Chapter 94…
The Kidnapped Beggar
Baeksan Group’s Chief of Secretarial Office, Yoo Ki-gwang, frowned slightly at the report that had arrived.
“This is awkward….”
They couldn’t immediately link today’s exhumed bodies to Pure Entertainment.
It was true that the corpses had been found around Pure Entertainment’s abandoned factory. But the problem was the surrounding land — not the factory itself.
This was an unexpected detail.
He had assumed the land they’d handed over would definitely be implicated, but it wasn’t.
Even the two people who owned the land were completely unrelated.
Of course, a new investigation proceeded through the report, but they could only pin anything down once decisive evidence had been verified.
No matter how powerful Baeksan Group was, they couldn’t fabricate crimes that hadn’t happened.
Especially in this day and age, the police and prosecutors reacted even more sensitively. Baeksan Group also didn’t want to pull strings in this kind of affair.
“Anyway, it’s only a matter of days.”
Director Yoo ultimately thought it was just a matter of time. He believed if DNA was found in even one of the many samples, the case would accelerate.
Then he received a call from someone at the scene.
“What is it?”
[“S…sorry. We lost Mr. Woo-suhan….”]
Yoo’s face hardened quickly. At the same time he silently hoped it wasn’t something serious.
Goo Bong-han, after a long time, looked at the incinerator and shook his head.
“Tsk. If I had my way….”
He would have preferred to run the incinerator like old times, but that was difficult now.
He’d chosen this place thinking the darkest spot is right under the lamp, but it wasn’t a comfortable space to work in. If he ran the incinerator, smoke would surely rise. If there were traces of that in the sealed abandoned factory, it would definitely attract attention.
Still, they’d come here because, unlike before, they hadn’t had to do this kind of thing recently and so there was no place to work. With attention already on them, moving locations was out of the question.
Besides, this place needed to be cleaned up anyway. After finishing, they planned to dismantle the incinerator and take it to a waste disposal company’s furnace to be disposed of — to erase all traces.
A few days later, they intended to demolish the building too. If anything happened during that process, the boss and he would flee; if not, they’d stick it out.
They couldn’t just abandon Pure Entertainment — everything they’d built up until now was too valuable.
Goo glanced at his men who were laying down plastic and licked his lips.
The people who had brought heavy equipment earlier had moved the machines elsewhere on standby. The underlings said there was no problem, but uncomfortable about the police contact, they quickly arranged for nearby construction sites to take the machines, essentially giving the work away for free as a stopgap. They’d settle the receipts among themselves.
After doing that, their worries became reality. They confirmed the police were on their tail.
Chief Jang Sang-su’s intuition had bought them some time. Because of that, attention had been dispersed again, giving them time to carry out their work.
“It’s all laid out.”
The plastic was spread, and in the middle lay Su-han, sleeping soundly, sprawled out.
Snoooore….
“…Even your body isn’t waking.”
Goo made a face at Su-han, who snored through his nose.
“Want me to sign it?”
“Shut the hell up.”
“…….”
“……hmm.”
I’m bewildered. He refused to sign my release.
No — more than that….
Looking around, it was full of beggars.
No, homeless men wearing the masks of beggars.
“Where’s the camera?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Whoa! Old man, you’re alive?”
“Who the hell are you calling old man. Of course I’m alive — what are you looking at?”
Gasp! The man who everyone thought had frozen to death was alive.
Not a ghost, though….
“Aren’t you going to bury the eyes?”
“That’s right, old man.”
They’d insisted they’d bury him if he didn’t cover his eyes. The tone was coercive. He truly had been one of the dead.
“I was on my way to buy sundae (Korean blood sausage).”
“Sundae? Where the hell would you get money? Did you work?”
“No, I’m an actor….”
“You beggar’s gone crazy, ha.”
“…….”
Ah… the old man muttered words he used to often say and then collapsed again. It definitely felt like a place he used to live: on the street.
“….Was that just a dream?”
Absurd. It stung.
He lay down on the hard ground. He wanted to know if this was dream or reality.
“Dammit! Beggar? Again a beggar?”
It felt like everything was collapsing. I was clearly an actor. Not only that, I had recently been the lead in a movie. …And yet I had become a beggar again.
“Beggar….”
He had once thought if he lost everything and became a beggar again, being a famous beggar would be lucrative. It’s something you could do for a lifetime — what could go wrong, he’d thought. But thinking it had all been a dream made his chest tighten. Tears welled up. It was sad.
“That was all a dream….”
Sadly, the hard ground felt familiar.
“Sigh…damn.”
He felt lonely. He even wished it were a dream.
— Get up! Get your act together!
“….Old man, can you hear that?”
Was I the only one hearing it? A distant buzzing, and he shook the old man lying with his back to him. Then he froze.
“Old man…?”
Something felt chilled. He remembered this. The morning the old man had frozen to death had felt the same.
“Old man?”
There was no answer this time either.
— Open your eyes right now! You’re going to die like this!
“Huh?”
Suddenly a voice echoed like someone had turned on a speaker. He raised his hands dumbly. The acting he had done, where he had been the protagonist in that dream-movie, flashed to mind. It was nothing. Just one clap of the palm — clap… clap….
Screeeech!
