Chapter 70
- An Ordinary Monday (2)
2023.07.09.
Monday morning, 9 AM.
Hee-wook clutched his throbbing head as he went to work. It had been ten days since he vowed to stop drinking. He felt that the amount of alcohol he consumed was increasing, and his recovery was getting slower.
After gargling to get rid of the alcohol smell and spraying perfume on his clothes, Hee-wook entered the office and frowned at the registered mail on his desk. It was a complaint from the court.
The plaintiff's column listed the Korean corporation name and CEO name of the jewelry brand where Hee-wook had purchased the ring. The content was a claim for damages due to trademark infringement.
He scoffed in disbelief when the office assistant came in.
"Lawyer Yang, we received a call from the Gangnam Police Station. They said you should come in for police investigation for trademark infringement..."
The company that made a fortune by selling a 55 million won ring was so greedy that they filed a civil lawsuit as well as a criminal complaint.
In Hee-wook's experience, it was not a difficult case. It was the kind of case that he wouldn't even bat an eye at if someone brought such a complaint. However, if this matter became known to others, there was a risk that Hee-wook's image would be ridiculed. The situation was annoying.
Hee-wook called Hyun-ji. Hyun-ji didn't answer the phone. He went to Hyun-ji's office, which wasn't far away, but the door was locked.
Another office assistant who was passing by told him casually.
"Lawyer Choi Hyun-ji took a day off today."
Hee-wook recalled the text message Hyun-ji had sent last Friday. She said she was going to Jeju Island with her friends before getting married and asked him not to contact her unnecessarily.
So, she's still in Jeju Island?
Hee-wook suddenly felt bitter when he realized he hadn't asked who she went to Jeju Island with. There wasn't a single photo on Hyun-ji's SNS account.
She probably went with guys, she's that kind of girl.
"Lawyer Choi must be very free. Doesn't she have any work?"
"Lawyer Choi has been reducing her workload a lot. It seemed like she was preparing to move to another company. Didn't Lawyer Yang know?"
The office assistant conveyed new information when Hee-wook grumbled.
It was the first time he had heard of it. Come to think of it, he hadn't had much time to see Hyun-ji last week because he was traveling around the local courts.
Still, if she's thinking about moving to another company, shouldn't she give me a heads-up?
Hee-wook turned away with an unpleasant feeling.
\
10 AM.
"Ah, Team Leader..."
Bobae called So-eun, who was returning to her seat after repairing a device.
"It seems like Team Leader's post has been leaked to a general community..."
Bobae conveyed the information posted in the group messenger chat to So-eun.
So-eun's post registered on Blahblah was finally leaked to the outside. It was the same procedure as the day before when an unidentified post spread to a general community.
However, this leak was much larger in scale. Somehow, along with So-eun's post, the name and address of Kim Mal-hee, the liver transplant recipient, and even a photo of her were revealed. So-eun's heart sank when she saw an old photo of her as an elder of a church.
Fortunately, So-eun's personal information has not yet been posted. But it was only a matter of time.
So-eun immediately sent Tae-joon a text message about this fact.
- I know. Don't worry, I'm watching it now.
A reply came quickly from Tae-joon. Tae-joon's answer was reassuring, but So-eun couldn't help but feel afraid of the reactions of people who were cursing Kim Mal-hee as if they were chewing on squid while using her photo as a side dish.
\
11 AM.
The Coin Graph was fluctuating between 1.51 billion won and 20 million won. Mal-hee was sitting in front of the PC, eating lunch, when she received a call from an unknown number.
"Hello."
[Are you Madam Kim Mal-hee?]
"Yes, I am. Why?"
[Hello, this is Lee Sung-woo, a fact-check reporter. Did you receive a liver donation from your son's ex-girlfriend under the pretense of marriage?]
"...What pretense of marriage? She gave it to me willingly!"
Mal-hee stuttered and got angry at the sudden attack.
She was proud that her son Hee-wook had kept this fact a secret so that it wouldn't be rumored, but she couldn't understand how a reporter knew about it and contacted her.
[So, it's true that you received a liver donation from her? There are testimonies that your son systematically destroyed the evidence. Anyway, it was true.]
Mal-hee was so flustered that she hung up the phone immediately.
The same reporter called again. Mal-hee simply turned off her cell phone.
\
12 PM. Noon.
While Mal-hee's gaze was momentarily blank as she watched the Coin Graph that wasn't moving from 1.52 billion won, the front door burst open and then closed.
Yang Gyu-chil, her husband, who had left a few minutes ago, saying he was going to play golf after getting up late, came back and was panting heavily.
"What are you doing? What the hell did you do!"
Mal-hee went out to the living room at Gyu-chil's booming voice.
"What's all the noise again?"
"Why are there reporters standing in front of my house and making a fuss!"
"Reporters?"
Mal-hee was horrified when she remembered the phone call she had received an hour ago. She opened the window and looked outside. About ten reporters were loitering in front of the house.
