Chapter 813: The Truth About Heavenly Group

The burly men who stepped out of the van each grabbed a weapon—some wooden planks, others steel pipes—and followed closely behind.

“Do you know these guys?”

I asked Manager Ma beside me. He slowly shook his head.

“Their faces don’t ring a bell.”

Manager Ma knew the faces of all the key figures in Heavenly Group.

If he didn’t recognize them, it meant they weren’t anyone important.

I stood up from my chair just as they were about to reach us.

Besides the distant glow of the streetlights, the beach was almost completely dark.

Their dramatic entrance allowed us to see their faces, but they could only recognize us after getting closer.

A man who saw my face furrowed his brow.

“You? You’re the punk who called.”

Instead of answering, I nodded.

“Ha! You’re nothing but a kid!”

He seemed flustered by how young I looked and let out a disbelieving laugh.

The man scowled and spoke fiercely.

“Hey Ma, do you know who I am before you start mouthing off?”

“The name that Jeong Han-cheol saved on my phone was ‘son of a bitch,’ so I assumed that’s who you were. So who are you?”

“What? You little runt! Watch your mouth! Do you have a death wish?”

The burly men behind him moved forward menacingly.

My bodyguards also stepped forward to protect me.

The man seemed to realize something was amiss and glared at me.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“Who I am isn’t important. But you’re a Heavenly Group employee, right?”

“Ha! If you know that much, why are you running your mouth? Do you have multiple lives?”

“My life is my business, so answer the question. What department in Heavenly Group are you with? Because as far as I know, there’s no company called Heavenly Services within Heavenly Group.”

I turned to Manager Ma who stood firmly behind me and asked,

“Isn’t that right, Manager?”

“Yes Boss. There is no such registered company.”

No company called Heavenly Services existed within Heavenly Group.

Of course, they did hire out labor, but because the term ‘services’ had a bad reputation, they purposely used the company name Heavenly Security.

“That’s bold. Selling services under the Heavenly Group name.”

The man who had been listening to me and Manager Ma tilted his head.

He squinted and began to scan our faces again.

“Wait a minute!”

The man in the suit looked at Manager Ma, and all color drained from his face.

“H-h-hold on, are you… Manager Ma?”

The man stuttered, clearly shocked.

Manager Ma simply looked down at him without answering.

Feeling the pressure of his gaze, the man blurted out without even being asked.

“I-I saw you briefly guarding the hotel entrance during the anniversary… It’s an honor to properly meet you. My name is Pyo Chi-sung.”

The man who identified himself as Pyo Chi-sung bowed so deeply his head nearly touched the ground.

His quick change of attitude was so absurd it made me laugh.

“It looks like he knows you?”

“I don’t recognize his face.”

“Wasn’t that when we were cleaning up internally? What did you do at the hotel to scare him so much?”

“……”

A moment ago he had been so self-assured and now he was cowering like a rabbit before a tiger.

“Looks like you were quite the terror.”

“……”

Manager Ma seemed embarrassed and didn’t answer.

I wanted to tease him more, but the situation was what it was so I decided to stop.

He was already groveling so much, I didn’t feel like getting angry anymore.

“Alright, raise your head.”

But Pyo Chi-sung didn’t lift his head.

“Raise your head. If you ignore the Boss again, I’ll personally deal with you.”

Pyo Chi-sung jerked his head up at Manager Ma’s warning, moving so quickly a snap could be heard.

“Yes, yes!”

His overly submissive attitude made me chuckle. I pondered what to do with this situation and then gestured with my chin.

“Are you going to keep holding those scary things? We don’t mind, but still.”

“Ah, no! You punks, drop those horrible weapons right now!”

At Pyo Chi-sung’s shout, the burly men hesitated, then dropped the wooden planks and steel pipes they were carrying.

“Everyone, go back and wait in the van.”

“Boss, are you sure it’s safe?”

“Even with all of you here, if I wanted, I could kill all of you. So just go back and wait.”

“Understood. Everyone, grab your stuff and go back.”

Pyo Chi-sung’s order prompted the men to turn around, pick up their weapons, and trudge back from the beach.

I gestured to Pyo Chi-sung, who was now alone.

“Come here. Let’s talk a bit.”

“Yes? Yes!”

