Monopolizing Fortunes (4)
Monopolizing Fortunes (4)
"I came to see and learn from your collection skills, boss. I also brought along a promising little maggot from our branch."
The man who had come with Gwang Hae-bong was Jang Baek-dong, who had trained together with Do Tong-dal.
He was memorable because of the large wart above his left lip, big enough to block his nostril.
Jang Baek-dong gave Wang Chil a bow.
"Pleased to meet you. My name is Jang Baek-dong."
Wang Chil looked at the wart growing below Jang Baek-dong's nostril and asked.
"Doesn't that make it uncomfortable to breathe?"
"I-it's fine."
Do Tong-dal clapped Jang Baek-dong on the shoulder.
"Doing well?"
"Huh? Uh-huh."
Gwang Hae-bong asked.
"What's your deal?"
Wang Chil answered in Do Tong-dal's place.
"A promising new recruit who just came in."
"Oh! Is this the kid they said did a hell of a job organizing the ledgers?"
The ledgers Do Tong-dal had organized had become a topic of conversation even at headquarters, thanks to his flowing handwriting and precise calculations.
"He's talented in a lot of ways."
"When you retire, boss, I'll have to take him with me. No matter who you are, if you've only got one hand, you've got to retire."
Gwang Hae-bong said to Do Tong-dal.
"Wouldn't you be better off coming to our branch than staying in that Gwanghwa-ro dump?"
"No thanks?"
Gwang Hae-bong's face crumpled instantly.
"What?"
"The only time the big boss would leave the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office is when he moves up to a higher position."
"This little shit, the mouth on him—!"
When Gwang Hae-bong raised his hand, Wang Chil blocked him.
"He's mine. Don't touch him."
"You two really make a pair of [bleep]s. For the record, I brought him along because he's good with an axe. Youngest, take it out."
Jang Baek-dong hesitantly pulled a hand axe from his waist. It was a single-edged hand axe with a well-honed blade.
"Shall we go collect some debts, then?"
The man from the Baekdong Branch who had been guarding the old man Geum's house bowed to Gwang Hae-bong.
"The old man's inside?"
"Yes. He's in the yard twisting straw rope."
"What's a bit of straw rope worth, anyway."
When they opened the wooden door, which looked ready to fall off at any moment, and went in, they saw the old man Geum sitting slumped over, twisting straw rope.
With his small stature and gaunt body, the old man Geum was as shabby as this old house.
This house, about fifty pyeong with three rooms, had been sold off six months ago by the old man Geum's wife before she ran away.
Not knowing that, the Baekdong Branch had readily lent the old man Geum the large sum of fifteen nyang.
The old man Geum, who had unhealed wounds on his face, glanced at them as they came in.
"Here to collect? I've got no money."
Gwang Hae-bong let out a laugh.
"Heh heh heh... I know. These are the new players who'll be dealing with you today, old man Geum."
Gwang Hae-bong pointed at Do Tong-dal's group.
"These people say they can definitely collect fifteen nyang from you. So deal with them well. Of course, you've got no money, but if money does come out, that'd bruise my pride, so I'll be very disappointed."
He even applied blatant pressure not to pay. For Gwang Hae-bong, even if the fifteen nyang went uncollected, he could take the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office's stake in Cheonsangru, so it was a highly profitable deal for him.
Wang Chil, who had once done collections because of his menacing face, tried to step forward. But Do Tong-dal was quicker.
"Sir, where has your son gone?"
"My son? Don't know. He's been missing for a month now."
Gwang Hae-bong said.
"That bastard knew the sparks would fly at him and bolted."
"They said he was a devoted son... rumors aren't worth believing. But letting a debtor's child run off like that—isn't that incompetence?"
Do Tong-dal muttered, then looked around the house and walked toward the main hall.
"I hear you squandered the whole family fortune on gambling? They say you blew the borrowed money too, at a gambling den in the southwest. If you're going to lose it, you might as well lose it in our territory."
The old man Geum answered without stopping his rope-twisting.
"You come to rub salt in the wound? Just start beating me like the others. Let this useless old life just drop dead."
"Hey, I'm not some son of a bitch—how could I hit an elder?"
Wang Chil mouthed the words "son of a bitch" at Gwang Hae-bong. Do Tong-dal, who had gone up to the main hall, stopped in front of the altar.
An altar enshrining Guan Yu was a common sight in ordinary homes. Do Tong-dal pulled a half-burned incense stick from the incense burner.
