I’ve started pacing again, my arms folded behind my back. Frustration bubbles just beneath the surface, a constant reminder of what failures we’ve been.
Black Shell has openly taunted me, and yet he’s still breathing. He won our last confrontation, and yet I’m no closer to achieving the revenge owed.
“What do we have to show for our work?” I ask them, raising my voice. “Cold leads. Dead ends. Constant excuses. You should be ashamed!”
As my heavy scolding resonates throughout the chamber, most look ashamed at their poor performance or determined to improve.
But then comes a sudden laugh, interrupting the tense silence.
My eyes cut toward the source, at once locating who it is and where it’s coming from.
Second row, third seat down.
Nam Joo-wan wears an insufferable smirk as he murmurs something to the captain seated next to him.
He’s the picture of casual disrespect as he sits relaxed, appearing more as if he’s at some cinema enjoying a movie than in a serious club meeting.
I clench down hard on my jaw and address him on the spot. “Something funny, Lieutenant Nam?”
His grin vanishes from his face as he startles in his seat, obviously not expecting to be called on so suddenly and directly.
“Uh… no, Jin-tae. I was just telling Han?—”
“Get up.”
He blinks at me, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What?”
“Isaidget up.” I let the command hover in the tense air, the room so silent otherwise that a pin could be heard dropping.
Another second passes where Joo-wan is so uncertain he doesn’t move. He glances around at the other lieutenants and captains as though hoping someone might intervene on his behalf, but no one dares meet his eyes or show any sign of insolence to me.
They know better.
Slowly,reluctantly, he rises from his seat.
“Come here,” I say. I gesture to the space next to me at the center of the room.
After another hesitant look around, he does what he’s told. He makes his way down the aisle toward the center floor where I stand waiting.
He stops a few feet away from me, his smug grin still clinging to the corners of his mouth like even now he can’t let it go. Some part of him still believes he can charm or joke his way out of the moment.
He couldn’t be more wrong.
I start circling him, arms at rest behind my back. “Lieutenant Nam Joo-wan. Fifty-two. Twice married. Twice divorced. One child—a daughter, is that correct? You’ve been devoted to the Baekho Pa for almost thirty years now. Risenup the ranks to Sa-jo. One of the Baekho-je’s trusted lieutenants.
“A man of your position should be formidable. He should be the steady hand the boss needs to run a tight ship and get things done.” I’ve circled him like a predator does wounded prey, finally coming to stop directly in front of him, holding his gaze so intently he immediately seems tempted to look away. “Tell me, Lieutenant, what exactly have you contributed to the Baekho Pa as of late? Whatuseare you?”
He straightens his shoulders in an attempt to project confidence, though his voice wavers. “Baekho-je Jin-tae, my men have been working tirelessly to?—”
“Your men found a single lead in Seoul that went cold before we could act on it,” I interrupt sharply. “A sighting in Myeongdong that vanished into a crowd. That was days ago. Since then, nothing. Not a single useful development.”
“Jin-tae,” he says with a nervous chortle. “With all due respect, Baekho-je, these things take time?—”
“Time?” I repeat back to him, stepping closer, still holding his gaze to eerie effect. “You’ve had plenty of time, Joo-wan. What you lack is competence. Discipline. Fortitude. As you lounge around the clubhouse drinking and laughing, sometimes I wonder if it’s no accident. If it’s intentional. If such disregard of duties and stupidity is really sabotage.”
His eyes widen and he stammers, “S-sabotage? Jin-tae, I am loyal to the Baekho Pa. I have been for almost thirty years. You said so yourself?—”
“What else could it be if not weaponized incompetence? You clearly find something amusing about our failures,” I sneer in disgust, my lips curled. “You think it’s funny that the man who murdered my family is still out there? The man who threatened my fiancée and unborn child is still breathing?”
