Unscented Trajectory - Chapter 56 - 56

Sihoon, who turned his body slightly and sat crookedly, brought his face close to the acrylic wall. His eyes, with a mean smile, pointed to the rectangular tape recorder beyond the acrylic wall.

“When you leave the detention center, a man will hand you a USB. Then exchange it for the recorder.”

Joohyuk also asked him, bringing his face closer.

“What is inside the USB?”

“Evidence to support what I will tell you from now on. Can’t you just believe what I’m saying anyway?”

The corners of Sihoon’s lips curled up long.

“I couldn’t do it when we first met, but when Yoon Jaehee came to see me for the second time, I recorded our conversation from that day.”

‘That day’ was the day after the golf course incident, Yoon Jaehee visited Lee Sihoon and made a fuss.

* * *

Joohyuk, who came out of the detention center with trembling steps, ran into a man waiting outside.

He said he was Lee Sihoon’s person and handed him a small USB. The secretary who was behind Joohyuk quickly accepted it and tried to connect it to the work netbook. As Sihoon said, what was in the USB was a recording file containing the clear voices of the two men and women.

After checking the contents of the USB, he handed him the recorder with the promise of an agreement.

Even if Joohyuk, the victim, agreed, Sihoon would not have been able to avoid imprisonment. Although their parents were different, he used a man to kill his relatives and the evidence was clear. Since his image in Korea has already been at the bottom of the pile, it was best to get a reduction in prison at best.

It was possible that he would have to rot in prison for more than a dozen years, but Lee Sihoon wanted to have his sentence reduced significantly by using information about Yoon Jaehee and Kwon Yihyeon. Although his pride did not allow it easily, the sentence was reduced as much as possible, but with Joohyuk’s help, he was expected to come out early. Whether it’s driving all sorts of bottles into the charts, or walking out as a special envoy as a model.

Joohyuk, who handed the recorder to Lee Sihoon’s person, took the secretary’s netbook and got into the car.

Even after the car started, Joohyuk only stared at the netbook screen for a while and couldn’t play the file. Although it was something he had already heard from Sihoon, his fingertips trembled when he listened to the recorded file that could be said to be evidence.

After a while, Joohyuk played the file with a pale complexion.

Two familiar voices could be heard clearly. It was Lee Sihoon and Yoon Jaehee’s voice, which seemed to be angry for some reason.

-You think that’s an excuse?! The kid was shot?!

He could tell who Yoon Jaehee was talking about without having to say anything. Because it was none other than Yihyeon who suffered the gunshot wound.

– Disappointment. I told you. That kid should never get hurt!

– What can I do when he jumps in on his own?

Yoon Jaehee’s voice contained her affection for Yihyeon. She spoke of him like he was a very precious person, but at the same time she was really angry at the fact that he was hurt.

Soon, Joohyuk heard his name and his heart was beating hard on his chest.

-Kill Lee Joohyuk or not, it’s up to you. In place of helping you and looking after you, I asked you to take my brother safely. I emphasized that he shouldn’t get hurt.

It was something he had already heard from Lee Sihoon. Yoon Jaehee promised that she would look after him even if he ran wildly, and asked to take Yihyeon instead. Considering the current situation, it would be appropriate to say that Lee Sihoon was also played by Yoon Jaehee, but first of all, she was obviously an enemy of Lee Joohyuk.

But that kind of thing was pretty good.

– This time, we will proceed without mistakes. Let’s get rid of Joohyuk and bring my brother back safely.

It was a bigger shock to him that Yoon Jaehee was Yihyeon’s older sister.

No matter how much  he thought about it, Yoon Jaehee and Yihyeon had no similarities at all. Her appearance was also good, but if a sibling from the same mother was an Alpha, the probability that the one who comes out later is an Omega is extremely low, and most of them were dominant. Therefore, it was not at all predictable that Yihyeon, the dominant omega, and Alpha Yoon Jaehee, were siblings.

Lee Sihoon’s words echoed in his mind. When he heard the story at the detention center and made a confused face, it was the words he said with a bitter smile.

“A week later, as in the recording, set up my defense team and submit the agreement. Then I will give you information about who those two are.”

As he staggered out of his seat, he murmured.

“It was meant to be my lifeline, but I didn’t know I was going to release it to you.”

Lee Sihoon said that he knew exactly who the two were, and said that if he spilled it anywhere prematurely, his head would be chopped off and that not even a mouse or a bird would find it. But he couldn’t stay rotting in prison with his mouth shut like this, so he was making a deal with Joohyuk.

“Even if you search for a hundred days, you can never find Kwon Yihyun. So, within a week, get an attorney for me.”

He was ridiculing him, but he left refusing to answer.

‘It’s just as the bastard said.’

In order to find Yihyeon, he released not only himself and Haejun’s people, but also anyone he could find under the Shinwoo group. However, there was no trace of him left anywhere, and the people he used to approach him knew nothing.

He tried to put pressure on MYS, the only company related to him, but that didn’t work, and even if he grabbed the employees and pushed in a picture of Yihyeon, all of them repeated the answer that he was the retired employee ‘Kwon Yihyeon’.

