Chapter 42
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: 6 Years Later
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6 Years Later
The police investigation began.
The scene of Young-jin being dragged out of his house by unidentified men,
forced into a car,
and suddenly leaping out into the middle of the road
was captured crystal clear on CCTV.
The police treated it as a kidnapping and tightened their net.
But the suspects turned out to be ethnic Koreans from China, making the investigation difficult.
The vehicle was a stolen burner car.
They tracked the car's route,
but it passed through several rural roads without CCTV coverage before vanishing without a trace.
The investigation hit a wall, and days later,
when the abandoned car was found in a remote mountain,
the ethnic Koreans had already all fled Korea.
In the end, the police probe fizzled out inconclusively.
Icos headquarters received a call from the fixers and panicked hard.
A murder-for-hire was far beyond what they could handle.
The HQ managers immediately decided to shut down the site and vanish.
Caught off guard, the master agents who'd trusted and followed HQ
were left high and dry like duck eggs in the Nakdong River.
Before closing the site, HQ ran a one-day "First Deposit 30% Bonus Event"
to lure in massive recharges from members.
The members, without a second thought, loaded up big,
but the next day the site vanished, pulling off a classic eat-and-run.
Furious members raged at their master agents, demanding action,
but there was no one like Jin-seong willing to take responsibility and cover their losses.
In the end, the master agents who'd betrayed Jin-seong lost their entire member base.
They left the scene riddled with regret.
Perfect karma.
I got a call from Hyun-sik and headed to Young-jin's funeral hall.
I couldn't believe it. While I'd been holed up at home like a shut-in,
Young-jin had passed so pointlessly.
It was too hard to accept.
It all felt like my fault.
The guilt that maybe he'd ended up that way because of me
stabbed at my chest relentlessly.
I'd been locked away, but I'd kept tabs on Icos's movements.
Seeing them slam the site shut right after Young-jin's death,
I instantly knew they were connected.
But right now, I just needed time to mourn him.
I quietly stood before Young-jin's altar,
gazing at his photo and bowing deeply.
The tears wouldn't stop.
Young-jin's parents and little sister, seeing a total stranger like me sobbing so heartbrokenly,
looked puzzled but returned the bow, thanking me quietly.
I greeted them softly, then stared at his portrait in my heart
and made a solemn vow.
'Young-jin... hyung will avenge you for sure.I'll get revenge no matter what... I'll never forget your face.'
As I left the altar, I stared at his photo for a long while.
Outside the funeral hall, I talked briefly with Hyun-sik.
Hyun-sik hesitated before speaking up.
"Hyungnim... I didn't tell you 'cause I was scared you'd misunderstand.
After we went under, those Icos HQ bastards reached out, asking to work together again.
But I said no master agent gig without you and shot it down right away.
They kept trying a few more times anyway."
My hands shook with rage.
The sheer gall of them making that offer made my blood boil all over again.
But I was so grateful to Hyun-sik for sticking by me to the end.
I appreciated even more that he lacked confidence to run master agent solo,
and hadn't even considered going it alone while I was down like that.
I pulled myself together.
I still had 10 million won in debt left.
I felt so sorry to my parents.
From now on, I'd snap out of it and live diligently, no matter what.
Someday, I'd get revenge on those vanished Icos managers.
No matter when that day came, I'd never forget.
I'd crush them with my own hands.
Already 2021. Time sure flies.
Six years had flown by in a blur.
My age was thirty-five... no,
it'd turned to thirty-four after the Korean age change.
The first year after quitting the master agent life was the toughest.
Having gotten used to blowing cash freely,
the 3 million won monthly from helping in the kitchen felt laughable at first.
Nothing else was particularly hard.
I spent months lying blankly at home, blaming the world and doing nothing,
but Young-jin's death dragged me back to reality.
And watching the people who'd stuck around in my glory days
vanish one by one the moment I crashed taught me a lesson.
People only gather when you're on top.
I learned for sure then that unless I succeeded on my own, I'd end up alone.
My faith in humanity was completely shattered.
The guys I'd looked after so well and trusted betrayed me for pocket change.
Hearing they'd all gone bust and bailed gave me no satisfaction.
I just never wanted to tangle in that money-driven game again.
That first year wrecked my body for real.
Twelve hours a day nonstop in my parents' restaurant kitchen.
