Gim Namgi, a member of the Cheongnyangni Faction, opened his eyes.
His mind was hazy.
He remembered being stabbed with a knife.
He had rushed out after hearing that the Dongdaemun Faction had launched a surprise attack, then got stabbed.
Two strikes to the abdomen.
Stabbed by the attackers’ knives, he had lain limp and helpless.
That was how he lost consciousness.
He had thought he died, but it seemed he was alive.
He had opened his eyes.
He had no memory of how he came to be here.
Honestly, he didn’t even know where here was.
When he tried to move, pain finally flared in his abdomen.
Looking down, he saw white bandages wrapped carefully around him.
An IV line was stuck in his arm.
What was going on?
Had someone taken him to a hospital?
But the interior wasn’t that of a hospital.
Where was this?
Curiosity lasted only a moment.
He needed to check how the situation had turned out.
What had happened to the organization,
and where the survivors were—he needed to find out.
As he tried to endure the pain and get up, the door opened and a man in a fluorescent vest entered.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t get up. Your wound will tear open.”
“There’s somewhere I need to be right now.”
“No. You need treatment first.”
“I’m grateful for the treatment, but there’s somewhere I absolutely must go.”
“I said treatment first. Does this look like I’m asking nicely right now?”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, let’s get treatment first. That’s the protocol here. Ask the boss when he comes later. Until then, even if it’s stuffy, stay in this sickroom.”
“...”
“Answer.”
“Yes...”
The man in the fluorescent vest was kind but overflowing with charisma.
It was impossible to say no to that.
Instead, when the man left, he searched the room for a cell phone.
He needed a cell phone to contact the outside, but one was nowhere to be found.
.
.
.
“Your name?”
“Gim Namgi of the Cheongnyangni Faction.”
When afternoon came, a group of men in suits entered the sickroom.
Among them, the man who appeared to be the leader asked Gim Namgi in a friendly tone.
“Do you know where this is?”
“No. I haven’t been able to go outside the sickroom.”
Hearing that, the leader smiled, seemingly satisfied, and spoke.
“The boys did a thorough job. Chief Gim, good work.”
“Thank you, boss.”
When the leader spoke lightly to the man beside him, the one called Chief Gim bowed his head respectfully.
That man seemed to be someone fairly high-ranking.
The leader spoke to Gim Namgi.
“I’ll tell you a few things you should keep in mind. I hope you’ll follow them while staying here.”
“Yes.”
“Stay here until treatment is finished. Once treatment ends, we’ll send you off. Until then, going out and contacting the outside will be prohibited. That’s why we’re keeping your cell phone.”
“You’re prohibiting contact with the outside?”
“Yes. You know the incident happening right now? It’d be nice if you stayed here until that’s over.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly as I said. The war happening right now. I hope you’ll stay here only until that war ends.”
“May I ask the reason?”
“To minimize casualties. If I let you go now, you’d go straight back to the Cheongnyangni Faction, wage another war, kill someone, and possibly die too. We want to stop that war. That’s all.”
“I feel like there might be another reason.”
“We just want to prevent innocent lives from being lost. That’s all.”
“Really?”
“Well. You’re free to imagine, but I’d refrain from jumping to conclusions.”
“What if I force my way out of here?”
“What do you mean? This isn’t a prison, and we have no intention of forcefully keeping someone who doesn’t want to stay. However, that wound needs treatment, and in the case of a stab wound, police reporting is mandatory. You’ll probably have to undergo investigation along with treatment.”
“...”
“If it’s too stifling, take a walk or something. Don’t climb over the fence.”
.
.
.
It didn’t take long for Gim Namgi to learn the true nature of this place.
It was run by the Daehun Faction.
When a fight broke out between organizations, the Daehun Faction would intervene and clean up the mess.
They brought everyone there.
They treated those who needed treatment, provided room and board to those in good condition, and prevented them from going back.
The biggest reason the Daehun Faction operated such a temporary shelter was to prevent the fighting from continuing to spread.
