M 52

Ki Tae-jeong stretched out long. If it weren’t for this task, he would have followed Lee Sehwa himself.

Wrapped in a black padded coat reaching down to his calves over a cream-colored knit, Lee Sehwa looked like a tightly rolled kimbap. Although his impression was sensitive and cool if one had to describe it, wrapped in warm and thick clothes, he somehow looked round and naive.

“Brigadier General…”

If the clothes wrapped around him like armor were stripped away, Ki Tae-jeong’s name would be visible, stamped on Sehwa’s perineum. LeeSehwa was lean everywhere else but was plump right there. Deliciously so.

Maybe next time, he’d place a stamp inside and have Sehwa approve the documents. Imagining Lee Sehwa grinding his hips on the desk by himself made Ki Tae-jeong’s d1ck feel like it would burst. If he scolded him for soaking the papers with his fluids, Sehwa would just turn red all over and cry.

“Excuse me, Brigadier General…”

Fvck. Why is he so sexy? Ki Tae-jeong regretted letting him out. Such things shouldn’t be let out.

“I’m sorry Brigadier General, but it’s almost time to prepare for business…”

“I get it, so shut up.”

The ugly bastard who kept interrupting ruined his pleasant imagination. Ki Tae-jeong wiped his dry face with his fingers, then stretched out his arm. Warrant Officer Choi, who was standing at attention, quickly handed him a Glock. Right. Let’s finish the boring work first. Then he could go back and have more fun with Sehwa.

“B-Brigadier General. Surely not…”

As he put his finger on the trigger, Son Byeong-gyu’s eyes flickered like a candle in the wind. The House people who were suddenly brought in were the same.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill Boss Son.”

“Th-Thank you! Then I’ll just…”

Dozens of gun muzzles pointed at the forehead of Boss Son, who was squirming. All of Ki Tae-jeong’s subordinates surrounding the gambling den like a fortress were aiming only at him. Son Byeong-gyu trembled and raised both hands high as if standing at attention.

“I said I wouldn’t kill you, but I never said you could leave.”

Son Byeong-gyu was the one who moved on his own without asking for permission as soon as he received contact from Kim Seok-cheol. This was the best way to deal with bat-like people who only cared about their interests. Making them watch firsthand the situation they could find themselves in if they made a wrong move.

“Brigadier General, these people don’t know much about Saku… I mean Lee Sehwa. The players would know more about Lee Sehwa.”

“I know. And fuck, why do you keep calling him by name when you’re not even close to him?”

“Huh? That’s… Ah, no. I won’t call him that.”

Once Kim Seok-cheol’s accusations went public, it’s obvious that people will start looking for Lee Sehwa here and there. They couldn’t hide his past entirely, but at least they could erase any traces that hinted at how Lee Sehwa’s unique constitution had helped with the drug business. Although it wasn’t highly classified information and could easily leak, at least this would buy time until Ki Tae-jeong could secure Sehwa in his residence.

As for the players, there was no need for Ki Tae-jeong to step in personally. Having a high reputation in this field meant having many enemies. As he quietly spread the word to those who had been waiting for a chance, they were all preparing for revenge. At least those with the title of player would all die, regardless of how much they knew about Lee Sehwa.

But these small fry shouldn’t be dealt with in that way. He needed to gather them and break their spirit all at once. That’s what makes them too scared to talk nonsense. Click. At the chilling sound of loading, people screamed and fell backward. Some tried to escape but were grabbed by the collar by Ki Tae-jeong’s subordinates and thrown back.

“I won’t kill everyone.”

This was the truth. Ki Tae-jeong took no pleasure in senseless killing. He’d seen enough of it on the battlefield and had no desire to spill more blood outside. Lieutenant Park would sometimes get emotional and prattle on about how the Brigadier General must be lonely or exhausted… total nonsense. It wasn’t that at all. It was simply a matter of separating work and personal life. Killing people was his job, and doing it outside his work environment was just tiresome.

