Rust - Chapter 7



Only Krnovel

Rust [RUST]-7

The roads near Haneda Airport were jam-packed.

People’s anxiety was heightened by the fact that a magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck immediately after a magnitude 3.8 to 4.1 earthquake near Tokyo. The epicenter was even moving from the outskirts of Tokyo toward the city center.

The next time an earthquake hits, 6.0? 7.0? Who knows? Even at 2 a.m., the roads to Haneda Airport were jammed with cars.

[Wow, all seats are sold out. If I hadn’t made a reservation, I would have had to stay in Japan all weekend. Up until yesterday, the seats on the flight to Korea were completely empty, but now I see them being sold out right before my eyes. This is what 129 feels like.]

With Korea-Japan relations on the verge of collapse, the number of Incheon-Haneda flights has been drastically reduced due to the coronavirus outbreak. Even so, it was surprising that all seats were sold out.

As Japan abolished its visa waiver program for Korea, Korea also abolished its visa waiver program for Japan in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.

So, the Japanese people who are waiting for a flight to Korea right now have Korean visas. Did they have them in advance? Are they preparing their Korean visas in advance because they are anti-Korean? What should I call this? Or is it because of the earthquake that Koreans are flocking to Korea for a weekend?

“Did you check in?”

[I thought I’d say something different, so I did it as soon as I got here. My flight is at 6 o’clock, but this is my first time checking in 4 hours early.]

“I’m also taking a taxi right now.”

[Taxi? Japanese taxi? Where did the money come from? No, you earned the money well, but···]

“What are you riding at 2am? You have to get there as fast as possible.”

[That’s true. The roads are really congested, and since it’s a taxi, the airport is really crowded. Let’s meet outside. I’ll call you when I arrive.]

“okay.”

Anyway, the earthquake was a good excuse. ‘Why did you come back without saying anything?’ Then, what if he said, ‘The earthquake kept happening, so I ran away because I was scared.’

“Hey. What’s going on? You were in Japan for two months and your hair went bald?”

Ki-soon pecked at the floor and chewed on the ice from her iced Americano with a face that said she was going to explode.

“No, why?”

“No, why? You were working and you saw a rib with drugs in it, and you set it on fire and ran away?”

“Ah- I was really surprised and ran away… I was worried that I would get chased, so I set fire to it, but it would be crazy.”

Ki-soon shook her head from side to side.

“Hey, think about it. If that’s a yakuza drug operation, there’s probably a lot of drugs there.”

“yes.”

Maru nodded, recalling the clusters of translucent crystals piled at the bottom of the safe.

“So there were only drugs there? They were disguised as a livestock processing plant.”

“huh”

“Hey kid, what the hell are you talking about? What do you think the yakuza would have done to run a livestock business? It’s not just drug distribution, but they must have also been laundering money, right?”

“Ah- money laundering.”

Maru thought of the wads of gold bars that were on top of the safe and in the middle. The money that seemed to be over 8 billion that he had left in the safe. 8 billion that was left in the safe. My kids… Damn it.

Ki-sun looked at Maru’s blank expression and chewed on the ice again. Ki-sun put down the cup of iced Americano with the ice missing and continued talking.

“Hey. You’re really my friend, but how did you end up like this? Huh? It’s normal for your brain to get wrinkled.”

“Oh, why again.”

“You don’t know how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. After slaughtering only meat for two years, did your IQ become like that of a Korean beef? After slaughtering cows, did you become a cow?”

“······,”

If you take this kid’s 8 billion, I’ll just give you soup. Damn it. Maru, whose pride was hurt, shut his mouth tightly. Tsk- Ki-soon clicked his tongue, took a deep breath, and continued talking.

“Let’s look at it from the other side. Maru, you’re the big shot of the yakuza. The place where you were laundering money and running drugs is on fire. What would you think?”

“You must be wondering if another organization is bothering you.”

