The Bait Respect Left Behind
"Puhahaha! So even you get backstabbed sometimes, Ddaeng-gu."
Abal roared with laughter.
"Goddammit... that bastard Gu-sik. Dragging up ancient nicknames for no reason — now every tom, dick, and harry calls me Ddaeng-gu."
"Puhahaha. Look at your nose. Get stung by a bee?"
"Unbelievable... Anyway, you're done playing tag for a while — you need to start showing up for work. Ganjeol Point is after Buri Island."
"How much are you paying?"
"How much? You've got a stake in Buri Island yourself!"
"Having a stake doesn't obligate me to defend it, Bbang-gu-ssi."
"It was Ddaeng-gu, not Bbang-gu. What, no Yeong-gu today?"
"You want me to call you Yeong-gu?"
"What, you got a whole year's quota of curse words left to spend? I'm already steamed from getting my melon cracked, and you want to shave years off my life in one clean hit?"
At that, Abal smirked and swung her long legs up, planting both feet on the chair.
Even as she did, she didn't forget to tidy the chain looped through her left bracelet.
Respect's wife was still bound to it.
"Fine, I'll admit it. I wrote the contract, and I'm happily pocketing my stake."
"Then admit it and do the work."
"But nowhere in that contract did I agree to work. You're the one who told me to handle all the tedious parts myself, and in exchange I just collect the stake. That was the arrangement."
Won-goo genuinely lost his temper.
"Oh, for god's sake... Then should we itemize everything from the moment I saved your sorry life? When the situation changes, we clean up the mess together first, then argue. If we're going to squabble over mine-and-yours on every little thing, how are we supposed to work together at all? Do you actually want to cut ties with me?"
Abal's expression hardened.
"Wow. You're properly pissed, huh? Extra prickly today."
"Getting backstabbed does that to a man."
"Well... the backstab, I'll grant. That's a hard one to swallow."
"And... try being a little cooperative. You've figured it out by now, haven't you? There's a limit to what you can do alone."
"Ohh? Taking me into the family, are we?"
Abal asked again, flashing a sly grin.
"Are we even speaking the same language? This conversation... You really are a walking irritation-generator."
"Then screw you, let's cut ties! Ddaeng-gu-ssi."
Abal was bellowing again. She was, genuinely, impossible to read.
And there was a very good reason Won-goo reacted like a man having a seizure the moment she opened her mouth.
"Quit the tantrum and join up. This one's big."
"Why? Gonna clear out Ganjeol Point the way you did the Black Shelters?"
"That's what I'd like, but... it won't be easy. Ganjeol is the problem."
"Even you can't get a read on him?"
"To get an estimate I need data. And there's next to nothing on Ganjeol. We've properly fought him all of twice, ever. Even his own inner circle doesn't know the full extent of his abilities — how am I supposed to draw an estimate off that?"
"Not hard to guess. Psionic powers or magic, isn't it?"
"There are plenty of other Gifts out there."
"So you block Ganjeol Point and negotiate?"
"At minimum, we keep the status quo."
"Neither side touches the other? No territorial encroachment?"
"Yeah."
"If that's your minimum, you're planning to squeeze out more, aren't you?"
"Have to."
"Since you caught All Kind?"
"Yeah. I was going to cut him into pieces and ship him to Ganjeol... Apparently that's a son he actually cherishes."
"...?"
"He contacted me right away. Told me to name what I want."
"That smells like a backstab too."
"Which is exactly why you'll keep Buri Island safe. You don't take cases these days and it doesn't affect your life one bit, does it? Honestly, the money you've stacked up helps, but your stake in Buri Island is part of what makes life easy for you."
"That part I admit."
"And if you get through this Buri Island business, I'll give you one piece of information."
"What information?"
"Respect."
Screech—!
Abal snapped upright on the spot.
"Where is he? That bastard."
The atmosphere shifted in an instant. Abal's mouth was still smiling, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.
"Did I say I knew his location? I said I'd give you information."
"So which is it? Spit it out."
"If you handle this job well—"
KRA-BOOM!
