Chapter 26
Chapter 26
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Someone to Help (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Click.
Kanghyeok placed the public telephone's receiver back on its cradle.
The inside of the phone booth, filled with rising heat, was as sweltering as midsummer. So much so that the glass panes were fogging up.
It was because of the heat radiating from Kanghyeok's body.
Rage, sorrow, loneliness.
The only person in this city he had opened his heart to had been brutally murdered.
The killer had left a message, and that message was meant for him.
The landlady died because of me.
His gaze dropping to the floor, Kanghyeok focused entirely on the emotions surging through his chest.
It had been a long time since he’d felt this feeling, so damn vivid.
The last time he had felt it was in the ruined world.
He had said he was just stepping out to get some food.
The girl who had lost her parents said she would wait.
And when he returned, only a cold, lifeless body lay there, riddled with bullets.
He never wanted to feel that emotion again.
Truly.
He knew it wasn't an emotion someone who killed for a living was permitted to have.
But this profound feeling that came with the death of someone he’d grown even slightly fond of was hard to bear.
Kanghyeok curled into himself, pressing hard against the corners of his eyes.
A sense of loneliness and emptiness washed over him like a tide, soaking his entire being.
Bang, bang, bang!
“What are you doing? If you’re done with the phone, get out!”
A Hispanic man, one hand hidden behind his back, pounded on the phone booth. The moment Kanghyeok turned his head, the man flinched and backed away.
An Asian, a rare sight in these parts.
The man rumored to have wiped out Yohan's gang.
It was because he had met the man’s eyes, which were brimming with killing intent.
He stumbled backward as if he’d come face to face with a starving tiger, then fled like a madman, his face pale.
A pistol was clutched in his hand, which swung wildly back and forth.
Yet he hadn't pulled the trigger, likely because he didn't dare to.
Kanghyeok took a cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips, and opened the door of the phone booth.
He lit the cigarette, embracing the cool night air.
Did it hurt a lot?
The severed surface he had glimpsed showed curled muscle and skin.
It wasn't cut off after she was dead.
It was cut off while she was alive.
That kind of wound was a sign it had been done while she was still breathing.
Rip!
Kanghyeok tore off the cigarette’s filter with his teeth and inhaled the smoke.
He knew it was bad for him, but he didn't think he could endure it otherwise.
The raw, unfiltered smoke entered his lungs, delivering nicotine throughout his body before billowing out of his mouth as a blue haze.
Inside the dim phone booth, Kanghyeok took a deep drag from his cigarette.
A sorrowful light glinted in his eyes.
Even as the nicotine weighed his body down, the landlady's final moments and her image in life replayed vividly in his mind.
Grind!
I'll promise you this.
I will make sure you are avenged.
I will send every last one of these local gang members to their graves, I swear it…
Kanghyeok clenched his jaw and tilted his head back.
‘Please forgive me.’
It was the moment he turned the heart-bursting rage and sorrow into resolve.
Rrrrring!
The public phone rang furiously.
Leaning his back against the glass wall, Kanghyeok picked up the receiver.
(It's me.)
Kanghyeok immediately told William what he needed most.
“I need support.”
(I've sent security and operational funds. But that's not what you need, is it?)
“Of course not.”
William seemed to guess from the tone of Kanghyeok's voice that something bad had happened.
(I've sent an address to your phone. Go there.)
Kanghyeok nodded and hung up the receiver.
Clank!
As he stepped out, the rusty hinges creaked unusually loud, as if seeing him off.
Beep!
As William ended the call, his secretary's voice followed.
“Will this be all right?”
“What about it?”
William asked, his eyes fixed on his phone, and the secretary spoke with a worried expression.
“The support…”
“You think it’s excessive?”
“I just hope it doesn't negatively affect your evaluation, HR Manager.”
William replied with a smirk.
“There's something I want to see.”
The secretary blinked her large eyes, waiting for William to continue, but he said nothing more.
William pocketed his phone and took out a cigar case. After clipping both ends with a cutter, he placed it in his mouth. His secretary produced a match and lit the tip for him.
The cigar’s distinctive, rich, and heavy aroma seeped into his mouth.
William rolled the smoke in his mouth as if savoring a fine wine.
“Hooo!”
The support provided to Kanghyeok this time wasn't just weapons.
First, there was the money sent under the guise of operational funds.
And at the address he sent, there was also a person.
This mission was truly important for Kanghyeok.
He had to prove to the executives that his skills hadn't rusted.
By dealing with the gangs spread throughout the city.
‘It’ll be tough for him to do it alone.’
One might think they were just gangs.
But William had seen with his own two eyes what that place was like.
These were gangs that had controlled a region where law and order had long since rotted away.
Relying on corrupt police, they used their guns without hesitation.
