NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 134: What have I done?
Chapter 134 < What have I done? >
“Shall we part ways here?”
“Thank you for your hard work, everyone!”
“Honestly, it wasn’t that hard.”
Everyone burst into laughter at someone’s remark. The faces of the ‘Nation’s Bird’ team were radiant and cheerful. They had also returned on Yoo Geon-min’s private jet, so they didn’t feel any fatigue from the flight.
“Thanks to you, Yeon Seo, we had a lot of fun.”
“I hope we can meet again in the same project next time.”
“Me too!”
“Take care!”
Yoo Yeon Seo nodded casually at their farewells.
“Sir.”
As he came out of the exit, Im Seung-hyun was already waiting for him.
“Did you enjoy your vacation? There were a lot of articles about it.”
“Yes.”
He had been dragged around to take pictures. Yoo Yeon Seo nodded with a tired face. Even after Yoo Geon-min’s lavish vacation program was over, the ‘Nation’s Bird’ team didn’t go back to their rooms. They gathered in the spacious guest room and talked or played games all night long.
‘Ah, I’m exhausted.’
It was fun, honestly. It was the first time he had hung out with so many people for a few days. And because of that, his skin got a little tan, but he was so pale that he looked better now.
‘I wonder why Kim Ee-joon said that…’
And by expending his energy like this, the frequency of the hallucinations and delusions that tormented him had decreased quite a bit. The words he said back then, that he hated being alone, weren’t for nothing.
‘Do I have to have someone by my side all the time?’
That was annoying. He frowned.
“So, how did the investigation go?”
“I’ll explain the details when we get to your place. Along with the executive director.”
“Did you not hear it either, hyung?”
“He’s very busy, you know.”
Lee Tae-gyeom, who was following behind with Yoo Yeon Seo’s luggage, shrank back.
“Then can I go separately?”
“No, you come to my house too.”
“Why?”
The more people he could mooch off, the better.
“You’re here?”
“Anyone would think it’s your house, hyung.”
Yoo Yeon Seo smiled faintly at his brother who came out to greet him. He felt his body relax as he saw his spacious house that he was now used to. The vacation was nice, but home was the best.
“Dad liked the pictures.”
“Did they upload that much?”
“I think he even made an account… Anyway, call him today.”
“I will.”
Who would have thought that he would go to such lengths to please his son and his coworkers, even with so much money. Honestly, he felt burdened and annoyed at first, but later he had to admit that he had fun. He had to call him so he wouldn’t be offended.
As he entered, he saw Baek Seo-joon lying on the sofa. He waved one hand weakly.
“Did you have a good trip?”
“How did the investigation go?”
“Hey, aren’t you going to say hello? What’s the hurry?”
Baek Seo-joon got up. He had dark circles under his eyes, which meant he had some trouble with his work. But Yoo Yeon Seo wasn’t delicate enough to ask him about it. Baek Seo-joon didn’t give any hints either.
“I had a good trip. Is that enough?”
“You had an amazing trip, more like. I saw the articles.”
“Why are you asking if you know? And what’s with all the fuss?”
He turned on his phone screen out of curiosity. He didn’t need to search. The entertainment news was full of articles about the ‘Nation’s Bird’ vacation.
‘Nation’s Bird’ luxury vacation with actors and staff’s selfies
Yoo Yeon Seo, vacation selfie ‘hot topic’ with his toned body and bright smile with his colleagues
Yoo Yeon Seo X Shin Ye-won vacation selfie, ‘Hyun-seo couple’ search volume surges
‘Nation’s Bird’ vacation support, vice president Yoo Geon-min opens SNS… first post is of course his son’s brag
└Oh, I’m going to choke on the crazy breadcrumbs
└Wow, I’m so jealousㅠㅠ
└Let’s go for season 2 of the national bird with Hyunseo couple’s pregnancy
└└Let’s go
Even Yeon Seo, who had gone on a trip, had some photos that made him wonder when he had taken them. It seemed that everyone had competed to take pictures and posted them on personal SNS or communities. Thanks to that, or not, the past controversy articles had disappeared.
