Monopolizing Fortunes (13)
xml
Monopolizing Fortunes (13)
Wang Chil stood in front of a two-story building situated in the middle of Jeongun-ro. Combined, the upper and lower floors came to a hundred and fifty pyeong—compared to the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office, it was a truly massive building.
—Red Tiger Society, Baekdong Branch.
The signboard hanging just below the roof made Wang Chil's chest swell with emotion. He had once dreamed of it, but had given up, thinking the position of Branch Chief was not fated for him.
The motto of living thin and long had perhaps been self-mockery. Like that of a narrow-minded man who belittles what he cannot have.
But the Branch Chief position he had only dreamed of before giving up had fallen into his lap. He hadn't made any great effort. A single newcomer had simply come in, and before he knew it, he had become Branch Chief.
"They say even a mouse hole gets its day of sunshine."
When he entered the first floor, the men who had been working all turned toward him at once.
"We greet the Branch Chief!"
It was a single booming voice, as if they had practiced. Wang Chil made a deliberate show of composure.
"Don't mind me, get back to what you were doing. Where's the Deputy Branch Chief?"
One of the men spoke.
"He's waiting for you on the second floor, Branch Chief."
Wang Chil crossed the first floor and stepped onto the stairs leading to the second. They were sturdy stairs that didn't make a single creak.
'That bastard Gwang Hae-bong did manage the place well.'
When he went up to the second floor, eight men vied to greet him. Among them was Deputy Branch Chief Jo Jin-ho.
Since Wang Chil had been with the Red Tiger Society for a long time, he naturally had dealings with Jo Jin-ho.
"Jin-ho, come see me for a moment."
Entering the Branch Chief's office felt awkward, as if he were intruding on someone else's space.
"Please, have a seat. I'll bring some tea."
Jo Jin-ho seemed more like the owner. Jo Jin-ho placed two cups of tea on the table and sat across from Wang Chil.
"First, I'm a little sorry toward you. Originally, you should have become Branch Chief."
Jo Jin-ho was one of the few men Wang Chil respected.
"Then give it to me."
"Huh?"
"Later, when you go to headquarters."
"Headquarters?"
A smile tugged at Jo Jin-ho's lips.
"The Baekdong Branch Chief position isn't going to be your final stop, is it, boss?"
Wang Chil waved both hands dismissively.
"No. I have no intention of climbing higher. Honestly, even this Branch Chief position makes me dizzy."
"You may think that, but Squad Leader Do probably feels differently. Honestly, if it weren't for the wind called Do Tong-dal, would you have climbed this high, boss?"
"That's true."
Wang Chil's face crumpled.
"That's why you can't get promoted, you idiot. Even if it's true, you should say things that are a little embarrassing to the person's face. You have no flexibility, I swear. No flexibility."
"What a hurtful thing to say. If I had no flexibility, would I have lasted three years under that bastard Gwang Hae-bong? I would've flipped the table a thousand times."
"You had a lot bottled up, huh? Badmouthing the dead, too."
"I'm not the least bit upset about not becoming Branch Chief. You came instead, boss. Honestly, I was dancing around the house and my wife treated me like a lunatic. Hahaha!"
Wang Chil let out a long sigh.
"That's why I'm even more sorry. Actually, you could have gone to headquarters, but I held you back because I didn't want to send you."
Compared to a branch, headquarters inevitably had more authority and more to gain.
"I'm comfortable here. If I went into that den of devils they call headquarters, I'd just get indigestion."
"But you're telling me to go to headquarters?"
Jo Jin-ho took a sip of tea and then spoke.
"Two days ago, Squad Leader Do came to see me."
"Tong-dal did? What for?"
"To check on how the Baekdong Branch is running and to ask me to look after you."
"That guy and his meddling."
"He's a sharp one. I may only have one eye, but I still have an eye for people. That guy seemed like he'd been rolling around back alleys for ten years... no, even longer than I have."
"You felt that too? It's like there are a hundred old snakes coiled up inside that eighteen-year-old's belly."
