PEN Vol 4 Ch. 25

“…….”

Instead of succumbing to his grief, he roughly wiped his cheeks. It had taken a long time to break down, but it didn’t take long to get back up. He didn’t have the time to indulge in trivial sentiments. Someone was waiting for him. He had to go back.

He gathered the few items he’d found in Yoon Heesoo’s room, placed the key card on the desk, and carefully opened the door. After confirming the hallway was empty, he quietly retraced his steps and returned to his car. Then he headed straight to the workshop.

His team members were gathered at the workshop in Gangdong-gu. He instructed Yoon Chuljoo, who had returned after deleting the apartment’s CCTV footage, to dispose of the dead man. He woke Haewoong, who had been sleeping, and told him to monitor Yoon Heesoo’s goshiwon, just in case. Jinyoung and Sunhyuk also received their respective tasks.

It wasn’t like Shin Kyoyeon to create more work right before the operation on January 4th. But no one questioned him. As if it were simply what needed to be done, everyone silently busied themselves with their tasks.

Dealing with the aftermath of the incident in front of Apartment 4300 kept them so incredibly busy that 24 hours weren’t enough. During that time, he received several calls and messages from Sejin. Cheon Sejoo worried about him being alone, but he didn’t have time to go home.

4:21
I’m too busy with work, so I won’t be able to come home for a while. 

Make sure you eat and get plenty of rest at home. Okay?

After finally sending a message to Sejin, Cheon Sejoo switched his phone to silent mode. He didn’t want Sejin to intrude on his thoughts when he was doing this kind of work.

Time passed, and on January 4th, the operation proceeded as planned. They ambushed the car carrying Kang Junmyeon on his way home from Incheon Airport after returning from Hong Kong. However, information seemed to have leaked, as the resistance was fierce.

Chased by them, Kang Junmyeon drove his car to a secluded beach and attempted to escape with his men. Reaching a dead end, every one of the disposal team members, except Yoon Chuljoo drew their knives and attacked, finally capturing Kang Junmyeon.

While they ambushed Kang Junmyeon, Baek Sunghwan, another of Shin Gyoyeon’s subordinates, raided Kang Junmyeon’s secret business. As the sudden purge began, Kang Junmyeon’s men fiercely resisted.

Baek Sunghwan’s men clashed with them in a knife fight inside a club in the heart of the city. The fight left more than ten people dead, and the survivors were dragged away for disposal. But none of this was reported. Several car trunks, stuffed with corpses, passed through crowds of laughing and chatting pedestrians, loaded onto trucks, yet no one noticed.

“Gyo, Gyoyeon-ah… S-Sir…!”

Kang Junmyeon, his face a bloody mess, knelt before Shin Gyoyeon, his hands clasped together as if pleading.

He had risen to the position of president of DG Construction, the headquarters of DG, as a long-time subordinate of Chairman Shin Gyeongju. But blinded by greed, Kang Junmyeon betrayed Shin Gyeongju and joined forces with Jason Lee, who was trying to seize control of DG’s Hong Kong investment project.

Jason Lee had promised Kang Junmyeon exclusive distribution rights for drugs coming into Korea from Hong Kong if the deal went through, but now, that was no longer possible. Jason Lee, upon hearing of Kang Junmyeon’s capture, had attempted to flee to Macau to escape to Liu Yuan, but he was apprehended by Public Security Bureau¹ and critically injured in the process, now fighting for his life. Now, there was no one left to save Kang Junmyeon.

“We… we’ve known each other for so… so l-long…!”

Kang Junmyeon pleaded for mercy, his words slurred due to missing teeth. But to Shin Gyoyeon, Kang Junmyeon was nothing but an old man who had betrayed him and sold out the organization’s information.

The memories of Kang Junmyeon giving Shin Gyoyeon pocket money and piggyback rides as a child had long lost their meaning.

“I heard Jason Lee is in critical condition due to excessive blood loss, hovering between life and death.”

Shin Gyoyeon, sitting on a chair placed in front of Kang Junmyeon, leisurely smoked a cigarette as he spoke.

Cheon Sejoo stood before them, gripping Kang Junmyeon’s hair. The old man, easily subdued by violence, staggered as if about to collapse.

He supported Kang Junmyeon’s body with his leg to prevent him from falling over. A coppery stench rose from his blood-soaked hand. A splitting headache pounded in his skull, but Cheon Sejoo endured it all, his face a mask of indifference.

“Even Liu Yuan, the legitimate heir, spent years lobbying to secure the project proposal. How could Jason Lee, a nobody off the streets, possibly take over the casino?”

“It… it was… my… my m-mistake….”

Kang Junmyeon’s plea for forgiveness was choked with sobs. Shin Gyoyeon smirked and placed his foot on the back of the knife embedded in Kang Junmyeon’s groin. He pressed down hard, and Kang Junmyeon screamed in agony. Cheon Sejoo watched the entire scene impassively.

“The Chairman is furious. You know his temper. I don’t understand you at all.”

