A Contracted Gangster Who Has to Die to Survive

Chapter 14



That idiot. He was cheerfully rambling on, completely unaware of the situation.

“You know, the only reason you guys can live comfortably is because I clean up the mess for you. You should be grateful.”

When Team Leader Baek said “you guys,” he was likely referring to the undercover cops working alongside him. Is this how I get exposed?

If Team Leader Baek made even the smallest slip of the tongue right now, today could very well become the day I end up stuffed in a cement barrel and thrown into the ocean.

“Hyun Woo Kyung. Are you listening?”

“Uh… mmph.”

Choi Taejoon’s grip tightened over my mouth, which he’d been covering since earlier.

Please, Team Leader Baek, sir. You can curse all you want, spout nonsense—I don’t care. Just don’t, for the love of all that’s holy, mention anything related to the police.

“Hyun Woo Kyung!”

When my name was called out again from the other end of the phone, Choi Taejoon finally broke the tense silence.

“Who are you?”

His distinctively low voice sank eerily into the room, oppressive and heavy. He waited quietly for Baek’s answer, his tone cold and composed, yet eerily clashing with his menacing expression. It was almost grotesque.

Even Team Leader Baek seemed startled by Choi Taejoon’s unexpected appearance, though he quickly appeared to grasp the situation, falling silent on the other end. While I was relieved he’d quieted down after noticing Choi Taejoon’s presence, the suffocating silence that followed felt just as oppressive.

“I’m Choi Taejoon, the same guy who’s supposedly ‘in cahoots’ with Hyun Woo Kyung. So, who the hell are you?”

The sound of Baek’s breathing became rough over the phone.

Now that Taejoon had revealed his identity, simply hanging up wasn’t an option for Baek.

“Choi Taejoon? Don’t make me laugh. If you’re Choi Taejoon, then I’m Kang Ki-tae.”

Kang Ki-tae was the name of Taesung Industries’ chairman.

To my surprise, instead of flying into a rage, Choi Taejoon let out a hollow laugh.

“Why are there so many lunatics these days?”

But his piercing, murderous gaze shifted toward me. It was as if his eyes were saying, ‘Hyun Woo Kyung, you’re just as insane as the guy on the phone.’

I wanted to cry. For the record, I’m not crazy!

Baek sneered, his voice dripping with bravado.

“Whoever you are, stay out of other people’s business and mind your own.”

The moment the call ended, I knew I’d have to explain this mess somehow. But what could I say? I had no idea where to even begin.

My mind raced with memories of the horrifying torture Hyun Woo Kyung had endured. All I could do was pray that today wouldn’t be a repeat of that nightmare.

Wouldn’t it be better to just bite my tongue and die right now than meet such a brutal end?

“You’d better explain yourself… while I’m still giving you the chance.”

“Me? Who am I? Isn’t it obvious? Cleaning up my dad’s mess is just part of the deal for a son with functioning arms and legs, don’t you think?”

“Your dad?”

“Yeah. Though, who knows how long those ‘functioning arms and legs’ will remain attached to that brat’s body… Pay up, Woo Kyung. I’m just the guy who helps make sure you pay your debts.”

From the sound of it, Baek’s improvised story was that Woo Kyung had been forced to follow orders to pay off his father’s debts.

I wasn’t sure if this was a prepared backstory or something he’d come up with on the fly, but it aligned well enough with the nonsense he’d already spewed.

“Don’t even think about running off. Get the money together quietly. If you ghost me again, you’ll regret it.”

Baek hung up after issuing his threat.

The call was over, and I’d survived one hurdle.

But would Choi Taejoon actually believe this? Someone as sharp and seasoned as him wouldn’t fall for such a flimsy lie.

As the silence stretched on, it became almost unbearable. Finally, Taejoon removed the hand he’d been using to firmly cover my mouth.

“Talk.”

What could I possibly say to make this sound natural? I wasn’t quick-witted to begin with, and fear had frozen my mind.

“Well, um… you see…”

My shoulders trembled as I hugged myself tightly and took a shaky breath.

“I… I have to pay off a debt.”

“What kind of debt?”

“A gambling debt… my dad’s gambling debt.”

Surprisingly, the words tumbled out more smoothly than I’d expected, as though I were reciting lines from a prepared script.

“What’s this ‘branch office’ they mentioned?”

“Oh, that’s, um… it’s like a fixer’s office. A place that advertises, ‘We solve all your problems,’ you know… something like that.”

“Then what’s this about you being ‘in cahoots’ with me?”

“Well… they know I’m working here to earn money, so… that’s probably why they said that.”

Taejoon’s brow furrowed. Of course, someone like him wouldn’t fall for such a sloppy lie. I curled into myself, tightly shutting my eyes.

“How much?”

My eyes flew open. Taejoon’s voice was calm and steady.

“How much is the debt?”

No way… is he actually buying this? Could he really be falling for such an obvious lie?

“I’ve been giving them money whenever I could, so I’m not exactly sure how much of my father’s debt is left.”

Who in their right mind wouldn’t know how much they owe?

Choi Taejoon gave me a look of utter disbelief, though it soon shifted into one of resignation, as if saying, “Well, that’s just the kind of person you are.” Not that it was particularly flattering, but at least he seemed to be buying the lie—more or less.

