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Chapter 32
“Ugh?!”
Gu Jeong-hyeok snapped awake with a gasp and scrambled to his feet.
He was no longer lying aboard the container ship. Instead, he found himself inside the offices of Pungyang Trading near the harbor.
When he looked out the window, he saw the reinforcements that had arrived late gathering the corpses of the guards.
The deck was a complete battlefield mess.
Staring blankly at the scene, Gu Jeong-hyeok finally let out a faint voice after a long silence.
“I… survived?”
He had survived.
But at the same time, Gu Jeong-hyeok couldn’t understand how he was still alive.
How was he breathing?
He distinctly remembered being grabbed by that enormous Japanese pirate and losing consciousness in its grip.
Did it really just knock him out and let him go? But why would that monster do such a thing?
No—before that… what exactly happened while he was unconscious?
Just as Gu Jeong-hyeok was trying to piece together his scattered thoughts, a voice interrupted him.
“You’re awake?”
A calm voice cut off his frantic muttering.
He turned his head to see Kim Chang-woon, a guest dispatched from the main family.
Unlike his own body, which was covered in cuts and bruises, Kim Chang-woon stood there without so much as a scratch.
“What happened?”
The question carried many more hidden beneath it.
What had happened?
Why was he alive?
To that single compressed inquiry, Kim Chang-woon replied in a low tone.
“I had a word with that big brute who was commanding the pirates. Told him he picked the wrong ship to raid.”
As he spoke, Kim Chang-woon lifted the jade-colored identification tag in his hand.
It was the insignia of the Andong Kim Clan.
Once that was revealed, even pirates wouldn’t dare to touch him recklessly.
Whether he was an illegitimate son or a future heir—it didn’t matter.
Anyone who laid a hand on the bloodline of a noble family wouldn’t live to tell the tale.
Understanding the gist of the situation, Gu Jeong-hyeok let out a sigh of relief—only for another realization to jolt him upright.
“...The cargo! What happened to the cargo?!”
At his desperate cry, Kim Chang-woon silently jerked his chin toward the window.
There, a crane was unloading crates belonging to the Pungyang Cho Clan.
When Gu Jeong-hyeok saw the serial numbers flashing on the visual interface, he finally exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
Even though he had stepped right on the threshold of death, the mission handed down by the main family was a success.
But for him, another problem still remained.
“Hey, suit boy.”
Kim Chang-woon addressed him with complete disregard, tossing away even the smallest shred of respect.
Gu Jeong-hyeok’s face hardened, but Kim Chang-woon continued coldly.
“You were the one who finalized the meeting location for this job, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And yet, those pirate bastards just happened to charge straight at our position in the middle of the night. On top of that, the security team you bragged about—swore up and down we had nothing to worry about—got butchered in less than ten minutes. Am I wrong?”
“N-no, that’s… correct.”
“You worthless bastard.”
His cold voice grew hotter with every word until he was outright shouting by the end.
“You said you took special care with security! I trusted your words and came out into the middle of the ocean without an escort, and then what? You let those pirate dogs get our coordinates? Are all the men working under the Pungyang Cho Clan brain-dead trash like you?”
“The security procedures were followed properly, and I supervised them myself! There’s no way the leak came from our side…!”
“Reality says otherwise, you dumb bastard! I nearly died because information was leaked! And now you sit here babbling about ‘possibilities’ and ‘no way it was us’—you expect me to just nod along? Huh?!”
Kim Chang-woon tore into him relentlessly, leaving Gu Jeong-hyeok unable to offer a proper reply.
It was only natural.
Even if he was a cast-off illegitimate son of the clan, Kim Chang-woon was still a direct member of a noble family and had come here under the orders of Cho Seong-hwan.
Not only had Gu Jeong-hyeok failed to protect such a crucial figure from a pirate’s ambush, he had also abandoned him to hide in a panic room. His failure was undeniable.
Which meant he had no room to make excuses.
‘Got him.’
In truth, the furious ranting was all an act.
