A dump truck was bearing down on Yun Gi-hwan, but there was nothing Yun Gi-hwan could do.
All he could do was wrap both hands around his head and curl up.
In that state, he braced for impact.
He was grimacing, preparing himself for the blow, but—
No impact came.
All he heard was the screech of brakes as the vehicle came to a sudden stop.
He tried to lift his head and see what had happened,
but the headlights were too bright for him to see ahead.
Then a voice rang out.
“It would’ve fit the story perfectly if I’d run you over with a dump truck. What a shame.”
A familiar voice. It was Seo Dae-hun.
“So it was you. You fucking bastard.”
Once Yun Gi-hwan confirmed that the other man was Seo Dae-hun, he grew cocky.
Confidence surged through him. If it was someone like Seo Dae-hun, he could handle him.
And Yun Gi-hwan had a weapon.
Yun Gi-hwan pulled out the gun he had tucked at his waist and aimed it at Seo Dae-hun.
“I should never have let you set foot in Gunsan, you fucker. Die now, even if it’s late. Go say hello to your father for me.”
Click. Clickclickclickclick.
Yun Gi-hwan pulled the pistol’s trigger, but all he heard was the sound of an empty gun.
Not understanding what had gone wrong, Yun Gi-hwan turned the pistol upside down and peered inside.
“Look at that. You can tell he never served in the military. Who checks a malfunction by looking down the barrel? You idiot.”
“What?”
“There’s no magazine in the gun. I came to give you one.”
“What did you say?”
The moment he spoke, Seo Dae-hun charged at Yun Gi-hwan.
Yun Gi-hwan tried to stop him, but he was already in his fifties.
After spending so long in the cold seawater, Yun Gi-hwan was no match for Seo Dae-hun.
In an instant, the gun was taken from him, and Yun Gi-hwan was slammed down onto the asphalt. The shock must have been great, because he let out a groan.
“Ah… ah…”
Seo Dae-hun went over to Yun Gi-hwan, who was groaning, and crouched beside him.
“Do you know why I didn’t run you over with the dump truck? Why I even hit the brakes and saved you?”
“.........”
“Because if I ran you over with a dump truck, your pain would be too short. I felt bad about that. So I changed my mind at the last second.”
“What the fuck.”
“The weather’s really nice today. Perfect weather for swimming.”
“What crazy bullshit are you talking about? It’s late autumn. And it’s night.”
“Just enjoy a little night swim. It’s nice. When else are you going to get a chance like this?”
“I’m freezing to death, you fucker. What swimming?”
“I’m making you swim so you freeze to death.”
“What?”
“You’re going to die of hypothermia now. Shivering in the water.”
“You think I’m going into the water? Not a chance.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll throw you in.”
“You crazy bastard.”
Yun Gi-hwan swung his fist at Seo Dae-hun again,
but there was no strength in that fist.
So little that even if it hit him, it wouldn’t hurt.
Seo Dae-hun stood there and let the punch land.
“Are you done now? Nothing left to regret?”
“Fuck off, you fucking bastard.”
“All right. Then shall we go die now?”
Seo Dae-hun dragged Yun Gi-hwan to the edge of the seawall and threw him straight into the sea.
Splash.
The seawater of late autumn was terribly cold.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Yun Gi-hwan’s scream rang out.
“You’ve been sleepy and dazed since earlier, haven’t you? That’s an early symptom of hypothermia. Your face was pale.”
“Stop talking bullshit.”
Yun Gi-hwan kept trying to climb back onto land, but Seo Dae-hun stopped him.
As long as Seo Dae-hun was blocking him, he couldn’t get back onto land.
Yun Gi-hwan wanted to swim somewhere else if he had to,
but Yun Gi-hwan couldn’t swim.
Even when Yun Gi-hwan moved a little to the side and tried to climb up, Seo Dae-hun followed him.