How many things could Shin Gyoyeon possibly understand? 

Cheon Sejoo tried to divert his thoughts, tightening his grip on Kang Junmyeon’s hair. Amidst his familiar patience, his mind wandered.

He had joined the organization solely for revenge for Hye-in. The day after the funeral, after placing Hye-in’s urn in the charnel house and staying there until sunset, he returned home. At his door, Cheon Sejoo encountered a young girl hesitating to ring the bell.

The girl, startled at the sight of Cheon Sejoo in mourning clothes, looked conflicted as if about to speak to him, then suddenly turned and ran towards the emergency exit. At that moment, watching her flee, he felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to stop her.

Cheon Sejoo ran after the girl and caught her. Finally, from the tear-stricken child, he learned the circumstances that led to Hye-in’s suicide.

Cheon Hye-in, with her strikingly beautiful face that commanded attention, had a surprisingly down-to-earth personality that belied her glamorous looks. A group of bullies at her school had wanted to recruit her into their group, and her refusal, stemming from her gentle personality, seemed to have triggered the bullying.

They constantly summoned her and subjected her to humiliation, inflicting both physical and emotional abuse. After they learned about her “medical student oppa,” whom she had only bragged about to a few close friends, Cheon Sejoo became Cheon Hye-in’s weakness.

They told Hye-in she was nothing but a burden to her brother, that she was better off dead, slowly driving her to despair.

The moment he heard this from Hye-in’s friend, an insurmountable despair washed over Cheon Sejoo. Hye-in had called him while he was holed up in the operating room, and he hadn’t answered.

Perhaps she wanted to ask me this. 

Cheon Sejoo hadn’t been able to erase that thought from his mind ever since.

Oppa, would your life be a little easier if I disappear?

If he had answered Hye-in’s call, if she had asked him that, Cheon Sejoo would have told her how precious she was to him. Cheon Hye-in was his reason for living, the pillar supporting his life.

From the day he learned he had a sister, Cheon Sejoo had vowed, even at a young age, to live for his only family. He had never once considered Hye-in a burden. But he hadn’t answered the phone, and Hye-in, believing their taunts, believing that Cheon Sejoo saw her as a burden and rejected her, had opened the window and jumped.

After learning the truth about her death, Cheon Sejoo was consumed by a burning desire for revenge. He asked the girl for the identities of Hye-in’s bullies and prepared his revenge.

There were many bystanders, but only two main culprits. He caught one of them, severed the tendons in her arms and legs, and cut out her tongue. The malicious girl, reduced to less than vermin, crawled on the floor, begging for mercy. Of course, Cheon Sejoo had no intention of killing them.

Hye-in had chosen death because life was too much for her to bear. So, he intended to give them a life where death would be a welcome escape.

The first act of revenge was successfully concluded without any major problems. He escaped without a trace, and the police, unaware of the motive, couldn’t identify him as a suspect.

Cheon Sejoo was caught while trying to harm the second culprit. There was a gap of several days between the two acts of revenge. During that time, Hye-in’s friend, worried that Cheon Sejoo, now alone, might harm himself, had visited his apartment. Finding something amiss, she called the police.

He was immediately arrested, and the story of the revenge plot by the sole perfect scorer on the national college entrance exam (CSAT/College Scholastic Ability Test) that year, a graduate of a prestigious medical school, and a self-made doctor who had grown up in an orphanage, made headlines across the newspapers. 

The incident was also a topic of heated debate at a Korea University alumni meeting held around the same time, and Chae Beomjun, who had attended the meeting, relayed the story to Shin Gyoyeon.

How much could he love his sister to throw away his promising future and make such a decision? 

Shin Gyoyeon’s interest in Cheon Sejoo, sparked by this story, was both a misfortune and an opportunity for him.

Chae Beomjun visited Cheon Sejoo, who was imprisoned in the detention center awaiting trial. He offered to help him complete his revenge that he had not yet achieved, on the condition that he join the organization and work under Shin Gyoyeon.

Consumed by intense regret, Cheon Sejoo didn’t have the capacity to consider how this decision would alter his life. He accepted Shin Gyoyeon’s offer and, upon his release due to insufficient evidence, finally completed his revenge with Shin Gyoyeon’s help.

But the triumph was short-lived. Following Shin Gyoyeon’s will, he was thrust into the darkest shadows of the organization to be trained by Seok Yoonhyung. Cheon Sejoo soon realized that in exchange for avenging Hye-in, he had lost everything he had left.

His peaceful life was shattered that day. 

From the moment he picked up a knife to survive Seok Yoonhyung’s attacks, Cheon Sejoo had been enduring every single moment.

The same was true of the work in the workshop. During the interrogation of Kang Junmyeon and his men alongside Shin Gyoyeon, Cheon Sejoo, as always, endured violence and death. Time in that place was an endless cycle of patience.

Finally, when everything was over and Cheon Sejoo stepped out into the open air, a week had passed since he left home.