MIM 114

Ma Jae-seung rented a room at a small motel by the roadside. The motel, with just over ten rooms, was run by an elderly male owner alone. It was convenient as he only required upfront payment for the room without asking for ID or anything else. Having seen many people staying there with their own circumstances, the owner listlessly mentioned only the check-out time and a few points to make note of, showing no interest even in light small talk. To avoid leaving traces, Ma Jae-seung paid both the taxi fare and motel fee entirely in cash.

After unpacking his simple luggage, he had a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant. Used to having customized meals that always put his taste and nutrition into consideration, he found it hard to adjust to a place where he had to call more than three times to get a server to take his order. Though it was only a couple of hours away from the city center, the atmosphere was completely different.

A hamburger with just a meat patty, a leaf of cabbage, and a bit of ketchup and mustard sauce, along with a rice bowl topped with shabby-looking low-quality meat, was soon placed before him. Ma Jae-seung calmly put the food in his mouth and chewed. It was a meal born more from obligation than hunger.

As he slowly moved his jaw, Ma Jae-seung thought of Shin-woo. Though he ate enough, he wasn’t the type to eat luxuriously. As if it didn’t matter as long as his stomach was full, he would even unhesitatingly eat food others had left behind.

That must have been how he survived. Being picky about menus and ingredients would have been a luxury for him. Suddenly, Ma Jae-seung wondered what Shin-woo had eaten for dinner today, if he had eaten anything at all. He wanted to see Shin-woo enjoying warm, delicious food. Even if not food, he just wanted to see him happy.

After filling his stomach, Ma Jae-seung stopped by the convenience store across the street to buy a prepaid phone. Back in his room, with Butler Hwang’s help, he posted on the dark web with the title “Want to take care of two people.” After describing in detail the appearance of the duo with their significant height difference, he added the condition “must bring their heads” and sought a contractor. He offered ten times his current cash as bait for the job and left the prepaid phone contact number.

If they saw this post, they definitely wouldn’t just pass it by.

After preparing so that he could leave at any given moment, Ma Jae-seung went to bed early. Though he wanted to rest deeply and recover his strength, sleep wouldn’t come easily. He received three or four calls every hour, but they were just scammers who either backed off after testing the waters out of curiosity or demanded payment upfront—not actual assassins he was looking for.

Ma Jae-seung familiarly opened a file he had saved on his phone. It was a voice message of Shin-woo rambling on meaninglessly for a while, neither particularly affectionate nor containing any real content. Just playing it made him feel at ease as if Shin-woo was chattering right beside him, so he often listened to it not only when he had temporarily kicked him out of the mansion but also afterward.

After spending the night playing the five-minute recording repeatedly for five hours, Ma Jae-seung was finally able to catch some sleep as dawn began to break. Though he couldn’t sleep deeply since he was so alert he woke up every hour, he didn’t even feel the least bit tired.

The contact he had been waiting for finally came right after he had eaten both breakfast and lunch at the same place.

“Lololol why the head? Is being suspicious a family trait?”

3:18 PM

As soon as he received the text, Ma Jae-seung realized it was from them. It was a message that only they could possibly send.

He returned to his room, grabbed his gun, and called the number that had sent the text. Sitting on the bed, he tapped the floor with his foot several times. Soon there was a click, and the ringtone stopped.

“Hello.”

After a long silence from them, Ma Jae-seung spoke first. Someone chuckled softly.

– Hello.

The echo came back. Ma Jae-seung pictured the two men he had seen before at the ice cream shop and the mansion. Their unpleasantly smirking lips were vivid in his mind.

“I got your text and called. Are you interested in taking the job?”

The man didn’t take the bait Ma Jae-seung had casually thrown out. What would he do? Would he try to lure him to meet, then steal the money and kill him right away?

– Don’t pretend. You wanted us to call you, right? If you have something to say, say it.

Surprisingly, the man wasn’t that despicable or stupid.

After thinking things over, Ma Jae-seung made up his mind. With them being so direct, there was no point in him continuing to beat around the bush.

“Did my mother request my head?”

