NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32.1
Quodu’s Infancy (1)
At the time of Quodu’s apprehension, the name of the company’s president wasn’t Myeong Bo-Hoon.
Also, during that period it wasn’t the Guma Gang that Quodu was involved with, but-
“Ah!”
The name of the organization I was thinking of momentarily slipped my mind.
Myeong Bo-Hoon flinched at my cry of exasperation.
‘They’re smuggling women through the same routes they’re using to smuggle drugs.’
That was the title of an article that was written about Quodu at that time.
Although Quodu had always worked with a drug ring to acquire their prostitutes, at this point in time, that drug ring turned out to be the Guma Gang.
‘So the Guma Gang was present during Quodu’s infancy.;
However, because of my intervention, the Guma Gang had been wiped out much earlier than in the original timeline, so the drugs they were smuggling had to be diverted to another organization.
The organization that had been arrested alongside Quodu at that time was…
“The Joongmae Gang.”
“Hee!”
Commonly known as the Chinese(Joong-Guk) Merchants(Mae-Mae-Pa).
It was an organization that smuggled various things to China, whether that thing was a person or anything else.
Although the strength of their organization had paled in comparison to their notoriety, the gang had grown much stronger after stepping into the drug trade.
So the drugs the Guma Gang had been peddling actually came from China.
Those sons of bitches. How dare they charge an outrageous 60 million won for Chinese knockoffs, while claiming that they were of the highest quality?
“You, w-who are you?”
I noticed that Myeong Bo-Hoon looked genuinely flustered when he heard the name of the Joongmae Gang drop from my lips.
Now it was all starting to make sense.
Why there had been a sudden increase in disappearances.
And why the disappearance of the legislator’s daughter had occurred earlier than originally expected.
Everything had been brought forward because of the Joongmae Gang’s rapid growth following their takeover of the Guma Gang’s drug ring.
I grabbed Myeong Bo-Hoon by the throat.
If control of the drug smuggling routes had shifted from the Guma Gang to the Joongmae Gang, it might mean that this guy was the point of contact between the two gangs and the key to solving the case.
“I’ve got a lot to ask you today.”
“You- you fuck-!”
Myeong Bo-Hoon shook off my hand and dived behind his desk.
He came back up holding a golf club.
“G-Get lost immediately! I-I-I can let your ass off if you comply!”
The way he tried to speak like a tough guy, even though he was shaking, was quite amusing.
Don’t they usually call guys like this a ‘vandal’1.
He’s not an ordinary civilian, but he’s not quite a real gangster either.
Perhaps it was because he had only moved to this line of work after managing an entertainment agency, but something about his act seemed off.
I picked up a vase that was placed on the table and threw it at him.
Smash-!
“Hee!”
In the moment that he fell back in alarm.
I quickly rushed over and grabbed the golf club with my left hand, while punching forward with my right fist.
“Ugh.”
I might have put too much strength in that hit, as Myeong Bo-Hoon collapsed with his hands clasped over his face.
I pulled the golf club out of his grip and started poking him in the side.
“Now, now. Didn’t you say that you’re going on a business trip. Since we both don’t have a lot of time to play with each other, why don’t you get up quickly. Chop-chop.”
Knock knock-
“President-nim. Is something going on?”
The employee, who had been sitting at his desk, opened the door and came in.
Then, as if realizing what was going on, his eyes widened and looked like they were about to pop out.
I held up the golf club and pointed it at him in a threatening manner.
“Don’t even think about calling the police. Because I am the police. And don’t even think about calling the gang either. From the looks of it, you’re just an employee, so get out of here if you don’t want to get caught up in all of this.”
His lips parting soundlessly, the employee slowly shut the door.
Myeong Bo-Hoon’s eyes shone with desperation at this betrayal.
I laughed and grabbed a hold of his hair,
“That’s why you should regularly treat your employee with a bit of kindness.”
“Hey! Yan-Ji, you fuck-!”
Bam-!
And with this grip I slammed his head down onto the table.
Having his head twisted to the side may have been uncomfortable for him, as a groan slowly escaped his lips.
“Aaargh…”
“Well then. From now on, when I ask you something, you are going to answer me without any lies. If anything seems even a little bit fishy; that’ll set me off into a merciless rage. And I happen to be a police officer who doesn’t care in the slightest about being written up for a disciplinary hearing.”
“That’s, please sir. Why don’t you let go of me first, and then-”
“How were the Guma Gang’s drug routes transferred over to the Joongmae Gang?”
Myeong Bo-Hoon grimaced and feebly patted my hand. As if he was asking me to lighten the pressure by just a bit.
“I-I really don’t know much about that, I usually just sent a few of my girls over to work for the Guma Gang whenever they decided to hold a party. And since I couldn’t just leave them idle, that would be a huge waste of my investment, in the downtime I sent them to the gang’s bars to scrounge for tips.”
This was somewhat in line with what the aspiring celebrity, Ji-Young, had said. He must have strung all of them along with the promise of a debut.
Footnote:
1. This term is used to describe a person who’s involved with crime, but pretends to be a law-abiding citizen. Someone who is hired to act as a go-between for legitimate businesses and organized crime. The term is a pun that uses both the English definition of vandal, a destructive criminal, and the definition of the Korean homonym ban-dal, which means half-moon, to imply someone who is only half-transitioned into becoming a criminal.