Prey (Lee Seohan) - Chapter 123
Lee Yoon-bok lightly laughed.
“Of course, I’m not expecting information without compensation. However, it’s difficult to set a price since we can’t be sure if the information will meet our desired level.”
Seol Hee-nam smirked, lifting his glass at Lee Yoon-bok’s words, which didn’t deny that he was Do Cheoljun’s man.
“What’s the big deal about that?”
At his nonchalant laughter, Lee Yoon-bok’s eyes narrowed.
“……What do you mean?”
“I mean, why make it complicated?”
Seol Hee-nam, with gleaming eyes, looked at Lee Yoon-bok and continued speaking with a grin.
“If it’s something that comes out of a person’s mouth, shouldn’t you just match whatever is wanted?”
“…….”
Understanding the meaning behind Seol Hee-nam’s words, Lee Yoon-bok quietly laughed.
“I’m glad we can speak the same language.”
Seol Hee-nam, who had emptied the remaining drink, put down his empty glass and said,
“I’m about to die, so I should grab onto any rope that comes my way and hold tight. Don’t you agree? I have to survive first to see the world clearly. If I die, I’m useless to anyone.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
Lee Yoon-bok refilled Seol Hee-nam’s empty glass, meeting his sly gaze directly.
The lips of two people, each with something to gain, curled upward at a similar angle.
At that moment, Do Jeonghan was also at the bar.
“You found them?”
Taewoo looked at Jeonghan with surprised eyes, holding a glass in his hand.
“Yes.”
Jeonghan nodded. Taewoo, who was observing Jeonghan’s unexpectedly calm face, asked impatiently.
“Did you meet them?”
“Yes, last week.”
Even this time, there wasn’t much emotional fluctuation in Jeonghan’s response. While that fact was surprising in itself, Taewoo was even more astonished by something else.
“Wow… You actually found them. The power of money really is something else, huh? I thought it’d be impossible to find them forever.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Taewoo looked at Jeonghan. With a slightly tense expression, Taewoo asked,
“So, does that mean it’s starting right away?”
“They’re still emotionally unstable, so I just met with them for now. The
witness’s parents are also in a state of distress.”
“From the parents’ perspective, that’s understandable. It’s already been so much time since then…”
As a parent himself, Taewoo could understand. If his own child had witnessed something like that at such a young age…
Just thinking about it was horrifying.
My daughter, a witness to a murder case? That must never happen.
“She’s still emotionally unstable, so it seems the shock must have been immense at such a young age.”
Taewoo spoke bitterly, fiddling with his glass.
Do Jeonghan had been searching for the young girl who had witnessed Seol Hee-nam trying to kill his wife, Oh kyung-hee, on Seoraksan (Province) over a long period of time.
According to the report from the employee who had been assigned to monitor Seol Hee-nam that day, the girl had been hiking with her mother when Seol Hee-nam pushed Oh kyung-hee.
Being young, she had ridden a lift up the mountain and gotten lost. While wandering, she ended up in a secluded area where she witnessed a man pushing a woman off a rock.
The shocked child fainted on the spot.
The employee had moved the unconscious girl off the trail and then descended to search for Oh kyung-hee’s body.
At the time, Do Jeonghan had been informed of the girl’s existence. However, given the vastness of the mountain and the fact that it was a holiday with many visitors, identifying her seemed nearly impossible.
As a detective, Taewoo had also taken an interest in the case, though it wasn’t officially assigned to him. He had investigated on his own but was unable to find her either.
“So, how did you find her? Didn’t we already look through all the hospital records back then?”
“She came from a single-parent household and was in a difficult financial situation. It seems they only visited a small clinic briefly at the time and stopped treatment once the girl appeared to recover.”
“Ah, that happens a lot. Medical expenses are usually quite expensive, too… So you found out because her trauma recently resurfaced, and she went back to the hospital?”
Jeonghan nodded.
“That seems to be the case.”
“When people go through something like that, even if they’re young, it stays in their subconscious. Even if it wasn’t something they personally experienced.
In fact, the trauma as a witness might be even greater since it comes with guilt.”
Taewoo paused, looking at Jeonghan.
