In my previous life, Hyeon-seong was selected for the national team and won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Looking at how things were turning out, it seemed he had originally yielded his spot for the Asian Games next year. But perhaps because of the favor I asked when I returned, he rejected the offer this time.
Was Hyeon-seong getting into a hit-and-run accident an aftermath of my actions? 'I did not expect this situation.' I had a bitter taste in my mouth, thinking that I could not stop Hyeon-seong from suffering unnecessary harm.
"It is common for gangsters to choose the construction industry as a legitimate business. But we cannot help but be suspicious of this. Don't you think?"
"Yes, I think so too. Should I find out more?"
I shook my head at those words.
"Manager Ha said he would look into it himself, so let's wait. You are using the people the manager brought, right?"
"I only took over a few people."
"Are they useful?"
"They are all people I already knew, so there is no problem."
I smiled as I looked at Section Chief Ma's face.
Geukseong Construction boss's office. Along with a shout, the sound of something hitting the wall and shattering was heard. A large middle-aged man was throwing things at a man standing with his head bowed.
"Hey, you! You crazy bastard. I told you to just make it so he couldn't participate in the match, so what were you thinking pushing him with a car? Why did you make this unnecessarily big!"
"I am sorry, Elder Brother."
"This fucking bastard, hey! Bae Won-chun! Did I not tell you to stop calling me Elder Brother? Are we still neighborhood thugs? Can you not do it right? Ha, to think I am trying to run a business trusting bastards like you."
The man named Bae Won-chun could not even answer and only kept his head bowed. The middle-aged man, who had been huffing for a while, asked.
"So, how is his condition? He is alive, right?"
"They say he did not die. But that bastard's father is the head of the violent crimes squad... The detectives are searching with their eyes wide open..."
"Phew... That is why you should have done it moderately!"
A wad of paper flew at Bae Won-chun's face. Jo Hyeon-gu glared murderously at him as he bowed his head even more.
"You did not leave any evidence, right? It must never be connected to us. You complicated something I could have easily handled, so you clean up the mess yourself. Even if you get caught, make sure my name never comes up. Got it?"
"Understood."
"What about the kids who did the work?"
"I sent them over to Gangneung."
"They know how to keep their mouths shut, right?"
"They are kids who do not even know the boss's identity. Even if a problem occurs, it will never reach the boss."
Only then did Jo Hyeon-gu's expression, which had been furiously angry, soften.
"Then that is a relief. Ah, that bastard. I told him to just yield. Why is a young bastard being so stubborn and making things complicated? Is that not right, Won-chun?"
"That is right."
Jo Hyeon-gu changed his attitude and began to comfort Bae Won-chun in front of him.
"Won-chun, you know how I climbed up here, right? It took 10 years to wash off the thug smell. Thanks to that, we even avoided the War on Crime. You all proudly hold your own positions too. Is that not so?"
"Yes, that is right. Thanks to the boss, we are all living without being called gangsters."
"Right, we have to live proudly now too. If your tail gets stepped on, I will take care of the aftermath, so cut it off yourself."
"Understood."
He took out a few bundles of one million won from the safe and threw them to Bae Won-chun.
"You worked hard. You can leave."
Bae Won-chun took the money, bowed in greeting, and went outside. As the door closed, the smile disappeared from Jo Hyeon-gu's face.
"Son of a bitch, he cannot even do one thing like this properly. Should I just bury him in concrete?"
Even disguised as a businessman, a gangster was a gangster.
Hyeon-seong's condition had improved a lot. Hyeon-seong's father constantly went in and out of the jurisdictional police station to badger them in order to find the culprit, and Hyun-seong's mother stayed right by Hyeon-seong's side to nurse him. Seeing me enter the hospital room, Hyun-seong's mother stood up.
"Mu-hyeok, are you here? Did you eat?"
"Yes, I ate before coming. Have you eaten?"
"I ate. We are enjoying an unexpected luxury because of you, Mu-hyeok. This is a hotel, not a hospital room."
Seeing Hyun-seong's mother's smile made me feel better too. While talking with his mother, I looked at Hyeon-seong.
"Hey, are you alive?"
"I am sorry."
"For what?"
"I do not think I can keep our promise."
Ah...
This foolish bear-like bastard is talking about a promise in the midst of all this...
