“I took on a job.”
“Hyungnim, it’s been less than a day since we finished the last one.”
“We’re gonna wrap things up after this one.”
“What?”
Manager Kim squeezed in among the bewildered employees.
“With Wonin?”
“Yeah. That’s what we agreed to, so just shut up and do it.”
I don’t know. Whether ending things with Wonin Construction is really the right thing to do. Whether Jang Hyeokjin will really let Taesung go this easily. If he really does enter politics, he’ll need more dogs with weaknesses to exploit and control.
Should I just throw it all away?
If I weren’t doing this kind of work with these bastards, I wouldn’t have to live in constant fear of my identity being exposed. But then again, when I think about it, their very existence served as a shield for Taesung. Because he had subordinates following him, even if they were idiots, Jang Hyeokjin couldn’t use Taesung ‘however he pleased.’ Taesung himself knew better than anyone how Jang Hyeokjin had treated him when he had no power at all.
Taesung put a cigarette in his mouth. Someone lit it with a disposable lighter. Disposable ones were more convenient than Zippo lighters that needed constant refilling. Cheap, light, completely transparent inside, and once you’re done using it, you just throw it away and that’s that.
That must be why people seek out cheap things.
Now he could finally take a proper drag. The cigarette smoke that swept through his lungs cleared away the stuffiness inside.
The smoke he exhaled was particularly acrid.
“Baekjin Shopping Complex. A shopping-apartment complex built in the early 1980s, located near the Nakcheon District redevelopment project area. As new apartment complexes were built in the redeveloped sections, petitions from nearby residents for the redevelopment of Baekjin Shopping Complex have been pouring in. They had hoped the redevelopment would erase Nakcheon District’s outdated image, but they’re probably worried that housing prices won’t rise with this decades-old shopping complex sitting there.”
Human greed knows no bounds. They magically transformed decades-old row houses into new apartments, and now the shabby shopping complex visible from their windows is an eyesore. Yet if that building were to soar dozens of floors high, they’d be making a fuss about sunlight rights and view rights.
“Nakcheon District is where your boss’s father-in-law was, right?”
“Yes. I believe he served four terms in Nakcheon Eul alone.”
Former National Assembly member Ha Dongseon. He was Jang Hyeokjin’s father-in-law. When first running for office and groveling, he arranged a marriage with his own daughter to borrow Jang Hyeokjin’s power. Jang Hyeokjin, who was a gangster bastard by birth but had grand dreams, didn’t miss this golden opportunity to move into the legitimate world, but he only found out after getting engaged—that the daughter Ha Dongseon willingly offered to a gangster bastard was none other than a child born from an affair.
It was an extremely humiliating situation for someone with such strong pride, but Jang Hyeokjin couldn’t shake off the temptation of being ‘a National Assembly member’s son-in-law.’ In the end, well, it wasn’t bad. Ha Dongseon lived well, serving four terms, and thanks to that, Jang Hyeokjin was even able to play the role of puppet president of Wonin Construction.
“If Jang Hyeokjin runs, he’ll run in Nakcheon District.”
If he properly exploits his dead father-in-law.
After the corruption he’d committed was exposed and he failed in his bid for a fifth term, Ha Dongseon coincidentally passed away when his chronic illness worsened. Since then, Nakcheon District had been dominated by the opposing party due to backlash against Ha Dongseon. But with the redevelopment bringing in a large influx of outsiders, the former National Assembly member’s corruption would be gradually forgotten, and now they’d want someone who would raise housing prices.
“Wonin Construction will pull their aching tooth?”
“Yes. In fact, we’ve secured a significant portion of the building’s ownership.”
After the redevelopment issue surfaced, they would have either locked up properties tight or raised prices absurdly high, so if Wonin Construction secured a significant portion of Baekjin Shopping Complex’s ownership, this meant it was something they’d been carefully preparing for a long time. But why would Jang Hyeokjin suddenly try to use force through Taesung?
“But it seems like some speculative forces have entered the picture.”
“You’re saying you want me to get rid of them.”
“Getting rid of them is too extreme—finding an appropriate compromise would be better.”
“Okay. If we drag them to Nakcheon Mountain, bury them up to their necks, and whack their heads a few times with a shovel, they’ll compromise.”
“Are you serious?”
“Ask your boss whether I’m serious or not. It’s her specialty, after all.”
Director Yoon of Wonin Construction raised her head and sighed like a sea lion longing for home. A half-broken cigarette butt flew toward Director Yoon.
“Director Yoon, if the briefing’s over, please leave.”
