Duel on the Boat
The boat had been under way for more than an hour now, and Choi Jeong-san was growing steadily more irritated by the length of the journey. He wanted to cross the border on the smuggling ship bound for Russia as quickly as possible, then board a pleasant plane and be done with it.
"Park Chief. Ask the captain how much longer this is supposed to take. I'm sick to death of staring at nothing but the sea."
"I already asked him a moment ago, but..."
"Then ask again! What kind of idiot doesn't understand that?"
"...Yes, sir."
Frowning, Park Jin-tae went back into the cabin where the captain was waiting. And there, he delivered the order that would spell Choi Jeong-san's end.
"Captain Mikhail. Let's stop it now."
"There's no problem here. I'll stop."
There wasn't another ship in sight, and no one around to be watching. It was the perfect place.
"If there's a problem with my work, help me."
With his rough face and low voice, the captain, James, reassured Park Jin-tae.
"I'll help you. Don't worry. Are you ready?"
"I'm always ready."
"But wait a minute. We have to stop the ship."
"OK."
The person James intended to help was none other than Choi Jeong-san.
That way, the two of you can tear each other apart.
Before Park Jin-tae could leave the cabin, James planted a small doubt in Choi Jeong-san's head.
I have my luggage, so why doesn't Park Jin-tae have any?
"!"
Choi Jeong-san turned at the sudden question that had risen in his mind.
Why? Why did he only bring my bags?
James added another.
I need more than pocket change for the money I'm going to use overseas. Where did Park Jin-tae get that kind of money?
"!"
Choi Jeong-san felt a chill creep down his spine. Once a question took hold, more and more followed in its wake.
Is he just handing that over for me? Was Park Jin-tae really that kind of man?
"!"
No, he wasn't. No matter how Choi Jeong-san thought about it, Park Jin-tae would never just hand over money for his sake. He had already been driven out of the TY Group succession line, and there was no future to promise.
He and I were never that close.
Far from friendship, he had always barked out impossible orders and paid him a pitiful reward for success.
The ship's slowing down, but I still can't see any smuggling vessel bound for Russia. Something's wrong!
Choi Jeong-san quickly looked around, and confirmed that there wasn't a single ship in sight.
"H-Hey... there's nothing here?"
The doubt had become suspicion.
Park Jin-tae must resent me enough to kill me and leave me with nothing.
"!"
I need to get a knife ready before Park Jin-tae comes out!
The threat to his life sent him into a panic.
I saw a knife earlier. Captain Mikhail! He was definitely holding a knife.
He hurried to the bow, remembering the knife the captain had been using.
There it is!
Thanks to the rough-looking captain carving up an apple with a heavy camping machete, he now had a weapon to defend himself with.
Choi Jeong-san tucked the knife into the back of his waistband and waited for Park Jin-tae to appear.
Then, at last, the ship, which had been slowing little by little, came to a full stop.
"Let's start. I'll take care of the back."
At the captain's words, Park Jin-tae nodded and left the cabin.
* * *
"Sir, we've arrived. He says if we wait here, the ship bound for Russia will be here soon."
But even now, there was still no sign of any vessel.
"Really?"
One side was prepared to kill, and the other was drowning in suspicion.
"But... Park Jin-tae... you didn't have any luggage. Weren't you coming with me?"
"Ah... I'm fine. I was planning to buy everything new once I got there."
Park Jin-tae was drawing closer, one step at a time.
"Wouldn't that just cost a lot more money for no reason?"
"I should be carrying your bags, sir. If I'd brought my own too, I wouldn't have been able to manage it."
It was a reasonable enough excuse, but Choi Jeong-san, already packed to the brim with suspicion, couldn't make sense of it.
Did Park Jin-tae suddenly have money to spare? Didn't that bastard get tossed out after he took over the company? Didn't he say something about whether they'd even pay him severance?
Park Jin-tae had told him that he was staying away from the company as he began living in an officetel, and that he was on bad terms with the current management because he'd been fired for not going in at all.
"...Still, I've worked for years. I should have enough money for that much."
"......"
