Hazardous Concentration Chapter 14

‘Eunhoo, don’t you even think about contacting your aunt or uncle. If you break this rule and contact them, Mother will die on that very day.’

It was his mother, not Eunhoo, who shuddered even more at the betrayal of their blood relatives.

‘Such resentful people. Filthy people I should never associate with again.’

It was the first time his mother had revealed such vivid anger while saying such horrible things about someone. The person who had even been worried about whether his father, who had abandoned the family, was eating well—now she was grinding her teeth.

But this was no time to consider such circumstances. Wouldn’t one need to survive first to even have the luxury of pride?

His uncle had already blocked both his mother’s and his own phone numbers, so it was useless to try and contact him.

「Aunt, it’s me, Eunhoo. I have something urgent to say regarding Mother’s problem, so please contact me when you see this text.」

“…”

Having sent the text, Eunhoo closed his phone folder with a dark expression.

∞ ∞ ∞

Just as Eunhoo was beginning to feel stifled because of money, haunting screams never ceased in the annex of Yeo Taejun’s villa.

When Kim Hyunseong was away for a moment due to outside business, Yeo Taejun had finished his work and gone to the main building. Kim Hyunseong passed the subordinates guarding the main building and headed to the second floor, where the study was. He knocked on the door, but there was no sound from inside. Turning his body without regret, the next place he headed was the bedroom.

Unlike the closed study, the bedroom door was slightly ajar.

“Director.”

He entered, letting his presence be known, but the interior was equally silent. “Is he not here either?” he wondered, furrowing his brow, when a faint sound of water came from the bathroom inside the bedroom.

As he approached, the scene that had been hidden by the corner was revealed. Along the path to the bathroom, blood-soaked shirts and pants were thrown haphazardly on the floor. Kim Hyunseong bent his waist and picked up the blood-stained clothes one by one. It had been a while, so he had momentarily forgotten. Though it felt like a distant memory, even when the former chairman was alive, this kind of thing happened often enough to be almost a daily occurrence. Among the tasks they handled at TS, some were illegal, and it was inevitable to have blood on their hands in that process. Thus, it had become a habit for Kim Hyunseong to always keep a shirt and gloves in the car that perfectly fit his boss’s size.

He put the soiled clothes in the laundry basket, and as soon as he turned around, click, the bathroom door opened. Exposed beyond the steam, Yeo Taejun was naked. Because his posture was straight, he looked slender and elegant when dressed, but in reality, Yeo Taejun’s body was as hard as a weapon, as if showing the life he had lived. They said he had learned everything from physical work to calculating schemes under the former chairman’s teachings since he was young, and there were almost no openings when he fought. His grip strength was also terrifying; if you were caught by those hands once, it was better to give up on escaping.

Yesterday, too, he had completely crushed the jaw of a contact and designer with his grip. It was obviously a fractured jaw, and he had only struck the philtrum once with his fist, yet the man’s natural teeth had come falling out. It was a feat accomplished solely with pure strength. He seemed to have the goal of inflicting pain for a long time, so without any special weapon, he had taken care of the man from head to toe, one part at a time. The boss walked toward the dressing room without batting an eyelash at Kim Hyunseong.

It was when Kim Hyunseong cast his eyes down after handing over the clothes. Yeo Taejun’s voice drifted from the direction of the open dressing room.

“So?”

Yeo Taejun asked while slipping on a shirt.

“Did you find Lee Jaewook and Lee Suwon?”

After discovering that Yeo Gijoon’s accident was Lee Jaewook’s doing, they immediately raided his home, but he had already vanished.

“As reported, there has been no news since their last trace in Bopyeong.”

Kim Hyunseong licked his lips, appearing anxious even as he spoke. Bopyeong was a region adjacent to the sea. If they somehow fled to another country, it would become troublesome.

“Then what is the matter?”

Yeo Taejun walked out of the dressing room, putting on cufflinks. A sharply whetted gaze pierced Kim Hyunseong.

Kim Hyunseong swallowed a dry lump in his throat and gave his report.

“I have found the designated driver you mentioned.”

