The Wrong Man to Underestimate
Two hours earlier.
“Come in.”
The newly built villa in Gangnam that Johwa Group used like an ann-ga residence.
“This is your first time here, isn’t it, Director Kang?”
Johwa Group had built more than twenty of those hideaways across the country. Sometimes they were used as retreats and escape routes for the owner family; other times, like now, they served as places for secret meetings.
At times, they were even used for deranged parties thrown by third-generation chaebols, like the one Han Suyeong had vanished into.
“I was aware of it.”
Director Kang Inmuk gave a silent nod and closed the door to the fourth-floor suite.
“Director Cheon. I don’t know what the planning office prepared, but I’m not convinced Jeong Taeyang is necessary.”
Kang Inmuk went straight for the point without any preamble.
“Why do you think that?”
“Isn’t it obvious not to trust gangsters and the like?”
“Normally, yes.”
Director Cheon Subeom let out a long sigh.
“Director Kang. You know perfectly well why you came here with me instead of staying at the chairman’s side like you normally would.”
“...”
“What I’m about to say is off the record. No matter how little ground Young Master Han Suyeong has within the group, from the chairman’s point of view, he’s still his son. If you bite all five fingers, is there really one that doesn’t hurt?”
“Are we supposed to judge and worry over the chairman’s orders?”
“I’m not thinking that at all, Director Kang.”
Feeling a little stifled, Director Cheon opened the window.
“We’re not exactly close, you and I, but we’re not enemies either, are we? Let’s just say two employees from the same company are speaking frankly.”
“Let’s stop there. What matters is the whereabouts of Director Han Suyeong.”
“Same here. Which is why Jeong Taeyang is necessary.”
“...”
“I’m the one responsible for this, after all. If you still don’t like it, then when this is over, you can handle Jeong Taeyang or Gangnam however you please, whichever way suits you.”
“...”
Director Cheon tried to smooth things over, but Director Kang remained silent.
A long while later, Kang Inmuk finally spoke. “I acknowledge that you, Director Cheon Subeom, are the one in charge of this project. So tell me how I can help.”
“Simple.”
Director Cheon smiled brightly. To think that this stone statue of a man was finally willing to cooperate; he could almost feel his shoulders lighten.
“You know the good cop, bad cop routine, right?”
“Who’s the good cop?”
Kang Inmuk let out a faint laugh.
“Your temperament is probably better, Director Kang, but I think it’s best if I play the good cop here.”
“Director Cheon Subeom. How much do you know about Jeong Taeyang?”
“Enough. More than enough for what I need.”
“I know Jeong Taeyang well.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s an old grudge. More than twenty years old.”
Kang Inmuk took out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Director Cheon. They lit up side by side and exhaled smoke toward the window as Kang Inmuk spoke.
“If someone else looked at me, they’d usually settle on one of two ways to deal with me.”
“Bow their head, or avoid you. Right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s different from me. Wherever I go, people usually try to climb over me or negotiate.”
“That’s because they’re the ones who don’t know you, Director Cheon. Anyone who has even a rough idea who you are can’t move a muscle in front of you, like a mouse before a cat.”
“Haha, don’t flatter me too much. No matter how hard I try, I’ll never have Director Kang’s charisma.”
Director Cheon was just stroking Kang Inmuk’s ego enough to keep him comfortable. Kang Inmuk, who had not shown his hand until now, was finally about to reveal what he really thought. There was no reason to spoil it.
If things went well, this could be a good chance to learn something small but meaningful about Kang Inmuk, maybe a weakness, maybe something he disliked.
Even if not, cooperation between him and Kang Inmuk was absolutely necessary here for both sides’ interests...
“If Director Cheon Subeom met Jeong Taeyang alone, that bastard would have kept his true thoughts hidden like a slippery old snake. But if I’m there, the situation changes.”
“It would. Even Jeong Taeyang wouldn’t dare act reckless when Kang Inmuk, the blade of Johwa Group, is sitting across from him.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Kang Inmuk shook his head heavily.
“Really...?”
Director Cheon, who had been smiling along in order to stay on Kang Inmuk’s good side, also let his expression darken.
“Jeong Taeyang will look down on me. That’s precisely why he’ll think he can control the board himself.”
“That’s a little irritating. Jeong Taeyang is necessary, yes, but there’s no need to let him run wild in a room with two Johwa Group executives.”
“Let him be. If I get worked up and clash with Jeong Taeyang, there’s no need for you to step in, Director Cheon.”
“You have a reason for saying that?”
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? Good cop, bad cop.”
“Yes.”
“Say a suspect has been dragged into the station and is sitting down to write a statement.”
Kang Inmuk’s mouth curled faintly, almost cruelly.
“If the good cop beside him is the one who’ll listen nicely and the bad cop is some easy mark he’s known since childhood, will the victim write the statement properly? Or will he try to use the police?”
“I see what you mean. Even so, a sane man would probably try to wrap things up in moderation. But if he’s the type to think with the wrong end of his body and wants everything the way Jeong Taeyang does...”
The corner of Director Cheon’s mouth rose in the same sly curve as Kang Inmuk’s.
“Then he’ll make a smart move and take his profit where he can.”
“Yes. But we’re not police. We’re merchants.”
“Director Kang. Thinking about what you just said, you’re right. If we give Jeong Taeyang what he wants, he’ll have no choice but to hand over what we need most.”
“If the enemy looks down on us...”
“Nothing could be better than that.”
“That reminds me...”
Director Cheon tapped his temple with a finger.
“Is that why the security team members are dressed in suits instead of wearing stab-proof vests and body armor?”
“...”
“I’m joking. I never thought of Jeong Taeyang as Johwa Group’s enemy, really. I just figured he was a disposable chess piece we could use and toss aside when we were done...”
