The Backer
I withdrew my hand from her sex. Regret was written plain across Juri’s face. I shifted closer, bringing my face near hers as I spoke.
“From the way you talk, it doesn’t sound like you care much for that man. So why lean on him to get by? I thought you liked him.”
Juri shook her head so hard her hair flew into a tangle.
“No. I needed him, and he needed me. The triad guys are terrifying. I needed insurance, and I needed a weapon to stand against them. Meanwhile he couldn’t refuse the demands of the people who had his back if he wanted to keep his position. We had no choice but to stick together, like a crocodile and a plover.”
I asked as if the matter barely interested me.
“They made demands?”
Juri nodded.
“The drug business brings in enormous profits. But the risks are just as huge, so Jo Byeongsu found it really burdensome. The drug trade wasn’t something he had been running himself to begin with.”
I nodded. Then I rose from the bed, undid the belt of my robe, and let it fall open. Naturally I wore nothing underneath. I felt Juri’s gaze lock onto my cock. I approached the bed, gently pushed her down onto her back, and said,
“Do you have proof of all this, Juri?”
She spread her legs by reflex, and I settled myself between them. Looking up at me with a face full of anticipation, she nodded.
In the conference room sat Yongjin, Miryeong, and me. Yongjin was studying a tablet while Miryeong sat pressed right up against my side, staring at her phone. I had slipped my hand behind her and into the leggings she was wearing, fondling her ass. Miryeong lifted one cheek to make it easier for me, which left her body tilted toward mine.
When I leaned in and brushed a light kiss against her cheek, Miryeong lifted her chin. I sealed my lips over hers and worked them slowly. Our mouths parted; I glanced at Yongjin, who cleared his throat and turned slightly away.
“Well, damn… You don’t even notice who’s sitting next to you anymore.”
I smiled and turned my upper body fully toward Miryeong. She set her phone on the table and turned toward me as well. Now we kissed for real—wet, hungry sounds filling the air as we sucked at each other’s lips and tongues as if starved. I slid my hand under her T-shirt and kneaded her modest breasts. Her nipples had gone rock-hard. When the kiss ended I told her,
“A week apart and I thought I’d die of emptiness.”
Miryeong tipped her head and answered,
“If at all possible, I will never leave your side again.”
I smiled and stroked her face with gentle fingers. A faint smile touched her otherwise expressionless features. Without looking up from his tablet, Yongjin said,
“Miryeong-sunbae wasn’t off having fun. She was away for the regional small-group meetings, so don’t give her too hard a time…”
I flicked a glance at him, then went back to stroking Miryeong’s cheek. She watched me with a face like a cat’s. At that moment the conference-room door opened and Myeongsuk walked in. She took a seat at the table; Yongjin, Miryeong, and I turned and settled around it as well. I spoke first.
“How did it go?”
Myeongsuk met my eyes and nodded.
“It went well. The police finished their investigation and say they’ll forward the case for prosecution with a recommendation to indict today.”
I smiled.
“And Jo Byeongsu’s action men?”
“They can’t move freely, and their loyalty to Jo Byeongsu isn’t nearly as strong as you might think. Until now they only moved because he paid them. Their numbers aren’t that large either.”
I nodded and rested my hand on Miryeong’s thigh; she quietly parted her legs. Firm muscle met my palm.
“What about that backer of his—how did you handle him, Myeongsuk?”
Myeongsuk’s expression tightened slightly.
“I never met him directly or spoke with him, but nothing will come of it. He knows full well that getting entangled in something bigger while chasing the profits from that project would cost him far more. He’s very quick with that kind of calculation. He’ll cut every last tie to Jo Byeongsu. And Jo Byeongsu knows exactly how dangerous that man is, so he won’t dare name him during the investigation.”
I nodded.
“So in the end Jo Byeongsu ends up carrying everything himself.”
“Yes. We stripped out every detail that might link back to that man from the materials Ma Juri brought us before we handed them to the police. By now the backer will have confirmed that none of the evidence implicates him.”
“And Ma Juri?”
“She’ll be here soon. She said she wants to pay her final respects to Jisin before she leaves.”
By gaslighting Ma Juri we had obtained every scrap of material she held on the drug deals. We submitted those materials to the police; they arrested Jo Byeongsu and began their investigation. At the same time we leaked the story to the press, and the coverage exploded. The triads, with the entire country in an uproar, pulled their tails in and vanished. Exactly as Myeongsuk said, the powerful man who had been covering Jo Byeongsu’s back also severed the connection. In the end Jo Byeongsu was left to take the entire fall and go down alone.
Ma Juri still believed she was terminally ill, yet she clung to the hope that my prayers might yet restore her. Even so, Jo Byeongsu and the triads remained objects of terror to her. We decided to scrub her identity clean and send her to Japan. Myeongsuk claimed she had channels into a yakuza organization and would place Juri with them. The triads would rather avoid a clash with the yakuza, so they would make no attempt to hunt her down. We arranged a place for her in a remote Japanese village; there she would preach the doctrine of Cheonsiman-gyo—under yakuza watch, of course.
Myeongsuk’s face hardened a little as she spoke again.
“This time we managed to finish things by gaslighting one foolish woman, but the moment has come when we ourselves need physical force.”
I heard her, yet at the time I dismissed it as mere muttering to herself.
“The land’s all settled, right?”
I asked Yongjin. He pulled up something on his tablet and answered,
“Yeah. Gu Yeonsu transferred it to us as a donation from the start, so we take on no financial burden. In return—though it’s nowhere near the full amount—we agreed to make good about half of the losses she took, one way or another. She bought the land before it rose, so the loss isn’t huge money to begin with.”
I frowned.
“If she’d sold it now it would have been enormous money. Even so, only half is enough?”
Yongjin nodded.
“That’s as far as we could go. Someone else has agreed to cover the rest through various means.”
“Someone else?”
Yongjin lifted his face from the tablet and smiled. Just then Myeongsuk’s phone buzzed; she checked the message and told me,
“Ma Juri is here.”
I nodded and stood. Taking Miryeong’s face in my hands, I kissed her and said,
“Wait in the private quarters at Byeolchae. I’ll be there soon.”
Miryeong nodded. Myeongsuk and I left the conference room together. As we walked the corridor she said,
“I envy Miryeong. Receiving such devoted love from Jisin…”
I smiled.
“Then you should have my child too, Myeongsuk.”
She sighed.
“If I conceive now it would be a late pregnancy. I could die in childbirth.”
I put an arm around her shoulders.
“That won’t do.”
Keeping her head bowed she murmured,
“Still… should we try?”
I said nothing. I myself had never expected to change this much. It must have been that night. After finishing the regular gathering I had returned to Byeolchae and was lying in the private quarters when Miryeong came in. Exhaustion had left me drained, yet she quietly climbed onto my bed. I drew her into my arms. She had never refused me, but neither had she ever been the type to approach first, so I held her warmly. Nestled against me in silence, Miryeong spoke.
“Today… my old boyfriend came looking for me.”
I turned my head toward her. She did not look at me. With her cheek pressed to my chest she continued.
“It was only a short time, but I loved that man a great deal. I even thought about marrying him.”
Her voice trembled faintly. It was the first time I had seen her like this, so I could not help but give her my full attention.