Unscented Trajectory - Chapter 55 - 55

‘First, stop by the bank and take out some money…’

The smile did not leave his lips as he thought of the large amount in his bank account.

A year ago, when he broke his leg, he thought the world was falling apart. If he had been injured while working, he would have been treated for an industrial accident, but he stumbled on his way home from work and fell off the stairs. Because of that, he had to quit his job and stay in the hospital.

The problem was money.

Living alone after being half-forced out of the orphanage as an adult was not always easy. Although the Self-Reliance Settlement Fund was provided, all that money was to prepare for a small room.

After several years of hard work to make a living, he received an unexpected offer from a stranger. They’ll give him a lot of money, so he proposed to borrow his real name for a year.

The amount they suggested was significant, and it was enough that he could use it for several decades. After one year, a considerable amount of money will be accumulated in the bankbook, so he told him to take it. Instead, they urged him to live under a pseudonym for a while, even after a year had passed.

There was no option to say no in his situation as he could die since he had no money to live on right now. He accepted the offer and gave them their name and past, telling them to do whatever they want. Instead, he was given a new person’s name and a new ID. Now, the pseudonym is more familiar than his real name, but he has no regrets about that choice.

“Mr. Kwon Yihyeon?”

He didn’t notice and almost didn’t answer. If it wasn’t for the men blocking the way.

“Uh, yes?”

He said in a small voice and paused. Four men in black suits surrounded the front like a semicircle.

Instinctively, he took a half step back and swallowed hard. The guy didn’t look like an asshole or a gangster, but he was wearing a black suit and he was afraid because he was big.

“My name is Kim Seokjoo.”

“I know that you are Kwon Yihyeon. Come with me.”

Hearing his real name being called clearly, he shuddered. He didn’t know what it was about, but there was a dangerous atmosphere. He hurriedly looked around to ask for help, but only saw a few crew members who seemed to be busy checking the ships at the dock.

He was about to step back again, but the men surrounded him even tighter.

“I have no intention of harming you. I just want to talk for a moment, so please don’t make a fuss and follow me.”

Kim Seokjoo, no, Kwon Yihyeon eventually couldn’t overcome the men’s threats, not menaces, and walked to the place they guided.

When they stopped, there was a luxury foreign car that did not fit the scene in the pier in a rural area. Standing next to the car and hesitating, he took the luggage and opened the rear seat door .

As he got on quickly and climbed with difficulty, it felt as if the warm air outside suddenly turned cold. As the open door slammed shut, tension surged as if he was standing on a thin ice sheet.

The first thing that struck him in the silence was the smell of cigarettes stinging his nose. Because he was a non-smoker, it felt so poisonous, and he wanted to put his hand up and cover his nose right away, but for some reason, it was a scary atmosphere that seemed to strangle him if he moved even a little.

The man sitting next to him exhaled a long cigarette smoke as if he was breathing. White smoke slowly escaped through the gap in the slightly opened window.

The man’s bitter eyes immediately turned to Kwon Yihyeon.

* * *

– The number you are calling is not… … .

“Ah, this is really crazy!”

Haejun nervously slammed his foot hard and pulled the phone out of his ear. He stared at the number on the screen and scrunched up his face.

‘What’s the use of saying things and disappearing?!’

Taking a deep breath, Haejun clicked his tongue while holding the phone in his hand as he went back and forth.

While partnering up with Yihyeon’s helpers, they shared information and maintained a cooperative relationship, but as soon as Yihyeon disappeared, they too disappeared without a trace. All the numbers he contacted in the past had not only stopped working, but they have become non-existent numbers.

No matter how many people were sent out, there was no information about them. They have been investigating them since the time they first held hands, but nothing has come out so far, so it was natural.