Yeo Taejun’s eyebrows went up crookedly.

The bedroom, which created a comfortable illumination by controlling the light with blinds, was cozy. Yeo Taejun sat on the bed with his legs crossed and examined the investigated materials. The total length was five pages, not a particularly large amount. Beyond that, the most prominent things were photos that appeared to be taken via hidden camera.

Yeo Taejun roughly pushed the photos aside and began by examining the personal information.

「Name: Joo Eunhoo (23 years old) Current Residence: 2-14 Beophwa-dong, Seoul-si Family: Father Joo Ki-hoon, Mother Park Mi-ok Highest Education: Withdrew from Korea University.」

Yeo Taejun slowly flipped through the report Kim Hyunseong had brought. The content of the investigation was not very long, as if he had lived a life with nothing much to say.

“He’s lived a boring life, just looking at it.”

Unlike himself, Yeo Gijoon, who listened quite well to his father and various uncles, had wandered here and there and caused trouble once puberty hit, but Joo Eunhoo had been flat like that without even such things.

Then, starting at age twenty-one, his life changed spectacularly. Of the five pages of documents, two pages were entirely about debt issues. Rather than Joo Eunhoo himself being in debt, it was all incurred by the person who was his father.

Yeo Taejun examined the content about Joo Eunhoo’s father’s company, which was briefly inserted in the middle. Like all franchise businesses, reckless business expansion was the problem. It was difficult to go long-term anyway. The only reason it was maintained for 10 years was because of the profits from the main store. However, even that collapsed completely due to embezzlement.

“He trusted people too much.”

For Yeo Taejun, who had a fundamental distrust of humans as a foundation, it was an incomprehensible thing. Beyond that, his incompetence in staff management was notable. The embezzlement only accelerated the bankruptcy; it would have gone under within two or three years anyway.

“Anyway, this is what happens when people with no ability whatsoever set up shop to do business.”

The ends are always bad.

Muttering nonchalantly, Yeo Taejun scanned the debt breakdown. There were debts ranging from as small as a few thousand to as much as a few hundred million won. The place with the largest amount was a place called HW Capital. Like most private loans, the interest rate alone was over 20%. The repayment period was also not long now.

「※Note: Father Joo Ki-hoon is in hiding after bankruptcy. Mother is currently hospitalized at Seowon Hospital in Hoeyeong-dong.」

“Incompetent, and lacks a sense of responsibility.”

After examining even the final appendix, Yeo Taejun turned his gaze to the photos he had pushed to the side. The photos appeared to have been taken as he was returning home after being out. Yeo Taejun slightly furrowed his brow while examining, without omission, his side profile and front view as he entered the restaurant late at night, where he worked. It had been the same when he saw him on the CCTV at [Desire], but it became even clearer seeing it in the photos.

“His face looks familiar, no matter how I look at it.”

At first, he thought it was just his imagination. But as time passed, the blurred memories became clear one by one, and he could be sure. He also remembered that the other person had called his name accurately while he was in a daze, intoxicated by the drugs.

‘Yeo, Yeo Taejun!’

There was no way anyone had told him, so it meant he knew from the start.

“Where have I seen him?”

If they had met in a business context, there was no way he wouldn’t remember. If so, they had met personally, but there was no occasion for that.

Yeo Taejun, who had tilted his head slightly to the left, muttered in a barely audible voice.

“I’ll know the details if I ask him directly.”

It was a low, monotonous, and slow way of speaking. However, the emotion reflected in his pitch-black eyes was deep interest.

Kim Hyunseong, who had been standing a few steps away, bowed his head silently.

∞ ∞ ∞

When the rainy season began, a new employee entered the kitchen of [Songrim]. He said he was one year younger than Eunhoo, but because his height and physique were large, he looked much older.

“Hello, I am Kim Eunseong! I look forward to working with you!”

“Oh, this one is energetic.”

“What if he is only full of energy but cannot do the work?”

“Oh my, that won’t do. What are you good at, newcomer?”

“I’m confident in doing physical labor!”

Perhaps it was because it had only been about a month since he was discharged from the army, but he was completely filled with military discipline.