&D jewellery” caught her eye.
‘…It can’t be.’
“Why would they sell something like that in a place like this…”
Suddenly, an incident flashed through her mind.
‘Banksy?’
About two years ago, there was an incident where Banksy, called one of the greatest contemporary artists, turned New York upside down.
The incident where he displayed his paintings in Central Park and sold them for $60 each.
Performance art criticizing the pretentiousness of art, where only 3 people bought 8 paintings in 6 hours.
At that time, all New York citizens regretted not going to Central Park, and she was among them.
She, who had posted complaints on social media and communities back then, approached with a “what if” feeling.
“Each person can only purchase up to three items.”
‘It’s the same!’
Even the old man reading a newspaper and responding curtly was exactly like Banksy’s incident.
She felt like lightning was coursing through her entire body.
She quickly examined the stall.
‘The quality is similar to what those people were bragging about!’
Unique designs that didn’t overlap with a single other piece, making them look even more luxurious.
What caught her eye most was a wall clock that looked like a wristwatch enlarged 50 times.
A wall clock with tiny yellow gems densely embedded all around its circumference.
‘To, topaz? Could it be real?’
Vrooom! Screech!
“Honey, get in!”
“…Come here first! You said up to three per person, right?”
Her eyes had already flipped.
“8 o’clock! You absolutely must be here until 8 o’clock!”
After earnestly pleading, she got in the car thinking of people to bring, and the old man watched the departing car before opening his newspaper again.
‘She bit.’
Stupidly so.
For the bedroom, living room, office, and personal wear – she bought very comprehensively.
‘This is why greedy people are easy to fool.’
The old man, the CIA agent, smiled as he turned the newspaper page.
Since Chinese agents who might be monitoring Linda Sun could still be around, he had to keep the stall open for a while longer.
* * *
Hooooong! Hooooong!
Johann, Larry, Ada, and Lynch stood at the LA port dock where container ships passed by making thunderous sounds.
“How many pieces did you say?”
“640,000 pieces?”
“…That’s insane.”
Even after giving 10 percent of the 640,000 pieces to the CIA, it would still be close to 580,000 pieces of treasure.
Enough to easily build several museums, with assets secretly operated in Japan and countries worldwide worth tens of billions of dollars.
Ada, who initially thought Larry was dreaming when she first heard this, spoke up.
“Johann.”
“Yeah?”
Johann looked at Ada who had called him affectionately.
“What’s the password to the underground archive?”
In their mansion, there were two places only Johann could enter.
One was the laboratory on the 3rd floor, and the other was the underground archive.
A place where Johann had collected materials related to legendary treasures since he was 11 years old.
Flinch!
“…I’m not telling you.”
‘Why is she asking this? Ada isn’t usually like this… ah.’
Following Ada’s gaze, he saw Lynch.
‘She’s warning them.’
She was warning the CIA to protect him properly since they didn’t know how much information Johann had beyond Inoue’s treasure.
“There’s a pair of geese carved from jade among the treasures, want them?”
“Geese? Wait, if it’s geese…”
In the East, a pair of geese symbolizes eternal love between a married couple.
“You…!”
“What?”
At Johann’s innocent reaction, Ada furrowed her brow.
‘Does he not know the meaning of a pair of geese?’
The meaning of a pair of geese was a culture that existed only in East Asian regions.
Seeing Johann turn his head to look at the distant ocean, wondering when the ship would arrive, Ada glanced at Larry.
Larry, who was looking at the ocean just like Johann, his leg trembling.
Crack!
‘Even if Johann doesn’t know, you know what a pair of geese means, Larry!’
It was Larry who had been with them since they were too young to remember.
There was no way he wouldn’t know Chinese culture.
Thwack!
“Cough!”
Larry was flustered after suddenly getting hit in the chest, and Ada quickly turned her head away.
“Hmph!”
‘Sigh. Come on, figure it out already, Larry.’
He had expected some change between Larry and Ada as he and Emily started dating, but the two were still just friends.
He had even given them matching couple pajamas recently, but there was still no progress.
‘Before I become an adult and move out, I should set a date and… Hm?’
Johann’s eyes darted back and forth as he looked at Larry’s face.
‘Why is he smiling so bitterly…?’
Hooooong!
“They’re here.”
A small cargo ship approaching them, the KONO.
“Lord of War?”
The cargo ship KONO that appeared in the movie where Nicolas Cage played an arms dealer. It was a name hastily painted over to avoid agents who came for inspection.
“You even know how to pull pranks like this.”
“Haha. I’m glad you liked it.”
Soon, a middle-aged man in his 50s disembarked from the docked cargo ship.
And he bowed deeply to Johann.
“It’s my first time meeting you. My name is Toru Iwata.”
“Iwata, you say…”
“General Manager Ichiro Iwata is my father.”
“…So you’re the next general manager. I’m Johann Jefferson. Please take care of me.”
Smiling at being called the next general manager, he pointed to the cargo ship.
“No, then… I report that all 637,023 treasures requested by the head of the family have been safely transported.”
A treasure transport operation that began using the manufacturing and transportation of large-capacity parts ordered from across America and Japan as a cover.
It would have been impossible without the help of the CIA and US Military.
Rumble!
Johann sighed as he watched the trailers and cranes approaching them.
‘Now it’s all over.’
From the movie filming to Inoue’s treasure.
It had been a really busy year, hadn’t it?
‘I should focus on my studies again.’
Johann nodded and turned around.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
