Saying it was nothing special, just another venue like any other, was one thing, but Nexus was in fact a massive club spanning three basement levels beneath the largest hotel in downtown Bucheon.
Back when Taeseong Group was still called the Taeseong faction, it had also been the first operation Chairman Gu planted his roots in and grew.
Thanks to its location and the human network they had refined over years, a lot of business was still conducted there even now—money laundering for funds that couldn’t surface, inspections of narcotics to be distributed to dealers at each branch, things like that.
And because so much of Taeseong’s work was structured so it had no choice but to pass through that place, it was all the more reason Chairman Gu had kept it under his own management. He’d brought up the listing review, but the real reason was probably his worsening health.
“I heard the foreigner casino upstairs is going to auction off, too.”
“You hear fast. The hotel purchase will be pushed through at the same time. Those money-blind foreign bastards are greedy as hell, so it took some work.”
“If the hotel’s going on top, wouldn’t it be better if you handled it?”
The vague finish to the sentence carried a faint edge of amusement. Seunghyeok let out a cynical laugh and bobbed his chin. Objectively, it wasn’t a bad offer for him—except for one thing.
“I looked through some documents, and it doesn’t seem like you’re the one actually running it.”
At the crooked tone, Chairman Gu narrowed his eyes. He sighed, tapped ash from the cigar into the ashtray, then sank deeper into the sofa.
“The time when I could manage all of it alone is long past. Jinhyeok helped a lot.”
“There’s been a lot of talk lately that the guy called the boss over there keeps hanging around Taeseong Trading’s outside directors. So you knew about that, too.”
“Gu Seunghyeok.”
Jinhyeok, who’d been sitting quietly with his mouth shut until now, spoke again. Even with a gaze sharp enough to look like it wanted to kill someone boring into him, Seunghyeok shrugged like it was nothing.
“No, I need to know how much you know so I can play along with you properly.”
He sank back into the sofa and lifted his teacup. Jinhyeok’s eyes flashed with a vicious light. As that honed stare cut back and forth across the table and the office air turned icy, Chairman Gu sighed and pressed his forehead.
“Enough. Your brother isn’t the type to stab his own father in the back. He must have had his reasons.”
The numbers in the documents he’d received in advance all pointed to the same fact: the person actually running Nexus wasn’t Chairman Gu, but Gu Jinhyeok.
What was ridiculous was that the paperwork didn’t even bother to hide it.
The sight of him trusting his dependable eldest son without realizing Gu Jinhyeok was erasing every trace of Chairman Gu’s own involvement made a hollow laugh rise in his chest.
It was nauseating and funny at the same time—this toothless tiger, ignorant of everything, speaking as if he were generously handing over a fine opportunity.
“It’s a table your brother already set. Think of it as just putting a spoon on it and eat quietly.”
“Your impressive brother should keep it, then. If a rootless bastard like me eats without knowing my place, I might choke.”
“Gu Seunghyeok.”
This time the voice came not from beside him, but from across the table. Seunghyeok turned his head toward the owner of that calmly lowered voice.
“Get up.”
Expressionless, teacup in hand, Jinhyeok wet his lips with a single sip and began to unfasten his wristwatch. At that small motion, Seunghyeok’s eyes sharpened in an instant.
He looked at Chairman Gu, but the man only exhaled cigar smoke into empty air. Seunghyeok opened his mouth and ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek.
“…There’s too much expensive stuff in here to show off how bad your hands are.”
“I told you to get up. Don’t make me say it twice.”
Seunghyeok bit down hard on the inside of his cheek and started to rise—then a dull thud snapped his head to the side. Before he could even straighten his staggering torso, Jinhyeok seized him by the collar and threw another punch.
Thud. Crash.
As Seunghyeok lost his balance and slammed down like he’d been driven into the floor, a black dress shoe stepped up into his view. Seunghyeok clicked his tongue, wiped at his mouth, and pushed himself up with a hand on the ground.
“Ah… A man as educated as you, and you go straight to swinging first.”
“I don’t know a better way to train a rabid dog than this.”
“If you don’t know, you should learn, brother. Keep that up and one day you’ll get bitten for real.”
“Yeah?”
