Chapter 53: The Prodigal Son (9)
Saya tightened around Riman’s body and pulled him sowhere.
Riman looked at Saya and said.
“What’s wrong?”
“Shaaaa!!”
“Ah, right.”
Riman only then realized Saya’s intention.
Not that he understood Saya’s words exactly, but because he recalled the words he had spat out the other day.
“…It’s about liquor, right?”
“Shaaat!”
Before coming here, Riman had said to Saya.
Don't you want to drink lots of good liquor?
Since the battle was over now, he was nagging to go drink liquor quickly.
“Let’s see…….”
Riman thought while pulling out and retrieving the Caterpillar Sword stuck in Ha Do-yeol’s body.
This place is the building of Doban Distilling.
Although it had beco an addictive drug production base because of Ha Do-yeol, it was originally a liquor distillery with its own tradition.
Therefore, it was certain that quite a lot of liquor would be stored sowhere.
‘Shall I go toward the distillation facility.’
Riman retraced his old mories and moved toward the distillation room.
Moving like that, Riman took out his phone and called Inspector Park Jae-il.
Since the battle was over anyway, there was no reason to dare use the radio, and the radio hadn't been working since earlier either.
A mont later, Park Jae-il answered the phone.
“Mr. Leman?”
“Battle is over. Co and retrieve your subordinates’ corpses.”
“You… really caught Ha Do-yeol?!”
“Yes.”
Riman answered the phone and ca out of the building.
Outside, there were the chief's faction SWAT mbers who had fainted while frozen.
Ah right, these guys were left.
“Ah, and co and take the other mbers too. Since they aren't dead.”
“They didn't freeze to death?!”
“I didn't kill them. Although they will suffer a bit for the ti being because of frostbite.”
Crossing the frozen mbers like that, Riman moved his steps to another building.
That place was the distillation room.
It was a building where core facilities for making liquor were gathered.
Of course, after Ha Do-yeol occupied it, it had just beco a drug manufacturing room.
Anyway, if he wanted to find liquor in this vast site, searching here first was correct.
Creak……
He opened the heavy door and stepped inside.
The first thing he saw as soon as he entered was a large brass-colored tal distiller.
There were pots of various sizes, oak barrels of uniform size, and…….
“…You were here.”
There was also a man sitting staring blankly at all those things.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, the man looked back.
The man and Riman’s eyes t.
His eyes were hollow and unfocused.
The man said.
“You are not a person from my brother's side.”
“The opposite side.”
The man nodded.
“Did it end up like this eventually?”
“…….”
“Do as you please. It doesn't matter even if you kill
and occupy this place.”
“I have no intention of doing so, Mr. Ha Myeong-yeol.”
Ha Myeong-yeol.
That man was Ha Do-yeol’s younger brother.
“How do you know my na……?”
“Ha Do-yeol is dead.”
“……?!”
Ha Myeong-yeol’s eyes wavered.
Riman added an explanation.
“To be exact, I killed him.”
“You killed… him? That guy? How?”
“Since our side, which is the hostile force, won in the first place, it would be harder for that guy to be alive, right?”
“Not that, that bastard was a guy who always slipped away even if all his gang mbers died usually…….”
“Ah.”
This guy Ha Do-yeol, it seems he was a guy aner and with higher survivability than thought.
“B-By the way, that guy's corpse is…….”
“It is over at the main building.”
Dash!
Ha Myeong-yeol suddenly ran out of the distillation room in a hurry.
Leaving Ha Myeong-yeol like that, Riman examined the distillation room again.
But there was no liquor here.
Only ingredients for making ‘Red Chips’ were everywhere.
The oak barrels were empty, and what remained in the tal pots were also just traces of making Red Chips, not liquor.
‘Red Chips…….’
An addictive drug of the century that only Ha Do-yeol could make.
The reason only he could make Red Chips was that his ability, ‘Heat,’ was absolutely necessary to make it.
Red Chips were items completed only by mixing specific ingredients and controlling their temperature very ticulously.