Ki-soon screamed.

“Hey! No, buddy. Please. You weren’t this kind of character. How did that guy who was so smart end up like this? After two years in the military and two years of wielding a knife, did you roll back your brain after four years? It’s a rollback!”

“Ah- What the heck are you talking about? Just keep going. Don’t annoy people.”

Ki-sun drank the remaining coffee in one gulp as if her chest was tight.

“If the yakuza had openly invaded other yakuza strongholds and set them on fire, the international news and Japanese news would have been filled with yakuza conflict articles every single day. The fact that a livestock farm for money laundering and drug distribution was being run at the place you worked means that it was the yakuza organization’s territory. The fact that there have been no problems so far means that other yakuza also recognize that it is their territory.”

Only then did Maru feel a sense of crisis.

“then?”

“Then what is it? If it wasn’t interfered by another organization, then it’s an internal problem.”

“Internal matter.”

“Yeah, it’s an internal issue. If the Yakuza Oyabun is smart, he’ll first try to find the person involved.”

ah-

If I had known, I would have disposed of Yamatsuki and Morino’s bodies. It would have been better if I had disposed of both of them. Once they were gone, the yakuza would have tried to find them.

Since they set it on fire, the bloodstains would have been erased. They should have just loaded it into a car and thrown it into the sea…

It felt like my criminal intelligence was increasing.

‘How did it end up like this?’

Maru sighed. He just tried to survive somehow and ended up here. He came all the way to Japan, where mutant viruses are rampant, to slaughter cows just to make money. At some point, he started filming a bloody and fiery escape. The fact that it was in progress was even more depressing.

Ki-soon’s story continued regardless of whether Maru’s mood hit rock bottom or not.

“···I’ll go and find the people involved in the company and investigate them. And if they don’t come out even after investigating and investigating them, I’ll look for someone who was there before the fire and disappeared after the fire.”

“A guy who was there and then stopped?”

“The guy who ran away after being there.”

“Fuck···.”

Ki-soon was right.

Why didn’t I think of this?

It was a really simple idea. Maru couldn’t help but curse. But he couldn’t just run away from Japan. If he kept stalling, what would happen if his tourist visa expired? They were drug yakuza who even carried guns.

Suddenly, I remembered the women’s visas and passports that were in the yellow envelope. I was so flustered that I only found my own, but I didn’t know that this might not have been the case.

Maru cleared his mind. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem right now was Maru himself. What if the yakuza came all the way to Korea?

No, right now World Livestock is a company connected to that. So, is World Livestock also a company that launders money from Korean organized crime?

“Well, you’ve cleaned up your dorm and burned down your office, so it’ll be okay for a few days, but what are you going to do after that? It would be best to hide for at least a year. What are you going to do about your house if you hide like that? No. If the gangsters or yakuza find out that you’ve run away, they’ll definitely try to raid your house too.”

“Just for a moment, I think I should give it to you now.”

Maru took out a jacket and a long wallet from the shopping bag and handed them to Ki-sun.

“Clothes? Wallet? Why?”

Ki-soon put on a jacket as if to say, “Is this a gift?” with an expression that said, “When was I so serious?” Since he had a similar build to Maru, the size was just right.

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

Ki-soon opened her wallet and her expression hardened. The wallet, which was full and filled with 100 $100 bills, was gaping open.

“You really? Did you burn it down or rob it?”

Nod

Ki-sun’s expression changed as if she was about to cry.

Maru was really wronged. He fought with his life on the line, and if he survived that way, then it was a spoil.

“Are you crazy? You are crazy. Are you crazy? Yes. You are crazy.”

Ki-soon was really on the verge of tears. What should I do? Maru wrinkled his nose at the subtle smell he sensed for a moment.

“Hey- Don’t you smell something weird now?”

“Smell? What smell?”

“Something fishy and burning? It’s not the smell of burning fish.”

“What’s that smell in the coffee shop? Don’t change the subject.”

