By Zephyria 
* * *
The elevator doors opened with a ding.
As they went up to the top floor where President Hwang was staying for the meeting, an aide who looked like a secretary led the way as before. However, there was one difference.
During the last visit, only Kwon Rae-i, Woo Tae-hwon, and President Hwang Jin-soo sat at the round table in the office, but this time the number of people had increased. They were gang members who he remembered exchanging drinks with at the banquet, so he recognized their faces right away.
‘That skinhead was Jeon Ho-chang.’
Jeon Ho-chang, to whom Kwon Rae-i had thrown the car keys to have the car parked.
It was easy to remember him because of his distinctive shaved head. He used to be completely bald, but now his hair had grown about 2mm, making it a little darker. He looked like a soldier or a member of a sports team with a tight military discipline.
‘Oh. He wasn’t naturally bald.’
He must have been a fashion skinhead.
Anyway, he was sitting on President Hwang’s right. And another gang member was sitting on President Hwang’s left. He was a large man with a square jaw and a bandage on his right arm.
‘That’s Kim Woo-shik.’
The gang member who had tried to cut off Tae-hwon’s arm at dawn, but instead had his own arm broken by Kwon Rae-i.
He was still wearing a bandage, probably because he hadn’t fully recovered from the injury, but he didn’t seem to have much trouble moving around. Well, Woo Tae-hwon himself was still injured and walking around, so it seemed fair to say they were in a similar situation.
‘Right. Those two are the executives of the Jeun Faction. The left and right arms.’
It seemed that Jeon Ho-chang was the commander who controlled even the lowest-ranking gang members, and Kim Woo-shik was President Hwang’s direct hitman. In other words, Jeon Ho-chang was in charge of handling people, and Kim Woo-shik was in charge of handling knives.
The fact that key figures were gathered in one place meant that today’s meeting was a serious one. Even though Kwon Rae-i had decided to share his fate with the Jeun Faction, the incident in which they tried to cut off Woo Tae-hwon’s arm had been glossed over, and they had not yet achieved complete harmony.
‘They’re just in the same boat for the same purpose.’
There was still a long way to go before they could be considered true allies.
Above all, the person who was most hindering the harmony was Woo Tae-hwon himself.
‘It would be a good combination if I just left, but I’m the problem. Tsk.’
Tae-hwon clicked his tongue fiercely in his mind.
Would things have been different if he had paid the price by offering his arm the day before? At least the Jeun Faction wouldn’t see Woo Tae-hwon as a threat. But that kind of deal could never be made again. Tae-hwon had completely lost the desire to respond to it now.
‘That’s it. The past is the past. Now is the time to focus on the grand plan and defeat the great enemy.’
There must have been a reason why Kwon Rae-i brought Tae-hwon to the Jeun Faction’s building. For now, he would just trust and follow him.
Or so,
He thought, but…
Bang!
Kwon Rae-i smashed a white jar on the round table.
Not only was he late for the breakfast meeting, but he also suddenly smashed a white porcelain jar in front of President Hwang, Jeon Ho-chang, and Kim Woo-shik.
The porcelain that President Hwang Jin-soo had personally collected and displayed was shattered into pieces in an instant.
The aide who was bringing out tea for the breakfast meeting flinched and stepped back, and the eyes of President Hwang Jin-soo, Jeon Ho-chang, and Kim Woo-shik, who were sitting at the table, sharpened at the same time.
‘What a provocation.’
Was the meeting already in danger of falling apart?
Tae-hwon frowned and glanced at Kwon Rae-i. On the surface, his face was still and didn’t seem to be shaken at all, but he was surprised inside. Maybe it was because he had only seen his gentle side recently, but he had forgotten for a moment that he was a guy who would do crazy things without hesitation.
“What are you doing?”
Jeon Ho-chang and Kim Woo-shik lowered their stances warily. Kwon Rae-i didn’t care how they reacted and went straight to the point.
“As you can see. First, we’ll smash the Gyeongjeong’s money bag. Just like this.”
He was full of composure with a smile on his face. His gleaming eyes looked ruthlessly cold, and there was no wavering in his expression.
Kwon Rae-i reached out and picked up a suitably large piece from the shattered white porcelain and gathered it in one corner of the round table. The number of pieces was one, two, three, four, five. There were five pieces in total.
