Daeyeon Development Chairman’s Office.
“Good work.”
When I arrived at the chairman’s office, Dae-hun was still lazing around as he greeted me.
For a moment, I admired how much he looked like the very model of a proper CEO.
“What work? It was kind of fun. I even got to throw my weight around in ways I’d never tried before.”
“Guess it suited you?”
Dae-hun asked playfully.
“I know, right? I discovered a hidden talent late in life. That’s why early education must be important.”
“Early education?”
“Yeah. You have to try abusing power to know, don’t you? To realize, ‘Ah, I have a knack for this.’ So it’s important to have all kinds of experiences from a young age. Whether it’s lording it over people or being the one underfoot.”
“Hahaha. You’re right. When I have kids, I’ll have to make sure they get to experience all kinds of things.”
After we traded jokes for a while, Dae-hun asked seriously.
“Anyway, what are you going to do with the Triad now?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Why? Can’t you just swallow it whole?”
I shook my head.
“It’s too big to swallow whole. The system is a mess, and more than anything, too many parts have gone rotten. If I swallow it as is, I think it’ll only give me indigestion.”
Dae-hun raised his eyebrows as if surprised.
“Really? Not quite what the name suggests, then.”
“Yeah. I thought the Triad would be something incredible, but it wasn’t.”
“Then just give up on it. It doesn’t even make money.”
Dae-hun spoke as if he had no attachment to it.
“It’s a bit of a waste to do that.”
“What is?”
“Information.”
“Information?”
“The enormous amount of information accumulated in the Triad. Funds, regional networks, under-the-table deals. Smuggling routes. And the people who handle all of it. The Triad may be broken, but the infrastructure is still alive.”
Ever since I’d met Hwang On-yu and spoken with him last time, I had kept thinking it over.
I had thought about what to do with Hwang On-yu’s request not to erase the Triad.
It couldn’t be run in its current state.
It was behind the times, and what it brought in was pathetic compared to the money poured into it.
The management system was a mess, too.
It relied purely on individual loyalty.
Was there no way to leave the name Triad intact, preserve the infrastructure, and maximize the organization’s efficiency? After thinking it over, the answer I came up with was to transform it into an intelligence organization.
The Triad didn’t have to make money.
I already had plenty of money.
“Hmm…”
Dae-hun nodded as well.
He seemed to agree with that part.
It was a weight only someone who had run an organization could understand.
“You really do realize it once you operate one. That you can’t manage with numbers alone. That people are the most expensive thing.”
At Dae-hun’s words, I smiled slightly and suggested,
“Want to try it?”
“Try what?”
“The Triad.”
Dae-hun immediately shook his head.
“Hahaha. No thanks. It’s not like I know that world well. More than anything, it sounds exhausting.”
“It’s not a gang. It’s an intelligence organization. It’ll be different from a gang. There’ll be fewer things to worry about, too.”
“An intelligence organization, huh… It’s a good idea. But I don’t think I’m the one to take charge of it.”
“Mm. That’s too bad.”
“Then you’re only going to collect information?”
He had refused the position of Triad chairman, but he still seemed very interested in what the Triad would do.
“No, we’ll distribute it too. We’ll gather information from the market, and release the information we want released. That’s the reason to run the Triad.”
“Information distribution, huh.”
Dae-hun looked quite interested.
“Bars, cafés, restaurants, karaoke rooms, pubs, massage parlors, saunas, money exchanges, used cars, phones, trade, and so on. We collect and distribute information from every place where people come and go. Every story that comes out of those places becomes our asset.”
“That’s definitely better than being gangsters.”
“Information is better than knives.”
After thinking about something for a moment, Dae-hun spoke.
“Ah. Come to think of it, someone comes to mind.”
.
.
.
The man standing before me was someone with not a single hair on his entire body.
Not only his head, but even his eyebrows were bare.
His expression was excessively polite, but his eyes were sharp.
“This is Du Man-sik.”
“Hello, sir. My name is Du Man-sik.”
He bent deeply at the waist in greeting.
There wasn’t an ounce of excess on his body.
His fierce gaze swept over me once.
“He originally came here as a special envoy from the Triad, but now he’s reformed and living a new life.”
“Nice to meet you.”
I greeted him.
Dae-hun introduced me to Du Man-sik.
“This is Alex. I don’t know if you’ve read the biography, but the In-bae who appears in it is this guy.”
For an instant, Du Man-sik’s eyes trembled.
A TV star?
No, it felt more like he had come face-to-face with a deity.
“Anyway, the reason I called you is… Mm. Alex, you explain.”
I briefly organized my thoughts, then told Du Man-sik about the recent events he didn’t know.
I told him that the Triad’s branch heads had disappeared, and that Jang Cheon had been taken by the MSS.
“So I’m going to reorganize the Triad.”
