A Contracted Gangster Who Has to Die to Survive

Choi Taejoon muttered a low curse and stepped out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him.

His sudden appearance caused a stir among the reporters lined up outside.

“Oh, it’s Choi Taejoon!”

“Executive Director Choi is here!”

“Hey! Start snapping pictures!”

“Get a shot of him with Director Kang!”

Camera flashes erupted incessantly, and Secretary Kim was frantically trying to call for the security team amidst the chaos. Even the security team, which should have been on standby, seemed to have joined the brawl at the main gate.

Caught off guard, I hesitated for a moment before reluctantly stepping out of the car. My heart was pounding like it was about to burst, but I quickly followed Taejoon.

I’d only ever seen this kind of madness in movies or dramas—never in real life.

It was complete and utter chaos.

There was no telling who was on whose side or who was attacking whom. Trying to dodge random blows flying in every direction, I followed Taejoon into the temple grounds.

A metal pipe whizzed past my head with a sharp clang, fists were flying, and the tension was palpable. Even though the police were stationed around the temple, they didn’t dare intervene in what was essentially a gang fight. It felt like wild dogs had been unleashed on a tiny island.

I had never been in a fight, and I absolutely hated getting hurt.

Why were things spiraling out of control like this? I couldn’t run away, nor could I just avoid the chaos.

It wasn’t like I was asking for a miraculous rescue from death—I just wanted to die with minimal pain. Was that really such an unreasonable request?

Feeling a mix of frustration and resignation, I hunched down to avoid the blows and tried to catch up to Taejoon. I forced myself to stay positive, thinking, Maybe this will be the last day of my life.

Then, searing pain shot through my shoulder, as if I’d been branded by fire.

It seemed I had been struck by a metal pipe intended for Taejoon.

“Ugh!” I let out a groan, followed by an unexpected laugh.

“Haha… damn, this really hurts. It hurts so bad… haha.”

Still laughing, I turned to face the attacker.

“Go on! Do it properly! Hit me in one shot so it’s over!”

The man, clearly startled by my crazed laughter and wild expression, hesitated.

“Hey, right here! Right here!” I pointed to a spot on my head. “If you’re going to do it, make it count!”

“What the hell… who are you?”

“If not here, how about this spot?” I added, pointing to another vulnerable area, all with a dead-serious face.

The man’s expression twisted in fear as I kept egging him on, his resolve faltering.

“You crazy bastard! Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll grant your wish!”

The man swung the pipe again, but before it could land, Taejoon’s head of security grabbed him by the neck and tossed him aside like a rag doll.

“Hey! Where are you going? You still need to finish me off!” I shouted after him.

The security team leader gave me a few hearty pats on the back, grinning. “Good job, rookie. You’ve got talent for this.”

I was still reeling from the pain as I tried to take a step forward, but suddenly, a sharp thwack rang out, and everything went black.

Instinctively, I reached back to touch the back of my head.

“Ugh…”

For a moment, I thought I might have been stabbed, but it wasn’t that. It seemed I’d been hit again—this time with much more force.

How was my skull still intact? Why wasn’t I unconscious yet?

Despite the impact, I was surprisingly fine—although this time, it felt like I’d really been hit properly. A delirious grin crept across my face.

“If I get hit one more time, I might actually die.”

As painful as it was, it was still preferable to dying slowly from torture. With a twisted smile, I staggered and turned around.

“What the… is this guy even human?”

The man holding a wooden club froze, visibly terrified. His face contorted with fear as he stumbled backward.

The security team leader, clearly impressed, launched into a rapid-fire string of praise. “Rookie, I like your style! Keep it up—just like that.”

Looking back, it seemed I had unintentionally blocked several blows meant for Taejoon with my body.

My vision blurred, and nausea bubbled up as the world around me darkened. The chaos and noise faded into the background, leaving only Taejoon’s face vividly clear.

It was Choi Taejoon.

His wide, startled eyes and uncharacteristically expressive face didn’t suit him at all.

But before I could dwell on the oddity of it, I realized Taejoon was running toward me, his composure completely shattered.

Goodbye, Choi Taejoon. This is it for me.

Or so I thought—until.

“Damn it.”

Someone grabbed my arm as I was about to collapse, pulling me upright.

It was a man with pale, smooth skin and a lean, well-proportioned build.

“If you fall here, you’ll get trampled to death.”

The man stared directly at my face, his lips curving into an amused smile.

“You know me, don’t you? Of course, you do.”

I had never seen him before, nor did I have any memory of him, yet I instantly realized who he was.

It was him. Kang Jaewook, the Executive Director.

“I… I don’t think I do.”

“Come on, you know me. I remember you.”

Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, dark sunglasses, and with light brown dyed hair, he looked entirely out of place at a funeral, grinning from ear to ear.

Seeing him in person, looking exactly as he’d been described in the novel, sent chills down my spine.

“That night… I was just about to have some fun, but you ran off and left me hanging. Don’t you remember?”

The man in front of me was none other than Kang Jaewook—the chairman’s direct descendant, notorious for his nicknames like “Pretty Trash,” “The Perverted Executive,” and countless others.

