#139

Lee Hyun-joon had been feeling like shit lately. Nothing was going right. Father’s hysteria had worsened, making it nearly impossible to even talk to him, and the so-called executives of the company were nowhere to be found, busy trying to save their own skins. Rumors of betrayals were rampant, but the strict surveillance by the prosecution and police made it impossible to use people recklessly.

Lee Hyun-joon himself was in a position of having missed the bus. Everything had been going so well. So smoothly, in fact, that he had swallowed a whopping 5.5 billion won without a hitch. Of course, it was only 5.5 billion in name; he had only pocketed 500 million won for himself after investing 3 billion won of company money.

But thanks to that, he had reconciled with the chairman of Hankook Construction, whom Father had pissed off, and had also secured the demolition project rights that Dongbang Construction had snatched away. Since those rights were worth nearly 20 billion won, it was as good as making eight times the profit on a 2.5 billion won investment. It was the perfect opportunity to send Father, who only nagged, to the old folks’ home.

But at that crucial moment, that son of a bitch had to die. At first, it felt like a rotten tooth had been pulled out, and he felt relieved. He was so happy that he could get rid of that annoying bastard without getting a drop of blood on his hands.

The day he heard about Lee Seon-jae’s death, Lee Hyun-joon threw a celebration party at a club. He spent 30 million won on drinks that night alone, but he didn’t regret it one bit.

Finally, my life is blossoming.

The world seemed to be painted in rainbow colors.

But it was all his delusion. Strangely enough, everything had gone to hell since that bastard died. Even if he could accept the fact that loyal VIP clients were leaving one by one, problems began to arise in the solid loan sharking system.

It had been perfect, for sure. Of course, it wasn’t without its problems, but as soon as that bastard, the creator of the system, touched it, everything would go back to normal as if nothing had happened.

But there was no one in the company who could replace him. The guys who had worked under that bastard for years didn’t know anything. It seemed they hadn’t even been interested in how things worked. He had clearly seen that bastard trying so hard to teach them.

Frankly, it was mostly Father’s and his fault. Every year, at the beginning of the year, that bastard would beg them to hire someone, to hire a proper technician, but Father and he were too stingy to spend money on that. They always made excuses and put it off until next time. Why hire someone and spend money when there was a slave who could be on standby 24 hours a day?

Should have listened to that bastard.

Hanyuseong of Hankook Construction had said that regret always comes after you’re screwed, and that became their story. It was ridiculous that he was regretting it when he had been planning to kill him anyway.

Lee Seon-jae’s accident was truly unexpected. On the very day that bastard died in the accident, Lee Hyun-joon had actually been planning to get rid of him. He had even spent a lot of money hiring a professional fixer.

It was entirely Lee Hyun-joon’s plan. Father didn’t know at all, but he must have sensed something. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have suddenly brought up the Grave site story to that bastard in mid-May, the busiest time of the year. He had set the stage perfectly for Lee Hyun-joon. Maybe Father had noticed that bastard had changed, or maybe he had underestimated that bastard’s abilities. Father’s judgment was becoming clouded.

‘We must cut off the source of the trouble.’

Father had thrown out a meaningful remark first.

‘Of course, Father.’

The two of them gleefully sent that bastard to the countryside that dawn.

It happened to be raining, and the road was slippery. Several huge trucks followed the sedan that bastard was riding in.

Even though he made a lot of money, that bastard always drove that old Elantra. He had heard about problems with the brakes several times. It was a piece of junk that could break down at any moment. Moreover, Lee Seon-jae’s condition at the time was like a drug addict, all dazed. Driving such a cheap car in that state of mind was what led to that situation.

He was blaming that bastard for no reason. Even though he had been planning to kill him, he felt regretful after he died. He realized how much work that bastard had been doing at the company only after he was gone.

