***
Pyo Mingyu answered the phone. A few brief exchanges — yes, mm, is that so, understood — and the call was over. It had all taken place in the short time it took to ride the elevator down.
“It’s Detective Kim. He says it’s a crackdown period, so we should prepare.”
“Got it.”
“Which one should we throw them?”
It was a common enough occurrence. Whenever the police launched a large-scale crackdown, they’d contact Gong Haejin’s side first. Then Gong Haejin would hand over one of the many suppliers strung across his network like a spider’s web. The cops would rack up their numbers and secure a foothold for promotion, while Gong Haejin kept his operation running smoothly. A true win-win.
“Let’s see. We’ll take a look.”
“Yes, sir.”
The elevator doors opened, and Gong Haejin stepped out first with long, unhurried strides. Ash-grey walls and ceilings stretched out in a straight, unbroken line — a sight that called a prison to mind.
“What a taste.”
“……”
“Father was old-fashioned, I suppose.”
It was a building that had been in use since his adoptive father’s time. The reason he still used it was to make clear to those who had once followed his adoptive father that the owner had changed.
“Should we relocate?”
“I’ll look into it.”
Gong Haejin hated the smell of the basement. The humidity was too high, making the air heavy and stale. The cement smell was unpleasant — as if it had been freshly slathered on just yesterday.
But he didn’t blame the place for it. For the ones dragged in here, the ones he needed to interrogate for one purpose or another, this setting was perfectly fitting. Just like that one, bound to a chair with nothing else around him.
The man had his head hanging low, as though every last bit of strength had drained from his body — but he flinched noticeably at Gong Haejin’s arrival. Even so, he didn’t raise his head.
The men surrounding him bowed at the waist and filed out. Only Pyo Mingyu stepped forward, lowering his voice to report.
“Like the kid said — that friend of his, the so-called uncle, isn’t actually his real uncle.”
“Figured as much.”
It wasn’t surprising. Around here, terms like uncle, dad’s younger brother, and the like were thrown around casually. It was just that Dohui had been naive enough to take it at face value.
“And the guy’s got no one backing him. Just a junkie.”
Gong Haejin passed Pyo Mingyu — who seemed unusually agitated — and stood before the man. With a gag in his mouth, the man found his entire field of vision swallowed by shadow as Gong Haejin loomed over him. He shook his head, releasing a garbled groan.
“Ugh — mmph…… nngh……”
“Junkies can be surprisingly tenacious.”
For someone trussed up with all four limbs bound, squashed like a lump of dough, the man still had plenty of fight in him. Gong Haejin found that funny, in a way. To think a guy like this had gone behind his back.
“He didn’t act alone.”
Different age ranges, different places of residence, different occupations. As if they’d scraped together manpower from all over. And at the center of it all was Dohui’s friend — Im Jinho. That little bastard had done this on purpose. No question about it.
Gong Haejin pressed his foot down steadily on the tips of the bound man’s toes. The sight of bare toes wriggling like insects was unpleasant to him.
Pyo Mingyu drew a sharp breath.
“We’re still looking for him. That friend of his……”
“Dohui.”
“Sir?”
“The name. Im Dohui. It’s a pretty name for a guy, isn’t it?”
“Ah…… yes. Dohui — that friend of his comes from quite a decent family. Why would someone from money go and do something like that……”
“Something like that?”
A strange glint flashed through Gong Haejin’s eyes. His head turned slightly toward Pyo Mingyu. One foot was still busy crushing the captured man’s toes into the floor. The man’s pained groans played in the background like a soundtrack. Pyo Mingyu quickly straightened his posture.
“By ‘something like that,’ do you mean the transporting and distributing? Because we do that too. It’s shitty work.”
“……I’m sorry. That was a slip of the tongue.”
Gong Haejin turned his attention back to the man he’d had brought in. Clumped, tangled hair, a suit that had been carefully put on at some point — both now sagged heavily.
“The moment that kid lands in the country, bring him in.”
“Yes. And the other one who was with this guy — we’re still tracking him.”
“Mm.”
“We’ll handle it quickly.”
Pyo Mingyu prepared a chair so Gong Haejin could sit properly.
“Now then. Let’s hear what comes out of that filthy throat of yours.”
The man’s small eyes went wide. The gag was removed.
Before him stood a man who looked as though he had just swung open the gates of hell — smiling pleasantly. As if he savored the hunt, delighted in tossing his prey into the inferno. It felt like facing a demon.
