Mercenary Black Mamba - Chapter 332

Chapter 332: Chapter 35, Episode 4: Signs of Downfall

The Citroën BX Break was designed by Bertone, Italia’s top designer. The French middle class grew enthusiastic over the hatchback family car, which was well-made and powerful. Following the Traction Avant’s popularity, Citroën surpassed their front-runners Renault and Peugeot, emerging as France’s top automobile company. André Citroën, who was a lobbyist and a public relations genius, used the momentum to drive Renault out of the market and even ate up the French car market. Basically, Mu Ssang, who was a hidden high-ranking official of the French government, was given an official vehicle. “Brat, why are there so many cars coming into this small temple. Did those big-nosed guys send it?” Monk Dae Woo glared. Although his disciple was more than capable of taking care of himself, his deep entanglement with foreign governments didn’t look too good. “Hehehe, I should receive it sincerely. He said he’d send a gift in passing, and he really did. I should hand the Pony over to the used car market.” “Sell that too. It’s so big. It looks like it’ll use more oil. What’s the point of having two cars in a country that doesn’t have a drop of oil? You have two snakeheads too, don’t you?” “I should sell everything. The Fiat Panda should bring in some money. Give me the key.” Mu Ssang reached out his hand. “Brat, if you take something back after giving it, you’ll get hair on your a**.” The key that was dangling on Monk Dae Woo’s finger magically disappeared. Sergeant Nazri didn’t understand Korean. He only rolled his eyes, unable to understand the conversation between the advisor and the old monk. “Teacher, I’ll send this friend back to the station. He’s come down from Seoul.” “Brat, your exams are in two days. I’ll send him back,” Monk Dae Woo offered. He was brimming with confidence. “Teacher, you can’t speed, okay?” “Stop worrying.” Monk Dae Woo waved his hands like a street gangster, took sergeant Nazri away, and disappeared like a breeze. “Thank you, Teacher.” Mu Ssang gave a deep bow. As someone who had reached the level of Heaven’s Willing Martial Peak, his teacher could decide when to end his life. By diverting his attention to worldly pleasures, the chances of delaying his entry to heaven were higher. His teacher was his home, his parents. He didn’t dare imagine a world without his teacher. There was a grand two-story house located on a hill of a high-end residency area in Daegu, overlooking the Muhak road near Suseong Lake. Two Shepherd dogs as large as calves were hovering around a large garden that, at first glance, obviously reeked of wealth. Woof woof— The Shepherd dogs barked at the entrance. A young man rushed out of the security office. Clang— The heavy steel gates opened. A black car passed the young man and stopped before the front door. It was a 2,000cc Royale Salon released by Daewoo Motors in 1983. Back then, it was a luxury car. The man rushed forward to open the car door and immediately bowed deeply. “Welcome back, Madam.” A middle-aged woman who was draped in a fur coat and fox scarf got off. With a slim body and tall frame, eyes split like buttonholes, crooked nose, and lips that were as thin as paper—she was Park In Bo’s wife, Jang Pil Nyuh. Her unsightly appearance and frown were the same as always. The chickenpox marks that covered her face like volcano craters, at least, had faded a little. That was thanks to the several skin procedures she had endured. “I told you to get rid of that dialect, didn’t I?” The man immediately lowered his head at her criticism. “I apologize. I’ll fix it, Madam.” “Is Hwa Ja at home?” “Yes. Miss returned recently.” Madam Jang turned around and headed inside the house without any reply. Her attitude in which she ignored others and their words stayed the same too. “B****, what’s the point of a countryside doorkeeper losing their dialect? Showing off when she doesn’t have a single bit of elegance, that b****.” The man started complaining as Madam Jang’s back disappeared through the door. It was an employee’s weak protest. “Madam, you’ve returned.” The housekeeper rushed out and lowered into a bow. “Is that brat sleeping?” Madam Jang threw her handbag on the living room couch and proceeded to the second floor without even waiting for a reply. Madam Jang’s face creased once she opened and entered the door. Her second daughter was snoring away on her bed, with only her underwear on. There were clothes scattered all around, the suffocating smell of cigarettes, beer bottles rolling around in corners, and a shattered glass plate. That wasn’t the room of a young girl but the room of a drunkard. Madam Jang felt her temper rise. “B****, did you smoke again?” Slap— She slapped her daughter’s butt with her palm ruthlessly. “Mm-” Hwa Ja opened her eyes slightly and looked up at Madam Jang. The face of a young woman, who was around her 30s, looked haggard as though she was in her 40s. “B****, what is all this?” Despite preaching to the