There was also the option of swimming all the way to Gunsan so that Seo Dae-hun couldn’t follow him at all,
but even the nearest point of Gunsan was over ten kilometers from here.
Swimming across more than ten kilometers of sea?
That was absolutely not easy even for good swimmers.
Especially in the night sea.
“Fuck, why are you doing this to me? Huh? Even when you were running around Gunsan like you owned the place, I ignored it because of our old ties. I let you make a living, didn’t I? So why are you doing this? You ungrateful bastard.”
“Hahahahaha. Ungrateful? Aren’t you the ungrateful bastard? We picked up a punk who was shaking people down on the streets and made him into a man, and all you did was betray us. Why did you do it? Why did you do that to my father? It’s not like he treated you badly.”
“Ahahahaha. Why did I do it? Why do you think? I did it for money. If Brother Mun-sik had just had a little more business sense, he wouldn’t have died like that.”
“That’s right. My father died because he didn’t have any business sense. And you’re dying because you had too much of it. Fuck, life is hard. You die without it, and you die with too much of it.”
“Let’s not do this. I’ve suffered enough, haven’t I? Pull me out. You should take over the Geumho Gang now. I always thought you’d come back to the Geumho Gang. That’s why I was only looking after it for you until then. Now you should take over.”
“Ahahahahaha. A bastard like that stabbed me? If I took over the Geumho Gang twice, I’d end up in pieces.”
“No. It’s a misunderstanding. So pull me out.”
“Let’s work well together from now on.”
“I… I’m sho c-cold.”
His words became slurred.
It was one of the symptoms caused by hypothermia.
At this point, he was in the middle stage.
The symptoms would only grow worse from here.
The cold sea rapidly stole body heat.
And so, Seo Dae-hun stood in the cold wind, watching Yun Gi-hwan die of hypothermia.
How long had he been like that?
His pupils went slack, and his face turned pale.
“Mun-shik hyung… how’ve you been?”
“It’sh been a long time.”
He seemed to be hallucinating.
Was he mistaking Seo Dae-hun for Seo Mun-sik?
His movements gradually weakened.
He no longer even tried to climb onto land.
He lost consciousness.
There was no breathing.
No movement.
Seo Dae-hun kicked Yun Gi-hwan, who lay still as if dead, with all his strength.
Unable to resist the kick, Yun Gi-hwan was pushed away.
Little by little, slowly, he drifted away from the seawall.
And so he went toward the West Sea.
*******
Next, the news.
Yesterday evening, the violent organization known as the Geumho Gang, which has operated around Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, was arrested by police on charges of drug trafficking.
The Violent Crime Investigation Unit of the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency raided Gunsan Port, Yamido Dock, and other locations, arresting twelve members of the Geumho Gang on-site and seizing three kilograms of methamphetamine. The confiscated drugs have an estimated street value of approximately ten billion won.
In addition, an illegal handgun was found at the scene, leading police to expand their investigation on the belief that the Geumho Gang may have been involved in arms trafficking as well.
However, the boss of the Geumho Gang, Mr. Yun Gi-hwan, fled the scene just before the arrests and his whereabouts remain unknown. Police are weighing the possibility that Mr. Yun may have attempted to flee overseas and have launched a large-scale search focused on airports and ports.
The Geumho Gang is a violent organization that expanded its influence around Gunsan’s harbor and entertainment districts. Police have stated that, with this case as a starting point, they have begun a full-scale investigation into the organization’s sources of funding and related crimes.”
.
.
The Geumho Gang, once the absolute power in Gunsan, collapsed overnight.
Was it because they had sat on the throne for too long without a challenger?
Was it because Yun Gi-hwan’s influence had been too powerful?
The Geumho Gang, having lost its captain, rapidly fell into internal division.
A power struggle broke out within the organization.
Because Yun Gi-hwan had held all the organization’s power in his hands,
the moment Yun Gi-hwan disappeared, hyenas began rushing in from every side to seize that power.
In an instant, a Warring States period unfolded.
