Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Episode 89. Misaligned Direction
Oh Han-sung, Kwak Chi-young's right-hand man, visited Guiyang City in Nanming District, China.
His destination was downtown, about 10km west of the airport. He entered an alley packed with buildings of all sizes and went into the dilapidated building at the very end, which looked as if it would collapse at any moment.
He climbed the dusty stairs and knocked on the door with a plaque that read 'Geumhwangdang'.
"Who is it?"
A burly man with a thick beard came out.
"I'm here with a request."
"What request?"
Oh Han-sung said quietly.
"Traceless."
At that request, the man's expression turned serious, and he opened the door.
As Oh Han-sung entered, a gaunt, middle-aged man with long hair and round glasses on a skull-like face, who had been sitting inside the office, stood up.
The man was Go-cheun, the owner of Geumhwangdang and an informant.
"You've come to request Ghost?"
"Is it possible urgently? I think it needs to be done as surely and quickly as possible."
"Who's the target?"
Oh Han-sung handed over the envelope he was holding.
The envelope was passed to Go-cheun through the man in the middle. He immediately took out the contents and sent them somewhere using the fax machine behind his desk.
Oh Han-sung, who was sitting on the sofa, was puzzled by the sight.
"Aren't you going to check? There's no explanation of the request either."
It was a request for murder. Of course, Oh Han-sung had come knowing a fair amount about Geumhwangdang, but he didn't think the owner wouldn't even check the target.
"The authority to approve the request rests entirely with Ghost."
"Is he that great?"
"He's great because he's never failed so far. He's a bit picky, though. Oh, if approval is given, you know that it's impossible to cancel the request in the middle, right?"
Oh Han-sung had heard the rumors and recommended it to Kwak Chi-young. Moreover, since he was a Chinese figure, it fit perfectly into Kwak Chi-young's plan.
"I know. But is it true that you don't know anything about Ghost's identity here either?"
"Not at all. He doesn't want to reveal his identity."
"Can you still trust him?"
If the fixer changed his mind and sided with the target, the client and the intermediary would inevitably suffer a major blow.
"In this business, money is trust. Besides, Ghost's brokerage fee is high. Anyway, nothing is left for us even if he doesn't succeed, so there's no need to worry."
Go-cheun said that and set fire to the paper documents he had just faxed and put them in a steel trash can.
At the same time, acrid smoke rose into the dirty office and was sucked into the noisy ventilator.
"It's quite a thorough system for an office. But do I have to keep waiting here?"
"It won't take long. Oh, you didn't come without money, did you? You need a down payment. We only deal in cash here."
That was because Oh Han-sung didn't have anything other than the envelope he had just handed over.
"Someone will bring the money if the request is confirmed. So you don't have to worry about the amount."
"Oh? First, Ghost will determine the amount after confirming the target and reply with whether or not he accepts."
"Is there a criterion for accepting requests?"
Of course, Oh Han-sung had looked into it separately, but he didn't see any common intersection.
At that question, Go-cheun pouted and made a slightly dissatisfied expression.
"Human Punishment."
"...Does that mean the fixer Ghost punishes the target?"
"Whether he has a strange sense of justice... he doesn't move unless the target has a clear crime. That's why we have a hard time. Well, the result is clean, so it's good."
Oh Han-sung thought for a moment after hearing those words. The target he requested was Im Hee-yeon. If there was nothing about her that would move the Ghostly Reaper, he had to think of another way.
"That's a useless sense of justice."
"What's the use of that in this business?"
Beep―
At that time, the fax machine rang and a reply arrived. A subordinate approached the fax machine and brought a piece of paper with four large characters written on it.
Absolutely Not!】
At the same time, Go-cheun frowned deeply.
The paper was placed on the table so that Oh Han-sung could see it as well.
"This... it's going to be difficult."
"...The target I requested is not innocent. She's a socially problematic person."
Go-cheun looked at Oh Han-sung, shaking the paper with a solemn expression.
"No matter the reason. Ghost's decision is absolutely irreversible as written here. You should go back now."
"But……."
"Tsk―! Just stop there."
Oh Han-sung had no choice but to give up at Go-cheun's reaction, who even frowned.
"I'll be on my way."
Oh Han-sung went outside.
Meanwhile, Go-cheun held up the fax paper that had been placed on the table.
"What is he thinking when he sends this……."
Usually, if it was a mission to refuse, only 'Impossible' was written. But now the content was 'Absolutely Not', which contained a firm will.
Beep―
At that time, the fax machine rang again and the content arrived.
"What is it?"
"...It seems Ghost sent it."
"Huh? Bring it here."
Go-cheun's expression was even more distorted than before when he saw the content that was delivered this time.
"This crazy bastard……!"
The content written on the paper was…….
[Resignation]
It meant he was quitting his current job.
A few days later.
Shinwoo was driving in the evening. And in the passenger seat, unlike usual, Jang Man-soo, dressed in a very basic suit, was sitting with a dissatisfied expression.