“I honestly don’t remember. I just got hit pretty hard on the head.”

“Lying will get you punished.”

“I’m not lying. I really don’t know.”

Before I could say more, Choi Taejoon stepped between us, blocking Kang Jaewook.

“Let go of my employee.”

“Your employee?”

Kang Jaewook’s lips curled into a sly grin.

“Yes, my employee.”

The author of the novel had described Kang Jaewook as a “sleek and cunning snake.” His flashy, colorful outward appearance—like cheap satin—lulled people into lowering their guard. Beneath it, however, lay a deeply insidious, scheming nature. The novel even warned readers not to be fooled by his childlike, carefree demeanor.

“Oh my… so this person works for Executive Director Choi?”

Taejoon calmly pried Kang’s hand off my arm, but Kang didn’t seem inclined to let me go entirely. Instead, he grabbed my other shoulder and pulled me closer, his grin widening.

“Wait a moment. We were just about to finish discussing some… physical communication we missed out on last time.”

At the mention of “physical communication,” Taejoon’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Just as he reached for my arm—

“Hold on, I said.”

Kang moved faster, yanking me toward him with enough force to make me stumble. His cold hand gripped my chin, tilting it slightly upward.

“What was your name again?”

“……”

“I usually have a great memory, but if I can’t remember your name, I guess we didn’t even have time for introductions last time.”

Even as he spoke, Kang’s sunglasses didn’t fully hide the glint of amusement in his eyes as they flicked toward Taejoon, gauging his reaction. It was obvious that everything he was doing was meant to provoke him.

“Come here,” Taejoon said, reaching for me again.

Kang tugged me closer, almost like it was a game of tug-of-war.

“You must be someone special to Executive Director Choi, huh? So, what’s your name?”

One of Kang’s subordinates leaned in and whispered something to him.

“Ah, your name is Hyun Woo Kyung? Even your name is as pretty as your face.”

I twisted out of his grasp, finally breaking free. Surprisingly, Kang let me go easily, though he looked somewhat disappointed.

His touch lingered, cold and unsettling, as though his snake-like nature extended even to his body temperature. The chill from his hand spread along my chin, leaving an eerie sensation behind.

Adjusting his sunglasses, Kang smirked.

“So, are you two lovebirds?”

“Mind your business and keep moving,” Taejoon said coldly.

Kang shrugged, his grin widening as if he already knew the answer.

“Ah, lovers, then.”

“I heard they’re distant relatives,” Kang’s subordinate added in a low voice, seemingly eager to stir the pot.

Rumors must have started circulating after the Namsan incident, suggesting I was a distant relative of Taejoon’s. Or perhaps the rumor had been deliberately planted.

“Relatives? I didn’t know Executive Director Choi had any family.”

Kang tilted his head, then suddenly burst into laughter, as if he’d just heard the punchline to an inside joke. He clapped his hands and doubled over, shaking with mirth.

“Executive Director Choi, your life is like a movie! Someone like me can’t even compare. I mean, you’re making incest look classy.”

“Crazy bastard,” Taejoon muttered under his breath.

Despite the cloudy sky, it was the height of summer. Sweat trickled down my back, stinging my eyes as it mixed with tears. Yet Kang’s carefree, boisterous laughter echoed hauntingly through the funeral grounds, chilling me to the bone.

Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, slippers, denim shorts, and gold-rimmed sunglasses, Kang looked more like someone on vacation than someone attending a funeral.

Taejoon straightened his tie, his expression hardening further. It was clear he wanted nothing more than to end this interaction.

“Let’s go.”

The two men couldn’t have been more different—polar opposites, like oil and water. The thin, fragile boundary that separated them in their shared world would forever remain uncrossed, as the novel’s ending had tragically shown.

That’s right. Taejoon would eventually die.

The thought of the novel’s ending hit me like a sharp pang in my chest. I’d been so focused on my own survival that I had almost forgotten about Taejoon’s fate.

“Good, good,” Kang’s cheerful voice interrupted my thoughts.

“So, if you’re not his lover, does that mean I still have a chance? Woo Kyung, make sure to take care of yourself. You’ll need to be in perfect shape to play with me. And if you try to run away again, well… you’d better be ready to die that day. Got it?”

Taejoon let out a long, exasperated sigh, his lip curling slightly in disdain as he suppressed the irritation boiling within him.

Everyone knew that Kang never said anything without purpose.

“Make sure we meet again!” Kang called out as he turned away, his parting words dripping with mockery.

It wasn’t just empty talk—Kang fully intended to see me again.

Memories of what Kang had done to Woo Kyung in the original story began flooding back. While Woo Kyung had narrowly escaped back then, I couldn’t be sure how things would play out this time.

Taejoon, visibly provoked by Kang’s words, stopped in his tracks and turned back.

“Executive Director Kang,” Taejoon said, his icy glare cutting through the air. “Let’s not do something that would cost us both.”

His words, calm yet razor-sharp, sliced through the tension like a blade.