“Xie Wei, but how did you get here?”
Here it comes.
Normally he would have ignored it, but having received this much help, it seemed he needed to provide at least a minimal explanation. As he hesitated over what excuse to make, Ray Jun spoke first.
“By any chance… is it also because of the broker?”
For a moment, Kang Siwon wavered.
How did Ray Jun know about the broker’s existence?
He was also a Sovereign employee, so it wasn’t strange that he was informed about internal affairs, but this kind of information should be an area that would be difficult even for Ray Jun, no matter how well-connected he was, to reach. Then could it be that Ray Jun was also entangled in some organization’s business like himself? Or, that he was a member of an organization……
To Kang Siwon, who remained silent without easily reaching a conclusion, Ray Jun continued in a low voice.
“Can you keep what I’m about to tell you a secret?”
“……Of course.”
“I’m telling you this because I trust you. So you really have to keep it secret.”
The words ‘I trust you’ struck his heart. Was he someone qualified to hear such words? Setting aside morality, he hadn’t been with Ray Jun long enough to build that level of trust. Moreover, if anything, he’d looked suspicious, and had never shown any appearance worthy of receiving trust. However, Kang Siwon nodded deeply.
“I will.”
“Actually…… I also witnessed some strange situations several times while working at Sovereign, like you. A few customers who frequently hung around with a particular junket broker stopped appearing at some point. They might have gotten tired of gambling or gone to another casino, but something felt suspicious. So when I investigated personally, sure enough, they were entangled with that junket broker.”
“How were they entangled……?”
“That broker seemed to lure customers into dangerous games or connect them to loan sharks. He’s a really low-quality bastard.”
Kang Siwon was more surprised that Ray Jun had noticed this situation than by the fact that the broker had done such terrible things. But thinking about it, he was a dealer. Since he spent more time in contact with customers than any other department, it would have been easy to notice something was off.
“Still, I was relieved when I heard he’d left Macau, but I happened to see that broker today. He seemed to be looking for new prey.”
Ray Jun caught his breath briefly, then continued carefully.
“Honestly, I wasn’t planning to consult anyone about this. Everyone would think of it as someone else’s problem and wouldn’t even believe what I said in the first place. But Xie Wei, I have a feeling you’re not the type of person to just let this pass.”
He had no idea what aspect of himself Ray Jun had been seeing to say such things from earlier.
He wasn’t kind or upright. Because Kang Siwon knew that fact better than anyone, Ray Jun’s assessment made him uncomfortable.
But it didn’t feel bad. Thanks to Ray Jun’s misconception, he felt like a good person for the first time in a very long while.
Ray Jun was quietly looking at him. Even in the dark car, only those hazelnut-colored eyes were distinct. With his neat face without a single hair out of place, Ray Jun was waiting for Kang Siwon to be ready.
Eventually, Kang Siwon opened his mouth.
“……In a way, I’m similar to you. Working in the cage room, I naturally see the flow of chips, and as I mentioned before, there were sometimes strange movements.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“It was suspicious in many ways, so I followed it and ended up here. ……Sorry, I can’t tell you in more detail.”
He trailed off, not knowing how to finish and not knowing what to say if Ray Jun pressed him for more.
This excuse surely wouldn’t be enough. Ray Jun would think he was suspicious. As Kang Siwon hung his head low, resenting his own poor way with words—
“That must have been hard, Xie Wei.”
“……”
Ray Jun placed his hand on top of Kang Siwon’s. At that skinship, for a moment, the kiss from earlier came to mind. An emotion that was either embarrassment or confusion rushed in, and Kang Siwon pulled his hand away sharply.
“Uh, sorry but I think I need to go first. I need time to organize my thoughts too…… Let’s talk again when we get back to Macau.”
“Do as you’re comfortable. Where are you going? I’ll take you.”
Ray Jun asked while fastening his seatbelt. Just before refusing out of habit, Kang Siwon changed his mind. Since Ju Xiang had fled a bit earlier, if luck was bad, he might be heading to the hotel by now. To return to the hotel even a minute or second faster, it would be better to accept Ray Jun’s help.
“Do you know the Edelweiss Hotel?”
“Yeah.”
“Take me there.”
When he gave the name of a famous hotel near the Rosedale Hotel, Ray Jun started the engine. Kang Siwon’s mouth tasted bitter at how Ray Jun didn’t suspect him. Somehow it felt like he was using his kind roommate, which didn’t sit well with him. But to get back to the hotel before Ju Xiang arrived, there was no choice.
Soon the car began to move smoothly. Only then did Kang Siwon fasten his seatbelt and grip the end of it tightly.
