#158

All Lee Hyun-joon got from going all the way to Chungju was the fact that Yoon Ki-beom’s uncle was completely insane, yet still hale and hearty. So, that hick Yoon Ki-beom lied and ran off. At the same time as Lee Seon-jae, no less.

What in the world were those two?

Father immediately started digging into Yoon Ki-beom. Frankly, he was a nobody. His life was so boring it made him yawn. The only interesting thing was that he was a victim of a fraud case that had shaken Seoul.

Rumor had it that the hick didn’t leave with Lee Seon-jae, but went to catch the swindler himself. They cited the fact that he even sided with the crooked cops who were in cahoots with the swindler to find out where the swindler was. Lee Hyun-joon didn’t care either way.

Father also circulated Yoon Ki-beom’s personal information in case he had run off with Lee Seon-jae. But somehow, finding that bastard’s picture wasn’t easy.

The album from the house where Lee Seon-jae lived didn’t have any recent solo shots of the homeowner, Yoon Ki-beom. There were a few group photos, but even then, his face wasn’t clearly visible because he always wore a ball cap or a straw hat. But Father wasn’t one to give up.

He approached the Village Chief, avoiding the eyes of the police. That money-grubbing Village Chief would sell the country for a few bucks. As expected, he got a decent picture. He was so damn handsome that Father clicked his tongue when he saw the photo. He was quite tall, too.

Lee Hyun-joon was dumbfounded. To have that face and that height and be farming in such a backwater place, he wondered if the guy was an idiot. There were plenty of jobs in the world where you could easily make a lot of money just by being good-looking, and frankly, you could live for free just by sweet-talking a few women.

Tsk tsk, he clicked his tongue like Father.

Anyway, Father offered a reward for anything related to Lee Seon-jae. Naturally, he put a hefty sum of ten million won on Yoon Ki-beom as well. Lee Hyun-joon thought that money was a waste. In his eyes, he didn’t seem to have anything to do with Lee Seon-jae.

There were more than a few people who had secretly run away from that village to escape loan sharks. That guy was probably one of them. What other reason could there be for taking his daughter with him?

Lee Hyun-joon would bet his fingers on it. No, he confidently bet on it. Until Director Choi Dong-jik contacted him.

That bastard Lee Seon-jae was in Yongin. He even visited a temple and went fishing, as if he was on a sightseeing tour.

The mother of Eagle, Kang Dae-seong, recognized Lee Seon-jae. That old woman had good eyes, after all. Of course, the problem was that she didn’t realize that what she saw was different from what her son had told her until the morning after she saw him.

But still, it was something.

At least they found Lee Seon-jae’s trail.

Lee Hyun-joon was returning to Seoul from Yongin with the three guys he used and ten others following behind.

He had only come to Yongin to play golf, never to go fishing. He hated fishing. He didn’t like the bait that dirtied his hands and the disgusting earthworms, but most of all, he loathed those damn hooks. Lee Hyun-joon felt dizzy whenever he saw something sharp. Like needles and fishhooks. He was fine with knives, but he didn’t know why.

The phone rang loudly. Lee Hyun-joon’s right-hand man, sitting next to him, answered the phone. His attitude was polite, but his tone was arrogant, so he must have been one of Director Choi Dong-jik’s men.

“Vice President, Eagle wants us to stop by one more place. Should we just tell him to do as he pleases?”

Just as he thought.

It was late at night, why couldn’t they just go back? Tsk.

Lee Hyun-joon frowned openly.

“Where does he want to go?”

“A restaurant nearby.”

That bastard Lee Seon-jae must have eaten even while he was running away.

“Tell him to go and wait.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

The right-hand man immediately asked for the name and location of the restaurant.

“Don’t act alone and wait until the Vice President arrives.”

The right-hand man’s voice was very arrogant as he said this.

Lee Hyun-joon smiled silently. He straightened his clothes for no reason.

In this hunt, he, the Vice President, would command everything. Lee Hyun-joon was determined to do so. He didn’t want to see Choi Dong-jik’s men running wild without his orders again. He had been following along in a daze, so Kang Dae-seong had been in charge of searching Hwajeong Temple and the fishing spot, but that wouldn’t happen again. After all, they would have to follow his orders when Father died, so Lee Hyun-joon’s plan was to solidify the chain of command at this opportunity.

Frankly, Father had gone crazy. He seemed to have literally lost his mind. He had gone to the shaman who told him that Lee Seon-jae was alive yesterday, and today he was holding a gut. Father had said that the bigger the gut, the more effective it was. He had always told him that he was too impatient and ruined things, and had advised him to wait calmly.

But Father was more impatient than he was. He was trying to do that important gut to finish off Lee Seon-jae in a rush. It wasn’t like Father at all. Moreover, after hearing that he had messed up the face of the shaman who was going to perform the important gut, he knew that there wasn’t much time left.

This was a golden opportunity for Lee Hyun-joon. A real opportunity to get rid of Father had come.

Lee Hyun-joon would finish off Lee Seon-jae with his own hands, not with the power of the shaman. He would catch him and make him kneel before him. No, he would cut him off above the knees, so would he make him kneel on his thighs? The thought alone made him feel like he was going crazy with joy.

“Hey, you bastard! Are you not going to drive faster?”

Overjoyed, he kicked the driver’s seat with his foot as if he was lying down.

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”

The subordinate in the driver’s seat sped up.

