CH 1

Kim Deuk-pal. 47 years old. His dream is to attend college.

· * *

It’s a winter day with steady rain. In a hanok with a pond garden, a student preparing for the CSAT exam burned to study. Although he was an older student, his enthusiasm was no match for the younger ones, so he pushed his pencil harder and harder to solve math problems.

The long dragon tattoo on his forearm flickered with each math problem. Despite being winter, the dragon’s entire body was alive with movement as his muscles flexed under his short-sleeved tee. The tutor, who specializes in tutoring adolescents, broke out in a cold sweat. He tried not to make eye contact with the dragon as it glared at his biceps.

When he finished the last problem on the page with his red grading pen, he put the book away.

“…That’s it for today’s class. Good work.”

“Yes, sir, you did a great job too.”

The late student, Kim Duk-yeol, bowed and closed the problem book. CSAT Special Math 1. The problem book pages were blackened and burned where the student had made progress.

The room was large, and Kim Deuk-pal followed the instructor as he packed his bag and got up.

“I’m really worried about my math score.”

As a proud Korean, Kim was confident in his Korean language and Korean history. However, math was one of his weakest subjects, along with English, which lowered his average score.

Kim Deuk-pal just expressed his concerns about his grades from a student’s point of view, but the instructor fumbled as his face turned pale.

“Well, that’s, uh, that’s what math is all about. Active students struggle to raise their scores because the basics are critical. You took the qualification exam and followed me well. Ah…! I didn’t mean to disrespect the qualification exam……!”

Kim Deuk-pal opened the right door of the window paper, leaving the instructor who made a hasty excuse for ignoring him for passing the qualification exam. Big men in black suits lined up on both sides of the door bent 90 degrees. The instructor was more nervous than necessary.

“Here you are! Brother!”

As the big guys clapped loudly, Kim Deuk-pal stepped aside so the instructor could come out.

“The teacher is leaving. Take him there.”

“Yes! I see!”

Kim Deuk-pal told the instructor to move quickly, and the instructor hugged the bag tightly like a lifeline. Although he accepted the proposal due to the cost of tutoring in Daechi-dong, it was harsh for a lecturer who lived as a small citizen all his life to be calm in the den of gangsters who plastered their bodies with knife marks and tattoo marks.

The gangsters under Kim Deuk-pal and the so-called younger brothers disappeared with the instructor (the level of being dragged from the instructor’s point of view). Instead of returning to his room, Kim Deuk-pal moved to the open floor in the garden. With his hands in his pants pockets, Kim Duk-pal’s back was lonely as he looked out over the garden.

The garden was ruined after a December frost. The wisteria with its tiny branches and dark garden stones gave it a dreary look. However, the winter garden was at its peak on a snowy day, not on a rainy day like today.

When white snow accumulated on the branches, it was as spectacular as plum blossoms in spring. This was just as it had been a month earlier, in November, when Kim Duk-pal was taking the SAT, when a sudden cold snap caused a blanket of snow to fall.

Despite the encouragement of his younger siblings, who touted white snow as a sign of success, Kim bombed the CSAT. A 7th grade average. Lucky seven was a superstition not allowed on CSAT report cards. His younger brother, who was the provisional scorer, circled the word “snow” and flirted with cramps in his wrist. However, it was red rain that fell on the answers he wrote on the back of the test sheet. The chilling silence was something he would never forget. Kim will never forget it until he dies.

Meanwhile, the boss of the organization who heard Kim’s CSAT scores laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe. No one else laughed, but the boss, who had raised Kim Duk-pal from the bottom, held his stomach and flipped him over. The organization members waiting outside were worried that Kim Deuk-pal would rip his stomach out, but fortunately, the boss got up intact.

‘That’s enough, give it up, and get ready to take over.’

The boss wasn’t the only one who thought so. Everyone in the organization didn’t understand that Kim Duk-pal was preparing for college without taking over the organization. He had been in the organization all his life, and what kind of college was it?

Kim’s hands, with calluses that resembled turtle shells on his knuckles, were no match for a pen. Kim’s heroic story of dominating a district with his fists, rising through the ranks to become the boss’s right-hand man, shines when books and education meet.

But that’s not the story he wanted to tell.

He sighed heavily. The low December temperatures caused the sigh to billow into white smoke and disperse. As he pulled a cigarette packet from his trousers, a subordinate waiting behind him shot out like a bullet. He lit a lighter and held it out politely.

“Dong-soo.”

