Just before the van carrying the workers headed out to the road, it paused briefly, and in that gap, Jagyeong rolled his body and slipped out to the side. He quickly hid in the grass and waited for the vehicle to leave. And when he was completely alone, he rose from his spot.
After brushing off the grass blades and twigs clinging to his clothes, he turned around. Kang Il-hyeon's house had receded so far it was no longer visible. He rotated his shoulders to loosen up, then took out a hat and mask from his pocket to cover his face. Walking out to the main road, he found a taxi waiting in front of a convenience store, one he had called in advance.
Upon getting into the back seat, the taxi driver turned around.
"Are you the one who called?"
"Yes. Please take me here."
After confirming the address, the driver moved the car. The car drove for a little over an hour and arrived at a car center located in a rural village in Gyeonggi Province. After paying the driver and getting out, Jagyeong walked toward the car center. A staff member who had been talking with a customer stepped in front of Jagyeong who had suddenly appeared. A man with his face completely covered was apparently suspicious.
"What brings you here?"
"I've come to see the boss. If you tell him Han sent me, he'll understand."
The staff member told him to wait a moment and went inside. Soon after, a well-built man came out from inside. The man was wearing a short-sleeved shirt in flashy colors, and his physique was so impressive the shirt was on the verge of bursting. The man recognized Jagyeong at once and approached with long strides to give him a bear hug.
"How long has it been, huh?"
Jagyeong tapped the arm that was practically choking his neck. Suffocating, here. The boss released Jagyeong and signaled the staff member nearby to leave. When only the two of them remained, Jagyeong took off his hat and pulled down his mask. Wang Lun was Wang Han's cousin; though he now ran a car center, he used to do smuggling in the past. He had last seen him at age 18, so it was a reunion after 7 years.
"Have you been well?"
"I'm always the same. You haven't changed a bit. But what's going on? There's still a long time before the promised date."
"I came to pick it up early. Or should I say, I'm borrowing it just for today."
Wang Lun's face became somewhat serious.
"Something went wrong?"
"Not that. There's something else I need to handle."
Wang Lun nodded. He knew that even if he asked more, he wouldn't be told. He led Jagyeong to the back of the office. That place was a warehouse for storing tools, and various items were piled up. When he pushed aside boxes stacked as high as a person, an iron door appeared.
A fist-sized padlock was attached, and after opening it, they went inside. That place too was lined with all sorts of miscellaneous items. Wang Lun bent down and lifted the yellow vinyl flooring spread on the floor. Under the flooring, instead of a cement floor, there was a wooden lid.
When he opened the lid, several black boxes were inside. He took them out and placed them on the floor, making quite a heavy sound. After taking out three boxes in total, he closed the lid. He opened the first box and pushed it toward Jagyeong.
"Check it."
Inside were two automatic pistols that held 17 rounds each. The next box contained magazines, grenades, smoke grenades, dynamite, and in the last box, a sniper rifle....
"How is it? Usable?"
"Excellent."
Jagyeong traced the surface of the sniper rifle with his fingertips. This was the weapon that would be used to kill Kang Il-hyeon. In typical sniping, one aims for the limbs, heart, or head, but unlike the femoral artery or heart, a head shot ends life without the person even realizing they're dying.
What the client wanted was the heart. Shot in the heart, Kang Il-hyeon would survive for about a minute. What would he look like facing death right before his eyes? Could he smile and joke as calmly as he does now? Unfortunately, it seemed he wouldn't be able to see that far. Jagyeong went inside, changed into clothes suitable for activity, and packed a dagger and pistol, fastening an ammunition belt around his waist.
He also put grenades, smoke grenades, and explosives that could be detonated into his bag. When preparations were complete and he came outside, Wang Lun took Jagyeong to the side of the warehouse. When he pulled back the black vinyl, a motorcycle appeared. It was Kawasaki's new model, and the license plate was also forged, so there was no risk of being caught, he said.
Jagyeong wheeled the motorcycle outside. After putting on the helmet and starting the engine, Wang Lun approached.
"Be careful."
Jagyeong nodded. When he turned the handle, the engine made a rumbling, growling sound. It had been a while since he'd ridden, and he felt excited. The tracker he had attached on one side was showing GPS working. A red dot was moving somewhere along the road.
"I'll be back."
He waved to Wang Lun and shot out onto the road like an arrow. Though the roads were complex, he weaved through the vehicles with ease and broke free. As speed built up, buildings and cars disappeared in the blink of an eye. His heart rate rose along with the sense of speed he hadn't felt in a long time.
