D-Workshop Tour (2)
A while later.
Jae-hyeok’s team continued to tour the D-Workshop.
Gwang-il was showing them the victims whose organs were being harvested and explaining the gruesome business of organ trafficking.
But their minds refused to accept the explanation.
The sight of people being dissected alive right in front of them, organs ripped out while they still screamed, was not a pleasant scene to behold.
And the way those same people’s empty bodies were discarded after their organs were removed only deepened the disgust.
These images left the three of them with a heavy, lingering sense of revulsion.
“And this is where the empty logs are processed.”
Standing in front of the massive shredder, Gwang-il continued his explanation.
“As long as it’s not too much, we shred them and send the pieces to the subcontracting companies’ farms or pig farms.”
Organization members in work clothes fed the harvested corpses into the machine, reducing them to bloody pulp.
“These workshops handle both organ trafficking and corpse disposal together.”
The corpses being shredded, along with Sang-gyu and Jin-cheol’s mental states, were being torn apart.
If I keep doing this for long, I won’t see people as people anymore. I’ll just see them as money machines that calculate how much I can get from dissection.
Jae-hyeok recalled the three most horrific aspects of Gangryonghoe’s operations from his previous life.
Human experiments to test the effects of drugs.
Various porn shoots using people of all genders and ages.
And the organ harvesting required for organ trafficking.
Doing such heinous acts on a national scale… It’s still horrifying to see.
At that moment, a man approached Gwang-il.
“Oh, Senior Hong!! Long time no see.”
Jegal Sang-hwan, the boss of D-Workshop, appeared to be in his late forties—thin-faced, wearing glasses with black frames and a set of work clothes.
“Hello, Boss Jegal!!”
Sang-hwan looked at Jae-hyeok’s team and asked Gwang-il.
“Hm? Are these new recruits from the Suwon branch?”
“No. It’s a security team dispatched from headquarters. The security team members from last time caused quite a ruckus in the house…”
“Ah, so you came in their place??”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Gwang-il pointed to Jae-hyeok and told Sang-hwan.
“This employee caught a VVIP log that was about to escape.”
“Really? If we had missed that, it would have been a headache.”
Sang-hwan grabbed Jae-hyeok’s hand firmly and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you. Really.”
Jae-hyeok’s expression was as if he had bitten into a piece of shit, but the mask and security goggles hid it.
A short while later, Jae-hyeok’s team entered Sang-hwan’s office.
“From tomorrow you’ll be working here. You heard that from Senior Hong, right?”
“Yes.”
Sang-hwan sat down and mixed coffee, then leisurely sipped it.
“If it’s too hard to hold out, tell me. Instead of the log business site, I can move you to the house or pharmacy.”
“Uh… Thank you.”
Sang-gyu and Jin-cheol stared at him with bewildered faces.
“You seem very surprised. Everyone feels that way at first. I was the same. When I was your age…”
Sang-hwan began to tell them about his past, but they couldn’t take in a single word.
Sang-gyu and Jin-cheol were still mentally shattered by the horror of the organ trafficking site they had just witnessed for the first time.
For now, I’ve secured the information that they’re using civilians to hide the business, and if I save the videos I just shot, that should be enough.
Jae-hyeok was already planning to send all the information collected here and what he would gather in the future to the police to bring down this horrific crime syndicate.
After listening to Sang-hwan’s story, he suddenly checked the time on his phone.
“Oh my, time has already become like this. You all head to the accommodation.”
Standing up, Sang-hwan told Jae-hyeok.
“You stay behind for a moment.”
After Sang-gyu and Jin-cheol left, Sang-hwan opened his safe.
“Even just the contract deposit for that log hanging earlier was five billion won.”
Opening the safe, Sang-hwan took out a single gold bar.
“To obtain this, the recruitment ad costs at Garo and all the other expenses added up, so it’s expensive. If we had missed it, we would have suffered at least a five billion won loss.”
He handed the gold bar to Jae-hyeok.
“Since it’s my goodwill, keep it.”
It was a gold bar received after killing one person.
Thinking that the blood of the man who had been dragged away screaming pitifully earlier was now flowing on the gold bar, Jae-hyeok felt a strange disgust.
But he suppressed the feeling, reasoning that refusing goodwill would only create a bad impression.
“… Thank you.”
With a smile and a nod, he left the office.
A short while later, at Crown Hotel.
Jae-hyeok’s team entered the hotel.
“Ugh… My stomach is still churning…”
“Me too… I won’t be able to eat dinner tonight…”
Jae-hyeok was not unaffected by the scenes he had just witnessed.
It wasn’t that he was used to it and no longer felt sick, but the unpleasant feeling remained.
The three of them entered their respective rooms to rest.
As soon as they stepped inside, Jae-hyeok lay on the bed and examined the gold bar he had received from Sang-hwan.
It’s a gold bar received after killing one person who might be innocent…
At this weight, it was worth around one hundred million won.
Even saving one hundred million won while living as a civilian was difficult.
Moreover, being an organization member of a large syndicate like Gangryonghoe and saving that much was never easy.
But it was approximately one hundred million won worth of gold obtained by killing one person.
He didn’t know whether that person had been a gangster hostile to Gangryonghoe who had been harvested for organs, or a civilian who had been taken while living faithfully as someone’s family.
He only knew that a person who might have committed no crime—or perhaps none at all—was screaming for his life, and that he had pushed him into the slaughter.
When that man had run toward him shouting to dodge, Jae-hyeok had seen the terror in his eyes.
He had seen those violently shaking eyes.
He recalled the man running and screaming for his life, and that final shout.
Thinking about it, the brilliant gold bar in his hand felt like a freshly harvested organ still covered in blood.
