PHUW 99

“Ah, w, wait a second. I left a motorcycle with you?”

–Now you’re trying to play dumb? Then I’ll just take apart your bike and sell it?

From the way he raged, it was no act. Leaving something with him and then vanishing for two months was enough to make anyone furious.

“Wait! Wait! Don’t sell it. I’ll come pick it up. It’s too late today, but I’ll come by tomorrow during the day!”

–And why should I believe that. It’s my fault for trusting a punk like you.

Even as he snapped, his tone eased slightly when Haeri said he would come pick it up.

“I’ll transfer the money first. Send me the account and the amount and I’ll send it right now. My phone number is…”

Haeri recited his number. Soon the account number and the amount arrived. The repair cost was a little over 700,000 won. Just as he promised, he transferred it on the spot and called back right away. After confirming the transfer in real time, the shop owner answered in a much calmer tone than before.

–Come pick it up tomorrow or the day after.

“Yes, yes. Thank you. I’ll call before I come.”

–Alright. And if we have time, I’ll listen to why you ignored my calls and disappeared.

“Yes. Goodbye.”

After ending the call, Haeri hurried to look for Jeong Mok.

He was in the study. Haeri opened the door without hesitation. Jeong Mok was seated at work desk, holding a personal phone in one hand while talking on his work phone with the other. He was speaking with seriousness, then stopped and turned to look at Haeri.

“Hyung, I have something to tell you.”

“Just a second. I’m a bit busy. Can you wait in the living room?”

“Yes.”

Haeri nodded and went straight to the living room. There he grabbed Gom-i, who had risen from the noise, and hugged him tightly, messing up his fluffy fur.

“Gom-i. Hyung found a friend.”

Unable to contain his excitement, he opened NeoStar and showed it to Gom-i. He had just followed back everyone he had spoken with earlier. In total, five. That was not all. People he had never seen before also followed him. When he checked, they were classmates from Gyeongjin High too. Even without greetings, it was obvious they recognized each other.

Two women he didn’t know also followed him. From what he saw, they were acquaintances of the ex-girlfriend mentioned earlier. It seemed they followed him to track down Lee Sangjin’s girlfriend, the one who had taken money and disappeared. Either way, he now had people he knew. Maybe not very well, but it was better than nothing. Since he followed back, they liked and commented on his post of Gom-i.

“See? These are hyung’s friends. They all live out in the provinces. And it looks like I used to live somewhere near here.”

He opened the map app and searched the motorcycle shop. It was located in the south, under rugged mountain ridges, near Gyeonggi Province. But it was quite far from where Jeong Mok lived, and he had no idea why he would have ended up there. Checking the transit options, he saw he would have to go into Seoul and then take a bus out again. Other than that, a private vehicle would be faster.

“Anyway, it looks like I can find the house. If I ask the motorcycle shop owner, he’ll know.”

Come to think of it, the house had been empty for over two months. The shop owner had snapped at him, but his anger showed they were at least familiar. If he hadn’t gotten through, the man had really been ready to dismantle and sell the motorcycle. If the rent had been overdue for two months, the landlord might already have cleared out the room and disposed of everything. But since Haeri had lived like a wreck, it was unlikely there was anything valuable left behind.

It was a huge breakthrough, the kind that made him wonder why he hadn’t thought of such a simple method earlier.

‘Because my mind had been elsewhere.’

Unable to contain his joy, he grabbed Gom-i again and made a scene. Even so, he kept glancing toward the study. Gom-i was good, but this was the kind of joy he wanted to share with Jeong Mok. The man who had driven him out of his senses when they lived apart was now driving him mad while living under the same roof.

Jeong Mok quietly closed the door he had left open and picked up where he had left off.

“Check all the accounts I just sent. Find out everything about them, what they are doing, who their friends and family are.”

–Yes.

Chief Ahn answered.

“And the Hongil Trading matter, how is it going?”

–Aside from two suspicious business partners, the others have cut ties, and they are panicking. With their cash flow drying up, the president and manager are frequently absent. We investigated separately, and as expected, Hongil Trading is a lower-level branch. There is a higher-level group above them, and among the outsiders who go in and out, there are people connected to Red Shark.

“Red Shark?”

–Yes. It’s a kind of investment group made up mainly of wealthy North American students. At first, they opened a club, and when that made money, they expanded by bringing in various franchises.

With parents funding them blindly under the pretense of “at least run a business instead of wasting time,” these spoiled rich kids had dipped their hands into everything, from cryptocurrency and stocks to clothing, restaurants, and character merchandise. It was a playground of pretentious gold-spoon punks. Jeong Mok had no interest in it.

