TL: EKID
I had put a box of ramen into the storage room where the Brown Bear Gang was held.
Actually, it wasn’t a complete box. I had eaten a few myself.
The members of the Brown Bear Gang, who had been lying on the floor exhausted, raised their bodies upon seeing the ramen.
“It’s food.”
The hungry Brown Bear Gang members rushed toward the ramen box.
Smack
“Argh”
Ma Long, the operations leader, smacked the back of the guy who first reached into the ramen box.
“Insolent bastard. Big hyung is here.”
Only then did the Brown Bear Gang members regain their senses and step back.
Ma Long tore open a pack of uncooked ramen and offered it to Wang Chuqin.
“Hyung, you eat first.”
“Give it to the guys. They must be hungry.”
Wang Chuqin said as he took the ramen offered by Ma Long.
There were 18 packs of ramen. Ma Long distributed one to each member. Not knowing when they’d get food again, he saved three packs.
Crunch crunch
The Brown Bear Gang munched on the uncooked ramen.
At that moment, the faint sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard.
“Hyung, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Everyone was too busy munching on the uncooked ramen to hear the door sound. But Deputy boss Fan Jiandong definitely heard it.
“I think the rude bastard went outside.”
“!”
Wang Chuqin stopped mid-bite on his ramen.
“I heard it too. It was definitely the sound of a door closing.”
Another Brown Bear Gang member also said he heard the sound of the door closing.
“That must be why he gave us the ramen. Because he was heading out.”
Wang Chuqin put his ear against the door and listened outside for a long time.
It was quiet.
Fan Jiandong was right. The bastard went out.
“Looks like he really left.”
“Still, hyung, maybe he’s not a completely heartless bastard. He gave us food before leaving.”
“Hey! Stop eating and everyone cut the ties.”
“What are you planning?”
“What do you think? We’re getting out of here. You want to stay here forever?”
As soon as Wang Chuqin gave the order, a commotion broke out inside the storage room as they tried to cut the cable ties.
The cable ties binding their hands could be chewed off, but the ones binding their feet couldn’t be cut alone. They tangled together and bit off the ties on each other’s feet.
“Cut it quickly.”
“I can’t because you keep moving. Stay still.”
“What’s this smell? Wash your feet once in a while.”
With fifteen people tangled like a train, the room was as noisy as a market.
“Why is this bastard drooling so much?”
“Sorry, hyung. The tie was so tight I had no choice.”
The tie around Wang Chuqin’s ankle was the first to come off. Soon, everyone in the room was freed from the cable ties.
It took quite a while for all fifteen to remove the cable ties.
“Huff… huff… all done, hyung.”
“I’m exhausted to death.”
“I’m so thirsty I’m about to die.”
They had only eaten ramen for the first time today, and had been surviving on water for nearly two days. The fifteen members of the Brown Bear Gang looked pitiful.
“We have to get out before that bastard comes back. Break the door!”
Bang bang
The Brown Bear Gang began kicking the door to break it down.
Maybe because everyone was so drained, the door didn’t budge despite the kicks.
“What’s with this? Why is the door so sturdy?”
“Throw your bodies at it, you bastards.”
Thud thud thud thud
Five of them took turns throwing their whole bodies at the door with dedication.
Still, the door didn’t budge.
“This can’t be…”
The Brown Bear Gang was in despair.
“Keep going.”
“It’s Big hyung’s order. Rotate and keep at it until the door breaks.”
Despite Ma Long’s encouragement, the force of the body slams weakened over time.
Everyone was too dehydrated to have any strength.
The gang members began to think it was impossible to break the door.
They didn’t know how much time had passed.
While everyone else gave up and collapsed on the floor, the youngest kept hurling himself at the door.
Then, as he weakly slammed his body into the door…
Crash
The youngest fell through along with the door.
The door hadn’t broken, but due to the Brown Bear Gang’s persistent body slams, the hinges attached to the door gave out, causing the door itself to fall over.
“Wow!”
“Hey, it opened.”
“The youngest did it!”
The entire Brown Bear Gang let out a cheer.
Just moments ago, they were lying down too exhausted to move, but as soon as the door opened, they all sprang to their feet.
After escaping the room, they all ran to the sink and drank water first.
Gulp gulp gulp gulp
“Ah~ I feel alive again.”
“Wow, the water tastes so good.”
After drinking water to their hearts’ content, Wang Chuqin and the Brown Bear Gang members sprawled out in the living room.
