TTD 140

After seeing the photo, the man laughed with a scoff, straightened his back, and slowly licked his lower lip.

“What are you guys? You don’t look like detectives, maybe some kind of private investigators? Or are you from some errand service? Did his brother send you because he’s here?”

“You don’t need to know anything, just tell us where he is. We’ll take him.”

“Amusing bastards. Who says you get to take him?”

The man picked up the photo and threw it at Ja-kyung. As the photo hit his chest and fell, Ja-kyung calmly collected it and put it back in his possession.

“You guys are from the countryside, right? You don’t know where this is. Even less who I am, huh? That’s why you barged in here causing trouble without any fear.”

Wang Lun scratched his ear and frowned.

“Shit, why’s your tongue so long? I told you we don’t care who you are.”

Wang Han stopped Lun and spoke in a polite tone.

“We’re here on behalf of someone, so if you just hand that person over, we’ll leave quietly. We’ll also properly apologize for our youngest hitting your man earlier.”

The man leaned back on the sofa and gestured toward Ja-kyung with his chin.

“This one’s the youngest? Pretty face. How are you going to apologize? What, gonna suck my dick? Hey, looking at your face, I might even cum. Come here and try sucking it.”

As the man thrust his hips while looking at Ja-kyung, his subordinates behind him snickered and sneered. In that moment, Ja-kyung stepped onto the table and held a knife to the man’s throat. The subordinates behind froze at the sudden turn of events, and the man’s face contorted.

“Wh-what are you doing, you bastard! You think anyone’s gonna be scared of this? Go ahead, stab me! Try it-“

Before he could finish speaking, Ja-kyung swiftly stabbed him three times in succession, avoiding vital spots. As blood gushed out, the man belatedly felt the pain and screamed. Just as the subordinates behind came to their senses and were about to pounce, Wang Lun pulled out a gun and aimed it at them.

“Don’t move. Unless you want your heads blown off. Okay?”

Ja-kyung pressed the knife tip against the man’s neck.

“I’ll ask again, boss. Where is that friend from earlier?”

“You b-bastards… you won’t get out of here-“

This time, he vertically stabbed the shoulder and pulled out the knife, causing the man to collapse sideways with a squeal like a pig. Seeing the blood soaking the floor, the subordinates’ faces turned pale, and Lun reassured them.

“It’s okay. He avoided all the vital spots. He’ll live if he goes to the hospital. Don’t worry. Wei, is it going to take long? I think I drank too much beer. Need to use the bathroom.”

Ja-kyung tilted his head sideways to make eye contact with the fallen man. The man’s lips trembled as he gasped for breath, and Ja-kyung smiled leisurely while chewing gum.

“I’ll ask one last time. If you annoy me again, I’ll take your head right off.”

“He-he’s not here… in the warehouse… we put him in the warehouse… the boss told us to…”

“I thought you were the boss.”

“No, there’s another boss. I’m just the manager running the establishment…. Could you call an ambulance? The bleeding… it’s too much… I’m dizzy…”

At Ja-kyung’s gesture, Wang Lun took an employee’s phone and called for an ambulance. Then he confiscated their phones and radios, took them to the bathroom, and ran water over them in the sink.

Ja-kyung held out his hand to the man.

“The business card of this boss person.”

The man pulled out his wallet with bloody hands and handed over someone’s business card. Ja-kyung stared at the card for a moment, then furrowed his brow and gave a derisive snort. Wang Han came over and said they should leave, and Ja-kyung flicked the card back to the man.

As they crossed through the club after locking them inside, a drunk man bumped into Ja-kyung. As he frowned and tried to avoid him, the man’s eyes widened and he shouted 

“Ah!”

“It is you, right? Thailand, right?”

Since he was pointing so blatantly, Ja-kyung briefly considered breaking that finger. The other person looked back and forth between Ja-kyung’s clothes and face, then smiled.

“Wow, what a coincidence.”

“You know me?”

“We met in Thailand. You took the clothes I was going to-“

“Hey, Baek Su-hyeon.” Before he could finish speaking, someone appeared behind the man and grabbed his shoulder. He was a tall, sturdy man with sharp features.

