“I got a job.”
“Hyung, it hasn’t even been a day since we finished the last job.”
“This’ll be the last one.”
“What?”
Manager Kim squeezed in among the dumbfounded employees.
“With Wonin?”
“Yeah. We agreed to it, so just shut up and do it.”
I don’t know. Whether ending things with Wonin Construction is really the right thing to do. Will Jang Hyeokjin really let Taesung go this easily? If he really enters politics, he’ll need more dog bastards whose weaknesses he can exploit and use.
Should I just throw it all away?
If it weren’t for doing this kind of work with these guys, he wouldn’t need to live in constant anxiety about his identity being exposed. But on the other hand, their very existence served as a shield for Taesung. Because he had subordinates who followed him, even if they were lacking, Jang Hyeokjin couldn’t use Taesung ‘however he pleased.’ Taesung himself knew best 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 gas refills. Cheap, light, you could see right through them, and when you used them up, you just threw them away.
That’s probably why people look for cheap things.
Only now could he take a proper drag. The cigarette smoke that swept through his lungs cleared out his stifled feelings.
The smoke he exhaled was particularly acrid.
“Baekjin Shopping Complex. A shopping apartment built in the early 80s, 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 They had hoped the outdated image of Nakcheon District would disappear thanks to the redevelopment, but with a decades-old shopping complex sitting there, they must be worried that property values won’t rise.”
People’s greed has no end. They magically turned decades-old townhouses into new apartments, and now the shabby shopping complex visible from their windows must be an eyesore. Yet if that building rises to dozens of floors, they’ll raise hell about sunlight rights and view rights.
“Nakcheon District is where your president’s father-in-law was, right?”
“Yes. I understand he served four terms just in Nakcheon Eul.”
Former National Assembly member Ha Dongseon. He was Jang Hyeokjin’s father-in-law. When he first ran for office and was groveling, he arranged a marriage with his own daughter to borrow Jang Hyeokjin’s power. Jang Hyeokjin, who was born a gangster bastard but had grand dreams, didn’t miss this golden opportunity to move into the light, but he only found out after the engagement. The fact that the daughter Ha Dongseon had willingly given to a gangster bastard was none other than a child born from an affair.
It was an extremely insulting matter for that prideful man, 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 as an assembly member, 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 moderately sells out his dead father-in-law.
After his corruption accumulated over the years was exposed and he failed his fifth-term challenge, Ha Dongseon coincidentally passed away when his chronic illness worsened. Since then, Nakcheon District had been dominated by the opposing party in backlash against Ha Dongseon. But with redevelopment progress bringing in a large influx of outsiders, the former assembly member’s corruption would be gradually forgotten, and now they’d want someone who’d raise their property values.
“Wonin Construction will pull out the rotten tooth?”
“Yes. Actually, we’ve secured a considerable portion of the building’s shares.”
Since the redevelopment issue emerged, they would have either locked up properties tightly or raised prices absurdly, so if Wonin Construction had secured a considerable share of Baekjin Shopping Complex, it meant this was something they’d been carefully preparing for a long time. But why was Jang Hyeokjin suddenly trying to use force through Taesung?
“But it seems like some speculative forces have entered from somewhere.”
“You’re saying to clear them out.”
“Clearing them out is too aggressive—it would be better to find an appropriate compromise.”
“Okay. If we drag them to Nakcheon Mountain, bury them up to their necks, and hit their heads a few times with a shovel, they’ll compromise.”
“Are you serious?”
“Whether I’m serious or not, ask your president. It’s his specialty.”
Director Yoon of Wonin Construction raised his 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.”
Instead of Taesung, who sat in an utterly delinquent posture with crossed legs and picked up the trash scattered on the desk instead of saying ‘get lost,’ Manager Kim pushed Director Yoon’s back. Director Yoon left the office without hiding his troubled expression.
“Could it be another company?”
“Then Jang Hyeokjin would’ve dealt with it already.”
“Isn’t the amount too large for an individual to secure such shares?”
“Or some bastard is enticing the owners from behind the scenes.”
“We need to catch that bastard. Ah, this is going to be a headache again.”
He hadn’t expected to be assigned an easy job. Taesung glared at the sight of Director Yoon’s car pulling out beyond the glass door. When he goes back, he’ll probably tell Jang Hyeokjin every little detail about how Taesung threw a fit.
“Cheolgu-ya.”
“Ah, President, I told you to call me Manager Kim.”
“Hey, Mango’s daddy.”
“Yes?”
Damn, he doesn’t like the name his parents gave him but likes being called Mango’s daddy.
Well, would a filial son be living doing this kind of work? The fact that his forearms were full of scratches from Mango was all karma coming back around.
“Let’s go check it out first. You know, what is it, you have to know well to win, that kind of saying.”
“Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles?”
“Yeah, fuck. Must be nice having gone to college.”
“You’re the only person who acknowledges the college I got into with a grade 7, President.”
Whether it’s grade 7 or grade 100, you went, that’s what matters.
Not knowing satisfaction is the problem. In Taesung’s eyes, they all looked like people spoiled by luxury—Jang Hyeokjin, who was snooping around politics even after boldly taking over Wonin Construction; the residents who considered Baekjin Shopping Complex an eyesore when they should just live happily after a successful redevelopment; and even Manager Kim, who got into college with a grade 7 but wouldn’t even treat his alma mater like a college.
Well, the one most spoiled by luxury was someone else.
Though I don’t even know if he’s dead or alive now.
-HOOONK!
Taesung opened his eyes at the loud horn sound. Manager Kim rolled down the window and shouted. What do you want me to do, you fucking bastard? Can’t you drive properly?
Boldly choosing to honk in the second lane and immediately turn right, the taxi ignored Manager Kim’s words and zoomed into the alley. Cursing with every profanity—fucking bastard, 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, it was Nakcheon District. They seemed to have almost arrived at their destination.
“Stop it, you bastard.”
Taesung muttered in a voice heavy with fatigue. But it didn’t reach Manager Kim’s ears, who’d already lost his mind. He drives calmly and then when a button gets pushed like that, he has a fit. Manager Kim closely chased the taxi’s tail, honking repeatedly. The taxi, probably having already seen Manager Kim’s face, refused to stop and fled here and there.
People passing through the alley stopped and glared at the car. They couldn’t see Taesung inside due to the dark tinting, but Taesung could see all their gazes. Displeasure, irritation, contempt. Eyes that judged good and evil based only on what they saw now, instead of investigating who was at fault first.
“I said stop!”
-HOOOOONK!
Simultaneously with Taesung’s shout, the taxi ahead made an emergency stop. With a rattling vibration, the emergency stop system activated. Manager Kim and Taesung’s bodies swayed greatly. His head rang from the scream-like horn sound.
“This fucking bastard, really!”
Manager Kim jumped out of the car like an angry 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 loudly, and Manager Kim stomping his feet as if he’d kick the taxi any moment 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 gathered.
As he reached the alley entrance where food smells wafted from each house, Taesung’s steps gradually slowed. He suddenly raised his head and looked up at the sky. In the middle of the cloudless peach-colored sky, a thin crescent moon was gracefully curved. It was a scene that gave him a sense of déjà vu somewhere. It seemed like I once looked up at a sky like this and felt a strangely fluffy mood. Was it in my distant childhood, or was it something in 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.
