Chapter 14
I’m translating the chapter now and preserving the HTML-only output constraints, including styled blocks only where the source contains in-universe text or special content.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chairman of the S-Class Who Does It All Himself 14
Meanwhile, the Baekho Faction men, none the wiser, were drinking in a private room tucked deep inside the room salon, each with a girl draped over them, trying to look refined in their own way.
“Big brother, please speak well to the senior figures in Gangnam for us.”
Kim Gijung, the current boss of the Kimhasa Faction, held a bottle in both hands and topped off the empty glass of the man seated at the head of the table.
“Those old men can barely keep breathing from one day to the next……”
Kim Jungyeong, the Kimhasa Faction’s founding boss, drained his glass with a practiced ease.
“There’s no need to worry about them.”
He had been in the knife world since the Korean War, and even though he was past sixty, Kim Jungyeong still looked like a man in his early fifties. Broad-shouldered, thick-bodied, with eyes that cut hard, he looked every inch the history of a first-generation gangster.
“What kind of punk are we talking about here?”
“Yes, sir. If this goes smoothly, I’ll even rip out Assemblyman Park’s teeth and send you straight into politics myself.”
“What century do you think we’re in, pulling out a lawmaker’s teeth?”
“No, I mean that as a figure of speech.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to take the assemblyman’s son hostage instead?”
“Hahaha. That’s exactly why you’re the big brother.”
Kim Gijung laughed heartily and got to his feet.
“All right, all right, fill the glasses. One last drink, then we’re out. We’ve got Yeongdeungpo to eat up.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Kimhasa Faction’s action leaders raised their glasses.
“Boss!”
At that moment, the private room door flew open without so much as a knock, and the senior waiter stumbled in, pale as a corpse.
“It-it’s bad. Some young bastard we’ve never seen before stormed in with dozens of his underlings.”
The room salon dissolved into chaos in an instant as a brawl broke out.
“Sir, over here! They’re all here!”
One of the Red Dog Faction men spotted the Kimhasa group coming out of the private room and shouted.
“Doti, you’ve got ten minutes left. Hold out until then.”
“Yes!”
Shin Gilwoo left the Red Dog men behind and charged alone as if he were flying, delivering a flying kick that sent the head of one of the Kimhasa action leaders spinning away.
“Ghhk……”
The man struck by Shin Gilwoo’s kick collapsed unconscious on the spot, and before anyone could react, Shin Gilwoo had leaped over a table and pressed a knife to the neck of Kim Jungyeong, the Kimhasa Faction’s founding boss.
“Stop right therrreeee~~~!”
With a knife at Kim Jungyeong’s throat, Shin Gilwoo bellowed loud enough to shake the whole room salon, and for a moment the fighting froze.
“If you bastards want to set up a memorial table for this old man, make one move and try me.”
“……”
Then.
Woo-woo~ Woo-woo~
At first the police sirens were faint, but they kept growing louder.
“Choose, old man. Walk out with me, or stay here and have the whole lot of you in handcuffs and your faces plastered in tomorrow’s evening paper.”
“……I’ll go.”
* * *
At 6:20 a.m. on May 4, 1998.
When Jeong Taeseong was about 100 meters from Mapo Police Station after leaving the Seojin room salon, his cell phone rang.
The caller ID read: Mapo Police Station Major Crimes Squad, Team Leader.
“Hoo. Not a single part of this forecast is off. Everything’s dancing in the Joker’s palm.”
With a sigh, Jeong Taeseong answered.
“Yes, Mapo Police Station riot squad……”
“Inspector Jeong, this is Detective Kim. We’ve got a report coming in right now, and there are gangsters……”
Before Jeong Taeseong could even finish, a frantic voice burst out of the phone like a machine gun.
“Yes, I’ll order the mobile unit out immediately. I was just finishing my morning workout anyway, and I’ll head there right away too. Don’t rush in blindly. I’ll be there within fifteen minutes, so just surround the place for now. I’m hanging up.”
Jeong Taeseong closed his phone and got out of the car.
“You heard him. You drive.”
“I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t forget, it’s 6:45 like you said.”
“Plenty.”
I watched Jeong Taeseong sprint off after getting out of the car, then took out my phone.
“Gilwoo, let’s wrap this up.”
