The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 32

“Ugh—?!”

Koo Junghyuk came to and pushed himself upright.

He was lying not aboard the container ship, but inside Pungyang Trading’s office at the port.

Through the window, a backup unit that had arrived late was collecting the bodies of the fallen guards.

The deck, reduced to a shambles.

Koo Junghyuk stared at it with a blank expression, and after a long moment, he finally let words out of his mouth.

“I… I’m alive?”

Alive.

And yet, at the same time, Koo Junghyuk could not understand how he was alive.

How am I alive?

He was certain he’d lost consciousness in the grip of that enormous wako.

He knocked me out and just let me go? Why would a wako do that?

No, before that… what happened while I was unconscious?

Koo Junghyuk rose to his feet, still trying to sort out his tangled thoughts, when—

“You’re awake.”

A flat, measured voice cut across his frantic inner spiral.

He turned. Standing there was the guest dispatched from the main house: Kim Changwoon.

Unlike Koo Junghyuk, whose body was covered in wounds, there was not a single scratch on him.

“What happened?”

What went on here.

Why am I still alive.

One question containing multitudes. Changwoon answered in a low voice.

“I talked it over with that big one commanding the wako. Told him he’d picked the wrong ship to raid.”

He said that, then held up the jade-green identity tag in his hand.

Proof that he was a member of the Andong Kim clan.

As long as that was produced, even the wako would not dare touch him carelessly.

Whether he was an illegitimate child or an heir who would carry on the family name.

Anyone who laid hands on the blood of a power clan could not survive.

Koo Junghyuk grasped the rough shape of it and was just about to exhale in relief—

“……The cargo! What happened to the cargo?!”

At his urgent cry, Changwoon said nothing and tilted his chin toward one side of the window.

The Pungyang Jo clan’s cargo, being transported to the port by crane.

When Koo Junghyuk saw the serial numbers appearing on his visual interface, he was finally able to let out the breath he’d been holding.

Having teetered on the threshold of death, the mission handed down from the main house was a success.

But a different problem still remained for him.

“Hey. Suit.”

Kim Changwoon, dropping all pretense of even minimal respect and speaking down to him without hesitation.

Koo Junghyuk’s expression stiffened, but Changwoon pressed on, his voice cold.

“You’re the one who made the final call on the meeting location for this job, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And those wako came sailing straight for exactly where we were, in the middle of the night? On top of that, the escort team you were boasting about—how they’d handle everything, don’t worry—was ground into mince in under ten minutes? That right?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Hey, you piece of shit.”

The cold voice kept gathering heat, until by the end he was in a full-blown rage.

“You said security was your special priority? I took that at your word, went out into the open sea without my own guards—and we get our location leaked to wako of all people? What, is everyone working for Pungyang Jo a useless bastard like you?”

“The security procedures were carried out normally, and I supervised them personally. The likelihood that our side leaked the information—!”

“We just had our location actually leaked and I almost got killed, you idiot—! After something blows up in our faces, you want to sit there talking about likelihood? Do you think I should just swallow that?! Well?!”

Changwoon’s voice hammered at him without pause, and Koo Junghyuk could not manage a proper response.

Of course he couldn’t.

Illegitimate or not—cast out from the family hierarchy or not—Changwoon was undeniably a member of a power clan, a guest who had come here under Jo Seonghwan’s orders.

Not only had he exposed that important person to a wako attack, he had fled to the panic room alone and provided no proper escort. This was an unmistakable failure.

Which meant Koo Junghyuk was in no position to offer Changwoon any excuses.

‘Got him.’

Of course, the whole display—the rage-fueled tirade—was an act.

In truth, as Changwoon watched Koo Junghyuk bow his head in silence, he was suppressing a satisfied smile somewhere inside.

‘All that’s left now is to make the most of this chaos.’

When he’d finished the thought, Changwoon turned to Koo Junghyuk, who still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

“The wako struck at the very moment the cargo was being loaded, and the people who knew the meeting location number in the dozens, including you and me. In other words—someone among them leaked the information to the outside.”

“……!”

The one who had sold the information to the wako and arranged the attack was Changwoon himself, who was now visibly bristling—but Koo Junghyuk, with no way of knowing that, was accepting his words without a trace of suspicion.

‘The limits of a desk man who’s never worked the field. His brilliant mind isn’t going to function properly when he’s just crawled back from death’s door.’

If Koo Junghyuk were given any time to cool his head, the first person he would have suspected was Changwoon.

He would have found it strange that Changwoon had survived that extraordinary chaos without a single wound.

But unfortunately, he had no room to think that far right now.

His head was still spinning from the brush with death moments ago, his body was on the verge of collapse, and right in front of him, this noble’s bastard wouldn’t stop grinding him down.

Even the most battle-hardened executive from the main house would have his mental limits pushed to the edge.

Koo Junghyuk’s only concern right now was somehow calming Changwoon’s fury and getting the cargo sent to Jo Seonghwan.

Which meant…

‘Exactly what I intended.’

“A trading company under direct management from the main house colluding with wako… the more I think about it, the more pathetic it gets.”

Changwoon muttered it like a lament, then fixed his eyes on Junghyuk with a sour expression.

“If word of this attack reaches Young Master Jo Seonghwan’s ears—what do you think will happen to you, as the man with direct responsibility on site?”

“……!”

At those near-threatening words, Koo Junghyuk’s face began to drain to a sickly gray.

If Changwoon reported this attack to Jo Seonghwan, Koo Junghyuk himself—as the one in charge on the ground—could very well have his head taken for this disaster.

