The Trap Springs at Dawn
After coming home and eating an early dinner, he brought up the herbal medicine Gilwoo had given him the night before.
“You’re home early. My goodness, what is all this?”
“Gilwoo came by yesterday. He even had medicine made for you, Mom, so I put that out on the balcony for you separately. Make sure you take it morning and night from now on.”
“How thoughtful of him. Yes, if it’s from Gilwoo, then I’d better take it.”
Every day, he had made a little time to spend with his family, and yet why had he never understood just how precious those moments were back then?
As happy as the present made him, regret for the past kept flooding back in.
“Mom, I’ve got some work early tomorrow morning, so I think I’ll have to sleep out again tonight, too.”
“Do you?”
The hand that had been stroking her grandson’s hair, while Jinyoung slept after a long session of gaming, faltered for a moment.
“Don’t wear yourself out. And don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
At 7:00 p.m., he left the house, took out his phone, and made a call.
“Eight o’clock. Don’t be late.”
May 3, 1998, 8:00 p.m.
“Hey, sorry I’m a little late.”
Jeong Taeseong, company commander of the riot police’s 8th Mobile Unit, had met him again at his alma mater, Korea University Library, for the first time in ages. True to form for a man who commanded a police mobile unit, he’d come straight from work in training clothes—something easy to move in.
“What are you, a crammer for the civil service exam or a physical education major?”
“I’m doing better than you, you unemployed bastard.”
“Well, damn.”
He snorted and gave Taeseong a light punch to the chest.
“Let’s talk on the way.”
“...I’ve got a bad feeling about this. My instincts are warning me that getting tangled up with you is going to be a pain in the ass. Can I just go home now?”
“As if.”
A short while later, they arrived at Seojin Room Salon.
Without hesitation, they went straight into the best private room.
“Hey, Do Jaehyun.”
“Yeah?”
“What exactly are you up to now? We’re classmates—why not just meet at a pojangmacha and have a few bottles of soju? What the hell is this...?”
“Shh, they’re here. The people I wanted to introduce you to. They’re coming in a line over there. Pick one.”
“Hey! I’m a cop—huh? Uh... uh?”
Just as Taeseong shot to his feet and yanked the room door open, thinking Jaehyun had changed, dozens of gangsters came pouring into the establishment at the perfect moment.
“See you later, boss!”
“Go out and have some fun, and gather up front when it’s time. Don’t let the kids drink.”
“Yes, sir.”
A gangster who looked like an action leader bent his head deeply, and the dozens of younger men behind him gave their underworld-style greetings.
Then one man in his mid-forties and five others who looked to be in their fifties or sixties were guided by a waiter into the room all the way at the back.
“Damn... that’s Kim Dusik, the second boss of the Kim Hasa Faction, and even the retired Kim Hasa guy? Aren’t the other two wanted men?”
“You like the selection? Which one should I set you up with?”
“...You’re asking me to pick? Lock them all up.”
Grinning, Jeong Taeseong threw back a shot glass full of whiskey in one gulp.
“Krrr~ As expected of Do Jaehyun. You never disappoint.”
May 4, 1998, 4:10 a.m.
Before the gray dawn had even begun to break, dozens of squid-fishing boats, each deck strung with hundreds of bright bulbs, painted the sea with light.
Among those many boats, one squid boat shone especially bright: its warehouse.
Unlike the deck, which glared as brightly as midday, that place was filled with a silent darkness, and a single incandescent bulb that looked as if it might go out at any second cast a feeble light in every direction.
“Mm-mmph... ngghhhhh...!”
“Mmmph! Mmmmmmph!”
In the dark hold of the squid boat, Kim Baekho and Han Suyeong thrashed in terror like fish caught in a net.
But their pitiful struggles were useless.
Kim Museong had planned from the start to erase every scrap of evidence he could. He had stripped Han Suyeong and Kim Baekho naked, bound their hands and feet tightly with water-soluble tape, and even gagged them so they couldn’t make a sound.
“Hyeongtae.”
Kim Museong called him by his name instead of his nickname, Brown Bear.
It had always been his habit to address the brothers he trusted to the very end by name whenever the work was truly important, whenever someone had to be wiped out.
“Yes, boss.”
“Sun’s about to come up. Let’s wrap it up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Bulgom opened the warehouse door and stepped out.
Then, whether it was sunlight or the harsh glare of the industrial bulbs, a bright wash of light fell across the pathetic sight of Kim Baekho and Han Suyeong and set the fierce will to live burning in their eyes.
“Mm-mmph, mmnnnnn!”
“Mmmph, mmmph!”
Hiss.
Kim Museong took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it. Then he walked over to Kim Baekho, hauled him upright with his hands and feet still bound behind his back, and placed another cigarette between Baekho’s lips.
“Museong...”
“I’m sorry, boss. It ended up this way.”
“Hoo...”
Gong Hyeongtae took a small funnel and a bottle of some unknown liquid from inside his jacket and approached Kim Museong and Han Suyeong.
The cool eyes of Bulgom Gong Hyeongtae.
That was the last memory of Kim Baekho and Han Suyeong’s lives.
May 4, 1998, 4:30 a.m.
Kim Museong stared out at the sea with a troubled expression after placing Han Suyeong and Kim Baekho, both already beyond breathing, into a drum sealed with cement.
“Boss.”
At Bulgom Gong Hyeongtae’s call, the focus returned to Kim Museong’s eyes. Before long, a small boat with a banner advertising Scuba Diving Experience was approaching the squid boat Kim Museong stood on.
“...You worked hard. I’m heading back to Seoul first. Send the boat toward China and handle it properly on the way.”
“Yes, boss. Take care of yourself.”
May 4, 1998, 5:45 a.m.
