Chapter 184
Cha Juhan told Jin Hye-kyung that his phone signal was bad and ended the call.
"……."
He set down the documents he'd been reviewing on the table.
Research reports submitted in three stages—from the development of Antrozol, the precursor to Antrozol Alpha, up to the present. Yoo Minhyuk, the research team leader whose name topped the first report on Antrozol and the interim report on Antrozol Alpha, was conspicuously absent from the final Antrozol Alpha report.
Given that his name led the previous two, he must have been the lead researcher. So why was he missing from the final one?
Antrozol was the blockbuster drug that took Myeonghwa Pharma public. Yoo Minhyuk was the one who'd developed it from the start and uncovered the mechanisms of apilatilen and lopetamin, the core components of Antrozol Alpha. For someone with such monumental achievements to vanish from the final report—while all the other researchers remained, their spots unchanged except for his, now filled by some unfamiliar name, Yoon Soo-young—something smelled off.
He picked up his phone right away.
-Yes, Lawyer Cha? What's up?
Kim Chan-young answered with a voice full of energy, clearly still wide awake.
"Nothing urgent. Just looking over those documents you gave me."
-Yeah?
"Found something nagging at me."
-What is it?
"You got copies of them? Might as well talk while looking at them."
-Made copies before handing them over, of course.
He didn't really need to see them, but Cha Juhan tested the waters anyway. As expected, Kim Chan-young had no intention of being just a document shuttle. He'd made copies to prepare for any contingencies or spot anything they might withhold from him.
"Antrozol, Antrozol Alpha interim report, Antrozol Alpha final report. Let's call them Reports 1, 2, and 3 for simplicity."
-Got it.
"A researcher who seemed like the lead—top name on Reports 1 and 2—is gone from 3. Replaced by someone else."
-……Yeah, you're right. The missing one's Yoo Minhyuk, new one's Yoon Soo-young. Suspicious, huh?
"Isn't it?"
-Want me to look into why he dropped out?
"Yeah."
-Got it. I'll tell my uncle first thing tomorrow morning.
The conversation wrapped up swiftly, and he hung up. Stretching, Cha Juhan headed to the balcony, lit a cigarette, and prepared to call it a day.
Wonder what turns up.
"Chan-young's here?"
Two days later, Choi Jonghyeon, Jo Bongjun, and Kim Chan-young gathered at the studio. They'd already shared the discovery from the other day with the two reporters yesterday, so now they were just waiting for what Kim Chan-young would bring.
"Sorry I'm late. It's exam week."
"Exam week? Finals?"
"Yeah. But just gotta survive this week, then vacation."
"You sure it's okay getting mixed up in this during exams?"
"I wanted to do it. Don't worry—I've aced everything so far."
Kim Chan-young's bag was stuffed with major textbooks, just as he'd said.
"You're top of your class, right? Sucks if this throws you off."
"Whoa, Chan-young's number one? At Myeongun University? That's impressive. Place is full of study machines."
"Ah, Lawyer Cha, why bring that up? You're embarrassing me."
Kim Chan-young scratched his cheek sheepishly and slid a folder across to them.
"Uncle dropped it off at home yesterday, but I pulled an all-nighter at school and only grabbed it today. Sorry."
"No worries. Grateful you brought it at all."
At Choi Jonghyeon's words, Kim Chan-young grinned and pulled out the contents of the L-shaped folder—Yoo Minhyuk's personnel records.
"He quit? And yeah, matches your hunch on him being lead. Definitely fishy."
"Yeah. Report 3 came out mid-2009, and he quit in March that year. Looks like Yoon Soo-young took over as lead because of it. They don't know why he left."
Antrozol Alpha entered clinical trials for MFDS approval right around mid-2009, immediately after Report 3. Made sense. And 2009 was also when the Hyizolam research—started in the US in 2007—wrapped up.
Checking the documents confirmed it: the final Hyizolam paper came out in January 2009.
"Timeline fits—Yoo Minhyuk was running the Antrozol project, then quit two months after the Hyizolam results dropped."
Choi Jonghyeon summed it up.
"He probably knows the Hyizolam study was faked."
"Could make a good witness if so."
The resignation reason was listed as "personal circumstances," but no telling if it was voluntary or pushed.
"Let's try calling the number here."
"Ah, Lawyer Cha, I actually did earlier. Just to check if it was still his……."
"And?"
"Someone else picked up. Asked if it was Yoo Minhyuk, and they snapped that people had been calling for him off and on since last year."