“I understand what you mean. I will cut away the branches and sort out only the core.”
Du Man-sik spoke as though he understood my will.
“No. That’s not it.”
“Pardon?”
Du Man-sik looked slightly flustered.
“What I want isn’t to take only the profitable parts of the Triad. I’m going to change the Triad completely into an intelligence organization.”
“An intelligence organization?”
“Yeah. You people keep running the businesses you’ve always run. Whether they’re bars or restaurants. If you don’t have a business, I’ll set one up for you.”
Du Man-sik was surprised by my words.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Collect the information that flows out of those places. Gather it, sort it, analyze it, and report it to me. You can do that, right?”
“I can, but it won’t make as much money as you might think.”
“I’m not doing it to make money. If I can see the world before other people do, that’s enough.”
“If that is what you want, I can do it. In truth, it was what the Triad did best. We simply never used information that way.”
Du Man-sik spoke with confidence.
“Then I’ll trust you.”
“Thank you. I will do my best.”
Du Man-sik bowed deeply.
“Then from now on, you’re the chairman of the Triad.”
“Pardon?”
At my words, Du Man-sik’s eyes widened in shock.
“If you’re going to do the job, you need authority to match it. From now on, you’re the chairman of the Triad. Go and take control of the Triad. I’ll support you with whatever you need.”
“Thank you.”
Du Man-sik did not understand the situation, but he thanked me first.
“And this.”
I took out a bag.
“It’s money. Use it where you need it. You’re the chairman now, so you should at least have some pocket money.”
Du Man-sik’s expression changed.
To Du Man-sik, superiors had always been people you paid tribute to. Money had never flowed down from them.
It was astonishing.
Du Man-sik bowed his head deeply.
He thought that he had indeed made the right choice in following Seo Dae-hun.
He had given everything up and followed Dae-hun, and the position of Triad chairman had rolled right into his lap.
They even gave him money.
Du Man-sik made a vow in his heart.
He would change the Triad completely.
The Triad would now become an entirely different organization.
It would be reborn as a far quieter and more dangerous organization.
******
“It’s around here, right? Where your house used to be?”
“Yeah. Probably?”
Together with Gwon Ju-a, I had come to the place where I had lived in high school.
We had dinner together, and I was taking her home.
As we passed nearby, I got curious about how the place I used to live had changed, so we stopped by for a moment.
Ever since that meal last time, we had met whenever we had time to eat together and drink tea.
We ate tteokbokki, cold noodles, Korean table d’hôte, and steak.
We talked about pointless things, laughed, and chattered away.
We talked about things on TV. News stories. Stories floating around on the internet.
When we were apart, we left each other messages and called.
When she got off work, I would wait nearby and we would ride back together.
At first, all of that felt extremely awkward and embarrassing, but at some point, I got used to it.
I liked that when I was with Gwon Ju-a, I could talk lightly about this and that.
Maybe because she had known me since the days when I was a mess, it was comfortable not having to deceive her, hide myself, or dress myself up.
I liked that she was someone who wouldn’t find it strange to call me In-bae instead of Alex.
Today, after eating jjolmyeon and bibim dumplings together, we had been on the way home when Gwon Ju-a said she wanted to come here, so we came together.
She said that day had been so nice, and that she was curious whether it would feel the same if she came with me.
I had been curious about the place I used to live too, but I hadn’t had the courage to come all the way here.
For some reason, my feet had never led me in this direction.
Should I call it a forbidden zone?
I had avoided it for no reason.
Maybe I had instinctively rejected coming here because I felt as though I would have to face my dark past if I did.
Without realizing it, I had been avoiding it.
But contrary to my worries, this place had become somewhere entirely different.
So different that I couldn’t even find where I had lived.
I had lived there for twenty years, yet it had changed so much I couldn’t tell where it had been.
The familiar streets I used to walk were still there,
but there were no traces of the place where I had lived.
There had once been shabby houses, wooden platforms, and Seoul’s night view,
but now there were tall apartments.
That, rather, gave me comfort.
The unfamiliarity instead brought relief.
“You’re right. It’s here. The view I saw that night is exactly the same.”
Gwon Ju-a spoke while looking at the night view.
“I think so too.”
I thought the same.
The night view of Seoul as seen from where I stood felt familiar.
Gwon Ju-a spoke in a serious voice.
“In-bae. I’m really curious about what you do.”
“……”
“When I think about the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the bodyguards around you, and the people who came to the hospital, I feel like I can roughly guess… But I like that, despite all that, you don’t give off that kind of feeling.”
“……”
Gwon Ju-a spoke vaguely, but I understood exactly what she meant.
Medical school really was different.
I guess that’s the level you had to be at to get into medical school.
“So I won’t ask. Instead, tell me when you’re ready.”
At Gwon Ju-a’s words, I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
Could I be honest?
