#132

What is this? Why is Kwon Ki-hyuk with Shin Ho-jae? And why is Shin Ho-jae in so much pain after being hit in the shoulder just once?

To find out the reason, he had to watch the video to the end, even if it was difficult to bear. Once his heartbeat finally calmed down, Jung-hyun opened his laptop again and played the paused video.

─Ah, dear. Did you say you had shoulder surgery not long ago? I feel terrible. I completely forgot.

Jung-hyun’s brow furrowed instinctively. Surgery. I see. It seemed he had undergone surgery after the season ended. And Kwon Ki-hyuk, knowing that, had struck exactly that spot.

“…….”

The moment he realized this, Jung-hyun’s face froze with a terrifying coldness.

After watching the entire video, he could roughly guess what the plan devised by Shin Ho-jae and Yuk Du-min had been. A deep sigh escaped him.

“Why did you do something like this….”

Shin Ho-jae’s intention was transparent. Judging by the articles he had checked earlier, he must have tried to drag out Kwon Ki-hyuk, who remained unmoved even after Ace Detective’s exposé broadcast.

He wasn’t unaware of the desire to prove Kwon Jung-hyun’s innocence and, furthermore, to make Kwon Ki-hyuk pay for his crimes, but the method was wrong. If things went this way, wouldn’t it render his departure from Korea meaningless?

“What a complete idiot.”

It was a relief that things went according to plan, but what if Kwon Ki-hyuk had noticed Shin Ho-jae’s scheme? What if that operated shoulder had been damaged beyond repair? The mere thought made him shudder.

Thump, thump. He felt the baby kick. It had been a long time since he’d mentioned being hungry, and since there was no news, the baby seemed to want to express its dissatisfaction by knocking directly.

“It’s because another daddy might be in danger right now. So Ho-ppang has to be patient for a bit.”

Speaking with a feigned sternness, Jung-hyun rested his chin on his hand and stared silently at the laptop screen.

What is Kwon Ki-hyuk’s current situation? What about Myeong-jeong? And my father and mother?

Seeing that Shin Ho-jae was currently in the US without any issues, it seemed things were fine for now, but what about the future?

The Kwon Ki-hyuk he knew was not the type of person to let something like this slide. Had he not obsessed over and tormented Jung-hyun for a full 15 years? He would surely retaliate against Shin Ho-jae in one way or another.

Out of anxiety, he habitually gnawed on the back of his hand.

“Why would you do such a thing….”

If he had been there, he felt like he would have scolded him until he cried.

Jung-hyun quickly tapped the keyboard to look into Myeong-jeong’s current situation and the progress of the investigation into Kwon Ki-hyuk. Shortly after, he found the latest news.

[Recorder not admitted as evidence… Former reporter Kim In-jung still missing]

[Search of Incheon coast ends on 3rd day with no results; no body, no conviction]

[Police decide not to refer Kwon Ki-hyuk’s murder charges to prosecution… Investigation effectively closed]

[Kwon Ki-hyuk cleared of murder charges? Public outrage grows, petition for objection exceeds 100,000 signatures]

“…….”

Jung-hyun read through each article meticulously.

He felt he had a general idea of what had happened.

The video [Myeong-jeong Group’s Kwon Ki-hyuk is Screwed (feat. Murder Evidence Found)] that Jung-hyun had seen on YouTube was uploaded a week ago. It seemed the direction of the case had swung wildly in the time that had passed.

They likely expected the recorder to be decisive evidence proving Kwon Ki-hyuk’s murder, but the police judged that a recorder alone could not serve as evidence of murder.

It was a natural conclusion. The content of the recording wasn’t the circumstances of the murder itself; at most, the recorder could prove that the voice in Ace Detective’s video was real and that the person who assaulted Kim In-jung was Kwon Ki-hyuk.

Kwon Ki-hyuk would have naturally denied the ‘murder’ itself, and while the police tried their best to find the body by searching the Incheon coast, they had come up empty.

If Kwon Ki-hyuk had truly committed murder, he wouldn’t have taken measures that would allow the body to be easily discovered. Nor would he have handled things sloppily enough for a witness to appear. Thus, in the end, Kim In-jung could only be ‘missing’ rather than ‘deceased.’

Still, since public opinion had flared up to a point where it was hard to ignore, Jung-hyun thought he would at least stand trial, but a decision not to refer the case? It hadn’t even reached the trial stage. In this case, even if an objection was filed, it was nearly impossible for the case to be referred again.

His father’s influence must have played a part. If the case reached the prosecution, things would become unfavorable.

With a bitter expression, Jung-hyun clicked the back button. While skimming through articles with similar titles, he spotted a familiar name: reporter Park Ha-na.

It was an article featuring an interview with Kim In-jung’s mother, who was enraged by the closure of the investigation. A video was attached, and upon clicking it, he saw a woman who looked to be over seventy, sobbing and beating her chest.

