novelraw Chapter 76 : What Is This Again, Damn It
Chapter 76 : What Is This Again, Damn It
Chapter 76: What Is This Again, Damn It
『 TL – Marctempest 』 『 ED – Laplace 』
Oh Chung-seong went to work early in the morning at the Busan branch office.
Rubbing his stiff neck from the drinking session that had gone on until late at night, he spoke in a low voice.
“Is there someone named Jin Tae-rim among the people we picked up this time?”
At his question, one of the adjutants flipped through the stack of documents placed in front of him, as if searching for the name. Only the rustling sound of paper cut through the silence. After quite some time, the adjutant finally answered.
“He’s here, Section Chief!”
Oh Chung-seong snatched the documents handed to him. The charge written on them was concise.
Suspicion of stealing and transporting military supplies from a U.S. military base.
It was an all-too-common charge in times like these. He frowned.
‘Baek Min-woo wouldn’t bother paying attention to some petty criminal like this……?’
As his eyes scanned down the page, one line under special notes caught his attention.
“What’s this?”
“Ah……. That means he’s suspected to be one of the members of the smuggler Sea Whale’s organization.”
“Sea Whale? Was that guy even real?”
Sea Whale. A nickname for a ghost-like smuggler said to roam the waters off Busan, putting ships out to sea whether a typhoon came or a storm blew.
“Yes. It’s certain that he exists as a real person. We just don’t know who he is.”
“Then are we sure this guy is one of his men?”
“……We’re not certain.”
“What are the odds?”
“We estimate around ten percent.”
“Damn it.”
Oh Chung-seong spat out a short curse as he tossed the documents onto the desk.
He fell into thought for a moment. The young man named Baek Min-woo was not someone who made meaningless moves. There had to be a reason he asked him to pull out someone named Jin Tae-rim.
‘Sea Whale. Sea Whale, huh……. Is he trying to grab Sea Whale’s tail through this guy? And he’s using me for it? Insolent bastard.’
Guessing at Baek Min-woo’s intentions on his own, Oh Chung-seong curled his lips into a sneer. Being used left a bad taste in his mouth, but a promise was a promise.
“Where is he right now?”
“He’s in the underground interrogation room…… but he’s scheduled to be transferred to the military police soon. Since it involves military supplies, it’s not under our jurisdiction.”
“Stop the transfer. I need to meet him myself.”
“But Section Chief, that’s a clear abuse of authority…….”
“Enough. I’ll take full responsibility.”
Cutting off his subordinate firmly, Oh Chung-seong stood up from his seat. The adjutant hurriedly followed behind him.
With the sound of a heavy iron door opening, they stepped into the dark, damp underground interrogation room.
At the unpleasant stench filling the musty basement, Oh Chung-seong twisted his face and covered his nose.
“What is this smell?”
“He lost control during the interrogation…….”
“Tsk.”
In the chair placed in front of an old steel desk sat a man with his head bowed low.
“Manage things better. At this rate, you’ll all get sick too.”
“S-sorry.”
“That’s enough. Get out.”
At Oh Chung-seong’s words, the adjutant quietly closed the door and left. Once the door shut, perfect silence filled the interrogation room.
Oh Chung-seong sat down in the chair opposite Jin Tae-rim and stared straight at him.
Sensing someone’s presence, Jin Tae-rim slowly raised his head. A swollen face, split lips. It looked like he had gone through quite an ordeal overnight.
“Are you Jin Tae-rim?”
“…….”
“Answer when I ask you.”
“That’s right.”
A short, dry reply. In his unfocused eyes was the emptiness of someone who had already given everything up.
“Do you know who I am?”
“You must be someone from the Central Intelligence Agency.”
“You know that and you still act like this?”
“You weren’t going to let me live anyway, were you? You people torture your own citizens without mercy—would you treat a Chinese man like me as a human being?”
At the thoroughly cynical reply, Oh Chung-seong lifted one eyebrow.
Oh Chung-seong knew this type of man all too well. Someone who could give up on himself, but could never give up on his family.
He picked up the documents in front of him and began reciting Jin Tae-rim’s personal details.
“A wife, one son and one daughter…….”
When Oh Chung-seong mentioned his family, the dead look in Jin Tae-rim’s eyes stirred.
“What are you doing? They’ve done nothing wrong…….”
“Whether there’s guilt or not is something we decide.”