“I should have stuck with you instead of the detective…”
“Do you want to come along as a manager?”
“That sounds good.”
“But you have to carry this luggage-like thing for me.”
“That sounds bad.”
Yeon Seo observed the conversation between Baek Seojun and Lee Taegyeom with his arms crossed. When did they become so close?
“So, what are the investigation results?”
“Sit down.”
Yeon Seo quickly sat down across from Baek Seojun. Everyone was waiting for Baek Seojun to speak. Lee Taegyeom sat awkwardly, wondering if he could hear this.
“I’ll tell you what I heard from Choi Miri, the daughter-in-law of Choi Namyun, at his funeral.”
Baek Seojun and Lim Seunghyun recalled the events of that day.
[Did the deceased do anything strange before he died?]
[What do you mean?]
[Did he suddenly go somewhere, or contact someone weird?]
Choi Miri still had to receive hospital treatment. So she had spent a lot of time with her father, in case of an emergency. Choi Miri, who had been lost in thought, raised her head.
[Ah! Recently, my father had an argument with someone on the phone.]
[Do you know what he said?]
[Um… He said something like ‘You said you were okay’ ‘What are you going to do now?’ I think… Now that I think about it, it’s suspicious.]
[Do you remember when that was?]
[Uh… Just a moment.]
She searched her phone for a record of the conversation she had with her friend that day and told them the date. And Yeon Seo frowned when he heard it.
“That day…”
“That’s the day that weird person sent a letter to your agency.”
“That’s too coincidental.”
“So it’s likely that it wasn’t a coincidence?”
Yeon Seo nodded. Yoo Eunho, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
“Did you go to the hospital where he was admitted?”
“It was a closed hospital, so we couldn’t find any records.”
Lim Seunghyun answered instead. The two brothers clicked their tongues in pity.
“To sum up, Choi Namyun did something that day because he needed money for his daughter’s surgery. He did it with that lunatic who sent the letter.”
“Did any of his former colleagues come to the funeral?”
The faint clue was becoming clearer. Something was boiling up, but Yeon Seo calmly listened to Baek Seojun’s story.
[You know that Choi Namyun was a security guard at the mansion of Yoo Changho, the chairman of Juseong, right?]
[Yes, I know. My father brought me Lee Heeseo’s autograph once.]
[Speaking of which… Do you remember that day? The day Lee Heeseo died.]
Choi Miri’s answer came quickly.
[I remember because I had surgery that day.]
[Oh? Wait a minute, then… Your father must have been with you that day, right? As a guardian.]
[Yes. When I woke up from anesthesia, I saw that all the channels were talking about his death.]
Baek Seojun and Lim Seunghyun looked at each other. That meant he wasn’t there that day. He didn’t kill him directly. Did he help in some other way? Choi Miri said that her father resigned after that.
That was in the record that Park Jungho gave them. He said he quit because he had to take care of his daughter’s illness.
[The funeral hall is so quiet. I guess none of your colleagues from that time came.]
[Now that you mention it… Someone said this to me yesterday.]
Just yesterday? Lim Seunghyun raised one eyebrow. The person asked him if his father had left anything behind, like a suspicious question. Baek Seojun narrowed his eyes.
[What did you do?]
[I have to trust someone to believe them. He didn’t even show me his ID, like you, detective.]
[You did well. Don’t trust anyone now.]
Choi Miri swallowed at Baek Seojun’s low voice. As she talked to them, she noticed some suspicious points. She was sure that her father had been killed, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Lim Seung-hyun waited until her tears subsided and handed her a tissue. He took out his phone from his pocket and showed her a video. It was the CCTV footage of the man who delivered the strange letter to the agency.
“Is this the person you’re looking for? He has a scar on his right ear…”
“It’s hard to tell from this. The quality is too blurry… I can’t even see the scar clearly.”
“Would you mind if we go to your house and investigate? If there’s really something your father left behind, it could be evidence.”
