The Assassination Begins (1)
Seo Yeong-seok's words made Seung-gyu ask him worriedly.
"Even though you're doing something right now⋯. Are you okay? I promised to protect that person in exchange for you reporting to me, so I'm stepping in like this..."
“Enough. Send me the information about Cha Jin-yeong.”
'First, meet him and talk. If he's a useful person, request cooperation.'
If what Seung-gyu said was true and Cha Jin-yeong was a journalist with a belief that did not bend to great power,
Seo Yeong-seok planned to request his cooperation in bringing down Gangryonghoe and the crime cartels.
“I understand. Wait a moment.”
Saying that, Seung-gyu quickly typed on the computer keyboard and pressed enter.
“I sent a file with the phone I gave you. Open it and check it.”
After saying that, Seung-gyu hung up, and Seo Yeong-seok opened the file that came on his burner phone.
While looking at the file and walking out of the PC room, at that moment.
A man was passing by Seo Yeong-seok's side, and he was on a call with someone.
“Yeah. Seo-hyeon-ah. Did you and mom go to the hospital well? ......Yeah? Our Seo-hyeon was scared to go to the hospital? ......Ah, it wasn't scary, was it annoying? Haha...”
He definitely looked like the man registered in the photo in the file Seo Yeong-seok was looking at.
'Is that person Cha Jin-yeong?'
Seo Yeong-seok alternated between the file he was looking at and the man walking in the distance.
'He said Seo-hyeon earlier. Cha Jin-yeong's daughter's name is also Seo-hyeon. So it's probably Cha Jin-yeong.'
With that certainty, Seo Yeong-seok was watching Cha Jin-yeong's back when another man passed by his side.
When the man passed by his side, Seo Yeong-seok paused for a moment with an uneasy feeling.
'What is this? This dirty feeling...?'
Having been with thugs who kill people like eating for a long time in Gangryonghoe, Seo Yeong-seok's sense of killing intent had become sensitive.
And that sensitive sense was warning that the person who just passed was definitely not a normal person.
'Killing intent...!! Is it possible...?!'
Seo Yeong-seok, out of caution, quietly followed the man from behind.
The suspicious man was chasing Cha Jin-yeong.
And Seo Yeong-seok was chasing the suspicious man.
At that time, the apartment where Cha Jin-yeong currently resides.
Currently, Cha Jin-yeong's family was staying at Cha Tae-min's house for a while.
“Where is Yong-jin?”
Tae-min asked Cha Jin-yeong's wife, Sung Hye-bin.
“He went out to meet a friend for a bit.”
“Does he go to crowded places often?”
“Fortunately, it seems so. The surroundings were noisy.”
“Really... That friend of Yong-jin's... I see him sometimes... The kid is too upright. Like bamboo.”
“That's why I got married.”
Hye-bin smiled faintly at Tae-min, and he unconsciously sighed.
“Hye-bin-ssi. Yong-jin... Isn't he resentful?”
“Not at all. He tried to become a family that isn't ashamed of us by doing the right thing.”
Although he fled Seoul with his husband like running away in panic, Hye-bin didn't resent her husband.
She knew her husband was trying to do the right thing.
But even so, it was natural that she was worried about her husband.
At that time, the doorbell rang.
Tae-min went to the front door.
“Who is it?”
“Police officer from Suwon ▽▽ Police Station. Is Cha Tae-min here?”
“Yes. I am, but what is the matter?”
“Regarding Cha Jin-yeong, we will investigate for a moment, but could you come with us?”
Tae-min tried to open the door.
But recalling what Cha Jin-yeong was involved in now, he paused.
“Cha Tae-min-ssi? Open the door.”
“You... Are you really police?”
“If you don't believe it, look at the intercom.”
Then Tae-min saw the official ID card reflected on the intercom.
The face in the photo on the screen and the face of the police asking to open the door matched.
'Stay calm. It could be a police officer who received orders from Cha Jin-yeong. Thinking about what Cha Jin-yeong is involved in now... No one should trust lightly.'
“Cha Tae-min-ssi. Open the door. We are trying to help Cha Jin-yeong and Cha Tae-min.”
“Tae-min-ssi... What is going on?”
