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Chapter 24
“Your face looks fresh—guess life’s been kind to you. Must be what, ten years since we last met in person?”
“Dok Go-seong.”
The half-finished casino stood surrounded by scaffolding and noise.
Inside the makeshift office, Dok Go-seong sat with the senior executives of his underworld faction, the Geomgye.
“So that’s why the famous Park Bok-ja suddenly abandoned her precious business empire. Turns out you were busy planning a grand retirement.”
“Dok Go-seong, you bastard! How dare you lay hands on Mistress…!”
“Shut your mouth, Dolsoe. Can’t you see the elders are talking?”
Dolsoe lay face down on the floor, both arms broken. Dok Go-seong ground his heel into Dolsoe’s head. Park Bok-ja forced herself to swallow her rage.
“What business brings you here?” she asked coldly.
“Nothing serious. I just got jealous and thought I’d drop by. What’s wrong? You’re trying to wash yourself clean and start fresh, and an old friend shows up—makes you uneasy?”
Though his tone was that of an old acquaintance, the menace seeping through his words was unmistakable.
“Nice office, though,” he added, glancing around.
Behind him, his men looked ready to draw their blades at the slightest word.
“And what’s this?”
Dok Go-seong picked up a framed photo resting on a chair.
A group of ragged children, all smiling. Among them, laughing with them, was Park Bok-ja.
“Ah, that’s right. Your little hobby. Tossing coins to street brats, playing house like some charity auntie.”
“……!”
“A woman who butchered dozens of my men for a patch of dirt and a handful of coins… Yet look at this picture and anyone would think you’re some saintly benefactor. Isn’t that right? Hm?”
“Shut your mouth and answer me. Why are you here?”
Crash—!
Dok Go-seong hurled the frame to the floor, glass shattering.
“Hey, Mistress.”
He leaned in close, lowering his voice.
“You toss a few pennies to some orphans, let them call you ‘auntie’ or ‘godmother,’ and suddenly you think you’ve become a good person?”
“……!”
“You and I—we’ve both lived the same way. Eating filth, killing, stealing, taking whatever we could.”
He pressed his face close to hers. Her hollow, lifeless features mirrored his own.
“We’ve lived by killing. We’ve lived by stealing. That’s who we are.”
“……”
“And now what? You think you can erase all that, pretend nothing happened, become a kind person? You really think that’s possible? Hm?”
His words stabbed at a hidden corner of her heart.
Park Bok-ja bit her lip and forced out a reply.
“What do you want?”
“Let’s just keep doing what we’ve always done.”
Dok Go-seong slouched into an empty sofa.
“Tell the backer propping you up that we’ll be partners. Bring my people in, and we’ll share the business.”
“Partners?”
“If our side runs operations in a corner of this casino, both of us stand to gain.”
At those words, Park Bok-ja’s face drained of color.
She knew exactly what kind of ‘business’ Dok Go-seong meant.
“You insane bastard… You’re talking about running human trafficking out of here?”
Human trafficking.
The main source of income for Dok Go-seong’s Geomgye, and the very reason her own Pyeong-un Tavern had been pushed to the margins.
‘No drugs. No flesh.’
That creed had once made Pyeong-un Tavern the ruler of Hanseong’s underworld. But because she upheld it, the Geomgye had driven her into irrelevance.
“You think I’d ever allow such filth?! I’d rather—”
“Rather what? Pull your blade and dance with me here and now?”
At his signal, the Geomgye officers shifted, hands falling to their weapons.
Park Bok-ja clenched her teeth. She knew all too well—her gang of rogues couldn’t stand against Dok Go-seong’s force, not in this district.
“Otherwise… well.”
Dok Go-seong smiled thinly, as if reading her mind.
“We could always send a few men to that orphanage you sponsor. Maybe let the kids practice a bit of target shooting. Hm?”
“You son of a bitch…!”
The insult burst out of her, but she cut herself short, jaw tightening, head bowed.
‘She’s calculating already.’
Dok Go-seong thought to himself with a sneer.
“From your perspective, this isn’t so bad. I’m only asking to tag along in a legitimate business. It’s not like I’m being greedy—”
But then—
“…Hah.”
In one smooth motion, Park Bok-ja drew a pistol and leveled it at his head.
