Chapter 55

Volume 2 / Chapter 55

"Do you want me to get an official apology from the people who wrote these articles?"

"Of course. Where is my boss right now?"

"You just spoke with him. He's resting in a place with fresh air. Stop worrying about him and answer me. You want to get a sincere apology and end it?"

"Are you crazy? End it with something like that? We have to ruin them."

"How? Should we go beat them up? Set a fire and run?"

"....."

Jun Hyuk only knew how teenagers fought and did not know how to finish someone without a physical altercation.

He felt how pathetic he was because all he could do was clench his fists and swear.

"Kwang Hun told me that you're weak against the strong and strong against the weak."

"What are you talking about?"

Jun Hyuk was questioning whether this lawyer who had been smirking at him since they first met was really someone that his boss trusted. In this situation, he should be expressing anger with him or at least being serious. This man was acting as though he were having fun.

"No? I heard you said that you have to be quick-witted and a coward to survive?"

It was only when Baek Seung Ho threw his cigarette on the floor and put it out with his shoe that he stopped smiling,

"Most people are like that. What are you to do? If I act strong in front of someone with power, I'm the only one who gets hurt, no?"

"So are you a coward too?"

"No, I'm not like that. Do you know why?"

"Just say it. Why do you keep asking me questions?"

"Ha ha. You have a quick temper. Actually, I'm really strong. There's almost no one stronger than me in Korea."

"Because you're a really famous lawyer?"

"Yeah. My company is really famous and huge. If I want to, I can ruin them all."

"Then you can ruin all of the assholes who wrote these articles?"

"Of course. I'm going to make them crawl. But there's a problem."

"What's that?"

"My company and I don't exist just to punish bad people. We get paid to do that."

"I have money. I got $20,000 as an advertising model. I'll give you all of it, please ruin them for me."

"$20,000? You can't get someone like me to work for just $20,000. You have to give me ten times more than that. And even that's cheap, but it's because I'm close with Kwang Hun."

Ten times $20,000. It was an amount difficult to even imagine. Jun Hyuk had needed to count the zeros in his modeling fee.

"Shit, so what are you telling me to do? I don't have the money."

The swearing he had been holding back because this man was his boss' close friend came out involuntarily. However, the lawyer did not seem to mind. He was smiling again,

"I'll do it on credit. What do you think?"

"Credit?"

"Yeah. Once this program ends, I'm pretty sure you'll make money. Pay me back with that money."

"Alright. Then you tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"How are you going to finish them?"

Baek Seung Ho thought that he had done enough to prevent Jun Hyuk from quitting the program. Having endurance in order to reach a goal is what it meant to be an adult.

"The best way to finish off an adult is..."

"Money!"

Jun Hyuk spoke before Baek Seung Ho finished his sentence.

"That's right. You're smart. The best way to ruin an adult is to take his money. Not by stealing it, but in a legal way. That's exactly what a lawyer like me does. Our job is to lawfully take money, which is what adults consider most important."

Taking their money. Jun Hyuk remembered when he had mugged kids on the street. There were more people who fought back for their money than they did to avoid getting hit. They fought back harder the more money they had in their pockets. Adults were not different.

"You have to act as if you don't know anything about what's going on. You'll understand because you've gotten into fights before. When the opponent is throwing punches like crazy, you have to step back for a second and wait until he's tired out before you give that last swing. That's what I'm going to do. These guys aren't tired enough yet. In exactly 10 days from now, they're going to be still because they're tired. That's when I'm going to finish them. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'll make all the people who made Kwang Hun a bad person angrier than you are right now, so just wait. And I'm sure you'll have to make a lot of money to pay me back?"

"Yes.

"So do well on this program. Then you'll be able to make enough to pay back the credit easily. What I mean is that you can't cause accidents. Understand?"

Jun Hyuk understood well enough but did not think that it would be as easy to do.

***

The next morning, Jun Hyuk did not get up from his bed until the staff came into his room.

"Hey, Jang Jun Hyuk! What are you doing? All the other kids are waiting on the bus."

"I'm going to rest today. I'm not in the mood to go out."

"What? We were too lax with this kid... Are you here to play? You think you get to rest because you feel like it?"

Jun Hyuk sat up abruptly,

"Shi... Then? What are you going to do? Are you going to kick me out? Fuck... I'll leave if you want me to. Happy?"

Jun Hyuk laid back in his bed again.

Unlike the rumors about him, Jun Hyuk had obediently followed the schedule. They had worried that he might resist, but they never thought that he would act so rudely.

The staff had been able to put up with teenagers like this cursing for the past 10 years because their seniors had built up with their tolerance with harsher words.

Also, they were positive that something that happened because he changed overnight as if he were a different person. Their first thought was that they needed to check the cameras installed in the dorm and ask the other kids what had happened last night.

The staff slammed the door closed and went back to the bus where the other kids were waiting.