Life, Once Again!

The electronic clock on the wall notified him that it was past 4 a.m. Ever since he was promoted to this position, he had never stayed behind at the company until these hours. Janghae pressed his finger between his forehead. The information his head manager relayed to him should go into the ears of the chairman first. He didn’t know whether it would be in the morning or if it would take a few days, but it would undoubtedly reach his ears.

He stared at the blinking cursor. The photo underneath the mouse cursor showed the gravity of the situation. This wasn’t something he could suppress by himself. As the wheels of iron had started turning, it would only come to a stop once it crushed a person. His body was tied to the rails, and the iron wheels quickly approached him. The only one that could block the wheels was the chairman. From this alone, Janghae deemed that everything was over. The chairman was someone who prioritized the nameplate of the company over saving a subordinate.

It was his mistake. He should have told the chairman and borrowed his power when the man under Park Okhwa who worked in Busan disappeared. No, in the first place, he should’ve encased that man in concrete and tossed him into the West Sea. As that man was related to crimes, Janghae thought that he would stay low like someone who didn’t exist and eventually return to ordinary life once he was forgotten, but he pulled the trigger without fearing for his life.

It was always the bugs that became the problem. No matter how hard he tried to exterminate them, they would always crawl out from somewhere and haunt him. Janghae called Lee Miyoon again. Ever since he received the report, he had been sending call after call and text after text, but there was no response. She was probably smiling smugly right now while looking at the phone. He was once again redirected to voice messages. Janghae threw his phone at the wall. The landscape painting he bought for 4.5 million won was smashed, falling down on the floor with the phone.

His breathing became ragged. He felt like he just did a full sprint. He looked at the photo on the monitor in order to calm down his gasping breath. Mari was sitting with Park Okhwa’s underling, and on the opposite side was lawyer Park Sunggoo. This was taken at 11 at night yesterday. The head manager placed more importance in Park Okhwa’s lackey. He even laughed, saying that they finally found the rat. However, Janghae could not do the same. The moment he saw lawyer Park’s face in the photo, he realized that things had gone seriously wrong. Park Sunggoo was someone much harder to deal with than those government people and ministers and vice-ministers and whatnot who appeared on TV. Honestly, he was afraid. That man was someone who could wield the sword known as the law better than anyone else. He was someone who would use the law book as a weapon, so he was less scary than any street thug if you didn’t do anything wrong, but right now, that wasn’t the case for Janghae. That man was someone who was incredibly adept at digging out shady histories. Janghae knew this well because he had watched it happen several times. There was no running, only humble acceptance.

The moment he received the photo, he had lawyer Park tailed. What he found out as a result of that was the worst possible scenario. Lawyer Park entered journalist Kim Dongwook’s residence. Ever since that journalist quit the magazine company funded by JA, he had been staying low, so Janghae hadn’t even given him consideration, but it seemed that he had been grinding his knife ever since. Lawyer Park and journalist Kim - the one that tied them together was president Lee Junmin. There was no way president Lee Junmin did not know what the two were doing. Janghae could assume that president Lee was the one behind this.

Park Sunggoo was already tough enough to deal with, but there was president Lee involved this time as well. Before Janghae dipped his feet into the entertainment industry, he thought of president Lee Junmin as simply the CEO of a company that Geunsoo belonged to or a rather talented entrepreneur in the entertainment industry, but that was no longer the case. He knew just how far and wide president Lee Junmin’s capabilities reached. Even the chairman would take a step back in matters involving that man, so his business card had no effect in this game.

The only clues he was given were a photo and who that man was contacting, but Janghae could predict what was about to come from those alone. He didn’t know why lawyer Park was helping journalist Kim out, nor why president Lee was supporting them in this endeavor, but the results were as clear as day.

Janghae called Park Okhwa. This woman, who pulled out at an amazing time, should also be a clue. This was no time to put up pretenses. He called until she picked up. Around 10 minutes later, an angry Park Okhwa picked up the call.

-President Hong. What time do you think this is?

“Shut up and listen to me. I’ll check just one thing. Why did you quit the business?”

-I believe I have told you already. I want to be a parent who does not embarrass herself in front of her child.

“I found that girl Mari. She said something interesting. Also, do you still contact that journalist Kim of yours?”

Park Okhwa hung up. Janghae could sense a hint of panic in that instant of silence. He called again. Perhaps because of unease, she had not turned her phone off. Another five minutes passed.

-I do not understand what you’re saying at all.

