Yang Jeongwon did not go to school.
For a school bully who was usually so diligent and conscientious, it was a very unexpected thing to do.
Lying in bed, Yang Jeongwon could not bring himself to get up out of shame.
In front of the entire class, he had been beaten by Gong Inbae like a punching bag.
Six rounds of three minutes each.
What made him feel even worse was this.
He had not even hit him hard.
Just as if he were literally only taking a stance, as if he were shadowboxing.
He had struck him lightly, as though just tapping him.
He had hit him so softly that,
even after being beaten for six three-minute rounds, there was not a single wound on his body.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, as if hitting a punching bag.
Being hit like that had driven him mad with anger.
So he had tried throwing a punch.
But along with the strange words, “Don’t open your shoulder,” a one-two and a hook came flying in.
Since attacking did not work, all he could do was put up his guard and endure.
Like that, he was beaten for six rounds.
The humiliation was greater than the pain.
What he hated even more was that he had been afraid of Gong Inbae.
Honestly, he had been terrified.
Gong Inbae’s eyes as he hit him had no focus at all.
They contained absolutely nothing, to the point of seeming hollow.
There was no emotion.
It seemed like he simply thought of it as work.
That made it even more frightening.
.
.
.
The reason Yang Jeongwon had been able to rise rapidly as a school bully was largely thanks to his father.
Former gangster.
Current president of a construction company.
That was the profile of Yang Jeongwon’s father, Yang Namhyeok.
Yang Namhyeok’s philosophy on life was simple.
Winning is everything.
There are no fouls in life.
The results say everything.
It is not the strong who survive; the one who survives is strong.
Words like vile, treacherous, evil, and cunning followed Yang Namhyeok wherever he went.
To Yang Namhyeok, such words were like praise.
Because by hearing such words, he had been able to climb to the position he held now.
A life of survival.
He had to pass that kind of life down to his son as well.
When Yang Jeongwon was in middle school, he first got into trouble with a school bully at school.
The result was a crushing defeat.
He came home having been beaten terribly.
When Yang Namhyeok saw Yang Jeongwon’s swollen face, he was furious.
Even so, he asked calmly.
“Where did you fight?”
“In the classroom.”
“How did you fight?”
“Just with my fists…”
Slap!!
Yang Namhyeok’s fierce palm struck Yang Jeongwon’s cheek.
It hurt, of course, but more than that, he looked at his father in shock.
His father was frightening, but to Yang Jeongwon, he had always been affectionate and kind.
That father had hit Yang Jeongwon.
And very harshly at that.
Even so, Yang Namhyeok’s voice remained calm.
“Was there nothing else around you?”
“There was. Chairs, desks, a mop…”
Slap!!!
A slap even harder than before came flying at him.
Yang Jeongwon could not even dodge and had no choice but to take it.
It hurt so much that tears came to his eyes.
Tears came, but his father was so frightening that he could only do as his father told him.
Yang Namhyeok spoke with the same dry expression.
“Kids can fight. Kids fighting is something that can happen. You can hit, and you can get hit. But the one standing at the end has to be you. You fought with your fists? Why? When there were so many weapons around you to attack him with? If that didn’t work, you should have thrown a chair or smashed a fluorescent light. Why were you just stupidly standing there getting hit?”
Once again, slap!!!
An even stronger smack flew at him.
“What you did wrong wasn’t fighting. Losing a fight isn’t wrong either. But losing stupidly is wrong. You have to use everything you can use.”
“That’s cheating.”
“Cheating? Who said that was cheating? Cheating only exists in sports. It exists in sports where they set weight classes, establish rules, and decide who’s better or worse. In a neighborhood fight, is there a referee? Do you decide weight classes and wear protective gear before fighting?”
“When the fight is over, the one standing has to be you. It doesn’t matter what you do in the process. It’s a fight. Otherwise, you die. Got it?”
“I understand…”
Of course, the next day, Yang Namhyeok found the guy who had hit his son and wrecked him.
He even made him transfer schools.
After that, Yang Jeongwon became stronger too.
When he fought, he fought like a madman.
He threw anything he could see and fought with whatever he could hold in his hand.