"Stop talking nonsense and do not make your mother worry. Right, Mother?"
"It is not just once or twice that this guy Hyeon-seong does something foolish, so you have to understand, Mu-hyeok. It is almost time for Hyeon-seong's father to arrive. I will go out to the front of the hospital for a bit, so you two talk."
Hyun-seong's mother patted my back a few times with a smiling face and went out of the hospital room. I sat next to Hyeon-seong's bed.
"How is your body?"
"It is fine."
Perhaps because of Hyeon-seong's smiling face, I got even more heated up.
"You got beaten up at school before the traffic accident? Phew... I am sorry. I did not know until I heard it from Myeong-soo. As a friend, I couldn't even pay attention, and I feel like I gave you an unnecessary burden just to make things easy for me."
"It is fine."
"No, you suffered for years... I know it all. Fuck, this is not right."
At those words, Hyeon-seong seemed to choke up a bit, his eyes wavering. The doctor said so. Fortunately, the broken arm and leg were operated on, so there would be no problem with daily life, but doing intense exercises would be difficult...
"I will catch the bastard who hit you and definitely pay him back double."
"Forget it. You do not have to do that because of me."
"It is fine. Just get well soon. When you get up, quit school and work with me. I will make your life more successful than the judo team seniors, coaches, or the director."
"...This incident has nothing to do with the promise I made with you. It is a traffic accident."
"I know. I know, but I just feel a bit down. I will take care of it."
Knowing my stubbornness, Hyeon-seong did not say anything more.
"Do not worry about anything and get some good rest. You could not play or rest properly because you were exercising all this time, right? Think of this as a chance to rest."
"Got it."
There was no more conversation. Because Hyeon-seong and I had a relationship different from Myeong-soo, where we could fully understand each other's feelings without having a lot of conversations. At that moment, Hyeon-seong's parents came in.
"Mu-hyeok, were you here?"
The face of his father coming in did not look very good. Seeing the father sighing at Hyeon-seong, I stood up from my seat.
"Father, let's go smoke a cigarette with me."
"Shall we? Hyeon-seong's mother, I will go talk with Mu-hyeok for a bit. You two stay here."
"I told you to quit smoking!"
We came down to the first floor and sat on a bench together with Hyeon-seong's father. As soon as he sat down, Hyeon-seong's father put a cigarette in his mouth and let out a big sigh.
"We cannot catch his tail. A few witnesses came forward, but no one remembers properly. They say they checked all the nearby repair shops, but there is nothing special."
"Hyeon-seong has woken up too, so do not worry too much."
"What else does that guy know how to do besides exercise? Even though he went astray for a bit when he was young, he is a bastard who invested almost half his life in exercise, right? But what is this. To think he can never exercise again, does that make sense."
I could not answer the loud voice of the excited father. Because no matter what I said, I would not be able to comfort the heartbroken father and Hyeon-seong... Breathing out cigarette smoke long and hard to suppress his anger, the father looked at me.
"I am sorry. You are not the one I should be angry at, phew..."
"It is fine. I am angry too."
"Still, it is a relief. Did they not say there is no hindrance to his daily life at all? That is enough."
"Yes."
"I have to go back down next week. Hyeon-seong's mother will stay. You should come and go frequently. Got it?"
"Do not worry. I will take care of him."
"Am I not interfering with your studying?"
"Hey~ Father, why are you being so sad. Interfering? Do not say such things."
"Phew... What is that bastard going to do with his life now..."
The father's lamentation drifted through the hospital. When I left the hospital and arrived home, Manager Ha was waiting for me. It had been a week since I asked him for a favor.
"We found the perpetrator, would you like to see him yourself?"
"Really?"
"Yes, but to be exact, he is a criminal, not just a perpetrator. It was disguised as a traffic accident, but Park Hyun-seong was the exact target."
'A bad premonition is never wrong.' Anger surged up as I realized Hyeon-seong was hurt because of me. I tried to stay calm, but a slightly stiff voice popped out.
"Where is he?"
"Handling it yourself is..."
"Phew... Manager Ha, if it was any other matter, I would not go myself either. It is my friend's matter. He is my person. Do not make me say it twice. If you hand him over to Section Chief Ma, I will go meet with Section Chief Ma myself."
"Understood."
