Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Living and Dying by Loyalty (6)
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It hadn’t been long since the storm Nak-gu had kicked up finally died down.
Paintings scattered haphazardly across the floor, the secret safe standing wide open and utterly empty, and a glass ashtray shattered into pieces as if someone had unleashed a torrent of raw emotion.
Inside Joo Gwae-yul’s office, traces of the chaos still lingered in every corner. Hoon-i pushed open the door and stepped in, eyeing Joo Gwae-yul’s brother-in-law as he spoke.
“Big Bro… where’d he run off to? He told me to get here pronto, so I hauled ass.”
“Ah, yeah, he had some urgent business come up. Take a seat and hang tight for a bit. He’ll be back soon.”
The eerie sense of dissonance wasn’t just from the mess in the office.
Joo Gwae-yul’s brother-in-law was treating him with an unfamiliar stiffness, nothing like his usual self.
Something… felt off. Like wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit.
“Man, this is weird. Guy who sticks to schedules like glue, what’s his deal?”
“He’ll be here any minute, so light up a smoke and chill. Hoon-i, you rushed over here, right? Want something to drink?”
“Sure, whatever… cold water’s fine.”
Clinking sounds echoed from the break room. Looked like he was fetching a drink himself. The brother-in-law, who always prided himself on being Joo Gwae-yul’s right-hand man, had never shown Hoon-i this kind of courtesy before.
“Thanks, but somethin’ feels off as hell…”
Hoon-i’s arm hairs stood on end without him realizing it. He took a small sip from the glass of cold water the man brought out, when another voice reached his ears.
It was Joo Gwae-yul.
“You got here quick, Hoon-i.”
The same Joo Gwae-yul who’d been raging uncontrollably on the phone just moments ago. But now, he carried his usual cold, chilling aura.
Just like always before he snuffed out someone’s life.
Hoon-i needed to change the subject fast. To keep that ominous vibe from turning on him.
“Big Bro, you’re here? That Nak-gu bastard said he’d track the fucker down and rip his head off ASAP. Just gimme a little time…”
“Nah, forget that. No need to stress over it that much.”
“Big Bro…?”
Joo Gwae-yul flashed a smile at Hoon-i—cold yet disarmingly bright, almost gentle.
“That Nak-gu worm can run all he wants; he’s still in the palm of my hand. What really matters is…”
He stepped forward and clamped a hand on Hoon-i’s shoulder. A grip so iron-strong it belied his graying hair.
“The organization’s safety. Right?”
“……”
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Hoon-i’s spine.
The organization’s safety. Meaning, if need be… Hoon-i himself might have to take the fall for anything tied to Nak-gu.
Hoon-i’s body froze like an ice sculpture, sensing the vicious expression lurking beneath that smiling mask.
Before Joo Gwae-yul continued.
“But hey, lucky break. Looks like the cash we greased the higher-ups with is doing its job.”
“So… the Korean prosecutors can’t touch our guys in Thailand, that it?”
“Pretty much. The domestic crew’s in the clear. But…”
Hoon-i let out a sigh of relief at the elaborate lie.
But Joo Gwae-yul’s one follow-up word, heavy as a boulder, chilled the air again.
“Everything comes with a price.”
“A price…”
“We gotta launder the remaining funds ASAP. Within three days.”
Joo Gwae-yul spun a convincing lie to bait Hoon-i.
Hundreds of billions in bribes for the top of the top brass. Clean, laundered money, and fast.
Hoon-i looked flustered at the tall order.
“Bro, three days? Bitcoin won’t cut it right now. Trading volume’s too low, and even if we could, the deposit times…”
“Don’t worry, I’ve handled that angle too.”
“Huh?”
“There’s an outside expert. Tomorrow at dawn, you personally deliver the cash from the Seongnam underground warehouse.”
The Seongnam underground warehouse. Stacked with a mountain of bills.
Of course, that cash… aside from the top layer, the rest was just blank paper.
Nothing but a trap to hand Hoon-i over to the authorities with evidence in tow, while Joo Gwae-yul bolted overseas.
“……”
Hoon-i hesitated, something gnawing at him.
His gut screamed as it collided head-on with Joo Gwae-yul’s lie. Get out now.
But…
“No time to waste, Hoon-i. Over 320 apple boxes—gotta move now!”
The urgency, the pressure closing in—no time to think of alternatives, no room to prepare. Hoon-i’s options were slim.
“…Yeah, Big Bro. I’ll do it.”
* * * *
-[Deposit] 80,000,000,000 KRW confirmed, Prosecutor. Proceeding with the operation immediately.
Ding-dong! A cheerful chime rang from Prosecutor Park Eun-ji’s phone.
She licked her lips at the sight of 80 billion won, practically drooling as she turned to me.
“Damn, 80 billion. Eighty. Freaking. Billion. Might take me a thousand years as a prosecutor to scrape that together.”