Since ordinary heating ans couldn't imitate it, only Ha Do-yeol could make it.
Although it was a aningless story now.
Anyway, the most important fact now was…….
“There is no liquor here.”
“Shaak!”
Saya slapped Riman’s back with his tail feathers.
“Alright! Let’s search sowhere else! Stop hitting!”
“Excuse …….”
Just then, Ha Myeong-yeol, who had run out, returned to the distillation room.
“…Ha Do-yeol, he was really dead.”
“Yes, well.”
“I know it is strange to say this as a family mber but…….”
Ha Myeong-yeol bowed his head to Riman and said.
“Thank you.”
“…….”
“That guy was a devil. Because of that bastard, Mother and Father too…….”
“There is nothing to thank
for. Since I killed him because of the bounty on his neck anyway.”
“Still…….”
“So go and express your gratitude to your friend later.”
“Friend?”
“Inspector Park Jae-il. Without Inspector Park, this operation would have been difficult.”
“……!”
Ha Myeong-yeol’s expression beca blank for a mont.
“But to , he clearly…….”
“He absolutely couldn't talk about it. Because confidentiality is most important for an operation of this scale.”
“Ah…….”
Only then did Ha Myeong-yeol realize.
Why Park Jae-il had refused his request to kill his brother.
“Anyway, Mr. Ha Myeong-yeol.”
“Yes.”
“That, for now… isn't this place a brewing company.”
“It was, at one ti.”
“So about that, I want to buy so liquor.”
At the word liquor, Saya’s eyes sparkled.
However, Ha Myeong-yeol answered with a sowhat troubled expression.
“But… we no longer produce liquor here.”
“I know.”
“And I have no intention of producing in the future either.”
“Yes? Why?”
“I didn't inherit Father's skills fully. On top of that, Ha Do-yeol killed all the veteran employees who were knowledgeable about manufacturing and operation. There is nothing left here. Neither human resources nor intellectual property.”
“Ah…….”
“Of course, there are liquors produced previously. But I have no intention of selling them to you, Sir.”
“Ah…….”
Just then, Ha Myeong-yeol smiled faintly and said.
“Sell what. Just take them.”
At those words, Saya’s face brightened.
Look at this, I told you this rascal understands human speech perfectly.
With such a look, Riman looked at Saya.
* * *
At that ti, in front of the main building, the work of transporting the frozen SWAT mbers was in full swing.
They were those who belonged to the chief's faction.
But the chief died, and the money line, Ha Do-yeol’s organization, disintegrated into thin air.
However, there was no reason for all these mbers to die following the chief.
Because the majority of the mbers were just literally rank-and-file mbers.
Of course, there was the fault of turning their steps toward the chief seeing the crumbs.
But rather than them being despicable, it was more correct to see that the mbers who stood on the anti-chief faction had guts.
On top of that, if all of them were executed, there was also the realistic problem that the station's power would decrease sharply.
So Inspector Park Jae-il had agreed with Riman to save them all.
Of course, there was an exception.
“I will take Inspector Lee Hyeong-soo.”
“Yes.”
The executive leading the chief's faction mbers, Inspector Lee Hyeong-soo.
He was also a typical corrupt police officer who stuck close to Ha Do-yeol with the chief and sucked up all sorts of honey.
Park Jae-il loaded him separately into an ambulance and departed first.
“Ugh…….”
A while later, Lee Hyeong-soo opened his eyes.
The ice covering his body lted, and his consciousness was returning little by little.
“Here is…….”
“Are you awake?”
This place is inside the ambulance.
Lee Hyeong-soo opened his eyes on the bed.
“Can you move?”
At Park Jae-il’s question, Lee Hyeong-soo nodded.
Park Jae-il continued his words.
“The chief is dead. And Ha Do-yeol is also dead. We killed almost all the gang mbers under his command too.”
“……!”
“Docunts listing various transactions exchanged between the chief and Ha Do-yeol were also secured. Your na appeared quite often there too.”