She turned on her cell phone with trembling hands. 180 missed calls.
As soon as she turned it on, calls from unknown numbers poured in again.
"Did you drink somewhere and spread rumors about my surgery?"
"Are you crazy? Why would I do that?"
Something must have gone wrong. Mal-hee barely blocked the new calls that kept coming in and called her son Hee-wook. Hee-wook didn't answer, so she called Heejin as well. Heejin also didn't answer the phone. Heejin was probably sound asleep after monitoring the coin all night.
She became anxious. But there was nothing she could do about it.
Mal-hee sat back in front of the monitor with a troubled heart and grabbed the PC mouse. All she could do now was just look at the Coin Graph.
"Oh, what's wrong with this again..."
But the Coin Graph that had been filling the monitor disappeared and a white window appeared. Suddenly, the internet connection was lost.
"Honey, please fix this. The internet is not working."
Mal-hee asked her husband for help. Gyu-chil, who couldn't go to his golf appointment because of the reporters guarding the front of the house, came into the room and said.
"I don't know. My cell phone and everything else is not working right now. Just wait a little bit."
"What?"
When she checked, her cell phone also had no internet connection. All that was possible was calling and texting.
"Oh no, this is a disaster. Honey. Call Heejin quickly."
"If it's urgent, you call her. Is calling Heejin the problem now? I can't even go outside right now. Because of you!"
I have to look at the 3 billion won coin. Mal-hee couldn't say that and just paced back and forth. Still, the Coin Graph had never dropped before, so Mal-hee sent Heejin a text message, thinking that nothing would happen.
- Heejin, my internet is not working. Please take a look at the coin for me.
It seemed that there were about ten more reporters than before. Mal-hee couldn't understand why they were making such a fuss.
\
1 PM.
A man held out his business card in front of So-eun, who had started her afternoon work after lunch.
"Excuse me. I'm Park Nam-hyeok, a reporter from Saeki News. Are you Han So-eun who posted on Blahblah yesterday? I came to ask you a few questions."
So-eun flinched, and a security guard who noticed this immediately ran to So-eun's seat.
"What's going on? If you harass our employee for something other than work, we can report you to the police for obstruction of business."
"Report him right away."
Tae-joon's voice followed the security guard's clear warning. Tae-joon, who had come down to check the company's atmosphere, had directly confirmed the scene.
Two more security guards chased after him, and the reporter was taken out as if he was being arrested. The interior, which had been briefly noisy, was soon cleaned up after Tae-joon left.
So-eun also caught her breath and quietly continued her work.
*
2 PM.
Bang!
Heejin was startled by the sound of thunder and jumped out of bed. Her husband was standing in front of her. Her husband had kicked the door to wake Heejin up after seeing that she was asleep.
"What, did you already get off work?"
Heejin rubbed her eyes and picked up her cell phone, wondering if it was already that late. For some reason, there were more than 30 missed calls. She didn't know because it was on silent mode. The missed calls were all from unknown numbers. After taking out a loan of 1 billion won, she wondered if someone had passed on her phone number to a strange place, as she was getting quite a few suspicious calls, so Heejin dismissed it this time as well.
"It's only 2 o'clock, why did you come? Did you leave something behind?"
Her husband didn't answer Heejin's question and was panting.
"Did you see that your mother's personal information is on the internet?"
"What are you talking about."
"Your mother's personal information is all over the internet right now! And the reporters even called me!"
"No, what are you talking about."
"Your brother's ex-girlfriend donated her liver to your mother, and then your family made that woman an outcast. It's all been revealed on the internet and it's a mess! Didn't you check?"
What? That can't be?
Heejin picked up her cell phone, which she had put down for a while, and typed her mother's name 'Kim Mal-hee' into the internet search bar. Mal-hee's address and family relationships were revealed to the world along with her photo. Under the name of 'Liver Thief'.
"Since the reporters have called our company, it's only a matter of time before they barge into our house."
Heejin's pupils shook. When she tried to call Mal-hee, she pressed Mal-hee's contact information and the history of Mal-hee's calls to Heejin appeared. And the last one was a text message. It said that the internet was not working, so please take a look at the coin.
Even though this disaster had happened, what was important to Heejin was still money. Heejin immediately ran to the next room and turned on the PC. Her husband followed Heejin closely and continued to nag her.
"Okay. It's okay if you're playing at home, or if they call our company. But what if they approach our Hyung-woo? If your face, my face, and our family history are all known, how will our Hyung-woo go to school!"
She ignored her husband's words and connected to the Coin Wallet.
Even though the internet world was in chaos, people would find other things to be interested in in a few days, and what was important was still money. If it had risen by even 10 million won while she was sleeping, her husband wouldn't be able to say a word.
With that in mind, Heejin stared at the monitor and rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things.
"...Huh? Where did my money go?"