Father, in particular, was a mess. He had been silent when he had condoned his plan, but now he was acting up. He blamed everything on Lee Hyun-joon. He scoffed at the word accident. He firmly believed that Lee Hyun-joon had disguised it as an accident and killed him. No matter how much he denied it, even when the police confirmed it was an accidental death, he wouldn’t listen. When he grabbed the doctor by the collar in front of the corpse and demanded that he bring him back to life, he thought he had gone senile.

That bastard, who had been severely burned, was an eyesore. Even though he had hated him, his face had been so beautiful that it was a waste to look at, but after being burned, it was terribly hideous. He barely identified him as that bastard by his teeth. But even that, Father didn’t believe. He stubbornly insisted to the police on a DNA test. Not even knowing what it was, he pulled strings unnecessarily to get the test results as quickly as possible.

The DNA test also came back as that bastard. Father was so shocked that he went out of his mind. Of course, even in the midst of that, he was very frugal. That is, he collected the apartment where that bastard’s parents lived. He literally took it back. He notified them that he would take it back since it was an apartment given as collateral for their son.

Then, they held a funeral. It was the most pathetic funeral in the world. It was so insignificant that it made him laugh. That was the extent of that bastard’s value to Father. So even the great Lee Seon-jae is going like this. Lee Hyun-joon was so gleeful that he danced at home.

The problem started after the funeral. Accidents, both public and private, never stopped. As if a ghost had possessed them, bad things happened one after another, starting with minor fender-benders. For example, there was almost a fire at Lee Hyun-joon’s house, and the great Father was pickpocketed at a department store. Similar incidents and accidents happened not only to him and Father but also to the company’s executives. One person was seriously injured and was still in the hospital.

It was a series of days where they fell backward and broke their noses. The word unlucky was not enough to describe it.

What else could they do? They had to do what they had been doing.

They held a shamanic ritual. A very big one.

Whenever there was a big accident or someone died, Father would spend thousands on big shamanic rituals. He had seen it so many times that he thought he wouldn’t be moved anymore, but it was different this time. It was probably the most expensive and biggest ritual Father had ever held.

Wow. His mouth dropped open.

At this scale, they might be able to escape that bastard’s ghost.

Lee Hyun-joon had never prayed so earnestly in his life.

Please take that guy away. If possible, send him straight to hell.

Lee Hyun-joon prayed and prayed for that bastard’s journey to hell.

Was it because of such thoughts that he was cursed?

After the ritual, the company got even worse, as if to show off. They fell into a pit they couldn’t get out of. The server went down four times, and piles of loan documents disappeared.

Complaints poured in from VIPs as well. Because that bastard died at the end of May, most of the tax filings were missed. Except for a few who had submitted all the necessary documents early, that is, almost 90% of the customers.

They were in a desperate situation, but there was no proper solution. In the end, five renowned tax accountants sat down and barely managed to handle the work that that bastard had been doing alone. But their skills were not as good as that bastard’s. In this industry where trust is life, the trust they had painstakingly built up began to crumble.

Every day was like walking on thin ice. He felt like a toad desperately blocking a dam that could burst at any moment. After a long time, Lee Hyun-joon, who had been sleeping soundly after having a wild night at a club, received a call from Father.

‘Get your ass over here right now.’

But there was nothing Lee Hyun-joon could do anyway.

Il-gwang’s secret warehouses, scattered all over the country, had all been raided at the same time. They called all the people they could, from the directors to the action leaders, to the company. Little did they know that they would be raided that afternoon.

It was only two days later that they realized the problem suitcase was missing. Father said that only three people knew about the existence of that suitcase: Lee Seon-jae, Lee Hyun-joon, and Father himself. Of course, that was Father’s opinion, and probably most of the executives knew about it. Lee Hyun-joon believed so. But Father still suspected.

Even in the midst of the urgent raid, Father went to see the most famous shaman in the country. Then, out of the blue, he said that Lee Seon-jae was alive. He said that since he was alive, someone must have seen him, and he spent a whopping 30 million won on information about that bastard. Not only that, but he circulated Lee Seon-jae’s photo and activated surveillance networks at Gimpo International Airport and ports across the country with potential for illegal immigration, including Incheon, Busan, and Jeju Island.

