How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 34

Chapter 34

 

The response to my words was silence.

The youngest member looked stunned, while Joo Gyeongbeom struggled to remain composed.

“…By your boss, you say? Do you know who the owner of Mindo Detective Agency is? It wouldn’t have been easy to find on any portal site.”

Joo Gyeongbeom asked with what was, in his own way, a poker face.

But even that completely shattered at my next words.

“There’s no point in looking him up. The person listed as the detective agency’s owner is just a figurehead. The boss I’m talking about is the real one. The man who was also the owner of Haru Finance.

“No…”

The moment I mentioned Haru Finance, I noticed him flinch.

“To be precise, should I call him the former owner?”

“You little bastard!!!”

The instant my words ended, the youngest gang member, Hwang Taejun, violently shoved his chair back and stood up.

His face flushed with anger as he reached for my collar, but Joo Gyeongbeom hurriedly stopped him.

“How dare you insult our big boss?!”

“Taejun, stay still.”

The youngest usually looked innocent enough.

I had only seen him angry a handful of times.

‘At least when he gets mad, he acts like someone his size.’

Thinking that, I calmly continued.

“I’m just stating facts. What exactly is insulting about that? He wouldn’t care.”

“So what you’re saying is that you knew our big boss… no, our president personally? He’s the one who told you our names, the location of this office, and even about Haru Finance?”

“Yes. We talked over coffee.”

“Stop lying.”

“A lie?”

The moment my tone shortened, Joo Gyeongbeom frowned.

He took a moment to steady his breathing, clearly trying not to lose his temper as the youngest had.

Then he spoke calmly.

“I’ll give you credit for making a story sound believable. A real actor indeed. But I’m not stupid enough to fall for a lie.”

“I thought so too, but maybe not. I think you actually are stupid.”

Despite my blatant provocation, Joo Gyeongbeom didn’t get angry.

I had picked a fight because I wanted to see him lose his temper like the youngest, so it was a little disappointing.

‘Gyeongbeom used to be hot-headed too when he was younger.’

Watching him imitate a seasoned senior now felt strangely nostalgic.

“Can you prove it isn’t a lie?”

At his sharp tone, I leaned forward.

“Proof, huh… Let me ask you one thing first. Why are you so certain I’m lying?”

“Because I spent twenty-four hours a day with the boss. Every day. He had no personal acquaintances outside of the organization. Only clients.”

Joo Gyeongbeom looked at me coldly.

“But in all my time working at Haru Finance, I’ve never heard the name Yoo Seulho. Not once. Not as a client, not as a potential client. Yet now you’re saying you met the boss personally and even had coffee with him? The man didn’t even have that kind of free time.”

“Not entirely true. He took a break once a year, didn’t he?”

“…”

For the first time, Joo Gyeongbeom visibly faltered.

Looking at his shaking eyes, I continued.

“That’s when we met. Once every year, regularly. He never gave me his contact information, but we met at the same place at the same time every year and talked. He told me everything.”

“What kinds of things…?”

“That Joo Gyeongbeom has a habit of doing a full cleaning whenever he’s stressed. That Hwang Taejun once secretly brought a stray cat into the office because he wanted to raise it there and ended up causing chaos. He also complained about how annoying it was when you kept pestering him every year about what he did during his vacation.”

At my words, Hwang Taejun bit his lip hard.

The detailed stories were slowly dissolving their suspicion.

Back when I was a loan shark, nobody knew how I spent my one annual vacation.

As I smoothly continued my prepared lie and added a few episodes that only the boss would have known, their guard completely dropped.

Hwang Taejun’s eyes even became teary.

“Our big boss…”

This kid really was too emotional.

“Anyway, a few months ago I woke up one morning and realized I remembered nothing about myself. My manager acted like he wanted to hit me. Everyone around me seemed insane. My parents included.”

Feeling my throat getting dry, I continued.

“I wanted to know what I should be wary of and what I should prepare for, so I needed help. More specifically, I needed someone I could trust. Looking through the memories I still had, the only person I could trust was the boss. So I contacted the detective agency he told me about.”

Now it was finally time to ask.

‘Whew.’

I took a deep breath internally.

No matter what answer I received, I prepared myself not to show any shock.

“A few days ago was the day I was supposed to meet the boss. I went out early and waited all day, but he never showed up. He’s not the type to forget an appointment, so there’s only one explanation.”

“…”

“Something happened that prevented him from coming.”

I looked at them.

“Did something happen to him?”

At my question, Hwang Taejun’s eyes became watery again.

Beside him, Joo Gyeongbeom wore a miserable expression before suddenly tilting his head.

“Wait a second. Earlier, didn’t you call him the former boss? Didn’t that mean you already knew something had happened?”

“I was just testing the waters. It was only a guess. Then that guy got angry, so I figured he really had quit. Last year the boss told me he didn’t know how much longer he could keep doing this job.”

“…The boss said something like that?”

