***
10 AM.
I opened my eyes in her bedroom. She was still asleep, as if knocked out cold.
Since we had rolled around roughly until dawn, there was no way she could have woken up. Overnight, the bed had been messily stained, and there was a thick scent of night flowers in the room.
"We went at it like crazy. Truly…’
I took a rough shower and got dressed. I considered waking her up, but after looking around the room, I decided to leave her be. It seemed she would be even more embarrassed if she woke up and I was still there. That was how messy the room was.
I covered her with the blanket and came out.
“I’m hungry.”
Had I ever felt this famished in my life? Well, I had poured all my strength
into it while almost staying up all night, so it was only natural to be hungry.
On the way back, I went into any random gukbap (soup and rice) restaurant I saw.
After ordering pig-bone soup, I glanced at the TV hanging on the wall. The news was being broadcast, and it said that Jin Yi-seung, the third-generation chaebol of the Jinyoung Group, had crashed into an electric pole while driving under the influence.
‘Jin Yi-seung. Seeing you like this feels new again.’
I watched the news in silence while eating my soup.
Neulbom Orphanage, located in the north of Daejeon.
Woo Do-hwa had intended to go back up after spending just one night there after delivering the donation to the orphanage, but he couldn't.
First of all, Director Kim Do-gon was suffering from a severe body ache, so he couldn't move a muscle in his room. The old man, who always had overflowing energy, was languishing in illness, perhaps because he had aged.
He didn't even let Woo Do-hwa inside, saying he might catch a cold. It was too
regrettable to leave without seeing the director's face after having come all
the way down here for the first time in three years.
And secondly, the words of a female childcare worker working at the orphanage bothered him.
“They come about once every three days and bully the children… They keep telling us to sell the orphanage building and the land, and I don't know why they are doing that.”
“What time do they usually come?”
“Around evening. They always appear when the children have finished dinner and are in their free time. They know the schedule. Once, the director even stepped forward himself and made a fuss, saying he would call the police.”
“Hmm…”
Woo Do-hwa was listening to her story with his eyes closed, arms crossed. She continued speaking, looking completely dispirited.
“There are usually five or six of them who come, and they have tattoos on their bodies, are large, and are just like gangsters. I was scared, so I couldn't even go near them. I was busy taking care of the children. It looked like the other childcare workers were also contemplating quitting.”
Hearing this, they seemed like gangsters, but it didn't seem like a simple
problem. Gangsters trying to buy buildings or land at bargain prices was a
common occurrence that had existed for a long time.
The problem lay in the orphanage’s location.
Orphanages are generally built on the outskirts because there is a lot of
opposition from citizens. But for them to try to buy such a remote place meant there was clearly something there.
In such cases, there was often someone else behind it providing the money.
After finishing the conversation, Woo Do-hwa spent the day doing laundry and repairing the collapsed stone wall. Perhaps because a strong man who knew how to use his strength well had come, they had used him as much as they could.
Of course, Woo Do-hwa processed the tasks he was given quickly and nonchalantly.
And the evening time the childcare worker spoke of arrived.
The children had finished dinner and were spending time in the playground and park.
Woo Do-hwa was sitting on a pavilion where he could see the playground and park at a glance, keeping his back straight and staring only at the orphanage entrance.
Occasionally, children came and climbed on him or pulled at him to play, but he was immovable. The children teased him, calling him a stone Buddha.
Screeeech—
At that moment, a van stopped at the orphanage entrance like a ghost.
And just as the childcare worker said, five men with bulky builds got out of the car, twisted their faces into scowls, and irritably knocked down the stone wall at the orphanage entrance as they crossed over.
The orphanage didn't put up a separate fence and had only stacked a low stone wall. Naturally, since it was an environment where all sides were open, there was no way to stop their intrusion.
Woo Do-hwa learned who had knocked down the stone wall he had stacked today.
“Haaam! Which little kid shall we play with today?”
Among them, a man with a diagonal scar on his face put his arms around the hulks on both sides and stuck out his tongue like a snake. Then, the hulk beside him put a cigarette in his mouth and tried to light it.
“Huh?”
But the cigarette he had in his mouth disappeared without a trace.
Woo Do-hwa, who had approached at some point, had snatched the cigarette from his mouth. No one had noticed his approach until he came right in front of their noses.
“No smoking here.”
Woo Do-hwa said bluntly and crushed the cigarette into the ground.
“Who are you?”
“Is this bastard crazy!?”