"Squad Leader Do is absolutely not the kind of man who'll be satisfied with a Branch Chief position."
"Right. If he survives, he'll go to places we wouldn't even dare imagine."
"So up to a point, you need to go ahead of him and be his shield, boss."
Wang Chil wasn't stupid enough not to understand what that meant.
"For me to be his shield, that guy Tong-dal is too big."
"Then grow the shield."
Wang Chil stared at Jo Jin-ho.
"Are you coming with me?"
"Depends on what you do, boss."
Wang Chil returned a similar smile to Jo Jin-ho's playful one.
"Fuck, I guess I have to give up on living a quiet, long life."
* * *
Do Tong-dal also felt unusually emotional looking at the Baekdong Branch. But the nature of his feelings was different from Wang Chil's.
'So I've taken the first step.'
The Baekdong Branch was only the beginning. In terms of business, he had merely secured seed money.
'Within two years, I'll swallow the Red Tiger Society whole.'
With his current martial power, his knowledge of the future, and sixty years of life experience, it was not an impossible plan.
Do Tong-dal took a deep breath, puffing out his chest.
"Then, let the great stride begin...!"
"Hey! Who the hell are you!"
A rough-looking man came out of the Baekdong Branch and pointed his finger at Do Tong-dal.
"I'm starting work here from today..."
"Oh-ho! So you're Do Tong-dal? You little shit, you look like a male escort just like they said."
"What's going on? Who's here?"
Three more men came out of the branch office.
"You know, that new guy who came with the Branch Chief from the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office."
"Oh-ho, that's the guy? The little shit's got a pretty face."
The man on the far left threw a broom. Do Tong-dal caught it reflexively.
"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and clean. You came late, so you should work even harder."
The number of people who knew it was Do Tong-dal who had taken out Gwang Hae-bong could be counted on one hand. So it was only natural that the Baekdong Branch thugs treated Do Tong-dal like a newbie.
On the first floor of the office, a few thugs were in the middle of cleaning.
"Oh? Tong-dal!"
Jang Baek-dong, holding a rag, ran over with a happy face.
"You're here!"
"I had things to wrap up at the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office."
He had joined three days later than Wang Chil because he was handling the handover.
"But why are you holding a broom? You're not in a position to be cleaning, are you?"
The rough-looking man who had first spoken to Do Tong-dal smacked Jang Baek-dong on the back of the head.
"You little shit! He's a newbie who came in with you, what nonsense are you spouting!"
"Boss, that's not it. Tong-dal was a squad leader at the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office..."
Jang Baek-dong talked back for nothing and got hit once more.
"Even if you were a squad leader at that trash heap, here you're just a newbie! You bastard!"
As the man was about to hit Jang Baek-dong again, Do Tong-dal grabbed his hand.
"That's enough."
"Oh-ho! You little shit, you gonna let go of this?"
"What the hell are you doing! You bastards!"
The one who shouted was Jo Jin-ho, and Wang Chil was standing next to him.
"Deputy Branch Chief. The newbie was being too arrogant, so I was teaching him a lesson."
"You little shit! Tong-dal is...!"
Wang Chil said to Jo Jin-ho.
"Let's talk about this later with everyone gathered. And Tong-dal, come see me."
Wang Chil took Do Tong-dal to the Branch Chief's office. As he headed toward the desk, Wang Chil saw the painting hanging on the wall and let out a long sigh.
"Let's do something about that thing quickly. It bothers me every time I see it."
It was the painting hiding Gwang Hae-bong's secret safe. Because Gwang Hae-bong had died so suddenly, the safe had truly become a secret.
"I was planning to bring a technician tonight to open it. And of the contents, I'll be the only one looking at the blackmail ledger."
"What? You're not going to show me?"
"No."
"Why? You think I'll blackmail those bastards with their weaknesses and extort money?"
"Boss, when you gamble, you lose eight out of ten times, right?"
Wang Chil's expression turned sheepish.
"That's why I don't do it often."
"The times you do win, it's either incredible luck or your opponent just let you win."
