Tour of the D-Workshop (1)
The next day, in Suwon. Jaehyuk, Sanggyu, and Jincheol arrived at the Crown Hotel Suwon Branch. The three of them stepped inside the hotel.
[Hong Gwangil. Assistant Manager, Crown Hotel Suwon Branch]
A man wearing a black suit, standing around the upper end of 170 centimeters and appearing to be in his late twenties, approached them. Jaehyuk answered.
Following Gwangil's lead, the three made their way to Seo Myungwoo. Standing in front of the general manager's office door, Gwangil gave it a light knock.
Gwangil opened the door, and the three stepped into the general manager's office. Myungwoo, who had been sitting in his chair, spotted Jaehyuk and broke into a crooked grin.
Just as Jaehyuk had expected, Myungwoo didn't seem to be holding any lingering grudge against him.
He took a drag from his cigarette before addressing all three of them.
Exhaling a plume of smoke, Myungwoo pointed at the sofa in front of him with the hand holding his cigarette. Once the three had sat down, he took a seat on the opposite sofa while holding a document envelope.
Myungwoo opened the envelope and handed several sheets of paper to each of them.
Jaehyuk scanned through his documents thoroughly.
'It's one of the businesses in the ◇◇ district… So this is the so-called D-Workshop. A place that mainly deals in organ trafficking.'
Among the Gangryonghoe's operations, the places referred to as workshops were primarily involved in the organ trade.
Jincheol asked him,
Myungwoo then explained what their duties at the workshop would entail.
At that moment, Jaehyuk asked a question.
Having said that, Myungwoo asked them,
All three answered that they had none.
Then Myungwoo shouted toward the door.
Hong Gwangil came back inside, and Myungwoo gave him instructions.
A short while later, Jaehyuk and the others arrived at the D-Workshop. The place known as the D-Workshop looked, from the outside, like a clean and ordinary building.
At Jincheol's comment, Gwangil replied.
Carrying bundles wrapped in cloth, they went up to the upper level and rang the doorbell of one of the units.
After a moment, someone opened the door—a young woman and a little girl.
The child gave Gwangil a polite bow.
Jincheol and Sanggyu looked utterly confused at the scene.
What the hell? Didn't they say this was a place that sells logs? Why is there a woman raising a child here??
But Jaehyuk's thoughts were different. He had seen this kind of thing countless times in his previous life.
The residential units on the upper floors of the workshop are given to civilians after paying them off so they can live there. It's all to disguise the organ trafficking operation in the basement as an ordinary residential building.
He glanced at the woman who was smiling and chatting with Gwangil.
From the civilians' perspective, there's nothing to lose. They get paid every month and even get a house out of it.
Jaehyuk looked at the child staring blankly at Gwangil with pure, innocent eyes.
How many people would truly believe that organ trafficking is happening in the basement of the villa where children live?
Gwangil set the cloth-wrapped bundle on the floor and spoke to the woman.
The child was excited, completely unaware of anything. Watching her, Jaehyuk's expression grew bitter.
Jaehyuk looked down at the cloth-wrapped bundle.
Payment for keeping up the facade. These civilians aren't completely unaware of what's happening in the basement. But they've made a deal with the Gangryonghoe, taking a large sum of money in exchange for cooperating with their crimes. After all, who knows what kind of harm might come to them if they showed any uncooperative attitude.
After exchanging pleasant greetings with several more households, Gwangil handed them the cloth-wrapped bundles. About an hour later, while walking toward the basement, Sanggyu asked Gwangil,
He grinned at Sanggyu and continued.
Meanwhile, back at the first house they had visited, the woman was unwrapping the bundle.
The child smiled brightly, and the woman placed the beef on the table. When she lifted the neatly arranged beef slightly, bundles of 50,000 won bills were visible underneath. The woman's expression as she looked at the stack of money was a strange mix of joy and guilt.
Yeah. It's better to stay quiet and get paid every month than to stick my nose into helping people I don't even know…
Rationalizing her choice like that, the woman covered the stack of bills with the beef.