Coldly cutting him off, Oh Chung-seong shrugged as he set the paper down.
“And you’re also raising a nephew. You really live diligently.”
“……Didn’t I say it was all my fault? I did it just to survive. I only loaded the goods onto the truck and transported them as I was told.”
“Sea Whale.”
“What the hell is that? Why do you keep saying that to me? Sea Whale, Sea Cow bastard, whatever it is, I don’t know anything.”
Jin Tae-rim spoke with a voice that sounded genuinely wronged.
“Someone asked me to pull you out. Do you really not know the real Sea Whale?”
“Who in the world would ask for me to be pulled out? That makes no sense…….”
“Baek Min-woo. Don’t you know him?”
Just as Jin Tae-rim was about to say he didn’t know, the name of the person his nephew A-seong had excitedly talked about surfaced in his mind.
‘Baek Min-woo……. A-seong said he was the one guiding the way, didn’t he?’
When Jin Tae-rim didn’t answer right away, Oh Chung-seong pulled up the corner of his mouth as if he had expected it.
“Looks like you do know him.”
“I heard my nephew say he was someone who guided the way. Other than that, I don’t know anything. There’s no reason for him to ask to pull me out, is there?”
“Your nephew might have asked, or he might be trying to find Sea Whale through you. Whatever the case, it’s true that Baek Min-woo asked for you to be pulled out. He even offered a bribe of a thousand dollars.”
“What the hell is this…….”
Jin Tae-rim was confused. One thousand dollars. It was an amount he might not even manage to save after working for years without spending a single cent.
Oh Chung-seong leaned forward and spoke with a deep smile.
“I’ll get you out of here. In return, you need to do me one favor.”
“……A favor?”
“Report to me immediately what Baek Min-woo is trying to find out through you, and why he’s trying to pull you out. Got it?”
“Why should I do that?”
“Then go to the military police as you are and get shot, or be sunk into the sea without anyone knowing. Of course, your family won’t be safe either.”
Oh Chung-seong stood up from his seat. It meant he had no intention of bargaining further.
In a deal where the scales were already tipped, there was only one answer Jin Tae-rim could give.
“I understand. Is that all I have to do?”
At those words, Oh Chung-seong turned around as if he had been waiting for them. A deep arc formed at the corner of his mouth.
He approached Jin Tae-rim again and whispered quietly into his ear.
“Engrave this into your bones. From now on, your life and your family’s lives are in my hands. The moment you harbor any other thoughts, your family will taste hell.”
With that chilling warning, Oh Chung-seong opened the interrogation room door. Then, with a nod of his chin, he gave instructions to the adjutant waiting outside.
“Release this guy. Process him as not guilty due to insufficient evidence. Ah, before letting him out, have him washed up and treated.”
I only opened my eyes in the afternoon.
“Ugh……. Section Chief Oh is a real booze whale, a booze whale.”
I wasn’t the type to be called weak to alcohol wherever I went, but Oh Chung-seong wasn’t someone to take lightly either.
Of course, his personality wasn’t easy to deal with either.
“Section Chief Oh never reveals what he’s really thinking either.”
When I ran into Kwon Do-hyeong at the police station, whether it was an inferiority complex or jealousy toward him, I did glimpse a trace of such emotions.
“People like that are all the more loyal to the ones who pull them up.”
After sitting briefly to organize my thoughts, I left the room and went down the stairs.
I felt the gazes of the Chinese residents gathered inside the restaurant, but I ignored them and looked for President Wang. President Wang, who happened to be sitting at the counter, noticed me and stood up to approach.
“President Wang. Please call A-seong. Make something light for a hangover and bring it up……. And prepare something simple that A-seong can eat as well.”
“Understood.”
President Wang stepped closer to me and asked in a low voice.
“Th-then……. when are you planning to start exchanging the money?”
“After all the deposit periods end. Please handle the coordination in between. Even the dollars I have are limited, so I can’t exchange for everyone, can I? Rather than exchanging large sums, it would be better to exchange small amounts for everyone.”
“Yes. Understood. I’ll pass it along that way.”
I went back up to the third floor and once again read through the information on the smuggler who would help Min-soo stow away to Taiwan.
While I was reading the documents, President Wang came in with A-seong. I roughly gathered the documents scattered messily across the table and tossed them onto the bed.
President Wang placed the simple food on the table and left. A-seong sat down weakly at the table, his face hollow.
