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After Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho talked for about an hour, Kang Chan called Smithen.
- I know that place! I’ll leave right now!
Smithen answered excitedly.
“He said he’s coming,” Kang Chan told Seok Kang-Ho afterward.
“Son of a bitch.”
Kang Chan couldn’t help but smirk when Seok Kang-Ho swore out of nowhere. Why would he swear when he looked happy to hear that Smithen was on his way?
“Channy!” A moment later, Smithen arrived and clamorously waved his hand.
“Welcome,” Kang Chan told Smithen.
“Have you been great? And long time no see, Dayeru! Please stay seated. Let me just buy coffee.”
Smithen spoke in Korean. His pronunciation was alright. And by all accounts, he looked like a very relaxed Western man with his sophisticated clothes.
“Did you see that fucker’s eye?” Seok Kang-Ho asked Kang Chan after Smithen walked away.
“I told you he was putting in a prosthetic eye back then.”
“Ha! I didn’t expect it'd look that realistic.”
While Seok Kang-Ho was admiring the prosthetic eye, Smithen approached them.
“Your Korean has improved a lot,” Kang Chan commented.
“It’s thanks to Alice.”
Smithen was speaking in Korean again. Seok Kang-Ho still looked surprised.
“I also got into the advanced class in the Korean language institute,” Smithen continued.
“You’re talking to me informally, you fucker?”
“I’m sorry, Channy–I did that because I spoke informally with Alice, and it has become a habit. Can I smoke?”
“You don’t have to ask for my permission. Anyway, it seems like you’re doing well. I’m glad.”
“Whoo. How have you been, Channy?” Smithen asked.
“I’ve been doing okay. Right! What’s the weird offer about?”
“Oh, yeah! I got a weird offer!” Smithen dramatically responded while flicking the ash off of his cigarette. “They wanted me to sell my shares of Gong Te automobile’s Korean branch. They offered an unbelievable amount for it. Five billion won, to be exact.”
French and English words were mixed in between his Korean, but he spoke the language well enough for even Seok Kang-Ho to roughly understand what Smithen was saying.
“Who gave you the offer?” Kang Chan asked.
“Suh Jeong group? A lawyer from a law firm contacted me directly.”
Kang Chan was dumbfounded. “What did you tell them?”
“That it’s not for me to decide.”
Seok Kang-Ho glanced at Kang Chan.
“We were right. It’s that fucker Yang Jin-Woo,” Kang Chan told Seok Kang-Ho.
“It seems he’s just begging to be killed.”
“Am I missing something here?” Smithen asked. He was observing their mood while turning his head from side to side.
“Do you remember the people that tried to steal the contract with Gong Te, when Kang Yoo Motors was already in the process of importing the cars a while ago? They’re from Suh Jeong Motors,” Kang Chan answered Smithen.
“Ah! Suh Jeong! Huh? They’re the same name?”
“That’s right. They probably keep pestering us because they got ousted back then. Well, they offered you five billion won. You likely want to sell your shares.”
“No! Channy, I can’t just recklessly sell my shares. I have to get permission from the Gong Te automobile headquarters first.”
“How many shares do you have?” Kang Chan prodded.
“Twenty percent of Gong Te automobile’s Korean branch.”
Kang Chan was momentarily confused. Would the stuck-up Suh Jeong Group’s highly capable people and lawyers really offer to buy twenty percent of shares for five billion won without knowing that?
Kang Chan thought about it for a moment, then drank his coffee with a smirk.
“What’s wrong?” Seok Kang-Ho asked Kang Chan.
“They’ve probably wiretapped or are trailing Smithen to see who he contacts after telling this fucker that they’ll buy shares from him. We should all smile so we’ll look good in the photos.”
“Why would they do something like that? What do they have to gain?” Seok Kang-Ho asked again.
“Would those fuckers even guess what happened between us and Sharlan? They have to be trying to look into why things suddenly got messed up halfway through, right? Smithen, have you taken another woman to your house after you broke up with Alice?” Kang Chan asked.
Smithen couldn’t answer, seemingly anxious of how they’d react.
“Fuck you, you son of a bitch!”
“Dayeru, I’m just—”
“Be quiet. Settle for one woman, motherfucker.”
People looked in their direction with fascination when Seok Kang-Ho suddenly shouted.
“Let’s let this slide for now. It hasn’t been confirmed yet if a woman has done this. And even if we do look into it, we’re going to let it go once we find out anyway. Do you still meet with that woman?” Kang Chan asked.
“About that, Channy—”
“Are you seeing a lot of women right now?”
“Yes. Three, to be specific.”
“You’re seeing all three at once?” Kang Chan asked back.
“I take turns meeting them.”
Kang Chan couldn’t help but laugh heartily. He understood, though.
Smithen was good-looking, tall, and muscular due to his mercenary days. Moreover, he was the Korean branch manager of Gong Te automobile. He looked like the type that shallow girls would like.
Something suddenly flashed across Kang Chan’s mind as he was holding a cigarette.
He aligned his index finger to the middle of his lips, signaling both of them to be quiet, then ordered them to move Smithen’s shoes and phone somewhere else.
Upon seeing Kang Chan’s expression, Smithen obediently took off his shoes and put his phone in one of them. Seok Kang-Ho then moved it to the far end of the terrace.
“Smithen, are you confident you can seduce women?” Kang Chan asked afterward.
“For you?”
“Sure. Let’s say that it is..”
“If so, then I am.”
“I’ll give you a list of names. Can you sleep with all of them?”
“Who are they? Are they pretty, Channy?” Smithen eagerly asked as he leaned closer toward Kang Chan.