Manager Ha did not try to stop me twice. A little later, I departed with Section Chief Ma to the place where the bastards were held. It was the same abandoned factory where we dealt with Hammer.
"So, Mu-hyeok went there himself?"
"Yes, that is correct."
After Kim Mu-hyeok left, Manager Ha was in the study to report to Chairman Cheon.
"Who was it?"
"They were young kids. They said they received orders from someone, but I think we will need to investigate further to get an answer."
Chairman Cheon's eyebrows furrowed.
"It was not a simple hit-and-run accident? Things have gotten interesting. Did he go with Section Chief Ma?"
"Yes, I handed it over to Section Chief Ma. The people waiting on standby all know him too, so there will be no problems."
Nodding his head, Chairman Cheon rubbed his chin for a while, lost in thought. Soon, Chairman Cheon raised his head, a strange smile forming on his lips.
"Myeong-hun, you step back now. I want to see how Mu-hyeok handles it."
"Understood."
"How do you think he will handle it?"
"If it is the Young Master I have been observing, I do not think he will handle it clumsily. He is endlessly cold-hearted when he needs to be cold. Though he is affectionate to his own people."
"Is that so?"
Chairman Cheon's mouth twitched up for a moment.
"It is presumptuous of me to say, but I told him I thought he needed to refrain from stepping forward directly in these matters, but he firmly stated that he was stepping forward because it was his friend's matter, so I did not stop him any further."
"You did well. You should only play a role in helping moderately. If I was going to spoon-feed him everything, I could have just grabbed anyone passing by and had them do it."
"Understood. I will only watch."
"Yes, watch how he does it and report to me. Whether he asks for help, or handles it to the end with his own strength. It will be fun to watch."
An expectation unsuited for his age appeared on Chairman Cheon's face as he spoke.
Opening the factory door and going inside, there were several men. Recognizing Section Chief Ma, they exchanged greetings with their eyes and went to take their positions in front of the door. Inside, there were three men kneeling down.
Section Chief Ma brought a chair and set it down for me to sit. Raising their heads at the sound of people, they flinched when they met my eyes and bowed their heads again. I sat in the chair and observed their faces.
Even giving them the benefit of the doubt, they did not look much older than me.
"You are younger than I thought. Who ordered you?"
Their faces did not look very good, as if they had already been beaten a lot, but the one who looked to be in the best condition opened his mouth.
"I will tell you everything. Just spare my life."
"Just tell me who ordered you and why. Do not make me say it twice. Because if we talk too long, we will both get tired."
"Bae, Elder Brother Bae Won-chun ordered us."
"Who is that?"
"I do not know. He is a neighborhood senior, someone who occasionally gives us pocket money. We know him as a gangster."
I looked towards Section Chief Ma.
"It is the same name as the managing director of Geukseong Construction."
I let out a snort because it was such an obvious trick. It seemed they had taken care not to have their tail stepped on, but...
"So he says. And?"
"Yes? We, we do not know. We do not know anything more. He gave us pocket money and just told us to push him once and go stay in Gangneung. It is the truth."
"How much did you get?"
"Yes?"
I shifted my gaze to Section Chief Ma. A man standing in front of the door approached with an iron pipe.
"I, I will tell you. I will tel... Aaargh!"
He struck the bastard who had asked back several times. The bastard rolled on the floor and screamed.
"Stop."
At my words, the man swinging the iron pipe stopped his actions and went back to the rear as if nothing happened. The bastard, who was in an even worse state than before, crawled on the floor making gasping sounds.
"I told you not to make me say it twice. Do not ask back either. It is annoying."
"Yes, yes..."
"How much did you get?"
"We, we received 500,000 won each."
There are three of them, so that is 1.5 million won? A hollow laugh escaped me. Destroying half of Hyeon-seong's life for a mere 1.5 million won.
"Section Chief Ma, how long will it take to catch and bring Bae Won-chun here?"
"Please give me half a day. I will catch him and bring him here tomorrow."
I nodded my head and stood up from my seat.
"Beat those bastards up appropriately and throw them in the corner for now. I will decide after meeting Bae Won-chun. Do not kill them under any circumstances."
"Of course."
I turned my body and left the factory with Section Chief Ma. Through the closing doors, the sounds of beating and cries for life faded away.
< It is about my friend. > The End