“T-That bastard goes around selling himself because he likes it!”

Tearing an arm or thigh should be enough. As he was calculating the number of bullets and points to aim at, a man trembling in the front row suddenly shouted.

“That b1tch Sakura, he seemed to have tattled that we bullied him, made him do all the work… but that’s all a misunderstanding! We never forced him!”

What nonsense is this now. As he stared blankly with a cigar in his mouth, the man, mistakenly thinking Ki Tae-jeong was showing interest, crawled over quickly with a slightly brighter face.

“Sakura, that bastard was trying to leave this place after catching one big client. And now look at how he’s immediately attached himself to you, Director. That’s the kind of person he is, you know? We never forced him to do anything. That bastard…”

“You’ve been going on about not forcing him, what’s the context here?”

“Pardon?”

“You say you never forced Lee Sehwa. There must be a reason you’re thinking in those terms.”

The man hesitated for a moment, mumbling ‘Ah, that…’, but it was brief. Soon, with a determined look in his eyes, he raised his head, and one could feel his will to survive no matter what.

“There were some clients who wanted to meet Sakura badly even though they were a bit short on money… So we introduced them… We just put the idea out there, but in the end, he was the one who went crazy for money and agreed to everything!”

“If he was crazy for money, why would he sell drugs to clients without money? That doesn’t make sense.”

“W-Well… It’s better than not doing any business at all, right? Probably that’s why…”

“I know he was the best seller here, right? Has there ever been a day when Lee Sehwa didn’t do business since he started dealing drugs?”

“That… that… W-Well, he didn’t just sell drugs! You can tell just by looking at him, right? How else could someone so young hook so many clients? The stuff about drugs not working on him is probably all lies too. How could such a constitution exist in this world?”

Boss Son was moving his hands frantically as if begging them to put a zipper on their mouths, but the terrified small fry couldn’t read the signal and just kept shouting. Once one person’s mouth opened, it spread like an infection, with voices rising from here and there. A strange heat, no, madness, swirled around the tightly locked gambling den.

“Th-That’s right! The money issue is like that too. That bastard really likes to show off… So he lent the money first. We never took anything from him! Really!”

“And that b1tch is so vicious. Born in 2-hwan, a Lee who desperately crawled up to 4-hwan…”

Ki Tae-jeong carefully looked over the faces before him. To summarize, these bastards bullied Lee Sehwa to provide drugs cheaply to clients without money, and also took money from him like extortion? Son Byeong-gyu clearly said that the people gathered here weren’t even important, just doing odd jobs. It seems even such lowly people had sucked Lee Sehwa’s marrow so thoroughly. He knew how Lee Sehwa had been treated in the House. …He knew, but.

“I’ve seen and heard things too! How Samwol seduced men and women so well…”

“You’ve seen and heard things?”

“Huh? Yes, of course…!”

“Did you personally see Lee Sehwa selling his body? Can you swear on both your eyeballs that you definitely saw it?”

“W-Well, that…”

Ki Tae-jeong, feeling fatigue wash over him, closed his eyes tightly for a moment.

“These fucking bastards are really tiring me out.”

Several dark lines were deeply cast over Ki Tae-jeong’s tightly closed eyelids.

“Warrant Officer Choi.”

“Yes, Brigadier General.”

Bang! Deliberately not equipped with a silencer, the raw metal sound echoed loudly inside the gambling den.

“Aaaagh!”

The man who had said he passed clients onto Lee Sehwa and borrowed money from him was foaming at the mouth after just getting shot once in the knee.

“Bring a sniper rifle. With just a Glock, it’ll take all day to finish this.”

Ki Tae-jeong threw away the empty gun after generously pouring bullets into the other knee, both shoulders and wrists, ankles, the center of the neck and stomach. The next loudmouth who had been barking got hit hard with the Glock and fell down with a groan and a scream. A dark red stream of blood trickled down his temple.

