Chapter 78: Kidnapped
Shoooosh. The sound of water pouring from the showerhead was loud. Dohyuk stood under the shower, letting the stream of water pour over his head. Yeon had suggested filling the bathtub and soaking in it, but Dohyuk didn’t feel like being that lazy.
After washing his hair, showering, and shaving, he checked the watch he had set down under the mirror. Only about 10 minutes had passed since he’d entered the bathroom.
I should start wrapping up the tax investigation on Hovan Gallery soon…
‘Here is the handwritten pledge from Representative Lee Seoyoung. She agreed to no longer interfere with Muryeong’s business.’
Two days ago, Representative Lee Seoyoung had finally surrendered. She agreed to stay away from Muryeong in exchange for having the tax investigation dropped.
‘The strange part is this.’
Director Choi handed over another document.
‘These are the records of payments Representative Lee Seoyoung received as fees, which she then deposited to Muryeong.’
Dohyuk had thought all the money would be deposited under Muyeong’s name, whether that was his real name or not, but that wasn’t the case. The money was divided among dozens of bank accounts. They had confirmed the identities of all account holders, but Director Choi said most of them had disappeared without a trace. It seemed Dohyuk would need to visit Muryeong and confirm with Muyeong directly about this matter.
There were too many things that required his attention. Besides company work and matters related to Muryeong, there was also Kang Sunhyuk and Kang Chahyuk, and the third party threatening them… Although Dohyuk rarely complained, this time his head really ached.
Phew. A long sigh escaped him. One by one, he needed to solve the urgent matters first. What bothered him now was the attack on him and Kang Sunhyuk, and whoever was trying to frame Kang Chahyuk for it.
He hadn’t brought a change of clothes into the bathroom. Wrapping just a towel around his waist, he stepped out and looked around the bedroom. As always, the empty bedroom was completely silent. Though it looked exactly the same as usual, something felt off.
He went to the living room to look for Yeon, but couldn’t find him. He checked every corner of the house—the kitchen, the study—but to no avail. Dohyuk’s face gradually hardened. He had a bad feeling.
Could he have run away? Now, all of a sudden? Although Dohyuk had kept Yeon half against his will, Yeon had clearly stated he wouldn’t run away. If he’d wanted to escape, he could have done so many times by now.
Of course, Dohyuk wouldn’t have simply let him run away. To avoid making Yeon uncomfortable, he hadn’t stationed people right in front of the entrance, but he did have people watching the villa entrance and the parking lot.
He found his phone and called one of the people guarding outside. However, despite the call ringing for a long time, no one picked up. He tried another number with the same result.
As Dohyuk paced around the living room, his gaze inadvertently turned toward the entrance, where he noticed the door was slightly open. He stopped abruptly. A chilling sensation crept up his spine as his eyes grew colder.
He immediately went to his study, turned on his laptop, and connected to the CCTV cameras monitoring the parking lot and villa entrance. After scanning through various angles, he found security guards collapsed in one corner of the parking lot. The same was true near the entrance. All the guards Dohyuk had posted had been taken down by someone.
He downloaded the CCTV footage and checked from 10 minutes earlier. After about 2 minutes, he saw Director Choi leaving, and soon after, several men in suits got out of two black cars parked in the lot. They immediately took down the guards watching the parking lot. Dohyuk zoomed in to check their faces, but they were all unfamiliar. One of them had his hat pulled down low, hiding his face.
The man with the hat pulled low held up a key card to the main entrance of the parking lot, and the door opened easily. About 5 minutes later, they reappeared in the parking lot. One of them was carrying an unconscious Yeon over his shoulder.
When Dohyuk saw that scene, his head turned ice cold. In contrast, something hot surged up from within his chest.
He checked the CCTV footage from outside his apartment for the time in between. It showed Yeon leaving the apartment and getting into the elevator on his own.
Ha. A hollow breath escaped him. That’s why Dohyuk, who was in the bathroom, hadn’t noticed. If it hadn’t been for the sound of running water, he would have heard the front door opening and closing… But such belated regrets were of no help now.
Just to be sure, he looked for Yeon’s phone and found it neatly placed on the living room sofa. Picking up the phone to check various things, Dohyuk’s face hardened when he saw the text messages. Director Choi had asked Yeon to come down? That was impossible. If there were documents that hadn’t been delivered, no matter how bothersome it might be, Director Choi would have come up himself to hand them directly to Dohyuk.
Whoever kidnapped Yeon had a key card to the villa’s main entrance. Yet they didn’t seem like residents. Only three people had key cards to this place: Dohyuk himself, his mother, and Director Choi.
He immediately called Director Choi. The sound of traffic could be heard through the phone, indicating he was still on the move.
[Yes, sir.]
It wasn’t Director Choi. In the CCTV footage, the men had gotten out of different cars after Director Choi had left. The text wasn’t sent by Director Choi; it was just someone impersonating his number.
That left only one key card.
“Check if my mother has left the country.”
[Ah, I forgot to report that. She has left the country. She went to Hawaii the day after meeting with you, sir.]
“…Verify once more that my mother is definitely in Hawaii. And all the security guards at the villa have been taken down, so come and clean up the situation.”
