chapter 28
Funeral
When he relaxed slightly, Jang Won-woo’s face, which was pinned to the floor, finally felt a little bit of composure.
“omg… Heo-eok… . No substantive evidence could be found. but… .”
“Explain.”
“The result of personal research from the beginning of Korea and Japan. I was convinced that the technology could not come from a single researcher in a company without connections.”
When the mana was completely disturbed, Jang Won-woo took a deep breath after exhaling in rapid succession.
A short summary soon followed through his mouth.
“I think it is possible to share some of the core technologies of at least the US, China, and Russia, or the leading companies in the gate industry.”
It was an interesting approach.
Indeed, it was close to impossible, if not impossible, to suddenly jump into a new business where technological innovation is the engine of growth and build an industry-leading company in just a few years.
Furthermore, there was no prior preparation to do so, and the probability would be even lower if the field was related to the gate.
“Of course, he could have been a real genius or an accidental discovery. However, the moment you are destroyed by being connected to someone, that chance is almost zero. The slush fund route has completely changed from being 100% drugs overseas.”
“so.”
That was a fact I already knew.
“The total loading capacity of the suspected vehicles that got out through the underground parking lot is around 100 tons. Even assuming that all of the slush funds were replaced with bills, the weight difference did not fit very well. There is no way it will exceed 10 trillion won. That is an amount that even we cannot wash in a short period of time.”
Since slush funds and criminal money laundering are their specialty, it was a certain information.
“Then the load is different?”
“yes. In summary, third-country countries, companies, and institutions create domestic slush funds through drug routes to establish Hanil, grow them through support, build a foundation, and conduct some kind of experiment here. If things went wrong because of the boss, he would have killed the subcontractor Hanil Saju and the people involved and stole the experimentation object.”
“The reason why they even experimented with raising Hanil here must be because they are morally or otherwise unwelcome subjects?”
“It’s just like I thought.”
“hmm… .”
I was honestly amazed.
If you look at each one separately, the contents that are not connected together with the history of individuals and companies.
And since we use the aspects of the information we uncovered as the basis for the process, it feels like we are watching a scenario.
Based on only three or four fragmentary pieces of information, the entire process from planning to the present was inferred. That too is very likely.
“What is the countermeasure?”
“It was luck that I got the great hops. The Korean-Chinese who were raising the slush fund could also be identified because they were confirmed in Daeho’s ledger.”
“Hanil has already left, and things are gone. Are you going to find the person involved through the slush fund route?”
“yes.”
I stared at the face of the guy who knelt with his legs crossed.
“Why are you in a cougar?”
“yes yes?”
“Why are you in a cougar?”
While he was worried, he began to explain briefly and concisely, as if he had grasped the personality of the person in front of him relatively accurately.
“I was favored by Chairman Lee Il-hwan when I was in high school. After saving my middle school sister and me, he disappeared, but 10 years later, he was leading an organization called Cougar. So when I heard the news, I came back on my own.”
Somehow he looked young, he was only in his early to mid-thirties.
‘I like it.’
He was considered a good guy to work with.
One still pending.
“Look for it. In detail, in a line that does not stimulate as much as possible. Because we need the head, not the tail.”
“All right.”
* * *
Whoop- whoop-
Fw-
An eerie gong sound echoing somewhere in the eerie warehouse.
The source of the sound was a silenced 45-caliber Glock held in the hands of a group of men.
The number of corpses soaking the floor in warm blood reached sixty.
All eyes and mouths were sealed, and both hands and feet were bound.
They were letting us know that they were dragged in without resistance and were slaughtered.
One of the group, who completely removed bare skin with dark clothes, gloves, and a mask, took out a phone and called someone.
-… … .
As if a phone call had been answered, a voice could be heard over the handset, and rather awkward Chinese words flowed from the masked man’s mouth.
“I have done it.”
-… … .
“Yes, even if we get a clue, the harm will not go to China. Things, slush fund routes, and mouths all evaporated.”
-… … .
“All right. I will keep an eye on you.”
-… … .
“… a week later Has confirmed. We will prepare one of the safe houses managed by us.”
The man who hung up the phone looked around once.
They caught the criminals and used the information they gathered to figure out the criminal activity, and committed the worst crimes without incident.
Scenes that could not be imagined to have occurred in South Korea, an advanced security country.
However, the choice of the organization to work in is the choice of the executives there.
Receiving the moonlight shining from outside the warehouse, those eyes that were the only one that gave off light were tightly closed.
“Dispose of the body and return. in action.”
* * *
rattle-
“dad!”
Bora Jang opened the door to the VIP ward decorated with single rooms and shouted.
While I was living in the hospital and went home to pack my things for a while, I got a call and came back in a hurry.
The doctor in charge, several nurses, and Ha Seong-cheol stood guard by the pale albino who was lying on the bed.
The strength was released in the legs.
If I took a step, it seemed that the central axis would tip over at any moment, but I struggled to move one step at a time.
She crawled over to the bed and held her father’s hand.
“dad… dad… ! wake up… .”
He was already pale, but his complexion was unusually bloody. Hands cold as ice.
Even if the doctor doesn’t say that you have to prepare, it’s a state that is clearly different from the ‘hard times’ that happened every time during the fight against the disease. The feeling came slowly.
You start to feel the true mental preparation.
Fear of losing someone dear to you. The fear of being left alone began to overtake her.
“Me, what should I do… . I mean I’m twenty-seven now… ! black… dad… .”
“Look… .”
