Chapter 88: A Savage Birthday Present

TL: LittlePeach

After surviving a sudden firefight, a normal person's first instinct is to pack their bags and start plotting how to get the hell out of there.

Even if that person happens to be an NIS black agent.

But I was no normal person, for starters.

Besides, if we're talking sheer danger, the stunts I used to pull on a routine basis in Cambodia were honestly far more savage.

'Maybe it's because these guys don't even carry grenades? That was tamer than I expected.'

So even after that day, I stayed put in Taiwan.

It wasn't as if I had some urgent operation waiting for me back in Cambodia anyway.

"Then would you be willing to take on my personal security detail for the time being? I'll make sure the pay doesn't disappoint."

That was the offer Boss Ruixing made when I told him I planned to stay in Taiwan for a while.

Not a bad deal from where I stood.

"How much are we talking?"

I asked him point-blank, mostly to feel him out.

Boss Ruixing didn't bother with a lengthy explanation.

Without a word, he opened his desk drawer, drew out a single white slip of paper, and slid it across to me.

"...."

A blank check.

Even I, who'd handled fortunes through Yang Mi-ryeong, had never imagined coming face to face with one in the flesh.

The kind of thing I'd only ever seen in movies and TV dramas.

My hands trembled.

"When all of this is over, write in whatever number your heart desires and return it to me. You may take the full amount, up to whatever limit my credit allows."

"...."

There was no surer reason to keep this man alive.

If Boss Ruixing died, this blank check would turn into scrap paper on the spot.

"...Would you permit me to follow you into the bathroom as well?"

"Hmm. There's no need to be quite that overprotective."

And so, brief as it was, we entered into a contractual relationship.

I couldn't tell just how far he meant to trust me, but Ruixing set aside all his other bodyguards and kept only me at his side.

"Who was that you were speaking with just now? He didn't seem like a government official."

"The CFO of a company called TSMC. The top executive in charge of their finances."

"Oh...."

He was based in the Scholarship Foundation Building in the heart of Taipei, and the parade of visitors who came calling after word spread of the previous night's attack was truly dazzling.

"Even I've heard of that company. Does someone that senior really come to see you in person?"

"I happen to be one of the company's major shareholders. There was a time, years back, when Taiwan's Executive Yuan was busy courting private investors, determined to grow the semiconductor industry."

"Oh...."

"Personally, I consider myself very lucky."

Among the visitors were plenty of government officials, and no small number of ordinary businessmen.

One was said to be a former Minister of Finance, and the ministries represented, from the Executive Yuan to Justice and Defense, were remarkably varied.

Shadowing Ruixing as his bodyguard, I came to appreciate all over again that he was an even bigger player than I'd imagined.

"Boss Ruixing. I heard the news. Are you unharmed?"

"Welcome, Taihu. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

"That insolent little shit Jin Weiliang, how dare he.... We cannot let this stand!"

Naturally, mixed among them were a number of Chongqing Society executives.

Most of them frothed with rage over Jin Weiliang's attack, ready to tear the place apart.

"I'll gather our men right now, storm his mansion, and turn the whole place upside down!"

"Calm yourself. I understand how you feel, but the moral high ground is entirely ours. Now is the time to move quietly. If we let anger drive us to draw the sword too soon, this great Chongqing Society will collapse into chaos. We needn't spill a drop of blood; we simply tighten our grip around their throat, quietly, gradually. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Hmm. You're right, Boss."

"So for now, I'll ask you to wait quietly for the right moment."

"Yes. As you command."

Boss Ruixing never let himself get carelessly worked up, never made a wasted move.

He knew precisely how to bleed Jin Weiliang dry over time, exactly how to cut off the Militant Faction's livelihood and neuter their power.

The influence he wielded within Taiwan was tailor-made for exactly that kind of work.

'I think I understand why Jin Weiliang rushed the attack.'

If killing the man was the only way to shave off even a fraction of an influence he could never hope to withstand while Ruixing lived, then in its own way, that was a bargain, wasn't it?

Though honestly, I have my doubts whether Jin Weiliang could have fully carried the influence Ruixing would have left behind, even after killing him.

By my measure, Jin Weiliang's influence didn't come up to Ruixing's ankles.

