VDN Ch 157

“Yes. See you there.”

Nam-woon hung up the phone and handed it to Yong-deuk. Yong-deuk, who was picking up a piece of pig’s trotters with his chopsticks, put the phone down on the floor and asked.

“Are you meeting with Mr. Park?”

“Yeah. I’m just going to look at some perfumes.”

“But you don’t have any money right now.”

“I’m just browsing, just browsing.”

He responded casually, and he busily moved his chopsticks. He neatly layered lettuce and perilla leaves, placed two pieces of pig trotters on top, added garlic and ssamjang^[1] and popped it all into his mouth in one bite. Yong-deuk, who saw Nam-woon eating deliciously in front of him, said in amazement.

“Why do you seem to be eating better than before?”

“Uh? Yeah. I’ve been eating and sleeping well, so I’ve gained weight. My waist feels so tight right now, my back is aching. Hey, Yong-deuk, don’t you have any other pants besides these?”

“I’ll bring you my old sweatpants tomorrow.”

“Uh-huh. But my abs are still there, right? Look.”

Nam-woon suddenly lifted his shirt and flexed his stomach. As he did, the roundness of his belly shrank, revealing defined muscles. Yong-deuk exclaimed, “Wow!” with a mechanical sense of admiration. Nam-woon smiled proudly and resumed eating.

They were currently eating pig’s trotters on the floor of a motel room with newspapers spread out on it. They couldn’t go to the office because they were afraid of Kwon Seo-oh coming, and they couldn’t go to other people’s houses because they were afraid of Chairman Seok’s interference. There were no other options. In the end, Nam-woon set up temporary accommodation in an old and worn-out motel near Yong-deuk’s house.

And for three days already, Yong-deuk and Jang-mi had been taking turns visiting here to give Nam-woon various necessities and news about the world. Thanks to that, he had no shortage of life. Nam-woon, who was eating with a satisfied expression, suddenly frowned at the feeling of discomfort.

Come to think of it, one of them isn’t here…? Nam-woon made a puzzled expression.

“But why don’t I see Deok-chil these days?”

The question caused Yong-deuk’s chopsticks to momentarily pause. As Nam-woon stared at him insistently, Yong-deuk hesitated and finally spoke up reluctantly. 

“Actually, there was a minor accident a little while ago.” 

“An accident?”

When Nam-woon asked back in surprise, Yong-deuk quickly added,

“It wasn’t a big accident! Fortunately, no one was injured, and it was the other party’s fault, so the insurance processing went smoothly. But Deok-chil was complaining about his back hurting, so I gave him a few days off.” 

“Shouldn’t he go to the hospital? There could be aftereffects.” 

Nam-woon asked with a worried expression. Yong-deuk shook his head and repeatedly told him that Deok-chil was okay.

“Deok-chil is doing fine. I gave him some time off, and now he’s down in Daejeon having fun with his friend from the hair salon. You can see him when he comes to the office later.”

Nam-woon nodded with an uneasy expression. Deok-chil sometimes rides a motorcycle, but the next time we meet, I’ll tell him not to ride because it’s dangerous. Nam-woon quickly finished off the pig’s feet with a worried expression.

At that moment, Yong-deuk asked cautiously, 

“But, young master, are you not going to see Kwon Seo-oh?” 

“……”

Nam-woon wiped his trembling lips with a tissue and picked up the cola and gulped it down. The strong carbonation made him frown. After a moment of hesitation, he lowered his voice and asked, 

“Has Kwon Seo-oh been coming to the office often?” 

“Don’t even get me started. He practically shows up to work there every day and has been bothering everyone so much that because of him, Jang-mi has developed hair loss and borrowed all my hair loss shampoo.”

So Yong-deuk was using hair loss shampoo. I thought bald people didn’t need shampoo… No, the fact that Kwon Seo-oh came to the office every day made Nam-woon uneasy.

“How is he?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, how does Kwon Seo-oh look?” 

“…He seems to have lost weight, and he doesn’t seem to be sleeping well. His dark circles are really noticeable.”

When Yong-deuk glanced at Nam-woon’s face, it was as he said he looked better and was sleeping well. Yong-deuk’s expression momentarily soured, as if to say, “Kwon Seo-oh looks like that, but you seem to have brightened up…?” Feeling embarrassed, Nam-woon awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck for no reason, adding an unnecessary comment.

“Ugh! Ah, I’ve been a bit tired lately too.”

By the way, that guy Kwon Seo-oh, is taking care of Se-han, doing housework, working part-time, why would he waste time by stopping by the office? Nam-woon imagined Seo-oh sitting on the office sofa, waiting for him. A corner of his heart throbbed.

“He should be reading a book instead of wasting time doing that. Hey, from now on, if Kwon Seo-oh comes into the office, kick him out right away.”

“Kick him out? Master, have you completely cut ties with Kwon Seo-oh? Are you going to date that employee from Peachy Peachy?” 

“It’s not like that, you fool. There’s nothing to cut ties with Kwon Seo-oh… we never even started anything in the first place. If he is coming and going at the office, it will disrupt the business.