Ah! He’s finally gone crazy.

He sighed for a moment, and then Lee Hyun-joon cheered. He longed for Father to really go senile. No, he believed he had. He counted the days until he couldn’t even control his bowel movements.

But patience was needed to enjoy such joy. Calls poured in saying they had seen Lee Seon-jae. They were all prank calls. Some lowlifes who had crawled out of nowhere were playing pranks. He was going crazy because he was already out of his mind because of the raid.

Still, Father was Father. Father, who had gone through thick and thin, handled things calmly, except for matters related to Lee Seon-jae, just like before. He calmly formed a defense team composed of the best lawyers in the industry and pulled strings like crazy. And as Father wanted, the arrest warrant was dismissed. Father and Lee Hyun-joon breathed a sigh of relief.

But that was only for a moment; the atmosphere was strange. It had been like this since Lee Seon-jae died, but recently it had crossed the line. The so-called VIPs, the people who had been steadily receiving bribes from Il-gwang for a long time, were openly trying to back out.

No matter how skilled they were, they were just crew members on the ship called Il-gwang. The captain was none other than Lee Seok-doo, his Father. The moment Il-gwang hit a reef and ran aground, they would all die together. There were no lifeboats or life jackets. At least, that was how the system Lee Seon-jae had created was. It was a spider web that no one could escape, not even Lee Seon-jae, who had created the system. It was an endless cycle that they couldn’t break even if they tried until they died.

But they were cutting the spider web and slipping out one by one. Rumors were circulating that they were negotiating with Jeong Jae-jin, the prosecutor in charge of this case. That is, they would give Jeong Jae-jin the information he wanted, and they would slip away. In South Korea, where plea bargaining is not allowed, that prosecutor was openly doing that. Lee Hyun-joon had heard of three already, and it seemed that others were lining up behind them.

Father wasn’t just taking it lying down either. In times like these, they had to target those for whom honor was more precious than money. For example, politicians, high-ranking public officials and civil servants, and professors and teachers. They would lose their badges and jobs if even bribery charges were established. Prostitution and orgies would shatter their authority in an instant and make them the laughingstock of the world.

There was plenty of evidence for blackmail. There were videos, photos, and audio recordings everywhere. These were valuable materials that this Lee Hyun-joon had kept for a long time, despite Father’s nagging. Various eavesdropping devices and hidden cameras were installed in the hotels, motels, and lodges that they used for free. They didn’t even know it and played so dirty. Not only in the country but also abroad, they followed along well if it was free.

When Father started blackmailing based on Lee Hyun-joon’s data, there were signs that the line to Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin was shrinking. Except for a few business figures who had already completed negotiations, most of them were keeping a low profile. Some even came to Father instead of Jeong Jae-jin. They bowed and asked for his opinion.

A tense tug-of-war began between Father and Jeong Jae-jin. One day, the line was pulled a little more towards Father, and the next day, it went a few steps further towards Jeong Jae-jin. They were pulling the line without giving an inch.

While the two of them were doing that, Lee Hyun-joon became like a sack of potatoes. It was all well and good that he’d helped Father with the threats. But now, he was in danger of becoming a drug dealer himself.

Those sons of bitches were all over him when they were getting high on drugs, but now they were suddenly going to report him? He was cursed with bad luck. Thanks to that, he was in a position where he had to be even more careful than Father. He was in such a desperate situation that he might have to smuggle himself overseas if things went wrong. Even so, Father couldn’t stand to see his son doing nothing. Since he was doing nothing anyway, he told him to at least answer calls related to the bounty on Lee Seon-jae.

What a load of bullshit.

If Lee Seon-jae was alive, he’d call him Hyung. No, he’d call him Father.

At least, that’s what he thought until 30 minutes ago.