“Yes, Brother.”

“Do you think I can’t do it?”

“No, big brother, you can do it!”

Kim Deuk-pal’s direct subordinate, Kim Dong-soo, was socially proficient. He didn’t undermine Kim Deuk-pal’s efforts, who organized work during the day and studying for the college entrance exam at night. However, Dong-soo came up with a plausible excuse.

“At least at your age, you don’t have to worry about sunbathers creeping up on you in college. You’ve seen the younger ones. They’re all over your feet these days, and frankly…….”

Kim Dong-soo looks at Kim Deuk-pal, and at the age of Xun, what Kim Deuk-pal should have is not a college acceptance letter with an uncertain graduation, but a boss position in an organization. The future of his career, and the future of his organization, lies in the darkness of the back streets, not in a college town.

“If not you, who will take over the organization?

Kim Dong-soo looked at Kim Deuk-pal. At the age of fifty, what Kim Deuk-pal should have is not a college entrance hall where graduation is uncertain, but a boss position in an organization. The future that will make Kim Deuk-pal’s career shine and the organization’s future prosper lies not in the college campus, but in the dark alley.

Whether it was because he could feel his men’s pain or because he was skeptical of their CSAT scores, which remained stuck in seventh grade despite studying like shit, Kim Duk-pal laughed bitterly.

“Prepare tea.”

“Yes, Brother!”

It was an evasive order, but Kim Dong-soo took it in stride. A subordinate waited in the hallway for Kim Deuk-pal and held out his Chulining jersey with both hands. As Kim slipped his arms through the jersey and entered the garage, the smell of dirt and oil mixed with humidity hit his nostrils. The henchman waiting beside the black sedan opened the driver’s door.

“Have a good time, Brother!”

When Kim Deuk-pal got into the car, the clumsy big man closed the driver’s door and stepped back and folded his back. The garage door sounded loud enough to his size.

The sedan’s headlights, which moved smoothly, lit up the rain beating the world.

* **

Contrary to the snow forecast, heavy rain fell on December streets.

The traffic lights at the intersection turned red and cars stopped to match the white line drawn on the roadway. The black sedan with Kim Deuk-pal stopped right in front of the crosswalk and watched a group of students cross the street.

They all wore black long padded jackets and looked like a bunch of gimbap. After giggling about what was so funny, two ran out of the umbrella. Kim Deuk-pal couldn’t take his eyes off the group running after the rest.

Kim Deuk-pal, who was born in Mokpo as the second son of a family famous for being poor and having children after another, was deprived of freedom. After moving to Seoul as if he were running away from a family who prevented him from returning to elementary school by asking him to take care of his eldest son, Deuk-pal Kim had never stepped inside the school gate, let alone school.

Kim Deuk-pal who came to Seoul, worked to the factory during the day and drank soju at night. In a quarrel, his teenager ended with an unusual fist-punch that caught the attention of a local gang member.

Due to gangsters who sleep during the day and work at night on illegal things, schools were unfamiliar. Kim Deuk-pal shook off his lingering feelings and focused on organizing work.

‘I thought I’d let go of all my lingering feelings then, but I didn’t expect them to come back after more than 20 years.’

He thought he could inherit the organization and live comfortably, but the desire to step through the school gates held him back. It wasn’t an ordinary regret either. He couldn’t apply to a local university because he had to work in an organization. He didn’t want to apply to a cyber university because he didn’t need an academic degree. He couldn’t tell anyone because he knew he would be laughed at, but he wanted to apply to Seoul university like a normal 20-year-old. It was a foolish and unreasonable desire.

Smiling bitterly, he pulled away from the light. The wheels rolled across the rainwater puddles on the asphalt.

His destination was a favorite cafe on Seoul’s outskirts. It was a log cabin where the owner played live guitar on rainy days. Kim loved to sit by the window and listen to the guitar sound. Although his fists were strong, his emotions were delicate.

The farther he traveled, the fewer cars there were on the road. No one dared to venture out in the weather this late at night, so the roads soon emptied out.

The rain was thick and slippery, and the wet road glistened in the light. Kim Duk-pal drove more cautiously than usual due to dangerous road conditions. His eyes were sharp as he looked ahead.

His habit of keeping a close eye on fight scenes was no exception on the road. As he carefully scanned the road, he spotted an overpass and a man holding onto the railing.

“…Hmm?”