At first, they hesitated, wondering if Yun Gi-hwan might return.
But when several days passed without any news of Yun Gi-hwan, they quietly drew their knives.
Caught in the delusion that perhaps this time they could take over the organization,
they joined the war with forces so small they barely amounted to a handful, all to claim the throne.
A bloody struggle unfolded within the organization.
And the result was this:
No one managed to properly seize the throne. They were only bleeding each other dry.
When everyone had grown exhausted from the endless fighting, the Dae-hun Gang made its move.
It was robbing an empty house.
The Geumho Gang could not even put up any proper resistance and was absorbed into the Dae-hun Gang just like that.
.
.
Gunsan Nightclub.
It was a nightclub operated by Jo Dong-jin.
Jo Dong-jin had also joined this great war and suffered serious damage.
He had only modestly intended to take two hostess bars on this opportunity, but Jo Dong-jin was not the only one after them.
Locust-like bastards clung on from every side,
and in the end, he failed to obtain even a single bar and barely escaped with his body intact.
Several of his men had been seriously wounded.
He had barely managed to flee back to the nightclub,
but this time, Seo Dae-hun came in saying he would take the nightclub.
From Jo Dong-jin’s perspective, to be honest, it was a bit too much.
Honestly, he still didn’t know Seo Dae-hun’s true skill,
and Jo Dong-jin’s physical condition was not good either.
It was a fight he did not want.
“You came all the way here? Why don’t you just pretend you didn’t see this place and move on?”
“I thought about it, but the stink of trash was too strong here. I couldn’t just pass by.”
“You still talk like a fucking prick. Should I have beaten you more back then?”
“I think I got beaten enough back then. You only stopped because you got tired of hitting me.”
“Did I? It’s been so long I can’t really remember.”
“Let me ask you one thing. Why did you beat me like that back then?”
“Are you fucking stupid? Or just dense? You didn’t know that? I did it because Yun Gi-hwan told me to. He gave the boys a few tens of thousands of won each and told them to make sure that bastard couldn’t even lift his head. That’s why. I didn’t have any particular feelings about you.”
“I see. Now I know. I guess I really was a little stupid.”
“So what are you going to do now? Do I just hand over this business to you?”
“Well, that’s obvious. And I’d like to collect a little interest for you beating me after getting paid back then.”
“Wouldn’t handing over the nightclub’s operating rights be enough as interest?”
“What’s with you~ You lost it to me, so why are you trying to act like you’re giving it to me? Fuck, I almost bowed three times to thank you.”
“What?”
“What do you mean, what, you idiot? The operating rights here aren’t something you’re giving me. They’re something I took. So you can’t put that on the scale. Put something else on it.”
Jo Dong-jin gave a snort of laughter, pulled out his wallet, and tossed it down.
“I spend money pretty loosely, so I don’t have much on me. Take this if you want.”
“Keukeukeukeu. Do I look like some beggar to you, picking up scraps like this? Haha. If I’d known you were such an entertaining guy, I would’ve gotten closer to you earlier. What a shame.”
“So what do you want?”
“One arm, one leg.”
“What? This crazy bastard is spouting whatever he wants just because he’s got a mouth?”
“But I’ll let you choose which side.”
“You think I’ll just meekly let that happen? I’m Jo Dong-jin. The mad dog of Gunsan.”
“A mad dog needs to be beaten. The stick is medicine. If you don’t choose, I’ll decide myself.”
“You fucking—”
Jo Dong-jin charged in and threw a punch.
A raw, untrained punch.
A punch based solely on athletic ability, with no growth behind it, came flying at Seo Dae-hun.
Seo Dae-hun lightly dodged the punch and threw a left jab, then opened his hand at the last moment and slapped him.
Smack! Smack!
Jo Dong-jin, struck not by fists but by slaps, was furious, but there was no way to stop them.
The slaps came from strange angles.
He couldn’t predict their direction.
