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Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho went inside the room, finding Sharlan lying down on a bed for critically ill patients.
He had grown a bushy beard and looked so emaciated it seemed as if he only had skin and bones left. Kang Chan noticed he had two tubes stuck in his left side, which were then connected to a machine.
His dead eyes seemed to gain strength the moment he saw Kang Chan.
When Kang Chan approached Sharlan, two agents blocked him, but they stepped away upon noticing Lanok’s eye gesture.
“Kang Chan.”
Kang Chan silently glared at Sharlan. He was thinking of killing him if needed.
However, seeing him having to depend on machines to survive made Kang Chan think he didn’t even need to do that. Even if the Intelligence Bureau were to take Sharlan, Kang Chan still wouldn’t have to worry about future troubles.
“Aren’t you going to kill me?” Sharlan provoked Kang Chan despite already having sunken cheeks.
“It looks like I don’t even need to.”
“You could end up regretting it.”
Kang Chan nodded.
“There’s a chance I will. If you ever want to find out if I did, then show up in front of me again. I’ll definitely slit your neck then.”
Kang Chan backed off afterward.
Seok Kang-Ho gritted his teeth but soon turned away as he shook his head.
After a while, the three of them returned to Lanok’s room again.
“France’s Intelligence Bureau is in chaos upon learning North Korea also got involved in this. I’m really thankful for your help. I’m going back to France tomorrow for the time being. I probably won’t return to Korea until Sharlan’s backer has been revealed.”
“I see,” answered Kang Chan.
“I’ll call you sometimes.”
“Sure.”
Kang Chan smiled bitterly, then expressed that they were going to go.
He wanted to leave for two reasons. First, Lanok had to go to France tomorrow morning. Second, he couldn’t push himself to stay here any longer.
They parted ways with Lanok after they shook hands in front of the elevator. They went through a lot of shit together.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho got in the car in the basement and returned to the hospital.
Kang Chan told Kim Tae-Jin what happened before and after meeting Sharlan. By the time they left the room, it was already almost 11 pm.
“This day is quite long,” Seok Kang-Ho commented.
Why wouldn’t it be?
“It’s strangely disheartening,” He continued.
“Tell me about it. Tsk!”
“Let’s go have coffee before we go home.”
“Sure.”
The two of them sat on the terrace of a cafe in front of the hospital. They then smoked while drinking iced coffee.
“I can’t believe all we did was suffer today,” Kang Chan said.
“Phuhu.”
Seok Kang-Ho grabbed a napkin and quickly wiped his mouth.
“Forget about it. If Sharlan gets repatriated to his motherland, then that’s the end of that! Let’s focus on living a fun and worry-free life now.”
Seok Kang-Ho exhaled smoke.
“Should we do that?”
“We definitely should. It’s not like we need a lot of money, anyway. Let’s travel in pursuit of good food and have an outing together.”
They snickered around for about an hour, which allowed them to get rid of some of the discomforts they were feeling.
They then took separate taxis home. Kang Chan got into quite a deep sleep on the way.
***
Kang Chan felt his fatigue fading after his morning run.
It was good. Regardless of whether he was uncomfortable or not, he had finally taken care of matters related to Sharlan, which had been attached to him like a lump. He thought of ending the guard duty of Kim Tae-Jin and his employees after observing the situation for about a month more.
After enjoying breakfast, he headed to school feeling quite refreshed.
That was until Heo Eun-Sil, Lee Ho-Jun, and the other morons greeted Kang Chan while sitting in a straight line in the stands.
“We’re here.”
Kang Chan didn’t expect them to be this diligent.
“You’re early.”
“We promised.”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
If he were to base his judgment solely on their words and actions right now, he would’ve thought they were the type to never break a promise.
Kang Chan went into the athletics club room, finding Seok Kang-Ho already inside.
“What should we do about them?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“They said they were going to get rid of the bullying, so just let them run with the kids.”
“Will they really do that?”
“If they weren’t going to, then why did they even bother coming here?”
“Fair point, but I’m worried this would make the kids that joined before them feel uncomfortable.”
Amid their conversation, the athletics club members and Kim Tae-Jin’s employees arrived.
Kang Chan told them that the students outside were going to start working out with them during the break. The athletics club members surprisingly accepted that quite easily.
While athletics club members and the employees were changing, Kang Chan went out to the stands.
Including Heo Eun-Sil and Lee Ho-Jun, there were about ten kids.
“Go join their morning run,” Kang Chan ordered.
“Okay,” Heo Eun-Sil answered. “Should we change into our workout clothes?”
“Did you even bring one?”
“We all did.”
“Then go change.”
The so-called bullies went into the building to change. Excluding Lee Ho-Jun and Heo Eun-Sil, they were all in eleventh grade, so they couldn’t even properly start a conversation with Kang Chan.
