novelraw Chapter 79 : Shouldn’t Someone Be Held Accountable?
Chapter 79 : Shouldn’t Someone Be Held Accountable?
Chapter 79: Shouldn’t Someone Be Held Accountable?
『 TL – Marctempest 』 『 ED – Laplace 』
In the early dawn, a small dinghy glided over the black waves with its engine noise completely stifled.
Jin Tae-rim stood at the edge of the boat, pulling his collar tight against the fierce sea wind.
Tension was clearly etched across his face. More than the wounds he had received in the KCIA interrogation room, the reality he was about to face now chilled him to the bone.
How much time had passed? Far off on the horizon, a faint light appeared like a single dot.
It was the promised signal. The dinghy changed course toward the light.
Soon, the outline of a massive rocky island emerged. It was the base of the Sea Whale. As Jin Tae-rim set foot on the island, two organization members who had followed him down began to guide him.
“What’s going on?”
At Jin Tae-rim’s question, one of the organization members shrugged his shoulders.
“No idea. Guess you’ll find out when we get there.”
The inside of the warehouse was still divided into two worlds.
On one side, the Chinese organization members were noisily clattering mahjong tiles, while on the other, the Korean Organization Members silently tended to their knives, focused on their own work.
And at the boundary between those two worlds, deep within the thickest darkness, sat Han Do-gyeong of the Sea Whale.
Under a dim light, he was fixing an old fishing rod. As if completely cut off from all the noise of the world, an eerie stillness lingered around him alone.
Without even lifting his head, Han Do-gyeong quietly asked,
“You’re here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jin Tae-rim knelt in front of him and bowed his head.
The Chinese organization members who had been playing mahjong stopped moving and all turned their gaze in that direction.
“Explain how you got out of the KCIA bastards.”
There was no emotion in his voice as he pulled the fishing line taut. But Jin Tae-rim knew well that this calm was like the silence before a storm.
Swallowing his dry saliva, Jin Tae-rim opened his mouth just as he had prepared.
“Baek Min-woo intervened.”
“Why would that bastard do that?”
“I think it was because of my nephew, Aseong. He came down to Busan and had Aseong guide him around, and it seems they grew attached during that time. He said he didn’t want to see the kid grieving, so he got me out.”
For a while, Han Do-gyeong said nothing, merely fiddling with the tip of the fishing hook.
As if by a lie, every sound in the warehouse stopped. All the organization members held their breath, listening intently to the conversation between the two men.
“For such a trivial reason?”
At last, Han Do-gyeong spoke and let out a faint chuckle.
“For such a worthless reason, Oh Chung-seong, the KCIA’s mad dog, moved? That bastard was no ordinary man. They say he was dragged to the police station and turned the whole place upside down before walking out. A man with that kind of power saved you just because of one child? You expect me to believe that?”
His cold, icy voice was thick with suspicion.
Realizing that Han Do-gyeong already knew most of the truth, Jin Tae-rim felt a chill run down his spine.
“Honestly, it sounds more believable that Oh Chung-seong and that man worked together and used you to try and catch me.”
Han Do-gyeong did not raise his voice even slightly. That made it all the more terrifying.
Jin Tae-rim swallowed his dry saliva without realizing it.
“Do you believe that story yourself?”
“……It’s true that it’s hard to believe. But I met that man yesterday. When he talked about Aseong, there was no calculation in his eyes.”
Moistening his parched lips, Jin Tae-rim recalled Baek Min-woo’s face. At least his gaze had been sincere.
“What did that bastard want from you?”
“He said he wanted nothing. He just wanted to see Aseong smile…….”
“Interesting.”
Cutting Jin Tae-rim off, Han Do-gyeong rose from his seat.
“Bring him in.”
Captain Noh, who had been hanging in tatters at the corner of the warehouse, was dragged over like a slaughtered pig.
“Has this bastard explained why President Wang is looking for him?”
“Not yet, hyung.”
“Is that so?”
Han Do-gyeong pulled a knife from the waist of a nearby organization member. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he cut off Captain Noh’s little finger.
“Aaagh!”
With a short scream, Captain Noh came to his senses.
“Captain Noh. This is your last chance to die cleanly. Why is President Wang looking for you?”
“…….”
