#190

An Aide of Chairman Shin was assigned to Lee Seon-jae.

“You know how to fight?”

To Chairman Shin’s question, Lee Seon-jae answered, “So-so.”

“Then take one guy. I’m a little uneasy giving you both.”

He joked and handed over one of his Aides, who were like extensions of himself.

The Aides were called Gim and Yong. Chairman Shin, a self-proclaimed ardent fan of martial arts novelist Kim Yong, openly said that’s how he named them. No one knew their real names, but no one bothered to ask. Lee Seon-jae was the same.

Anyway, the Aide who came to Lee Seon-jae was Yong. The two were on their way down to Gimje together. Originally, Lee Seon-jae had to wait for the man to come to Seoul with Jeong Jae-jin’s permission, but that was no longer necessary.

Because Lee Seok-doo had removed all the bounties placed on Lee Seon-jae and the Man. In other words, chasing after him now wouldn’t earn anyone a penny, and since the news that he had gone to Chairman Shin had spread, there was no point in messing with him.

What confidence did he have to do that?

Lee Seok-doo’s every action was displeasing, but it was true that it had given him some breathing room.

So, Lee Seon-jae was on his way to meet the man without hesitation, even though he didn’t know where he was. Of course, before that, he had to return the letter he had left at a supermarket in Gimje for the Helper, return the borrowed suit, and pick up the car containing the data he had taken from Kim Young-ja’s house. He had a lot to do.

He called Jeong Jae-jin to ask for Kim Delivery’s contact information, but he didn’t answer. He was probably driving and couldn’t pick up.

Lee Seon-jae changed into comfortable clothes instead of the borrowed suit and carefully put the suit to return in a bag with a money envelope. And he armed himself in case of emergency. This time, it wasn’t a flimsy razor blade, but a proper knife.

Yong was the same. He seemed to have been a knife fighter from the start, carrying a very sharp, small knife, about the size of a paring knife. He showed it to Lee Seon-jae to let him know that he had no intention of harming him. Of course, it was Chairman Shin’s order. Lee Seon-jae reluctantly took out the razor blade he had put in his shirt sleeve and revealed it. As soon as he saw the razor blade, which couldn’t even be called a weapon, Chairman Shin’s eyes widened, and he burst into laughter.

“Funny guy.”

Lee Seon-jae had now gone from a bland guy to a funny guy.

So, the two got into a van owned by Dongbang Construction.

It felt like it was just a moment when he took a helicopter to Seoul, but going back down by car was so boring that he couldn’t stand it. He wondered if Korea was this big, and the roads were so complicated and winding that he couldn’t understand it.

The scenery that had been so beautiful when he came down with the man as if on a trip was now dull and stuffy. When he opened the window because he didn’t like the air conditioning, hot and humid air greeted Lee Seon-jae. It was painful in many ways.

He hadn’t slept a wink, but he wasn’t sleepy at all. He was as alert as if he had swallowed a whole stimulant.

It wasn’t like the man called Yong was talkative, and Lee Seon-jae didn’t try to have trivial conversations like he had with the Man. Yong didn’t even like turning on the radio, so they spent about four hours together in silence.

Since he had plenty of time and nothing else to do, Lee Seon-jae wondered what he would say first when he met the man again. He prepared to confess the secrets about himself that he had been hiding.

It seemed best to start with his name. He would say that Lee Seon-jae was his real name and Kim Tae-heun was an alias. Then he would tell him why he had to hide in Dongjam-ri even using an alias. Then, starting with the story of being sold to his Uncle at a young age and becoming his adopted son, it would naturally lead to Il-gwang Financial. He would explain in detail what he had done at Il-gwang and how he had lived his life, and then tell him how he ended up being chased.

In his imagination, he poured out all the stories without hesitation, with fluent eloquence.

Easy. He wondered why he hadn’t done such an easy thing until now.

Honestly, the man was a guy who would listen to whatever Lee Seon-jae said. He was someone who would nod at Lee Seon-jae’s story and comfort him by saying, “You’ve been through a lot.” He was definitely not someone who would nitpick and question every word. But he couldn’t say it.

Maybe he didn’t even trust the Man, even though he said he liked him.

What a bastard.

He cursed himself.

