The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 81



081 – The More Expensive the Liquor, the Better It Burns

081 – The More Expensive the Liquor, the Better It Burns

The impression of Seo Do-cheol, whom I met in the chairman’s office of the Seonam Building, had changed drastically since the last time, and it was quite surprising.

His hair was disheveled as if it hadn’t been washed for days, and his body reeked of alcohol.

He felt more like a survivor of a ruined world than the chairman of a conglomerate.

The man in front of me must be living his own apocalypse right now.

“Han Nam-jin, do you know how many people are suffering because of you? Do you know how many people are in pain because our Seonam’s stock price has plummeted?”

That was the first thing he said when he met me.

I wondered if he had found the wrong person to blame.

“If you called a busy person just to say that, I’ll just leave.”

“But! I can make everything that has happened so far disappear. If you find my daughter Seo Ga-eul and bring Nam San-ho to me, I can forgive everything.”

“Nam San-ho?”

Did this man also realize that “The Mind of the Zombie” is Nam San-ho?

He looked around as if to make sure no one was there, then spoke softly.

“The kidnapper of Seo Ga-eul is Nam San-ho. It can’t be anyone else. He’s Nam Tae-gun’s adopted son. In this martial law situation, no one will dare to touch him. They can’t afford to turn Nam Tae-gun into an enemy…!”

What? Unfortunately, he guessed wrong.

The kidnapper is me, and the Mind of the Zombie is Nam San-ho.

It was a stroke of luck for me, but a terrible misfortune for the man in front of me.

“When the terrorist approaches the kidnapper Nam San-ho, you can step in and deal with both of them. I’m not asking you to do it for free. It won’t be a bad deal for you either.”

Swoosh-.

Seo Do-cheol pointed to a corner of the chairman’s office with his chin.

“Do you see the money piled up over there? It’s 1 billion won in cash. If you succeed in finding my daughter Seo Ga-eul, I’ll add the same amount again. It’s not a bad deal.”

Seo Do-cheol’s expression was confident.

1 billion won.

Even for me, it would take time to calculate how many packs of ramen I could buy with such a large amount.

It was an incredible amount of money.

The volume and impact were enormous.

But Seo Do-cheol’s story was wrong.

“Father-in-law. What you should do to me is not forgiveness, but an apology, isn’t it?”

“What? You b*stard!”

Seodo-cheol looked at me with a flushed face, trembling all over.

The sight of his bloodshot eyes was better than the neat middle-aged man I had seen before.

“Why should I apologize to you!”

“If you can’t apologize, just take the 1 billion won over there as an advance payment. While you’re at it, give me a drink and a cigarette.”

As I took a step back, Seodo-cheol’s expression turned strange.

“Yes. That’s right. It’s a bundle of 1 billion won in cash. It’s well-laundered, so you won’t get in trouble even if you spend it. Even for me, it wasn’t easy to come up with this much cash on short notice.”

For the first time, I saw a crack in his heart.

「Name: Seodo-cheol」

「Status: 《Sense of Achievement》 – He feels great pleasure in having subdued you with his own will. His belief that anything can be solved with money has become even more solid.」

“Learning to drink from an adult is the right way. You’re lucky. Do you know how much this whiskey costs? Just one glass of this is a price that ordinary mixed-breed folks can’t even dream of with their monthly salary.”

Seodo-cheol, who regained his composure like a benevolent Buddha.

His voice even contained a hint of tolerance, as if forgiving a child who had made a mistake.

He soon handed me a glass of whiskey and a thick cigar with a very proud attitude.

“Joining hands with me means living in this kind of world.”

Seeing the whiskey shining like a jewel reminded me of Manager Kim Jang-dong.

That man really liked his drinks.

Clink-. Swish-.

I sprinkled the whiskey I received from Seodo-cheol onto the 1 billion won cash pile in front of me.

Then, Seodo-cheol’s previously relaxed expression twisted into that of a demon.

“What are you doing! Stop it! Stop!”

Before Seodo-cheol could stop me, the cigarette in my hand fell onto the pile of money.

Whoosh-!

The flames flared up in an instant.

Expensive liquor is indeed good.

Thinking back, expensive-looking liquor bottles were also good for making Molotov cocktails.

“You crazy b*stard!!! Do you know how much this is!!! This!!!!”

Watching the 1 billion won cash bundle burn in an instant, Seodo-cheol made a sound like a boiling kettle.

He flailed around, trying to block it with his body, but it was futile.

“You brat!”

“I don’t need money, so if I succeed in taking down Namsanho and bringing Seo Ga-eul, you will kneel and apologize for all the wrongs you’ve done so far.”

“Shut up! You worthless mongrel! I have never once in my life knelt down!”

“Then find someone else.”

Whoosh-.

As I turned my back, Seo Do-cheol stomped his foot with a bang.

Unable to hold back, he finally shouted at my back.

“Fine! Alright! If you bring my daughter back safely, I’ll apologize or whatever you want! But if you fail? You’ll pay the price. Be prepared. Ten billion won’t even come close!”

“Just give me three days.”

# # #

Ssshh-.

The fire prevention sprinkler activated, soaking the charred bundles of money.

Seo Do-cheol sat on top of them like a chair.

Using ten billion in cash as a sofa felt like committing a crime.

But Han Nam-jin, who had set the fire, showed no hesitation.

“A brat who doesn’t know the value of money…!”

