#185

A group of men in black suits stood in a neat row. In their hands were wooden clubs, steel pipes, and sashimi knives, their expressions more solemn than ever. And confident. Some even wore smiles. They were prepared to sacrifice themselves to protect their boss.

Directly opposite them, about twenty steps away, another group of men faced them. They too wore black suits and held various weapons in their hands. Their eyes were filled with determination and murderous intent.

Behind the black suits, black vans and cars lined up and slammed on their brakes. Even before the cars came to a complete stop, men in black clothes poured out.

The men breathed heavily.

An eerie silence fell between them.

“Kill!”

Someone shouted, breaking the silence, and the men roared and charged at the enemy.

Soon, the men were entangled. Some moved slowly, as if dancing a languid tango, while others moved nimbly, as if playing “cops and robbers.” They jumped across the cars, competing to see who could jump the farthest. The sound of metal clashing was followed by screams.

The group protecting the boss tried to escape through a gap. But it wasn’t easy. Every time they moved, an enemy appeared, and men swarmed from all directions to eliminate the threat.

People were hit with knives or clubs. Cars were smashed, and wood and steel collided, creating all sorts of gruesome noises. Screams erupted. Amidst the chaos, black suits fell here and there. Several men rushed to retrieve their blood-soaked comrades and evacuate them to safety, leaving a dark red trail on the ground.

The faces, distorted with sweat, blood, tears, and pain, no longer showed the initial resolve, courage, or solemnity. Instead, they were all confronted with the fear of death. They wanted to run, but they couldn’t. They wanted to stop, but they couldn’t. Because the moment they stopped, death would become a reality.

Knives went in and out. Wooden clubs and steel pipes clashed, with the stronger pushing back the weaker. The loser collapsed mercilessly. The sound of flesh being struck was brutally satisfying.

Now, it was impossible to tell where the screams were coming from. They didn’t even know who was on their side or the enemy’s. They just stabbed and hit. They stabbed and beat. It didn’t matter who the opponent was. They were ready to kill anyone around them to survive.

They had long forgotten their original purpose of saving the boss.

And so, whether it was a parking lot, a plaza, or the heart of a bustling entertainment district, the men fought until one side won.

Does this scene look familiar?

Yes, it’s a scene you might see in a movie.

Reality was very different from the movies. Such dirty brawls were only for the underlings; most issues were resolved through conversation. The higher the rank, the less likely they were to engage in physical fights. After all, they were past the age of fistfights, and there were few things that could be resolved that way.

It was a game where the side with more money or power won.

The organization had long been driven by capitalism, not loyalty.

Lee Seon-jae’s situation was no different.

The showdown ended anticlimactically, making his pre-dawn determination to die seem absurd. Of course, this was thanks to Chairman Shin’s timely appearance. Kim Delivery’s men had also played a part by toying with Il-gwang’s forces and disappearing.

Il-gwang, led by Lee Seok-doo, had mobilized about thirty men, including Choi Dong-jik and Kang Dae-seong’s subordinates, as well as local gangsters.

Chairman Shin, on the other hand, had somehow gathered over fifty thugs who arrived in vans. Of course, they looked like a ragtag bunch to anyone. So much so that even Uncle, Director Choi, and Kang Dae-seong had laughed.

But the smiles soon disappeared from their faces.

It was because the Incheon guys had arrived. Lee Seok-doo initially assumed they were on his side and was quite smug, but his face hardened when he saw them openly siding with Lee Seon-jae.

Two of the most ruthless guys from Incheon had joined forces: Baldy and Leech. Their nicknames sounded like a comedy duo from the 70s or 80s, but their faces and tattoos were anything but funny.

Baldy and Leech exuded a different kind of aura. There were plenty of tough guys gathered here, but the murderous intent emanating from them was distinctly different. Fear was nowhere to be found on the two men’s faces. Only bloodlust. They were eager to skin someone alive at any moment, regardless of who it was.

The knives they held were not ordinary weapons either. What were they called again? Right, machetes. They were wielding those long knives, also known as jungle knives or logging knives.

The mere five men Baldy and Leech brought with them were the same. All five had neatly wrapped bandages around the handles of their knives, as if they had planned it, and the bandages were stained dark red with blood and grime.

Whether it was because of the jungle knives or the atmosphere they exuded, Il-gwang’s men in their sharp suits were all tense. That didn’t mean they were weak. They were just a little nervous. If a fight actually broke out, machetes might not be of much use.

Director Choi and Kang Dae-seong were proof of that. The two men didn’t even show a hint of nervousness when they saw the Incheon guys. Especially Director Choi, a veteran of the Vietnam War, didn’t even scoff.

Anyway, unlike Il-gwang, who were all in suits, only five of Chairman Shin’s men were wearing suits. It was Chairman Shin, who had hurriedly arrived by helicopter, and Lee Seon-jae, who had borrowed an ill-fitting suit from the dry cleaner.

The rest were in casual clothes. Short-sleeved shirts and jeans, or khakis. Still, being gangsters, black was the dominant color. Some of the ragtag bunch had been dragged out of bed and were wearing undershirts in the trunk.

But they couldn’t be dismissed. Although they were smaller in stature than Il-gwang’s suit-clad men, they seemed to have a knack for street fighting. Il-gwang’s men in suits probably knew that better than anyone.

Seon-jae tried to predict the outcome of the fight. It would be a close match, or Il-gwang would have a slight advantage. That was assuming Chairman Shin’s Aides joined the fight.

