The More, the Merrier? The Bigger, the Better? (3)
"I told you to bring it all to me, not to swallow it yourself."
"Money management is the husband's job. Don't worry. I'll make sure our Su-jin lives without ever getting her hands dirty."
"Cut the crap and bring it all."
"No can do. I've already named our kids. If I give it to you? I'd be abandoned, and our poor babies wouldn't even be born."
Kim Su-jin had brought in the capable Kim Chan to emerge as the ultimate winner.
But in the decisive moment, Kim Chan gained his own revelation from the Customs Service's proposal.
To truly possess Kim Su-jin, he judged it better to keep the artworks for himself.
"Kim Chan, you're misunderstanding something. You think you can turn that into cash?"
"Even at a discount, it seems like enough to last a lifetime."
"Bullshit. High-end art like that only trades hands among the upper crust. You think rich folks will even meet a thug like you waving around Gogh, Picasso, Monet?"
"That's why I need you, Su-jin. Match made in heaven, huh?"
"Cut the crap and hand it all over by tonight. Or you die."
"What? You were screwing some other guy behind my back?"
"I'm not joking. Today. By today."
Ignoring the ominous warning, Kim Chan hid the containers packed with artworks in a safe place alongside his men.
"Good work, everyone. Let's party hard tonight."
"Yes, boss!"
Glamorous music and flashy dances, combined with the sight of his men mingling with slender, scantily clad club girls, relentlessly stimulated the audience's gaze.
But the dreamlike pleasure was shattered by a sudden report from one of his underlings.
"Boss, you gotta come see this."
"What? What's going on?"
"We opened a few boxes while cleaning up, and, uh, you really need to check this out."
Kim Chan sobered up instantly, leaving his men to their fun as he raced to the hideout.
"Gold bars? Why the hell would an art gallery store this?"
"And there's all these complicated documents too? CDs? Smuggling records for condoms and drugs? Why's this shit in an art gallery, boss?"
"Fuck, no wonder it was so damn heavy and bulky."
The spoils contained far too many things that had no business being in an art gallery.
Gold bars, bearer bonds, anonymous debentures, overseas bank account certificates, electronic identity devices, and bundles of 50,000-won bills easily exceeding tens of billions...
"We're fucked. This is Ilseong Group's slush fund stash. The gallery was just a front."
The vault's long-hidden true nature was finally revealed.
The astronomically valuable artworks were slush funds in their own right.
And inside the vault slumbered various other slush funds: gold bars, certificates, shell accounts, cash, and more.
"Boss, didn't we bite off way more than we can chew?"
"Ha, that woman Kim Su-jin... She was gonna hog it all by herself?"
Kim Chan muttered in dismay, then suddenly grinned wickedly.
"Spicy. Real spicy. That's why I like it even more."
"Boss, we're as good as dead."
"Ha, what if we bolt overseas?"
"You're crazy. They'd hunt us down even in the Amazon jungle."
Realizing the indigestible prey lodged in his throat, Kim Chan went to find Kim Su-jin.
She greeted him with a radiant smile.
"Changed your mind, huh? Smart choice."
"Su-jin, what the hell are you?"
"...What do you mean all of a sudden?"
"That was Ilseong Chairman's slush fund. What made you think you could hog it all?"
"You went and opened it after all. Pandora's box."
It was something Kim Su-jin could never handle alone.
Not mere art, but the slush funds of the Ilseong Group, which dominated Korea.
No matter where she fled on Earth, the group's hunting dogs would pursue her relentlessly.
"Tell me. Who put you up to it?"
"Who do you think?"
"The Ilseong Chairman?"
He prayed it wasn't true even as he spoke.
It'd make it all a ridiculous self-staged drama.
But a woman as clever as Kim Su-jin wouldn't stake her life on such a reckless gamble without safeguards.
"Spot on. It was on the chairman's orders."
"Why the hell would he tell you to steal his own slush fund? What nonsense is this?"
"The chairman and his wife are in the middle of a divorce right now. Pre-litigation stage."
"Ah!"
Only then did Kim Chan grasp the situation.
If the divorce went through like this, the astronomical slush fund would be entirely lost to asset division.
"Don't tell me you're the chairman's woman?"
Kim Su-jin affirmed with silence, and Kim Chan let out a thin groan.
"Mr. Kim Chan. Once this is done, the chairman promised to let me go free."
"Fuck! Fuck! That goddamn old bastard!"
"He even promised a generous severance. So make the wise choice, okay?"
