A Contracted Gangster Who Has to Die to Survive - Chapter 76

The suffocating bloodlust in the air was overwhelming.

The man standing before me, unyielding as stone, was no longer the Choi Taejoon I knew.

It felt as though the real Choi Taejoon of Alcohol Swab had materialized before my very eyes.

“If you interfere, I will kill you.”

That was the last thing he had said before falling silent, his fists doing all the talking.

“T-Taejoon, easy… go easy on him.”

Jae-wook Kang’s voice remained light and taunting, but Taejoon didn’t even flinch.

The sheer contrast between them—the smug, grinning Jae-wook and the utterly silent, unshaken Taejoon—created a tension so grotesque that no one dared to intervene.

“…….”

Before long, even Jae-wook’s incessant chatter faded, replaced by the dull, sickening sounds of fists landing on flesh.

The realization crept in—at this rate, Taejoon might actually kill him.

“Agh—urk!”

Dragging Jae-wook like a ragdoll, Taejoon began walking toward the window—the very same one I had dangled from just moments ago.

That finally snapped Jae-wook’s men out of their daze. Eyes bulging, they shouted in alarm.

“Holy shit! Stop him!”

“No! You can’t!”

“Sir!”

Everything happened too fast. By the time they scrambled to intervene, Jae-wook was already half-hanging out the window.

“Haha… Hey, T-Taejoon! Let’s stop here, huh?”

He wasn’t tied to a chair, but otherwise, he was in the exact same position I had been in earlier.

“You’re not serious, right? C’mon, I get it! Okay! I went too far!”

Yet even as he spoke, his body continued slipping further outside. The portion of his torso still resting on the window frame slid from his waist to his hips, then to his upper thighs.

Panicked, he grabbed the ledge, but his grip was weak.

“Taejoon! Y-you know I have a fear of heights!”

One by one, the buttons on his shirt popped off as Taejoon’s grip tightened, the fabric stretching under the strain.

“D-don’t let go! You can’t let go!”

“Sir!”

Taejoon’s gaze flicked to me.

His crimson eyes, burning with rage, locked onto mine, as if for a moment he had forgotten who I was.

“You… you’re not really going to kill him, right? You’re just trying to scare him. This is enough, isn’t it?”

Taejoon exhaled shortly before turning his head back toward Jae-wook.

“…It would be better to kill him.”

His voice was disturbingly low and calm.

“I mean, I agree. Jae-wook Kang deserves to die.”

But not by Taejoon’s hands.

“If you kill him now, you’re the only one who goes to prison. What happens to me then? How do you expect me to survive without you?”

And if he got life in prison, that meant I’d be stuck in the world of Alcohol Swab until the day I died.

“By the time you get out, you’ll be old and wrinkled—how am I supposed to wait that long?”

Taejoon’s forehead creased as he turned back to look at me, visibly thrown off. He especially hesitated at “old and wrinkled.”

That brief pause was all Jae-wook needed.

“Kwak! Grab Woo Kyung! Get that bastard!”

He was trying to use me as a hostage again.

As Chief Kwak turned his head toward me—

“W-wait! Wait!”

Jae-wook’s body, which had been teetering on the edge, slipped further. Now, only his knees were clinging onto the frame.

He was seconds from falling.

Panicked, his trembling hands released the ledge and latched onto Taejoon’s wrist. His voice cracked with terror.

“T-Taejoon, please! Don’t let me die!”

Taejoon looked down at him with utter disgust, as if an insect had crawled onto his skin. Without hesitation, he twisted his wrist free.

The last few buttons of Jae-wook’s shirt snapped off.

He was falling.

“Aaaaagh!”

A horrifying vision flashed before my eyes—Taejoon rotting away in prison, me trapped in this world forever, screaming in despair.

“Ugh—got him!”

It was Chief Kwak.

He had thrown himself forward and grabbed Jae-wook’s legs just in time.

“I got him, sir! I’ve got him! We’ll pull him up!”

Jae-wook dangled upside down, unable to even scream. His breath came in ragged, choked gasps.

“What the hell are you waiting for?!”

At Kwak’s command, the rest of the men rushed forward, hauling Jae-wook back inside.

As much as I wanted Jae-wook to disappear forever, having Taejoon kill him was another matter entirely.

“Woo Kyung.”

A hand grabbed my frozen shoulder, yanking me backward.

“Let’s go.”

“Taejoon…”

His shirt was drenched in blood—whether his own or Jae-wook’s, I couldn’t tell.

