Chapter 65 – Crazy Scout
An old warehouse in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.
Kwak Chi-young visited the place together with Oh Han-seong.
Inside the warehouse, guarded by members of the 666th Unit, Kim Sang-hoon and Ahn Deok-chil were hanging upside down, their limbs bound and blindfolds covering their eyes.
Seeing this, Kwak Chi-young let out a shallow sigh before approaching Kim Sang-hoon.
“Kim Sang-hoon, General Manager of Baesung Trading.”
Unable to see, Kim Sang-hoon flinched in shock.
“Wh-who are you?”
“That’s not something you need to know. Where is Chairman Bae Young-chul’s ledger?”
“I-I really don’t know! On the day of the shareholders’ meeting, I checked the hiding place, and it was already gone!”
Kwak Chi-young hadn’t expected an easy answer, but it was still frustrating.
He loosened his necktie with a light tug.
From the side, Oh Han-seong handed him a tablet that displayed the contents of a USB taken from Kim Sang-hoon.
Inside the files were scans of Bae Young-chul’s ledger.
“Then what’s this USB? Didn’t you scan the ledger and hide it afterward? You even posted the report on the bulletin board using this.”
“M-me? I didn’t upload that! And that USB… it was in my pocket when I came to my senses at the PC café!”
“You came to your senses at the PC café?”
“The guy who stole the ledger called me there. But when I went into the restroom…”
Kim Sang-hoon recalled the moment when the restroom door opened, and he saw a man who looked exactly like himself.
“T-that’s him! The guy who stole the ledger had my exact same face!”
“Your exact face?”
Panicked, Kim Sang-hoon practically rapped out the details of how he ended up at the PC café and what happened inside.
Listening silently, Kwak Chi-young concluded that Kim Sang-hoon’s temperament made it unlikely he had uploaded the report himself.
“So you hid the ledger in the fire hydrant at Baesung Trading’s second basement parking lot? And that bastard stole it and left you in this state.”
“Y-yes, that’s right!”
Kwak Chi-young’s gaze shifted to Ahn Deok-chil.
“Ahn Deok-chil. Don’t you feel like talking about the bastard who did this to you?”
“……”
He had clearly heard the entire conversation. Yet he remained silent, which meant something was holding him back.
“I hear you met with Director Min Young-man of the NIS. What kind of deal did you make with him?”
Min Young-man had told him not to reveal the NIS’s involvement to anyone.
So when Kwak Chi-young revealed he already knew, Ahn Deok-chil couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the man who decides whether you live or die.”
“You can kill me?”
In response, Kwak Chi-young flicked his hand. Oh Han-seong stepped forward and pulled off Ahn Deok-chil’s blindfold.
With his sight restored, Ahn Deok-chil scanned his surroundings with bloodshot eyes. He saw Kwak Chi-young, Oh Han-seong, and the men standing around them.
The atmosphere alone told him they were accustomed to such situations.
“I am Kwak Chi-young of TSF Investment. They call you Guillotine, don’t they?”
“…So what?”
“For starters, to show you this.”
As he spoke, Kwak Chi-young raised his hand.
Bang—!
Oh Han-seong suddenly pulled out a pistol and shot Kim Sang-hoon in the head.
“……”
“You asked if I could kill, didn’t you? Consider that your answer.”
Instead of fear, a smile of exhilaration spread across Ahn Deok-chil’s face.
“You people… you can kill at will?”
“Oh? So you like this sort of thing?”
“To be honest, this country is too suffocating. I was going to leave for abroad, but then Director Min came to me with an offer.”
Now that he had started talking, Kwak Chi-young’s expression grew pleased.
“What did he ask you to do?”
“It was about Chairman Bae Young-chul’s ledger. If I found it and handed it over, he promised to launder my identity and send me overseas.”
“So he had something on you.”
Otherwise, he could have simply escaped abroad as a stowaway.
“Well… slitting a few throats for fun was what got me caught.”
“Kekeke. So you really are insane.”
“You’re no different. I just prefer blades to guns.”
Ahn Deok-chil’s eyes flicked toward the gun in Oh Han-seong’s hand.
“What if I gave you that right?”
“More than that, can you find the bastard for me?”
“You mean the one who did this to you?”
Since he was still hanging upside down, blood was seeping from wounds on his left side, armpit, right thigh, collarbone, and below his chest.
They were all knife wounds inflicted by Shin-woo.
“At first, I thought he only used wires, but he was a pro with knives and close-quarters combat too. From the beginning, he was just toying with me.”
Grinding his teeth, Ahn Deok-chil’s reaction made Kwak Chi-young sink deeper into thought.
If Kim Sang-hoon’s words were true, then the culprit was at least someone proficient in disguise, wires, and knives—or perhaps multiple specialists working together.
“Did you learn nothing else about him?”
“No. If I had, I’d have told Director Min. I even asked him to track the guy down.”
“Wire, knives, disguise… Manager Oh, does anyone on the DPL (Dangerous People List) fit that profile?”
“There are too many who could beat Ahn Deok-chil in knife fighting and hand-to-hand combat. But disguise is rare. On the DPL, there’s Mirage, who was said to have operated in Russia.”
Kwak Chi-young nodded, recognizing the name.
“But isn’t Mirage a former KGB agent? Too old by now. I heard he retired years ago.”
“They say he had a disciple. Works alone, but skilled enough. Still, I’ve never heard of that disciple entering Korea.”
“If the disguise we saw in the CCTV video really was like that, he’s the most likely suspect?”
