Chapter 40: Old Titans

Yoo Jong-tae strode in, brimming with confidence and pride.

“Master, Yoo Jong-tae has returned after successfully completing the mission!”

“Well done!”

I shot him a thumbs up.

Yoo Jong-tae clung to me like a puppy waiting for praise.

“Master, aren’t you curious how I managed to get this invitation? Shall I tell you every detail?”

“No, that’s fine.”

I watched everything through the shared vision with the Grim Reaper.

But I can’t just blurt that out.

“I trust you, Team Leader Yoo. That’s all!”

“Maaasteeer!”

Yoo Jong-tae clasped his hands, twisting his body as if moved to tears.

“I knew you would recognize my loyalty and ability, Master! To think you would trust me to this extent!”

For some reason, his gaze was awfully intense.

Chul-gu ajusshi, who’d been munching on a hardtack, spat out dryly,

“What the hell. He runs one errand and acts like he’s some big shot.”

“W-what do you mean, a big shot?”

“Anyone listening would think you’d been dragged to the Central Bureau, kept your mouth shut, and nearly drowned under water torture.”

“······.”

Yoo Jong-tae looked like he wanted to retort, but after glancing at me, he bit his lip.

That’s because I’d just told him there was no need to explain the whole incident.

“Just you watch. Someday, I’ll claim it—the Number One Loyalty spot! I’m risking my life for this, I tell you!”

Yoo Jong-tae’s muttered words brimmed with ambition.

I do like people with ambition!

---

The first place I visited after getting the invitation, of course, was Myeong-dong.

I gazed up at a building tucked away in a corner alley.



It’s really been a while—no, I was just here a few days ago?

But for some reason, every time I come here, it feels like it’s been forever.

Yoo Jong-tae put a hand to his forehead, pretending to survey the place, and let out a dramatic sigh.

“It really has been a long time. There was a time when I wore down the threshold coming here. Is the first owner of the invitation the Peregrine Falcon Elder of Myeong-dong?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go and deliver it right away!”

“No.”

I grinned.

“This time, I’ll go myself.”

I have to deliver the invitation to my master personally.

And to keep the promise I made back then.

-Next time, I’ll bring a better gift than Western sweets.

So I brought one.

A gift Master would absolutely love!

Chul-gu ajusshi scratched the back of his head as he looked at the pawnshop.

“Heh, it’s been ages since I’ve been here too.”

Everyone keeps saying it’s been a while?

Yoo Jong-tae, who used to run errands under Secretary Kim, makes sense, but Chul-gu ajusshi, too, has been to the Peregrine Falcon Pawnshop before?

Well, regular folks do sometimes wander into a pawnshop without knowing much.

Ding-a-ling.

“Welcome.”

As always, the voice came from behind the iron grating of the pawnshop.

It was Master.

He pushed up his monocle, his eyebrow twitching.

“Well, who do we have here?”

“Greetings, Elder! Have you been well? I’m Yoo Jong-tae, Team Leader of Security Team 5 at Taesung Group. Do you remember me?”

Yoo Jong-tae made a fuss, bowing energetically.

“My, Elder, you look even younger than before. I heard you made a fortune sweeping up prime Gangnam apartments, and now your complexion is even brighter.”

“Elder, long time no see. Hmph.”

Chul-gu ajusshi scratched his head and offered an awkward greeting.

I put my hands together and gave a polite bow at the waist.

“Hello.”

Master singled me out among the three.

“What brings you here this time, little guest? Doesn’t seem like you’re here to pawn anything.”

“That’s right.”

“So why come to a pawnshop? Are you dragging those two here to run another auction?”

“No, I’m here to give you a present, as promised last time.”

“A present?”

I placed the invitation respectfully on the counter beneath the iron bars.

The golden glow of the invitation was so bright it lit up the dim pawnshop.

“This is an invitation to the Year-End Night held at Hyeonmu Hotel.”

“What?”

Master’s eyes flashed.

It was the gaze of a hawk, soaring through the sky and spotting prey.

“People like us, living in the shadows, never get an invitation to the Year-End Night.”

Of course not.

That event is for Korea’s elite—those who wield money, honor, and power in the limelight.

It’s a gathering forbidden to riffraff, let alone nouveau riche upstarts; it’s a society for the upper crust only.

“This invitation didn’t just fall into my lap. Someone paid a price to get it for me instead.”

“That’s why it’s a present.”

“Oh, I see. But why does my ear keep hearing the word ‘bribe’ instead of ‘present’?”

Well, a present is given from the heart with no strings attached, but a bribe is given hoping for something in return.

I can’t say I have absolutely nothing in mind as I hand over this golden invitation.

But that’s for Master to decide.

It’s a bit different from a bribe given in exchange for a specific favor—this is just an opportunity, and what comes of it is up to him.

“Getting this invitation must not have been easy. So, what do you want me to do?”

“Just attend the Year-End Night. It would be even better if you decide to sponsor the event, as is customary.”

“Sponsor?”

Master tilted his head.

“A Year-End Night is basically a fundraiser, isn’t it? I hate those things—they just empty my pockets for nothing.”

He tapped the invitation with his fingertip.

“It smells like money in here. Huh, how odd.”

As expected of my master, sharp as ever!

He always has a nose for money.

“That’s right. Honestly, I’m thinking of bringing you a money-making opportunity at the event.”