“You crazy bitch, you really—”
Bang!
A single gunshot rang through the office.
Half of Dok Go-seong’s cheek was torn away—but instead of flesh and blood, what showed beneath was not human at all.
Artificial skin. Mechanical devices glinting underneath.
A cybernetic body.
“Boss!”
“What the hell…!”
“Grab that bitch! Rip her to pieces, now—!”
“Stop!”
As his men lunged forward, Park Bok-ja screamed at the top of her lungs.
Her face twisted, teeth clenched, her cries sounded half-mad—half desperate, as though raging and lamenting all at once.
“That’s right! You were right—I’m a woman who deserves to die! I’ve lived buried in the gutters, rotting away, doing filthy things with filthy bastards all my life!”
“……”
“But so what?! Now—for once in my life—I have a chance!”
Kim Chang-woon had promised her countless forms of support in exchange for running his casino.
What caught her heart most was his financial plan.
He intended to devote more than half the casino’s profits to establishing an educational foundation—one that would raise the children struggling in the city’s lowest slums.
If it went well, tens of thousands… perhaps even hundreds of thousands of children might be saved.
The enormous welfare project she had once only dreamed of in the underworld—now a noble-born noble family¹ himself was offering to make it real.
“Make money through legitimate work. Use it to buy the kids proper clothes, give them good food, build them schools! It can be done!”
A good person.
A kind grandmother.
An aunt. A godmother.
That was what she wanted to be called as she finished her life.
To her, that title was more precious than being called “Queen of the Back Alleys” or “Great Mistress.”
Even someone like her—
Even a wretched old witch hardened by the underworld—
“Can’t someone like me, in my final moments, before I die—become something a little nobler?!”
“…Listen to this crazy bitch.”
Thud—!
With a brutal kick, Dok Go-seong sent Park Bok-ja sprawling to the floor.
He touched the half of his face that had been blasted away, then sneered down at her shrill gasps.
“They say people spew nonsense when death is near. You look exactly the part.”
Dok Go-seong picked up her fallen pistol and leveled it at her head.
“You said all you had to say?”
He was ready to pull the trigger when—
“Well, what’s with all these trespassers in a half-finished building?”
A light, almost amused voice spoke.
From one corner of the office, a boy in flamboyant clothes stepped forward.
The patron funding the construction of this casino. The one backing Park Bok-ja.
“Young Master! I told you not to come out! It’s dangerous here, I—”
“No need to worry. I’m probably the safest person in this room.”
Kim Chang-woon drew out the identity badge from his robes.
“No one’s reckless enough to touch a noble family just for a single building. Isn’t that right?”
“……!”
Holding the noble’s identity badge before him, Kim Chang-woon placed himself between Park Bok-ja and danger.
“Put the guns down. Now.”
At Dok Go-seong’s bark, his men—who had been reaching for their weapons—instantly dropped them.
The other man was a noble family. Even raising a gun at him could summon the royal guards.
But that moment passed quickly.
“Greetings.”
Adjusting his expression, Dok Go-seong bowed respectfully.
“I am Dok Go-seong, who has shared decades of history with Madam Park Bok-ja.”
“Your name doesn’t interest me. What I want to know is why you’ve suddenly barged into my business site.”
“Yes. Before that, however…”
He gestured, and one of his men handed him a replacement faceplate. With practiced ease, he fitted it into the exposed machinery of his torn cheek.
“Straight to the point, then. I came to propose that you entrust the business not to Pyeong-un Tavern, but to my organization instead.”
“Business? And what exactly do you think I plan to do here?”
“Oh, I know. You intend to build a place where the highest VIPs can be entertained. Our organization can be of great service to you, Young Master.”
Dok Go-seong continued speaking.
“The manpower I can mobilize, the operational know-how for running establishments, and the ‘products’ to satisfy the esteemed VIPs… We can provide all of it.”
Products.
At that single word, the smile that Kim Chang-woon had been wearing froze ever so slightly.
“What do you say? You’d earn far more with me than with that old hag.”
“Yeah. If I worked with you, I’d probably make a lot of money.”
For a moment, Kim Chang-woon seemed to agree—
“But I don’t want to.”
His refusal was sharp. Absolute.