Hye-bin asked Tae-min anxiously, and Seo-hyeon hid behind her mom.
Tae-min looked back and forth between the closed front door, Hye-bin, and Seo-hyeon, in conflict.
“If you come out so uncooperatively, even if we want to help Cha Jin-yeong, we can't help. Please open the door.”
'What should I do...? Should I open the door...? He might really be a police officer...'
'No. I can't open it lightly!! I don't know if they're really police!!'
'What should I do...? What should I do...?'
And he looked at Hye-bin and Seo-hyeon.
“They're not coming in right away.”
One man in front of Cha Tae-min's house door said to the man next to him in a low voice.
“Is it possible that he noticed?”
[Kim Gwang-yul. Yeonghoda member]
“That won't be the case. We showed the ID card, so we won't hastily suspect that we're fake.”
[Hwang Jae-chun. Yeonghoda member]
“Yeah, that's right.”
“We're applying pressure slowly and waiting for Cha Tae-min to open the door.”
“Instead, what about Cha Jin-yeong?”
“That side will handle it on their own. We only need to worry about Cha Tae-min and Cha Jin-yeong's family.”
At that time, the door to the next house of Cha Tae-min opened, and Seo Yeong-seok came out.
Seeing them with a suspicious appearance, Yeong-seok scanned the two men up and down.
“Who is it?”
“You don't need to worry. Go on your way.”
Then Yeong-seok narrowed his eyes and said to them.
“That's not possible. Since I'm close to the owner of this house, I can't just pass by.”
Saying that, Yeong-seok took out his phone, and Jae-chun grabbed Yeong-seok's hand to stop his action and smiled faintly.
“Sorry. We are police who came to investigate Cha Tae-min. We came to find Cha Tae-min because we will investigate related to Cha Tae-min's acquaintances.”
“Ah, I see? Is your affiliation...?”
And Gwang-yul and Jae-chun extended their official ID cards to him.
Fake official ID cards obtained with Cha Jin-yeong's help.
“Hmm... You are from Suwon ▽▽ Police Station. Detective Ji Se-hoon... and Detective Han Ji-seok?”
“Yes. That's right.”
Yeong-seok looked at Gwang-yul and Jae-chun suspiciously for a moment, then said to Jae-chun.
“Detective Ji Se-hoon?”
“Yes?”
“There's something strange.”
And Yeong-seok pointed to his left eye corner with his left index finger and asked him.
“Detective Ji's scar on the left eye corner has disappeared?”
“Yes...? A scar? What do you mean...?”
While asking that, Jae-chun recalled the face of Detective Ji Se-hoon he had seen when making the fake ID.
'Now that I think about it, that detective guy... He did have a scar on his face. But what does that have to do with it?'
“You don't know?”
Jae-chun and Gwang-yul blinked at Yeong-seok, and he said to them with a fierce expression.
“The scar on Detective Ji Se-hoon's face. I made it, you scam bastards.”
Yeonghoda members gave money to those detectives through Cha Jin-yeong's people and got only their ID cards.
They received only the fake ID cards from those detectives and didn't hear detailed stories.
So, Seo Yeong-seok, the one who carved the scar in Detective Ji Se-hoon's eye, didn't know that he lived next door to Cha Tae-min.
This was a mistake by the Yeonghoda who didn't predict this situation and didn't do proper pre-investigation.
'These bastards... What kind of bullshit is this!!'
Yeong-seok glared at the two startled men.
At that time, Gwang-yul standing behind Jae-chun slowly moved his hand towards the knife handle on his waist.
At some distance.
Cha Jin-yeong kept walking in crowded areas, and the suspicious man kept chasing after Cha Jin-yeong.
'What is this...? Is he chasing me?'
Cha Jin-yeong had boldly said that to Jun-gil at the cafe earlier.
But his heart was gradually filling with fear of death.
But that fear, for a moment, Cha Jin-yeong comforted himself and kept walking.
'It's okay. I knew this could happen.'
'And I won't start actions in crowded places. It can't be...'
At that time, the phone in Cha Jin-yeong's pocket rang, and he answered it.
“Hello?”
“Dad!!!”
It was his daughter's voice, Seo-hyeon.
