Cheongpung's Unexpected Request
The one who broke the silence was the leader among the three men. “Hold on a second. This guy’s a real piece of work.”
“...What’s that supposed to mean?”
“This bastard’s a drug dealer.”
“And who exactly are you people?”
“Ah, we’re... from Cheongpung...”
“Cheongpung?”
Cheongpung runs the Incheon district~ The Hot-Dream club is one of their businesses too. So the local crew’s finally cracking down on drugs? At least it doesn’t look like Cheongpung itself is pushing anything.
This might actually wrap up easier than I thought~ If Cheongpung takes him off our hands, we can just wash ours clean~
As I’d mentioned before, Korea’s local organizations often had quiet connections with the security forces or police precincts. It was in their best interest not to create situations that would force the authorities to move in the first place. That’s why they tended to clean up anything that was truly unacceptable on their own—human trafficking or organ smuggling, for example. Drugs, however, were a gray area. Plenty of local crews dabbled in them themselves; after all, it was an extremely profitable business. Still, they never tolerated anyone else’s product circulating in their territory without permission.
Judging by how eager these guys were to take HD away, Cheongpung clearly wasn’t the one selling drugs here. That meant HD hadn’t just been dealing in someone else’s district without permission—he’d also committed something as nasty as human trafficking. If Cheongpung dragged him off, there was almost no chance he’d walk out alive. That was exactly why Yu Hana had said this would be simple.
“How’s the atmosphere with Cheongpung?”
Pretty average? They’re not completely rotten, at least. They do keep drugs somewhat in check.
Cheongpung seemed like an ordinary, middle-of-the-road organization—neither particularly good nor bad. In that case, the odds of that guy surviving were basically zero... though something about it still felt off.
In the first timeline, a massive drug scandal had broken out, and HD had been among the dealers who got arrested. If he died here, he obviously wouldn’t have been part of that scandal. The problem was, I had no way of knowing whether Cheongpung’s current drug crackdown was an event that had already happened in the first timeline or something new triggered by our presence. If it was new, we could just hand HD over and forget about it. But if it was the same event from before, the moment we stepped back, the scandal would explode exactly like last time. Debuting only to get tangled up in some weird scandal was the last thing I wanted, so my judgment had to stay cautious.
On top of that, these guys’ behavior was making me even more uneasy.
“Yes, yes, Blood Rabbit... Yes? Ah... Understood.”
After making a hurried call somewhere, he spoke again.
“If it’s possible, would you mind meeting our boss? We’re making a formal request.”
“Cheongpung’s boss? Why?”
“That part, I...”
They were actually asking us to meet Cheongpung’s boss. From the way things looked, the call had gone to Cheongpung, and their boss wanted to see us in person. What now? Meeting them didn’t seem like a bad idea...
“What do you think this is about?”
“We’ll only know once we meet them.”
“Are you planning to go?”
“Just meeting them shouldn’t cause any real problems.”
“What if it’s a trap?”
“With the three of us going, how much of a trap could it even be?”
“Hmm. Fair point.”
To do anything to the three of us, they’d at least need to bring the Special Task Force. But the Special Task Force wasn’t exactly light on their feet—they weren’t the kind of manpower a local organization could summon on short notice. Even if they did show up, Seong Jiyeong could get us out without much trouble, and they couldn’t keep the Special Task Force stationed here forever. Once the Task Force left, Seong Jiyeong and I could turn the tables on them, which would be disastrous for Cheongpung. And if my guess was right...
“Well, fine. We’ll decide after we meet them and hear the details.”
Got it. I’ll keep an eye on the situation—especially any movements from the security bureau’s forces.
Seoeun’s Magic Wand. Ready.
Actually, forget Seoeun’s Magic Wand for now. It was definitely an error, but Yu Hana’s information network was a pretty solid insurance policy. The moment we sensed any movement of security forces, we could just bolt.
Following their lead, we headed toward the place where Cheongpung’s boss was waiting.
“...This place again?”
The spot they guided us to was the Hot-Dream club we’d visited just a few hours earlier. Of course, we didn’t go in through the front. There was a separate entrance around the back—one they apparently used only among themselves. It looked like they were using part of the club as their secret hideout, which meant the club itself sat right in the middle of Cheongpung’s territory. Seeing it that way, HD really had lost his mind. Dealing drugs in someone else’s headquarters? If word got out, Cheongpung would have to take down their own signboard. Losing face was the one thing these organizations took most seriously.
