“Did you hit him?”
He remembered Miro saying he’d been hit by his younger brother. Where on earth would you find a place to hit that pretty person? Eunchan flared up angrily and started confronting Jang Heewoo.
“Why are you getting heated? That bastard doesn’t care at all? Are you two dating?”
“Where would you even find a place to hit him?”
“I hit him because he did something that deserved to be hit!”
What a real son of a bitch. Eunchan stood up from his seat. The stalker must have been ordered by this person too.
“Go ask your hyung for blood.”
“What blood?”
“Blood packs.”
“Why should I? And why should Miro-ssi give that?”
At the absurd request, Eunchan didn’t hide his crumpled expression as he questioned him.
“That’s his reason for existing. I won’t ask for the other things back, so just tell him to give me blood. Then he’ll understand.”
Blood is his reason for existing? Eunchan recalled Miro’s blood. Precious blood, a blood type that was difficult to obtain supplies of from elsewhere. Eunchan looked at Jang Heewoo with coldly chilled eyes.
“Are you MkMk?”
* * *
Ignoring the continuously vibrating phone, Eunchan caught a taxi. What Jang Heewoo wanted was his own survival.
‘It’s leukemia. I need his blood.’
Only Miro’s blood could save his younger brother. But from what he saw, it seemed like Miro had been continuously helping his younger brother. Why did Miro suddenly change his attitude? His complicated head refused to organize itself.
Eunchan headed to the office, not Miro’s house. He couldn’t understand Miro and his brother’s relationship. No, he didn’t know if he was even allowed to know. Feeling like he was gradually stepping into deep water, Eunchan had hastily fled from Jang Heewoo’s house.
When he opened the office door, he saw Hyungsik sprawled out under the air conditioner.
“Hyung!”
At the sight of him welcoming Eunchan warmly as soon as he saw him, Eunchan savored his peaceful everyday life. Blood, assets, stalker…… When Eunchan had a tired face, Hyungsik approached with surprised eyes.
“Hyung, did something happen? What’s wrong with your face?”
“I’m just a bit tired. Where’s the boss?”
“He went to the bank for a moment. Hyung, did you eat lunch?”
“Ah, I should eat now. You take this.”
Eunchan handed over the box of vitamin drinks that Jang Heewoo hadn’t accepted to Hyungsik, then went to his seat and sat down comfortably leaning back in the chair. There was a high possibility that his younger brother was involved in Miro’s stalking. Because he had something he wanted to obtain through threats. However, there were also unclear points.
Had Miro been abused since he was young? Why is Miro’s reason for existing Jang Heewoo? Just what were their parents doing? The problem was that to solve one thing, he had to delve deeply into someone else’s family affairs.
“Should I order something? Jajangmyeon?”
“You haven’t had lunch yet, right? Order what you want to eat.”
“Okay, hyung, should I turn the air conditioner up higher if you’re hot?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Eunchan took out his phone and checked Miro’s contact.
[Eunchan. Where. Are. You. Now?. ^^.]
[Eunchan. Where. Are. You. Now?. ^^.]
[Eunchan. Where. Are. You. Now?. ^^.]
[When. Are. You. Coming?. ^^.]
[When. Are. You. Coming?. ^^.]
[When. Are. You. Coming?. ^^.]
At the messages that came multiple times with the same content, Eunchan briefly suspected it was a device error, but it really was Miro who had sent them multiple times with different time stamps. No wonder it kept vibrating continuously like a phone call. Thanks to that, only the battery had drained a lot.
[I’m at the office. Don’t skip meals and make sure to eat.]
After sending a reply, Eunchan looked back at Hyungsik. Hyungsik, who had been diligently choosing a menu on his phone, soon completed the delivery order as if he’d decided.
“Hyung, how about braised chicken?”
“Good. Hey, Hyungsik, listen to this story. There are two brothers.”
“Huh?”
Unable to understand on his own, Eunchan called Hyungsik.
“Their parents passed away and there are just the two of them, but they don’t get along well. And the younger brother is somewhat sick. They both have the same blood type, and should I say the blood type is unusual, anyway it’s not a common blood type, so they’re the only ones who can give and receive blood from each other.”
“There’s something like that?”
“There is, I heard it for the first time too. But the younger brother is sick now and needs blood to have surgery, right? But the older brother isn’t giving blood. But it’s not like the hyung doesn’t take care of his younger brother either.”
“Hey, even if they’re siblings, it’s not easy to give up organs and stuff like that. It’s like that, you know.”
Thinking about it that way, the story seemed to roughly make sense. Eunchan looked at Hyungsik with an admiring gaze.
“Maybe the hyung got hit by his younger brother and stuff. Could it be revenge for something like that?”
Looking at Miro’s build, he couldn’t have been going around getting hit. Rather, if he hit once, the younger brother’s body would collapse right away.
“No way. How much could he have hit him? Unless he grew up getting hit by his parents.”
The words that it had been that way since childhood. Then there was a high possibility that the parents were involved. Eunchan gradually assembled the puzzle.
“The younger brother said the hyung’s reason for existing is because of blood. What do you think it means?”
