Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 16
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A prison? So what if it is?, that was Kyung-wan’s attitude, and the police officer let out a long, troubled sigh as he filled out the paperwork. If they would just follow the regulations, this should be simple, so why was he making that face like everything was such a headache?
Kyung-wan recalled what Lee Cheol had said before leaving the facility. That the police were in on it too.
Then the outline became clear to him. No doubt that musclehead over there intended to use this as a pretext to screw him over or something of that kind.
But Kyung-wan was not someone who feared going to prison. The assumption held by that musclehead, and the police who had taken bribes from him, had all collapsed.
“You keep that up and you’ll really go to prison.”
The police officer writing the report threatened him, but Kyung-wan just shrugged.
“There’s nothing I can do. I have no money.”
At his “go ahead and stab me” attitude, the cop shook his head, and another officer came over to say:
“Kim Tae-gu said he might consider settling depending on circumstances.”
“Well, we need a face-to-face interrogation anyway, so bring him.”
The police officer compiling the report responded to his colleague, and Kyung-wan tossed out a bored-sounding comment.
“Is it normal for you guys to let the victim and assailant meet like this?”
“Uh… settling is in both your interests.”
“Not because you police officers want to make things easier on yourselves?”
At Kyung-wan’s question, the two officers exchanged flustered glances when another cop brought in the man called Kim Tae-gu. Just as expected from the situation, it was a burly guy with tattooed forearms.
He brought the two bandaged delinquents and seated them behind him, then dragged a chair over and sat next to Kyung-wan. He acted like he was perfectly at home in the police station.
Kyung-wan moved his chair a step away. The cop frowned and gestured at him.
“Why are you sitting so far? Move closer.”
“If I go closer, I feel like he’ll hit me.”
At that, Kim Tae-gu said in a soothing tone:
“Hey, hey. I’m not that kind of person.”
Then Kyung-wan replied:
“It’s not a problem if I get hit. The problem is I don’t think I’ll just sit still, I think I’ll hit back. And we can’t have a fight breaking out in a police station.”
At that, Kim Tae-gu raised one corner of his mouth as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You’re gonna hit me?”
“It would be shitty if I just got hit and did nothing.”
As if agreeing, Kim Tae-gu nodded.
“Right, right. It’s shitty to just get hit. So imagine how shitty these kids feel, yeah?”
He gestured toward the two behind him, and Kyung-wan replied:
“What do I care? And punks are shitty by default. Isn’t it embarrassing to make a fuss over getting screwed now, when being shitty is what they already are?”
“Look at this little bastard?”
The notion of empathy was completely absent from his words, and finally a vicious curse spilled from Kim Tae-gu’s mouth.
The atmosphere grew tense, and the police quickly stepped in.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough, both of you. Kyung-wan, the victims will suggest settlement terms. Think about it.”
“Wasn’t it mutual assault?”
“Anyway!”
The police ignored his repeated insistence on mutual assault and subtly pushed for a settlement. Ending it here would be better for everyone, after all.
Kim Tae-gu spoke.
“Kid. You said you don’t have money? No parents either?”
“And you, sir?”
“···.”
Was he asking if he had no money, or no parents? Judging by the way this kid talked, it felt like the latter, and Kim Tae-gu’s eyes narrowed sharply. If they weren’t in a police station, he probably would have grabbed him by the collar and punched him already.
But extortion and intimidation were the classic business model of thugs and gangsters. Keeping his “businessman” composure, he held out a document. The top read “Contract.”
“So here’s the thing, you’ll be an adult soon, right? Don’t worry. You can work and pay it off.”
And then he continued as if he were doing some grand favor.
“Wow~. I forgive the punk who crippled my boys and even give him a job. What kind of saint does that these days?”
Kyung-wan scanned the contract. It contained exactly what Kim Tae-gu had said. He would lend him the settlement money at the legal interest rate, and Kyung-wan had to work at the job they introduced to him.
On the surface, it looked generous. After all, an orphan with no collateral had practically zero chance of borrowing money from a first-tier bank.
The problem was that the contract did not specify what kind of job it was.
“What kind of work would I be doing?”
“A sort of manpower supply business.”
“Like supplying slaves to the Shinan salt farms, or Chinese deep-sea fishing boats, that kind of thing?”
At that, his face contorted threateningly.
“I pay taxes, you know.”
“How much income tax? As much as regular office workers?”
“···.”
“You didn’t commit tax evasion, right?”
The implication that he definitely had evaded taxes made Kim Tae-gu glare, then glance around. There were many watching eyes. And those eyes belonged to police officers.
Even with shady connections, you still had to keep up appearances in a public place.
“You keep that attitude up, and I won’t settle.”
“I’m not the kind of person who gets scared over something like that.”
Finally losing his temper, Kim Tae-gu leaned forward, elbows on knees, speaking in a low, threatening tone.
“You think prison will be comfortable?”
It was loaded with the meaning: Don’t expect to have it easy in there.
Then Kyung-wan turned to the police.
“I’m scared of this man. Does this count as intimidation?”
Even if he denied it, who could argue if the supposed victim said he felt threatened?
