Bittersweet

4_Bittersweet

"Kim Min-gyu, did you stay up all night?"







A blond man approached Min-gyu. He looked at the monitor in front of Min-gyu.Sigh -He laughed and rubbed Min-gyu's shoulder. Min-gyu jumped up from his seat in shock, but didn't consider the length of his legs and ended up slamming them into the desk.





"Are you out, boss?"





That must hurt. Are you okay? But...The boss laughed heartily at Mingyu's greeting. "What era's greeting is that?" he asked, subtly mocking Seungcheol's organization. "No, I don't know if that's how it would be done in some places." Mingyu gave an awkward laugh and chimed in.







“It’s not like I don’t know you, so feel free to call me Min-gyu.”

“But you are still the boss after all.”

"You can call me that in front of other people, it's just between us."

"Then I'll do that, Jeonghan."








Embarrassed, Mingyu scratched his head and sat back down in front of the monitor. Jeonghan wondered what he was investigating, and then he realized it was Seungcheol, showing interest. Mingyu said he was looking into various things since he was keeping an eye on the organization anyway, and showed Jeonghan what he had researched.

But what mattered more to Jeonghan wasn't this information, but the reason Min-gyu had started working again. He wanted to ask him on his first day, but thanks to Min-gyu's quick departure after saying what he wanted to say, he wasn't even able to properly say hello, let alone talk.





"But Kim Min-gyu, why did you come back?"

"..."

"I tried to ask you that yesterday, but you seemed to be running away."

"No other reason..."






Min-gyu hesitated, unable to open his mouth. Jeong-han placed his hands on the desk and looked back and forth between Min-gyu and the monitor. Jeong-han's eyes were filled withJeon Won-woo, these three letters caught my eye. Why would a familiar name appear there? There's no particular reason. It must be because Jeon Won-woo belongs there. Jeong-han sighed.







"That's because Jeon Won-woo is in Seung-cheol's house."

"To be exact, I wanted to stop that guy."

"It's not a place you can come out of just because you tell me to."






I know. Mingyu knew exactly what Jeonghan was saying. But he felt like if he didn't do this, he'd never be able to stop him again. If he didn't do this, the Wonwoo he knew would become a character in his imagination, and he'd never be able to see him again.

Mingyu grabbed Jeonghan's hand and spoke, asking for something that would allow him to confront that older brother. Jeonghan waved his hand away, saying it was dangerous when he wasn't even prepared. But Mingyu knelt before Jeonghan and begged. Jeonghan eventually left, saying he'd try if he got any information.










-









After that, Mingyu's gaze drifted blankly to the monitor. Thinking back to his old gang activities, no matter how difficult things were at the organization, we'd laugh it off over a drink with Wonwoo at home. Even when we were tired, feeding Wonwoo a simple snack was fun, and Wonwoo's signature jokes were still laughable back then.I think that's what it was like back then.

But the days when he couldn't laugh grew longer. That was when Seungcheol had a huge influence on the organization. Wonwoo's unique style had long intrigued Seungcheol. Naturally, whenever he did something like that, Seungcheol would always call Wonwoo. He even told him to use him a little.You're not fun, Min-gyu.He linked arms with Wonwoo and took him away without permission.

When Wonwoo returned from work, his clothes were soaked with bloodstains from an unknown source. Mingyu frantically wiped the blood off Wonwoo's face, but Wonwoo treated him coldly each time. And since they lived in the same house, they burned their reddened clothes in the building, changed into a new outfit, and rode in the same car, driving home in silence.

When they got home and the room was brightly lit, Wonwoo's cold expression became even more apparent. Mingyu began to feel scared when he saw that face. It wasn't Wonwoo himself who was scared, but the fact that they'd be able to laugh together like before would become scarier. "We can't drink together again today. We're ending it like this today." Then Wonwoo said this.







"They said the organization would be disbanded soon."






Disbanding? Does that mean I can be free from the organization? He seemed to be overcome with a sense of liberation, but for some reason, Wonwoo's expression didn't look good. Mingyu asked why he didn't like it, since disbanding the organization would naturally mean liberation from this life, and Wonwoo answered with a cold expression.






"You haven't had your hands wet with blood yet, have you?"

"..."

"When Seungcheol and I were going together earlier, he said that."






If the current organization disbands, he'll create his own organization, and he'd like Wonwoo to join it. Those words made Min-gyu feel like his world was crumbling. Even without Wonwoo explaining, he knew why Seung-cheol wanted to take Wonwoo. Seung-cheol was that smart and cunning.



In the past, before Wonwoo joined the organization, he had killed someone. At that time, the organization boss had seen Wonwoo's methods and approached him first. He said that if he continued like this, he would be caught, so he asked if he would join his hand and brought Wonwoo with him.

Wonwoo's partner, who had joined the organization, was Seungchul, and the task assigned to Wonwoo was, coincidentally or perhaps naturally, to handle people. During this process, his partner Seungchul became interested in Wonwoo after seeing him work. That's right.That waySee you.

From then on, Wonwoo's partner—no, Seungcheol's partner—was always Wonwoo. And Seungcheol probably heard the most from Wonwoo. You could tell just by looking at Wonwoo, who would sometimes mutter, to the point of regret, that he should've kept some of his stories from Seungcheol. Regardless of what he heard, Seungcheol used it to seize Wonwoo's weakness and has been exploiting it ever since.










-








Now, Mingyu had to find their next target. Jeonghan, who was reluctant to do anything, might remain silent, so Mingyu took matters into his own hands. He investigated the countless people Wonwoo had killed and traced the locations of their murders, beginning to deduce the next target and its location.

But the commonality between the targets in too many places to make a single conclusion was simply that they were customers using Seungcheol's organization. Seeing the vast array of locations and the one-dimensional similarities with his own eyes, Min-gyu wondered how he could possibly deduce anything when even the police couldn't. He finally turned off his computer. Perhaps it was the only way, Min-gyu stood up and made a phone call as he left.








"That was the last time I saw him in private."

"It's not private. Do you have time?"

"...in the evening. I'm busy, so hang up."

"Where are you now? Just tell me."




...






At Mingyu's words, Wonwoo hung up without answering. He knew he wouldn't reveal his location. Then why did he call? He was curious to see if he was working today. That way, he could run into Wonwoo. Mingyu immediately called Jeonghan.







"Boss. Move there now."

"So you're going to end up doing it?"

"I'll do it again and again."







Until that person is stopped.