Chapter 37. The Meeting at Johwa Group
“Act natural. The walls are marble, and the paintings hanging there look the part too. Pretend you’re admiring the place like some country bumpkin seeing expensive things for the first time as you go up.”
“Might not need that. Just send a text.”
Unlike the tightly strung Jeong Taeyang, I climbed the stairs at an easy pace. There seemed to be CCTV cameras facing the elevator and on each floor, but there were none in the stairwell.
They had probably left them out on purpose.
“Say it short and simple. Why exactly are you making them call the kids up?”
“Did you send the text?”
“Shit... I think my phone doesn’t have a signal.”
“It’s the stairwell. Just type the message out. Then when you get into the room, all you have to do is hit send.”
“You even anticipated that?”
“What, were you going to open a window, stretch your arm out, and send it that way?”
“...Wouldn’t that be better? The way you’re talking, this doesn’t seem like an ordinary job.”
We were already on the third floor.
Judging by the meter numbers I had seen outside, there should have been four households on each floor, but each landing showed only one door.
In other words, they had knocked down the walls of each floor and turned an entire level into a single residence.
...It was also strange to keep climbing too slowly, yet by the time we walked at a reasonable pace, only one floor remained before the fourth.
“How did you know? Whether there was anyone on each floor.”
“Just a hunch.”
“Don’t bullshit me. I’m asking how you knew.”
“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I don’t think that’s the important part.”
Before long, we reached the fourth floor.
“Haa... shit.”
Jeong Taeyang let out a sigh, shoved the phone he had been holding into his pocket, and rang the bell at the door.
“Come in, Chairman Jeong.”
The door opened, and the one who greeted Jeong Taeyang and Do Jaehyun was Director Cheon Subeom. He wore a smile as friendly as a door-to-door insurance salesman’s, but his eyes were cold and flat.
“Long time no see, Director.”
“It has been a while. I would have been pleased if you’d dropped by more often.”
“It’s a bit much for guests to come and go as they please when there’s no master in the house...”
“Come now, Chairman Jeong. Don’t say that again. Are we strangers? Come whenever you like, and make yourself at home.”
“Should I?”
“Of course. Now, come in.”
As Do Jaehyun and Jeong Taeyang removed their shoes and stepped inside, Security Director Kang Inmuk appeared as if he had been waiting for them.
“Excuse me. You must be Chairman Jeong Taeyang?”
“And if I am?”
“For security reasons, I’ll be holding on to your phone.”
Security Director Kang Inmuk held out both hands.
“It’s policy. Please comply.”
“And if I don’t want to?”
“I would... appreciate it.”
“That just makes me want to hand it over less.”
Jeong Taeyang and Kang Inmuk locked eyes, and it felt as if sparks were crackling in the air between them.
“I’m joking. When in Rome, follow Roman law. Kid, hand over the phone.”
The atmosphere, which had been on the verge of exploding, cooled at once because of Jeong Taeyang’s habitual, roguish grin. I said nothing and handed mine over, and while Kang Inmuk and Cheon Subeom’s attention was on the phones, Jeong Taeyang slipped a hand into his pocket and moved his fingers discreetly.
“It wasn’t that I hated handing over my phone...”
As he slowly took it out, Jeong Taeyang confirmed that the text had definitely been sent, then snapped the flip phone shut and placed it in Kang Inmuk’s hand.
“It’s just so old I was embarrassed to show it off.”
“Haha, well, that won’t do. Can Chairman Jeong really be seen with something like this? I should give you a gift of my own.”
Noticing the atmosphere had stiffened a little, Director Cheon Subeom guided us toward the seating area in a bright voice.
Once Jeong Taeyang and I sat on the sofa, Director Cheon went into the room and came back carrying three or four stacked boxes, which he set down in front of us.
“Since we’re on the subject, why don’t you each pick one? And you too, young man, choose whatever you like.”
They were the latest phones from Ilsung Electronics and Oji Electronics. From my perspective now, they weren’t smartphones and didn’t really tempt me much, but still.
“Kid, pick one too. Director Cheon is giving them to us.”
Jeong Taeyang was the first to pick up a phone box made by Ilsung Electronics.
“I’m fine, sir.”
“No, no. Director Cheon here is practically a friend to your older brother. No need to feel burdened.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I imitated the way the Red Dog Faction’s members usually behaved and picked up whatever box came to hand.
“Still...”
Jeong Taeyang’s gaze shifted to the man standing behind Director Cheon Subeom, Kang Inmuk.
“There’s someone here I haven’t met before. Director Cheon’s bodyguard?”
“Ah... no, not at all. Let me introduce him.”
At the word bodyguard, Kang Inmuk’s expression tightened slightly, and the corner of Cheon Subeom’s mouth lifted a little.
“This is Kang Inmuk, our Johwa Group Security Director. Director Kang, this is Chairman Jeong Taeyang of Taeyang Planning.”
“Kang Inmuk.”
“Jeong Taeyang.”
The two men exchanged business cards with practiced formality. Jeong Taeyang made sure I could see Kang Inmuk’s card by placing it on the table.
-Johwa Group Security Director Kang Inmuk.
The card listed his department, title, mobile number, email, and even the address of the office where he worked.
I should look into this later.
