KTSR | Chapter 20

“You’ve got a problem there. If you don’t fix it, you’ll have an even harder time because of your looks.”

Kwon Hyeongdo gave advice. It was laughable. Was this guy, who was the very definition of trouble, now trying to act like a doctor? Maybe because he’s a thug, he’s greedy too.

“Get any harder here?”

Ijin scoffed.

Kwon Hyeongdo burst into laughter at the disrespectful form of respect.

“See? You get angry so easily.”

Kwon Hyeongdo took a bright red carrot from Ijin’s tray, as if it were his own. Just like a thug, he did it naturally.

Ijin felt like he had fallen for Kwon Hyeongdo’s tactics. Kwon Hyeongdo was poking at him just as he poked at that boiled carrot.

“When you were first brought here, it was either from shock, or maybe because you got hit on the head so much, or maybe you were always a bit off… but…”

“I’m not crazy.”

“Listen till the end.”

Kwon Hyeongdo clicked his fingers together.

“You should keep your current earnings. If your value drops in terms of money, they’ll use your body next, and human bodies don’t last that long, plus they’re cheap.”

“……”

“Do you think thugs these days bother with anything other than prostitution for no reason?”

“Why… are you saying this?”

Unlike before, Ijin’s voice lacked energy.

“Want to make a bet with me?”

Due to a small opening in the faucet to prevent freezing, the sound of dripping water echoed through the restaurant made of slate and blocks.

Kwon Hyeongdo, leaning back in a chair too small for his frame, tightened the noose of silence around Ijin’s neck.

“I asked if you want to make a bet with me, didn’t I?”

“Ah! You have to tell me what it’s about first!”

Ijin screamed as he was kicked in the shin by Kwon Hyeongdo’s combat boot. It hurt like hell. At the sharp pain, Ijin instinctively hugged his leg, and Kwon Hyeongdo laughed, playing with the barbell piercing in his tongue with his front teeth.

“If you finish in the lower ranks in the next race, the team leader decided to hand your fate over to someone higher up. You know what they might do with you, don’t need to say it.”

“Whose decision was that…!”

It was such shocking news it made Ijin forget the pain in his shin. Have they already spread the photos? Ijin’s fist, slamming down on the table, trembled.

“Is it that photo from before?”

“It turned out well. Your ass was killer in it.”

Ijin felt like his head was turning red with rage. Or maybe it already was. As Kwon Hyeongdo said, controlling his anger was hard. Ijin, seething, reached back to grip the chair. If swung hard enough, the folding metal chair could tear from the eye to the forehead.

“I haven’t finished. Listen till the end.”

Kwon Hyeongdo leaned forward slightly, tapping the table.

“All you have to do is not finish in the lower ranks. Too easy, right? What kind of thug does business like this?”

“… It’s a done deal. And it was a promise with Team Leader Ppochi, not something you should be concerned about.”

“I’m suggesting we add one more condition, that’s what I mean.”

Kwon Hyeongdo smirked. Ijin asked back, his voice thick with suspicion.

“Why should I listen to that?”

“Because you don’t have the decision-making power.”

Kwon Hyeongdo patted his chest, looking for his cigarettes. Whether there was a pack or not, his chest was solid. He kept talking while fiddling with the pack.

“If you end up in the lower ranks, Ppochi will sell you, if in the upper ranks, I’ll sell you.”

“What kind of bullshit is that…!”

“Where else? Here. And I’m going to sell you to myself.”

Kwon Hyeongdo laughed gleefully. He seemed to enjoy it, just like those degenerate gamblers who squander their fortunes on bets, whether they win or lose.

“I won’t do such a shitty deal even if I die.”

When Ijin growled, Kwon Hyeongdo shook his head.

“I’ve informed you, and your opinion doesn’t matter. Do you know why?”

“……”

“Because I’m the one with the final say. Even if you end up in the lower ranks and Ppochi decides to sell you, I’m the one who gives the final approval.”

Ijin had to hit him. He had to hit him right now, right here.

Ijin’s hand, gripping the chair, turned white.

Kwon Hyeongdo remained calm, knowing Ijin was on the verge of an aggressive act. He casually looked up at Ijin, crossing his feet at the ankles and wiggling his toes.

“I asked you to choose who you want to impress, didn’t I?”

“So, you’re telling me to choose between sucking off an unspecified number of dicks or just yours?”

“Exactly. I’m being lenient. You know that, right?”

“How is that being lenient? I don’t sleep with men. I won’t sell my body either.”

“The use and price of a commodity aren’t decided by the commodity itself. The market decides, and the market is the customer, and I’m the boss. Kwon Hyeongdo.”

He was scratching at people’s insides with his slick talk.

“Executive Director, just drink your kimchi soup.”

Ijin sneered.

“I won’t give myself, even to a rich, rotten bastard like you or anyone else. I’ll make both of you eat shit and get out of this hellhole by earning more dividends. Got it?”

