Chapter 10.2

“Wow, YoungGi. Look at the size of this room! It’s killer! What kind’a organization fucks ’round like this?”

The voice boomed from behind them as it spoke in a country accent. The untimely appearance of the person they didn’t want to see made KyungHyun frown immediately. The lines in his forehead deepened before they gradually disappeared. He turned his chair around and looked over at Im SungJoon and his lackey who had followed in after him.

“How rare of you to come on time.”

“Of course. I could barely get a wink o’ sleep ‘cus I wanted to see my dear Director Shin so badly.”

“You seem quite energetic for someone who couldn’t get any sleep. As expected, you must love being back.”

Wearing a white three-piece suit that almost seemed to be fluorescent in its brightness, Im SungJoon bared his teeth like a crocodile and widened his eyes.

“Yer right. It is nice to be back. But what have ya been doin’? Eatin’ all the dust in Seoul? Yer face is all shriveled up like a tiny dick.”

KyungHyun remained silent at the obvious ridicule and narrowed his eyes as he exhaled the cigarette smoke in his lungs. Im SungJoon rubbed his hands together and began to speak in an excited voice.

“What, are ya worried now that our boss has woken up? Been thinkin’ ’bout yer future, have ya? Do ya want me to get ya some of them medicinal tonics? This place next to the sauna I go to makes some fabulous restorative pills. Pretty cheap too. Probably ‘cus the owner doesn’t have a traditional medicine license. I’ll get some for yer servant here while I’m at it. What d’ya think?”

At his offensive words, General Manager Cha frowned behind his silver-framed glasses. Im SungJoon had an ability to push the buttons of anyone he met. Unlike his usual outward behavior of acting like he had a loose screw in his head, he was actually very cruel on the inside.

When KyungHyun had first entered YongSung, SungJoon never took a liking to him. Even now, SungJoon had tried numerous times to kill him in secret.

“Hey, now. Lookit how this bastard’s glarin’ at me. ‘Thank you fer the favor, Hyung-nim.’ It’s only proper ya say somethin’ like that. Who taught you yer manners, ya sumbitch?”

Im SungJoon raised his hand to his hips and began to walk towards General Manager Cha. KyungHyun got up from his seat and stepped in between them.

“Don’t do something absurd by picking on General Manager Cha so early in the morning.”

“Hey, when did I ever pick on him? We’re all part o’ the same family, aren’t we?”

KyungHyun’s lips stretched into a cold smile as he looked at Im SungJoon.

“If you came here to speak with me, then talk to me.”

“Alright. But can ya give me a smoke? I came in a hurry to meet’cha that I forgot mine.”

“That will be a bit difficult.”

“What’d you say?”

Im SungJoon dug his finger into his ear as he asked.

“I said I can’t give you a cigarette.”

“Why? Are ya bein’ cheap?”

Im SungJoon looked at him as he snorted.

“My office has a no smoking policy.”

As KyungHyun softly replied, gray smoke flowed out of the cigarette between his fingers. Im SungJoon slowly tilted his head.

“…Fuck, since when?”

Im SungJoon’s voice lowered an octave as it left his throat. His small eyes narrowed into crescents, but everyone in that room knew that he was no longer smiling.

“Hyung-nim, let me give you one.”

Im SungJoon’s lackey, Baek YoungGi, stood in front of the door and watched the scene unfold. He didn’t hide his disbelief as he hurried over to them. KyungHyun took a deep drag of his cigarette and burned it down to the filter. He breathed out the the smoke as he answered SungJoon’s question.

“Since just now.”

Baek YoungGi held out the cigarette to his own boss, but KyungHyun lowered the butt of his cigarette and pressed it onto the back of YoungGi’s hand.

“Agh!”

As the cigarette burned into his hand, YoungGi let out a cry in shock and began to shake his hand to cool the burn.

“Ah, hot…!”

“Why ya fuckin’ bastard…”

Im SungJoon’s thick hand flew out and hit Baek YoungGi’s cheek just as the cigarette hit the floor. Im SungJoon yelled out at his lackey whose head had flung back from the blow.

“YoungGi, didn’t ‘cha hear him say that smokin’s not allowed?”

Thud!

“Yes, Hyung-nim!”

Thud! Thump! The sound of Im SungJoon punching YoungGi’s head filled the room.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Isn’t that right?!”

“I’m sorry, Hyung-nim… Ugh!”

“No smokin’. No smokin’, ya bastard!”