Those who saw Yang Jeongwon fight tried not to fight him.
If you fought that guy, you were guaranteed to get hurt somewhere.
Yang Jeongwon’s father was scary too,
but Yang Jeongwon himself was no ordinary lunatic either.
By the time he graduated from middle school, no one dared touch Yang Jeongwon.
It was the same in high school.
Naturally, he took the top spot in the food chain.
Once he entered high school, the height he had suddenly shot up to also helped Yang Jeongwon reign as the apex predator.
After reigning only as a predator like that,
Yang Jeongwon had, at some point, forgotten how to fight and only knew how to beat others.
Until he was beaten by Gong Inbae.
Of course, he wanted revenge.
He wanted to beat Gong Inbae to a pulp.
But Gong Inbae’s hollow gaze bothered him.
Honestly, when he thought of those eyes, it felt like his body would freeze.
It gave him chills.
If he told his father, it would be easily resolved, but he would have to be prepared to get beaten himself too.
He had just stood there, getting hit like a punching bag?
It would not end with just a few slaps like last time.
Back then, he had only been a middle schooler, and he had still been hit like that.
Now, fists would probably come flying.
Was there no other way?
As he looked out the window, his uncles came into view.
That was right.
He had his uncles.
The uncles who had doted on him and found him so cute,
his former-gangster uncles.
.
.
.
“That’s the bastard, right?”
“I think so.”
“Our young master got beaten by a little brat who looks like that much of a bookworm?”
“He is tall, though, isn’t he?”
“Kids these days eat well, so they shoot right up.”
“You eat plenty too, hyungnim. It’s just that you don’t get any taller.”
Jin Beomgyu smacked the back of his head.
Thwack.
“Hey. You have to eat well when you’re still growing if you want to get taller. At this age, no matter how much you eat, it doesn’t go to your height. You just get fat.”
“I thought you were eating so much because you were trying to get taller, hyungnim. I’m sorry, hyungnim.”
“Good grief, I shouldn’t even talk. I eat a lot now because I couldn’t eat when I was young. Kids who ate well growing up don’t have much of an appetite. Why? Because they think they can eat anytime. Kids who were poor like me never knew when they’d get to eat again, so we just shoved food in our mouths whenever we could.”
“Didn’t Jeongwon say that bastard was an orphan? That since he’s an orphan, there wouldn’t be any trouble afterward if we beat him. But if he’s an orphan, he probably didn’t get to eat well, yet he grew pretty tall.”
Another smack to the back of the head followed.
“Maybe the orphanage feeds him well. Orphanages and schools these days serve good meals.”
“That’s right, hyungnim. A friend of mine got released last time, and he said school food these days is amazing.”
“Hey. Not that kind of school. Haa. Forget it. Hurry up and follow him. If we lose him, you’re dead.”
“Yes, hyungnim. You know my driving is incredible, don’t you?”
“Huh? That bastard’s getting on a motorcycle?”
“Don’t worry, hyungnim. I’ll follow him, give him a little tap, and knock him over. Then we’ll say we’re taking him to the hospital, load him up, and take him to the factory. Hyungnim.”
“Oh, fuck, that’s smooth as hell. Logical. That’s perfect, isn’t it?”
“Then I’ll do the job somewhere a little deserted.”
A black sedan followed the motorcycle Gong Inbae had ridden away on.
When the motorcycle entered an alley, the black sedan suddenly sped up.
And then, tap.
As it touched the rear of the motorcycle, the motorcycle toppled over just like that.
The two men hurriedly stopped the car and went over beside the fallen motorcycle.
“Student, are you all right? I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”
The fallen student seemed a little flustered, but he got up obediently.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. It hurts, doesn’t it? Let’s go straight to the hospital.”
“How can we go straight to the hospital? We have to call the police and settle this first.”
“What’s there to settle? We just have to stand the motorcycle up. You can ride in our car.”
“We need to call the police and have them check the scene. After that, we can call insurance or whatever. I can go to the hospital later.”
“No, you’re bleeding right now. We need to go to the hospital first.”
Gong Inbae felt something was off.
