Chapter 21
I’m translating the chapter directly into the required HTML format, preserving the scene breaks and dialogue turns while smoothing the prose into natural English.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chairman Kim Hasa's Last Stand
"Right. Yoonho, was it?"
The caller was Jeong Yoonho.
Jeong Yoonho was the vice boss of the Kim Hasa Faction, the man who effectively handled the organization’s day-to-day affairs. He was only in his early thirties, which made it awkward to put him forward as the boss, but the man Kim Jungyeong had marked as his successor was not Kim Gi-jung. It was Jeong Yoonho.
"I didn't expect to be speaking with you this soon, Chairman Kim."
"...Museong?"
Kim Jungyeong felt the blood freeze in his veins.
The man on the other end of the line was not Jeong Yoonho at all, but Kim Museong, the Red Dog who had newly become the number two man of the Baekho Faction.
"Yes."
"...This was a mistake. Chairman Do should understand that well enough. This old man isn't the sort to do something so reckless."
"I'm sure Chairman Kim understands as well. I'm only the sort who does what he's told."
"What happened to Yoonho and the others?"
"They're still breathing."
"I see... that's how it is."
Kim Jungyeong set down the bottle of liquor he had been holding. At this point, he did not need to hear any more to understand how things were playing out.
Kim Gi-jung had kidnapped Do Jaehyun’s nephew’s friend on his own, and the Kim Hasa Faction, having known nothing until an emergency summons went out, had likely already been smashed in detail before they could even gather.
More than anything, the fact that not a single call had come in from any of the Kim Hasa Faction’s bases until just now was proof enough of Kim Jungyeong’s prediction.
"I won't make excuses. Kim Gi-jung acted alone, but if it concerns the organization, then we all bear the responsibility. By tomorrow morning, no, right now, I'll hand Kim Gi-jung over to Chairman Do. As for the damage done to Yoonho and our men, and to the businesses, let that be forgotten."
"..."
"Still not enough? Then I'll go to Chairman Do myself, no, I’ll meet Chairman Do in person and offer my sincere apologies. Please, just tell him that much for me."
"That's difficult."
"Difficult?"
"Yes. Even if I wanted to help, I can't. Chairman Do isn't here."
"What?!"
Kim Jungyeong, who had been wrestling with Kim Museong over the phone, went rigid as stone.
"Then where is Do Jaehyun right now...?"
Kwaaaang!
At that moment, a thunderous crash shook the air outside Kim Jungyeong’s villa. It was the sound of a sedan racing up the hill without its lights on and smashing straight through the front gate.
"W-what the hell?!"
"What kind of madman...?! "
And the car that came barreling in with that roar did not stop in the garden. It kept its momentum, smashed through the villa’s front door on the first floor, and stormed inside as if it owned the place.
"W-wha...?"
"I-is that insane...?! "
The living room where Chairman Kim Jungyeong had been speaking with Kim Museong on the phone plunged into chaos in an instant, like a market at closing time.
"Hey! What are you standing around watching for, you bastards!"
In the middle of it, the action leader guarding Kim Jungyeong was the first to recover his senses and barked orders.
"Grab every weapon you can and go down there! I don't care if they're cops or whoever, just crush them! And you, and you. You two stay here with me and protect the chairman. Got it?"
"Yes? Yes, hyung."
"What are you waiting for? Don't just answer me, get your asses downstairs!"
"Yes!"
Thrown into confusion by the sudden turn of events, the organization’s men hurriedly armed themselves, leaving only a few behind as the rest rushed down the stairs to the first floor.
"It seems our chairman has arrived, Chairman Kim Jungyeong."
"..."
"This is only a personal wish, but I hope this ends smoothly."
"..."
"I'll be hanging up now. Until our chairman says otherwise, we’ll be keeping the Kim Hasa Faction’s people under our protection."
"Ha..."
Kim Jungyeong sank onto the sofa with a face that looked ten years older than it had minutes ago.
"Chairman, you need to move. Our men won't go down easily. In the meantime, you should hurry and..."
But before the bodyguard could finish, screams rang out from the first floor.
And a moment later...
In the span of less than a minute, the silhouettes of two men climbing the stairs came into Kim Jungyeong’s view.