employees to speak elegantly, even Madam Jang herself couldn’t control her dialect from flowing out when she was angry. Her dialect reappeared whenever she was angry. “Ah, has my oh-so-rich mother arrived?” “B****, what are you doing? You smoked again last night, didn’t you?” “Hmph, I should at least smoke since there’s nothing to live for in life.” Madam Jang glared through her triangular eyes, but Hwa Ja flopped around as though it was simply bothersome. “Ugh, brat, your father will flip the house over again if he finds out.” “Fing bstard, I’m going to live my life the way I want to. Leave me alone.” Hwa Ja went into spasm. She shoved her fingers into her mouth, pulled out the dentures, and threw it on the floor. “Look at this! What father? Why’re you all taking it out on me when you haven’t even caught that bstard for four years! Aaagh!” Hwa Ja grabbed her hair with her hands and screamed like a crazy woman. “Gosh, I’m going to go mad because of this b*.” Madam Jang pounded on her chest. Back then, Hwa Ja, who had been throwing a heroin party at BOSS’ VVIP nightclub, was dragged to Hwajun village near Chun Saeng Mountain. Out of spite, Mu Ssang would have almost buried her alive—that was until Monk Dae Woo appeared. Thanks to the monk, she had managed to escape from being buried alive. However, a single flick of Mu Ssang’s finger had inflicted her enough damage to rival a truck accident. She had been in a horrible state, to the point that her doctor questioned whether a King Kong had stepped on her. Hwa Ja had suffered a ruptured eardrum and fractured the back of her skull. She had fractured a total of seven ribs, both on her left and right. She had also suffered a broken jawbone and lost half of her teeth. It was hard to salvage the rest of her teeth too because of her damaged gums. She had no choice but to wear dentures on her upper and lower gums. The real problem had been the cervical sprain called whiplash injury. Whiplash injuries were common for survivors of rear-end car accidents. Hwa Ja had sprained her neck the moment she was thrown onto the frozen floor, which damaged her spine. Even after her discharge, Hwa Ja’s right leg remained paralyzed, and she developed hand tremors. Her hands managed to recover after several years of treatment. However, for her leg, she had to drag it around like a sciatica patient. Due to the consecutive treatments she had received in the US, she didn’t become limp. Hwa Ja was someone who used to live like the world was under her feet. Since she became limp and had to wear dentures, her personality grew worse. She provoked everyone around her every day and grew addicted to alcohol. To avoid Park In Bo’s eyes, she even went back to the drugs that she had initially stopped consuming. “Damn bstard, this is all because of that b*** and that b****’s son.” Everything bad that happened was because of Kim Mal Soon and her son, Mu Ssang. Griit— Madam Jang gritted her teeth to the point of breaking. They hadn’t been able to catch the culprit who had assaulted Hwa Ja. No matter how much money they had offered to encourage the investigators, they couldn’t find any trace. Hwa Ja herself remembered nothing, so of course, the investigation couldn’t proceed. “Ajumma!” The housekeeper rushed up the stairs at the piercing call. Jang went downstairs without saying a single word. The housekeeper tidied up the room, as though she was used to it. “I can’t do this anymore.” Madam Jang’s eyes widened. “Ajumma, call driver Kim over!” Driver Kim was the replacement for Mr. Lee, who Mu Ssang had beaten up. He had graduated from the special forces and was Jang Chi Soo’s coworker at the criminal department. “Did you call, Madam?” A man in his mid-30s with a built body and sharp eyes bowed. “Mr. Kim, do you still contact the kids at Chil Sung market?” “Yes, I sometimes buy them drinks.” “I need you to do something.” “Just say the word. Those kids are bstards who’d give you a woman’s testicles for money.” “The job isn’t that difficult. I just need you to take care of a grave.” “Tell me what to do.” Mr. Kim flinched but replied nonetheless. Madam Jang took out two envelopes from her handbag, placed them on the tea table, and lowered her voice. “This is for the street gang members and this is for you… If you go up the back road of the town office, there’s Yeongok village. If you climb the back mountain… You need to do it quietly so that not even the birds or rats know.” Madam Jang handed him a charm the size of an A4 paper. There was a strange mark drawn on the yellow tarnished paper. “Don’t worry, Madam. I’ll take care of it quietly.” “Don’t cause a scene. You know what happened to Mr. Lee after that brat realized it was his doing.” Madam Jang’s eyes narrowed. Mr. Lee had kept quiet on the matter, but she knew it had been Mu Ssang’s doing. