Vol 3 Ch 21

The next day, I followed CEO Jang.

After exiting the highway, the car turned onto a desolate road. The unpaved path was rough and bumpy, jolting my body with each movement. Every pebble and grain of sand beneath the wheels was vividly transmitted through the vehicle.

Where exactly were we headed? I cast a questioning glance at the man beside me. All I received in return was a dubious smile.

“You’ll know when we get there.”

Finally, the car came to a stop. We had arrived in front of a secluded mountain. It was an isolated place, devoid of any proper signposts.

A staff member got out of the driver’s seat and quickly opened the backseat door. I stepped out, following the man, and looked up at the mountain.

“…….”

“…….”

The rain had just stopped, leaving the mountain exuding an eerie atmosphere. I found myself staring, almost entranced, at the dark trees standing at the entrance like silent sentinels. Fearing I would fall behind, I hurriedly followed CEO Jang.

Before I knew it, he was already far ahead with his long strides. His legs, built with dense muscles like those of a black panther’s hind limbs, moved with ease, widening the distance between us. I quickened my steps to catch up.

The dim forest felt like a massive cave, filled with thick grass and thorn-covered trees. The lingering scent of damp soil hovered in the air, heavy and stale. I trudged uphill, my feet sinking into the rain-soaked mud.

“…….”

“…….”

As CEO Jang stepped forward, a branch snapped under his foot with a sharp crack. A bird, startled, flapped its wings and took off with a shrill cry, splitting the sunlight above our heads as it vanished.

The man pushed aside a tree with long, drooping branches, revealing something hidden behind the bushes—a greenhouse.

A greenhouse this large in a place like this? It felt strangely out of place.

Near the entrance, a staff member had been smoking a cigarette. As soon as he spotted the man, he quickly extinguished it against the ground and bowed at a crisp, precise angle, like a well-sharpened blade.

“Sir, good evening.”

His broad shoulders and thick neck were rigid with tension. At that moment, I found myself questioning CEO Jang’s profession once again.

Ignoring his staff as if they were invisible, CEO Jang lifted the entrance flap of the greenhouse. Just before stepping inside, he turned to me.

“It’s probably a mess since we weren’t expecting guests. Do you still want to see?”

I gave a small nod. The man entered first, and I quickly followed behind.

Inside, instead of the lush greenery I had expected, there was a worn-out yellow floor covering. Green blankets were scattered about, tangled with red playing cards. Empty bottles and dried-up food scraps were strewn here and there. It was easy to tell that this place had once been a thriving gambling den.

On the outside, it was just an ordinary greenhouse. But in reality, this was an illegal gambling house—what people called a “house.”

I had thought I would find my uncle if I followed the man here. But he was nowhere in sight. Instead, at the far end, two staff members were standing guard over something.

“…….”

“…….”

Behind them, I caught a glimpse of what looked like metal bars. It resembled a livestock pen.

As we moved further inside, the stench grew stronger. Was that the source of the foul odor?

As CEO Jang approached, the two men stepped aside. And then—

“……!”

Inside, there was a person. No—more precisely, my uncle was in there.

His face was brutally battered, as if he had been beaten with a meat mallet. It no longer looked human. He was wearing a stretched-out undershirt and boxer shorts, both stained with filth.

He looked as though he had lost at least 20 kilograms since I last saw him. He was shriveled up, like a rag wrung out with all its strength, to the point where he was nearly unrecognizable. But the sunken eyes peeking out from under his disheveled hair and his toad-like hands were unmistakably my uncle’s.

In front of the cage was a dirty bowl filled with what seemed like pig slop. They must have forced him to eat that, leaving him no choice but to relieve himself right where he lay. Dried waste was caked on the ground beneath him. Some of it was still wet. The stench was unbearable, making my face involuntarily contort.

“If you’re that scared, why not just cover your eyes?”

CEO Jang’s nonchalant voice came from behind me.

“He ran off without paying his gambling debt.”

I couldn’t even close my mouth from the shock. CEO Jang dragged a metal chair over and sat down next to my uncle.

As he lit a cigarette with a smirk, a staff member swiftly stepped forward and respectfully cupped his hands to light it. The memory of his voice over the phone—calmly exhaling smoke—flashed through my mind. And then, my uncle’s words came rushing back.

“Some punk rolled in recently. Don’t know what he does for a living, but he throws money around like a whale. Keeps calling me ‘hyung’ and acting all chummy…”

A cellphone was crushed beneath my uncle’s body. The rustling sounds I had heard over the phone… they must have belonged to this man.

As my face turned deathly pale, CEO Jang, pretending to be affectionate, pressed his lips coldly against my cheek and murmured,

“I’ll say it again—it’s just a coincidence.”