* * *
Arriving at the Edelweiss Hotel in Ray Jun’s car, Kang Siwon moved quickly. From here to the Rosedale Hotel didn’t even take 5 minutes. However, he grew anxious thinking that Ju Xiang might have arrived before him. Time had been delayed returning Ray Jun’s jacket and picking up his own clothes to put back on.
“Huff, huff……”
He arrived at his room in one breath. When he threw the door open, the dark and quiet interior greeted Kang Siwon. Fortunately, it seemed Ju Xiang hadn’t arrived yet. He was obviously somewhere having a dirty conversation with that broker.
Kang Siwon threw himself straight onto the bed without even changing clothes.
“Whew……”
Since there had been too many things happening all day, it didn’t feel real. From tailing Ju Xiang to eavesdropping on his conversation with the broker, and……
……the kiss with Ray Jun.
Now that he was alone, that moment came back even more vividly, and Kang Siwon unconsciously fidgeted with his lips. Then, realizing what he was doing, he buried his face in the pillow. He didn’t know how to face Ray Jun next time.
“Ugh……”
In the midst of this, Ray Jun’s face came to mind. His appearance in a fine suit and changpao was reminiscent of a nobleman from a fairy tale rather than a modern-day chaebol. Perhaps the reason he’d confessed secrets to Ray Jun was because he’d been swept up in that atmosphere of his.
Had it been the right thing to do?
Kang Siwon still hadn’t forgotten that day he was dragged to the container. The violence inflicted mercilessly had been enough to engrave into his bones exactly what kind of people the Baeksa Faction were.
Moreover, their cruelty didn’t stop at physical threats. They were people who wouldn’t hesitate to do things so clever and vicious as to trap someone in a swamp of debt for life, erasing them from society, or making them put down their own lives with their own hands.
If it was discovered what he’d said to Ray Jun, it definitely wouldn’t end with just a beating. The path to repaying the debt reaching 3 billion won would become even more distant, and both Uncle Gyucheol’s life and his own would fall into ruin.
Goosebumps rose along his spine. Kang Siwon pulled up the blanket and curled his body like a shrimp.
But seeing how he felt no regret even while doing this, he must have finally gone crazy. Or perhaps his nerves had gotten stronger while working at the casino.
In any case, what was already done couldn’t be undone. For now, he could only hope that Ray Jun was a more trustworthy guy than he thought.
* * *
The white sedan smoothly crossed the road. Nathan Road was always bustling with tourists and commuter traffic, but now in the middle of the night, it was quite deserted.
As he entered the hotel parking lot, his phone rang. Ray Jun leisurely finished parking before answering the call.
“What’s up, Gemma?”
“—I received contact from Sua Kim. She said you suddenly left in the middle.”
“You’re calling just for that?”
He asked in a tone suggesting it was absurd, but Gemma answered seriously.
“—I called because I was worried. I wondered if something had happened to you.”
“What incident? Don’t worry. I’m safe.”
“—……Yes, hearing your voice, you do seem to be safe.”
“So are you disappointed?”
“—Of course not. Why would you say that?”
Even knowing Ray Jun’s mischievous personality, Gemma retorted as if genuinely aggrieved. At this, Ray Jun giggled. Somehow he kept laughing. It must be because there were many pleasant things today.
“Since I went all the way to the party, I should enjoy myself too, shouldn’t I? It’s just like that.”
“—……Surely while accompanying Sua Kim, you didn’t……”
“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but first, I didn’t play with fire. Second, Sua isn’t even my real girlfriend, so what’s the problem? Anyway, I accomplished my purpose sufficiently.”
The reason Ray Jun attended the party was to achieve a bigger purpose along with securing connections.
He’d obtained information that a junket broker recently involved in money laundering and currency exchange had been kicked out of Macau and was rebuilding his customer network in Hong Kong.
To Ray Jun, who was tracking the illegal money flow of Sovereign Resort’s COO, the existence of a broker who had secretly cooperated with the COO in the past was nothing less than a clue.
As expected, the broker in question appeared at the party. Ray Jun quietly observed him while maintaining a certain distance.
“—How was it seeing him in person?”
“If we dig into his background, a lot will come out.”
“—It should. He’s a broker who even sold laundered chips after cashing them out again. If we can just follow that transaction network, not only individual customers but also internal executive lines might be revealed.”
Gemma seemed already interested. Why wouldn’t she be? To them, tracking Sovereign Casino’s opaque financial flows, each piece of that broker’s data would be quite useful.
“I’ve actually had a good idea.”
Ray Jun said while biting into a deep smile.
“—What kind of idea do you mean?”
“Before that, Gemma. Have you investigated that guy called ‘Ju Xiang’?”
