Chapter 230.1: Something That I Wanted To Tell You (1)

After dropping Kang Chan off at the hotel, Kim Hyung-Jung headed back.

Kang Chan originally planned to have dinner with Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook, but he had completely lost his appetite due to the conversation earlier. He couldn’t get rid of the spite in his eyes either, making it hard for him to go up to the third floor.

Kang Chan would never allow anyone to send the special forces team to Africa alone. Moreover, as soon as the National Intelligence Service ran over and began investigating the SSIS, Kim Hyung-Jung wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink again.

They had to take care of their business in Mongolia as soon as they could. However, there was only one man who could stop the Russian Mafia—Vasili.

If I knew we were going to end up in this mess, I would have beaten up Andrei a little lighter during our training in France!

Kang Chan was sitting on a sofa in the lobby when he got a call from Kang Dae-Kyung.

- Aren’t you going to have dinner?

“I’m thinking of eating with the agents here.”

- Are you sure?

“Ah! Don’t worry. I’ll be heading back up there in about ten minutes,” Kang Chan replied, having changed his mind. Kang Dae-Kyung would be upset otherwise. It was only proper for him to be considerate of Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook right now since he chose to accompany them to the hotel.

- Don’t overwork yourself.

“I won’t. I’ll be there in a bit.”

Kang Chan rubbed his eyes with his hands, then went up to the third floor.

“Father?” Kang Chan called.

“Hey! Welcome.”

Now that he thought about it, they came here for Yoo Hye-Sook’s reunion. After Kang Dae-Kyung delightedly welcomed Kang Chan, the three ate together.

Mothers were quite strange. Kang Chan always felt as if he was the one taking care of her during occasions like this, but in emergencies and urgent situations, she wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing everything to protect Kang Chan.

How could he disappoint Yoo Hye-Sook after all that she had done for him?

“Mother, say ah!” Kang Chan said.

“Channy!”

“Quickly!”

Yoo Hye-Sook side-eyed Kang Chan but eventually gave in and ate the food he was trying to feed her anyway. She even pretended that she couldn’t win against him.

A few of Yoo Hye-Sook’s previous classmates also brought over their sons and daughters, yet everyone’s eyes were on Kang Chan. They probably saw him being treated with respect during the previous gathering in this hotel and were aware that President Moon Jae-Hyun visited his parents. These people likely also knew that Kang Chan attended the announcement for the Eurasian Rail at the presentation hall and that he was accepted to Seoul National University.

Kang Chan had to go to Mongolia. However, he was also planning to go to Africa using any means necessary.

He wanted to gift his parents with at least one good memory while he still could.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yoo Hye-Sook asked.

“I just like getting to see you,” Kang Chan responded.

“You’re getting more and more cheeky!”

“Right, honey? Our Channy has become so mischievous,” Kang Dae-Kyung said. He seemed quite satisfied to see Yoo Hye-Sook so happy.

Nothing worthy of note happened after dinner. They simply headed home and spent a bit more time together in the living room.

***

Today was the last day of 2010.

After his morning workout, Kang Chan took a bath. Feeling refreshed, he then had breakfast.

“Are you busy today?” Yoo Hye-Sook asked.

“I have some plans today, so I’ll probably be home late. What about you and mother?”

“We just have the year-end celebration to attend, but other than that, we don’t have anything special planned. We’re thinking of just staying at home, which we haven’t done in a long time,” Kang Dae-Kyung answered. He then scooped up and ate the bean sprouts soup.

Kang Chan didn’t have any appointments that morning, so he did the dishes and had a cup of tea with his parents.

Afterward, he headed to his room and got changed. He was thinking of dropping by the office first.

“I’ll be back,” Kang Chan said.

“Bye, Channy!”

Since Kang Chan was told that the year-end celebration of Kang Yoo Motors and Kang Yoo Foundation was at half past ten that morning, he left earlier than his parents today. He headed out of his apartment and the building.

Kang Chan had told Seok Kang-Ho to meet up with him and accompany him to the office. Much to his surprise, however, he found Choi Jong-Il standing with Woo Hee-Seung at the entrance.

“Aren’t you overworking yourself?” Kang Chan asked Choi Jong-Il.

“My wife told me not to be a crybaby and that I won’t die with this many wounds.”

Kang Chan couldn’t help but smile when he remembered the look Choi Jong-Il’s wife had in her eyes.

Nothing good could come out of spending too much time in open areas like this. Hence, they immediately got into Seok Kang-Ho’s car and left.

As they drove off, Kang Chan unintentionally looked to the side and saw the apartment that Kim Mi-Young lived in. He had a lot of things that he wanted to do now that he had finished his training. He wanted to watch a movie with her, hear her unique laugh, and treat her to expensive raw fish.

