Chapter 100. Disappearance (1)
“I know she’s come home late before, but she’s never stayed out overnight. It feels like something’s happened, but the police just keep telling me to wait a little longer. Her phone is off too. If I hadn’t been so frustrated, I wouldn’t have come all the way here. Ugh…!”
Her daughter, Hye-mi, had gone out to tour Seoul’s famous eateries.
Worried about her daughter’s late return, she called her, only to find her phone switched off.
“The power is off, please leave a voicemail…”
The middle-aged woman who heard the message instantly had a gut feeling. Something must have happened to her daughter.
She immediately rushed to the neighborhood police station. But the response from the officer who received her report was lukewarm.
Her daughter was 20 years old. According to them, it’s an age where she could stay out overnight without a word. So, they advised her to wait a little longer at home.
But she couldn’t just sit still.
She spent the night calling her daughter’s friends, and finally managed to find out the name of the restaurant her daughter had gone to.
It was Dok’s Family Restaurant.
“So, please show me the CCTV footage. I Just need to confirm if our daughter came here, what time she left if she did, if she came alone, or with someone else. I need to confirm it with my own eyes. That way, I can also check her route. Please, I’m begging you.”
The middle-aged woman’s anxious heart reached out to the people at Dok’s Family Restaurant. Especially Jong-pal felt it more than anyone else.
Why wouldn’t he? He, too, had lived as a family member of a missing person for over a decade. Just the thought of it brought back PTSD.
Throughout the conversation, Jong-pal ‘s expression remained dark.
And Jong-sik, looking at his brother in such distress, also felt heavy-hearted. He comforted her as if comforting his own sibling.
“Don’t worry, there must be nothing wrong with your daughter. And of course, we’ll show you the CCTV footage. But before that, could we see a photo of your daughter?”
“A photo of our daughter?”
“Our staff has a good eye for faces. If she was here yesterday, we will surely recognize her.”
“Oh! Y-yes, here it is.”
She handed him her phone.
Her daughter’s photo was set as the background wallpaper.
Jong-sik showed the photo to the hall staff, and the staff shook their head nervously. It meant they hadn’t seen her before.
The middle-aged woman’s expression turned desperate.
“Please take another look, okay?”
“I’m really sorry, but I’ve never seen this person before. If I had seen her yesterday, I would definitely remember…”
“You might have missed it because you were busy! My daughter definitely came here. She was so excited to come here the night before. As soon as she arrived in Seoul, she must have rushed to this restaurant first!”
“….”
If the staff with a good eye couldn’t see her, then she definitely hadn’t come.
However, those words didn’t enter the ears of the middle-aged woman.
“Never mind. Just show me the CCTV. I’ll look for her myself.”
In the end, she checked the CCTV with no results. But the woman in the photo couldn’t be found anywhere. No matter how many times she rewound it, it was the same.
“Oh, what do I do? What should I do?”
The middle-aged woman was despairing. She paced back and forth like a child in distress. Then, after a moment,
“This is not the time for me to act like this. I need to go back to the police station…”
Muttering to herself, she got up from her seat. Jong-pal grabbed her and stood her up. If she went out like that, something bad would definitely happen.
“Ma’am, please wait a moment. Sit here until you calm down, then go out. Especially in times like this, you need to keep your wits about you. You haven’t even eaten, right? I’ll prepare something light for you, so please sit down for a moment.”
“No, I’m not in the right mind to eat anything right now. Don’t hold me back. I have to go right now. Our daughter is waiting.”
As she babbled, pushing away Jong-pal ‘s hand, Jong-sik joined in.
“Don’t do that and sit down. Something could happen to you before you find your daughter. Jong-pal , bring something else again.”
“Oh, okay. Hyung. make sure to hold her!”
“Argh! Why are you like this? I have to go. Our daughter is waiting!”
Still, the middle-aged woman persisted. But after hearing Jong-sik’s following words, she had no choice but to sit back down.
“I’m like the village head in this neighborhood. I know many people around here. I’ll give you my number, so please send me a photo of your daughter. I’ll check if anyone has seen her while I’m out.”
“Thank you,” she said, deeply grateful for Jong-sik’s help.
—
The door to the office of Poison Toad, Oh Kang-yeol of the Poison Toad Gang, swung open.
“Hyung!”
“Yeah. Kang-yeol. You’ve come at the right time. Here…”
But Kim Dae-chun’s words didn’t reach Oh Kang-yeol.
He was in a state of great excitement.
“Hyung! I’ve reached the ones who are in the Philippines. It seems like we can go over right away.”
“You… you scoundrel!”
Hearing that, Kim Dae-chun was momentarily taken aback.
Whether he liked it or not, Oh Kang-yeol continued cheerfully.
“How tough it must have been all this time. Hyung. It’s all over now. We can tear apart these volunteer group T-shirts and everything.”
“Enough of that.”
“Do you want to stay here and rot? I feel the same way.”
“What about Mr. Dok?”
“Don’t worry. Mr. Dok won’t find us. Korea is small enough to be found even with just a speck of land, but the Philippines is different. To find us there, they’ll have to look for pearls in the sand. Hahaha.”
“You… you’ll get punished…”
“Feeling down? I’ve just become your right-hand man, haven’t I? Haha! I’m not just Oh Kang-yeol who kills for a living. I’ve already booked the flight for tonight.”
That crazy bastard! Kim Dae-chun frantically gestured. If eyes could kill, it was a hint to look aside.
