Chapter 125
“After engagement comes marriage? An alliance between two families… Whatever plans you have, you should stop here.”
…Indeed.
Tae-geon’s eyes narrowed. It seemed like the opposition party to Congressman Kim was trying to check him before next year’s presidential election.
Tae-geon let out a low chuckle, as if finding it amusing, causing the other party who had been talking one-sidedly to pause briefly.
“…It seems my words don’t sound like a warning to you? Of course. You’re a young man with nothing to fear.”
“……”
“Then how about this, open your ears wide and listen carefully.”
Crackle-.
Once again, a noise that pierced the eardrum spread. Tae-geon’s face crumpled. It was ridiculous to keep holding onto a phone call that no longer needed to be heard. He was about to press end call when-
“…seems to have fallen asleep, tired. Will we be able to arrive on time? It would be inconsiderate to be late for the dinner we’ve been invited to.”
“There seems to be traffic due to a school zone nearby, but we should be able to arrive by the time written on the invitation.”
Screech-!
Tae-geon urgently turned the steering wheel towards the shoulder and hit the brakes. The sound of tires tearing into asphalt split the silence of the empty road. Long, black tire marks were left where the heavy luxury sedan had scraped past due to the sudden braking.
It was certain. It was the voices of Hyeon-woo’s parents.
“…Don’t tell me that dinner…”
“That’s right, it’s the one we’ve carefully prepared. It seems the business you’re investing in isn’t going well? Seeing how you readily accepted the invitation at the mention of a major investor without suspicion.”
“Don’t play games. When I reviewed it, there was no problem with the business potential.”
“…Indeed. So you were the one backing it. No wonder it wasn’t easy.”
“Who are you?”
“Now you’re curious about my identity?”
“……”
“You should be grateful to us. At least we recognize the fact that you’ve been supporting that friend’s house, store, and business in every way behind the scenes. Isn’t that less unfair? What was that friend’s name again?”
The voice, pretending to be lost in thought, continued after a pause.
“Ah, I remember. It was Han Hyeon-woo, wasn’t it?”
At Hyeon-woo’s name coming from the other party, the veins on Tae-geon’s hand gripping the steering wheel bulged. The muscles in Tae-geon’s jaw protruded to their limit as he barely contained his anger, grinding his molars.
“What’s your purpose?”
The other party laughed heartily at Tae-geon’s voice filled with killing intent.
“I heard there was a hidden sore spot, seems the rumors weren’t all false? Thanks to you, we saved some trouble. Thanks to your paltry charity, we were able to easily find where it was hidden.”
“Shut up and tell me! What do you want?!”
“Tsk, such a temper.”
“……”
“Haven’t I already told you? To stop. That amazing new drug you’ve put out is troublesome enough. Many things have already been distorted and ruined because of you. So don’t touch anything else. I’m saying don’t do anything at all.”
Those who say their plans were ruined because of him.
The forces facing decline due to the new drug.
Tae-geon twisted one corner of his mouth.
It was them. The invisible top-tier forces that control and manipulate the world at will. Those who reign at the top of this world.
Tae-geon took out his cell phone from the tailcoat he had left on the passenger seat. He had already arranged for all communications and radio waves reaching him to be received through a specific network in preparation for any contingency. This wasn’t what he had expected, but it was an unexpected harvest.
With a few operations, the security function of the network was activated, and the tracking of the caller’s location began immediately.
A red radar appeared on the navigation screen paired with the cell phone. The size of the radar, which had broadly encompassed the entire Republic of Korea, began to gradually shrink, narrowing its range.
“…Seeing that there’s no answer, it seems you still have room to spare?”
Crackle-.
Once again, a harsh noise dug into Tae-geon’s ears. Soon after, a woman’s agitated voice burst out of the speaker.
“…Isn’t this too fast?! Slow down a bit! Honey, this is a school zone!”
“Ah, ah, no, this, why suddenly…”
Tae-geon’s face stiffened as he listened intently to the chaotic situation, on high alert. Though he couldn’t know the details, something was unfolding urgently.
“Honey! Lower the speed! Please!”
Cries that were almost screams burst out of the speaker one after another. Tae-geon’s palm gripping the steering wheel began to get damp with cold sweat.
“Honey, in front, in front!”
“No, why, the, the brakes, the brakes…!”
