#3

After waking up, Ji-hoon Lee checked the documents. He quickly skimmed through the ones saved on his phone that seemed insignificant. What caught his attention next was the 'drug' list. There was an address roughly scribbled there. Ji-hoon's eyes scanned it.

The address was somewhere in Gangnam.

"Gangnam..."

He turned on his computer and searched for the address. It was right in the heart of Gangnam. But something was strange. What was strange? Ji-hoon looked at the map more closely. Then he realized what was off.

'The surroundings are all entertainment areas. Clubs, bars, motels. But these places are forming a wall, and there's a building in the middle?'

Leaving such a good location as an empty building? Something smelled fishy. He looked up the property registration. Anyone can view the property registration, and the owner can't tell who's looked at it, so he did it without worry.

It was clean. Aside from the owner being 'Park Ki-young,' there was nothing suspicious. He had bought the place a long time ago and just kept it empty.

Ji-hoon decided to visit the place soon and put that matter aside for now.

Next, he had to deal with the gold bars, jewelry, cash, and USB.

He plugged the USB into his computer. Before checking the data, he scanned for viruses. It was clean. He opened it. Inside were cryptocurrencies.

The gambling den's boss had used this as a cryptocurrency wallet. There were many altcoins, but mostly stable Bitcoin. With the cryptocurrency ETF being debated, Bitcoin was fluctuating around 100 million won per coin. Calculating its approximate value, it totaled around 500 million won.

They sure made a lot.

Ji-hoon clicked his tongue.

He decided to sell the Bitcoin first and convert the money into cash using a burner account. After completing that task, he got up to handle the rest of the physical assets.

Electrokinesis.

The ability to generate electricity with the power of thought. Ji-hoon acquired this ability a long time ago. It was back when his parents were still alive.

Elementary school-aged Ji-hoon came home after going to his academy, as usual. It was evening. He had a snack of tteokbokki at a snack bar in front of the academy, but he was hungry again by the time he got home.

"Mom, I'm home!"

That was the first thing he said as he opened the door of the old rental apartment. Oh no. Dad's shoes were there.

His dad was a man who cared a lot about etiquette. A stickler for rules, befitting his job as a police officer. Yet Ji-hoon liked his dad. He would have rebelled against any unreasonable rules, but his dad always informed him of the rules in advance and made sure he followed them.

He would overlook mistakes twice. The third time, Ji-hoon would get a severe beating. Nowadays, that would be impossible, but it was like that back then.

Ji-hoon entered the house, shrinking a bit. Despite his parents' shoes being there, he couldn't hear their voices. The eerily quiet house only had the sound of the TV.

"Mom? Dad?"

Ji-hoon was scared, but he thought nothing could have happened. After all, his dad was a police officer. He could even catch ghosts.

Ji-hoon took off his shoes and went inside. What he saw there was...

Ji-hoon processed all the stolen goods. He sold them at a lower price, but it was fine. Converting everything into cash amounted to about 600 million won. Ji-hoon divided the money into 50 million won bundles and sent them out via courier to various places.

Orphanages, scholarship foundations, etc.

He enclosed a sincere letter asking for the money to be used to help people in need. He often stole money from gangsters to help those in difficult situations. Imitating a Robin Hood act. Anyway, taking a little money from those thugs wouldn't make a dent in the wealthy's bank accounts.

But it would help the needy. A lot. People filling their hunger with a single packet of ramen would be delighted with even a piece of kimchi. The rich have thick layers of fat.

Ji-hoon handled everything overnight.

After returning from Ansan, he had caught a few hours of sleep, but he felt he needed more. Before turning off the computer, he checked the performance of the AI-driven investment program he was running.

The program, which a friend had initially set up and Ji-hoon had completed, was steadily making profits by navigating the stock market.

After confirming this, Ji-hoon felt a wave of fatigue hit him. He returned to his room and fell asleep.

He processed the documents related to Somchai. Honestly, Somchai seemed to have used drugs, but as a civilian, Ji-hoon couldn't act on mere suspicion, so he left it alone. Ji-hoon sent a certification of contents to Somchai's workplace and a separate text to the boss.

It was regarding unpaid wages. Most employers would settle at this point to avoid the hassle of dealing with lawyers.

However, some stubborn employers resist until the end. They refuse to pay even after receiving warnings from the labor office and getting entangled in lawsuits. Whether it's out of pride or a dislike for foreign workers asserting their rights, who knows.

