Nice foundation pit.
It would be perfect to lay Jang Hyeokjin and Han Yongwoo side by side in there and pour cement all over them.
Taesung squatted in front of the construction site, chain-smoking, and thought.
A 5-minute distance if you ran your ass off to the station—they planned to tear down two dilapidated houses located in the middle of a villa town and build a 5-story residential-commercial complex. After months of coaxing and cajoling an impossibly picky building owner, he’d barely managed to secure a construction contract. Though they’d mercilessly slashed the unit price, it was still the first independent contract Hansae Construction had landed without Wonin Construction’s help.
Even if there’s no profit, I need to build it well. To avoid seeing Jang Hyeokjin’s dirty face and to keep the guys under him fed, Hansae Construction needed its own standing. Conveniently, the building owner was a local notable who owned several more old villas in the area, so if he could sweet-talk that old man well, he might be able to create a ‘Hansae Town’ in this whole area.
As he indulged in this frivolous fantasy, a snicker escaped him. As expected, Han River viewing and foundation pit viewing are the best for soothing shitty moods. Thinking about the bastards to throw in there one by one naturally puts your mind at ease.
“I didn’t know you were here.”
But the healing time wasn’t very long. A cold voice that pierced straight down to the crown of his head stirred up the insides he’d barely managed to calm. The filth that had settled deep at the bottom floated up again, muddying his mind turbidly. Taesung spat at his feet and put a new cigarette in his mouth.
The other person held out a pale hand. Taesung frowned and glared at the fingers waving in front of him. Only after they made a pinching gesture with their index and middle fingers like tweezers did he realize their intention. Though it was absurd enough to make him snort, Taesung took out his cigarette pack again. The one he’d bought in the morning was already empty—only one cigarette remained.
“It’s my last one?”
He meant what kind of shameless person would try to take the last cigarette, but the other person pretended not to understand and wiggled their fingers again. Anyway, all the bastards working under Jang Hyeokjin had no manners.
Only after he handed over his precious last cigarette did the other person crouch down next to Taesung. They put the cigarette to lips painted with dark lipstick and touched the tip to Taesung’s cigarette to light it. Only then did Taesung raise one eyebrow and look at her face with displeasure. Director Yoon took a delicious drag of the cigarette and exhaled a long breath. Then she stood up again and looked around the site with an upright posture.
“Director Yoon smoked cigarettes?”
Taesung also pushed one knee up and rose. Perhaps because he’d been squatting continuously, his back felt stiff.
“I was quitting smoking until just now.”
“Quitting? For how long?”
“72 hours.”
“Fuck, that’s amaazing, amazing.”
But this was the first time Taesung had seen Director Yoon smoke a cigarette. She probably didn’t want to smoke with people involved in company business. She wouldn’t have wanted to be invited to such trivial cigarette breaks either.
While cleaning up all the excrement Jang Hyeokjin scattered in all directions under him, Director Yoon despised the people who worked with Jang Hyeokjin. She didn’t even try to hide her tired and annoyed gaze toward Taesung and Hansae Construction employees.
So Director Yoon didn’t look good to him, but honestly, he understood her feelings too. A person who studied hard, got a professional license with “sa” in it, and lived smartly and well would be going crazy working among idiotic gangster bastards who couldn’t understand anything.
“But why did you come here? Did he tell you to monitor whether Jang Hyeokjin is handling work properly?”
This wasn’t even a site related to Wonin Construction. If one of Jang Hyeokjin’s lackeys had swaggered over, he would have smacked the back of their head first and shaken them down, but the fact that it was none other than Director Yoon who’d walked over made him uneasy. Director Yoon puffed out cigarette smoke once more and then glanced at Taesung sideways.
“I told you. I didn’t know President Han was here.”
“If you didn’t know I was here, why are you loitering around someone else’s site?”
“What do you think the reason is?”
Taesung’s brow furrowed. Director Yoon added as if to nail it in.
“The president said President Han would probably be at the Icheon site.”
The end of Taesung’s cigarette burned rapidly. Only then did Director Yoon withdraw her gaze from him.
“He’s already building dozens of stories worth of buildings, but he wants to snatch away even this hole-in-the-wall too?”
“He seems to have been displeased that Hansae Construction won an independent contract.”
“Then fuck, am I supposed to spend my whole life just wiping Wonin Construction’s ass?”
Director Yoon chuckled.
“Isn’t it about time you gave up?”