Choi Mi-ri clenched her mouth and looked back and forth between Baek Seo-jun and Lim Seung-hyun.
Baek Seo-jun looked scary, but he had a reliable identity. And Lim Seung-hyun had a very good face. He reminded her of an announcer with his neat features. He seemed like he wouldn’t do anything bad.
After a moment of hesitation, Choi Mi-ri nodded.
“Here’s the important piece of evidence. I tore the ceiling open to see what was so secret.”
“…A diary?”
“Yeah, look at this part.”
Baek Seo-jun unfolded a page he had folded small. May 12, 1999.
[They said the surgery fee was paid in advance. I’m alive! Mi-ri will be fine now.]
[Hee-seo committed suicide? Today of all days?]
[No way.]
[It must be a coincidence.]
[I believed he was just taking a day off to rest.]
[No way.]
[What have I done?]
“And the last page of the diary.”
[He contacted me. I looked for this diary just in case.]
[I’m glad I wrote this diary. For the sake of the truth that might be hidden.]
[I leave this as an atonement.]
Yu Yeon Seo turned her head away with a small groan. She couldn’t look at it anymore. She looked unstable, but she had to finish what she started.
“From what I saw in the front, Choi Nam-yoon… He took the money and switched places with that lunatic that day.”
“And that lunatic killed your mother?”
“He resigned hastily, using his daughter’s illness as an excuse, in case there was any trouble.”
Yu Eun-ho, who was also overwhelmed by emotion, sighed deeply. Then he came to his senses and looked at his sister sitting next to him.
“Yeon Seo.”
“…Huh?”
“Relax.”
His sister was clenching her fists so hard that blood was coming out. Lim Seung-hyun got up from his seat and brought a first aid kit.
Baek Seo-jun looked at Yu Yeon Seo, who quietly offered her hand, and Yu Eun-ho, who was silently fuming.
“I’ll keep this as evidence for now. Don’t give it to anyone else. You’ll get in trouble.”
“…Okay.”
“Buy me a drink if you’re grateful.”
Baek Seo-jun got up abruptly. Lim Seung-hyun, who had finished treating Yu Yeon Seo’s hand, and Lee Tae-gyeom, who was still stunned by what he heard, also got up.
“We only have one suspect so far, so don’t act rashly. Next week is Chuseok, right?”
He was telling them not to give any hint to the culprit who bribed Choi Nam-yoon and allowed the lunatic to enter the mansion and ordered the murder.
“Let’s go.”
“Uh… I’ll go too.”
The three of them left, and the living room was silent. Yu Yeon Seo staggered into her room. Yu Eun-ho didn’t stop her. He was also shocked by the truth he heard. He couldn’t take care of his sister right now.
Yu Yeon Seo locked the door and slid down the wall.
“What the hell…”
He slumped down and touched his head.
Choi Nam-yoon was not the direct murderer, but he was involved in the murder. But did Choi Nam-yoon have any malice? He just wanted to save his daughter. He understood his desperation. But did he have to understand it? He was also a victim.
Then was Choi Nam-yoon innocent? That was not true either. Why did he keep his mouth shut even though he knew something was wrong? He wanted to know the reason, but Choi Nam-yoon was already dead.
And Choi Nam-yoon’s diary was an important piece of evidence, but it didn’t reveal the direct culprit. He barely found a clue, but he was back to square one. Who should he blame now? He couldn’t think straight.
“Ugh…”
His breath quickened and something white flickered in front of his eyes. Beep, a ringing sound in his ears, and someone whispered in his ear. It’s your fault. It’s your fault.
<Master.>
Beta, who sensed the change in his body, woke him up with a worried tone. But his breathing didn’t calm down.
“Ugh…”
<Master. Calm down.>
As Yoo Yeon Seo was about to panic, a bell sound suddenly rang from his pocket.
(Dad)
Dad. As soon as he saw the text, he felt his body calm down as if it was a lie. He looked at the empty air. The figure that had tormented him was gone without a trace.