Due to the distance, he couldn’t see the face of the man holding on to the railing, but he had a vague idea. Despite the cold weather around Christmas, the man wore only white pajamas that looked like pajamas. However, they were soaked by the rain and stuck to his skin. He leans over the overpass railing, looking down dangerously.

Kim’s thick eyebrows wiggled as he drove, his eyes glued to the viaduct instead of the road. He squinted to make sure he wasn’t looking at the wrong thing. The distance was closing, and just when he recognized the man clinging to the viaduct railing, the man put his foot on the railing.

Under the overpass, a large truck traveled on the opposite side of the road from Kim Duk-pal.

The truck driver didn’t slow down, like he hadn’t noticed the man on the overpass. Kim sounded the clicker, but the rain drowned out the echo off the road. The truck drove toward the overpass. Meanwhile, the boy slipped in the rain and managed to climb over the railing.

Dangling from the outside of the railing, the man looked down and crouched. Standing in the narrow gap outside the railing was precarious.

“…….”

Kim Duk-pal frantically clicked his claxon as the viaduct drew nearer, but the pounding rain drowned out all sound.

The boy clinging to the railing let go of one hand and tilted his body at an angle. The rain gusts shook him. His grip on the rain-soaked, slippery railing barely held him up with one arm. He was about to fall.

There was no time to stop the car and stop the boy on the overpass. The oncoming truck drew closer, and the truck driver still hadn’t noticed the boy hanging on to the overpass. The overpass is not very high, so he might be lucky to survive if he falls, but if he is hit by a truck, He will die.

With that thought in mind, Kim Duk-pal didn’t hesitate to turn the wheel, and the black sedan swerved, splashing rainwater onto the side road. The headlights of a truck coming from the opposite direction shot out intensely, illuminating the interior of the black sedan.

Bam!

The truck driver pressed the claxon because the black sedan suddenly cut in front of him.

He planned to stop the truck, not cause an accident, so Kim Duk-pal turned the wheel without stopping. His gaze flashed sharply as he drove away. The black sedan avoided the truck by a hair’s breadth and skidded to the sidewalk. The plan seemed to succeed. However, no matter how Kim Deuk-pal tried, he could not control the torrential rain and wet roads.

The driver stepped on the brake, but the large truck slipped on the wet road as it was. The black sedan driven by Kim Deuk-pal also couldn’t stop and spun in a half circle.

Kim Deuk-pal slowed down and stepped on the brake. However, the car slipped in the rain and rushed toward the large truck.

Kim Deuk-pal’s eyes met the driver of a large truck. The frightened driver was frozen with no response. There was no friction between the two vehicles, so they went out on the road. The headlights of the two opposing vehicles flashed intensely and the heavy rain shattered them into white.

They bumped into each other. Kim Deuk-pal did not avoid the blinding light. He turned the steering wheel to find a way to live in urgency. It was time for the gear to crack, preventing the steering wheel from turning. Kim Deuk-pal opened his eyes wide.

The pigment was light brown in color. The boy who fell off the overpass is.

The boy rolled into a large truck and crashed onto the hood of a black sedan.

The moment the boy sank into the glare, it moved slowly. The hand stretched out toward the sky and looked like it was trying to grab something, so the white feet in the air stood out helplessly. The wet hair clumped together into strands and fluttered gently. As a result of intense light, the side of the boy’s face was blurred with lines spreading. The eyes looking up at the sky rolled slowly. His brown eyes rolled with water and were fixed on Kim Deuk-pal.

Kim Deuk-pal couldn’t look away from the eyes of the boy he’d tried to save without knowing his name. He forgot what he was doing and stared into those brown eyes.

The wipers cleared the car window. The moment the black bar broke their gaze, time took on its own pace, like a shackle removed. The boy fell down instantly.

Koo-boom!

A huge impact shook the black sedan. Kim Deuk-pal was thrown back and forth by the impact. Blood trickled from his head as he was thrown forward and hit the glass, then pulled back by the seatbelt. With blurry vision, he desperately searched for the boy.

The boy had fallen into the center of the dented bonnet, crumpled like a sheet of paper. The light of a half-shattered headlight illuminated the boy’s fingertips. The limp fingers didn’t move.

Did he live?

I hope so. That pitty crab…….

Kim Deuk-pal, barely holding on to a sliver of consciousness, was now unconscious. His body slumped forward, hanging limply from his seatbelt, and red blood dripping from the driver’s seat mingled with the rain.

Only the car’s warning beeps sounded ferociously in the torrential rain.