<119> Side Story. 11
Hoo, hoo. Day after day of stifling, suffocating heat. Prosecutor Jang took off his jacket and draped it over his arm, then sat down partway through the alley to rest for a moment. He thought he'd climbed quite a bit, but there was still more than half left.
He didn't know why someone like Yang Seon-woo would visit this place, but that made it all the more suspicious. The neighborhood had few people and lacked proper streetlights or CCTV. In other words, it was a good place to do things away from prying eyes. As he was cooling off his sweat, a group of young men in their twenties came down from above.
Prosecutor Jang stood up and approached them with a friendly smile.
"Excuse me, do you all live in this neighborhood? I have something to ask."
One of them answered while chewing gum.
"Who are you?"
The man with bright yellow dyed hair and pierced eyebrows had an extremely tired face. His under-eyes were dark, and he kept sniffing—looked like he might be doing drugs. Prosecutor Jang held out a photo of Yang Seon-woo.
"Have you seen this person?"
The man narrowed his eyes to check the photo, then nodded.
"Someone came asking about him a few days ago too."
So this must be the man who met the person handling Administrative Officer Park's errand.
"Is that so?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm curious about something..."
"That old man last time gave money when he asked."
Ah, money. Prosecutor Jang smiled bitterly and took out his wallet. He pulled out three ten-thousand won bills and handed them over, but the young man frowned. What was he supposed to eat with this? He grumbled, so Jang gave another thirty thousand won, but he still looked dissatisfied.
"What are you curious about?"
"Just tell me everything you know."
"Hmm... I don't really know the name, but he comes here sometimes. When he sees us, he buys us ice cream, beer, things like that."
Right, right. At first we were a bit scared, but his personality is really nice. The other young men nearby also chimed in, apparently knowing Yang Seon-woo as well. Prosecutor Jang's eyes sparkled.
"Does he still come often?"
"These days it's less frequent. Ah! And some other man comes sometimes too, but that guy's personality is really..."
The pierced man stopped talking and shuddered as if he didn't even want to think about it. The others around him had the same expression, apparently sharing the thought. Prosecutor Jang could guess who that was. He'd probably make the same expression as them if he thought of that man.
"Anyway, that's all I know."
"Did you see him do anything when he came?"
"No. But I've been inside the house a few times. We grilled meat together and stuff."
"Nothing special was said? Like what he does somewhere, or what kind of person he is?"
"He says he's unemployed now. I don't know what he did before."
"You don't keep in touch separately?"
"Nah, we're not that close."
Prosecutor Jang frowned and looked at the sixty thousand won the man was holding. The information was hardly worth much. Should have only given twenty thousand. As he was regretting it, the man seemed to notice and quietly slipped the money into his back pocket, gave a perfunctory greeting, and disappeared with his group.
Prosecutor Jang sighed and started climbing the rest of the way. Should have built up more stamina. Huffing and puffing, he finally reached the top and a blue gate appeared. He straightened his back and looked around. No CCTV or anything like that in sight.
Thump thump. He knocked on the door with his fist, but it was quiet. Thump thump again. He slowly walked toward the wall, stepped on a large rock to climb up, and peeked inside. Contrary to expectations, the flower bed was in full bloom, a small platform sat in the yard, and slippers that someone must have worn were placed under the floor. It was a peaceful scene, like a cut from the photo.
After hesitating, Prosecutor Jang looked around once more and draped his jacket on the wall. Hoo. After taking a deep breath, he climbed over the wall and leaped across.
***
Hiss. As foam rose from the beer can, Wang Lun quickly brought his mouth to it. Beside him, Wang Han and Ja-kyeong were lying on sunbeds enjoying the sunlight. Upbeat pop music flowed from the speakers, and cicadas cried piercingly in one corner.
Ja-kyeong, who had been lying face down for a while, turned over and lay on his back. He sat up, took off his sunglasses, and suddenly pulled a beer from the ice-filled bucket and rubbed it against his nipple. Seeing this, Wang Lun frowned.
"What are you doing?"
"It hurts."
"Why?"
"Because of Representative Kang."
Even without asking further, there were bite marks all over his body enough to know what happened yesterday. Thanks to that, he fully realized every time how strong and even Kang Il-hyun's teeth were.
"You're not even trying to hide it."
Ja-kyeong replied with a resigned face.
"Anyway, there's no one in this house who doesn't know that I have sex with Kang Il-hyun."
"Wei. Don't do that. Why are you getting more and more like Representative Kang?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. At least you were always like a boy when it came to sex."
