Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 361

363

“Margaret! I’m here! Are you still okay?”

Bum-seok shouted as he ran towards Margaret’s flying car. The scene beyond the window was not what he expected. Margaret, who he thought would be there, was nowhere to be seen. And it was strange that the car wasn’t damaged much for a crash.

As Bum-seok touched the sleek car door, he heard footsteps behind him.

“Long time no see.”

Bum-seok slowly turned his head at the familiar voice. It was Chairman Lucas, and behind him, a man in a black suit was aiming a laser gun.

A moment of desperation. Bum-seok tried to dodge, but he couldn’t move. No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t outrun a gun, and a man was holding Margaret with a gun to her head.

She sobbed, “Bum-seok, I’m sorry. I was threatened and had no choice but to call you out here.”

Bum-seok sighed and waved his hand at Margaret, indicating that he understood. It was understandable that she was scared with a gun pointed at her.

He looked at Lucas with a pitiful gaze. “Chairman Lucas, haven’t you fallen this low? I never imagined you would do something so petty.”

“I didn’t want to do this either, but I was so furious. After investigating, I found out that you and this girl teamed up to screw over our Black Society pretty badly.”

Bum-seok frowned. He thought Margaret’s hacking skills were good enough to avoid detection, but he was wrong. Besides, they hadn’t been hacking to obtain information lately, so he never imagined the Black Society would find out.

He decided to play dumb for now.

“Hmm. Is that so? What did we do? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t deny it. Margaret here has already confessed everything. She spilled the beans as soon as I pointed a gun at her.”

Bum-seok squinted at him. “Isn’t this too much? Threatening a defenseless woman like that. It’s not like you, Chairman.”

“Then what is like me?”

Bum-seok shrugged. “Well, gentlemanly and decent… something like that?”

“Then you’re sorely mistaken. If you knew what I did to get to this position, you wouldn’t say that.”

“Ah. I guess so. An ordinary, kind company chairman wouldn’t stage a hostage situation like this.”

“Hahaha. I wonder if there is such a thing as an ordinary, kind company chairman. Most are like me.”

“Well, I guess so. But why are you personally involved in this? You could have quietly ordered your underlings to do it.”

Lucas smirked and replied, “It’s a very important and sensitive matter, so I had no choice. And if I had sent only my underlings, you might have tricked them. Bum-seok, aren’t you a wealthy man yourself?”

Bum-seok pouted. If it weren’t for the men aiming guns at him from behind, he could have persuaded them. He could have offered them tens of millions of Krang [currency in this world] each, and they all would have switched sides.

“Tsk. You’re squeezing blood from a stone. How can a chairman be so afraid…?”

“Huhu. I just want to be sure.”

“Okay, fine. Anyway, it looks like you’ve come all this way, so what are you going to do with me and Margaret now? You’re not planning to get rid of us here without anyone knowing, are you?”

Lucas slowly shook his head. “Well, I won’t kill you right away as long as you don’t resist. I have somewhere to take you.”

“Oh? So you might release us under certain conditions?”

“Hmm. Not at all. You might lie to avoid this crisis, right? I’ll never let you go.”

Bum-seok swallowed hard. He couldn’t be imprisoned forever, so it was essentially a death sentence.

Lucas was probably taking him to the best place to kill him. The Traffic Control Bureau’s server would have a record of his flying car coming here, so killing him here would immediately reveal it as a murder.

The use of firearms always leaves traces.

‘This is a real mess… It won’t be easy to get out of this.’

He looked around, assessing the situation. There were eight men with guns, and Margaret was being held hostage. It didn’t seem likely that he could escape from here. The best way was to pretend to obey Lucas and look for an opportunity to escape.

“Well, it’s better than dying here.”

“That’s right. You’re smart, so I like you. If you hadn’t been hostile to us, we would have been quite close by now. It’s a shame. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

“Hahaha. I also like your underhanded personality, Chairman Lucas. It’s a shame about the Rainbow incident. If you had been a little more careful, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Huhu. Is that so? But what’s done is done.”

“Of course. You can’t pick up spilled water.”

Lucas frowned. He didn’t like that Bum-seok was still talking back in this crisis. Usually, people would be on their knees, begging for mercy.

“Let’s stop with the useless talk. I have a lot to do before sunset.”

“I don’t have much.”

“Huhu. Well, you wouldn’t have much to do.”

After saying this, Lucas ordered his men to search Bum-seok, take his electronic notebook, and have him board the flying car he had come in with Margaret. Then, they immediately set off, heading somewhere.

‘Five in total…’

Bum-seok looked around the car, a troubled expression on his face. There were six people in his car: himself, four pointing guns at him, and an unidentified system engineer operating the flying car’s control box.

But the problem was that they weren’t restraining him. The fact that they were acting this way, even though it meant a much higher chance of escape, was a declaration of their intention to kill him in a staged accident. Restraining him would leave marks on his body, which would be evidence of murder.

‘Damn it. Things have gotten really messed up. I might end my life here.’

He wanted to subdue them all, but it wouldn’t be easy. He couldn’t eliminate four guns at the same time, and Margaret was in the car ahead. It would be better to wait and see and find another way.

He looked at the red-haired man in front of him and said, “Hey. What’s your name?”

The man raised his gun, taking a threatening stance. “Shut up and be quiet. I’ll put a hole in your head if you make a move.”

“Why are you so serious? You guys have guns, and I’m empty-handed. I can’t do anything right now.”

He exchanged glances with his companion and looked back at Bum-seok. “Why do you want to know my name?”