It was strange that an accident had happened in a place where accidents should not happen,
and the apology sounded too much like acting, which made him uncomfortable.
If there had been an accident, they should have first taken photos of the scene and settled things, but they showed no intention of doing any of that.
Forget calling the police—they did not even contact insurance and simply insisted on going to the hospital first.
Anyone could see it was strange.
Feeling uneasy, he decided to call the police first and tried not to go to the hospital.
But the man beside him, pretending to support him, landed a short blow to his body, making him stagger.
Not only had he been completely unprepared,
the man was a pro who knew how to put power into a short, compact punch.
The moment the punch hit him, the strength drained from his body.
At that moment, they opened the rear door of the car, shoved Gong Inbae inside, and drove off.
As soon as he got into the car, fists came flying.
They were fierce punches.
Was he a professional?
Unable to resist, he lowered his head and only guarded himself.
“I heard you beat up Jeongwon? Then you’re going to get beaten to shit today too.”
Yang Jeongwon?
He had heard Yang Jeongwon’s father was a former gangster.
But the kid had seemed so gentle that he had thought it was a lie. So it was true?
If he grew up that decently in such a rough environment, then he had really grown up well.
Suddenly, he began to feel sorry for Yang Jeongwon.
That aside, what was he supposed to do about this situation?
While he was worrying, the man beside him received a phone call.
“Yes. Chairman.”
“A delivery, sir?”
“Right now, sir?”
“No, sir. We can go right away. I think we’ll arrive in twenty minutes.”
Jin Beomgyu, who had been taking the call while beating Gong Inbae in the back seat, spoke to the younger man driving.
“Yeonggi. The chairman is asking for us. We’re going to the company right now.”
“Yes, understood, hyungnim. I’ll go straight to the company.”
The car, which had been heading toward the outskirts of Seoul, changed direction and entered downtown Seoul again.
.
.
.
The underground parking lot of Mujin Construction’s headquarters.
“Hyungnim, what do we do with this bastard?”
“We tie him up. Tie him up for now, go make the delivery, then head to the factory.”
“Understood, hyungnim.”
When he opened the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat, several pieces of equipment, including rope, tumbled out.
They took out the rope and tied Gong Inbae up tightly.
Afraid he might scream, they stuffed something like a dirty glove into his mouth, then plastered tape around it.
“Stay quiet. This is our company’s parking lot. It’s a place guys like us pass through. There are plenty of guys here who would kill someone like you as a joke if they saw you. So if you’re thinking maybe someone will save you, give up on that hope right now and stay still. We’ll be back soon.”
The two of them left Gong Inbae tied up in the back seat and went off somewhere.
Gong Inbae tried somehow to escape from the car, but it was not easy.
His hands were tied behind his back, his legs were tied too, and the rope had been connected to the passenger seat.
If only his hands had been tied, he would somehow have opened the car door and run away, but his legs were tied as well,
and since the rope was connected to the front seat, he could not flee unless he completely untied it.
The glove stuffed in his mouth gave off a foul stench that made him feel like he would vomit.
Gong Inbae moved his body this way and that in order to escape.
But as expected, the other party seemed to be a pro.
They had tied him really well.
Were they former Boy Scouts?
The knots were extremely neat.
They had used the knots perfectly for the situation.
They would never come loose.
A short while later, the car door opened, and the two men who had left the car returned carrying a Boston bag.
When the one who looked like the younger brother tried to put the Boston bag into the trunk of the car,
“Hey, hey. Put that in the back seat.”
“But this bastard’s in the back seat.”
“He can’t even move a finger anyway, so what does it matter? Don’t worry about it and put it in the back.”
“Yes, understood, hyungnim.”
Gong Inbae was sitting behind the passenger seat, and the Boston bag was placed behind the driver’s seat.
“We’re departing, hyungnim.”
The two men started the engine and set off.
The one who looked like the older brother spoke to him.
“We’re not the kind of people who usually run two jobs like this, so sorry about that. Just wait a little. We’ll make the delivery quick. Then we’ll really fuck you up properly.”
“We’re going to a factory on the outskirts, and it’s so deserted that no one comes no matter how much you scream. That part’s nice.”