“How should we smash that bastard so we feel better?”
“Even grinding him up and drinking him wouldn’t be enough, hyung.”
Fan Jiandong, whose eyes were still bruised and swollen, ground his teeth as he spoke.
“We need to escape quickly. Who knows when that bastard might come back.”
Operations leader Ma Long urged Wang Chuqin to get out quickly.
“Let’s do that. Let’s get out of here.”
Wang Chuqin also wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible.
Ding dong ding dong
Just then, the doorbell rang.
And the sound of someone turning the doorknob was heard.
Click click
All fifteen members of the Brown Bear Gang in the living room tensed up and stared at the door.
***
Outside the door were two members of the Black Dragon Society.
“Seems like this is the right house?”
“The motorcycle registration listed the address as the first floor of the commercial building. That’s a storage room, so this house should be the right one.”
“But the door’s locked?”
“I definitely heard something inside a little while ago…”
They pressed the doorbell again.
Ding dong ding dong
No response.
“Should we call more people?”
“There’s no one to call. Big hyung Wang Yudong summoned everyone, so they all deployed.”
“He just gave us photos of a car and a motorcycle and told us to investigate all the owners by today? Does that make any sense? Damn it, makes me want to curse.”
That’s right.
Before going to meet Director Choi at the Xianwei Hotel, Deputy boss Wu Shi had handed these two men CCTV photos and an address he received from the public security bureau.
He had instructed them to investigate what kind of people owned the car and motorcycle in the photos.
“What should we do?”
“Let’s just report that the motorcycle owner already fled. There’s no motorcycle and no person here.”
“We already met with the car owners, so that should be fine. Like you said, we’ll report the motorcycle owner fled?”
“Let’s go downstairs. We’ll grab a meal at a restaurant in the alley.”
“Let’s do that.”
The two Black Dragon Society members decided to leave and started going down the stairs.
At that moment, a man wearing a field jacket came up the stairs.
On the landing between the third and fourth floors, the Black Dragon Society members and the man in the field jacket encountered each other.
“Huh? Who are you?”
Surprised by the man suddenly appearing on the stairs, one of the Black Dragon Society members asked.
“Damn it.”
The man coming up to the fourth floor cursed and then pulled a pistol from his field jacket pocket.
“Put your hands up! You bastards.”
***
Beep beep beep
I pressed the keypad and opened the door.
“Hurry up and get in.”
The two Black Dragon Society guys, hands raised, entered the house.
Thud
Smack
“Ugh”
“Gack”
As soon as they entered the house, the two Black Dragon Society members were struck by something and fell forward hard.
The Brown Bear Gang, waiting next to the door, had struck the two entering Black Dragon Society members on the head with dumbbells.
“Huh? These guys aren’t him.”
The Brown Bear Gang thought it was me entering the house.
“Unbelievable.”
Bang
Wham!
I kicked the two Brown Bear Gang bastards who were by the door and punched them in the face.
“Gasp”
“Ugh”
“All of you, on your knees, you bastards!”
I shouted as I entered the house with my pistol drawn.
The Brown Bear Gang’s effort of struggling for over eight hours to escape was thus completely wasted.
All fifteen members of the Brown Bear Gang were once again bound with cable ties.
“Two cable ties weren’t enough, huh? This time I should use three per person. And I’ll tape their hands and feet too.”
Sigh~
Sighs came from the mouths of the Brown Bear Gang. Their teeth, already loose from chewing through the cable ties, now ached even more.
The two Black Dragon Society members who had been struck by the dumbbells and collapsed were also tied up. Fortunately, though they had large lumps on their heads and bleeding, their lives were not in danger.
The two Black Dragon Society guys soon regained consciousness.
“You two okay?”
“Ye… yes.”
“You’ve got a big bump there. So why’d you even come here?”
When the man touching their head asked, “Why’d you come”, the two Black Dragon Society members felt a chill run down their spines, their body hair standing on end.
No wonder, as the sight of fifteen bound people around them looked horrifying. Some had dark bluish bruises on their faces. It clearly looked like they had been subjected to abuse or torture.
In the eyes of the Black Dragon Society members, the man standing before them looked like a psychopath.
“Let’s see what you’ve got in your pockets.”
I searched the bodies of the two Black Dragon Society guys. I found a knife, mobile phones, wallets, and car keys among their belongings.
I put the items into my field jacket pocket.
“State your affiliation.”
“B-bl-Black Dragon Society… sent us.”