In the villa basement. They were in the middle of touring the D-Workshop. Occasional horrific screams echoed through the basement.
Gwangil dug at his ear with his index finger and muttered in annoyance.
He walked over to where the work uniforms were lined up.
Jaehyuk, Sanggyu, and Jincheol changed into the work uniforms, and Gwangil did the same. They also put on masks and latex gloves. Once fully prepared, they entered one of the rooms.
In their line of sight was a young man lying completely naked on an operating table. His eyes were open, but he looked as if he had fainted.
Gwangil asked the syndicate members who were about to begin the organ extraction.
Gwangil turned to the three with an intrigued look.
The syndicate members then sliced open the victim's abdomen with a scalpel. The victim made no sound. Or more precisely, he couldn't.
They used a muscle relaxant. It's the method organ trafficking organizations usually employ to keep the organs at maximum freshness.
Jaehyuk watched as the victim's belly was split open and his organs were removed one by one while he remained completely motionless. It was impossible to tell his exact condition since he wasn't moving, but the pain of having every organ in his body removed while fully conscious must have been excruciating.
When you're dissected while injected with a muscle relaxant… the victim feels every bit of that pain. They can't die immediately from shock and suffer until the very end.
Thinking this, Jaehyuk observed the syndicate members skillfully removing a person's organs as if it were just another day at the office. Sanggyu and Jincheol stood frozen in shock at the horrific sight. But Jaehyuk suppressed his rage at this heinous crime and calmly observed the situation.
The syndicate members carefully placed the extracted organs into a container while chatting among themselves.
Gwangil spoke to the dispatched personnel, including Jaehyuk.
A little later, after the syndicate members had removed the victim's lungs, one of them instructed another.
Gwangil explained.
Eventually, Sanggyu bolted out of the room, retching. Jincheol finally closed his eyes and turned his head away. Seeing this, Gwangil shook his head.
Jaehyuk answered.
Jaehyuk himself had seen scenes like this countless times in his past life, so he was naturally accustomed to them. Though that unique feeling of disgust and unease remained as strong as ever.
He gazed at the victim, whose heart had also been removed and whose body had grown cold, with a complicated look in his eyes.
It's tragic, but right now, there's nothing I can do here to save the victims… Nothing at all.
Suppressing his sense of helplessness and sorrow, Jaehyuk clenched his fist tightly where no one could see.
The only thing I can do right now is gather information on these pieces of trash so they can pay for it later.
A little while later, after watching several organ extraction procedures, Sanggyu and Jincheol looked completely out of it.
Jaehyuk asked them in a low voice.
Jincheol then asked Jaehyuk in a low voice.
Just then, a commotion broke out nearby.
Jincheol looked around. A naked man with incision lines drawn on his abdomen in marker was screaming as he sprinted down the hallway.
The syndicate members tried to subdue the man, but the large fellow used his physique to shove them aside and keep running. When some of them pulled out knives or hammers, one of the pursuing members shouted.
The man reached right in front of Jaehyuk. Jaehyuk's mind raced. Should he help this man escape from the organ traffickers? If he helped him escape, it would somehow come back to bite him. It would become an obstacle to his future missions. But pretending not to see was already too late since he'd been watching the whole time. If they let him get away, the blame would fall on everyone who failed to stop him—including himself. If the true nature of the D-Workshop got exposed because of this, every person involved here would suffer consequences. The man was right in front of him, and there were many witnesses watching. In that case, what would happen to his own fate if he missed the chance to stop this incident? Would these ruthless gangsters just let him off the hook?
In the end, Jaehyuk made his decision. He collided head-on with the man charging toward him and hooked his foot around the man's ankle, tripping him. The man fell along with Jaehyuk, and the syndicate members seized him.
One of the syndicate members helped the fallen Jaehyuk to his feet and expressed his gratitude.
Saved… us? Saved us…? No. I couldn't save him…
Jaehyuk stared blankly at the man as he was dragged away by the syndicate members, screaming desperately for someone to save him.