20 You saw something, didnt you? (2/2)

Were you so anxious that you hurried to come over? Jaehyun thought as he closed his eyes for a moment.

She's a good rider, to be honest, maybe even better than him. But the weather had been merciless at best that a lot of people on bikes had been involved in accidents. At that thought, he couldn't help but admire her and be frustrated at her at the same time.

When she was done, he stood up to clear away the dishes, but stopped when Ji-Eun started speaking.

”I read the file you gave me,” she started. ”About Bae Yuri.”

”Oh?” Jaehyun sat back down and waited for her to ask something.

”Park Min Young,” she said. ”That's her real name?”

”From what I gathered,” Jaehyun answered. ”She had been involved with a criminal case before and stood as a witness. After the suspect had been convicted, she changed her name and moved here, to the capital, a few years ago.”

”And this wasn't an issue with The Little City?”

”This case wasn't widely known. Under wraps, you might say. Mainly because the other party's family was affluent that they didn't want their reputation ruined.”

Ji-Eun scrunched her nose a little. ”How much did we pay for this information?”

Jaehyun smiled. ”Quite a lot.”

”Hmm,” Ji-Eun hummed thoughtfully.

”Like I said,” he leaned forward to pick up the dishes. ”The other party really wanted to keep this hidden.”

”A witness, huh?” Ji-Eun closed her eyes.

He gathered the dishes and brought them back to the kitchen. He refilled her glass with warm soju and got himself a beer from the fridge. He returned to find Ji-Eun on her phone again.

”Here,” he put the glass down in front of her and seated himself on the couch again.

Ji-Eun put away her phone and stared at him for a few seconds.

”Jaehyun-ssi,” she started. ”Were you able to make any connections between Song Hyun-Shik and Bae Yuri?”

Jaehyun took a swig of his cold beer. Finally, she mentioned the elephant in the room, he thought.

”Yes and no,” he phrased his answer carefully.

”What do you mean?”

”Song Hyun-Shik, as far as the pubic eye is concerned, had been the most eligible bachelor up until the time Song Corp. began their tumultuous period. He had a flurry of girlfriends then.”

Ji-Eun listened carefully, nodding at the right places.

”He then watched himself carefully after news got out that Song Corp. was deteriorating,” he continued. ”It seemed he stopped dating and seeing girls at that time. In other words, he avoided adding to the flame that was already consuming their group.”

”Makes sense...” Ji-Eun nodded. ”But I don't understand how that relates to Bae Yuri.”

”Watching himself act carefully in public doesn't really mean he's not in a relationship of any kind,” Jaehyun explained as he took another swig.

Ji-Eun had her doubts, but she heard Jaehyun's words clearly.

In any given day, she would choose to trust Jaehyun's words, so she surmised, ”You saw something, didn't you?”

Jaehyun smiled. ”I didn't have any means of finding out anything about their history, Ji-Eun. I just accidentally stumbled upon this information the day we went to The Little City to close the deal with Madam Song.”

Ji-Eun waited for him to continue.

”That day, after dropping you off at The Regal, I returned to The Little City to hand over some documents to Secretary Min. As I was leaving, I saw the both of them leave together secretly in Song Hyun-Shik's car,” he said, recalling the events from that day.

”They went to what I assumed was the Song family villa,” he said. ”And God knows what happened inside, because after a few minutes, Bae Yuri came out crying and Song Hyun-Shik had to chase her down the street to try and console her.”

Ji-Eun rubbed her temple gingerly, taking in the information.