* * *
Even when I regained consciousness, my vision remained dark. I wanted to scream for help, but no words came out of my parched throat.
With my eyes covered, I could only focus on sounds. At the end of unhurried footsteps, there was a dragging sound mixed in. It seemed like the footsteps of an older person.
Could it be Secretary Kim?
In a situation like this, Secretary Kim was most likely among those who had brought me here.
I tried to remove the blindfold somehow, but both my hands and feet were tied, making it impossible to move at all. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have complained when Hajin told me to exercise and should have worked harder.
As I regretted uselessly and listened to the footsteps that had now drawn closer, a familiar voice reached my ears.
“Oh, Mr. Yoon Juwon, you should stay still and behave.”
I gasped in surprise. Cold sweat ran down my forehead. The footsteps came closer. As I curled up tightly and held my breath, I felt an unpleasant touch on my forehead. Soon the blindfold was removed, and I made eye contact with Secretary Kim looking down at me.
“You must have had a hard time getting here.”
His vile voice pierced my ears. I stared at him until my pounding heartbeat subsided. Secretary Kim looked much more haggard than when I had last seen him.
“Will staring change anything?”
Secretary Kim grabbed my chin and asked. I tried to turn my head in the opposite direction to escape his hand, but I couldn’t.
Why had Secretary Kim taken the drastic step of kidnapping me? I was curious but couldn’t ask such a sensitive question carelessly.
“The promise…”
It was you who broke it. My throat was so dry that words wouldn’t come out.
“It seems difficult for you to speak. Are you thirsty?”
I nodded.
“Well, the collateral needs to be in good condition if we’re going to make a deal.”
With that one sentence, I could tell why he had kidnapped me. Secretary Kim wanted to use me to make a deal with Hajin. If he had any sense, Secretary Kim should have realized by now that Hahyun would never take his side, so was he still unable to give up the idea of making Hahyun his puppet?
“Open your mouth.”
I tilted my head back and opened my mouth, and Secretary Kim poured bottled water from above. Cough, cough. He poured too much at once, causing half of it to flow down my chin and making me cough. I glared at him.
“You should be polite. That way, I might feel like keeping you alive, don’t you think?”
Thinking that provoking him would only put me in more danger, I bowed my head. Being disoriented, I hadn’t realized it before, but besides Secretary Kim’s shoes, other shoes were visible in my field of vision. Their owners were probably the people who had kidnapped me and brought me here.
“I like your polite attitude.”
Secretary Kim was pretending to be composed and calm, but his finely trembling hands revealed his nervousness. Yes, that’s right. If he knew Hajin’s personality well, he couldn’t be calm. I raised my head again and looked at Secretary Kim. After confirming my defiant gaze, Secretary Kim’s face contorted as he spoke.
“I didn’t know that Mr. Yoon Juwon and the Seo brothers were in the same boat. You pretended quite well that you weren’t, didn’t you?”
So he did know. Well, it made sense; I, cornered as I was, had kicked away the last chance Secretary Kim offered, so it was natural for him to think this way.
I stared at him directly.
“If you know that, then you should also know there’s nothing to gain by doing this to me.”
Secretary Kim pressed my forehead firmly and made a strange expression. It was as if he was asking what I was so confident about. I got goosebumps.
“Isn’t being detained by the brothers the same as being captured here?”
“Let’s be honest. You don’t intend to keep me locked up. I know you want to make a deal with Hajin-ssi. What do you want? Still can’t give up on management rights?”
Secretary Kim laughed incredulously.
“Management rights? What? Weren’t you and them in the same boat?”
I couldn’t understand what Secretary Kim was saying. Then suddenly, I remembered the fact that because of Hajin, his crimes had been exposed in detail, and people associated with him were under prosecution investigation.
“Ah, so you’re doing this because of the crimes you’ve committed.”
At my words, Secretary Kim’s face crumpled.
“Such an impudent young man…”
Secretary Kim gestured to the people behind him, and they began approaching me. I saw one of them holding a jackknife. S-surely they don’t intend to stab me with that? My body trembled with the fear of death approaching right before my eyes.
“If I get hurt, Seo Hajin won’t just… Ugh!”
