Hostage
Myeongsuk lifted the glass of water in front of her, took a sip, and picked up the story again.
"We investigated Kang Hojung's greatest weakness. His biggest weakness was money, of course, and next came women. For people with money, the most visceral way they can feel their wealth is through women. So he always kept plenty of women around him, and he even had two full households set up. That was why the best way to get close to him was through a woman."
Myeongsuk glanced at Jeongmi for a moment, and I didn't miss that look. I stared at Jeongmi with wide eyes.
"Don't tell me…"
Jeongmi smiled. Her silence was as good as a yes.
"But Jeongmi was always with me. Even if she stepped out for a bit here and there, there wasn't nearly enough time for…"
Myeongsuk cut in.
"Jeongmi coming to stay by Jisin's side came after all of that."
"What? So this whole thing was already underway before I even met Minhwa or Jeongmi?"
My head was spinning. I couldn't shake the feeling that the timeline simply didn't line up.
"I told you, didn't I? I was investigating something else, and that's how I came across Kang Hojung. By that point, Jeongmi had already made contact with him. Originally, Kang Hojung wasn't even our target. But if he cooperated with us, it would make things much easier. So we were trying to figure out how to turn him into an ally when Minhwa and Minhwa's father caught our eye."
A chill started creeping over me little by little. When I just sat there looking blank, Myeongsuk waved her hand and went on.
"Anyway, setting that aside — the way our Jeongmi approached Kang Hojung was through one of his mistresses. She was a divorcée, and one way or another, Jeongmi managed to get close to her."
Jeongmi picked up the thread.
"I got very close with that sister, and by feigning coincidence, I was able to meet Kang Hojung. The three of us even had meals together and built up a rapport. Kang Hojung believed that any woman who caught his eye could be his. Of course, I also left openings and tempted him — that's true. In the end he contacted me, and we started meeting privately. When I told him I wanted to go live abroad, he said he went to Hong Kong a lot for work and suggested I live there. Apparently he wanted to set up a household in Hong Kong as well. In the end I accepted, and Kang Hojung prepared a place for me to live in Hong Kong."
My mouth hung open. Everything I had known was only the tiniest fragments. So much had been happening behind the scenes.
"For a while I lived in Hong Kong. Kang Hojung never suspected me for a second, and he came to Hong Kong once or twice a month. Through that I learned why he came to Hong Kong and about his paper companies and so on. But I couldn't dig any deeper. I'd hit a wall. That was when my aunt contacted me and told me to come back to Korea. The solution they'd found in Korea was Minhwa and Minhwa's father. I came here, and what happened with Minhwa's father and Minhwa is exactly what you already heard, Jisin."
Jeongmi paused for a moment and crossed her legs the other way. Looking at my dumbstruck face, she wore an expression of pure amusement. I was starting to wonder if she was a real devil.
"With help from Minhwa's father, we found the lead Jeongmi hadn't been able to track down. The name on that paper company belonged to that sister — the woman with the second household whom I'd used to approach Kang Hojung. Heaven really was on our side. And we also found out why Kang Hojung doted on her so much."
I tilted my head. I was wondering why she hadn't told Jeongmi any of that from the start. Jeongmi continued as if she already knew what I was thinking.
"I met that sister again. The truth is, she was in the same position as Minhwa's father — Kang Hojung had something on her. I'll tell you the details later. She wanted to escape from Kang Hojung's grip. She had the will, but she was so afraid of him that she just did whatever he told her. She couldn't even talk to anyone about it. My aunt and I promised her a new life. We laundered her identity and sent her to Canada, where she'd always wanted to live. After she did one last thing for us."
I leaned forward.
"You diverted the money!"
Jeongmi gave a satisfied smile and spoke in a tone like an elementary school teacher.
"That's right. Once we confirmed that a massive sum had come into the paper company, we sent the entire amount to a Swiss account under Kang Hojung's orders. Of course, not the account he meant — the one we had opened. When Kang Hojung found out, he was furious, but by then that sister had already left for Canada. The identity laundering was done through experts we know, so even Kang Hojung couldn't easily find her."
Just how many "people they know" do these people have, who are they, and how do they know them? No, wait… just what kind of lives have these people been living?
"We approached Kang Hojung through a negotiation specialist. We used that money as a hostage to negotiate with him. The first condition we put forward was that he sever all ties with Minhwa's family. The detailed terms are more or less what you already know. Separate until the daughter comes of age, then clean up the paperwork once she's an adult. Never, under any circumstances, release the evidence of Minhwa's father's corruption, and return that evidence to Minhwa's father when the full amount of money is returned to him. Second, he cooperates with whatever we do going forward. All of this also becomes void once Minhwa's daughter reaches adulthood, and at that point we return all his money. And even before then, if he needs money, we'll return it to him as needed up to one-fifth of the total. Kang Hojung, who values money more than his own life, eventually agreed. There was some adjustment, but that was it."
I frowned.
"Why go to all that trouble for a bastard like him? Just throw him in prison and turn the money over to the national treasury."
Jeongmi nodded.
"That man is a bad person, and there's no change to the fact that he can never be forgiven. But when we don't want to dirty our own hands with filthy work, there will definitely come times when we need his help. That's why we need to keep him on ice for now."
Myeongsuk, who had been listening, straightened her back, clapped her hands once, and said,
"That brings us to the full picture of everything related to Minhwa."
I was speechless. This kind of comic-book plot actually happened? This was reality? Myeongsuk said with a smile,
"And one more thing you should know — although an agent handled the negotiations, they made it clear that the principal party was Cheonsiman-gyo."
"What?"
I shot up from my seat without thinking and shouted. Myeongsuk wore a devilish smile.
"I don't know for sure, but Kang Hojung probably wants to kill the cult leader of Cheonsiman-gyo more than anyone else right about now."
This is bad. What if that bastard hires a killer and slits my throat one day? What if I'm standing by the river and someone puts a sniper round in me? I should start limiting how much I go out. As if she could read my mind, Myeongsuk said,
"Don't worry too much. He's not the type to act that recklessly, and we're keeping him under close surveillance. I'm just saying that's how he feels."
I looked at Myeongsuk. I thought of the Myeongsuk who had first come looking for me and Yunchae in shabby clothes with the vacant face of a neighborhood auntie. The Myeongsuk in front of me now felt like a completely different person. The tattoos on her body, and her niece Jeongmi with similar tattoos… all of them were suspicious people. They were definitely not ordinary people, and they had definitely not lived ordinary lives. I even started to wonder whether I should keep going along with people like this.
With a queasy feeling, I looked at Myeongsuk and said,
"By the way, how were you able to handle all of this alone, Myeongsuk?"
Myeongsuk smiled.
"I didn't do it alone. Jeongmi helped, and Yongjin here helped too…"
Yongjin waved his hands dismissively.
"I didn't really do much. Someone just asked if I knew anyone who did a certain kind of work, I said I did, and I contacted them to ask for a favor. That's all."
I looked at Yongjin.
"So you're saying you knew about all of this from the start too, hyung?"
Yongjin gave an awkward smile.
"Well, now you know everything too."
Something about it made me uncomfortable. It felt like the Yongjin I knew wasn't the real him, and that everyone around me was a stranger. I roughly wrapped up the conversation and went up to my room.