The Surprise Guest Arrives
"Congratulations on your discharge."
With Kim Sangmin and Kang Gugong at the front, all the waiters were kneeling on the floor. I filled Gilwoo’s glass and mine with the expensive liquor the waiter Chow Yun-fat had brought over.
"This is a little too much for a drink to celebrate getting discharged. I was expecting good liquor when you said you’d buy me something nice, but this is beyond what I imagined."
"You don’t like it?"
"How could I not? I kept saying I’d come find you the moment I got out. Meeting like this, as brothers, feels great. Honestly, after you left first, life just wasn’t fun anymore."
"It’s fun now?"
"Until half a day ago, I was wondering what the hell I was even doing now. But right now, I can feel my blood boiling again. Heh."
Shin Gilwoo filled his cup with ice, then knocked back the whiskey on the rocks in one cold swallow.
"Too bad, but this is the last glass. Tonight, after we finish the job, we’re drinking until we drop."
"Sounds good. So what do we do now?"
Gilwoo shrugged, set the glass down, and stuffed a bite-sized piece of apple into his mouth, chewing lazily.
Then, all of a sudden, Kim Sangmin’s phone rang.
"What’re you waiting for? Answer it."
"......"
"Want me to take it?"
"......I-I’ll take it."
Kim Sangmin had taken such a brutal beating from Shin Gilwoo that both his front teeth were broken and his lips were swollen purple, but he still lifted the phone with a slurred voice that sounded like air leaking through a punctured tire.
"Straighten out your pronunciation. What, are you whining because you caught a few hits? Hey, back in my day, I came down an alpine slope in the dead of winter carrying my rifle in both hands with no ski poles, slammed into a rock, shattered my kneecap, and still got up and walked—"
"It’s me, Wolf."
"......Yeah."
"Boss Baekho called me out of nowhere. He told me to come to Helios and said I had to be there by eight because an important guest was coming. You know something, don’t you? What’s going on?"
"I d-don’t know. J-just hurry up and get here."
"Traffic’s bad, so I might be a little late. Boss Baekho isn’t there yet, right?"
"B-Baekho brotheeer told us to c-come by eight, so y-you better be there by eight, you bastard. It’s already seven twenty."
"I know, you idiot. It’s seven twenty right now. Boss Baekho called me ten minutes ago—what am I supposed to do about that? I’m saying I’m running over there, so why the hell are you bitching, asshole?"
"Your pronunciation sounds awful. What, did you lose three hundred million at the racetrack and start crying?"
"......Get here fast."
"Yeah, yeah. It’ll probably take about thirty minutes. Boss Baekho didn’t call you separately? He said he was bringing a guest. Didn’t he tell you who it was? Maybe our backer—"
"......"
Kim Sangmin snapped the phone shut without another word.
No matter how quietly Kim Sangmin spoke, there was no way Kim Museong on the other end couldn’t hear him.
And the bodies of Kim Sangmin, Kang Gugong, and the waiters, who had been cowed by the violence and charisma Shin Gilwoo and I had shown them, twitched ever so slightly.
They had realized that Kim Baekho would be arriving soon.
"Oh? Look at these bastards. What, you’re embarrassed because your boss is coming? And you—haven’t you had enough yet? Guess you don’t want to use that arm anymore."
At Shin Gilwoo’s threat, Kim Sangmin and Kang Gugong flinched, but the ten waiters who were still in one piece kept glancing nervously at one another.
When a pack of rats is cornered by two cats, there are only two choices: scatter and run, or throw one poor bastard to the cats as bait and bolt.
Could a rat bite a cat?
Of course not. No matter how many rats gathered, they were still just rats. But right now, not a single one of them could be allowed to slip out of here.
"Gilwoo."
What I was after was Kim Baekho, the boss of the Baekho Faction, and Han Suyeong, the director standing behind him. At the very least, no one outside could notice anything was wrong until the two of them arrived.
"Yes, Company Commander... no, brother."
"Too many street hustlers for such an important guest."
I pointed at the wannabe gangster waiter Chow Yun-fat, Kim Sangmin, and Kang Gugong with one finger.
"Leave those three and clear out the rest."
"Yes."
Shin Gilwoo shot to his feet with the same crisp, reflexive obedience he would have shown in the military, then fixed the kneeling waiters with a cold stare.
