A single fluorescent light flickered overhead.
Hyeon-ju, Joe, Woo-jin, and Geon-woo stood side by side in the dim basement. They looked down at the three men tied to chairs.
"Should I wake them up?" Woo-jin glanced over at Hyeon-ju.
Hyeon-ju snorted and ignored him. She looked at Joe instead. "Why did you bring these guys here?"
"Think about what happens if we let Jae-myeong walk." Joe crossed his arms. "These two already revealed themselves. The second Jae-myeong reports to his bosses, the organization moves. Your whole operation is over."
Geon-woo and Woo-jin looked away. Just a little while ago, Hyeon-ju was going to fire them. If Joe had not brought the goons in, they would be on the street.
"Even so." Hyeon-ju kept her voice cold. "We kidnapped him. The people behind him are not going to just sit around."
"They won't." Joe nodded. "But it is the same either way. The moment he told his bosses that someone caught him, they would have looked for Geon-woo and Woo-jin. Geon-woo has a mother. She would be in danger. You would have had to quit."
Geon-woo's face turned hard at the mention of his mom.
"But this way," Joe said, "it takes them time to figure out why he is gone. We use that time to find out who he works for. That is what we need."
Hyeon-ju stayed quiet. She knew he was right.
"Wake him up." She looked at Geon-woo.
Geon-woo grabbed a basin of water and threw it into Jae-myeong's face.
SPLASH!
"Ugh—!"
Jae-myeong's head snapped up. He blinked hard against the bright light. He tried to move his hands but the rope dug into his skin.
He saw the four faces in front of him. His eyes stopped on Joe.
"You son of a—!" Jae-myeong's eyes went wide. "Let me go right now! Do you know who is behind me? You want to die?"
Joe just leaned against the wall and kept his arms crossed.
Woo-jin stepped forward and made his voice deep. "Who is behind you? What is the goal? Are there others?"
Jae-myeong pressed his lips shut. He did not say a word.
"Hey." Woo-jin raised his voice. "Are you deaf? Talk!"
Jae-myeong turned his head away and refused to look at him.
Woo-jin cursed under his breath. He pulled the others into a corner to whisper. "This is not working. He is not going to break. We need a different plan."
"No we don't."
Joe spoke quietly and pushed past Woo-jin. He walked straight up to Jae-myeong.
He raised his hand and slapped Jae-myeong across the face.
CRACK!
"Hey—" Jae-myeong gritted his teeth.
Joe slapped him again on the other cheek.
CRACK!
"You piece of—"
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Jae-myeong tried to act tough at first. He cursed and shouted. But Joe did not stop. He did not look angry or fast. He just kept hitting him with a steady rhythm.
Eventually the cursing stopped. Jae-myeong started groaning. Then he started to cry.
"Please, just wait—"
Joe did not stop.
"I will talk! I will talk!" Jae-myeong hung his head and sobbed. "It is Smile Capital. They are the ones behind everything!"
Joe finally stopped his hand.
The basement went quiet.
"Should have just said that at the start." Joe muttered and shook out his hand. His palm was bright red. "Now my hand hurts."
Jae-myeong lifted his swollen face. Tears were running down his bruised cheeks. "Your hand hurts? What about my face?"
Joe looked down at him and narrowed his eyes.
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing, sir."
Hyeon-ju stepped forward and crouched down. She looked Jae-myeong in the eye.
"Why is Smile Capital trying so hard to get cash right now?"
Jae-myeong sniffled. "The boss needs money fast. He is pushing everyone to bring it in."
"Why does he need it?"
"I don't know."
Joe looked over at Jae-myeong.
The man flinched. "I really don't! But I heard something. The boss is lending money to a big company. There is an old building from the COVID years. They want to turn it into a hotel. That is where the money goes."
"How much for each ID?"
"About fifty million won each."
Woo-jin sucked in a breath. "Ten IDs is five hundred million."
Hyeon-ju thought for a second. "How long has this been going on?"
"About half a year."
"They must have a huge pile of cash by now."
"Probably."
"And the loan sharks you stole from? Why didn't they go to the police?"
Jae-myeong let out a sad laugh. "If they go to the cops, they get in trouble too. They are trying to find the money themselves. But it isn't going well for them."
Joe crouched down in front of Jae-myeong. His voice got very low. "Tell me the main members of Smile Capital. All of them."
Jae-myeong closed his mouth.
Joe slowly opened and closed his red palm.
Jae-myeong looked away. "The boss is Kim Myeong-gil. He is the CEO. He does not show his face much. He is cold and scary. Once he picks a goal, he finishes it."
"Next."
"Kang In-beom. He is the number two guy." Jae-myeong cleared his throat. "He and the boss met in prison. They have been together ever since. He does all the violent stuff."
"More."
"Kim Jun-min. The boss keeps him close. He basically manages the whole Smile Capital.
Joe nodded. "Anyone else?"
Jae-myeong hesitated. "Im Jang-do. He is the Strategy Director. He has friends in the police. He uses them to keep the cops away."
Joe stood up.
Hyeon-ju rose slowly and looked at the three men.
"Here is the plan."
They all looked at her.
"We find the loan sharks that Jae-myeong robbed. We get their money back for them. But we take a commission."
Woo-jin's eyes lit up. He was already doing the math in his head. "If we take one percent, that is thirty billion won."
"We charge two."
"Two percent!" Woo-jin's mouth fell open before he broke into a huge grin.
Geon-woo had been quiet the whole time. He finally spoke up. "But if the loan sharks lose money, doesn't that hurt the people who borrowed from them?"
Woo-jin looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it." Geon-woo said. "If the sharks lose money, they need to get it back. They will go after their clients even harder. The people who can't pay..." He stopped talking.
The basement went silent.
Hyeon-ju looked at him. "You are right."
Geon-woo gave a small nod.
Nobody said anything else. They all knew what that meant. People like Geon-woo's mother had lost everything to those sharks. If the sharks got desperate, more people would suffer just like she did.