Johwa Group Security Director Kang Inmuk.
On the surface, his credentials looked flawless. But I knew better. I knew exactly what kind of man Director Kang Inmuk had been in my previous life.
I knew what kind of bad blood tied him to Jeong Taeyang.
And I knew that his relationship with me would also end badly.
The card in front of me showed only Kang Inmuk the security director. But I knew his hidden position too.
Kang Inmuk’s concealed post.
He also served as head of the Risk Management Office directly under the chairman’s suite of Johwa Group.
Kang Inmuk, who controlled Johwa Group’s shadow.
If it were a popular sport like soccer or baseball, a person could lodge himself deeply in public memory. Kang Inmuk was different.
He was a gold medalist in taekwondo at the Asian Games, the kind of athlete who made the national papers for a moment, then vanished again from people’s heads.
That was the man.
-Hyung, what the hell is this guy? I don’t think bare hands are going to cut it.
I remembered Shin Gilwoo’s reaction when he first met Kang Inmuk in the past. That was why I investigated him. Everything about him.
His past, from training mainly in kickboxing until his second year of high school, then switching over to taekwondo after entering college at twenty, and winning an Asian Games gold medal three years later.
And even his hidden, trashfire scandal of adultery and tangled private affairs.
In the poker game between Kang Inmuk and me, I knew the cards in his hand. In fact, I had the better hand. The question was how to use it...
“Kid, say hello.”
All eyes shifted to me, still sitting upright and staring only at the business card.
“I’m Do Jaehyun, the younger brother of Chairman Taeyang.”
I stood and gave a slight bow.
“I don’t have a card yet. I’ll have to get one made soon, but I’m still deciding what to put on it.”
“...“
“If Chairman Jeong’s bringing him around, he must be a very capable younger brother.”
“Haha, yes, he’s a good one. Right now I mostly just have him drive for me sometimes.”
“Is that so?”
Director Cheon Subeom’s eyes changed.
Among gangsters, especially the kind of organized-crime boss Jeong Taeyang had become, you didn’t let just anyone drive for you.
He knew very well that only the smartest, toughest, and most loyal man you could find would ever be entrusted with the wheel of a boss’s car, someone who could also handle protection in an emergency. Jeong Taeyang and Kang Inmuk both understood that.
“The kid’s smart, sharp, and all around good, but...”
Jeong Taeyang took a cigarette from inside his jacket and looked at me languidly.
Ah...
This was the first time in my life.
Lighting someone else’s cigarette.
“Here, sir. I’ve got a lighter.”
Without making a show of it, I naturally lit Jeong Taeyang’s cigarette, and for the first time since I had met him, I saw the most satisfied, brightest grin on his face.
“He still isn’t very good at driving. I should get him his own car and make him practice, but the cost might end up bigger than the profit.”
“Is that so?”
A glint appeared in Director Cheon’s eyes.
“Chairman Jeong, you usually drive an SUV, don’t you?”
“That’s right. Sedans sit too low for me. It feels cramped too. As Director Cheon knows, this line of work is rough. A car has to be sturdy, and so does the body.”
“I imagine so.”
Cheon Subeom, like a hyena tracking prey, seized on the opening hidden in Jeong Taeyang’s casual remark.
“Mr. Jaehyun.”
“Yes.”
“As it happens, our group just rolled out a new SUV, and we need to put it through some testing.”
“Testing?”
“There are plenty of people who can drive well, but not many who’ve only just started driving, like you. And we can’t just hand over an unannounced test vehicle to anyone. So if you don’t mind, Mr. Jaehyun...”
Cheon Subeom stole a glance at Jeong Taeyang.
“We’d like to send you one.”
He really was good at acting.
That...
I did my best to look like a young man my age, grateful but still watching Jeong Taeyang’s reaction, carefully shading my face and emotions accordingly.
Whether Do Jaehyun’s effort worked, or whether he simply wanted to tease him, Jeong Taeyang smiled with his eyes and said to Do Jaehyun,
“Why, you don’t like it? It’s something I haven’t even gotten to ride yet.”
“...Is that really all right?”
“Johwa Motor is offering to give you a new sedan, and you want to refuse? Damn it, when your big brother was your age, I...”
For a while, Jeong Taeyang pumped up the mood with an exaggerated story about his own prime years, one thing leading into another until the room felt looser than before.
“Understood, sir.”
To be honest, I did not like SUVs much.
I was the type who believed a car should stay faithful to its basic function. If comfort and ride quality came first, I preferred sedans; if speed mattered, I leaned toward supercars.
More than that, the new SUV Johwa Group was offering was less a gift than a form of surveillance dressed up as generosity.
In the worst case, they could fit it with a tracker. Even if they didn’t, it was customary for the driver to submit at least a minimal report during the test-drive period: mileage, handling, fuel economy, suggestions. It was the kind of report that wasn’t really a report, but it still had to be turned in to Johwa Motor.
But...
It was also a chance to turn Director Cheon Subeom’s move back on him.
“I’ll make good use of it, Director.”
“Good.”
Director Cheon nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Chairman Jeong. The reason we asked to see you today is, quite simply...”
At last, Director Cheon Subeom got to the point.
“I have something to discuss regarding Young Master Han Suyeong.”