A Contracted Gangster Who Has to Die to Survive - Chapter 58

By the time we stepped outside, the car had already been washed and parked neatly in front of us.

“I’ll drive.”

I stepped ahead of Taejoon, reaching for the driver’s side door before he could.

“Get out. It’s dark, and the roads are wet. It’s too dangerous.”

“I actually like driving in this kind of weather.”

His unimpressed expression made me add something I really didn’t need to say.

“Besides… I know the roads well.”

What a load of crap.

This was my first time in Jeju. I had never been to Woo Kyung’s family home before.

“We can just follow the navigation. Move.”

“I want to drive. Just let me.”

“…….”

Taejoon studied me for a long moment, then shrugged. Without further protest, he stepped past the open backseat door held by a staff member and slid into the passenger seat.

“I’ll make sure to get us there safely.”

It felt strange to make him sit back and let me take the wheel when I was the one heading home.

Up until now, I had always ridden in Taejoon’s private car, so letting him drive had been the obvious choice. But this was a rental.

And at the very least, I really did enjoy driving.

“Alright, let’s head out.”

Taejoon gave a slight nod before checking his phone. A message had just come in, but as soon as he read it, his brows furrowed, and he let out a sharp click of his tongue.

“Ridiculous.”

“Huh? What is?”

“Nothing. Just drive.”

He brushed it off like it was no big deal, but I had a good guess.

At this hour, the only person who would text Taejoon was Director Kim. And knowing how much he worried about Taejoon’s safety, it wasn’t hard to imagine the content of that message.

“That text just now—it was from Director Kim, wasn’t it?”

The city quickly faded behind us as we entered quieter roads.

“He seemed really worried about you.”

“…….”

“Maybe we should’ve let the security chief ride with us.”

“He’s already following us.”

“…What?”

So that car I had noticed trailing us for a while—it had been the security team’s.

“I knew it… But, Taejoon.”

It was obvious why he didn’t want to be seen with an entourage.

Having a security team follow him into my family’s home? That would have looked ridiculous.

Still, Director Kim and the security chief must have already noticed Taejoon’s interest in me.

And from the way he acted in front of them, Taejoon didn’t seem to care about hiding it.

He had even let Director Kim into our room that morning without a second thought.

“Why didn’t you just let them come with us?”

“You mean them?”

“Yeah.”

His reply was immediate and firm, as if the question itself was absurd.

“There’s no need to drag them around everywhere.”

“But… there was that accident recently.”

The dump truck that had nearly crushed us.

“You said yourself that it was intentional. We still don’t know who was behind it, so shouldn’t we be more careful?”

“If you let every little thing shake you, you’ll never get anything done.”

There was something about his tone—quiet, resigned—that made me pause.

Gripping the steering wheel tighter, I looked straight ahead and spoke with certainty.

“Just trust me.”

Then, I added with more conviction,

“If you’re ever in danger, I’ll protect you.”

Taejoon didn’t respond right away.

Then, after a brief pause, he exhaled sharply in amusement.

“You? Protect me? How exactly do you plan on doing that, Woo Kyung?”

“Just leave it to me.”

“Yeah, sure.”

He chuckled as if he had just heard the funniest joke.

Leaning back in his seat, he let his laughter fade into the sound of the rain.

“You know I’m not afraid of anything, right?”

For a brief moment, a thought crossed my mind—if I was going to die anyway, maybe dying in Taejoon’s place would be meaningful.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“…….”

“If you start acting reckless, thinking you can take a bullet for me, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

I had heard something similar before—about how working in Taejoon’s security detail would put me at risk.

Maybe that was exactly why he had let me take on the role.

A bodyguard who wanted to die would be useful when bullets started flying.

“It’s better than you dying.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

After that, Taejoon said nothing.

I, too, fell silent and focused on the road ahead.

The coastal highway was quiet in the rainy night.

Part of it was because of the storm, but the rest was simply due to how remote Woo Kyung’s family home was—far from any tourist spots, deep in the countryside.

Minutes passed.

Eventually, after navigating through a narrow side road, we reached a dead end.

We had arrived.

“Looks like this is it.”

The voice from the navigation system confirmed our destination.

“…….”

Holding my breath, I turned my gaze toward the house outside the window.

So this is Woo Kyung’s home…?

The darkness surrounding the house made it difficult to see much of anything.

Taejoon, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke in a low voice.

“It’s a quiet neighborhood.”

Quiet wasn’t the word for it. The place was eerily silent, the kind of silence that made it feel like a ghost could appear at any moment.

“Let’s go.”

“Alright.”

As soon as Woo Kyung stepped out of the car, the humid night air clung to his skin, thick and suffocating—like stepping into a steam-filled sauna.