[What? What’s that about all of a sudden…!]
Director Choi was bewildered by the sudden instructions, but Dohyuk ended the call without adding any further explanation.
There were two possibilities. Either his mother had noticed Yeon’s existence and hired people to act, or someone had stolen the key card his mother possessed. There was no point in calling his mother to ask; she would definitely deny it was her. Instead, she would only pry, asking who had broken into Dohyuk’s home and what the problem was, eventually discovering his relationship with Yeon.
He went back to the bedroom, changed his clothes, and grabbed his car keys. He intended to go directly to his mother’s house. If her house looked ransacked, like it had been burglarized, then he would need to suspect someone else. And that someone would likely be the person threatening the Kang brothers.
***
Yeon regained consciousness, but his body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton. He managed to put enough strength into his eyelids to let in a dim light. Though he thought he had opened his eyes, his vision remained blurry. He tried to move his hands and feet, but they wouldn’t budge.
After struggling a bit more to move his body, he realized he was tied tightly to a chair.
The men who had broken into Dohyuk’s home had rushed at Yeon before he could even scream, and one of them covered his mouth and nose with a white cloth. It must have been soaked with some kind of drug, because he felt dizzy and then lost consciousness.
“It seems you’ve come to your senses.”
It was a deep, dignified male voice. Yeon’s vision was still not clear. He raised his head to look at the man, but his vision shook as if there were an earthquake. The blurry face of the man gradually became clearer.
To Yeon, before seeing the man’s face, he first noticed the black threads emanating from him. Not just one or two. Even at a glance, there were more than three. One of them was clearly connected to Kang Dohyuk.
“I hear you’re called Yeon.”
The man confirmed Yeon’s name. Yeon stared directly into the man’s eyes. He appeared to be in his fifties. He looked somewhat familiar, but Yeon couldn’t remember ever meeting him for a job, even after thoroughly searching his memory. The fact that the man was confirming his name made it certain they had never met before.
“Why did you kidnap me?”
Should he have asked who the man was first? But to Yeon, the reason why he was being held captive like this was more important than the identity of his captor. By now, Kang Dohyuk must be in an uproar… Recalling the circumstances of his kidnapping, it was clear they had taken him quietly, without Dohyuk knowing. So Dohyuk might think he had run away on his own.
“Kang Dohyuk.”
The man spoke Dohyuk’s name. Ah… This seemed like the worst possible situation. Yeon had been so careful not to become Dohyuk’s weakness, but he never expected to be kidnapped from Dohyuk’s home.
“I heard my son holds you in special regard.”
At the word “son,” Yeon’s eyes widened.
“Chairman Kang Mansik…”
He muttered the name involuntarily.
“So you know who I am.”
Yeon stared at Kang Mansik, who was observing him without even blinking. He was more intimidating than Yeon had imagined. There wasn’t a single white hair on his head. If his face hadn’t shown his age, it would have been difficult to guess how old he was. His jet-black eyes were fixed on Yeon. That cold gaze resembled Kang Dohyuk’s.
“It was you.”
Kang Mansik frowned at Yeon’s words.
“How… That’s impossible…”
Yeon couldn’t continue speaking and his face contorted.
“You mean how could a father try to kill his own child?”
Kang Mansik completed the words that Yeon had swallowed. Yeon’s blue eyes wavered. He didn’t want to believe the reality unfolding before him. That Kang Mansik was behind all of it—the attempt to kill Dohyuk, killing Kang Sunhyuk’s mother and attacking him, and framing Kang Chahyuk for all the crimes… All the malevolent connections leading to him were connected to his own children.
“Why on earth would you do such a thing…”
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Taking you? Or…”
His eyes sank deeper, unfathomably deep.
“Trying to kill my sons?”
Despite saying such horrific words, Kang Mansik’s face showed no change whatsoever. That made it even more terrifying.
“Did you kill Kim Yumin too?”
Again, Kang Mansik didn’t deny it. Yeon felt dizzy. Strictly speaking, this had nothing to do with him, yet his heart ached. He couldn’t even imagine how Kang Sunhyuk would react if he learned this truth.
“Why… WHY?!”
When Yeon twisted his body, screaming as if throwing a fit, one of the men guarding him struck his cheek. SLAP! With a sharp sound, his head whipped to the side. Feeling a metallic taste in his mouth, he figured his inner cheek had been cut.
“It’s none of your concern.”
Despite Kang Mansik’s cold rebuke, Yeon glared at him intensely.
“Is that why you kidnap someone who has nothing to do with this?”
Looking at Yeon quietly, Kang Mansik’s lips curled up into a smirk.
“I can see why Dohyuk likes you.”
But soon his smile vanished as if it had been a lie, and his eyes turned cold again.
“I’m actually somewhat grateful to you.”
Rising from his chair, he approached Yeon and grabbed both his cheeks. The strong pressure caused Yeon’s cheeks to hollow, bringing a sharp pain.
“Thanks to you, I think I’ll be able to hold that bastard by the ankle.”
Around the man who was looking down directly at Yeon, tangled black threads swayed and undulated.