He would not have been as impatient as he was now if they had left after saying that they would all withdraw now and that there would be nothing to see in the future. Seeing that all the people he had been in contact with had disappeared, it seems that he was not dragged by Lee Sihoon’s remnants, but walked out on his own, but this was so sudden that he couldn’t say anything to Joohyuk. He just pretended not to know anything.

In the end, Joohyuk, who was frantic to find Yihyeon, went out to meet the real ‘Kwon Yihyeon’ after he investigated separately. He didn’t know how it would work, but as Haejun now, he was just worried. He knew that Yihyeon moved for Joohyuk, but if he misunderstood that they were holding hands, that would lead to a misunderstanding.

He couldn’t figure out what to do. Should he stop Joohyuk, or should he find Yihyeon and bring him to the front?

‘Is that easy?’

He only took a deep breath.

‘How much do you know?’

Joohyuk suspected Yihyeon as Lee Sihoon’s,  but he already knew that it wasn’t the case. In addition, he asked himself to dig up on ‘Yoon Jaehee’ and left. If he finds her, he was sure Yihyeon would be there.

‘But hyung, are you saying that while knowing what kind of woman she is?’

She had a big hand in the private equity world and was a woman known for her enormous wealth. It was not revealed who she was, the size of the money, and where it belonged. Even the leaders of each company can’t even set up a meeting without her contact. She was a veiled figure.

No matter how hard he tried to unravel the person, he was not able to find a single strand of her hair.

At that moment, Haejun’s, who was moaning as he covered his head with both hands, phone vibrated with a hum. Astonished, he looked down at his phone and saw a familiar number.

“What happened?”

-I received a call from Lee Sihoon.

Haejun’s eyes narrowed. If it was Lee Sihoon, he must have been trying his best to reduce the sentence somehow by now in the detention center.

“What did he say?”

– Nothing much. He said he wanted to make a ‘deal’.

He suddenly laughed. A deal.

“What did he say he was going to make a deal with? There must be nothing he can do business with, right?”

-Do you know about a woman named ‘Yoon Jaehee’’?

Haejun’s face hardened. Why did the woman’s name come from Lee Sihoon?

In the past, when Yihyeon was kidnapped, Joohyuk did not tell him that he met Yoon Jaehee there. He just said that he had brought back Lee Hyun.

Because of that, Haejun, who was unaware of the situation at that time, had to think strangely that Lee Sihoon talked about Yoon Jaehee at such a timing.

-He said he has something to tell you about a woman named ‘Yoon Jaehee’ and ‘Kwon Yihyeon’. Instead, he suggests that we trade with that as an excuse.

He didn’t know what happened, but it was clear that Sihoon knew something about the relationship between Yoon Jaehee and Yihyeon. Then, whether to proceed with the transaction or not, it was necessary to acknowled at the sudden luck.

Haejun immediately picked up his coat.

“Tell him the deal will be decided after hearing the story. I’m leaving now, so get permission to visit him right away.”

– And, Lee Sihoon, have added a comment.

He stopped walking and waited for the words to come from the other side.

-He wants to meet with Executive Director Lee Joo-hyuk.

“Tell him I am coming. My brother is down in the countryside now, so I…”

– He said that only Executive Director Lee Joohyuk will be allowed to visit. Other than that, he won’t say anything.

It’s tricky.

He’s going to turn everything upside down. At a time when Joohyuk was mentally exhausted due to Yihyeon’s disappearance, will he be able to endure Lee Sihoon’s taunts?

“I see. Wait for a moment, then.”

After saying that, he hung up the phone and thought about it for a while. But soon after, he called Joohyuk. Like it or not, it was something he would find out anyway.

As soon as Joohyuk answered the phone, he immediately opened his mouth.

“Lee Sihoon contacted me. He said he wants to tell you about Yoon Jaehee and Kwon Yihyeon out of the blue, do you know something? No, rather than that, how does he know about the relationship between the two? It didn’t sound like he was talking nonsense.”

-I’ll go straight to Lee Sihoon.

