Chapter 313: Shall I Organize It?

Ma Seok-dae stepped into the cabin where Noh Ik-seon was being held.

"You've arrived, Manager.\"

Instead of answering, he gave a slight nod.

"Where's President Noh?"

"He's in the room. Should I bring him out?"

"I'll go in myself."

"Understood, Manager."

"Lawyer, please review the contract and standby."

Ma Seok-dae instructed the lawyer who had come with him.

Lawyer Hong Ik-hyun nodded slightly and opened his briefcase while sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Seeing this, Ma Seok-dae signaled to his subordinate.

"Let's go."

The subordinate opened the door to the room where Noh Ik-seon was trapped, and Ma Seok-dae entered first.

Noh Ik-seon, sitting on the bed and smoking, extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray upon seeing Ma Seok-dae and jumped to his feet.

His wrinkled hands trembled, clearly revealing his fear of the situation.

"Manager Ma, please spare me."

"Sit down."

Unlike Noh Ik-seon's trembling voice, Ma Seok-dae's tone was chillingly calm.

Noh Ik-seon found himself unable to respond and sat back on the bed.

After a moment of staring at Noh Ik-seon, Ma Seok-dae took a wooden chair offered by his subordinate and placed it in front of the bed, then sat down.

"Manager Ma…"

"Only answer my questions. From now on, if you speak without my permission, you'll die.\"

"…"

Under the cold threat, Noh Ik-seon clamped his mouth shut.

"What on earth were you thinking? If the boss gives you a chance, shouldn't you just do what you're told? You could've lived a good life in that position forever."

"Manager Ma, please spare me."

"Whether I spare you or not depends on how you respond. So tell me the truth to my questions. I don't want to torture you in a place like this that isn't a battlefield.\"

Under Ma Seok-dae's frigid gaze, Noh Ik-seon swallowed hard.

Although Noh Ik-seon had never faced Ma Seok-dae, he was painfully aware of how terrifying Ha Myung-hoon, a loyal follower of Chairman Cheon, was.

Because of that, he feared Ma Seok-dae, who watched over Pyeongchang-dong in his wake.

"Why did you do it?"

"Uh… I didn't want to let it go to waste. Chairman Cheon had been understanding about our side ventures. But after President Kim Mu-hyeok took over, he insised we hand over all such businesses to Heavenly Group, and I just couldn't let it go."

At those words, Ma Seok-dae scoffed.

Noh Ik-seon was desperately rationalizing what he had done.

"Then you should have persuaded the boss."

"…He's not someone who can be easily persuaded."

"He's someone who listens better than anyone else."

"That only applies to you, Manager. Do you really think he cares about someone like us?"

"You must not have given him enough reason to trust you."

For a while after that, Ma Seok-dae continued his questioning, while Noh Ik-seon answered promptly, although nervously.

Ma Seok-dae checked his watch and began to massage the back of his neck. It was time to wrap things up.

"Alright, let's cut to the chase. How did you make that money? Other bosses say you invested the largest amount."

"…It's all the money I've saved up until now."

At that, Ma Seok-dae nodded slightly before suddenly pressing Noh Ik-seon's face down with his palm, forcing him onto the bed.

He then grabbed Noh Ik-seon's left pinky and bent it backwards.

With a bone-cracking sound, the finger was completely broken backward.

"Ah! Ugh, ugh!"

With Ma Seok-dae's large hand pressing down on his face, Noh Ik-seon couldn't even scream properly.

"I believe I asked you to tell the truth."

With his mouth covered, Noh Ik-seon blinked rapidly, signaling.

Seeing the signal, Ma Seok-dae lifted his hand from Noh Ik-seon's face and spoke.

"Next, it's two fingers."

"Ugh… Ugh…"

Unable to even hold the broken finger, Noh Ik-seon could only weep with tears streaming down his face.

"I'll ask you again. Where did that money come from? I noticed you have a larger amount in your safe than what you received from other bosses. Whose money is that?"

"…"

When he didn't respond immediately, Ma Seok-dae seized Noh Ik-seon's ring and middle fingers and twisted them.

Once more, the sound of breaking bones echoed throughout the room.

"Aaaagh!!"

Unable to bear the pain anymore, Noh Ik-seon cried out loudly and clutched his hands, but touching his broken fingers only brought him agony.

"Don't try to think too hard; just answer my questions. Didn't you ask to be spared?"

"Ah, ah!"

With tears streaming down his face, Noh Ik-seon nodded vigorously.

"If you don't want to answer, don't. I still have plenty of fingers left. And if fingers aren't enough, I've got toes too, so don't worry.\"

A chilling smile crept across Ma Seok-dae's face, causing Noh Ik-seon to flinch.

"I'll ask you again. Where does the money come from?"

"…It's… money invested from China."

"China?"

"Y-yes."

"How did you even get investment from China? Are you telling me that you are actually receiving money from Chinese investors to play games in Korea? That's insane!"

Ma Seok-dae growled in a low voice, but Noh Ik-seon simply averted his eyes and shut his mouth.

"…"

"You know well what we had to do to maintain our position in the loan shark market, right? Countless people bled, and a person named Dong-soo, who the boss held dear, was also killed. And now you're saying you've handed over our money to foreigners? And you still dare to call yourself human?"

Kim Mu-hyeok had done everythinghe could to protect South Korea's loan business from Japanese funds.

Thanks to that, the loan shark market in Korea hadn't fallen to Japan.

Yet, here was Noh Ik-seon, trying to pass it into the hands of Chinese investors.

