M 94

“Stupid bastard.”

Oh Taek whistled as he counted the bills in his hand. The money handed over by the guy who had rolled in amounted to 480,000 won. An odd amount. He probably scraped together as much as he could… Anyway, adding this to the money his uncle occasionally threw his way to keep an eye on the guy’s movements… he figured he could take a break from work for three or four months without any problems.

Filled with dreams, Oh Taek looked around with a grin. He had gotten angry at the pale guy earlier, asking how he could give such vague information, but in truth, this kind of contact was all done by intuition.

The name of the suspicious young guy was Lee Sehwa, though of course he hadn’t introduced himself directly. It was information his uncle, who ran a fairly large workers’ cafeteria, had casually let slip while telling him to keep a close eye on the new guy.

He had come out to the intersection near the traffic light as Sehwa had instructed earlier, but he had no intention of granting his request. He planned to just observe the atmosphere of whoever Sehwa was trying to meet, then immediately report back to his uncle.

“Come to think of it, uncle is funny too. If it’s so hard and unpleasant, why doesn’t he just leave everything to me?”

While literally raking in money, his uncle had been increasingly complaining. Like someone with a nervous breakdown.

He said he was afraid to do anything because of all the soldiers and mercenaries standing guard outside. At first, it seemed like a windfall, but now he said it wasn’t. He groaned that he wished the high-ranking person would quickly take Sehwa, or whatever his name was, away.

He was just complaining because he was too well-fed. Sehwa did whatever he was told without protest and didn’t even go outside. Where could you find an easier surveillance target?

“…Huh?”

Oh Taek, who had been aimlessly looking around, fixed his gaze on a large van visible in the distance. The cheap gas mask limited his vision, so he had to look for a while, but… that black car was definitely the one driven by the person who had visited his uncle before.

“Wow. Things are working out again.”

Oh Taek unnecessarily tensed his neck. The order was a bit different, but he thought it might not be bad to appeal to be used instead of his uncle this time.

He was still a bit uncertain until he crossed the street, but as he got closer to the car, the passenger side door opened very slightly. Clearly, they were aware of his presence too.

“Oh, it’s been a while.”

As he poked his face into the dark maw, sure enough, the soldier who had visited his uncle before was sitting expressionlessly in the driver’s seat.

“Why are you out here?”

“Oh, when uncle is away, I’m the one handling ‘that job’ instead. Don’t you already know that?”

Oh Taek plopped down in the passenger seat and took off his gas mask first. Finally feeling alive with the cool air conditioning.

“Haa, I didn’t entrust anything major to begin with, and I didn’t have high expectations… but if you can’t even keep this basic promise…”

The soldier muttered in a stiff voice.

“…It becomes very troublesome. Not just for me, but for you all. Don’t you value your lives?”

As if it would be very troublesome if anyone overheard this conversation, as he said.

“Is there a problem?”

“The mercenaries… No, our contract is with your boss, not you.”

“Come on, sir. What, am I not family with the boss? We’re uncle and nephew. Can’t family help each other out? Why so serious?”

Oh Taek’s mood soured at the other’s scolding tone.

“Besides, I came out because Lee Sehwa asked me to do something.”

As if to say ‘look at this,’ Oh Taek waved the shirt Sehwa had left with him, like he was surrendering.

“…What?”

“I’m telling you, Lee Sehwa asked me for a favor, so I came out despite the hassle.”

The soldier put his hand to his forehead with an expression like he wanted to bite his tongue.

“Huh? You don’t believe me? Look at this. Lee Sehwa—”

“Shut up! Don’t say that name!”

“Hey, you’re being really weird, sir. If not Lee Sehwa, what should I call Lee Sehwa…”

At the same time, an ominous vibration was felt from behind.

“What’s that?”

Reflexively turning his head, he saw a blind-like partition smoothly lifting. He had thought the car was just oddly designed because a soldier was driving it, but it seemed there was a high-ranking person in the back seat.

“Who… who was there? Who did you bring…”

He frantically poked the person sitting next to him, but he gave no response. He was just taking deep breaths, already preparing to choose his words. His expression said they were totally screwed, making Oh Taek shrink his neck too.

“No, fuck, what the hell is…”

“…Please just shut up if you want to live.”

Oh Taek couldn’t fully turn his head, nor could he stare at the rearview mirror, so he just swallowed hard. Every time the person next to him clenched and unclenched his fist, unable to bear the anxiety, Oh Taek’s heart pounded along with it.

“…Brigadier General.”

