Chapter 129 - Hann Constructions (VI) Closer to Truth

It was almost 3 am and KJ was still wide awake. He was at his personal studio which was located at the same place as his private office where he held meetings with Hyun Jung and his other men.

Even though the doctor had advised him to be on complete rest, he knew it was futile. The only way he could recover is by practice. For the past four hours, he had been learning the choreography for their new song. 

The whole dance routine was tiresome. His newly healed muscles were already screaming in pain. But he did not give up. The pain was nothing new to him; compared to the grueling training he went through with Ms. Sohee, it was a welcoming experience. Besides, his teacher would have probably kicked him out of his coma if she was alive. After all, the woman had no fear of anything.

Thinking about Ms. Sohee also brought back the memories of his time at the Academy. He missed the place terribly but in all these years, he did not dare to go back there. He still upheld his vow not to return until he took down her killers. Yet, he would not stop living the life she had wanted for him. 

Clenching his fists, KJ was as determined as ever. He took a step back before sprinting through the room and jumped high. As he descended on the ground, he lunged forward and flipped over, landing on a headstand.  He balanced his hands as he stood upside down, trying to keep himself steady for at least ten seconds.

"Ten…" he began counting. "Nine...eight…"

Hie hands were trembling with the weight of his whole body, but KJ forced himself to remain steady.

"Seven...six...five…"

He felt his hands were beginning to lose their balance but he had only a few seconds. You can do it! He told himself.

"Four...three...tw…"

But his hands completely gave away and he came crashing down. Thankfully, his quick reflexes protected his head but he landed hard on his back.

"Agh!" he yelled in pain. He tried to get up, but the pain in his back was too much. Moreover, the fact that he just had surgery a little over a month ago, was also worrying him. What if the wound reopens?

As he lay there, writhing in pain, he heard footsteps approaching.

"KJ?" came Mirae's voice. 

Even though he was in pain, KJ was surprised to hear her voice. How did she know about this place? He panicked.

"I'm...here…" he managed to grunt out.

She entered the room only to widen her eyes in surprise.

"KJ!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him. She put a hand behind his back and helped him to get up. He held on to her hand for support as she led him to a bench set against the wall and sat him down on it.

"What the hell happened?" she asked in a panic. "Why are you on the ground? How did you fall?"

"I-I…" he stammered. "I was practicing our new dance move."

"Are you crazy?" she yelled. "Why the hell were you practicing dance moves when the doctor clearly told you not to stress yourself physically?"

KJ looked down in shame like a child who had been caught doing something wrong. 

"You could have been seriously hurt!" Mirae scolded him. "What if your wound..."

She grabbed his T-shirt. KJ was flushed with embarrassment.

"W-what are you doing?" he stuttered, going red.

"Seeing your wound," Mirae replied, completely unaware of his embarrassment. "Take off your t-shirt. Now!"

"T-that's not necessary!"

"Let me see the wound!"

She gave him a threatening glare. KJ hated to admit but he was cowering under her angry look. He did not protest and let her take his t-shirt off. 

She checked his wound which was sewed up by surgery. While her focus was wholly on the wound, KJ could help but feel sheepish. Even though they had been married in a different timeline, he had no qualms in being topless in front of her then. 

But this was a different Mirae and they were separated by time. He had also been with many other women since then, which made him feel more self aware. The woman in front of him was not his wife but his friend's girlfriend. It was awkward to sit like this in front of her.

"The stitches seem to be fine," she noted. "The wound didn't reopen. But what you did was very careless."

She handed KJ his shirt. He quickly wore it, trying to hide his red cheeks.

"Why are you here?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Looking for you," she replied sharply. "Hyun Jung called me and told me some things. He wanted to tell you some important things and wanted to meet. But you didn't pick up your phone and his supervisor put him on night duty. So he called me and informed me about  his meeting with Shun Oguri this morning. He also said you might be here. Imagine my surprise at seeing you on the ground, suffering in agony! What if I hadn't arrived? What if the wound had reopened?"

Her anger flared up again. There was no escaping it, KJ thought. 

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just wanted to get back to my old routine as soon as possible. Our next album is nearly ready and it has already been delayed because of me! I just wanted to recover quickly so that EXOTIC can make a comeback."

"KJ, your health is more important," Mirae affirmed. "EXOTIC is still wildly popular! Even if you don't dance for one album, EXOTIC will remain in everyone's hearts. You just have to be patient. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you'll only end up harming yourself more."

She gave him a sympathetic look, patting his head. KJ felt his heart beating rapidly, but he cleared his throat.