“Hyung, try not to make any hasty moves, I’ll try to figure out what the deal is…”

– A deal or whatever, I promise to do it all.

“… hyung?”

Joohyuk’s voice was subtly trembling.

– Damn it, whatever… say I’ll do anything…

Joohyuk’s voice sounded hoarse, and it was like exhaling a stuffy breath in his throat.

* * *

In the car heading to the detention center, Joohyuk was smoking nonstop.

When he had almost finished smoking one cigarette he was holding in his mouth, Joohyuk turned his head to put it out by rubbing it in the ashtray in the console box, and made a bitter face. The ashtray where his eyes looked was filled with countless broken cigarettes.

Cigarettes that he started smoking after a long time were like drugs. He had a cigarette in his mouth without a break, and even after he smoked it, he remembered it again. Rather than quitting, he forgot to even smoke, but somehow he felt like he had become more exhausted overnight.

‘Since when.’

‘I forgot to smoke.’

Was it from when he started projecting his dead mate on Kwon Yihyeon and he was getting more and more concerned? Rather than looking for a cigarette, he looked for him first, and like a habit, he coveted his lips.

‘… shit.’

Yihyeon’s face came up again, and his eyes trembled.

He rubbed the cigarette that had started to burn even to the filter on the empty spot in the ashtray, put it out, and took out the cigarette case. However, all the cigarettes that were already inside had been smoked and it was empty.

He started to feel sick to his stomach and it throbbed. He closed his eyes and pressed one hand to his eyes. Even in the darkness, Yihyeon’s face did not disappear. Still, in his head, the words of ‘the real Kwon Yihyeon’ were playing.

“I don’t know much either. Just for lending my name, 10 million won was deposited for living expenses every month for a year… At that time, he paid all the medical expenses for my injuries. He told me to reissue the passbook after work and collect all the deposited money.”

To the real Kwon Yihyeon, from an orphanage, he threatened to take legal responsibility for lending the name, so with a pale complexion, he revealed everything he knew. And when he checked the reissued passbook, Joohyuk had no choice but to laugh.

It contained all the money paid to the fake Kwon Yihyeon for over a year. Not a single penny was wrong.

On the way back from there, he even got a phone call from the chief of staff. An envelope delivered to him anonymously contained a sizable check.

The amount of the check was exactly three times Kwon’s contractual salary, that is, the penalty.

There was still a week left until the contract expired. Just for those few days, as if to shake off any regrets, he sent the penalty and disappeared.

He had already guessed when he saw the crumpled checks, but this was the moment when it became clear that the purpose of Yihyeon’s presence was absolutely not money.

“I was in urgent need of money, but I was wondering if I was getting involved in something strange. Please tell me why you are doing that.”

A cracking sound was heard with the teeth closed.

“There was nothing to say. I’m just trying to protect someone by my side…”

Protect?

‘You want to protect me? Why? …why.

His eyes trembled at the words he couldn’t understand.

He thought he was attached to him by Yoon Jaehee’s order. After driving out Lee Jungho and the rest of his family, including himself, one by one, he thought that Yoon Jaehee, who had a significant stake in the Shinwoo Group, was trying to take over the company.

However, that hypothesis, which had been confirmed, was now beginning to waver.

He sent the real Kwon Yihyeon and attached a person to him just in case. It didn’t seem like anything special would come out of that, but it seemed like he had to. He was so anxious that he couldn’t stand it.

When he finds Yihyeon, there were so many things he wanted to ask. There were so many more words to say. It was so painful to know that the person he was supposed to be next to disappeared in an instant and he can’t even say anything.

The pain Yihyeon suffered gradually spread throughout his body.

Just then, he got a phone call from Haejun.

Lee Sihoon will tell him about Yoon Jaehee and Kwon Yihyeon, so he has proposed a deal.

Anything that can organize his complex and confusing thoughts would be good. Whatever the deal, he thought that there was nothing that could not be done if he could find and catch the missing Yihyeon.