Brigadier General? Oh Taek turned around in surprise at the soldier’s murmur from the driver’s seat. Even a lieutenant was an impressive rank, but a Brigadier General…

“It seems there was some leakage when the mercenaries we tasked with surveillance redistributed the work. I will immediately check and strictly hold them accountable.”

He was clearly addressed as Brigadier General, but the person seated in the back was a young man. He was lounging languidly on the leather seat, just looking this way with his eyes. Oh Taek wondered if he had misheard “Lieutenant,” but the dazzling rank insignia on the man’s chest told the truth. One star, indeed a Brigadier General.

Oh Taek shrank endlessly. The pressure from the rank was immense, but… more than that, that face. Beautiful, or perfect… all the adjectives he knew were useless. It was a kind of person he had never seen before in his life, so he had no idea how to react.

“Huh, huh!”

For a moment, the handsome face seemed to come closer, and something cool touched Oh Taek’s forehead. It was… a gun. Not a toy, but a real weapon.

“Eek! This… No, why are you doing this?”

The man wrapped one arm around the headrest and held the gun with the other hand, staring intently at Oh Taek.

“Did you just say Lee Sehwa?”

When did he get so close? No… when did he even pull out the gun, there wasn’t even a sound…

“That’s right. This is Lee Sehwa’s clothes, isn’t it.”

Though his tone was light, his low voice resonating from deep inside carried an indescribable chill.

“Now, Mr. Boss’s nephew. I’m in a very bad mood these days. So don’t be tiresome, let’s finish this quickly.”

“I really don’t know anything…”

“You know plenty.”

The man tapped his temple, reciting Oh Taek’s words from earlier.

“You know Lee Sehwa’s name, you’re holding Lee Sehwa’s clothes, and you even said you received a request from Lee Sehwa.”

“That, that was… really nothing… No, it was nonsense. He just asked me to pass on a message…”

“What message?”

“That he would stay in the 2-Hwan…”

Feeling like he might wet himself, Oh Taek tensed his stomach muscles to hold on. He felt like if he did such a thing in front of this man, his skull would be smashed on the spot.

“That’s really all, he didn’t tell me who he was meeting. He said I’d know when I got there… If there wasn’t anyone who felt right, I should just leave. He said to wait just 10 minutes, and if not, I could leave…”

“10 minutes…. Didn’t the fence say the same thing?”

“That’s correct, Brigadier General.”

The man turned to look at Oh Taek with a “hmm.” He seemed to be considering how to dispose of a consumable that had served its purpose, now that he had confirmed everything he wanted to know.

“And then, then Lee Sehwa left right away with Ms. Song…!”

Oh Taek, a mess of tears and snot, frantically blurted out everything he knew. He felt like he might really die at this rate.

“…Who?”

“Ms. Song… She’s an employee at our restaurant, she’s worked there a long time… And she’s a good cook too. Lee Sehwa would even take more food on days when Ms. Song was in charge of the staff meals…”

“Well, alright. But you say they left together?”

The gun muzzle that had seemed to move away for a moment poked his forehead again. Oh Taek squeezed his eyes shut and prayed without target or purpose. Damn it, if he got out of this alive today, he’d donate all the money he’d made thanks to Lee Sehwa so far to charity, offerings, and contributions.

“Well… Ms. Song asked him to help carry some things… So I think they might have gone shopping together or something, ugh!”

With a tremendous dull pain, stars flashed behind his eyelids. A trickle of blood dripped down his nose.

“You know her contact? Call her.”

“Wh-who… Ms. Song?”

“Yes.”

With trembling hands, Oh Taek took out his phone and pressed the buttons. Fortunately, the call connected quickly.

– Oh Taek, you punk, there’s a mountain of ingredients to move, where are you!

“Au-aunt… I’m… um, out on an errand for uncle. Where… where are you?”

– Where else would I be, at the restaurant. I have to prepare lunchboxes for tomorrow morning. You come back soon too.

“Then that… pale guy?”

– Why are you asking about that young man again? Trying to extort money?

“Wh-when did I ever do that! Anyway… let me talk to him. Um… uncle said to check something…”

– Huh? Really? The boss came and left earlier though. And that young man is gone now.

“Gone? What do you mean gone now? Where did he go?”

– Well… a few days ago, that young man asked me if I could set him up with another job. So I arranged for him to take over the job my younger brother was doing. Simply put, they agreed to swap jobs.

“What? Are you crazy, why did you decide that on your own!”

– What do you mean on my own, the young man asked for it. Anyway, when I told your uncle about it earlier, his face turned black like someone who hadn’t been to the bathroom for three days and nights….

