KEG 78
“What’s the name of that office?”
I ran through a mental list of businesses in the area.
After the Dungeon Break, the back alleys took a major hit. Only the big organizations survived; the smaller ones either vanished or were absorbed by the bigger ones.
It was a time when it was hard for new organizations to even get started.
“Taesan1… you know it?”
A very familiar name came out of Kwon Hyunseok’s mouth.
“Yeah, I know it.”
The worst of the worst, the kind who’d stab you in the gut at the slightest provocation. A pathetic organization that tried to launder its reputation by teaming up with corporations.
It was an organization that had given me a hard time in the past, stabbing me a few times and trapping me in their dirty schemes.
“They’re still around.”
So it’s about time they went under.
***
A high-rise in a newly built knowledge industry complex in the bustling downtown area.
With tight security and a pristine exterior, at first glance it looked like just another legitimate IT company.
A modern, monochromatic interior, marble floors, and glass-walled offices.
“Big Moutain Investment…?”2
And even a gaudy, eye-catching sign. The back-alley loan shark operation “Taesan” I used to know was gone.
Instead of worn-out leather sofas, the office staff were sitting in high-quality office chairs, tapping away at their keyboards.
“What brings you here?”
The tattooed thug with a buzz cut who used to tell me to get lost if I wasn’t going to borrow money, while eating soggy jajangmyeon, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a group of well-dressed employees politely asked the purpose of my visit.
“I’m here to see Kang Taesan of Taesan.”
Kang Taesan.
That was definitely the name of the organization’s leader. The face of that unlucky bastard who’d stabbed me in the gut immediately came to mind, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“We don’t have anyone by that name here…”
The employee awkwardly trailed off.
The scent of the air freshener wafting through the air and the gentle lo-fi beats playing in the background had been getting on my nerves for a while, so hearing he wasn’t there actually felt like a relief.
“Please tell CEO Kang Taesan that Ha Seongho came looking for him.”
After saying that, I turned around and walked out of the office.
Even my own field, which I thought I knew so well, had changed over time.
Nothing in this world stays the same. Even I wasn’t staying put. I was changing too.
“Maybe I’ll lie in wait in front of the building until Lee Sangwoo comes out.”
Kwon Hyunseok said he comes every day, so if I wait, he’ll show up.
Finding someone was a test of patience. If you hung around within their daily range long enough, they’d appear eventually.
“Is this outfit too conspicuous?”
I mumbled as I looked down at my school uniform.
I’d come dressed as a student in case any members of the Taesan organization recognized me from my days as a loan shark, but now that the company itself had completely changed, I realized I’d worried for nothing.
Just as I was resolving to cover my face and take off this ill-fitting uniform…
“Hey, isn’t that a kid from our school?”
A young man who had just stepped out of a sports car spoke to me.
Is that Lee Sangwoo?
He wasn’t wearing a name tag or a uniform, so it was hard to tell who he was.
“Did you come to borrow money?”
He was the one who brought it up first.
There must be a lot of students like me who came all the way to the office.
“No, I came to see Lee Sangwoo.”
“What? Are you a slave?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of slave?”
What should I say? How can I meet Lee Sangwoo?
It suddenly occurred to me that Lee Sangwoo was a D-class Esper.
“A guiding slave.”
I figured if I played up the fact that I’m an E-class Guide, I could meet him easily. I can’t actually do guiding, but as long as I get to see him, anything goes.
“Oh… Are you any good at it?”
The man asked while swaying back and forth.
It didn’t sound like he was just asking if I was good at guiding. I didn’t really feel the need to answer.
He’s not Lee Sangwoo, so why would I try to impress him?
“Judging by your demeanor, you don’t seem like you’d be any good at it.”
His smirk was annoying. I wanted to gouge out those eyes that were fixed on my lips.
What was so special about my demeanor? I probably just looked like some middle school 3rd year brat.
“Follow me.”
I bit my lip as I trailed after the man. The sting of the wound on my lip, the one Baek Yejun had torn open, flared up.
A memory surfaced just before the undercover operation, and I grimaced without meaning to. It was useless.
“Did you eat anything?”
The man asked if I’d eaten as we descended into the basement of a shopping complex in a busy district. I had a strong feeling he didn’t mean to invite me to eat with him.
“I didn’t.”
“Good. There are kids who get hit and throw up.”
The man made a disgusted face, saying he’d have to clean it all up if they threw up.
He just got out of a sports car, yet he was worried about cleaning up vomit. He was a smooth-talking lackey who knew how to play the system.
People who know how to suck up live much more comfortably than those who actually work hard.
“Is Lee Sangwoo a good fighter?”
Getting hit and throwing up – doesn’t that mean he targets areas that take a direct hit to the abdomen, solar plexus, or brain?