After hitting YoungGi’s head and face a few more times, Im SungJoon finally got up and dusted his hands. Baek YoungGi also stepped back and soothed his burnt hand as he clenched and unclenched it. He looked up at KyungHyun and General Manager Cha with a fierce gleam in his eyes.

“Aah, how embarrassing for this to happen right in front of Director Shin. Our YoungGi just became a daddy, ya see, so he’s been under a lot of stress havin’ to take care of his baby. Don’t mind him too much, alright?”

“If I tell you that it’s not all right, are you going to kill him?”

KyungHyun looked at him and slowly spit out the words. Im SungJoon chuckled.

“Ha, our Director Shin is such a punk. Jokin’ around like that.”

Im SungJoon gave him a pat on the shoulder. KyungHyun turned around and walked back.

“Well, let’s sit down and continue our chat.”

The two of them sat at opposite ends of a long table. General Manager Cha called for a secretary outside to bring in some tea. When the secretary came inside and began to place the tea on the table, Im SungJoon swept his beady eyes down her backside and stuck out his thumb.

“Wow… Seoul gals sure develop nice. Must be somethin’ they eat while they’re still growin’.”

“Secretary Song is from Daegu.”

KyungHyun answered in place of the flustered secretary, and Im SungJoon slapped his knee.

“Ah, of course! Our Daegu ladies are noticeable from a mile away. My third wife was from Daegu. Does our baby here have a boyfriend?”

“Let’s end the questions here.”

KyungHyun blocked him with cold eyes. Im SungJoon widened his eyes as if he’d been waiting for this moment.

“Why? I know someone here was so busy boinkin’ a secretary that he couldn’t tell her apart from shit. You couldn’t even tell if she was a barmaid or a Serim spy and just let a cat enter the fish market. So shouldn’t I at least check out this much?”

KyungHyun glared at him as he leaned back on the sofa before smiling bitterly. Im SungJoon had scheduled an appointment with him to pick a fight. The secretary finally finished setting down the tea and stood back awkwardly, not knowing what to do. After receiving a glance from General Manager Cha, she quickly left the room.

“Fuck, that bitch might be a spy too. What if she put some cyanide into the tea? Isn’t that right, YoungGi?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Why not?”

KyungHyun poured the pu’erh tea into his tea cup and gulped it down.

“Even a cat that enters a fish market doesn’t pay any attention to lumps of shit.”

“Lumps of shit?”

Im SungJoon frowned. KyungHyun nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m talking about myself. Like you said, Director Im, I fucked that woman to my heart’s content. She had many chances to kill me, but I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“……”

“Please have some tea before it cools. It came directly from China.”

KyungHyun lightheartedly gestured to the teapot with his hand as Im SungJoon glared daggers at him. Im SungJoon calmed himself down before grabbing the teacup and gulping it down. The hot tea burned his throat and caused him to flinch in shock.

“Ah, that’s hot, fuck.”

He wondered how this arrogant punk had been able to drink the tea so smoothly as he shook his head at KyungHyun.

“It’s a shame. Because that bitch is dead, I can’t even interrogate her for answers. But I heard some rumors that Director Shin didn’t want her to be gangbanged, so you killed her peacefully inside a locked room. Is that true?”

KyungHyun slowly turned the teacup in his hand as he replied in a cold voice.

“Did I have such a romantic image inside YongSung?”

“Romantic my ass…”

Im SungJoon scoffed at KyungHyun and frowned. Shin KyungHyun had entered YongSung through the recommendation of another YongSung gangster he had met in prison. From the first moment Im SungJoon laid his eyes on him, he immediately didn’t take a liking to him. Even though KyungHyun had a pretty face, he didn’t even flinch as he slit the throat of someone right in front of him.

If he had lowered his head to Im SungJoon, it would have been another story. However, even back then, KyungHyun didn’t lower his eyes as he blatantly looked at him condescendingly.

Even though Im SungJoon did everything he could to get rid of this suspicious man, Shin KyungHyun managed to gain the leader’s trust. Because of this, Im SungJoon was humiliated as he was forced to pull back.

Years ago, when the leader’s nephew, who was ranked as one of the commanders, brandished a knife against his uncle, Shin KyungHyun took the blow instead and took down the attacker. This event clinched KyungHyun’s place within the organization. However, Im SungJoon believed that it was Shin KyungHyun who controlled the actions of the nephew from the shadows. Because the nephew had completely lost his mind to his drug addiction, this was very possible.