“Boss~.”
He had brought in more than five times the usual room sales. He had also handed out tips generously enough that no one could call them stingy. And that was exactly why this was happening now.
“We’re past closing time. What would you like to do? If you want to keep drinking, I’ll tell the guys not to clock out and have them stand by. You two have only been drinking, after all. Just give us one chance. We absolutely won’t disappoint you. The girls are good-looking, too.”
A waiter, rubbing his hands together, opened the room door where Jeong Taeseong and he had been drinking and glanced at him carefully.
“Ah, maybe next time. It’s not like I’m never coming back. You’re closing already?”
“Yes, but honestly, you can relax and drink as much as you want. Haha, I’ve got enough experience to know how to handle this.”
“Leave me a business card. I’ll call next time before I come.”
“Thank you, boss!”
The waiter set a business card on the table with both hands and stepped away.
“...Hey, Joker.”
“Yeah?”
“Jaehyun, is this really okay?”
Jeong Taeseong, who hadn’t touched alcohol and had only been drinking water, asked seriously.
“Is there even a point in talking about right and wrong when you’re putting bad guys away?”
“You’re the most crooked bastard here, you know that?”
“How am I the same as fugitives caught in the act, or guys who are only attempted offenders? No, actually, I’m not even an attempted offender. I only conspired to commit the crime—I never went through with it.”
“You weren’t just an attempted offender, you were the planner.”
“Didn’t you get worse grades than me in criminal law?”
“...I’m a police officer.”
“Good enough. I’ll do the sword dance, so you just come eat the rice cake. The ceremony starts in ten minutes.”
He handed Jeong Taeseong a slice of apple, and the other man had been glancing anxiously at his watch the whole time.
“Damn it... we’re moving in at 6:40. We won’t wait even a minute. And make sure your side has a decoy ready, too.”
“Of course. Just handle it the way I told you.”
“Why don’t you just say it’s a request to Kim Minhyeong in the First Criminal Division of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office? Or was he a judge?”
“He’s a prosecutor.”
“That’s not a request. That’s an order.”
“It is a request, you idiot.”
“Jesus, if my father found out, both you and I would get beaten half to death with a bamboo sword.”
“That actually rhymed.”
“Rhymed?”
“...There’s such a thing.”
It was almost time.
Jiiing~! Jiiing~! Jiiiiing~!
His phone vibrated three times and went dead, with caller ID blocked.
That was the signal that they would arrive in three minutes.
“Let’s go.”
“...Hey.”
Just as Jeong Taeseong was reaching for the door, he grabbed Jaehyun’s shoulder.
“You know I’m not the kind of guy who knows how to betray people, so promise me one thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“Since we’ve already boarded the same boat, we go all the way. You’re the captain. You know what I mean?”
“Understood.”
“Good. The Mobile Unit goes in at 6:40. Around 6:20, make the report call.”
Apparently he had steeled himself, because Jeong Taeseong opened the door and stepped outside.
“Oh, you’re heading out, boss?”
“Thanks for your work. See you next time.”
He took out several ten-thousand-won bills from his wallet and gave the waiter an extra tip.
“Thank you, boss. We’ve already got your car waiting outside. But you’ve been drinking—are you sure you’re all right? Should I call a designated driver?”
“I didn’t drink. I can handle it myself, so go do your job.”
Jeong Taeseong, more eager than anyone to get out of there, shoved the waiter aside and pushed at Jaehyun’s back.
“Hey, hurry up and get in. Just sit in back! Don’t come up front.”
Not wanting to be tied to active gangsters in even the slightest way as a police Mobile Unit commander, Jeong Taeseong even wore the hood attached to his training jacket as he rushed Jaehyun from the driver’s seat.
“Have a safe trip, boss~!”
The waiter who had been serving him followed him all the way to the door and shouted a loud goodbye, and just as the car Jeong Taeseong was driving pulled out of Seojin Room Salon and turned down the alley, three vans were entering Seojin Room Salon from the opposite lane.
Then, a sedan identical to Jaehyun’s swept past them, and Gilwoo, sitting in the back seat, grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
A moment later—
“All right, let’s gooo~!”
Shin Gilwoo’s voice boomed through the alley.
“I wish every day could be just like today.”
Two easy marks had come running straight to them. With the liquor bill inflated beyond reason and a tip pocketed to the brim, the waiter’s mood was soaring.
“If we do this for two months, I might even be able to open my own place... maybe I should go hit the slots for a bit before bed?”
Then, before the waiter who was dreaming of a happy end to his shift could even blink, he saw dozens of gangsters charging toward him with weapons in their hands.
“W-what the hell?!”
Startled, the waiter hurled his lit cigarette away and ran inside, shouting, “Boss! Boss, we’ve got a big problem outside right now. There are dozens of crazy bastards out there with weapons—”
“What, what?! You idiot, don’t you know the Kim Hasa bosses are in here right now? Lock the door first, quickly!”
“Huh? Y-yes!”
The veteran waiter snatched up the ledger he’d been holding, tossed it aside, and sprinted deeper inside.
“Hurry, hurry—”
He managed to bolt the door just before the Red Dog Faction hit, but it hardly mattered.
Bang! Bang! Crack!
“Aaaagh...”
The door had been made of wood layered over steel to give the place a high-end room salon feel, and it couldn’t withstand the baseball bats and iron pipes swinging from outside. Holes began opening in it one after another in an instant.
As the waiter braced his back against the door and tried desperately to hold it shut, fear surged across his face in a rush.
Then, at the sound of the commotion outside, the Kim Hasa Faction members who had gathered to raid the Red Dog Faction in Yeongdeungpo all came rushing into the lobby at once.
“What the hell are these bastards doing here!”