Abal slammed her foot into the floor hard enough to make the whole room shudder.
"Talk."
Anyone who knew even a little about Abal would have understood just how dangerous this exact moment was. Her combat record ran nearly as long as Won-goo's own.
And yet Won-goo wasn't frightened in the slightest.
Abal was exhausting and infuriating, yes — but she was not a woman to fear.
"Say you're in on Buri Island, and I'll tell you right now."
"In. Now talk."
Abal answered with frost in her eyes.
"You went shelter to shelter, hunting Respect's traces. Didn't you?"
"I did."
"And nothing ever felt off to you?"
"Quit circling and say it!"
"The trails always felt like fragments — one piece, then nothing to connect it to. Wasn't it like that?"
Abal fell silent, eyes sharpening as she thought it over.
Now that she looked back on it, the words rang true. Nothing but isolated scraps, and every time she followed one it dead-ended, and off she'd go hunting the next scrap. An endless loop.
"It was like that, right?"
"So?"
"I'm pretty sure those were baits Respect scattered."
"...?"
"He deliberately made you waste your routes and your time."
"What? Then he was never in any of the places I searched — he was somewhere else entirely?"
"Exactly."
"And that makes sense how? What, was he on Mt. Yuhyang? Right in Ganjeol territory?"
"Any reason he couldn't be?"
"Nobody just walks in there. However slow Ganjeol Point's intelligence network is, there's no way they don't know about Respect."
"Not Mt. Yuhyang, no."
"Then where? Talk fast."
"You know the place Respect's clan used as a base. That apartment complex."
"What about it?"
"He'd dug himself a rabbit warren in there."
"...."
"Montage-hyung confirmed it too. Height and weight match almost exactly. So do the traces. And the things found inside are more than plausible."
Abal's eyes turned truly vicious. Her gaze was sharp by nature, but never especially menacing — right now, however, they were practically serpent's eyes, thick with killing intent.
"So I'm the one who got played."
"He caught you off guard. That's all."
"So he faked running, holed up there to buy time... and then bolted somewhere else entirely?"
"Right. So you'll want to start sweeping the areas you never circled."
"Hah...."
"I told you, didn't I? He's no ordinary bastard. If running away is a skill, that man is its master. The rumor he'd joined a Black Shelter was fake, and every rumor out of the areas you searched was fake too. And maybe—"
"Maybe what? Why'd you stop?"
"What came after that... are you sure about it?"
"...?"
"That woman being Respect's wife. I just can't bring myself to believe that bastard was ever married."
"She's part of the bait too?"
"Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't."
"Say it straight."
"I'm telling you to cool your head first. Does it even matter whether it's real? By now enough time has passed that the bait's spent anyway — that much is proven, isn't it—"
"...."
"Which is exactly what I meant when I said that with this much time gone, he can't be caught."
"Then how?"
"How what?"
"You're supposed to give me a method too!"
"Hey... did I ever shove you out the door and order you to catch Respect? I've been burned by that bastard too. If he could've been caught, I'd have caught him ages ago."
"And what would you have done, hm?"
"You shameless piece of— you are the undisputed champion of audacity, I swear. Why drop the Ddaeng-gu, Bbang-gu, Bbang-kku-ttong-kku routine? It's only when you want something that I'm suddenly 'sir.'"
Then Abal, jaw clamped shut, pushed her words out one by one, each syllable exaggerated and deliberate.
"Direeeector... GooOong... mayyy I... asssk... a queeestionnn?"
Pressed down upon, syllable by measured syllable. And still Won-goo didn't so much as blink.
"You're about to drool. I give you the method, and we're square?"
Nod, nod.
"Finding a person is half luck. Especially in times like these, when information is this scarce."
"Then give me the other half."
"You scatter it among the crowds that drift between the moving shelters. Respect's face, build, way of dressing—"
"And if he's disguised?"
"He'll trip himself up regardless. That bastard's way of talking is unmistakable. Anyone spots a man who can't get through five sentences without the word 'respect' falling out of his mouth, they signal in. Put a bounty on it."
