He checked various things by moving the mouse cursor. Just after clicking the mouse a few times, a big breath escaped.
He could hardly recognize the programs filling the monitor. He only barely noticed that she had been in the middle of coding before she left her seat.
Sighs continued to burst out. His gaze, which had been fumbling over the monitor, was fixed on a small monitor attached to the upper right.
On that monitor was a satellite map that used to constantly display the locations of Jae-young and Seung-kwon.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single point marked on the satellite map. Neither Sa Gong-hyun’s car location nor Seung-kwon’s location.
“Ah.”
Jae-young, who had been sitting in the chair just chewing his fingernails, suddenly put his hand into his back pocket.
What Jae-young took out was the USB he had found at Seung-kwon’s officetel earlier. The fact that he always carried it with him in case of emergency only just occurred to him.
He connected the USB to the desktop. The USB contained only a single file. Jae-young, who immediately opened the file, slowly read through the text.
The file was a journal organized by date. It was Seung-kwon’s daily compilation of information he had learned during his work.
“…Haah, I’m going crazy, really.”
Jae-young, who had been silently reading the letters, finally bit back his frustration.
The last date of writing was six days ago, and the content written below it was ‘Logan Pierce Sa Gong-hyun’.
When he first saw this file, he thought it had the names of the person who requested the job and the target of the work written side by side, but now he saw that wasn’t the case.
Seung-kwon had previously speculated that Sa Gong-hyun might be Logan Pierce.
Since Jae-young discovered the USB four days ago, two questions arose at this point. First, Seung-kwon’s whereabouts for two days. Second, the reason why, despite knowing, he didn’t tell him this fact in advance.
Jae-young, who had closed his eyes tightly and then opened them, irritably rose from his seat.
Just as he was about to leave Ju-yeon’s workshop, something caught his eye, and he stepped back. Through the window, he could see a group of men in black suits loitering in front of the commercial building.
“These shibal bastards.”
Only then could he be certain that they had identified Ju-yeon’s existence as well.
Of course, the number of thugs roaming the neighborhood wasn’t small. However, the thugs in this neighborhood didn’t dress so neatly. A ghostly intuition was warning him to flee from them.
Jae-young hurriedly crossed the workshop toward the window on the opposite side. Geographically, there was nowhere to park a car nearby. Even looking out the window, there was nothing to confirm.
Sitting back in front of the computer, Jae-young clicked on the programs at the bottom one by one. Soon, among the numerous windows filling the screen, he looked at the CCTV footage being broadcast.
“Not here, not here either…”
The murmuring continued quietly. Finally, he discovered three black sedans haphazardly parked on the roadside.
He zoomed in on the windshield of the car parked at the front. He found a notepad and scribbled down the number visible on the screen.
Due to the poor image quality, he marked confusing numbers separately. Jae-young picked up a mobile phone rolling around on the desk. It was a feature phone that Ju-yeon used only to send spam messages.
He got up from his seat and walked to the window. While staring at where the suit group was standing, he dialed an eleven-digit number on the mobile phone.
—Hello.
After the ringing tone ended, a voice flowed through the receiver, but none of the men in suits was answering the phone. He hung up and dialed the next number.
Not this one either… By the time he had attempted to call someone exactly four times—
—Yes?
A rather gruff voice flowed through the receiver. Right on cue, one of the men in suits was holding a mobile phone to his ear.
Jae-young, pulling up the corners of his mouth in a long smile, immediately hung up.
“Idiots.”
As if annoyed by the abruptly disconnected call without any business, the man’s angry voice penetrated through the thick window. As the disconnected phone rang again, he removed the battery.
It was enough to confirm that those were their cars. Without delay, he immediately reported illegal parking. After watching the CCTV for a few minutes before the tow truck arrived, he got up from his seat.
Jae-young, who had left Ju-yeon’s office, ran his hand over his neck once. He naturally walked in the opposite direction. Just as his calm steps were about to turn the corner of the building toward the alley, Jae-young encountered someone.
“…”
With rabbit eyes, he looked up at the figure standing in front of him.
The person looking down at Jae-young with a face as unchanging as a wooden doll was Manager Jo. Jae-young stared blankly at Manager Jo before smiling broadly.
“Aren’t you Manager Jo?”
Even though he greeted him warmly as if he knew him, Manager Jo just looked down at Jae-young with a scary face. During those few encounters, Manager Jo had always shown a taciturn demeanor. His tightly closed lips seemed especially cold today.
“What brings you here? You must have business nearby.”
He deliberately played innocent. The face, contrasting with his bright smile, moved its lips.
“Let’s go together.”
Regrettably, there was no one to be deceived by the one-man play. Despite his blushing cheeks and smiling face, he acted as if he already suspected that Jae-young knew everything.
Jae-young let out a brief hollow laugh and lowered his head. He could sense the group that had spotted Jae-young and Manager Jo from afar approaching closer.
“…Ah, well.”
“…”
“You’re kinder than I expected. I thought you’d hit me from behind and take me away.”
Jae-young, who had placed his hands in his jacket pocket, fidgeted with the jackknife he could grasp.
“If you wish, I’ll do that for you.”
As his tone of voice changed in an instant, he listed dialogue outside of the set script. Jae-young momentarily felt as if a blunt weapon had struck his head, causing his shoulders to tremble.
“Manager Jo, you can’t distinguish between jokes and seriousness, can you?”
“Stop the useless talk and let’s go now.”
Though he didn’t experience being hit on the back of his head as he had imagined, his arm was grabbed instead. It was obviously one of the suited men who had approached from behind.
Jae-young nodded casually as he felt the grip crudely tightening around his arm.
“Yes, let’s go. But tell them to release my hand. I have no more thoughts of using tricks when I’m caught like this.”
Despite someone pushing his back from behind, Jae-young stood firm and raised his eyes. The eyes that had been indifferently observing Jae-young stretched to behind him.
As soon as the silent acquiescence followed, his shoulders felt lighter. Manager Jo gestured to Jae-young, who was smiling with satisfaction, as if telling him to move first.
“But Manager Jo, when orders come down, you carry them out without missing a single detail. Like an obedient dog.”
Jae-young obediently walked in the direction Manager Jo indicated. Even when he turned his head to speak, he just quietly followed behind Jae-young.
The hand fidgeting with the liner lock jackknife clicked, pressing and releasing the liner gently. Before the blade could spring out, he clicked the liner again, engaging the lock back.
“Did Hyun-ssi say that? To not touch a hair and bring me carefully?”
As he slowed his pace while keeping his head fixed on Manager Jo, someone pushed Jae-young’s shoulder from behind. Jae-young irritably shook off his arm and stared at Manager Jo.
“Since I’m on my way anyway, just let me hear what’s going on.”
“…”
“Is that your natural personality? Doesn’t it feel stifling to live like that?”
“…”
Whether Jae-young chattered or not, Manager Jo’s mouth remained firmly closed. Letting out a bored sigh, Jae-young turned his head forward.
“Where is Hyun-ssi? It can’t be the police station. It’s too early for him to have been released already. I know everything I need to know.”
“…”
“Can’t you tell me this either?”
“You’ll know when you get there.”
“It feels like I’m talking to a robot. Where did you park the car?”
Suddenly stopping in his tracks, Jae-young now turned around completely. With a bright smile, he tilted his head slightly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
