Chapter 440: Lustful Search (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 440: Lustful Search (3)
Rising Sun.
DJs trending on social media, a spacious stage, a glamorous interior, and even promotions by famous celebrities.
It all cost a fortune, but the combination of these undeniably effective promotional methods had made this place one of the most popular spots for young men and women in their early twenties to early thirties.
And the name of the president leading this club was Oh Seok-gu.
His main line of work was being a gangster. His current position was one he’d earned by covering up and taking the fall for the various incidents and accidents that arose from the secret life of a certain chaebol.
To put it more bluntly, he was a figurehead president.
But he didn't mind.
In fact, he was more than satisfied with his position.
All the money for the club's promotion came from his bosses, and all he had to do was manage it.
Yet, he was still pocketing a considerable profit. How could he have any complaints?
“Hehehe… This month is another jackpot!”
In a restricted, staff-only area.
Sitting in his spacious office, located in the deepest part of the building, he read through a document detailing this month's sales with a broad grin.
“Let’s see, my cut from this is…? Uhuhuhu…!”
Just as he was calculating his share of the profits, letting out a laugh that seemed to rise from deep within his gut…
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
Annoyed that his pleasant time had been interrupted, he scrunched up his face and was about to yell, when…
Click!
A subordinate burst in without permission, panting as he shouted.
“B-Boss! I think you need to come out for a second…!”
“Hah, honestly.”
He was so dumbfounded he wasn't even angry.
‘Has that bastard lost his damn mind?’
Barging into my office before I even said he could come in.
Ordering me to come out before I could even say a word.
‘This won’t do. It’s been a while. I’ll have to round everyone up and whip them into shape.’
Just as he decided to properly display his authority as a boss for the first time in a while and was about to get up…
“K-Kim Do-jin…!”
“What?”
“Kim Do-jin is here!”
“Who the hell is Kim Do-jin—huh?”
“Y-You know! The one who just got promoted to S-rank Hunter…!”
“We haven’t even opened yet, why…?”
The news that a nuclear bomb had just been dropped on the club was delivered to him.
*
All sorts of people were climbing onto the spacious stage of the yet-to-open club.
Waiters, cleaners, cooks, guards, MDs, and so on.
Employees from all over the club, having heard the message from the big guy I’d instructed earlier, were gathering.
“Wow… it’s really Kim Do-jin.”
“He’s handsome.”
“An S-rank at his age, I’m so jealous…”
The people murmured amongst themselves.
Just as the stage was starting to fill up…
Someone strode quickly onto the stage.
He looked to be in his mid-forties.
Judging by the obviously expensive suit he was wearing…
“Ah, hello, Hunter Kim Do-jin. I am Oh Seok-gu, the president of this club.”
Just as I thought.
I could size him up just by the way he was bowing respectfully to someone much younger than him.
This guy, whatever else he might be, was a master of navigating social situations.
It was probably best to use that to my advantage.
“Relax, President. Anyone watching would think I came to take over the club, hahaha!”
“Ahahaha…”
People like him were the type to only start talking when you applied a bit of psychological pressure.
After creating some subtle tension with words I didn't mean…
“The reason I’m here is that I’m looking for someone.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It seems the last place this person was seen was here, so I thought the club staff or you, President, might know something. That’s why I had to ask everyone to gather.”
“If there’s anything we can do to help, of course we’ll help. Absolutely.”
Oh Seok-gu replied without fully straightening his back, then turned and barked at his employees.
“Everyone, answer whatever Hunter Kim Do-jin asks with the utmost sincerity! Got it?!”
“Yes…!”
At a glance, it was a commendable attitude.
But I didn't like it one bit.
It felt like he was just putting on a plausible-looking show.
After putting on his performance for the staff, he stepped aside with an awkward smile.
“There, I’ve given the staff a stern warning, so please ask anything. And there is one thing I must earnestly request…”
“Go ahead.”
Oh Seok-gu then bowed deeply and spoke pleadingly.
“Please, just as long as it doesn’t interfere with the club’s opening! I’m just a middle manager, you see, so it’ll be a problem for me if our sales are affected…”
That was a long-winded way of saying he was a figurehead president.
Then again…
It was obvious in a way.
There was no way a guy who, at best, looked like a gang boss could run a club of this size.
“Rising Sun… I suppose your boss named the club, too?”
“Pardon? Ah, y-yes, that’s right, yes.”
Coincidentally, the club's name was the same as the guild Kim Tae-yang belonged to.
Was it a coincidence?
Or was it inevitable?
Well… that wasn't what was important right now.
“Alright, everyone.”
Clap, clap!
After clapping to focus the attention of the murmuring employees…
I took out my smartphone, pulled up a photo of the missing woman, Jo Yeon-hee, and showed it to them.
“This woman visited the club five days ago. I heard she entered right as you opened. If anyone saw her, please raise your hand.”
“……”
“……”
Silence.
Far from raising their hands, not a single person opened their mouth.
At that, Oh Seok-gu started yelling at them again.
“Hey, what are you all doing? Hunter Kim Do-jin is asking you a question! Aren't you going to answer?!”
Only then did they start shaking their heads and answering one by one.
“I-I didn’t see her.”
“Me neither.”
“Me too…”
The cleaners, guards, cooks, and others.
Those who worked behind the scenes, not on the main floor, were the first to be dismissed.
“Ssp… I don’t think I saw her either.”
The waiters, who worked closest to the club's patrons, also shook their heads one by one.
In the middle of this…
“I… also didn’t see her.”
One guy, who seemed to be buffering pretty badly, caught my eye.
He was pretending to be calm, but I could hear it.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
The sound of his heart pounding wildly.
