By Zephyria 
Unlike Min-ho’s unpredictable heart, work progressed without hesitation. Min-ho occasionally contacted Son Pro and played golf, but he no longer responded to personal meetings as he had before. As long as the reporter was held by their side, the articles couldn’t circulate further.
In the meantime, Gyu-oh approached the Executive Director of T Corporation several times. The Executive Director, who seemed to be observing for a few days, finally began to take the bait. Eventually, he even proposed a meeting to Gyu-oh first. Caught up by Gyu-oh, who was skilled at coaxing people and leading them in the desired direction, they had already met three times.
“So. Does the Executive Director seem pleased now?”
Gyu-oh, talking while sprawled out, leaned his upper body between the front seats. Then, he looked back and forth between Min-ho in the driver’s seat and Mu-gyeong in the passenger seat to relay the situation. To be honest, he was barely managing to distribute his gaze because he kept wanting to look at Min-ho, fearing it might be burdensome.
“Son Pro seems to be crossing the line more and more. I heard he’s even shamelessly tagging along on family trips.”
“Shameless.”
The car was heading further toward the outskirts. After starting full-scale contact with the Executive Director, Gyu-oh had stopped visiting the company. It was a precaution in case the Executive Director put a tail on him. It was important to appear as if there were no points of contact with U-won until the work was perfectly finished.
“Son Pro is a bit sly. In a different way than this guy.”
Min-ho answered while keeping his gaze fixed forward. Since getting into the car as if meeting secretly in a department store parking lot, he hadn’t looked back once, nor had he made eye contact. It felt as if his gaze and voice were all bouncing off an invisible wall.
“Still, aren’t I better?”
As he leaned his head forward, the brim of his cap poked Min-ho’s shoulder.
“Stop it. You’re interfering with the driving.”
Even when touched annoyingly, Min-ho didn’t budge. What a total wall. Clicking his tongue, Gyu-oh pulled his body back. He felt Mu-gyeong’s inscrutable gaze touch him briefly, but that was all.
Out of habit, Gyu-oh turned his head to check behind. As they moved to the outskirts, the number of cars decreased noticeably. Perhaps because of that, a car that had been bothering his eyes for a while felt like it was getting closer.
“The car behind us looks a bit suspicious.”
Adjusting his hat, he buried himself deep into the seat. Now, only the top of his head would be visible from behind.
“Try slipping over there.”
What Mu-gyeong pointed to was the road leading back into the city. Vroom, as the speed increased loudly, the car following behind quickly caught up. Suddenly slowing down, then stepping hard on the accelerator again. Every time Min-ho adjusted the speed roughly, the car rattled and shook. Gyu-oh, half-lying in the back seat, grabbed the handle attached to the ceiling.
“Wow. Why go to an amusement park? You can just ride this.”
Mu-gyeong joined in with a small laugh at the playful remark. Min-ho quickly accelerated until they reached the fork in the road. Despite his appearance, he tended to drive quite aggressively, and with the stage set like this, it was practically a roller coaster.
Gyu-oh subtly lifted the brim of his hat and looked back. He wondered if the pursuers weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were tailing them, or if they were just inexperienced and clumsy. The suspicious black car had closed in right behind them.
“They’re right on us.”
They were so close that if their car suddenly slowed down, a collision was likely. With the tailing vehicle clinging to their rear, Min-ho continued to speed up. Then, upon reaching the section Mu-gyeong had pointed out earlier, the car carrying the three of them yanked the steering wheel sharply. It was such an abrupt curve that the dull thud of the safety bar hitting was felt.
Even as the car tilted sharply, Gyu-oh kept his gaze fixed behind them. Unable to withstand the speed, the tailing vehicle slid straight ahead. Having easily shaken the pursuers, the car slowly entered the rotating road.
“Man, you really can drive.”
“My childhood dream was to be a taxi driver.”
Listening to the nonchalant exchange, Gyu-oh continued to watch the rear, fearing they might still be following. However, the suspicious car did not reappear until they entered the crowded city center.
In the meantime, the three of them discussed how to handle the upcoming situation. It was simply a conversation about work, which they usually did, just happening in a car instead of the office.
“Min-ho Hyung, does Son Pro contact you often?”
“Just… once every two or three days?”
That’s fucking frequent. I’m barely seeing him after all this time, and what about that bastard? Why the hell is he hitting on Min-ho Hyung instead of just sticking to the usual threats? He really was a deadbeat who only did things that rubbed people the wrong way. Gyu-oh adjusted his hat with an irritable gesture.
“I can contact Son Pro’s side soon, right? Everything is ready.”
“Yeah.”