The distance to the red dot gradually decreased. When he approached the vicinity, he discovered a vehicle waiting for a signal at an intersection crosswalk far ahead. The white sports car was quite familiar. After the signal changed and the car started first, Jagyeong followed closely behind.
Looking closer, it was indeed Choi Gi-tae's vehicle with the tracker attached. When he pulled up right next to the driver's side, the window rolled down. A face popped out, shouting at him to get lost. It wasn't Choi Gi-tae. The fierce-looking man cursed loudly.
Jagyeong shot forward and cut in front as if to ram them. The startled sports car swerved in a zigzag pattern, creating skid marks. Jagyeong looked back and waved his middle finger. The enraged sports car roared and began chasing after him.
***
"What brings you here?"
The secretary had a troubled face saying a guest had arrived, and now she seemed to understand why. Kim Sun-young, who had been looking down at the nameplate reading Executive Director Kang Il-hyeon, slowly turned around. Unlike when seen at the main residence, her makeup was thicker and her clothes more splendid. She came and sat on the sofa, and Il-hyeon took off his jacket and called the secretary to bring tea.
"No need for tea. You and I aren't in a relationship where we can sit facing each other affectionately drinking tea, are we?"
"Very well, then. Get to the point."
"What are you trying to do?"
"Speak so I can understand."
"Why did you mess with Chairman Choi? Don't you know who he is?"
Il-hyeon took out a cigarette from a silver case and put it in his mouth. He lit it and leaned leisurely against the sofa. He admitted that he sent the money because Kim Sun-young had asked him to. He said he didn't know the reason, just that he did it because he was asked.
Since the guys who received the money had fled, there was no evidence to confirm the truth. But since Tae-su had sent people out, catching them was just a matter of time. When caught, he planned to tear them limb from limb and kill them.
"What are you thinking, Mother?"
"What?"
"Don't hate me too much. I like you, Mother."
Sun-young looked at him with an exasperated face. That's rich. As expected, what Kang Il-hyeon said next was extremely scathing.
"You're greedy, cunning, and have many similarities to me. They say green is the same color. If Seok-ju had taken after you, I would have liked him better than I do now."
Veins appeared on the back of her hand clutching her bag.
"Is that how you speak to an adult?"
"If I offended you, I'm sorry. I apologize."
"You're good at making apologies you don't mean."
Il-hyeon ground out his cigarette, then smiled and crossed his arms, leaning back on the sofa. There was a time in his very early childhood when he wanted to receive her affection. Having no memory of being loved by his mother, he tried to score points with his stepmother who suddenly appeared, but what returned was a cold response.
He wasn't angry or anything. That's just how the ways of the world are. From her position, there was no way children who didn't share a drop of blood would be endearing. Besides, even as a child, Il-hyeon was not the type of human who received adoration.
His method of getting attention was also bizarre, so Chairman Kang had considered taking his son to a psychiatrist several times. No wonder he personally got him exempted from military service. Mentally unstable. Though it was called mental instability, Chairman Kang may have worried that Il-hyeon would go to the military and shoot people to death.
"I'll give you a chance. If you can't handle it perfectly, confess now."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"Stop this. If I find out, how will you handle it then?"
Sun-young laughed at that. She said if he could find out, go ahead and try. Probably, Il-hyeon would not be able to find evidence of that incident anywhere in the world. Because he had discovered it this morning and eliminated everything. Moreover, he had already leaked the news that Jang Ian had been attacked to the Hong Kong side.
Sun-young rose from her seat, and Il-hyeon raised his head and stared straight at her.
"Mother. What was our family rule?"
Kim Sun-young fell silent.
"Family members do not inflict harm on each other under any circumstances."
Hearing that, Kim Sun-young scoffed.
"Knowing that, you did that to Seok-ju?"
The smile completely disappeared from Il-hyeon's smiling face.
"However, the disposition of the one who inflicted harm is carried out according to the victim's judgment and decision, and other family members do not interfere at all."
Sun-young was dumbfounded.
"So that means even if you kill me, there's no problem?"
"No. It means if I'm killed, Seok-ju has to kill me."
"Stop playing word games. No matter what you say, I know nothing about it."
Kim Sun-young smiled leisurely, but seeing Kang Il-hyeon so composed, anxiety gradually swelled inside her. Kang Il-hyeon had been a master at tormenting people since childhood. Even grown up, he was the same, and every time she saw him, indignation rose within her.
She had to make a preemptive move and bring him down before he bit her throat out. If left as is, the day he reached the top, it was obvious that she and her son Kang Seok-ju would be the first to be eliminated.