It was a company in the hands of Yoon Jaehee. They must have been indoctrinated to speak like a parrot, as he had been taught early on.

Joohyuk could not coerce the company Yoon Jaehee had touched. Will he be able to work properly after receiving the succession?

He desperately felt the lack of strength. He was madly coveting his father’s place.

‘Kwon Yihyun…’

He contorted his face while reciting the fake name of the person he was looking for.

It was surprising that Yihyeon was Yoon Jaehee’s younger brother, but there was something else that shook Joohyuk more than that.

Yihyeon refused even the request of his older sister Yoon Jaehee and stayed by his side until the end.

Sihoon thought that the contract, which was just a piece of paper, was binding him, but the reality was completely different. Yihyeon was not tied by anything. For only one year, he was by his side with his own will.

Why?

He just repeated those words.

‘What was I to you?’

He was someone he met only a year ago. If it had been a person with such a striking appearance, there was no way he could not have known him. What’s more, Joohyuk was someone who wouldn’t forget a face.

Except for one person.

No matter how much he thought about it, Joohyuk was grimacing as he recalled Yihyeon’s appearance a year ago.

When he returned to the penthouse, Haejun greeted him as if he had been waiting at the front door.

“Brother, how was it? Did Sihoon-hyung say something strange?”

Joohyuk, who looked at him with tired eyes, opened the door without saying a word and went inside. Haejun followed him and continued talking.

“What did he say? He said he had something to trade with? You don’t mean to bail him out, do you? In the current situation, it would be impossible even if the president came… hyung?”

Haejun, who had never been there, followed Joohyuk and grabbed his arm.

“Hyung, why are you going there?”

Feeling anxious, he grabbed Joohyuk and stood there. He passed the large bedroom and was standing in front of Yihyeon’s small room and trying to open the door.

Haejun didn’t like the room. He heard that this was the room where Yihyeon was staying, but apart from that, it had a different atmosphere. It was a desolate place that he never wanted to go into. He even wondered why there was such a warehouse-like space in Joohyuk’s spacious and bright penthouse.

However, despite Haejun’s perseverance, he opened the door. Joohyuk removed his hand and walked inside, immediately closing the door as if telling him not to come in.

The dimly lit room, lit by the early evening sunset, contained a tingling chill after Yihyeon disappeared. It was understandable that Haejun disapproved.

Joohyuk, who slowly looked into the room, picked up his watch, which was placed on the table that Yihyeon would have used. Then he opened the small closet and grabbed the white shirt inside.

The only things that could be said to be Yihyeon’s items were a few pieces of clothing left in the closet, a notebook written about Joohyuk, and an old watch. The fact that none of Yihyeon’s warmth remained made Joohyuk even more distressed.

He sat down on the bed where Yihyeon would have been lying, buried his face in his shirt, and took a deep breath.

There was no smell.

He was not just an omega, he was a dominant omega, but how could he not leave behind any scent? If he had noticed his scent even a little bit, something might have changed by now.

An unscented shirt with no body odor was wrapped around Joohyuk’s breath as if it were an oxygen respirator. As he laid down on his side, he felt the cool energy of the wall close to his back.

He slept well in such a small bed.

Since Joohyuk had always slept in a wide bed, the single bed felt even narrower and smaller. If someone had a bad sleeping habit, they would have rolled over even if they moved a little.

Looking back, Yihyeon had no habit of moving while sleeping at all. He was a person who slept rather loosely like a corpse, even when he blinked his eyes like he was dreaming sometimes. So much that he wondered if he was really asleep.

He laid on the narrow bed and looked at the old watch in one hand.

It was a watch with a lot of scratches. It was so tattered that it was surprising that it was still working. The clean watch Joohyuk bought remained in the large room that was given to Yihyeon. Yihyeon even left it behind and went away.

He didn’t take anything he gave. He didn’t take anything, and left it behind like it was being thrown away.

‘What did you want from me?’

Even now, the face of Yihyeon, which appeared on its own, was clear.

Joohyuk, who had been keeping his eyes on the old watch, suddenly looked inside. He fixed his gaze on the very small engraved letters for a while.

‘Letter… , no, this is… ‘

It was strange. Even though it was clearly small letters that the human eye could not read, he thought that it was not. Not the letters, but a feeling that something else was engraved.

At first glance, he thought he had seen the inside of the watch. It was a watch that he didn’t even know was on Yihyeon’s wrist, and it was the first time he took it off from Yihyeonn to see the inside.

Joohyuk, who had been looking at it quietly, opened his eyes wide for an instant and jumped up.

It wasn’t letters that were engraved on the inside of the watch. Even though he couldn’t see it, he seemed to be sure why.

What was engraved were clearly numbers and symbols, and they were coordinates leading somewhere.

* * *

N 35°58’15.5964″

E 128°18’28.3608″

When the analysis was over, he was told of the coordinates that were still engraved. As soon as he heard those words, he felt like he was possessed by something.

Even though there was no way to know, he was sure what would be the coordinates, and why did it actually match? It was incomprehensible. It was the first time he had seen the watch and he had no idea what was engraved on it.

