Chapter 170: Happy Girl (3)
After that day, Choi Soo-yeon’s attitude toward him softened a little—but it didn’t last long.
On the day she went out with Kim Jin-woo’s mother, even though they had bodyguards with them, both his mother and Choi Soo-yeon were harassed.
Whispers were the least of it—some people refused to sell them anything, and others openly picked fights.
Eventually, word spread that Choi Soo-yeon was staying at their house. Eggs and trash started flying at the front gate, and Choi Soo-yeon fell into another panic.
“I’m sorry… It’s all because of me… I’ll leave the house.”
Feeling guilty, Choi Soo-yeon hurriedly tried to pack up and leave—but the one who stopped her wasn’t Kim Jin-woo. It was his mother.
“It’s okay. This isn’t your fault.”
When Kim Jin-woo had first brought Choi Soo-yeon home, his mother had assumed he’d gotten into some kind of trouble.
But her son had simply brought home a pitiful girl he liked and wanted to protect.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Held in the arms of Kim Jin-woo’s mother, Choi Soo-yeon cried endlessly until she finally fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Kim Jin-woo rushed straight home the moment school ended.
When he learned what had happened that day, instead of feeling discouraged, a fire ignited inside him.
‘So they want to play? Fine. Let’s see who wins…’
Kim Jin-woo went into his room, took out his smartphone, and started making calls.
“Yes, hyung-nim. Looks like we need some cleaning here. How many? A lot. So please bring as many as you can.”
After finishing the call, Kim Jin-woo smiled.
“Trash should be dealt with in the trash way.”
After finishing his calls, Kim Jin-woo came out of his room and approached his waiting parents.
“What did the police say?”
“Well… one of them just said we should send the girl named Soo-yeon back home. The other said tracking the CCTV would be difficult.”
“What do you two think?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure. It feels like the whole neighborhood has gone insane… or maybe the rumors really are true…”
“I don’t care if the rumors are true—I’m against sending her back. This has gone way beyond common sense.”
“I feel the same.”
“Then there’s no helping it. My son and wife are this stubborn… I’ll have to use some of my own strength too.”
Kim Jin-woo’s family began making plans to protect Choi Soo-yeon.
“First, let’s install CCTV around the house and increase the security detail. We can pull staff from the Seoul headquarters for that—it’s already taken care of.”
“Let’s start digging into the local public officials in this area.”
“Yes… I don’t like it, but there’s no choice.”
Late that evening, Kim Jin-woo’s father began making calls to prominent figures in Seoul.
“Yes, Assemblyman. Yes, it’s me—President Kim. I have one request to make.”
While his father called around, Kim Jin-woo and his mother continued laying out their own plans.
The reason they could take on an entire city like this was simple: Kim Jin-woo and his father ran a well-known construction company and a private security firm.
And the reason the company had grown large enough to make such high-level requests was entirely thanks to Kim Jin-woo.
His parents had always thought he was just lucky—but in reality, Kim Jin-woo had secretly orchestrated everything behind the scenes.
Making it all look like pure luck.
While his father operated in the open, Kim Jin-woo worked mostly in the shadows.
Of course, without his father’s support, even operating in the shadows would have been impossible—or at least would have taken much longer.
But his father trusted him, and Kim Jin-woo had proven that trust with success.
“Soo-yeon-ah.”
Just then, Choi Soo-yeon came out of the room and ran into Kim Jin-woo. He spoke to her as if nothing had happened, as if he knew nothing.
“You’re awake?”
“Yeah…”
“Then we should study. Remember? We promised to prepare for the GED together and go to university.”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s get ready. Mom, I’m going to study with Soo-yeon for a bit.”
“Okay.”
Once inside the room, Choi Soo-yeon and Kim Jin-woo sat at the desk, opened their books, and began studying.
About an hour later, Choi Soo-yeon spoke to him first.
“Aren’t you tired? You were at school all day too…”
“Me? I don’t really study at school.”
“Huh? Then how are you…?”
The workbook spread out in front of her was clearly labeled with the second-year high school curriculum.
Even taking that into account, Kim Jin-woo explained the solutions to Choi Soo-yeon with astonishing ease.
“I already finished all this back in middle school. I was just too lazy… Of course, it’s a secret from my parents. Got it? So now we have our own little secret?”
“Got it.”
“More importantly, you’re following along really well. Did you study on your own or something?”
“Just… when I was going to school, studying was the only thing I had to do…”
“Ah… sorry.”
Kim Jin-woo quickly apologized and continued the lesson.
After about two hours of studying, Kim Jin-woo stretched, and Choi Soo-yeon asked another question first.
“But… I get that you like me, but… why do you like me?”
“Does liking someone need a specific reason? There are people who hate you for no reason… so isn’t it possible to like someone for no reason too?”
“Ah…”
Choi Soo-yeon looked momentarily stunned, her expression blank. Seeing that, Kim Jin-woo—perhaps feeling playful—poked her cheek with his finger.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah… sorry.”
At her stiff expression, Kim Jin-woo panicked for a second, but then he noticed her reddening ears and smiled again.
“Anyway, let’s keep going. Fighting!”
“Yeah…”
***
A few days later, the men who received Kim Jin-woo’s call arrived in the provinces in a van.
“Hyung-nim, he said something happened to Jin-woo?”
“Who knows. That kid doesn’t usually ask us for favors.”
