Chapter 86
"You came right on the dot. No, weren't you supposed to show up in the afternoon? You got here from the morning already? And without even sleeping?"
We headed to the rundown karaoke bar where Gukjeongwon from the NIS was holed up, bright and early that morning. He greeted us by scratching his greasy, unkempt hair and waving us inside impatiently. I hadn't expected him to clean up, but surprisingly, the place looked exactly the same as it had a week ago. If anything, it seemed even filthier.
"Can't you clean this place up a bit? It's really turning my stomach."
Kang Minjae finally snapped midway through entering, after stepping on a bowl of jjajangmyeon someone had left out on the floor.
Gukjeongwon just snorted dismissively, not giving a damn.
"How the hell do you even clean this?"
"Hire a service! A moving cleanup crew!"
"This calls for a specialized cleaning job."
I chimed in, and Gukjeongwon let out a hearty laugh.
"You nailed it. A moving crew came for an estimate and bailed, said they couldn't handle it."
"But seriously, Gukjeongwon, why are you squatting in a karaoke dump like this?"
Kang Minjae jumped every time he crunched over more trash on the floor. I knew he came from money, but damn, the guy's a real prince.
"Household electricity couldn't handle my power draw—the bill would bankrupt me. Plus, the rent here's dirt cheap. Look around—no foot traffic, who'd do business here?"
"Fair point. Karaoke joints look sketchy if the sign's not lit up."
"Thought about remodeling at first, but that's just burning cash. Plenty of rooms anyway, and I need 'em all. Perfect, right?"
"Why do you need so many rooms?"
"Gear takes up space. Anyway, come on in. Cleaned a bit since you freaked last time."
Gukjeongwon opened the VIP room door, and Kang Minjae, maybe hopeful, stepped in cautiously and glanced around.
"This is cleaned up?"
"Enough space for three, isn't there?"
He pointed proudly at the wall-hugging sofa. Last time, it was buried in trash, barely seatable for one, but yeah, if you squeezed, three asses could fit.
"Tweaked the brightness and restored the quality some, but not sure it'll satisfy you. I'll stick around—tell me if you want anything brighter or zoomed, I'll crank it."
Gukjeongwon dug through his cluttered desktop folders, found the video file, and hit play.
"Whoa, way better. For real."
Kang Minjae was impressed the second the first frame popped up. Parts that looked grainy from the dark shooting were now crisp. Even the choppy frames flowed smooth.
"This rewinds, this fast-forwards, speed up, slow down, pause."
Gukjeongwon quickly ran through the controls, then flopped onto the trash-laden sofa after tossing a blanket over it.
"Three dudes huddled up watching porn feels kinda gay."
He muttered awkwardly and sprawled out. That blanket looked unwashed too. Lingering here too long might land us with some plague. Better check the video fast and bail.
"Right there, 4:53. Balcony window reflection, right?"
"Yeah, looks like it."
Having watched the video multiple times already, I had a rough idea of scenes by timestamp. Especially the balcony door bits we'd zeroed in on—full glass there, might catch the cameraman's reflection.
"Not super clear, though. Just a dark silhouette. Good thing the outline's detailed enough."
"Judging by the camera size in the reflection, it's a DSLR. Pretty big rig."
"Oh! Speaking of DSLR, this was shot on a Panasonic one. Brand-new model from last year. Max recording time's 23:59, and boom, that's exactly where it cuts off."
"Panasonic? Everyone and their dog carries those."
"Yup. Photo buffs snatch 'em up fresh off the line. That series sold 20,000 in Korea alone. Reporters all tote Panasonics too."
"For a DSLR, the raw quality's trash. They blurred it on purpose?"
"Yeah, looks like they downscaled overall during encoding."
The silhouette dwarfed the DSLR. Big guy, for sure.
"Dunno the lens length, but scaling it, he's gotta be tall."
"Even taller, I'd bet. Body and lens make the balcony window look slightly squished top-bottom—that distortion means 180cm minimum. I peg him at 190+. Not some lanky string bean; built solid."
