That afternoon, Lee Byungdo, who had to return to the district prosecutors’ office by taxi, hurled all kinds of filthy curses at Jaeha while spitting. That wasn’t a big deal. In fact, while Lee Byungdo was making a fuss the whole time, Jaeha was thinking about other things.
‘I should investigate Jung Kyungwoo’s background and medical history. If I use internal prosecution personnel, they’ll definitely notice right away. I need someone who can look into it personally.’
As soon as Lee Byungdo’s nagging ended, Jaeha returned to his office. And he found the high school alumni directory that he’d put in the very corner of his drawer and had almost forgotten about while living.
He’d thought that distributing and handing out such things in the 21st century, when everything connected through personal social media, was itself a waste of time and effort, but ironically, it was occasionally helpful.
“Here it is.”
Jaeha, who had been going down the list with names and phone numbers, and briefly organized industries and positions, found the person he wanted.
The other party answered the phone before the ringtone went twice.
“Gu Daeyoung? It’s Seo Jaeha. Long time no see. You’ve been well lately?”
Even though it was contact after several years, he could always talk with his high school friend as if they’d parted yesterday. It was truly a mysterious thing.
“Nothing special. I called because I wanted to have a drink. Do you have time? Yeah. I’ll come to you.”
After making an appointment, Jaeha quickly began handling what he had to do that day.
High school classmate Gu Daeyoung, whom he met at a grilled hagfish restaurant with acrid smoke rising, greeted Jaeha as if he was delighted to see him.
“Wow, who is this? Prosecutor Seo Jaeha!”
“Have you been well?”
“I’ve been too well. I don’t even need to ask, you look well. You were always handsome, but you’re getting cooler as you age. All the world’s unfairness has gathered here. With looks like this, smart too, good body too. Really, every time I see you I don’t want to live in this world.”
“How have you not changed at all either?”
Looking at Daeyoung spouting nonsense like flowing water, Jaeha was genuinely amazed.
“Come on, take a glass first.”
As soon as he pulled out a backless blue plastic folding chair from under the round tin table and placed his butt on it, Daeyoung held out a soju glass first.
Glug glug glug.
Clear soju cheerfully filled the glass.
“You bastard. Your fortune shines bright.”
Jaeha received the soju bottle and filled Daeyoung’s empty glass. In the meantime, a middle-aged man who appeared to be the owner brought out more side dishes and chopsticks.
Sizzle.
Under the owner’s skillful hands, the hagfish cooked deliciously on the coal fire.
“Come on. For a friend we’re meeting after a long time.”
Clink.
They emptied two glasses in succession. Daeyoung, who was chewing a mouthful of salty eel, looked at Jaeha with smiling eyes.
“Eat and talk.”
Because he was trying to say something with his mouth full of food, Jaeha first blocked him with a smile. As soon as he refilled the glass, Daeyoung emptied it in one gulp.
“I was surprised when you called. A guy who hardly comes to class reunions suddenly calling. What wind blew?”
“What wind. I was feeling frustrated so I thought of you and called.”
“Does a successful Central District Prosecutors’ Office prosecutor also have frustrating times?”
“I’m just a salaryman handling traffic accidents.”
“If you’re a salaryman, then what am I? Wet food waste?”
At the joke that violently put himself down, Jaeha chuckled.
“Can you put down someone at the cutting edge of media power like that?”
“Media power. I didn’t know third-rate Sunday newspapers had power. First time I’ve learned this in 6 years in this industry.”
Gu Daeyoung was a so-called ‘tabloid’ reporter who wasn’t treated as major media. He broke exclusive scoops every time, but because his credibility was rock bottom, when written, it was often buried without being recognized as truthful, at shortest half a year, at longest several years later. But as it was a yellow newspaper, it was a source of fast rumors known as so-called ‘X-files.’
At the same time, because it was an article that would be buried anyway no matter what was said, there were also many people who comfortably talked about the real situation to Daeyoung. He was the perfect person to secretly dig into someone’s rumors.