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Mr. Kim bowed and left. “Hmm, my husband returned the house and field to those fers who’re either dead or alive, right? It seems like he’s regretting what he did to his family now that he’s older, but I won’t simply stand by.” An eerie smile crept up on Madam Jang’s mouth. She had spent a large sum of money to obtain the charm, also known as the deprivation of the soul’s permanent seal, from a well-known shaman at Bullo village. The shaman had said that placing the charm on the remains of the brat’s father would cause misfortune to befall the man’s child. Madam Jang felt slightly better. Now, there was no need to fear that bstard. Although enough time had passed for mountains to move, Madam Jang’s personality hadn’t changed one bit. Rather, her bipolar disorder had unknowingly become worse. While Madam Jang was gritting her teeth, Park In Bo was meeting people. He was in the basement of a run-down brick house located at Dongseong road’s alleyway. Yellow eyes with a similar colored face glared at Mr. Lee. Park In Bo’s complexion didn’t look too good. Black lumps were growing on his face when he hadn’t even reached 60 years old, and his skin sagged like an old man in his 70s. The man in his late 30s bound to the wooden chair was Mr. Lee, who had disappeared without a trace. The Nupchi gang, whom he had requested to track down Mr. Lee, finally caught him after he operated the nightclub’s car last night. Park In Bo had been searching for his sister-in-law for six years, mobilizing the Nupchi gang of Dongseong road. During that time, his nephew, who had graduated from high school, disappeared. That had taken him by great surprise. He was smart and sly. He doubted whether Mr. Lee’s disappearance had anything to do with his nephew’s disappearance. “You fer, talk before I start pulling out your teeth. If the boss calls, I’ll dunk you in cement and shove you in the Geumho River.” “Okay.” Mr. Lee’s face turned yellow at the Nupchi gang’s threat. “Boss, if this bstard lies, call me immediately.” The gang member bowed and left the basement, dragging a bat along. Mr. Lee forced his swollen eyes open and stared at Park In Bo. “Boss, what’s the point of hiding anything when I’ve turned out this way? I’ll tell you everything.” Mr. Lee began to tell a very long story. “So the Galchi gang moved…took him out of school and sent him to jail… He spent half a year in jail before getting released on probation. Then, a devil-like bstard appeared… Everyone involved was beaten up severely.” He talked about everything—how he had mobilized the Galchi gang under Madam Jang and Hwa Ja’s orders, how Park Mu Ssang had been called out of school due to Kang Chung Shik’s orders, and how Madam Jang had bribed the police and investigators into sending the kid to jail. “Huh! So you’re saying Mu Ssang, who was trying to save the girl, got accused of rape and went to jail?” “Yes, that’s what happened.” Park In Bo’s mouth dropped open, speechless. While he acknowledged his wife and Hwa Ja’s personalities, he never thought that they were capable of doing such evil deeds. “So what happened?” “Kang Chung Shik became disabled, and Kang Young Sook committed suicide. They were done in by a swindler and lost all of their money, you see. Moon Mi Sook and the other girl also grew mentally unstable after testifying in court, and the Galchi gang who raped Kang Young Sook disappeared after becoming disabled too. I also turned out like this after getting beaten up.” “Were they all beaten up by Mu Ssang?” “I don’t know. I was kidnapped while on the way to meet that Moon Mi Sook b**** and got beaten up too. I was released on the condition of submitting an honest testimony and donating 1,000,000 won to Hope Orphanage.” “Orphanage? Why an orphanage?” “I don’t know. I was scared, so I took 1,000,000 won from the money that Madam gave me and donated it to Hope Orphanage.” “Huh? Did the other bstards write testimonies too?” “Probably. No one could stand the beating that I went through.” “God!” Cough cough— Park In Bo felt dizzy. His cough, which had died down, returned once more. The reason behind his nephew’s disappearance was his wife and daughter. That was way over the line. According to Mr. Lee’s words, Madam Jang and Hwa Ja were the main culprits and instigators. His wife and daughter had ordered the gang members to accuse his nephew of rape. His wife’s endless malice gave him goosebumps. Although they’d lived without love, that caused all the affections he had left to dissipate. Despite spending days and nights trying to build up his company, his family had broken into pieces. What’s the purpose of earning and saving money? In the past, he had also accused Mu Ssang of rape in fear of the consequences. The entire family had done something unforgivable. He was also a dirty bstard. However, the problem had gotten out of hand. In the testimonies, there were details of his wife’s and daughter’s involvement and Mu Ssang’s innocence. Still, the brat had disappeared without a sound. Mu Ssang was a scary guy. He broke out in cold sweats every time he remembered Mu Ssang’s flashing eyes after Wu Tak had thrown the fertilizer bottle at his head, causing it to bleed.