Pyo Chi-sung ran over to us in a single stride.

He looked like a recruit fresh out of boot camp, all stiff and disciplined.

I glanced at Manager Ma and slightly smirked.

Manager Ma subtly avoided my gaze.

His expression was as calm as ever, but I could tell he was extremely flustered.

I quickly wiped the smile off my face and asked Pyo Chi-sung.

“How do you know Jeong Han-cheol?”

“I met him in prison. He listened well and did everything I asked, so I made him do odd jobs.”

Pyo Chi-sung started to explain his first encounter with Jeong Han-cheol in a long drawn-out story.

“After I was released, about a year later, Jeong Han-cheol was released too. He came to me and asked if he could work for Heavenly Group as well.”

“Let’s get one thing straight. Are you actually affiliated with Heavenly Group? There’s no company called Heavenly Services.”

“Well, not as a direct employee… I run a business that does contract work for them.”

Pyo Chi-sung trailed off, glancing at Manager Ma.

But I understood why he was using the name Heavenly Services.

So, he was just a subcontractor doing work for Heavenly Security without any real connection to Heavenly Group.

“Then that’s that. But Jeong Han-cheol said he’d be hired as a full-time employee soon. Is that true?”

“That can’t be. I can’t even get into Heavenly Group…”

“Then what makes him act so high and mighty?”

Pyo Chi-sung shut his mouth tight. At the same time, Manager Ma loosened his cuff buttons.

Pyo Chi-sung flinched at the gesture and stammered.

“I, I’ll tell you everything. I was just trying to get some money from him. I told him to bring 1 billion won if he wanted to get into Heavenly Group.”

What is this now? I glanced at Jeong Han-cheol lying there like a corpse, then looked back at Pyo Chi-sung.

“You think he would believe that? 1 billion won is not a small amount, would anyone throw it away just to get into Heavenly Group?”

“…For people in this line of work, Heavenly Group is a dream job. You get a regular salary whether you work or not and if you do a good job, you get guaranteed bonuses. But most importantly, you’re free from the threat of the police.”

I looked down at Pyo Chi-sung’s fist. Heavenly Group is a dream job huh.

The irony of it all. Putting aside the absurdity, I decided to continue hearing him out.

“So, what were you planning to do with the 1 billion won?”

“Well, a promise is a promise so I was going to introduce him to the person who gives us work.”

“But just now you were using a Busan dialect and now you’re talking with a Seoul accent?”

I pointed out the detail that had bothered me and the man laughed awkwardly.

“Haha. I was actually born in Seoul and came to Busan after I became an adult.”

His attempt to joke around made me lose all of my anger.

I shook my head and returned to the main topic.

“So if you introduced him to that person, would he be able to join Heavenly Group?”

“Heavenly Group isn’t a corner store, would that be possible? If I took it all for myself it could cause problems later so it was a way to take half and give the other half to someone higher up. A simple formality if you will.”

“So you were just going to scam him.”

“In short, yes.”

I’ll have to keep an eye on this side when I get back. I glanced at Manager Ma, and he nodded as if he understood what I was thinking.

“Did you know that Jeong Han-cheol was causing trouble in Yeongdo?”

“Trouble? I didn’t know. I knew he was doing loan sharking… He said he was going to raise money with it and asked me to wait.”

There was no sign of deceit on Pyo Chi-sung’s face.

He really didn’t know what Jeong Han-cheol was doing in Yeongdo and he was planning on just taking the money and tossing him aside.

“Where is your office boss? Do you have a business in Yeongdo?”

“No. Our office is in the department store and our staff are waiting in another place. I don’t know anything about Yeongdo.”

“So you also don’t know what happened to the previous loan shark here?”

“Huh? Was there a previous one? Han-cheol told me he was a Yeongdo native and was just going to do what he did before after being released.”

What do you even know? There was no point in getting anything more from this man.

“Okay, I understand. You can go now. Oh, and I recommend changing your company name from Heavenly Services. You could get seriously hurt.”

“Ah, okay, I understand. I’ll change it immediately. I was rude before, I apologize.”

Pyo Chi-sung bowed deeply. His gaze, when he peeked up, was directed towards Manager Ma behind me.

I waved my hand dismissively and answered casually.

