The Price of a Bribe
“You just happened to stop by while passing through?”
“Yes.”
Department Manager Lee Jinhee set down her coffee cup and looked at Do Jaehyun.
“So, how’ve you been? Feels good to have left that rotten company behind?”
“Jinhee, I’ve been doing great, just as you said. I kept only the good memories and went on to live well, eat well, and make money.”
“Is that so? You do look good. Hard to believe it’s only been a little while since you were still calling me Department Manager this, Department Manager that. Now that you’re out, you’re already calling me ‘hyung.’”
“Right? My wallet’s thicker now, so I don’t feel like putting on airs and calling people stiffly by title anymore, even old acquaintances I used to be close with. What should I call it? A kind of ease that comes from the heart? I think I’ve gained that.”
“You’ve definitely changed. You talk more, too.”
“That’s a compliment, right?”
Lee Jinhee snorted.
“I’ve probably interviewed and hired more than five hundred people myself by now.”
“More than that, probably. You seem like you wouldn’t even remember someone who left after a day.”
“Anyway, punk. The important thing is that even after all the people I’ve hired and fired, there hasn’t been a single one like you.”
“That one was definitely a compliment.”
“Well…”
He was nothing like the Do Jaehyun who had once worked at AK Capital, living each day like a war from eight in the morning until nine at night, but even back then, Lee Jinhee had vaguely sensed the free-spirited streak hidden beneath Do Jaehyun’s seriousness.
He had not expected it to be this strong, though.
“Doesn’t seem like it to me.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ve changed completely. When people change that much, it usually means they’ve been through something big.”
“I was always naturally cheerful.”
“Well, if that’s all it is, fine. So, what brings you here?”
“I was just passing by and thought I’d stop in to see your face.”
“If that were true, you’d have called now and then to say hello.”
“Didn’t I?”
“No. Not a single call.”
“Really…”
Lee Jinhee was right. In the meantime, there had been dangerous situations where his life had been on the line, and with every day packed so tightly he could barely catch his breath, it was true that he had never managed even a single courtesy call to Lee Jinhee.
“Doesn’t seem like you came back to the company.”
“Of course not. If that was the plan, I wouldn’t have left in the first place.”
“Right?”
“Yes. The coffee still tastes the same here. I’ll have to stop by now and then. You’re doing all right too, aren’t you?”
“I was. Until now.”
“Why?”
“Because of you.”
“Ha.”
I took a sip of coffee and set the cup down. I’d tried to steer the conversation somewhere else, but as expected, Lee Jinhee wasn’t about to hand over control so easily.
“What are you doing these days?”
“Running a business. I’m the representative director.”
“Oh? What kind of business?”
“Loans, entertainment, pawnshops, bars, hostess clubs... I’ve also got a few motels. Two hotels with underground casinos that cater to foreigners, too.”
“What?”
Lee Jinhee’s hand froze in midair as he was about to drink his coffee.
“Hmm…”
He set the cup down and stared at me for a long moment without saying a word.
“You don’t seem like the type to lie. Was your family rich to begin with? You’re running all that, and you’re the representative director? Weren’t you an orphan?”
“I was an orphan, yes. Don’t say it so bluntly. You’re hurting my feelings a little.”
“What bullshit. Didn’t I tell you? You’re the first guy like you I’ve ever met.”
Lee Jinhee gave another snort of laughter and picked up his coffee.
“You think I’d forget your resume? A young guy from Korea University Law School walked into this miserable loan-shark outfit. I clearly remember that your mother’s occupation was listed as university professor on your resume. Who would’ve thought you were from an orphan background.”
“You asked me about it during the interview, didn’t you? You asked what my father did, so I told you there wasn’t one.”
“I thought your mother might have remarried. She seemed like a pretty famous woman. At that level, she could’ve married into some chaebol family easily enough.”
Every word Lee Jinhee was saying was the kind that would have irritated me a little, or a lot, under normal circumstances. It was no different from insulting the mother who had raised me, who had cherished and loved me as if I were her own son, or even more than her own son, even though I’d been an orphan.
But I knew Lee Jinhee well. He wasn’t the kind of man who casually said things meant to offend people. When he spoke like this, he had a purpose.
Sometimes that purpose was to gather information. Other times, it was to see how someone who never easily revealed his real thoughts would react when provoked or irritated.
Even so…
No matter how well I knew Lee Jinhee, actually sitting across from him and taking his barbs in person made one thing clear.
He was incredibly annoying.
No wonder, in my previous life, whenever I assigned Lee Jinhee to handle something, I would tell the client that the job could get done, but they should never send Lee Jinhee again.
“It’s bigger than hitting first place in the lottery ten times.”
“What is?”
“Stocks.”
“You messing with me?”
“When have I ever lied?”
“...Still doesn’t make sense. Even if you hit the lottery twenty times instead of ten, buying two casino hotels would still be the end of it.”
“That’s true.”
“Damn, now I want a cigarette.”
Lee Jinhee pulled out a pack and glanced toward the coffee shop owner.
“……”
The woman had a customer-service smile on her face, but when she saw the cigarettes, she gently shook her head.
“Let’s go outside and smoke one.”
“Probably best. At this rate, in ten years we won’t even be able to dream of smoking indoors.”
“Probably.”
I left the cafe with Lee Jinhee.
“Got a light?”
I took a Zippo from my inner pocket and handed it to him.
“What’s this? Not just a disposable lighter, and not a Dupont either.”