“Hmm…… They both have unusual blood types, right? Then maybe it means they should live taking care of each other? I heard there are cases where they have a second child to tell them to take care of things if the hyung gets sick.”
Hyungsik shrugged, saying he saw it on TV.
“Then why would that family abuse the hyung and say the hyung’s reason for existing is because of blood? As if they only need the blood.”
It wasn’t that Jang Heewoo was needed for Miro who was born first, but rather it seemed like Miro existed for Jang Heewoo. Eunchan sighed while running his hand through his hair backward.
“Maybe they’re not real brothers, I guess.”
“……”
“I’m kidding.”
Though Hyungsik said it like a joke, Eunchan felt like lightning struck his head. The two who didn’t resemble each other, the same blood type, abuse since childhood. ‘Even now, Miro-ssi doesn’t have enough blood packs for his own use.’ The words of Miro’s attending physician flashed through his mind.
“Right, if they’re not real brothers, that could be possible.”
Then Jang Heewoo’s attitude of shamelessly demanding as if it was entrusted made sense. Eunchan picked up his phone and stood up from his seat.
“Where are you going, hyung? The food will be here soon.”
“I’m going to check. Eat with the boss.”
He planned to go to Miro and confirm the truth. However, when he actually stood in front of the office door, Eunchan hesitated without opening the door. Am I going to go and ask ‘Miro-ssi, were you adopted?’ What am I going to do knowing that……
Eunchan recalled Miro sitting alone blankly in the hospital. A man who looked lonely with no one to rely on. Miro sometimes looked fragile as if he would break soon. Eunchan collapsed in hesitation and just stared blankly at the door.
At that moment, the boss suddenly opened the door Eunchan couldn’t open from the opposite side and came in.
“What are you doing?”
Seeing Eunchan sitting blankly in front of the door, the boss asked with surprised eyes.
“Self-reflection.”
“What nonsense. You came at a good time, let’s talk inside.”
The boss clicked his tongue and gestured for them to go into the boss’s office together. Eunchan nodded and moved toward the boss’s office instead of going outside.
“Hyung, eat before you go!”
Behind him, Hyungsik urged Eunchan to make sure to eat before leaving.
Eunchan shoved the phone that kept receiving texts deep into his pocket and sat in the seat across from the boss.
“Have your fortunes gotten better lately?”
Looking over the outfit Eunchan was wearing, the boss’s eyes gleamed. Thanks to Miro who only dressed and fed him good things, he was enjoying luxury.
“If you look at the internet a lot, you can find good deals.”
Eunchan covered the brand logo with his hand and answered, saying what he was wearing now was also fake.
“Boss, please give me the lawyer’s number. I changed my phone and everything was lost.”
Though many things had happened, not a single thing had been resolved. He needed to find Kim Noeul quickly too, but he just got his head cracked for nothing and ended up intervening in someone else’s family affairs. Eunchan endured the itchiness of the wound on his head and asked the boss.
“That’s actually why I called you. You asked me to look into Han Inju, right?”
“Why? Did something come up?”
At the boss’s unusual nuance, Eunchan straightened his back and urged the next words.
“He’s not just a lawyer.”
“Then what? He’s impersonating a lawyer? A scammer?”
He threatened me so much about impersonating a public official, but he’s been going around pretending to be a lawyer himself? Eunchan’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“No, he is a lawyer, but before being in the legal team, he was a director at Myeongjin.”
“But why is he in the legal team? While being a director?”
“That’s why. That’s what’s strange. And the fact that he helped us too.”
Because he was a director-level person, things went well with just one phone call. Eunchan newly felt the weight of the business card.
“Doesn’t it feel a bit off? I think Han Inju isn’t looking for Kim Noeul for no reason.”
Why would such an important person take on a commission, even going so far as to act like a legal team lawyer? Eunchan carefully told the boss.
“Then why is he looking?”
“To kill them?”
“Come on.”
“Kim Haengbok, the owner of that land, said he wouldn’t give it to anyone except Kim Noeul. But what if Kim Noeul is dead and gone?”
If Kim Haengbok was an elderly old man and his children inherited it. As long as Kim Noeul wasn’t there, Kim Haengbok would distribute it to his children, and Myeongjin could easily deal with the children.
“What’s so important about that land that they’d go that far? It’s not even land in the middle of Seoul.”
“That’s true though.”
There used to be a gold mine in the old days, but it can’t be because of that, right? Eunchan had a memory of his grandmother saying in passing when he was young that they used to mine a lot of gold here.
“But your words do make sense. What can’t people do with money?”
The boss nodded, saying it was sufficiently suspicious.
“There was a clause in the contract not to investigate alone. To only investigate when going around with him. Also, he took my picture every time we worked?”
“Hey, that is suspicious. Why tell you not to work alone? Is he monitoring you?”
“I told you it’s strange. We should have looked into it carefully before accepting the commission. Just being happy because he gives money~.”
“I didn’t know either.”
There was no reason to promise a large sum just to find one person. Eunchan sighed, blaming the boss.
