Red Dog and the Evening Raid
“Yeah. I’m hanging up.”
Riiing-riiiing!
At that moment, my phone rang again with a blocked caller ID. It was the same bastard who had threatened me a little while ago.
“Do Jaehyun. You think we wouldn’t notice Shin Gilwoo showing up at WH Entertainment?”
“That’s impossible. I haven’t contacted anyone.”
“Hah. Then where are you now...?”
“Check it for yourself. If I’m wrong, I’ll give you another hundred million won.”
“Fine.”
A moment later, after whatever he had heard on his end, the man in the phone said, “...Shin Gilwoo showed up and then left, they say?”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Heh. Fine, then I don’t care about your circumstances either. I’d like to get started with the hundred million first, though.”
“Let me hear Jin-young’s voice first.”
“What, did paternal love suddenly bloom now? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? I told you already. I don’t know anything about your circumstances.”
“...”
“In five minutes, a jjajangmyeon delivery will arrive at the office in a steel carrier. Put the hundred million in cash in the carrier and send it out then.”
“Do that.”
“Good. Just keep it that way, and nothing will happen.”
The bastard in the phone hung up, sounding downright cheerful.
Then a text message came in on Kim Museong’s phone.
The sender was Jeong Taeseong, the riot squad captain at Mapo Police Station.
Location confirmed. Within roughly 150 meters of the Gobotower intersection in Nonhyeon 1-dong, Gangnam-gu.
“Maybe they’re betting on the blind spot right under our noses. Or maybe they picked that place on purpose to drive a wedge between me and Jeong Taeyang.”
The Gobotower intersection in Nonhyeon-dong was less than a hundred meters from the building where Gangnam Taeyang Faction boss Jeong Taeyang stayed.
If I moved Gilwoo and the Red Dog Faction, it could easily turn into trouble with Taeyang.
This wasn’t some coincidence.
“...Representative Kim.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Quietly get the Baekho Faction and Red Dog boys ready. We go in tonight.”
“...Understood. But where exactly are we going in tonight?”
“That’ll be clear soon enough. Get ready.”
“Understood.”
I had a rough idea who the bastard was who had mistaken Jo Jin-young for my nephew and kidnapped the boy’s friend.
No, there was no need to guess. If I caught him myself and worked him over, the black hand behind it would surface naturally.
I took a phone from the inner pocket of my jacket. It was my second phone, the one I had never once used since coming back into society.
There were no numbers saved in it.
But if I called from this phone, and not my usual one, the other side would always answer.
Riiing... riiing... riiiiing...
Exactly three rings later, the man I had been waiting for picked up.
“You’ve got the right number.”
“Long time no see. This is a personal favor, but could you do me one?”
The man I had called was Chae Jongyun, the current team leader of the Republic of Korea Intelligence Service’s plainclothes operations unit. Counterintelligence agents hiding quietly in society so that no one even realized the plainclothes team was part of the Intelligence Service.
That was the Intelligence Service’s plainclothes team.
“Personal favors are off-limits. But...”
I could hear Chae Jongyun smile faintly on the other end.
“If it’s a favor from a friend, I’ll hear it.”
* * *
“Nori, did the call end?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How did it go?”
At Kim Gijung’s question, Nori, who had finished talking with Do Jaehyun, answered with obvious satisfaction.
“He may look cold on the outside, but his nephew got kidnapped. What’s he supposed to do? He’s frozen solid, sir.”
“No mistakes. I’m going to personally take Do Jaehyun and Shin Gilwoo’s heads myself.”
“Sir, I’m not new to the job. Don’t worry. But still, he’s just a kid... What should we do with him?”
Nori glanced sidelong at Jo Jin-young, who had cried himself to sleep, and watched Kim Gijung’s face.
“What do you mean, what do we do? If Do Jaehyun dies, he lives. If Do Jaehyun lives...”
Kim Gijung’s eyes hardened with killing intent.
“That brat should go first.”
* * *
A cafe on Gangnam’s cafe street, decorated in a fairly stylish way.
Three men and one woman sat at a table there, all of them in neat suits like insurance agents, each with a briefcase beside them, drinking coffee.
“Business is going well for everyone, right?”
“Of course, Team Leader. We closed one today too. Want to see?”
A woman in her late twenties, dressed in office wear, took a single insurance contract out of her bag and laid it on the table.
“We already hit this month’s target, so consider this a bonus. It’s a small children’s policy, so it won’t bring in much, but it’s better than nothing. Or should I push it to next month?”
“Let’s see... No, you did it right. Finish it today with the contract stamp. Everyone else should take a look at Mi-ran’s deal too. This is how you structure the riders. That’s how the conversion score goes up.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“Take a look at Mi-ran’s and check mine too. I usually structure life insurance like this. And the pension policy paperwork goes like this.”
The male employees at the table passed around Kim Mi-ran’s children’s insurance contract and the documents their team leader had handed over.
Anyone looking at them would have thought it was just a group of insurance employees holding a meeting in a cafe, and the people inside didn’t pay them much attention.
To be precise, they weren’t even interested; if anything, they kept a little distance from the table in case they got roped into an insurance pitch.
But the documents the employees were looking at were a little strange. At first glance they seemed like ordinary insurance contracts, but odd phrases and several photographs had been slipped into the middle of the paperwork.