“I leave you alone for a moment, and you’re already letting your eyes wander.”

“Beom-ah. This person here, I saw him in Thailand. Isn’t that interesting?”

“Why are you remembering the face of someone you saw in Thailand?”

“Well, he’s good-look- hey, lighten up your expression. Are you jealous?”

What’s with these guys? As Ja-kyung tried to walk past, the big man caught his arm. When Ja-kyung knocked it away and glared at him, the man returned a threatening look.

“Don’t let me see you around here. I’ll kill you.”

Ha, this bastard. Just as Ja-kyung was about to start something, Wang Lun and Wang Han, who had been walking ahead, came back and intervened. Let’s go. We need to hurry. Ja-kyung had no choice but to warn the man to watch himself before turning away. Behind them, he could hear bickering that was clearly a lovers’ quarrel.

***

Il-hyun stared intently at the video Tae-soo handed him. In the footage, Ja-kyung was pinning some man to the ground, choking him with his leg. The man, who was considerably larger, wore only shorts and was all muscle.

“It’s a members-only club, and they hold illegal fights there. The regulars are mostly children from political and business circles, and we confirmed the video was uploaded to their group chat.”

Kang Il-hyun kept his eyes fixed on the screen while Tae-soo continued.

“The club manager was taken away in an ambulance. He was stabbed in four places, avoiding vital spots, but they seem to be keeping quiet without reporting it since they have their own concerns. The problem is the club’s owner…”

“What about the owner?”

“He’s a gangster named Lee Man-soo, a vicious one. You know that suicide case related to Prosecutor Jang Tae-ho recently? That person was Lee Man-soo’s subordinate. They say Lee Man-soo has been consistently providing funds to members of the National Assembly. There are rumors going around that it wasn’t suicide, but Lee Man-soo’s work.”

“Who is Ja-kyung looking for?”

“Kim Jin-ho, the younger brother of an employee working at the main house. Seems he was making money from fighting there but things went wrong when he tried to get out. Currently missing.”

“……”

“If you say the word, we’ll handle it on our side.”

“Leave it. Sometimes going out hunting is the way to relieve stress.”

Il-hyun rewound the video and smirked.

“Tae-soo.”

“Yes.”

“Print this as a photo.”

The screen showed Ja-kyung climbing up the ring after taking down his opponent, raising his fist and smiling.

“Will you put it in your bedroom?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll use a white frame.”

“You always have good sense.”

After Tae-soo left, Il-hyun swiveled his chair to look out the window. The city landscape spread out before him. Tap, tap, he tapped his fingers on the chair’s armrest before taking out his phone to make a call. After a moment, the call connected and Ja-kyung’s voice came through.

[CEO, what is it?]

“Wanted to hear your voice. Where are you?”

[I’m doing a little part-time work with the hyungs.]

“What kind of part-time work?”

[You know, that kind. Oh, I’m thinking of learning fighting.]

“Learning what?”

[Fighting. Mixed martial arts.]

Il-hyun ran his tongue over his upper teeth with a disapproving expression.

“The one where men roll around in their underwear?”

A laugh of disbelief came through the receiver.

[They wear pants. And what do you mean ‘roll around’? It’s a legitimate sport.]

“Shut up, don’t even dream about it. Killing people is fine, but fighting is not.”

[You’re annoying.]

“Yeah, I love you too.”

The voices of Wang Han and Wang Lun could be heard before the call abruptly ended with a promise to call back later. Il-hyun laughed silently and sent another message firmly prohibiting it, worried that Ja-kyung might really insist on doing martial arts. Instead of replying, Ja-kyung sent back a middle finger emoji. The fact that even that seemed cute meant he must have really fallen for this cat.

***

“Wei, stop eating those chips. You’re getting crumbs in my car.”

“I’m hungry. That’s why I said we should eat first.”

“Hyung said he had plans for dinner, so we had to hurry.”

“Why blame me? You wanted to finish quickly and leave too.”

“Where are you two going?”

At Ja-kyung’s question, Wang Han and Wang Lun exchanged glances and played innocent, saying it was nothing. Feeling strange, Ja-kyung leaned forward, resting his arms between the seats.

“What’s going on? Where are you two going without me?”