Yes, that’s it!

Let’s go quickly, you little shits.

From the beginning, Lee Hyun-joon had no intention of joining the hunt for Lee Seon-jae. That was something that lackeys did, not something that a manager like him should be directly involved in. If Father hadn’t been so insistent, he would have been out partying with women right now.

At first, he was angry. He wanted to shout at them to leave him alone. But somehow, as time went on, it became fun. He looked cool with dozens of hunting dogs and hundreds of mutts under his command. When he walked around with shoulders in black suits, he felt like he was the main character in a movie.

With a snap of his fingers, they would all bow their heads and say, “Yes, Vice President!” He felt cheated when he thought that Father and Lee Seon-jae had been hogging all this good stuff.

Lee Hyun-joon now felt that he had found his true calling. He should have been out and about instead of sitting in the office. And mainly on important hunts.

Who knew that what Father and Lee Seon-jae had been doing was so much fun?

To be honest, he had always refused when Father asked him to join him because he thought it looked bad to go after debtors, but now he regretted it.

He should have listened to Father.

He came to his senses late.

Heh heh heh. Lee Hyun-joon chuckled to himself.

Then, he suddenly became dissatisfied with the title he was called.

What’s a Vice President? Not even a Vice Chairman.

Lee Hyun-joon imagined himself as the Chairman. Of course, he would have to get rid of Choi Dong-jik before pushing Father out. Choi Dong-jik, who was only in his early forties, was frankly in better shape and more energetic than him. He had to find a proper problem solver to get rid of such a man.

Above all, Choi Dong-jik, who was a former special forces soldier, had amazing men under him. Just turning Choi Dong-jik’s subordinates, including Kang Dae-seong, to his side would make it easy to get Father to step down. That was just a matter of money, so all he needed was for the two old men to disappear.

He was in a hurry. While chasing Lee Seon-jae, he had to find the right person to get rid of Choi Dong-jik without Father’s knowledge. He had to finish it off while the company was in disarray.

Recruiting wasn’t easy, but Lee Hyun-joon had a pretty wide network in this industry. Especially the junkies who were close to him were ready to do anything for drugs. They were that desperate.

But if he openly looked for someone, he would be dead. Even if Father didn’t, Choi Dong-jik was the kind of person who would kill even the Vice Chairman of Il-gwang, so he had to move as carefully as possible. Thinking this far, Lee Hyun-joon shuddered.

He had goosebumps, he was scared. He was fucking scared.

It was because he suddenly remembered seeing Choi Dong-jik slaughtering a person like a pig.

He shouldn’t have seen it back then. It was a disaster that he had shown off because he heard that Lee Seon-jae was there and he couldn’t lose. He mustered all the courage he had and went, but Lee Seon-jae wasn’t there, and Father and Choi Dong-jik were smiling with blood splattered all over them. They had hung a person on a hook like a pig.

Ugh, fuck.

You little shit!

He was angry at Lee Seon-jae, not Choi Dong-jik. He thought that he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen because of that bastard, that he was scared when he didn’t have to be. He wanted to take it out on Lee Seon-jae when he met him.

Lee Hyun-joon kicked the passenger seat and even kicked the driver’s seat in his anger. He almost lay down and went wild with all his might.

He should have stopped at a moderate level, but he must have kicked too hard. The driver’s body swayed back and forth, and he lost control of the steering wheel. To make matters worse, a truck suddenly appeared in front of them. It was a big one, probably weighing 10 tons.

“Uh oh!”

The guy in the driver’s seat was flustered.

“Hey, you bastard, are you crazy?”

Lee Hyun-joon’s left-hand man, who was sitting in the passenger seat, shouted and hurriedly grabbed the steering wheel. He turned the steering wheel to avoid the truck. As a result, Lee Hyun-joon’s body shook violently and collided with the guy sitting next to him.

The car seemed to barely avoid the truck.

“Can’t you do it right? You son of a bitch?”

Lee Hyun-joon shouted at the top of his lungs.

At that moment, there was a screeching sound of brakes, and the car spun around. Then, it rushed towards the truck. No. The truck was rushing towards them. It was clear that the truck was deliberately rushing towards them.

Oh, shit. Who’s trying to get me? Why me? Why me of all people?

Father? That bastard Choi Dong-shik?

But there was no time to think deeply. Lee Hyun-joon’s heavy body, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, floated up. He hit his head hard on the ceiling and then plunged straight down under the seat.

They said that expensive cars were safe in accidents. That’s why he bought one that cost as much as an apartment in Gangnam, wasn’t it?

Thinking this, Lee Hyun-joon barely grabbed the seat and climbed onto the chair. The truck was right in front of him. He closed his eyes tightly without realizing it.

Fuck. I’m going to die like this.

His whole body froze and he couldn’t move.

They said that your life flashes before your eyes, but that was a lie. All that was in Lee Hyun-joon’s head was, ‘I shouldn’t have come.’ He thought that would be his last memory.

But the truck narrowly missed them.

He burst out laughing.

To be exact, it was a laugh of relief. It wasn’t someone trying to get him, but an accident that almost happened because his subordinate was driving like shit.

He was alive. As soon as he thought that, Lee Hyun-joon’s body was thrown forward with a deafening sound. At the same time as he cursed, he slammed his face into the back of the seat. With extreme pain, Lee Hyun-joon lost consciousness.

Chapter 159