"I have my own clothes, so why did you bother preparing them separately? It's annoying. It doesn't even suit me."
It was dozens of times more normal than usual.
Shinwoo, who was driving, shook his head.
"It's too late to say it, but your taste in clothes... it's terrible."
"Huh? What's wrong with my clothes? What's wrong with them!"
Shinwoo's head turned slightly as if he was asking sincerely.
"Why do you think Lillian always does that?"
"Because she's jealous of my fashion sense?"
"...You're in a serious condition. The terminal stage of the terminal stage."
He tried to fix it by saying it seriously, but it didn't seem to work.
'I should really tell Lillian to burn them all…….'
Then Jang Man-soo made an even more annoyed expression.
"Do I have to go too? I think it's better to finish Antenna at this time."
"I don't want to go either? And it takes some time to manufacture the detailed parts of Antenna."
"What's so special about the 40th anniversary……."
Today's schedule was the MH Group's 40th anniversary party.
In addition to key figures in the group, many people from outside were invited.
Shinwoo and Jang Man-soo were the same. Of course, they tried to refuse to attend at first, but…….
"It can't be helped. Corporate connections are also necessary to manage MH Future Security. We need to make our faces known to people."
Not only domestic figures but also overseas figures attended the party. As much as it will be a hot topic, it will spread more than the accident article last time.
At the same time, it would be even better if the remaining colleagues saw it and came to find them.
"At this rate, we might find them faster than building a contact network."
"It would be nice if that happened. It can't be helped that you suffered."
Jang Man-soo's brow furrowed.
"It's all because of Lillian. If she hadn't ordered me to make it complicated, I would have finished it a long time ago."
"Thanks to that, you haven't been tracked down at the time."
"Sigh."Uung― Uung―
At that time, Shinwoo's cell phone rang from Yakuza Weishuan." Of course, the number was the burner phone he had given him before.
"Did something happen?"
Until recently, the establishment of the company and the investment of funds were proceeding without any problems. He was a little puzzled because there was no particular issue to contact him.
[I'm contacting you because of information received from another area.]
"Information?"
[A request was received through the business I manage to kill your biological mother.]
At that moment, Shinwoo had a serious expression. At the same time, he put his cell phone on the cradle so that Jang Man-soo could check it and switched to speakerphone mode.
"When was the assassination request received?"
[Just yesterday afternoon. However, the request was not established because the fixer refused the request. Instead, they will consider other methods.]
The first place that came to mind about the client was the TSF China branch. Since they had failed in the abandoned factory incident last time, they might be trying to erase even the traces.
"What about the client?"
[Would we ask about that in our business? We just process it if we get paid. Of course, I checked it separately, but nothing came out right away. Instead, I'll send you a photo of the client's appearance taken on CCTV.]
A message arrived immediately. Jang Man-soo displayed the transmitted photo in the passenger seat.
Shinwoo, who was driving, could tell who it was when he saw the photo.
"...Oh Han-sung. He's the secretary and bodyguard of Kwak Chi-young, the head of the TSF Investment Korea branch."
[TSF? Why are they targeting your biological mother there?]
Weishuan did not know the whole story of the abandoned factory incident. Moreover, he was currently busy embezzling Ray Sung Group's slush funds.
"There's a good reason. But who is the assassin who didn't accept the request?"
[He's called the Ghostly Reaper. We also call him Ghost. He suddenly appeared in this business, and his identity has not been identified yet.]
"You're using people without even checking their identity?"
Yakuza Weishuan immediately checked Shinwoo's identity when he first met him.
However, it was strange that he had not checked the identity of the executor for a request to kill someone.
[Well, that's not a place I manage directly. They're probably using Ghost because they only see that he handles things cleanly.]
"So why didn't he accept the request?"
[I don't know, and neither do they. The choice is entirely up to Ghost. He's never explained it either. Anyway, that's all I know.]
"Okay."
[I'll let you know if there's anything else.]
Shinwoo checked that the call was over and tapped the steering wheel with his fingers.
Kwak Chi-young, the head of the TSF Korea branch, began to move. Of course, his plan was not difficult to guess.
To blame Im Hee-yeon's death on the TSF China branch. At first, he would connect it to the abandoned factory incident and then start throwing traces to Shinwoo.
It made sense because Shinwoo had just heard the word assassination and thought of the TSF China branch.
Of course, Kwak Chi-young's plan was based on the premise that Shinwoo did not know the details of the abandoned factory incident.
"Kwak Chi-young must be desperate to catch me properly."
"What are you going to do? Your mother said she would attend the anniversary party today too."
Im Hee-yeon recovered from her injuries in China a few days ago and returned. Of course, as an executive of the head office, she had to attend the MH Group's 40th anniversary party.
"If they sent another assassin, today will be the opportunity."
"That's right. There's no better opportunity than a crowded place."
Since the banquet hall is a crowded place with people, it is easy to break through no matter how thorough the security is. At the same time, the situation of the banquet made it difficult for the target to move surrounded by bodyguards, so it was easy to find a gap.