“A-seong, what’s with your complexion after just one day?”
“I couldn’t really sleep.”
It seemed that after his uncle was taken away, he hadn’t been able to sleep properly all night, worrying constantly. In times like these, if someone got taken, they usually didn’t come back, so it was only natural to worry.
I patted A-seong’s small shoulder and spoke.
“Your uncle will be released today or tomorrow, so don’t worry and just make sure you eat properly.”
A-seong’s eyes widened. The darkness that had hung over his eyes vanished in an instant, replaced with hope.
“Really?”
“Yes. I met the person in charge and got a promise. He’ll be out soon.”
“Thank you. Thank you, big brother!”
A-seong bowed repeatedly.
“That’s enough. Don’t wear yourself out already—just guide the way properly. Let’s eat first, then there’s somewhere we need to go today, so come with me.”
“Yes!”
After finishing the meal with A-seong, I handed him the documents.
“Do you know where this place is?”
After receiving the documents, A-seong nodded as if he recognized it immediately.
“It’s Captain Noh.”
“Someone you know?”
“I don’t know what kind of work he does. But whenever he stops by Chinatown, he greets me and always gives me some pocket money. Ah, right. I do know that he runs something called Full Catch Trading Company and sells ship supplies and general goods around Gamcheon Port.”
“Yeah? You know where it is, right?”
“Yes. It’s a bit tucked away, but Gamcheon Port is basically my territory too, so I can find it.”
“Good. Let’s move.”
“Yes, big brother!”
At A-seong’s spirited reply, I let out a small smile.
The air at Gamcheon Port, mixed with the salty smell of the sea and the stench of rotting fish, was even more suffocating than at the North Port.
After wandering through maze-like alleys for quite some time under A-seong’s guidance, we came to a stop in front of an old, shabby sign that read ‘Full Catch Trading Company’.
But something felt off.
The shop door, which should have been tightly shut, was half-broken and hanging open, and faint groans were leaking out from inside.
“Big brother. Something’s…….”
“Stay back.”
I sent A-seong behind me and cautiously stepped inside.
The interior of the shop was utter chaos. All the furnishings were smashed and strewn about, and three or four burly men lay collapsed on the floor, bleeding.
“Hey! Get a hold of yourself!”
I shook one of the men by the shoulder.
The man let out a groan and barely opened his eyes, then stared into empty space with eyes filled with terror and muttered something.
“Th-the captain……. The captain…….”
“What about Captain Noh? What happened?”
“Sea……Whale…….”
“Sea Whale? What does that mean?”
But with that, the man lost consciousness again. The others were the same.
Those who had come to their senses all muttered the words Sea Whale blankly, as if on cue.
“What the hell is this now, damn it.”
For now, I decided to avoid the place. When we stepped outside, A-seong was looking around nervously.
“A-seong.”
“Big brother. What happened? What about Captain Noh?”
“He seems to have been kidnapped.”
“What? Kidnapped?”
“Let’s get out of here first. We could end up taking the blame for no reason.”
I grabbed A-seong and quickly left the area.
“For now, let’s go back to Chinatown. I need to ask President Wang.”
After arriving in Chinatown and sending the still-shaken A-seong back, I entered Deokhwa Ru. The moment I opened the door, I spoke toward President Wang at the counter.
“Let’s talk.”
At my unusually serious tone, President Wang nodded and led me to the innermost office where the phone was.
“Did something happen? Did things not go well?”
“It’s not that……. President Wang, you know Captain Noh, right?”
At the mention of Captain Noh, President Wang hesitated briefly, then nodded.
“Yes. I do. But what’s going on?”
“I needed to meet him…….”
I told him what I had seen at Full Catch Trading Company. As he listened, President Wang’s face gradually hardened.
“Sea Whale…….”
“Do you know what that is?”
“A smuggler. No one knows exactly who it is. Some say it’s a Chinese man, others say Korean. In any case, he’s like a ghost.”
“What does that even…….”
“Looks like Captain Noh ran into the Sea Whale. That’s probably why he was attacked.”
“……You don’t know who it is either, President Wang?”
With a grave expression, President Wang slowly shook his head.
“They’re not even certain to exist. Whether it’s one person or the name of an organization, even that isn’t clear.”
“Is that possible?”
“That’s why they call it a ghost. It does exist. Several smugglers have disappeared without a trace because of the Sea Whale.”