Anyway, unlike in the movies, there wasn’t enough space for a large number of people to line up properly at this reservoir. The path along the reservoir was a dirt road, narrow enough for only two or three adults to walk side by side. As a result, the men encircled the reservoir like they were doing a Ganggangsullae dance. They lined up like a train.

Lee Seok-doo stood at the front of their line. Lee Seon-jae stood opposite him. It wasn’t Lee Seok-doo’s place to face Seon-jae, but since the fight was between Lee Seon-jae and Lee Seok-doo, Chairman Shin yielded the front position to Lee Seon-jae. Instead, he waited in the car.

Lee Seok-doo looked surprised at Chairman Shin’s appearance.

“Shin Jeong-ho. You must be desperate. Out of all the people, you chose such a hoodlum?”

He clicked his tongue as he said this. He seemed genuinely disappointed.

He then scanned Seon-jae up and down and frowned. Seon-jae had at least taken off his ball cap out of courtesy, but Lee Seok-doo didn’t seem to like it.

Who was calling who a hoodlum? Tsk.

Lee Seon-jae wanted to click his tongue.

This was why he hated that man. He was the most vulgar person, yet he looked down on others and acted sophisticated. He thought he had risen to his position because he was so great. He had barely climbed up on the backs of others’ pain and sacrifice. Lee Seon-jae thought he had lived a miserable life, having spent his whole life with such a man.

“You said you wouldn’t try to kill me or treat me like a servant, unlike Uncle.”

Seon-jae sneered.

Lee Seok-doo raised his eyebrows as if to say, “What are you talking about?” He seemed genuinely unaware of what he had done wrong.

“That’s not something a traitor should say.”

Lee Seok-doo said.

“No. You have the order wrong.”

Seon-jae corrected him.

“That day, the day I died, you tried to kill me, didn’t you? What was the reason?”

“Because you betrayed us.”

“You have the order wrong. You tried to kill me on the day you sent me to Andong under the pretext of visiting a Grave site. Neither Uncle nor Lee Hyun-joon knew I had betrayed you.”

As Seon-jae pointed out each detail, Lee Seok-doo frowned but remained silent. He clicked his tongue.

Seon-jae still didn’t know why they had tried to kill him. At first, he thought they had found out, but that wasn’t the case at all.

He figured they thought he was no longer useful. He actually felt relieved. But Lee Seok-doo’s reaction was strange. He had tried to kill him, but he didn’t want to believe Lee Seon-jae was dead.

Well, he must have had many regrets once he was actually dead and gone, but that was how it was.

“And Uncle betrayed me first. I joined hands with Jeong Jae-jin to respond to that.”

Seon-jae continued calmly.

“Uncle always said, ‘Return what you’ve suffered two or three times over.'”

As Seon-jae added, Lee Seok-doo narrowed his eyes.

He seemed to be trying to figure out what Seon-jae was saying. But he didn’t seem to understand at all.

Right. They only ever remember the victims.

He had forgotten that.

“What are you talking about?”

Lee Seok-doo finally asked, unable to contain his curiosity. This time, Seon-jae frowned.

“Can I talk about this in front of everyone? Uncle’s position will become ridiculous.”

Seon-jae said, looking back and forth at Director Choi and Kang Dae-seong, who stood like bodyguards on either side of Lee Seok-doo. Of course, that included the dozens of underlings behind them.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“August 1989, don’t you remember?”

Lee Seok-doo didn’t seem to like the year 1989 coming out of Seon-jae’s mouth.

He seemed to be saying with his whole body, “How can a young man be so hung up on the past? You’ll never become a great man that way.”

“On the day of my early graduation, Uncle personally threw a party for me at a five-star hotel. Don’t you remember?”

“Are you trying to thank me now?”

He was utterly shameless.

“Come on, why are you being like this? You have a good memory. Or have you gone senile already?”

It wasn’t Lee Seok-doo who bristled at the word “senile,” but Director Choi. Seon-jae smiled at Director Choi.

“Don’t you remember that day? Someone died.”

Seon-jae swaggered.

“A woman died next to me, didn’t she? I didn’t even know such a woman was lying there until I woke up.”

“Ah. The woman you killed?”

Lee Seok-doo replied casually.

Haa. Seon-jae sighed deeply.

“That’s right. You made it look perfectly like I had committed murder. I was completely fooled. And you saved me, with conditions.”

“How can a young man have such a bad memory? You killed her. You committed murder. I didn’t make it happen; you strangled that bitch with your own hands. And I covered up the incident.”

He was being utterly brazen.

“Uncle, it seems like it’s time for you to retire. I know you colluded with the police to keep me there that day. Did you think I’d never find out?”

I can’t think of any other sophisticated words besides “colluded.”

As he sneered, Lee Seok-doo contorted his already ugly face.

“That man Oh Dae-ho, who went to see Uncle, came to me and confessed everything. Evidence? Of course, I have it. Not evidence that’s been tampered with like Uncle’s, but proper evidence. There’s plenty of time left on the statute of limitations. Even though Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin is conducting an anti-corruption investigation, he won’t overlook that case. Well, if necessary, we can get an arrest warrant with that first. As you all know.”

Lee Seok-doo, who had been listening to Seon-jae’s words, became serious. His neck turned red, and his face was filled with anger.

“You betrayed me over something like that? Just because of one measly whore?”

He roared.

Just one measly whore.

That was a very Lee Seok-doo thing to say.

Chapter 186