“Hyungnim, the floor there is epoxy too, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. So no matter how much blood you spill, it wipes up incredibly clean.”
“Epoxy really is the best, sir.”
“So you should’ve just taken it when our young master hit you. All you had to do was get hit a few times, but because you couldn’t endure that, your life got twisted up.”
“Do you know how important patience is in life? They say if you endure three times, you can even avoid murder.”
"Hyung-nim. That's amazing. You even know that. I respect you."
"It's the basics. That's why you need to keep reading the newspaper too. I'm telling you, the world is inside the newspaper."
"Understood, Hyung-nim. I'll read hard too."
While the two were shooting the breeze.
Gong Inbae was curious about the bag those people had thrown [there].
Chairman.
Delivery.
Those were the only clues, but—
judging from those words, there was a high chance something good was inside.
There was no way he could pass up such a good opportunity.
If only his hand could reach it, he could put it straight into his inventory.
But his hands were tied behind him, so he couldn't reach the bag by the footrest behind the driver's seat.
Wondering if his foot might work, Gong Inbae carefully shifted his body slightly toward the center of the back seat.
The two were still explaining the meaning of the proverb *"Endure three times, and even murder is forgiven,"* praising it and giving it a thumbs up.
In the meantime, Gong Inbae quietly lifted his foot and lightly placed it over the bag.
His feet were bound too, so he had no choice but to move carefully.
Go in, go in, go in, go into the inventory.
Gong Inbae shouted inwardly,
and the bag vanished in an instant.
It worked.
Gong Inbae sat still in the back seat, pretending to know nothing once again.
A short while later, the two stopped the car as if they had arrived.
"Do we just take this to Assemblyman Kim and come back?"
"We can't go to Assemblyman Kim. His car should be in the parking lot. When we get there, the driver will have the trunk open, so we just need to put it in the trunk and leave."
"Understood, Hyung-nim."
The two turned off the engine and opened the rear door to take out the Boston bag.
"Hyung-nim. Did you happen to pack the bag separately?"
"Huh? No?"
"The bag is gone, I tell you."
"The bag is gone?"
"I definitely loaded the bag here. But it's gone."
"What kind of fucking nonsense is that?"
The Hyung-nim urgently opened the door and checked the back seat.
In the back seat, there was only Gong Inbae tied up; the bag was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, fuck, did you properly load it earlier?"
"Yes. I'm certain."
"Hey. Heo Yeonggi. Look at me straight. Did you properly load the bag or not?"
"Yes, Hyung-nim. I'd be truly wronged if you doubted me. It's not like I went somewhere alone; how could I skim this while going together with you?"
Heo Yeonggi was right about that.
There were cases of skimming while making a delivery alone, but never when moving together as a pair like this.
Jin Beomgyu knew that, but he had asked just in case.
The gazes of the two turned toward Gong Inbae.
"Hey, what happened? You were here, so you should know."
"Uuuuuuh uuuuh."
"Fuck, what's he saying. Untie that thing in his mouth."
Shortly after, the younger man came and roughly tore the tape from Gong Inbae's mouth.
A glove that reeked of vomit came off with it.
The moment the tape came off, Gong Inbae answered rapid-fire as if he had been waiting.
"I'm sorry. I was so scared that I closed my eyes. I had no idea what was happening. I was just so scared that tears kept coming... *Waaah.* I'm sorry. *Sob sob sob sob.*"
The two checked Gong Inbae's bindings.
The ropes were taut, just as when they had first tied him.
Gong Inbae had been tied up; there was nothing he could have done.
The two searched every inch of the back seat, trunk, and front seat.
Still, they couldn't find the bag, and to check if they had perhaps left it in the company parking lot, they turned the car around and headed back.
On the way, they called someone and asked them to check if the bag was in the parking lot, but the answer they received wasn't good.
As they drew closer to the company, the faces of the two turned ashen.
And when the two arrived, they searched the parking lot for the bag, and when they couldn't find it, they went up to the office.
I was in the same situation as before.
Tied up in the back seat of the car, left abandoned.
The only thing different was that there was no longer a gag in my mouth.
"Siri. Call 112 for me."