"Boss. What an ordeal you must have suffered last night."

"Welcome, Yaoxin. I called you here because I'm afraid I have something rather unwelcome to ask of you."

"Unwelcome, sir?"

"I've made up my mind to wage all-out war against Jin Weiliang. So isn't it about time you made a decision of your own, one way or the other?"

"...."

"Jin Weiliang and I can no longer stand back to back. And I find I can no longer sit by and watch executives like you leisurely straddle the fence between us."

"B-But Boss. You know our position well, don't you? As long as our base is on the Chinese mainland, we simply cannot afford to take anyone's side...."

"And once I succeed Boss Jin Yao as boss of the Chongqing Society, will you still be able to say that to my face?"

"...."

As with any sprawling organization, alongside the factions raging at both extremes, there was no shortage of people in the middle just reading the room.

The Aboveground Faction and the Militant Faction.

And all the fence-sitters at the edges.

It was in dealing with the executives hiding behind the banner of neutrality that Boss Ruixing's trademark composure shone brightest.

"No more spineless talk. Make your decision before this day is out. Once the sun rises tomorrow, your chance will be gone forever."

"...No, Boss. Where else could I possibly turn? From this day forward, I will remain under Boss Ruixing's shade for good."

"A wise choice. I'll be counting on you."

After the assassination attempt, the work Boss Ruixing undertook among the Chongqing Society's executives was precisely that of grabbing the fence-sitters hiding in that neutral zone by the collar and shaking them.

Watching the face of one waffling Chongqing Society executive stiffen with fear, I marveled inwardly.

"Boss Ruixing. You can't do this to us! Just the other day you clearly promised to respect our position...."

"Neutrality. Such an elegant, safe-sounding word. But what can you do? War has broken out, you see."

"Even Boss Jin Weiliang can't have meant to wreck the Chongqing Society this badly! If you do this, our situation becomes difficult, and won't yours become difficult as well?"

"Oh? You mean to make things difficult for me, do you?"

"Th-that's not what I...."

"Fine. Understood, Zhou Liang. Once this day is over, the investment funds and legal support network our scholarship foundation provides to your businesses will be withdrawn in full."

"Wh-what?"

"It seems I have little use for a man who means to stand at a distance with his hands clasped behind his back, watching, while a war is on."

His methods were elegant but violent, genteel but ice-cold.

The moment any of them showed the slightest hint of hesitation, Ruixing shoved them toward the Militant Faction without a shred of mercy.

It was a declaration that anyone unwilling to be his ally should rightly become his enemy.

"B-Boss! You're making a mistake! We're not Militant Faction, we're neutral! Neutral!"

"Which is exactly why I'm telling you. Go to the Militant Faction. Am I not giving your back a push right now?"

"N-no, that's...."

"I don't know what promises Jin Weiliang will make you, but come tomorrow, I'll be watching very closely to see how well that noble declaration of neutrality of yours holds up."

"Ah, ah, ngh.... N-no. I believe I was mistaken!"

In the end, most of the executives groveled and bowed low at Ruixing's feet.

Especially the ones who had no choice but to cling to the scholarship foundation's support.

Of course, some pushed back.

Particularly the executives who ran their businesses outside Taiwan and benefited from the smuggling network Jin Weiliang had built.

"Boss, you are dragging the Chongqing Society down the road to ruin!"

"If I cannot be boss of the Chongqing Society, then ruin is exactly what it deserves. Wouldn't you say?"

"Y-you will regret this, mark my words!"

"Farewell, Huiqian. Don't expect me to see you out."

They raged and blustered and fled in a hurry.

Step by step, bite by bite.

Before carving the pie called the Chongqing Society in half, the meticulous work of adjusting the proportions went on.

And so the Aboveground Faction's share kept steadily growing, until one day.

"Boss! Jin Weiliang has arrived in the first-floor lobby with dozens of his men!"

"Hmm."

Had Boss Ruixing's quiet strangulation cut deeper than expected?

The tiger had finally walked into the tiger's den on his own two feet.

"Are they armed?"

"Yes. We've deployed additional armed personnel of our own in response."

"Good. Let's go down."

"B-but it could be dangerous...."