He instinctively glanced back. In the distance, the security chief’s car was parked at a discreet distance—far enough to avoid interference but close enough to step in if necessary.

They had probably been ordered to remain on standby.

But… was this really the right place?

Woo Kyung tilted his head, scanning the surroundings. There were no other houses, no convenience stores, no signs of life.

How had he and his siblings lived in a place like this?

“Did we come to the wrong place?” Taejoon asked.

“Ah, no… I think it’s right. It just looks different somehow….”

Scratching his head awkwardly, Woo Kyung checked Taejoon’s expression.

Thankfully, Taejoon didn’t seem suspicious—he simply accepted the hesitation as normal.

“Did you try calling?”

Woo Kyung shook his head.

He had tried dialing the landline number Chief Baek had given him, but no one had answered. At the time, he assumed it had just been bad timing. Now, standing in front of the house, he wasn’t so sure.

Peering over the low wall, he muttered,

“They might’ve moved somewhere else….”

The house stood alone, with no streetlights nearby to illuminate it. If not for the car’s headlights, it would have been impossible to see anything at all.

The place was in terrible shape—crumbling concrete walls, a patched-up gate covered in plastic sheets, and a yard filled with broken plastic basins, water buckets, and piles of discarded junk.

“Let’s go inside.”

Taejoon pushed the rickety gate firmly, and it swung open without resistance.

A long, drawn-out creak echoed through the silence.

Unconsciously, Woo Kyung grabbed onto the hem of Taejoon’s jacket.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It just feels eerie. Maybe we should come back in the morning?”

“I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”

Taejoon looked down at him with an expression that screamed, I knew it.

“I-I’m fine with most things! But… ghosts, spirits, jump scares… those aren’t my thing.”

“So you are a coward.”

“That’s not true!”

Taejoon scoffed but walked ahead without hesitation.

“Hey, wait! Wait for me!”

“If you’re scared, stay outside.”

“N-no! I can do this!”

Despite his bravado, Woo Kyung hesitated.

Something about this place felt wrong. But he couldn’t let Taejoon go in alone—he was the one who had brought him here.

So he followed closely behind.

As they stepped into the yard, Taejoon suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Did you see that?”

“What?”

“Just now.”

“……?”

“In the window. Something moved.”

“D-don’t mess with me. I-I’m not falling for that… You’re joking, right?”

But as Woo Kyung followed Taejoon’s gaze, he caught a glimpse of something—a faint, pale figure disappearing behind the broken window.

“AACK! W-what was that?!”

It wasn’t one of the siblings.

And if it was—that was an even bigger problem.

If Woo Kyung’s siblings had been left alone in this wreck of a house, abandoned, he didn’t even want to imagine what their lives had been like after his death.

That was the whole reason he had come here—to check on them, to see if there was any way he could help.

But given the state of the house, he was beginning to doubt whether he had the ability to fix anything at all.

“Let’s take a closer look.”

“O-okay….”

As they neared the house, the only thing visible through the window was a tattered curtain swaying in the breeze.

Maybe it had just been a trick of the light, a reflection from the car’s headlights.

Woo Kyung reached out, running his hand along the damp, grimy wall, searching for a light switch.

With a faint click, the fluorescent light flickered to life.

“What the…?”

Under the dim, sputtering light, the house looked abandoned—completely unlivable.

The air was thick with the stench of mold, damp wood, and something faintly metallic. Dust had settled in thick layers, untouched for a long time.

“Ah….”

Woo Kyung checked every room—the kitchen, the bedrooms—each one worse than the last, as if a storm had torn through.

Bending down, he picked up a shattered picture frame from the floor.

Inside was a photograph of a family—Woo Kyung, his parents, his younger siblings—all smiling brightly.

“…….”

He should have come sooner.

Regret gnawed at him, making his heart pound harder in his chest.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find them.”

The eldest sibling had been 19. Surely, they would have been able to take care of the younger ones to some extent…

But looking at this house, Woo Kyung wasn’t so sure anymore.

And where the hell was their father?

“…….”

Taejoon folded his arms, his expression grim.

“Something’s off.”

“What do you mean?”

He crouched down, examining the floor carefully.

“Here.”

Beneath the broken window where he had seen the movement, there were fresh footprints—clear impressions in the dust.

Footprints too large to belong to a child.

Whoever had been here was an adult. And judging by the clarity of the marks, they had been here recently.

So maybe… Taejoon hadn’t been imagining things.

“So there was someone here….”

“Shh. Quiet.”

Taejoon’s hand shot out, covering Woo Kyung’s mouth.

At the same time, his gaze snapped toward the back of the house.

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