“You and I are both the same common citizens.”
“Prosecutor Seo Jaeha. Why are you being like this? You’re the person at the center of the topic these days?”
“What am I?”
“Wow. Seo Jaeha playing dumb again. Unlike your proper outward appearance, the other kids should know that your insides are blacker than a crow.”
“What’s so black about my insides?”
He emptied his glass while smiling sheepishly.
“No matter how I look at it, it’s acting like a model student, but no one believed it since high school. From when you became a prosecutor, I knew you’d take the corrupt elite course.”
“What elite course. I told you I’m an ordinary salaryman.”
“A guy who’s already been on page one of major daily newspapers several times with a sponsor… what’s the problem?”
“It’s not a problem, please say it’s because my professional ethics consciousness is alive.”
While avoiding the gaze that looked half regretful, half suspicious, Jaeha moved his chopsticks.
Daeyoung was quick-witted in strange places. That’s why there was also a comfortable side to Daeyoung. Though his long nonsense was noisy, he was one of the precious friends who didn’t shrink in front of Jaeha.
“Since we’re on the subject. Is there any bite or anything from Taeryoung?”
If it were someone else, it would be a situation where he’d pretend to be angry, telling them not to slander people with absurd premature conclusions. But doing such a thing in front of the well-worn Gu Daeyoung would only raise more suspicion about why he was startled in advance.
“Why would Taeryoung approach a Criminal Division prosecutor with no connections or anything? They’re busy people too.”
“Hey, don’t dodge it. Wasn’t there any contact or anything regarding the Kim Gilsu case? Like phone calls.”
Gu Daeyoung urgently lowered his voice.
“Are you digging for articles from a friend you’re meeting after a long time?”
“Hey, what’s good about having friends? In this recession, the section chief even gave me a corporate card because I’m meeting a prosecutor friend, and you’re doing this?”
Gu Daeyoung came out shamelessly. Jaeha laughed emptily.
“You guys have corporate cards too? And if you pulled out a corporate card, you should at least buy Korean beef, what’s with hagfish?”
“Whoa. This old man is trying to leech off a poor reporter. And don’t you know Kim Youngran said no more than 30,000 won?”
“Watch your mouth.”
Jaeha chewed the hagfish ostentatiously while smiling. Gu Daeyoung picked out only well-cooked pieces of flesh and placed them on Jaeha’s plate.
“With devotion.”
“So, really no bite at all?”
“What would come to me.”
Jaeha, who cut off his words, shook the empty soju bottle. Then Gu Daeyoung called the owner to place an additional order. Only after opening a cold green bottle and filling the glasses again did Jaeha continue speaking.
“Our chief prosecutor was jumping up and down so much about not handling the case quickly. Anyone would think pressure came in from somewhere.”
“The chief prosecutor, you say.”
Gu Daeyoung chewed over it as if he wouldn’t forget this important point.
“You know that famous idol group these days. The one that’s big in America?”
“Oh, I know. Why that story suddenly?”
“Those concert tickets are so hard to get.”
“Don’t even mention it. It’s a total war. Kids skip school and cling to the internet. If that doesn’t work, they nag their parents and lie down until they get them. Even if you poke sponsor companies, they don’t come out at all. A bank branch manager I know couldn’t get them either so he was calling everywhere. You have to be a parent who can get those tickets to boast about being successful in front of kids these days. If you can’t get them, you’re a dirt spoon or something.”
As soon as he poked, answers poured out like a dam releasing water during the rainy season. All Jaeha had to do was add one more keyword.
“I guess you have to be at least a chief prosecutor to get them.”
“Aha.”
Daeyoung understood Jaeha’s words very quickly. He took out his cell phone, turned on the memo app, and tapped something.
“World-class idol concert that became a hotbed of illegal solicitation. The section chief will like it.”
“The alcohol is going down smoothly today. Can I order more?”
“Of course. Order more, order more.”
