Vol 6 Ch 20

The door to the room opened. Jade Miller, wiping his glasses with a handkerchief, spoke awkwardly.

“The shareholders’ meeting is being held tomorrow.”

“……”

“The timing, right when unfavorable evidence has been found….”

“Who could even get into the CEO’s room? It was practically always me there, or the bodyguards on watch.”

“I’m not saying I suspect you, Mr. Joo Hawon, but… have you ever met with the vice president separately?”

I said no, but I knew Jade Miller might very well suspect me.

“No. I’ve never met him personally.”

“In any case, if we’re to attend tomorrow’s meeting, we’ll have to head straight for Germany. I’ll contact Macau Airport to get the private jet ready. Please prepare right away.”

“Underst…ood.”

Just as Jade Miller instructed, the server brought up a new suit to my room, along with a watch and simple accessories in a velvet jewel box.

While I was changing, Wagner picked up a tie pin from the box with his clumsy hands.

“Wear. Pin. Must.”

Then he stuck it into the tie before I even had it tied. I put on the watch, slipped into shoes that hugged my heels snugly, and finally slid a pen into the inner pocket of my jacket before grabbing my phone.

I stood by the window, gazing outside, waiting for Jade Miller to return.

He didn’t come up personally but called from the front desk. The message was that everything was ready and I should come down to the lobby. As soon as I stepped out of the room, Wagner stuck close to my side. We took the VIP elevator straight down to the lobby. Two black sedans were waiting in line.

Inside the rear seat, already seated with a newspaper open, was Jade Miller. Once I sat, Wagner opened the front passenger door.

“What do you need me to do once we’re there?”

The sedan started, its heavy engine rumbling.

“Just act according to your conscience, Mr. Joo Hawon.”

“There must be a reason they’re holding the meeting when the CEO isn’t even there, right?”

“Most likely.”

Jade Miller adjusted his glasses as he continued reading the German newspaper. I didn’t ask any more questions and only stared out the window. Even though he had delegated his authority to me, he probably hadn’t expected a shareholders’ meeting to be called under such unfavorable conditions. This was the worst-case scenario.

“If only everyone could just share from the start, why….”

The words slipped out of me unintentionally.

“You’re more naïve than I thought, Mr. Joo Hawon. Ah, right. You don’t have siblings, do you?”

Jade Miller already knew the answer when he asked.

“I have one older brother, much older than me. He inherited most of my father’s estate. It was disappointing, you know. I took better care of my father when he was alive, but…. When we were kids, every New Year, my father would give each of us an allowance of a hundred thousand won in Korean money. He gave the same amount to my brother. But with just fifty thousand more, I could have bought what I wanted. No matter how much I pleaded, he always gave exactly a hundred thousand. I envied my brother’s money. So one night, I stole fifty thousand won from his wallet. No more, no less. And I bought what I wanted.”

Jade Miller chuckled, reminiscing.

“My father left a will. He said: ‘You’re too greedy, so even if I divided things equally, you’d still take your brother’s share.’ So he left much more to my brother. Funny thing is—my brother wasn’t without greed, either. He pretended otherwise, but when I stole from his wallet that night, his eyes were open. He let me take it. The next day, he told our father that fifty thousand won had disappeared from his wallet, and he was sorry, but he thought I did it. Ha. That was the first time I ever got slapped. I even seriously considered calling the police on my own father.”

Listening to Jade Miller’s effortless storytelling, I frowned at the view outside the window.

“Where are we going right now?”

“The shortcut to the airport.”

Macau is in the palm of my hand. This road led to the harbor, not the airport.

“…Shortcut?”

“Is there a problem? Ah~ Mr. Joo Hawon, you’ve lived in Macau for a long time. I guess clumsy lies won’t work on you.”

Jade Miller laughed. We weren’t headed for the airport—we were headed for the harbor.

I reached toward Wagner in the passenger seat, tapping his shoulder. He turned to me quickly. Slowly, I shook my head and then pointed at the driver. With only my lips, I mouthed: “We’re not going to the airport. It’s dangerous.”

Wagner’s confused look shifted to realization the moment he understood the word ‘danger.’ He pulled a gun from his chest.

At the same time—BANG!!! A deafening sound exploded inside the car.

I pressed myself against the back seat, staring straight ahead in disbelief. The driver shot Wagner. He was faster—he put a bullet in Wagner before Wagner could react. I clamped a hand over my mouth and turned to Jade Miller beside me, horrified. Only then did he fold up the newspaper he’d been reading. His hand slid over, brushing the back of my neck.

“You….”

At the same time, the car stopped. Jade Miller yanked down my tie and rolled down the window. A man in a black suit stepped out of the other sedan that had been following us. Jade Miller snatched my phone, then handed the man both my tie—with the pin—and the phone.

“Put him on the jet.”