Unfortunately, he kept getting dragged into the matters of dark-skinned men with angular chins.

Kang Chan smirked as he stared at the passing scenery.

How can I pretend not to notice that the men I’ve grown attached to are about to die?

As soon as they reached the building, they immediately took the private elevator to go up to their office. Kang Chan then sat across from Seok Kang-Ho with cigarettes and coffee in front of them.

Kang Chan began by telling Seok Kang-Ho that the special forces team was going to be dispatched to Africa.

“What did you just say?” Seok Kang-Ho asked. His response wasn’t off the mark from what Kang Chan was expecting.

“They’re all going to die if they’re deployed to that place,” Seok Kang-Ho continued.

“That’s exactly what I told them.”

“Who are the fuckers that decided to do this? They support the soldiers so poorly yet have the gall to force the soldiers to march to their deaths so easily! I can’t believe bastards who have never even fired a gun before are given the authority to make decisions like this. Being deployed to Africa is nothing like simply going to the house next door!” Seok Kang-Ho flew into a fit of rage as he picked up a cigarette. “What do you plan to do about this?”

“We can’t stop it now, can we? This has already been decided, after all.”

“But we can’t just let them all charge head-on to their deaths either, can we?”

“We have to take care of our business in Mongolia as fast as we can. After that, we’re running straight over to Africa.”

Chk chk.

Seok Kang-Ho lit up a cigarette. With glinting eyes, he said, “Captain, let me join our men in Africa.”

Kang Chan didn’t respond.

“At this rate, half of them are going to die within a few days of landing in that fucking hell. Let me go with them. We’ll do everything in our power to hold off whatever enemy we’ll face until you arrive,” Seok Kang-Ho added.

The office had an open space layout.

Choi Jong-Il, Woo Hee-Seung, and Lee Doo-Hee were drinking coffee at a table a short distance away from them. However, they were now looking in their direction and listening attentively.

“Our men don’t know the first thing about the SSIS. They don’t even know that those bastards put boobytraps in the diapers of newborns and that they would stop at nothing to kidnap people and hold them captive. Our men are going to die as soon as they try to save someone…” Seok Kang-Ho trailed off.

“Let’s think about our options for now.”

“Captain!” Seok Kang-Ho shouted but quickly shut his mouth when Kang Chan looked up with glinting eyes.

“Calm down. Why are you getting so worked up? Don’t you know how our soldiers will react if they see you behaving like this?”

“Alright.” Seok Kang-Ho put his cigarette into the ashtray and dropped his gaze.

“The people under Oh Gwang-Taek are fighting against the Russian mafia. That’s as difficult an operation as our team fighting against the SSIS. Even though they’re gangsters, we can’t just tell them to die out there, can we?” Kang Chan asked.

“That’s true.”

Kang Chan held up his coffee. Seok Kang-Ho did the same.

“Oh Gwang-Taek’s sentencing has been pushed back a week. Since that’s already going to take up much of our time, I’ll meet with Vasili first and try to stop the Russian mafia as fast as we can. After that, we’ll have to ask President Kim Tae-Jin to take care of the aftermath so we can fly over to Africa. That’s the wisest course of action we can take right now,” Kang Chan explained.

“For some reason, I feel like we’ve been pushed into a trap.”

“I feel that way as well,” Kang Chan agreed. “A few people have probably teamed up so they can bullshit their way into killing us off.”

Kang Chan picked up a cigarette. Seok Kang-Ho quickly lit it for him.

“Phew. Alright. I’ll talk to Vasili now.” Kang Chan took out his phone.

***

Kim Tae-Jin, who was staring at the paper that he was holding, looked up, his gaze landing past the gate of a detached house on the outskirts of Bupyeong.

The yard was tiny and had an old living room glass door inside the house.

“Is anyone home?” Kim Tae-Jin asked.

No answer.

“Anyone in there?” Kim Tae-Jin asked again.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Kim Tae-Jin carefully knocked on the gate, making sure not to use too much force since it was old and rusty. Nevertheless, the loud noise it let out made him think it was going to break at any moment.

When Kim Tae-Jin tilted his head, he noticed a silhouette past the closed living room glass door move.

Rattle.

“Who is it?” someone asked back.

“My name is Kim Tae-Jin. I’m here to see Kang Chul-Gyu sunbae-nim.”

The man walking to the door raised his head. He had unkempt short hair, no fat on his cheeks, and an angular chin.

“Who did you say you were?” Kang Chul-Gyu asked again. He approached the gate as he tilted his head.

Clunk. Screech.

“Sunbae-nim…” Kim Tae-Jin trailed off.

Kang Chul-Gyu looked at Kim Tae-Jin—who was standing in front of the gate—for a moment, then smiled painfully. “Are you perhaps…?”