23.
After eating his fill and having fruit for dessert, Haseo returned to the guest room. Normally at this hour, he would have been working elsewhere, but since he wasn’t going out, he had nothing to do. So he fiddled with his phone while sitting on the bed, eventually sliding down to lie on his side.
His heart had been pounding since earlier, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else. He didn’t think he had felt this way since his grandmother was hospitalized. Somehow, he felt a little happy.
* * *
Waking up earlier than usual, Haseo went straight to the kitchen. Despite his lack of focus, he prepared breakfast while carefully following the recipe he had studied hard. He wanted to return as much as he had received from Choi Mujin.
Chop chop.
He cut the vegetables more prettily and seasoned the stew with care. He had been using the existing dishes so far, but now he felt like he wanted to get nicer ones.
“Better than last time.”
That was Mujin’s assessment after eating breakfast. When he had first heard such evaluative comments, he had felt annoyed, but now he didn’t feel that way.
‘Because he pays a good salary.’
Haseo smiled sweetly, then cleared the table after they finished eating and prepared to go out. After changing his clothes, he found Park Dongsu waiting at the front door.
“Please take care of me today.”
“Not at all. I should be the one saying that.”
They bowed to each other in greeting, then immediately left the house. The first thing Haseo did upon arriving at the hospital was to visit the billing department to pay the hospital fees. Due to transfer limits, he couldn’t send the full amount, but he could send more tomorrow.
“Should I transfer it for you instead?”
Park Dongsu offered, but Haseo declined.
“It’s okay. I can send more tomorrow.”
Next, leaving behind the now more pleasant staff member, he headed to his grandmother’s room. His grandmother seemed even smaller than when he had last seen her. There was a time when she had looked so big to him as a child, but at some point she had started shrinking, and now she was terribly thin. No matter how well the hospital cared for her, there were limits to what they could do if she wasn’t eating on her own.
“Grandmother.”
Haseo gently caressed his grandmother’s hand while talking about his daily life. He spoke only of good things and interesting things, hoping she would open her eyes.
* * *
Even if they weren’t among the top conglomerates, money could accomplish anything. The same was true for the delinquent from Toho Construction.
“The world is truly good. Money makes everything possible. Money.”
After paying the private investigator, information about the guy Choi Mujin kept around came out easily. It probably wasn’t difficult to gather information on someone so unremarkable. His father was addicted to gambling, and his mother, tired of it, ran away. In the process, the child was practically abandoned and left alone, until the grandmother took him in.
“Tsk tsk. How pitiful.”
The problem was that the grandmother didn’t have much wealth either. It seemed she had earned a little money from government projects in the past, but was eventually cut from those too. After that, she raised her grandson with government support payments and the small change she earned collecting waste paper. The information gathered was so thorough that even the amounts were written down, and they were truly meager.
“Sounds like a common sob story.”
It wasn’t unusual for an elderly person who had fallen ill to collapse while overworking. And it wasn’t strange that the grandson would step up to support his only family.
On the surface, Toho looked like a proper business, but behind the scenes, it didn’t hesitate to get involved in dirty dealings. When you do that, you meet all sorts of people, and Ryu Jiho had seen even worse circumstances.
“Well, I think I get the picture now.”
It meant that a young man with an unfortunate life had tried to exploit Choi Mujin and got caught by the throat. Given that man’s personality, it was surprising he would tolerate someone who had treated him that way. Even if he looked delicate, he was still a man—what could be so good about him?
“First Minchul, now this. Their tastes are really something.”
As someone who had only ever liked women, Ryu Jiho found it difficult to understand. He put down the documents he had been reviewing and tapped the table with his fingers. So far, Choi Mujin had kept two ordinary people by his side. One had been there briefly before falling away, and the second was this Lee Haseo mentioned in the documents.
‘Seeing how he brought him to the restaurant, he must have genuine feelings for him.’
That meant he could be used. Ryu Jiho grinned. Of course, knowing this didn’t mean he was planning to stage a kidnapping right away. Killing someone by using the person they cared about was now an outdated story. Besides, there was no guarantee that Choi Mujin would come to rescue Lee Haseo.
“Let’s think of a method, a method.”
First of all, he absolutely couldn’t get directly involved himself. If he got caught, he could find himself in various difficult situations, so he needed someone to use. Someone suitably stupid and obedient. And as it happened, he knew just such a person.