“Oh-ho!”

“Just so you know, the invitation is a gift, but this is a business proposal.”

“I knew it!”

Master grinned slyly, shaking the invitation.

“No wonder you brought the invitation yourself! That mystery is solved! You cunning little guest!”

“You said you could smell money on it, right? So will you accept the invitation or not?”

“Whether I accept depends on your business proposal. Let’s hear it first!”

Trying to get even a tiny advantage, as always.

But I just grinned.

“This will be a once-in-a-lifetime deal you won’t regret. Lend me your ear for a moment.”

“Go ahead.”

Master willingly leaned in to listen.

As I whispered, he gasped again and again.

How many times did he let out a gasp?

“Wahahaha!”

At last, Master burst out laughing.

“So, in the end, you want me to play the crowd stirrer, is that it?”

That was exactly why I came in person.

‘To whip a crowd into a frenzy, you always need a talented hype man. And there’s no better hype man than Master.’

Anyone who knows him would see Master as a “prodigy investor who sniffs out every money-making opportunity with a hawk’s eye,” a guaranteed success symbol.

“Hard to believe this is a proposal from a seven-year-old.”

He gazed down at me with a curious look.

“Your ideas are bold, your compensation is bold, and your plan is bolder still. Where did a little brat like you spring from? Would you really not like to work under me and learn the business?”

Ten more years at the pawnshop? Not a chance!

“Don’t change the subject. So, what will you do? Will you attend the Year-End Night or not? Will you stir up the crowd or not?”

“I’ll go! I’ll stir up the crowd! What an opportunity—I’d be a fool not to!”

Master’s sharp, slanted eyes curved into crescents.

“You’ll really hand over a station for every three billion won?”

“If Taesung Construction wins the Line 2 subway project.”

“Of course! If you ask me, Wookwang will never get the contract for Line 2!”

“That’s a bit different from what you said before, isn’t it?”

Back when I was short eighteen million won to buy the Hannam-dong mansion and came here to the pawnshop,

Master and Secretary Kim had a conversation like this.

-To be honest, I do want land near the subway stations. But if you want to take my hard-earned eight million won for that, you’d have to be from Wookwang, not Taesung! Am I wrong?

-So you think Wookwang is in a better position than us, Elder?

-Of course. Isn’t that a fact?

-Impossible. Taesung will win the contract for Line 2.

-That’ll be hard. This time, Wookwang’s a step ahead. I’ve heard they’ve buttered up the top officials properly.

But now, Master spoke with just as much conviction.

“Well, that was before Wookwang Construction’s bribe ledger ended up in Taesung’s hands.”

At the mention of the bribe ledger, Chul-gu ajusshi blinked in confusion.

“Do you think I wouldn’t know what that ledger is, who has it, and how they’re using it to blackmail others? Did you think I’d still bet on Wookwang after knowing all that?”

The longer Master spoke, the rounder Chul-gu ajusshi’s eyes became.

He even blinked slowly like a cow.

“Besides, didn’t Taesung Construction’s president and the whole useless executive team get fired recently?”

Master’s sources are always so fast.

How could he know what happened just yesterday?

Whatever the case, I pointed to the invitation.

“Everyone must be running around, desperate to find out who sent the anonymous blackmail letter. I’m giving you a special offer for keeping your mouth shut.”

“A special offer?”

“I plan to charge the other recipients much more.”

“What? How much more?”

“Just a bit extra. Five billion won per station!”

“Wahahaha! That’s great! I get mine for three billion, and those guys pay five! That’s how it should be!”

Master slapped his knee.

“I have to make this deal happen, if only to see those bastards gnash their teeth!”

Yes, this is exactly my master.

He loves to make a profit himself, but even more, he loves crushing his rivals in the business.

Master, now in high spirits, rolled up his sleeves.

“Do you know where those guys live? If not, I can give you their addresses.”

“Do you think I’d be out delivering invitations without knowing that?”

“I knew it! I knew you’d have it all figured out. You really are one remarkable little guest.”

He was all but kicking me out to go deliver the other invitations right away.

So, I made a sly request.

“Since you’ll be stirring up the crowd anyway, can I ask you for one more little favor?”

“A favor? Ahem! If it costs me even a single won, I’m going to refuse right now······.”

“I just want you to call those people you mentioned and really get under their skin.”

“What?”

In these days when a payphone call cost ten won.

Would Master really make three calls for me?

Resigned, I started to open my coin purse to pay for the calls, but—

“If that’s all, leave it to me! This’ll be a riot! Wahahaha!”

“······.”

Even the stingy Master agreed in a flash, delighted.

He wasted no time.

Right there, he started dialing.

“Hey, you blockhead from Maljukgeori! It’s the Peregrine Falcon of Myeong-dong! Don’t be too shocked—guess what? I just got an invitation to the Year-End Night!”

Click.

“······.”

“······.”

This really is to the point!

He said what he wanted and hung up.

But the effect was instant.

Ring ring! Ring ring!

As the phone started ringing wildly, Master chuckled gleefully.

“They must be fuming! Ah, I feel ten years of indigestion wash away!”

He laughed as he slapped his palms together.

“Well, then, let’s draw up the contract for the three-billion-per-station deal······ Huh?”

Ding-a-ling.

“······.”

The little guest and company were already gone.