Chapter 16

CEO Kang Myeong-cheol (3)

Suryeon, an upscale traditional entertainment establishment located in Seongbuk-dong.

The private room, where the gentle melodies of a gayageum drifted through the air, was already filled with sweltering warmth.

“Now, now, CEO Kang! You've been through so much stress lately, and I sincerely congratulate you on your acquittal today. Let me pour you a drink, so empty your glass and enjoy yourself!”

Premium liquor was poured until the glass was nearly overflowing.

With women dressed in elaborate hanbok sitting on either side of him, Kang Myeong-cheol arrogantly emptied his glass.

“Ahh, sweet. So sweet.”

A friend sitting across from him asked.

“But that lawyer who appears on television, Park Dong-yeop or whatever his name is. Does he really get the job done? Is he worth the money?”

“Well, he handles things cleanly enough. You saw it yourself today. He got me acquitted.”

At Kang Myeong-cheol's reply as he set down his glass, his friend shook his head.

“Acquitted? Well, that was only natural. You'd have been even more certain of that if you'd hired a former judge or prosecutor from one of those major law firms.”

“That's exactly why it was a better deal. I didn't hire a former official, so it cost only one-fifth as much, and he still got me acquitted. That's a much cleaner result. But······.”

“But?”

Kang Myeong-cheol set his empty glass down with a sharp tap and smacked his lips.

“Maybe it's because his firm is small. Or maybe he just doesn't have enough experience. The service is lacking. The service. I really don't like the look in that bastard's eyes. I practically begged him to come here today, but he coldly turned me down. He doesn't seem to genuinely believe I'm innocent.”

At those words, his friend burst into snickering laughter.

“Come on, CEO Kang. Have a little conscience. Honestly, did you get acquitted because you were actually innocent? You got acquitted because things were handled properly. Isn't it a bit greedy to feel offended just because your lawyer doesn't believe you're innocent?”

The smile instantly vanished from Kang Myeong-cheol's face.

His expression turned stern, and he slammed his hand against the table.

—BANG!

“Hey. Watch your mouth.”

“H-huh? What's wrong all of a sudden? Have you had too much to drink?”

“Fuck. Didn't you see the verdict today? I'm innocent. I said I'm innocent!”

Blue veins bulged along Kang Myeong-cheol's neck.

“Let's be honest. Did I push that bastard into the machine? What the hell was I supposed to do when he got distracted while working and stuck his own head into it? Was I supposed to stop that bastard from fooling around too? If you really think about it, I'm the actual victim here! Because that one bastard died, the factory had to stop, deliveries got delayed, I had to deal with the stress of a police investigation, and I lost hundreds of millions of won in legal fees! This country's laws are so fucking rotten that it's always the people running businesses who get unfairly screwed over, fuck!”

The atmosphere turned icy.

The women sitting beside him discreetly exchanged glances and skillfully refilled the drinks.

“Hey, Kang Myeong-cheol. Min-woo was just making a joke. Why are you getting so serious about it?”

“Fuck, a joke? Hey, there are things you can joke about and things you can't. How can you sit there and call something that pisses me off so much a joke? Ah, fuck. I'm getting seriously worked up.”

“Yeah, Min-woo went a little too far this time. Hey, hurry up and apologize to Myeong-cheol. Don't ruin the atmosphere of our drinking party.”

The friend named Min-woo, who had made the joke, apologized to Kang Myeong-cheol with an awkward expression.

“Hey, yeah. I went a bit too far this time. Sorry, man.”

“Ah, forget it. I'm going to take a piss, so you guys just keep drinking.”

“Sure, go cool your head a little.”

—Slide, click.

Kang Myeong-cheol roughly slid open the door and stepped into the corridor.

As the thick soundproof door closed, the raucous laughter inside the room was cut off as though by magic. Kang Myeong-cheol staggered down the long corridor, filled with a pleasant fragrance, toward the restroom at the far end of the silence.

The restroom was finished in luxurious marble, giving the interior a cool atmosphere. Kang Myeong-cheol had just finished relieving himself and was about to wash his hands in front of the sink mirror.

