Chapter 72
- An Ordinary Monday (4)
2023.07.11.
After Hee-wook screamed and left the house, Mal-hee's cell phone rang.
She was going to ignore it, but Mal-hee glanced at the phone screen and saw the name 'Hyun-ji,' and she pressed the call button like a shot.
"Hello! Hyun-ji!"
Heejin, who had been lying down in another room, rushed over at the sound of Mal-hee calling Hyun-ji's name so desperately.
"Choi Hyun-ji? What does she say? What does she say?"
Hyun-ji spoke while Mal-hee gestured to Heejin to be quiet.
[Madam.]
Hyun-ji's affectionate tone, which used to call her 'Mother,' was nowhere to be found. But this was no time to worry about her tone. With tears in her eyes, Mal-hee asked Hyun-ji desperately.
"Yes, Hyun-ji. I knew you'd call. How are you? Where are you? Hee-wook said something strange, but you didn't really break up, did you?"
[We did break up. I called because I forgot something. Now that I think about it, I gave Madam 1 million won, didn't I?]
But Hyun-ji's reaction was nothing short of cold. Mal-hee's mouth hung open, as she hadn't expected this topic.
[We're strangers now, so you have to give it back. I'll give you my account number now, so please deposit it.]
"Where am I going to get the money to deposit!"
Mal-hee burst out, raising her voice.
"The coin you told me about, you said it would be eight times higher in a month, so I bought 1 billion won worth, but it's all gone. What are you going to do about this? Huh?"
[Oh my! Oh my! That can't be! Don't lie.]
Hyun-ji, who had been speaking in a cold, dry voice like a winter desert, suddenly raised her voice and made a fuss, as if she couldn't believe it.
"That can't be! It's true! I'm about to lose my house because of it, so where are you right now, huh?"
[Oh my, that can't be! That's so funny!]
"……."
[There really is an idiot who throws 1 billion won into a coin like that?]
"What, what……?"
[Oh my god! I can't believe it! Did 1 billion won really disappear? Oh my, what should I do?]
"Y-You and your father have to compensate me for this! I invested 1 billion won in coins, just trusting your word!"
Mal-hee, enraged, pressed her.
Ahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahaha! Suddenly, a crazy, deranged laugh came from the other end of the line. It was the kind of crazy ghost laugh you might have heard on a horror-themed comedy show about ten years ago.
"Hello! Hey! Hyun-ji!"
Hyun-ji, who had instantly stopped laughing, said clearly.
[That's why you shouldn't trust other people's words.]
"……."
[The world is a scary place. There are even pieces of trash who take people's livers by pretending to marry them.]
"What? You! You!"
Mal-hee trembled, her eyes filled with tears.
Feeling that the conversation wasn't progressing, Heejin, unable to watch any longer, snatched the phone away. Heejin anxiously tried to appease Hyun-ji.
"Hyun-ji? This is Hee-wook's sister. Can we talk face to face? Can't we do something about this? Huh? Right now, my mom and I both borrowed 1 billion won from loan sharks, and if we don't pay back 1.1 billion won each within a month, it's going to be a disaster. Huh? Hyun-ji. I'm not saying take our Hee-wook back. But the money issue shouldn't be like this. Can't you just fix this? We made an investment that we didn't have to make because of Hyun-ji."
[Oh my, oh my! Did you throw it all in too, sister? Ahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahaha!]
Hyun-ji, who had been listening to the frantic voice for a while, burst out laughing again.
[Oh, my stomach hurts! What a crazy family.]
"What? Hey! How can you say that!"
[Sister, anyway, thanks for the funny story. I haven't laughed in a while, so tell Madam I'll just give her the 1 million won. Consider it a donation. Whatever.]
Heejin's mouth dropped open wide enough to fit a whole boiled egg.
[But how are you going to get 1.1 billion won each? If you sell the houses, will you get 2.2 billion won?]
Choi Hyun-ji had called to make fun of them.
[It's going to be hard to find 2.2 billion won when you don't have much to spare. Well, good luck.]
Hyun-ji, having completed her mission, hung up the phone with a refreshing goodbye.
6 PM. Incheon Airport.
Having completed her departure procedures, Hyun-ji walked leisurely toward the security checkpoint.
Her last phone call in Korea was to Kim Tae-joon.
"Thanks to Director Kim, my plan was a success. A talented person with a lot of money and good connections is the best, after all."
With the help of Kim Tae-joon, she had bought actors to set up camp in front of Kim Mal-hee's house and even blocked the house's internet and mobile data communication.
In fact, she had created Kim Mal-hee's coin wallet and memorized the coin wallet password, so she had planned to embezzle the money if necessary, but she was able to succeed without going that far.
The information about the cryptocurrency was indeed passed on by her 'real' father, who runs a business. KKA368 is a coin that will fail in the near future, but it will rise steadily until it plummets. It was exactly the kind of stock that fit Hyun-ji's ideals. With the help of her father, who runs a related business, she put some pressure on the troubled company's clients, and the company quickly threw up its hands and said it couldn't survive. Thanks to this, she was able to time the cryptocurrency crash well.
