Chapter 17 - Working Together

At South Point Hotel, VIP Room number 6, KJ let out a loud sneeze.

"Someone is probably cursing you," Hyun Jung said. They were sitting in the living room of the suite.

"Ugh, whatever," KJ shrugged. He tapped his foot, feeling impatient. Those two are late, he fumed. He needed to show those two what he discovered at the crime scene and had been trying to reach them since morning. But both of their phones were unanswered. He even went over to the CEO's apartment but no one answered the door.

Finally, after a few minutes, someone knocked on the door. Hyun Jung opened it to see Ash standing outside.

"Hyun Jung," Ash acknowledged him. Hyun Jung gave a small bow before letting him in.

"Where have you been?" KJ demanded. "I've been trying to reach you for hours!"

"I was busy with some important work," Ash said in a casual tone, as he took a seat opposite him. KJ raised his eyebrows.

"Was it a customer from the Cartel?" KJ asked him. He scanned Ash's face for any hint of surprise but to his surprise, Ash was poker faced.

"Aren't you gonna ask how I came to know about your connection with the Cartel?" KJ asked him. Ash sighed.

"KJ," he said. "The moment you said that the CEO of Abyss will be joining us, I understood you knew about what I was doing for the Cartel. Both of you intend to question me."

Before KJ could open his mouth, there was another knock at the door. It was the CEO. She did not bother with the greetings and barged in the room.

"Why did you call me here?" her voice sounded annoyed.

"To give you some information," KJ shot back.

"And it couldn't have waited till tomorrow?"

"No," he replied. "Where were you anyway?"

"Busy," she said curtly, taking a seat next to Ash.

"Busy with what? You're supposed to be protecting me!"

"Yes, and I made sure you were protected," she said smugly. "My men were tailing you."

"And yet, you yourself were nowhere to be found."

KJ was frustrated when he could not find her last night. Moreover, she was not home that morning as well. He was worried that something might have happened to her and even sent his men to find her. But it was to no avail as they could not trace her at all.

"Unlike you, some of us have lives to lead," the CEO replied. "Just because I'm the CEO of Abyss, doesn't mean I don't have a personal life of my own."

"Just let it go, Jiwon," Ash advised him. "It's the weekend. Many people have their personal businesses to attend to."

"Seems to me, both of you were busy with other work and I appeared to have interrupted," KJ said in a sarcastic tone.

"No."

"Yes."

Ash and the CEO looked at each other. They both said it at the same time. KJ gaped at them.

"Just spit out what you want to say," the CEO said in annoyance. KJ glared at her before taking out an envelope. Ash and the CEO leaned over to check the contents. It contained some pictures.

The pictures were of the gruesome crime scene, KJ visited the other night. Ash's brows creased to form a frown as he went through the pictures. The CEO looked over his shoulder, a horrible feeling rising up her stomach.

"This is Madam Lim," Ash whispered. "This..."

"A guy with the Cartel, Teppei, did it," KJ informed him.

"We managed to confiscate one of their shipments," the CEO said. "We monitored on camera, how Teppei pinned it all on Madam Lim. But this part...this part was left out. He probably did it after we turned off the camera."

Ash nodded in understanding.

"Who gave you the information regarding the ship anyway?" KJ asked her. He had tried his best, but he could not find this 'source' she spoke about earlier. The CEO was being strangely tight lipped about it.

"That's not your concern," she snapped. She and Ash had decided early on that no one should find out that he was her informant. If KJ found out, there was a chance the Cartel would find out too.

"We're working on this together," KJ slammed his hands on the table. "I have a right to know."

"What you should be doing, is to keep yourself protected and follow our instructions," the CEO argued. "Not risk yourself like this by visiting the Cartel's sites!"

They glared at each other.

"Calm down both of you," Ash scolded them. "Arguing like this won't do any good to us. We gotta work together!"

His voice was calm but stern enough to put both KJ and the CEO back into their seats.

"We're all here to destroy the Cartel," he continued. "Recklessly going to their known hideouts, putting tabs on them and arguing with each other will not bring them down. What we need is a solid lead. If this guy, Teppei, can help us draw out the Cartel, then we should be looking for him."

His words were authoritative and decisive. The CEO looked at him in astonishment. She looked at Hyun Jung who was sitting beside her and whispered, "Are you sure he isn't the leader of EXOTIC? He's much better than the idiot sitting there."

"Ash was supposed to be the leader," he sighed. "But he refused, citing it to be a drag."

KJ ignored their jibes.

"Okay," he conceded. "I'm just going to lay out what we know about Teppei so far."

He nodded at Hyun Jung, who switched off the lights and turned on a projector.

Ash and the CEO turned to the screen. The picture of a blonde man in his late thirties appeared on it.

"That's Teppei," the CEO remarked.

"He is one of the henchmen of the Cartel," KJ explained. "But he isn't in their inner circle. From what we could find out about him, he was kicked out of an orphanage. From his childhood, he displayed psychopathic tendencies. He used to cut off parts from live animals and tortured them to death. Soon, his targets changed from animals to young children. He cut off the fingers of a girl who spurned him and the orphanage's authorities decided to kick him out."

Even though the CEO was wearing a face mask and sunglasses, her disgust was increasing. Beside her, she felt Ash was getting uncomfortable as well.

"He was picked up by one the Cartel's men," KJ went on. "Rumors have it, he was picked up and trained by Ziko himself. There's a chance that if we catch him, we'll be able to reach Ziko."

"And for that," KJ turned to them. "We'll need Ash's help."

"What can I do?" Ash leaned in.

"Other than Madam Lim, there was another person in their circle who was in direct contact with Teppei," KJ stated. "The wife of ENT Conglomerates' CEO. She is one of the regular customers of Lim and recently, she has started to fancy you. The task is simple. You'll have to seduce her for information."