<56>
Il-hyun stared at the disconnected call, his lips pressed tight. It was a face he hadn't seen in a year. He hadn't expected a warm welcome to begin with, but the woman beside him was an entirely unexpected development. He moved his tongue inside his mouth and examined the photos saved in the mobile phone one by one.
The man named Wang Lun seemed to be quite close with Lee Ja-gyeong. Most of the photos were of weapons, but occasionally there were photos of Ja-gyeong too. In the span of a year, his skin had become tanned from the sun, and unlike when he was with him, he was smiling brightly. A face he had never shown him.
Il-hyun, who had been scrolling through the photos, stopped moving entirely. The woman smiling broadly next to Ja-gyeong was the person he had seen in the video earlier. Il-hyun picked up the phone and went to Wang Lun, who was groaning while clutching his severed finger, grabbed him by the hair, and forced his head up.
"Who is this woman?"
Blood-covered Wang Lun breathed roughly as he looked at Sasha's face in the photo, then looked back at Kang Il-hyun.
"What's the relationship between you and Lee Ja-gyeong?"
When Wang Lun didn't answer, Il-hyun waved his severed finger in front of his eyes.
"You'd better speak up if you don't want the rest of your fingers cut off."
Wang Lun glared and ground his teeth.
"There's no relationship."
Hmm. Il-hyun narrowed his eyes. Then he flipped through the photos again, but while there were group photos taken together, there was nothing that made them look particularly close. But why were they naked together then? Thinking back, it seemed like the woman had been wearing something. He felt strangely enraged. He glared at Ja-gyeong in the photo, then looked down at the man kneeling before him.
"Then what are you to him?"
Wang Lun kept his mouth shut and only glared instead of answering.
"Your boss?"
But his fighting skills were inferior to Ja-gyeong's. He had to admit the man was strong, but his swordsmanship was terrible.
"We're brothers."
Il-hyun scoffed.
"Don't give me that brother nonsense."
Wang Lun shot back immediately.
"Don't laugh. We're real brothers."
No matter how he looked him over, there wasn't a single feature that resembled Ja-gyeong. Il-hyun furrowed his brow. Suddenly, he remembered Ja-gyeong telling him about himself. He hadn't heard all the details, but a man with the surname Wang had taken him to China where he grew up as his adopted son. He had said there were people closer than blood brothers. Come to think of it, hadn't this bastard's name been Wang Lun?
While he was deep in thought, Wang Lun breathed heavily and glared fiercely at Il-hyun.
"End your revenge with me. Don't touch my younger brother."
Judging by his expression, he was serious. Il-hyun clicked his tongue and called Park Tae-soo. Then he tossed the severed finger to him.
"Take him to the hospital and get it reattached properly."
"Excuse me?"
Tae-soo's eyes widened slightly. He had never in his life cut off someone's finger only to be told to reattach it, so he was bewildered. While he was instructing his subordinates to get a bag to put the finger in, Il-hyun crouched down in front of Wang Lun. Then he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from his forehead. Wang Lun flinched and pulled back, and Il-hyun smiled gently.
"You should have told me he was your brother sooner."
Wang Lun glared at Kang Il-hyun. When he tried to wipe even the blood from his lips, he recoiled in disgust and slapped his hand away. It gave him more chills than when his finger had been bitten off. Why was this crazy bastard acting like this? He couldn't tell if he was smiling because he genuinely liked it or if he intended to kill him.
He had seen all kinds of people before, but never someone like this. He began to understand a little why Ja-gyeong had cursed at him as a crazy bastard and shuddered with disgust. Soon his subordinates lifted Wang Lun up and put him in the car.
After the car carrying Wang Lun departed, Il-hyun looked at Ja-gyeong in his phone once more. It was his first time seeing him smile with his teeth showing. When looking at him, he had always either forced a smile or sneered.
In the early days lying in his hospital bed, he had ground his teeth swearing to tear him apart if he ever caught him. But the desire to kill him gradually transformed into something else. The belief that he could catch him easily had been his own delusion. Even while on the run, he left few traces, and as time dragged on, he grew more anxious. Would he end up losing him forever?
But seeing him with that woman today, he wanted to kill him all over again. How should he even explain this? He let out a low sigh, picked up his phone, and walked toward the car. Right, he would figure it out once he saw that fine face in person. Whether to tear him apart or not.
---
Il-hyun, Ja-gyeong
"Are you saying only you should go to Japan?"