His foot struck my shoulder hard. I fell forward and rolled on the floor. With my body tied up, I couldn’t tell if my arm was broken, as I had no sensation from my shoulder to my arm. While I was groaning face down, someone lifted my body. Seeing me like this, Secretary Kim began to chuckle.
“You seem to trust Seo Hajin… It’s strange. Do you think Seo Hajin, who was betrayed by you, will save you?”
Secretary Kim was trying to shake me by using my relationship with Hajin. Even knowing that I would lose if I wavered at his words, I recalled a forgotten fact.
Yoon Juwon’s betrayal… Seo Hajin who had said he never said he loved me. But past events weren’t committed by me, and Hajin later told me he loved me. So there was nothing to worry about.
I proudly mocked him.
“Haha. That’s funny.”
Secretary Kim looked at me with wide eyes, seemingly surprised.
“Trusting Seo Hajin… I don’t trust anyone. But I do know one thing. The fact that you, Secretary Kim, are cornered right now. You don’t intend to kill me anyway. You need to use me somehow.”
Even as I spoke, I couldn’t control my racing heart, but I held myself together. Secretary Kim’s pupils moved slowly. Given that he had taken drastic measures like setting fire to smoke out my home and breaking in, it seemed something much bigger than I knew had happened.
As if he had finished his thoughts, Secretary Kim tapped my face with his finger.
“What’s the use of arguing with you? It’s just a waste of time.”
That was true. There was no reason for him to remove my blindfold and reveal his identity. As I looked at him quizzically, Secretary Kim tilted his head with an expressionless face.
“However, I would like you to answer just one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Did I ever mention it?”
“…”
My mind went blank at the sudden question. I couldn’t even guess what he was talking about. Secretary Kim didn’t know that Yoon Juwon was in a state of memory loss, so it must be something between Yoon Juwon and Secretary Kim, but what?
“Stop pretending not to know. I’m talking about Chairman Seo.”
Chairman Seo? Why suddenly Chairman Seo…
I grew increasingly puzzled.
“It’s strange. Seo Hajin had no reason to suddenly suspect me.”
“I really don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Are you playing dumb when you know everything? You know it best, don’t you? Would Chairman Seo have died because he couldn’t defeat someone like you? If you didn’t tell Seo Hajin directly, how would he have known?”
The puzzle I had been piecing together while feigning ignorance was now complete.
The real culprit who killed Chairman Seo was Secretary Kim. And Seo Hajin already knew this fact.
“…!”
To know and not tell me anything.
I was furious at Seo Hajin’s betrayal but gritted my teeth and endured. Now was not the time to dwell on the fact that Hajin had hidden the truth; it was time to pay attention to the clues Secretary Kim was giving.
“I thought I had handled everything so that no one would know, but to think it would be discovered so easily.”
“How long did you think you could deceive? But what can you do? I never once mentioned that fact to Seo Hajin.”
“How can I believe that?”
From Secretary Kim’s behavior, it seemed he wanted to believe that Seo Hajin suspected him because of me. If Hajin had other evidence against him, his situation would be much more disadvantageous.
“If you don’t believe it, there’s nothing I can do. But what does it matter? The fact that you’ve been caught doesn’t change. All you need to do is succeed in negotiation through me, right?”
Secretary Kim nodded as if agreeing.
By this point, I started to wonder. Did Seo Hajin know that I had been kidnapped? I didn’t know how much time had passed, but since the kidnappers had forced their way in, an alarm must have sounded. So Hajin would surely know I was gone.
However, even if Hajin knew about the kidnapping, it would be useless if he didn’t know where I was.
Did Secretary Kim really want to use me to cover up his murder case? If he negotiated with Secretary Kim, Yoon Juwon’s false murder charge wouldn’t be cleared… But if he didn’t negotiate, my path out of here would be distant…
While I was pondering, Secretary Kim took the people and went outside. When the person supporting me disappeared, I lost balance and hit the floor. I lay on my side, supporting my body with my painful arm.
If Seo Hajin found out about this situation, what choice would he make?
Would he rescue me and let me live with the false murder charge? Or would he implicate Secretary Kim to the end and put me in danger?
One thing was clear: Secretary Kim had no intention of letting me go until his safety was guaranteed.