“No, I’m not beating around the bush. The ground feels kind of loose.”

“What’s wrong with the floor? Are you really doing this? Are you making me fall?”

“No. That’s not it.”

The floor was so wronged. It wasn’t a strong smell, but it was definitely there. The floor also felt a bit shaky. I thought it couldn’t be happening in an airport coffee shop. But I also felt a subtle sense of unease.

Ki-soon nagged Maru, seeing his expression as if he was about to reveal a secret.

“So tell me everything in detail. What are you hiding from me right now? You don’t think there are any dollars lying around in Japan just waiting to be picked up, do you?”

How much should I say?

It didn’t seem like he was talking about killing people in a fight.

Even though he was my friend’s testicles, saying ‘I killed two yakuza. I shot them with a Beretta 99 instead of a knife.’ seemed like going too far.

‘After killing him, I searched through the bodies and found the safe key, and robbed the safe. About 65kg in weight, including gold and cash?’

This doesn’t seem to be it either.

As Maru closed his mouth and became silent, Ki-sun ran her hand over her face and sighed deeply.

“Ha- Okay. Let’s say there’s something you can’t say. Hey- What’s something you can’t say? Whether it’s in a drawer, a safe, or a cash box, you robbed it of wherever it was. Any traces?”

“I told you I set it on fire.”

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Now it was Ki-sun who was making the most bizarre noises.

“Did you close the drawer and set it on fire? If it was a safe or a cash box, did you at least close the lid before setting it on fire? If you set it on fire with it closed, there should have been ashes inside. If you set it on fire with it wide open and there are no ashes inside, that’s proof that ‘some bastard robbed and set it on fire.’ Why the hell are you doing this?”

‘No, seriously, it was so urgent and chaotic at the time. There was a gunfight and I really thought I was going to die,’ Maru thought.

Because it was already a situation where we were wandering around the Jordan River beyond the Styx, so it was difficult to explain anything.

“Okay. Everything is fine. Anyway, I was lucky. The earthquake happened just in time, and whatever it was, it started a fire. But as I said earlier, what are we going to do about our partner companies in Korea? The companies in Japan are also front companies for the yakuza, so there’s a 100% chance that World Livestock is also a front company for the gangsters.”

Maru remembered something he had forgotten. He had set fire to the fire and was going to call the police right away, but somehow he had forgotten. It was too late now. If he called from a public phone near Haneda Airport, the police would be alerted to Haneda Airport. It was too late here, so what if he stabbed World Livestock?

“What if I report World Livestock to the police?”

Ki-soon now had a look of despair on her face.

“No, seriously. If you report it anonymously to the Narcotics Squad, they’ll be out of their minds too.”

“What happens after that?”

“What happens after that? Why not just move to the countryside and live quietly in hiding?”

“You really don’t know what a gangster is? You think gangsters are funny because they’re portrayed funny in movies? You know, the gangsters make their faces tense, they’re holding clubs and sashimi, and it’s just action-packed, right?”

“Hey, what you’re saying is a bit strange.”

Maru was starting to get annoyed. Ki-sun continued talking as if she was speechless.

“I have some real advice for you. Don’t make fun of gangsters. If gangsters were funny, why would there be people who commit suicide because they are harassed by gangsters? Why would there be people who go missing? It’s good to report to the police or the drug squad, but don’t trust the police. Take care of your own life. Make sure your family members have a place to live.”

Okay. Now that you mention it, I guess it’s okay to do it.

Let’s get rid of the burden on our hearts. Maru placed the bundle in his bag on the table.

“Yeah. So I’m trying to make a little money for my family too. That thing in my wallet earlier isn’t for you. Give it to me, including this.”

So, that adds up to about 40 thousand dollars.

Maru handed him three stacks of $100 bills that he had placed on the table.

Ki-sun now had a liberated expression on her face.

It’s a matter of the account.