“You little bastard!”
Kim Tae-gu finally burst, veins popping as he yelled. The police, watching this scene, let out sighs filled with annoyance and fatigue.
= = = = =
In the end, Kyung-wan was booked. Since he showed no sign of accepting a settlement, the two underlings also gave up on settling. They threatened him, saying they’d sue him in civil court too, so he could eat prison food and watch his life get screwed.
But wasn’t it natural to come into this world empty-handed and leave it empty-handed? With such a complete “nothing to lose” mindset, even civil litigation didn’t scare him.
The director watched him pack his things and asked:
“Do you resent me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“You did everything you could.”
Even ordinary married couples found raising a child difficult. And the director running a facility like this had many other children to worry about.
The director fell silent for a moment, then let out a single phrase.
“I’m sorry.”
But even at that, Kyung-wan merely shrugged.
He divided his few belongings among the children. Judging by how things were going, it seemed unlikely he would avoid arrest and prison time. Sun-mi suggested they pressure the other side for settlement using the fact that they had kidnapped and assaulted her, but Kyung-wan shook his head.
“Judging by how they act, those guys can easily throw away the three who kidnapped you.”
They viewed this whole thing as a matter of pride and were prepared to sacrifice quite a bit to break Kyung-wan. Unthinkable for normal people, but for gangsters, prison was like school, they could build connections and gain useful advice for a thug’s life. So countersuing wasn’t a strong bargaining chip.
“So it’s better for you to take the settlement money. You’re the victim who suffered because of me, and if you don’t cut ties with me, they might target you too.”
If she used her kidnapping as a bargaining chip to extract settlement money for herself, it would look like she and Kyung-wan were drawing a line.
Hearing this, Sun-mi’s eyes welled up.
“Oppa… sniff! Ugh!”
Kyung-wan flicked her on the head hard enough to hurt.
“Why are you crying? Do you have time to cry? Live moderately. Don’t try to be a hero.”
The people who die first on the battlefield are the ones with heroic courage. Heroes aren’t heroes because they are brave or righteous, they’re heroes simply because they survived.
Life is a war. To survive, sometimes you must sacrifice courage and compromise with reality.
“You’re a bad guy!”
Holding her aching head, Sun-mi shrieked and ran off. After all that worry, she threw his kindness onto the ground!
He smirked, but she wasn’t the only one who came.
“Oppa.”
Mi-yeon, the root cause of the whole entanglement with Jung-go and his thugs, came secretly that evening.
“What?”
“You’re going to prison?”
“So?”
At his reply, Mi-yeon unbuttoned the top of her shirt and said:
“You want to ‘relieve it’ before you go?”
The ceiling light revealed her pale collarbones, but Kyung-wan simply gave her a sharp flick to the head.
“Relieve what? You’re too young. Go back to your room, wash your feet, and sleep.”
“They say the younger the better.”
“You’re mistaken. It’s not that young girls are good. Pretty ones are good.”
“But I’m pretty.”
She spun once as if to show off. Her skirt flared from the centrifugal force, lifting high enough that her panties nearly showed. Her pale thighs appeared temptingly. No wonder that brat Jung-go with his half-grown hair got horny.
But Kyung-wan was unimpressed.
“You’re mistaken again. Hey. What does ‘pretty’ mean?”
“Pretty is pretty.”
“Pretty means rare. Rare means expensive. Don’t become cheap like this.”
Become expensive. In a capitalist society, was there any advice more accurate?
Mi-yeon looked surprised, as if enlightened, then gave him a dreamy, tempting look.
“Oppa… if it’s you, I don’t mi, ack!”
“Stop talking nonsense and go sleep.”
Holding her aching head, Mi-yeon giggled, then suddenly kissed his cheek and scampered away, blushing.
“Want to sleep together?”
“I’ll hit you.”
When he shook his fist, she pouted, insulted him about whether he had something between his legs, then said gloomily:
“Those guys… they won’t give up, will they?”
Treasures get taken if you don’t have the strength to protect them. And Mi-yeon’s beauty was frankly a treasure too valuable for an orphan to guard.
“Are you going to give up?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Then how do you protect yourself?”
“If I knew, would I be here like this?”
At her frustrated sigh, Kyung-wan decided to give her advice that would become flesh and blood.
“Become famous.”
“What?”
“With your looks, whatever you do will attract attention. So go somewhere with lots of people and do something. Sing, take a dump on the street, whatever, just get famous. Become a celebrity. If you’re famous, they won’t touch you easily.”
“Can I do that?”
“It’s not ‘can you,’ it’s that you have to. If you don’t want anything bad happening to you.”
“I heard the entertainment industry has lots of punks too…”
“What can you do? Just hope you won’t run into them.”
Either way, if she stayed like she was, she’d fall straight into those bastards’ schemes. In his judgment, Mi-yeon needed to grab any rope she could.
Hearing him, she nodded as if she’d reached an awakening.
“Thanks, Oppa. I’ll repay you one day.”
“In cash.”
At his greedy remark, she giggled, kissed his cheek, and then fled in embarrassment.