When it was time to begin, the five employees stood at the front. Behind them were the athletics club members, and the troublemakers lined up at the very back.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho watched them from the stands.
“Ah jeez, this is the first time I’m going to see them run voluntarily,” said Seok Kang-Ho.
“Why?”
“Because they never listened to anyone before no matter what they were told.”
Is that so?
Kang Chan silently watched them run.
After four laps, three or four of the students in eleventh grade that joined today started to fall out of the line. The guys staggered while looking over Kang Chan’s mood, then eventually went out to the stands.
After three more laps, only Heo Eun-Sil remained of the bullies. On the other hand, all of the kids in the athletics club were still running.
He didn’t blame them. That was their first time running.
Smirk.
Kang Chan couldn’t help but laugh while watching them. Their refusal to lose was currently clearly visible on the athletics club members’ faces.
After two more laps, Heo Eun-Sil dropped out as well.
Kang Chan decided to stop watching from here.
He went into the athletics club room with Seok Kang-Ho and used the exercise equipment.
Their workout lasted about two hours. When Kang Chan went outside to shower, the kids sitting on the stands were watching the ones practicing hand-to-hand combat in discomfort.
“Wash up first,” Kang Chan told Seok Kang-Ho.
“Alright.”
The shower in the night-duty room couldn’t accommodate two people.
Kang Chan walked to the stands, causing the guys that were sitting cockily to quickly straighten their posture.
“Lee Ho-Jun,” Kang Chan called.
“Yeah?” Lee Ho-Jun’s answer sounded a bit weird. He approached Kang Chan from the side.
“About the snake eye from yesterday. You said the president of the student council or something is his superior, right? Who’s that fucker?” asked Kang Chan.
“The student president oppa of Kwang-Min University is the head of the group of bullies,” answered Heo Eun-Sil.
“But you mentioned before that a gangster led that.”
“On the contrary, that oppa had become more powerful now that the organization disappeared.”
Heo Eun-Sil butted into the conversation, but Kang Chan didn’t say anything about it. He’d been wanting to get his curiosity answered.
“Then will there no longer be any bullies that torment others if I just beat up that fucker?” asked Kang Chan.
Heo Eun-Sil didn’t answer.
“What? Is there still someone left?”
“To do that, you’ll need to work with the kids that are about to be discharged. The group of bullies has a lot of people.”
Kang Chan regretted bringing it up since his question didn’t even get answered, leaving him still wondering if there were any more bullies that he had to take care of other than the group of bullies’ president.
He couldn’t help but feel as if he made a mistake. He should’ve washed up first.
“Even the entire country recognizes Kwang-Min University’s combat club,” Heo Eun-Sil continued.
Do the gangsters throughout the country recognize their abilities?
Smirking, Kang Chan raised himself up.
It was a hassle, but this was the best for the time being. Instead of calling others to ask for help and wasting time running around, this was a hundred times better.
When Seok Kang-Ho came out of the night-duty room, Kang Chan immediately washed up. He felt refreshed.
“Sunbae-nim, what do we do about those hyungs’ lunches?”
He had just come out of the shower when Moon Ki-Jin asked a question awkwardly in front of the athletics club room. Even bullies needed to eat, after all.
“Ah, those sons of bitches.”
Kang Chan had firmly refused Kim Tae-Jin’s offer to pay for every lunch during the break. Since then, Seok Kang-Ho and Kang Chan had alternately been paying for it.
‘Are they taking money from me?’
Kang Chan quickly became displeased about paying for the bullies’ food. However, he soon breathed out deeply to suppress his anger.
“Where are you going to order lunch for today?” asked Kang Chan.
“From the snack shop.”
“Then order pork cutlets for me, and get those kids’ orders as well.”
“Yes, sunbae-nim.”
Moon Ki-Jin headed to the stands while holding a memo pad and a pen.
Kang Chan went outside after changing clothes in the athletics club room.
Their delivery arrived after a while, and the male students all ate together in the stands. It was awkward at first, but it wasn’t that uncomfortable anymore now that they had already done this a couple of times.
“What are you going to do in the afternoon?” Seok Kang-Ho asked Kang Chan.
“I’m thinking of going to the hospital. Why do you ask? Is there something we’re supposed to do?”
“I was just curious about what your plans are today.”
Seok Kang-Ho looked at Kang Chan after placing two danmujis in his mouth at the same time.
“Let’s visit Gapyeong[1] sometime. to celebrate getting rid of Sharlan.”
Kang Chan said with a faint smile.
Now that he had dealt with matters related to Sharlan, Kang Chan now needed to take care of other things one by one, starting from D.I.
1. Gapyeong, or Gapyeong-gun, is a county in South Korea ☜