The man was mid-sized, was stock and had short hair.
No matter how he looked at him, he recognized his face.
Park Dong Pal.
A month ago, he was released from the prison and was a mid-ranked member of the Southern Dragon.
He resided in Si Hyun’s section and during his time there, he didn’t cause any trouble, so there wasn’t a need to discipline him separately.
Before he awakened, Park Dong Pal spent his days exercising most of the time.
“Welcome boss.”
The two members did a 90 degrees bow. They said it could cause other to do the same, so it was a greeting that was forbidden within the prison. Of course the gang members ignored it and did it anyways.
“What’s going on?”
Park Dong Pal briefly looked at Si Hyun’s group and asked.
It seemed like he didn’t recognize Si Hyun.
“It’s nothing, sir. These shitty wards just happened to sit next to us and we thought you would get annoyed while drinking, so we were in the processing of asking them to leave.”
The man with the snake-like eyes answered.
“Oh yeah? Don’t cause a commotion and send them out quietly.”
As if he was annoyed, he waved his hand and sat down.
The man with snake-like eyes glared at Si Hyun’s group.
“You heard the boss, right? Get out of here.”
“Let’s go down.”
Woong Jae urged the group.
Si Hyun thought about doing that too.
But, he suddenly thought of something.
He was a prisoner, but now he was out.
The situation before him was the one he was looking for when Si Hyun wanted to see whether his skill would activate.
He was curious about whether it would work.
While looking towards Dong Pal, he carefully opened the stats window, but noticed that nothing changed.
Is it because he was released and wasn’t considered a prisoner anymore?
He thought it was highly possible, but it wasn’t to the point where he was sure of it.
That’s why, Si Hyun hesitated and spoke.
“Park Dong Pal.”
This time, the members had a confused expression as if they heard it wrong. Because he called his name out so naturally, they didn’t think he was calling the mid-ranked Park Dong Pal.
Since Si Hyun’s friends didn’t know who Park Dong Pal was, they couldn’t understand his action.
“Park Dong Pal.”
Si Hyun called out again.
That’s when they started reacting.
The two low-ranked members had a nasty look on their face.
It was as if they saw an enemy gang member.
They looked like they were going to cut Si Hyun into pieces.
“What? You fuckin bastard!”
The man with the snake eyes threw his fist at him.
It seemed like he boxed because his fist was pretty fast.
If it was an issue about him, he might’ve not attacked him with his fist first.
However, they couldn’t just stand by and watch someone hurt their boss’s pride. The fact that it was happening while you’re there is pretty embarrassing.
However, Si Hyun managed to dodge his punch with ease.
If this happened before he awakened, he probably would’ve been beaten up pretty badly.
But, he was different from before.
“Oh, so you managed to dodge my attack?”
The snake-eyed man had a smirk on his face as if this situation was ridiculous to him.
There are somewhat athletic people that looked down on gangs.
Handling those types of people was easy.
If they just take out their tool, even people that are really athletic will shudder in fear and freeze on the spot.
He took out a fillet knife that was wrapped in black tape from his waist. After seeing the knife that people usually see in movies, the female customers started screaming.
“Hey, Si Hyun, let’s go!”
Even the brave Jong Hyuk yelled.
It’s because he knew that no matter how confident someone was at fighting, when there’s a weapon, the wisest thing to do was run away.
Including Woong Jae, the other alumni froze in place and didn’t know what to do.
“Ca-call the police…”
When someone said that, the man with the knife mark looked them with a bloodthirsty look.
“Go ahead and call them. I’ll find you wherever you are and kill you.”
‘Tsk, tsk.’
As soon as the situation became worse, Si Hyun regretted it.
If the skill worked, it wouldn’t matter and if it didn’t work, since they’ve seen each other before, he thought that Park Dong Pal would prevent them from making the situation worse.
But these insignificant members thought that Si Hyun hurt Dong Pal’s pride, so they acted more violently than he had expected.
It was definitely a difficult situation.
That’s when Dong Pal stood up.
He had a complicated expression, which made it difficult to read his thoughts.
“…Stop it.”
“Sir?”
“Stop.”
“Excuse me? Boss, but…”
“Stop it you dumb piece of shit!”
Slap!
Slap! Slap!
Dong Pal raised his hand and slapped the snake-eyed man’s cheek.
Every time he slapped him, his face would turn. His face instantly turned red.
This shocking, yet violent situation caused the people around them to widen their eyes and keep quiet.
“Apologize to them.”
Dong Pal spoke.
“Sir…?”
The man felt intimated by Dong Pal, but what he commanded must’ve been unexpected, because he ended up questioning him.
Thankfully for him, Dong Pal didn’t slap him again.
“Apologize to him now.”
Dong Pal pointed straight at Si Hyun.
‘Huh?’
Si Hyun noticed something when he saw that.
‘It worked?’
If it didn’t work, then there was no reason for him to act this way in public.
The stat didn’t go up, but the Iron Guard worked.