"Baek-dong, did I ever tell you I have a divine gift?"
Jang Baek-dong, suddenly called by name, started in surprise.
'Why's this bastard doing this to me?'
During the ten days they'd been at the training center, they hadn't exchanged more than a few words.
"D-did you?"
"Your older sister who ran away from home two years ago will be back soon, so don't worry too much."
Jang Baek-dong was dumbfounded.
"How do you know my sister ran away? I never said anything like that."
"I told you. I have a divine gift."
Gwang Hae-bong said.
"Divine gift my ass! He must've heard it from someone."
Jang Baek-dong nodded, agreeing with Gwang Hae-bong. From a commonsense standpoint, that was the more plausible explanation.
Do Tong-dal looked at Gwang Hae-bong and grinned.
"Why do you think I suddenly brought up a divine gift... hmm?"
"Because you're a lunatic?"
"You'll see soon enough... hmm."
Do Tong-dal held the incense in both hands and paced the main hall.
"Let's see... it feels like there's something important around here somewhere..."
The gray eyes of the old man Geum, who had no lingering attachment to life, wavered uneasily. Do Tong-dal's hands, holding the incense, began to tremble.
"Here it is, here! Aha! Using the God of Wealth for your own selfish greed! You wretches deserve divine punishment!"
Suddenly Do Tong-dal began smashing the altar to pieces. Gwang Hae-bong stared at Do Tong-dal with a look of disbelief.
"That bastard really is crazy."
Anyone could see he looked insane.
"Stop it! What do you think you're doing!"
When the old man Geum tried to rush over, Wang Chil grabbed him.
"Stay still!"
He didn't know what it was, but there had to be a good reason for Do Tong-dal to act like that.
Screeeeech—!
When Do Tong-dal lifted part of the main hall floor beneath the smashed altar, a staircase leading underground appeared.
Do Tong-dal grinned at the old man Geum.
"It seems the God of Wealth has informed me properly. What could our old man Geum have hidden away in this secret place?"
"There's nothing there! You bastard! There's nothing in there!"
The old man Geum thrashed, but in the end he couldn't break free from Wang Chil's grip.
"Since there's nothing there, it should be fine for me to go in, right?"
Only Do Tong-dal went down underground, but when he came out, there were two people.
The person dragged out by the scruff of his neck in Do Tong-dal's hand was the old man Geum's son, Geum Sang-jin.
Gwang Hae-bong was startled.
"Huh? The guy who supposedly ran off a month ago—why's he coming out of there?"
Geum Sang-jin trembled and called out for his father over and over.
"Sang-jin, it's all right. Don't worry. The law of the land is strict—they won't be able to harm us."
Do Tong-dal sneered.
"Old man Geum, you've lived all those years for nothing. Haven't you ever heard that fists come before the law? Though in this case, maybe it should be axes before the law? Baek-dong."
When Do Tong-dal held out his hand, the quick-witted Jang Baek-dong hastily handed over the hand axe. For that, he got smacked in the back of the head by Gwang Hae-bong.
"It would be nice if you gave us the fifteen nyang now..."
Under Do Tong-dal's gaze, the old man Geum shouted.
"You bastards! I said I have no money! Aren't you afraid of the law of the land!"
"The moment you borrowed our money, we became the law of your land, but it seems you still don't know that. If you break the law, you have to be punished, and in the country ruled by the Red Tiger Society, there's guilt by association."
Do Tong-dal grabbed Geum Sang-jin's right wrist and pressed it to the ground.
"Spread your fingers if you don't want to lose your wrist."
At Do Tong-dal's whisper, Geum Sang-jin's trembling fingers spread open. Without any particular warning, Do Tong-dal's hand axe came down.
"Aaaagh—!"
At the pain of his little finger being severed, Geum Sang-jin let out a scream as if his heart were being ripped out.
With his small frame, Geum Sang-jin couldn't withstand Do Tong-dal's brutish strength and just trembled in place.
"This is only the beginning—you can't look like you're dying already. Next is the thumb. Without a little finger, it's just inconvenient for picking your nose, but without a thumb, it'd be hard to even jerk off, so that's a bit of a shame. Don't worry, don't worry. After I cut off all your fingers and toes, I'll cut your dick off too."
As the hand axe rose, the old man Geum's shout rang out.
"I'll give it! The money! I said I'll give the money!"
