Chapter 340 Thurman
An Rushong could naturally feel the gazes of the old guys around him cast on him. These gazes were filled with surprise, astonishment, inquiry, and even caution. As the person involved, An Rushong could also understand the meaning implied in these gazes.

Before, when An Rushong saluted the old guys, although he bowed very well and was respectful enough and humble enough when talking to Chun Doo-hwan, the other party, although they behaved very easy-going and symbolically returned the salute to him, actually concealed a sense of distance in their every frown and smile, as well as in their simple words. To put it bluntly, they just gave some polite responses to his greetings, and probably had no intention of asking who he was.

Well, in other people’s eyes, he was just an ordinary passerby, just like how an international superstar treated a fan who accidentally recognized his identity on the street. Although his attitude was kind, he didn’t take him seriously in his heart, and even wanted to keep a certain distance from him to prevent him from getting too close.

However, when Major Waldis greeted them and directly mentioned “General Thurman”, the looks of the old guys when they looked at him changed obviously. Needless to say, they definitely knew who General Thurman was, and they were curious about how the young man in front of them could be received by General Thurman.

Although he felt the curiosity of several old guys about him, An Rushong did not take the opportunity to introduce himself and make acquaintance with them. That approach was too low-level and too deliberate. He just smiled apologetically at Chun Doo-hwan, shrugged helplessly, bowed to him again, and then said nothing, turned around and chased after Major Waldis.

Behind him, four old men, including Chun Doo-hwan, all turned their heads and looked at his back carefully. It was not until he followed Major Waldis around a corner in the corridor that Chun Doo-hwan, who had almost no hair left on his head, sighed and said, “Ah, people really become more useless as they get older. I just feel like I have seen this young man somewhere before. I have a very familiar feeling, but I just can’t remember where.”

As he said this, he raised his hand and scratched his bald head, as if he could dig the memories out from under his scalp.

“I feel familiar with him, too,” Jin Kuanzhen, who was walking at the end, turned his gaze away from the corner of the corridor and said thoughtfully, “I seem to have seen him in a newspaper before. Yes, he seems to be a very young and capable person, but I can’t remember the details.”

Among the old guys, Jin Kuanzhen was the youngest, so he had the best memory. However, he was in the military, and the people and things he usually came into contact with were all related to the military. He couldn’t pay special attention to people like An Rusong who were in the IT circle. At this moment, it was not easy for him to find so many memories in his mind.

The old guys didn’t know An Rusong’s identity, and naturally they couldn’t know why General Thurman would meet with such a young man. In fact, they had just finished meeting with General Thurman. In the past ten years, the leaders of the US military in South Korea have basically been conservative and moderate in their positions on the peninsula issue. This is reflected in the political circles of Kimchi, where the influence of conservatives has been suppressed to a certain extent. Especially for the “old people of the Fifth Republic” like Chun Doo-hwan, the high-pressure policies they implemented in Kimchi, especially the turmoil in Gwangju, were criticized in some political circles in the United States. Therefore, when a relatively moderate position became mainstream in Washington, the days of these “old people of the Fifth Republic” were naturally not easy.

Fortunately, even though these old guys are no longer welcome in the eyes of the American daddy, and the so-called “moderate stance” has become the mainstream on the peninsula issue in Washington, neither the White House nor the Pentagon wants the entire peninsula to be truly unified, let alone the “pro-North” progressives who pursue independent peninsula policies to truly control the overall situation in Korea. Therefore, although these old guys from the Fifth Republic have not had an easy time in the past few years, overall, they have not suffered a thorough liquidation.

Now, with the change of geopolitical structure in Northeast Asia, the mainstream political view in Washington has changed to some extent. In dealing with the North Korea-South Korea issue, the hardliners have regained the upper hand. For these “old guards of the Fifth Republic”, it is like smelling the breath of spring. They came to see General Thurman this time to get some information, but they didn’t expect to meet An Rusong, a young man who made them feel very familiar.

For An Rusong, this unexpected encounter today was obviously an unexpected surprise. Yes, as an ambitious and aspiring young man, he was certainly interested in meeting someone like Quan Douhuan.

