Chapter 98 – Senior (Yoo Dong) – What The Hell Is This Guy?
* Senior (Yoo Dong) – What the hell is this guy? (3)
Junseo, oblivious to the fact that his senior was being squished between the fleshy bodies of large men, arriving in the car in an “ong-go-o-o-ot” state, was simply sitting in the center of the black vehicle with his legs crossed, his face as fearless as ever. The driver was, of course, the bald Jang Moon-sang. He had brought only the minimum number of his underlings, and Moon-young was also riding along.
“It’s troubling that the young master seems to be falling into a bad path… I wonder if the elders’ stomachs are melting away…”
“It’s none of your concern.”
“But you’re taking the young master to a place that man created, right? I can understand Miss Moon-young’s worries. Shouldn’t we be worried?”
“It’s the young master who decides that, not you guys. Don’t let Moon-young get away with things. She’ll make fun of my head again.”
“You’re still holding that grudge…”
“He’s big but so petty…”
The atmosphere inside the car was surprisingly like that of a normal, happy family. Even Moon-sang’s underlings, who weren’t blood-related, were joining in the family conversation. Perhaps because of this atmosphere, Junseo was able to relax and almost forget the sound of the splashing water he had heard earlier. He wasn’t completely letting his guard down, but once he realized that these people weren’t going to harm him, he didn’t feel the need to be overly cautious.
“What kind of place are we going to?”
“Didn’t you hear from Moon-sang, hyung-nim?”
“He asked if I liked strong women, and when I nodded, he said he’d take me to a place my father made. I heard it’s a hostess bar, but I still don’t really know what it is.”
“This hyung-nim just cut out all the details and called the young master, huh?”
The bald man, gripping the steering wheel, scratched his head with his index finger as if searching for non-existent hair. Even his underlings turned their heads, as if they couldn’t put it into words, so Junseo made another guess about what kind of place it was.
“Are there corpses lying around? Why is everyone so quiet?”
“It’s not that bad.”
Someone carelessly blurted out a response, and Junseo quickly caught on.
“If it’s not that bad, does blood splatter?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, wow.”
As expected, the bald man immediately gave the correct answer. Moon-young fidgeted anxiously in the car, but no one scolded her for it.
“You’ll get to experience indirectly just how bad our big hyung-nim’s personality is.”
“I know it well.”
“Is that really so? What you see on a USB and what you feel in person are worlds apart.”
Come to think of it, this bald guy helped film that video…
Wait, is it USB-level?
Crazy.
Junseo belatedly remembered that fact. He hadn’t watched all the contents of the USB, but if he had to pick the most shocking scene, it would be the tooth pulling and insect biting. As someone who considered himself to have a normal sexual preference, Junseo couldn’t understand it at all. The screams of Ha-eun noona were still ringing in his ears, and he had heard that there were several videos even worse than that, so he suddenly felt the blood draining from his face.
“I’m not really into gore… I’m going because I’m not satisfied with my family, but I’m not really into cutting off limbs and stuff…”
“Are you still bothered by what happened in the slaughterhouse? Don’t worry. It’s not as bad as you think, young master. Besides, this isn’t a village, it’s outside. We’re playing at a level that we can handle, so you don’t have to worry.”
“I wonder how many people in this world would be reassured by those words.”
“Who knows?”
The bald man chuckled, which didn’t suit his character, looked around, and then stepped on the gas again. The salty scent of the sea wafted through the wide-open window and into Junseo’s nose. He waited for them to arrive at their destination, dressed in the same host-like attire of a suit over a red shirt, and then vaguely noticed their destination in the distance.
To the right, there was a long road that ran along the coast. A normal road connecting cities. So, all that could be seen from there was the road or the mountains, and there was no way to escape. Usually, there was no reason to stop there, so they went a little further, turned off the road, and went down to a village that was clustered along the coast.
‘This is my first time here.’
It was a seaside village, literally. There were several small boats, probably for fishing, and the nearby buildings were just old stone walls. The fact that they had to knock on the iron gate with a ring instead of using a doorbell showed just how old the place was. There were no huge buildings like in the city, and even the place that looked like a hotel was barely two stories high, and even that was so run-down that it wasn’t a place you’d want to take a woman. A love hotel in the shape of a castle with a tripod that looked like it was about to collapse was swaying in the wind. It was impossible to guess when it was built.
“We’re almost there.”
It was getting dark, so the whole village was dim. The buildings were already damp and there was only one road into the village, so it wasn’t like they could get lost, but it was already hard to see ahead. As they drove down the only road into the village, they could see a few fishing supply stores and seafood restaurants open. On the other hand, all the other buildings were dark, making it look like a ghost town.
What the hell is in a place like this?
It’s creepy.