Woo Do-hwa was surrounded in an instant. However, he didn't look nervous at all.
In his eyes, the hulks just looked like lumps of fat.
“You guys are currently trespassing on private property. Get lost before I call the police.”
Woo Do-hwa said, still bluntly. However, inwardly, he was hoping they would pick a fight with him.
The place he was standing was a spot where one CCTV camera was filming the orphanage entrance. If they didn't throw a punch first, there would be no problem at all.
“What a funny bastard. This? Is this a guy I’m seeing for the first time? Did
you just tell us to get lost?”
“Are your ears blocked? Get lost while I’m saying it nicely. You lumps of lard.”
Woo Do-hwa provoked them again.
“What? Bastard? You crazy son of a bitch!”
The man with the bulkiest build among them tried to push Woo Do-hwa’s chest to knock him over. However, strangely, Woo Do-hwa’s body did not budge.
“Huh? What is this!”
The man, whose pride was hurt, immediately swung his fist.
Thwack!
Woo Do-hwa’s face turned to the side. But something was strange. He had hit him, but he didn't feel like he had hit him at all.
While the man was tilting his head while looking at his own fist, Woo Do-hwa, whose head had turned, naturally rotated his body and kicked the man’s abdomen backward.
Thwack!
“Gk!”
The man’s stomach folded in, and he was pushed away, and his face flushed red to the point where his eyeballs seemed like they would pop out.
“You guys hit first. It’s self-defense.”
When the man eventually knelt and collapsed, Woo Do-hwa said nonchalantly. At that moment, the remaining four gangsters started throwing punches at Woo Do-hwa without deciding who would go first.
They had instinctively sensed danger.
Thwack! Thwack!
Woo Do-hwa took one hit each precisely and returned them just as they were. But the power was in a different dimension.
Thwack! Thwack!
“Argh!”
“Ack!”
Another guy collapsed while clutching his stomach.
Compared to Woo Do-hwa, who was fine to the point where one might doubt if he had been hit, the gangsters who had been hit by him one by one were crawling on the ground. One of them was even vomiting, perhaps because the impact was too severe.
Swish—
The last remaining snake-like guy took out a jackknife from his waist. Then,
aiming it at Woo Do-hwa, he backed away slinkily. In the meantime, the
subordinates who had collapsed fled in a hurry behind him.
They had noticed at once that he wasn't their opponent.
“You fucking… what? Huh? Who called you? These sons of bitches… you’re crazy, aren't you? Huh? How are you going to take responsibility for this? Huh? The director bastard also got thrashed while trying to call the police?”
“What?”
In an instant, Woo Do-hwa’s face hardened, and wrinkles slowly began to form on his forehead.
The director got thrashed?
“Ah, you don't know? What state your director is in right now? You be careful too. You fucking bastard. It looks like you’ve played around a bit. It would be better for you to just leave this place while I’m saying it nicely. That’s also beneficial for the kids.”
They jumped over the stone wall just like that, got into the van, and began to flee just like that.
Woo Do-hwa, who watched until they had completely disappeared, wiped the slight blood from his nose with the back of his hand and walked straight toward the house where the director was, with long, steady strides.
And he roughly opened the firmly closed room door and went inside.
Inside, he saw the director eating porridge, barely managing to raise his body with the help of a childcare worker. He had casts all over his body, and his face was bruised to the point where it was difficult to recognize him.
As the director’s past appearance, which was easygoing and plump, overlapped, anger began to fill Woo Do-hwa’s head.
“Do- Do-hwa!”
The director was startled to see Woo Do-hwa.
He had tried never to show his appearance to him, no matter what. If Woo Do-hwa found out about his condition, there was no knowing what he might do.
Vrooom—
Looking at the director in silence, a thick killing intent erupted from Woo
Do-hwa’s body in an instant.
But that was only for a moment.
Having perfectly hidden his killing intent, he did not get excited, but slowly
took his phone out of his inner pocket and made a call somewhere.
“Hong-gu. I think I need to come down to Daejeon. The director has been hurt.
Yes, he was attacked by some guys.”
Woo Do-hwa, who hung up after saying only what needed to be said, slowly approached the director, then bent his waist and matched his eye level with him.
“I’ve come. Director. So don't worry and just get plenty of rest.”
“Do-hwa… please, don't step in and just go back.”
To the director’s worried words, Woo Do-hwa only smiled faintly.
“Yes. I understand. Please get well soon. Only then will we not worry.”