Chapter 6

Lee-jin first learned boxing from Sang-pil, and in order to create a cover identity that would let her work under him, she naturally became a boxer.

She had never fought in any official match; like a trained horse on a board where huge sums of money changed hands, Lee-jin stood not in a square ring for boxing, but in an octagon for making money.

Since it was illegal, naturally there were also many cases where the outcome had already been decided.

From Boss Kim’s point of view as the one running Roxana, it was far more profitable to run matches for people who benefited his business than for lunatics who came waving around a little cash.

“But don’t lose too pathetically. I want my stalker not to be an easy person.”

Kwon Ki-joo, giving a short laugh, finally straightened up from where he had been leaning against the car the whole time. The late afternoon sunlight slid languidly over Kwon Ki-joo’s broad shoulders.

“See you again, Song Lee-jin.”

After saying that, Kwon Ki-joo got into the car without a trace of lingering attachment. And before Lee-jin could show any other reaction, he had already left the shabby alley in an instant.

Lee-jin, who could only stand there and watch as the five black cars disappeared one after another before her eyes, let out a sigh and twisted her face in frustration.

He had not come because of any important matter, and he was not even going to stay for a full five minutes, yet he had shown up with such noisy fanfare for all to see. She could not understand Kwon Ki-joo’s true intentions at all. Kwon Ki-joo’s whims really were…….

“Are you okay?”

From behind Lee-jin, who still remained standing there with an uneasy feeling, Wonjae’s voice came. It seemed he had come down after seeing that Kwon Ki-joo had left.

“Why did that bastard come here? Are you sure we haven’t been found out?”

“Probably? I don’t know why he came either.”

She really was curious. To think he came snooping around just because he felt disappointed that she was not following him. She wondered if Kwon Ki-joo had gotten shot in the head in the meantime.

“Wonjae-oppa, still nothing yet?”

“Huh? Yeah, not yet……. I think the safe is probably in his house, not in the office. Mimi needs to make a move on that bastard quickly before we’ll get anything.”

It was not as if Lee-jin had spent those fifteen days doing nothing but play the fool as a stalker. She was the one who had secretly slipped into the office inside the room salon Kwon Ki-joo ran and into the boss’s office at Havana Club, avoiding people’s eyes, and installed cameras and listening devices.

[Not just his head, rob that bastard’s safe too. The rumors say it’s stuffed with all kinds of treasure. Just killing him won’t satisfy me, so we should take everything we can from him, right?]

Because of that additional demand Boss Nam had made, Lee-jin had really risked her life installing the equipment.

But until now, nothing had been discovered in either of the two offices. Wonjae had been straining his eyes every day to find the hidden secret safe somewhere, but every time it turned up nothing.

Sometimes Lee-jin would watch the screen Wonjae was monitoring together with him. Inside the camera frame, Kwon Ki-joo’s usual job seemed to be sitting with his legs stretched out on the desk in a swaggering pose and periodically calling in his underlings to chew them out.

She had never once seen him use his fists or a knife, so she wondered if that was simply how he relieved stress.

Since the two key business sites of Kwon Ki-joo’s had both failed, all that remained now were the office of the gambling den where he usually stayed and his house.

They were the places with the highest level of difficulty, so they had not dared to sneak in, and just when Lee-jin had been thinking that now all they had left was Mimi’s direct seduction tactic, she had been dragged off to the warehouse and acknowledged as Kwon Ki-joo’s stalker. Sang-pil, the deputy leader, was also in the middle of wearing her down by saying they should use that to their advantage.

She had tried somehow to avoid Kwon Ki-joo, but now that he had shown up in front of the Vigilante Group building like this today, she could no longer pull back.

If Lee-jin did not follow him around, he would probably show up here again. Because he had said he wanted to see her again.

And no one welcomed Kwon Ki-joo repeatedly showing up in this area.

“Do you really think Mimi can pull it off?”

