CTL 56

“No, even if you are in a relationship, this is too much! How can you do that to a person?!”

“…What?”

However, at the words ‘in a relationship’ that came from Secretary Lim’s mouth, Yoongeon was momentarily stunned.

“…In a relationship?”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you’re going to say you’re not? Are you planning to make the shameless claim that you did that to a person’s body without even being in a relationship?”

“…”

Well, technically they had become that kind of couple yesterday, but Secretary Lim spoke as if he had known even before then.

“How did you know.”

At those words, Secretary Lim chuckled, ha ha, and then slapped his own forehead.

“How would I not know?”

“…”

“On what grounds did you possibly assume that I wouldn’t know about the relationship between you two? You made it so obvious, did you really, truly, honestly think I wouldn’t know? It’s absurd, really, that you’d expect me to be clueless after showing all those blatant, heartfelt signs.”

He didn’t know what it was about, but he looked so incredibly wronged that Yoongeon couldn’t find the words and clamped his mouth shut.

“Come on, go a little easier on him. That’s not—it’s not like you beat the guy up, but what is that, what is that! Will Mr. Yoon Seohwi even be able to walk properly today like that?!”

“…He can walk.”

“Of course, he can walk. He has two perfectly fine legs attached to him, after all! No matter how much it hurts, he probably won’t be crawling around! You have no conscience. After putting him in that state, what? He can walk? Executive Director, I really like you, you know? But a person has to have some limits.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“A person with no conscience… How could you make his body look like that… so he can’t even walk…”

“…”

Seohwi can walk. In fact, he can walk very well. Because I was the one taking it the whole time! Yoongeon’s eyes sharpened, but Secretary Lim’s nagging didn’t stop, and Yoongeon, though feeling wronged, could say nothing and had no choice but to endure it. Right, it’s all my fault. My sin is deep, very deep.

“I’ve activated the cell phone next to you, so please check it.”

Secretary Lim, who had been nagging him for a while, finally seemed to have vented his frustration and stopped lecturing. When Yoongeon checked, the phone, with its battery halfway charged, turned on. As he placed the phones side by side to transfer the data, Secretary Lim continued.

“I didn’t have time, so I could only charge the battery to 70 percent. It should be enough for today, though. And I checked the files you sent and forwarded them right away. The news should have been out this morning, did you check?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, I suppose you wouldn’t have had the time, having put a person in that state.”

“…That’s enough.”

“You should have been the one to have some moderation, Executive Director.”

“…”

Saying it was absurd the more he thought about it, Secretary Lim clicked his tongue, then switched the topic back to work before Yoongeon could yell.

“It’s a bit rough around the edges, but as you said, Executive Director, I had it released with as much impact as possible for now. We have to hope as many people as possible see it. Starting tomorrow morning, proper news reports will go out. We expect the viewership to increase little by little. Oh, and…”

Secretary Lim, who had paused for a moment while making a right turn, opened his mouth again once he confirmed it was safe.

“I’ve made a reservation for 1 p.m. today at D Restaurant. I thought they would decline, but surprisingly, they didn’t.”

“And Park Taesoo, still no contact?”

“Yes. He’s ignoring all calls from our side, but… he’ll show up. If he doesn’t want to be ruined either. What should we do? Shall we go to his office?”

“No need. Why go out of our way to meet him when he’s bound to come crawling anyway.”

Since the incident with him, Park Taesoo had not shown any particularly noticeable movements. However, with his arrogant nature, it was hard to believe he had completely bowed his head, so it was necessary to keep him in check a little longer. Yoongeon opened the console box, took out a cigarette, and put it to his lips. Because of that, his last words came out a bit unclearly, but Secretary Lim managed to understand.

“Hoo…”

When he opened the window, a fierce, cutting wind rushed in. But Yoongeon just smoked his cigarette in silence, like a person who couldn’t feel the cold at all. After he finished his cigarette and closed the window again, Secretary Lim glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

“Executive Director.”

“What.”

“Do what you want to do.”

“To do that, I’d have to beat you up right now.”

“You won’t do that. I know you go easy on me.”

It wasn’t his usual joking manner. Wondering what was up, he watched as Secretary Lim took a deep breath and spoke in a determined voice.

“Not what you have to do, or what you can do.”

“…”

“If you want it, do it. It seems Mr. Yoon Seohwi has accepted it too.”

When Yoongeon didn’t answer, Secretary Lim grinned.

“It’s because it’s nice to see. And the Executive Director finally looks human now.”

“What do you know…”

“I know. I’ve served you for so long. I know you were having a very hard time. Though I still don’t know what it was about.”

“…”

He wanted to say it wasn’t true. But he could feel the warmth tinging Secretary Lim’s voice, so he couldn’t bring himself to lie.