Was that an insult or a compliment? While he laughed in disbelief, Wang Han's phone rang. He had been lying down but got up with a disheveled face and answered, asking "Hello?" Wang Lun and Ja-kyeong's gazes turned to him. Wang Han covered the phone with his hand and opened his eyes wide.
"The prosecutor called."
Wang Lun asked in puzzlement.
"The prosecutor? Why?"
"He said my bank account was hacked."
As soon as he heard those words, Lun shot up from his seat. Which bastard wants to die, daring to do that! Ja-kyeong, who had been silent, reached out his hand and said to give it here. After receiving the phone, Ja-kyeong shot back sharply.
"Don't make these kinds of calls. I'll find you and cut your head off."
The other person cursed, and Ja-kyeong stalled for time while signaling Wang Han to track the location. This son of a bitch. When I catch you, you're dead. But the guy hung up before the location was exposed. Fuming, Ja-kyeong scolded the Wang brothers for being fools, asking how they could fall for something like this.
Embarrassed, the two got up from their seats, blaming the now-warm beer. Just then, a beep-beep warning sound came from Ja-kyeong's mobile phone. Ja-kyeong's expression hardened as he turned on the screen to check. Wang Lun, who had been going to get more beer, stopped and leaned in.
"What's with that serious expression?"
CCTV footage appeared on the mobile phone screen. The house where Ja-kyeong was born and raised. In other words, someone had come to that mountain village. The man knocking on the gate looked over the wall into the yard, confirmed no one was there, and immediately climbed over the wall. Seeing this, an incredulous smile spread across Ja-kyeong's lips.
Wang Lun frowned and asked menacingly.
"What the hell is this guy?"
Ja-kyeong murmured with a smile.
"The real prosecutor has appeared?"
***
On his way out after finishing a meeting, Kang Il-hyun ran into his older brother Kang Tae-han. Kang Tae-han currently represented the company, but that was only on the surface. Looking inside, he was nothing more than a straw man Kang Il-hyun had set up, a bullet catcher.
The two men boarded the executives-only elevator and remained silent as they headed to the upper floor. Il-hyun watched the changing numbers with an indifferent face, then turned to look at Tae-han and grinned.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"I heard your wife filed for divorce."
Tae-han's face twisted violently, and Il-hyun laughed with a regretful expression.
"That's why you shouldn't cheat."
"Who said that?"
"Everyone knows."
Like father like son, anyway, you guys really go crazy for women. At the sarcastic tone, Tae-han glared. Kang Tae-han believed Il-hyun was involved in the death of Chairman Kang, his father, and had been striving to find evidence, but all efforts came to nothing. Rather, now he lived keeping his head down, afraid of catching Kang Il-hyun's eye—both Kim Sun-young and himself.
"What about you? Not getting married? Kids?"
Changing the subject, Il-hyun scoffed and then answered firmly.
"No. I'll live my whole life with my cat."
Ding. The door opened. Il-hyun walked into his room without looking back, giving a perfunctory wave. He took off his jacket and hung it to the side, and as soon as he sat down, he took out his mobile phone and accessed the CCTV.
People moved across the divided screens. He instantly found the pool screen showing Lee Ja-kyeong and pressed it to watch. Ja-kyeong, who had been swimming, rested both arms on the pool edge and was talking with Wang Han.
Our cat, what are you talking about so happily with the brothers? He was trying to enlarge the screen to see his face closer when Park Tae-soo entered with a knock. He placed a black document envelope he was holding on Il-hyun's desk. Il-hyun put down his phone and picked up the envelope instead.
"The world has really improved. In one day, I can find out whose bloodline someone belongs to."
Tae-soo said nothing. When he slit open the top of the envelope with a knife and took out the documents, the first thing that caught his eye was "DNA Analysis Confirmation." He read down the text and turned to the next page. So fucking long-winded.
Tsk. He clicked his tongue, and his gaze stopped at the very last sentence.
"Tae-soo."
"Yes."
His gaze shifted from the test report to Park Tae-soo.
"It's certain?"
"Yes."
Il-hyun's gaze returned to the test report. The corners of his mouth hardened. He tossed the report onto the desk and leaned back in his chair. His eyes still remained on the test report.
16 gene types on the Y chromosome matched 99%. Paternal relationship established.
In other words, the two were blood relatives.
At the absurd situation, he finally burst into hollow laughter.
"Ha, fuck. I've suddenly become Juliet."