Chapter 145: Lawless Zone (7)
The call Park Hyung-joon received confirmed his worst fears.
While he was scrambling to manage the situation, Daeseong Future High School had erupted into chaos.
“Who the hell did this?! Who’s the lunatic that turned my son’s face into this?!”
It was Myung Hyun-seok.
Upon hearing that his only son had been beaten to a pulp, Myung had dropped everything and stormed into the school. The moment he saw his son, he felt like his vision went red. His son’s face was swollen and bruised beyond recognition. As soon as the boy saw his father, he burst into tears.
“Dad! Waaah!”
“My son! Are you okay?”
He pulled his son into a tight embrace.
Then, with a murderous glare, he turned to Jang Won-gi.
“You there! Bring me the bastard who did this to my son, now!”
“Y-Yes, of course.”
Jang Won-gi hurriedly rushed out.
Shortly after, Kim Hyun-seong arrived.
Despite the tense atmosphere, Kim Hyun-seong remained calm, which only served to infuriate Myung Hyun-seok further.
“You! Your life is over, do you understand? I’m the executive of a major corporation! I will use every connection I have to ruin you. You won’t be able to live as a normal person anymore, got it?!”
“Go ahead, then.”
“What?”
Hyun-seong calmly scanned the room.
There were only four people: Myung Hyun-seok, his son, Jang Won-gi, and himself. There was no need to filter his words.
A smirk spread across Kim Hyun-seong’s face.
“If this escalates to the point where I face criminal charges, I plan to stand in front of the public with a civic group and tell the whole truth. I’ll expose how Myung Hyun-seok, an executive of a major corporation, hired the Golden Circle to ruin the life of the school’s top student just to protect his own son’s pride. What do you think will happen then? From what I’ve heard, your executive position is already on shaky ground. Your competitors would love to get their hands on a scandal like this. Corporate misconduct involving your son’s bullying would be a fatal blow, don’t you think?”
“You… How do you know about that…?”
“What, did you think no one would find out? You’re naïve. The Golden Circle may claim to guarantee anonymity, but when all the pieces fit together, it’s only a matter of time before someone figures it out.”
Jang Won-gi stood there, dumbfounded.
He had known Myung Su-chan was a special case, but he hadn’t realized he was the one behind the harassment of Kang Jae-wook. This made the situation far more dangerous than he had imagined.
The identity of the client should never have been revealed, but now not only had it been exposed, they were being blackmailed. Jang’s mind raced, desperate to figure out how to resolve the mess, but there was nothing he could do.
Kim Hyun-seong continued.
“Stop wasting time and go run off to complain. Ask the Golden Circle why they couldn’t protect your anonymity. The real party responsible here isn’t me for figuring it out and retaliating—it’s the Golden Circle for failing to keep your identity hidden in the first place.”
It was clear.
Jang Won-gi realized just how deep the trouble had become.
* * *
Park Hyung-joon’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
It started with Myung Hyun-seok.
[You sons of bitches! You swore my identity would never be revealed, didn’t you? So what the hell is this? Not only is my son beaten to a pulp, but that bastard figured out we hired the Golden Circle and is blackmailing us! I’m going to expose this to every member of the Golden Line and formally lodge a complaint, so fix this by any means necessary!]
The pressure was on.
Myung Hyun-seok had indeed informed the other Golden Line members, and once he hung up, calls from others started flooding in.
[Is it true? Has a client’s identity been exposed?]
[Terminate all my records with the Golden Circle immediately. The trust is broken—how can we continue working together after this?]
[We’ll be watching closely to see how you handle this. The reason I’ve stayed connected with the Golden Circle, aside from dealing with my kid’s problems, is because this network has been extremely useful. But if you set a precedent like this, how do you expect us to feel? Remember, all the Golden Line members are watching this unfold.]
It was a disaster.
Everyone was reacting negatively.
As Park Hyung-joon frantically answered call after call, he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
In all the time he’d been handling client requests, he had never been under this kind of pressure.
Leaving his phone buzzing on the table, Park lit a cigarette and stepped out onto the terrace.
“Shit. This is seriously fucked.”
Kim Hyun-seong.
He had to be dealt with.
If he didn’t resolve the situation soon, he would be left to bear all the responsibility himself.
After all, he was the one in charge.
And in the Golden Circle, responsibility was never light.
After smoking three cigarettes in quick succession, Park returned to his desk and froze when he saw the name on his phone’s screen.
[Representative]
The shadowy figure who served as the liaison for the true leader of the Golden Circle.
Park hurriedly answered the call.
“Th-this is Park Hyung-joon.”
* * *
Ten minutes later.
At a nearby Korean restaurant.
Park sat across from the Representative, a man who appeared to be in his early fifties. Calmly, the man poured tea and spoke.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
“…Yes, I understand.”
The tea overflowed from the cup.
The hot liquid ran down Park’s fingers, but his face only flushed with embarrassment. He didn’t move his hand. He knew it was a warning—if he tried to avoid responsibility, worse pain would follow.
The Representative continued.
“The fact that a client’s identity was exposed… That’s understandable. There was a traitor, Jeong Chan-soo, who leaked information. But the problem is that this isn’t the first time. One of our clients in the countryside had their life destroyed, and now the same culprit is causing trouble in Gangnam, targeting another Golden Circle client. The Golden Line members are in an uproar over just one incident—imagine what would happen if the truth came out.”