“And?”

–One of the young owners caused a fatal accident while driving, and his drug test came back positive. It was covered on public news.

The case Chief Ahn mentioned was one that had been in the media lately, about how young men were heavily involved in drugs and other illegal activities.

–They were supplying drugs to Red Shark, but we suspect something went wrong and they have not been able to supply them.

“But Red Shark, I feel like I’ve heard of them before. Not from the news.”

–You’ll know when you see their logo.

Chief Ahn sent a link to Red Shark’s promotional account. As soon as Jeong Mok opened it on his laptop, he immediately realized why it felt familiar.

“This is the club that my uncle’s delinquent son runs.”

Like Jeong Mok, he was a black sheep in the family. But unfortunately, he was the only son of someone influential in the uncle’s branch of the family, so despite being a complete wreck, they couldn’t throw him out. And beating him into shape was also out of the question, since his powerful parent shielded him. He filled the same role every chaebol family seemed to have, the drug-addicted troublemaker.

–That’s correct.

“This can be tied to the uncle’s branch too.”

–We’re already digging into that side in particular.

“Good. And what about Lee Sangjin’s girlfriend?”

–We found her.

“Really? Where?”

–In Paju. Through a friend of a friend’s acquaintance, she was staying temporarily at an empty house. The day before yesterday she used a card at a nearby convenience store, which is how we tracked her. It looked like she had run out of cash. When our staff approached, she locked the door and refused to open it.

“Does she say why she ran away?”

–She still won’t talk. We’re trying to persuade her. For now, the food and water she bought at the convenience store should be almost gone.

“Convince her well and find out the situation. And since she seems to have committed a small fraud, take care of that matter on your level. Also, look into Gwanrim Motors.”

–Understood.

“And check the movements around the meeting place this weekend.”

–Yes. I will make preparations without any setbacks.

“I’ll contact you again later.”

After ending the call, Jeong Mok checked the cloned phone and reread the conversations Haeri had with his classmates. The ignorant and vulgar tone of their words grated on him. It was his own fault Haeri had lost his memory, but being cut off from that kind of crowd was at least one benefit. Yet Haeri had still managed to find his friends and was mixing with them.

He wanted Haeri to look only at him. This was the difference from Song-i. Haeri was cheerful and sociable. Because of that nature, he had easily broken through the psychological walls Jeong Mok had carefully built. But at the same time, Jeong Mok wished he would stay with him inside those high walls alone.

And soon Haeri would learn that Lee Sangjin had been involved in disgraceful matters and was dead. What should he do then. Haeri would be hurt. If he was going to find out anyway, Jeong Mok wanted him to learn only after the Hongil Trading group who killed his friend were put in handcuffs. If not handcuffs, then at least turned into lumps of flesh.

“Hyung, are you done with your call?”

Haeri asked from the other side of the study door.

“Yes, I’m coming out.”

He placed the cloned phone in the drawer, took only his work phone, and opened the door.

“Do you know what just happened? You’ll be shocked.”

“What happened?”

He asked as though he knew nothing. Then Haeri, even on his injured leg, hopped with excitement and held out his phone.

“Look at this. I found five classmates. And I think I even figured out the area I used to live in.”

“Really? That’s impressive. But sit down first. You’ll make your leg worse.”

With an arm around Haeri, Jeong Mok led him to the sofa. When they sat side by side, Gom-i came and lay at their feet.

“Who do you think I am. I get things done.”

Haeri showed the phone screen and explained in detail everything that had just happened. Even though Jeong Mok already knew through the spy app, hearing it from Haeri’s mouth was something new, so he listened with pleasure.

“In this photo, they said Lee Sangjin was my best friend. We even ran away from home together and stuff.”

“Ran away from home?”

“Ah. Looks like I was a punk. They said I dropped out of high school.”

Haeri smiled awkwardly, embarrassed.

“How did that happen.”

“I don’t know. I acted smart around you, but turns out I only graduated middle school. That’s embarrassing.”

He was cutely ashamed of his low education.

“Why is that embarrassing.”

“Being uneducated is off-putting.”

“You’re not uneducated.”

His lovely looks and innocent nature were far more attractive than any level of schooling. If antidepressants were made into a person, it would look just like this. Despite a life full of hardships that should have left him bitter and cursing the world, Haeri’s sometimes absurdly bright and confident personality was the clear point that set him apart from countless others.