But they can't stop the foreign workers who risk deportation. After all, they did the work. Somchai would probably get his money and leave. He said he wanted to work in Korea again, so he would likely voluntarily leave once he got paid.

"Tsk."

Ji-hoon stepped into the night. The dark embraced him. The entertainment district. Around midnight, many people were wandering, drunk. Couples who made eye contact were busy finding nearby motels, while some were humming drunkenly.

Ji-hoon's outfit, walking alone in a dark alley, looked suspicious to anyone. Everyone else was dressed flashy, but he was in a hoodie. Yet no one paid attention. He was like a shadow.

Ji-hoon, weaving through the masses of people living their lives, entered a secluded alley. It reeked. No one cared. Like before, he climbed the wall. The building he was climbing was across from his target. Despite the thick outer walls of the building, the thumping EDM beat was audible.

Ji-hoon landed on the rooftop and looked at the supposedly 'empty' building across the alley.

Surrounded by clubs, bars, and motels, it was a place difficult to notice unless you knew it existed.

A faint light was seeping out of the suspicious building.

'As expected...'

There was something there. Ji-hoon stimulated his muscles with electricity. Strength surged in his legs. He kicked off the ground.

His body soared, cutting through the night sky, and landed on the rooftop of the building. No sound. He stimulated his hearing with electricity. He focused on the sounds from the building. He heard groans.

'Another brothel?'

That wasn't all. He heard strangely hysterical laughter. It wasn't normal. And there were multiple people laughing. Drugs?

From another direction, he heard languid voices. The words were elongated and didn't form coherent sentences. This was also abnormal. More drugs.

Ji-hoon focused on another sound.

It was someone's voice. A tone of annoyance and arrogance.

"... Here."

"Mokpo? Go all the way there?"

"The next meeting place is there. If you don't like it, forget it."

The other person clicked his tongue but couldn't refuse.

"I'm not saying I don't like it. Nowadays, with Telegram, they say there's no tracking. Can't you use that for your business, Mr. Park? It's inconvenient to come all the way to Gangnam every time."

The person called 'Mr. Park' responded arrogantly.

"That's our business policy. The final meeting place is still on Telegram, right?"

"Yes, that's true."

"You have to see people face-to-face to know how other organizations are doing and understand the world. Did you hear? The Thai guys active in Ansan, they all got busted."

"Oh, that? I heard. Those bastards tasted money and brought drugs here? Bastards. They should have stayed quiet in someone else's country."

"Hehe... Mr. Kim, you're funny. We're also targeting our own people."

"True, whether it's them or us."

The two chuckled and then seemed to light a cigarette.

"Phew... Did you hear? The guys who were doing well in Gangdong, I can't remember their name."

"Park Yong-bae?"

"Oh, right. Park Yong-bae also got hit by that Pikachu guy."

"I heard. He can't use an arm and a leg anymore."

"What a world. Using a modified taser to mess people up like that. Someone died because of that guy too?"

"Some guys from the mercenary gang died."

"Crazy."

The two men continued chatting about their industry's incidents over the past few years and then got up.

"Anyway, Mokpo. Mokpo."

"Got it."

Ji-hoon stopped focusing. Mokpo... So they were sourcing drugs from there? Smuggling?

With too many eyes in Seoul, they must have been transporting drugs from the provinces and distributing them to various cities.

The drug production sites were probably in China or North Korea.

Ji-hoon planned to follow them once they left. He would track their car's license plate and then use nearby CCTV in Mokpo to find out where they were going.

Ji-hoon calmly prepared to follow the men exiting the building. But then, he heard a disturbing sound.

"Hahaha! More, more! Good job!"

"Hey, can you kill someone like that? Hit harder!"

Thud! Thud!

"Stop, stop! I'll die!"

A woman's scream. But the men, probably high, found it amusing and clapped and cheered.

"Haha! Nobody cares if someone like you dies."

"A worthless bug. You came here thinking you'd make it big with your looks, right? This is just a service. Enjoy it, too."

They cheered and clapped at those words. The sound of one-sided violence continued. The woman, probably exhausted, fell silent.

Ji-hoon saw someone exiting the building. He glanced at them but, without hesitation, opened the rooftop door and went inside. He wore a mask and pulled up his hood.