After venting his rage, Kim Chan glared at Kim Su-jin with blazing eyes and spoke.
"From now on, you do exactly as I say."
***
Oh So-hee and Kim Da-hye were glued to the screen, barely breathing.
They'd come to the theater initially for Jeong Seo-hoon alone—to catch one more glimpse of him in person during the stage greeting, more interested in the freebie snacks than anything.
But before they knew it, they were swept up not in Jeong Seo-hoon, but in Kim Chan—the action-hero villain chasing greed—who hijacked the latter half of the film's narrative.
"You bastard, you might not make it out alive."
Meeting the Ilseong Chairman alone, Kim Chan staked everything on a desperate gamble.
"That's why I'm contacting you, Chairman. To stay alive."
"Speak. Your excuse."
"I took the job for the money. But when I dug in, turns out it was Ilseong Group's slush fund vault."
"I don't sense any will to live."
"If I'd known from the start, I never would've touched it."
Veteran actor Lee Min-soo, appearing for the first time in the film's final act, exuded unflinching charisma as the chairman.
When his face first appeared, a brief "OldMinSoo" murmur rippled through, but now everyone was captivated by his performance.
Oh So-hee felt a lump in her throat at the scene reminiscent of Hwang Hak-jin's reunion with Lee Jin-wook.
She could feel the director's love and respect for Illegal.
"Exactly 5%. I'll never show my face in front of you again. Think of it as an investment and trust me this once, Chairman."
"What if I refuse the investment?"
"Then I die right here. You've got plenty of pocket change. Enough to live like an emperor in the afterlife, haha!"
Oh So-hee clenched her fist tight.
The tense, heroic scene crackled with suspense, yet laughter seemed inevitable.
The other audience members probably felt the same.
"Fine. Proceed."
"Pfft!"
"Puha!"
"Hehe."
"Ah, OldMinSoo. Seriously, pfft."
To the very finish line, Kim Chan raced on, burning everything in resolve for one final score.
"Done, Su-jin. Bought us time."
"You're really going through with this? 5% is plenty for a lavish life."
"You think that'll fly? Not for me. I'd regret it forever, agonizing over the 95% that slipped through my fingers."
Kim Chan siphoned off all the loot, replacing it with masses of cheap oil paintings.
"Picasso, Gogh—burn 'em all, and it's just ashes. Good luck telling the difference."
"They won't buy it."
"Then I'll make them."
He took his cut—gold bars and such—and loaded the rest onto container trailers to send back.
Of course, all fakes.
Then, midway, he deliberately collided with a tanker truck, incinerating it all into unrecognizable ash.
Afterward, by offering up his own siphoned share and turning himself in, he'd beg forgiveness, claiming it was all an accident.
"You won't make it out alive."
"I've got the skills for that much. Key is making the Ilseong Chairman feel like it's truly ashes."
The cheeky thief might escape, but what's already burned can't be helped.
Steal the whole slush fund, or accidentally torch it returning it.
The former has no statute of limitations; the latter eventually does.
"To swallow that massive slush fund whole, you've gotta roll the dice this big. Right?"
"...Good luck."
The fierce, passionate kiss stretched on, met with squeals erupting from all directions.
Breaking through turbulent waves, Kim Chan played his final ace.
After the containers were fully incinerated, he deliberately went dark for days.
When the chairman's fury must have boiled to his bones, Kim Chan turned himself in with his cut of gold and cash, begging mercy.
Not to the chairman, but secretly to his chief secretary.
"Thought you'd bolted overseas already. Why come back?"
"I was fucked either way hiding out. But staying put felt even more fucked."
"Your life's already over, punk."
"Still, I scraped it all together to make amends. Exactly 5% for my cut."
"You want to claim innocence, say it wasn't intentional? Think the chairman will buy that?"
"I'll do my best and await heaven's call."
"Then tell him yourself."
"I know I'll die for sure this time. Why would I walk into that? I brought this back to live. It wasn't my fault."
"..."
"You think I saw that crash coming?"
Whether the chairman bought the lie or not, it was unverifiable now.
All he could do was pray the final gamble paid off.
But as he turned to leave, he was already surrounded.
The chief secretary said coldly.
"I can believe you, maybe. An accident—you brought what was left to survive."
"Chief, isn't that too much?"
"This is the chairman's way. Lie or not, you pay."
A brutal fight erupted, leaving Kim Chan drenched in blood.
He finally took down the bodyguards and escaped.
But as he reached the outskirts, new cars screeched up, guards aiming guns.
Sensing no escape, Kim Chan leaped toward the river.
