The Container
Would it have been better if 999 had just stayed in Yanbian all along?
That was the thought that crossed my mind as I made my way toward the container section of the Pyeongtaek–Yantai ferry route.
"Look! This isn't a passenger access area!" (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"……."
"Why are you in the container zone? Get out of here first!"
A worker in a fluorescent vest stopped me.
Not a crew member on this short-haul feeder line—probably from a subcontracting company.
At first, he just stared at me blankly…
But the moment I approached a specific container, he suddenly became highly reactive. Probably someone who’d been paid off. I ignored him.
"Is this bastard crazy?" (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
The worker’s hand gripped my collar.
Just then, the container I was looking for came into view.
Container number NEBU1234567, seal number SGL-778201.
One of the containers loaded onto the Pyeongtaek–Yantai passenger-cargo ferry, about to depart.
At first glance, just a standard 40-foot container…
Probably filled with goods from small shippers.
Electric rice cookers, electric kettles. Things like that, plus clothing sent from Itaewon wholesalers, and some Chinese cargo shipped in reverse.
"You damn bastard…! If something happens, you’ll take the blame." (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"Do you get about 2 million won per stowaway? Or 3 million?"
"……."
"Either way, the broker handles everything. Your job is just to adjust the unloading schedule… or maybe you don’t even do that—just turn a blind eye. Or stop people from approaching like I am right now."
"Crazy bastard."
The worker’s grip on my collar loosened slightly.
I’d taken some abuse, but it was fine.
What mattered to me right now wasn’t the subcontractor worker taking bribes to overlook stowaways—it was the container in front of me.
"Will you open it?"
Inside the container I requested to open, alongside electric rice cookers, cosmetics, vitamins, and padded jacket stock, there was one rather special cargo.
The disguised documents listed it as daily necessities, but in reality, it wasn’t.
What was inside right now was a prostitute.
"Hey. You can’t just open a loaded container on your own…"
"I know it’s not allowed. But you do it all the time, don’t you?"
"……." (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"I can’t pay you. Just open it."
I just wanted to talk to that prostitute for a moment.
"Are you with the police?" (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"No."
NIS agents and police would be arriving soon with coast guard cooperation, but I wasn’t police—so it wasn’t a lie.
The worker hesitated despite my repeated urging.
The longer this took, the less time I’d have with Li Su-jin… There was no choice.
I decided to call for outside help.
After sending a brief message ("Listen.") to the informant who’d once given me a 10-million-won job, I even initiated a video call. Then I looked at the worker.
"I have personal business with the person inside."
"If you’re not police, get lost. You bastard." (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"There’s a Chairman Kim Ho-chang of Taehwa Industrial Development in Annam City."
"……?"
"You probably know him. The businessman who personally exposed his wife’s past as a sponsor girl. Unfortunately, one of the prostitutes in that container knows a secret of Chairman Kim Ho-chang’s. It’s not fatal if revealed, but it could hurt someone he cares about deeply."
The worker stared at me in confusion.
Of course he wouldn’t understand. This wasn’t meant for him.
I was just talking so Kim Ho-chang, who was listening to this conversation, would hear.
Kim Ho-chang, who’d hired Li Su-jin’s "K-International Marriage" to arrange a Laotian surrogate to bear his child, and then hired me to investigate her background out of fear she might be diseased…
In a way, that informant was also involved.
Because of the surrogate currently carrying Kim Ho-chang’s child.
She had to pose publicly as "a Laotian virgin who came to work at Taehwa ENG, caught the eye of the boss Kim Ho-chang, started dating him, and got pregnant." It was Kim Ho-chang’s script, considering the child’s emotional well-being next year.
"If the prostitute in the container speaks carelessly, Chairman Kim Ho-chang won’t like it."
"What’s that bastard’s word got to do with me?" (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"Well. But it’s certain that a subcontractor employee taking bribes from brokers to assist stowaways isn’t someone to mess with."
If things went wrong, they’d drag you down the stairs and beat you. The worker’s expression hardened.
Now, time…
Wasn’t short. But I wanted to enjoy it leisurely, so I decided to hurry. I wanted to open the container door as quickly as possible.
"I’m going in to control what that prostitute says."
"By Kim Ho-chang’s order? Are you a private investigator?"
"Not exactly. Chairman Kim Ho-chang has had me make money for him before. It’s after-service."
"……." (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
After-service. By now, Kim Ho-chang must have understood.
Why I called, and what his role was.
I held up my smartphone in front of the worker.
And three seconds later.
"Open the container. You son of a bitch."
"Huh?" (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
"Tell the guy in front of you to open the container. If you don’t want your life ruined."
In the video, Kim Ho-chang delivered the message with a blank face.
Even after departure, he’d stop the ship…
Of course, as a local Annam City wealthy man, Kim Ho-chang didn’t have the power to halt a ferry that had already left Pyeongtaek Port.
But if he mobilized the cronies (Han Chae-kyung’s sponsors) who watched his every move, there was nothing he couldn’t do. Even without that, he could rough up a crew member or two.
As expected, the Kim Ho-chang card worked.