That was when he noticed a man wearing a hood pulled low over his head in the reflection.

'Huh?'

This was an exclusive private entertainment establishment operated strictly on a membership basis. Moreover, every room was a separate, independent space, so it should have been impossible for a stranger to enter this restroom.

Was he an employee?

“Who the hell are you?”

Kang Myeong-cheol furrowed his brow and spun around.

“Fuck, Suryeon's really gone downhill. Hey, you bastard. Go get Manager Park. I'm going to give him a serious fucking lesson today······.”

A cheap mask visible beneath the hood.

And calm eyes gleaming from within.

Kang Myeong-cheol instinctively knew. This was no ordinary situation.

“Wh-who the fuck are you!!!”

Bareum approached the frightened man, who was stumbling backward, with incredible speed.

To Kang Myeong-cheol, it was almost like teleportation.

Bareum's hand closed around his throat.

[Prolonged physical contact with an evildoer has been detected.]

[Unique Skill 'Resonance of Sin' has been activated.]

[Resonance of Sin: Synchronized with the remnant of target 'Kang Myeong-cheol's' deepest sin.]

______________

The suffocating flour dust. The heavy roar of motors pounding against my ears.

The inside of the cap on my head was already soaked with sweat.

Twenty-three-year-old Ahn Byeong-yeong stared down at the enormous mixing machine with hollow, unfocused eyes.

His conversation with the factory manager buzzed in his ears like tinnitus.

'Byeong-yeong, I know you're tired, but let's just push through today. Huh? If we don't finish today's quota, nobody gets to go home. The boss says he'll deduct the penalty for missing the delivery deadline from all our wages. Just hang in there a little longer.'

'But, Factory Manager!!'

'You're supposed to work hard while you're still young. Besides, isn't overtime great? When are you going to save enough money to buy a house and a car on your base salary? Am I wrong?'

He had a point.

It was his fourth year of employment after getting a job immediately upon graduating from high school. But his wages barely reached the legal minimum hourly rate, even when weekly holiday allowances were included. The company made a big show of raising wages every year, but those increases were never more than the minimum wage adjustments. In the end, the only way to earn money was through overtime and extra shifts.

It had already been thirty hours since he'd reported to work yesterday morning.

He'd managed to sleep for a few hours in the break room, but it hadn't been enough to relieve his exhaustion.

His shoulders, which had emptied hundreds of twenty-kilogram sacks of flour, had long since gone numb. Was it because he hadn't slept properly? Or was it the flour dust? His dry, irritated eyes could barely produce tears anymore.

There was no time to rest. Unlike humans, machines did not know fatigue. If the workers couldn't keep up with the speed at which the conveyor belt discharged its products, the entire production line would grind to a halt.

Even after cutting into their rest periods, they still couldn't meet their quotas. Claiming that even the dozen or so seconds lost whenever the machine stopped were too precious to waste, the factory manager had wrapped layers of blue tape around the mixing machine's lid safety sensor. Now they were performing dangerous work, pouring flour directly over the sharp metal blades roaring inside the machine and scraping dough away with scrapers.

Byeong-yeong had already reached his limit.

'Just a little······ I just want to sleep for ten minutes.'

An overwhelming wave of drowsiness swept over him. The moment his dry, heavy eyelids closed, Byeong-yeong's upper body suddenly pitched forward without his realizing it.

His hand, which had been reaching to scrape dough from the side, grasped at empty air,

—THUD.

“Huh······?”

He didn't even have time to scream.

The mercilessly rotating blades of the mixing machine caught Byeong-yeong's arm and dragged his entire body into the machine.

—CRUNCH, CRUNCH!

The horrifying sensation of bones being crushed and flesh being torn apart.

A bloodcurdling scream.

Red blood erupted like a fountain across the white dough.

And just like that, everything ended for twenty-three-year-old Ahn Byeong-yeong.

And at that same moment.

Expensive traditional paintings and costly porcelain.

Furniture decorated with gold leaf.