Daeyoung ordered more grilled hagfish and other offal meats. Following that, rumors about friends who didn’t have news, shitty work life, and social talk continued in succession.
“It’s funny me catching you and talking, but to pass the Kim Gilsu case to the Criminal Division. Really, our country’s prosecution is rotten. Ah, sorry.”
“Well, I think so too.”
“Taeryoung pulled strings.”
The Taeryoung talk continued again. Daeyoung grumbled that Chairman Jung Taeho suddenly claimed to have a chronic illness and occupied the hospital VIP floor without showing his face. It seemed his resentment was great for not getting anything despite camping out in front of that hospital for a whole week.
“If the chairman is in seclusion, who handles the work?”
“Prosecutor, why are you like this. So slow. There are children, aren’t there?”
Daeyoung snorted at Jaeha. Jaeha nodded as if he knew nothing.
“Were there two children?”
“The first is daughter Jung Kyungrok, the second is son Jung Kyungwoo. The daughter is quiet after marriage and the son originally has no rumors.”
“Isn’t it strange? That chaebol family children are this quiet.”
At Jaeha’s words, Daeyoung also nodded.
“The Taeryoung family tradition is famous for being strict. If criminal records or drug records are discovered, they’re immediately disowned or something. That’s why Jung Taeho also became chairman even though he was the fourth son of the former chairman. The older brothers above were eliminated one after another.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“And yet the economic crimes that ruin the country are something else. It’s all hypocrisy.”
Jaeha quietly asked the bitterly smiling Daeyoung.
“That son. Does he do drugs by any chance?”
“What? Drugs?”
“Mm. Someone I know said they saw Jung Kyungwoo by chance. The circumstances were a bit suspicious.”
“I haven’t heard such a story. Where did they see him?”
“At a hotel in broad daylight.”
“Wasn’t he meeting a lover? Or some improper transaction?”
“I don’t know. But he wasn’t even in a suit and came in quietly alone. Is it a lover?”
“It must be a lover.”
Daeyoung shook his head no.
“Jung Kyungwoo is so famous as a germaphobe patient. He’s a guy who wouldn’t do drugs even because it’s dirty. And if he were going to do drugs, he’d do it at a club, why go all the way to a hotel?”
“Germaphobe?”
“Yeah, it came out several times in securities market tabloids. Jung Kyungwoo is famous for severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and germaphobia. He grew up in America as a child, did he live being pathologically clean back then? That’s why.”
“Really? In America?”
At those words, Daeyoung began to rattle on again.
“The strange thing is he grew up alone in America. The chairman’s wife came and went, but you know, it’s not common for a chaebol’s legitimate heir to grow up so isolated like that. So he’s apparently unfamiliar with Korean circumstances and has unusual sentiments.”
Daeyoung, who chewed and swallowed the offal meat in his mouth, continued speaking.
“Of course there are no management achievements yet. There are even Taeryoung men who doubt his qualities. But what can you do. The eldest daughter is a housewife so there’s only the son. Right now he’s an executive director at Taeryoung Holdings, I think? But the internal evaluation seems to be not so good.”
“Hmm.”
Jaeha nodded as if it was nothing.
It was hard to believe he was a germaphobe who wouldn’t even do drugs. Rather, wasn’t it that he paid more attention to hygiene because he did drugs? But Daeyoung’s words themselves were very interesting.
*
Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring.
The cell phone rang loudly. The small machine desperately vibrating finally woke its unconscious owner.
“Ugh.”
His head felt like it would split. Kyungwoo pressed his forehead hard with a hand that had no strength. His eyes felt like they’d been pounded with a hammer. His nose bridge also ached.
“Ah.”
What came out of his throat wasn’t his own voice. He barely opened his stuck eyelids. The blurry space was unfamiliar even in sleep.
“Damn… it.”
He barely lifted his pounding head. His body, which hurt as if crushed by a commercial roller, also moved sluggishly.
Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring.
