The fast food restaurant was mostly empty.
Hyeon-ju, Joe Yabuki, and Kim Geon-woo sat at a small corner table. The air smelled like grease and salty fries.
Hyeon-ju looked at the two men. "Why did you take this job?"
Geon-woo let out a long breath. "My mom got a loan from Smile Capital. They tricked her. I had to use every bit of the money the President gave me just to pay the debt."
"Smile Capital gave you a loan?"
"They conned her." Geon-woo kept his voice flat.
"How much was it?"
"A hundred million won."
Hyeon-ju stared at him. "You paid the whole thing? No extra fees?"
Geon-woo looked at the table with a bitter smile. "They trashed her cafe. The whole place is a wreck now."
Hyeon-ju looked at the white bandage on his cheek. "Did they do that to you too?"
"Yeah."
"You must be furious. Did you call the police?"
"No." Geon-woo shook his head. "The boss said he would kill my mother if I talked to the cops."
Hyeon-ju turned her head toward Joe. "What about you? Why are you here?"
Joe thought for a second.
"Money."
Hyeon-ju let out a short snort. "You are a blunt bastard."
Woo-jin arrived at the table with a heavy tray. "The burgers are here! Eat up while I talk."
Hyeon-ju picked up a burger but did not open the paper.
"My grandpa gives out loans with no interest to people who are struggling." She put the burger back down. "But some people take advantage of that. Yang Jae-myeong was one of them. He borrowed ten million using his mother's name and then he disappeared."
"I spent six months looking for him."
"I finally found him at a train station. He was begging in an underpass. I thought he was truly broke." She paused. "Then I saw his teeth. They were perfectly white."
Geon-woo and Joe looked at each other.
"So I followed him." Hyeon-ju leaned in. "He and his crew pretend to be homeless. At night they steal IDs from the people actually living on the streets. They use those IDs to start fake companies and scam banks. They make hundreds of millions."
"It is too organized." She shook her head. "Someone else is pulling the strings."
She pulled a photo from her pocket and slid it into the middle of the table.
"This guy was seen with Yang Jae-myeong. Do either of you know him?"
Geon-woo looked at the picture.
"Yeah." He nodded. "I know him. He was with the boss of Smile Capital."
---
The car engine revved in the dark.
Hyeon-ju sat in the driver's seat. Joe was next to her and the other two were in the back.
"Our goal tonight is to count how many IDs they take." Hyeon-ju looked at them in the mirror. "Stay calm. If they see us, my six months of work are wasted."
Everyone nodded.
Hyeon-ju pointed to some baseball caps in the back seat. "Hide your faces and stay behind me."
Geon-woo put a cap on. Woo-jin did the same. Joe looked at his for a moment before pulling it low over his eyes.
"Do not get spotted."
"Got it."
"We understand."
Joe just gave a silent nod.
The car stopped near an alley entrance. Hyeon-ju turned off the engine. "They are over there."
Three men in dirty clothes sat on the sidewalk. They held cardboard signs with messy writing.
Geon-woo stared at them. "They really look like the real thing."
Woo-jin nodded. "You would never know if you didn't look close."
"Wait for the sun to go down." Hyeon-ju watched them. "They will move on the real homeless people soon. Just watch."
Time passed and the sky turned black. The streets became quiet.
The three fake beggars stood up and walked into a narrow alleyway.
"Follow them."
They got out of the car and moved into the shadows. They kept a safe distance.
The group walked deeper into the dark and stopped at a corner. Several real homeless people were already asleep on the ground.
One of the men knelt down. He slid a wallet from under a sleeping man. He took the ID card out and put it in his pocket. Then he moved to the next person.
Geon-woo squeezed his fists.
"I want to go down there and break their teeth." Woo-jin whispered.
Joe stood at the back and watched without making a sound.
One of the men poked Jae-myeong and pointed at a guy leaning against a wall. "What about him?"
Jae-myeong looked over. "He is too drunk."
"He might have a wallet."
Jae-myeong didn't answer. He turned around and walked the other way. "Find someone who isn't wasted."
"Okay." The man ran to catch up.
"Let's go." Woo-jin tugged on Geon-woo's sleeve. They moved around the corner to stay behind them.
The other man grabbed Jae-myeong's arm. "Look over there."
Jae-myeong pulled his arm away and glared at him.
"Keep your head down."
Jae-myeong had found a new target. An old man sat alone against a brick wall. He had a thin layer of newspaper under him.
Jae-myeong knelt in front of him and gave a warm smile. "Hello, sir."
The old man blinked his eyes. "What?"
"You shouldn't sleep on the cold ground like this. You need a real bed."
The man stared at him. "Yeah."
"Have you eaten today?"
"Two days ago."
Jae-myeong made a sad face. "That is awful. We are here to help. We work for a charity from the city."
"Oh. I see."
"The government wants us to look out for each other. You can join us." Jae-myeong leaned closer. "If you do, you won't be out here anymore. We will find you a job. You get twenty free masks and three hundred thousand won every month."
The old man's eyes went wide. "Three hundred?"
"That is right." Jae-myeong smiled. "If you have your ID we can sign you up right now. You will get the money in a month. Do you want to do it?"
The man didn't wait. "Yeah. Okay."
"Great." One of the other men stepped forward.
The old man reached into his dirty coat and handed over his ID.
Jae-myeong took it and tucked it into his jacket. "This is a secret. Don't tell anyone else, okay?"
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
Geon-woo watched from the dark. His jaw was tight.
"He is a good liar."
Woo-jin whispered. "That is four IDs so far."
Jae-myeong was already moving again. He saw another man further down the alley. "Excuse me, sir."
The man looked up. "What?"
"We are from the Homeless Association. We want to help—"
The man's face changed instantly.
"You again!" He scrambled to his feet. "You son of a bitch! Where is my ID? Give it back!"
Everything happened fast.
The man lunged at them. Jae-myeong shoved him back hard. "You crazy old bastard!"
The man grabbed Jae-myeong's collar and wouldn't let go. "Give it back! Now!"
"Get off me!" Jae-myeong snarled. He twisted his body away. One of the other men stepped in and pushed the old man to the ground.
The man hit the pavement and groaned. He tried to crawl back up.
The three men just laughed at him.
Geon-woo took a step forward into the light.
Woo-jin caught his arm. "Not yet."
Geon-woo stopped. His hands were shaking with rage.
"Not yet."