Junseo could see a few old people walking between the dark buildings, but he couldn’t shake off the unpleasant feeling. If his own village felt anachronistic, this place felt like it had lost all its energy because it hadn’t been developed and young people had left. From the nets drying peppers on the side of the road to the listless old cat, it wasn’t a place that a young man would like. What business could they possibly have in such a place? Moon-sang parked the car in front of a seafood restaurant and got out first. Then, he opened the back door where Junseo was sitting and poked his head in.
“Is this the place?”
“Yes. We’ll walk from here.”
He parked the car in front of someone else’s restaurant without any worries and led Junseo. Then, he went into an alley between the dark buildings and headed towards the love hotel they had seen earlier. That side wasn’t completely dark, as a pink and blue sign was flashing, trying to lure customers.
‘A hostess bar?’
That’s when he realized something was off. He found a hostess bar sign right next to the love hotel, and as he moved around the perimeter of the hotel, he soon found a new sign and a small staircase leading down to the basement. The staircase was so narrow that two people couldn’t go down at the same time. Junseo could deal with that, but…
In front of it…
“Hey, hey, you bastard.”
“You clueless idiot!”
“Cough?!”
Men who didn’t look like the kind of men the bald man would hang out with, not wearing suits, were hitting their colleague on the head and staring at Junseo’s group. The one who had been smoking spat out his cigarette on the ground as soon as he was hit and lowered his head.
“Cough, cough! Heh, I’m sorry!”
“Welcome! Moon-sang hyung-nim!”
“We’ve been waiting for you!”
They were clearly not the kind of guys that Jang Moon-sang would hang out with. They were dressed sloppily and weren’t in good shape. And perhaps because he didn’t like their reaction, the bald man, who had been smiling all day, showed a crack in his face for the first time.
“Tsk…”
‘They’re completely different from the guys in the village.’
Junseo realized then. That the men standing next to him were the result of the bald man’s organization filtering and filtering people before bringing them into the village. When he thought about it, it was obvious. They were gangsters, but they were all polite and respectful to him, whom they were meeting for the first time. It was clear how much effort Jang Moon-sang had put into filtering people.
“Where are the guys who came earlier?”
“They’re waiting downstairs!”
“Okay.”
Jang Moon-sang went ahead, saying that he would go first because the stairs were dangerous. Then, Moon-young, the underlings who had come with them, and Junseo followed in that order. The idiots were acting like they were the gatekeepers of this place, staring at people’s faces, but they were clueless.
“The guy at the back is new. Look at that nice suit.”
“Seeing as he was brought here, I guess he’s our junior?”
“Huh?”
“Really?”
“Didn’t you see the guy who came first? He was trembling, not even knowing why he was here.”
“It did feel like a welcoming ceremony for a newbie.”
“Awesome, we got a pushover~! Maybe we’ll have less work now~?”
“It was a pain in the ass to go all the way down to buy cigarettes, so this is perfect. We can use him to fill the gap.”
They should have at least waited until Junseo’s group had gone down, but they didn’t realize that their voices would echo on the stairs because the building was so run-down. The sound of their laughter was so cheerful that Jang Moon-sang, who had stopped walking first, turned his head back with a look of complete incomprehension, as if he didn’t understand what he had just heard.
“………?”
First, Jang Moon-sang’s face showed a question mark and he turned his head, then Moon-young, who was following behind him, showed a question mark and turned her head, then the bald man’s underlings, who were following behind her, showed question marks in turn and turned their heads, like a scene from a horror movie. Junseo, who was walking behind them, almost had a heart attack at the bizarre sight, but he was relieved that their anger wasn’t directed at him, and he pressed his back against the wall of the stairs.
“Moon-sang hyung-nim, let’s go down first.”
“I’ll just go buy some cigarettes.”
“Okay.”
“Young master… I…”
“Do as you please.”
The two men who had been walking right in front of him turned around, laughing casually. Junseo squeezed himself into the gap he had made by pressing his back against the wall and went back up the stairs, and Moon-young followed him. The three of them laughed their heads off, saying “Did those crazy bastards lose their minds?” in a tone they wouldn’t dare use in front of Junseo, and the bald man awkwardly turned his head.
“Let’s go down.”
“Is it okay to leave the place like that?”
“Moon-young is an adult. Whether she smokes, drinks, what does it have to do with me? There’s no place to buy cigarettes nearby, so it’ll be a bit late. Let’s enjoy ourselves first.”
‘He knows full well that’s not what I meant…’
Junseo decided that there was no need to press the issue and started walking again. As he slowly went down the stairs, he was hit by a faint scent of perfume and felt his body getting warmer. He could hear the sound of clapping and men laughing loudly, wondering what was going on inside.
“Whoooooooo!!!!”
‘Isn’t that Yoo Dong hyung’s voice?’
With a feeling that he was about to see something interesting.
Junseo and the bald man were soon to witness a ridiculous scene.