Shin Gilwoo and Do Jaehyun.
"You bastard!"
"Just kill him, fuck!"
The last two men guarding Kim Jungyeong clenched their teeth, drew their sashimi knives, and charged up the stairs, but...
"Ugh!"
"Agh! My arm, my aaarm..."
One never even reached Do Jaehyun and Shin Gilwoo. He clutched his wrist and went rolling on the floor, while the other had his arm snapped by Shin Gilwoo, who casually slipped past the knife and cut through the muscles and tendons of the bicep and wrist with the knife in his hand.
"I think you said we'd see each other again in a better light next time, right, Chairman Kim?"
It was a shocking entrance by Do Jaehyun.
Eight hours before Do Jaehyun encountered Chairman Kim Jungyeong.
Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office.
A broad-shouldered man in a crisp police uniform walked briskly through the gate on the first floor of the prosecutors' office.
The man was Jeong Taeseong, captain of the riot police unit at Mapo Police Station.
His destination was the office of Park Kiwan, deputy chief prosecutor of Criminal Division 3, the unit in charge of violent crime and organized crime.
"Phew."
Jeong Taeseong took a breath and opened the office door.
"Long time no see, Prosecutor."
After passing the judicial exam, he had also scored top marks at the training institute. Everyone believed Jeong Taeseong would choose to become a prosecutor or a judge, but he had stubbornly ignored the objections of his seniors at the institute and the older graduates from his school and become a police officer anyway.
Because of that history, every time he came to the prosecutors' office he felt a little guilty, and a thought kept bothering him: maybe he should have become a prosecutor instead.
"Prosecutor? You little bastard..."
And when he came to ask a favor like this, the pressure only got worse.
But that worry was unnecessary.
"So now that you work for the National Police Agency, I’m not your senior anymore, huh? I was happy when you said your junior was coming by for lunch after so long. Sigh, what a life. A junior I used to cherish shuts me out completely, and now there’s no reason for us to be tied together anymore, is that it?"
"Haha, sorry, senior. Since this is an official setting, I thought I should be a little more proper."
"Oh? Proper? You? The man who, along with Do Jaehyun, was one of the twin pillars of disrespect in the universe? And now you're talking about manners?"
"Come on, senior. I'm different from that guy."
Park Kiwan and Jeong Taeseong, seniors and juniors from Korea University Law School and again from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, left the prosecutors' office side by side.
"All right, what kind of trouble brought our dear junior all the way out here to see this pathetic senior?"
"Haha, what do you mean, like we're some kind of neighbors?"
"Enough joking. Let's get to the point. If the riot captain came in person, this isn't ordinary."
"Yes, senior. The truth is..."
Jeong Taeseong told Park Kiwan everything that had happened so far.
"What?! Those fucking bastards! Which bastard was it!"
As he listened to Jeong Taeseong speak, Park Kiwan, who had been puffing out cigarette smoke with a leisurely air, suddenly flung the cigarette to the ground and shouted.
"Those motherfuckers. Who do they think they're kidnapping? Hey, you, get back there now and deploy the riot police. I'll take the responsibility. Those damn bastards..."
"Senior, calm down for a second..."
Jeong Taeseong broke into a sweat and grabbed Park Kiwan’s arm, afraid the man might storm straight back into the prosecutors' office and mobilize every police unit under Mapo jurisdiction.
"I want to rush over there and crush them all too. But Jaehyun asked me to hold off a bit, so calm down, Kiwan hyung."
"What? Jaehyun did?"
"Yes. It hasn't even been three hours since the kid was taken, hyung. Just calm down for now. And it's not even Jaehyun's own nephew."
"...Let's go inside. Tell me everything in detail."
Only then did Park Kiwan suppress his temper and follow Jeong Taeseong into the Chinese restaurant.
"Goodness, uncles. Where did you go and just now come back? The noodles are completely soggy."
As the restaurant auntie fussed, the food they had ordered had already gone cold. Neither of them touched it, draining only cold water instead.
"So let me get this straight. It wasn't Jaehyun’s nephew, but his nephew’s friend, and that was the work of that son of a bitch Kim Jungyeong of the Kim Hasa Faction?"
