Joo Do-hyeon, Direct Descendant of S Company.
Joo Do-hyeon, Direct Descendant of S Company.
Park Ji-hoon stared at Da-yeon with serious eyes and said,
"Hey. Go home. Joo Do-hyeon's been acting off lately."
I watched Park Ji-hoon putting on a solemn face and said,
"Why, you think he sent people?"
"Uh..."
"Dipshit. You think he'd ambush us now? He's gonna advertise to Hanseong, 'Look how ready we are'? They'll mostly hit us when we're definitely on the move."
"That's true..."
When I glanced at Kim Tae-oh, Kim Tae-oh nodded slowly.
"Must really be dangerous, huh? Da-yeon, how about we go swimming?"
"Yeah! Let's do that~"
I looked at them sideways.
"Wanna come with?"
"What?"
I told Da-yeon to meet us after we'd eaten, then
brought the two of them to my place.
Beep beep-beep-beep-beep deediding~
Dad looked at me with puzzled eyes when I came back right after stepping out.
"What are you back for? Weren't you going to work out?"
"Dad, let me introduce you. My boyfriend."
"...What?"
Dad's expression began to rot at a precipitous rate, and his gaze turned toward Kim Tae-oh.
"...Is that true?"
"No."
I kicked my shoes off roughly and said,
"Come in."
Dad watched the two of them silently, and Park Ji-hoon entered while giving Dad a polite greeting.
Unlike Park Ji-hoon, Kim Tae-oh was fidgeting nervously at the entrance.
Under Dad's gaze, he bowed respectfully first.
"Hello. I'm Kim Tae-oh, Da-yeon's bodyguard."
"Ah! Ah... I remember. Right, so?"
"Si-yoon... is not my girlfriend."
Dad swept his eyes up and down Kim Tae-oh with a suspicious look, then said,
"Come in."
"Yes, pardon the intrusion."
Park Ji-hoon was glancing around the house, apparently full of curiosity.
"Whoa, your house is huge~"
"Your parents doing well?"
"So well it's a problem."
Dad looked at Park Ji-hoon and said with a smile,
"Come to think of it, isn't this your first time at our place?"
"Yes. Si-yoon said she's got a lot of spare swimsuits at home, told me to grab one and come along to the pool."
"Is that so? Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
At Ji-hoon's answer, Dad picked up his apron.
Then he spoke to Tae-oh, who was intently watching Alpha and Beta.
"Tae-oh, was it?"
"Yes!"
"Have a seat at the table."
"Yes."
Dad started cooking, and I came out wearing my swimsuit.
A rash guard and shorts-style swimsuit.
I sat down at the table like it was nothing.
"Ah, gotta take my earrings out."
When I went up to the second floor, the two of them quietly stared fixedly at me as I went up.
Watching that, Dad brought his knife down on the cutting board.
BANG.
Tae-oh and Ji-hoon jumped and looked at Dad, and in the space that had turned cold, Dad said in a low voice,
"...Don't... stare... so... fixedly..."
""Yes!""
Park Ji-hoon looked around my house with Kim Tae-oh and marveled.
It was a size you'd hardly find outside a mansion.
Feeling the freshness of having them over, I showed them around the house while the food finished cooking.
Eventually I opened my bedroom door, and the two of them blushed and bolted out.
Because the small pink underwear I'd just taken off was lying on my bed.
I shrugged and tidied my room.
We ate in our swimsuits, and not long after, Da-yeon rang the bell.
I worked the remote connected to the house and let her in.
Da-yeon was wearing a rash guard like me, but unlike me, she was very carefully hiding an enormous presence—a fact known only to me.
"Si-yoon~ you're still eating?"
"I'm done. Dad, I'm heading out. Send them up to the 40th floor when they finish eating~"
"...You should take them with..."
Without hearing Dad out, I walked out of the house.
Maybe ten minutes later, Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh arrived on the 40th floor,
and Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh, who were seeing our indoor pool for the first time, gawked like young boys who'd been looking at toy cars and then came face-to-face with a giant RC car.
After finishing swimming at Si-yoon's house, Park Ji-hoon was walking home alone when he felt someone tailing him.
To avoid letting on that he'd noticed, he didn't look back, and Ji-hoon ducked into an alley with no CCTV.
And men followed him in.
Ji-hoon, who had entered the alley first, set his bag down and started loosening up.
"Haa... Sorry about this, kid. But you messed with the wrong people... should've been more careful who you got involved with."
"Wow... how many are you?"
"I've already heard you're no ordinary kid. Why don't you come quietly? Then I'll let you off with just one leg."