“All right, attention.”
Once the employees had gone through the documents to a certain extent, Team Leader Chae Jongyun brought them to heel.
“The branch manager said we need everything wrapped up by four, so scatter and work the sales as hard as you can. If you need help with anything, call me right away, and make sure you help one another too. Anyone have questions?”
“Team Leader.”
Employee Kim Mi-ran raised her hand.
“Yeah, Mi-ran. What is it?”
“Should we go with life insurance, or focus on pension plans?”
“It’s urgent this time. If it comes to it, just put in the death rider and call it done. Anyone else?”
The instant the words death rider were spoken, the eyes of the employees seated around the table flashed.
“None!”
“Good. Dismissed!”
* * *
“Delivery’s here.”
At the voice outside the office, Kim Museong turned his head toward me. It was a silent question about whether to let him in, and I nodded without a word.
“You ordered two bowls of jjajangmyeon, right? It didn’t look that big from outside, but it’s actually pretty spacious. Still, it’s just the two of you in here?”
The kid disguised as a jjajangmyeon deliveryman chatted away as he set the two bowls on the table.
“Payment is a hundred million won in cash.”
“...Hold on a second.”
Kim Museong’s face stiffened as he opened the safe and began pulling out bundles of one-million-won notes one by one, slowly.
“You’re Chairman Do Jaehyun, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. Please call me Seagull.”
The bastard who introduced himself as Seagull bowed politely to me.
“...”
“Scary, isn’t it? Don’t look at me like that. I’m just an errand boy. Nori sent me, so why are you glaring at me like I did something wrong?”
“Say only what you want to say.”
“Of course. I was only told to come get the money. Once I get paid, I leave.”
“Count it.”
Then Kim Museong, having pulled the cash bundles from the safe, threw a heap of bills onto the table in a clatter.
“Hah, this is making me nervous. Mind if I sit and count it?”
Seagull, stealing a glance at Kim Museong standing behind me, sat down on the sofa with evident delight and stacked the bundles ten at a time. Kim Museong clenched his fist at the sight.
“Yep, that’s right. Then I’ll be off. Nori hyung will contact you soon.”
“Wait.”
“Ah, Chairman Do. Were you going to give a junior some pocket money?”
Seagull rubbed his hands together and sat down on the sofa opposite me again.
“So it’s you and Nori, then. Two people.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“The ones who moved directly are two. There must be someone else giving the orders. And the men under that person are probably watching our side from several places, right?”
“Seriously, I really don’t know. I came here just to run an errand, so why do you keep doing this to me?”
Seagull got to his feet.
“Representative Kim. Bring ten more of those.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Kim Museong took ten more bundles of one-million-won bills from the safe and piled them on the table.
“Let’s talk for thirty minutes. How about it?”
Seagull snatched up the bills at once and stuffed them into the backpack he had brought along.
“Now you’re speaking our language, Chairman Do.”
I said nothing, only put a cigarette to my lips and lit it.
One cigarette, then another...
Seagull and I didn’t exchange a single word until I had burned through several more in a row.
Riiing-riiiing! Riiing-riiiing!
Then, at last, the ringtone I had been waiting for sounded.
It was Chae Jongyun, the team leader of the Intelligence Service plainclothes unit.
“Good. I got it. Thanks.”
I ended the call briefly, and a text message was sent to the phone at once.
“What kind of call was that, Chairman Do? Surely you’re not the kind of man who’d gamble with your kids’ lives. It wasn’t the police, was it?”
“Of course not. It was a friend.”
“Looks like you just got a text too. Mind if I take a look?”
Seagull pushed the jjajangmyeon bowls aside and held out his hand for my phone.
“Be my guest.”
I handed him the secret phone I used to communicate with Team Leader Chae.
While Seagull checked the message on the phone, I took out my regular phone and made a call.
“Yeah. Come up alone now. Leave the others where they are.”
“What are you doing now? I’m calling Nori hyung.”
As Seagull called Nori, he looked around nervously.
“Go ahead and call. And tell him the text too, word for word. I’m not sure whether Nori and Kim Gijung from the Kim Hasa Faction will even be able to answer the phone.”
“Chairman Do. Did you eat something bad? What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden...?”
Nori, with a worried look in his eyes, checked the message on my secret phone. It read:
Coordinated with Taeyang Faction completed.
All nearby pests neutralized. Awaiting entry on site.
Infiltration and annihilation scheduled for one minute from now.
“W-What the hell. How did you find this place...?!?”
The moment Seagull shot to his feet in shock, the office door swung open and a huge man walked in.
“I clenched my teeth and kept enduring it, over and over, until the Chairman called me.”
The right hand of Red Dog Kim Museong, and the action leader of the Red Dog Faction.
True to his nickname, the appearance of Bulgom Gong Hyeongtae was that of an enraged great bear, his face flushed a fierce red.
“Good to see you, you son of a bitch.”
There was a thick stench of blood in Bulgom’s ferocious smile, and Seagull’s face soured instantly.
“Fuck... I’m screwed.”
Then Seagull sprang up, yanked the knife hidden inside his clothes into his hand, stepped onto the table, and lunged at me with a kick while driving the blade forward.
But I wasn’t the kind of man who would be caught flat-footed by a street punk who hadn’t even learned how to fight properly.
“You’re the one who started this.”