In a certain rooftop of a building in Seocho-dong.
On the windy rooftop, three gangsters, including Manager Park, were kneeling in front of a man, sniffling.
“Sob…sob… it, it hurts so much…”
“M-mother…”
The gangsters who had received Kang Chul-In’s brutal “mental training” had thrown away all manly pride and dignity. To that extent, Kang Chul-In’s blows were scary and merciless.
“Stop crying.”
Kang Chul-In said, sitting on the edge of the building dangerously.
“I-it just hurts so bad…”
“I think… we need to go to the hospital…”
The gangsters moaned and defended themselves.
“Do you guys need some more mental training?”
Kang Chul-In asked with a disapproving look.
“No, no! It doesn’t hurt!”
The gangsters all exclaimed together.
“Mmm. Good.”
Kang Chul-In smiled and nodded approvingly.
“Hey you, gang boss.”
“Yes, yes!”
Manager Park answered Kang Chul-In’s call.
“You, you need to run an errand for me.”
“An… errand?”
“Find a person for me.”
“An inquiry office or things like that. Isn’t that a gangster’s specialty?”
“Y-yes!”
Like Kang Chul-In said, Manager Park was running a personal inquiry office. It was a sort of side job.
“Write it down.”
“Huh?”
“Write it down.”
“Yes!”
Manager Park quickly shuffled inside the pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a cheap Monami pen along with a small notebook.
“The name is Kwak Jung, age 28. Area is Seoul. They say he is a heavy smoker and will go through a pack in a sitting, so keep note of that.”
“Yes… Kwak Jung… 28… Seoul… heavy smoker…”
Manager Park carefully wrote down all that Kang Chul-In had said.
“How long will it take?”
“Excuse me?””
“How long will it take?”
“That… um… well… is this it?”
“What is?”
“So… just a name, age, area, and him being a chain-smoker… this can’t be all the information you…”
“That’s it.”
Manager Park’s mouth hung open at Kang Chul-In’s careless response.
“Um… I’m sorry to ask this… but don’t you think there is too little information?”
“Really?”
At that moment, Kang Chul-In was taken aback.
Thinking about it more, there was some truth to what Manager Park said. There was very little information. It would have been easier to at least know his alma mater, but all Kang Chul-In knew about Kwak Jung was what he said to Manager Park just now. He too had never meet Kwak Jung.
‘Did I ask too much…? No, no. Why would I make an inquiry if he was easy to find?’
Thus, Kang Chul-In who had developed a bit of a soft heart soon regained the cruel and wicked mind of an employer.
“Hey, gang boss.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you are running an errand office, act like one.”
“…excuse me?”
“If I had a lot of information, there would be no point in me asking you, would there?”
“But…!”
“But?”
“…nothing.”
Manager Park had to accept Kang Chul-In’s inquiry with not much choice.
“Time?”
“Well… because we don’t have much information… if it is fast, maybe 2 or 3 months, and if it is long, maybe a year? And if it takes years, then you would just have to say it would be impossible to find him.”
“You get six months.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Price?”
Manager Park’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You… you will pay money?”
“If I made an inquiry, I should pay.”
“I thought you told me to work under you…”
“So, a subordinate does not get paid?”
“It’s not that…”
“Speak clearly.”
“It’s just that… I lost to you, and you told me to work under you… so I thought you were going to take our gang…”
Hearing that, Kang Chul-In’s face crumpled.
“Did you say you were called Manager Park?”
“Park Doo-Sik. You can just call me Doo-Sik, sir.”
“Park Doo-Sik… yes. Park Doo-Sik.”
“Yes, sir.”
“In your eyes, does it look like I would just go and be a gang boss?”
“No… no sir!”
Manager Park, no, Park Doo-Sik felt danger immediately and answered with a loud voice.
“I…”
Kang Chul-In began to speak with a low, authoritative voice.
“I hate gangsters. Using your fists and violence to con others—your kind is the one I hate the most. Strong against the weak, and weak against the strong, the worst of the worst.”
Against Kang Chul-In’s admonishments, the three gangsters, Park Doo-Sik included, could not say anything. First, what he said was true, and during the 30 minutes of “mental training”, they realized that blows will land the minute they raised any objections anyway.
“Well, I’m in no position to say these things to you as well but… you’ve heard of hating your own race.”
Honestly, Kang Chul-In was in no place to lecture the gangsters. He too had used force and power to make countless Lords of Pangaea bow down to him. He was the gangster of Pangaea. However, there were a couple things different between Kang Chul-In and the gangsters. One was that he would not bow down to anyone.
“If you want to act tough, be tough even when someone holds a knife to your neck,” Kang Chul-In said.
“Isn’t it embarrassing to act all tough depending on who you are talking to? What is this about loyal gangsters and chivalry? You gangsters are nothing but hyenas following the smell of money. You are nothing but items that are thrown away after being used. And less than 0.1% of gangsters become CEOs or bosses of anything when they get older—most just get stabbed and die early or go in and out of prison. I won’t be like that. I will be successful—throw those groundless hopes in the trash.”
Kang Chul-In’s words accurately pointed out the limitations of being a gangster—limitations and qualities that were characteristics of gang members from thousands of years ago.