Even after seeing Kwon Ki-joo replace women every night, Mimi was still full of confidence. She said that once he spent a night with her, he would be wrapped around her finger.

Rather, she had even made Sang-pil click his tongue when she told him not to kill Kwon Ki-joo before she had a chance to enjoy him enough.

“There hasn’t been a man yet who didn’t fall for Mimi. Some took a little longer than others. Well, from the start we didn’t think Kwon Ki-joo would be done in a day or two anyway.”

“No matter what, Oppa, I think we need to quickly find a chance to push Mimi in. At this rate, I feel like I’m going to waste away.”

“Yeah. As long as Mimi gets into that bastard Kwon Ki-joo’s bedroom, we can count it as half a success, so let’s hurry it up a little.”

Standing in the unpleasant street after Kwon Ki-joo had disappeared, Lee-jin sighed. She even found herself thinking that, to play the role of a proper follower a little better, she should look into how idol fans act these days.

* * *

“Lee-jin! That’s enough, take a break now!”

Seeing Lee-jin stagger after taking Moran’s straight punch, Sang-pil shouted from outside the ring.

She had already spent the whole day shut up in the gym hitting the punching bag, and after several rounds of sparring, it was becoming harder and harder even to stay standing.

Lee-jin dragged her legs, which felt as though they might buckle at any moment, and got out of the ring. She had worked her body so hard in order not to think useless thoughts that every breath she took seemed to leave a sweet, sickly taste in her mouth.

“Why are you working that hard.”

Moran, seeing Lee-jin collapse against the wall as though falling apart, asked as she handed her a water bottle.

Moran, one of the boxers who fought at Roxana like Lee-jin, already knew the outcome of the match awaiting her tomorrow. So Lee-jin’s practicing all day for a match she was bound to lose seemed strange to her.

“I’m trying to do my best at every moment.”

Because I don’t know when I might die. Lee-jin could not bring herself to say the rest aloud, and Moran laughed at her answer.

Perhaps she thought it was just something said to brush it off, because without asking any further, Moran went over to the punching bag. Thud, thud, her powerful fists hammered into it.

Lee-jin kept staring only at the punching bag swaying before her eyes, trying as much as possible not to think of anything at all.

But as one thought led to another, and she pictured herself being beaten like that tomorrow, the sweet taste filling her mouth suddenly seemed to turn bitter.

The fortunate thing was the news that her opponent was in a similar weight class. Compared to the times she had to get beaten up by super heavyweights over 81 kg, this was heaven.

“Go home early and rest.”

Sang-pil, who was also the owner of the gym where Lee-jin trained, came over to where she sat collapsed and spoke to her.

There was nothing more draining than having to fight a match when she already knew the result, but in the end it was just a regular cover. Once this match was over, Lee-jin would be able to rest again for quite a while.

“Who’s the sponsor backing the other side?”

“Well, I didn’t hear exactly, but I don’t think it’s someone from around here. Ever since Kwon Ki-joo took over this place, all the high rollers who used to come in and out of Roxana have been keeping their heads down.”

“Find me some big shot from somewhere too. I’m getting sick of always being the one who gets hit.”

“You fine with an old man too?”

At Sang-pil’s mocking question, Lee-jin could only sigh. If she only said she would do it, Sang-pil would probably bring her five or six such old men right away.

Quite a lot of people kept an eye on her as she climbed into the octagon regularly. In a neighborhood this dangerous, there were naturally those who put prices on people.

Though she was overshadowed by the flamboyant Mimi, Lee-jin had once been a regular first love among the boys in this neighborhood, and even now temptation still surrounded her. Unlike the easy Choi Mimi, the rumor that Song Lee-jin was still a v*rgin drifted openly through alleys here and there like an open secret.

So perhaps it was a relief that she had exercised since childhood, Lee-jin had often thought. Then she let out a short laugh. Relief, my foot, when her life had turned into this because of it.

Lee-jin forced strength into her still trembling legs and pushed herself to stand. She had to go home and rest now.