Still answering with a scowl and a shameless tone, Seunghyeok was yanked upright in one motion by the collar. Jinhyeok stared at him with a face devoid of humor, then tilted his head slightly.
“Seunghyeok. It’s been a while since you visited the villa, hasn’t it.”
The hand that had been about to wipe the blood at his mouth stopped dead. The smile vanished from Seunghyeok’s taunting face as he slowly lifted his gaze.
“Let’s not run your mouth anywhere and end up dragged off like a dog on a slaughter day.”
“……”
“You’re not some clueless kid anymore. Shouldn’t you start acting like it?”
The hand snapping out the wrinkles in his crumpled shirt was rough. When Seunghyeok clenched his jaw until the muscle bulged and smacked Jinhyeok’s hand away, Jinhyeok—watching him coldly—spoke again.
“Is your brain not working? Do you not understand what I’m saying?”
“……”
“Enough.”
As Jinhyeok’s fist started to rise again, Chairman Gu cut in, frowning as he exhaled a long stream of cigar smoke. As if sick of it, he pressed his temple, then waved the cigar through the air and glared.
At Chairman Gu’s words, Jinhyeok lowered his hand, straightened his rumpled suit, and returned to his seat.
With both arms hooked over the sofa’s armrests, Chairman Gu stared at Seunghyeok with half-lidded eyes. Through the smoke he let out, Seunghyeok’s face—caught in a brief glimpse—was blank, like something manufactured. Sensing the wrongness on instinct, Chairman Gu’s eyes turned sharp.
“Jinhyeok will start preparing to inherit the company. You, Seunghyeok, stay below the surface, and Jinhyeok stays above.”
“……”
“You two have to join forces and carry Taeseong forward.”
Seunghyeok wiped the blood running from his split mouth and let out a thin, hollow laugh. After rubbing the back of his hand on the hem of his shirt, he braced a hand on the floor and stood.
“Taking over Nexus already sounds like it’s decided, and it doesn’t seem like you’ve got anything else to say. I’ll be going.”
“……”
“If word gets around that some manager walked out of the chairman’s office looking half-crippled, it won’t do either of us any good.”
Even with two pairs of hard eyes fixed on him, Seunghyeok’s face stayed calm. He ran his tongue over the inside of his cheek, tasting the metallic tang, and sauntered toward the door.
“I’ll send the additional Nexus materials through Gwak Taesik. And stop attending gatherings in person. Leaving openings everywhere doesn’t do you any favors.”
The orgy party they’d held in the Nexus basement not long ago had been locked down by tightening the boss’s mouth. Chairman Gu wouldn’t have heard about it directly, which meant the leak was coming from Gu Jinhyeok’s side.
That, in turn, meant there was a rat bold enough to scurry around inside the venue.
Seunghyeok paused at the door and turned his head just slightly, checking Jinhyeok’s face as he sat upright, calmly lifting his teacup like nothing had happened. The belated ache seemed to surge along the inside of Seunghyeok’s cheek.
“If there’s anything you need to confirm, ask Mr. Kim. And on your way out, tell Secretary Yoon to come in.”
With his hand gripping the handle, Seunghyeok let out a crooked laugh in front of the closed door. As he flung it open, he turned back as if something had just occurred to him.
“Chairman. I’ll call Secretary Yoon in for you, but when you’re sticking together in my office, take it a little easier.”
“What?”
“If people find out your eldest son and his father are sharing the same hole, it’ll be awkward to face the boys.”
This was the entirety of the petty revenge he could manage against Gu Jinhyeok. Even to himself it felt pathetic, and Seunghyeok set off with a bitter smile.
“I’m going.”
The stare burning into the back of his head stung, but the door slammed shut with a bang. The moment the sound hit, the amusement that had lingered on his face drained away, turning cold as if it had never been there. Seunghyeok lifted his phone and called Taesik.
“Taesik. I think there’s a rat in Nexus. Pick a day and let’s do a thorough cleaning.”
"Yes, boss. I’ll set it up."
“And find out what Gu Jinhyeok’s been getting out of it.”
Listening to the reply coming through, Seunghyeok stepped forward. When he wiped at the split at his mouth with a finger, his brow furrowed on its own.
He scrubbed the blood off roughly with the back of his hand and headed for the elevator. The click of his dress shoes echoed down the silent corridor.