"You've probably said you'd pay a hundred times. Saying it with your mouth is useless—the money has to appear in front of my eyes. Oh dear, this axe is so heavy it feels like it'll drop any second."
The hand axe dropped downward and stopped.
"Wait! Just wait a moment!"
The old man Geum ran into a room and came out carrying a leather pouch.
"The money's here!"
The pouch the old man Geum threw landed in front of Do Tong-dal with a clink!
"Boss."
At Do Tong-dal's call, Wang Chil quickly checked the contents of the pouch.
"It's right. Fifteen nyang of silver."
When Do Tong-dal released his wrist, Geum Sang-jin clutched his hand and collapsed to the side.
"You beasts, worse than animals!"
Do Tong-dal said to the old man Geum, who was clutching Geum Sang-jin.
"What should we call the old man Geum, who made us act worse than beasts?"
Do Tong-dal returned the hand axe with a casual "Thanks for the loan," then turned to Wang Chil.
"Now Cheonsangru is completely ours, right?"
"Heh heh heh... Of course. We even have the document to prove it."
When Wang Chil spread the document open, Do Tong-dal said.
"Boss, you're holding it upside down."
"I-is that so? What does it matter. Everyone here's practically illiterate except you, anyway. Heh heh heh..."
"Th-this is invalid!"
Gwang Hae-bong shouted angrily. He spat out the words "This is invalid! Invalid!" five times in a row.
Wang Chil asked.
"It's not just a verbal promise—he even stamped it with his fingerprint. You're going to insist it's invalid?"
"It's cheating! Cheating!"
"What cheating?"
Gwang Hae-bong, who had been hemming and hawing, raised his voice.
"You used a divine gift! You're not supposed to use something like that!"
"What kind of fresh bullshit is that? If you're going to insist, at least insist on something plausible!"
Gwang Hae-bong, perhaps realizing himself that it made no sense, gave another reason.
"You—you used my axe! Pay the rental fee!"
The level of bullshit was neck and neck.
"How old are you?"
"Thirty... years old."
"You fucking bastard! You're all grown up! If you're an adult, act like one! Or go around sucking your mother's tit!"
Gwang Hae-bong, having nothing proper to say, just turned red in the face before spitting out words through his teeth.
"Do you really think you can properly supply Cheonsangru with liquor and women? And what about the Haerang Society, which is eyeing Cheonsangru like a hawk? Boss, greed that doesn't match your ability invites disaster. I'll overlook everything, so let's pretend this never happened."
Wang Chil let out a long sigh.
"I'm usually the type who wants to live quiet and long, but this time I'm going to live a little bigger. Stay away from Cheonsangru, you fucking bastard."
"You're refusing the offered drink and choosing the penalty drink instead."
"Go buy yourself a drink before you spout that shit."
Gwang Hae-bong's gaze shifted to Do Tong-dal.
"You little shit, you're completely on my shit list..."
Do Tong-dal cut off Gwang Hae-bong's words.
"Huh? There's a ghost on your left shoulder..."
"Eeek!"
Startled, Gwang Hae-bong brushed at his shoulder and sidestepped away.
"Ah! It was just a fly."
"Y-you... you little shit, just you wait!"
As Gwang Hae-bong went out the gate, Wang Chil cracked a silly joke—"If you had the power, you'd have done it already."—and snickered.
Seeing the father and son still clutching each other, Wang Chil ordered Gang Bu-song to call for a physician.
"Clean up here and come along slowly. I'm going ahead with Tong-dal."
When they had left the residential alley and reached the main road, Wang Chil called to Do Tong-dal.
"Tong-dal, do you really have that... divine gift?"
"Huh?"
"If not, how did you know the old man Geum's son was hiding in a secret basement?"
"When I walked on it, I could tell there was an empty space under the main hall floor."
Of course, that was a lie.
"Huh? You felt that?"
"Yes. So I had a hunch. The old man Geum's son is famous for being devoted—it's strange that he'd abandon his father and run off."
"Then why was he hiding in the basement?"
"If he stayed with the old man Geum, he'd get beaten by the Baekdong Branch, and even if he tried to run off with the money, there was no opening."
"So the son hid, and the father held out saying he had no money?"
"They were probably planning to both bolt when they got the chance. Fifteen nyang of silver is enough money to go somewhere and make a fresh start."
That was exactly how the incident had actually unfolded in Do Tong-dal's previous life.
"So you don't have a divine gift?"
* * *