At Wang Han's question, Ja-gyeong nodded. He could guess without asking why Wang Lun, who should have been in Japan, had gone to Korea. His lover had stayed here until recently before returning to Korea, so he had probably gone to see her. He couldn't bring himself to tell Wang Han the truth, so he lied that he had told him to come to Japan for a while.
"And leave me out?"
"The Japanese people said they wanted to see me directly."
Wang Lun had gone to Japan to meet a yakuza boss, and he lied that the man wanted to see Ja-gyeong. Wang Han felt left out and asked why he hadn't been called, but Ja-gyeong quickly added.
"Maybe it means for you and Rita to spend some quality time together while we're gone."
Wang Han seemed to find it strange, stroking his chin and pondering, then said he should call Wang Lun. Ja-gyeong tried to stop him, but he insisted on making the call. Fortunately, the call didn't go through. He breathed a sigh of relief inside and hastily gathered his things.
"What about the plane ticket?"
"Luckily there was one left."
"I'll drive you to the airport."
"No need. I can take a taxi."
Ja-gyeong smiled, hiding his complicated feelings. His hands kept rushing as he packed. Recalling Kang Il-hyun's demonic face from the screen, he felt nothing but the urgency to leave as soon as possible. Before that crazy bastard really ate Wang Lun alive. If it was that madman, he would definitely do exactly that.
"I wish I could go too."
Wang Han kept expressing his regret. He said since they were going, he wanted to eat sushi and see the night view of Tokyo. But if he told him the truth, he would try to stop him. When the three of them first started working together, they had made a promise.
If something happened where one person would cause the other two to die meaningless deaths, they would cleanly give up on that person. But it was just words—if something similar happened, Wang Han would be the first to step forward. Moreover, this situation was entirely his fault. So he had to take responsibility.
That day, he should have blown his head off instead of his leg. He regretted it too late and finished packing. He had to find Wang Lun before Kang Il-hyun could harm him somehow.
***
After a six and a half hour flight, the weather in Korea was even more humid and sticky than Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps because it was the weekend, the airport was crowded with people. Ja-gyeong took a taxi and headed to the car center Wang Lun had run while staying in Korea.
He had the taxi wait briefly and watched from in front, but sensed no particular activity. After paying the fare and getting out, he approached the building. The car center, long abandoned by its owner, was closed, and signs of neglect were visible everywhere.
Going around to the back, he entered the code for the lock and went inside to find a dark interior. After turning on the lights, he went further inside and opened a box, but the firearms he had checked before were gone. It seemed Wang Lun had cleared everything out before leaving this place.
After searching through everything inside, he barely managed to find a shotgun and a knife. He loaded the gun and, carrying it, went back outside. Next to the building was a warehouse with the shutter down and a lock on it. Ja-gyeong shot the lock to break it, then raised the shutter and went inside.
Inside the warehouse stood a motorcycle of the same model he had seen before. He found the key in a nearby box and turned on the GPS tracker. They had implanted tracking devices in each other's phones in case of emergency, but he never thought it would be used like this.
When he activated it, a red dot appeared along with a satellite map, showing Wang Lun's location. He didn't know if he was with Kang Il-hyun or not, but he could only pray his life would hold out until he arrived. The red dot was currently moving somewhere.
Kang Il-hyun had told him to come to his house, but he didn't know what kind of trap might be waiting there. If he was at a numerical disadvantage, he needed to strike first. Ja-gyeong picked up and put on a helmet. He drove the motorcycle out of the warehouse, and from the dark sky, rain began to fall drop by drop.
Damn it. Even the weather isn't helping. He got on, started the engine, and began moving quickly in the direction the tracker indicated. The motorcycle cut through the rain, weaving between cars and gaining speed.
After driving for about 40 minutes, Ja-gyeong noticed Wang Lun's location getting closer. It was the direction toward Kang Il-hyun's old house. Sure enough, he spotted a familiar car far ahead. The heavily tinted car couldn't be seen inside, but it was definitely Kang Il-hyun's sedan. He slowed down, followed behind it, and when it entered a deserted area, he sped ahead and blocked its path.
Screech. The car roared as it came to a stop, and Ja-gyeong got off the motorcycle and removed his helmet. Then he uncovered the shotgun strapped to his back, disengaged the safety, and aimed it at the car. Rain fell over his head, wetting his eyebrows and flowing down his cheeks to his chin.
The black car only had its wipers moving; it didn't budge an inch.