Cha Jin-yeong's mind was greatly shaken by his daughter's urgent voice.
“Seo-hyeon-ah?!! Seo-hyeon!!!”
Then, a man's voice was heard.
“Cha Jin-yeong-ssi. Do you realize now what choice you've made...?”
“What kind of thing is this!!”
“Lower your voice, and listen to what I say first.”
Then Cha Jin-yeong slowly regained his composure and asked the man.
“What... What should I do...?”
“There are quite a few people around, right? Come to a place with little people.”
“What?”
“I have something important to say, that's why it's hard to do it in a crowded place.”
In this situation, telling him to come to a place with little people was no different from telling him to come to die.
Knowing this, Cha Jin-yeong was about to refuse.
But he couldn't make a hasty decision because his daughter's scream lingered in his ears.
Realizing Cha Jin-yeong's heart, the man said.
“Please make a quick decision. If you do something foolish...”
And his daughter's crying voice was heard.
“Dad!!! I'm in pain!!! Dad!!!”
“I understand!! I understand... Please...!!”
In the end, Cha Jin-yeong broke down, and the man said to him.
“If you understand, move quickly. There's someone watching behind you, so don't even think about doing anything strange.”
And the man hung up, and Cha Jin-yeong slowly turned around.
Then, a man wearing a cap, holding a phone, nodded to him.
Then Cha Jin-yeong moved his steps, and the man chased after him.
But the man didn't know that Seo Yeong-seok was chasing him from behind.
'Where is he going? Cha Jin-yeong seemed to have been threatened just now...'
Seo Yeong-seok tailed the man following Cha Jin-yeong, and the three entered a deserted alley.
'There's almost no one here... Is he trying to lure me here?!'
Suddenly, the man approached Cha Jin-yeong with a knife, and Seo Yeong-seok picked up a steel pipe from the floor and swung it at the back of his head.
But the man felt Seo Yeong-seok's presence and dodged the attack.
“Cha Jin-yeong-ssi!! Run!!!”
Seo Yeong-seok shouted to Cha Jin-yeong, and he looked at Seo Yeong-seok and the man with a greatly surprised expression.
The man swung the knife at Seo Yeong-seok, and Seo Yeong-seok backed away and dodged the attack.
And Seo Yeong-seok continued swinging the steel pipe at the man and shouted.
“Go!!! Hurry!!!”
Cha Jin-yeong, who was hesitating, ran down the alley, and the man widened the distance from Seo Yeong-seok and asked him.
“Hah... This brat... What are you?”
[Cheon Tae-rang. Yeonghoda member]
'What is this? It sounds like a North Korean accent... A North Korean defector killer?'
And Tae-rang turned the knife around and held it backwards, smiling at Seo Yeong-seok.
“You came to save Cha Jin-yeong, right? Sorry, what should I do?”
At that time, two people approached Seo Yeong-seok from behind, and they also took out knives.
'Shit... He wasn't alone?'
“This brat... Kill him quickly.”
And the three men ran at Seo Yeong-seok swinging knives.
Cha Jin-yeong, running down the alley, looked back.
What Seo Yeong-seok saw in Cha Jin-yeong's eyes was Seo Yeong-seok fighting with three men holding knives.
'I don't know who you are... Sorry. Really sorry...'
While Cha Jin-yeong kept running, someone blocked his way.
“Ah... Nice to meet you again here? Cha Jin-yeong-ssi.”
[Gye Jun-gil. Yeonghoda member]
Jun-gil smiled wickedly at Cha Jin-yeong, and next to him, a woman smiled faintly and said to Cha Jin-yeong in Seo-hyeon's voice.
“Dad. Why did you come now?”
Only then did Cha Jin-yeong realize that all this was a trap to lure him to a deserted place and kill him.
And when Cha Jin-yeong faced death, he felt fear and stepped back.
Jun-gil showed a eerie smile to such Cha Jin-yeong and said.
“I told you, right? In the future, we'll meet in a place with no one.”
In the end, Cha Jin-yeong who was stepping back tripped and sat down.
Jun-gil approached the sitting Cha Jin-yeong and took out a knife from his pocket.
“Don't worry. I'll send your family painlessly soon.”