Her Request
Back home, Seong-min stood on the rooftop and kept staring at the photos on his phone.
What could these names and phone numbers mean?
The tally marks beside them seemed to indicate something as well. Some entries had many bars; others had few. A few people were even marked with an X.
What is this…
Lost in thought, Seong-min decided this was almost certainly not a list of anything good.
Come to think of it, Min-hyeok said he’d made some money doing illegal work.
Min-hyeok had never told him outright, but during a break after unloading a truck they had talked, and Seong-min had learned that Min-hyeok had once worked as a waiter. He had also correctly guessed that Min-hyeok had done something illegal he could not talk about—though Min-hyeok had made a big fuss about it at the time.
Maybe this is connected to that.
He could not be certain. Yet piecing together the conversation with Min-hyeok and the answers Min-hyeok’s sister had given by nodding or writing on the floor with her finger, these names and numbers had to be related.
Could it be something like a client list?
Back when he did gombang work, Seong-min had seen the gombang team leader keep a ledger just like this. You had to write everything down carefully if you wanted to sort out who had done what and how much money was involved. Names and phone numbers had been written there too—not for one person, but for many. Looking at it that way, the names, numbers, and marks in this notebook might be something similar to a customer list.
Of course, that was only a conclusion drawn from Seong-min’s own experience and what he had heard. Whether it was right or not, he would find out soon enough.
I’ll try calling tomorrow.
Having settled his thoughts, Seong-min closed the phone screen—but he did not go into the rooftop room. Instead he started working out. He intended to grind bare-body exercises and walking until he gained at least one level before sleeping.
His plan had also changed. This week he had already pushed his Martial Power up to 50 by combining courier work with the gym; that had even let him raise Appearance by five points. From today on, however, he was revising the strategy.
I need to raise Martial Power even higher.
Adding the level he would gain tonight on the rooftop through bodyweight work and walking, he resolved to keep pouring points into Martial Power just in case. So Seong-min mixed squats, push-ups, sit-ups, and walking, grinding experience until he leveled up once. Then he opened the Status Window and allocated the points at once.
Name: Lee Seong-min
Age: 24
Education: Hancheon High School graduate
Level: 87
Points: 0
Banter: 10
Appearance: 15
Vigor: 10
Martial Power: 51
Stamina: 50
EXP: 1/100%
Level 87, Martial Power now at 51. He had originally planned to keep raising Appearance, but until he found Min-hyeok he would put everything into Martial Power instead. Closing the Status Window, Seong-min went to bed.
The next morning Seong-min woke early. He changed into outdoor clothes and left the house. It was a weekend morning so early the sun had not yet risen. Auntie Hye-suk seemed still asleep; the rooms beyond the living room were dark. Careful not to wake her, Seong-min quietly opened the front gate and slipped out. His destination was the gym.
“Hoo… hoo… hoo…!”
He was running hard on the treadmill when his phone rang. It was none other than Auntie Hye-suk.
“Hello?”
“Seong-min.”
“Yes, Auntie.”
“Where are you right now? I went up to wake you and you weren’t there—I got a fright.”
“Ah, I had an appointment so I came out.”
“An appointment?”
“Yes. I’ll grab something to eat outside, so don’t worry.”
“All right… I understand. Take care of your appointment and come home carefully this evening.”
“I will.”
After hanging up, Seong-min found himself smiling without meaning to.
There’s really no one else who looks after me like this except Auntie.
She must have climbed up to the rooftop room again today, past ten o’clock, to wake him from a deep sleep—with a warm breakfast already prepared. Would he ever meet another landlady this kind? No matter how many times he thought about it, she was truly a good person.
He put the phone away, drank from his water bottle, and kept running. He had come to the gym at the crack of dawn and was still exercising well past ten. Seong-min did not step off the treadmill until one o’clock. That had been the plan from the start. The moment the phone alarm rang at exactly one, he switched it off and got down. His water bottle was empty, so he refilled it with cold water from the cooler and drank. Then he opened the Status Window.
All that hard work had paid off—he had gained five whole levels. He immediately poured the points into Martial Power.
Name: Lee Seong-min
Age: 24
Education: Hancheon High School graduate
Level: 92
Points: 0
Banter: 10
Appearance: 15
Vigor: 10
Martial Power: 56
Stamina: 50
EXP: 13/100%
Martial Power now stood at 56. Closing the window, Seong-min headed for the locker room.
“You—who the hell are you?! Who told you to look for me?! What’s your real identity?!”
Seong-min hung up without another word.
Is there not a single normal person among them?
This was already the tenth number he had dialed in an attempt to dig up information. Five people had answered, and every one of them had been extremely wary and short-tempered.
What now?
He could not give up like this. At the same time he could not just keep trying to force a conversation. After a moment’s thought, Seong-min decided to probe from a different angle. He dialed the next number. The line rang; after a short wait someone picked up.
“Hello…?”
The voice was rough and gravelly.