He tried to shake him down, but that slippery bastard got away. And now suddenly, the boss had been attacked again. On top of that, the bitch who had shot the gun was none other than Shin KyungHyun’s woman. Im SungJoon felt that his day had finally come.

He wanted to see Shin KyungHyun fall from his high horse and get on his knees as he begged for his life. Only then would he be satisfied.

“Well, if that were true, it’s quite a tearjerking story.”

KyungHyun looked bored as he lowered his indifferent eyes to his teacup. Tears? This bastard probably only cried once in his life, and that was on the day he was born. That was how dry and stiff he was. Im SungJoon grinned as he vowed to see tears of blood pour out of his eyes one day.

“And not only that. After killin’ that bitch, I heard that ya were in shock and stayed holed up in yer hotel room. Ya didn’t even leave to go to work… like a fuckin’ wastrel. At least, that’s what I heard.”

KyungHyun raised an eyebrow as he frowned. A bark of laughter left his lips. Im SungJoon laughed as well.

“That sound funny to ya?”

“Yes. Doesn’t it sound funny to you, Director Im?”

Im SungJoon licked his bottom lip as KyungHyun mocked him. From his sarcastic voice, SungJoon couldn’t hear an ounce of sympathy in KyungHyun for his dead woman. Draping his arms over the armrest, with his head leaning back, KyungHyun truly looked like he was enjoying this conversation as he laughed. Seeing this arrogant punk in front of him, Im SungJoon felt anger begin to boil up in his gut.

“Yeah, I died of laughter. Stupid bastards. If you were ever a man capable of havin’ regrets, you wouldn’t have even killed her in the first place. All those bastards laughed and wondered whether you were just keepin’ her holed up in your room to fuck her as much as ya wanted. YoungGi, you sonuvabitch. You fucker. You laughed, didn’t you? Answer me!”

KyungHyun watched as SungJoon picked on his lackey. He opened his mouth and languidly spoke up.

“I’ve already taken care of the corpse, so I can’t show it to you as proof. Would you like me to take you up to my hotel room to see if a rat bastard is living in my home?”

“No need to go that far.”

Im SungJoon looked at him and waved his hand as he declined. Even though his suspicions hadn’t completely disappeared, that fox-like bastard probably covered up all of his tracks. SungJoon felt that even if he wanted to dig deeper, he would only come out empty-handed. He decided to give up on this useless endeavor and just go straight in on the offensive.

“Anyways…”

“Yes, what is it?”

KyungHyun crossed his long legs.

“I saw that ya decided to expedite your trip to China by one week.”

“Yes, I did.”

KyungHyun answered curtly.

“Why’d ya do it?”

Im SungJoon asked in a sing-song voice as he picked at the dirt underneath his fingernails. KyungHyun stared at him and answered steadily.

“There’s no reason to drag this out any longer. I thought it would be best to take care of it quickly before all the hyenas caught wind of the rumors going around.”

KyungHyun knew that Im SungJoon had barged in here for this exact reason. This business with China was originally led by KyungHyun. Changing the date of departure wasn’t a big deal for Im SungJoon. He was only doing this because he wanted to pick on KyungHyun’s every move within YongSung.

“Director Shin, I’ll let ya in on a little somethin’ I’ve learned as I’ve lived my life. As a sunbae who has many more years on ya. When people do business, they have to move according to the plan. If ya quickly change things around like an order at a dirty Chinese restaurant, people might lose faith in you. Hm? Honestly, it’s the same at those dirty Chinese restaurants. If ya go in and order a jjajang, then change it to a jjamppong, then again to chili shrimp…”

Showing one’s irritation in front of Im SungJoon only served to further egg him on. Usually, KyungHyun would let it go in one ear and out the other. However, KyungHyun had felt feverish since a while ago and no longer had the patience to do so.

“Director Im.”

KyungHyun cut off the rambling voice. Im SungJoon, who had been spitting out his lecture, stopped and looked at him.

“Yeah?”

“Did you just say ‘faith’?”

KyungHyun poured more tea into his teacup before raising it up.

“Yeah, ‘faith’.”

KyungHyun looked over at Im SungJoon with his sharp gaze. He gulped down the tea in one go and smiled crookedly at him.

“Who are you saying will lose faith with whom? I don’t think I understand you.”

“…I wonder why you’re askin’ me this kind of bullshit. Is there somethin’ ya wanna say?”

“The one who laid down the foundation for this deal and the one who built it up was me. If I’ve done this much, don’t I have the right to change the travel dates as I please?”

Im SungJoon’s brow slightly furrowed underneath his slicked back hair. However, KyungHyun didn’t stop there.

