* * *
After leaving the casino, Ju Xiang caught a taxi. Kang Siwon swallowed his anxiety and silently got into the car.
While the taxi drove to who knows where, Kang Siwon just quietly looked out the window. Ju Xiang also kept his mouth shut as if this wasn’t something to discuss here. Thanks to that, only the engine sound and the sound of wheels rolling could be heard inside the car.
After a while, the taxi stopped in front of a building. From the outside it looked like a restaurant, but the sign was small and hard to make out, so he couldn’t be sure.
“Let’s go in.”
He got out of the taxi following Ju Xiang. When he opened the building’s door and entered, an employee in a neat uniform attended to them. It seemed to be a restaurant after all.
However, the atmosphere was more formal than Kang Siwon had expected. Modern interior design was exquisitely mixed with traditional design, creating a calm atmosphere. It definitely wasn’t the kind of place to buy a junior he didn’t even care about a drink.
The intuition naturally arose that there was indeed something important, and it wouldn’t be anything beneficial to him. Kang Siwon clenched his sweaty fingers tightly.
The employee guided the two to a room located in the very back. The moment the sliding door opened with a swoosh, Kang Siwon swallowed.
There was a completely unexpected face inside.
“You’re here?”
Manager Park, who had been eating first, put down his chopsticks and acknowledged them. When he didn’t move, Ju Xiang pushed his back. Kang Siwon forcibly moved his stiff legs and entered the room.
Thud.
The door closed and the surroundings became perfectly silent. Seeing that even the music that had been flowing softly in the hallway was cut off, the soundproofing must be excellent. The space itself seemed designed for secret conversations.
“Sit. You know how to eat sashimi, right?”
“……Yes.”
“Eat.”
As he sat in front of Manager Park, Kang Siwon looked down at the table. Sashimi was neatly arranged on a large plate. It was high-class cuisine he’d never dared order, not in Macau and not even in Korea.
But even in front of such expensive food, his appetite simply wouldn’t stir. Kang Siwon forcibly picked up a piece of sashimi and chewed it with difficulty.
“So, has life in Macau been alright?”
“……Yes. Thanks to your concern.”
Alright my ass, every day was like walking on thin ice. Because his true feelings were in this state, his answer attempting to display social graces sounded sarcastic. Manager Park didn’t take issue with it and just nodded.
“You’ve done better than expected. You brought back good stuff and even caught a broker. You’re diligent, unlike your old man, haha.”
“Ah…… Yes.”
“Right? You do what you’re told pretty well.”
When Manager Park asked Ju Xiang, he glanced at Kang Siwon and smirked.
“Pretty well my ass. The kid’s head is so thick, he argues about so much.”
“He’s at an age full of vigor, so that’s understandable. In the end, he just needs to produce results.”
Manager Park and Ju Xiang exchanged various conversations. From recent updates to internal Baeksa Faction affairs, it was content Kang Siwon had no interest in and didn’t want to know about.
It didn’t seem like a place for him to be, so he didn’t know why he’d been called. Kang Siwon just looked down at the table. The neatly sliced sashimi seemed just like himself. In that it was ready to be swallowed at any time.
“We need to wrap up Sovereign soon.”
At the unexpected words, Kang Siwon’s head snapped up. Manager Park tilted his glass and continued in a suspicious tone.
“It’s a shame since we’ve put in effort for years, but seeing how things are going, it seems time to pull out. Don’t you think?”
“Yes. The situation kept getting twisted anyway, but this time it was turned upside down with that charity foundation subsidy matter. The internal executives are on edge too. This is just my feeling, but there seems to be someone stirring things up from the inside…… I don’t think we should move recklessly for the time being.”
“Right. In business, you need to know when to pull out at the right time. We’ve already taken everything we could from Sovereign anyway.”
“That’s right, hyung-nim.”
“Are we gonna lose face and stay stuck at this fucking size forever? There are bigger fish scattered everywhere.”
Thud. Manager Park put down his glass and this time stared straight at Kang Siwon. An ominous premonition crept up and Kang Siwon swallowed dryly.
