TWB 66

“Yes, yes. I understand. Yes, Deputy Director. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Hee-shin looked conflicted after hanging up the phone. He had just returned home after a chaotic ordeal with Im Gyeong, only to receive a call from Deputy Director Ok Sun-young. She told him to return to work starting tomorrow. His suspension, which he thought would be prolonged, had come to an end in just a week, but worry outweighed joy. He felt he had no face to look his colleagues in the eye.

When he stepped out into the living room, Kang-min was panting, lying on his back with his stomach exposed.

The area around his solar plexus, where Im Gyeong had struck him, was bruised deep purple.

“Prosecutor! Give me that bastard’s number! I’m going to go and wreck him.”

Hee-shin snorted.

“Do you even know what kind of guy he is?”

“How would I know!”

“Take a guess.”

“Just looking at his face… an actor? No, there’s no way I wouldn’t know an actor who looks like that. Hmm, a host bar employee?”

A look of satisfaction crossed Hee-shin’s face. See, it wasn’t just me who saw him as a host. For a while, Hee-shin had spent his time blaming his own foolishness. I really have a terrible eye for people. Why on earth did I provoke that guy that day?

“You’ll end up like me. Just forget it.”

“What are you talking about? Shut up and just give me the number!”

“Pack your bags, you brat. Go home.”

Both Baepsae and Kang-min’s eyes widened.

“Are we going? You’re throwing us out already?”

“What do you mean ‘throwing out’? It’ll be fine now. The other side promised they wouldn’t touch you.”

Still, since one never knows what might happen, he added that they should keep a low unauthorized copyprofile and [stolen content]be careful for the time being.

“Who is ‘the other side’?”

“The guy who tried to kill you.”

Kang-min flared up in anger.

“You know the bastard who tried to bury us? You should have told us! Who the hell is he! Guyoung Construction? Or some lackey for President Park of Oasis? Tell me who the fuck he is!”

Hee-shin replied calmly.

“The bastard who just kicked your stomach. Satisfied?”

The moment he heard it, Kang-min’s face turned beet red.

“Aw, fuck!! If that was him, you should’ve said so sooner! Why didn’t you tell me! Why did you just let it happen!”

“Ah, stop screeching. My ears are going to fall off, man. I’m Read on Read BL Novelstelling you now, don’t do anything stupid. You can’t handle him. [stolen content]Did you see his eyes? He’s clearly not normal.”

“Whatever! Who is he? What, is he some kind of Yakuza?”

He was quick on the uptake.

“Yeah.”

“…What?”

“Yakuza grandson. Apparently, he’s a pretty famous Yakuza.”

“…….”

“Want the number?”

“…….”

“Do you want the number or not?”

“…Forget it. What’s the point with a bastard who doesn’t even speak the language… Argh, but next time I see him, I’m definitely not holding back! I’ll kill him with my own hands, seriously!”

Hee-shin nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

Kang-min, please do that. I’m begging you, please. Just so I can sleep with my legs stretched out.

Watching from the side, Baepsae belatedly remembered the man’s identity through their conversation. He was the man who had been sleeping in Kang Hee-shin’s bed on the day the phone was hacked.

Suddenly, he became curious about the relationship between the two. If he let him stay at his house and the man visited so freely, they didn’t seem to be mortal enemies… On the other hand, he understood why Hee-shin was angry. If someone secretly tapped into his phone, he’d want to kill them too.

He glanced at Kang Hee-shin while packing his things. Ever since the fellow prosecutor had visited, Kang Hee-shin had been continuously searching for something. He was curious about what it was, but he never asked. If he asked and got entangled in it, it would only be a headache for him.

“Hee-shin… is… not… com… ing…”

Kang Gil-su struggled to mutter through his stiff lips. His wife, Kim Young-hee, pretended not to hear her husband. In response, Kang Gil-su barely moved his hand and knocked over a cup beside him. The cup fell, splashing water onto Kim Young-hee’s clothes. A caregiver for another patient nearby saw this and intervened.

“Oh dear, I guess the gentleman is in a bad mood today?”

Kim Young-hee forced a smile as she picked up the fallen cup and wiped the spilled water from the floor with a rag.

It was sorrowful, yet at the same time, she felt resentful that he lived on just to torment everyone.

After her eldest son passed away, a demon had been growing inside her heart. Whenever she looked at her sleeping husband, she was overcome by the urge to kill him. The urge to press a pillow over his face and cut off his stubborn, lingering breath.

Instead of snapping, she tidied the man’s bedding.

“…Stop it. I told you Hee-shin can’t come….”

Kang Gil-su glared at his wife as if he wanted to kill her. She wished she had never visited when she first got the call that he had collapsed. She should have ignored him until the end. It was a mistake to come see his face one last time before he died, spurred by a call from his mistress saying he seemed to be dying.

She never dreamed that this would hold her children back for years. No, who was she to blame? She was the root of all this. Her eyes reddened as she blamed her own foolishness. While she was lost in regret and self-reproach, the caregiver for the patient opposite her called out.

“Ms. Young-hee. I think a guest has come to see you…?”

A guest? She stood up and walked outside to find a man in a black suit waiting.

“Are you Ms. Kim Young-hee?”

“Yes… that’s me. Who are you?”

“Hello. My name is Shim Yong-ho. I’d like to have a brief word with you downstairs. Would you come with me?”

Kim Young-hee instinctively recoiled. What had her son, Kang Hee-shin, said on the phone? Hadn’t he strictly warned her not to meet or speak with any strangers? Just in case, she had even moved her residence to a small villa near the hospital. He had said the family home in the countryside was too secluded and could be dangerous, telling her to stay there for the time being. She was too ashamed to even ask where the money for the move had come from….

“I… I have nothing to say…. Please leave. Or I’ll call the police….”