“Or… are you…”

KyungHyun gestured to Im SungJoon with the hand that held the small teacup before folding his arm back and gesturing to himself.

“…speaking of the faith between you and me?”

“What a funny, little bastard you are…”

KyungHyun watched as Im SungJoon raised his eyebrows in disbelief. He let out a low laugh.

“It’s funny for me as well. I’m talking about the fact that you’re commenting on the faith between us. To be honest, we don’t have the type of relationship where we will both go to a Chinese restaurant to enjoy a meal together, are we?”

“So? Are ya tellin’ me to keep my mouth shut like a mute idiot and let ya do whatever ya want?”

Im SungJoon was still smiling, but his voice was not. KyungHyun slowly lifted his cup and wet his throat with the tea. His long, sharp eyes stared piercingly at Im SungJoon.

“Didn’t you realize this would be the case when you were coming to take a portion of my business?”

“Fuck, what did ya just say?”

Im SungJoon’s brows slanted up crookedly. At that moment, General Manager Cha looked down at the cellphone in his hand before looking up with a grave expression. He quickly walked over to KyungHyun and called him in a soft voice.

“Director.”

“What is it?”

“Take a look at this.”

“Ya bastard. Who do ya think you’re interruptin’?”

KyungHyun raised a finger and gestured to the growling Im SungJoon to wait. General Manager Cha saw this and lowered his head. After reading the message on the phone, KyungHyun’s face hardened. At the same time, Im SungJoon blew up as he watched KyungHyun blatantly ignore him.

“You sons of bitches, I went easy on y’all, so now y’all are treating me like dog shit, is that it?”

He threw his teacup full of tea straight at KyungHyun’s head.

“Director… Ugh!”

General Manager Cha quickly blocked it, and the teacup hit his back with a thud as the tea spilled all over him. Black fireworks went off behind KyungHyun’s eyes.

“Move.”

KyungHyun pushed General Manager Cha to the side and snatched Im SungJoon’s collar.

“Hyung-nim!”

The lackey who had been standing in front of the door held up a handgun at KyungHyun as if he’d been waiting for this moment. As expected, General Manager Cha snatched his own gun out of its holster and aimed it the lackey from the floor. The tension filled the air inside the director’s office in an instant.

“You fuckin’ sonuvabitch… Let go!”

Even though their builds were similar, Im SungJoon was unable to shake off KyungHyun’s grip. KyungHyun dragged Im SungJoon over to the glass wall by the collar and held him against it. Im SungJoon glanced down at the floor and his body tensed up. Hot breaths hissed out through KyungHyun’s clenched teeth.

“We’ll depart on the dates I’ve picked. I have no desire to change it, so please keep that in mind. If that was all you came here to discuss, you should leave now.”

“Hey, how long do ya think you’ll last acting like a know-it-all?”

Im SungJoon looked down at KyungHyun and smirked. KyungHyun’s grip on his collar tightened. Im SungJoon felt his feet slightly lift off the floor, but he didn’t stop his provoking remarks.

“When Boss wakes up, he’ll throw away people like you. And when that happens, you’ll really die by my hands, ya fucker.”

KyungHyun challenged Im SungJoon with a sharp glare as he spit out his curses. His black eyes were gleaming.

“Should I kill you first?”

“What did ya say?”

“Have you gone deaf with age? Instead of sending you off in an elevator, should I just throw you out the window?”

“Yer true colors are finally showin’. Ya sonuvabitch…”

Im SungJoon’s bulging eyes looked up and down as he took a deep breath.

“I feel pretty shitty right now, so get lost while Boss is still treatin’ you nice.”

“Hyung-nim! Are you okay?!”

Baek YoungGi kept his gun aimed at KyungHyun’s back but made note of General Manager Cha’s gun aimed at him. KyungHyun didn’t move a muscle. Instead, he mocked Im SungJoon in a low voice as he continued to hold him up by the collar.

“Tell him to shoot. This building was built by your shitty construction company, so it’s probably going to collapse. Fuck, just hitting a window with a golf ball will probably destroy one side of the building. I’ll send you off to hell. We’ll go together to make it fair. How does that sound?”

Im SungJoon saw the look in KyungHyun’s eyes, and his smile slowly disappeared. In its place, a different emotion appeared. KyungHyun’s body was incredibly hot, almost as if it were burning. The rage in his eyes was no joke. A murderous spirit was bursting out of his eyes. This could only be seen in those who had faced death before.