“And after the 5th act, being a gangster will not be too fun. Even if this country has gone to hell, the public still has a lot of power. You’ve never heard of the war against crime?”
As Kang Chul-In spoke, the three gangsters just blinked and listened, as if they were all mute. For them who were uneducated and stupid, it was difficult to understand all of what Kang Chul-In was saying. Park Doo-Sik, who was the mob boss, seemed to understand a little.
“Anyways.”
Kang Chul-In tilted his head sideways as if too annoyed and bothered to speak further and clarify Park Doo-Sik’s relationship to him.
“You work for me, but I have no intention of being a mob boss. When I need an errand done, you need to get that done for me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, boss.”
Park Doo-Sik nodded.
“The fee for the inquiry would be 20,000 upfront and 80,000 after you find Kwak Jung. It will be 100,000 total.” The three gangsters’ eyes opened wide.
“100 thousand?”
“Why? Too little?”
“It’s… too much.”
“No, it needs to be at least that much.”
To find the one person who could go against Lee Gong-Myung or even beat him —100 thousand was basically nothing.
“No, but this is too much. For this kind of inquiry, it would start at 8000 with a maximum of 30,000…”
“If I say I will pay, I will pay. Oh, are you by chance…?”
Kang Chul-In’s eyes narrowed and glared at Park Doo-Sik as if he realized something.
“You must be thinking how I can pay that much money while being an intern.”
“No, no!”
Park Doo-Sik shook his head and waved his hands. It was the image of a man whose thoughts had been found out.
“What do you mean no?”
Kang Chul-In smirked.
“I will write you a contract. In three days, I will bring 20,000 in cash and be at your office. It would not be a bad deal even with just the 20,000 anyways.”
Park Doo-Sik, who had been found out, was speechless and could only blink in response.
“Well, then I will be leaving, so you clean up after yourselves. We will talk more in detail at the office then.”
With those words, Kang Chul-In left the rooftop.
It was silent among the three gangsters who had been left on the rooftop.
“Boss…”
The first one who spoke was the muscle who had been hit on the chin by Kang Chul-In.
“What, punk?”
Park Doo-Sik answered.
“What should we do? Should I gather all the boys?”
“Boys?”
“You aren’t going to get revenge? Even if he is good, he is alone. There is strength in numbers.”
“…Gwang-Pil.”
“Yes, boss.”
The gangster called Gwang-Pil answered Park Du-Sik’s low voice.
“You, can you land even one punch?”
“Punk, even if it’s been a while, I was once the gold medalist of the National Sports Meet.”
“I know, boss.”
“That guy, no, that boss isn’t just anyone. Even with tens of us, we probably won’t be able to bring him down. From the start, if you aren’t a professional boxer, you won’t even be his match. You call the guys, and you are just prepping for mourning.”
Park Du-Sik remembered Kang Chul-In’s fighting skills and shook his head.
“Boss, but we have face to maintain…”
“Why, because your pride is hurt so you will go at him again?”
“It’s… it’s not that… but…”
“Leave it. Why dance with knives just to clean up after the CEO?”
Although his pride was hurt, Park Du-Sik was not stupid enough to retaliate because of an incident like this.
“For some reason, I don’t have a bad feeling about this one.”
Park Du-Sik looked thoughtful for once.
“I don’t know if we can believe him, but if he pays 100 thousand for an errand, it is better than cleaning up after a couple of newly rich kids.”
“Boss! You believe him? He looks like a young little thing!”
“Hey, you stupid idiot!”
Park Du-Sik roared.
“You, did you ever meet someone who used his fists that well and had that much guts? He isn’t just anyone, even with just a glance. Even if you waved a branding iron in front of his face, he would not have blinked an eye.”
“That’s true.”
“You will survive as a gangster with an eye for people. Fists? Don’t be stupid. Like that boss said, gangsters these days have no fun. You throw around punches and fool around in these times and you will go in and out of school collecting more and more stars.”
“We won’t lose anything anyway, so let’s just wait. Let’s wait and see. It won’t be too late for a decision then. First, we should see if he brings the 20 thousand in three days.”
With that, Park Du-Sik’s eyes shone sharply.
At the same time.
Kang Chul-In, who had gone in a taxi, had been quietly heading to his studio apartment.
Finding Kwak Jung has been done for now… and now I need to focus on exercise with the remaining time.
It was crucial to train the body with the Great Summoning ahead. Pangaea was a different world than earth. There were all sorts of dangerous monsters all over, and there were no laws governing the lands. To prepare for any situation, it was necessary to build strength and power.
I also should get a gym membership. Wait… how much is in my bank account?
To build muscle in a short amount of time, one-on-one personal training was needed from a good trainer. And to get a trainer, one needed quite a bit of money, so Kang Chul-In checked his bank account with his smartphone app.
Crap.
There was no money.
I can’t even give those kids the money upfront.
Forget the $20,000. There was barely enough for $2,000. It wouldn’t even be enough to maintain his dignity as an Overlord.
‘I’ll need to borrow some.’
Kang Chul-In, even as he saw his empty bank account, was calm.
It was nothing to get a private loan. He would be filthy rich in 3-4 months.
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