"Yes."
"And where is Jaehyun now?"
"For now..."
Jeong Taeseong explained Do Jaehyun’s plan in detail to Prosecutor Park Kiwan.
"Ha, from the moment I heard those guys in his class say a junior had joined their ranks as some Joker, I kept an eye on him, but this time too..."
Park Kiwan set the water glass he had been holding down on the table.
"It's beyond imagination. Any normal bastard would lose his mind just hearing his nephew had been kidnapped, and he turns that into an opportunity?"
"That's why his nickname is Joker."
"Tch. Misfits always end up gathering together."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"What do you think I mean? For the rest of us, passing the judicial exam and getting to wear a judge's robe is something we only dream about, but you and that Jaehyun bastard... tsk."
"Haha, well, since you put it like that, I don't have much to say."
"Good. Pay the bill and get out."
Park Kiwan stood up first and walked out with a cigarette already in his mouth.
"Hey, hyung! Our junior is in this state, and you're still worrying about the bill? What, are prosecutors supposed to be embarrassed? Huh? Right? Fine, fine, please take care of it."
"Oh, this is Gilsung. I'm Kiwan, not to mention..."
"Chief. Let me ask a favor. If this blows up publicly, it'll be a disaster. We're right on the doorstep of the 2000s, and they kidnapped a kid who hasn't even gone to kindergarten yet. And by gangsters! Does that even make sense? Huh? Ah, yes, then that's how we'll handle it. Yes, sir, I'll hang up now!"
By the time Jeong Taeseong had finished paying and stepped out of the restaurant, Prosecutor Park Kiwan was already busy working his phone from one call to the next.
"How did it go?"
Jeong Taeseong lit Park Kiwan’s cigarette after the man folded away his phone.
"It's not even in my jurisdiction, and Kim Jungyeong spread his people across more than one place, so this won't be easy to handle. Still..."
Deputy Chief Park Kiwan drew in a long breath and smiled faintly as he exhaled smoke.
"We have to do what needs doing. I’ve already spoken with the Mapo Police Chief and your father as well. The Metropolitan Investigation Unit will be moving. I’ll handle the prosecution side however I can, so don't worry and tell Jaehyun to do whatever he wants. But..."
"Yes."
"Later, make sure you go greet the elders. You should come with me too, you brat. Otherwise, I'm the only one left holding the bag."
"Haha, don't worry about that."
"Stop!"
The bodyguard protecting Chairman Kim Jungyeong drew a pistol from inside his jacket and aimed it at me and Gilwoo.
"A shame, Chairman Do."
Kim Jungyeong spoke with a troubled expression.
"Is the party with Chairman Do just you and that friend?"
"..."
I answered with a single nod. Then I quickly scanned the surroundings and watched the guard with the gun closely.
The way he was holding the weapon.
He looked like he had done a few rounds of shooting practice, but it wasn't the stance of someone trained professionally in CQC or close-range suppression fire.
And the gun itself was an old revolver that looked like it had been around for decades.
The official model was an SAA M1 873.
More importantly.
It wasn't loaded.
An ordinary person would never notice, but the angle of the cylinder on a loaded revolver and one that isn't loaded is subtly different.
"Now that things have come to this, what more is there to say? You're still young. Your nephew is safe, so there's no need to gamble your life, is there? Step back here, and if you do that, I'll quietly retire as well. I promise never to set foot in this world again."
"How am I supposed to believe that?"
"What else can I do now that I've come this far? The organization has already been cut in half by the Baekho Faction’s surprise attack, and this old man's position has become so pitiful..."
Kim Jungyeong’s gaze shifted to Kim Gi-jung, who lay sprawled out in a blood-soaked heap.
"Take this bastard with you. Kill him or let him live, whatever Chairman Do wants. It wasn't my doing, but a brother can't just ignore what his younger brother has done once he becomes the elder one, can he? I'll retire as promised, so can we end things here?"
"Well now. If you were in my position, would you really back down after coming all the way here?"
I casually echoed Kim Jungyeong’s words, then sent a hand signal behind my back to Shin Gilwoo, using the signal codes from my special forces days.
"You mean to see blood after all?"