Chapter 22

School Bully Han Tae-seong (4)

Taeseong Liquor, which held a firm grip on liquor distribution in one of the restaurant alleys of the old downtown entertainment district.

Han Gi-taek, the owner of Taeseong Liquor, was regarded as a fairly successful businessman in the local community. But to the merchants in the market, he was known more as a gangster than a company president.

And that wasn't simply because he had once been an enforcer captain for a criminal organization that dominated the Ansan area.

“Come on, CEO Han. If you suddenly raise the wholesale price of soju by this much per case starting this month, what are we supposed to do?”

“Now, CEO Choi. As you know, prices are going through the roof these days. I'm sure customers will understand if the price of soju goes up.”

“No, you want us to raise our soju prices? The restaurants across the street and next door all charge four thousand won. If we're the only ones charging five thousand, we'll lose all our regular customers immediately.”

Han Gi-taek, leaning back on the sofa and chewing a toothpick, chuckled.

“Come on, CEO Choi. Do you think I'm some kind of idiot? You think I wouldn't have considered something like that? The restaurants across the street and next door, all of them. Once this weekend is over, starting Monday, every restaurant in this alley will charge five thousand won for soju. I've already taken care of everything, so just do as I say.”

“Oh, even so, this isn't a business we're only going to run for a day or two. CEO Han, if someone reports us to the district office over this, we're all going to be in serious trouble.”

“CEO Choi.”

Han Gi-taek leaned forward from his position on the sofa.

“Do I look like I'm exchanging opinions with you right now?”

“No, that's not what I meant.”

“I've got a lot going on at home right now, and I'm in a very bad mood. So let's just do as you're told. You wouldn't want our delivery trucks to suddenly start breaking down or your restaurant to be flooded with troublesome customers, would you, CEO Choi? Am I right?”

In the end, CEO Choi rose from his seat.

“Boss, are you sure this will be all right?”

“What will?”

“Well, that man's got quite a temper himself. What if he gets everyone together and they all switch to another supplier······?”

“Another supplier? Hey, you think I'd do something like this without thinking it through? Fuck. Instead of worrying about my business, go do your own job properly. So what about our Tae-seong? How's he doing?”

“Well, they said the ligaments in his fingers are only partially torn, so they should heal if he keeps them immobilized and takes proper care of them. As for his molars, he'll need four implants. But there's also a slight fracture in his jawbone, so they'll have to wait until that heals first······.”

—BANG!!!

Han Gi-taek slammed his hand against the table.

“What about those police bastards? What are they saying?”

“Well, the PC café's CCTV didn't capture anything useful. And the area where the kids were beaten doesn't have many CCTV cameras to begin with, so they say tracking down the culprit won't be easy······.”

“Ha, those fucking bastards. They were happy enough to drink on my tab, but now that something's happened, they're washing their hands of it? What about Team Leader Kim? What's that bastard saying?”

“He says it's a simple assault case involving an unidentified perpetrator whose identity hasn't even been established yet, so they have to follow procedure and start by questioning people in the area. He says it'll take some time. Apparently, the station's short on manpower because they've got so many cases lately······.”

“Short on manpower? What kind of dogshit excuse is that? After all the money I've slipped that bastard. Hey, this won't do. Call him. Then put him on the phone. I'll talk to him myself.”

A short while later.

“Yes, the CEO would like to speak with you personally. Yes, I'll put him through.”

The call connected, and Han Gi-taek irritably snatched the cellphone from his subordinate.

“Oh, Team Leader Kim. Have you been well? Did you enjoy your nap after lunch?”

[CEO Han, well, the thing is. I do feel bad about this, but.]

“Oh, come on, Team Leader. I asked whether you had a nice nap after lunch. What do you have to feel sorry about?”

[I've reviewed all the footage. I really have. But we can't trace this masked lunatic's movements. No matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem like something that happened on impulse. It looks like someone deliberately targeted Tae-seong······. Is there anyone who might have a grudge against your family?]

“You're saying it wasn't a spontaneous crime?”