“There are old men called big shots who are the source of Gyeongjeong’s funds.”
Kwon Rae-i placed the five pieces of porcelain and swept them off the table with his hand at once.
“We’ll round up those old men.”
The pieces that crashed into the marble floor shattered miserably with a loud noise, and the table became a little cleaner. But there were still large pieces and small fragments left.
President Hwang gestured to the frozen aide in the back. It was a gesture to ask for a teacup. The aide handed over the tea with trembling hands, and President Hwang took a sip of the hot tea without cooling it down and replied curtly.
“Do you have a plan to sweep away those sly old men at once? They’re old men who are as scared as their age, so they’ve each gone into their holes and closed the doors tightly.”
President Hwang didn’t seem to be angry even though a very expensive jar had been smashed to pieces. Rather, he seemed to be accepting it as if it couldn’t be helped.
It was as if, how should I put it? Since President Hwang had disregarded Kwon Rae-i’s wishes and tried to snatch Woo Tae-hwon to cut off his arm, it was only natural that a jar or two might get smashed in return. Even though four of his men had their right arms broken. After all, President Hwang’s arm was still moving perfectly fine.
“There is a way.”
Kwon Rae-i picked up another large shard of the jar and placed it in the center of the table. He glared at it with murderous intent.
“Kwon Hyeon-oh. The old geezers have maintained a long-standing relationship with Kwon Hyeon-oh. They regularly receive kickbacks from the illegal gambling dens that Kwon Hyeon-oh operates, and even launder money cleanly in casinos run under borrowed names.”
“Yeah. It’s a well-known fact that the second son of Gyeongjeong has a separate slush fund.”
“Even so, the eldest son is the official successor, both internally and externally. The second son is just there to bring pocket money and cater to their whims.”
“Is that so…? I thought he was quite competitive with the first son.”
“Well, some of the old geezers might genuinely be thinking of putting Kwon Hyeon-oh in the chairman’s seat. But most of them are just taking advantage of a useful piggy bank who’s eager to become chairman and willing to throw money around, accepting it just enough to avoid any trouble. After Chairman Kwon died, his vast inheritance flowed into Kwon Hyeon-oh’s hands, and they figured he’d throw that around too if they stalled, so they’re just playing it by ear.”
“Yeah, from the old geezers’ perspective, there’s no rush at all. The second son is the one who’s desperate and eager for the chairman’s position.”
“Yes, exactly.”
Mourning the late Chairman Kwon, catching the traitor Woo Tae-hwon first, not being able to decide on a successor until Gyeongjeong’s reputation is restored… These were the excuses they made, pretending to be dignified while hiding in back rooms, waiting for the opportune moment. That was the reality of the Gyeongjeong Faction old geezers.
Since Kwon Hyeon-oh would be throwing around huge sums of money just for them to sit still, and Kwon Tae-oh, the eldest son, would join in to win them over in order to keep Kwon Hyeon-oh in check, there was no reason for them to actively intervene in the succession battle. After raking in a fortune, they could just open their wallets late to the newly appointed chairman, act like they were doing him a favor, and offer a few words of blessing.
It seemed the older and richer they were, the more greedy they became.
“The old geezers aren’t in a hurry. Neither is Kwon Tae-oh. In fact, as things stand now, it’s safe to say that Kwon Hyeon-oh has been completely pushed out of the succession battle.”
That was because Kwon Hyeon-oh had been badly beaten by Woo Tae-hwon and even hospitalized. There was no way Kwon Tae-oh would just stand by and watch Kwon Hyeon-oh get so utterly crushed. He would be busy trying to win over the forces that had followed Kwon Hyeon-oh. And in reality, quite a few of Kwon Hyeon-oh’s men would have defected.
‘Especially since several of Kwon Hyeon-oh’s closest aides had died without a sound.’
The fact that Woo Tae-hwon was responsible might not be known, but either way, Kwon Hyeon-oh’s men had died en masse for no apparent reason. And Kwon Hyeon-oh was severely injured and ended up in the hospital. If they had any sense, they would naturally follow Kwon Tae-oh.
Thus, the succession battle within Gyeongjeong had naturally narrowed down to Kwon Tae-oh as the sole candidate. So Kwon Tae-oh had nothing to lose at the moment.
‘The problem is Kwon Hyeon-oh.’