"Come this way. If you wait inside, the smuggling ship bound for Russia will arrive soon and contact us."
"I'll wait here. The breeze feels nice, and it's been a while since I've looked at the sea."
"Didn't you just say a moment ago that you were sick of it?"
Choi Jeong-san had been asking again and again when they would arrive because he was so bored of looking at the sea.
"N-No, it's fine now. I can wait longer."
"Then why not wait inside with a cool drink? You'll have to look at the sea until you're sick of it again on the ship to Russia."
Park Jin-tae was striding toward Choi Jeong-san. And the moment suspicion turned to certainty was when Park Jin-tae's hand slipped into his jacket.
Choi Jeong-san sprang backward, lowering his body and reaching behind him to grab the knife.
"Don't come any closer."
"......"
"What's in your jacket, Park Jin-tae? Take it out."
"......"
Park Jin-tae stopped cold and looked around. Then he spotted Captain Mikhail, peeking out from the left side. The captain gave a small nod, as if to say he was ready to move whenever needed.
No other ships... and my backup is in place. No point hiding it any longer.
"Our boss is sharper than I expected. How did you figure it out?"
"!"
Choi Jeong-san tensed further at Park Jin-tae's casual tone and tightened his grip on the knife.
"But it's too late. There's nobody here who can help you."
"What the hell did I do wrong? I've kept you fed all this time!"
"You kept me fed?"
Park Jin-tae laughed out loud as though he'd heard something hilarious.
"Puhahaha. You kept me fed? Unless you've lost your mind, how can you say something like that? If anything, I spent my whole life cleaning up after your stupid bullshit! That's the only way you could say you kept me alive!!"
"......"
"Let's stop making this complicated and end it already, Choi Jeong-san."
When Park Jin-tae closed to within arm's reach, Choi Jeong-san's hand shot forward.
Whoosh!
Park Jin-tae, as if he had anticipated it all along, leapt backward and slipped cleanly out of the knife's path.
"I wondered what you were hiding. Is that all you've got?"
"...Damn it."
Park Jin-tae had a smaller knife of his own, but he was brimming with confidence.
"You forgot why you kept me at your side, didn't you? I was UDT."
Park Jin-tae had completed his military service in the UDT, the Underwater Demolition Team under the Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla. Choi Jeong-san had valued that background highly enough to keep him close.
"You remember the job you gave me to prove my worth?"
Choi Jeong-san recalled the task he'd assigned Park Jin-tae not long after he'd come into the company.
"......"
"You told me to kill that woman's mother."
Park Jin-tae dragged the old memory back into the light and forced it into Choi Jeong-san's mind.
"So I followed your order and dealt with her cleanly. It was my first kill. You have no idea how scared and shaky I was."
Even now, Park Jin-tae was still haunted by that nightmare. It had gotten worse after he told James what had happened that day.
"That was decades ago... Why are you bringing that up now?"
"Do you know how much money you gave me as payment for it?"
"......"
Choi Jeong-san didn't remember, but Park Jin-tae remembered clearly.
"One hundred thousand won. You gave me one hundred thousand won and called it good work."
After ordering him to carry out the monstrous task of murder, Choi Jeong-san had wiped his mouth with the bare minimum of compensation. He'd figured that since the killing itself was already a serious crime for Park Jin-tae, he wouldn't dare make a fuss about it.
"And today... if I kill you, how much do you think I'll get...?"
"...What?"
"You don't seriously think I'd do this for free."
"!"
Park Jin-tae smiled thinly.
"Ten billion won. That's the extra money I'll get if I clean you up today. Add that to what I've already been paid, and it's two hundred billion won altogether. Isn't your neck worth a fortune?"
"Who was it?! Who ordered my death!"
Choi Jeong-san tried to think of who might have put a contract on him. There were plenty of candidates.
"Jeong-pil? Did that bastard say to get rid of me?"
"Choi Jeong-pil isn't cold-blooded enough to kill his own brother and call it cleaning up. You might be, though."
"Then... my wife..."
His wife, too, had lashed out with vicious words after the affair with his mistress came to light.
