The Proposal
The man had truly come only to talk.
They left the café.
And that was how they parted.
But before heading home, Seong-min stood against a wall and lit a cigarette.
“Hooo...”
Kang Jung-gil.
That man was no ordinary person.
Even within the organization called the Jungang Clan, he held a formidable position.
The heir.
Simply put, the man who would become the next chairman of the Jungang Clan.
If what he said was true, the Jungang Clan was the undisputed largest organization in the country, having seized control of the entire nation.
And he was the heir to that organization?
He was not someone to be taken lightly.
Yet that did not seem to be the whole of it.
He had told Seong-min to join him.
In other words, he was scouting him. But it was not an invitation to join the Jungang Clan itself. He had simply said to come with him.
Join him, just like that?
How was Seong-min supposed to trust the man and go along with him?
And then those final words.
‘It feels like looking at myself from last year.’
Those words stuck with Seong-min.
What on earth had he meant by that?
That he saw his past self in him.
“......”
—I’ll come find you again on Saturday. I believe that will give you enough time to think it over.
Kang Jung-gil.
That was what the man had said before leaving.
Time until Saturday.
Time to think it over.
At first Seong-min had made his position clear.
He had no intention of joining an organization like the Jungang Clan. He had never even considered it. Yet the man had still given him until Saturday to decide.
It left a lingering unease in every way.
It put him in a foul mood.
Even after he went home.
“What’s wrong... Seong-min...?”
Hye-suk, who had been in the middle of their act for some time, looked up at him with a sweat-slicked face.
“It’s nothing...”
Seong-min moved his hips again.
“Aaaah...!”
Hye-suk let out a hot breath and wrapped her alluring hands around his back.
Even in that moment, Seong-min’s mind kept returning to the words Kang Jung-gil had spoken.
But this was not consideration for Hye-suk.
Schlick.
“Ahk!”
The sensation of him driving deep inside her tore a cry from Hye-suk’s throat.
Seong-min wiped the thoughts from his head and focused once more on Hye-suk’s burning body.
The next day.
After clocking in, Seong-min worked through the morning with the rest of the team, then pulled Min-hyeok aside during lunch.
“I’ve got something to ask you.”
“Something to ask?”
“Yeah. You used to run with an organization, right?”
“I’ve washed my hands of all that now...”
“I know. Do you know anything about the Jungang Clan?”
“The Jungang Clan? Of course I do. There’s not a single person in the underworld who doesn’t know the Jungang Clan.”
“Then do you know about the war that happened last year?”
“I know that well too. It was the bloodbath that forced every other regional organization into submission.”
“I want a rough idea of what that bloodbath was like. Can you tell me?”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Later... For now, just tell me everything you know about it.”
Min-hyeok wondered why Seong-min was suddenly asking him this.
But he told Seong-min everything he knew.
“...So in the end the Jungang Clan crushed the Sea King Society that controlled Busan and Gyeongnam, and the Sugwang Society that held Gwangju, Jeju, and the rest of Jeolla, becoming the undisputed largest organization in the country. At the center of it all was a man named Kang Jung-gil, who made a name for himself as the Crown Prince. I don’t know the details myself, but according to the rumors floating around...”
Listening to Min-hyeok, Seong-min understood.
Kang Jung-gil was an even more extraordinary man than he had thought.
Through Min-hyeok he learned a little more about the Jungang Clan and what kind of person Kang Jung-gil was.
So did that clear his mind?
Not in the slightest.
If anything, the unease only grew thicker and his mood worse.
After finishing the afternoon’s work, Seong-min stopped by to see Yoo Ji-ah, then headed for the gym.
Whatever the man’s intentions in approaching him, it was better to prepare even a little more.
Using the experience he had accumulated from gombang work and the experience gained through training, Seong-min invested the stat points from his level-ups once more into Martial Power.
Name: Lee Seong-min
Age: 24
Education: Hancheon High School graduate
Level: 1242
Points: 0
Speech: 10
Appearance: 185
Vigor: 174
Martial Power: 307
Physicality: 235
EXP: 17/100%
Until yesterday Seong-min had been raising his Physicality. He had planned to push it all the way to 300. Of course, Physicality was already no problem for him. But there was no harm in taking it to 300, so he had intended to raise it that far. On top of that, Physicality excelled at fatigue recovery, letting him shake off more exhaustion than others with only a short, deep sleep.
Seong-min raised Martial Power five more levels from 302, bringing it to 307.
He already knew from experience that preparing in advance never hurt.
From today onward, whenever he gained experience and leveled up, he planned to invest further into Martial Power.
Even now, Seong-min was confident.
When he had dealt with the Yonggol Faction and the VIPs, he had never used his full strength.
The charging gangsters had been laughable, and the way they strutted around with weapons in hand had been ridiculous.
In fact, even when his Martial Power had been only 60, Seong-min had had no trouble subduing gangsters.
Thinking of that, it was only natural.