"How long did you think you could hide this? Surely you couldn't have thought you were invincible? You're not that stupid, are you? If you were, you wouldn't have lasted this long in your position."

Ma Seok-dae knew that Noh Ik-seon was not that foolish.

"Who's the person you teamed up with?"

"Uh…"

"Looks like you want to feel the pain again."

Under Ma Seok-dae's icy stare, Noh Ik-seon trembled and spoke frantically.

"I'll tell you everything! So…"

"Just say it.\"

"I got found out too early. If I had more time, even the boss wouldn't have been able to stop me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just as I said. Once the owner of Heavenly Group changed, even the boss wouldn't have been able to do anything alone."

As Noh Ik-seon began to spill shocking stories, Ma Seok-dae sat there with a stiffened expression, absorbing every word.

"That's everything I know."

"You mad bastard."

"It was just too sweet of a deal. They said they'd give me the entire loan shark market. I've said everything, so please spare my life."

Ma Seok-dae gazed at Noh Ik-seon with contempt.

"Forfeit all your assets. I'll spare your life."

"What…"

"If you don't care about your life, then don't give it up."

Ma Seok-dae stood up and spoke to the subordinate standing behind him.

"Get this guy's pinky treated, and once that's done, Lawyer Hong should come in and take all the signatures on the transfer documents."

"Yes, Manager."

Ma Seok-dae left the room to report to Kim Mu-hyeok.

"Once you've got all the signatures, send Lawyer Hong back. After that, make sure to break that bastard's legs…"

At the end of Ma Seok-dae's cold gaze was a cage filled with dozens of starving hunting dogs.

"Toss him in as dog food."

* * *

"Boss, what the hell…"

Yoo Sung-jin stuttered in shock. It was the first time he had seen this side of the man.

"Just as I said. President Noh Ik-seon has received money from China, and the one who connected him is Director Kang Jun-woo."

Yoo Sung-jin remained speechless, his face turning pale.

"Noh Ik-seon doesn't even know the detailed plan. The owner of Heavenly Group is Kang Jun-woo, and the loan shark market belongs to Noh Ik-seon. Behind it all is a Chinese guy. That's all Noh Ik-seon knows."

I lifted the pitcher and poured some tea into the cup.

Although the pu-erh tea had already gone cold, it was still drinkable.

I sipped slowly, waiting for Yoo Sung-jin to sort out his thoughts.

"So it's saying that Director Kang is turning against me. Now I understand the questions you asked me earlier."

"That's why I asked. However, it's strange that you don't seem to have any emotional response to the news about President Noh's capture."

Yoo Sung-jin grimaced, clearly distressed.

"He's always been hard to read. He doesn't show his emotions easily. Which is why I entrusted him with the fight against the Chinese organization…"

"It seems having many interactions with them through frequent battles has turned against us. If they manage to recruit Kang Jun-woo, it gives them an advantage in the fights."

Yoo Sung-jin sighed deeply as if contemplating something.

"Now that I think about it, there have been many suspicious points. Like when they managed to find our members' lodgings to attack, or disappearing before Ji-soo arrived, instances of that have happened quite a bit."

"Did you never think that someone could be leaking information? If that happens too often, it's suspicious."

"I'm sorry."

It felt like I was receiving more apologies than usual from this man today. I shook my head slightly.

"No, I'm not saying you should be apologizing. You should have noticed something unusual."

"I only thought it was strange and asked Kang Jun-woo to check if there were moles inside. But it ended up being handing the fish to the cat. Ha…"

Yoo Sung-jin exhaled another deep sigh.

"Who could he be colluding with? Do you have any suspects?"

"I don't know. I'll have to investigate now. He wouldn't dare to oppose me on his own. Some of the directors are likely already recruited."

"Anyone who knows my existence wouldn't easily act against me. Kang Jun-woo probably recruited people who didn't know me at all."

Our gazes shifted to Chu Dong-bin, who was in front of us.

"I haven't received any offers. If I had, I would've told the chairman."

Yoo Sung-jin nodded.

"Right, Dong-bin, you wouldn't betray me."

"I think Kang Director knows that too, so he didn't approach me as well."

"That's possible."

"Are you suspecting me?"

Chu Dong-bin appeared aggrieved, while Yoo Sung-jin looked at him with a small smile.

"Dong-bin, you wouldn't do that. So I trust you."

Yoo Sung-jin seemed to trust Chu Dong-bin, who had been dishonorably discharged for assaulting a sergeant.

"But why did you assault a sergeant in the army?"

"…"

"Haha, that guy had a female sergeant in his company, and I heard he sexually harassed her during a company dinner. I couldn't hold myself back and hit him, so how could I stay in the army? Although they didn't blow it out of proportions, they just decided to let me go."

Feeling this may have been an embarrassing past, Chu Dong-bin wore an awkward smile and said nothing more.

"You did the right thing, hitting a guy like that. Nice job."

The conversation briefly veered off track but soon returned to the original topic.

"So what will we do? Shall I handle it?"

"No. This is our organization's affair, so I'll handle it myself."

I nodded.

"Then I'll wait, trusting you, Chairman Yoo. And please take someone else for the upcoming meeting with China. That meeting might be a trap to target the chairman."

"Ah… You're right. It could very well be. The sudden request to meet matches too many pieces.\"

"Then wrap things up quickly. If we waste time, the chairman will be at a disadvantage. I'm afraid he will be very disappointed."

If he was pushed around by his subordinates, Yoo Sung-jin would no longer be useful.

Understanding my gaze, Yoo Sung-jin nodded stiffly.