He came up with one assumption.
When a prisoner experiences a fear they’re unable to endure for a long time, that fear is engraved into their brain.
Despite of the fact that he’s been released, that memory traumatized him when he saw Si Hyun, so it intimidated him.
He noticed that Dong Pal’s eyes were filled with fear.
“You apologize too.”
Dong Pal ordered the man with the knife mark.
The man had a shocked look on his face, but since it was their boss’s order, they couldn’t go against it.
Both of the low-ranked members stood next to each other and bowed to Si Hyun.
“We’re sorry.”
“Oh...yeah...sure.”
Si Hyun accepted the apology.
They verbally abused the group and even threatened them with weapons, but thankfully, no one got hurt.
It would be odd not to accept the apology when they were in the process of fixing the situation.
Dong Pal approached him.
He bowed his head as well and his face showed that he was sincerely sorry.
“I’m really sorry, sir. I didn’t recognize you at first…”
“It’s fine.”
Si Hyun was sure of it after seeing Dong Pal’s expression.
The Iron Ward that he used at the prisoners in his section was still in effect even after they’ve been released.
If that’s not the case, there’s no reason for someone like him to bow to a ward with an expression like that.
And on top of that, they were outside of the prison.
At that moment, a thought popped into his head.
A variety of people enter the prison.
There were politicians, rich figures, professors, gang members and there were even hunters in the special section.
As of right now, Si Hyun hasn’t had the chance of taking care of those types of people. Not even politicians and rich figures.
But, the chance of him taking care of those people might come soon.
‘...This can be a pretty useful skill if I use it right.’
The more he thought about, the more he was amazed.
Whether it can be used on a monsters was irrelevant.
It meant that an ordinary ward like him could make connections with the rich and politicians. They were the types of people he wouldn’t be able to meet.
Without having to think deep into it, he already knew how helpful it can be.
He suddenly remembered the time when the president of a large company came into the prison two years ago.
He obviously got his own room and received special treatment, but when he got a small injury from exercising, the Medical Director rushed to him.
Despite of it being a small scratch, the director babied him and exaggerated about the injury.
If it happened to an ordinary prisoner, an employee from the medical office would bluntly tell them to not call them regarding those kinds of issues.
Being strict on the weak and generous to the rich was the reality of society and it applied within the prison walls as well.
“Sir, please accept this as a form of apology…”
Dong Pal took out his wallet and grabbed 10 50,000 won paper bills and tried to put it in Si Hyun’s pocket.
“I’ll get in trouble if I accept this.”
Si Hyun quickly declined Dong Pal’s hand.
There were a lot of people watching.
His heart skipped a beat.
He could’ve gotten in big trouble.
“Oh, of course, my mistake.”
Dong Pal then realized that Si Hyun was a public officer and apologized again.
He continued talking.
“We’ll at least get out of your way. Please enjoy your time with your friends.”
“It’s fine. We were getting ready to leave anyways.”
Si Hyun declined.
Their meeting was already ruined so there was no point in drinking anymore.
“Instead of that...could I get your business card?”
After thinking for a bit, Si Hyun asked.
He thought that having connections with a gang could become handy later on.
Dong Pal contemplated for a bit after hearing his request.
He didn’t want to get involved with Si Hyun again, but it was difficult and uncomfortable for him to decline his request.
In the end, he took out his business card.
“...Please give me a call if you need anything.”
On the business card it said “Team Leader of Natural Resources, Park Dong Pal.”
He heard that gangs were starting to become a company and they would use construction companies and service companies as a cover-up, but it seemed like it was true.
After handing his business card, Dong Pal bowed to Si Hyun and quickly left with the other members as if he was uncomfortable about being in the same room as Si Hyun.
“Hey, you…”
It seemed like his friends had a lot to say.
“Let’s go out too.”
With that, Si Hyun walked down the stairs.
There were too many people watching.
Si Hyun vaguely explained that Dong Pal was a gang member that spent his time in his section.
They weren’t total strangers, so he called out his name, but he didn’t know the two would react that way and apologized for what he had done.
He didn’t completely lie about it and his friends seemed to understand.
There were some that voiced their opinion about how it seemed wrong for a ward to accept the business card from a gang member, but he answered that he had to do it in order to calm the situation down.
“Anyways, it’s a good thing I decided to go tonight.”
Si Hyun mumbled as he got home.
He planned on visiting the released prisoners in order to test the skill, but he managed to figure it out.
With that, he found a way to make connections with people.
The more he knew about the skills, the more he felt intrigued by Po Ah Him’s power.
It wasn’t useless just because it couldn’t be used in a raid.
But this was just the beginning.
He was excited to see what kind of skills or items he would obtain when gets promoted.
A notification popped up.
“In order to use Bind, you need to practice. Po Ah Him also practiced for a long time to master it. Po Ah Him would like to see you practice so that you can become skilled in using Bind.”
[Quest: Use Bind and tie 100 people. 0/100]