Chapter 16 : Salary Negotiation (Part-2)

Killing people and kidnapping aside, Geummyeong Security didn’t deviate significantly from the operations commonly observed in other small-time companies.

What’s the actual purpose of maintaining a sophisticated computer system?

The system wasn’t even managed effectively.

On one occasion, when Cheol-woo attempted to use the employee card belonging to a staff member who had supposedly passed away a year prior, the turnstile operated perfectly without any issues.

Would it function correctly again this time?

It would.

Dressed in a suit, Cheol-woo held the employee card in his hand and stepped out of the restroom.

Beep

The turnstile opened normally.

There were no alarms or anything.

“Yes. Min Cheol-woo. Security has been tightened, so it’ll be a bit troublesome, but can you sign here… huh? Min Cheol—”

Min Cheol-woo? What the hell?

The guard rubbed his eyes vigorously, attempting to clear his vision and ensure he was seeing correctly as he checked the name once more against the document in front of him.

The sheer disbelief began to settle in, leaving him momentarily stunned.

When he finally looked up from the page, he was met with a startling sight: there was already a suppressor positioned directly in front of him, an ominous reminder of the seriousness of the situation he found himself in.

Poo-ff

The Ruger pistol emitted a noise as subtle as a light, discreet flatulence, causing both security guards situated within the confines of the security room to collapse to the ground in unison, side by side.

Cheol-woo deftly caught both spent cartridges in his right hand, cast a brief glance behind him, and proceeded to walk away with a composed demeanor.

No one seemed to take notice of the gunshots.

Something felt amiss.

As he ascended in the elevator, Cheol-woo’s hairs stood on end in response to an overwhelming sensation.

A chilling wave coursed down his spine, enveloping his entire body.

What was this sensation? It was something he had never before experienced.

He didn’t feel this way when shooting with colleagues behind a partition, or when rifle bullets grazed his head.

Fear? No, it felt more like excitement.

Ding- The elevator doors opened.

Turning left out of the elevator, the office was quiet.

Well, actually, it wasn’t quiet.

There were the usual hums from the ventilation system, the sound of wind leaking through bullet holes in the window, and the banging of cabinets.

And…

[…You bastard…]

Park’s voice?

It wasn’t a real voice but a phone call.

[…Cheol-woo is… in the office…]

Shit.

Cheol-woo swiftly reached into the pile and extracted a grenade, which he then hurled down the length of the hallway.

A rapid rustling noise echoed as an individual hurriedly attempted to evade.

Cheol-woo drew his MyGun, shot out of the elevator, and raced down the corridor.

Bang, bang, bang!

A pistol barrel suddenly protruded from within the confines of the office, and without any hesitation, it began discharging rounds in a rapid succession, creating a cacophony of gunfire that echoed in the space.

Due to the fact that the shooter was not taking the time to aim properly, there was an extremely low probability of sustaining an injury merely by taking the precautionary measure of ducking out of the line of fire.

Without wasting a second, Cheol-woo swiftly dropped to the ground, adopting a defensive position while simultaneously returning fire in retaliation.

With a resounding crack, the pistol was obliterated into countless fragments, scattering debris in all directions.

“Jeong Manager! Come here, you bastard!”

The sound of an individual hastily attempting to escape.

Cheol-woo yelled loudly and rose to his feet, pursuing the fleeing person.

To make an exit from within the office, they would need to either leap out of the window or utilize the emergency stairs; however, to jump from the 10th floor? Unthinkable.

“Shit, how far are you going to run?”

Bang, bang, bang!

As soon as Cheol-woo saw Jeong Manager’s back, he fired. He missed.

The bullet didn’t hit, but Jeong Manager quickly disappeared into his personal office.

Was Jeong Manager really that fast? Cheol-woo furrowed his brow and followed.

Jeong Manager’s personal office had a wall entirely made of glass, including the door.

If he was inside, it was like an open shooting range.

Cheol-woo followed him, raised his gun, and fired, but the table was quickly flipped over, creating a shield.

Bang, bang, bang!

The bullets didn’t even leave a scratch on the bulletproof table.

“Not coming out?”

“Ugh…”

“…?”

