# Chapter 17
“Secretary Han, my brother has suddenly decided to go to America.”
Woojin’s prediction was exactly right. After dinner, Taehan immediately sensed something strange about Jaehyun and called him aside.
“Please take good care of my brother in America too. I’m already worried since my brother is going far away. Please continue to report every detail about my brother as you have been doing.”
Taehan smiled slightly and patted Woojin’s shoulder as if to encourage him. But this was a form of pressure. An unpleasant pressure to monitor Jaehyun more closely as he moved beyond his sight.
If Jaehyun was stupid with intentions that were transparent, Taehan was the complete opposite. He never revealed emotions on his face, making it impossible to know his thoughts. However, one thing was certain: he was someone who could exert enormous pressure on others with just his expression and behavior.
Woojin despised Jaehyun, but he also felt immense fatigue just from facing Taehan. His only thought was to escape this wretched Daejin family as soon as possible.
To do that, he needed to understand the real reason why Jaehyun suddenly wanted to leave for America, and report each of his actions to Cha Taehan in even greater detail. He needed to quickly and accurately collect all of Cha Jaehyun’s suspicious activities so that Taehan could cleanly cut him out of the Daejin family.
He had already gathered quite a bit of information. From drug smuggling to assault instigation, kidnapping, and confinement. But he needed something bigger to completely eliminate Jaehyun in one blow. Taehan was constantly on the lookout for that opportunity, making maximum use of Woojin.
“Yes, Executive Director. Don’t worry.”
Woojin felt the same way. Quickly getting rid of the disgusting Jaehyun and receiving a large sum of money. And also permanently parting ways with this man standing before him, who was born in a position others couldn’t even dream of and treated everyone as if he was manipulating them. That was all he wished for.
* * *
This is bad.
That was the conclusion Woojin reached after two weeks since arriving in America. During these two weeks, Jaehyun avoided him as if deliberately, not even appearing or calling for him once.
Living in the house right next door, yet it’s difficult to even see his face. This was clearly intentional behavior. After two weeks, Woojin realized that Jaehyun was deliberately trying to avoid him.
Yesterday, he finally managed to see his face. In the past, he would have felt like vomiting just from seeing his face, but now he felt a bit of gladness, which made him feel self-loathing.
“Young Master, are you doing well? Is there anything you need?”
“No. I’ll call you separately if needed.”
As soon as Jaehyun encountered him, he looked somewhat flustered and quickly disappeared from sight as if he had some urgent business.
Since he didn’t contact him and wasn’t visible, Woojin couldn’t even know what Jaehyun was doing throughout the two weeks. This was a guy who would throw a fit if Woojin wasn’t right by his side serving him for even a minute. Now, not knowing what he was up to or what scheme he was plotting only made him burn with anxiety.
At first, when he learned that he might have to live under the same roof with that bastard in a foreign country, he felt like his world was going dark. So the Daejin family is driving me to my death. He even thought that if he died from Jaehyun’s tantrums there, he would become a ghost haunting and cursing the Daejin family forever.
But surprisingly, suddenly he was told he could live in a neighboring house instead of the same house. Having to accompany Jaehyun to America itself was shitty and unwelcome, but the fact that he didn’t have to live in the same house with him made him feel like he had overcome a major hurdle.
However, after two weeks had passed, he thought it might have been better to live in the same house with this guy. In fact, he hadn’t even considered this scenario. If they had lived together, he could have at least searched through all of Jaehyun’s things when he wasn’t around.
What was even more serious was that after two weeks with no significant news, Taehan began to press him. Last night, he received a sudden phone call.
Taehan doesn’t call him. Until now, they had occasionally met in person, but all instructions were given via text. When the phone rang late at night, he picked it up with a heavy heart.
“Secretary Han, it’s been quite quiet for two weeks. I think you know well that I didn’t send you to America with my brother for you to rest comfortably. I hope you keep our agreement in mind. Think carefully about what you are supposed to receive, and what you promised to give in return.”
“Executive Director, I’m ashamed. I will do better to understand the situation more thoroughly.”
“It’s already been two weeks. It’s not about doing better, it’s about doing well, as I’m sure you know? I hope there won’t be any disappointments. Please remember that not only you, but I too can terminate this contract.”
A low baritone voice devoid of emotion coming through the phone. This was a clear warning. With no significant events in the past two weeks, it was evident that Taehan’s mood had become very uncomfortable. Woojin wondered what expression Taehan would be wearing now.
A man whose expression is difficult to read even normally. He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to him if his mood was twisted.
“Executive Director, please give me one more chance. I will figure out everything in detail.”