"That boy has been black-hearted and careful since he was young. I can extend him that much courtesy."

Faced with this crude, naked show of force, Ruixing rose from his seat without a flicker of alarm.

I stuck close behind him.

The moment we stepped off the elevator into the first-floor lobby, a tension like a bowstring drawn to its limit came rushing in.

Crash!

"Back off! I said back off!"

"What, did we do something wrong?"

"One more step and we open fire!"

"Ooh, tough guy. Go on then, shoot! Come on, let's see you shoot!"

Dozens of hulking men in sharp black suits had occupied the lobby, looking ready to come to blows at any second with the Scholarship Foundation security personnel blocking their way.

Clack, clack.

Into all that, Ruixing strolled leisurely out into the center of the lobby.

The instant he appeared, the air that had been pulled taut settled at once.

"...."

Standing at the center of the lobby, Jin Weiliang was waiting for us.

At his side stood a single unarmed bodyguard.

None other than Hu Xiongsheng.

"Mngh!"

He couldn't hide his shock the moment he spotted me, so I flashed him a bright smile and a little wave.

He was wrapped from jaw to crown in bandages and a steel splint.

"How's the jaw?"

"Ngh, nngh!"

"Judging by that answer, not great."

At my needling greeting, the brute clenched his teeth in fury.

Whether from the pain radiating out of his dislocated jawbone, or from sheer murderous intent toward me.

That watermelon-sized face of his quickly twisted into an ugly, mottled purple-red.

"...We meet again, Nguyen Kodam."

Jin Weiliang, who had stormed in so full of swagger, also stiffened sourly the moment he saw me.

He'd come to pressure Ruixing with a small army at his back, but he clearly hadn't expected to find me at the man's side.

"A pleasure, Boss Jin Weiliang. I've been hired to handle Boss Ruixing's security for the time being."

"Is that so?"

At my answer, he frowned slightly.

Only for a moment; then some curious thought seemed to strike him, and his eyes gleamed as he stroked his chin.

"Say I wanted to ask you to handle my security instead. How much would I need to pay you?"

Apparently Jin Weiliang meant to buy me off then and there, and order me to take Ruixing's head on the spot.

Boss Ruixing had probably anticipated even this when he handed me that blank check.

So I laughed in his face.

"Pay me? Boss Ruixing gave me a blank check, you see."

"...."

"And no matter how I look at it, Boss Jin Weiliang, your credit limit doesn't seem anywhere near as high as his."

At my blunt mockery, Jin Weiliang's expression hardened.

Concluding, evidently, that I couldn't be bought, he turned to Ruixing, ignoring me as if I were invisible.

"Uncle Ruixing. Should we really be feuding and at each other's throats like this?"

He got straight to the point, in a tone that proposed reconciliation out of nowhere.

From the moment Jin Weiliang had walked in until now, Ruixing had simply been watching him, offering no reply.

As if to say he'd watch just how far the man would run his mouth.

"Uncle, you know as well as I do that the Chongqing Society is a candle in the wind right now. Father is getting old, and across the water the Triads circle like hyenas, waiting for us to show a single opening."

"...."

"Look at the Kowloon Society, the Fujian Society. They're not satisfied with their own turf; they're eyeing this island of Taiwan every chance they get. We may be the reigning power in Taiwan, but if we split into camps and bleed each other from the inside, that changes everything. If we descend into civil war, outside forces will pour into Taiwan and there'll be no stopping them."

"...."

"And that will be the end of the Chongqing Society. This empire that countless members spent their lives building, carved up and swallowed into other men's mouths. I refuse to believe that's the path you want, Uncle."

"...."

"For the future of the organization, it's time we each took a step back and settled this with words."

Jin Weiliang put on an earnest expression.

A peace proposal invoking the organization's greater cause and its safety, a thoroughly plausible pretext indeed.

To my eyes, it was nothing but crocodile tears.

"About last night, I am truly sorry. My men made a mistake out of misplaced loyalty."

"...."

"I swear none of it was my intention. For the sake of our Chongqing Society, would you find it in your generous heart to forgive my subordinates' rudeness?"

"Pfft."

At that shameless excuse, so familiar it gave me déjà vu, laughter burst out of me before I could stop it.

