Chapter 252
Walking through wedding dress shops with arms linked left no room for other interpretations. Kim Sungwoo and Go Sojeong were preparing for marriage.
Among the materials attached by Sanggil was also a recording of their conversation. It wasn't definitively incriminating, but he'd included it just in case, with a note to that effect.
["I'll do that on purpose? I'm sorry and grateful to Nurse Go too. That's why I want to resolve it faster than anyone else. So just wait a little longer."]
["What more waiting is there to do here? After something that huge—"]
["Nurse Go. I told you at the hospital not to keep bringing this up. What if someone overhears?"]
It was a short exchange, with no explicit subject, but it was clear they were discussing the deliberate injection of cephalosporin into Seol Hyeongseok and framing Yang Dongjin for it. On its own, it wouldn't hold up as evidence, but combined with the others, it could corroborate that the two had collaborated in this incident.
"...So that's how Kim Sungwoo reeled in Go Sojeong."
At first, he'd thought Go Sojeong's motive for such an outrageous act was blackmail from Kim Sungwoo. She hadn't even registered in the events surrounding Seol Hyeongseok and Dongjin in his previous life, so it had been hard to pinpoint why she'd suddenly gotten involved. But now he knew. He had no idea how profound their love was, but as a couple with a promised future, Go Sojeong made the perfect accomplice.
Suddenly, he recalled that Go Sojeong had felt sympathy for Dongjin. And yet, she'd chosen this path for the sake of her future husband's advancement. For someone from a poor family background like her, there could be no more stable match than the son of a major hospital director who was also a doctor.
"Haa..."
A sigh slipped unbidden from his lips.
He now had a rough idea of how the key players in the incident were connected. It was confirmed that Seol Hyeokseok had silenced the guards who knew about the witness. And right after, he'd made contact with Kim Sungwoo, who in turn was engaged to Go Sojeong—the very nurse who'd injected the cephalosporin into Seol Hyeongseok.
But even so, if he handed over all the evidence he'd gathered so far to the investigative authorities, would they all truly face justice? Things didn't look that optimistic at the moment. Seol Hyeokseok, Kim Sungwoo, and Go Sojeong weren't linked in a straight chain like candy on a string. If Seol Hyeokseok explained away his meetings with the guards and denied knowledge of the bugs, then Kim Sungwoo and Go Sojeong could slip away too. Kim Sungwoo was the bridge between Seol Hyeokseok and Go Sojeong, but on the surface, he had no suspicious ties whatsoever.
"Hmm."
In fact, there was probably no concrete proof that Seol Hyeokseok had planted the bugs either. Manager Bae had only confirmed their existence. So if Seol Hyeokseok flatly denied it and claimed the guards had just met him out of curiosity about his brother's accident, that would be that.
He needed to dig deeper into the connection between Kim Sungwoo and Seol Hyeokseok. Maybe Seol Hyeokseok had put Kim Sungwoo up to killing Seol Hyeongseok, and Kim had in turn directed Go Sojeong. If so, Kim Sungwoo must have gotten something substantial in return for cooperating with Seol Hyeokseok.
"The most obvious thing that comes to mind is the director's reappointment..."
Did that mean Seol Hyeokseok had traded on the director's reappointment in his previous life too? No, an even more fundamental question arose. Had Seol Hyeokseok even been behind the incident in the first place back then?
In his previous life, Seol Hyeongseok had died on the operating table. It was beyond Dongjin's skills to save him. Even the previous department head would have ended up with the same result. So Seol Hyeokseok wouldn't have needed to cut deals with Myeongdae Hospital staff. Why bother with a cover-up if his brother was going to die anyway?
"But if they'd taken him to a hospital with a better surgeon, he might have survived."
At the time, he'd assumed the previous department head had taken the surgery to secure a VIP patient, help the director's reappointment, and snag a promotion for himself. But on second thought, if Seol Hyeongseok died at Myeongdae, Chairman Seol would have no reason to back the hospital anymore. If anything, it'd breed resentment. Even if Seol Hyeokseok promised support after swallowing up Han Young Group later, the director's reappointment was a matter of the next year or two—too immediate for such a deal to hold water.
It didn't add up to say the previous head had pushed the surgery just to avoid losing a VIP. But if he'd been in cahoots with Seol Hyeokseok, then stubbornly insisting on the surgery made perfect sense.
In this life, Seol Hyeongseok's glioblastoma diagnosis came when the previous head was still at Myeongdae. He'd been the one to schedule the surgery. So any deal between him and Seol Hyeokseok would have happened before then. But when the Yi Sehyeong scandal blew up, the previous head left Myeongdae, and the schedule passed to the new department head.
"They'd plotted with the previous head to kill his brother, but then the previous head suddenly vanished..."
Seol Hyeokseok might have scrambled for a new partner. And above all, the new department head who'd replaced him had miraculously saved Seol Hyeongseok with his superior skills. He'd squandered the perfect natural opportunity to kill his brother, but he wouldn't let the glioblastoma diagnosis slip away. This was probably when he'd approached Kim Sungwoo with a new deal.