Because people often took revenge after a war broke out and waged war again, they were held until things calmed down.
Now was the time to wrap up the war.
They couldn’t keep waging war forever.
And there was one more reason.
The Daehun Faction’s biggest problem right now.
A personnel count far too insufficient for the organization’s scale.
It was a sort of school for replenishing that personnel.
A temporary shelter made by renovating an old youth training center in Chungcheong Province.
It was in the mountains, but with a cafeteria, various entertainment facilities, and exercise facilities, it was not inconvenient to stay there.
Gim Namgi walked around the youth training center.
Some had bandages wrapped tightly around them,
some walked around looking fairly unharmed,
and some were exercising while sweating.
Perhaps because they had all crossed a life-or-death crisis once?
Though they had experienced great trials, their expressions looked at ease.
Ding-ding-ding.
When the bell rang, people gathered into the cafeteria.
Today’s lunch was stir-fried spicy pork, pork cutlet, and dried-radish soybean-paste soup.
But Gim Namgi ate porridge and salad, his patient meal.
The food tasted quite excellent.
After lunch, he came out to the smoking area to smoke.
He could endure skipping the spicy pork, but he couldn’t endure skipping a cigarette.
Several people had already come early to the smoking area to smoke.
Some people looked fairly familiar, perhaps because he had seen them a few times.
He greeted them with a light nod and lit his cigarette.
The cigarette smoke entered deep into his body and exited again through his mouth.
The faint dizziness felt good.
While he was smoking, an announcement came telling everyone gathered to come to the auditorium.
Everyone in the smoking area gathered in the auditorium.
In the auditorium, the leader he’d seen in the sickroom was standing at the podium.
“Hello? I am Jeong Geunsu, who assists the Chairman of the Daehun Faction.”
Loud applause was heard from the back, and people naturally began clapping along.
“Many of you are receiving treatment and protection here. We prepared diligently, but there may be shortcomings. Even if it’s inconvenient, I hope you’ll understand a little.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s sufficient.”
Answers were heard from here and there.
“The reason I’m standing here is for those among you trembling with anxiety about the future, those wondering what to do now that your organization is gone, your workplace is gone. I stepped up to this place because of those worries.”
“Perhaps many of you won’t be able to return to your organizations even after the war ends. A considerable number of organizations have already collapsed and vanished.”
“Our Daehun Faction needs people like you with high loyalty who do their best for the organization.”
“If you join the Daehun Faction, of course, the four major insurances, monthly salary payments. We will pay incentives depending on the project.”
“Also, while you stay here, we’ll teach you skills necessary for organization life. We provide combat, diet management, PT, foreign language education, and so on.”
“If you join the Daehun Faction, we will manage you thoroughly so that you can become personnel needed by the Daehun Faction.”
“There are no conditions. Just having the will to work hard is enough.”
Gim Namgi raised his hand without even realizing it.
The Cheongnyangni Faction was said to be gone.
He couldn’t be loyal to an organization that had vanished.
And he liked the life here.
Unlike existing organizations, the senior-junior hierarchy wasn’t strict, and they didn’t nitpick over useless things.
There was respect between equals and superiors.
The conditions were good too.
The four major insurances and a salary.
They said they’d even issue business cards.
There was no reason to refuse.
So he raised his hand.
“Welcome to our Daehun Faction. Then we should study about our Daehun Faction, right?”
What they held out was this.
“From now on, memorize this inside and out. There will be a test. If you can’t memorize this, you’ll be an errand boy for life. Study thinking of Seo Daehun-nim’s words as the words of the Lord. Don’t miss a single letter.”
Gim Namgi was given a copy of the Biography of Seo Daehun, a blank notebook, and a pencil.
The Seoul National University-style learning method of reading, writing, and memorizing had spread even to the Daehun Faction.
*******
“Kevin, long time no see. How’ve you been?”
I contacted Kevin after a really long time.
There had never been a time I was as chaotically busy as these days.
From morning to night, receiving reports and giving feedback took up my whole day.