* * *
Kim Jungyeong, the Kimhasa Faction’s founding boss, sat across from me on the sofa, leaning back as comfortably as if he were in his own office.
He had been sitting in silence for a while when his gaze shifted to Kim Museong, who stood behind me like a bodyguard.
“Heh. So you really are Red Dog?”
“……”
“Tsk tsk. Baekho really lived his life wrong. It must’ve been bitter enough to be bitten to death by the dog he raised, but now that same dog’s wagging his tail for another master. Still, maybe it’d be easier on his heart to just go, rather than watch this sight.”
“……”
“Can’t even bark unless the master allows it?”
“……”
Even as Kim Jungyeong kept mocking and provoking Kim Museong, Kim Museong remained silent.
“You’re young and you’ve got nerves. To think you could tame the infamous Kim Museong this far. Fine, enough games.”
Kim Jungyeong shifted in his seat.
“Our Chairman Do doesn’t look like he’d go out of his way to snap the neck of some powerless old man, so what exactly are you after?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did you drag me here when I was minding my own business?”
“Didn’t we just agree to stop playing around?”
I lifted my index and middle finger to head height, and Kim Museong, waiting for the cue, quickly lit a cigarette and placed it between my fingers.
“As far as I know, there was an agreement: the Kimhasa Faction in northern Seoul, the Baekho Faction in central Seoul including Yeongdeungpo and Myeongdong, and the Taeyang Faction in Gangnam would divide their territories and not trespass on one another.”
“That was an agreement with Kim Baekho. Kim Museong was never part of it. In fact, we agreed to actively help each other if a coup broke out in our respective organizations.”
“Interesting. Baekho’s been missing for only a few days, and now you’re using a coup as the excuse. You’ve been waiting for the right moment all along, haven’t you? And today, with Kim Baekho away because of that bastard Han Suyeong from Hyeonhwa Group, you seized the chance.”
“Heh. Fine, let’s say everything Chairman Do says is true. So what now?”
Kim Jungyeong, as befitted a first-generation gangster, never lost his composure to the very end.
“Three hours.”
His voice grew heavier.
“Give me three hours, and even if every one of our boys gets hauled in, I’ll still turn this place upside down. How exactly do you plan to take this old man’s head then?”
“Ha. You think I can’t do it?”
I flicked the cigarette into the ashtray and motioned to Kim Museong. Kim Museong took out his phone, turned the volume all the way up, and called someone as though making sure Kim Jungyeong could hear every word.
After the ring tone sounded five times, a rough male voice came through the phone.
“Who is this, calling at the crack of dawn?”
“Good morning, Chairman. I’m Red Dog, working under Brother Baekho.”
“Oh, right, Red Dog Kim Museong. Been a while. How’s Baekho doing?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is that so? Then why are you, and not Baekho, looking for me, Jeong Taeyang?”
The man on the call was Jeong Taeyang, the boss of the Gangnam Taeyang Faction, who shared Seoul with Kimhasa and the others.
“I’m calling because Brother Baekho has run into a difficult situation.”
“Now that wakes a man up. Tsk. If Baekho’s right hand Red Dog is calling me, that means you want something from me. And if I do it, you’re saying you’ll give me something big in return. Go on then. What do you need me to do?”
As Kim Museong kept talking with Red Dog, Kim Jungyeong’s face, which had remained unshaken until now, began to twist little by little.
“The owner of northern Seoul has stepped away from his seat.”
“……I see?”
Jeong Taeyang’s voice lost all trace of playfulness.
“That’s a more serious matter than I expected. I’ll have to talk things over with my boys too. Red Dog, give me two hours.”
“Yes, Chairman. I’ll contact you again.”
“All right. And make sure Kim Sajang thinks it through carefully. Once you start, there’s no taking it back.”
Kim Museong ended the call.
“Red Dog, you really have grown. First you bite your master, and now you’re trying to bite his friend too?”
“Chairman Kim Jungyeong.”
Kim Museong leaned close and whispered into his ear.
“I sent Brother Baekho off with my own hands. What hardship could there be for a chairman?”
Kim Jungyeong’s eyes changed.
“……You’re serious. Fine, then let’s see this through to the end…….”
That was when Kim Jungyeong’s phone suddenly rang.
“Chairman, this is Attorney Jeon Jaejun.”