Her voice had calmed down. It was hard to assume that she managed to calm down in 5 minutes just by herself. She was startled by just his probing question too.

“Did lawyer Park say that you’re in the okay? That you just have to deny everything put on you and you’ll be able to escape scot-free?”

-I don’t know why you’re calling at this hour and saying that, but I admit that I made a mistake. If I have to stand in court because of it, then so be it.

“You’ve suddenly become bold. Of course you are, you have an exceptional lawyer holding your back.”

-If you plan to threaten me any further, I will record this conversation.

“Feel free. I’ve already realized that my end is near. But you know, please remember this. No matter how hard lawyer Park tries to stand up for you, if I say that you’re an accomplice, then you will not be able to escape getting a sentence.”

Park Okhwa became quiet as though the unease she was suppressing surged again. Now was his only chance to ask,

“Let us make a deal. Regardless of what happens to me, I’ll testify that you were deceived by me to only provide a venue for it all.”

-And how do I trust you?

“You should know that this is no time to be looking for trust, right? It’s somewhat funny for you to say that since you’re the one who betrayed me first.”

Park Okhwa mumbled something, but Janghae didn’t listen to that and interrupted,

“Listen to me first. I won’t ask you for something like standing up for me in court.”

-Then what is it?

“I just want to know. What happened that made you start to help out journalist Kim so suddenly? Did you suddenly take pity on Mari? Did it hurt your conscience? Or did Park Sunggoo approach you first?”

Park Okhwa’s sighs could be heard over the phone. It seemed that she was torn. He once again told her that it couldn’t get any worse.

-The first one to approach me was someone else. That boy told me that something bad was about to happen to you and that I should best stay out of it.

“That boy?”

Her daughter had a friend name ‘Han Maru’ and she supposedly found journalist Kim through that boy, which made her take her hands off the business. Park Okhwa hung up, saying that he should keep up his end of the bargain since she did.

While it was a rather sudden name, it was also a name that came up from time to time. But this time around, that name had no relation to any parts of this incident. While both of them belonged to JA, there was no need or reason for a young actor to get involved in tracking down prostitution crime.

His brain cells, which were racking up looking for a way to survive, came to a complete halt. Journalist Kim, lawyer Park, president Lee — these three he could see getting involved, but why did that name come out of nowhere? If he was in a position to call Park Okhwa directly and tell her about the situation in order to persuade her, he should be considered deeply related to all this, not just an errand boy.

Why was that boy trying to oust him? No matter how hard he thought, he could not see why. It wasn’t like there was any point of contact between them, much less resentment. There was no way that boy was some actor-by-day, spy-by-night weirdo because of some stupid sense of justice.

Janghae felt frustrated. It was impossible to avoid his impending judgment. If he could escape overseas, then he would be able to prevent going to court physically, but he would rather die than abandon all the foundations of his life. Above all, he would be able to reduce his sentence to under three years if he kept appealing, so avoiding this was a stupid decision.

What he had to do now was to identify his main enemy. He had to give payback if he was struck. He would only be able to settle the debts if he memorized who did this to him and for what reason. As such, the name ‘Han Maru’ churned his insides. He could endure a stab if he knew it was coming, but being stabbed by a blind knife was unacceptable.

“What if.”

The target was a different person? — his thoughts reached there. Journalist Kim’s target should be Hong Janghae. He was probably desperate for revenge since his junior was almost driven to being crippled. Han Maru, though, had no such reason. If that were the case, his target might be someone else close to him. There was only one name that came to his mind. It was Lee Miyoon. They might perhaps have clashed as actors, or one of Han Maru’s acquaintances might have been caught up in that woman’s business.

He recalled what happened in the past, the incident where he had no choice but to release Geunseok, who was growing up under his love. He could recall that he had heard the name ‘Han Maru’ back then too. Perhaps that boy had been a rock under his feet for a long time.

The upcoming events unfolded in his head. The first thing he saw was divorce documents. His wife wanted an ideal household and an ideal husband. The chairman would probably tell him to shut up for the sake of the company, and he would have no choice but to comply. The moment he said that it was the intent of people above him, he would be by himself in both criminal and civil lawsuits.

His head started aching. He had been living half a century with the thought that he might get struck down one day, but he never knew that it would come in this form. While it was absurd, he wasn’t feeling unjustified to the point that he wanted to die. He had the confidence to crawl back up.

His phone started ringing. Janghae intuitively felt that it should be from lawyer Park.