Work had become easier thanks to the reporter and the errand center thug who handled the aftermath being in their hands. They had created circumstances where these people, under Son Pro’s orders, forged documents to prove he was an outside party and helped Son Pro blackmail the Executive Director. They had also secured evidence that he had received backdoor money while acting as a broker. These were things Min-ho and Mu-gyeong had meticulously prepared while Gyu-oh was contacting the Executive Director.
“Tell the Executive Director to step back and keep a low profile.”
“Yeah. He’ll probably like that. He acts tough, but he’s a coward.”
“How does a man like that even think of cheating?”
Before long, they arrived near the shopping center. The line for the parking lot was long. Their car stopped at the end of the line, and shortly after, several cars stopped behind them. In the meantime, Gyu-oh rummaged through the shopping bag in the backseat and took out a hat, a coat, and sneakers one by one.
“Exactly. Seeing how he only looks out for his own interests makes me lose my appetite.”
“You? As if.”
“I’m serious. I’m starving.”
While he changed clothes, the line advanced slowly. Just as he finished swapping everything he was wearing, the nearby traffic light changed. A crowd of people crossing the crosswalk began to swarm in. It was the perfect situation to blend in and disappear.
“I’ll get out here.”
“If you need to contact me again…”
For the first time since getting in the car, Min-ho’s gaze landed on him. Gyu-oh, holding the door handle, stopped all movement and looked toward the driver’s seat.
“Do it through him.”
Min-ho trailed off and pointed with his chin toward Mu-gyeong. It was a subtle way of drawing a line, telling him not to contact him directly. Gyu-oh had contacted only Min-ho separately today, but seeing as he had brought Mu-gyeong in the passenger seat, it seemed he wanted to block any situation where they would be left alone.
A wave of disappointment surged, but Gyu-oh bit his lip hard to avoid showing it. This—wearing him down until he collapsed—was likely the result Hyung wanted.
“Why me? Are you handing over the childcare to me now?”
“I figured you had a knack for it.”
Leaving the bickering conversation behind, Gyu-oh quickly pulled the door handle.
“…I’m going.”
In the end, he didn’t answer the instruction to contact Mu-gyeong. And that was a fact everyone in the car recognized.
He immediately retreated to his hotel room and opened his laptop. Thanks to the older brothers who provided him with the highest specs whenever he mentioned it was for work, he had plenty of equipment just to use one laptop. In the past, he might have played a few games and taken it easy while working. Today, however, he ran the program immediately without any distractions.
When he left Seong-tak and became independent at Woo-won, the first thing Gyu-oh learned was computers. This was while Min-ho was earning all sorts of certifications and graduating from cyber university. Thus, Gyu-oh had a firm grip on hacking, and it happened to be a moment where that was useful.
“I guess everything you learn comes in handy eventually.”
He had acquired countless skills while doing this work. How to play Hwatu like a professional gambler, how to play golf, an eye for stocks, how to handle boats or heavy machinery, and so on. He wondered if he could make a decent living even after quitting the gangster life.
After checking the equipment that was running with a fairly loud noise, Gyu-oh shook out his hands. Because large corporations have thorough security, it would take quite a while, but hacking a computer in Son Pro’s lesson classroom should be easy.
“Let’s see.”
Unlike usual, he didn’t play any music. In the silence, only the sound of typing on the keyboard and the clicking of the mouse echoed. After focusing as if he were being sucked into the screen, he finally reached the computer in the lesson classroom.
Timed perfectly, it seemed Son Pro was using his laptop; even though Gyu-oh hadn’t touched anything, the mouse and screen were moving busily.
“Is this guy a total pervert? In his sacred workplace.”
Son Pro was browsing an adult toy website. Among them, he was adding a tool to his cart that Gyu-oh couldn’t even tell where or how it was used.
From long-term observation, Son Pro’s sexual partners were not fixed, and he didn’t particularly care about gender. And right now, he was hitting on Min-ho.
No way he’s planning to use those savage-looking steel balls on my Hyung? Upon reaching that conclusion, a spark of rage flashed before his eyes.
“Fuck, isn’t that something only guys with small dicks use?”
Not only is he a piece of shit, but his cock is small too? There’s seriously nothing I like about this guy. Gyu-oh gripped the mouse, rolling up his sleeves aggressively as if he were about to start a fight. As Gyu-oh took control of the mouse, the cursor moved rapidly left and right, as if the other person was panicked.
He clicked on the first notepad that caught his eye and began to type.
[Son Pro]
The cursor, which had been moving frantically, stopped dead. Gyu-oh quickly erased the letters and typed again.
[Want to be an outside party? lol]
[You couldn’t do it even if you died and came back to life.]