If that hypothesis held, it also explained why Kim Sungwoo had flown under the radar in his previous life.
"The previous head probably won't testify..."
He'd likely lose his medical license and serve time in prison. With scandals piling up and multiple charges, it was a total wipeout. One might think he'd spill everything at that point... but medical licenses were like fortresses—once earned, they were reissued 97% of the time. The previous head would be biding his time for that, avoiding any flashy moves.
He paused in thought, then picked up his phone.
"Uh, Lawyer Cha."
"Sorry to call on your day off, sir. Do you have a moment?"
"Yeah, sure. I'm just watching TV at home anyway."
Park Younggi answered cheerfully, without a hint of annoyance at the sudden call.
"It's about the Myeongdae Hospital neurosurgery head who issued Yi Sehyeong's fake diagnosis. Jin Suyong."
"Ah, that guy. What's he done now?"
"He's potentially linked to a case I'm handling."
"A case you're handling?"
"It might pique your interest. You know how Executive Director Seol Hyeongseok of Han Young Group ended up in a vegetative state? We're estimating it was deliberate."
What good was it if the previous head wouldn't talk? The prosecutors could just shake him down. They'd already torn into him over the Yi Sehyeong case, so shifting focus and reexamining wouldn't be hard. Their deal might have fallen through, but they could still unearth a clue to corner Seol Hyeokseok.
* * *
The weekend flew by. After the relentless days he'd been enduring, he'd planned to relax on Sunday, but he ended up sleeping it away.
As he parked in front of the office and headed up, his phone rang. It was Kang Minjae.
"What."
"Lawyer, why aren't you here?"
"I'm on the first floor right now."
"Why are you so late? I barely see you anymore. What's got you so busy? You're not even taking cases."
"We'll talk upstairs."
"We haven't had a team dinner in forever. How about pork belly tonight with the office manager?"
"I said we'll talk upstairs. I'm on the first floor."
"Ha, you're just gonna pretend you didn't hear that and brush it off, aren't you? Answer quick. Right n—"
He hung up amid the endless nagging. While waiting for the elevator, another call came in before he could catch his breath.
"Fine. Pork belly. Happy?"
"Lawyer Cha, you up for pork belly today?"
"...Ah, Manager Bae?"
He'd thought it was Kang Minjae, but it was Bae. At Bae's insistence on meeting right away, he got back in the car.
The rendezvous was a nearby hotel room. From now on, they'd have to avoid Seol Hyeokseok's eyes, so meeting at Han Young Group HQ like before was out.
"Have you given it much thought?"
"I have. Did I keep you waiting too long?"
"No. It warranted the time."
From Bae's position, there was plenty to mull over. Acting rashly on the word of someone unconnected to Han Young Group could backfire with no one to blame but himself.
"It took a while to gauge the chairman's intentions."
"The chairman's intentions?"
"Whether he'd truly abandon Director Seol if he was the one who did that to Executive Director Seol. I needed to know."
With Seol Hyeongseok vegetative, Seol Hyeokseok was Chairman Seol's only remaining child. As a father, he'd eagerly await his recovery, but he'd plan for the worst. If he had to send his last son to prison for instigating murder, even a father might want to protect him. If the chairman took that stance, Bae's resolve alone wouldn't suffice—his options would be limited. Bae had no reason to defy the chairman just to expose Seol Hyeokseok.
"No need for specifics. Anyway, if Hyeokseok really did that to Hyeongseok... I think we should see it through. I haven't reported everything to the chairman yet, but he'd make no exceptions even if it was Hyeokseok."
Bae, who always addressed the brothers by title, now used their names, making his approach feel more personal. It seemed like a momentous decision. The [Truth] hologram floating above his head only reinforced that impression.
"Any new developments in the meantime?"
"Yes."
Since Bae was now committed to exposing Seol Hyeokseok, there was no need to hold back. He laid out the photos of Kim Sungwoo and Go Sojeong that Sanggil had secured.
"What's this?"
"You recognize this one. Nurse Go Sojeong, who injected cephalosporin into Executive Director Seol Hyeongseok. And this one—"
"Dr. Kim Sungwoo from Myeongdae Neurosurgery."
Kim Sungwoo had no apparent connection to Seol Hyeongseok publicly, so it was surprising that Bae knew him.
"Do you know all the neurosurgery staff by face, Manager?"
"Not all, but..."
Bae pulled a photo from an envelope beside him and set it on the table.
"After that day, I put a tail on Director Seol Hyeokseok. Figured tracking who he meets might turn up something."
The photo showed Seol Hyeokseok entering a high-end restaurant with Kim Sungwoo.
"Odd, though."
Bae handed over the next photo.
"Why would Dr. Kim Sungwoo be wedding dress shopping with Nurse Go Sojeong?"
In that shot, Kim Sungwoo was also with Seol Hyeokseok. But there was a clear difference from the previous one.
Kim Sungwoo was holding hands with a woman.
"When he's meeting people like this."
And that woman wasn't Go Sojeong.