Ijin’s anger escalated to the point where he was now using informal language.

Despite living in a world where hierarchy meant everything, Kwon Hyeongdo listened to Ijin’s rant without interrupting.

Ijin threw his empty tray into the bin, making a clanging noise.

“Honey.”

“Who’s your honey!”

Ijin shouted, flipping him off, but Kwon Hyeongdo just tilted his head back and laughed.

“Next time, you’ll come to beg me yourself. I’ll make you crawl on all fours.”

He pushed open and then closed the ill-fitting door. There was no slamming sound.

The next day, it was as if the rain had never come; the weather cleared up. However, the ground was a mess from the relentless rain before dawn.

The large vehicle gate opened wide. A dump truck loaded with sand entered. Ijin had been out since dawn waiting for this truck. He could gauge the condition of the racetrack by how much sand was loaded.

“Such a petty amount of sand.”

It wasn’t even high-quality sand, but today’s load barely filled the truck.

Ijin nervously lit a cigarette. He had started smoking after Kwon Hyeongdo forcibly gave him one. Once you start, it’s not so hard, but starting because Kwon Hyeongdo made him was what annoyed him.

“When did you start smoking?”

Bbang appeared beside him, also lighting up.

“Life’s tough, can’t help it. Is that all the sand there is?”

“Yeah. The total dividends have gone down, so the boss is tightening the purse strings on other things too.”

“The boss drives a Benz but talks about not having money?”

“Thugs always need to keep up appearances, even if they’re broke. Who knows if that Benz is real or not?”

Ijin let out a dry laugh, imagining a fake Benz.

Just then, the dump truck stopped in front of Ijin, and someone jumped out from the passenger seat.

“Seon Ijin!”

“Hyung.”

Ijin smiled, his guard down.

Woocheol-yong was a farrier. Though he didn’t have a farrier’s license, he was considered one since he took low wages to trim the hooves at Colosseum.

Unlike the other thugs at Colosseum who saw horses merely as beasts, Woocheol-yong genuinely valued them. It was only natural that Ijin took a liking to him.

Woocheol-yong, with his easygoing nature, had been friendly to Ijin from the start.

“Even if we hadn’t talked, it’s time to trim Clover’s hooves.”

“Yeah. I’ll look at Clover first. Have you been doing well?”

Woocheol-yong patted Ijin’s head.

Ijin followed Woocheol-yong to the stables, babbling about how Clover had been and how he’d been struggling with some issues.

Meanwhile, the sand truck headed to the parking lot instead of the racetrack. The young thugs at Colosseum weren’t just loafing around; they went out for demolition jobs across the country when needed. Changing license plates and acquiring van trucks was their job, and they sometimes loaded things onto dump trucks. It was a shitty deal, but after the job, they got paid 80,000 won, drinks, and room service, so the young thugs still looked forward to the days the dump truck came.

It was a time when apartment construction was booming nationwide. After the period where every thug could make a quick buck, it was once again the peak season for thug work. For the young thugs, or for Ijin, they were just lackeys who followed the dump truck like ants.

Kwon Hyeongdo, who had just arrived for work, saw this. Ppochi was there to greet him. The team leader was eager to serve Kwon Hyeongdo, dreaming of leaving this backwater for Seoul to manage a proper establishment. So eager, they said the boss might wear out his tongue licking Kwon Hyeongdo’s boots. Ppochi sneered to himself. That’s why, even as a boss, he was still stuck here.

“Executive Director, you’ve worked hard. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Why are you so interested in my night? Are you a eunuch?”

Kwon Hyeongdo tossed his keys into the air and caught them with a laugh.

“What’s that?”

“Oh. It’s the sand for the racetrack. The weather was bad, so it’s a big deal.”

“But I hear the worse the track condition, the more VIPs come, right? Even personally.”

“That’s… because it’s Colosseum.”

The team leader gave a sinister smile. Kwon Hyeongdo nodded, understanding and didn’t press further. He already knew the answer.

As the risk of injury increases, those with money and a bit of a twisted mind get excited. They come here not to see their horse win but to see any horse, any jockey, fall. That’s why they only spread enough sand to absorb some moisture.

“People’s tastes are really twisted.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, their tastes are quite refined.”

Kwon Hyeongdo warned the team leader not to follow him and headed towards the dump truck with the sand.

The unloading area was near the stables, which had the smell of manure, so he had to pass by there. Kwon Hyeongdo slowed his pace when he heard a voice tickling his ears.

“Hyung, Clover really likes you, I think. He’s been giving me the side-eye all the time lately. But look at him now. He’s making such innocent eyes at you.”

That excited voice was unmistakably Seon Ijin’s. Kwon Hyeongdo stopped in his tracks, hearing Ijin’s voice, filled with genuine happiness, for the first time.