Damn it. What should I do? Oh Taek bit his lip nervously. He had seen Lee Sehwa talking to Ms. Song a few times but hadn’t thought much of it. He never imagined such a request was made behind the scenes.

– Hello? Oh Taek?

The man who had been listening silently reached out and pressed the end call button. He still had the gun in his hand, making it an extremely dangerous posture. If he accidentally dropped the gun or pulled the trigger by mistake…

“Lieutenant Park, cancel all evening appointments and bring in this Ms. Song from the restaurant immediately.”

“Yes, Brigadier General. I’ve confirmed the radio location, Ms. Song is indeed inside the restaurant.”

The man in the driver’s seat replied politely as he turned off a device. Glancing over, Oh Taek saw beads of cold sweat on his forehead too. Oh Taek prayed once again in his heart. Please, I don’t need money, just let me live.

“Is there a helicopter in the 2-Hwan hangar that we can use right away?”

Helicopter? Oh Taek unconsciously glanced out the opaque window. How could they fly a helicopter when even sunlight couldn’t penetrate those wretched things…

The soldier in the driver’s seat seemed to be thinking the same as Oh Taek, quickly glancing outside.

“…I’ll prepare it.”

However, as if there was no room for doubt, the soldier’s voice was extremely polite as he replied that he would follow the order. As if launching a helicopter into the dusty sky was better than going against the man’s mood in this situation.

“Well then… I’d like to continue our conversation with Mr. Nephew on the way.”

“What? But, but I don’t know anything else…”

“Really? I have a lot I want to ask. For example, how you stole Lee Sehwa’s clothes and money.”

“What? No, no…! Sehwa asked me to wear the clothes when going out, and the money… Sehwa gave it to me on his own as payment for the errand. I even returned it right away, considering Sehwa’s situation…”

“Sehwa, Sehwa…”

The man, who had been quietly mulling over the pale guy’s name, smiled as he grabbed Oh Taek’s hair. It was a fierce grip that seemed like it might tear his scalp off.

“Aagh!”

It felt like his eyeballs might pop out from the pressure. Oh Taek just stomped his feet in frustration. No, what did I do wrong!

“Why, why are you doing this!”

As Oh Taek clung to him crying, not understanding the reason, the man just looked down at him and laughed.

“Who told you to casually say his name?”

***

“Wh-where is this…?”

Ms. Song, who had been dragged here while preparing ingredients for tomorrow morning, lifted his skirt and smoothed his disheveled hair.

The place where the helicopter landed after its dazzling flight was on top of the huge cargo ship where he had dropped off the young man earlier. Of course, this obviously wasn’t pre-arranged with the ship owner, and as a result, quite a few items on the deck were damaged… but even to Ms. Song, who knew nothing, it was clear there was nowhere else suitable to land a helicopter.

“But… is the young man that unwell?”

“Well, he’s not exactly a young man… but yes. His innate constitution is poor, and now he’s even carrying a child, so it’s worse.”

“Oh my. If I had known… Pregnant, if I had known that, I would never have introduced him to a job on a ship…”

Ms. Song wrung her hands, not knowing what to do. Her initial shock at the soldiers barging into the restaurant had quickly turned to concern when they explained that the young man was actually pregnant and the father was urgently seeking help.

Though she had never seen his face because of the gas mask, just looking at his exposed neck and hands, it was clear he had a story. But to think it was a love escape. Though the young man had fled alone, if that was the backstory, it was indeed a love escape.

“It seems the young man was burdened by the large difference in social status for the marriage.”

“…Ah, yes. Well, that’s something that can be resolved with good persuasion, but right now I’m worried about his health. That’s why I’m sorry we had to bring you here so urgently, madam.”

“Oh my, don’t call me madam. Just call me Ms. Song.”

This beautiful young man who had flown Ms. Song here was apparently a Brigadier General. When he presented himself as the legal guardian of the gentle young man who seemed like a son to her, showing all sorts of documents, a maternity handbook, and test results with alarmingly fluctuating graphs, he couldn’t possibly consider it a lie.

The boss standing nearby did confirm that the young man’s name was indeed Lee Sehwa, but honestly, there was no way to know if that was true or false.

However… Ms. Song herself had once been a well-known businesswoman in the 4-Star. She knew well that it was rare for someone as high-ranking as a Brigadier General to personally act as a pregnant person’s guardian. It must be impossible without truly loving the person. That’s why she had trusted this man and boarded the helicopter.

“So what should I do?”

The man who had introduced himself as Ki Tae-jeong smiled brightly as he extended his hand to Ms. Song.

“Just relax here, and when I give you the signal, please call out to him.”