Because of that, I couldn’t prepare what needed to be prepared and had been putting it off.
That was, namely, the drugs to distribute in China.
I had to prepare those drugs in advance.
There were several reasons I kept putting it off despite needing to prepare in advance.
First, I had no idea whatsoever how much quantity I needed,
and second, my financial situation wasn’t very good either.
If I was going to distribute drugs in China, I needed to estimate how much to distribute, but I couldn’t estimate at all.
I was a complete outsider in this field.
After putting it off like that, I decided it wasn’t right and that I’d ask first.
The only drug distributor I knew was “Kevin.”
“Candy Boy, long time no see. But is it time for us to receive the drugs?”
“No, I didn’t contact you for that. By any chance, would it be possible to receive drugs in large quantities?”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, I want to receive a huge amount, but...”
“You don’t know the amount, but you need a huge amount?”
“Right?”
“May I ask the reason?”
“Let’s say it’s a sample for entering a new market.”
“Then why don’t you just build a factory?”
“A factory?”
“Yeah. It’s easier than you think. And if it’s a sample, you’d need to run various tests, so building a factory would be better.”
“But I don’t know anything about this field.”
“It’s not like a Chinese restaurant owner knows how to cook all Chinese food. You just need a proper chef.”
“It’s worrisome precisely because I don’t have a proper chef.”
“Want an introduction? There’s a rising star in our field these days; shall I introduce you?”
“What’s that friend good at?”
“He’s multi-talented. Among other things, he’s very strong at formulation.”
“But if he’s a rising star, wouldn’t the competition be fierce?”
“Fortunately, his company closed down not too long ago, so he’s freelance now. We don’t get unemployment benefits, so he’s probably in a bit of a bind right now. Why don’t you meet him?”
“That’d be great. Thanks, Kevin.”
This was Kevin looking out for me.
He could supply it himself, but he had recommended building a factory for the diversity of the product line.
He had given up his own profit.
The drug distribution structure was very unusual.
First, the drugs increased tenfold every time they crossed a border.
For example, it cost less than 100,000 won to produce at the factory,
but when distributor Kevin bought it, it was 1 million won per kg.
When I, the delivery guy, bought from Kevin, it was 10 million; when I crossed the border and sold to a foreign country’s gangsters, it became 100 million.
Then the gangsters divided this 1 kg into 100 g or 10 g units and sold them.
Then the guys who received it sold it in 1 g or single-dose units.
In that process, the drug price shot up.
In other words, the production cost was very low, but because it was difficult to cross the border and crackdowns were severe, the price jumped tenfold at every distribution stage.
And I possessed the ultimate weapon called Inventory, which could avoid borders and crackdowns.
If I built a factory,
I could produce the drugs I wanted, at an incredibly cheap price, as much as I wanted.
There was no intermediate distribution process.
I produced it and handled it even down to retail.
It couldn’t be anything but an enormous advantage.
.
.
.
Zamboanga International Airport.
Recently, a route between Panglao in Bohol and Zamboanga had opened.
Airplanes had started running.
Before, to get to Zamboanga, you had to go from Panglao to Cebu first and then take a plane to Zamboanga, but now you could go straight from Panglao to Zamboanga.
It couldn’t be more convenient.
Thank you, Patrick.
When I entered a secluded alley in Zamboanga, the promised location came into view.
An old local café.
I went in and sat down, and Scott sat at the table behind me.
When the appointment time came, a very young man entered the café.
He was so young that it was doubtful to call him a pharmacist.
After glancing at me, he sat down in front of me.
“Candy Boy?”
I nodded lightly.
“You’re building a factory?”
“I’ll hear you out. I’ll hear you out, and only if the temperature and humidity are right will we proceed. I have no intention of forcing this through a storm.”
“Uh-huh. What do you want to make?”
“A drug that the whole nation can enjoy with ease?”
“Oho~ that’s large-scale. I like it.”
“You’d be even more surprised if you heard where I’m selling it.”
“Where are you selling it?”
“China.”
The man’s expression hardened.