Kill Your X Chapter 40

The implication that there were more than one or two people who could give me information was momentarily tempting. I followed Ma Yubin into the villa. The noise inside was much louder than what had leaked outside. Large speakers placed throughout the space throbbed as if they would burst. Perhaps the party concept was different each time, because the atmosphere was much noisier and more chaotic than the private party at Jerome.

“Gyujin! Have a drink and relax. You won’t be able to talk to people until the second part anyway!”

Ma Yubin raised his voice. I reluctantly did the same. There was no other way to be heard over the music.

“I drove here, I can’t drink!”

“Oh, that’s non-alcoholic!”

For some reason, I didn’t trust Ma Yubin’s words. I told myself not to fully trust him, even though I had come this far. There was no way a designated driver would come to such a remote place, so I had to keep my wits about me to get home safely.

Ma Yubin, however, didn’t seem to care whether I drank or not, busy swaying to the music. The way he naturally enjoyed the party was like a scene from a movie. Fascinated, I leaned against the wall and watched the others. There seemed to be regular attendees at these parties, as I recognized several faces from the Jerome private lounge.

“Here.”

“Yes?”

Just then, someone else spoke to me from the side. I turned my head, and he handed me a glass of water filled with ice. Taking advantage of a lull in the music, he spoke to me at length.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we? Do you remember my face?”

“Ah, yes. I remember. I saw you at Jerome a few days ago.”

He was a fairly popular actor, though not as much as Ma Yubin.

“You’re not drinking even if it’s non-alcoholic? I’ve been watching you, and you kept swallowing, so I brought this. I thought you might be thirsty.”

“Thank you.”

As if that was truly his intention, he coolly left after I took the glass of water. With my guard down, I brought the glass to my lips without suspicion. I only realized the problem after two sips.

“Ugh, ugh!”

It didn’t taste like normal water, but like some unknown chemical had been added. I immediately tried to throw it up, but it wasn’t easy because it was liquid. I stuck my fingers down my throat and forced myself to vomit, and before I knew it, people had surrounded me.

Soon, my senses started to react erratically. My vision swam, and the background music swelled and faded repeatedly. Thump. I lost my balance and collapsed on the floor, but I didn’t feel any pain.

“Haha, so naive. How did that bastard even manage to seduce him?”

Ma Yubin’s gleeful voice echoed from afar.

✽✽✽

It was a day I got out of the academy later than usual because of supplementary classes for the final exams. The academy operated its own shuttle bus, but it was a bit of a detour for me. I came out to the street, intending to catch a taxi. The only light came from the signs of nearby buildings, and the pitch-black sky, without a single star, felt particularly unkind that day.

‘Should I walk for a bit?’

It was late, but ten, fifteen minutes should be fine. I decided to take some time for myself, stretching my stiff body from sitting in a chair all day.

Ah, life is so boring. I understand that studying is a student’s duty, but studying all day, every day, really made me wonder what the point of life was. Would everything be alright if I got into the university I wanted? Even when I asked myself that, I could only picture a bleak future.

As I walked aimlessly, it was well past 11:00 PM. My mother would be waiting for me at home, but since it was exam period, she would understand that I was late. My father, a police officer, was busy catching criminals and didn’t pay much attention to his children.

I wandered around for a while longer before reluctantly turning towards the main street. No matter how much I rebelled in my small ways, as a student, the only place I could return to was home.

“Gasp!”

In the blink of an eye, it happened. A hand, I didn’t know when it approached, suddenly emerged from behind and firmly covered my mouth. I was dragged somewhere, a blindfold placed over my eyes and a gag in my mouth. I was thrown like luggage into what I assumed was the trunk of a car. Vroom. At the sound of the car moving, I thrashed and resisted with all my might.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

But my desperate cries were easily drowned out by the engine noise. The darkness behind the blindfold was indescribably black, and I was terrified, on the verge of tears.

Why, why me? Were they going to kidnap me and demand money from my parents?