"We're talking about the blackmail ledger. Why are you bringing up my gambling?"
"Because your inner thoughts are written all over your face, boss."
"Me?"
"You can't hide it when you're angry, right?"
When he got angry, a hundred out of a hundred people knew it.
"What about when I dislike or like something?"
"Is it a crime to be honest?"
"Are you confident you won't show it when you meet the people listed in the blackmail ledger?"
When he met people listed in the blackmail ledger, their secrets would naturally come to mind, and there was no way someone with Wang Chil's personality could hide it well.
"Fine. You know it alone and strip them bare alone."
"Don't worry. When it comes to eating, I'll eat with you, boss. I'm not that disloyal. Heh heh heh..."
Wang Chil, seated in his chair, spoke.
"Anyway, don't worry about what happened today. I should have warned them beforehand."
"It's fine. I'll handle it myself."
"Jin-ho is probably talking to them right now. If it doesn't work out, I'll resolve it, so just flip the whole thing over."
At that moment, Jo Jin-ho's angry voice was ringing out on the first floor.
"You bastards! Since when did the Baekdong Branch's chain of command become such a mess? Jo Wang-sik, you!"
Jo Wang-sik, the one who had hit Jang Baek-dong on the back of the head, answered in surprise.
"Yes!"
"Do you know that Tong-dal was a squad leader at the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office?"
"I know, but isn't the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office on a different level from our Baekdong Branch?"
"Rank? Listen to this bastard. You fucking bastard, so the members working at the fixer offices are lower-rank? You guys are middle-rank, and the members at headquarters are upper-rank?"
"It's not exactly like that, but..."
"Dividing people who eat from the same pot into ranks is what's low-class! You fucking bastard!"
"I'm sorry."
As Jo Wang-sik bowed his head, a voice full of discontent was heard.
"Deputy Branch Chief, no matter what, this isn't right."
Jo Jin-ho's gaze turned to the man who had spoken. It was Jang Seok-gu, the leader of Squad 1 and the most senior member of the Baekdong Branch.
"If a guy who joined barely over a month ago becomes a squad leader, what happens to his seniors?"
"So you're unhappy that a guy who joined later got promoted first?"
"I'm saying it's unfair. Even if we're the Underworld, we should still keep what needs to be kept."
"Did you say that to Gwang Hae-bong too?"
"Huh? Why bring up the dead Branch Chief..."
"You know Gwang Hae-bong joined the Red Tiger Society three years later than I did, right? I'm asking if you said that kind of thing to Gwang Hae-bong."
"..."
"Is Gwang Hae-bong scary and I'm an easy target?"
"N... no."
"So you only speak your mind when you think you can push the other person around, you fucking bastard! I don't care about anything else, you punk! A thug shouldn't be a coward! Am I wrong?"
The twenty-five men gathered in the first-floor office couldn't utter a word.
"Listen up, all of you. Tong-dal became a squad leader because he has the skills for it. Never treat him like a newbie or an outsider. I won't let any bastard who doesn't show Tong-dal proper respect as squad leader get away with it. Got it?"
"Yes."
"I said, got it, you bastards!"
"Yes! Understood!"
Jo Jin-ho waited for the echo of the answer to fade before speaking.
"I'm going to create a new Squad 5 and make Tong-dal its squad leader, so anyone who wants to work under him, speak up now. Otherwise, I'll decide myself."
Jo Jin-ho went up to the second floor and asked Do Tong-dal if there were any branch members he wanted on his team.
"I don't know if anyone other than Jang Baek-dong will come under me."
"If not, I'll assign you a suitable guy."
"Thank you for your consideration."
"As I said before, I'm the one who's more grateful that you took out that bastard Gwang Hae-bong. I've talked to the guys, but things will be a bit awkward for a while."
"It'll quiet down soon."
"You're that confident?"
"If I didn't have at least that much ability, I'd have to live a quiet, long life like you, boss."
"Hey, I've changed too. I'm going to live thick and long. Heh heh heh..."
* * *