Bang bang! Bang bang!
Bullets tore through his legs, leaving a trail of blood as he plunged into the river with a splash.
"He's dead?"
"Hit bad in the legs. Look at the blood. No way he survives that in the water."
"Search thoroughly anyway. Confirm the body."
Meanwhile, barely escaping the river like a corpse himself, Kim Chan sought Kim Su-jin, who should be waiting.
But the rendezvous was empty.
The 95% slush fund, Kim Su-jin, even his own men—all vanished.
Collapsing from exhaustion, Kim Chan gritted his teeth and spat curses.
"Those fucking... goddamn bastards."
Unsteady footsteps slowly encircled him.
Five longtime underlings leered, gripping steel pipes and bats.
"Boss, tough trek getting here. Why not just vanish quietly?"
"Su-jin... seduced you?"
"She promised to split half evenly with us? Over 50 billion each? What would you give us? No contest."
"You believe... her? You'll end up... just like..."
"We'll send you off easy. For old times' sake."
His right-hand man approached with a syringe, and Kim Chan's eyes squeezed shut.
The screen cut away.
San Francisco
The neighborhood of the ultra-wealthy nestled in low hills.
A world unto themselves, where even entry required rigorous checks at the mountain gates.
Kim Su-jin emerged from the massive mansion—its main building spanning hundreds of meters—and boarded a business jet waiting on her private runway.
Dozens of bodyguards shadowed her constantly, while her secretary softly briefed the day's schedule.
As she half-heartedly listened to entrepreneurs pitching their visions, the exquisite diamond bracelet on her elegant wrist stood out prominently.
Short, intense music burst forth, and as the screen darkened, the end credits rolled.
***
"..."
Oh So-hee was wrapped in overwhelming afterglow. Kim Da-hye too.
It felt like joyriding a runaway supercar around the track, only to suddenly cross the finish line.
"Whoa... fuck. So Kim Su-jin hogged it all in the end?"
"Fucking rich. That's gotta be trillions, right?"
"Trillions? More like tens of trillions. Ilseong's slush fund ain't chump change."
"Pfft, it's a movie, not real life."
"Poor Seo-hoon. Died again."
"Yeah. So tragic."
"But damn, total scene-stealer. Minor supporting role, tiny screen time, then boom—suddenly the lead."
The leads were the trio, and the final victor among them was Kim Su-jin.
But Kim Chan ignited the explosive debut scene early on and burned fiercely to the end without leaving a trace.
He chased unattainable glamour, nearly grasped it, but let it slip away.
Then Oh So-hee pointed out an audience member.
"Hey, look. That auntie's crying."
"Whoa, really."
"Wasn't sad enough to cry."
"I felt bad for Kim Chan too, but not like tearjerker bad..."
"Huh? Huh? HUUUH!"
Oh So-hee shrieked suddenly, and the audience leaped to their feet in unison.
As end credits rolled, the director and cast emerged before the screen.
Standing ovations erupted everywhere, massive cheers drowning the film's grand OST.
The actors who'd rampaged onscreen moments ago now beamed warmly at the crowd, and Oh So-hee and Kim Da-hye were utterly fixated on Jeong Seo-hoon.
The actors gave brief thank-yous for enjoying the film, and finally, the mic reached Jeong Seo-hoon.
"Jeong Seo-hoon here, playing Kim Chan. First film role, so plenty rough around the edges—please go easy on me. I'll work hard going forward."
His part was noticeably longer than the others.
A last-minute filler supporting role, outshining the star leads?
Mysterious, but fans like Oh So-hee, there solely for Jeong Seo-hoon, had no bandwidth to question it.
"Finally."
Jeong Seo-hoon paused briefly, and the end music cut off abruptly.
Silence blanketed the theater as the screen shifted.
Oh So-hee clamped her hand over her mouth.
The utterly unexpected sight before her nearly triggered hyperventilation.
On the hushed screen, bloodied Kim Chan staggered to his feet, limping.
Behind him lay his underlings, blood-soaked and down.
Stumbling out of the warehouse, he gazed at the horizon unsteadily, then lit a cigarette.
Smoke billowed refreshingly as he inhaled deeply.
"..."
His lips—twisted in ambiguous smile or sob—parted as if to speak, then the screen went pitch black.
Kim Chan Returns
"Sequel! It's a sequel!"
"Fuck, sequel with Kim Chan as the lead?"
Jeong Seo-hoon gave a light bow to wrap up.
"In the sequel, I'll show you better as the lead. Thank you."