Smack
“Urgh!”
I smacked the back of one of the Black Dragon Society guy’s head. Right where the bump from the dumbbell had formed.
“A guy who’s scared and even stuttering speaking informally? Try again.”
“Sob… We came from the Black Dragon Society.”
“For what?”
“They told us to investigate the motorcycle that appeared in the CCTV footage.”
It had come.
The Black Dragon Society had identified me and come looking.
At this point, I had no choice but to shut down the ops room and withdraw.
The two Black Dragon Society guys had served their purpose, so now I turned my gaze to the Brown Bear Gang.
“Hey, you! And you! You guys were trying to hit me with this, weren’t you?”
I shook the dumbbell in front of the two Brown Bear Gang members who had attacked the Black Dragon Society guys.
“Uh, n-no, it’s not like that…”
“Then you should get hit with this too.”
I dashed at the two like lightning.
Wham wham wham wham
“Argh! Please, have mercy!”
“Aaack, ugh, we… we’re sorry!”
The two Brown Bear Gang members, still bound, were beaten all over with the dumbbell. Desperate to survive, they rolled around on the floor.
“I’m not done yet, bastards.”
Wham wham wham wham
This time I smashed their faces with my fists.
In the end, the two Brown Bear Gang guys foamed at the mouth and passed out.
Growl~
Gurgle~
The remaining thirteen members of the Brown Bear Gang watched the brutal beating and felt a terror as if they themselves were being hit.
“Next… Who gave the order?”
At my words, the eyes of eleven Brown Bear Gang members shifted toward Wang Chuqin and Fan Jiandong.
“You two are even worse.”
Now it was Wang Chuqin and Fan Jiandong’s turn.
Wham wham wham wham
“Argh, argh! Please, please have mercy…”
“I’ve got a herniated disk in my back! Argh, argh, no! I’m dying! Gurgle…”
“I told you to behave. Who said you could break the door?”
Wham wham wham wham
Wang Chuqin and Fan Jiandong’s faces were also turned into pulp.
‘This guy’s a devil. He stomped on the boss’s back. His disk is definitely ruptured.’
‘He’s not even human. How can someone beat people so mercilessly?’
The members of the Brown Bear Gang all lowered their heads, terrified that the man in the field jacket might make eye contact with them.
“You guys see that?”
I pointed to the CCTV installed inside the house.
“I’m watching everything from outside. If you cause one more disturbance or come out of the room again, then…”
I made a slicing gesture across my neck with my hand.
“Got it? Crawl back into the room, all of you.”
The Brown Bear Gang and the Black Dragon Society members crawled back on their knees into the room with the broken door.
I put water and rice into the room.
“I gave up pork belly and came all the way here so you bastards don’t starve. Eat up quick. I’ve got to tape your mouths shut.”
While the bastards inside munched on raw rice, I propped up the door and reattached the hinges.
This time, I taped around their mouths all the way to the back of their necks.
“Don’t cross the line. Understood?”
When I pointed to the door threshold, they all nodded intensely.
I opened the door to the editing room, went in, and confirmed that the camera was functioning normally before coming back out.
It was time to head back to <Along the Forest Path Bar>.
I went down to the alley and moved the Brown Bear Gang’s van and sedan they had arrived in to the end of the alley for parking. I didn’t want the real estate office boss yelling again in the morning.
Then I pressed the car key I had confiscated from the Black Dragon Society guys.
Beep beep
A sound came from the China-made compact car Ato3 parked in the alley as its doors unlocked.
I had left the motorcycle at the hill rest stop where the North Korean safehouse was. So I had taken a taxi to get here as well.
“Ooh~ what a cute car. Let’s borrow it for the day.”
I got into the car and started the engine.
Vroom
I drove the car toward <Along the Forest Path Bar>.
***
Inside the hardware store with its shutter down, the real estate office boss and the hardware store owner were playing a game of Go.
“Looks like the guy from the 4th floor is finally moving his car.”
The real estate office boss said as he placed a black stone on the Go board.
“Strange though. Two men got out of the car and went up into the building, but now he’s driving the car out alone.”
The hardware store owner responded as he placed a white stone on the board.
“Lately, there have been a lot of visitors to the 4th floor. It’s gotten too noisy.”
“Exactly. That young guy’s been looking really busy these past two days. Wasn’t like that when Old-man Choi was around.”
Though their eyes were fixed on the Go board, it seemed they could still see everything going on outside.