The cell phone kept ringing as if having a fit. Kyungwoo slid and fell from the bed.
Thud.
It already hurt so much he didn’t even feel the impact. He barely picked up the phone with languid fingertips and pushed the call button.
“…Yeah.”
It was an answer no different from an exclamation.
—Executive Director? Where are you? I’ll come pick you up right now.
Choi Dohyun shouted urgently. His head rang and irritation surged.
“What… why?”
—The chairman has been looking for you since earlier. I couldn’t keep contacting you…. I’ll go there right away. Where are you?
Fuck.
Kyungwoo didn’t even realize he’d reflexively spat out a curse as soon as he heard the word ‘chairman.’ Instead, he jumped up his body that felt like it would break.
“Hospital parking lot in 30 minutes. Bring clothes.”
—Yes. I’m leaving right now.
He threw the phone without even pressing the end call button. Kyungwoo repeatedly took deep breaths while pressing his scalp hard with all ten fingertips.
Though it was air mixed with the unpleasant smell of cheap air freshener, there was no problem supplying oxygen to his brain. He blinked his aching eyes to focus.
Belatedly, his own appearance caught his eye.
“Why are all the clothes?”
He’d lost consciousness many times until now, but most of the time he would wake up in that spot where he collapsed, in that appearance he collapsed.
This was the first time he’d woken up wearing only briefs like today. Looking around, there were no traces of vomiting either.
“New every day. You stupid bastard.”
Kyungwoo roughly rubbed his face with his dry hands. Two minutes had already passed. Even if he finished showering quickly and left, it would be tight.
Though it sucked, he had to use the bathroom attached to the room. He opened the door and threw off his briefs.
Whoosh.
He got in the bathtub and poured cold water over himself starting from his head.
It had been half a year since there were signs of a seizure. Company work was becoming familiar, and there were almost no occasions to flush with anger while facing his father. His attending physician had also said it seemed like a stable period.
The cause of suddenly bursting out like this was only one.
Seo Jaeha.
Fucking bastard.
His jaw, with cold water flowing over it, tensed up. He clenched his fist and struck down on the white bathroom tile wall.
Thud.
His hand blade ached. But it was nothing compared to the pain of torn-apart pride.
Two weeks ago, Jung Kyungwoo had seen the dirty true face of that bastard he’d only thought of as a wriggling earthworm.
As soon as he entered the hospital VIP dedicated parking lot, Choi Dohyun opened Kyungwoo’s driver’s seat door as if she’d been waiting.
“The clothes?”
“I arranged a changing room and prepared them there.”
Though she’d never received secretary training, Choi Dohyun had the talent to prepare everything efficiently. The person he trusted also did work well, so it was the best.
Before reaching the floor with the chairman’s office, the elevator stopped. Choi Dohyun led the way to guide him. One single-occupancy special room was empty.
Not only a complete suit, but underwear, socks, shoes too. Perfectly prepared.
As soon as Kyungwoo entered, he took off his clothes. Behind him, Choi Dohyun locked the door. Even though they were alone in a closed room, there was no emotional disturbance at all. Because she was a woman.
He didn’t mind showing her his naked body. He was just avoiding it at the level of courtesy. He couldn’t even do this with his half-blood older sister.
He roughly put on clothes and buttoned his sleeves. While tying his tie, Choi Dohyun, who had been silently quiet the whole time, opened her mouth.
“Where were you?”
“What will you do knowing?”
“When the chairman urgently looks for you like today, I should go pick you up right away….”
“That’s enough. In front of that person, 5 minutes or five hours don’t make a difference anyway.”
“But.”
“Stop, won’t you?”
Kyungwoo cut off her words in the middle.
“I apologize.”
The loyal bodyguard immediately apologized for her rudeness. No matter how much she was, even she didn’t know accurately about Kyungwoo’s symptoms.
That was a secret limited to the head family, more precisely, people who could call Jung Taeho husband or father. The one exception was his attending physician residing in America.