Joo Gyeongbeom squeezed his eyes shut.

Then he fell silent.

Growing slightly anxious, I asked again.

“Even if he quit, he would have shown up on the day we were supposed to meet. Honestly, I thought I’d see him when I came here today. Didn’t you tell him I was coming? Did he completely cut off contact after leaving?”

“Well…”

Joo Gyeongbeom spoke with difficulty.

“The boss didn’t quit. He was in an accident. A very serious accident.”

“…Is he alive?”

Despite myself, I tensed as I asked.

No matter what answer came back, I wanted to tell myself it had nothing to do with me anymore.

But that wasn’t easy.

‘Whew.’

The one second it took Joo Gyeongbeom to answer felt like an hour.

I found myself unconsciously holding my breath.

Then…

“Yes. He’s alive.”

“…”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

That wasn’t the answer I had expected.

My original body was alive?

“But his condition isn’t good. He regained consciousness once after the accident, but not long after making eye contact with me, he lost consciousness again. Almost like someone who had given up on life…

“The doctors say it isn’t a physical problem. They claim he might not have the will to wake up again, but that’s nonsense. The big boss I know isn’t that kind of person.”

Joo Gyeongbeom’s voice was desperate.

The last part sounded less like he was speaking to me and more like he was trying to convince himself.

After a brief silence, I immediately asked:

“Which hospital is he in? Can I go see him right now?”

“Huh? Right now?”

Joo Gyeongbeom blinked.

“Wasn’t the purpose of today’s meeting the report on Director Shin Seungim? What about that–”

“That can wait until afterward. Or just send it by email like last time. Let’s see the boss first. Are there visiting hours? If you tell me which hospital, I can go by myself.”

My eagerness visibly moved him.

His expression was completely different from when the meeting had begun.

‘This guy really is soft-hearted.’

“We originally placed him in OO Hospital, but it became difficult for us to visit regularly, so we moved him. As you know, our line of work isn’t exactly peaceful. There was always the possibility of outside forces approaching him.

“We couldn’t keep the boss in an exposed location.”

“So where did you move him?”

At my question, Joo Gyeongbeom and Hwang Taejun silently looked upward.

Without thinking, I followed their gaze…

Then froze.

“…You moved him into this building? A coma patient?”

“We debated it a lot. But we brought in full-time medical staff, and the facilities are prepared to rival a major hospital. We can handle any situation that arises. We even contracted a medical helicopter just in case. There won’t be any problems with the boss staying here.”

Ha.

With every word that followed, I felt like I was losing my mind.

‘Do these lunatics have any idea how hard I worked to maintain security?’

I was the one who paid a fortune to have this building designed in the first place.

I had gone through endless trouble to make it impregnable.

And now they had brought outsiders inside?

Even if they were medical personnel?

My teeth clenched from the sudden surge of anger.

“No matter how dedicated they are, you can’t keep medical staff working here as slaves without vacations. What, are they never allowed to leave?

“Even worse, nobody knows how long the boss will remain unconscious. Are you telling me you’re letting outsiders come and go indefinitely? What if they interact with the wrong people during their time off?

“What exactly were you thinking when you handled this?”

“Uh, well…”

“And what’s this nonsense about facilities rivaling a major hospital? A medical helicopter?

“Are you kidding me?

“It’s not like money grows on trees! Why bring a patient into a building designed for office work? Did you even include the bribes you’ll have to pay if the authorities come snooping around?

“Everything about this costs money!

“You spent all that just so you could sit beside the boss twenty-four hours a day?!

“You think he’d be touched when he wakes up?

“He’d be so shocked by this idiotic mess that he’d collapse a second time!!”

The barrage of words came out without me taking a breath.

Joo Gyeongbeom and Hwang Taejun stared at me blankly.

As I fumed, they stammered helplessly.

“S-Sorry, but… if you put it that way, isn’t having you here a security problem too, Mr. Yoo Seulho…?”

“Are you seriously comparing me to uncontrollable medical personnel?”

“N-No, that’s not…”

The men who had looked ready to kill me when we first met now looked exactly like the shriveled subordinates I remembered from my previous life.

I cut them off before they could continue.

“Forget it. Let’s see the boss first. I can scold you all I want afterward.”

I stood up irritably.

I already knew that seeing all the medical equipment would only make me angrier once I started calculating the cost.

As I strode ahead, I heard the youngest whisper to Gyeongbeom behind me.

“Hyung, I think he really did know the boss for a long time. He talks exactly like him. Up to a T.”

I ignored it.

‘If it were up to me, I’d beat both of them up and go alone.’

But officially, I was still Yoo Seulho, visiting this building for the first time today.

So I patiently followed their guidance to the fifth floor.

Even after exiting the elevator, we passed through several secured doors before reaching the innermost room.

“He’s in here.”

Joo Gyeongbeom spoke in front of a firmly closed door.

His hand grasped the doorknob and slowly turned it.