Seung-kwon cut off Jae-young’s words abruptly and grabbed his arm. Jae-young reluctantly straightened his head, which had been turned backward, and followed Seung-kwon.
He had so many questions: How was Seung-kwon here? How did he escape? If so, was the reason he hadn’t fled and was instead lurking here solely because of him?Â
He clenched his molars to hold back tears that threatened to burst forth. Seung-kwon, who had pulled Jae-young out to the alley, continuously scanned their surroundings.
He opened the door of a car parked on the main road. Different car models were always parked in this spot. He’d seen this license plate once before.
Wasn’t he captured? The thought came reflexively.
Seung-kwon practically shoved Jae-young into the passenger seat before climbing into the driver’s seat.
“…”
There was a mountain of questions, but his mouth wouldn’t open.
“The guys who were sticking to you.”
“…I drugged them with sleeping pills and left.”
“Good job.”
After barely answering his question, tears cut across Jae-young’s cheeks. He hurriedly wiped them away before the other could see.
Tears coming before he could even resolve his doubts—it seemed he had been quite worried about him.
Jae-young bit his lower lip hard and squeezed his eyes shut. He rubbed his eyes irritably.
Taking a deep breath, he finally felt his throat open up.
“What happened? Weren’t you caught?”
“Only Ju-yeon.”
“What happened to noona Ju-yeon?”
“I sent her to China for now.”
Seung-kwon replied while pulling his black mask down below his chin. His gaze, flitting unpredictably between the rearview mirror and side mirrors, roughly turned the steering wheel.
“…Where have you been all this time, hyung?”
“On the run. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Now…!”
Jae-young struggled to contain his voice that momentarily burst out loudly.
“Is this the time to worry about me? I’ve been fine. I’ve been eating… shibal, I’ve been eating fucking well, and sleeping well too. Are you really okay yourself?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been through something like this, so why worry?”
“…”
Seung-kwon replied in a voice that truly sounded unbothered. However, contrary to his tone, his expression showed no composure.
His skin was rough, he hadn’t shaved properly so he had stubble, and his face had become much thinner. His gaze frantically scanned their surroundings. As if he were being chased by someone.
“Why didn’t you contact me? If you knew everything, why didn’t you tell me?”
“…”
“Hyung.”
“I couldn’t.”
“…”
“That was the best option. For you to be safe, you needed to be unaware of Sa Gong-hyun’s true identity, at least until I handed over the USB. Those bastards… they had control of all the cell towers, so if I had told you beforehand, it would have been exposed immediately.”
Though there was no detailed explanation, he somewhat understood what that meant.
“If you noticed and managed to escape, that would have been perfect. And even if you were caught, I could have saved you.”
What Seung-kwon had aimed for was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Giving himself time to escape when Sa Gong-hyun was detained. What he had wanted was for Jae-young to succeed in running far away, even if alone.
“I wasn’t reassured just sending it to the police, so I also emailed journalists, but not a single one responded.”
His jaw trembled pathetically. He gritted his teeth again. The emotions that surged up erratically wouldn’t calm down.
“I’ve been chased by the police too. They seem to have turned over my fraud record instead of questioning the information I gave them—the scale was too big. They must have had connections.”
“…”
“Shin Kwang-do, that fucking bastard.”
“…”
“I said I’d look into it, but I misjudged the person I was investigating, so I didn’t know.”
Seung-kwon’s mouth seemed dry as he stuck out his tongue to wet his lower lip. His right hand caressing his chin betrayed his impatient state of mind.
“The tattoo you mentioned suddenly came to mind, so I looked into it.”
“…”
“Is this the arm tattoo you talked about back then?”
He stopped staring straight ahead and opened the dashboard. A piece of paper came out with Seung-kwon’s hand. On the paper was Sa Gong-hyun’s tattoo, which he had seen many times before.
“It’s a tattoo that only members of a specific New York mafia organization get.”
Inside the dashboard, which wasn’t fully closed, were quite a few loose sheets of paper. Jae-young pulled out all the papers inside.
They contained detailed information about Sa Gong-hyun. Seung-kwon belatedly tried to snatch the papers from Jae-young’s hands.
“…Let go.”
“You don’t need to see that…”
“I’ll be the judge of that. So let go.”
Jae-young felt the strength gradually leave the hand pulling the papers. Perhaps realizing it was difficult to fully confront Jae-young while driving, Seung-kwon backed down.
Jae-young’s gaze read through the characters on the paper.
“The 17… was engraved before that bastard joined the mafia organization, at the place he was before.”
“…The place before?”
“An underground betting ring for fights. The manager was caught 14 years ago, and now it’s closed down. They say he killed dozens of people there.”
“…”
Jae-young barely tore his gaze from the paper. His eyes, which had been facing forward for a moment, sought out Seung-kwon.
“He was a proper psycho. Shibal, and I didn’t even know that.”
“…”
“He came to Korea to expand his business after being in the mafia in New York. Of all his clients, I happened to mess with one, so he tried to catch and torture me, which led to this.”
His voice filled Jae-young’s ears, but he couldn’t quite process it. Trying to take in information he’d never expected seemed to be overloading his brain. And it wasn’t even that much information.
Taking a long breath, Jae-young started to carefully read the characters again. From beside him, Seung-kwon’s voice continued without pause.
“Han Ju-seong was captured by that bastard from the day I said I’d gone into hiding, and he died a dog’s death.”
“…What are you saying? I talked to him on the phone after that.”
“Have you considered that Sa Gong-hyun might have been right next to him?”
His mouth closed involuntarily. He should have objected, saying that couldn’t be possible, but he couldn’t.
He had exchanged messages with Han Ju-seong several times. That was the problem.
He hadn’t verified whether the person sending him messages was really Han Ju-seong.
“They made you talk on purpose. They didn’t think it was the right time yet, so they wanted to reassure you. That bastard’s methods are like that.”
His head hurt. The worst part was that among all the conversation, the thing that stuck in his mind most was the underground fighting ring.
Evidence that he was alive.
As if to prove this, the documents contained Sa Gong-hyun’s adolescence, laid bare like an autobiography.
Five adoptions that fell through, with the last adoption being to an illegal fighting betting ring. How he had killed people like a machine to survive.
The fact that his nights had to be longer than others’ had been from this time—he learned this just through the text.
This was the worst part. That even in the midst of all this, he was unconsciously thinking about Sa Gong-hyun.
“…Hyung.”
“So forget it.”
“…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