Moreover, she didn't know that Kim Mal-hee would lure her daughter Yang Heejin into investing in coins as well. It was an unexpected achievement.
"Now Kim Mal-hee will lose her house and barely survive. Her daughter Yang Heejin won't be able to do anything either."
[After looking into it, I found out that Yang Heejin posted the 'Blahblah' post. She bought the ID of a former employee and wrote the post.]
"Ah, then Yang Heejin deserves to be punished a little more."
[I'll take care of the rest.]
"Yes. Then I'll leave the rest to you, Director, and I'll depart."
[You're going to study more?]
"I want to work at an American law firm."
[I wish you the best of luck.]
"Yes, you too, Director."
[Do you have anything to say to Han So-eun?]
"I'll contact Han So-eun separately."
Hyun-ji wished each other well and ended the call with Tae-joon.
She felt as light as if she had finished a homework assignment in her life. She had no more regrets about her life in Korea.
It was a waste that she had worked so hard to get her law license, but she chose to leave because she knew that if she stayed in Korea any longer, Yang Hee-wook and his family would make even more of a fuss.
In fact, she wanted to ask Yang Hee-wook. Did he remember Kang Hana?
She wanted to see Yang Hee-wook's face, terrified, when she asked that question in person and revealed that she was that girl's friend.
Yang Hee-wook. The people you called your in-laws could really have been your in-laws. You can't even imagine how my friend Hana's father and mother felt when they accepted my dangerous proposal. You'll never know, even if you die and come back to life, how I felt when I suppressed the urge to stab you in the heart and smiled through tears of blood as I looked at you. You stupid human.
My friend, whom you despised so much, my friend Hana, whom you have now completely erased from your memory, was the princess of such a loving family. She was such a precious person that you couldn't even imagine.
She left with the regret of not being able to say those words in her heart. But she thought it was all right as it was.
The rest is now Kim Tae-joon's responsibility. She believes he will do well.
7 PM.
After finishing her TF Team work, she checked her cell phone and found a text message from Hyun-ji.
- I'm leaving for the United States today. If you ever come to the United States, let's have a meal together. I hope you're healthy and happy.
It was a farewell as if she were leaving Korea for good. Yet it was a deeply rooted Korean greeting.
For more than half the time So-eun had known Choi Hyun-ji, she seemed to have hated and resented Hyun-ji. Even when she no longer had any lingering feelings for Yang Hee-wook, Hyun-ji was still a hateful person.
Now that she thought about it, Choi Hyun-ji seemed to have deliberately tried to do more hateful things in order to be hated by her. She still didn't know what the story was, but when she imagined how difficult and terrible it must have been for Yang Hee-wook to harbor such a great resentment and to act out a hatred that was different from the real thing, and an affection that was different from the real thing, she felt that Choi Hyun-ji was amazing.
"I have a yoga class, so I'll go first. Take your time."
Bobae greeted her first as she got up from her seat. So-eun waved to Bobae and slowly packed her things. She wanted to talk to Tae-joon about what had happened today as they left work together.
Team Leader Jang Eun-pyo, who had been glancing at So-eun's movements, asked cautiously.
"Team Leader Han, are you okay?"
"Yes? What do you mean?"
"You seem a little tired. And there was a big incident today."
She was just moving slowly because she was thinking about how to meet Tae-joon, but it seemed that Eun-pyo, who was always concerned about So-eun's condition, thought she looked pitiful.
"No. I'm fine."
So-eun smiled brightly. In the meantime, her cell phone vibrated again. It was an unknown number.
Could it be the reporters? But Tae-joon had assured her that the reporters wouldn't be calling.
Even though a noisy incident had occurred around So-eun, she was somehow excited about the unknown number.
After becoming an adult, So-eun had requested the Korean Embassy in the Philippines to find her father. So-eun had been contacting the Philippine Embassy once a year, ever since her aunt had told her that her father had lost contact in the Philippines. I am Han So-eun, and if you find someone named Han Hong-gyu, please contact this number, she left a message every time.
Just in case, thinking it might be her father, So-eun pressed the call button. It was a good time. She had an excuse to send Eun-pyo away first and spend time pretending to be on the phone. So-eun gave Eun-pyo a nod and left the office, walking into the quiet hallway.
"Hello."
[Hey, Han So-eun. Did you spread my mom's information on the internet?]
Her steps stopped abruptly. The caller was Yang Hee-wook's sister, Yang Heejin.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about that."
[What do you mean you don't know? Who else would do that if it wasn't you!]
So-eun listened to Heejin's desperate struggle with a blank expression.
[If you spread my mom's pictures like that, do you think your information won't be leaked? You're digging your own grave with your own hands.]
"……."
[Huh. And then what? You make a new boyfriend? Hey, are you a normal person? Do you think you can live a normal life? Who would like someone like you? What family would welcome you? Who would like a stupid, idiot, sucker who walks around with surgery scars all over their body? Do you think you can even get married like that? Huh?]
"……So it was you. The person who posted that kind of thing."