The pleasant sound of a gayageum and the coquettish laughter of women filled the room.

“Oh, CEO! Where are you touching me?”

“What do you mean, CEO? Try calling me oppa.”

“Oh, oppa. Your hands keep getting naughty.”

“Now, now. A real man works hard during the day and wants to have a little fun at night. What right does a woman have to stop him? Just stay still. Oppa will take care of everything.”

Just then, the cellphone lying on the table began vibrating frantically.

“Oppa, your phone. Your phone.”

“My phone?”

It was the factory manager.

[Boss! Boss!! Byeong-yeong, Byeong-yeong got sucked into the machine!!]

“What? Sucked into the machine?”

The moment Kang Myeong-cheol heard those words, a wave of irritation surged through him.

“The machine? Is it okay?”

[Th-that's······ Byeong-yeong, I-I think he's dead.]

“No, fuck, I'm asking whether the machine's all right.”

[Y-yes? Well, the machine is still······.]

“Ah, you stupid bastard. What the hell are you doing as the factory manager? I put you in charge of factory operations, and now what? You don't even know what happened to the machine? Fuck. Are you out of your mind?”

“I-I'm sorry!! I'll check right now, immediately.]

Kang Myeong-cheol let out a deep sigh before continuing.

“What about the dough? Is it all mixed with blood? Do we have to throw all the dough away?”

[Boss, but the dough isn't the problem right now. Someone's······.]

Enraged by the factory manager's response, Kang Myeong-cheol hurled the liquor glass on the table onto the floor.

“Ah, for fuck's sake!! Hey!! Do you have any idea how much the penalty will be if we miss the delivery deadline? Are you bastards going to pay for all of it? Huh? Shut the fuck up and tell me how long it'll take to clean up and get the machine running again.”

[W-well, we've already called 119 for the time being······.]

“What about the other production line? Don't tell me you've stopped the entire factory.”

[Y-yes? No, well, someone just died, so continuing to work······.]

“Ah, you fucking bastard, seriously. Hey, you think if we fail to deliver because someone died, the customer will say, 'Oh my, our deepest condolences. It can't be helped, hahaha'? You really think that's going to happen? Figure out how to make up for the missing production. Fuck. If you fall short of today's quota, the others might be fine, but you're definitely getting fired. Fuck. No, it won't end with firing you. I'll sue you for damages and take every last penny you have. Understand that.”

After ending the call, Kang Myeong-cheol kicked the table.

Apparently, that still wasn't enough to vent his anger, because he grabbed the liquor bottle from the table and hurled it violently against the wall.

—CRASH!!

“AAAH!!!”

Fragments flew into the legs of the woman sitting beside him, and she curled up with a scream.

Perhaps even the sound of that scream irritated him. Kang Myeong-cheol turned toward the woman and shouted harshly.

“Ah, for fuck's sake. I'm already in a shitty mood. Hey, get the fuck out. Didn't you hear me?”

The vision shattered.

Reality returned abruptly.

The horrific phantom pain of bones being crushed and flesh being torn apart sent a sharp sensation surging through my entire body. Instead of the metallic smell of blood and the dry, dusty flour that had assaulted my nose just moments earlier, the luxurious fragrance of the restroom's air freshener now filled my nostrils.

Yet even so, the lingering pain that twenty-three-year-old Ahn Byeong-yeong had experienced in that vision continued to torment me.

Was that why?

Kang Myeong-cheol's neck was currently in my grasp.

The desire to snap the neck of Kang Myeong-cheol, the very source of the pain I was now feeling, slowly rose within me. But the bitter resentment that had accumulated in twenty-three-year-old Ahn Byeong-yeong's heart urged me to exchange a few words with this bastard first.

“Ghk······ Hey, you. Who the hell are you? Let go of me right now! What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you know who I am?”

“Of course. I know very well. You're the CEO of Pony Foods, the most unfairly wronged man in the world. But you really must have felt terribly wronged, huh?”

My voice was dry.

“Because it was such a waste to throw away all that dough.”

© Myoyeop#12ipk

Author's Note

Thank you!!