Dok Go-seong’s eyes narrowed at the unexpected answer.
“May I… ask the reason?”
“Because I don’t like you. Do I really need to say more than that?”
That was nobles for you. Always like this. No logic in their answers.
Dok Go-seong quickly ran through his options in his head.
‘Tch. If that’s how he wants it, I might as well take the gamble.’
A little risky—but worth probing.
He spoke again, his voice drenched in false humility.
“Young Master Kim Chang-woon…”
The moment Dok Go-seong uttered his name, Kim Chang-woon frowned.
“You know my name? I never told you.”
“I happen to have quite a wide network. Heard a few things here and there. For example…”
He recalled the whispers from a long-time ‘customer.’
His grin widened.
“They say you were born into a noble family—but unfortunately, you lack power of aura.”
“……”
“Isn’t that why a distinguished man like you lowers himself to mingle with common trash?”
He glanced toward Park Bok-ja, struggling to rise, before continuing.
But Kim Chang-woon showed no displeasure. He simply stared, intrigued.
Encouraged, Dok Go-seong pressed further.
“I can’t disclose details for security reasons, but a very high-ranking person has taken interest in this matter. If you wish, I could even arrange a personal introduction.”
“You? Introduce me to a member of the noble family?”
“As I said, I do have some wide-reaching connections.”
For a moment, Kim Chang-woon regarded him with an unreadable expression.
The implication was clear: If you don’t accept me, I’ll bring in someone above you.
Surely, an illegitimate outcast like him couldn’t dismiss that so easily.
Dok Go-seong was already savoring his victory when—
“…Pfft.”
A laugh escaped Kim Chang-woon.
Then it grew louder.
“Puhahaha! Someone you serve?! That’s what you call it?! Hahhahaha! God, Dokgo Seong—you pathetic bastard—you haven’t changed a bit, have you?!”
“…Excuse me?”
“I was trying to hold it in, really I was, but—hahaha!”
Kim Chang-woon laughed wildly, as though he’d gone mad.
Park Bok-ja blinked, bewildered—was this boy insane?
Then his words cut through like a blade.
“A maggot that’s spent its whole life wriggling in the gutter dares to talk about serving someone? Who the hell do you think you are?”
“…!”
The insult rolled off his tongue as casually as breathing.
Dok Go-seong forced a strained smile, though his brow twitched.
“My… my background may be humble, but I do have ability.”
“Ability? What ability? Wiping that pervert Cho Seong-hwan’s ass? Is that what you call ability?”
“…What?”
Wait. Did this bastard just—
Cho Seong-hwan?
“H-how… how do you know that name…?”
“How else?”
It was just like before. Exactly the same as in his past life.
As Kim Chang-woon murmured those cryptic words—
Kuwaaaaaang—!
The ceiling exploded as someone crashed down from above.
Seo Taewoong, his entire body reinforced with first-grade cybernetics, landed with thunder.
In his hands dangled two of Dok Go-seong’s officers—crumpled, twisted heaps of scrap.
“Forgive my delay, Young Master. Are you unharmed?”
“I’m fine. But why the hell did you come from the ceiling instead of the basement?”
“The elevator was too slow. I scaled the steel beams under construction.”
“You’re out of your goddamn mind.”
Even hearing it was dizzying.
And at that same moment—
“B-boss!”
A panicked voice came through comms from the men waiting on the first floor.
“What is it?”
“S-some brat blocked the exit and is tearing through all our men!”
“One brat? Then stop him!”
“We’re trying! W-we are, but—wait!? Aaaagh—!”
Thud!
The comm cut out with a bone-shaking crash.
Moments later, another voice from the second floor screamed in.
“He’s an ability user!”
“An ability user! He’s slaughtering all of our men—!”
The transmission died again.
Dok Go-seong’s face turned pale. Slowly, his gaze shifted back toward Kim Chang-woon.
Behind him, Seo Taewoong handed him a bow.
Calmly stringing it, Kim Chang-woon smiled.
“I’m trying to do something good here. But pests like you keep crawling in. That’s troublesome, isn’t it?”
So this would serve as both a warning and an example.
And to snare the weakness of that bastard Cho Seong-hwan lurking behind it all.
“You and your organization—I’ll erase them myself.”
---The End Of The Chapter---
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