Goosebumps spread from where his fingers touched my skin. His slitted eyes suddenly seemed terrifying.

With his shirt unbuttoned at the collar and no tie, CEO Jang looked unusually vulgar. Gone was the polished businessman who catered to VIP clients with suits and cologne. He was now exuding the raw, undisguised crudeness he usually kept buried.

At this moment, he looked like either a prison warden keeping watch over his inmates or a Cerberus guarding the gates of hell.

As he smoked arrogantly, he gestured with his chin toward my uncle as if telling me to get to the point.

“…….”

“…….”

I slowly turned my gaze back to my uncle.

Even after a second look, he was in an utterly miserable state. His mouth hung open, and drool dripped uncontrollably. His condition was so shocking that I knew I would never get used to it.

I stared at him coldly.

This man—who saw his own nephew as nothing more than a cash cow.

I had no illusions about family bonds, yet I had still wanted to rely on him. With my mother bedridden, he was the only blood relative I could turn to.

I wanted to ask him—What the hell have you been doing with your life?

“…Uncle.”

His limp body showed no response.

“Uncle.”

I called out more firmly, but still, nothing.

CEO Jang, having finished his cigarette, flicked the butt aside and gave an order.

“Wake him up.”

One of the staff quickly stepped forward and unlocked the cage.

Clang, clang!

The hinges, ungreased for ages, screeched ominously.

The staff grabbed my uncle by the hair and dragged him out.

His body was pulled across the floor, leaving behind deep cage marks on his skin. It looked like a slab of meat seared on a grill.

At the edge of a large brown rubber tub, the staff dumped him unceremoniously. Then, gripping his head, they plunged it into the water.

Bubbles rose violently from beneath the surface.

His limp arms began to flail. His legs kicked at the ground in a desperate struggle.

“…Ghhhk!”

A horrible gurgling sound erupted from below.

Only then did they yank his head up.

His body was thrown to the ground, landing flat like a frog.

“Cough! Hack!“

He choked, heaved, and spewed out murky water, nearly vomiting out his own guts.

“…Kh-hh, ugh.”

Still convulsing, he crawled toward CEO Jang, his unfocused eyes barely registering anything.

“C-CEO Jang, please… spare me.“

One of the staff interjected, “Sir, the debt is a full thirty million. And it’s already two months overdue.”

“I’ll pay it back… I swear, I will…”

My uncle clung to CEO Jang’s leg as if it were his last lifeline.

CEO Jang narrowed his eyes and smirked before shoving his face away with the tip of his shoe.

Softly, I exhaled.

“…Uncle.”

His shoulders flinched.

Slowly, his cloudy, rotten-fish-like eyes turned to me—

“Y-Yeowon…?”

The voice, like nails scratching against an old iron door, lashed at my ears. When my uncle tried to crawl toward me, veins bulged in a deep blue on CEO Jang’s temple. He mercilessly stomped down on my uncle’s back with his shoe. The body that had been inching toward me collapsed like a crumbling chimney.

“CEO.”

The man tilted his chin slightly, as if signaling me to speak.

“…I need to talk to him alone for a moment.”

The man’s gaze, which had been fixed on me, quickly flicked to my uncle. His cold eyes narrowed in thought.

“It won’t take long.”

With a low hum, the man rose from his seat. The iron chair, relieved of his heavy weight, let out a groan.

“You must have a lot to talk about after a whole season apart.”

An employee brought in a chain that looked like a dog leash and fastened it around my uncle’s neck. The other end was hooked onto a kennel, and as if testing it, they tugged at it a few times. The metallic clinking echoed through the space.

As the man walked out, his heavy footsteps pressed down on the floor, distorting the linoleum. The two remaining employees followed suit and disappeared. My uncle, who hadn’t resisted even once, lowered his voice and pleaded the moment they were gone. His breath reeked with every word spoken up close.

“…H-hurry and call the police.”

That was impossible. The circumstances were different, but I was just as much a captive as he was.

“…H-hurry, hurry!”

My uncle flailed his hands toward me, but each time, the chain stopped him short by about three centimeters. Whenever he tried to lunge forward, the metal yanked him back, making his body jolt violently.

“…Why did you drop Mom off at the hospital and never contact us again?”

“I-I was wrong, Yeowon. I know I messed up. Just get me out of here….”

He clasped his hands together and begged.

“Where is Mom’s bankbook?”

My uncle shook his head furiously, his stiff tongue stammering.

“I’ve told you so many times—I d-don’t know…! There’s no time for this. That b**tard in human skin isn’t going to let me go. Do you think I’m the only one in danger? You’re next!”