At first, he was only offended by being slapped, but as the hits continued, the damage began to build up.
Not punches, but slaps.
The inside of his mouth was torn up, and his cheeks stung.
Jo Dong-jin could barely land a hit.
Thinking about it, the problem seemed to be distance.
He couldn’t give distance to Seo Dae-hun, who had speed.
By giving him distance, he kept getting beaten by Seo Dae-hun’s superior speed.
He had to close the distance.
Jo Dong-jin dug into Seo Dae-hun’s space.
Seo Dae-hun looked at Jo Dong-jin charging in and smiled faintly.
He pulled a knife from behind his back.
Huh?
Jo Dong-jin tried to stop, but he had already come too far.
The cold sensation of the blade slid in deep along Jo Dong-jin’s right armpit.
“Uaaaaaagh!!!”
“Looks like you’ll have to practice using chopsticks with your left hand now. If you want to at least eat and live.”
“Uaaaaaagh!”
“If you’re going to use a crutch properly with your left hand, I suppose taking your left foot would be right.”
“Let go of this!!!! Let go!!! You fucking bastard!”
Despite Jo Dong-jin’s screams, Seo Dae-hun swept Jo Dong-jin’s leg and knocked him to the floor.
Seo Dae-hun sat on top of the fallen Jo Dong-jin and grabbed his left leg.
“It was fun when you were beating me, wasn’t it? This is repayment for what you did. Take it well, you son of a bitch.”
Seo Dae-hun slashed Jo Dong-jin’s Achilles tendon with the knife.
“Uaaaaaagh!”
Jo Dong-jin’s screams continued, but no one stepped forward.
No, they couldn’t step forward.
Not only were their bodies in bad shape from fighting elsewhere,
Seo Dae-hun’s men were also blocking them from making a move.
Seo Dae-hun stood up.
He spoke to Jo Dong-jin’s men, who were only watching the scene unfold.
“Anyone who wants to fight, come out. Loyalty, brotherhood, revenge—I don’t care what your reason is. I’ll take you on. But if you don’t want to fight and want to come under me, kneel.”
Every single one of Jo Dong-jin’s men there knelt.
*******
“Do you feel relieved?”
By the sea off Gunsan, where the sound of waves could be heard,
I was clinking soju glasses with Dae-hun.
One month since the Geumho Gang was arrested.
It was an extremely short time, but the Dae-hun Gang had taken over the Gunsan area in an instant.
They absorbed the Geumho Gang and turned it into the Dae-hun Gang.
There would continue to be problems, big and small, from here on, but those were problems Dae-hun had to solve.
I had arranged the drug deal,
snatched the drugs,
and delivered the drugs by boat. I had done my part.
What remained was Dae-hun’s share.
Dae-hun had completed his revenge and grown his organization,
but his expression did not look very bright.
His heart must have been complicated.
It was the same for me.
The moment I killed Derek Meyer was still vivid, but it was not a good memory.
If killing him brought my brothers back to life, maybe that would be different. But what use was there in killing someone like Derek Meyer?
Not that I could have let that bastard live either.
That was what revenge was.
Dae-hun might be feeling the same thing as me.
“I don’t feel relieved at all. I don’t know what this is. Everything went the way I wanted, but I feel empty inside. It’s like I ate a meal, but it feels like I didn’t.”
“That’s because all you eat is chicken breast, you bastard.”
Dae-hun laughed.
“Euhehehehe. Is that so?”
“Yeah. You have to eat something with a little salt and seasoning in it to feel like you’ve actually eaten.”
“Is my stomach this empty because I haven’t eaten stuff like that?”
“Probably.”
“Then should we eat properly today?”
“Sounds good.”
We ate our fill of the lavish spread before us.
The entire Dae-hun Gang had a company dinner.
I didn’t know whether the food he ate today could fill the emptiness in Dae-hun’s heart.
But at the very least, it would give him the strength to take one more step forward.
It would change his mood for tonight.
That was enough.