“You’re bleeding… You’re covered in blood.”

“It’s not all mine.”

“But your face… you’re so pale…”

His already pallid complexion sent a new wave of panic through me. Without thinking, I threw his arm over my shoulder, supporting him.

“…What are you doing?”

“I don’t think I can carry you, so… just lean on me.”

“Let go. I can still walk on my own. I’m not about to shrivel up from old age just yet.”

So he really took that to heart…

“Yes, yes, even when you grow old, you’ll still be exactly the same, Executive Director.”

“…Of course.”

Of course, he would. In the novel, the Choi Taejoon I knew would stay this age forever, even after I was gone.

Despite his words, he didn’t move his arm from around my shoulders. In fact, it felt like he was leaning into me even more. I held onto him tighter and glanced around.

Where were his men? Had they all really left just because he told them to?

“…Did you mean what you said earlier?”

“Huh?”

“You said you couldn’t live without me.”

“How could I? You have to stay by my side until the day I die.”

“…You’re making this awkward.”

Taejoon murmured under his breath, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

“What did you just say?”

But something felt off. His breathing was becoming heavier, more erratic.

“E-Executive Director?”

His face was deathly pale, drenched in sweat.

He was getting worse—fast.

A quick glance behind us revealed a long trail of blood, stretching all the way to where we had come from. It was all from him.

“Y-you’re bleeding…! Just hold on a little longer. Someone! Is anyone there?!”

His wound must have reopened. After everything he had just done, it was no surprise.

“Just a little longer. Please, someone, help us!”

“Ha… Stop making a fuss. I’m fine…”

“Is there seriously no one here?!”

Dragging him along, I screamed with all my might.

Where the hell were his men? Had they really left?

“J-just hold on. We’re almost there.”

Finally, I spotted a group of men in black running toward us.

“Help! Executive Director Choi, he—he’s—!”

The moment one of them saw Taejoon’s condition, his face drained of color.

He shoved me aside and barked orders.

“Yoon! What the hell are you standing around for? Start the car!”

I barely had time to process what was happening before I recognized him.

It was Mr. Kim.

He threw Taejoon over his back and sprinted away.

Taejoon was rushed to the hospital.

He was immediately taken in for emergency surgery.

The doctors assured us that although he had lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss and shock, his life was not in danger.

That was a relief.

But after hearing that, guilt came crashing down on me.

Maybe I was the problem.

Once was an accident, twice was bad luck—but this was the third time.

While he kept hovering on the brink of death, I had somehow walked away every time, perfectly fine.

I kept my head down as I walked through the hospital, where his men lined the halls.

“Have you heard? Jae-wook Kang’s sharpening his knife, too.”

The atmosphere around Taejoon’s people had completely shifted.

Back when the Jeju Island accident happened, they had been single-minded in their thirst for vengeance. Now?

Now, it was complete chaos.

“Get everyone together.”

“So it’s finally happening, huh?”

“I heard the Sinsa-dong crew is already making their move. We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

Half of them were restless with worry, the other half were practically vibrating with excitement, eager for a fight.

It had always been inevitable—Taejoon and Jae-wook were bound to collide sooner or later.

This wasn’t just about power plays anymore.

This was about who would take over Taeseong Industries.

“Keep an eye on Kang’s movements.”

“Don’t worry, their side’s in complete disarray right now, too.”

On the surface, Jae-wook had the advantage.

After all, his father was the chairman.

And that chairman wanted to pass the company down to his son.

So logically, there shouldn’t even be a question of who would win.

Still, it was baffling. Who the hell inherits a gang? What kind of father chooses to hand down a criminal empire to his kid?

But Taeseong wasn’t just an underground syndicate anymore—it was a corporation now.

Even so, no matter how hard Jae-wook struggled, in the end, Taejoon would take everything.

If the story followed the original plot, then Taejoon would win.

Jae-wook could never defeat him.

“Can I go in?”

The guard outside Taejoon’s hospital room eyed the bouquet in my hands.

Then, seeking approval, he turned to someone else.

Yoon stood there, unimpressed. He gestured for a body search.

“Go ahead.”

This time, after patting me down, they didn’t say anything else and simply opened the door.

I nodded in thanks and stepped inside.

Behind me, I heard them murmuring among themselves.

“Are we really letting him in?”

“Executive Director’s orders. Woo Kyung gets in no matter what.”

“Yeah, but right now…?”

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