“Is this Mr. Kim Chang-su?”
“I’m… Kim Chang-su… Who’s this?”
The wariness was just as strong. Seong-min opened with the line he had prepared.
“It’s been a while… I thought you might need something, so I called… Do you have a moment to talk?”
If the names and numbers really were a client list the way the gombang team leader’s ledger had been, this might work.
“Vitamin… you’ve got some, you mean?”
Vitamin?
The word made Seong-min pause for a second, but he pushed the thought aside and answered.
“Yes. That’s why I called.”
“Hmm…”
The man seemed to be wrestling with himself.
“If you don’t need any… I’ll just hang—”
“No, wait! But are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Then where’s the place? What time? I want it right away…”
“Ah, the place is…”
Seong-min improvised on the spot and named a location he knew.
“You want to meet there?”
The voice was full of suspicion.
“It’s been a while, so let’s have coffee first and talk, then move somewhere else.”
“Hmm…”
Another moment of hesitation.
“All right. I’ll see you there.”
He had made up his mind and said he would come.
Got him.
Finally a success. After hanging up, Seong-min felt a surge of hope that he might at last grab a real lead.
But what the hell is “Vitamin”?
From the way the conversation had gone, it clearly was not ordinary vitamins.
I’ll find out when I meet him.
Seong-min stood up at once and headed for the café he had named as the meeting place. He ordered two iced Americanos and waited. About thirty minutes later the door chime rang and a shabby-looking man in his late forties stepped inside. He glanced around as if searching for someone. Seong-min dialed the number. The shabby man answered.
“Window seat in the back.”
At the words the man turned, their eyes met, and he walked over.
“Mr. Kim Chang-su?”
“That’s me… But…”
The man eyed him with open distrust.
“Have a seat first.”
Seong-min gestured to the chair. Still suspicious, the man sat.
“Is the Vitamin really available?”
“I’m sorry.”
Seong-min started with an apology.
“Sorry for what?”
“The truth is…”
He told the man everything straight: that he had no Vitamin, and that he had called only because he was looking for someone. The man’s face twisted and he started to rise. At that moment Seong-min slid an envelope across the table.
“There’s about three hundred thousand inside.”
At the mention of the money the man froze halfway out of his seat.
“If you’ll just cooperate, it’s yours as a token of thanks. Please.”
When Seong-min asked again with quiet seriousness, the man wrestled with himself, then let out a long sigh.
“This isn’t some kind of trap or the cops, is it?”
“Don’t worry. Absolutely not. I just want to ask about one man. If you know anything, please tell me.”
Instead of Min-hyeok’s name, Seong-min described his appearance.
“Ah, you’re talking about Goldman.”
“Goldman?”
“That’s what we all called the kid.”
Probably a nickname from the blond hair.
“What kind of business did you do with Goldman?”
“Vitamin. We bought Vitamin through Goldman, and he supplied us.”
“What exactly is Vitamin?”
The man fell silent again.
“Please. Goldman is in real danger right now. That’s why I came looking.”
“What’s your relationship with Goldman?”
“We’re like brothers.”
“Brothers…?”
“Yes.”
After another moment of thought the man checked the surroundings and spoke in a low voice.
“Vitamin is… what people usually call narcotics. Drugs.”
At the word “drugs” a chill ran down Seong-min’s spine.
“Goldman supplied us with small amounts of that stuff. But… that stopped last year.”
“It stopped?”
“That’s right.”
When Seong-min asked why, the man said it was because of the crackdown on drugs.
“Goldman was a dealer, sure, but he was just a hot-barri ant dealer—basically a gofer at the bottom of the ladder.”
“Is there any way to find him?”
“Goldman went missing?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmm…”
The man thought for a bit, then spoke again.
“Then you’d have to dig into the local organization Goldman used to work under… but that’ll be tough.”
“Why?”
Seong-min pulled out his wallet and slid another fifty-thousand-won note across. The man’s eyes lit up.
“The Vitamin Goldman was getting definitely came from the White Tiger Faction that runs Gangseo-gu. But like I said, he was only an ant, a hot-barri—nothing big enough to get him mixed up in serious trouble. Strange business.”
He took a sip of iced Americano to wet his throat and continued.
“Anyway, that’s all I know.”
“Thank you. You’ve been a great help.”
“If you’re really like brothers, go find him properly.”
He drank more Americano through the straw, pocketed the envelope and the extra cash, stood up, and left the café. Alone again, Seong-min felt a headache coming on.
Drugs…
He had never expected to hear that. He had known Min-hyeok had done illegal work, but he had never imagined the kid had been selling narcotics.
White Tiger Faction…
At least he had a lead now. Min-hyeok had been the lowest-level dealer—an “ant”—here in Gangseo-gu. There would be a supply chain above him, and the organization that controlled the area was the White Tiger Faction. The whole thing was bigger than he had thought.
Still, I have to find Min-hyeok.
Giving up was not an option.