And they knew the local geography like the back of their hands.
It would be similar to engaging in urban warfare against insurgents.
Even deploying an active Deputy Team Leader could consume a lot of time and budget, and William couldn't predict how these gangs, devoid of dignity and decency, would react.
So, was he assigning someone out of concern for Kanghyeok?
No, of course not.
He didn't doubt Kanghyeok.
The person he was assigning to Kanghyeok was someone who would act as William's eyes.
‘How will you handle this?’
Those gangs that defy all reason, the ones who have violently shaken your emotions—how will you eliminate them all, while aware that this is an important mission?
Leila's report.
It said there was something about Kanghyeok that was worth watching.
With a look of anticipation, wondering if that something would be revealed this time, William took a deep draw from his cigar.
Click.
Back at his place, Kanghyeok checked his phone first.
A bustling street in New York.
A place with a distinctly different atmosphere from here.
A modern, civilized city.
At the same time, it was the place furthest removed from people like Kanghyeok.
But William surely hadn't sent him to New York just to cool his head.
Kanghyeok tapped the next message and checked the amount deposited for security and operational funds.
Twenty thousand dollars.
More than enough for immediate use.
He tossed his phone onto the bed and shed his outer clothes like a cocoon, his eyes fixed on the suit hanging on the wall.
This was no ordinary suit.
It was a combat uniform with bulletproof capabilities.
He never thought he'd have to wear it again so soon.
But now was the time.
And he was more than willing to put it on.
Kanghyeok reached out and took the suit.
Rustle.
He slipped his arms into the dress shirt and fastened the buttons from the top down. Then he put on the pants and looped a tie around his neck.
After putting on the jacket, he left the house with only his phone.
Beep!
The lock clicked shut behind him, as if seeing him off.
The next morning.
Kanghyeok had taken the earliest available flight, crossing the sky to arrive by morning.
New York, with its different air, greeted him. Kanghyeok took a taxi and got out near his destination.
He could have been dropped off right at the address.
But he hadn't, because he still needed to sort out his thoughts.
Step, step.
Kanghyeok walked through the streets of New York with a cigarette in his mouth.
Why did William send me here?
He hadn't sent anything other than money.
Money can't kill people.
What's used to kill people is always a weapon, like a gun, a knife, or an explosive.
Kanghyeok checked the message from William on his phone again, then looked up at the skyscrapers piercing the sky and the cars packing the streets.
The streets were crowded, and the heavy scent of coffee, cigarette smoke, and the exhaust fumes from the endless cars tickled his nose.
Despite being a city teeming with so many people, Kanghyeok strangely felt like an outsider every time he came to New York.
No matter how well he spoke English or how similar his mindset was, the reason he could never blend in was probably that their ways of life were too different.
Or maybe it was the color of his skin.
Kanghyeok walked on, smoking his cigarette.
‘William must have sent me here for a person.’
Seeing the crowds on the street, he felt like he’d gotten a hint.
Someone to deliver the gun he’d returned to headquarters.
Perhaps someone to help with this job.
Someone who could provide the locations and information on the gangs.
Wasn't that why William sent him here, to meet such a person?
One thing was certain: this person would be a help, not a hindrance that would tie him down.
That left a simple question: who was it?
The branch manager here?
He was a busy man, unlikely to help.
And too arrogant to want to associate with.
A weapons dealer, then?
Unlikely, since the weapon he was used to was at headquarters.
That only left a regular agent.
One who excelled at support.
A person immediately came to mind, but knowing they couldn't possibly be here, Kanghyeok let out a short laugh.
Step, step.
‘Left here.’
And he would be there.
Turning the corner, Kanghyeok looked away from his phone.
Having reached his destination, he pocketed his phone. Before him stood buildings packed together like teeth.
It wasn't a flashy commercial district or a residential area.
A street somewhere in between.
The first things he saw were neat buildings that looked like they could be used as offices, street cafes, and tables with parasols set up in front of them.
The sun was just about to reach its zenith.
Among the tables in front of the cafe, occupied every few seats, one person particularly caught his eye.
Rustle.
A blonde woman reading a newspaper.
With long, uncombed hair, thick black-rimmed glasses, a light brown cardigan, and jeans, she was sipping coffee and reading the paper with a face that looked like she’d just woken up.
Kanghyeok watched her for a long moment through narrowed eyes, then exhaled through his nose and walked toward her.
Scrape.
The moment he pulled out the chair opposite her, the woman narrowed her brow and looked up at Kanghyeok. Then her eyes widened, and she hid her face behind the newspaper.
“What is it?”
The woman looked unfamiliar, but her voice was familiar.
Of course it was.
“I’m here on William’s orders, Leila.”
“Haaah.”
A deep sigh escaped from Leila behind the newspaper.