“It’s fine. I was a little annoyed, so I spoke a bit harshly. Just go do what you do. And don’t hang around this area.”

“Yes, yes, I will do that.”

Manager Ma must be really scary. He had completely frozen him.

Just as I was about to end the conversation, I saw headlights of a car approaching in the distance.

The car stopped in front of the streetlight and a man got out. He didn’t even bother closing the door properly, which showed how urgent he was.

The man looked around and ran towards us after spotting us.

“Hah, hah.”

He was panting heavily from how fast he had run.

“K-Kim Mu-hyeok, Sir.”

What’s this? How does he know me? I glanced at Manager Ma, who whispered quietly so only I could hear.

“I contacted headquarters. I asked them to send the person in charge of Yeongdo immediately.”

Now I understood why the man in front of me was so flustered.

I crossed my arms and stared at the man.

The panting man collected himself, folded his hands respectfully and waited for me to speak.

“Are you from Heavenly Group?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Don’t be so nervous. I called you because I was curious about something. Would you answer my questions?”

“Yes, please ask anything.”

It seemed headquarters had given him a full explanation about me. He was even more disciplined than Pyo Chi-sung.

“Then do you know who the man next to you is?”

He shook his head when he saw Pyo Chi-sung’s face.

“I do not know this person.”

“He’s supposedly a subcontractor who does work for Heavenly Group.”

“Is that so? Did this punk do anything to offend you, Sir?”

The man from Heavenly Group glared at Pyo Chi-sung, as if he wanted to kill him.

Pyo Chi-sung flinched and cowered under his gaze.

“Ah, it’s not like that. We already resolved everything amicably. Today is the first day I’ve come to my hometown in a while so I went out for drinks with my friends…”

I explained the situation vaguely. The man’s face paled noticeably as I continued speaking.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for not managing things properly. I deserve to die. Please forgive me.”

The man dropped to his knees. He looked like he was about to bang his head on the ground if I hadn’t stopped him.

“It’s nothing to apologize for so much. But, did you know of a loan shark named Jeong Han-cheol?”

“Yes. I know all the loan sharks in the market. However, I had no idea he was causing trouble for the merchants. There was an order from above for our employees to not focus our attention towards the market…”

These friends who use their fists rather than their brains are such a problem.

They will only do what they are told to do, and nothing more.

“Well, it was me who asked for it. It seems like you followed that order. But you still should have protected the area. Are we supposed to let hyenas swarm the place when the tiger has gone missing?”

“I will make sure something like this never happens again.”

“Do you know the loan shark that was working here before Jeong Han-cheol?”

“The previous one… Are you perhaps referring to that friend named Jong-bu?”

“That’s probably him. He suddenly disappeared and Jeong Han-cheol took over all his debt, or so I heard.”

“I’ll look into it. I didn’t know about that.”

“If possible, find him and bring him back. It seems that he was better than that punk Jeong Han-cheol.”

The man nodded vigorously.

It’s great to be able to have a reasonable conversation with people.

“Then, is it okay if I ask you to take him too, and make sure he never shows his face here again?”

“Of course! I will make sure he can’t even show his face in Yeongdo, no, not even in Busan.”

It looks like he’s been well-trained. I was satisfied with the answer that came out.

I nodded in satisfaction and then gestured with my chin.

“Great. Then go ahead. I took too much of your time.”

I left the matter of Jeong Han-cheol’s disposal to them, and turned to Jung Jin-seok who was standing there, frozen in place.

“He won’t be showing his face around here anymore. So you explain it properly to the Ajumma.”

Jung Jin-seok who had been watching with his mouth wide open, snapped back to reality and nodded repeatedly.

“Yes. Yes. I will tell her.”

“Do what you always do. Just keep doing what you do.”

Seeing that he looked a bit uncomfortable with me, I laughed and ruffled Jung Jin-seok’s hair.

Jung Jin-seok looked at me with a messy hair.

“Is that okay?”

“Of course. No matter who I am, aren’t I still your Hyung Mu-hyeok?”

“Of course! You’re my eternal Hyung!”

“You have a great voice. Now go and close up the shop. I also need to go home. Grandma is waiting. I’ll come by again.”

I ruffled Jung Jin-seok’s hair one more time and then left the beach to go home.