“I…”

Changwoon fell silent and looked away. Koo Junghyuk, his body a wreck, sank to his knees and opened his mouth.

“What… would you have me do?”

No more decorative phrasing tacked onto the end. Straight to the point.

Changwoon watched Koo Junghyuk’s eyes—shifting, unsettled—and held back the smile that kept trying to surface.

“Handle it yourself.”

At those words, confusion crossed the face of the kneeling Junghyuk.

“Handle… what exactly?”

“As long as the cargo is transported on time, the main house won’t scrutinize the process too closely. So you keep your mouth shut, send the goods, and bury this entire attack where no one will ever find it.”

Koo Junghyuk’s eyes went distant at Changwoon’s words.

Bury it.

In other words: track down every single person who knew about this shipment plan and get rid of them.

The employees who had accessed the transport plans. The dock workers.

And Koo Junghyuk’s own informants—the ones who had been watching Changwoon alongside him. All of them.

“Why. Can’t you do it?”

“No. I can.”

Junghyuk hesitated for a moment, but he made his decision quickly.

He was someone who would return to the main house and rise to a position of real responsibility within the Pungyang Jo clan.

He could not afford to be purged in a place like this.

Employees or subordinates or informants—they could be replaced.

“Pungyang Trading is a trading company I personally managed, and the informants operating in the shadows are people I trained myself. If I issue a summons, they’ll gather without any suspicion…”

“Kill them all, and everyone who knows about this attack disappears?”

“Yes.”

Perfect.

Changwoon heard Koo Junghyuk’s words and nodded, forcing down the corners of his mouth that wanted to rise.

“Then do it without mistakes. Handle it cleanly and there’ll be no loose ends—and I’ll let it go that you abandoned me and ran.”

“……Pardon?”

Surprise that the conditions offered were this generous.

“Are… are you serious?”

“As it is, Dokgo Seong’s death already set the cargo delivery back by about a month. Research results aren’t coming in, and the researchers are demanding the goods sooner—which means Young Master Jo Seonghwan is in a rather sensitive mood.”

Changwoon shrugged at Koo Junghyuk and continued.

“If I report on top of that that the ship carrying the cargo was attacked and the delivery is delayed… honestly, it’s not good for me either.”

Koo Junghyuk nodded slowly, as though persuaded by Changwoon’s explanation.

Whether the convenient excuse was actually convincing enough to believe.

No.

In truth, Koo Junghyuk likely didn’t care much what Changwoon said.

What mattered to him right now was finding a way out of the crisis of being purged.

The mere fact that he had found one.

“Understood. I’ll have things in order as quickly as possible, without any complications.”

“Do it right. I won’t forget that you left me behind and ran—I’m just choosing not to say anything about it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

When everything was said, Koo Junghyuk’s shoulders sagged toward the floor as though he’d finally set down a great weight.

Perhaps the sheer amount that had happened in a single night—he looked ten years older than when they’d first met.

Watching that state, Changwoon found it harder and harder to keep the laughter in.

“Young Master Kim Changwoon.”

At a well-timed moment, an unfamiliar voice came from outside the door.

Changwoon told them to enter. Two men in red durumagi came in and bowed politely.

“We heard the matter was concluded, so we’ve come to escort you.”

“A vehicle has been prepared—please, this way.”

First-grade artificial bodies, complete without a gap, and white embroidery on their coat ties.

Escort guards dispatched by the Pungyang Jo clan.

“I see you intend to keep watching me all the way back to Hanseong.”

Changwoon shook his head with a look of exasperation and slowly rose.

“Job’s more or less wrapped up, so let’s each go back to where we belong. Me to Hanseong, and you to the Pungyang Jo clan’s main house.”

Changwoon in his blue durumagi.

Guided by the escort guards, just before he stepped out of the office, he turned back toward where Koo Junghyuk was and added:

“After that, we each go our separate ways—and let’s never have to look at each other’s faces again.”

“……Yes. That is what I shall do.”

Koo Junghyuk answered Changwoon’s pointed words and bowed his head.

Changwoon received the farewell with barely a glance, then loaded himself into the Pungyang Jo clan’s vehicle the escort guards had brought around.

“Bwahahahahahaha—!”

Only then did he let loose the laughter he’d been holding in, right there in his seat, bursting into open peals.

How long had he laughed like that, helpless with it.

-It’s Mooyoung, Young Master.

Mooyoung, who had infiltrated the cargo container, sent Changwoon a voice transmission.

“Yeah. Comes through clear. Everything alright on your end?”

-Yes. Our guest says he’s heading back to his countryside home. He mentioned there’s something to pick up along the way, so I’ll bring it with us when we go to Hanseong.

“Confirmed. Stay safe and I’ll see you when you’re back.”

-Understood. I’ll end the call here.

Listened to plainly, it was the kind of everyday exchange anyone might have—but this was a script Changwoon had briefed Mooyoung on in advance.

The meaning of the signal, summarized: ‘Infiltration complete.’

With that, all of Phase One of the operation to make fools of the Pungyang Jo clan was finished.

“Well. My part is just about done.”

Busan, shining brilliantly in the light of the rising morning sun.

Gazing at that beautiful city, Changwoon thought.

By sowing chaos through the wako attack, he had succeeded in getting Mooyoung infiltrated into the cargo container.

Koo Junghyuk’s suspicions of him had been completely washed away, and this attack would be buried by Junghyuk’s own hand, as though it had never happened.

So what remained now were Changwoon’s partners, who had been making their preparations beneath the surface.

It was time to watch the handiwork of Hahoe—Joseon’s Public Enemy Number One.