Choi Minchul. The son of an ordinary small business, who enjoyed riding on Ryu Jiho’s coattails. It wasn’t particularly pleasant behavior, but he had good enough social skills that Jiho had left him alone until now. He matched Jiho’s mood no matter what and immediately procured whatever was needed.
Without hesitation, Ryu Jiho picked up his phone and found Choi Minchul in his contacts. After pressing the call button, the other party answered promptly.
— Hey, Jiho!
“Hey, Choi Minchul! What have you been up to these days? Haven’t seen your face since we parted at the restaurant? How about meeting up after all this time?”
It hadn’t been long since they met at the restaurant, but Ryu Jiho spoke nonchalantly. And as always, Minchul gave him the answer he wanted.
— I’d love to! Oh my, I should have called you first. I was inconsiderate.
“As long as you understand. So let’s meet. Are you free now? That building I own near Sadang. Come there.”
— I’ll be right there. Right away!
The sound of commotion could be heard through the phone.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Ryu Jiho said that and hung up. He didn’t know where Minchul was, but he would come running as quickly as possible. Having a friend who could be called anytime, anywhere seemed truly nice.
Thirty minutes later, Choi Minchul arrived at Ryu Jiho’s office. It was a place provided by the president of Toho Construction, who couldn’t bear his son who only fooled around like a madman. Ryu Jiho had just put up a decent-looking sign here and spent different kinds of time in the basement.
“I-I’m here.”
Having apparently run from his car, Minchul was breathing heavily. Because of this, his words weren’t coming out properly.
“You’re a bit late.”
“Sorry, really sorry.”
Without offering any excuse for why he was late, Minchul rubbed his hands together and apologized profusely. It was excessive behavior for a friend, but Ryu Jiho was satisfied.
“It’s fine. It must have been unavoidable. Sit down here first.”
When Ryu Jiho pointed to the sofa, Minchul quickly sat down and watched for his reaction.
“Minchul.”
“Yes?”
“We’re friends, right?”
“Of course we’re friends. Where could you find friends as close as us?”
“That’s right. There are no friends as close as us! Then you should grant a friend’s request. Right?”
Minchul nodded with an awkward smile.
“Of course. That’s what friendship means.”
“Then, would you like to see this?”
Ryu Jiho handed over the documents he had been looking at earlier. There was a photo attached to the first page, and Minchul immediately recognized the person in it.
“It’s the restaurant employee.”
“He’s not working there anymore; he’s with Choi Mujin now.”
“You mean Director Choi from Isaac Finance?”
“Yes, he has similar tastes to yours. That’s probably why he seems to like this guy. Wow, to think that Director Choi would show interest in someone. Surprising, isn’t it?”
“It is surprising. So what do you want me to do?”
“He seems to be struggling financially.”
“But he has Director Choi with him, right? Doesn’t he give him money?”
At Minchul’s question, Ryu Jiho jerked his chin as if telling him to look at the photo again.
“Look at his clothes. If he was giving him money and treasuring him, would he be dressed like that?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Taking someone from another’s room and then letting them walk around looking like a beggar? Minchul unconsciously scratched his chin. Is he the type who only satisfies his desires without taking care of the other person? But from what he knew, the man had given quite a lot of money to women he had spent just one night with.
“It’s strange.”
It seemed like he should understand something, but it didn’t immediately come to mind. While Minchul was lost in thought, Ryu Jiho continued.
“Right. It’s strange. But still, he’s someone Director Choi keeps around. So there must be something, don’t you think?”
“You want to find out what that is?”
“Yes, and if possible, I’d like Lee Haseo-ssi to take our side. If Director Choi isn’t giving him money, wouldn’t it be fine for us to fill that gap instead?”
In other words, he was telling him to try and bribe Lee Haseo somehow.
“You don’t particularly need to be picky about methods.”
If money didn’t work, there was always blackmail.
“Can you help with this?”
“Of course, we’re friends.”
Minchul gathered the documents and licked his lips. It was scary to mess with someone connected to Director Choi, but the Ryu Jiho right in front of him was no ordinary psycho either.
If he messed up, he might find himself buried somewhere by Ryu Jiho with only his head sticking out. His family’s business received work from Toho Construction, so even if something like that happened, they couldn’t even protest. So all Minchul could do right now was obey Ryu Jiho’s words, just as he had always done.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