After passing them over, he rolled the window shut. A pistol gleamed in his other hand.

“…Did you kill Wagner…?”

Even after seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn’t believe it.

“Shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself instead of him?”

The sedan started moving again, and as I expected, it headed toward the harbor.

“Why are you doing this?”

I glared at the muzzle pointed at me.

“Why else? Because you’ve made things difficult for everyone. What choice do I have? And to think you were even given power of attorney….”

Jade Miller scoffed as if the whole thing was absurd. The closer we drew to the harbor, the darker it grew. Yachts lined the breakwater, rocking gently with the waves. Our sedan moved toward one yacht that gave off a faint, discreet glow. Soon, even the headlights were switched off, and the flickering light of the yacht became our only marker. As the car pulled up, the yacht’s lights went out. Jade Miller jabbed me in the arm with the pistol.

“Get out.”

The driver opened my door. I thought about making a run for it, but I’d only end up with holes in my body. Even if by some miracle I dodged the bullets, I’d be caught soon after. I glanced at Wagner, slumped over the front seat. I could only hope he wasn’t dead….

“Walk to the yacht.”

This time, Jade Miller shoved me in the back with the muzzle.

I staggered up the swaying deck. Nausea surged up, but I clenched my teeth. It’s fine. I’d ridden Max’s ship before. A faint light glimmered from inside the cabin. Jade Miller kept pushing me toward it.

“Open it.”

He ordered me to open the cabin door, but my hand wouldn’t move.

“I said open it.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed the door open. Cold air conditioning swept over my body, and at the controls stood a white man who looked like security. The day I had found my father flashed before me, vivid as yesterday. Acid rose in my throat. Snap! The cabin door shut, and Jade Miller shoved me onto the sofa. The pistol stayed trained on me.

The motor roared, and the yacht sped into the black sea. I couldn’t see what lay ahead. Were they planning to dump me into Macau Bay? Or….

“I respected the former CEO, you know. Until you showed up, he was flawless.”

I tried to keep quiet and think through the situation calmly. The seasickness made it hard to focus.

“Never imagined someone as low-ranking as you would be given authority. Wouldn’t I have been the more suitable one?”

That was just like Jade Miller—sorting people into classes.

“In any case, once the CEO is back to how he was, everything will be fine. Don’t you think it’s enough if you just disappear?”

So he didn’t know I’d really found WikiLeaks? If I were killed, he had to know it would surface eventually. If he knew that, he wouldn’t be acting like this.

I steadied my breathing, trying to forget the nausea.

Ahead, there was nothing but dark sea. Behind, Macau’s skyline had vanished from view. A cursed, foggy night. The yacht’s radar blinked on and off. Its speed slowed as it approached another yacht drifting in the waves.

Jade Miller pushed me outside, and a plank was laid between the two vessels. As we crossed, I wished he would tumble into the water—but luck like that had no place in my life.

The new yacht lit up from stern to bow. And at that moment, I couldn’t hold back. Vomit surged up. I tried to cover my mouth, but bile spilled onto the deck.

I clutched the railing, my knuckles white, and stared at the cabin. The moment its door opened, another wave of bile forced itself out. It was impossible, but I could swear a reeking stench seeped out with it.

“It’s been a long time since you were on this yacht, hasn’t it?”

A man stepped out of the cabin, speaking warmly as he looked around.

“How….”

“The smell of a rotting body doesn’t fade easily. Took a long time to air it out.”

This was the yacht where my father’s corpse had been found. My father’s yacht. I thought it had all gone to auction—so why was this man here?

“You’ve got a weak stomach, Joo Hawon.”

He clicked his tongue and dabbed my mouth with a handkerchief.

“Kwon Yijae….”

“Don’t be rude, calling your elder by name like that.”

So the shareholders’ meeting was a bluff. Even if I had power of attorney, there was no way the meeting would proceed without Kwon Taeha. I should have realized. But even if I had, there would’ve been no escape. Not even Kwon Taeha could have predicted Jade Miller’s betrayal—Miller had been one of the few he trusted.

“Why did you betray him?”

I asked Jade Miller, but it was Kwon Yijae who tapped my cheek. His manner was both lazy and irritable, a contradiction that unsettled me.

“You’ve got something valuable, don’t you, Joo Hawon?”

Again, Kwon Yijae tapped my cheek.

“Young skin. So smooth. If I sliced it fresh, it’d feel exquisite.”

The faint smile at his lips made my skin crawl. I slapped his hand away and tried to stand, but Jade Miller kicked me in the calf, forcing me to kneel as the gun aimed at me.

“…Why do you have this yacht?”

“Why indeed? Joo Sangkyung  is dead, and yet I ended up buying the yacht he killed himself on. Why did I? I wonder too. Perhaps it was my kind heart… wanting to send his son off from the same place his father died?”