Even if he told him everything, he planned to keep the matter of the orphanage a secret until the end. And he decided to wait until the man brought up the fact that the real Yoon Ki-beom was already dead. If the man wanted to live as Yoon Ki-beom, not Shim Kang-woo, for the rest of his life, he would help him do so.

The problem was Kwon Yong-joon. It was Jeong Jae-jin’s idea, but Lee Seon-jae also agreed to his proposal and added strength to the lie. In order to escape with the man alone, and to find out about Galilla Orphanage and the Man’s past, he told Jeong Jae-jin about the characteristics of Kwon Yong-joon that he knew without any guilt.

Based on that, Jeong Jae-jin left a fake pager message, and Lee Seon-jae waited with the man for Kwon Yong-joon, who would never come. In fact, he didn’t even know if Kwon Yong-joon was alive or dead. The Helper and Jeong Jae-jin were not interested in Kwon Yong-joon. They just thought of him as a tool to help Lee Seon-jae escape.

The confession that seemed easy was blocked the moment Kwon Yong-joon’s name came up.

Shit. He scratched his eyebrow.

It was difficult to avoid criticism with any explanation of the Kwon Yong-joon case. If he only received criticism, it would be fortunate, but the man might be disgusted with him and declare a breakup out of betrayal. He might cut him off decisively, saying he never wanted to see him again.

What he thought would somehow work out had made things this big. He was sure he was confident in handling the aftermath when he was offered the proposal by Jeong Jae-jin, but it was arrogance.

He only used the Man’s sincerity to fill his own interests, and he didn’t even think about how the man felt. He wasn’t at all curious about what kind of heart he accepted the proposal with, or what kind of story there was between them until then. He just had childish jealousy. He never even considered a way to explain it to the man later.

Lee Seon-jae had done so many wrong things to the man that he was sorry and therefore anxious.

As Gimje got closer, the anxiety grew.

They stopped at a rest stop to take care of their business, and while Lee Seon-jae drank coffee, Yong ate. Then they moved the car again. This time, Lee Seon-jae took the wheel. It was after 2 p.m. when they entered Gimje.

Anyway, Jeong Jae-jin didn’t even send a text message, let alone a phone call. It was time for him to arrive at the prosecutor’s office, so he thought he was either trying to get an arrest warrant or had already received it and was executing it. He wasn’t a person who would avoid his calls, so he thought he would hear from him soon.

Lee Seon-jae went to the motel first. To be exact, he went to the motel parking lot. Yong strongly opposed moving separately, so the two of them kindly moved the box in the car to the van. Since the back seat of the van was folded down and the boxes were systematically stacked, it didn’t take up as much space as he thought. Yong’s eyes widened as he watched him take out a small safe from the trunk. But that was it.

Yong had no questions. But it wasn’t like he was doing whatever Lee Seon-jae told him to do. Yong was thorough only in protecting Lee Seon-jae’s safety and had doubts. He never interfered in other matters. It must have been a habit he had developed while serving Chairman Shin for more than 10 years.

Thanks to that, Lee Seon-jae moved the boxes and the safe comfortably, and he didn’t have to explain what was inside.

He left the car at the motel. After all, he had paid for a week, and it wasn’t too late to contact the Helper later and tell her to pick it up.

Then he stopped by the supermarket where he had left the letter and got it back, and went to a nearby laundromat to return the suit. It was only half a day ago that he didn’t know he would be back this quickly, or even if he could come back at all. He burst out laughing.

Lee Seon-jae had showered and changed his clothes, but he was still wearing the Man’s shoes. The world kept tilting, but it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. He just liked it because it felt like he was with the Man.

Now all that was left was to find the Man.

He called Jeong Jae-jin again. But he didn’t answer. Since they had agreed not to contact the office, all that was left was the Helper.

He had no choice but to contact the Helper, but all of the Helper’s devices were out of service. The pager was the same. It seemed that she had removed all the devices she had as a Helper after her last call with Lee Seon-jae.

He had expected it, but he didn’t know she would move this quickly. He thought it was fortunate that she was a thorough person, but he felt a little empty because she didn’t answer the phone. He thought about calling her personal number, but he stopped.

The contract was over. So, it was right to live as strangers as before.