The mistake of a whelp who doesn’t understand the worth of ten billion.

I wanted to think of it that way and move on, but that wasn’t the reality.

Han Nam-jin knew better than anyone the value of ten billion, which is why he set it on fire.

Money and power mean nothing to him─.

He must have wanted to show that.

‘Since he can’t be threatened with money and power, the prestige of Namsanho means nothing to him. No matter who the opponent is, if they show a gap, he’ll bite.’

The problem was that Seo Do-cheol himself was also likely to be bitten by Han Nam-jin.

If Han Nam-jin brought Seo Ga-eul back within three days, Seo Do-cheol would have to kneel and apologize in front of him.

Because of that, he couldn’t purely rejoice at Han Nam-jin rescuing his daughter.

If only he could hold Han Nam-jin’s leash.

After much contemplation, Seo Do-cheol picked up the phone and contacted a man.

“Is this Section Chief Kim Jang-dong of the Superhuman Management Agency? I have something to ask about a student under your supervision. If you’re not busy, I’d like to meet today. I’ll pay whatever it takes.”

Seo Do-cheol knew that when Han Nam-jin got out of the detention center due to ‘insufficient evidence,’ it was Section Chief Kim Jang-dong of the Superhuman Management Agency who had intervened.

That man would know information that could hold Han Nam-jin’s leash.

“Chief Kim. Isn’t your daughter entering high school this year? I heard she’s learning music, but art usually costs a lot of money, doesn’t it?”

Fortunately, Section Chief Kim Jang-dong was a man who could be persuaded with relatively little money, unlike Han Nam-jin.

Fathers raising daughters always seemed to lack money.

After some time, Section Chief Kim Jang-dong arrived and frowned at the throne of burnt money bundles.

“Did Nam-jin do this? What a waste.”

“Who else could it be? You’re a busy man, so I’ll get straight to the point. How can I rein in that brat?”

At that question, Kim Jang-dong sighed lightly.

“There are many things I don’t know about Nam-jin. I can’t tell you more than what you already know.”

Kim Jang-dong held his tongue.

“For civil servants like me, the pension after retirement is a big hope. I just want to go safely and steadily, even if it’s thin.”

Kim Jang-dong’s passive attitude gave Seo Do-cheol a lot of information.

The powerful department of the 7th Bureau, the “Superhuman Management Agency.”

Even there, a man like Kim Jang-dong, who had strong influence, was cautious with his words. There couldn’t be many reasons for that.

How many people were above Kim Jang-dong?

“Is protecting Han Nam-jin a directive from the president? Is he a candidate for adoption like Nam Woo-joo or Nam San-ho?”

As far as Seo Do-cheol knew, Nam Tae-gun had a perverse hobby of recruiting young people with distinctive personalities as his adopted children.

Like a club owner collecting excellent players, he collected adoptees.

If Han Nam-jin, who had recently been at the center of a storm of incidents, caught Nam Tae-gun’s eye and became a candidate for adoption?

It was reasonable to think that Han Nam-jin’s rampages were tolerated under Nam Tae-gun’s tacit protection.

‘It’s rather strange that Nam Tae-gun hasn’t approached Han Nam-jin until now. That guy is a pervert who wants to collect unique teenagers at all costs.’

Turning Korea into his kingdom and passing it on to his successor─.

That was Nam Tae-gun’s dream.

At least, that’s what Seo Do-cheol, who had worked for him, knew.

But there was something he couldn’t understand.

‘If things go on like this, Han Nam-jin’s teeth will eventually reach Nam Tae-gun’s most fatal weakness. Nam Tae-gun himself couldn’t be unaware of that. Yet, he still wants to protect Han Nam-jin?’

Was he confident that Han Nam-jin wouldn’t bite him?

‘Is it arrogance?’

Seo Do-cheol recalled the man Nam Tae-gun, who was always full of confidence.

There was a time when he, too, had been captivated by that confidence and had walked the same path.

“Chairman, I just hope that Autumn Yang returns safely. It seems that Nam-jin quite liked Autumn Yang. He even made the invitation card himself.”

Swoosh-.

Kim Jang-dong handed the strangely shaped wedding invitation to Seo Do-chul and left the chairman’s office. In his hand as he boarded the car was a box of apples, out of season.

Seo Do-chul sat for a while, staring at the invitation.

The invitation was something someone had made clumsily on the back of a piece of scrap paper, with “Bride: Seo Ga-eul” and “Groom: Ha Nam-jin” written on it, looking almost like a child’s prank.

“If Ha Nam-jin becomes Nam Tae-gun’s adopted son…”

With Nam Woo-joo, who was mentioned as the crown prince of the 7th Gong, now missing, the position of the president’s successor was practically vacant.

In a situation where it was clear that the adopted sons would wage a fierce war over that position, if Seo Do-chul himself gave his support to Ha Nam-jin…

It wouldn’t be just a dream for Ha Nam-jin to become the successor of the 7th Gong.

And he liked Seo Do-chul’s daughter, Seo Ga-eul.

Seo Do-chul realized that his daughter, Seo Ga-eul, was the answer to all the problems.

He had to find his daughter as soon as possible.

So what was Seo Ga-eul doing now?

Seo Ga-eul was in a struggle with the strange darkness that was creeping into the room.

“Hey! Yoo Yeoreum! Shine over there! Quickly!”

Creeping-

The thick darkness, like squid ink, was creeping in through the very narrow crack in the door.