"I will take care of myself," he said, turning his face away to hide his still red cheeks. "So what did Hyun Jung say about Shun Oguri?"

Mirae took a seat next to him, criss crossing her legs. "Shun Oguri transferred millions of dollars to an account which was affiliated with the Cartel," she said. "A day before my parents' death."

KJ frowned. "You're saying that Shun might be behind your parents' death?" he asked.

"The evidence is still flimsy," Mirae said. "But it's a start. He probably hid away his traces, but if we access your grandfather's computer, then we may be able to get clues on that transaction as well. We suspect the account belonged to Ziko."

"So we'll have to extract all the information from that drive," KJ said thoughtfully. "How long will it take to transfer all those data?"

"One minute," Mirae replied. "It will take one minute to transfer the data. I have designed a special, untrackable USB stick which will take replicate all the files on the computer and transfer it within itself."

"I'm impressed," KJ complimented. "The CEO of Abyss is much smarter than I anticipated."

"You haven't seen anything yet," she winked. "Leave the flattery for later. We still have a lot to do. Let's go and prepare for our break in."

KJ smiled and was about to get up but his back ached painfully. 

"Agh!" he groaned. Mirae giggled.

"I ain't giving you a piggyback ride like those male leads do in Korean dramas!" she teased, snickering.

KJ scowled at her but she let out her hand.

"Let's go partner," she said as he held her hand for support. "No more dancing for you for a while though."

"Yes yes," KJ lamented. "I promise I'll focus on healing myself first."

"Good coz I don't want to starve when there's no one else to cook food for me," Mirae said.

"So you're only using me for food?"

"Wasn't it obvious?"

They bickered to and forth all the way to their apartment building.

….

Eli parked the car in front of the school's gate. Stepping out of the car, she could not help but admire the school. The Academy of Alternate Development stood there, in its majestic glory. It was a school for talented individuals, situated in the midst of a beautiful mountainside view. People claimed that one does not get to choose this school. 

On the contrary, the school chooses its students by scouting through millions of data to match the student profiles with their requirements. It was this school which Sung Sohee, Jung Taewon's wife, was the headmaster of. Since they had died a short distance away from this place, Eli decided that maybe she could find some clues on whether there were any witnesses at the accident spot that night the couple died.

She cautiously approached the Guard Room near the front gate. A friendly looking guard was sitting there.

"ID?" he asked.

"I'm from the Police," she said, holding up her ID card. "I want to talk to the headmaster here."

"Please sign here," the guard said, holding out a digital touch screen display. She typed in her information and signed the display.

"Please scan your ID with this screen," the guard instructed her. "Then leave your business card…"

The person identification took a long time. Eli was almost about to burst when the guard finally let her in. She straight marched towards the headmaster's office.

Sitting there was a portly looking man with a bright smile. He looked up to see Eli, entering the room.

"Ahh Hello Ms. Lee," the headmaster greeted. "I hope you had a good journey from Seoul to here.'

"It was alright," Eli shrugged. 

"My name is Bang Jun-ki," the headmaster said. "Please take a seat."

He ushered her to sit on the chair opposite him. Eli took a seat.

"Sir, I want to know about the accident of Ms. Sung Sohee and her husband, Mr. Taewon," Eli stated.

"But those cases were closed," Jun-ki pointed out. "I was an English teacher here then. Ms. Sohee was very popular with the students. It's a shame she left us so soon. But why are you investigating after so many years?"

"We believe that someone from within the Jung Taewon's organization had transferred money to a suspicious account," Eli explained. "If we can get any crucial piece of evidence to uncover the truth…"

"Why not ask the witness?" Jun-ki suggested. "I'm sure he would like to say something."

"Witness?" Eli asked sharply. "What witness?"

"You don't know?" the headmaster asked her. "There was a witness that night. He was in the car with Taewon and Ms. Sohee. He must have seen it all even though the officials records do not mention him due to the security issues. His grandfather took him back to his mansion after which he recovered. I remember that his grandfather bribed people to keep his grandson away from the judicial proceedings"

"Who is this witness?" Eli asked. "What's his name?"

The headmaster chuckled.

"You know him," he beamed. 

"Know him? How-"

"He's all over the news for the past couple of months," Jun-ki replied. "His coma sent everyone into a panic mode."

Eli frowned. "Ae you referring to…"

"Yes," headmaster replied. "KJ. Otherwise known at Kwon Jiwon was also a member of the Cartel. He was with them that time. He witnessed the whole scene from that night."