Chapter 149
Chapter 149
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Live by Loyalty, Die by Loyalty (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-Secret vault! The classified documents that were stashed in the safe behind the frame in that office—they're gone!
"Classified documents? You mean... that thing you showed me last time?"
Standing alone in Nak-gu's empty house, gripping a butcher's knife in his hand, Hoon felt an ominous chill creeping over him.
Nak-gu had vanished, leaving no trace of human presence whatsoever—everything wiped clean. And... the missing classified documents.
A few days earlier, in front of the flickering brown-tube TV spitting static, Joo Gwae-yul had issued the order to eliminate Nak-gu.
It seemed Joo Gwae-yul knew how to handle his underlings. He'd stoke the fire under the pot for the new dog, making sure it knew it wasn't the one about to be boiled alive.
'Now that your position is secure, Hoon, I'll show you the heart of our organization.'
'The heart... Big Brother?'
'Yeah. Funds gush from the heart and flow through the veins. The laundered cash from the extremities... returns to the heart and turns back into clean blood.'
Hoon had been inwardly fretting that he might suffer the same fate as Nak-gu.
Joo Gwae-yul's way of easing Hoon's anxiety, if only a little, had been to reveal the existence of those classified documents.
Documents detailing the organization's entire fund flow.
-There's only one bastard who'd pull a stunt like this: Nak-gu. Hoon, you went to Gu-seong-nam today, right? Cut off his head as fast as you can! Right now!
"Big Brother, I'm inside Nak-gu's place right now. But this fucker must've gotten wind of it ahead of time. Not even a single rat in sight."
-What!
Joo Gwae-yul, who always showed his underlings a calm and collected face.
But now, over the phone, his voice trembled with bewilderment and rage. He couldn't even control his emotions properly.
-So that's how it is, huh? That dog... no wonder contact from Thailand went dead.
Hoon caught a strange nuance in Joo Gwae-yul's offhand remark. Something... was going wrong.
A single small movement tossed into what had seemed like a pile of rusted scrap.
Like a domino—or a finely crafted gear—that one shift was overturning the entire situation in an instant.
"Big Brother? What do you mean? Trouble in Thailand or something?"
-...Never mind! There's urgent business spinning right now, so chase down that bastard Nak-gu first! As fast as you can!
"Got it, Big Brother."
Unlike when he'd climbed up, Hoon now stormed down the stairs, not giving a damn about the clatter of his shoes.
An eerie chill raced up his spine like a sharp stab.
Just like six years ago, when he'd sliced a man's ankle with a knife and fled from the detectives.
"Haah, this sucks. Feels just like... being a cornered rat."
* * * *
"Check."
"You're playing chess, not Janggi—checkmate's the word you're looking for."
Ammunition Group Chairman's office.
Lately hooked on chess, Uncle Kim Won-cheol would drop by with his board whenever he had a spare moment. Like now.
"Heh heh heh. You call 'check' right when the king's neck is on the chopping block."
"No way out anyway. I concede. Lunch is on me today."
"Eh? Giving up already? The fun was just steaming up."
With his sharp mind, Uncle Kim Won-cheol held a win rate of about 6-to-4, edging up to 7-to-3 lately.
I scanned the entire board one last time, then stood from the sofa as I replied.
"My king's escape routes are already blocked by the knight and bishop."
"Oh, you saw that?"
"Of course. Hell, I've been racking my brain over a real king trying to flee in the real world."
The other king trying to crawl from the shadows into the light: Joo Gwae-yul.
I fiddled with the small black king topped with a tiny cross above my head as I spoke.
"It's something like this. First, toss out the Nak-gu piece to shock the entire formation."
I spun the whole board around. Now reversed, the board before me showed the white pieces again.
The white rook crowned with jagged battlements.
Thrown forward without a care for range, the rook toppled one black piece.
"Then... the black king has to sidestep. But Joo Gwae-yul will be rattled."
Right then, as if waiting, the knight charged straight ahead.
The ferocious horse-head knight crossed the board and smashed the queen beside the king in one go. The queen—most vital piece to the king.
"Because a madwoman knight named Park Eun-ji will pop up out of nowhere with some unexpected crew."
"Heh heh heh. Gotta hand it to our Chairman—big-picture skills are unmatched. So, isn't it about time for a bite?"