“There’s six of them, ranging from their twenties to mid-thirties. How’s that?”
“Please leave it to me, Channy!”
Seok Kang-Ho looked at Kang Chan with eyes that asked, ‘what’s he saying?’
“You fucker. Does your house require a password to enter?” Kang Chan asked.
“No, but I need the card in my wallet to get in,” Smithen answered.
“Have you ever given it to someone else?”
“Never. Someone suddenly barging in while I’m having a good time would ruin the mood.”
The fucker was putting on airs. Kang Chan called Kim Tae-Jin and told him they suspected that someone was wiretapping them. He then asked Kim Tae-Jin how they could solve this issue.
- Are you with the person in question?
“Yes. I’ve separated his shoes and phone from him.”
- I’ll send over two employees right now. Where are you?
Kang Chan told him the location of the specialty coffee shop and ended the call. He then asked, “What do you guys want to have for dinner?”
“Channy, do you have pictures of those women?” Smithen threw a question but flinched when he saw Seok Kang-Ho.
“Let’s have pork ribs,” Seok Kang-Ho suggested, ignoring Smithen.
“You sure?”
The two chose what to eat for dinner and talked nonsense for a bit. Soon, Yoo Bi-Corp employees ran over.
“Search through him, then look at his shoes and phone over there. Afterward, search his house while we’re having dinner,” Kang Chan told the employees.
“Understood.”
The employees took out three phone-shaped devices and a detection stick from a bag. They then slowly scanned Smithen.
“There’s nothing on him,” one of the employees said afterward.
Since they were in a specialty coffee shop, Kang Chan carefully looked around to see if someone nearby was trailing them. Meanwhile, the employees used the detection stick to the shoes and the phone.
Be-ep.
An employee from Yoo Bi-Corp put his index finger in front of his mouth, then quietly headed to a car with the shoes and the phone.
“Oh! That’s surprising,” Smithen commented.
“I’m more surprised by you, you fucker,” Seok Kang-Ho said.
“Dayeru! Stop swearing!”
“What are you saying? Fucking idiot!”
“Tsk! Stop it,” Kang Chan told the two of them.
Seok Kang-Ho and Smithen stopped fighting.
About ten minutes later, a Yoo Bi-Corp employee returned with the shoes and the phone. “High-performance wiretapping devices were installed on both of them. It can record within two kilometers of downtown.”
“I’m sorry to ask for this as well, but scan the house too. I’ll give you the keycard,” Kang Chan said.
“Understood.”
When Kang Chan gestured with his eyes, Smithen handed over his keycard and told them his address.
“It’ll take about an hour. We’ll give you a call when we’re done.”
“We’ll be eating nearby. What are you guys going to have for dinner?”
“We decided to go somewhere nice after the job.”
The employees seemed friendlier than how they would treat an ordinary superior.
“We’ll be going now,” one of the employees said.
“Keep up the good work.”
When the employees left, the three of them went to a restaurant near the specialty coffee shop.
It was still early, so they were the first customers. They sat at a table inside the restaurant and ordered pork ribs. They didn’t have to worry about wiretaps anymore.
“Don’t let anyone else come into your house for the time being, Smithen. Protect it as best as you can, even if people from the maintenance office say they’re coming for an inspection. Okay?” Kang Chan asked.
“Alright, Channy.”
“The leader of the Suh Jeong group is Yang Jin-Woo. That fucker is harboring a grudge against me, Dayeru, and even you. And you’re going to suffer first if you behave carelessly since you’re an easy target. Be careful about that.”
Smithen grinned. His stomach seemed to have churned when Kang Chan said that he’d suffer.
“The list of women that I’m handing over to you tomorrow are all Yang Jin-Woo’s women,” Kang Chan continued.
Seok Kang-Ho and Smithen looked at Kang Chan with startled eyes.
“It appears he meets them once every two months or so, and he had bought them an apartment and pays for their living expenses. I’ll order the Yoo Bi-Corp employees you saw a moment ago to determine the women’s daily routine and give it to you, so make all of those women yours. Make them listen to whatever you say. Okay?” Kang Chan asked Smithen.
“You don’t have to worry, Channy.”
As the trio grinned at each other, their food was served.
As a savory scent rose up with a ‘chkk’ from the grill, Seok Kang-Ho made bomb shots with the soju and beer that they had ordered.
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“Let’s have a toast, Channy. I’ll risk my life to succeed in what you told me to do,” Smithen said.
It wasn’t something that Smithen should risk his life for, but Kang Chan just held out his glass.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho heard about the women that Smithen had met while they were having dinner. He had been with quite a lot since Kang Chan had last seen him. It was clear that some of them likely approached Smithen on purpose. Those women seemingly would’ve had enough guts to install wiretapping devices on Smithen’s phone and shoes, too.
“Does that mean those women thought I was stupid?” Smithen asked.
Smithen seemed to be more resentful about the fact that the reason why the women slept with him wasn’t because of his charms, but that was none of Kang Chan’s business. As they were becoming somewhat full, Kang Chan’s phone rang. A moment later, the Yoo Bi-Corp employees came into the restaurant.
“We found four devices in different locations—the bedroom, living room, bathroom, and entrance. We’ve removed all of them. Here’s the keycard,” one of the employees told Kang Chan.
“You guys did great.”
“We’re just glad we could help, even in this way.”
When Kang Chan looked at them suspiciously, the two employees politely said goodbye and left the restaurant.
Are they hiding something?
Even if they were, it was awkward to call them over and ask. So Kang Chan just let it go.