Chapter 10
You’ll only know how much it hurts when your own leg is broken.
Inbeom Yoon thought prison life was manageable.
Although he ended up losing in court and going to prison on charges of bribery and embezzlement, it wasn’t as bad as he had worried.
American prisons could be comfortable isolation spaces for those with money, and Inbeom Yoon had money. He used all the infrastructure there generously.
The quality of the room changed depending on how much money he paid, and he was given good food. He occasionally used a computer too. Sometimes he would leave malicious comments on articles about the now-successful Geon-woo, or occasionally say nasty things about him.
[A body that men would like. I bet there are quite a few people who’d want to do him from behind?]
Some people cursed at such comments, but on the contrary, the ‘likes’ were high. In his imagination, Inbeom violated Geon-woo over and over again. It was a small pleasure in his daily life.
He thought he’d just endure here for a few years. Once he served his sentence and left prison, he planned to seek out Geon-woo first.
He might get severely punished if he got caught by Mitchell while hanging around, but that was a problem for later. In fact, these days he had no direct confrontations with Mitchell, so his fear of him had faded. Forgetfulness had erased his fear of Mitchell.
When he first came to prison, he felt lost, but as his body became comfortable, his mind relaxed too. As time passed, Inbeom adapted to the new environment.
He was fortunate to only be punished for illegally running the company. The incident of injuring Geon-woo was completely buried. It seemed neither Geon-woo nor Mitchell had any intention of bringing that incident to the surface.
If he passed time without problems like this, he would surely become a model prisoner in a few months, and then his sentence would be reduced, allowing him to leave this place faster than expected.
Although he had Mitchell as an enemy, he had managed to escape quite well. No matter how great Mitchell was, he was just a celebrity, right? Seimon was just a wealthy company too.
Or maybe Mitchell didn’t care for Geon-woo as much as he thought. If he made an issue of the leg, things would get complicated, so he was quietly burying it.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have let the guy who broke Geon-woo’s leg off the hook.”
Inbeom lay comfortably on the bed, eating snacks. He shook his leg, recalling old times. He made wordplay, saying he wouldn’t let himself off the hook while being the one who broke Geon-woo’s leg. It was a leisurely evening.
“Hey, Yoon. Come out.”
A guard he had never seen before called him out. It was now after sunset, the inmates’ free time.
“Me? Ah, is it that?”
The last time he was called at this hour, he had received the cigarettes he had ordered. He naturally thought the cigarettes had arrived. That’s why Inbeom walked on his own to a secluded place where no one visited. The guiding guard left, and at the end of the path he followed, he saw other inmates.
“I still have cigarettes left though? This is quick?”
Even though Inbeom spoke as if he knew them, there was no answer. As he got closer, he saw they were as huge as the Hulk with fierce looks.
“Not… cigarettes?”
It was instantaneous when the three men surrounded Inbeom. When they walked to the door and locked it, Inbeom realized things had gone seriously wrong.
“Wait, wait a moment. I don’t know where you’re from, but I have a lot of money.”
Inbeom instinctively thought he should bribe them. But they had already closed their ears.
“Arghh!”
It started with getting hit on the ankle with a wooden stick. With a crack, the stick broke in two. When they hit again with the broken piece, Inbeom’s ankle finally broke.
“Why, why are you doing this! Please spare me! What did I do wrong? Money, I’ll give you money! I said I’ll give you money!”
No matter how much he begged and shouted, he couldn’t escape the simultaneous punches and stick blows.
His whole body was beaten, but his ankles were practically bombarded. Both of his legs were broken to the point where he couldn’t move.
He was on the verge of fainting from the pain of his skin being torn piece by piece. Inbeom seemed to understand the identity of these people who were only targeting his ankles. And that money could never change their minds.
Somehow things seemed to be going smoothly, but it was a tremendous misunderstanding. He broke someone’s leg, and now his own legs were broken.
“Please, spare me. I was wrong.”
When he had begged and pleaded enough, the violence stopped. As if breaking his legs was the goal, the largest man spoke.