“Please be at ease, Ma’am. I’m not a strange person. You know Guyoung Construction, right? I’m an employee there. I have something to tell you regarding your son. It’s an important matter, so I only need about five minutes of your time.”

She was well aware of Guyoung Construction.

As she tried to avoid the man, he handed her a shopping bag he was holding.

“Fine. If you dislike talking, please at least take this.”

Kim Young-hee’s hand, which had been about to push it away, froze. Inside the open shopping bag, bundles of 50,000-won bills were piled high. She gasped and pulled her hand back in surprise, and the man gave a friendly smile.

“This isn’t any strange money. The Chairman gave this specifically to ask for your favor with the Prosecutor.”

“N-no! I can’t take this. It’ll be a disaster if my son finds out!”

“That’s because you don’t know, Ma’am. Everyone takes it behind the scenes these days. We’ve delivered money to Prosecutor Kang separately before. If you don’t believe me, please call him to confirm.”

Despite her doubts, her eyes kept chasing the money. Her husband’s medical bills were expensive, and the second son, Kang Hee-shin, was bearing that burden entirely. She worked as well, but it was woefully insufficient, and as a result, she couldn’t provide for her daughter at all.

The man smiled and pressed the money into her arms.

“It’s alright, please take it. If you really hate it, you can return it through Prosecutor Kang.”

Before she could stop him, the man gave a polite bow and strode away. “W-wait!” Just as she was about to chase after him, she heard a voice from behind calling, “Mom!” Min-hye, who had finished her academy classes, had arrived.

“What are you doing there?”

As Min-hye approached, her gaze landed on the shopping bag.

“What is that?”

Kim Young-hee looked anxious, her face as if she were about to cry. A sturdy man was standing beside Min-hye. “Hello, Mother.” He was Hee-shin’s childhood friend who had run a boxing gym in the city until a month ago, which was now closed. He said he had agreed to look after the mother and daughter for a while at Kang Hee-shin’s request and had taken care of them every single day.

“Min… Min-hye, this is….”

Min-hye snatched the shopping bag, checked the contents, and her face turned pale.

“Mom!”

“No! I was going to return it, I was, but—”

Without a second word, Min-hye ran down the hallway with the bag. She hurried down the stairs and scanned the area, spotting the man in the black suit walking in the distance. She quickly ran and stopped him. “Excuse me! Mister!” The man turned around; he was wearing sunglasses despite it being night.

“You just met my mother, didn’t you?”

The man lowered his sunglasses to the tip of his nose and smirked.

“So you’re the one? Kang Hee-shin’s favorite doll.”

The gaze hidden behind the sunglasses was reminiscent of a snake.

Though her hands trembled with fear, Min-hye thrust the shopping bag forward.

“We don’t need this. Take it back!”

“That’s strange. Your mother said she’d take it.”

“No. My mom was mistaken. She told me to return it immediately!”

Is that so? Without warning, the man leaned his face close to hers.

Startled, Min-hye recoiled, and the man grinned, showing his teeth.

“You’re pretty. I bet you’re popular with guys.”

It was a comment clearly laced with intent. Min-hye grit her teeth and flipped the shopping bag upside down. As the bundles of cash spilled onto the floor in an instant, the man’s face contorted. People across the way stopped and glanced over, and Min-hye snapped fiercely at the man.

“You said you’re from Guyoung Construction, right? We don’t need this money, so take it! And don’t ever come back!”

“Wow, the little thing has some temper.”

At that moment, a man in athletic wear rushed down from the nursing hospital. “Hey, who the hell are you!” Seeing him run toward them, Shim Yong-ho gave a greasy smile. Who’s this now?

Fearing a fight would break out, Kang Min-hye forcibly dragged her brother’s friend back into the hospital. He told her not to, saying there was no benefit in causing a disturbance. Her brother was already the talk of the town, and she didn’t want to add to that. Despite her age, she had that much sense of discernment.

After the two disappeared inside the nursing hospital, Shim Yong-ho’s phone began to ring.

Shim Yong-ho answered the call and signaled to his subordinate in the driver’s seat to come and pick up the money.

Then he continued the conversation.

“Ah, fuck, I don’t know. I couldn’t give the money. How should I know? The little brat’s temper is no joke. What? You want me to teach her a lesson? Why not? Nineteen is practically an adult. In the Joseon Dynasty, she’d have had three or four kids by now.”

The man was the youngest brother of Chairman Shim of Guyoung Construction and served as an internal director. He was a director in name, but among the Shim brothers, he was the most vulgar and ignorant, and he was a master at tormenting people.

As he walked toward the car while talking, a man wearing a leather jacket and a low-pressed hat bumped into his shoulder. Fuck, what the—! Irritated, he whipped around, and the man simply tilted his head. “Sumimasen—”

Shim Yong-ho brushed off his shoulder and snapped fiercely. “You brat—keep your eyes open where you’re going!” The man bowed his head once more and disappeared into the darkness. Until that moment, he simply thought the man was a rude Japanese person. However, before he could take a few more steps, his side grew hot.

As he stopped walking, the subordinate who had collected all the money into the shopping bag caught up.

“What is it, Hyung-nim?”

Shim Yong-ho’s face contorted as he instinctively touched his right side.

Fuck….

Pain surged in belated waves, his breath caught in his throat, and his legs buckled.

“Hyung-nim!”

“That, that guy just now….”

No matter how hard he inhaled, the air wouldn’t fill his lungs. His breathing grew shorter and shorter, and a large amount of blood quickly flowed down his leg.

Shim Yong-ho knew from long experience.

…The knife had gone straight through the lung!

A couple walking in front discovered him and screamed, and the man collapsed to his knees. His face became as pale as a sheet of paper, and the blood he shed now pooled beneath his feet, forming a puddle.