“I just want to introduce myself and talk. Why are you reluctant to tell me your name?”

The red-haired man smirked. “Reluctant? My name is Makin. Is that enough?”

“Huhu. Not yet. We still have important things to talk about.”

“I don’t think so. You’re going to offer a lot of money to let you go, right? Am I wrong?”

“Oh. You know me well. Are you interested?”

“No. Once this job is done, we’ll have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of our lives. That means we don’t need your money.”

Bum-seok’s eyes lit up.

“I don’t know how much money that is, but I’ll give you three times that amount. How about it?”

“Three times as much? So you’re saying you’ll give us 100 million Krang?”

A troubled look appeared on Bum-seok’s face. Even for Bum-seok, 100 million Krang was a lot of money. And since there were five people in this car, that meant at least 500 million Krang. But it wasn’t worth more than his life.

“Huhu. Of course. If you help me and save Margaret, I’ll give you an extra 50 million Krang each.”

“Oh. Really? That’s interesting. But what should I do?”

“What?”

“As much as I like money, it’s not worth more than my life. If we let you escape, we’ll be chased by the Black Society for the rest of our lives. That means we won’t be able to use the money you give us and will live in fear until we die. But if we go according to plan, we can all live comfortably. And we’ll have plenty of money.”

Bum-seok frowned. If they were stupid, he could have persuaded them right away, but they were cautious and knew how to think. But thanks to that, he realized one important thing. Judging by the expression ‘Black Society guys,’ they were likely outsiders.

“Hmm. I guess so. But you’re not Black Society members, are you?”

“Yeah, we’re not. Why do you ask?”

“I’m just saying this because I’m worried, but do you think Chairman Lucas will let you live after you carry out this secret operation? Frankly, it would be safer to use Black Society members, so there’s no reason to hire outsiders like you.”

“Huhu. Maybe. But Chairman Lucas can’t touch us. If he tries anything funny, the video we’re recording right now will go straight to the police.”

Bum-seok was startled, but he immediately smiled bitterly.

“Oh, you have a video? Then the Black Society will have to kill you even more. I don’t know if you know this, but people don’t leave the bathroom without wiping their butts. They’ll dig through the trash to recycle or rinse with toilet water, but they’ll try to clean up neatly.”

Makin pointed to the camera on the gun and the electronic notebook in his inner pocket and said, “Don’t worry. This video is being sent to a place that even the Black Society can’t find, and if I don’t log in for a certain amount of time, it will go straight to the police. And Chairman Lucas knows this very well. The Black Society can’t do anything.”

Bum-seok sighed and leaned back in his seat. If he couldn’t persuade them even after saying this much, there was no hope. He had to solve everything himself.

A little later, the flying car they were in landed on a large lake outside Rima City. It was an artificial lake created during the construction of the Kuron Dam, and it was very secluded, surrounded by mountains. Bum-seok and Margaret were soon led by Lucas and the men with guns to a shabby building.

“Here. Go inside.”

Bum-seok, forced into the building by Makin, carefully examined his surroundings, looking for a place to hide. If he could avoid the guns, he could try to eliminate the men or escape.

‘Should I just open the door and hide inside?’

The dark hallway he was passing through had countless doors lined up. It was worth a try, but each door had an electronic lock, so he doubted it would open properly. And they were all made of steel, so he couldn’t break them down.

“Here. Go inside.”

Makin opened a steel door and urged Bum-seok and Margaret. He hadn’t found a chance to escape until the end, and his expression was crumpled.

He had a strong feeling that entering this door would be the end. But with eight guns pointed at him from the front and back, he had no choice. He sighed and stepped into the room with her.

Seeing Bum-seok enter, the red-haired man smiled at Lucas.

“We’ve finished our job. When will you give us the money you promised?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already prepared it.”

“Really? Where is it?”

“It’s in the room on the right, prepared in cash. It might be heavy to carry, but that’s better for us and you.”

Makin smirked and gestured to his companion while aiming his gun at Chairman Lucas, telling him to go in and check. Soon, several men went into the room and brought out several travel bags filled with cash.

“It’s confirmed. This is more than enough to cover the promised amount.”

Lucas smiled faintly. “Maybe. I even added 1 million Krang more in case I accidentally put in a few bills less.”

Makin looked at him with a satisfied expression. “Oh. Really? I’m so grateful.”

“If you’re grateful, forget about today’s work for the rest of your life.”

“Of course. We’re professionals. We never divulge information about our clients.”

“That’s very kind of you. Then go quickly. You’ve finished all your work.”

“Okay, then…”

Makin aimed his gun at Lucas and slowly backed out of the hallway. Then, he loaded the cash into their van, which was parked in front of the building, and got his companions in.

One of the companions who had gone in first, a man with blue hair, shouted to Makin, who was still outside. “Hey. Get in! Let’s go back and have a drink.”

He took out his electronic notebook from his pocket and said, “Wait. I have to make a call.”

“No, you can do that on the way…”

The blue-haired man stopped talking and quickly pulled his arm off the car window. The window was closing on its own, even though he hadn’t touched it. And eventually, the car rose into the sky on its own, leaving Makin behind.

He opened his electronic notebook with a relaxed expression and said politely, “Chairman Lucas. I’ve taken care of everything. The van will crash at the place I told you, so please dispatch your fellow agents urgently. They might still be alive.”

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

Ah. I’m late. It’s my parents’ birthday, so my nephews and nieces came and stayed until dinner. Whew~ Have a good day, everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.