“…The trust would be shattered.”
“Exactly. And that would mean the end of the Golden Circle. The reason this organization has survived for so many years is that trust has never been broken. For over a decade, clients have felt secure in the knowledge that they were safe, that the risks were low, and the benefits of working with us were substantial. But if that trust crumbles, and if people feel that being part of the Golden Circle is no longer safe, we will lose everything as quickly as it was built.”
“I apologize. I’ll find a way to fix this.”
“No. Simple damage control won’t be enough.”
The Representative removed the teapot.
Looking down at his scalded fingers, he smiled warmly.
“My master said one failure is acceptable. In fact, responding perfectly to that failure can build even stronger trust. So, show us a perfect example. Prove that even someone like Kim Hyun-seong can be thoroughly crushed using the methods of the Golden Circle—within the bounds of school violence. And…”
Beyond the smile.
Park saw something dark, something malevolent.
“Prove that anyone who dares challenge the Golden Circle, everyone connected to Kim Hyun-seong, will pay the price. Show the members they have nothing to fear. And if you handle this matter perfectly, you will have the opportunity to meet my master directly.”
There was no other choice.
Park downed the rest of the scalding tea and set the cup down.
*Tack.*
“Trust me. I’ll get it done.”
* * *
After the meeting.
Park stepped outside.
As he lit a cigarette, he reflected on the conversation with the Representative.
“Turning a crisis into an opportunity, huh?”
The Golden Circle’s leader.
A face-to-face meeting with him would mean entering an entirely new world.
Park had always been a manager, overseeing matters from one level below, but now he had a chance to seize immense power.
The problem was the task at hand.
The Representative had ordered not only the complete destruction of Kim Hyun-seong but also the punishment of everyone connected to him. Park wasn’t naïve. He knew exactly who those people were: Myungjin Construction, lawyer Park Jong-su, and even Kim Hyun-seong’s family.
And to deal with those related to him, they didn’t need to follow the Golden Circle’s usual methods.
Problems that arose in a corporation or with adults didn’t require an elaborate cover story. They could be dealt with for any number of reasons.
Park finished his cigarette.
He flicked the butt onto the ground, crushed it under his shoe, and then dialed a number.
*Click.*
[What can I do for you?]
“Gather every resource we have at our disposal. From now on…”
Kim Hyun-seong.
To destroy him, they needed to start at the foundation.
“We’re going to wipe out Daesan.”
* * *
It was an absurd situation.
Kim Hyun-seong had fought dozens of students, broken a few arms, and repeatedly slapped Myung Su-chan in front of the entire class. There was no way he could escape punishment. This wasn’t just a matter for the school disciplinary committee—it was something that should land him in the police station, explaining himself.
And yet.
“…The weather’s nice.”
Standing outside the school gates, Kim Hyun-seong glanced up at the sky with cold eyes.
Despite everything that had happened, he had left the school without anyone stopping him.
It was just another day of walking home.
Other students were also heading out, as if nothing unusual had occurred.
A little earlier.
Jang Won-gi had approached Kim Hyun-seong and said,
“You don’t want this to become public either, right? We’ll bury everything you did—just get lost. But don’t think you’re off the hook. You crossed a line when you threatened Myung Hyun-seok and exposed the Golden Circle to the students. You’re going to pay the price for that.”
It was a ridiculous thing for a teacher to say.
Apparently, Jang had no shame. He openly threatened Kim Hyun-seong without a trace of guilt.
In the end, Kim Hyun-seong hadn’t gained anything.
Though he had taken down Choi Myung-hoon and his group, all he had done was inflict physical pain. He couldn’t go public with the incident either. Even if he exposed the truth and held Choi Myung-hoon accountable, he wouldn’t be able to avoid punishment himself. While that would hurt the Golden Circle, Kim Hyun-seong hadn’t orchestrated all of this just for a minor victory.
He had crushed Choi Myung-hoon.
He had deliberately provoked Myung Su-chan.
And though he had revealed the Golden Circle’s existence, the organization would do everything in its power to keep its true nature hidden.
‘My goal isn’t the lackeys. Choi Myung-hoon, Myung Su-chan, and others like them. Even if I take them down, it won’t matter unless I can uproot the Golden Circle itself. If simply exposing the Golden Circle were enough to fix the problem, I wouldn’t have taken such risks.’
In his previous life.
Someone had tried to expose the truth, but they hadn’t even scratched the surface.
None of the real players had been punished; only the underlings had been cut off while the Golden Circle faded into the shadows.
That’s why Kim Hyun-seong had stepped up.
He needed to target the core.
The true thorn in his side.
From this point on, the Golden Circle would act more openly.
They would stop at nothing to take him down.
‘In doing so, they’ll inevitably reveal their weak points. The people they use, the flow of money, the movements of those in power—those will all be clues. I need to use myself as bait to uncover the true force behind the Golden Circle.’
There were two key moments ahead.
The first was the upcoming midterms.
They would likely try to deal with him before then, if only to calm the growing outrage.
And the second.
‘Daesan.’
His people.
It was only a matter of time before they went after them.
One way to destroy a target was to break the person themselves. Another was to target those around them.
This fight was only just beginning.
Since Kim Hyun-seong had drawn his sword, his enemies would surely strike back.
*Step, step.*
Kim Hyun-seong began walking.
He had to stay calm.
Now wasn’t the time to rush—it was time to trust in everything he had prepared.