Now it was well over 300.
He saw no reason he would be unable to subdue a man like Kang Jung-gil.
Even so, the reason he kept raising Martial Power was to ease the unease still lodged in his chest.
That lingering anxiety.
Whenever he accumulated experience and leveled up, Seong-min invested the points into Martial Power.
And so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday passed.
That day as well, Seong-min stopped by the gym and trained hard.
‘Is this guy carrying a grudge from a past life where he died without ever getting to run?’
The gym trainer clicked his tongue as he watched Seong-min pounding away on the treadmill.
He had wondered if the man was training for a marathon, but when Seong-min said he wasn’t, it only made less sense.
Still, there was no way to stop him.
If the man wanted to run, how was he supposed to stop him?
The trainer, who knew nothing of Seong-min’s true nature, naturally could not understand.
Finally, past eleven at night, the workout ended and Seong-min stepped into the shower room.
‘Status Window.’
Seong-min opened the Status Window and distributed every remaining stat point.
Name: Lee Seong-min
Age: 24
Education: Hancheon High School graduate
Level: 1265
Points: 0
Speech: 10
Appearance: 185
Vigor: 174
Martial Power: 330
Physicality: 235
EXP: 34/100%
By today he had pushed Martial Power all the way to 330.
‘At this level I can handle any situation that comes my way.’
Seong-min closed the Status Window and showered.
“......”
When he returned home, Seong-min climbed up to the rooftop late at night and smoked a cigarette.
‘He’ll come tomorrow.’
Tomorrow at last.
The man would certainly come looking for him again.
‘Nothing to worry about.’
Seong-min knew exactly how strong he was.
Just because the man was a gangster.
Just because he was the heir to a great organization called the Jungang Clan—there was no reason to fear him.
All he had to do was convey exactly what he had decided.
Having sorted his thoughts, Seong-min went downstairs, opened the front door, and stepped inside.
The bell chimed as the entrance opened and someone walked in.
The one who entered was none other than Seong-min himself.
He looked around and saw the man already sitting in the same seat as last time.
Kang Jung-gil.
Seong-min walked over and took the seat across from the man, who waited with easy composure.
“I went ahead and ordered you a coffee.”
An iced americano already sat in front of Seong-min.
“I wonder if you drank the coffee after I left last time.”
During their conversation that day, Seong-min had not taken a single sip.
“I came to give you my answer about that day. My answer is—”
“Hold on.”
Kang Jung-gil cut him off.
“Before I hear your answer, there is something I need to tell you.”
“......?”
“This is a story that will not hurt you to hear.”
A story, all of a sudden.
Seong-min found it absurd, but he did not stop him.
“One year ago, there was a pathetic loser of a man. He was, quite literally, living at the very bottom. A life of scraping by day to day, bouncing from one goshiwon to another. And on top of that... he was so deep in gambling that the moment any money found its way into his pocket, he would burn it all at the tables.”
Having said that much, Kang Jung-gil took a sip of his coffee.
“He was trash, pure and simple. Then even the goshiwon he had barely been clinging to kicked him out, and with nowhere left to go he called his ex-girlfriend. Fortunately, that kind-hearted woman who had once been his girlfriend took him in.”
Why was the man telling him this story?
“Anyone could see he was a piece of human garbage, a complete bastard. His thoughts were negative, and he had more than his share of thuggish habits. That man... eventually began to change. And later on he came to realize it. What was truly precious to him. And... what he had to do.”
Having spoken that far, Kang Jung-gil looked at Seong-min, who was watching him with an expressionless face, and smiled faintly.
“Can you guess who that pathetic loser, that piece of human garbage, that complete bastard I have been talking about is?”
“...You?”
Seong-min said exactly what he felt.
Kang Jung-gil lightly brought his hands together in a small clap.
“You are not without an eye for these things. Yes, that is correct. That piece of human garbage, that pathetic loser, was none other than me. Looking back now, I truly lived a life of no use to anyone. If I could go back to those days, I would give myself a proper education in character.”
Why was he suddenly telling the story of his own reform?
“I looked back on what happened with the Yonggol Faction. And the way you carried yourself there reminded me of myself. That was not all. I looked a little deeper into when the change in your life began, and I could see the turning point where everything shifted.”
The longer the man spoke, the more unsettled Seong-min felt.
It was as if the man had thoroughly dug into everything about him.
“And a thought occurred to me. This man... perhaps he obtained the same stroke of fortune that I did.”
“......?!”
In that instant the corner of Kang Jung-gil’s mouth lifted.
“You seem surprised by what I just said.”
Seong-min’s expression did not change.
But the momentary flicker in his eyes—
Kang Jung-gil did not miss it.
“The words I spoke that day may have sounded empty to you. But I... made that proposal to you in complete sincerity. So now I will ask you, Seong-min.”
Kang Jung-gil’s face grew serious.
“Will you accept my proposal?”
Even losers level up. Yes—the protagonist is Jung-gil.