“What, you want to buy a resort?”
“Yeah.”
I was genuinely stunned by Sandro’s sudden suggestion that we buy a resort.
“What kind of crazy talk are you saying so sincerely? I almost thought you were serious.”
“I am serious.”
“No, you’re not. You’re joking. And what do you mean, we’re buying a resort? We don’t even have money.”
“What do you think banks are for?”
“A resort doesn’t cost a hundred or two hundred million won. Where are we going to come up with that much money?”
“There are a few reasons I’m suggesting we buy a resort. First, you know Vicente Palace, right?”
“You mean the five-star resort on Alona Beach?”
“That’s right. I think it’s about to go up for sale.”
“If it’s going up for sale, it’s going up for sale. What do you mean, you think it will?”
“Their finances are bad right now. Apparently, the owner was really into the casino. If he can’t pay that back, it’ll go straight on the market.”
“Wouldn’t he be able to pay off that much easily? Doesn’t that place have a pretty large site and a lot of rooms?”
“Right. That’s why I want to buy it. Right now, it’s a two-story building with about fifteen rooms and around twenty private villas. The surrounding land is wide, it’s connected to the beach, so it has a private beach too. Its future development potential is good. It’ll be easy to expand.”
“I’m still not exactly eager.”
“The decisive point is that we can buy it for around 130 million pesos, about 3.1 billion won.”
“Huh? Really?”
I was startled when I heard the price.
3.1 billion won.
When I heard resort, I thought it would cost at least tens or hundreds of billions.
But 3.1 billion.
I was a little surprised by the modest price.
In Seoul, with three billion won,
you’d be done after buying one thirty-pyeong apartment with a Han River view.
In fact, there’s a high chance you couldn’t even buy that.
If the floor is a little higher, the price rises with it.
But here, a resort with thirty-five rooms and two swimming pools cost 3.1 billion won.
Was there even any need to hesitate over this?
On top of that, the synergy matched well.
The tourism products Manager Jang Yunmi was selling included hotels and resorts.
If we included this hotel in the package, we wouldn’t have to worry about empty rooms.
If anything, we’d be short.
Provide some meals and drinks...
No, it might be better to change the hotel itself into an all-inclusive resort.
All-inclusive refers to a service where, while staying at the hotel, not only all meals but also snacks, drinks, alcohol, kids’ clubs, and various auxiliary facilities are all provided for free.
They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and outside those hours, operate snack or snack bars.
In the lobby and pub, they provide liquor, cocktails, and drinks.
Any guest can enjoy meals or drinks without burden.
At most hotels, all-inclusive service is only provided to people who pay an additional fee, but some hotels change the hotel itself to all-inclusive and provide the service to all guests.
I was thinking of providing all-inclusive service to every guest staying at the hotel.
It seemed like the cost would be enormous,
and it seemed like people would eat an enormous amount if it was all-inclusive, but it wasn’t necessarily like that.
It was the same as how we think we’ll eat a lot at a buffet, but end up eating less than expected.
And if you came on vacation, were you going to stay only at the resort?
Most people go outside to sightsee or take tours.
At the resort, they only eat breakfast or dinner.
They don’t drink many glasses of alcohol either.
Even so, the fact that food and alcohol are free makes people feel good for no reason.
It makes them feel treated well.
Of course, there are people who stay at the resort and eat a lot of food and drink a lot of alcohol, but that’s not a problem either.
That cost is already included in the room rate.
Prices are cheap in the Philippines.
Even if you pour out beer endlessly, it won’t show.
Since a lot of middle-aged men come, they’d probably like it if we stocked soju too.
If we slice raw fish for them right in front of them, they’d probably clap.
Give people playing in the pool and on the beach a glass of beer each. A cocktail each.
When they’re hungry, give them something like pizza or fries, or fruit.
When giving out food, don’t be stingy. Just make it a little more abundant.
If we’re going to give it anyway, just give it with a smile.
If we encourage them to eat more, even though they won’t actually eat more, people will like it.
On top of that, Vicente Palace is five-star, so the interior is well done too.
We’d just clean up and maintain the interior without touching it.
Rather, I thought it would be better to pay attention to the things customers directly touch and use.