Taesung lost his words for a moment and glared at her. Director Yoon paid no mind to Taesung’s fierce gaze and calmly stared at the sharply rising cross beyond the barrier surrounding the construction site.
“I gave up.”
A whisper-like voice crept secretly into Taesung’s ear. Since it was something he never thought he’d hear from Director Yoon’s mouth, Taesung let out an uncomfortable groan and turned away from her for no reason.
“Our president won’t just stand by and let President Han become independent.”
“That’s all finished business. And what use would Jang Hyeokjin have for keeping me around anymore?”
“It’s not because you have great usefulness that he keeps you by his side. Livestock is property, so even a withered cow has to be caught and brought back when it leaves the barn, doesn’t it?”
What wind has blown through this woman to suddenly spout such talk?
Taesung anxiously sucked on his cigarette to hide his complicated feelings.
“Will you continue that work?”
“This? There’s only the building left to do, so I can’t drop it here.”
“Not that.”
“Then what am I continuing or not continuing? Director Yoon, speak clearly.”
“I heard Hyun Jaeha came back.”
Hearing Jaeha’s name from her mouth sounded strangely unfamiliar. Maybe because he thought of them as people with no connection.
“Since when have you known that kid, Director Yoon?”
“I don’t. I’ve never even had a conversation with him.”
Director Yoon flicked her fingers to knock off cigarette ash without taking her eyes off the cross.
“But I heard he’s clever. Someone like that wouldn’t have hidden well until now only to reveal himself like a moth to flame without any preparation.”
“He thinks he can manipulate Jang Hyeokjin just because he secured Baekjin Shopping Complex. He doesn’t know how scary the world is because he’s a brat whose head hasn’t even dried yet.”
“For that, our president seemed quite shaken.”
“It must be because of the chairman.”
“Will you kill him?”
Taesung’s eyes widened as he looked at Director Yoon. Wasn’t she the one who only got involved in company business and protected herself from ‘this kind of work’ in case sparks might fly?
“Why are you asking that?”
“If you’re thinking you can be released once you finish this Hyun Jaeha matter, give up.”
“So why…”
“Because I feel sorry.”
Director Yoon dropped the half-burned cigarette on the ground and ground it out with her toe.
“What do you know about me? Director Yoon, you’re not in a position to pity me…”
“Not you, President Han. Hyun Jaeha.”
Taesung barely swallowed the words that that bastard was even less worthy of pity. He just pulled at his frustratingly tight turtleneck for no reason.
“Even if I don’t know Hyun Jaeha, I’ve received kindness from the chairman. He’s already been betrayed by President Han once, so if he gets stabbed in the back again, you think that kid won’t get venomous?”
“What do you mean I betrayed that bastard? I just…”
“You try to cut the throat of a kid you raised with your own hands to free yourself from your shackles, and that’s not betrayal?”
“Is that bastard my kid? Fuck, I need to live too, don’t I!”
“So did you free your shackles?”
“Hansae Construction became independent!”
And he didn’t have to be dragged around to that dirty place anymore either.
“Ah, so that’s what you think.”
He couldn’t bring himself to say the most important reason he had to ‘betray’ Jaeha. Director Yoon nodded half-heartedly with an attitude that she couldn’t accept it but didn’t feel it was worth refuting either.
“If you’ve lived well keeping your mouth shut until now, keep protecting yourself like that going forward. Don’t run your mouth and hasten your death.”
Taesung growled and intimidated Director Yoon. But having gone through all sorts of trials and tribulations inside Wonin Construction, she wasn’t someone who would be cowed by such half-assed threats.
“Think carefully about why I came here, President Han. That’s all I have to say.”
Director Yoon turned around after throwing only those words. Taesung watched her retreating figure and bit his lower lip.
She said she didn’t know he was here. But Director Yoon, who only handled internal Wonin Construction matters, personally came to a site that Hansae Construction independently contracted and was proceeding with.
It meant Hansae Construction going through independence procedures considerably grated on Jang Hyeokjin’s nerves.
That bastard who ran his mouth saying he’d let him go if he just ‘dealt with’ Hyun Jaeha—fuck, his words and actions should match, shouldn’t they?
Making him do all sorts of dog-shit things, using a person like that—he should have at least a shred of conscience.
Right after Chairman Hyun Hongwon’s samuje ended, Jang Hyeokjin urgently summoned Taesung.
It was to give the order to deal with Jaeha.
Out of respect for the chairman if nothing else, Taesung firmly refused his order for the first time.
Instead of throwing a punch at Taesung, Jang Hyeokjin persuaded him more warmly than ever before.