“Who was the guy on the phone?”

“That was… the boss of that fixer’s office. He’s called Boss Baek.”

Instead of telling him the truth—that it was Baek Gunwoo, a team leader in the Special Forces division of the Korean National Police Agency—I gave him an entirely different story.

“He’s a vile man who’s done every evil thing you can imagine. He’ll do anything for money—absolutely anything. No loyalty, no morals.”

“Figures,” Taejoon muttered.

Whether the pieces finally clicked for him or he just didn’t expect me to answer honestly, he didn’t press further.

Sensing my chance, I let out an exaggerated yawn and burrowed into the blankets. “I’m feeling sleepy all of a sudden. I think I’ll just get some rest now.”

“Where do you think you’re crawling off to?”

Choi Taejoon’s hand shot out, gripping the back of my neck.

“Ah, what are you doing!” I yelped.

“You promised not to make me lose my temper. And this isn’t rebellion?”

“W-what?”

“Look at your face,” he said, gesturing toward the mirror across the room.

I glanced at my reflection. My skin was pale and rough from days of battling a high fever, my unkempt hair plastered to my forehead with sweat. It was a haggard, disheveled face—one that could only be described as utterly pitiful.

“I’m fine. Really.”

“You don’t look fine, and that’s why I’m saying it,” he shot back, exhaling slowly.

“Have you taken any medicine?” His voice was slightly softer now.

“I remembered I had some painkillers from my last hospital visit, so I took one of those.”

“Let’s go to the hospital. Get dressed.”

“No, really, I’m fine. I’m not in much pain anymore. I just want to sleep.”

“Hospital first.”

“I’ll be fine after some sleep. And at this hour, we’d have to go to the emergency room, but it’s not that serious.”

Despite my insistence, Taejoon clearly had no intention of backing down. We went back and forth, with him urging me to go, and me refusing, until his phone suddenly rang.

He checked the caller ID, frowned, and answered. A quick, curt conversation followed.

“Yeah. Got it. I’m on my way. Wait for me.”

After hanging up, he turned his gaze toward me before glancing at the phone sitting on the table.

“We’ll talk about that call later.”

“There’s nothing to talk about…”

“That’s for me to decide.”

Of course. Someone like Choi Taejoon wouldn’t just let something suspicious slide so easily. He was the type to get to the bottom of everything, and if he put his mind to it, he could wipe out that fixer’s office in the blink of an eye.

“I’ll handle it myself. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“That’s a bold claim for someone who doesn’t even know how much they owe or how much is left to pay.”

I probably should have just said it was about a billion won.

“Besides, it’s illegal for children to inherit their parents’ gambling debts in the first place.”

He said this with a face that seemed both intimately familiar with illegal matters and paradoxically principled about them.

“You can recite traffic fines and penalties like it’s second nature, but you’re completely clueless about this?”

I realized there was no point in saying more—it wouldn’t change anything. All I could do now was pray he didn’t figure out I was a cop.

Quietly, I followed him to the door to see him out.

As he finished putting on his shoes, he turned back to look at me.

“Go back inside. Didn’t you say you were sleepy?”

“I’ll head to bed now.”

“If you need more medicine, tell Secretary Kim or someone.”

Why had he come over in the first place, only to leave so soon? He hadn’t even sat down.

“Um… you didn’t come here because you were worried about me, did you?”

At that moment, the motion-sensor light by the door flickered off, plunging us into darkness. Taejoon’s face, harshly outlined in the shadows, looked like a statue carved from stone.

The unsettling atmosphere made me wave my hands toward the ceiling, triggering the light to flicker back on.

For a fleeting moment, I caught an emotion on Taejoon’s stiff face—was it surprise? Confusion? Whatever it was, it vanished almost instantly, replaced by his usual blank expression.

“Quit spouting nonsense and get some sleep,” he snapped, turning sharply and walking out without looking back.

“Be careful out there,” I muttered after him.

Yeah, there’s no way someone as busy as Choi Taejoon would come all the way here just to check on me.

I trudged back to my bed and collapsed onto it, letting my thoughts drift back to my earlier conversation with Team Leader Baek.

Between Baek and Woo Kyung’s family situation, my mind swirled with scattered fragments of information.

“A problem-ridden father and siblings to take care of… What a life. Poor guy’s practically the head of his household.”

If I had to guess, becoming a police officer must have been Woo Kyung’s only chance to escape his hellish reality.

But maybe the police only accepted him so they could use and discard him for missions like this. After all, someone like Woo Kyung—who could be easily threatened through his family—was the perfect pawn.

Poor Woo Kyung.

Even when I’d first read the original story, I’d felt a pang of pity for him. Back then, I thought it was because we shared the same name, but now I realized it wasn’t just that.

Woo Kyung was objectively pitiful, no matter who looked at him.

“Poor thing,” I muttered, hugging myself tightly.

I wondered if the police had taken good care of Woo Kyung’s family after his death. Judging by how Baek acted, probably not.

“That bastard. If you think about it, he’s the worst of them all.”

If possible, I wanted to meet Woo Kyung’s siblings before I died.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and pulled the now-lukewarm blanket tightly around me.

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