IRLPLBIO Chapter 28 Part 1

Chapter 28 #6. Look Again at a Quenched Fire (2)

Kwang-cheol thought Jae-gu was trying to blind him under the guise of protecting him. His firm jaw tensed, and his face became stubborn.

“If you don’t go, I won’t go either.”

“Huh? No, you can just go first, why…”

“Because you might do something dangerous when I’m not there.”

“It’s not… dangerous…”

Jae-gu’s eyeballs darted frantically within his round eyes. His gaze stopped on the woman who was watching them with interest, wondering what they were talking about.

“L-luggage! There’s no way it’s dangerous, I’m just helping with luggage.”

“…Hyung, that person asked for directions, not for help with their luggage.”

Jae-gu gave the woman a look. The woman understood perfectly when it was her time to step in.

“I’d be grateful if you could help with the luggage. As you can see, it’s a bit big.”

With a ‘Did you hear that?’ look, Jae-gu subtly nudged Kwang-cheol. Annoyed at being pushed to go quickly, Kwang-cheol dug his heels in and resisted instead.

Jae-gu, who was about to push Kwang-cheol one more time, quickly gave up. Kwang-cheol usually listened well to him, but once he decided against something, he would absolutely refuse to yield. In such cases, Jae-gu had no choice but to agree to Kwang-cheol’s desired direction.

“Then let’s just carry it together. If you help, it feels like she might buy us something delicious. Right?”

“…Alright, then.”

“Hyung, is she someone you know?”

The woman’s voice seemed to bounce off Kwang-cheol’s ears. Kwang-cheol’s eyes, alternating between the woman and Jae-gu, darkened even further. His pupils, beyond mere darkness to pitch-black, fixated on Jae-gu.

The woman gasped, taking a short, sharp breath. The air, colorless and shapeless, instantly turned sharp. The hallucination of thousands upon thousands of needles pouring into the back of her throat was excessively vivid.

Unaware or uncaring of the fierce atmosphere forming as if he was about to be devoured, Jae-gu scratched his cheek slightly and nodded. The woman’s eyes widened into perfect circles. With her expression, she was loudly proclaiming, ‘Are you saying you and I know each other?’

“That person doesn’t seem to know you, Hyung.”

“Now they will know.”

“…Really?”

“W-wait a minute. My opinion is…”

The flustered woman, Shin Ju-hee, interjected, but Jae-gu’s words continued calmly.

“You’re the person Lee Young-hwan mentioned last time, right? He said he’d connect us.”

“……”

Shin Ju-hee fell silent without realizing it. She could recite dozens of specific and factual lies without batting an eye if needed. But in an unexpected situation, it was difficult to remain calm when faced with such a calm lie from an opponent she had never imagined would lie.

“Is it true?”

Because Shin Ju-hee didn’t answer, Kwang-cheol’s eyes narrowed.

Regardless, Jae-gu just pushed his own narrative. Once things went smoothly, it was always fine to add the details later.

“I told you. You greet her too. She’s Shin Ma… who will be our Jjeonju… No, I shouldn’t use such words. She’s President Shin.”

“…Isn’t it wrong to call someone a Jjeonju… right to their face?”

Kwang-cheol finally raised a normal question. That meant he didn’t doubt that Shin Ju-hee was a Jjeonju. Kwang-cheol too had effectively stepped into a world where people are distinguished by money and status.

Jae-gu chuckled and passed the question to Shin Ju-hee.

Shin Ju-hee took off her sunglasses. It was simply impossible to keep up with the conversation’s pace. It was already puzzling that he recognized her face upon their first meeting, but it was even more perplexing that he called her ‘President Shin’ when she had only recently established her power.

“You know me?”

“I told you, President Lee Young-hwan told me.”

“But…”

Shin Ju-hee tried to object. Lee Young-hwan didn’t leak information about her. If anything, it would be the opposite.

Moreover, she was actively avoiding external exposure as much as possible due to hostile forces. Unless one directly controlled several financial lifelines, it was difficult to even know the ‘Shin’ in Shin Ju-hee.

However, before Shin Ju-hee could properly open her mouth, Jae-gu cut her off.

“Is that important?”

Jae-gu’s tone of voice changed. Shin Ju-hee, facing his low, cold voice and icy gaze, thought Jae-gu’s entire demeanor had changed. The fresh atmosphere typical of a student vanished, replaced by a seasoned veteran who had fought dozens, hundreds of unseen battles.

Jae-gu was always a winner. Except for that one last time he failed to read his ‘master’s’ intentions, he always read situations faster and ran farther than others.

He believed that, just like before, he could push whomever he wanted all the way to Chairman. He was merely taking a somewhat cumbersome approach to choose a more certain and safe method.

Shin Ju-hee was confused by the discrepancy between the ‘information she received visually’ and the ‘sensations her instincts detected.’ What she saw was clearly a delinquent high school student in a uniform holding a tube ice cream wrapper, yet her mind’s eye perceived Jae-gu as a shrewd businessman in a luxurious suit, holding a half-smoked cigar.

The businessman Jae-gu, who had a foot in both the respectable world and the underworld, and had experienced all sorts of hardships, said:

“You’re not thinking of being satisfied by just betting on the Dae-yeong Group, are you?”

“…What did you say?”

Her voice wouldn’t come out at all, but because it was so preposterous, a twisted, squeezed-out sound managed to escape.

Where could there be a bigger deal than betting on the Dae-yeong Group? Just by getting a good connection with Dae-yeong, she could firmly solidify her position.

To come looking for opportunities to exploit and instead be swayed by a child’s words – her elder would have been greatly disappointed if he saw her now. Before Shin Ju-hee could firm up her resolve again, Jae-gu delivered the finishing blow.

“From someone who knows well how her elder pacified the underworld of Jong-ro.”

At that moment, Shin Ju-hee convulsed as if struck by lightning.

Her elder, Jong-ro, the underworld’s financial network. Beyond those words, one more word was hidden.

VIP.

Jae-gu was now telling Shin Ju-hee to aim for something bigger than the Dae-yeong Group. He also proposed a deal: if she helped him, he would help her in return.