[Yeah. Otherwise, his route to the PC café and his movements afterward wouldn't make sense. There's no way someone could avoid CCTV this thoroughly by chance. So here's what I'm thinking. I'd like to bring Tae-seong in for a witness interview······.]

“You want to bring in a kid whose entire jaw is wrecked for questioning?”

[No, what I mean is······.]

“Forget it. Anyway, if you manage to identify that masked lunatic, please make sure you contact me first.”

[CEO Han, hey, CEO Han!!]

—Click.

Han Gi-taek ended the call and tossed the smartphone to his subordinate.

“Byeong-ho, get in touch with the boys.”

“The boys?”

“Yeah. They're saying there's a good chance this bastard deliberately went after our Tae-seong. If that's the case, we need to be prepared.”

_____________

“Bareum, these files contain the basic materials for preparing written submissions for an appeal, so please index them by date.”

“Yes, understood.”

My fourth day at work.

After giving me an ordinary work assignment, just as she always did, Manager Choi Yu-gyeong looked at me for a moment.

“Is there something you'd like to say?”

“No. I bought some cocoa for the break room, so you can have some if you want. I've noticed over the past few days that you don't seem to touch the citron tea in there at all.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Not long after I began mechanically indexing the files I'd been handed,

Attorney Park Dong-yeop emerged from his office, spent quite some time brewing himself a cup of coffee in the break room, and then approached me instead of returning to his office.

“How's the work? Getting used to it now?”

“Pardon? Yes. Well, more or less.”

“More or less? I don't think that's quite right. Our Manager Choi looks pretty strict, but her actual personality is even stricter.”

Unlike the director's office, which was physically separated from the rest of the workplace, Manager Choi Yu-gyeong's workspace was only three or four steps away from mine.

Naturally, Attorney Park Dong-yeop's words reached Manager Choi without the slightest obstruction. But even though he was talking about her, there wasn't the slightest hesitation in the way she continued turning through her documents.

“Anyway, every day for the past few days, after you left work, Manager Choi checked absolutely everything you'd done. Well, I figured you'd make a few mistakes at first too.”

“All I'm doing is organizing documents and making copies or shredding things as instructed. There's hardly anything to mess up.”

“Surprisingly, new employees somehow manage to make mistakes even in situations where it seems impossible.”

Attorney Park laughed frivolously and took a sip of coffee.

“But leaving aside the fact that you haven't made a single mistake, you even marked the missing pages in the case files with sticky notes and set them aside?”

“Yes. I asked about those, and she told me that was what I should do.”

“Good work.”

Attorney Park patted my shoulder several times.

Then he turned and asked Manager Choi Yu-gyeong a question.

“Manager Choi, what should we have for lunch today?”

“Bareum, there should be a file called 'Restaurants' on your desktop. Pick whatever you'd like for lunch from there and let the attorney know.”

“Yes, understood. Should I make a reservation?”

“I've also noted which places accept reservations and which don't. If reservations are available, call ahead and book a table. Otherwise, head out at eleven-thirty and get in line early. I'll count the time spent waiting in line as working hours, not break time.”

“Yes.”

Attorney Park Dong-yeop gave me a thumbs-up.

“Congratulations. You've accumulated enough trust points with Manager Choi that the most important task in the office has now been assigned to you.”

“Lunch?”

“The greatest happiness of any office worker. Well then, keep up the good work!! Ah, and finish your work quickly so you can study hard too.”

The work at the office wasn't particularly difficult.

No, to begin with, there simply wasn't that much work in absolute terms. When I finished indexing the documents and asked for something else to do, I was told to spend the remaining time studying. And that was despite the mountain of documents piled up beside the office manager.

“It's fine. Your job is to make sure I don't have to work overtime, Bareum. You've done enough for today.”

Exactly 6 p.m.

I adjusted the backpack hanging beside my desk and stood up.

“I'll be heading out first, then.”

“Of course. Make sure you say goodbye to the attorney before you leave. He's just as petty as he looks, so he'll sulk if you don't.”