“Oh? You usually use a Dupont?”
“Yeah, punk. I forgot it and left it at the office.”
Lee Jinhee, who usually enjoyed cigarettes, also happened to have a hobby of collecting expensive lighters, and he was someone who bought them whenever he had the chance.
“It was a spare. Just use it, hyung.”
“Forget it, punk. I’ve got plenty of lighters.”
“So do I.”
I deliberately pulled a Dupont out of my back pocket and lit my cigarette with it in front of Lee Jinhee.
Ping.
The distinctive click of the lid opening rang out.
“Jaehyun.”
“Let me borrow that for a second.”
“This?”
“Yeah, that one.”
Like the confirmed smoker he was, Lee Jinhee showed interest in the Dupont lighter I’d taken out.
“Huh? It’s the real thing? Classic Line Two.”
“I don’t know much about luxury goods, and I’m not especially fond of them, but I don’t use fakes.”
“If you were going to give me one, you should’ve given me this.”
“That one’s more expensive.”
“Hm?”
Lee Jinhee turned his gaze to the lighter he’d received from me. He probably hadn’t noticed when he lit his cigarette absentmindedly, but now it was different.
“This is maybe...?”
It was one of Zippo’s Dragon Series, with a dragon motif embossed in three dimensions and a small jewel inlaid into the body.
“……”
Lee Jinhee studied the lighter carefully, not even noticing that the cigarette between his lips was burning down.
“I thought it was a fake, but it’s real? The list price isn’t even a million won, but it’s so rare that even collectors can’t get one for three million.”
As expected, Lee Jinhee knew the value of a limited-edition lighter when he saw one.
“There were a few lying around the office, so I just grabbed whichever one was closest. Use it. I’ve got plenty of those.”
Originally, I’d planned to give it to him as a gift when we parted ways, but the plan changed.
“Hah, you damn bastard.”
Lee Jinhee’s expression shifted. It was like seeing Asura Baekjeong, with half his face smiling and the other half barely holding back its anger.
“You’re getting back at me for talking too harshly about your mother? I was planning to apologize anyway while smoking a cigarette, even if I didn’t say it out loud.”
“It wasn’t expensive enough to refuse, but it’s expensive enough to be a shame not to take, right?”
“Well... if it were pure goodwill, I’d accept it, but no matter how I look at it, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Lee Jinhee didn’t bother hiding how much he hated to part with it, but he handed the lighter back to me.
“Take it.”
“I’ve got a lot of them in the office.”
“Then how am I supposed to throw it away?”
Then.
Wee-oo, wee-oo, baang, wee-oo.
With a blaring siren and a string of loud honks, two police cars came to an abrupt stop in front of the building.
“What the hell? Was there a bank robbery or something?”
Glancing toward the branch of a major bank on the first floor of the knowledge-industrial center, Lee Jinhee muttered under his breath.
“Hurry up, move it.”
But the officers who got out of the patrol cars didn’t even look back as they passed the bank branch and disappeared into the building.
“Damn. This is bigger than I thought.”
“What?”
“That lighter. It was a bribe with an apology attached.”
“A bribe for what?”
“They’re probably heading up to the AK Capital office. Those police.”
“Why?”
“No idea. I’m sure they didn’t use violence, though. I really don’t know.”
Lee Jinhee spat out the cigarette he’d been holding in his mouth.
“Don’t go up there.”
“And if I don’t? Should I just write a statement later and say it happened after I’d left the office?”
“You’re quitting the company anyway, so why does it matter?”
“What? Why would I quit? Do you really think I’m going to work with you? I’ll be an executive here in no time.”
There was irritation in Lee Jinhee’s voice now.
“No. I was going to recommend you for an executive-level position at a major corporation. I’d handle the bonus separately, on top of your salary.”
“……”
“Just write the statement. You’ve never lost out by listening to me.”
“Damn it…”
Ping. Click.
Lee Jinhee opened the lid of the lighter in his hand and lit his cigarette.
“No wonder the bribe was expensive.”
“Did I tell you?”
“...What kind of loan-shark office even has security guards.”
Because the man with the gun was dressed like the sort of security guard you’d find at any bank, Bear wasn’t particularly rattled.
“What is it?”
“We received a report.”
“Doesn’t seem like police. Are you an employee here?”
“I’m not an employee here.”
“Then?”
“I’m a security guard for ABK Bank on the first floor.”
“Then you should be protecting the bank. Why are you here?”
“That is...”
At Bear’s question, the security guard glanced behind him, and Bear’s eyes naturally followed. Far off in the distance, he could see a female employee standing there, clutching her phone tightly and fidgeting anxiously.
“Ah…”
She was probably his girlfriend or someone he knew. But even so, for him to come running over because of another company’s business like this—it was the sort of broad, meddlesome instinct that made Koreans notorious for overinvolvement.
“We didn’t do anything.”
“There must be some misunderstanding. Let’s step outside and talk.”
“Why would I?”
“……”
The security guard’s attempt to coax Bear’s group outside with kind words didn’t work.
“Let’s step outside and talk.”
“And if I say no?”
“P-please, just come outside for now.”
In the uneasy standoff, Team Leader Kim Donggeon shot the security guard a desperate look, silently begging for help and urging him on.
Then.
Crash!
Breaking through the tightly shut glass doors of AK Capital, a group of police officers stormed in.
“Police. Sir, lower your weapon.”