“Complacency.”
Kang Inmuk closed the window.
“You can afford that after we’ve captured the king.”
“Well now. I was underestimating Jeong Taeyang.”
“The version of us Jeong Taeyang sees should look rash, petty, emotional, and impulsive.”
“This is something else...”
Director Cheon crossed to the window and drew the curtains over the sealed glass. Then he switched on the mood lamp and sat down on the sofa.
“Director Kang Inmuk. You’re a far more frightening man than I expected.”
Kang Inmuk said nothing. He looked at Director Cheon and showed his white teeth in a silent smile.
Director Cheon. As if I’d ever be any less than you.
* * *
“Did you find him, sir?”
Men filled the room in an instant, turning the air heavy and vicious. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, bowed his head to Director Kang Inmuk.
“Director Cheon.”
“Yes, Chairman Jeong.”
“Is this supposed to be a relief? What’s so relieving about it? Is it a blessing to me that Kang Inmuk brought all his underlings along? I can’t make heads or tails of this.”
If Jeong Taeyang had barged into Johwa Group’s hideout without any backup, even he would have been unnerved. But he had something to rely on.
Do Jaehyun. The more I look at him, the more he seems like something special.
Jeong Taeyang remembered the brief thirty seconds before Do Jaehyun entered the hideout, when he had examined the electric meter and the water meter.
“Hey, Kang Inmuk.”
Jeong Taeyang didn’t even get up. He just turned his head and called to Kang Inmuk.
“What the hell are these bastards? Are they regular employees? Contractors? In-turns? What are they?”
“Who knows... what are they?”
“Director Cheon.”
“Yes, Chairman Jeong.”
“It feels like barely a minute has passed since we all drank a toast together. What the hell is this supposed to be?”
“I’m sorry. They’re not from our planning office... I don’t know anything about this.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Director Cheon shrugged and shifted his gaze to Director Kang, as if to say that Kang Inmuk had designed all of this.
“Inmuk.”
Even now, Jeong Taeyang did not lose his ease. He pulled out a cigarette and glanced at his wristwatch as if he were merely checking the time.
“You need to start speaking properly from here on out. These days, people keep calling me Chairman, Chairman, and I think you’ve lost your sense of things too. Do I look like some back-alley sponsor who does nothing but play with money and pretend to be a businessman? Huh?”
Jeong Taeyang stood and blew cigarette smoke into Kang Inmuk’s face.
“I oughta sear this bastard’s face off, goddammit.”
“Mr. Jeong Taeyang, that’s enough.”
Just as Jeong Taeyang looked ready to burn Kang Inmuk’s cheek with the tip of his cigarette, a man seized his arm and stopped him. It was Kim Yoonjae, the team leader of Security Team 3 at Johwa Group.
“Haha, you piece of shit. Kid, you planning to leave that hand where it is? Keep it up and I’ll snap your wrist.”
At Jeong Taeyang’s ferocious glare, Kim Yoonjae let go of his arm. Then, with one precise motion, he plucked the cigarette from Jeong Taeyang’s mouth and ground it out in the ashtray.
“Jeong Taeyang. Director Cheon Subeom was right. It’s a relief.”
Kang Inmuk deliberately lit another cigarette in front of Jeong Taeyang, and Team Leader Kim Yoonjae stepped in to strike the lighter.
“We were originally planning to rough you up a little and make you useful. Director Cheon saved your life.”
“What a bastard.”
Jeong Taeyang’s right arm lifted sharply. Just as if he were about to slap Kang Inmuk across the face, Team Leader Kim Yoonjae grabbed his wrist again.
“Director Cheon Subeom.”
Then, against everyone’s expectations, Do Jaehyun finally spoke.
“May I borrow a teaspoon?”
“Pardon?”
Do Jaehyun scooped up a generous spoonful of powdered creamer with the teaspoon and dropped it into Jeong Taeyang’s already cold coffee, then stirred it lazily.
“Your coffee looks a little light on creamer, hyung.”
The man he was serving was being humiliated, and even Do Jaehyun might not be able to walk out of there in one piece with Jeong Taeyang. In that situation, asking for a teaspoon?
Had he been so shocked that he’d lost his mind?
“Chairman, is it your wrist?”
Do Jaehyun asked as he pulled the spoon free. Jeong Taeyang let out a faint laugh.
“Yeah. That’s right, punk.”
Whoosh!
“Huh?!”
With a cutting hiss through the air, something flew out and lodged itself into Team Leader Kim Yoonjae’s wrist.
“Aaah... AAAAAH!”
It was the teaspoon Do Jaehyun had been holding.
“Tsk. I told you your wrist was going to fly off. Kids these days never listen when you speak nicely to them. Back in our day, if the older guys said they were going to make bean paste out of red beans, you’d go out and buy red beans, grind them up, and get to work. Right, Inmuk?”
“Jeong Taeyang... you just made a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
Jeong Taeyang was confident.
Inmuk.
Honestly, he thought the odds of him and Do Jaehyun breaking out of here together were fifty-fifty. But one of them would definitely make it out. If that was the case, the rest could be dealt with later. A man with nothing to lose, a gangster living only for today, had no reason to fear Kang Inmuk and Cheon Subeom, who had families, companies, and social standing to lose.
“The mistake was yours, you bastard.”
Thud, crash, thud, crash.
The sound of dozens of people running up the stairs rang out.
Bang! Bang! BANGGG!
Then dozens of men stormed in, battering the door that Johwa Group Security Team 3 had just come through with aluminum bats.
“Big brother. Are you all right?”
A broad grin spread across Jeong Taeyang’s mouth.
“You’re late, you bastards.”