For example, change the amenities to luxury brands,
and stock not only shampoo and conditioner, but also things like sheet masks and sunscreen.
Towels and robes should be thick and fluffy.
The bedding would probably be nice if we changed it to Hungarian goose down.
When choosing a resort, people mainly look at its location and interior,
but when actually evaluating a resort, it often comes down to cleanliness, smell, the blanket they slept under, towels, service, and things like that.
They may seem insignificant, but those things can make you feel good,
or ruin your mood.
The staff’s service is also a major factor.
But I wasn’t worried about that.
The job satisfaction of Candy Tour’s employees was at its peak.
They tried to work first.
They worked hard to increase the time they spent wearing their uniforms.
If they wore the uniform, they got paid.
If the time they wore the uniform grew longer, they got paid more.
It was a very simple logic.
If you work beyond your scheduled hours, isn’t it natural to receive extra pay?
I don’t really know why everyone is so enthusiastic about it.
Even when I was in the army, and when I worked as a bodyguard, I always received allowances.
Anyway, after hearing the amount, thinking about it, and doing the calculations, there was no reason not to buy it.
We had to buy it no matter what.
Something like this was an all-in call, even if we lost.
“Sandro, do you think you can buy it?”
“Don’t worry. You know I’m really good at buying things cheap.”
When Sandro said that, unease came rushing over me.
Patrick still hadn’t told me what happened that day.
I had asked him several times what happened the day they went to buy Emerald Canyon and Lumina Lake, but he wouldn’t say.
They did buy them well, but not knowing what happened made me even more anxious.
I was worried the same thing would happen when he went to buy the resort.
“Don’t get greedy. Just pay the proper price and buy it. Don’t try to bargain. Completing the deal is what matters.”
“I’ve never thought about bargaining. But if they show goodwill by offering it cheaply, it’d be rude to refuse. I simply didn’t refuse.”
“You... when you bought the yacht last time too.”
“That time, I clearly laid out our conditions. Honestly, we don’t need an engine. So what’s wrong with asking them to take out the engine?”
“Hey. Can you buy a car without the engine?”
“A car and a yacht are different.”
“What’s different?”
“Honestly, who comes on our sea tour to ride a boat? They come to take pictures. Then a yacht is better than a bangka, isn’t it? But we’re not going far out to sea on the boat. We’re only riding for five or ten minutes. Then isn’t it okay if the engine performance isn’t that good? I only asked whether that was possible.”
“The problem is you asked while taking out a gun.”
“That was just because it was uncomfortable in my pocket, so I took it out for a moment. I absolutely had no intention of threatening or scaring them.”
“Yeah, sure.”
It was then.
Bzzzz.
My cell phone rang.
An unknown number.
Still, I answered.
“Hello?”
“Are you perhaps Mr. Gong Inbae?”
“That’s right. Who is this?”
“Hello. My name is Jeong Geunsu, and I serve under Seo Daehun.”
“Yes. What’s this about?”
“Daehun-hyung told me that if something happened to him, I should contact you and tell you.”
What?
Something happened to Daehun?
“Did something happen to Daehun?”
“Daehun-hyung was stabbed.”
“What? What’s his condition?”
“He’s hospitalized right now, but he still hasn’t regained consciousness.”
“Got it. I’ll go now.”
I hung up and looked at Sandro.
“Looks like our boss is trying to go somewhere again.”
“I need to go to Korea for a bit.”
“You don’t look good.”
“They say a friend got hurt.”
“Take Scott with you when you go.”
“Why Scott?”
“You should have at least one bodyguard too. Scott should be enough to protect you.”
“No need. I’m fucking good at fighting.”
“Scott is fucking good too. Better than you. So take him.”
Looking at Sandro, I saw real worry in his eyes.
I couldn’t refuse.
“All right. I’ll take him.”
.
.
.
“What did you come for? It’s embarrassing.”
“Getting stabbed like an idiot. Nice work.”
Daehun, whom I met at the hospital, looked fine.
Thankfully, they said his life wasn’t in danger.
But strangely, he hadn’t woken up for a while.
Geunsu had called me out of anxiety.
“That bastard Geunsu called you and made this whole mess. Where is that bastard Geunsu? I’m not letting him off.”