“H-hic, please spare me…”

Shallow sobs erupted sporadically here and there, breaking the deathly silence. They seemed to have realized only after this chaos that it would have been better to keep their mouths shut.

“I need to finish this quickly so I can do fun things with my baby, you know?”

Ki Tae-jeong pushed his hand inside his shirt that was choking his neck and shook it roughly from side to side. With his impatient gesture of pulling and creating space as if tearing, the top couple of buttons popped off, flinging into the air with a snap.

“So I’d appreciate it if you all cooperate.”

What Warrant Officer Choi handed over was an M16 series. It was a model particularly favored by snipers for its quick reloading capability. Ki Tae-jeong tapped the ash once, then bit down hard on the cigar head as if crushing it. He pulled the trigger deliberately without looking through the scope. These weren’t bastards worth taking such care to kill in one shot.

The gambling den covered with green blankets began to be dyed with blood in an instant. Son Byeong-gyu curled up like a pillbug, and the dragged-in bastards screamed incomprehensibly. Here, Ki Tae-jeong was a ferocious beast, a fierce yaksha, and an unforgiving lord of the underworld. No matter the title, in this inferno, the most merciless man swung his weapon without mercy. Trapped beasts, beyond hope of salvation, drowned in blood, their eyes rolling white in terror.

“Arghhh!”

Perhaps not wanting to die like this, a man grabbed a chair and charged at Ki Tae-jeong, screaming. Needless to say, it was a rebellion that wasn’t even a small threat. Ki Tae-jeong kicked hard to match the charging speed, the man tumbled to the floor with a groan.

“If you approached a mock training exercise like this, you’d get penalty points.”

When he stepped on it, the chair split in half, and the impact seemed to transfer directly to the man’s abdomen as he groaned, clutching his chest and stomach. It was the bastard who said he saw Lee Sehwa seducing people.

“If you’re going to resist, at least do it right. It’s no fun otherwise, damn it.”

Each merciless swing of the rifle cut his fierce curses short. Blood splattered everywhere, and soon the man’s face became unrecognizable. Exhaling cigarette smoke like a misty fog, Ki Tae-jeong wiped off the warm blood on his face. It was a familiar abyss.

***

Sehwa entered the corridor, looking around. It was about time to prepare for business, but many doors in the House were still locked. Judging by the strong smell of bleach, he wondered if there had been a police raid…

“The Brigadier General isn’t in a good mood today.”

As he was about to open the office door, one of Ki Tae-jeong’s subordinates who was on standby suddenly spoke. His voice was cautious, as if worried it might reach Ki Tae-jeong’s ears.

“He denies it, but on days like today, he can’t help but feel down.”

Days like today? Was his outing that upsetting to him? Sehwa scratched the side of his head absently. How much of a fuss must Ki Tae-jeong have made for this statue-like man, who usually never spoke to Sehwa, to warn him first?

“I see. Then I won’t go in now…”

“No, that’s not it. Please go in. Please.”

Sehwa sighed long, holding the plastic bag with just the ice cream wrapper.

“I’m not some kind of stress relief doll.”

“Huh? Ah, that’s not what I meant. The Brigadier General seems to breathe a little easier when he’s with Se… I mean, um, you. He’s noticeably becoming less… cruel.”

The man stumbled over Sehwa’s name as if he had burned his palate, swallowing it awkwardly. The sentence he finally uttered was so tinged with vivid fear that Sehwa couldn’t even ask why he was acting this way.

“When you go in…”

The man glanced toward the office, sensing the atmosphere inside the office, then whispered quietly.

“Just say, ‘As I was coming in, Warrant Officer Choi said that my husband seemed a bit down.’ That should solve everything.”

“Husband?^[1] What’s that?”

“That’s it! Please ask the Brigadier General with exactly that expression you just made. It’s crucial.”