"I hate repeating myself."
He was certainly acting like a man who had just been discharged that day. Fast, sharp, and still carrying military discipline in his bones.
Still alive and kicking, Shin Gilwoo.
"Hey, you got some kind of storeroom here?"
"There’s a refrigerated storage room for liquor and ingredients."
"Good. Everyone up. Move."
The moment Gilwoo spoke, they all sprang to their feet in perfect unison, like fresh recruits who had just entered boot camp.
"You’re in front."
Gilwoo put the waiter who had mentioned the storeroom in front of him and marched the rest of the waiters toward the refrigerated room.
"Until I open that door again, if I hear even one breath, we all turn into frozen fish in here. Understood?"
"......Yes."
Shin Gilwoo shoved everyone except Chow Yun-fat, Kim Sangmin, and Kang Gugong into the ingredient storage room, locked the door, dusted off his hands, and came back.
"Handled it, brother."
"Good work. They should be here any minute now..."
And the moment I finished speaking, there was a knock at the door from outside.
"What’s this? Nobody home? Why is it so quiet?"
It was the arrival of Kim Baekho, the boss of the Baekho Faction.
"Uh, what should we do?"
At the knock announcing Kim Baekho’s arrival, the waiter Chow Yun-fat glanced nervously at the Wolf, Kim Sangmin, and at me.
"Go on. Your big brother’s here."
"Yes."
"Hold on, Gilwoo."
"Yes, brother."
"You’re going out too."
"......Pardon?"
Gilwoo looked at my expression, immediately grasped my intention, and caught Chow Yun-fat by the shoulder before he could open the door.
Then he walked up to Kang Gugong, who was still kneeling, stripped off his fatigues, and finally sat down in front of Kang Gugong to kick off his combat boots as well.
"What’re you waiting for? Take them off."
"What?"
"We don’t have time. Strip down to your underwear and do it fast. If you drag your feet, I’ll really kill you."
"I-I’ve taken them off!"
As expected, Gilwoo, a former special operations man, had a completely different way of thinking from these gangsters.
Bang, bang, boom—KRAAANG!
Chow Yun-fat took a deep breath in front of the nightclub entrance and spoke up.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ll open it now."
The moment he spoke, the pounding at the door finally stopped. When the door opened, Kim Baekho stood there with a murderous scowl, and behind him was a man in his early thirties wearing an expensive suit, looking mildly irritated.
"You little bastard. Do you have any idea how long Director Han Suyeong has been waiting?"
The second the door opened, Kim Baekho swung a fist, and Chow Yun-fat squeezed his eyes shut.
"The youngest, Gilwoo, is here to greet you, boss."
But Chow Yun-fat’s face never felt a thing. Just as Kim Baekho’s fist was about to smash into his eye socket, Shin Gilwoo casually shoved him aside as if it had all been an accident.
"The youngest? Damn it. This is bad enough that even if Kang Gugong himself came out, it still wouldn’t be enough, and you send the youngest? How the hell am I supposed to show my face in front of Director Han Suyeong after this? Ah..."
Kim Baekho’s sigh echoed through the nightclub.
But by then, my attention was no longer on Kim Baekho.
Han Suyeong, he had said.
The man behind Kim Baekho came into view.
It was unmistakably Han Suyeong. This was a harvest I had never expected.
Built on chemical manufacturing, energy, and industrial infrastructure businesses, Johwa Group had risen to become the ninth-largest conglomerate in South Korea.
And the hidden illegitimate son of the chairman of that group was none other than the wastrel Han Suyeong.
It was an open secret inside the company that the chairman doted on him viciously.
But after already dividing up the lucrative affiliate companies among his legitimate sons and daughters, the only thing left for the retired chairman of Johwa Group to give Han Suyeong was a savings bank—little different from a private loan shark operation.
What mattered most was that the source of the funds Kim Baekho supported Kim Museong with was none other than Johwa Savings Bank.
In my previous life, it was only after I had wiped out the Baekho Faction at terrible cost that I learned the true source of our misery and irritation had been Han Suyeong.
I had planned to approach Han Suyeong naturally by taking over the Baekho Faction one step at a time, but there was no need for that anymore.
Han Suyeong had come straight to me on his own.
"The Wolf and the Red Dog don’t even bother showing their faces and just sit inside waiting? Those sons of bitches. I’ve been too lenient, and now they’re climbing all over me."