But there was no time to think about it.

A clue about Kwon Yihyeon.

Why did he put coordinates on the watch, what does it mean and what is there…

‘I do not care. If only I could find Kwon Yihyeon.’

Joohyuk drove the car rather hastily towards the place that his car’s navigation system pointed to. As if to represent his nervousness, an ashtray full of cigarettes lay next to him as he took the steering wheel. Soon, the cigarette in Joohyuk’s mouth was rubbed against the empty spot. But his gaze was on the navigation, not the ashtray.

It was a familiar address for some reason. He was neither a lost child nor a lost dog, so he never thought in the first place that the coordinates written on the watch would be his house. But it was certain that it was an address related to him.

After running along the coordinates for several hours, he saw a dense forest in the distance. Joohyuk frowned as he looked at the forest.

‘I think I saw it somewhere.’

It was a strange feeling. He kept feeling nauseous. It was vague, but he felt as if he had been in someone’s car and ran down this road several times.

Why?

When has he ever passed this road?

He didn’t know why, but his fingers twitched and his heart was beating fast.

He drove quickly along the quiet road without a single car, getting closer to the forest little by little. In line with this, Joohyuk;s heart was beating faster as if it was about to explode.

The destination displayed on the navigation system was quickly approaching. It ran through a forest full of tall trees on the left and right, as if dividing it.

The deeper he went inside, the worse the dizziness became. As the hazy memories gradually became clearer, the present landscape was overlaid. Suddenly, the two hands that were holding the steering wheel were clenched tightly, his knuckles drained of blood.

Soon, a voice announcing the arrival came from the navigation system. Joohyuk stopped the car and got out, but he stood there and couldn’t move.

He arrived at a large villa deep in the forest. It looked old as if it had been abandoned, but it looked like it would soon become dull.

A garden overgrown with weeds that have been neglected for a long time, a terrace surrounded by a wooden fence that was likely to fall over, a chair full of leaves carried by the wind, and a firmly closed door.

Everything was familiar.

Memories that were only blurry gradually took on a clear shape, as if they were putting together a puzzle.

He thought it was absurd.

The place where he spent time with his partner was right in front of him.

It was a villa that he had been looking for but could not find, and it was a place where he could not find any traces even in his memory. Because the only place that remained in his memory was the forest of the day his partner saved him.

It felt like his heart would explode. His mind was tangled as if he was about to lose his mind at any moment. An unforgettable voice intertwined between them.

“Hyung, look at this!”

“Didn’t I say I would protect you? I can do it!”

“Are you reading a book here again? I’m having a lot of fun, really.”

A young voice came pouring out without any hesitation.

“I can do anything to protect the managing director.”

He was startled.

Yihyeon’s voice clearly penetrated through the voices of his young partner. Why did the words he uttered at the time of the contract sound like his partner’s?

All of a sudden, Joohyuk was holding Yihyeon’s wrist watch, which he had put in his pocket. The hand holding it trembled as if he had a tremor.

He took a step forward with difficulty. The rustling leaves were trampled on by his shoe, breaking and crunching with every step. The crunching sound sounded like the screams of fallen leaves.

Slow, yet nervous, footsteps gradually made their way towards the entrance of the villa. He stood in front of the old door and turned the dusty doorknob. The stiff door knob rattled and turned, and a squeaking sound was heard.

The inside was barren with the door open. A thick layer of dust obscured his vision, and cobwebs strewn all over the place disgustedly greeted him. Joohyuk stepped inside as if possessed.

Furniture that would have been expensive could be seen. From a decorative cabinet with various dazzling decorations, a luxurious velvet sofa, watercolor paintings on the wall, and antique tables and chairs.

But now it was just trash that couldn’t even be sold at an antique shop.

Joohyuk glanced at the ugly interior and looked inside slowly.

Everything was familiar. As if welcoming the owner who returned after a long time, the furniture, chandeliers, and even the decorations were meticulously drawn into Joohyuk’s eyes. They played the role of filling in and returning Joohyuk’s vague memories one by one.

17 years ago, it was the very villa where he stayed for several months. The furniture was familiar, and the vaguely remembered things became clear, but he couldn’t be sure.

Everything he could see had his partner in it.

How could he have forgotten this way?

Why hasn’t he been able to find this place?

It was so clear

It seemed as if the image of a young mate was passing in front of me, like a vision. Even when he was young, he was small, but for Joohyuk now, the appearance of his mate fluttering in his eyes was so small and thin that he could not even touch it. He was afraid that it would break  into pieces and disappear.

Joohyuk, who looked around the villa calmly, came to the back door of the villa. As he opened the creaking door, he could see the backyard.

He went down the three old wooden stairs and walked a little through the familiar backyard. He stopped at the place where the door leading down to the basement was hidden.

It was covered in lush grass and there was no trace of it. But the memories that began to come to mind clearly remembered the exact location of the basement door.

He wiped the grass-covered spot with his fingertips. There was a dent in a part of the hard and flat floor. He put his finger in there and gently listened. The sound of rubbing wood was heard, and the square wooden door began to slowly open.