“Aaah!”
My goodness… stars flashed before his eyes. He’d clapped his hands, so why did his cheek hurt so much? He rolled across the ground in pain.
— You’re awake now, huh?
“Huh?”
He saw a ghost. Mr. Cheol-seong. The one who resembled that tiger-like man… huh?
“Why are you here, mister?”
Gulp!
“Ugh!”
Before he could even get an answer he rolled to the side again. His head was still fuzzy. Still, a smile crept across his face at the relief that becoming a beggar had been just a dream.
“Huh? You’re smiling?”
clears throat “Oh?”
He shook his head and turned his gaze. He was trying to see who had just kicked him.
“Oh! Brother! What are you doing here? You came to save me?”
He didn’t know why, but he was tied up. And in front of him stood that man, Director Goo.
“Huh? Save me? You?”
“Eh?”
Now he could see the surroundings clearly. Rough-looking men looked down at him. A dark energy pulsed from them all. And Director Goo he’d just seen….
“Yours is the blackest.”
“What nonsense are you talking?”
Smack!
“Ugh!”
Ah… I should have kept my thoughts to myself. That man had soccer-kicked him again. He curled up like a shrimp and rolled. It had been a while since he’d been hit. But this was the first time he’d been tied up and beaten.
“Speak with words, speak with words!”
The important thing was to use words now….
“What? Words? You can’t even judge this situation?”
“Why are you doing this all of a sudden!”
Old man! Didn’t you say you’d keep me inconspicuous? Damn it! Judging by the look, he seemed to know something. Still, it was better to say he didn’t know.
“You don’t know why?”
“…Haah, you teach me romance and now this.”
“What?”
“You taught me how to date, and when I tried to use it, why are you like this! You should never have taught me the art of dating! I practiced your techniques so hard… sob ”
“Uh… um.”
He was flustered. Flustered indeed. Right — I’m an actor.
“That’s not it….”
“Enough, brother! sob You promised to teach me, you told me to call you brother, and now this! Damn you… sob ”
“No, you really….”
“Ha ha ha. I had no family, so I truly thought of you as a brother…!”
Now this was a cry from the depths. Ha, maybe my nature is a beggar… no, perhaps I really am an actor.
“Are you for real?”
“If I’m guilty of anything, it’s that I followed your encouragement and tried my best….”
“You’ve got a big mouth, jabbering away as you please.”
“I talked a lot… huh?”
What is this? The chain of lines felt like a third-rate comedy….
A familiar voice came from the rear and his head turned automatically. That damn….
“You were listening to that?”
“Sorry, representative. But I thought we should hear his excuse….”
“Representative… I really don’t know why I’m here.”
“Well… if that’s so, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Huh?”
Aren’t they going to ask? Not interested?
“You can ask when you meet the Chairman of Baeksan Group later.”
“Ah… the old man will be coming too?”
“He’s older; won’t he meet him soon?”
Saying that, he pointed to the sky with a chilly look. Hey. Not everyone goes there when they die. He looked around reflexively. The warehouse ghosts watched him with bitter expressions. Of course, not all of them.
— A newbie’s come in after a long time? It won’t be boring for a while. Hehehe.
“…… .”
If I get out of here alive, I’ll drag that bastard and perform an exorcism myself. By the way, I understood why they called them evil spirits. I’d thought they’d manifest immense power like in movies or dramas, but that wasn’t the case. The moment that thing arrived, Goo and his underlings were dyed in even darker energy.
Goo’s face, which had been moved by my desperate plea an instant ago, had now become blindly obedient at a single word from Representative Jang. They might kill if told to, or at least be ready to do so. The underlings were the same.
“Untie him like a man and have a fight!”
“Let’s fake it as drugged suicide.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Excuse me?”
What the hell — cowardly? Representative Jang continued as if his ears were blocked.
“First, pretend he’s missing or hiding, have Yeoshin take care of his hair and belongings, then dump them nearby — it’ll be more entertaining.”
“If you’re such a coward, let’s fight. Untie him! I’ll take you all on mano-a-mano!”
“Then we’ll melt him with the incinerator and just gather his hair and such.”
“Okay.”
“Please don’t kill me!”
It already felt like being a ghost. I’d always been the one who saw ghosts, never been one — so my heart should race, but that’s nonsense. No way.
“Hey! You’ll be punished!”
“…….”
Oh! It worked? They finally looked at me.
“Shall we enjoy the taste of it after a long time?”
Ah… they’re looking, but not kindly. Half-crazed… and when someone says ‘enjoy the taste’, why are they holding clubs?
“Um… tasting with hands is more appropriate. Why clubs?”
“Geez, your mouth never shuts.”
“Damn it. Then don’t tie me up. If I weren’t tied, I’d use my mouth and limbs to beat you all up!”
snort…
Someone laughed. They didn’t believe it. Me, an underground fighter! Do you think the street’s a joke?
Did my taunt land? Representative Jang stared at me.
“What? You scared? You see more than ten of them. Scared at the thought they’ll all beat you to pieces?”
“In movies they untie you at this point, right? With that actor nonsense you have weird expectations. Don’t worry. We’ll finish you off while you can’t move.”
Hmm, reality is different, apparently.