“Lower your gun, YoungGi!”

Im SungJoon shouted, startling his lackey. YoungGi withdrew his gun. General Manager Cha continued to aim his gun at him. Just one mistake, and everyone in this room could die. Im SungJoon feigned nonchalance on his stiff face and placed his hand on KyungHyun’s shoulder.

“It seems that my underlings are lacking discipline. My bad, Director Shin.”

“I apologize for being a bit sensitive today.”

Despite these words, KyungHyun’s hands were still holding on to Im SungJoon’s collar.

“I didn’t understand your heart of wantin’ to finish this business deal as quick as possible.”

“Thank you for understanding it now.”

KyungHyun glared at him and spit the words out.

“Let’s do well. We’ll work hard in China.”

KyungHyun loosened his grip. Finally back on the ground, Im SungJoon dusted off his wrinkled clothes and swept his hands over his temples.

“This deal needs to be successful so that our boss can let go of his anger and our Director Shin can have a promisin’ future, right?”

“Open the door. Director Im is leaving.”

Even if KyungHyun hadn’t barked out this order, Im SungJoon didn’t feel like staying any longer anyways. He hid his burning rage and quickly walked across the room. His lackey waiting at the exit opened the door with a stiff face.

“Ah, hey, YoungGi.”

Im SungJoon stopped right before exiting through the door as if he’d just remembered something. He looked at his lackey and held out his hand.

“Give me your gun. You shouldn’t have something so dangerous. I told you so back at the gates.”

“Yes, Hyung-nim.”

“…General Manager Cha, duck.”

In that moment, KyungHyun had an ominous feeling and lowered his body. Bang! The sound of a gunshot rang inside the office. The lackey who had been holding the doorknob slid down onto the floor. Dark red blood began to spread onto the carpet.

“Director Im, what do you think you’re…!”

Unable to hide his shock, General Manager Cha began to speak when KyungHyun suddenly raised his hand and stopped him. Im SungJoon still had the smoking gun in his hand. Im SungJoon looked over at them and shrugged his shoulders as his eyes bulged dangerously.

“There’s no use for undisciplined punks. If yer head’s bad, ya should just die. Don’t ‘cha agree? Even if it looks like I’m about to be thrown from the 40th floor of this building, how dare he point a gun at ya, Director Shin.”

The lackey he had just shot and killed was a man who had worked underneath Im SungJoon for 5 years. If one included the years he’d been in jail, he had been a loyal henchman for almost 10 years.

Through the open door connecting the room to the secretarial office, they could hear the shrieks and gasps of the employees. Even though the company of KeumOh had its roots in the mob, no one expected to hear a gunshot in one of the skyscrapers of Gangnam in the middle of the day.

“Then I’ll see ya at Shenzhen. Bye. Zài jiàn.”

Im SungJoon grinned as he left the office, not caring for anything KyungHyun had to say. Looking down at the corpse as the red blood bled through the carpet, General Manager Cha had mixed feelings as he chewed his lip.

“…I’ll take care of this, sir.”

It was a shame that they didn’t have any cameras installed in KyungHyun’s office due to security concerns. There was no way Im SungJoon didn’t know about this, which was why he freely did what he did.

As if he’d been thinking the same thing, KyungHyun let out a harsh sigh as he grabbed his tablet. KyungHyun bit his lip when he checked on EunHa’s location. The last place her GFP signal had pinged was at Incheon Airport.

“She hasn’t moved from this location for two hours.”

“……”

KyungHyun slowly closed his eyes before opening them again. He had a bad feeling about this. His neck tie felt suffocating, so he quickly loosened it. General Manager Cha could imagine how he was feeling.

“The chip we installed on Lee EunHa-ssi was specially made, so she won’t be able to pass through airport security with it still inside her body.”

“She can if she dug it out.”

KyungHyun spoke in a low voice. General Manager Cha frowned.

“There’s no way…”

She wouldn’t have been able to take it out unless she took a knife to her own flesh and dug it out. However, seeing as how she was willing to risk her own life to shoot Noh HyungChul, she was definitely a woman who could do it.

“Contact Lieutenant Han and tell her to call airport security.”

“Yes, sir.”

KyungHyun took a deep breath as he quickly paced around his office. Although there was no expression on his face, his head was currently a mess. He felt as if he’d explode at any moment. Lee EunHa had extracted the GPS from her body and left for the airport. What did this mean?

If she left the country, it would be nearly impossible to chase after her. They needed to catch her before she passed through airport security.\n