Park Ji-hoon snickered as he stretched.
"That's how people threaten each other... these days, I guess?"
"".....""
"Then, how about telling me exactly who sent you? I'll let you off with hitting you a little less..."
""Ahahaha!!!!""
The men who'd been covering their faces burst out laughing.
Park Ji-hoon rolled his wrists, bounced lightly on his feet, and nodded.
"You guys pretty sturdy?"
"Pfft—ah, kids these days watch too many movies. Why? You think we're gonna go down like you're imagining?"
The gang approached slowly; the remaining three hung back and watched.
Ji-hoon sprang forward lightly and drove his fist into the side of the man at the very front.
CRRRAACK!!!
A sound that should never come out rang from the man's body, his waist bending in the direction the fist was buried.
"Ghhk!! Ghhhhh!!!"
The man started foaming at the mouth, his pupils rolling back to white.
"Ah... sorry... you're soft, huh... should've said you weren't sturdy... not dead, right...?"
Watching that, Ji-hoon's expression—smiling without a trace of panic—was... hard to believe it belonged to a seventeen-year-old kid, no matter who was looking.
When Ji-hoon kicked the knee of the man who'd been staring blankly at his seizing colleague, there was a sharp CRACK, and the man collapsed screaming as something broke.
"AAAAAARGH!!!"
The man slumped, losing his balance, and his leg bent in a direction it shouldn't, under his own weight.
And when the man next to Park Ji-hoon swung a wooden board, Ji-hoon dodged lightly and buried his fist in the man's face.
The man crumbled as if hit by a bludgeon.
Park Ji-hoon grinned.
They were beginning to feel that something was going horribly wrong.
"H-hold on..."
Park Ji-hoon took a bat, walked up to the figure who looked like the leader, and squatting down, said,
"Your answer?"
"Wait ju—"
Before the man could finish speaking, he brought the bat down, and with a sharp CLANG, the man screamed.
"AAAAAARGH!!!"
The man clutched his own fingers and shrieked.
"All you have to do is say who sent you... is that so hard...?"
Park Ji-hoon smiled, resting the bat on his shoulder.
"A long time ago—no, even now—there's a boss I respect. You know what he used to say?"
"I was wrong."
"No, shut your mouth and listen. I'm talking..."
"....."
"If you've got ten ways to threaten someone, use about five of them before you even start talking..."
When Park Ji-hoon aimed the bat at his shin, the man pulled his leg back in fright.
"I'll talk!!! I'll talk!!! You crazy bastard!!! I said I'll talk!!!"
But Park Ji-hoon smiled and said,
"I told you...? Use five first, then start."
And... the bat in his hand swung down anyway.
CRACK.
"GAAAAAAARGH!!!!!"
The next day, I looked at Park Ji-hoon, who was deep in thought about something.
"You've got no brains to begin with, what're you agonizing over?"
"Fuck, starting right in the second you see me."
"So what're you agonizing over, goddamn it~."
Because of my short height, I reached out and poked Park Ji-hoon's abs with a tap-tap.
"Whoa, is that a washboard?"
"Heh..."
Park Ji-hoon grinned, showed off his muscles and flashed his abs, and Da-yeon whipped her head away the moment she saw it.
As soon as Da-yeon's gaze turned away, Park Ji-hoon pointed at Da-yeon, his eyes serious, and I could more or less guess.
I briefly switched seats with Kim Tae-oh and sat down next to Park Ji-hoon.
Park Ji-hoon sat beside me, looking toward the door, waiting for somebody.
And then, conscious of Da-yeon, he started writing down what had happened the day before.
"Goddamn, your handwriting's shit. A total disaster. Jesus. Morse code would be better, man."
"Hey, c'mon!!"
I nodded at Park Ji-hoon, whose expression was dead serious, then read the info he'd started writing with the pen.
- Fought 1v18 yesterday and won. Fucking sick, right?
I thought about playing along with his serious face and gestures but...
This motherfucker was writing that kind of crap with a straight face, so there was no reason for me to get serious.
When I balled my fist tight while laughing, Ji-hoon started jotting 'sry sry sry.'
- Something called 'Gwangsu Gang.' Seems like they're big in Seoul.
- Name was Joo Hyun-bin. Eighth among the S Company punks. He'd just become an adult, they said. Looked like he was the one who came for me.
"Why?"
- Based on what Tae-oh told me, probably... Joo Do-hyeon put him up to it.
"Got evidence?"
- Couldn't keep any, but it'll reach Joo Do-hyeon's ears soon anyway.
