Chapter 146: Home Ground (1)
Across from Daesan Science High School’s front gate.
A black sedan was parked.
Inside the driver’s seat, a man kept a close watch on the school’s entrance. He was Jeong Ki-ho, a broker for the Golden Circle.
A few days earlier.
He had received orders from Park Hyung-joon.
His mission was to go down to Daesan, investigate Kim Hyun-seong’s connections, and gather intel on the movements of those close to him. Jeong Ki-ho was in charge of surveillance. It was the first time he had been involved in such a large-scale operation, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the school gate.
“That kid’s really something, making the entire Golden Circle move like this.”
He had heard about it.
What Kim Hyun-seong had done.
Taking down dozens of students by himself and even surviving a knife fight with an S-rank fighter. Frankly, it didn’t matter that the target was a minor—Jeong had to admit the kid was no joke. The Golden Circle had assessed that it was impossible to handle him through the usual school channels. In the entire history of the Golden Circle, there had never been a case like this.
S-rank or higher.
Kim Hyun-seong was in a category of his own.
That’s why they had come up with the plan to attack his mental state by targeting those around him.
‘No matter how good you are, you’ve picked the wrong fight. There’s no way you can protect all your people, your family, on your own.’
The Golden Circle.
It wasn’t something an individual could stand against.
If the Golden Circle had ever shown weakness in handling its requests, they wouldn’t have earned the blind trust of their clients. The targets weren’t always weaklings. Some had decent backgrounds or were strong fighters themselves, but the end result had always been the same—ruin for the target.
Jeong believed this time wouldn’t be any different.
Feeling peckish, he took out a chocolate bar from his pocket and started eating.
That’s when it happened.
*Knock knock.*
Someone tapped on his window.
Jeong Ki-ho instinctively looked over and froze when he saw the uniformed figure.
With a grimace, he rolled down the window.
“Excuse me, may I ask why you’re parked here?”
A police officer was staring at him with a guarded expression.
* * *
Jeong Ki-ho’s initial panic lasted only a moment.
After all, he hadn’t done anything wrong.
The backstory—that he was tailing Kim Hyun-seong’s family on orders from the Golden Circle—wasn’t something the officer could possibly know.
Jeong responded with a calm expression.
“Oh, I was just stopping here for a moment to take care of something. If I’m blocking traffic, I’ll move right away.”
He reached for the wheel, ready to leave, but the officer’s voice stopped him.
“Hold on.”
“Is there something else?”
“Actually, we’ve received reports recently of suspicious people targeting students around here. The world’s a dangerous place, isn’t it? Who would stoop so low as to go after kids, right? We’ve been conducting patrols around the area during school hours to prevent any unfortunate incidents. I’m not saying you’re one of them, but as a matter of procedure, I’ll need to see some identification. We’re asking this of everyone around here, so don’t take it personally.”
“…My ID?”
Jeong’s expression soured.
This wasn’t good.
When you’re tailing someone, revealing your identity to the police increases the risk of being traced if anything goes wrong.
But.
There was no way he could refuse. The officer had given a thorough explanation, and declining might escalate things beyond his control. If that happened, it would only cause more trouble.
With a sigh, Jeong tossed the chocolate wrapper aside and fished out his wallet. He handed over his ID.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
The officer checked the ID.
The name was Jeong Ki-ho.
Age 31.
The officer took down the details, then casually dropped another remark as though it was an afterthought.
“Just a word of advice—if you’re planning anything around here, you should reconsider. Now that I have your information, you’ll be a suspect the moment anything happens. The police in Daesan are prepared to ensure that no ‘problems’ arise.”
The officer returned the ID.
Regardless of Jeong Ki-ho’s growing discomfort, the officer locked eyes with him, his gaze unapologetic.
“Do you understand?”
That’s when Jeong realized.
This officer knew exactly what he was up to.
* * *
Jeong Ki-ho moved his car.
It hadn’t been a pleasant experience.
On the first day of his surveillance, he hadn’t even done anything suspicious, yet here he was, already under scrutiny.
‘Did they expect me?’
It didn’t seem possible.
Kim Hyun-seong had already transferred to a school in Seoul, so the idea that he could have anticipated the Golden Circle targeting his family and arranged for police to patrol the area didn’t make sense. Jeong didn’t report the incident to his superiors. He didn’t want to be seen as messing up from the start, so he simply drove to his next location.
*Skrrt.*
The Sun Villa.
It was near Kim Hyun-seong’s family home.
Parking his car in a narrow alley where it wouldn’t be too obvious, Jeong got out and moved on foot.
‘I’ll monitor the movements of Kim Hyun-jin and his grandmother from here.’
He entered the alley.
He had arrived earlier than expected, so there was some time to kill. Jeong decided to light a cigarette to calm his nerves.
*Puff.*
He exhaled smoke, finally feeling a bit more relaxed.
But every time he thought of the police officer’s gaze, a sense of unease crept back in.
Just as he was finishing his cigarette and reaching for another, he heard footsteps nearby.
“Hey, you.”
“What are you doing here?”
Three young men approached.
Jeong didn’t pay them much attention. He lit his second cigarette and exhaled another cloud of smoke as he turned to face them.
“What’s the problem?”
This was different from the encounter with the police earlier.