Kwon Yijae spoke with a mockingly benevolent smile. Strangely, after vomiting, my head felt clearer. And I had no intention of dying easily, not the way they wanted.

“I only meant to scare you and let you go… but then came the news broadcast. About Baek Jaetak and Tex. Even with the power of attorney, you don’t have real power—but when you start leaking things recklessly, that’s troublesome.”

He was saying, in roundabout words, that I had dug my own grave.

“Taeha’s end is near. No need for Joo Sangkyung’s ghost to interfere.”

“If I die, you’re finished too. Guess no one told you this— I found the complete WikiLeaks.”

Bang! The sound of a gunshot—the same sound I’d once heard at my mother’s psychiatric hospital.

Kwon Yijae snatched the gun from Jade Miller, and the fired bullet vanished without a trace.

In that instant, a stabbing pain like hundreds of awls tore into my abdomen. I barely kept myself from collapsing, bracing my body against the floor. My pristine white shirt blossomed red.

“Shall I test it? To see if everything really ends for me when Joo Hawon dies. Honestly, if they don’t find a body, no one can be sure whether you’re dead or not, right?”

Kwon Yijae gestured toward the vast open sea.

“Fuck you… eat shit. A war profiteer.”

Kwon Yijae’s eyes widened.

I pressed my hand hard against my bleeding abdomen as blood gurgled out. A scream ripped from me under the pressure, and I bit my lips until they were ragged. God, it hurt. Fuck, it hurt so damn much. My breath scattered in rasps like an asthmatic’s, and I even spat out chunks of blood, maybe my guts.

I’d crawled through every gutter in Macau, but I’d never once imagined I’d get shot. I pressed harder against the wound with my back to the yacht’s wall. My breathing grew harsher. My phone… ah, right, it was taken. I needed to contact Tangbang. No, Taeha first…

“So Joo Sangkyung  knew that much?”

Kwon Yijae grabbed my collar. I raised my middle finger in his face.

“Argh!!!”

He jabbed a finger deep into the bullet hole in my upper abdomen, punishing my insolence.

“No need to press the wound yourself. This way, you’ll live a bit longer. Well? Want to try holding on yourself, Joo Hawon?”

The one who’d been shot was me, but it was Jade Miller who had gone pale, staring down at me and Kwon Yijae. He’d clearly never thought Yijae would really shoot. At first, he must’ve followed him thinking it was just to scare me. Serves you right, idiot. But honestly, I was the real wreck here.

When Kwon Yijae pulled his finger out, blood gushed from my mouth.

“The Landris deal… cough… once it breaks… you’re finished…”

“Well. I doubt Taeha will really set it off. If it does, it’s not just me—everyone goes down.”

You’re underestimating your brother. I wanted to laugh in his face, but words wouldn’t come out. They only pooled in my mouth, mixed with the blood that kept surging up. My strength drained with it. I pressed my hand against the hole, but blood kept leaking through my fingers. My suit was soaked, heavy like it had been drenched in seawater.

Even the bitter taste of blood faded to nothing. My whitened vision turned dark, like the distant sea at night. My ears dulled, too. Everything slowed, numbed, like a man aging and dying in an instant.

Ah… so this is death. No feeling, no thought, nothing but regret. That’s what death is.

I should’ve been honest sooner. Should’ve had ordinary meals more often. Shouldn’t have run from you… If I die, will you live on just fine? Will you climb back to the top like none of this ever happened? I don’t want to die. I should’ve told you I liked you. That simple truth—I never said it. I don’t want to die, but it feels like I was wrong all along.

Kwon Yijae was saying something to me, but it was too far, too faint. I forced out one last effort, pulling the pen from inside my suit and rolling it across the yacht’s floor. The pen had already been left recording since the sedan.

With blurred vision, I grabbed the railing and dragged myself up. I felt the barrel aiming at me again, but I was already on my way to the end. It had been such a long, exhausting life. Happy days were hard to recall. Maybe the last night I spent with you—that anxious night—was also the happiest I ever had.

“Neither you nor your father should ever go near the water. You’ll never withstand a storm. The sea will swallow you whole.”

Grandfather was right. I should’ve left Macau. Should’ve handed over WikiLeaks to Taeha or anyone, without looking back. But I didn’t. Because I wanted to try love with that man. With no one else but Kwon Taeha. Looks like this is as far as I go. Not that I ever deserved something as sweet as love in my life anyway.

My eyes burned—so I must’ve been crying.

The wind blew. A fierce gust shoved against me, tilting my back fully against the railing. Now, I couldn’t see anything anymore.

Bang! Bang! Maybe I heard gunshots. Or maybe they were just hallucinations. My body tilted completely, and I fell away from the yacht.

“…won!! Joo Hawon!!!”

A desperate cry reached me, but it was already too late.

This time, the raging sea swallowed me whole.