NOVEL WEB Chapter 10: Taegyu Bae (1)
“Die bastard die!”
Loud noises echoed through the factory since early morning.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Bae Taegyu knocked down three students on their knees, one after the other.
“Didn’t I tell you to bring me 200,000 won each? Didn’t I?”
“Ugh…”
“What? You won’t answer? Are you ignoring me?”
“Just a moment… Please!”
Bae Taegyu kicked the student’s chin.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The students groaned and cowered like turtles as the beating continued.
“Are you blocking me? Huh? Look at me.”
The sight of Bae Taegyu grabbing the students’ hair and slapping their cheeks made the gang smoking cigarettes behind him laugh out loud.
But in reality, they were tense and fearful of Bae Taegyu’s merciless attitude.
“Of course, it’s Bae Taegyu. He doesn’t spare even the nerds.”
“Even other school seniors are afraid of him.”
“Remember, don’t mess with Bae Taegyu, no matter what happens.”
Bae Taegyu was 185cm tall, a rather large build for a second-year middle school student.
Undoubtedly, he was overwhelmingly dominant among his peers and famous even among the gangsters for his fighting skills.
“Motherfuckers, I was planning to buy a motorcycle with the money I thought I would receive today, but you useless bastards haven’t helped me since morning.”
Bae Taegyu turned to his gang.
“Hey, do any of you bastards have any money?”
“Us? Really?”
“I’ll definitely pay you back next month.”
The gang was taken aback and each of them nervously scratched the back of his head.
“Sorry, I rarely get some allowance from home…”
“I don’t have any money either. Haha…”
Although they refused as politely as possible, Bae Taegyu’s expression twisted.
“You useless bastards. Should I just squeeze you dry?”
“What? Us?”
“Yeah, you bastards. What’s the difference between you and the shuttle kids if you can’t even lend me money?”
Bae Taegyu was genuinely furious, causing them to bow their heads and apologize.
“Sorry, we couldn’t help…”
“I’ll try to save some money from my allowance to help you buy the motorcycle…”
“Forget it. The bastards said allowance. How will you ever save enough money?”
Frustrated, Bae Taegyu kicked the students lying on the ground in a fit of anger.
Thud! Thud!
“Fucking punks!”
Thud! Thud!
“If these brats had brought the money on time, This would never have happened!”
It was only when the students were lying down, exhausted, that Bae Taegyu’s stomping stopped. They couldn’t even groan in pain anymore.
“Ugh, fucking scum! Get lost!”
Bae Taegyu spat on the ground and pointed his finger at the delinquents.
One of them quickly offered him a cigarette.
“Phew….”
As Bae Taegyu took a puff and exhaled smoke, he turned to the gang again.
“Hey, where can we get some money?”
“Money? You mean, like, right now?”
“Yeah, we need it no matter what.”
“Hmm…”
“I don’t know…”
They rubbed their chins and pondered as if it were their own problem. If they couldn’t come up with a way to get him some money, they’d be in hot water again.
“What about robbing a convenience store?”
“You wanna go to jail?”
“Or stealing from homeless people who beg near the station?”
“Those hobos hardly make any money. What’s the point?”
“How about we extort other students on the street?”
“That’s probably the most realistic option.”
“But where can we find students at this hour? Most of them are stuck at home on vacation.”
“You could check out the PC room or the karaoke place.”
“But there are a lot of CCTV cameras these days. It’ll be tough.”
“Then we need to cover our faces and be careful.”
As they were casually conspiring to commit a crime, one of the gang suddenly spoke up.
“Oh, by the way, Taegyu.”
“Yeah?”
“Why didn’t you call that shuttle guy in our class?”
“You mean, Ryu Won?”
Bae Taegyu’s lips curled into a wicked grin.
“I was planning on calling him today anyway. He deserves a beating as a New Year’s gift.”
“What if he doesn’t show up?”
“Don’t worry, I know where he lives.”
“We could always pick on him.”
“Right. That’ll work.”
While the gang looked at each other in agreement, Bae Taegyu shook his head.
“That guy’s a pauper. I believe he can’t even afford cup ramen.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Do you think I’m lying for no reason?”
“Oh…sorry.”
“But how poor could he be if he lives in Seoul?”
The gang looked puzzled, and Bea Taegyu shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know either. But when I see him getting beaten up and not even earning a single penny, it must mean he’s really poor. He even lives in some old, run-down house.”
“Oh, really?”
“Still, it’s kind of strange, isn’t it? How can he attend school in Seoul if he can’t even afford to live properly? Are his parents crazy?”
“That bastard’s parents are dead. They died in a car accident, so he lives with his older brother.”
Although they might have felt a bit sympathetic, the bullies snickered and laughed.
“Fuck, haha life is so pitiful. He doesn’t even have parents. Hahaha.”
“So that’s why he’s so poor, that fucking bastard. Hahaha.”
Their mocking turned into a conspiracy theory.
“Hey, Taegyu. From what I’ve seen, that bastard doesn’t seem poor at all.”
“I think so too. He must have inherited some money, so why doesn’t he use any of it?”
“These days, even orphans get a lot of welfare benefits, so they actually live pretty well.”
“That’s right. I think he’s just trying to act poor so he won’t get robbed.”
“He’s probably eating a fancy steak somewhere once he’s out of school.”
The bullies’ argument seemed convincing enough to turn Taegyu’s face a shade of red.
“How dare that bastard to try mess with me? I’ll call my gang and kill him right away, that motherfu–“
Just as he was about to take out his phone to make a call, Taegyu suddenly stopped.
“What’s wrong, Taegyu?”
“Wait. Don’t you hear something?”
The bullies all stopped to listen.
Thump thump–
They heard footsteps in the quiet abandoned factory.
Not just one, but at least two pairs of footsteps.
Soon enough, two men appeared in front of the bullies.
One of them was someone Taegyu knew well.
“Oh? It’s you…?”
It was Ryu Won, who had been the leading character of the conversation they had just a moment ago.
Taegyu let out a long sigh.
He felt his tension dissipate completely.
“So you said the tiger would come, and he did… no, not the tiger but a dog, perhaps? Is this your new lackey, Ryu Won?”
As soon as they saw him, they started throwing insults at him and Ryu Won immediately looked scared.
While Taegyu felt somewhat satisfied with his reaction, he couldn’t help but feel a little dissatisfied.
The other man’s expression remained unchanged.
“Didn’t I ask you who this bitch you brought with you?!”
“He’s my…”
Before Ryu Won could even say anything, Ryu Min stepped forward.