"Mr. Kim."
"Yes, Director."
"You’re loud. Am I supposed to keep standing here?"
"S-sorry. I’ll escort you myself."
The pumpkin had dropped straight into my lap.
Or rather, the pumpkin called Kim Baekho had tangled itself around the vine called Han Suyeong, which was already hanging heavy with smaller and larger pumpkins.
"Director Han. Please come this way. I’ll escort you personally."
"Hmm..."
"I’m sorry. I was negligent in managing the men under me. But I’ve prepared things so that tonight won’t feel like a waste of your time, so please—give me just one chance."
"Fine. Lead the way."
"Yes."
Kim Baekho bowed and scraped before the disgruntled Han Suyeong as they entered the nightclub, then passed through the dark corridor and stepped into the main hall where I was waiting.
"W-what the hell is this?!"
Instead of being neatly cleaned up, the hall was littered with broken furniture from the fight Gilwoo and I had just waged to take the place over, and on the tables sat the half-finished bottle of liquor and fruit plates Gilwoo had been eating from.
And then...
"B-boss."
"Mr. Kim!"
The moment Kim Baekho appeared, the Wolf, Kim Sangmin, and Kang Gugong both hurriedly tried to spring to their feet and make for him, but...
Pow. Pow—!
No chance.
I sent a light left and right hook straight into Kim Sangmin and Kang Gugong’s jaws. I hit them at exactly the kind of angle that would leave their brains rattled.
Even a professional fighter would go down if he was caught off guard from an angle that bad.
"Ugh..."
"Uh... huh..."
As expected, Kim Sangmin and Kang Gugong collapsed unconscious on the spot, and Kim Baekho’s shoulders gave a faint twitch.
"Gilwoo. The guest has arrived. Shut down shop for today."
"Yes, brother."
Gilwoo’s cheerful voice echoed from the narrow entranceway.
"Mr. Kim, is this supposed to be some kind of surprise party or something?"
"S-sorry, Director Han. I’ll clean this up right away."
At Han Suyeong’s irritation, Kim Baekho broke into a cold sweat and bowed his head.
"You there. Which crew are you with? Rebuild Faction? Where are the others?"
"The others?"
"You didn’t come alone. Stop pretending and call out everyone hiding. Unless you want me to fillet the lot of you before I’m done. If you don’t want to end up sunk in the sea like the former chairman of the Rebuild Faction, come out now!"
"The others, appear."
Just then, Shin Gilwoo, who had sealed off the nightclub entrance, came into the hall and blocked the narrow escape route leading out the door.
"Brother Jaehyun. What do we do with this thug?"
"Put him to sleep."
"Copy that."
With a playful salute, Shin Gilwoo rolled his neck from side to side and loosened up his muscles.
Kim Baekho’s patience finally snapped.
"Director Han Suyeong, I apologize. I’ll handle this properly so there won’t be any problems."
Kim Baekho pulled a short thirty-centimeter dagger from inside his coat.
"A knife? Damn, that’s cowardly."
Whether you were an ordinary man or a gangster who lived off knife work, the sight of a real blade in bare hands was enough to freeze the body stiff.
But Gilwoo was different.
In his time with the special operations unit, his specialty had been CQB—a comprehensive close-quarters combat system combining close-in fighting, weapon skills, and shooting to subdue enemies within thirty meters. A gangster who wasn’t even a properly trained knife fighter had no business expecting to freeze him with a blind stab.
"Mr. Kim."
At that moment, Han Suyeong, who had been watching the situation silently, stepped forward.
"......Yes, Director Han."
"Let’s keep this reasonable."
"......I’m sorry. This concerns the honor of the organization."
"Fine. We can settle responsibility later. And you there."
Han Suyeong called me over.
"What’s your name?"
"Do Jaehyun."
"Good. Do Jaehyun, I don’t care whether you’re with the Rebuild Faction or not. I just find being in a place like this uncomfortable. I have no intention of meddling with the people left here, and I’d like to be on my way."
Han Suyeong spoke with an air of easy amusement, then reached into his inner pocket, pulled out his wallet, and took out several checks with the motion of a man fishing for loose change.
"That makes fifty million won. I’d say that’s enough for admission, wouldn’t you?"
Han Suyeong tossed the checks onto the floor.