Even now, he was playing dumb. He desperately clawed at the chain around his neck, trying to free himself. He even attempted to undo the hook attached to the kennel, but the chain was too sturdy to budge.

He dragged the chain around, pacing in circles inside the space like a mad dog, focused only on saving himself.

I tightened my voice.

“If you tell me, I’ll help you get out of here.”

“I-I really don’t know…! I’ve told that b**tard a hundred, a thousand times already…!”

Suddenly, my uncle groaned and clutched his stomach. …What now? I didn’t let my guard down, thinking he was up to another trick.

But then, crimson blood began seeping through his fingers. I stood frozen, staring blankly at the sight, and he rolled up his shirt. What lay beneath was horrifying.

“That b**tard gave me some booze. Next thing I knew, I blacked out. When I came to, I was strapped to an operating table in an abandoned hospital. Those f*cking scumbags cut me open….”

A crude, haphazardly stitched scar ran across his chest. Blood gushed from the reopened wound like meat juices seeping out of a steak. If he was left like this, he wouldn’t last long.

“This is all your own doing.”

A shrill, deranged scream rang out.

“…You f*cking brat….”

Clank! Clank! The chain rattled ceaselessly, filling the tense air with metallic noise.

“…You f*cking bitch!”

My uncle, eyes blazing with madness, lunged at me. His hands shot toward my throat, aiming to strangle me. Clank! Clank! The chain stretched taut, pulling his body backward. If not for that chain, he would have already pinned me beneath him.

Clank! Clank! The kennel, its four legs embedded in the floor, began to lift. I instinctively stepped back. At this rate, the whole thing would rip out of the ground…

And just as that thought crossed my mind, it became reality.

The large nails burst through the linoleum, and the kennel toppled forward.

“……!”

My uncle pounced on me instantly. I couldn’t put up any defense—I was completely pinned beneath him. He pressed the chain against my throat. I twisted my limbs, struggling wildly, but it was no use. My position was at an absolute disadvantage.

“I knew something felt off….”

“…Hkk, hhkk.”

Unable to handle his manic strength, I dug my short nails into the back of his hands. But his grip tightened, his intent clear—he was trying to kill me.

“…Urk!”

There was someone outside who would come running if I screamed, but I couldn’t get my voice out. My airway was too constricted to even breathe properly.

“You let that b**tard f*ck you, didn’t you?”

Drool dribbled from his gaping mouth. The sticky saliva stretched out and splattered onto my face, sticking to my eyelashes. It was hard to keep my eyes open. Through my blurring vision, I saw the entrance of the greenhouse.

“You filthy wh*re. I should’ve beaten the shit out of you a long time ago!”

A massive, dark figure suddenly approached. The next thing I knew, my uncle’s body was sent flying with a brutal kick. The pressure on my throat vanished. I collapsed onto all fours, clutching my neck and coughing violently. I gulped down air, desperate to fill my lungs with the oxygen I’d been deprived of.

Above me, CEO Jang’s chilling voice rang out.

“Beat the shit out of who? You f*cking piece of trash, do you even know who you’re talking about?”

He kicked my uncle’s body again. My uncle let out a choked noise, his body folding in half.

“You can’t even recognize your own goddamn nephew and yet you have the audacity to call him names? I don’t care how out of your mind you are—you should at least recognize your own flesh and blood.”

Huff, huff. CEO Jang’s chest heaved deeply. His eyes latched onto my throat. The intensity of his gaze startled me, making me instinctively cover my neck with both hands and back away.

He roughly swept his disheveled hair back, then pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. As smoke drifted from his lips, he spoke in a chilling tone.

“Even with a body ruined by booze and smokes, if I strip everything inside, I can still get at least eight hundred for him.”

Without hesitation, CEO Jang spilled words terrifying enough to shake anyone who heard them.

“I’ll cut off his lower half and dump it in the mountains. Whether he gets mauled or f*cked to death by a wild boar, that’s up to nature.”

“…CEO.”

I barely managed to force out a trembling voice. My airway must have been injured—every breath I took came out as a ragged wheeze.

“…Please don’t say things like that.”

The moment I spoke, my head spun. The lack of oxygen had messed me up. As I staggered, CEO Jang crushed his half-smoked cigarette against the floor, grabbed my uncle by the scruff of his neck, and tossed him back into the kennel. Still unsatisfied, he drove his foot into his stomach once more.

“Ugh!”

Locking the kennel, he turned toward me, his strides heavy. The thick scent of blood wafted from him. The smell alone made me recoil instinctively, stepping back. But before I could get far, his bloodstained hand clamped around my wrist, dragging me toward the entrance.

Outside, the night had already fallen like a drawn curtain.