It seemed Junghyung hadn’t expected to see Junghyun, as he showed momentary discomfort and displeasure before quickly erasing all expression from his face.
Then, with a friendly smile, he hurried over to the two of them.
“I didn’t know you two would come together. It’s been a while, Junghyun.”
“Yes, it’s been a while.”
“I already ordered on my way in. What about you two?”
“We did too.”
At Jaehyuk’s attitude suggesting they should get straight to the point, Junyoung nodded as if he’d expected this.
“Before we begin our conversation, I want to apologize first. I was too careless. The weather was nice and my eyes were tired, and since it was the weekend with few people around, I thought I’d just step out to organize things briefly, but it seems that’s when the photo was taken. I was too reckless, especially knowing your situation. I’m sorry.”
Clean and courteous.
After finishing his apology as if reciting a prepared speech, Junyoung immediately proposed a solution.
“As soon as the office opened today, I ordered them to contact the newspapers first. We’ll handle it under Dongha Law Firm’s name, not Hanju’s. It seems they’ve even mobilized viral marketing companies, so we’re tracking those down too. Everything should be resolved by this afternoon at the latest.”
“That’s a given.”
Jaehyuk calmly criticized him, implying that he didn’t want an apology but rather wanted to know how Junyoung would compensate for this.
The incident itself wasn’t a big deal.
They weren’t celebrities or politicians, and there was no need to make a fuss about something where the subjects hadn’t been explicitly identified.
The problem was the damage derived from it.
With Junghyun’s medical records spreading, how to resolve and compensate for this was what Jaehyuk was most concerned about.
Junyoung understood this well.
“That post has already been deleted. Our team monitored throughout the night and immediately reported it upon confirmation, sending official documents to the administrators.”
“…And?”
“That’s as far as we’ve gotten for now. We could pursue criminal charges if you want, but that wouldn’t be advisable. Since Junghyun didn’t use his real name, this could cause problems later. And if the information isn’t Junghyun’s, there’s no standing to sue.”
Junyoung looked at Junghyun as if to say, you should know this much.
To file a lawsuit, they would have to prove that the medical record was indeed Junghyun’s.
But proving that would violate medical law, and without proof, they couldn’t file a lawsuit.
The most ideal approach would be for the hospital from which the data was leaked to identify the leaker and report them for violating personal information laws, but no hospital would admit that a patient’s medical records had been leaked from their facility.
In other words, in this situation, filing a lawsuit would be equivalent to turning themselves in. That’s why the other side had made such a bold move.
The most they could do was for Junghyun to file a complaint against the hospital, but even then, the actual leaker wouldn’t suffer any consequences.
“You work in that field too, so you roughly understand, right? How complicated this situation is.”
“I know. And I’m not particularly interested in that aspect. They’re hoping I’ll verify my identity for a lawsuit, but I’m not nice enough to do that.”
As Junghyun shrugged, saying he wasn’t interested in that side of things, Junyoung smiled faintly as if he’d expected this response.
“Smart, as expected.”
“I’ll graciously accept the compliment.”
Meanwhile, a server brought over a tray with drinks and cake, placing each item at their respective seats.
As soon as the server left, a brief awkward silence fell over the table.
In that moment of silence and uncomfortable atmosphere, Junghyun was the first to pick up his cup.
Then he made an unexpected comment.
“Nice watch.”
Junyoung hesitated just as he was about to drink his coffee, taken aback by this watch talk that didn’t fit the situation at all.
Jaehyuk too paused mid-lift of his cup and looked at Junghyun.
At both their faces asking what he was talking about, Junghyun pretended not to notice and continued.
“Isn’t that the one Han Hohyun wore at the film festival last year, the world premiere? After the white dial and blue dial were discontinued ten years ago, only the gold dial was available, but last autumn they rereleased the blue dial with a new band, right?”
Junghyun added with a meaningful look that it had sold out immediately upon release, and Junyoung looked down at the watch on his left wrist.