“Haha, yes.”

I couldn't help laughing at the joke she delivered with a completely expressionless face.

I knocked on the director's office door and said goodbye to Attorney Park Dong-yeop.

“Oh, is it that late already? How about having dinner together before you head home? Your big brother will treat you.”

“No, thank you. Today's the day for sorting recyclables at my apartment. And I had more time to study than I expected today, so I also need some of the workbooks I left at home.”

“Right, you've got to take out the trash on time. Glad to hear your studying is going well too. Go on, then.”

“I'll see you tomorrow.”

With a slight nod from the office manager, I left the law office.

Sorting recyclables.

Yes, today was the day to take care of the trash.

_____________

Acrid cigarette smoke.

The dry sound of billiard balls colliding echoed through the room.

—Clack!!

“Ah, fffuck, can't you bafftards hit the ball properly?”

A slurred, whistling voice escaped from a mouth missing four molars, its jawbone cracked. Despite swallowing several painkillers, waves of pain surged through his jaw joint every time he spoke. The pain in his right index and middle fingers, wrapped in aluminum splints, went without saying.

But it wasn't the physical pain that tormented Han Tae-seong the most.

'Now then, let's start things off lightly today with a single slap.'

The terror of that day.

That overwhelming violence had left more than physical wounds. Every night, whenever he closed his eyes, the cold voice and dull cracking sounds from that day assaulted his eardrums like auditory hallucinations. He spent night after night suffering from terrible insomnia, waking drenched in cold sweat and gasping for breath. The primal fear he'd experienced for the first time in his seventeen years of life was steadily eating away at his nerves.

—Jingle.

The bell attached to the billiard hall's swinging doors rang.

The boys playing billiards naturally turned toward the entrance. And then—clatter. Someone's cue stick fell from his hand onto the floor.

A hood pulled low over the head. A cheap plastic mask.

At that familiar sight, Tae-seong's heart sank.

The figure from his nightmares. The primal fear engraved into his heart.

It was an instinctive reaction.

Bareum, wearing his mask, slowly began walking.

As he passed between the billiard tables and approached Tae-seong, none of his lackeys dared to stop him.

“Not at the PC café today?”

A dry voice.

Tae-seong's hair stood on end. Fear had been engraved deep within his instincts. If he'd been alone, he would probably have surrendered to it immediately. But there were other people here, watching him.

And above all, he had his father.

'Don't worry. Dad's told some of the guys I know to keep an eye on you. The moment that bastard shows up, they'll crush every bone in his body.'

Han Tae-seong raised his right hand, which had two aluminum splints wrapped around it.

“You fffucking baffstard. Would you go to a PC café with your fingers in this ffucking condition?”

His words were badly slurred.

Bareum chuckled.

“Right. Considering you're at a billiard hall even after I left your fingers in that condition, I definitely didn't hit you enough. Then I guess we'd better get started again today.”

“Fffuck off, you baffstard. You're really ffucked now.”

—THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!!

Footsteps thundered up the stairs as though they might swallow them whole.

And then—

—BANG!!

The billiard hall's entrance door was thrown open so violently it seemed about to tear off its hinges.

More than a dozen gangsters, each gripping iron pipes, wooden clubs, or baseball bats.

The atmosphere inside the billiard hall changed in an instant.

An ominous, heated tension arose from their overwhelming numerical advantage.

As Han Tae-seong looked at those reassuring figures, a vicious smile spread across his lips.

“Heh, heh, you ffucking idiot. Now you're really······”

But Han Tae-seong never finished his taunt.

Even in the face of that menacing force, Bareum's demeanor was unnaturally calm.

The gleaming eyes behind the mask swept across the gangsters blocking the entrance. It was a dry gaze that seemed to regard more than a dozen armed opponents not as a threat to his life, but merely as an 'inconvenience.'

Then Bareum muttered indifferently.

“So it really is trash collection day.”

© Myoyeop#12ipk

Author's Note

Thank you!!