PAHO 24

At the continued verbal abuse, Nam Gyeonhwa’s face hardened coldly. However, getting angry at him, who was throwing a tantrum, claiming he had been completely victimized, would be a fruitless endeavor.

“It would be best to go to the hospital first.”

Confirming by feel that the downpour had weakened, he supported Gong Myeongho. However, Gong Myeongho shrugged off his arm as if annoyed.

“Fuck, are you crazy? You want me to get caught by going to the hospital? Unlike an illegal immigrant like you, everything gets recorded for me.”

“So you’re just going to stay like this? If you walk around in that state and get tetanus, you’ll die before you even get caught. As far as I know, hospital records can’t be disclosed without a police investigation.”

“…”

Unable to find a retort, Gong Myeongho grumbled curses but obediently accepted the support. It was just as they were about to head to the nearest road to find a taxi.

Honk, honk! Nam Gyeonhwa, frowning at the eardrum-splitting sound of the car horn, spotted a familiar car stopped on the other side of the street. Na Taebeom, leaning his head out of the open car window, grinned.

“Hello? Want a ride?”

Even though he had been told to wait from a distance, it seemed he couldn’t stand it and had moved. To think he would show up at this timing. Before Nam Gyeonhwa, who was biting his lip, could answer, Gong Myeongho pushed away the arm that was supporting him.

“Wh-what the, who the hell is that bastard, what the hell is this now! You, you conspired with that guy, didn’t you? Huh?”

“Mr. Gong Myeongho, first, please just, listen to me.”

“I knew it, fuck! You frame me and make me a fucking cripple, and now what, you’re trying to sell me off to some human traffickers? You son of a bitch! You think I’ll let you get away with this? I’m going to report you to the higher-ups and the police. If I just say one word that you were the one who orchestrated this whole incident, you think you can keep walking around like this? Huh?”

Thump. The sound of a car door closing was heard. Gong Myeongho, who had been screaming, clamped his mouth shut when he saw Na Taebeom walking over. Na Taebeom, who had passed Nam Gyeonhwa and stopped right in front of Gong Myeongho, looked down at him with a sullen expression.

“Did I look like a human trafficker?”

“Y-you, you, s-son of a, bitch.”

“Not ‘you,’ it’s Na Taebeom.”

The moment he heard the name, Gong Myeongho’s face turned deathly pale. Gong Myeongho, who had been trembling and backing away to avoid Na Taebeom as he took a large step forward, suddenly started running wildly.

“Stop!”

Nam Gyeonhwa chased after the fleeing Gong Myeongho, crossing the parking lot. Just then, Gong Myeongho spotted a truck whose engine was just starting. He charged recklessly toward the truck, forcibly pulled out the driver inside, and took his place.

He ran until he was out of breath, but it was impossible to catch up to the truck. He had barely a moment to catch his breath while watching the receding truck when an eardrum-shattering roar echoed. Nam Gyeonhwa ran like mad in the direction of the sound. A car was overturned on the road, not far from the parking lot. It was the truck Gong Myeongho had just been in.

“Mr. Gong Myeongho!”

Nam Gyeonhwa quickly dropped to the ground and checked under the overturned truck, but there was no answer from Gong Myeongho. A steel rod, which had penetrated the windshield when the truck crashed into the fence, had pierced through to his head. Blood was dripping from his half-crushed head. Swallowing the urge to vomit at the truly gruesome sight, Nam Gyeonhwa stood up.

“He died in a flashy way.”

Na Taebeom, who had followed him at some point, said it as if stating an observation. Even though a person had just died in front of him, his voice was not one of sympathy, but of pity. Nam Gyeonhwa, clenching his fists tightly, opened his mouth.

“We clearly, agreed that you would stay out of my line of sight. That you wouldn’t interfere until I gave the signal.”

“You hung up the phone, so I came to check the situation. I was watching, wondering when you were going to send the sign, but you were just standing there with your arm around his shoulder.”