“I’ll ask one last time. Why is he looking for you?”
“A superior…… a superior contacted me. He said someone named Baek Min-woo would come, and told me to send one child to Taiwan…….”
“Baek Min-woo? So you’re saying that bastard Baek Min-woo is your client.”
Captain Noh hurriedly nodded his head.
Han Do-gyeong’s gaze turned back to Jin Tae-rim. A chilling light flickered in his eyes.
“All of this chaos over a single brat. Jin Tae-rim, do you think I look like a fool?”
“It truly is a coincidence, sir. The timing doesn’t line up. I was taken first, then he met the KCIA and personally negotiated for my release. He said it was only after he went to see Captain Noh that he realized the man had disappeared. That’s why he urgently asked around through President Wang.”
Han Do-gyeong approached Jin Tae-rim, who was kneeling, and squatted down in front of him.
“Tae-rim. I told you to lie low quietly, didn’t I? Then why did you go and complicate things by doing something else?”
“If I’m to support my family…….”
“Didn’t I give you enough money? I even gave you money to run a shop. Then why do illegal things? What are you going to do if our identity gets exposed because of you?”
Among those who had been caught before, everyone except Jin Tae-rim was no more than a tail, people who didn’t even know of his existence.
But Jin Tae-rim was different. He was the only one who knew his face and alias.
“I need to meet that bastard. Bring him to me.”
“Sir.”
“What? Can’t you do it? Or should I keep suspecting you?”
“…….”
“If you don’t want to see your entire family become fish feed, bring him before me. This is your last chance.”
“……Understood.”
Han Do-gyeong rose to his feet, tossing the blood-stained knife onto the floor.
“Feed Captain Noh to the fish.”
“Yes, hyung.”
He then spoke to Wang Hae, who was watching the situation from among the Chinese group.
“Captain Wang. You take responsibility and bring him in.”
“Of course, sir.”
Wang Hae walked up to Jin Tae-rim and slung an arm around his shoulders.
“Brother. Are you alright where you were hurt? Tsk. Your face really took a beating.”
“Captain…….”
“Let’s head out first. I’ve got more than one or two things I want to ask you as well.”
Wang Hae and the Chinese organization members surrounded Jin Tae-rim and filed out of the warehouse.
Han Do-gyeong watched them leave, then picked up the fishing rod again and resumed tidying it.
* * *
“Section Chief Oh’s misunderstanding, it was not.”
Jin Tae-rim let out a deep breath, as if he had reached a silent resolve. His gaze no longer wavered.
“I was a man of the Sea Whale.”
In that instant, the air in the room froze.
Without realizing it, I held my breath. My heart sank coldly. Inside my head, the countless puzzle pieces that had been scattered in chaos began snapping into place like madness.
The reason the KCIA had linked Jin Tae-rim to the Sea Whale. The ghost-like organization I had searched for so desperately—one of its members had been this man, Aseong’s uncle, who had now become a pawn of the KCIA.
As if he had read the confusion on my face, he continued.
“More precisely, I was an administrator who managed the Sea Whale’s contact agents.”
As he said that, a self-mocking smile surfaced on his face.
The figurehead of an organization called a ghost. A tail that had to bear every danger on the front line, one that would not be strange to cut off at any moment.
“And the Captain Noh you’re looking for is already no longer a person of this world.”
“What did you say?”
Ignoring my sharp retort, Jin Tae-rim spoke calmly.
“He broke our rules. He dealt in human trafficking and drugs. To cover it up, he tried to hand our information over to the KCIA and the police.”
His voice was low and even, but the cruelty contained within it sent a chill down my spine.
“He’s already become fish feed, and you won’t even be able to find the body.”
After finishing, Jin Tae-rim looked at me with eyes that seemed to have let go of everything.
His gaze felt as if it were asking me this.
Could I bear this truth? Was I prepared to face the vast abyss called the Sea Whale?
Instead of answering, I leaned back against the chair. It felt as though my mind had gone completely blank.
The ship that was supposed to carry Min-soo away had already sunk, and its captain had been buried in the sea.
Every plan had turned into foam before it even began.
I had turned back decades of time and moved everything according to my will without a single mistake.