Watching Gu Jeong-hyeok bow his head, Kim Chang-woon smirked inwardly.
Now all that’s left is to milk this chaos for everything it’s worth.
Finishing that thought, he turned toward the still-stunned Gu Jeong-hyeok.
“The pirates struck just as the cargo was being loaded. Only a few dozen people knew the rendezvous point—you, me, and some others. Which means someone in that circle fed the information outside.”
“...!”
The one who had actually sold out the information and orchestrated the raid was none other than Kim Chang-woon himself. But Gu Jeong-hyeok, still dazed, accepted his words without a hint of suspicion.
That’s the limit of a desk man who’s never seen the field. After brushing death, his brilliant brain has no chance of working properly.
If Gu Jeong-hyeok had been given time to cool down, the first person he would’ve suspected was Kim Chang-woon.
After all, surviving that inferno without a single scratch was far too convenient.
But unfortunately, Gu Jeong-hyeok had no time to think that far.
His mind was spinning from his brush with death, his body was on the verge of collapse, and in front of him, a noble bastard was hammering him mercilessly.
Even for a seasoned executive of the main house, there was a limit to how much one’s mental strength could endure.
Right now, Gu Jeong-hyeok’s only concern was to calm Kim Chang-woon’s wrath and deliver the cargo safely to Cho Seong-hwan.
In other words—
‘Exactly as I planned.’
“A trade company directly overseen by the main family colluding with pirates… the more I think about it, the more laughable it gets.”
Kim Chang-woon muttered with feigned disgust, his brows furrowing as he looked at Gu Jeong-hyeok.
“If word of this raid reaches Young Master Cho Seong-hwan’s ears, what do you think will happen to you, the one in charge here?”
“...!”
At that near-threat, Gu Jeong-hyeok’s face turned ashen.
If Kim Chang-woon reported this incident, the responsibility would fall squarely on him, the man in charge of the site, and his head could very well roll.
“I…”
As soon as Kim Chang-woon finished speaking and turned his gaze away, Gu Jeong-hyeok, battered and broken, sank to his knees and opened his mouth.
“What… what do you want me to do?”
Gone was the flowery speech he’d once used when they first met. His words were stripped bare, direct, desperate.
Looking into Gu Jeong-hyeok’s trembling eyes, Kim Chang-woon suppressed the laughter that threatened to spill out.
“You handle it yourself.”
At those words, a flicker of confusion crossed Gu Jeong-hyeok’s lowered face.
“Handle it… how, exactly?”
“As long as the cargo is transported on time, the main family won’t bother too much about the process. So keep your mouth shut, deliver the goods, and bury this raid so that no one ever knows it happened.”
Gu Jeong-hyeok’s eyes went blank at the command.
Bury the incident.
In other words, track down and eliminate everyone who knew about this shipment plan.
The employees who had accessed the transport logs. The dockworkers who had handled the cargo.
Even the informants he himself had raised, who had been tasked with monitoring Kim Chang-woon. All of them.
“Why? Is it impossible?”
“No… it can be done.”
For a brief moment, Gu Jeong-hyeok hesitated, but his decision came swiftly.
He was destined to return to the main family and rise as an executive of the Pungyang Cho Clan.
He could not afford to be purged here.
Whether employees, subordinates, or informants—it didn’t matter. They could always be replaced.
“Pungyang Trading is a company I personally managed, and the informants working in the shadows were all personally trained by me. If I issue a summons, they’ll gather without the slightest suspicion…”
“And once they’re all dead, there’ll be no one left who knows about this raid?”
“Yes.”
‘Excellent.’
Hearing that answer, Kim Chang-woon stifled the grin tugging at the corner of his lips and gave a small nod.
“Then do it without mistakes. If you clean this up neatly with no loose ends, I’ll overlook the fact that you abandoned me and ran off.”
“…What?”
The generosity of the condition shocked him.
“R-really?”
“You see, with that bastard Dok Go-seong dead, the shipment’s already been delayed by about a month. No research results have been produced, and the researchers are clamoring for their materials to be delivered quickly… Young Master Cho Seong-hwan is in quite a foul mood.”