I longed for my usually indifferent father. There was no way my police officer father would stand idly by while his only son was kidnapped. If I didn’t come home past midnight, my mother would definitely find it strange, and then it would only be a matter of time before they tracked me down. Even in this desperate situation, I didn’t give up hope.

The car, which had been running for a while, stopped, and the trunk opened again. They dragged me out with the same rough hands as before and threw me into an unknown space. Clang! I huddled at the sound of the old iron door closing.

“Hack, ptoo!”

Presumably, there were two other people besides me in this space, both men. The sound of someone spitting crudely and the click of a lighter being repeatedly flicked, followed by the smell of cigarettes, heightened my anxiety. The two men began talking to each other in rough voices.

“We’ve got the kid, what about Song Jeonggun’s side?”

“It’s certain that he’s attached to the Kumto gang. He got promoted with their backing, so he must be busy bribing people left and right. That piece of shit.”

A familiar name mentioned in their conversation jolted me awake. Song Jeonggun was my father.

“But hyungnim, are you sure about this? Even if it’s just a warning, I’m worried it might backfire.”

“It’ll be fine if the warning works. It was bound to happen someday anyway, with Song Jeonggun joining hands with the mafia cartel. It’s not like there’s only one or two mafia groups in our country. If he didn’t anticipate that the knife would turn on him while playing both sides, that bastard must be an idiot.”

Take some pictures of the kid. We’ll send them as soon as we get the signal from above.

One of the men approached me as I trembled against the wall. A foul smell filled my nostrils. He left the gag in my mouth but removed the blindfold and said with a snicker,

“Wow. The son is completely different from his father. Let’s see, his name is Song Gyujin? The boy’s quite pretty. Takes after his mother?”

The man took pictures of me as a hostage from various angles. I was terrified at being suddenly captured, but the mention of my father from their mouths made my head feel like it would explode.

Why was my father’s name coming up here? My father was an upright police officer, and what was this talk about mafia and cartels? Was it just someone with the same name? I hadn’t heard anything about my father getting promoted recently.

Just an hour ago, I was a student quietly attending classes at the academy, but now, it was uncertain whether I would wake up tomorrow morning with all my limbs intact. Tears streamed down my face against my will. The man who took my picture pretended to stomp on me and taunted me.

“Ugh!”

“Oh my. What good is a boy with such little guts? You’ll never be a great man like your father.”

“That guy who grovels before Si Seunghwan of the Kumto gang, apparently beats his kids like rats at home? Well, I guess he has to save face somehow. This is why, fuck, I’m not getting married…”

The smell of cigarettes filled the cramped space even more thickly. All I could do was huddle in the corner. I didn’t know what was going on, but they said they were going to send my picture to my father soon, so I should be okay, right? Since they mentioned it was a warning, they probably didn’t intend to kill me. Though I might get beaten to a pulp.

“I heard that Si Seunghwan of the Kumto gang’s first wife ran off overseas with another guy. Wasn’t there a twenty-year age gap between them? Or was it twenty-five?”

“He has to accept the consequences of living with a woman young enough to be his daughter. Anyway, Si Seunghwan must be frustrated. His wife aside, I heard his only son is messing around with some indie music. Seeing that, Si Seunghwan flipped out and recently, huh?”

Knock, knock, knock.

The two men turned their heads simultaneously at the sound of someone knocking on the iron door from outside.

“What? Did you already send the picture?”

“Not yet, hyungnim.”

“Then who, what bastard…”

Bang, bang, bang.

It sounded like someone was hitting the door with the end of a long umbrella. Just as the men, sensing something amiss, were about to peek outside through the small window in the warehouse…

Crash! Bang!

With a series of loud noises, the iron door, its hinges broken, fell backward. A tall man stood outside, holding a metal pipe. The man who strode inside casually met my eyes. He was wearing a black mask and a black hat pulled low, but I recognized him instantly.

“Fuck, who are you?!”

“Don’t tell me the Kumto gang already caught wind of this!”

Close, your, eyes.

He mouthed the words before transforming.