They were former gangsters now operating under the guise of a security service company.
Thanks to Kim Jin-woo’s help, they were now earning money legally—but before meeting him, they had been the tough guys strutting around Seoul with power in their shoulders.
“Jin-woo helped us grow our family and go legit. He’s basically our benefactor, right?”
“You’re right, hyung-nim.”
Thanks to Kim Jin-woo, they had been able to run various businesses: entertainment bars, construction companies, clubs, private investigation firms, and more.
“Anyway, let’s go.”
The former gangsters moved to the lodging Kim Jin-woo had prepared and waited for his call.
Meanwhile, besides the people Kim Jin-woo had summoned, others were also arriving in the provinces.
Employees from construction companies.
Even day laborers had been brought in from Seoul.
They had originally planned to hire locally, but the people here already believed the rumors about Choi Soo-yeon—so there was no telling what they might do. Hiring them had been canceled.
Once all preparations were complete, Kim Jin-woo began executing his plan.
He went straight to the place where the people he had called were gathered.
“Hyung-nim. Long time no see.”
“Yeah. What’s the big deal that you called us all the way out here—and told us to bring everyone?”
“Well… I met a girl I like.”
“What?”
At Kim Jin-woo’s words, everyone present looked shocked.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s wild… You turned down all those noonas clinging to you, and now…”
There were certainly women who knew about Kim Jin-woo’s abilities.
They worked in the nightlife industry and were stunningly beautiful—but Kim Jin-woo had never even blinked at their advances.
The fact that someone had managed to capture his heart left them unable to even imagine how beautiful she must be.
“Let me explain the situation first.”
Kim Jin-woo laid out the rumors about Choi Soo-yeon and what he needed them to do going forward.
“Just so you know, everyone in this town is in on it—so be careful.”
“Got it. Sounds like one giant cult.”
“I’m counting on you, hyung-nim.”
After making his request, Kim Jin-woo returned home and waited for time to pass.
One month of siege.
Kim Jin-woo’s mother and Choi Soo-yeon stayed inside the house as much as possible.
Finally, the time came.
On Kim Jin-woo’s desk lay countless photos and documents, neatly organized.
“This place is rotten to the core.”
Those were exactly the pieces of information Kim Jin-woo had his people gather on the residents of this town: their secrets, corruption, and weaknesses.
A significant number of public officials were included among them.
“Then shall we get started?”
For now, he planned to deal first with the masked individuals who had been terrorizing the front of the house.
In the dead of night, Kim Jin-woo waited for them outside the gate. Sure enough, the masked figures appeared, each carrying trash in both hands.
Before they could throw anything, Kim Jin-woo opened the gate and stepped out.
“Getting tired of this yet?”
Startled by his sudden appearance, the masked men tried to flee—but both alleys were already blocked by Kim Jin-woo’s men holding steel pipes.
“Wow… one, two, three, four… ten of you? This is quite the haul. Hyung-nim… please take care of them. Rough them up a bit and leave them at that spot.”
“Got it. Alright, boys—let’s wrap this up quick. We’ve got to head back to Seoul.”
At their leader’s command, the men charged forward and swiftly subdued the masked figures.
“See you later.”
With Kim Jin-woo’s cold parting words, the masked men were dragged away somewhere.
A short while later, the masks were ripped off amid the beatings, and they were tied to chairs.
“W-what the hell is this?!”
Thwack.
“What do you mean ‘what’? You’re just getting back what you dished out. So why’d you go around tormenting innocent people?”
“Y-you guys aren’t afraid of Korean law?”
“Law? Puhahahaha.”
At the masked man’s words, the gang members began stripping off their clothes one by one.
“If things go south, we might end up in prison for a bit. But make no mistake—we’ll kill you and your families before we go.”
“Hic…”
Terrified by the gangsters’ threats, the men started hiccupping in fear. Then Kim Jin-woo stepped forward from among them and spoke naturally.
“Oh? Some new faces, but some familiar ones too. Isn’t that right… homeroom teacher?”
“K-Kim Jin-woo. Untie me right now!”
“Nope. Can’t do that. So this is how you’ve all been doing things? I didn’t expect even public officials to be in on it…”
Kim Jin-woo pulled photos and documents from an envelope and showed them.
“Ooh… this one’s having an affair with the neighborhood hairdresser. This one’s got 100 million won in gambling debt. And this one…”
As Kim Jin-woo continued, the expressions of the tied-up villagers grew more and more distorted.
“So… what’ll it be? Want this leaked and get buried alive in this village? Or get buried alive in cement right here? Or maybe… leave town within the week?”
“I-I’ll leave. I’ll leave right now.”
Having made the relatively rational choice, they were untied and ran home in a panic.
“You sure about this? If they start talking nonsense…”
The gangsters, seeing how easily he let them go, looked at Kim Jin-woo with concern.
“It’s fine. Everything’s already calculated.”
Just as Kim Jin-woo predicted, the things they did fell perfectly within his expectations.
Before fleeing, they told the rest of the village what had happened to them. Hearing the story, the villagers fell into panic.
What if their own secrets had been dug up too?
But not everyone reacted that way.
“Just drive them out. What’s so hard about chasing away one thug family?”
When a burly man spoke up, several villagers began to agree.
“Yeah! We can’t just keep taking this!”
“Right!”
And so the war between the villagers and Kim Jin-woo—fought over Choi Soo-yeon—officially began.