I asked because he seemed like he could hold his own in a fight, but the guy looked completely baffled by my question.
“No, I mean mind control. When you get hit with it, you feel like you’re gonna puke, right?”
Only then did I remember Lee Sangwoo’s ability.
Mind control and hypnosis.
Maybe I should knock him out before he tried any tricks.
“Are you really one of the bastards guiding Lee Sangwoo? You don’t know a thing.”
Just before we entered the basement, the man started to doubt me.
Criticizing me right in front of my face.
Lee Sangwoo must be behind that door, so why was he making such a fuss?
“I am a Guide.”
“Then prove it.”
What exactly is he asking me to prove? Minors aren’t even eligible for a Guide license.
Is this just a simple power struggle, o—
“Are you an Esper?”
Is this an Awakener I have to deal with?
I quickly sized up the man. He was just big, his body and hands were all flab, suggesting he hadn’t fought much.
“No, just show me what you’re good at.”
He had been ogling me like a creep since a while ago. Turned out he was just a pervert.
“Is Lee Sangwoo in there?”
“Yeah, he’s probably drinking inside.”
I had pinpointed Lee Sangwoo’s location.
In that case, I just needed to take care of this guy.
“Let’s go somewhere where we can be alone.”
When I said that to the guy, he agreed with a strangely red face.
I dragged him to a secluded spot in a back alley and beat the crap out of him. I kept at it until he grabbed my pant leg, begging for mercy and saying his teeth were loose.
“Do you want to get dental implants at your age?”
“Huh? N-n-nooo…?!”
“Do you want to chew your meat properly with your teeth?”
“Y-y-yes…”
When I glared at him, he meekly lowered his eyes.
With the proper tone of conversation established, I got down to business.
“Do you have any photos of you with Lee Sangwoo, or pictures you used to bully the kids?”
It was the perfect opportunity to extract a reward.
Thinking that all the information on this bastard’s phone would turn into cash, he looked like a walking piggy bank to me. And as expected, I obtained over ten photos and pieces of evidence.
It was worth a total of twenty-three million won.
“Good.”
I patted the back of his head a couple of times. His expression was blank, maybe he’d lost his mind from getting beaten so hard.
Though, to be honest, he hadn’t seemed quite right in the head from the start.
“Be a good boy from now on.”
I tapped his cheeks a couple of times and stood up. Whether his legs gave out or something else happened, he didn’t follow me.
I hope he never ends up living a life where he crosses paths with a scumbag like me again.
“Who… are you?”
As I stepped into the basement, I found myself in a bleak office reeking of cigarette smoke and bleach.
Several monitors displayed both the PC and mobile versions of a gambling site simultaneously. Scattered among the desks were expensive watches, keys to imported cars, and wads of cash.
“You little bastard… who the hell are you…?”
“Ha Seongho.”
I shoved aside the staggering thug who was trying to talk to me and walked inside.
It was an unvarnished gangster’s office, the kind I hadn’t felt at Taesan, where the name had changed. Seeing that scene, I felt as if I’d returned home.
“Are you Lee Sangwoo?”
I spotted the only man who seemed to be in his right mind amidst the drunken, disoriented crowd clutching cigarettes and drinking.
He matched the photo the lucky pig had shown me.
He sat in the center of the group, holding a game console connected to a TV. He looked the most like a high school student in that basement.
“You are from our school. Never seen you before.”
“Yeah, I just transferred here.”
“Did you go to school today?”
“Yeah.”
I cleared the stuff next to Lee Sangwoo and took the seat beside him. Since they were all out of it from booze or whatever, it was easy to clear the space.
“Can I borrow some money?”
Before we started talking, I turned on the recorder.
“I heard you’ve been bullying the kids. Is that true?”
I asked him without beating around the bush. Lee Sangwoo answered with a slightly dazed expression.
“Fuck, are you some kind of teacher….”
The brief curse sounded awkward. It was obvious he didn’t usually swear much.
Was he just trying to act tough?
“Didn’t you know that already?”
Lee Sangwoo retorted.
His tone was even and monotonous, but he might be seething inside. I felt like I had to lower his guard for this conversation to work.
“I’m a Guide. Don’t you need a guiding slave?”
“…A Guide….”
There aren’t many Espers. There are even fewer Guides.
Even though I’m only an E-class, to someone, I must be an indispensable presence.
“…It’d be nice to have one.”
Lee Sangwoo muttered as he pulled out his phone and sent a message somewhere. Then he grabbed his game console again and said,
“How much do you charge?”
Those words sounded like an acknowledgment of my value. Now that he knew I was a Guide, it would be hard for him to see me as just another ordinary underling.
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