Could I tell Gwon Ju-a what kind of person I was?
I had done far too many bad things to be honest.
.
.
.
“I’m home.”
After parting with In-bae, Gwon Ju-a returned home.
As she stepped inside, Gwon Ju-a greeted in a small voice, wondering if anyone might hear.
Fortunately, no one answered her greeting.
The lights in the house were on, but there was no warmth.
It wasn’t cold, but somehow, it felt chilly.
It was always like this.
They were a family of only three, but she had no memory of the three of them doing anything together.
Her father, who had been an executive at a major corporation, had resigned and started a business.
He was that busy.
The more days came when work did not go well, the more his irritation and anger grew with them.
Her mother, a university professor, was also away from home often, starting with academic conferences and extending to activities in civic organizations.
They were family, but there was no familial closeness.
They merely existed in the same space.
In that space, there were no conversations and no physical affection.
They simply stayed in the same place.
After entering the house, Gwon Ju-a was about to go straight to her room when she ran into her father coming out of the study.
She gave him a slight greeting with her eyes and was about to enter her room when her father spoke.
“Try to come home earlier.”
“Yes.”
Gwon Ju-a answered briefly and opened her door, but her father hurriedly called her.
“Ju-a.”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to go on a marriage meeting?”
“Pardon?”
Gwon Ju-a was startled by her father’s words.
A marriage meeting?
“A good opportunity came up. I thought it would be nice if you married into that family. It would help with Dad’s business a bit, too.”
For something said so casually to a daughter coming home at night, it was far too heavy and serious.
“No. I’m not thinking about that yet.”
Gwon Ju-a pushed those heavy words away.
“That’s the problem, that you’re not thinking about it. How old are you now? You need to start preparing.”
“I haven’t even finished my residency yet, so I’ll think about it slowly.”
“I’m saying this for your sake. Timing is important for a woman.”
“That’s not the era we live in anymore.”
“No, it’s still that era. The way people live is the same now as it was then. Back then and now, there are only a few good matches, and the competition for them is always fierce.”
Gwon Ju-a said no more.
It felt like there was no point in saying anything further.
No matter how much she refuted him or protested that it wasn’t true, the conclusion was always the same.
Even if she said more, the same words would repeat like a broken record.
‘It’s for your sake.’
‘I’m thinking of you.’
‘You just don’t know yet.’
‘I’m not saying this for no reason.’
Though the words were spoken gently, they were tightening around Kwon Jua like a net.
As a subtle silence flowed between her father and Kwon Jua, the door opened and her mother came out.
“Jua, you’re home?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been late these days.”
“I met a friend for a bit.”
Her mother nodded.
She wore an expression as if she understood, but what followed was the same as always.
“Come home early. You still have to be careful.”
“I know.”
Kwon Jua answered out of habit.
“Jua. You have to do well. Do you know how much care we put into raising you?”
“I know.”
“If you know, then you should do even better. The reason you can attend medical school and live like this is because we cared for you and got you this far. Only when you succeed will our hardships feel worthwhile.”
Kwon Jua hated those words most of all.
The story that her life had been made at her parents’ fingertips.
She hated those words, as if she had done nothing, as if her parents had made everything for her and she had merely moved atop it all like a puppet.
It felt as though everything Kwon Jua had done, all her efforts, were being denied.
“But who was this friend you were meeting until this hour?”
“Just... a friend.”
After hearing Kwon Jua’s answer, her mother replied with a smile.
She wore an expression as if she knew everything in the world.
“If there’s something to clean up, clean it up quickly. Don’t make anyone get their hopes up for nothing.”
“I’ve never done that.”
Kwon Jua defended herself instinctively.
“Men think differently from you.”
Kwon Jua said it wasn’t like that, but her parents’ thoughts didn’t seem to change.
Their thoughts mattered more than Kwon Jua’s words.
It had always been like that.
No matter what Kwon Jua said, her parents didn’t listen.
They didn’t even try to understand her.
The sincerity Kwon Jua had poured out with all her strength was dismissed as mere whining and childishness.
Her parents had made the road, and Kwon Jua had to walk upon it.
If she strayed even a little from that road, the words would come.
It’s dangerous. It’s wrong. You only think that because you don’t know any better.
Kwon Jua had to do as her parents told her again.
That situation had come upon her again.
Kwon Jua wanted to escape this atmosphere.
“I’ll go in first.”
“All right.”
After closing the door and entering her room, Kwon Jua sat on the bed and remained still for a long while.
She wanted to leave this sickening house.
She couldn’t breathe.
She kept thinking of the time she had spent with Inbae.
In front of Inbae, she could smile.
But here, even breathing felt difficult.
Kwon Jua picked up her phone and left Inbae a message.
“I got home safely. Get home safe too.”
The message was extremely simple,
but the meaning contained within it was extremely great, and deeply significant.