"I was just about to call. Probably right around..."
At that moment, the phone rang out like a newborn's wail.
On the small screen of the desk landline, instead of a familiar local number, an unfamiliar combo appeared.
An overseas call—from Thailand, no less.
"Yes, Prime Minister. I've been waiting."
-Oh, Chairman Han Seo-jun. Great to hear your voice after so long.
"Same here."
The Thai-accented English of Prime Minister In-tak, now familiar.
After some light chit-chat, he cut straight to the point.
The queen standing right next to the king on our chessboard—had fallen.
-Good news, so I called. Thai police raided a private gambling org's hideout with that Korean dispatch, Prosecutor Park Eun-ji.
* * * *
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
Near Bangkok, Thailand—a lone condo by a quiet seaside.
Usually frequented by idle foreigners, today it rang with gunshots tearing through the air.
"Hey, you bald fuckers! Smash your heads down! Now! Lift 'em and you're Swiss cheese, got it?"
"W-what the hell! How'd this Joseon bitch prosecutor find us in Thailand!"
"Smash those big domes! You pickled-radish pricks! Wanna cool breeze punched through your forehead?"
"Fuck, this shitshow of a bitch...!"
More gunshots echoed through the room. Duller than the blanks earlier—live rounds this time.
Only after flames spat from Prosecutor Park Eun-ji's pistol did the gangsters finally turtle like turtles.
In the end, three bullet holes in the ceiling. Not one Iljeongpa thug escaped the Thai cops' cuffs.
Even their thick-skinned Yeolai divine puncher.
"Hoo, look at these backs—like kindergarten doodles. Unreal."
"Ow! Ease up on the back-smacks! What kinda woman's got hands this rough... poison on 'em or what?"
A massive dragon tattooed on a thug's back. Prosecutor Park Eun-ji flicked the bearish thug's forehead with a knuckle-rap.
"Poison? You assholes spread that with your illegal gambling sites online. Anyway, see my face again after deportation to Korea, yeah?"
"Damn... no wonder my sleep was rough. Ow ow!"
Trussed up like salted mackerel, the thugs were hauled off by Thai police.
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji didn't forget to thwack each head one last time. She pulled out her cell and dialed somewhere.
"Yo, Chairman Han."
-Yo, Prosecutor Park Eun-ji. Heard from PM In-tak. Iljeongpa crew in Thailand wiped out?
"Ha, news travels fast. Ammunition Group's got a telescope or what? But before that."
She let out a small scoff, gazing outside.
Below the window, cop sirens wailed as backdrop. The scene in her eyes:
Thugs. A massive syndicate crossing borders—wiped out. And she knew she hadn't cut the first ribbon.
The man on the phone. It all stemmed from Ammunition Group's Chairman's mind.
"Think about it—some civilian dictating investigation plans to a Republic of Korea prosecutor? Where else does that happen?"
-Caught 'em, so all good, right? Anyway, Joo Gwae-yul's fund lines are sealed. No more remittances to Korea.
"Yeah, true. Problem's tracing his illegal funds... ha, shit. Headache."
She fished a crumpled cig from her battered pack—cloud candy stick—and lit up.
Puffing clouds from the bedside terrace, she pondered unusually deep.
Anti-money laundering. An elusive method.
"Construction fronts are ancient tradition, fine. But finance? I'm clueless..."
And then, an unexpected line hit her ear.
-About that issue. Leave it to me. It's a brand-new method you've never heard of—mess with it, and it'll give you a migraine.
"...What now?"
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji dropped the cig from her mouth.
Over the phone, Ammunition Group's Chairman tossed her a confident assurance—like he saw through everything.
"What kinda nonsense is that? We blocked all his laundering routes through your companies. Hold on..."
Click—cheap lighter sparked again.
She picked up the dropped cig, lit it with the lighter swiped from a thug, and sorted her thoughts quick.
Soon, smirking as she shot back.
"Would you look at that... Chairman Han Seo-jun, you had something cooking behind the scenes? Stuff I don't know?"
-Who knows.
"Come on, spill. I'm dying here."
Her prosecutor's instincts were firing hot. But her caller had no intention of satisfying that curiosity.
Just a soft chuckle and one cryptic line.
-For now, I'll grill it halfway for you. Sit tight and wait. Talk later—when paths cross.