“For now, yes. If it’s him, we could track him down. And if not, we could at least consult him.”
From a single difficult-to-decipher PC café CCTV clip, they had managed to extract a valuable lead.
“Put him on the wanted list right away.”
Kwak Chi-young rose to his feet after finishing the conversation.
Still hanging upside down, Ahn Deok-chil shook his body and shouted.
“Hey! What am I supposed to do now? At least untie me or something!”
“Ah, I almost forgot. Manager Oh, take Ahn Deok-chil to the camp and start with the basic training.”
Oh Han-seong’s expression turned slightly surprised.
“…To the camp, sir?”
“We can’t just let him out there without even letting him taste it, can we?”
“Understood.”
At his response, one of the men standing by took Oh Han-seong’s signal and cut the rope tied around Ahn Deok-chil’s feet.
Thud—
“Ow! You could’ve put me down more gently.”
“From now on, just do exactly as you’re told. You know well enough what’ll happen if you don’t, right?”
Following Oh Han-seong’s gaze, Ahn Deok-chil looked at Kim Sang-hoon, who hung like a butchered pig, blood dripping.
“I’m not stupid enough to miss that point.”
“You’ll find out what kind of place it is when you get to the camp. And keep your mouth shut during transport.”
One of the men put a hood over Ahn Deok-chil’s head and dragged him outside.
Meanwhile, Oh Han-seong slowly approached Kwak Chi-young, who was walking toward the entrance of the warehouse.
“Are you really planning to train someone who isn’t even from CELLA?”
“Do you know what kind of person is the easiest to control in this world?”
“Isn’t it someone with a clear goal?”
He recalled Kwak Chi-young having said something similar before.
“Exactly. The clearer the goal, the easier it is to control. Ahn Deok-chil is that kind of man. But his goal isn’t material—it’s a craving for killing.”
“The 666th Unit moves strictly for their objectives. If he’s hard to control, problems could arise.”
“That’s why I sent him to the camp. Make sure he’s taught properly. And when the time comes for him to unleash that desire, make sure he’s more brutal than anyone else…”
A smile spread across Kwak Chi-young’s face as he looked forward to what kind of weapon Ahn Deok-chil would become.
* * *
Unusually, Shin-woo was in Daegu instead of at the company.
Accompanied by Lee Doo-heon and his bodyguards, he visited MH Retail’s Daegu branch.
The retail affiliate managed MH Convenience Stores located all across the country.
The Daegu branch was responsible for everything outside the capital region and Gyeonggi Province, covering Chungcheong, Gangwon, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla.
“Is this the place?”
Getting out of the car, Shin-woo asked. Lee Doo-heon stepped closer.
“Yes, sir. But… why are we here?”
Since Shin-woo had only given them a destination with no reason, curiosity was natural.
“I came to scout someone.”
“Here?”
The MH Retail Daegu branch was infamous within the affiliate as a place of exile.
It was a provincial posting, and since staff had to travel constantly to manage stores outside the capital and Gyeonggi region, most people who weren’t perfectly suited for the job ended up quitting.
Because of this, not only MH Retail but even other affiliates sometimes used it as a punishment post, sending people here when they wanted to get rid of them.
“Let’s go inside.”
Since business trips and field work were frequent, the eight-story branch building was quiet.
There wasn’t even a receptionist. So Shin-woo checked the floor guide next to the elevator.
“Fifth floor. Let’s go up.”
He entered the elevator with Lee Doo-heon and two bodyguards.
The rest of the guards quickly ran up the stairs to secure the area and reached first. Their intimidating presence made employees passing by glance curiously.
“Maybe I should’ve just come alone.”
“For your safety, there’s no helping it.”
Lee Doo-heon was rather rigid by nature.
At that moment, a middle-aged man who looked like he had some authority approached Lee Doo-heon. Since Lee appeared to be in his forties, the man assumed he was the senior figure.
“What brings you here?”
“Our CEO is here to meet someone.”
As he answered, Lee Doo-heon stepped slightly aside.
The man frowned in surprise when the one referred to as CEO turned out to be the young-looking Shin-woo.
“…Who are you here to see?”
“I’d like to meet Assistant Manager Lee Sung-moon of MH Retail’s Sales Team 3.”
“Team 3’s Assistant Manager Lee? And you are…?”
“I’m Baek Shin-woo from MH Future Security.”
The middle-aged man was Kim Byung-soo, Deputy General Manager of MH Retail Sales Team 3.
He had spent two years at the headquarters and ten years at the Daegu branch.
Given his position and career, he occasionally heard news from headquarters.
Among those updates, he had also heard about the newly established affiliate, MH Future Security, which had recently become quite a hot topic.
“Just now, you were called CEO… Are you perhaps the CEO of MH Future Security?”
Kim Byung-soo’s voice was cautious.
In response, Shin-woo pulled out a freshly printed business card and handed it over.
【MH Future Security】
【CEO Baek Shin-woo】
Kim Byung-soo’s hands trembled as he received it.
“I’d like to meet Assistant Manager Lee Sung-moon. Is he here?”
“P-please wait a moment—no, actually, let me guide you to the conference room first! I’ll call him there.”
“Thank you.”
Shin-woo entered the conference room with his bodyguards and sat down.
Meanwhile, Kim Byung-soo left Shin-woo there and ran frantically back into the office, scanning around as he shouted.
“Lee Sung-moon! Assistant Manager Lee Sung-moon!”
—
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