The Penniless Hero (End)
The cold touch of the gun barrel pressed against my temple. One wrong word, and I was sure a bullet would punch right through it.
"Does it matter where I heard it?"
"You messin' with me right now?"
"I'm dead serious, though? You're the heir to the Sangoong faction that ruled Gyeongsang Province, yet here you are operating as the Prince faction in Meta Seoul. Doesn't that have something to do with that pendant?"
At my words, Lee Jung-woo lowered the gun from my temple with a sigh and sat down beside me.
Whew~ Guess I bought myself some time to live.
"Spill everything you know."
I organized my thoughts and opened my mouth.
"Sangoong faction. The tigers of Busan. The previous boss, Lee Ho-cheol, who dragged Gyeongsang Province— which never cracked the national top tier— all the way up there."
"That's old news everyone's heard. That all you got?"
I shook my head and continued.
"Lee Ho-cheol's death. The short mourning period. Even with you as heir, Lee Jung-woo, over half the faction's executives voted yes, so your uncle Lee Beom-cheol— Ho-cheol's right-hand man— climbed to the boss seat."
As my explanation dragged on, I could see Lee Jung-woo's expression shifting bit by bit. Everyone knew Lee Beom-cheol was now chairman of TL Group, formerly Sangoong faction, but how he'd seized that position was still a mystery. No wonder she found it shocking that I knew.
"The decisive moment that let current TL Group chairman Lee Beom-cheol take the Sangoong boss throne? The March 1st Uprising. You probably don't know why that clash with their rival faction, Jangsan, even happened in the first place."
I kept going.
"Back then, Sangoong's underboss Lee Beom-cheol and Jangsan's underboss Jang Beom-su? They were childhood friends from elementary school. One week before the March 1st Uprising, they met at a bar in Busan and hatched their plan."
This was straight out of the heroine side story that dropped after the main story wrapped— Lee Jung-woo side story episode 3. Her arc was pure noir, a total contrast to the cyberpunk action of the novel, and it hooked readers hard.
"Lee Beom-cheol pitched it to Jang Beom-su: 'If I become Sangoong boss, I'll hand over all the prime territories in Gyeongsan, Yangsan, and Changwon that we've got locked down.'"
And here's where it dropped the bomb: the March 1st Uprising wasn't some turf war between the factions.
"Jang Beom-su bit, accepted the deal, and they both started sowing discord in their own groups. Then boom— March 1st, it all explodes in Busan Jung-gu. In the chaos, Jang Beom-su stabs his own brother, and Lee Beom-cheol does the same to his, Lee Ho-seong. The bosses drop, the uprising fizzles out fast, and after a quick mourning period— like you know— Lee Beom-cheol slides into the next boss spot."
But Lee Beom-cheol didn't honor the deal with Jang Beom-su. A guy who'd knife his own blood? What loyalty to a childhood pal?
During the peace truce, he hit Jangsan while they were off-guard, absorbed them, bulked up Sangoong even more. With that power, Beom-cheol rocketed the faction to national number one, then went legit and founded TL Group.
"But there was one thing Lee Beom-cheol didn't know back then. Lee Ho-cheol had already sniffed out his scheme. It wasn't until years later that Chairman Lee Beom-cheol learned about the pendant where Ho-cheol had stashed all the proof before dying."
And even knowing it existed, he had no clue where it was hidden. He sicced his men on a full sweep but came up empty.
"That's why you're operating in Seoul. You know Lee Ho-cheol hid that pendant somewhere in Meta Seoul, right?"
Lee Jung-woo, who'd been wearing that subtle expression the whole time, finally relaxed and spoke.
"If you know that much, where'd ya hear it?"
My answer here would make or break it.
"H Group. Not anymore, but my real name's Hwang Bo-jun."
"Hwang Bo-jun of H Group? That spoiled punk?"
"Yeah, that trash Hwang Bo-jun... You know how scary H Group's Strategic Planning Division intel is, right?"
H Group's Strategic Planning Division— the powerhouse gripping Cyber Korea's business world— had intel better than any government agency. Sure, I had zero connection to them, and even Chairman Hwang couldn't waltz in. So claiming that was a straight-up lie.
Everyone knew they existed, but how closed-off they were? Only a handful in the group knew. No way Lee Jung-woo could verify, so it'd stick.
"Ha... haha! So that's how ya knew? But Hwang Bo-jun turned into a woman? What the hell happened?"
"......No comment."
After a beat of silence, Lee Jung-woo stared me down and said,
"I'll buy half of it. Half on faith, the rest depends on your moves."
"So if I find the pendant, you'll buy the rest?"
"Yeah, but only if ya find it."
"You're lending me the money, then?"
"Hey, Hwang Bo-jun— what're ya gonna do with cash from me?"
"Well, that's..."
The next day.
To register my new identity, I'd come to the Gangnam branch of the Cyber Center. Following the instructions, I placed my palm on the panel.
Via electric signals, the electronic document beamed into my body's nanomachines, then projected visually in front of me through them.
"Name, huh... What should I go with?"
I agonized over the name field. Using Hwang felt wrong after they tossed me out like trash.
"Aha!"
A perfect one hit me. My old world's surname, Joo, mixed with the alias Ellie from Night Bunny. I typed it right in.
Name: Ju Ae-ri
Ju Ae-ri. That was my new name.
"Even I gotta admit, that's a solid pick."
With the name sorted, the rest flew by.
I paid the 500 coin advance from Lee Jung-woo and confirmed the completion message before heading out.
Outside, at the parking lot where Lee Jung-woo's car waited, she spotted me leaning against it, smoking. She stubbed out her cig and walked over.
Wonder what cigs even taste like with nanomachines filtering everything?
"All done?"
"Yeah."
"Hop in."
Lee Jung-woo headed to the driver's side, and I slid into the passenger seat.
This thing's pretty retro for the era. The dialect, the smoking... she got a vintage vibe goin'?
As I buckled in, she fired up the engine and peeled out.
"So, what name'd ya pick?"
"Ju Ae-ri."
"Ju Ae-ri... Got it. From now on, Ae-ri it is. Cool with that?"
"Fine by me. So, where we headed?"
"Where else? Myeongdong."
Myeongdong meant Prince faction HQ first, probably. The car cruised smooth toward it.
Even in cyberpunk times, fashion lived on. Myeongdong: eternal fashion mecca since old Korea days, now reclaiming its financial hub crown from Yeouido.
"We're here. Out."
The car stopped at a mechanical lot in front of a building. I got out and eyed it.
<Prince Financial>
The massive neon sign blaring from the building's center. So the whole damn thing was hers? Impressive.
Losing her dad, bailing from the faction near-broke, and building this? Worlds apart from me.
Thought it'd be some hole-in-the-wall two-story office. This is next-level.
"C'mon in."
"Right."
Following her after she parked, the first-floor staff bowed 90 degrees to her.
"Boss, you're here?"
"Eh, cut it. We ain't gangsters. Just do your jobs."
"Yes, sir!"
Huh? Not gangsters? You're a mob princess. What, we went legit so drop the thug act?
We took the elevator. Stepping out, walking the hall, a scream ripped out: 'Kwaaaagh!'
"What was that?"
"Remember yesterday? Gold Horse screamin' his lungs out."
Ah... that sleazy bastard. Getting some heavenly punishment too hellish to describe.
And she still says not gangsters? Sure, Jan.
"Here we are."
At the hall's end, she punched the door panel. It slid open.
She plopped on the room's sofa, pointed to the opposite one.
I sat. She locked eyes and kicked off.
"Alright... Let's start with the deal. Where's the pendant?"