Crossing The East Sea

8 The Shiramine

Niigata City lay about two hours away from Tokyo by Shinkansen. The Shiramine Maru was docked at the West Port, located just adjacent to the city centre. Shinsou arrived in the late morning, and was surprised to see Kaneshiro waiting along the road near the port entrance, together with his wife and baby son.

Kaneshiro was, to all intents and purposes, busy showing his son the ships, but he turned his head slightly and gave Shinsou a small nod as he walked past. Shinsou knew that his supervisor had taken leave to return to his home city for a few days, and guessed that his actual motive was to see his trainees off on their first assignment.

The Shiramine was an ageing ferry that had been bought over by Chongryon the previous year, under the pretext that it wanted to bring its members out to the Sea of Japan once a month for a leisure cruise. The ship was supposedly capable of carrying two hundred passengers in forty cabins of different types, according to a brochure produced by Chongryon, and it offered a restaurant, two bars, a shop and other amenities including a sauna, slot machines, a shop and a karaoke room.

What the brochure failed to mention was that none of the above facilities was operating. The restaurant was closed; meals were to be taken in the dining room, which was decked out with North Korean flags and furnished with cheap plastic tables and chairs. The bars were not open, nor was the sauna or shop. Only the slot machines and karaoke room were functioning.

The crew consisted entirely of Zainichi Koreans, all of whom had been screened carefully by Chongryon to ensure that they were sympathetic to the regime in North Korea. They did, however, speak Japanese better than Korean, because they had been living in Japan all their lives; and this had greatly relieved Ryoko, whose Korean was still less than passable.

There were only a few new crew members, and the first thing they did was receive a briefing by the Chongryon official on board the ship, a man who went by the ubiquitous name of Kim.

He was a soft-spoken individual, but there was something sinister about him that made the crew give him their undivided attention. The rest of the crew referred to him as "Chongryon Kim", and whispered to one another that he actually belonged to the Bowibu, or dreaded North Korean Secret Police.

"No doubt you already know," said Chongryon Kim, taking a drag on his cigarette and then blowing a generous amount of smoke into the faces of the newcomers, "the Shiramine is not going on a cruise, but to Wonsan. Our passengers are not on a leisure trip, but are going to visit their relatives in North Korea. The Japanese government suspects what we are doing. Any member of crew on board who is discovered leaking information about this will suffer consequences."

He picked up an umbrella that was lying on a rack nearby, and at the touch of his hand it promptly burst into flames. The crew members backed away, startled.

Chongryon Kim held on to the smouldering umbrella until it disintegrated into cinders. He then let it fall onto the floor.

"You're all new," he said softly to the crew members, "do you know why we needed to employ new staff? Some of the previous staff were suspected of leaking information. They suffered a similar fate as this umbrella, and so did their family members. Have a care not to end up going in the same manner." He let his cigarette fall to the ground, and stepped on it to extinguish it. "Clean up the mess," he said briefly, glancing at the charred umbrella. And then he walked off without another look at them.

Shinsou felt a light touch on his elbow. He turned, but there was no one there. However, someone presently spoke in his ear, and he realised that it was an invisible Nakajima.

"Volunteer to clean the mess up," he whispered, "Send the others away."

"I'll clear this," Shinsou said to the others, "Tell the First Mate I'll be along in a minute for his brief."