If I keep thinking about it, the feeling is disgusting…
Seeing the gold bar while recalling the person who was already dead made Jae-hyeok feel extremely unpleasant.
But if he thought further, he was a police officer undercover as a gangster, yet he was earning money by carrying out gangster work.
Thinking like that, he felt as if he had become a disgusting hypocrite.
With his mind growing more complicated, a sick feeling gradually began to rise in his stomach.
Just like when he had first seen the organ trafficking site in his previous life.
For now, Jae-hyeok placed the gold bar on the bed and let out a long sigh.
He slowly closed his eyes and fell into thought.
If time passes like this… Will my boundary between being a police officer and a gangster become vague? Like that time…
Jae-hyeok recalled himself in his previous life, who had risked his life to uncover Gangryonghoe’s crimes and ultimately lost it.
At that time, Jae-hyeok had infiltrated Gangryonghoe, committed their crimes, and collected information about them.
By committing those crimes, he had suffered confusion in his identity.
But in the end, he had continued to uncover Gangryonghoe’s crimes as a police officer and had died as one.
Although he had maintained his identity as a police officer until the end, he now wondered whether he could make the same choice in this life as he had in his previous one.
No!! There is no way!! I held out well back then!! There’s no reason I can’t hold out now!!
Thinking like that, Jae-hyeok sat up.
He stared into the void, wrapped his head with his right hand, and let out another sigh.
“Shit…”
Even cursing didn’t make the complicated thoughts disappear.
Still, he wanted to curse at least to make those thoughts fade.
Meanwhile, in a high-end restaurant in Seoul.
In the VIP room of that restaurant, a secret meeting of the three major figures was taking place.
They sat around the round table in the VIP room.
“Long time no see. I hope you’ve been well these days?”
[Cheon Manhyeong. Cult leader of the pseudo-religious cult Gwangsaenggyo]
“Cheon Cult Leader seems to have lost more flesh since I last saw you. Is it because you’ve been exercising?”
[Choi Gyeong-su. Second-in-command of Gangryonghoe]
“Exercising… I often do it in bed.”
Saying that, Cheon Manhyeong showed a lecherous smile.
“Will you enjoy it together someday? I’ll reserve a room separately.”
“Will you? Speaking of which, it’s been a long time since I haven’t been able to drink water.”
“I’ll introduce you to a decent kid that suits the CEO soon.”
At that moment, another person who had been drinking wine said to them with a stiff expression.
“Let’s finish the greetings and solve the urgent matters first.”
[Cha Jin-yeong. Party leader of the ruling Seonmin Party]
“Is it about that reporter Gu Yong-jin?”
“Yes. The reporter at KBC broadcasting station recently obtained information about my association with Gwangsaenggyo and said he would report it.”
And Gyeong-su continued.
“First, we gave it to Byeong-dong Bin, the editor-in-chief, so that it wouldn’t be reported, but we can’t be complacent.”
“But where is the source of the information?”
In response to Man-hyeong’s question, Jin-yeong answered.
“That’s why leave it to Yeonghoda who’s looking for it, and first, it’s more important to find Gu Yong-jin and handle it.”
Jin-yeong poured wine into his empty glass.
“First, I’ll make a proposal with money. Publishing this article won’t benefit you, so give up and tell me where the source of the information is.”
“Will you hear that I’m making a proposal?”
In response to Man-hyeong’s question, Jin-yeong picked up the wine glass, slowly swirled it, and stirred the wine inside.
“An ordinary person would hesitate even if it were a dilemma. Honestly, is there anyone in today’s world who would follow a belief worth nothing in value even if it endangers their own or family’s safety? In a world where you sell parents and children for money?”
Jin-yeong sipped the wine and continued.
“After that, I’ll make him lean toward ignoring the conflict. It’s important to clearly show that even if he maintains his pathetic belief, it doesn’t change.”
“But there are also lunatics who value belief more than money, right.”
In response to Gyeong-su’s words, Jin-yeong slowly nodded.
“Yes. In such inevitable cases…”
And Jin-yeong dropped the wine glass he was holding.
With a clinking sound, the glass shattered into pieces, and the red wine inside soaked the floor.
“You have to pay the price for that shabby belief.”
Man-hyeong asked Jin-yeong.
“If it’s not possible, isn’t there a way to touch their families?”
“I think it’s enough to just dispose of one party member. There’s no need to waste effort.”
Jin-yeong said to them with a stiff expression, looking at Man-hyeong and Gyeong-su.
“You’re trying to kill one mosquito—are you going to care about the mosquito’s family too?”
At this, Man-hyeong and Gyeong-su remained silent.
“I instructed Yeonghoda to investigate Gu Yong-jin’s whereabouts. There will be news soon.”
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
“Hm, is the news already coming… Come in.”
In response to Jin-yeong’s words, someone entered and reported to him.
He was Ri Myeong-gang, the commander of Yeonghoda, the private army secretly operated by Cha Jin-yeong.
“Gu Yong-jin’s whereabouts have been identified.”
[Ri Myeong-gang. Commander of Yeonghoda]
[Former North Korean Reconnaissance Bureau]
“Report.”
“The broadcasting station side says they haven’t come to work since yesterday and that contact is not possible at the moment.”
“Then, it means you haven’t found him yet?”
Jin-yeong narrowed his eyes and glared at Myeong-gang.
“I have secured the information that Gu Yong-jin is currently at his friend’s house in Suwon.”
“Hmm… Suwon…”
Saying that, Jin-yeong was silent for a moment and then instructed Myeong-gang.
“Then, send a sufficient number of people to Suwon. First, don’t forget to unconditionally persuade them.”
“Understood.”
“If it doesn’t seem like persuasion will work, then dispose of them immediately.”
And Myeong-gang bowed to Jin-yeong and answered.
“Yes, Representative.”