“Yes, let’s end this call. I hope there won’t be another call for such a reason.”
As soon as the call ended, his tensed body quickly relaxed. But the tightness in his heart didn’t easily go away. Given the situation, he could no longer just sit idly by. He had to understand every aspect of Jaehyun’s daily routine, who hadn’t shown his face for two weeks, and provide information that would satisfy Taehan.
* * *
For several days, Woojin secretly followed Jaehyun all day long. But this only brought greater disappointment to Woojin.
Jaehyun’s daily routine was that of an ordinary international student. He wakes up early in the morning and jogs for a simple 20 minutes. Then he packs his things, stops by a cafe for a quick snack, and attends morning classes. For lunch, he eats with students who appear to be newly made friends in the cafeteria, and in the afternoon, he either attends another class or studies alone in the central library.
Having watched him for two years, Woojin thought he neither had the patience to read text for long periods nor the intelligence for it. But on days when he went to the library, Cha Jaehyun literally just read books for hours. As if the books were laced with drugs.
He secretly followed him to his classes too, but it wasn’t much different. He just quietly attended classes.
‘This bastard, does he know I’m following him?’
Another surprising point was that he was quite good at English. The Jaehyun that Woojin knew in Korea was completely illiterate, unable to even properly read English words.
He was the kind of guy who couldn’t even read the simple word “Alligator” and asked if it was “arigato,” but when Woojin followed him to class, although his pronunciation wasn’t fluent, he expressed everything he wanted to say and his expressive ability in sentences was far beyond Woojin’s expectations.
‘When did his English skills improve so much?’
He began to feel increasingly anxious. He couldn’t waste time like this without any results. He needed to quickly catch something big to bring to Taehan. Woojin felt like a mouse driven to the edge of a cliff.
‘At this point, there’s no other way.’
Finally, Woojin decided to execute a risky plan. To break into Jaehyun’s house when he wasn’t there. He had to somehow figure out why he had suddenly changed 180 degrees by searching through all his belongings. He was fully aware that this action carried a very high risk, but he judged it to be better than having his contract with Taehan terminated midway.
Woojin put this into action immediately. For a week, he meticulously followed Jaehyun, thoroughly understanding his daily routine, range of activities, and the time he returned home.
Since Jaehyun lived a very regular life, figuring out his schedule was easier than expected. On the day he decided to execute the plan, Woojin quickly prepared to break into his house.
‘I hope I find something.’
He was at the point of laughing at himself for his ridiculous attire, as if he were some sort of spy. How did he end up in this situation?
A beanie like a thimble to prevent hair from falling out, shoes with the soles removed, and even gloves. After figuring out the CCTV timing, he quickly moved to Jaehyun’s house during the brief moment when the CCTV wasn’t filming his house.
More agile than anyone, he entered the password he had already figured out and entered his house. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary house with nothing unusual. But Woojin thought differently. Jaehyun was the type to hide drugs in places like inside the toilet tank.
‘Cha Jaehyun, no matter how hard you try, you’re in my hands.’
He quickly began to search various parts of the room. Given the large size of the room, he had to move even faster. But surprisingly, there was no trace of anything.
All he found were things that didn’t match Jaehyun at all, like instant food in the refrigerator and unopened college textbooks.
‘Impossible. This is a trap.’
Just as Woojin was feeling disappointed, he heard the sound of someone entering the door code. Woojin’s blood ran cold instantly.
‘I’m fucked.’
The only thought in Woojin’s mind was that he was fucked. This is absolutely not the time for Jaehyun to come home. He should be in class right now. As he sensed a huge crisis like a nuclear bomb, Woojin’s body reacted first.
Woojin quickly entered the wardrobe in front of him. All he could do now was pray to heaven that he wouldn’t be discovered by Jaehyun. His situation, crouched in the wardrobe with his body crumpled, was truly miserable.
‘Please, leave again.’
Jaehyun seemed to be on a call, conversing with someone in English. Despite his prayers for Jaehyun not to come here, the voice was getting closer to him.
Woojin had thought of himself as a calm person who wouldn’t be shaken by most things, but not now. As Jaehyun’s footsteps grew louder, he could feel his own heartbeat responding to it, growing crazily louder throughout his body. The shadow of death was looming over the wardrobe.
“Secretary Han? What the hell?”
Finally, Jaehyun opened the wardrobe door. It’s over. He is finished. Jaehyun had discovered him after all. He could feel the emotion through Jaehyun’s face, which wore an expression of disbelief with a twisted lip as he asked the question.
‘Today is the day of my funeral.’
There was no way out anymore. The only thought filling his mind was that he was going to die today.
