TTD Ch 35

“I can’t help it. Because my father only likes Director Kang.”

Kang Seok-joo leaned out of the pool and drank the watermelon juice the staff had just brought him with a straw. Even though it was June, the temperature in the middle of the day was quite high, and he was sweating profusely even when he stood still. As he sat on the sunbed, Ja-kyung sighed.

There was still time until the day he decided to kill Kang Il-hyun, and in the meantime, he mentioned wanting to stay at Kang Seok-joo’s house, but Chairman Kang refused. The reason was that Kang Il-hyun was against it. Kang Seok-joo said that Chairman Kang favored only Kang Il-hyun, but after learning the circumstances, that was not necessarily the case.

“Don’t do that, come in and swim. The water is cool and nice.”

Ja-kyung shook his head and lay down with his arms crossed and looked up at the sky. The color of the blue sky and the red parasol matched wonderfully. Seeing that, he stopped thinking about Kang Il-hyun for a moment and thought of Choi Ki-tae.

Choi Ki-tae said he was going to rent a cruise and throw a party at sea tonight. This party was done to reassure customers who were concerned about the Doksan-dong bombing. All kinds of drugs and entertainment will be available, as well as large and small trades.

Kang Seok-joo appeared to be unaware of this fact. Ja-kyung was sweating despite the fact that he was under an umbrella. Like Kang Seok-joo, he wanted to strip naked and dive into the water. Kang Seok-joo, who was doing the backstroke while fanning himself with his hands, turned to face Ja-kyung.

“What is that on your neck?”

“What?”

“A band-aid around your neck. Did you get hurt?”

Ja-kyung pretended it was nothing.  fade easily, so he ended up covering them with a band-aid. It was difficult because everyone he saw since the morning had asked whether he was hurt. If it had been winter, he would have worn a shirt that reached his neck.

“Are you…?”

Kang Seok-joo asked with a sly smile who it was. Kang Seok-joo asked if the girl was the model from before and if the two had previously been together. When Ja-kyung said no, Kang Seok-joo listed by linking the people who had contact with Ja-kyung one by one. He couldn’t have imagined it being Choi Ki-tae.

“It’s just a little scratch and put it on…”

“Pretending to be innocent.”

He laughed and then continued swimming. He really likes water. Their mother might be different, but he is very similar to Kang Il-hyun in that matter. He wasn’t sure if Kang Il-hyun liked the pool or missed his mother.

Come to think of it, he will return to Korea tomorrow. He has to go home from work until he comes home. A message arrives on his phone while he was cooling off with watermelon juice.

It was a message from Wang Lun reconfirming when and where they would meet.

As he was replying, Kang Seok-joo reached out of the pool and turned on the music. Thump thump thump thump, a beat faster than the heart rate, Seok-joo shook his head excitedly. Ja-kyung also clapped his hands in time with the music. A plan for what to do at night was forming in his mind.

***

The sound of a vehicle engine coming from a distance disrupted the face of the guard at the gate. A small truck passed in front of the gate not long ago, and it stopped to see what was wrong before restarting the engine. The guard moved towards it because it was unbearable.

He knocked on the window, and a man with short hair stick his face out.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, the engine suddenly stopped.”

“Where are you going?”

The guard’s eyes were cautious. The driver motioned ahead with his finger. There were houses as well as scarce farms. The man’s truck, unsurprisingly, smelled of manure. The guard frowned.

“This is private land, so you are not allowed to pass freely.”

“Really? I didn’t know because it was my first time. But what can I do? The car isn’t moving. Let’s get down and take a look.”

The man stepped out of the driver’s seat and opened the car’s cap. The guard remained close behind the man. If there was any suspicious behavior, it would be dealt with right away. For a while, the man who was sticking his face into the car grumbled.

“Ah, this came off. After all, both cars and people experience breakdowns as they age.”

Tak, the man who slammed the cap shut and climbed into the driver’s seat. He backed up, turned the car around, and drove back the way he had come. The guard, who had been left alone, clicked his tongue in displeasure. Immediately, a radio could be heard from inside the house. It was Park Tae-soo.

[What’s going on?]

“Nothing. He must have taken the wrong path.”

The guard returned and stood in front of the gate. The place was quieter today, like a dead mouse.

The light from a distant car approached Ja-kyung’s eyes as he lowered himself into the grass. The headlights resembled two eyes. When a truck approached, Ja-kyung hurriedly opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.