– Is that a metaphor, or are you literally talking about your ‘head’?

The man chuckled as if amused by his own words.

– We’re thinking about it. If we cut off another head, it might look like the same perpetrator as your father’s case. Well, not that it matters much.

“…”

– Since you have a special constitution…hmm, cutting off the head seems safest. It won’t grow back, right? Right? Give us a hint.

Beyond the money, they were clearly enjoying the situation. If left alone, the conversation would definitely continue in this vein. To bring the topic back on track, Ma Jae-seung immediately proposed a deal.

“I’ll give you 5,000 if you tell me where my brother is now. That’s a lot of money just for providing information.”

The man fell silent, seemingly interested, allowing Ma Jae-seung to continue.

“Your mission is to kill me. There must be other people protecting my brother separately. Even if I somehow find him, you won’t have any obligation to return the money.”

– Hmm.

“So wouldn’t it be more profitable to pocket an extra 5,000 while you’re at it? Frankly, you could just tell me the location and wait there to kill me.”

The man burst out laughing at those words. What an amusing guy, this one. They chuckled for a while, exchanging jokes between themselves, but didn’t hang up. Ma Jae-seung calmly waited while caressing his gun. Taking this long meant they were at least halfway convinced.

– You seem confident, young master.

Another man had taken the phone. A much rougher, coarser bass voice heavily resonated in his ear. Though his head and heart had long gone cold, Ma Jae-seung deliberately affected an impatient attitude.

“Even if I die, I can’t die like this out of anger. I have things I want to ask that bastard one last time—”

– Fine. You never heard this from us.

“Of course.”

– Five thousand in cash, leave it at the place I’m about to tell you at 1 a.m. tonight and go. Once we confirm the money, we’ll text you the address within an hour. No deal unless it’s done this way.

They might give a wrong address, or they might be lying in ambush to attack. If the deal didn’t go smoothly, the latter was more likely. Ma Jae-seung quickly finished deliberating. Since he’d have to face them anyway, he didn’t mind if their confrontation turned into an all-out brawl.

“Alright.”

– Write this down.

As Ma Jae-seung accepted the proposal, the man whispered softly.

⚝⚝⚝

“Fucking bastards.”

Shin-woo spat conspicuously on the floor before striding into the hallway. 48 hours. During that insufferable time, they hadn’t given him so much as a glass of water, let alone food. Only when he threatened to urinate on the wall would they let him use the bathroom, where he would drink tap water until his stomach was full and endure for half a day, repeating this several times. If his assigned lawyer hadn’t provided food and the prepaid phone, he would have starved for two full days in there.

“Please eat this.”

The lawyer quickly caught up and handed him a sandwich and water. Being dizzy just then, Shin-woo began forcing himself to fill his stomach. Whether from the drugs they had administered or from their not letting him sleep for two days straight, his head was throbbing.

“The car?”

“I parked it in the nearby lot. Everything you requested is in the trunk.”

“Thanks.”

With his response, Shin-woo crumpled the empty plastic water bottle. Though his eyes were about to roll back from lack of sleep, this was no time to leisurely rest. When he had tried calling a few hours ago, Ma Jae-seung hadn’t answered.

“Did you look into what I asked?”

“Ah, yes. There was a post titled ‘Want to take care of two people.’ I wrote down the contact information that was included here.”

“Damn it.” Shin-woo cursed between his teeth as he took the paper with the number written on it. Since it was different from Ma Jae-seung’s phone number, it must be a prepaid phone number.

After sending the lawyer away, Shin-woo found the car in the nearby parking lot. After checking the license plate, he opened the trunk and moved the bag containing weapons to the passenger seat. He planned to head straight to Gangwol district.

The moment he closed the door and lifted his head, everything spun. “Fuck.” Shin-woo firmly gripped the side mirror with trembling hands. When he opened his eyes after squeezing them shut, his blackened vision gradually returned.

“Hello.”

A dark figure was dimly visible against the still blurry scenery. Just as Shin-woo closed his eyes again to shake off the hallucination, a violent impact struck the back of his head.