A faint shadow fell beneath Gong Haejin’s eyes. His gaze had dropped slightly as he leaned in to listen to the man before him.
“You didn’t know.”
At Gong Haejin’s murmured question — more like a thought spoken aloud — the man gave a heavy nod.
Dohui had truly been in the dark. He was nothing more than a scapegoat chosen by the ones who had plotted this. The man’s faint, half-broken confession continued to spill out.
When it was all done, Gong Haejin covered his face with one hand.
Pyo Mingyu stood to the side, watching only Gong Haejin’s back. A decision about Dohui would be made quickly now. He had been the most unnecessary piece in all of this. A kid who had mortgaged his entire life for a mere million won. It was unfortunate that he’d been so thoroughly deceived by a friend — but it had still been his own choice, and so he would have to pay the price for it.
The goods had gone missing, and Gong Haejin had made an example of three men. One would spend the rest of his life limping after his knee was destroyed. Another had been left unable to see. That was the punishment — and then they were cast out. After all, what decent work could a man do with a broken body?
Then his hand slid away from his face, revealing his expression plainly. As always — cold, composed, those eyes like ice water.
“He wasn’t pretending to be naive. He actually was naive.”
Gong Haejin let out a faint scoff and added:
“Getting fucked from behind, and doing drugs on top of that. Your life is well and truly ruined, Im Dohui.”
The bound man flinched visibly with each word Gong Haejin spoke, as if each one landed like a blow. That was how unsettling Gong Haejin’s presence was.
Has he become a beast……
He had never made a wrong choice no matter how much he drank.
Gong Haejin turned only his eyes toward Pyo Mingyu, expression blank. Pyo Mingyu swallowed a dry lump in his throat under that gaze and carefully opened his mouth.
“Surely you’re not thinking of letting him go……. That won’t do. He came to the office as well……”
“Mingyu’s gotten timid. Are you scared the police might get a tip?”
“N-no, sir. I thought you might tell us to dump the kid back where we found him.”
“As if I would.”
Gong Haejin’s brow twitched slightly — as if reprimanding Pyo Mingyu for the wrong answer.
Im Dohui, 22 years old. A Hanguk University student. A kid living in grinding poverty. Harmless and transparent. He put out whatever was on his mind without hesitation, mumbling with those red lips, repeating the same things over and over like he had no sense. Well — that was probably the best Dohui could have done in that situation.
When they’d first thrown him in the basement and stripped off his clothes, he’d gotten down on all fours and tried to crawl his way to some kind of escape. He’d cried with scraped, reddened knees.
What does it matter that a man cries.
But he was different from the one-night companions he’d known until now. Inexperienced — and hadn’t he recoiled, pushed back, even dry-heaved at him. What was there to find appealing in that. Did he want to torment further someone who expressed with their whole body that they despised him, someone who pushed back because they were uncomfortable.
Gong Haejin let out a derisive snort. If he kept Im Dohui in his home, he wouldn’t have to bother hunting down various partners after a night of drinking. That was how satisfying it was.
Besides — if not for him, Im Dohui would end up drifting into some club or another and living out his days selling himself. He chose to use him until he grew tired of him, and then discard him.
“Bring him into the house.”
Gong Haejin said quietly.
With those few words, Dohui’s fate was decided. A decision no one could argue against.
“Hey.”
“……hh, yes.”
“From now on, when you’re asked a question, this is what you say.”
Gong Haejin rose from his seat. He pulled out a cigarette and placed it between the man’s lips. Watching the man strain to hold it between his battered, split lips, Gong Haejin spoke in a low voice.
“Im Dohui was in on it with the rest of you. He was trying to steal my goods. That’s what you’ll say. You’d better act well. This is your one and only live performance.”
Something flickered in the man’s eyes. Over it, the amber flame of a lighter flared to life.
“Don’t fail.”
***
Consciousness crept back in fits and starts. From somewhere, a sound of anguish drifted in faintly.
“Ugh…… nngh……”
Dohui’s brow furrowed. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Please, just this once, forgive me…… I’ll tell you everything. Ask me anything — words like those were filtering through.
They were too indistinct to parse with a mind barely surfacing from sleep. The pronunciation was slurred, as if the tongue had swollen to twice its size.
Dohui sluggishly lifted his eyelids.
“You’re awake?”
The ceiling that came into view was the same one as before. The office…… Dohui’s heart lurched into his throat, and he forced his eyes wide open.