─My son has a phobia of airplanes! He almost had an accident when he was young, and he hasn’t been able to fly once since then! He couldn’t even go on his graduation trip to Jeju Island! Police officers, please find my son. My son is not the kind of child who would go to the Philippines and not be in contact until this day….

Jung-hyun swallowed a heavy sigh and paused the video.

According to the article, Kim In-jung’s ‘fear of flying’ was also not accepted as evidence. The reason given was the lack of a medical certificate from a hospital. Jung-hyun clicked his tongue. Could Kwon Ki-hyuk have had a hand in this as well?

Picking up his mug to drink, he found the tea had already gone cold. Only then did he look up. Outside, darkness had completely descended.

While brewing more tea, he dutifully fed a couple of biscuits to Ho-ppang. Returning to his seat, Jung-hyun logged into the MJ Sports email account he hadn’t accessed in a long time.

Since he had canceled his Korean phone number before leaving, people in Korea currently had no way of contacting him. He had planned to slowly reach out to his mother after a year or two, so it could be said that truly no one knew his contact information.

That was why he had exchanged emails with Peter using the address he’d used as a child. Since that was an old account only Peter knew, he figured that if people in Korea wanted to reach him, they would have used the email on his business card.

And Jung-hyun’s prediction was exactly right.

The inbox, which had gone unused for a long time since he stepped down as owner, was packed with unread emails.

Among the emails from reporters requesting interviews, one subject line stood out. An email titled [This is Prosecutor Kyung Moon-young from the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office] had arrived exactly three days ago. Upon clicking it, a short message appeared on the screen.

Hello, Mr. Kwon Jung-hyun. This is Prosecutor Kyung Moon-young from the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office. This is the first time I’ve contacted you since our last meal. Since I couldn’t reach you by phone, I am emailing you using the business card I received previously.

“…….”

She was Kyung Seung-hee’s older sister. He had only seen her once during a meal with Kyung Seung-hee’s family, and at the time, he had habitually handed her his business card as the representative of MJ Sports.

Jung-hyun slowly scrolled down. The content he saw was surprising.

I am currently assigned to and investigating the corruption case of the Myeong-jeong Group. I have a few questions; would you be able to cooperate with a deposition?

* * *

Shin Ho-jae’s face was slightly flushed. His steps were light.

Yesterday’s test had been a success. The scout, as well as the club officials, seemed surprised, so he felt confident that the results would not be bad.

If he passed, the club would provide housing, so room and board wouldn’t be an issue. The only thing weighing on his mind was the Blue Wolves. Perhaps it was because he had gone all the way to the finals with a team that had almost been disbanded, but even he felt an excessively strong sense of belonging to the Blue Wolves.

He thought about consulting Min-chul and Du-min, but those two, along with his other teammates, were the kind of people who would congratulate him first if he said he wanted to play in North America again.

Well, there was no need to overthink it. The results weren’t even out yet. Such worries could wait until after the results were announced.

The place where his steps stopped was, naturally, in front of Jung-hyun’s house. As promised, he had come to pick up his clothes. Just as he cleared his throat and was about to approach the front door, he noticed something familiar above his head.

“Representative…?”

Jung-hyun was up on the roof, peering into the opening of the gutter he had seen yesterday. He was standing stably, but to Ho-jae, the fact that he was on the roof without any safety equipment looked incredibly dangerous.

“What are you doing up there?”

When Ho-jae raised his voice and shouted, Jung-hyun finally seemed to notice him and waved leisurely.

“I was going to move the nest to a safer place, but I found out that if you move a nest, the mother might abandon it. So I’m just going to block this gutter entirely. There are others on the other side anyway….”

Looking closer, Jung-hyun was wearing multi-pocketed pants like a skilled worker, with a cotton glove on one hand and an electric screwdriver in the other. It was a tough look he had never imagined him in, yet it suited him as well as when he wore a suit.

Shin Ho-jae, who had been unconsciously stealing glances at him, snapped back to his senses a beat late and spoke again.

“It’s dangerous, please come down. I’ll do it.”

“It’s okay. I’m almost done.”

Jung-hyun knelt on one knee and used plastic and a wooden board to block the gutter hole leading from the roof. The sound of the screw turning—drrrrk!—was powerful. After driving one in, he took another nail from the pocket on his shin. He drove in a total of six nails and finished testing to see if any water leaked.

Smiling with satisfaction, Jung-hyun gathered the screwdriver and the remaining plastic and said,

“Could you hold the ladder for me?”

“Ah, yes!”

Ho-jae quickly grabbed the ladder with both hands. He didn’t forget to use his whole body to support it, fearing it might shake.

It was when he had come down about three rungs. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and Jung-hyun lost his footing and slipped.

“Whoops…!”

“Representative!”

133 – PUCK DROP