Calls coming "off and on since last year" meant he'd changed numbers after quitting.
"Hmm. Went into hiding?"
"Maybe…… Huh?"
Choi Jonghyeon, tilting his head, pointed to the education section.
"Seoul National University, class of '83? Same as me. Pharmacy, though."
"Pharmacy was still at Yeon-gun Campus back then, right? Even same year, tough for a journalism guy like you to cross paths."
"Nah, I remember. Pharmacy moved to Gwanak by then. And I had a sunbae from Pharmacy '83 in my club. Kinda rings a bell?"
"Oh, yeah? Can you ask him?"
"Got his number. I'll call."
Choi Jonghyeon dialed right there, responded gravely with "yeah" a few times, then hung shaking his head.
"Tried reaching him recently to meet up, but no contact since early 2009."
The timing lined up too perfectly—he'd deliberately gone dark. Changing numbers post-quit was common to dodge old colleagues, but cutting off friends too?
"Feels like he knows something big."
"Ah, Cha, you heard about that NIS guy—got a PI connection? Might be worth a shot."
Jo Bongjun shrugged helplessly.
"Guess so."
According to Taesik, having the phone number and birthdate was ideal. If not, birthdate alone helped. It was in the records, so doable.
"Reliable guy?"
Choi Jonghyeon narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Yeah."
No need to mention their past-life bond of scrubbing each other's backs at the bathhouse.
After parting with them, Cha Juhan headed straight to Taesik's office. Only upon arrival did he realize it was getting late—past 9 p.m. The lights were on upstairs, thankfully.
Oh right, he texted about grabbing soju recently. Too lazy to reply.
Bet he'll bitch about it the second we meet.
"Oh? Speak of the devil—the lawyer who ghosts my texts like chewing gum and blowing bubbles."
Sure enough, the moment he opened the office door, Taesik—lounging on the sofa—pursed his lips and glared. Sanggil and Hyeong-sik jumped up, bowing to him.
"Evening, sir."
"Hey, asshole, don't bother greeting him. Always shows up when he needs something. Heard you boozed it up with NIS? Drink with them, but not me?"
Taesik was clearly pissed.
"We can drink next time."
"Always 'next time.' You think I buy that?"
"You my girlfriend? One unread text and you're this mad? And when did I say 'next time' every time? I just said no."
"……Huh, yeah, you're right."
Taesik coughed awkwardly.
"So, what's the business?"
Sanggil quickly set a drink in front of him.
"Give us the room a sec."
Cha Juhan eyed Sanggil and Hyeong-sik. They looked flustered, glancing at Taesik, who waved them out dismissively. The two left, leaving just Cha Juhan and Taesik.
"What's with the drama?"
"Nothing major."
He'd come to hire them to find Yoo Minhyuk, but there was another matter too. He pulled a paper bag from his side and set a box of Vita 5000 in front of Taesik.
"What's this? Perfect timing—been feeling low on vitamins. Lemme have one."
Taesik chuckled, opening the box—then his eyes bulged.
"……Gasp? Whaaat?"
He peered inside, slammed it shut like it'd bitten him, then cracked it open again.
"Th-this is cash? In a big Vita 5000 box? That's gotta be 200 million won? Wh-why're you giving me this?!"
"50,000-won bills are handy. Used to need apple-box size for this much."
Taesik blinked rapidly.
"Remember I told you to quit the dirty work?"
"……Yeah. No more bad shit. For real."
"I know."
"B-but why this?"
"Time to scale up the office."
Taesik swallowed hard.
"Didn't know how much you'd need, so brought this for starters. Say if it's short."
"……."
"Hire good ones. Weed out the untrustworthies, raise pay for keepers. Get a few cars. That's an MOU."
Handing cash as an "investment" to a PI firm might look bad if exposed later. But they could overlook this much.
"……I'll take it as motivation to hustle. Thanks."
Taesik's voice was uncharacteristically serious.
"Now, the real business."
"There's more?"
"Need you to track someone. Current phone, address—whatever. Just gotta meet him."
He slid Yoo Minhyuk's personnel records across. Taesik skimmed it, then shot up yelling.
"I'll work my ass off hardest in the world!"
He even bowed at the waist.
Hiding on purpose might make it tough, but with this cash windfall, Taesik would be fired up.
"Good."
"And seriously, I'm touched. Never knew you trusted me this much. So from now on, you're my hyung. Cool?"
"No."
"……Ah, got it."