“Yes, Attorney Jeon. Go ahead.”
“The situation has taken a strange turn.”
“Impossible. No one’s dead, so with enough people to shoulder the blame, this should be manageable.”
“It seems someone got ahead of us. Chief Prosecutor Choi from the Western District Prosecutors’ Office, along with many others, have said they’re stepping away from this matter. They say they never brought it up in advance, and as seniors, it doesn’t look good to shove the burden onto juniors in a case involving one of their own……”
“What did you say?!”
“Yes, and it seems the chairman’s younger brothers will have a hard time too. The mobile unit took them in directly, and before anyone could do anything, the case was transferred to the Metropolitan Investigation Unit. As you know, Chairman, those guys in the regional investigation squad don’t listen to reason……”
Click.
Kim Jungyeong, sensing instinctively that something had gone wrong, ended the call. Then, as if nothing had happened, he turned to me with a mild expression.
“Chairman Do Jaehyun. Can this old man have a private audience with you?”
“It seems you’ve changed your mind.”
“Heh. The older I get, the harder my stubbornness grows. I’d appreciate it if Chairman Do could understand.”
Kim Jungyeong’s tone was becoming more and more respectful.
“I think I understand your feelings, Chairman Do. So let’s speak frankly. I’ll give what I can and concede what I must.”
“Now we can talk.”
“I only knew old ginger was hot; I didn’t know the flower had already fallen.”
It was a self-mocking sigh from Kim Jungyeong, left alone in the office.
“All right. This old man will admit it cleanly. I should have stopped it when my failure to unify Seoul was something the second generation, Gijung, said he’d take on himself, but I didn’t.”
“That must have been a difficult decision. Neither Gangnam nor Myeongdong is weaker than the Kimhasa Faction in northern Seoul, so if two of the three go at each other, the third will only reap the benefits.”
“Hah-hah-hah…… yes, exactly.”
Kim Jungyeong laughed freely.
“Then let’s finish the math, Chairman Kim.”
“I’ll hand over the loan shark market in northern Seoul. I’ll transfer all the shares in the businesses managed by the Kimhasa Faction over to Myeongdong. If you want, I’ll even hand over the real estate attached to a few of the branches, though there aren’t many.”
“And in return?”
“Release our boys who got arrested. Not all of them, of course. A few middle-manager types will have to shoulder the blame, but I’d like you to be generous with the rest, Chairman Do, including Gijung and the younger ones under thirty.”
“Old man……”
At first glance, it was a plausible condition.
Myeongdong and Jongno, which the Baekho Faction controlled, held more than seventy percent of the money moving through South Korea’s shadows.
It was bound to be substantial.
But still.
“Old man, do I look like some sucker who’ll play the fool for you the way I did for Baekho? You should calculate properly.”
“……”
“Will your organization really survive without its founding chairman and the current boss, Kim Gijung? The hyenas hiding under them will tear apart the faction’s businesses and funds until it collapses. If you were in my shoes, would you fall for that?”
“……So you’re saying the moral high ground belongs to the Baekho Faction, and time is on your side. Is that it? I’ve lived on knife rice since I was eighteen.”
Kim Jungyeong’s tone changed.
“Fine. Let’s say you’re right, and let’s say that your side ends up tearing apart more than half the organization and the company. But, Chairman Do……”
His eyes filled with killing intent.
“If I’ve been torn down into nothing but a ruined organization, do you think I’d just walk away alone?”
“……I think you’ve misunderstood.”
“Misunderstood? No, I understand perfectly. What misunderstanding? Do you take Kim Jungyeong for someone so old he can’t even do that much?”
Thinking I would back down, Kim Jungyeong’s voice rose little by little. But that was as far as it went.
I had no reason to flinch before a threat like Kim Jungyeong’s.
In his eyes, I might have been a hot-blooded youth in my twenties, but I had lived through years just like his own.
And unlike a thug who depended on brute force and illegality alone, I was the one who had used violence as a tool to build Asia’s largest financial group.
“If you wanted to threaten me, you should’ve done it while you still had the strength.”
“Hah…… you, right now…….”
Kim Jungyeong, meeting my eyes, lost his words.
“……You mean it. I’ve lost. Take Gijung out at least. I’ll hand over whatever you want.”
That was Kim Jungyeong’s declaration of surrender.
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