"And then I wait?"
"Didn't I give you that exact advice before?"
Abal couldn't answer right away — the memory of hearing it once before rose to the surface.
"Anyway. Buri Island. We're holding it? I'm not hearing arguments."
"I was going to hold it anyway, Ddaeng-gu-ssi."
"Hah...."
Irritation boiled up from somewhere deep, and Won-goo gripped his temples.
Watching him, Abal burst out laughing.
"Annoyed?"
"I'm growing a headache I never used to have."
"Want a kiss to make it better? Come here, I'll give you one."
"Get lost!"
"Can't even take a joke?"
"That wasn't a jok—"
"Ah! Enough. Get up!"
"Get up for what? We're done talking. Go home. Let me get some rest."
"Rest from what? You caught All Kind, didn't you?"
"So?"
"Aren't you going to extract the information? He's an executive. He'll know plenty."
"Don't exaggerate. That department is my expertise. I'll pull quality information out of him through the appropriate therapy. Right now we're in the marinating stage. You have to let it steep like this — that's how treatment takes properly."
"I know. Our Ddaeng-gu is very good at that sort of thing. But do you have the time?"
"...?"
"Ganjeol Point could come over the wall any moment. The only reason they took your message at all is because they don't know when either, and they're stalling. Wasn't that the whole point?"
"So?"
"I've heard of All Kind. Textbook enhancement-type, runs entirely on pride, right?"
And you're not? The words climbed all the way to the back of Won-goo's throat — and were swallowed.
"That's him."
"Then take me to him. I'll have him spilling everything in one go."
"Hmmm... I don't know...."
"Ah, hurry up! Take me there! He'll be at Sapiens's place anyway, right? Want me to just go and flip the whole place myself?"
"What's this plan of yours? At least let me hear it first."
"We fight. That's the plan."
"And?"
"If I win, he blows out everything he knows."
"And if you lose, you let him walk?"
"That's right. A perfectly fair deal, no?"
"Hot-tempered, a little dim around the edges... but you don't look that stupid. Heard from Sanghae you've got a sharper side than I gave you credit for."
"What does smart have to do with anything here? You're seriously going to write up a contract and duck out on me?"
It was absurd. Won-goo had been the one to capture All Kind — and here was Abal, cutting a deal over the captive as if it were hers.
The phrase insufferably arrogant might as well have been coined for this woman.
And yet she wasn't purely tiresome, and she wasn't hateful either.
"All Kind has a reputation. They say he's no joke."
"Doesn't matter. He got floored by our Ddaeng-gu-ssi, didn't he? Then he won't work on me. That's called a bubble."
"It's not quite that simple—"
"What?"
This time it was Abal who exploded.
"No, look — your growth's been slow lately, hasn't it? Especially in this line of work. The data refreshes fast. Everyone else is grinding coins and upgrading themselves, and you spent all that time chasing Respect."
Abal snorted, amused.
"I wasn't exactly lazing around. While I was hunting Respect, I kept taking small jobs on the side."
"My point is that it wasn't enough. And your recent record speaks for itself."
"Hey!"
"Estimates aren't made with feelings. He's at least Gu-sik class. It's not that he can't fight. See my nose? This much damage is from grazes. If he'd landed one clean, it could've ended right there."
"Gu-sik was... I got careless, that's all. Rematch? I'd have him down in ten minutes."
"Ahh, I can feel this turning into a headache."
"Take me there. Now."
"...."
"I said I'd take full responsibility!"
"...."
Won-goo knew exactly what Abal was like once she dug her heels in — she would find a way, one way or another — so he couldn't answer right away.
And then, a decent counter came to him.
"Oh, right — the All Kind matter isn't mine alone. I'd have to ask for everyone's opinion. Come to think of it... yeah, that's true."
"Hah... there you go again."
"It's not 'there I go' — it's genuinely true, I'm telling you."
"Then call everyone. I'll show them properly."
Abal shot to her feet in a fit of temper and stormed out the door.
"Every single conversation with her ages me a decade... Aargh...."