Lee Sihoon had contact with Yoon Jaehee. Maybe he could answer all his doubts.

* * *

After arriving at the detention center, Joohyuk was able to meet Lee Sihoon. Wearing an ocher-colored prison uniform, his face was not as bad as he thought. The fishy smile that he had every time they met was still there.

“What, why are you like that?”

Sihoon only made sarcastic jokes.

Joohyuk’s hair, which had always been neat, was slightly disheveled, and his complexion was pale. From the arrogant and selfish eyes from before, only sunken eyes dyed with impatience were visible.

“If you sent me to a place like this, shouldn’t I be living well?”

“Shut up and speak quickly.”

Joohyuk opened his eyes and met Sihoon’s gaze.

“Because if you take time, you will never be able to get out of there again.”

Since Joohyuk’s eyes were so intense this time around, Sihoon couldn’t help but wince. If it hadn’t been for the acrylic wall in front of him, he would have already been grabbed by the collar.

Sihoon raised his hand and pointed to the ceiling. The CCTV in the corner to be exact.

Joohyuk, who knew what that meant, nodded, and then Sihoon smiled.

“Then you should have taken care of it, so let’s talk calmly, shall we?”

Then, he puts his gaze on Joohyuk’s chest.

“I know you brought it. You can take it out.”

Joohyuk looked at Sihoon for a moment, and then pulled out a small rectangular object from the inside pocket of his jacket, where his gaze was. At the tip of the black body, there was a small red light flashing.

With the recorder in his eyes, Sihppn leaned close to the acrylic wall and spat out words again and again.

“All I want is an agreement. Not a quick release on acquittal, but I would receive a significant reduction in sentence. I hope you can help me out there so that I can leave early even while in prison.”

“… do whatever you want. But keep in mind that it can depend on what you’re talking about.”

Joohyuk’s eyes were distorted.

“If you tell me the information straight away, I will give you the agreement, but if it is nonsensical, you will have to stop thinking about coming out of prison.”

Sihoon grinned and nodded his head. He crossed his arms and looked closely at Joohyuk’s dark face.

“I heard that Kwon Yihyeon disappeared, but it seems to be true. It’s very nice to see your face burning.”

Sihoon, who had taunted Joohyuk, made a noise and asked at once.

“But before I tell you, I have a question for you. What kind of contract did you make with that person?”

“Don’t waste your time.”

“No, I am really curious. What kind of contract did you have to tie up a person like that?”

Joohyuk put on a puzzled expression at Sihoon’s question.

“What are you talking about?”

“I tried to persuade him, but he wouldn’t budge. Well, I’m not the type of person to go back and forth with money, so even then, he refused Yoon Jaehee when she asked him to go back. Do you think he was holding on to some weakness?”

Joohyuk’s eyes fluttered relentlessly.

There was nothing in the contract other than money. Knowing that it wasn’t something that could hold Yihyoen, Sihoon’s mention of the contract was even more confusing. Yihyeon was not bound by anything in the contract, but pretended to be bound by it and rejected everything.

But what surprised Joohyuk even more than that was that Yoon Jaehee had said that she wanted Yihyeon to go back. According to the assumptions so far, he was her Omega who would have obeyed only Yoon Jaehee’s orders, but listening to Sihoon, something was strange. Does it mean that Yihyeon stayed by his side and he even refused Yoon Jaehee’s words? Why?

“I’m just trying to protect someone by my side… ”

Once again, Kwon Yihyeon’s words came to mind and his heart pounded.

Sihoon, who looked at Joohyuk without a word, shrugged. He thought that Joohyuk had kept his mouth shut because he had no intention of revealing it.

“Well, okay. You signed a contract like that, and looking at how you look now, it seems like you have overcome one of your obsessive-compulsive diseases…”

Sihoon’s smile deepened.

“The information I give may be quite a hint.”