The possibility that Cheongpung had also launched a drug crackdown in the first timeline was looking more and more likely. We took the back entrance up to the third floor, where a private room waited. Through its tinted glass windows, you had a clear view of the club’s main stage—a prime spot for keeping an eye on the crowd and the atmosphere below. So this was where they monitored the club’s situation. Well, everyone had their own circumstances.
What mattered was the person waiting for us here—Cheongpung’s boss.
“Whoa, looks like we’ve got ourselves a real star in our club tonight. Guess I should thank those damn mutts for once.”
“Skip the small talk and get to the point. We’re not exactly close enough for long conversations.”
“Man, you’re strict. If you really want to catch the real dogs, keeping a decent relationship with us fake dogs wouldn’t hurt, you know.”
“A dog’s just a dog. There’s no such thing as real or fake.”
“Kuh, well... You’re not wrong.”
Cheongpung’s boss was a young man in his early thirties. A few scars on his face were a bit distracting, but he had a fairly likable appearance. The fact that my blunt attitude didn’t faze him at all suggested he’d already expected something like this. Guys like him tended to be the calculating type. If I let myself be fooled by that easygoing exterior, I’d probably end up in trouble. When I poked at him, the mood among the burly guards around us turned noticeably colder—proof that he had solid loyalty from his subordinates. The organization treated its people well and maintained a clear hierarchy. Yet no one stepped forward, and everyone stayed silent until the end, which meant their chain of command was rock-solid. After running through all the calculations, the only conclusion I reached was that he was a tricky opponent. If he were just an idiot, he’d be easier to handle. Why did nothing ever go smoothly?
“Finished sizing us up?”
“More or less. You know who we are, but we don’t know you. We’ve got plenty of enemies ourselves.”
“I see. So what do you think?”
“I don’t know what this is about, but I’d rather just wash my hands of it and go home. This feels like it’s going to be exhausting.”
“Kuh-kuh, well, well. I didn’t expect Rabbit Vader to be such an amusing person.”
“If I want to stay amusing, I should probably hear what you want soon. I’m pretty tired today.”
“Fair enough. I don’t want to chat with a real monster for too long either. The reason we invited you here is because we’d like to ask Blood Rabbit for help.”
“Help? So... you want us to help Cheongpung?”
“That’s right.”
A local organization asking a phantom group for support? That was a new one. Who came up with that idea? As I’d said earlier, face and reputation mattered a great deal in this world. Receiving help from a phantom group would definitely be seen as a minus. The fact that Cheongpung was still willing to ask meant whatever they were dealing with was bigger than I’d thought. Just what kind of situation forced them to seek our help?
“It’s absurd, but I get what you mean. So, what exactly do you want help with?”
“Oh, so you’re going to help?”
“I need to know what it is first before I decide whether to help or not. This isn’t my first time doing business.”
“Man, you’re picky. If you’re a hero of justice, you could at least lend a hand to some decent gangsters.”
What the hell? Was this guy insane? Calling us heroes of justice and asking us to help “decent gangsters”? If his goal was to make me laugh, he’d succeeded perfectly. Still, I couldn’t let myself get distracted by cheap tricks like that. There was a good chance even this was part of his performance. It seemed smarter to confirm why he’d called us here instead of wasting time bantering.
“Should we just leave?”
“Kung, do people usually tell you you’ve got a short temper?”
“And I’m sure people tell you you’ve lost your mind.”
“You really don’t let a single word slide, do you? Fine, I’ll explain the situation first.”
Realizing this wasn’t working, he finally started getting to the point.
“There’s someone near here making drugs with superpowers. A Chinese guy. Looks like he’s already produced quite a lot.”
“I see. So the dealer we caught today...”
“Right. He was buying from that guy and selling it.”
“Chinese, huh. Which group?”
“Something like the Southern Five Faction?”
First the Western Sichuan Faction, now the Southern Five Faction. Even when China’s national will was divided, it was still China—taking turns causing trouble. But this alone wasn’t enough reason for them to ask us for help.
“Can’t you just go in and take care of it yourselves? You already caught one guy, so you should have a decent grasp of the situation.”
“No, it’s not that simple. We’re talking about 500 kilograms of drugs. Even if just ten percent of that hits the streets, you know what kind of chaos it’ll cause, right?”
“...Are they out of their minds? Where the hell do they think they’re going to move that much product?”
And just as I’d suspected, this incident was far bigger than I’d imagined. Five hundred kilograms of drugs. That was an amount I couldn’t even begin to picture. It seemed the guys from the mainland had finally lost whatever sense they had left.