Kim Chang-woon shrugged once, then continued.
“So if I report that a ship carrying the cargo was raided, causing another setback… it doesn’t exactly work in my favor either.”
Gu Jeong-hyeok nodded repeatedly, as if convinced by the explanation.
Perhaps the excuse sounded persuasive enough. Or perhaps…
No, in truth, Gu Jeong-hyeok hardly cared what Kim Chang-woon said anymore.
What mattered to him now was that he had found a way out of the looming purge.
That was all.
“I understand. I’ll make the preparations as quickly as possible, and without error.”
“See that you do. Just because I said I won’t bring up you abandoning me doesn’t mean I’ll ever forget it.”
“I’ll remember that.”
When their discussion finally ended, Gu Jeong-hyeok slumped as if the weight of the world had fallen on his shoulders.
Perhaps it was the sheer number of ordeals he’d faced in just a single night, but compared to when they first met, he looked a decade older.
Seeing that miserable figure only made it harder for Kim Chang-woon to hold back his laughter.
“Young Master Kim Chang-woon.”
At that timely moment, a voice called from outside the door.
When Kim Chang-woon gave permission to enter, two men in crimson robes stepped in and bowed respectfully.
“We’ve come to escort you, since we were told the matter has been settled.”
“A carriage has been prepared. This way, please.”
Their flawlessly augmented first-grade artificial bodies, the white embroidery stitched into their lapels—
They were escort warriors dispatched from the Pungyang Cho Clan.
“So they mean to keep watch over me all the way back to Hanseong.”
With a weary shake of his head, Kim Chang-woon rose slowly to his feet.
“The matter’s been tied off well enough. Time we each return to our places. I’ll head back to Hanseong, and you return to the Pungyang Cho Clan’s main house.”
Draped in his blue robe, Kim Chang-woon moved toward the exit under the escort of the warriors.
Just before leaving the office, he turned back toward where Gu Jeong-hyeok stood and added,
“Let’s go our separate ways… and make sure we never see each other again.”
“…Yes. As you say.”
At those loaded words, Gu Jeong-hyeok bowed his head and replied.
Paying barely any attention to Gu Jeong-hyeok’s bow, Kim Chang-woon stepped into the Pungyang Cho Clan’s carriage, guided by the escort warriors.
“Puhahahahahaha—!”
At last, he exploded into laughter, unable to contain the mirth he’d been suppressing, cackling until tears almost came.
For several long minutes, he laughed like a madman.
—It’s Moo-yeong, Young Master.
A voice slipped through the comms: Moo-yeong, who had successfully infiltrated the container.
“Oh. Loud and clear. Everything fine on your end?”
—Yes. The guest says he’s returning to his countryside estate. He mentioned there’s something he needs to pick up along the way, so he plans to take it with him on the trip to Hanseong.
“Got it. Stay safe. We’ll meet back when this is over.”
—Understood. I’ll end the transmission here.
To anyone else, it sounded like nothing more than idle chatter.
But in truth, it was a prearranged code between Kim Chang-woon and Moo-yeong.
The hidden meaning was simple: “Infiltration complete.”
With that, the first stage of the plan to deceive the Pungyang Cho Clan was finished.
“Now then, my part is more or less wrapped up.”
As dawn broke, sunlight bathed Busan in a golden glow.
Admiring the brilliance of the city’s morning scenery, Kim Chang-woon thought to himself:
The raid by the pirates had successfully sown chaos, allowing Moo-yeong to slip into the cargo container.
Gu Jeong-hyeok, who had been shadowing him, now harbored no suspicions whatsoever. On the contrary, the man was about to erase the entire incident with his own hands.
All the pieces had fallen into place.
Now the only thing left was for Kim Chang-woon’s partners—already preparing in secret—to play their role.
It was time to witness the handiwork of Joseon’s Traitor No. 0, the one known as Hahoe.
---The End Of The Chapter---
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