"I’ll… open it." (17 / 114 / 14 hours ago)
The worker hurried off, saying he’d bring the spare seal.
A spare seal… He’s done this more than once.
This also meant he saw me as a messenger working for Kim Ho-chang personally, unrelated to the police.
He believed that as long as I cooperated smoothly, he could live as usual?
That wouldn’t happen, but there was no reason to tell him.
I just waited for the container to open.
Thinking I’d soon be able to see Li Su-jin’s face.
A narrow gap blocked by walls of boxes and pallets.
The space the stowaway broker had given Li Su-jin. It felt even more cramped because it was dark.
'It’s okay. Just hold on a little longer.'
Li Su-jin was behind a fan pallet, in a space deliberately cleared of boxes.
On top of a wooden pallet lay a grimy mattress, with a single blanket spread over it.
There was also a lantern, power bank, bottled water, wet wipes, and energy bars.
Relatively good conditions for a stowaway.
Still, it was inside a container.
"Just have to endure 18 hours, right?"
If we could depart safely, that is. In truth, Li Su-jin was still trembling.
The only thing she could be sure was safe was after the ship crossed into international waters. That would take about 90 minutes after departure.
She couldn’t relax yet, her heart racing with anxiety.
Clank, rattle. Creak—
The sound of the coupling being tightened… followed by the engine’s RPM rising.
Finally, departure.
Li Su-jin thought she could finally breathe a sigh of relief and lay down uncomfortably on the mattress.
Honestly, she was exhausted. Why wouldn’t she be?
She hadn’t slept a wink since discovering her sister’s betrayal in the safe.
To be honest, she still felt like fainting, her vision blurring.
Maybe… yeah. Let’s sleep.
Li Su-jin decided not to resist the encroaching drowsiness.
Unlike her hazy mind, her plan was clear.
'First, arrive at Yantai Port. The local contact moves the container to the truck loading zone…'
'Shower and change clothes in the temporary office at the unloading yard, then head out of the port.'
'Drive about 10 hours in a minivan to Dandong.'
'By then, I’ll have reached a new residence.'
Li Su-jin’s destination was Yanji, teeming with ethnic Koreans.
Huaying International Apartments in Yanji’s new development zone. A newly built 32-pyeong unit.
An apartment purchased in the local broker’s name.
She hadn’t acquired it suddenly—it was a place she’d prepared to occasionally visit while enjoying retirement life in Chiang Mai with her sister.
Yanbian was her hometown… and in fact, her actual base. How could an ethnic Korean completely leave Yanbian?
Thanks to that bitch Ri Su-min, the Chiang Mai luxury condo was finished.
But Yanbian remained.
'Let’s start over from there.'
Honestly, Li Su-jin didn’t know what she meant by "start over."
She’d saved her money, but she’d already lost so much.
Her immense influence in Annam City’s ethnic Korean community, most of the business foundation she’d built over 10 years, even her personal freedom. In Yanji, it would be better than now, but she couldn’t roam freely like before.
Above all, what caused the greatest sense of loss was…
Her sister. That bitch.
"Baiyanlang… you ungrateful bitch who doesn’t even know the kindness of being raised on my blood."
In reality, it wasn’t blood—she’d been raised by selling her own cunt and others’ cunts—but betrayal was betrayal.
For her, who’d built her business on betraying compatriots, it was an unbearably painful betrayal.
So Li Su-jin took revenge on her sister.
As punishment, she ordered her to help kill Joo Sung-hyun. Su-min might hesitate, watching and waiting without acting… but it didn’t matter. She’d already tasked other compatriots with actually killing Joo Sung-hyun.
Maybe Joo Sung-hyun would drag Su-min in before dying?
Just for being indecisive. She’d only seen him once in person, but he was the kind of guy who could do that.
Zaixing (Star of Calamity)… a living disaster… damn Joo Sung-hyun.
'You brought this on yourself, Su-min.'
Li Su-jin didn’t regret the punishment she’d handed her sister. She wouldn’t in the future either.
But for some reason…
The image of her sister, crying and wailing after being shamelessly stripped of her virginity by Joo Sung-hyun, flickered before her eyes. …Sister, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would turn out like this, please forgive me… Su-min’s pitiful face, begging for mercy, came to mind.
Even though she was a bitch who deserved to die, her chest felt tight.
It’s because I’m tired… I’m tired, that’s why.
Li Su-jin squeezed her eyes shut.
Consciousness slipped away like sliding down a slope.
It was indeed drowsiness. Li Su-jin fell asleep with a slight sense of relief, believing she’d wake up with a clearer mind… believing she’d be closer to a hiding place where she could safely plan her next move.
But 10 minutes later.
Clank, rattle. Creak—
The sound of the container door opening woke Li Su-jin. At a time when it shouldn’t have opened.
A thin light seeped through the gap of the entrance door…
Soon, the sound of footsteps followed.
"Ah…"
Li Su-jin’s face went blank as she slowly lifted her head.
Standing before her was a young man holding a lantern.
"Director Li Su-jin. Meeting you here."
It was Joo Sung-hyun.