Na Taebeom retorted bluntly and frowned.

“In the first place, why is that bastard’s death such a big deal to get angry about?”

“What?”

“It’s pathetic that you’re raising your voice at me over the death of some piece of trash like that. Were you fucking him or something?”

Before he could even finish his words, Nam Gyeonhwa grabbed Na Taebeom by the collar. His fingertips trembled.

“There’s a limit to the bullshit I’ll listen to. Learn to distinguish between what you should and shouldn’t say.”

“Ha, I think you’re the one who needs to distinguish properly, you mutt. Have you already forgotten whose help got you here safely without any trouble?”

“Don’t act like you did me a favor. I said from the beginning I would go alone, and you were the one who insisted on coming along with conditions. I could have gotten here on my own without your so-called help.”

“So-called help?”

At those words, Na Taebeom’s gaze, which had been looking down at Nam Gyeonhwa, suddenly turned ice-cold. Suddenly, a light spread through the dark surroundings. Honk. At the timidly sounding horn, Na Taebeom scowled and looked back at the car.

“Director, a-are you alright?”

Gwon Jongdae, who had spotted the two men standing in the rain, rushed over and held the umbrella he had brought over Na Taebeom’s head. Na Taebeom, lightly pushing the umbrella toward Gwon Jongdae, said.

“Jongdae, when the police get here later, give them a witness statement for me.”

“A witness, statement?”

“About the accident here. A cleanup team from the Special Police Unit will be here within an hour, so you just have to give the police a plausible-sounding story. The cleanup team will take care of the rest. Oh, the key is in the car, right?”

“What? Ah, yes.”

As Gwon Jongdae nodded with a puzzled look, Na Taebeom grabbed the arm of Nam Gyeonhwa, who was standing next to him, and started walking toward the car.

“Fuck, let go of me, you bastard.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who was suddenly being dragged along, struggled to break free, but the more he did, the harder Na Taebeom pulled, as if to crush his arm. He opened the car door, shoved Nam Gyeonhwa inside as if stuffing him in, then immediately got behind the wheel and started the car. A light on the center panel flashed, indicating a call. Without even checking the caller ID, he immediately pressed the connect button.

“Yeah, Captain Gil, it’s me. There’s been a traffic accident near Daejong Station, so send the cleanup team down right away. Jongdae is holding the spot, so if you contact him, he’ll explain the situation. Right, good work.”

As soon as he hung up, Na Taebeom sped up. The navigation system immediately issued a warning that he had exceeded the speed limit, but as if that spurred him on, the needle on the dashboard tilted even more steeply to the right.

“Where are we going.”

“Well, shall we call it a drive to kill some time? The cleanup team will take care of it anyway, but it’s a bit of a hassle to get involved with the police outside our jurisdiction. I also hate how they grill you for hours to write a report.”

The sound of the rain hitting the car window grew heavier. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been chewing on his lip, opened his mouth.

“Gong Myeongho said that, there was a problem with the data chip.”

“Really?”

“He said it seemed like someone had tampered with it first. It looked like the losses were considerable because of that. So they seem to suspect that I did it intentionally for the money.”

“…”

“…Did you, do it on purpose?”

At Nam Gyeonhwa’s question, Na Taebeom turned up the radio volume and hummed along to the song that was playing. That very attitude made Nam Gyeonhwa even more certain. It was clear that Na Taebeom had known everything from the beginning. He had deliberately pretended to be careless, setting a trap to let them steal the important secrets just as they wanted.

Through the rapidly passing car windows, a green sign indicating a regional boundary came into view. At this rate, they would be heading in the complete opposite direction of Seoul.

“Stop the car, right now.”

“…”

“I said stop the car!”

Screeeech. With a grating sound that scratched at the eardrums, the car, which had been drawing a long curve to the side, stopped precariously by the guardrail on the shoulder. The moment Nam Gyeonhwa, who had violently unbuckled his seatbelt, tried to get out of the car, a hand suddenly flew at his cheek.