Parents urged me, at their age, to forget the past,
learn some skills, and take over the restaurant.
So I jumped back into kitchen work.
Deactivated all my SNS accounts,
and from then on, it was just home and work on repeat.
After a year, the debt cleared naturally,
and with no outings, no spending either.
Occasionally, when pent-up, I'd hit a pleasure spot alone to blow off steam—that was it.
On days off, I'd sit blankly for an hour at my old favorite cafe,
reminiscing about the past.
Cutting myself off from the world, I slaved away at the kitchen.
Hyun-sik would call sometimes.
He'd opened a chicken joint in Gumi.
Knowing he was steadily saving and making his own way eased my mind.
But grinding away solely at kitchen work, I felt my body breaking down.
A family-run kitchen with no hires is way harder than outsiders think.
All day on your feet, breathing oil fumes, exhaustion breeds family clashes.
Especially with Dad—we butted heads often.
Tiny differences escalated; plenty of days we'd work in total silence.
Six years slipped by in that kitchen grind.
Body and soul utterly spent, but no other options.
Days just dragged on.
I'd occasionally wonder how I'd ended up here.
Truth is, I was a coward.
At first, I definitely dreamed of revenge.
Young-jin's pointless death kept haunting my mind.
Anger, regret, guilt all mixed—felt like I couldn't live without payback.
But reality didn't bend to my will.
No matter how much I hunted around, the Icos managers had vanished without a trace.
Like ghosts that never existed.
One day, wasting time on revenge fantasies,
a text came from an unknown number.
『Long time no see, Jin-seong. You seem to be doing okay?
Keep grinding away at work like that.』
My heart plummeted.
The next message had a photo of my parents' store.
Parents hustling diligently as always.
Heart pounding, hands shaking—I could barely grip the phone.
Chills ran down my spine.
This meant my parents could be in danger anytime.
All thoughts of revenge evaporated in an instant.
Any lingering hatred crumbled pathetically before fear.
I replied immediately.
『I won't even glance at that world again, so don't worry.
I'll just run the restaurant and live.』
After that, I went completely underground.
No telling how long they'd keep tabs on me.
With my family at risk,
I had no choice but to play normal.
Every day, head to the restaurant like nothing's wrong,
work from dawn till late night—show them that.
Fear outweighed revenge.
The thought of my family getting hurt because of me
clenched my heart and flooded me with helplessness.
In the end, I was a coward, destined to just hide away
as an ordinary guy.
I buried the revenge and rage deep inside
and lived on mechanically, day by day, just working.
That day, I'd had a massive blowout with Dad.
I'd been pushing him for ages to change how we ran the store.
What I wanted was simple.
Automate the kitchen, switch to easier menu items that take less hands-on.
But Dad wouldn't budge an inch.
A man who'd slaved with his body his whole life,
he couldn't shake the old belief that food needs handmade love.
Didn't even finish elementary school,
lifelong merchant scraping by, so his ways were stuck in the past.
Couldn't read Korean properly, either,
but his stubbornness and grit were something else.
"Dad, it's time to change.
I'm beat, Mom's beat. The world's different now."
"You punk, restaurant biz is all about hand taste.
Moment you automate with machines, flavor's shot.
Customers know when you grind proper, even if it hurts."
Mom got stuck mediating, stressed every day.
The more we fought, the worse the family vibe got.
Truth was, I'd come back to help in the kitchen
because Dad promised to hand it over in three years.
Six years later, still "not the right time" excuses,
treating me like hired help.
Suddenly thirty-four.
Kept feeling it was too late to reboot my life.
No big savings either.
Back in master agent days, I'd rake hundreds of millions a week,
now a year of killing myself barely scraped close.
The old life tempted me now and then.
Almost caved a few times,
but Young-jin's face and parents' worried looks pulled me back.
But clashes with Dad kept escalating.
Finally, one day a petty spat blew sky-high.
"If you're gonna be that stubborn, do it solo! I'm done.
I quit working!"
Dad, fury to the brim, bellowed back.
"Fine! Sick of your face, get out!
I can handle it alone!"
After that day, I never went back to the store.
Holed up at home, staring down Dad's mirror-image stubbornness,
I vowed never to set foot there again.
Just like that, I became unemployed.
But weirdly, my mind felt at ease.
At least now I was free from those endless fights with Dad.