Gukjeongwon wedged between me and Kang Minjae, getting comfy, and captured the frame he'd been eyeing.
"Camera shakes up-down here a ton. Near the bed where Jeong Yeongjun and the girls are piled. If it's a hotel, maybe a logo on the sheets?"
Kang Minjae paused and said it. Gukjeongwon nodded, zooming the bed.
The bedding was a total mess, but maybe amenities on the nightstand console.
"Cameraman had music blasting and was dancing like an idiot, that's the shake."
We'd heard his "Whoo!" cheers midway, so yeah, he was hyped.
"Can you do voice analysis?"
"Nah. Because of that guy's cheers? Even if I did, no dice."
"Why?"
"Voice is subtly modulated. Barely noticeable. That's why the background music dips flat sometimes—not noise, he layered a filter every time his voice kicked in."
"Why not just mute it?"
"Dead air kills interest. Hollywood celeb sex tapes loop the moans to pad length—raw audio's too short. Silence midway pisses off viewers."
"Damn, that's calculated. Sneaky bastards."
"And later, cameraman quiets down. Someone probably warned him—no more audio leaks."
As Gukjeongwon geeked out, Kang Minjae shot him a baffled look. Catching it, Gukjeongwon turned.
"What?"
"You're awfully versed in porn."
"Dude... what the hell?"
If the perp wanted this as straight porn, not just exposé fodder, no mute makes sense. And it meant they aimed to trash Jeong Yeongjun's image for real—paint him as a total perv reveling in it, not some victim. This video got serious effort poured in.
"Alright, zoomed. Maxed out."
Gukjeongwon grumbled but kept working, blowing up the bed area onscreen. Plain white sheets screamed hotel, but maybe not. Hotel rooms this size usually have bedside light controls—none here. And that cordless phone under the lamp? Not hotel issue. Home model.
"Can't make out the phone screen?"
"Nope. Too blurry even zoomed."
Would've been gold if we could. Shame.
"Skip ahead."
We paused and magnified promising spots, but zilch. With Yangjin Group as prime suspect, we hunted their traces—nada. They'd scrubbed before filming, no doubt.
"Jump to 23 minutes. Near the end, seemed like a hand signal to the bed folks. Check that."
"Hand? There was a hand?"
Kang Minjae asked. I nodded.
"Fleeting, but yeah."
"Huh. Even if a hand, no wild scars or tats, tough to ID. Can't upscale to fingerprints—like I said, you're not a prosecutor anymore for database checks. Jang Taesik said you quit mid-career to go private."
"Shut up and do it. We need something."
"Roger. Zipping it."
"Slow-mo from there. Sloooow as hell."
The lens on Jeong Yeongjun and the women shifted down, wrapping up—then a hand entered frame and vanished. Original was too crappy to spot details, just a bland hand. But now...
"Fourth finger, that white long thing. Ring?"
I said, watching the glacial replay—like flipping stills one by one.
"Huh? Yeah. End bit, must've missed it handling till you came. Sorry. Don't dock the 200k, though."
"Zoom the ring."
"On it."
"Restore that ring crystal clear. Full quality."
"Yes, sir. Got it."
Despite the half-assed reply, he dove in deep—more frames, longer grind than the bed zoom.
"Ugh, best I got. Done."
Gukjeongwon stretched against the sofa back. We leaned in.
"Couple's ring vibe. Position screams matching set. Not solo accessory bling."
Kang Minjae noted. Helpful—I can't tell couple rings from fashion ones.
"Lettering?"
He moused the dark smudges around it.
"Gukjeongwon, sharper? Could be a name."
"Nope. Limit."
He shook his head, fake-dying dramatically. Kang Minjae smacked his lips, bummed.
"Hmm... irregular pattern screams 100% lettering. Here, here, here—big strokes like caps. But too long for a name?"
"Kinda."
I nodded, then it hit me.
"Or a long name. Namgung, Jegal, Dokgo—surnames like that, or three-syllable given names."
"Oh? Could be. And center stone—or cubic? Looks blue."
"Blue weird for couples?"
"Not common. With lettering... custom job?"