Was he the culprit?
I couldn't be sure yet.
However, one thing became certain.
He saw Jo Yeon-hee five days ago.
And for some reason, he was lying to me.
There were three possible reasons.
He was the culprit, or an accomplice.
If not even that… then he was paid off by the culprit.
As I remained silent, Oh Seok-gu stepped forward again to wrap things up.
“Is everyone sure no one saw her?! You’d better be prepared if you change your story later!”
“Yes!”
Then he turned to me with a servile smile and said.
“Excuse me, Hunter Kim Do-jin? Unfortunately, it seems none of our employees remember that woman. It’s almost opening time, so is there anything else you need…?”
His eagerness to get rid of me didn't seem to be just about opening time.
But it wasn't like he knew something, either.
It just felt like he wanted to cover things up, no matter what.
“President?”
“Yes, Hunter-nim.”
I had sensed something from one of the employees.
In that case, it was time to start digging in.
“Let’s see the CCTV footage.”
His face soured in an instant.
Then he quickly changed his expression and answered cheerfully.
“Technically, we can only show it to the police, but I’ll make a special exception for you, Hunter-nim!”
His tone made it sound like he was doing me a huge favor.
Just then, a guard from the crowd of employees came forward with a troubled expression and said.
“Uh, I’m very sorry, but we don’t have any CCTV footage from five days ago.”
“…And why is that?”
“It suddenly broke down…”
“Oh, dear.”
I see.
So it just happened to break down at that exact moment?
As I was letting out a laugh of disbelief, feeling like I was watching a poorly scripted play…
SMACK!
Suddenly, Oh Seok-gu furiously slapped the guard who had approached him hard across the cheek.
“Hey, you son of a bitch! Didn’t I tell you to maintain the equipment properly?! Huh?! This is obviously an important matter, and of all the times…!”
“I-I’m sorry, B-Boss… no, President!”
The guard bowed his head, his face bright red, as Oh Seok-gu smacked him repeatedly on the back of the head.
Watching them, only one thought came to mind.
“What a fucking joke.”
“Pardon? What did you just say…?”
“Just talking to myself.”
“Ah, is that so? Anyway, I’m truly sorry about this. For the equipment to break down at a time like this…”
“What can you do. It’s not like you broke it on purpose.”
“Thank you so much for your understanding, Hunter-nim!”
I had a rough grasp of the situation now.
And I also understood who I needed to squeeze to get the answers I wanted.
“Sorry for taking up your time when you must be busy preparing to open. I’ll come back as a customer next time, so you’ll hook me up with some good service, right?”
“Aigo, of course! When you come, we’ll treat you to the full course right away.”
“Okay, I’ll remember that. See you then.”
“Take care, Hunter-nim!”
“You too!”
Oh Seok-gu and his subordinates bowed a full 90 degrees as they saw me off.
I felt like I’d become a gangster.
When I stepped outside the club, Jin Ha-rin, who had been quiet the whole time, asked in a worried tone.
“We didn’t get anything here either. What do we do now…?”
Didn’t get anything, huh.
“Your eye for detail is still a bit lacking.”
“Huh…?”
I smiled and answered her as she tilted her head, as if to ask what I meant.
“It means we did get something.”
More than enough, in fact.
*
It was a day so busy he couldn't even catch his breath.
‘Shit, it’s not even a Friday, why are there so many people?’
Every day, the club was bursting at the seams with customers.
The men were busy scanning for pretty women, and the women were busy sizing up the men who approached them.
And he constantly moved between them.
“Hey, you fucker. Are your eyes crooked or something? Huh?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Sometimes getting cursed at.
After some time passed like that, he was given a short break.
The man, Jeong-sik, went out the back door, put a cigarette in his mouth, and let out a long sigh.
“Haaah… shit.”
He always felt this way at work, but today he felt especially shitty.
The reason was the Hunter named Kim Do-jin he’d seen before his shift started.
When the man who’d just become an S-rank Hunter said he was looking for that woman, he realized.
‘I think I’ve gotten myself into something bad.’
He felt like he’d stepped into a place he never should have.
‘It was definitely her.’
The woman Kim Do-jin showed on his smartphone was without a doubt the same woman he had brought to Kim Tae-yang five days ago.
‘But now she’s missing?’
He suddenly remembered what happened two days ago.
Men had shown up at his house out of the blue, handed him a hundred million won, and told him…
To forget everything that happened with Kim Tae-yang five days ago and to keep his mouth shut.
He accepted the offer without a second thought.
How could he refuse when a hundred million won would just roll in for keeping his mouth shut?
“Shit…”
He thought they were just trying to erase the fact that Kim Tae-yang had slept with a strange woman.
‘I thought it was just image management!’
But now it was suddenly a missing person case.
“What should I do…”
Should I just keep my mouth shut?
Or should I go to the police station and tell them the truth right now?
While he was lost in his pathetic worries, puffing hard on his lit cigarette…
“What do you mean, ‘what should you do?’ You should turn yourself in and see the light.”
“……!”
A chilling voice came from the darkness.
Step, step.
The sound of footsteps gradually grew closer, and finally, a figure was revealed.
“K-Kim Do-jin…!”
The moment he saw him, his heart began to tighten in his chest.
Why was the man who left before opening still here?
And why, of all people, did he appear before him?
Just as his heartbeat reached its peak…
Having closed the distance, he spoke with an incredibly heavy expression and tone, a stark contrast to the cheerful face he’d shown earlier.
“Spit out everything you’re hiding. If you don’t…”
Gulp!
“The Bogeyman will come and get you.”
“……”
I don’t know who that is.