He didn’t have to tread carefully with a bunch of regular guys. There was no need to back down.
The men’s expressions twisted with displeasure.
“Excuse me, didn’t you see the sign? This is a no-smoking area. Put that cigarette out right now. If you ignore this warning, we’ll have to take appropriate measures.”
“And who exactly are you?”
“We’re from the local youth association. We have the authority to enforce the rules here.”
“Oh, really?”
Jeong smirked.
He was already in a foul mood.
Sure, he could let this go, but he wasn’t in the mood to be polite.
He stepped forward.
As he closed the distance, he took another long drag from his cigarette and then blew the smoke into the air.
“Let me ask you this—normally, I wouldn’t make a fuss, but I’m in a shitty mood right now. Should I put the cigarette out or not?”
His tone was menacing.
But the men didn’t back down.
“Put it out.”
“Is that so?”
There was no need for more words.
Jeong’s patience had hit its limit.
He flicked the cigarette to the ground and swung a fist at the man standing closest to him.
“You bastards! You think you can just—!”
*Whoosh!*
Jeong’s eyes widened.
The man dodged his punch like he had anticipated the attack. He barely moved, just turning his head slightly to avoid the blow. A sudden, ominous feeling crept over Jeong. Something was wrong. But he couldn’t stop now. Pressing on, he threw another punch, trying to seize the momentum.
*Whoosh, whoosh.*
Each strike missed.
Then.
*Smack!*
A counterpunch caught Jeong on the jaw, snapping his head back.
Stumbling backward, Jeong saw the other two men charging toward him. One of them landed a flying kick square in his chest.
*Wham!*
*Crash!*
Jeong hit the ground hard.
Groaning in pain, he barely had time to react before one of the men grabbed him by the collar and hauled him to his feet.
“See what happens when you don’t listen? There’s been a lot of shady stuff happening around here lately. If you’re thinking of causing trouble, you’d better remember this—you’ll have to deal with us every time.”
*Thud!*
A fist slammed into Jeong’s face.
Even though he was already beaten, the man kept throwing punches.
*Wham!*
*Thud, thud, thud!*
Jeong groaned in agony.
He curled into a ball, trying to protect himself.
On the first day of his mission.
First, the police. Now, the youth association.
Something was clearly going wrong with this operation.
* * *
Beaten to a pulp.
Jeong Ki-ho immediately called the police.
The attack had been clear-cut.
Regardless of what was really happening, he figured he could use his bruised face as evidence to press charges. He’d at least be able to hold the attackers accountable.
“They’re the ones!”
The members of the youth association hadn’t gone far.
They were still hanging around the Sun Villa area, practically guarding it. When the officers arrived, Jeong pointed them out, confident in his case.
It wasn’t the same officer he had met earlier at the school.
During the three-way conversation, Jeong explained the situation.
“I was smoking in the alley when these guys came over and told me to stop. I know for a fact that the youth association has no authority to enforce that kind of thing, but they used their numbers to intimidate me. I admit I shouldn’t have thrown the first punch, but their response was completely over the top. Look at my face! I was beaten badly. You’ll see what happened if you check the CCTV over there.”
He pointed to the camera.
It was perfectly positioned to capture what had happened in the alley.
If there had been no CCTV, Jeong wouldn’t have called the police, knowing he was outnumbered. But with clear footage, he was confident this would go his way.
However.
The officer didn’t even glance at the CCTV. Instead, he spoke calmly.
“Mr. Jeong Ki-ho.”
“…How do you know my name?”
“Good question. How would I know your name? Let’s think about it. I saw you at the gate of Daesan Science High School, where Kim Hyun-jin attends, and now I’m seeing you again here near the Sun Villa, where his family lives. What are the odds of that being a coincidence? Oh, and unfortunately, that CCTV is down. So there’s no way to verify your innocence. As for why the youth association beat you up? It turns out you were trying to break into a nearby residence. Looks like we’ve got a pretty solid case of attempted burglary on our hands.”
“W-what are you talking about?!”
Jeong was stunned.
What was this nonsense?
The officer gestured to one of the men from the youth association, who walked over to a nearby villa—not the Sun Villa, but another building. He stopped in front of a small, barred basement window and began smashing the bars with a metal bat he had prepared.
*Clang!*
*Clang, clang!*
It was chilling.
The malice in their actions.
Their every move conveyed a sinister message.
Once the bars were broken, the man opened the window wide and turned to the officer.
“It’s done.”
“You see that? There’s your proof—you were trying to break in. Deny it all you want, but we’ve already got testimonies from the youth association, and now we’ve got physical evidence too. So, shall we go?”
“This is insane!”
*Wham.*
Jeong shoved the officers’ hands off him.
His eyes wild, he shouted at them.
“You fucking bastards! Is this how the police work?! You think you can just fabricate evidence like this?”
“Hey.”
“…!”
The senior officer’s face hardened.
He grabbed Jeong by the collar, pulling him close, and spoke in a low voice.
“You know how things work, don’t you? So just come quietly. Unless you want us to add resisting arrest to the list of charges.”
*Click, click.*
The handcuffs snapped shut.
Jeong, his face blank with shock, didn’t resist anymore.
It was now clear.
Kim Hyun-seong.
He had been prepared for the Golden Circle’s malice all along.