Ha Seong-cheol carefully placed his hand on the shoulder of Jang Bo-ra, who sobbed with his face buried in his close friend’s arms.
But now I knew full well that I would not be comforted no matter what.
Because that’s what you’ve been through.
In fact, within the 20 minutes she came here, her vital signs had already stopped.
He didn’t even realize that the measuring device had already fallen from his hands and chest.
It was Ha Seong-cheol who was cautiously wandering around, wondering if the beep sound would push her further.
Before his death, Jang Baek-gi left a message to Ha Seong-cheol.
-Geun-hye pays interest to my daughter.
‘Don’t pay me back. No matter what happens, I will pay you back a hundred or a thousand times, so go to a good place, white flag.’
“Huh… ugh… .”
When the heavy sobs had only subsided somewhat.
The heavy words of the doctor in charge continued.
“Baekgi Jang. He died on October 27, 2025 at 10:28.”
* * *
As with any critically ill patient or family member, lying down was more difficult than closing one’s eyes.
The preparations for the funeral were completed in just a few hours, putting to shame the five years of struggles with cancer, taking care of the family alone and taking care of the elderly father.
This is the reason why patients and their families often live by saying that it is better to die when they are pushed to the edge of a cliff.
It is the smallest funeral home with an area of about 40 pyeong, which goes without saying that it is the largest hospital in Korea.
Ha Seong-cheol wanted to send his friend on his last way in a grand way, but it was the result of Jang Bo-ra’s decision to think that no one would come and that her father would not want that either.
Ha Yeon-woo hadn’t arrived yet, saying he had a place to stop by, and Ha Seong-cheol, who was on his deathbed, was half-forced to go to the sauna for a while and rest.
Jang Bo-ra, who was alone for a while, sat in the chair of the sang-ju and stared blankly at her father’s portrait.
“really… . If you’re going to do this, don’t help here and there like that.”
In the first few years, there were so many people who came to see me every other day with sad eyes.
It’s because of his personality that he’s not harsh and easily helps anyone.
However, the time of fighting the disease is a whopping 5 years.
Out of sight, out of mind. Even more so, it was just a relationship made a long time ago in society.
The footsteps of acquaintances who were cut off one by one. In the last year of his death, the adults of his parents’ family and Ha Yeon-woo and his son Ha Yeon-woo were all the guests.
It’s the first day, but the only people in the funeral home now are two helpers from a mutual aid company, and a slightly larger number of mourners.
With a fire and a sliding door in between, the quiet atmosphere and the high voices of a raucous drinking party were mixed.
It was like that when I was young.
Are you insane when you see people laughing and talking at funerals? thought to do.
Perhaps everyone has felt it at least once. A faint smile appeared on Jang Bora’s face.
However, when I saw them in the position of the resident over the mid-twenties, I was just grateful.
Isn’t there a novel ‘Festival’ with the theme of a funeral?
There was also a culture of dancing and singing the night before the birth and singing ‘If I go now, when will I come back’.
It’s not that I’m not sad, it’s not that I don’t respect the resident. It’s just that the way to sublimate as a mourner who participates in sorrow is different.
It’s not that I was young or lost, but I belong to the old age in the Gate era.
In addition, as she foresaw death in advance, the atmosphere also came to Jang Bora as a friendly thing.
Is the sadness diluted?
“Time flies… . It seems like five years just disappeared… .”
The time when I sat there with such dry eyes and sympathized with my father in the picture of the portrait.
A murmur was heard at the entrance of the funeral home.
As with other congratulations and condolences, there are more people attending the investigation than the congratulatory.
It’s just an infinitely happy day, so if you have a proper excuse and shame, you can understand and laugh at it, but the investigation wasn’t like that.
And among them, there were definitely unrewarded types who took advantage of this sad situation.
When I lifted my heavy body and went out of the mortuary, it was full of faces I hadn’t seen in quite a while.
“Look!”
A woman of her age who was the first to come to her with a crying face and hug her.
“I’m here?”
“great job… . I’ve been through a lot… .”
It was Kim Hye-won, his best friend and high school classmate.
And the four men and women who stood behind them with awkward expressions were people who had been together during their school days.
There were good ties and bad ties, but since they came to pay condolences, they were all precious guests.
It was a difficult time, but they welcomed them as warmly as possible.
“It’s been a while, everyone.”
“It was a lot of hard work. See.”
A man in a shaggy suit immediately continued.
“uh… . You must be busy, but for coming… .”
“Look. let’s get married.”
Before she can finish her answer, another woman crosses the man’s arms and utters nonsensical noises.
“Saerom, that’s a little later… .”
“I have to tell you now, when are you going to do it?”
Jang Sae-rom looks around the inside of the funeral hall and makes a clearly sarcastic expression, as if he hadn’t even heard the man’s disapproval. He went on to speak immediately.
“Ah, in case you’re busy, I told you something important first. Are you generous?”
“Did you say you were coming along for this?”
Kim Hye-won, who held Jang Bo-ra’s hand tightly, turned her head backwards and rolled her eyes at Jang Sae-rom and Jo Gyeong-seok, who stood dumbly with her arms crossed.
“It’s okay, Hyewon. You still came… . Congratulations, you two.”
“hey… !”
Kim Hye-won, who was about to say, “Why are you acting so stupid?” fell silent.
It was because Jang Bora’s complexion looked too tired.
‘okay… . It will be hard to answer, but let’s not go out and raise things… .’
It was Kim Hye-won who pulled Jang Bora’s arm according to the thoughts in her head.
“Where are you, uncle? Let’s say hello.”
“Yes. okay. This way.”