But there hadn’t been a single guest in the office, not even an ant… Yong-deuk carefully observed Nam-woon’s expression. Contrary to what he had just said, Nam-woon’s face looked like he was worried sick about Kwon Seo-oh. Nam-woon tried to ignore Yong-deuk’s piercing gaze. 

“But doesn’t Kwon Seo-oh still have my phone? It’s so inconvenient without it.” 

“Oh, I heard from Jang-mi that Kwon Seo-oh took your phone to a private company.” 

“A private company? Why?”

“To unlock the password.” 

“……”

Shit! Nam-woon’s face turned pale. Come to think of it, there were records of conversations he had with Detective Jang on his phone. Most of the important things they discussed were in phone calls, but the fact that Nam-woon had contacted a detective personally seemed strange enough. There was no way that smart kid would just ignore the texts they had. Even if he didn’t know the exact details, he would at least figure out that the two of them were working together.

If that happens, then all the suffering he’s going through loses its meaning. Why am I living this crappy life? Isn’t it to prevent Chairman Seok from touching Kwon Seo-oh and to protect Kwon Seo-oh’s bright future?

No way, he hasn’t met Detective Jang and heard everything already, has he?

After thinking for a moment, Nam-woon shook his head. Detective Jang wouldn’t have spilled the latest conversation he had with Chairman Seok to Seo-oh. He seemed to want to avoid dragging Seo-oh, who was a victim’s family member, into this mess. The original collaboration between the two had been kept secret from other detectives as well.

“I guess I’ll have to contact Detective Jang.” 

Nam-woon reached for Yong-deuk’s phone to borrow it again but stopped his hand. He didn’t know Detective Jang’s personal number, so he was considering calling the police station he worked at, but he hesitated to use Yong-deuk’s phone. Regardless of his trust in Yong-deuk, if he knew Nam-woon was in contact with the detective, it could raise unnecessary suspicions. 

Nam-woon glanced at Yong-deuk and spoke. 

“Hey, Yong-deuk, do you have an old phone you’re not using?” 

“If you want one, Deok-chil probably has one. He was in charge of burner phones. He’ll be back in two days, so I’ll ask him then.” 

It seemed safer to get a new number to contact Detective Jang. Since his dinner appointment with Mr. Park was in two days, he could contact Mr. Park with the new phone and also pass on the information about the perfume shop to Detective Jang.

Nam-woon aggressively finished off the remaining pig trotter while mentally organizing the tasks ahead of him.

***

“I heard that Kim Jong-jin finally confessed to everything?” 

“…Fuck. Don’t even mention that bastard.”

At the mention of Detective Kim, Jang Myung cursed and spat on the floor in frustration. 

“Do you have any idea how much chaos that bastard caused? I can still hear the team leader’s whiny voice echoing in my head. It’s driving me crazy.”

Jang Myung took a deep inhale from his cigarette, blowing out a cloud of white smoke as he added,

“We’ll be heading to Incheon later, so get ready.” 

“Incheon? Why?”

“There are a few bars registered under Chairman Seok’s name, and I heard the two researchers from Jonghwang Pharmaceutical Company were seen there.

“Crazy bastard. Getting caught so easily and confessing everything… Why did he even do such a thing in the first place?”

The man, who had his head bowed low, kicked a stone embedded in the dirt with his foot. Ah, this guy was a colleague with that two-face, Detective Kim. Detective Jang just sucked on his cigarette with a troubled expression on his face.

Is this what it feels like to be hit on the head? He had been completely betrayed by Detective Kim, with whom he had shared meals. For months, he wondered why Kim had been frequently taking leave during a busy period, which raised suspicions. Then suddenly, Kim claimed he was suffering from depression and took sick leave. Since he had never shown any signs of such a condition before, everyone was taken aback by the sudden request. The authenticity of his claim was even questionable. However, since he had submitted a proper medical certificate, no one could press the issue further.

At first, the team leader recommended combining treatment and work. However, Detective Kim was very stubborn. In the end, they reluctantly allowed him to take sick leave, and the already poor working environment took a turn for the worse. They were so desperate that even a cat’s help would have been welcome.

While his colleagues were struggling to fill the void he left, it was discovered that Detective Kim had traveled abroad during his sick leave. This led to an investigation from the main office, which revealed that Detective Kim had purchased a small shop in the countryside under his wife’s name. This was something Detective Kim himself confessed while shaking in fear.

The problems didn’t end there. It was suspicious that he had emphasized hundreds of times that it was in his wife’s name, so they investigated the source of the funds and found that Detective Kim had regularly met with Seok Jin-cheol’s subordinates and researchers at Jonghwang Pharmaceutical and exchanged money with them. It was the worst situation.

When confronted with this evidence, Detective Kim kept trying to evade questions but eventually confessed to his wrongdoing.

“I absolutely have no connections with Seok Jin-cheol! Even if I did, I truly didn’t know! All I did was turn a blind eye to the fight they had in Yongcheon-dong and take some money! Please, just let me go… my daughter is still very young, sob.”

No one believed these words. There was no way a police officer could be unaware of his connection to Seok Jin-cheol. It was also a fact here that everyone knew that the researchers at Jonghwang Pharmaceutical had fallen under Seok Jin-cheol’s control.