He spoke with a smile, but the wound didn’t seem shallow.
“What happened?”
“I was on my way home, and some crazy bastard came running at me with a knife. I took one hit lightly.”
“You lunatic. It couldn’t have been a random knife attack, so what happened?”
After hesitating briefly, Daehun calmly laid out everything that had happened so far.
How he had returned to Gunsan after being discharged.
How he had gained comrades who worked with him.
How he was gradually expanding his influence.
And then the recent gambling den incident.
Daehun quietly and slowly told me everything, one thing at a time.
“So you’re saying you went into the enemy’s home ground and intended to fight them in the way they’re best at fighting? When the difference in weight class is this big?”
“Those bastards won’t come outside their house. What am I supposed to do?”
“Then you have to drag them outside.”
“How?”
“Tempt them.”
“With what?”
“Money.”
“With money? We don’t have any money.”
“I’m not planning to give those bastards any money anyway. If we just give off the scent that they can make money, won’t they come running like a pack of dogs?”
“What are you going to do?”
“That’s what I have to think about from now on. More importantly, can you even keep things going like this?”
“Huh?”
“From what you told me, it sounds like you’re making money here and there without any fixed income. Doesn’t that make you anxious?”
Daehun seemed slightly surprised, then soon lowered his head.
That was right.
Whenever he tried to do something with the money he earned from odd jobs, the Geumho Faction would interfere harshly.
Like with the hold’em pub.
He wanted to entrust businesses to the people who followed him and hand out generous bonuses,
but guilt over not being able to do so had settled deep in his heart.
Loyalty, trust, friendship—all of that was good,
but those were words people could say when their stomachs were full and they had enough to live on.
If hunger dragged on, you never knew when they would leave.
And you couldn’t even call that betrayal.
It was just survival.
“First of all, if we set up an online gambling site, can you operate it?”
“An online gambling site?”
I remembered something Sandro had said once.
‘What do you think about us running a gambling site too? In the Philippines, this online gambling stuff is legal.’
He had casually suggested we try running a gambling site, saying it made money.
I had refused back then, but suddenly it came to mind.
“You need war funds, don’t you? That way, you can at least pay for the guys’ meals. Wouldn’t it work if we put the server somewhere like the Philippines and ran sales?”
“If it exists, I can run it well. The problem is that creating a gambling site isn’t easy. I heard crackdowns are strict in the Philippines these days too.”
“Wait a second.”
I made a call.
“Patrick?”
“Yes, boss.”
“You know online gambling sites, right? The thing Sandro mentioned last time.”
“Are you talking about those sites where people play poker, hold’em, and things like sports toto over the internet?”
“Oh, right. Exactly.”
“Should I look for someone who can make one?”
“As expected. Patrick.”
“I’ll search for one immediately.”
“Find someone and contact me.”
“Yes, boss.”
Daehun, who had been listening to the call beside me, spoke in admiration.
“Wow. Your English is really good.”
“I went to Gukpyeongdan because my English was good. And I live in the Philippines these days.”
“Ah. Really? Come to think of it, I didn’t even get to ask about you. Sorry. So how are you living?”
“I run a small travel agency in the Philippines. So I’ve made a few connections. I’ve put out a search for someone who can make an online gambling site, so if someone turns up, I’ll let you know.”
“Huh? Really? That easily? You’re making one for me?”
“Rather than making it for you, I’d call it consigned operation? Something like that. I make it, and you operate it. Instead, we’d have to adjust the settlement ratio, right? Let’s decide after seeing how the setup goes.”
“Yeah, I’m grateful just for the words. Anyway, you run a travel agency? Is it doing well?”
“Yeah. We do have a fair number of customers. It’s operating pretty well.”
“That’s a relief. That you’re doing well. If I do well too, I’ll visit sometime. With my guys.”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
“Then take care of yourself and rest.”
“Got it.”
Before leaving the hospital room, I stopped for a moment.
“You still did well.”
“What?”
“You didn’t act rashly, and you steadily gathered information and gathered your forces too. You did well.”
“Well, my ass. I was trying not to contact you. It’s embarrassing.”
“Forget it. No need to be embarrassed between friends. I’m really going now.”