A business symbiotic relationship. It was something Hui-myeong couldn’t understand. But he decided not to pry. It wouldn’t be too late to ask when he was in a slightly better mood.
“You know, why did you hit those people working with you earlier?”
At Hui-myeong’s question changing direction, Geum-gang’s huge body flinched. He looked flustered as if caught in an embarrassing scene.
“Do gangsters use words then? You have to beat them for them to listen.”
Geum-gang answered deliberately roughly, but Hui-myeong wasn’t surprised. His tone hadn’t been that friendly before either, so it was rather familiar.
“Does a grown adult change just from being hit?”
“If they don’t change, they just get beaten again.”
“Hyung’s hands just hurt though.”
“Gangsters die from itchy hands if they don’t use their fists.”
“……”
It was such a gangster-like answer that Hui-myeong was at a loss for words.
Even when they attended school together, he didn’t swing his fists carelessly. People avoided him on their own within the school, and being three years older than his classmates, he thought it was unseemly to swing fists at kids wearing uniforms. The way he refrained despite having strength looked cool to Hui-myeong, but now he felt a sense of alienation toward him saying you have to beat them to make them understand.
Hui-myeong observed Geum-gang with sidelong glances while pretending to slurp the canned coffee. His concentrated appearance with the loupe on and his brow furrowed was quite professional. The trapezius muscles raised from tension and the muscles leading to his thick neck were masculine too. He’d looked so angry, but answering every question asked was friendly.
‘They said he’d kill me.’
Hui-myeong laughed quietly to himself, recalling Geum-gang’s subordinate who had joked even with his face burst from being beaten.
After checking the items one by one, Geum-gang finally took off the loupe and put down the last watch.
“If you’re going to bring things, bring gold instead. These things can’t even be resold because of serial numbers. Even if you disassemble and sell them, you can’t get much, and the black market won’t handle them. If I release them into the market wrong, I’ll get caught.”
“Ha…”
Hui-myeong stopped drinking his canned coffee and burst into hollow laughter. It was a completely unexpected answer. They must all be worth tens of millions of won, but they couldn’t be sold because of serial number issues. With Hui-myeong’s common sense, he couldn’t understand it at all.
“Hyung, you’re lying to me right now, aren’t you?”
There wasn’t a shred of doubt in Hui-myeong’s voice.
“Why would I?”
Geum-gang sat with his legs crossed and leaned back in the chair in a crooked posture. His arrogant face had no particular expression, making it difficult to read his mood.
“Because you don’t want to lend me money?”
“Who are you? Who are you that I wouldn’t lend you money?”
“Me? I’m… well…”
Hui-myeong couldn’t answer. Well, there was no benefit for Geum-gang to gain from not lending Hui-myeong money.
“Then, can I at least get a fake passport, or no, smuggling…”
Hui-myeong’s confident voice gradually became quieter. Without money, what fake passport or smuggling? Even he thought it didn’t make sense.
Though he didn’t have a passport, he’d believed he could get money. But Geum-gang was so cold that he felt ashamed for expecting past friendship.
Geum-gang shook his head as if pathetic, then turned on the speakerphone right there and called somewhere.
—Hey, President Geum, what’s going on?
The person who answered was a man’s voice, clearly over forty.
“How much is a fake passport these days?”
Though the other person was much older than him, Geum-gang’s tone was rough.
—Ah, these days, the regulations have gotten strict, so you need to give at least 2,000. Takes about a week or ten days. If it’s for America, starts at 5,000. You know, America’s fussy these days.
America is 5,000. The most familiar place was America, but it was difficult from the start.
“What about smuggling?”
Geum-gang asked while blatantly staring at Hui-myeong with a tone of ‘You heard that, right?’
—Don’t you know the regime changed? The west coast has gotten strict lately. If you mess up, you’ll cross over to North Korea, so we’re not touching that side these days either. Why? Should I look into the Chinese side for you? Can’t guarantee safety though.
Oklahoma became distant, but the moment he thought the Philippines might be possible, Hui-myeong’s expectations crumbled again.
“Never mind. Hang up.”
Geum-gang hung up without a greeting and immediately called somewhere else again. Though he hadn’t particularly planned on smuggling, Hui-myeong’s back involuntarily went cold at the words ‘can’t guarantee safety.’
—President Geum! Did some good merchandise come in?
The other person answered the phone with a bright voice. Geum-gang grabbed the most expensive watch among those scattered and asked.