In place of Taesung, who sat with his legs crossed in an utterly delinquent posture picking up the trash scattered on his desk instead of saying ‘get lost,’ Manager Kim pushed Director Yoon’s back. Director Yoon left the office without hiding her troubled expression.
“Could it be another company?”
“Then Jang Hyeokjin would’ve already dealt with it.”
“Isn’t the amount too large for an individual to secure this kind of ownership?”
“Or some bastard is working behind the scenes, enticing the owners.”
“We need to catch that bastard. Ah, this is another headache.”
He didn’t expect to be assigned something that would be easy to resolve. Taesung glared at Director Yoon’s car pulling out beyond the glass door. When she returns, she’ll no doubt tell Jang Hyeokjin every little detail about how Taesung threw a fit.
“Cheolgu.”
“Ah, boss, I told you to call me Manager Kim.”
“Hey, Mango’s dad.”
“Yes?”
Damn it, he doesn’t like the name his parents gave him but he likes being called Mango’s dad.
Then again, would a filial son be living like this? His forearm being full of scratches from Mango is all just karma coming back to him.
“Let’s go check it out first. You know, that saying—if you know well, you win.”
“Know your enemy and know yourself, and you’ll win every battle?”
“Yeah, fuck. Must be nice having gone to college.”
“Boss, you’re the only person who gives me credit for the college I got into with a grade 7.”
Whether it’s grade 7 or grade 100, as long as you went, that’s what matters.
The problem is not knowing satisfaction. In Taesung’s eyes, everyone looked like people living in luxury—Jang Hyeokjin, who despite having Wonin Construction all to himself is sniffing around politics; the residents who could just live happily after successful redevelopment but see Baekjin Shopping Complex as an eyesore; and that Manager Kim, who should be grateful he got into college with a grade 7 but won’t even acknowledge his alma mater as a real college.
Though, there was someone else who lived in the most luxury.
I don’t even know if he’s dead or alive now.
—HOOOONK!
Taesung opened his eyes at the loud horn. Manager Kim rolled down the window and shouted. What do you want me to do about it, you fucking bastard? Can’t you drive properly?
Boldly choosing to honk in the second lane and then immediately turn right, the taxi ignored Manager Kim’s words and sped off into the alley. Cursing every which way with ‘fucking bastard’ and ‘son of a bitch,’ Manager Kim also turned the wheel following the taxi. Taesung rubbed his eyelids with his fingers and took out his phone. Checking the location—Nakcheon District. They seemed to have almost arrived at their destination.
“Knock it off, you bastard.”
Taesung muttered in a voice heavy with fatigue. But it didn’t reach the ears of Manager Kim, who had already lost it. He drives so calmly normally, but when his button gets pushed like this, he has a fit. Manager Kim chased right on the taxi’s tail, honking away. The taxi, perhaps having already seen Manager Kim’s face, refused to stop no matter what and fled this way and that.
People passing through the alley stopped walking and glared at the car. The windows were darkly tinted so they couldn’t see Taesung inside, but Taesung could see all their gazes. Displeasure, irritation, contempt. Eyes that judged good and evil based only on what they could see right now, instead of figuring out who was at fault first.
“I said knock it off!”
—HOOOOONK!
Simultaneously with Taesung’s shout, the taxi ahead came to a sudden stop. With a rattling tremor, the emergency stop system activated. Manager Kim’s and Taesung’s bodies shook violently. The horn sound like a scream made his head ring.
“This fucking bastard, really!”
Manager Kim charged out of the car like an enraged bull. Taesung checked the navigation. A marker indicating the destination was placed in the very next alley.
Massaging his stiff shoulders, Taesung got out. The passenger shouting ‘Mister, just go!’, the taxi driver screaming shrilly, and Manager Kim stomping his feet as if about to kick the taxi were providing good entertainment in the narrow alley. Not wanting to get mixed up with them, Taesung walked alone toward the destination.
Sunset spread in pastel colors along the buildings where quaint old houses clustered together.
As he reached the mouth of the alley where the smell of food wafted from each house, Taesung’s steps gradually slowed. He suddenly raised his head to look up at the sky. In the center of the cloudless peach-colored sky, a slender crescent moon curved gracefully. It was a scene that felt somehow familiar. It seemed like he had once looked up at such a sky and felt a strangely warm and fuzzy feeling. Was it from his distant childhood, or was it something from a dream?
“Closing discount! Three cucumbers for a thousand won!”
At a husky woman’s voice coming through a loudspeaker from somewhere, Taesung came to his senses and resumed walking toward his destination.