Loud enough that my snicker openly echoed through the silent lobby.

"...."

Jin Weiliang's expression froze cold.

Before he could even open his mouth to snap something back in displeasure.

"Ah, my apologies. It's just that when you said 'mistake', something suddenly came to mind."

"...What are you getting at?"

"Among the men who stormed the mansion the other night and started that firefight, there was a fellow named Hu Yuansheng."

At his brother's name coming out of my mouth mid-handwave, Hu Xiongsheng, who'd been huffing and fuming along, went rigid.

I looked him dead in the eye and pulled up the corner of my mouth.

"He told me this. If I didn't drop my weapon and surrender quietly, he'd grab Miss Lu Yangyang and make Boss Ruixing watch with his own two eyes while she was torn to pieces."

"...."

"An appallingly rude and horrific mistake, wouldn't you say? So I made a mistake of my own and put a bullet nice and pretty through his head."

The air in the lobby froze over in an instant.

The main culprit behind the plummeting temperature was, of course, Hu Xiongsheng, standing bolt upright across from me.

"Since we've both made our mistakes, shall we just call it even?"

The instant he finally grasped that his own brother had died by my hand in the firefight two days ago.

Whoosh!

"AAAAAAAARGH!"

Jin Weiliang, realizing what was happening, had no time to stop him.

As if the pain of a dislocated jaw no longer registered at all, the brute came charging, pouring out a boiling roar.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

His pounding charge carried all the pressure of a dump truck with its brakes cut, bearing down on me.

That massive body came barreling in, ready to flatten me and Boss Ruixing both in one go.

Fwoosh.

And then, oddly, something caught my eye before that menacing bulk did.

'That thing's awfully shiny.'

The steel splint clamped tight around his jaw.

Glinting away, conspicuously, exceptionally punchable.

So I didn't even bother trying to dodge.

Step.

I strode forward, one pace, straight into the charging brute's path.

And in the same instant, I threw my fist with everything I had.

CRACK!

A flawless clean hit; a shiver of pure elation shot up my spine and wrapped around my whole body.

"Hrrk."

Thump.

With a choked death rattle, Hu Xiongsheng's huge frame went tumbling across the lobby floor.

He lay there without so much as a twitch, completely out cold.

One look at the steel splint, caved in in the exact shape of my fist, and there was little point debating whether he was alive or dead.

Even if he got lucky and survived, the life he'd spent swaggering around on the strength of that bulk alone ended today.

"This was also, of course, a mistake your subordinate made all on his own?"

"...."

"Must be nice, going your whole life without ever having to answer for anything."

Watching the scene, Jin Weiliang squeezed his eyes shut.

With things now hurtling toward catastrophe, Boss Ruixing at last slowly opened his mouth.

"Jin Weiliang. I will give you exactly one year."

"...One year?"

"At the boss's birthday banquet next year, I intend to cut off your head and present it to him as a gift."

The tone was endlessly calm and genteel; the content was anything but.

Jin Weiliang's face hardened, heavy.

Rage and fear coexisted in that expression, mixed in equal halves.

"And then I will dare to ask him. Are you satisfied now? Am I truly a man fit for the seat of boss of the Chongqing Society?"

Having quietly watched things unfold these past few days, my personal take went roughly like this.

Maybe Boss Jin Yao had secretly hoped all along that Ruixing would become his successor.

Rather than hand the Chongqing Society to two sons he couldn't trust, he wanted Ruixing, the man who had quietly played his shadow all these years, to take it over.

But Ruixing refused the seat.

So Jin Yao had to make a decision.

"Then the boss will surely smile with joy. At last, he'll say, a tiger has appeared, worthy of inheriting the Chongqing Society whole."

Having made that decision, Jin Yao finally achieved the awakening of the successor he'd so desperately wanted, even at the cost of offering up his own bloodline as the sacrifice.

He was probably savoring this birthday of his more contentedly than any before.

"So don't you sit there meekly waiting to hand over your neck. Come at me fully prepared to take my head and offer it to your father instead."

"...."

"It seems the boss will get to enjoy the fight he wanted so badly, to his heart's content, before he passes."

Because a birthday present this savage would surely be one of a kind in all the world.

*****

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