"Before that, work him over properly, like I taught you. Got it?"
"Obviously."
I tore up the paper Park Ji-hoon had been writing on and tucked it between the pages of my notebook.
Park Ji-hoon pulled out his cell phone and showed me the photos he'd taken yesterday.
"Ohhh, had yourself a party?"
Park Ji-hoon loosened up, then switched seats back with Da-yeon.
Kim Tae-oh looked at Park Ji-hoon and tilted his head.
"What did you two talk about?"
"Pretty sure it's none of your business."
"...Fine."
"Hey... if you react like that, you're gonna make me feel bad."
Ji-hoon patted Tae-oh on the back with a thump-thump and laughed.
And then, Joo Do-hyeon made his entrance.
Smiling with a very satisfied look on his face.
But the moment Joo Do-hyeon walked in, Ji-hoon stood up, and Joo Do-hyeon's expression began to rot.
Joo Do-hyeon's bodyguards must have been on guard against Park Ji-hoon the instant they walked in, because they reacted fast.
But... the four of them tried to block Park Ji-hoon as he approached, yet they couldn't even look Park Ji-hoon in the eye.
Watching that, Park Ji-hoon walked up to them and smiled.
"Move. I've got something to talk about with my buddy Do-hyeon."
""Yes.""
Joo Do-hyeon trembled and looked at his bodyguards, and the bodyguards avoided Joo Do-hyeon's eyes.
"Do-hyeon..."
"Uh-uh?"
"I've got something to talk about. How about we step outside?"
"C-can't we just do it h-here..."
When Park Ji-hoon's face went blank, Joo Do-hyeon, nervously gauging the situation, said,
"O-of course we should go..."
In that moment, he shot a look at his bodyguards, but...
the four of them didn't react.
Park Ji-hoon led Joo Do-hyeon outside without any resistance.
The moment they reached the rooftop with no CCTV, he placed a hand on the shoulder of Joo Do-hyeon, who was shaking like a leaf.
And he showed Joo Do-hyeon the photo on his phone.
"So the Gwangsu Gang or whatever came by yesterday?"
Joo Do-hyeon, who hadn't known the job had already gone down, couldn't hide his panic.
And in the photo on Park Ji-hoon's phone... a horrific scene unfolded.
The Gwangsu Gang, whom he'd asked his older brother to hire... eighteen men were squirming, and one had his limbs smashed to a gruesome pulp.
"This... I did it solo...? Fuckin lit, right?"
"Hiiiiik!!!"
Park Ji-hoon threw an arm around the shoulders of Joo Do-hyeon, who was trying to run, holding him in place with sheer force.
They'd already reached the center of the rooftop, but Park Ji-hoon didn't stop and kept walking toward the edge.
And they arrived at the railing...
"I almost died for real. Wanna know how bad it was?"
"...Huh?"
Park Ji-hoon pulled a sock from his pocket, stuffed it into Joo Do-hyeon's mouth, and pushed Joo Do-hyeon out over the railing. Joo Do-hyeon panicked.
Not stopping there, Park Ji-hoon smiled and held him dangling by just his necktie, positioned so he'd fall if he let go.
"Mmph!!! Mmmph!!!!!"
When Park Ji-hoon let go and then caught him again, Joo Do-hyeon freaked out and started pissing himself.
Because of the position he was being held in, the yellow liquid that had flowed backward began leaking from the back of Joo Do-hyeon's head.
"Is that what it felt like?"
Park Ji-hoon flung Joo Do-hyeon back onto the rooftop.
"So, if you don't want to know what it feels like to fly through the air without wings for a few seconds, I'd appreciate it if you were honest."
The saliva-soaked sock came out of Joo Do-hyeon's mouth, and he spoke in a trembling voice.
"S-sorry!!! I told my brother I was getting bullied!!! My brother just went and did that on his own! I had no idea!"
Park Ji-hoon shrugged and approached.
"But not knowing doesn't make it okay, does it?"
"Eek!!! I'm sorry!!! I was wrong!!!"
Joo Do-hyeon, dragging his piss-soaked pants, scooted backward on his rear.
Park Ji-hoon walked up all the way and placed a hand on Joo Do-hyeon's shoulder, looking at the flinching Joo Do-hyeon.
"Next time... it doesn't end like this?"
"Ngh! I get it..."
"Even if you skip school tomorrow... I'll come find you..."
"Hik!"
Joo Do-hyeon didn't come in during class time, and in the end, he went home early.
And naturally, Joo Do-hyeon didn't show up to school the next day.