“Honey! Honey! In front, the school bus…! Kyaaah!!”
Screech-!
Crash-!!
The wheels rotated sharply, emitting a sharp friction sound as if desperately trying to avoid something. Soon after, a loud explosion sound that nearly deafened Tae-geon hit him. The accident scene of something being shattered and broken by the collision vividly pierced his eardrums.
After a moment of hell-like chaos, a silence like death soon followed. The surroundings were terribly quiet, as if the earlier commotion had been a lie.
Tae-geon’s foot on the brake pedal trembled. As he was frantically searching his mind for whether Hyeon-woo’s voice had been among the screams in the earlier chaos-
Bang-!!
The sound of something exploding once again hit Tae-geon’s eardrums through the speaker.
It was a different kind of roar from the earlier explosion. Following that, along with the sound of flames rising violently, there was a crackling sound of something burning quickly.
Beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep-.
As if to awaken Tae-geon’s consciousness as he breathed heavily in a daze, a loud alarm rang noisily. He moved his stiff eyes to where the alarm was coming from. An address had appeared over the coordinates pointed to by the radar on the navigation.
Tae-geon gritted his teeth as he gripped the steering wheel tightly.
He barely moved his leg from the brake to the accelerator. After taking a deep breath to calm himself, he pressed the pedal deeply, and the 12-cylinder engine roared heavily as it started strongly. He quickly turned the steering wheel all the way to the left. Tae-geon, who had changed direction and entered the opposite lane, drove the car at a crazy speed.
Crackle- crackle-.
Along with the familiar metallic noise, that distorted male voice flowed out of the speaker.
“…You found my words amusing to the end, didn’t you.”
“……”
“Despite hearing it directly with your own ears…”
Tsk tsk.
The other party clicked his tongue softly.
“…What a pity.”
Click.
Beep- beep- beep-.
With the one-sided end of the call, the red radar that had been floating on the navigation disappeared. But there was no impact as route guidance to the designated coordinates had already begun. The destination was not far from here. Just a 10-minute drive away.
Their attitude, seemingly seeing through all of Tae-geon’s movements, felt like a provocation. There was a dangerous smell in the air. But Tae-geon couldn’t stop. He had to find them, if only to uncover the truth of the chaos he had heard with his own ears.
“…seems to have fallen asleep, tired.”
The same phrase kept ringing in his ears. Someone asleep was riding in the back seat.
If it was Hyeon-woo…?
…If that was Han Hyeon-woo?
Tae-geon’s heart, which had turned pale, beat frantically. He pressed the pedal deeply to increase speed. The heavy sedan sped quickly along the coastal cliff.
The dark blue sea was rippling beyond the car window. It was the moment they turned a corner, with the steep rock face on the left. A huge 30-ton dump truck that appeared from the opposite direction was crossing the center line and rushing towards Tae-geon. The car windows were tinted black so the driver’s face wasn’t visible, but the way it was charging relentlessly towards its target was certainly not drowsy driving.
“…Fuck.”
Tae-geon cursed under his breath.
Was this the purpose from the start? He slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel sharply to the right, but the dump truck was approaching much faster.
Crash-!!
With a huge collision sound, the left side of the black sedan’s hood crumpled and the body rotated half a turn. The windshield shattered into powder, pouring into the driver’s seat. It was an impact that would have crushed an ordinary passenger car like a piece of paper. The driver’s seat was completely filled with inflated airbags, making it impossible to see the situation inside at all.
The wheels of the dump truck, which had stopped due to the collision, began to rotate again. The sedan Tae-geon was in was slowly being driven towards the cliff. As one of the rear wheels of the sedan, pushed to the edge of the cliff, left the ground, the large body of the car swayed once. As the dump truck increased speed, the other wheel was also pushed into the air.
What happened next was instantaneous.
The car, which had been teetering like a seesaw after losing its center of gravity, fell quickly down the cliff like a scene from a movie.
The front end with the heavy engine room and the center of gravity reversed, and the body flipped over in mid-air. In that state, the hood ornament of the vertically falling sedan, the statue of the goddess of joy, touched the water surface, and as violent water spray rose in all directions, a loud friction sound tore through the night air.
The black sea, with its mouth wide open, slowly began to swallow the sinking car.
In the pitch-black darkness without even a moon halo, only an eerie silence filled the air.