Wang Lun sat in the driver’s seat. He bought Ja-kyung some time to safely cross the fence in front of Kang Il-hyun’s house a while ago.

“You’re just in time.”

Wang Lun exhaled a long sigh. Despite the fact that the children had been entrusted to him, Ja-kyung took the risk of an unexpected event and was unsure whether or not to do it. Furthermore, he had to bear all of these concerns on his own because Ja-kyung had requested that Wang Han not be informed.

“If Han finds out, he will try to kill me.”

“I’ll give you 10%.”

Suddenly 5% share jumped. Wang Lun laughed so hard with a tear in his eye that his worries from a while ago were overshadowed.

“Okay. I will keep my mouth shut until I die.”

He met Wang Lun’s subordinate in the middle of the main highway and switched cars. Not only that, but the two wore stylish suits and had their hair trimmed. He began driving toward Incheon Port after changing from a truck to an expensive imported car.

On the way, Ja-kyung looked at the invitation.  The names of the two men were written on the invitations. They were regular customers who were briefly kidnapped and detained in order to obtain this invitation. The car that was on the highway changed to a national road and proceeded to the port.

“The gun.”

“I kept it in the food storage. Do you know how hard it must have been for me to bring it in?”

Ja-kyung quickly spread out five fingers, fearful that Wang Lun would dismiss it. He had decided to give him an additional 5%, so he wanted him to stop talking about it. Unlike Wang Han, Wang Lun was willing to take financial risks. He resembled Ja-kyung in that, and Wang Han always scolded the two when they were young.

Ja-kyung put on black sunglasses as the cruise approached. Cars were already lined up when they arrived. Choi Ki-tae’s staff were dressed in neat suits and inspecting invitations and conducting a body search at the dock where the cruise would leave.

Unlike regular guests, VIPs entered directly by invitation without a body search. He parked in an appropriate location and walked towards it. Choi Ki-tae was spotted among the crowds dressed in suits and dresses. Fortunately, he was busy greeting the VIPs next to him.

Choi Ki-tae’s subordinates confirmed the invitation while he was waiting for his turn with his back to him. They demanded his cell phone after checking in, and it would be returned when he got off the boat. Ja-kyung had prepared the duplicate phone ahead of time, so he gave it to him, put it in a sanitary bag, marked it, and placed it in one location.

They also searched Ja-kyung and Wang Lun’s bodies. It went off without a hitch, and he was handed the bedroom key.

Gold badges indicating that they were passengers were hung on their clothes at the entrance. The ship was a cruise ship, and it was larger and brighter than expected. Upon entering, there was a colorful chandelier hanging in the middle of the cabin.

Indoors, there was a swimming pool, spa, casino, massage shop, and performance hall, and on the deck, there was a swimming pool, putting practice area, and sun beds. And, starting on the second floor, the majority of them were rooms. He noticed people drinking and chatting in groups of two or three. Wang Lun grabs a glass of champagne while Ja-kyung keeps an eye out for any familiar faces.

Ja-kyung took it and put it back in its place.

“Don’t drink.”

“Only one drink.”

“It could be the last drink your drink in this life. Get a grip.”

“You’re too strict.”

Wang Lun shook his head. Pretending to look around, he figured out the ship’s layout and the approximate number of guards. Then he went upstairs to the designated room. He came to a halt in the middle of the second floor to check the number written on the key.

The corridor overlooked the center of the ship. There were more people than on the first floor, and they were having a good time. Ja-kyung searched the crowd and found Choi Ki-tae’s father, Choi Moon-seong. He appeared to be more lively than he had been at the funeral a few days before, and he appeared to be much younger now that he had dyed his hair.

He was busy greeting people with a young woman who appeared to be his partner next to him. Wang Lun glanced at him.

“Is it that person?”

“Yes.”

“I’m excited. He doesn’t even know that today is his memorial day.”

Ja-kyung remained silent. He stood with his hand on the railing, then turned and placed the card on the room’s doorway. There were two beds and a bathroom. When he opened the drawer next to the bed, marijuana and pills were prepared as a service.

Wang Lun sat down on the bed and smiled.

“Ja-kyung. Doesn’t it looks like we’re on our honeymoon?”

Ja-kyung took off his sunglasses and walked up to the window. A quick glance through a small window revealed the sea facing the night sky. The fishing boats’ lights were attracting fish from the sea here and there. Wang Lun approached him and lit a cigarette. He blew smoke out the window and stared out at the darkened sea. Ja-kyung’s eyes were also gradually becoming as black as the darkness.