Then Oh Kang-yeol belatedly turned his head. Falling from grace from heaven to hell felt like this. Meeting the chilling smile of Dok Jong-sik, Oh Kang-yeol slumped into his seat.
“So you were planning to run away to the Philippines. A flight tonight, you say?”
“I-it’s not… not running away…”
At that moment, Kim Dae-chun, who had barely stopped Oh Kang-yeol, stepped forward. A fleeting idea popped into his head, bypassing the brain altogether.
“It’s not running away, but I was planning to bring back our siblings who are staying overseas! Ah, well, having many volunteer groups is better than none, isn’t it?”
“Who are you fooling?”
As expected, the response was icy.
Kim Dae-chun was at the edge of the cliff.
“I-I’ve always respected you Mr. Dok.”
Bam!
Jong-sik chuckled and said, “Pick one out of 1, 2, or 3.”
“What?”
“Which one?”
“…Number 2?”
In an instant, a sense of foreboding emanated from Jong-sik’s mouth.
A moment of true education occurred.
But from Kim Dae-chun’s perspective, it was business as usual.
“Cough, cough!”
“Well, it was quite a good idea. I thought it would end there.”
‘You thought it ended because it was a good idea?’
‘What on earth was I thinking?’
Kim Dae-chun asked himself.
“A g-good idea?”
“There’s a saying that the more volunteer groups, the better.”
Damn it!
He couldn’t stand his past self.
“Well, isn’t that right? There’s a saying that more players mean better chances. Hahaha. Well then, I’ll gather the kids right away.”
‘Thinking about how to bring back those overseas guys is already giving me a headache. Still, it should be easier than dying.’
“The sooner, the better.”
“Y-Yes, of course! I’ll tell them to leave tonight if possible.”
Kim Dae-chun shouted with determination.
“Then do that, and you.”
Oh Kang-yeol was no different. At Jong-sik’s beckoning, he sprang to attention.
“Is finding a pearl in the sand faster? Well, you could think that way. Then go. To the Philippines or Africa, wherever.”
“No, no. I must have gone crazy for a moment. I’m a native of Sangwon-dong. I’ll bury my bones in the neighborhood I love!”
Jong-sik clapped his hands to get back on track.
“That’s your business. But more importantly, was there any commotion in the neighborhood yesterday?”
“There was an incident at Ogeori Pork Trotters where a drunk caused a disturbance!”
“Other than that?”
“Nothing.”
“Then, have you seen this kid?”
Jong-sik showed the middle-aged woman the photo she had given him. Oh Kang-yeol stared at it intently. Eventually, he spoke up.
“I haven’t seen her”
“Sure about that?”
“Absolutely. If I had seen her, I would’ve gotten her number, that’s my style!”
“…This is getting complicated. Spread it to the others to check as well.”
“Understood! But Mr. Dok, could this woman also be missing?”
‘also?’
Jong-sik furrowed his brow.
“I don’t know yet. But ‘also’? Who else is missing?”
“I’ve heard that there have been quite a few missing persons in the neighboring area recently.”
“Tell me more about that.”
Jong-sik adjusted his posture, indicating that he was ready to listen. It seemed like there was a lot to hear.
***
Some time later.
[The issue we’ll be discussing today is about missing persons. To provide more detailed information, we have invited an expert. Mr. Kang Howon from the Korea Villain Research Institute. Hello?]
[Yes, nice to meet you.]
[Mr. Kang, it’s been reported that there has been a sudden increase in reports related to missing persons. The families of the missing persons claim that villain organizations are involved in their disappearance. How does the Korea Villain Research Institute view this?]
[Hmm. This is not the official stance of our institute. However, personally, I think it may be a hasty judgment. The reason is that villains with a history of kidnapping and human trafficking currently manage and control individuals by attaching electronic ankle monitors…]
“He’s talking nonsense. Haha.”
A man wearing a special gas mask chuckled as he watched the video on his phone.
In front of him, dozens of people were busy moving their hands rapidly, coughing continuously.
Cough, cough.
The reason for their coughing was simple. It was because they lacked gas masks to protect against a particularly toxic gas.
Then what was the cause of the toxic gas?
“Hurry up. Why aren’t you moving quickly? I told you to pack the grams properly!”
It was the toxic gas generated during the process of manufacturing narcotics.
They were packaging such drugs without any protective gear.
Among the packaging team was Hye-mi, the daughter of the middle-aged woman who had visited the Dok’s Family Restaurant.
Hye-mi was packaging drug powder with a resigned expression on her face.
And then.
“Cough!”
An elderly man standing next to her began coughing. He seemed to be struggling to breathe.
The coughing was so violent that he couldn’t control his body.
“Oh my, cough, cough.”
At the sound, the man wearing the special gas mask furrowed his brow. Then he gestured to the armed guards.
“Hey, damn it. He’s not stopping. Get that guy out of here, now.”
“I’ll take him out.”
Without hesitation, the guard wielding a Baton struck the old man on the head. It was a swift and decisive movement.
Thud!
The old man collapsed to the ground without any chance to resist.
“Bring him here, but what’s the use of bringing someone like that? Bring some fresh ones instead. And those people seem to prefer that.”
“I’ll relay the message.”
The armed guard nodded respectfully and dragged the old man away.
“Grandpa…”
Hye-mi felt powerless in the face of this harsh reality. All she could do was continue packaging drugs in front of her.