“…….”
“Get up. Co out.”
Park Jae-il opened the ambulance door and went out.
Lee Hyeong-soo also dragged his trembling body and ca out of the car with slow steps.
Seeing the scenery outside the car, his eyes wavered.
“Here is……!”
“You rember, right?”
This place was by a small stream crossing a shabby neighborhood.
Since it was a dry stream, it was usually dried up, a half-baked stream where water flowed only when it rained.
Since it wasn't managed well, it was a place where trash abandoned here and there gave off a stench.
But apart from such stench, this was also a place where mories of Park Jae-il, Lee Hyeong-soo, and Ha Myeong-yeol were steeped.
Because all three were relationships who grew up together in this neighborhood since childhood.
“When we were young, we played here often. Whenever we played ‘Cops and Robbers,’ we fought to be the cops. And really, you and I beca cops.”
“…….”
“But how did we end up like this, us?”
Lee Hyeong-soo slowly approached the stream.
Remorse, regret, all sorts of complex emotions were steeping in his eyes.
“Jae-il, I…….”
“If you are going to make an excuse, I recomnd you shut your mouth.”
“…….”
Lee Hyeong-soo shut his mouth again.
“How do you think my heart feels seeing a friend who beca a cop to catch robbers grow up to join hands with criminals.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Don't be sorry. Just receive the punishnt you deserve.”
Park Jae-il took out a cigarette and lit it.
Handed one to Lee Hyeong-soo too.
Lighting the cigarette for him, Park Jae-il said.
“Do you know Ha Do-yeol killed his own parents too?”
“…I know.”
“When I heard that story, a fable ca to mind. Was it a folk tale or where did I see it, do you know the story of ‘The Prodigal Son Returns’?”
“I know.”
In a village long ago, one of two sons receives his inheritance in advance from his father and leaves ho.
The son who left like that squanders the inheritance recklessly, eventually becos like a beggar, and returns ho a few years later.
A situation where no one could look at him kindly.
However, the father welcos that prodigal son benevolently and even throws a feast.
Saying, no matter what anyone says, you are my precious son.
Showing the father's unconditional infinite benevolence, the story ends here.
“Ha Do-yeol was exactly that prodigal son.”
“Prodigal son…….”
“He beca a criminal and returned ho, and his parents accepted him again. But how did the ending turn out?”
“…….”
“I think Ha Do-yeol’s case shows the backstory of that fable.”
“Backstory?”
“The ending part of the fable that was roughly blurred over for the reason of giving a lesson.
In the story of ‘The Prodigal Son Returns,’ it doesn't tell what happened to the prodigal son after returning ho later. But think about it. Would a guy who pulled his parent's inheritance in advance and squandered it really be reford? Would he co to his senses after eating at the feast table? No, I don't think so. Ha Do-yeol was like that too. And so Myeong-yeol’s parents passed away.”
“…What is the reason for telling that story?”
“I’m saying the lesson needs to be corrected.”
Park Jae-il threw the finished cigarette on the ground and rubbed it out with his foot.
“The point is this. People do not change. That changing soone with benevolence, rcy, love, or sothing like that is nothing but a fantasy.”
“So?”
“Soone has to bite the bullet. Soone has to put a bullet in the heads of these unchanging villains. Myeong-yeol’s parents died because they couldn't do that.”
“Wait a mont…….”
“You shouldn't be swayed just because they are family, relatives, colleagues, or friends. Trash must be cleaned up unconditionally. And if you can't do that, eventually I will be the one suffering.”
“Hey Park Jae-il, wait……!”
Click.
Park Jae-il aid his pistol at Lee Hyeong-soo’s head.
But Lee Hyeong-soo couldn't respond properly.
Because his body didn't move as he wished due to frostbite.
All he could do was call his friend's na.
“Jae-il……!”
“Go.”
Bang!
A bullet pierced Lee Hyeong-soo’s head.
30 years' worth of friendship scattered in blood color.
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