“I want to serve you for a long time, Executive Director. So please don’t live so hard. Live while also doing the things you want to do.”

That way, I can also live for a thousand years making lots of money, Secretary Lim added playfully.

“…”

Yoongeon was a little surprised. When he had been the strategist of Cheongwolmok in the past, they hadn’t been close enough to open up like this, so he hadn’t known he was a person who could speak this way.

“There’s no one else I can leech money off of like this except you, Executive Director. Please live a long and healthy life.”

“…Let’s have you taken with me when I die.”

“Ah, what era is this to be talking about being buried with the dead! But then, does that make me the Executive Director’s favored royal concubine?”

“Stop with the disgusting talk.”

“Yes, sir!”

Even if a guy like Lim Sunwoong offered him gold and treasures to be accepted as a concubine, he would refuse. Just imagining it for a moment made his stomach turn, and Yoongeon almost gagged.

“Oh, but.”

When the car stopped at a red light, Secretary Lim spoke.

“Vice President Ko Yoonchul…”

—Rrrrr.

Before he could finish his sentence, the phone rang. The timely call was from his eldest aunt-in-law.

“Yes.”

[I heard you scheduled a meeting with the Chief of Staff today?]

Despite knowing a schedule he had never been told, Park Dongju didn’t hide it and asked nonchalantly.

“Yes.”

[It was the Chief of Staff who covered it up. It seems his son caused the trouble.]

There was a clear limit to what Secretary Lim could access, but as expected, Park Dongju, who worked at a law firm, was much better at acquiring information in this area.

“Did Park Taesoo kill him?”

[He couldn’t have done it himself… His location doesn’t match. Besides, he wouldn’t get his own hands dirty with something like that. He must have hired someone. I’m looking for who received the contract killing request now.]

Park Dongju’s voice trailed off as she said he was strangely hard to find.

[He probably agreed to that meeting to test if you know. He’s not someone who usually meets with people at the Executive Director level.]

She said his standards were so high that one had to be at least a corporate chairman for him to show his great face.

“I guess even a man like that can’t help but step in when it comes to his own child.”

After all, wasn’t Park Dongju herself already moving inefficiently because of her damn son?

“Well, whatever the case, the reason is obvious, so there’s no need to press him on it.”

[Right. He must have decided to abandon Yoonchul. Since he was already entangled with Yoonchul, the risk of them all being caught in a chain would have been high. …Have you found Yoonchul?]

“No.”

This was probably what Secretary Lim was about to say earlier. If he had found him, he was the type to report it immediately. At Yoongeon’s words, Park Dongju was silent for a long time before she finally spoke.

[…Could you commit just a few more people to the search?]

“Yes.”

[For there to be no traces like this is… strange, isn’t it?]

Her voice trembled.

[Geon, I know you’re not happy about this, but… still… still, for my sake, couldn’t you pay a little more attention?]

“…”

Having no idea that Yoongeon was planning to kill her son, Park Dongju pleaded.

[If I start searching, then I’ll be found out… so I can’t. I’m sorry. But this is so hard for me….]

“Secretary Lim isn’t someone who does a half-hearted job, Aunt-in-law.”

He wasn’t a bad person, but that was all. To Yoongeon, for whom nothing could take precedence over Seohwi, that was the extent of his feelings, and so he deceived Park Dongju without a second thought.

“I’ll contact you.”

[Alright, I’m sorry for nagging. I’ll hang up now.]

Park Dongju hung up, saying she wouldn’t bother him. Secretary Lim, who had been glancing at him through the rearview mirror throughout the call, spoke.

“After Vice President Ko Yoonchul’s last known location, he hasn’t been seen… No matter how much we searched the vicinity, not a single trace of him was found.”

“Where was his last known location.”

“In front of a convenience store in Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu. He isn’t seen after that. There’s a small villa complex in that area, and the CCTVs were removed as redevelopment was being pushed.”

After saying he was probably there, Secretary Lim closed his mouth for a moment and merged into the next lane. Then he continued.

“So we’re using people to search, but as you know, it takes time to open all the locked doors. Even though the villa complex is small, there are quite a few places to check.”

“He can’t last long without eating, can he.”

At the implication that they should just check that convenience store where he was last caught, Secretary Lim shook his head.

“If you go into the villa complex, there’s an elderly couple who still runs a small supermarket. They say they’ll leave when the full-scale construction begins; they’re incredibly stubborn. You know there are people who can’t abandon the place they’ve lived their whole lives. He probably buys necessities there, but the problem is, they both have dementia and are hard of hearing, so we can’t confirm anything properly.”

“And their children just leave them be?”