“Me? About a year? Depends on business conditions and market vibes, though.”
I teased her with a bit of swagger.
She deflated a touch, scratching the back of her head as she stared out at the pre-dawn docks.
“Shit, you’re something else. Sharp as a tack too. How the hell’d you cook this up?”
This idea.
80 billion glaring on her phone screen. Joo Gwae-yul thought it was wired to Yoo Tae-chon’s secret overseas account.
Prosecutors’ sting account, naturally.
“Just got tangled up in it. Wanna wrap this headache quick.”
“Yeah, fair. Can’t keep a group chairman tied up forever. Anyway, secured the criminal proceeds—now just nab ’em…”
Right now, smack in the middle of Incheon Port’s container yard.
Soon, a truck loaded with fake bundles of cash and evidence tying Hoon-i to the mess would roll in.
“He’ll show. No doubt.”
“Has to. Only way Hoon-i avoids life in the slammer and fingers Joo Gwae-yul as the boss.”
The chilly dawn air hung heavy, broken only by sporadic bird cries.
In this bleak darkness, a low mechanical rumble cut through.
“Huh…? That can’t be…”
“Looks like it. Gimme the binoculars, Prosecutor Park.”
A small truck slipped through the chain-link fence. Its hazy orange headlights flickered off, engine dying as someone stepped out.
Buzz-cut, mean mug, masked up, built like a tank—that was Hoon-i.
“He’s here! Prosecutor Park…!”
“Chairman, stay put right there. Officer Kim, Officer Choi! Operation go!”
* * * *
“Whew…”
Hoon-i hopped out of the truck and fished out his smokes, lighting one up.
Dew clung to the patchy weeds now.
His watch showed they were over ten minutes past the meet time.
“Fuckin’ late as hell. What’s that old fart doing, draggin’ his ass?”
His words dripped bravado, but inside, Hoon-i was a knot of tension and dread.
Something… was going south. His instincts knew it.
Joo Gwae-yul’s off vibe. The quagmire sucking everyone in. And his own swirling chaos wrapped up in it all.
But… drowning that dread was raw greed.
“Whew, nail this, and all Nak-gu’s turf’s mine.”
Illicit funds for the next decade at least—hundreds of billions, maybe trillions.
Hoon-i, spearheading the laundering, would get his cut.
A sliver, sure—but massive all the same. Enough to blind him.
Even when it stared him in the face, he squeezed his eyes shut and dove into the dark.
“Ah, finally showing. Slow-ass bastards…”
Several black sedans approaching.
Something… felt wrong.
Deals like this came in trucks, not split across sedans.
“No way… no fuckin’ way!”
Hoon-i’s eyes flew open.
He scrambled to the driver’s seat, slashing open a box on the passenger side with a cutter—still unpacked for the trunk.
Red siren wails swelled in his ears like a soundtrack.
“Joo Gwae-yul, you dog bastard…!”
White paper scraps in the box. Ledgers spelling out Hoon-i’s involvement.
Rage boiled over, vision turning crimson.
“Hands up! Out of the vehicle now! Move!”
The red-tinted world wasn’t just the sniper’s scope.
Like a trapped beast howling its last, Hoon-i dropped to his knees.
“You have the right to an attorney, to remain silent…”
Cuffed and cold, shoved into the squad car.
Dazed. Gutted.
No clue where it went wrong—just mumbling nonsense in a stupor.
“No way… this can’t happen, why…”
Lost in his fog, he didn’t notice.
The car pulling away. Or the stranger now in the seat beside him.
“Park Hoon-i, right? They call you Hoon-i.”
Young, not even thirty. But a smile carrying an inexplicable pressure.
Hoon-i fidgeted with his cuffs and spat.
“Who the hell’re you…?”
“Pleased to meet you. Han Seo-jun, Chairman of Ammunition Group. We crossed paths on that officetel thing in Bundang outskirts, remember? Not important, though.”
Ammunition Group Chairman Han Seo-jun.
No time to question why a chaebol head was here.
His next words were a death sentence for Hoon-i.
“Iljin faction boss title. You’ll take the full rap—Prosecutor Park here in the passenger seat? She’ll push for life.”
“Damn straight, you punk. Heh heh heh.”
Park Eun-ji grinned over her shoulder, shadowboxing playfully.
Hoon-i panicked. Thrashing like livestock at the slaughterhouse.
“Life sentence…? Hey! I ain’t no boss! Real kingpin’s elsewhere, asshole!”
“I know. That’s why.”
A heavy hand crushed his shoulder.
The smile gone, Han Seo-jun’s face darkened like storm clouds, deadly serious.
And his final words to Hoon-i.
“Answer my questions from now on. Cooperate, do ten years, walk free—or shoulder it all and rot in prison. Your call now.”