"Madam might want to kill you, but not enough to actually do it. And there's no way a woman divorcing you would pay me ten billion won, either."
"Father! It was Father who ordered it!"
This time Choi Jeong-san thought of his father, but again Park Jin-tae shook his head.
"Would Chairman Choi hand his son over to me? Maybe if he were going to deal with you himself..."
Choi Jeong-san thought of one last suspect, but he couldn't be sure.
"Don't tell me... James...?"
Only then did Park Jin-tae nod and answer.
"Correct."
"!!"
"If you tried to kill someone and get rid of them, shouldn't you be prepared to bear the backlash that comes back at you?"
Park Jin-tae was advancing leisurely toward Choi Jeong-san.
"I've answered your questions, so now it's time to go. Don't blame me. I'm only doing this because your son hired me. Tsk."
Choi Jeong-san couldn't die here.
"I-I'll pay double! Four hundred billion! Kill that bastard instead!"
"Oh? Do you have that kind of money? Our boss here isn't penniless anymore, is he?"
"I still have my seven percent stake! If I cash that out..."
Park Jin-tae gave a snort and corrected him.
"Hah. How long ago did your stake disappear? You don't have any shares left."
"What?"
"Chairman Choi told me to clean things up, so I took care of all your paperwork too."
"!!"
It was with Park Jin-tae's help that Chairman Choi had been able to strip Choi Jeong-san of his shares.
"Of course, all the money that came from the cleanup went straight into Chairman Choi's pocket too. He wasn't any different from you. Not a single word of thanks, not a single won of compensation. Like father, like son."
"Those shares are mine..."
"They were inherited shares, weren't they? They just went back to their rightful owner."
Park Jin-tae moved faster than the stumbling, retreating Choi Jeong-san.
"Now let's go. When you meet that woman in the afterlife, beg her until your head hits the ground. Then maybe I won't have to keep having nightmares."
"N-No."
Wielding the dagger in reverse grip, Park Jin-tae dazzled Choi Jeong-san's eyes with swift, flashing movements and slipped easily into his guard.
Slash. Spurt.
The dagger in Park Jin-tae's hand cut the muscles with ruthless efficiency, stripping away the last shred of threat.
"Ghk!"
Crash.
Choi Jeong-san let go of the machete as Park Jin-tae's blade sliced into his chest and arm.
Thud.
Not giving him any room to breathe, Park Jin-tae immediately readjusted his grip and drove the knife in again.
Stab.
"Urrk."
Choi Jeong-san was trembling at the sensation of the sharp blade buried deep in his abdomen, and Park Jin-tae let go of the dagger as if it were already over, stepping back.
"......"
Park Jin-tae was UDT? Then that's not fair.
Seeing the fight tilt too heavily in one direction, James quietly used magic.
I'll ease the pain. Pull yourself together, Choi Jeong-san.
James's mana flowed toward Choi Jeong-san. It was a basic spell that lessened pain and improved stamina, but that was enough.
It doesn't hurt?
For an instant, Choi Jeong-san forgot the pain and realized that Park Jin-tae's hand was empty and the machete had fallen at his feet.
Swish.
Choi Jeong-san pretended to collapse, then snatched up the machete and lunged forward.
Whoosh.
It happened in an instant. They were too close for anything else.
"!"
Thud.
"Aaaagh!"
Park Jin-tae, who had relaxed because he thought it was over, only kicked Choi Jeong-san away after the machete had already been driven into his abdomen.
Bang.
Sprawling backward with a crash, Choi Jeong-san was stabbed in the stomach, yet he still hauled himself upright at once. Park Jin-tae pointed at him in disbelief.
"Y-You..."
"I can't just die here, can I? Does it hurt? It doesn't hurt me. Heh heh."
The pain had vanished completely, but he still couldn't bring himself to pull the blade out of his abdomen. If he did, he would probably bleed out and die before he even reached a hospital.
Then Park Jin-tae turned quickly to the side and shouted.
"Kill him!"
He was thinking of Captain Mikhail, who had promised to help him.
"Why?"
"What?"
The problem was that James had no intention of stepping in.
"You guys take care of it."