Chapter 157 - Sunny Daze (3): The Plan

Mirae had called up Ash, Somi, Hyun Jung and Riggs at KJ's secret office. She and KJ were already there when everyone had arrived. 

"Alright everyone," she clapped her hands. 'Let's get down to business."

Wearing her usual mask, she drew on a board placed in front of everyone. "We have two days for the meeting between Ziko and the other members of the Cartel. According to what we managed to extract from Madam Hong, Teppei will arrive at Sunny Daze where he will make a transaction of women he had kidnapped from another country."

"Our work is simple," she continued. "Catch Teppei. If we can get him, we'll take him to Abyss' prison where we will make him reveal Ziko's whereabouts. If we get to Ziko, we can get to this mysterious President of the Cartel."

"How are we gonna catch Teppei?" Ash asked. 

"On that day, you and KJ will have a music video shoot scheduled there," she went on. "Upon seeing KJ, Teppei will definitely come after him or at least trail him. KJ is still on the Cartel's hitlist and there is no way Teppei will let this opportunity go. After all, if he manages to kill KJ, it will be easy to determine the next successor of the Cartel."

"My men will be in the guise of your shooting crew," Mirae said. "Some will even be patrons at the bar. For that day, I will disable the cameras at the bar so that no evidence is left behind."

"Hyun Jung," KJ piped in. "Will keep an eye on Teppei's men and oversee their meeting. Hyun Jung will disguise himself as a waiter and report on their meeting to us. Meanwhile, once Teppei starts to follow me around, I'll lead him to a remote place. That is where Ash will assist me in subduing him."

"As for me," Mirae said. "I will be with Heroine and Riggs at the club's surveillance room. We'll monitor the club using my special software. But remember. If anything goes wrong or if someone suspects you, do not hesitate to escape. Since we'll be surveilling the whole place, cross your fingers if you feel you need to escape.We'll create an escape route for you." 

"Remember," KJ spoke up. "Our target is only Teppei. We'll have to corner him alone. This is our first and only attempt. But if there is even the slightest chance of any of us being in danger, we'll abandon the plan immediately. Our lives are more important. Understood?"

"Did you manage to find anything on Shun Oguri's death?" Somi asked. Like Mirae, she too was wearing sunglasses and a face mask.

"We tracked down the shop from where the belt was bought," Hyun Jung replied. "It was a high end clothing store named Sharton. The owner was able to give us the information on the owner."

"Who was it?" Mirae asked.

"It's someone called Lee Jinyoung," Hyun Jung revealed. "He goes by the alias Teppei."

"Teppei isn't that stupid," Ash frowned. "The much we know about him, he won't be dumb enough to just use his custom made belt to kill someone."

"We still cannot cross out the fact he may have killed Shun," KJ pointed out. "Since Shun and Ziko were rivals, Teppei may have been ordered to kill Shun in order to eliminate any competitors for the ultimate throne. That belt could have served as a warning to other members of the Cartel that Ziko is on to them."

"Still doesn't make sense," Mirae countered. "We don't have any concrete evidence against Teppei so far. Why would he just risk using a weapon which was recorded as made for him?"

"He probably thinks he is invincible," Riggs suggested. "You see this trait in bullies. They are so involved with chaos that they start to think that no one can stop them."

"Or it might be a third person," Mirae said. "Remember that other guy...Junhyung was it? Isn't he also fighting for the succession?"

Her words unsettled KJ. Was Junhyung really capable of such a thing?

"We still couldn't find CEO Ahn's killer," Ash said thoughtfully. "But don't you think that someone is killing the people connected to Shun Oguri? First it was CEO Ahn and then Shun himself. Maybe CEO Ahn was killed to weakne Shun's position in the Cartel? After all, Ahn had access to the entertainment industry and could have caused Shun's influence here to grow. That would have undermined Ziko's hold here."

"That can be true," Heroine said. "I have heard some celebrities talking about how Ahn had signed them up for Shun's companies. Some of them had even attended 'business meetings' with Shun and his associates. You can guess what happened there."

"So Ahn and Shun were involved with flesh trade inside the entertainment industry as well," KJ said. "What made Ahn do this, though? He was never publicly involved with the Cartel. We didn't even know about it."

"Was he blackmailed into joining?" Mirae frowned. "I do recall that CEO Ahn was notorious for having affairs with many women. Maybe the Cartel used one of them to blackmail him? Moreover, the transactions he had received from the Cartel's accounts. Those could have been used as leverage too."

"We can only find out after catching Teppei," KJ concluded. He's our key in all this."

"Have the plan memorized," Mirae told everyone. "We won't be able to meet like this again. So keep everything in your head."

"Gotcha!" Somi exclaimed.

"Alright," Hyun Jung nodded.

Ash did not say anything but simply gave a nod.

"I should be going," Riggs said, getting up. "I have to gather more information on the Cartel's movements."

"Let us know if you find anything," Mirae told him. He nodded and went off.

She turned to the rest of the group. "That's all for today. Let's all go back to our respective homes."

….

At the police station, Eli was practicing to shoot targets. Her head was swirling with questions. She tried to focus on the target in front of her. Aiming her gun, she kept on shooting. Reloading the gun, she shot more rounds.

Unfortunately, her head was not focused and she missed all the shots.

"UGH!" She cried, taking off the ear mufflers in frustration. The events of the past few days were overwhelming her. She wanted to solve the case so badly but Hyun Jung had kept many secrets from her. First he hid the fact that he knew Kwon Jiwon. Then he brought in that mysterious detective from the USA to work on Shun Oguri's death. She suspected that he hid the source of that mysterious video from her as well. Moreover, she had found out that he was the one who questioned Madam Hong before she disappeared.

There were so many thoughts clouding her mind. Why was Hyun Jung hiding all this? She wondered. His actions only made her more suspicious. Weren't they a team?

"I want answers," she decided. It was time to keep a closer eye on her partner.