The absolute advantage of knowing the future. It had made me arrogant. But now, I was a wrecked ship that had crashed into a massive reef I had never known existed.
“…….”
I couldn’t say anything. Anger? Emptiness? No—it was a cold helplessness beyond all of that.
It felt like my collar was being seized by the invisible hand called fate, the very thing I had despised so much.
Letting out a deep sigh, I asked coldly.
“……So why did you come to find me and tell me all this?”
“I thought you were trying to approach me through Aseong. I’m sorry about that.”
In this line of work, suspicion was an instinct for survival. I had no intention of blaming the desire to live.
“That’s not what’s important. I want to know why you’re telling me this now. You could’ve said it yesterday, couldn’t you?”
“Because I couldn’t trust you.”
His answer was brutally realistic. I straightened my posture and met his eyes.
“I didn’t know who you were, or what purpose you had in looking for Captain Noh. You could’ve been working with him, or just another bastard trying to use him. Just because my nephew Aseong followed you, there was no reason for me to trust you as well.”
Jin Tae-rim’s gaze changed. He was no longer testing or guarding against me.
“The Sea Whale has begun taking an interest in you.”
“The Sea Whale… is interested in me?”
“Didn’t they get me out? They’re curious about what your intentions are.”
The Sea Whale had begun taking an interest in me. Something that had never happened in my previous life—what kind of variable would this become?
“So that’s why you came to take me?”
“Personally, I’d recommend not meeting them. You’re the kind of person who could go anywhere.”
As Jin Tae-rim nodded, his voice trembled slightly. I could glimpse the deep-seated fear beneath it.
“If I don’t go, you and Aseong will be safe?”
“…….”
I walked toward the window and slightly parted the curtain, checking outside. I could feel eyes watching Deokhwa Pavilion.
“Well, I kind of want to meet them too. Let’s go.”
“Did you even hear what I said properly?”
“Yes. The Sea Whale wants to see me, and if I follow you, I’ll meet them. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“……You’re saying you’ll go there alone? Are you out of your mind?”
I looked at him in disbelief.
“It’s funny hearing that from the guy who came to take me.”
“……I couldn’t deceive you. You already knew everything. It wasn’t intentional.”
It had started with good intentions. The flap of a butterfly’s wings, born from a small kindness, had grown into a massive storm and swept all the way here.
But it wasn’t like I could just complain that the wind was strong.
“If I run away alone, would my conscience be at ease? And Captain Noh is dead—shouldn’t someone be held accountable?”
The fear-filled look in Jin Tae-rim’s eyes changed. He stared at me as if he were looking at a madman. I lightly jerked my chin toward him.
“What’s the worst that could happen? Death? Let’s go see first.”
Jin Tae-rim couldn’t say anything, only staring at me blankly.
I left the room first. He would follow on his own. Sure enough, as I passed through the corridor and went down the stairs, I could hear Jin Tae-rim hurriedly following behind me.
The moment I opened the doors of Deokhwa Pavilion and stepped into the darkness of Chinatown, I could feel it.
Foreign gazes mixed into the air. Shadows hiding in the dark, watching us.
There wasn’t just one. Two, three…… no, even more.
But I acted as if nothing was wrong, lightly tapping his shoulder and taking the lead.
“Lead the way.”
We began walking in silence. Each time we passed through narrow, winding alleys, the shadows followed us soundlessly.
They neither closed the distance nor fell back, maintaining a perfect, deliberate gap.
The place we arrived at was an old pier at the southern edge of Yeongdo, no longer in use.
At the end of the creaking wooden pier, only a single small dinghy was precariously moored. And standing on that dinghy was a man. The man, half-hidden by deep shadows, spoke.
“Is this him?”
At the man’s question, Jin Tae-rim nodded.
Only then did the shadows that had followed us from behind reveal themselves from the darkness. Without a word, they extended the black cloth they were holding. A blindfold to cover my eyes.
“It’s the rule. The Sea Whale’s base must never be known to anyone.”
Jin Tae-rim explained quietly. I took the blindfold and, with my own hands, shut my eyes away into darkness.
The men each supported one of my arms. Their hands were rough, but there was no unnecessary threat.
Soon, I felt the dull vibration beneath my feet as the boat began to rock.
A moment later, with the low hum of an engine, the boat departed.