“Patek Philippe Aquanaut. Possible?”
—You joking? Where would I sell that? Unless I wear it myself.
“Vacheron Constantin.”
—Ugh, no thanks. Did you rob some chaebol family’s bedroom or something?
“Jaeger-LeCoultre then.”
—I’ll give you about 3 million for that.
“You fucking bastard, that’s robbery. This is a 30 million won item—do you even have anyone who’d sell a watch to you, you bastard?”
Geum-gang shouted, mixing in curses as if his held patience had burst.
—Ah, why the sudden outburst? Then go to a luxury consignment department store. You call a fence and then act like this.
“Hang up.”
After hanging up, Geum-gang looked at Hui-myeong. Having heard the entire conversation, Hui-myeong’s face had already drooped. Geum-gang’s words weren’t lies, but he still didn’t want to believe it.
“You heard? Even with this crap, you can’t even make one passport.”
Geum-gang said while shaking the most expensive watch among them.
“……”
Nothing was going according to plan. Forget abroad, he couldn’t even run away domestically. If they’d give 3 million won for a 30 million won watch, it meant even selling all the rest of the watches wouldn’t get him 10 million won.
“But, like, huh? What about those things that say if you pawn a watch they lend you a lot of money, and they purchase luxury watches at high prices?”
“That’s when it’s your watch. Not when some bastard came after cleaning out someone else’s entire watch collection like a thief’s son. Though you worked hard carrying all that.”
Hui-myeong flinched at the words ‘thief’s son.’
“H-how did you know?”
“What?”
“That it’s not mine.”
“If it were yours, at this hour, clutching a bag like this, would you have come to such a shabby place? You came because you need to dispose of them secretly and urgently.”
“……”
He’d just thought he was a gangster, but Geum-gang’s eye for detail was amazing too. There were no more excuses.
Geum-gang sneered and picked out another watch to examine front and back.
“Are you being kept as a mistress under some old gangster bastard?”
“No!”
At the casually probing attitude, Hui-myeong vehemently denied it. Though Do-ha was rough, he wasn’t old and wasn’t a gangster either. Above all, he hated appearing as that low quality of a person to Geum-gang.
“Then why are you so desperate to run away? Just like a bastard who’ll die if caught while running away.”
“Why do you care when you’re not even going to lend me money?”
Feeling guilty for no reason, Hui-myeong shouted even more shamelessly.
“Fine. I wasn’t asking out of curiosity. I’ll take you home, so come out. Don’t get your head cracked by getting hit with a brick by some random guy while carrying this stuff around with that face.”
He said while picking up the watches one by one and putting them in the bag. Hui-myeong didn’t miss the timing and approached right in front of him.
“Hyung, then can’t you at least buy me the jajangmyeon I ate last time?”
Though he hadn’t achieved anything he’d intended, he wanted to buy even a little more time with him. And he was hungry too, honestly.
Geum-gang burst into hollow laughter because Hui-myeong’s request was so out of the blue.
“Ha, what kind of jajangmyeon talk is this?”
“I said I want to eat jajangmyeon.”
“Go buy some.”
Geum-gang said while firmly zipping up the bag with the watches.
“I don’t have money.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m serious.”
“I said I won’t buy you food again.”
Grumble. As soon as Geum-gang finished speaking, a loud sound rang out from Hui-myeong’s stomach. Breakfast had become a mess, he’d thrown up all the lunch he ate at the wedding venue, and he hadn’t eaten anything until late at night, so it made sense. Moreover, he’d blown his last 18,800 won on taxi fare, and he’d already thrown away the porridge Section Chief Kim had bought, so even going home, there was no food to eat and no money to buy food.
“You’ve got some nerve, fuck.”
Geum-gang turned back to the desk as if defeated and turned on the speakerphone.
“Two jajangmyeon, one sweet and sour pork set to Daemul. Include peppermint candy.”
After hanging up, he threw the bag into Hui-myeong’s arms with a thud and went outside the president’s office.
Hui-myeong chased after him while holding the bag. From what he could tell, Geum-gang seemed to be in a much better mood than when he first came in. He’d probably be in an even better mood after eating jajangmyeon. Imagining it, Hui-myeong was also unnecessarily excited.
Geum-gang, who sat on the office sofa with his legs crossed, familiarly lit a cigarette. Hui-myeong, who had been blinking while looking at him while hugging the bag, carefully opened his mouth.