Now she was not the Helper, but Jeong Jae-jin’s aunt, Jeong Eun-hee.

A wealthy and vain woman. A department store VVIP who lived almost in the department store, and whose daily life was to get skin care, fix her hair at a salon, and get her nails done in her spare time.

No one really knew Jeong Eun-hee. They didn’t even think about how great she was, how smart and decisive she was. They just judged her by her appearance. The men didn’t know that what they saw wasn’t everything. Lee Seok-doo was no exception.

So, even though Jeong Jae-jin met Jeong Eun-hee three or four times a week, he didn’t suspect anything. The two always met at the department store, went shopping, ate expensive meals, and then drank coffee before parting ways. In the meantime, they diligently planned a strategy for Lee Seon-jae, but he didn’t notice at all. Like aunt, like nephew, the two were better at acting than anyone else. As a wealthy, vain aunt and a snobbish prosecutor who only wanted success, the two were a perfect match.

Lee Seok-doo often forgot that her sister was Jeong Eun-joo while monitoring Jeong Eun-hee because of Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin. Even though she was a woman he had humiliated and killed in a disguised accident because she had strongly opposed his marriage to his aunt, even though she was the wife of a close friend he had personally dragged into gambling and ruined her life.

At that time, Lee Seok-doo, who was desperately trying to climb up, had personally dealt with more than one or two people, so he couldn’t possibly remember a woman he had ordered to be killed.

It was all said and done, since Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin was barely aware that he was the son of that couple through documents.

Jeong Jae-jin had been raised by his grandparents since his mother died when he was about four years old. It was known that the father’s side had received a large amount of alimony and gave up the child. Of course, that father squandered all the alimony he received instead of his son on gambling, and a few years later, he was on the streets. After that, he often broke into his in-laws’ house to threaten and harass them for money, but Jeong Jae-jin was involved in a minor argument when he was a freshman in high school and died unexpectedly.

By chance, Jeong Jae-jin was born between his father, a Naju Jeong, and his mother, a Yeonil Jeong, so his surname was Jeong anyway, but he changed it to his mother’s family name a few years ago. Since the time he applied for a change of family name was when he learned the secret surrounding his mother’s death, it was perhaps natural that he abandoned his father’s surname.

Anyway, until Jeong Jae-jin contacted him, there was no other place to find out about Kim Delivery.

Lee Seon-jae was lost in thought with the receiver in his hand.

Then he remembered the number written on Kim Delivery’s van. It was clear that Kim Delivery was not from this area, so he suddenly thought that the number excluding the area code might be Kim Delivery’s business number. If he was a man who traveled around the country for work, he would use 011 or 017.

When he dialed the number with 011 attached to the number without the area code, he heard a ringing tone. After a while, he answered the phone, but it wasn’t Kim Delivery’s voice. Since he might not be working alone and there might be an organization, Lee Seon-jae didn’t hang up right away.

“Hello. I found a wallet, and there were only cash and a business card inside, so I’m calling you. By any chance, do you work at Gimje First Senior Care Center?”

“Gimje? I’ve never been there.”

“And you haven’t lost your wallet?”

“No. I have my wallet right here.”

“Um, excuse me.”

The other person hung up the phone while Seon-jae was still talking.

What, was I wrong?

Never mind.

He dialed again, adding 017. As before, he heard the ringing tone, and the person said they had never been to Gimje. He tried the remaining PCS numbers, but the result was the same.

I guess I thought it would be too easy. He smiled bitterly, thinking, ‘Yeah, it would be strange if I could contact him this easily.’

He had nowhere to go. He had to find Man, but there was no way to confirm where he had gone.

Seon-jae fiddled with his cell phone for a moment, then went into his address book, just in case. He couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. He wondered if the saying, “Can’t recognize a ‘g’ even when it’s right in front of your nose,” was made for him.

Two numbers were saved in his cell phone’s address book. Jeong Jae-jin must have done it. One was Jeong Jae-jin’s number, so the other must be Kim Delivery’s. He was a thorough guy, after all.

Seon-jae immediately pressed the call button.

“Yes. This is Gimje First Senior Care Center.”

A welcome voice answered the phone. It was a man with a strong voice.

A smile spread across Seon-jae’s face.

Chapter 191