Cheol-woo thought it wouldn’t matter if he threw a grenade in.

The table would be breached soon anyway, but as he waited, he heard a strange sound from behind the table.

It sounded like Jeong Manager was transforming into a drug addict.

“Kurrrrrr… Ugh… Ha… New recruit. It’s not too late. If you want, we can negotiate salary here.”

He was still speaking normally? The drug addicts he’d seen on the streets had lost all reason and went wild.

The drug these guys had was blue, right?

So what Jeong Manager was taking now must have been a different drug.

Cheol-woo pulled the pin from a grenade.

The safety lever popped off, and Jeong Manager reacted to the sound of the fuse ticking.

“_ “

Jeong Manager peeked out from the side of the table, aiming his gun.

The muzzle of Cheol-woo’s MyGun was already aimed at Jeong Manager’s face.

Even though Cheol-woo hadn’t even turned his head, his wrist reacted first, and his gun was already trained on Jeong Manager.

What the hell? This monster of a man!

Before Jeong Manager could pull the trigger, Cheol-woo’s gun fired.

Bang, bang, bang!

The bullets lodged themselves between Jeong Manager’s eyes, and blood splattered everywhere.

But there was no satisfying feeling of a clean shot.

Cheol-woo pulled out the grenade, waited a couple of seconds, and tossed it over the table.

Just as Jeong Manager was about to swat it away with his palm, it exploded midair.

“Ugh… Ugh… Hehh… Coughing…”

“Why isn’t he dead?”

Alive? Was that even possible?

Cheol-woo maintained his guard and slowly entered the personal office.

Looking over the table, the place was a mess with blood and chunks of flesh scattered around.

A blood clot was twitching on the floor.

“…!”

In an instant, the twitching arm of the blood clot moved.

It was faster than a human could react.

But before Cheol-woo could even process it, his finger had already moved to pull the trigger.

Bang!

The trigger of the gun the blood clot was holding flew off with its index finger.

No matter how much it twitched and tried to pull the trigger, the index finger couldn’t move, and there was no trigger to pull.

At that moment, the blood clot finally seemed to give up and threw the gun away, muttering “You bastard.”

“What the hell? Are you a Pokémon? Why are you evolving and coming back like this?”

That’s cheating.

It’s supposed to be that you can’t react at all, but how is that even possible?

Some people need drugs to break their human limits, but what the hell is this guy on?

Cheol-woo was too dumbfounded to even be angry.

He kicked the blood clot that was Jeong Manager and, as he flipped him over, frowned.

He was wondering if he’d missed, but there were bullet marks on his temples and forehead.

But they weren’t penetrating.

Even after taking a grenade to the chest, he survived, so was this guy the same as those drugged-up guys?

Was his bones becoming tougher or was his endurance just increasing? Either way, fighting him was becoming a pain in the ass.

Still, the fact that he survived a grenade at close range was pretty deadly, and Jeong Manager’s limbs were like rags, and he was clearly struggling to breathe.

“Why the face, new guy? Surprised? There are even crazier things out there. If you go to China or

Southeast Asia, there’s all kinds of crazy drugs, and in South America, you’ll find people on these drugs by the hundreds or thousands.

If you’re gonna work with me, you better get used to it. Got it?”

Is he still talking about salary negotiations?

Cheol-woo was fed up.

This crazy bastard still hadn’t given up on trying to make him join him.

“Let me be honest. I was thinking a salary of 2,000 a month. But 4,000 a month. Even Yu-sir doesn’t make that much, and you’d have to be an executive to earn that. How about it, new guy? No wait, should I be calling you Manager Min now? When I die, you’ll be taking my place as Manager.”

“….”

“Goddamn. No words? You little shit. Still not happy? Want me to raise it? You little bastard, you have no idea what it means to earn 4,000 a month, do you?”

“Shut up. Once I kill all of you, I’m never picking up a gun again.”

“Haha! Hahaha! Hahahaha!”

Suddenly, Jeong Manager burst into laughter.

Put down your gun? You?

It’s like saying a dog will stop eating shit, right?

Cheol-woo’s eyes twitched.

This bastard knew it was ridiculous.