“You, get ready to change positions soon.”
“……What?”
“You’ve done well so far, so I’ll promote you. From now on you’ll work as a broker.”
For a moment, his mind went blank.
What did he mean suddenly change positions? Of course, leaving Sovereign was also his wish, but he hadn’t hoped for it to be like this. Unless the debt was fully repaid and he was completely liberated, things going forward would only get worse, not better.
Moreover, leaving Sovereign meant he’d also have to part with Ray Jun. That annoyingly bright face came to mind on its own. A sadness he couldn’t even understand himself welled up, but Kang Siwon forced himself to come to his senses.
“A broker—what kind of broker do you mean?”
“You’ll be in charge of chip exchange from now on. Don’t think too hard about it. You saw plenty of people exchanging chips while working in the cage room, right?”
“Yes.”
“Exactly that. You just exchange chips as we instruct. On the side that exchanges chips. You’ll become the one who exchanges them.”
“……”
“Why that face? Don’t want to do it?”
Manager Park’s voice had a slight edge to it. Then Ju Xiang in the seat next to him made a fuss.
“Man, the manager is giving you such a good opportunity. Don’t you remember when you first entered Sovereign? You were fucking scared your identity would be exposed because your Chinese was clumsy. This time you won’t have to clash with colleagues, and you won’t have to do casino employee work either. It’ll be way easier than now. You just exchange chips quickly and that’s it!”
Kang Siwon was no longer naive enough to be deceived by such sweet talk.
This wasn’t simply becoming the one who exchanges instead of the one being exchanged for. It was becoming the one who evades taxes instead of the one who watches tax evaders at the casino.
It meant becoming more deeply involved in criminal activity.
“……Then when will I quit Sovereign?”
“It’ll be between next month and the month after. Let’s make one last score and get out.”
“One last score?”
Ju Xiang answered instead of Manager Park.
“Tomorrow a woman named Tian Feifei will come to your counter. She’ll re-exchange fifteen 10,000-unit chips three times at 2-hour intervals, so just approve it.”
Even without Ju Xiang’s instructions, it was something he naturally had to process as a cage staff member. He couldn’t understand why they were specifically ordering this.
As if reading Kang Siwon’s doubts, Ju Xiang added an explanation.
“I’m telling you in advance, the chips won’t be under Tian Feifei’s name. When you scan them, a different person’s name will come up. Even so, don’t make an issue of it and process it through. Got it?”
“……”
The words “is that even possible” rose to his throat.
When high-value chips were scanned, everything from purchaser information to exchange history appeared in the system. In principle, if someone other than the person who exchanged the chips requested re-exchange, a verification process had to be followed. Yet they were telling him to ignore that process and push it through somehow.
“That’s……”
“It’s not even difficult, is it?”
Ju Xiang smoothly picked up and ate some sashimi. For him, it seemed as simple a matter as eating it raw like that.
“……It’s not an easy task. Even if I approve it, that amount will definitely be recorded. There will be logs under my ID too. If Sovereign questions it later, I’ll have nothing to say.”
“You don’t need to worry about that problem.”
“How can I not worry?”
“Ugh, you can’t fix the habit of nitpicking even after getting beat. You bastard, just do what you’re told, why so much talk?”
“Hey, enough, enough. If this kid’s going to work in sync with us from now on, he needs to know what he needs to know.”
Manager Park stopped Ju Xiang. He looked at Kang Siwon with a face reddened from alcohol.
“The owner of those chips is a Sovereign executive.”
“……What?”
“Your logs and such can all be erased at that person’s level. You just have to press the approval button, that’s what I’m saying.”
“……”
“For reference, Tian Feifei is also a chip broker. Such brokers exchange on behalf of VIPs and handle the cleanup. It’s what you’ll be doing from now on, so watch carefully this time. Got it?”
Yes, he answered so quietly it was barely audible. Not caring about such a lukewarm response, Manager Park and Ju Xiang enjoyed their drinks.