“Let’s go now.”
But the other two didn’t agree with him.
“Why leave now? Didn’t they say we could do as we please?”
“That’s right. We haven’t done it in a long time.”
“Ah, shall we?”
As meaningful conversation went back and forth, Inbeom lifted his head. He knew he needed to escape this place right now, but his body wouldn’t move an inch.
“Argh! Sa-save me! You crazy bastards! Stop it!”
In an instant, his pants were torn off, and he wasn’t even given time to blame anyone. The brutal punishment that came back to him continued all night. No one helped him.
The price for messing with what shouldn’t have been touched was devastating.
***
Bae Junman
These days, Junman was enjoying life. He became a cafe owner, and because his younger brother had become a big Hollywood star devouring the industry, attention was pouring towards him too. He was living as if he had become a celebrity himself.
Geon-woo didn’t come to Korea often. So when something happened to Geon-woo, reporters would come to Junman to get related information.
Junman, who liked to show off, would tell speculative stories as if he were a god, emphasizing how important he was to Geon-woo.
However, he did have one complaint.
Despite being the owner of a cafe with a monthly net profit approaching 20 million won, the cafe wasn’t in his name but Geon-woo’s.
Of course, when profits were generated, all the money went into Junman’s account. But the thought that Geon-woo or Mitchell could take the store away at any time always made him nervous.
“Ah, shit. Lost it all.”
On days like today when he lost all his money on horse racing, that worry doubled. All the money earned from the cafe was going straight into horse race betting.
Junman, who couldn’t save even 1,000 won, headed to the cafe. As usual, the cafe was bustling. It was crowded with a mix of Geon-woo’s fans and regular customers, being a cafe run by Bae Geon-woo’s older brother.
The cafe operation wasn’t bad, but if there was something to be desired, it was that he couldn’t make a large sum at once. If he could get his hands on several hundred million won at once, the possibilities would be endless.
Junman went to the counter, checked today’s sales, and immediately went outside. There was nothing for him to do there. He was at the highest level of freeloading even among figurehead owners.
As soon as he sat in the car, Junman opened his phone. He copied a translated sentence and sent a message to Mitchell.
[Hello. How are you doing? I meant to check in occasionally, but it’s been a while because I’ve been busy. By the way, is Geon-woo doing well? I’m sending a message to you, Mr. Mitchell, because I feel somehow sorry to contact Geon-woo directly.]
After pressing the send button, Junman yawned and threw his phone on the passenger seat. Rather than feeling sorry to contact Geon-woo, he didn’t know his brother’s contact information.
Junman opened the window and took out a cigarette from his pocket. As he was looking for a lighter in his bag to light it, a vibration came.
“Oh! That was quick!”
[What’s the matter?]
“Ah, this arrogant bastard. I went through all sorts of trouble saying this and that, and this is all I get?”
Although he was angry at the brief reply without even a common greeting, the important thing was that contact was made. When he was preparing for the cafe, he had many questions and contacted frequently, but at that time, Mitchell almost ignored Junman’s contacts. He managed to open the store by contacting someone who claimed to be Mitchell’s representative.
But now, the reply came sharp as a knife.
[It’s not that anything happened, I just contacted you to check in. But these days, business at the store is so good that I’m worn out. Haha. I was wondering if I should quit this and try something else.]
He chewed on the cigarette in his mouth. After lighting it, he stared at his phone silently for 5 seconds. In just 5 seconds, a reply came.
[Do that.]
Junman stared at the screen for a while and then threw the cigarette out the window. He quickly typed a message and sent it.
[Do you mean you’ll let me do another business instead of the cafe? I’m welcome to it anytime!]
Strangely, there was no reply after that. When there was no response to two messages asking for contact, Junman called. Even if Mitchell wouldn’t understand if he spoke in English, making contact was more important for now.
“Why isn’t he answering?”
He called five times and sent messages to the point of annoyance, but they were all ignored. He felt uneasy, but again, there was nothing he could do.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