Smack. With a sharp sound like skin tearing, his vision wavered. His ears felt clogged as if submerged deep in water. Na Taebeom, who had unfastened the watch on his wrist, grabbed his chin and lifted it.

“I stopped the car like you wanted, so from now on, I’m going to do as I please.”

Before he could fully understand the meaning of the declaration of doing as he pleased, Na Taebeom, who had lightly shaken his right hand, slapped him across the cheek again. It wasn’t a fist, just the palm of his hand, yet the sharp pain was like being hit with a steel bat, making all his senses grow distant. Nam Gyeonhwa, who barely held on to his consciousness, forcibly grabbed the arm that came flying at him again.

“Fuck, what the hell do you think you’re doing now.”

“You don’t know? I just told you. I’m doing as I please.”

“So, you’re just going to treat me like a punching bag?”

“Then why did you tell me to stop. If you had just let me drive, I wouldn’t have a hand to hit you with right now, would I.”

“What?”

At the absurd sophistry, Nam Gyeonhwa’s jaw trembled. Was he really taking out his anger for the sole reason that he had told him to stop the car? The violence that had occurred in his room last time could be understood given the circumstances, but not now.

Nam Gyeonhwa, bursting into the driver’s seat, pushed Na Taebeom with all his might and threw a punch straight at his face. He thought he had aimed for an unguarded moment, but Na Taebeom easily blocked the punch without even blinking. Na Taebeom, glancing at the trembling fist enclosed in his palm, let out a chuckle like air escaping.

“I’ve never lost a close-quarters fight before. You haven’t forgotten in just a few days that you got your ass kicked by me. You know that and you’re still coming at me? Huh?”

Na Taebeom grabbed him by the collar and slapped Nam Gyeonhwa hard across the cheek again. Nam Gyeonhwa, who hit his head on the car’s center panel, let out a dry cough like a gasp at the dizziness that momentarily swam before his eyes. Na Taebeom pinned down Nam Gyeonhwa, who was struggling to get up, and took the upper position.

“It’s fun, like taming a mad dog, but the way you keep resisting is getting a bit, annoying.”

“Gah, ugh.”

Without even a moment to struggle against the heavy weight that matched his large frame, Na Taebeom, who had taken control of his body, pressed down on Nam Gyeonhwa’s neck with his right forearm as if to crush it. The strong force pressing precisely on his windpipe made his mouth fall open reflexively. Gurgling, Nam Gyeonhwa twisted his whole body, trying to push the forearm away. His vision repeatedly went from white to black.

The backrest, creaking under the weight of the two men who were both taller than average, couldn’t bear the center of gravity and flopped backward. Using the momentary shift in position as the car body jolted, Nam Gyeonhwa finally gained the upper hand. He swung his fist at Na Taebeom, who was now pinned underneath him, as if to show him. Even as the arm passed right by him, Na Taebeom didn’t even flinch.

A bitter, metallic taste filled his mouth from the breath that had risen to his chin from their struggle in the cramped car. Cars sped past amidst the heavy, damp silence that was like mud. After glaring at Na Taebeom for a long time while pinning him by the collar, he finally let go.

“That’s enough. Being like this with you is just a waste of time.”

His face, from his gaze to his complexion, had quickly settled into a blunt expression, like cold, cooled platinum. Honk, honk. A car horn blared. It was jeers from the passing cars. Na Taebeom, glancing toward his head, burst out laughing.

“From the outside, it probably looks like you and I are having sex.”

“What, kind of dogshit are you talking about.”

“The position is pretty plausible, isn’t it.”

Na Taebeom’s gaze, which had been fixed on Nam Gyeonhwa as he bit his lip as if he couldn’t believe his ears, moved downward. Through the navy t-shirt, soaked with rainwater and clinging to his skin, his perky, erect nipple came into view.

“Since we’re already being misunderstood, we might as well do it properly.”