A blue dial matched with a gold band.
“You know a lot about it.”
“It’s part of my job. Only three white dials and five blue dials came to Korea. Excluding Han Hohyun’s.”
“…Is that so? That’s not my expertise. Still, you recognized it well. Most people don’t recognize it because older models exist too.”
“The connection part is different. The old model has a folding clasp, and the new one has a pusher button. So you can clearly tell just by looking at the connection part. No need to even look at the dial.”
“…Good eye for detail?”
“Not just a good eye, but good intelligence too. In that sense, let me ask you. Why did you take that photo?”
Junyoung tilted his head at Junghyun’s sudden question, as if he didn’t understand what he meant.
“…What do you mean, taking a photo?”
“Exactly what I said. I think you might be mistaken… It’s true that Han Hohyun caused a stir by wearing that watch to the film festival, but the domestic release was two days later because of the weekend. That’s why Han Hohyun got the title of ‘world premiere.'”
Early in the morning on the day Junghyun and Jaehyuk met with the marriage broker, Han Hohyun had attended the film festival wearing that watch, and the watch arrived in Korea two days later on Monday.
After explaining that much, Junghyun picked up the fork in front of him and, cutting a piece of lemon tea cake, slowly continued.
“The domestic release after the weekend was Monday… but the items arrived Monday morning, and after checking their condition and moving them to stores, reserved customers received their watches after 4 PM. To be precise, that was after we had finished notarizing and registering our marriage.”
After taking a bite of cake, Junghyun opened his phone and showed Junyoung a message from the import company.
The screen displayed exactly what Junghyun had described.
And it was in a message thread with a manager’s name that Junyoung knew well.
“It was good of you to give a hint about looking for couples who married after autumn, but I think you underestimated us. People might overlook when we got our notarization since they don’t know, but we do. I think you assumed people would just accept it because internet searches show Han Hohyun wore the watch early Friday morning, but that import company is a hobby business run by our company’s president. And we handle all the viral marketing for that company.”
Junghyun explained in detail how the watch had arrived on his marriage registration day, and he’d nearly died trying to prepare for the wedding the next day and dealing with the aftermath, to which Junyoung quietly muttered.
“Indeed, you’re smart. It’s a shame, really. If you weren’t involved like this, I would have scouted you for our office.”
Though he said this, Junyoung didn’t look regretful at all.
His face was brazenly unapologetic, as if to say, well, I’ve been caught, nothing to be done about it.
Jaehyuk silently observed Junyoung as he smiled and immediately acknowledged it.
To be honest, Jaehyuk had somewhat anticipated this.
It was strange that Junyoung, of all people, would be reckless enough to view a contract outside, and the timing was too perfect.
For the incident to break right after meeting with Junyoung yesterday…
Moreover, the way it seemed designed to push for divorce without causing major damage to Jaehyuk personally was concerning.
If it had been his uncle, he would have chosen a method with greater impact on Jaehyuk.
Of course, his uncle did enjoy such childish and wasteful fights, but he wasn’t the type to take such risks knowing Jaehyuk would retaliate.
He wasn’t that reckless.
“…Jang Junyoung?”
As Jaehyuk called his name, urging him to explain himself, Junyoung took a sip of coffee and spoke leisurely.
“I told you. You and Junghyun are different, and that difference would eventually become a big problem.”
“So, you personally created that problem?”
When Jaehyuk asked if that’s what he meant, Junyoung displayed a strange smile.
It meant he wouldn’t bother denying it.
“To be precise, it wasn’t me but CEO Cha Jinwoo who did it. I just provided the source.”
“That’s just the difference between planning and execution. You’re an accomplice.”
“If that’s how you see it, I can’t help it. I just wanted to let you know. That I wasn’t wrong. And I also thought it would be good to take down your uncle in the process.”
“If that happens, you’ll go down with him, won’t you?”
“I don’t mind. Because Lee Junghyun will fall along with us.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