Just like what was said before, don’t think that these “old men of the Five Republics” headed by Chun Doo-hwan are like rats crossing the street in South Korea. They also have a large number of supporters. Otherwise, how could two of the four old men be members of parliament?
Considering these alone, these old men of the Fifth Republic are already worthy of An Rusong’s making friends with. What’s more, these old guys have a high prestige in the army. Active-duty generals like Jin Kwan-jin are also their supporters, aren’t they?
In South Korea, the military is a relatively special and independent entity. Although the military has rarely intervened in politics in the past decade, it would be a big mistake to think that the military has no influence in politics. Most importantly, An Rusong and his brother are facing the problem of military service. If he can establish some kind of connection with the top military officials, these troubles can be easily solved.

However, for An Rushong now, establishing contact with old guys like Quan Douhuan is not the primary task. After all, the first thing he has to face now is the meeting with General Thurman.

Following Major Waldis, An Rusong turned the corner of the corridor, and the burly major stopped in front of the first door behind the corner. He turned around, winked at An Rusong, and then raised his hand and knocked on the closed double doors.

“Come in,” someone said from inside the door after a moment. An Rushong recognized the voice immediately; it belonged to Leonard.

Major Waldis took another step forward and pushed open the tightly closed double doors. He stood at the door and said to the room door: “General, President An Rusong is here.”

“Please ask him to come in,” the person who spoke this time was no longer Leonard, but a middle-aged man who sounded full of energy.

Major Waldis stepped back, making room at the door, and gestured to An Rusong to come in. An Rusong smiled at him, straightened his suit, and then walked into the room.

Inside the dark purple door is a spacious reception room. Facing the door, there is a large, bright floor-to-ceiling window. A large rectangular conference table is placed not far from the window.

At the moment An Rusong walked in, two people sat on the right side of the long table. Among them, the one sitting in the first seat on the left side of the long table was Leonard, who was wearing a military uniform. This was the first time An Rusong saw this guy in a military uniform, and the epaulettes on his shoulders showed that his rank was indeed a colonel, an active-duty colonel in the US military.

On the right side of the long table sat a middle-aged man in casual clothes. He had a square head, a big face, a short neck, and an obviously fat body. He looked a bit funny. Well, if you don’t consider his height, it’s easy to think of him as a dwarf.

However, the middle-aged man’s fat face had a pair of standard “eagle eyes”, coupled with two sparse and almost invisible light eyebrows, this pair of eyes gave people a very sharp feeling when looking around.

Seeing An Rusong coming in from outside, Leonard stood up first. He smiled and said to An Rusong, “President An, let me introduce you.”

When he said this, the middle-aged man sitting on the chair also stood up with a smile on his face.

An Rushong walked over quickly with a smile on his face.

“This is General James Thurman,” Leonard introduced the two men as he walked over. “General, this is the decision maker of NGN, Chairman An Rusongan.”

At the moment when the other party finished speaking, An Rusong just walked to the long table. He bowed to General Thurman, then stood up, stretched out his hand to him, and said with a smile: “It is an honor to have such a meeting with you, General Thurman.”

Thurman seemed like a man who was not very good at talking. He shook hands with An Rusong and said with a smile, “Please take a seat, President An.”

This guy’s attitude seems a little cold. An Rushong kept the smile on his face, but he muttered something in his heart.

“Please sit down, President An,” Leonard on the opposite side also spoke up, “Today, there are only you, me and General Thurman here. We are all not outsiders, so there is no need to be polite and reserved.”

An Rushong was sitting right across from Leonard. He nodded at him, and waited until General Thurman took his seat before bending down and sitting on the chair behind him.

“President An, this is the evidence material I promised to give you before,” Leonard said with a smile as he pushed a thick file bag over to An Rusong after he sat down. “Of course, in addition to the evidence material, there are also reports we prepared for you. Our opinion is that the relevant reports pushed in the NGN news pop-up window can completely adopt the relevant articles we prepared.”

After he finished speaking, he glanced at General Thurman and added, “Of course, this is also General Thurman’s opinion.”

(End of this chapter)