Chapter 87
87. Dad in Memory
2023.07.26.
So-eun stared blankly at the abruptly disconnected phone before putting it down.
The central headquarters housed the CEO's office, but as the head of all service centers nationwide, there weren't many opportunities to encounter him. The fact that the CEO was looking for me meant...? Instinctively, she judged it was related to Tae-joon. If so, it was highly likely related to the TF Team.
So-eun cautiously left her seat and got on the elevator.
The head of headquarters' office was on the 7th floor, but the CEO's office was on the 5th floor. Of course, Tae-joon had chosen a quiet office and settled on the 7th floor, where there were the fewest employees, but it was still strange that the head of headquarters was located on a higher floor than the CEO. It felt like it was proving which of the two figures was the real power. So-eun was nervous, but not scared. She had prepared a model answer that she could easily give if asked about the TF Team.
As she braced herself mentally and physically, the elevator reached the 5th floor. Reciting the model answer in her head, she strode confidently and soon reached the CEO's office.
For some reason, CEO Oh Gap-soo was pacing alone in front of the CEO's office.
"Han So-eun Assistant Manager?"
CEO Oh Gap-soo gave a strange smile, as if seeing her for the first time. It was a smile without expression, merely a stretching of the lips.
"Yes. I am Han So-eun."
"Go in."
Oh Gap-soo gestured towards the CEO's office door without any explanation.
The CEO is outside, and he's telling me to go into the CEO's office? She couldn't understand what was happening. Unable to grasp the situation, the model answer in her head was being erased line by line.
Opening the door and entering the CEO's office, a man in a black suit stood up from the reception area.
"Hello. I am Lee Han-sung, an employee of Chairman Kim Jae-pil's secretariat."
As So-eun approached and took a seat opposite him, the man introduced himself and handed over a business card. With the man's voice, So-eun felt her heart sink.
Chairman Kim Jae-pil. Director Kim Tae-joon's grandfather.
So-eun bowed and accepted the business card.
The man who handed over the business card bent down and handed her a gray pouch. It was an ordinary pouch that could be found anywhere, without any patterns. It looked like it was only for storing cosmetics or portable sanitary pads.
"I came because Chairman Kim Jae-pil asked me to deliver some documents."
But he said that what was inside was not cosmetics but documents. She felt a chill for some reason. But before she could ask what kind of documents they were, the man dropped another piece of information like a bomb.
"And the chairman wants to talk to you directly."
It was a bomb that exploded only in her heart.
So-eun needed time to calm herself, but the man immediately tried to connect the call. The man, who took out his cell phone and pressed a speed dial number, handed it to So-eun as it was.
[Hello?]
She heard a voice before she even put it to her ear. So-eun immediately answered the phone and bowed deeply, as if the chairman was in front of her.
"Yes. Hello. My name is Han So-eun."
[Yes. Nice to meet you.]
It was a dry voice without moisture. No, it was a voice that seemed to take away even So-eun's moisture. So-eun's lips were so dry that it was difficult to make a sound.
[Did you receive the documents from Department Head Lee Han-sung?]
"Yes. I received them."
[Take them home and open them. Don't be too nervous.]
"......"
[Let's keep this a secret between us. Understood?]
"Yes. I understand."
[Good. Let's talk after you look at the documents. Because you'll want to meet me when you see them.]
The chairman's business was simple. So-eun handed the quickly disconnected phone back to the man. The man, as if his business was over, bowed and strode towards the door. So-eun moved her steps as the man directed.
It was a moment like a flash and a time like an eternity. Feeling a sense of fatigue as if she had aged several years in the meantime, So-eun walked back to her seat blankly. The employees who glanced at the pouch in So-eun's hand didn't ask where she had been. Only Bobae next to her noticed So-eun's pale face and asked if she was okay. Bobae also asked, guessing that it was a physiological problem without knowing the real reason.
So-eun put the pouch in her bag with trembling hands. The heaviness of the pouch bothered her. No, it would have bothered her even if it wasn't heavy. She wanted to go home and open the pouch as soon as possible, but on the other hand, she wished that the end of the workday would never come.
*
Time passed mercilessly quickly, and So-eun went home with the bodyguard after work. At the bodyguard's words that she didn't look good, she made the excuse that she was tired because she hadn't slept much last night and hugged her bag tightly.
She got out of the bodyguard's car, said goodbye to the bodyguard, went up the stairs of the one-room villa, and didn't know what spirit she opened the front door with. Her breathing was rapid, but she had no sensation in her body. Even if she bumped into something, even if she was injured and bleeding, she felt like she wouldn't feel anything right now.
So-eun took off her shoes as if throwing them away and entered the house, then immediately opened her bag and took out the pouch. Her hands trembled even more violently than when she had talked to Chairman Kim Jae-pil, but she tried to calm herself and pulled the zipper of the pouch. A wad of paper and a few rolled-up photos came out.
So-eun picked up the photo at the very front. The photo had been rolled up for a long time, so she had to spread it out with both hands. The photo was a funeral parlor incense altar background filled with black and white. The person standing with a chief mourner ribbon in front of the two portraits was surprisingly a small boy. So-eun brought her eyes close to the photo and looked into it. It looked like Tae-joon when he was young.
So-eun knew that Tae-joon had lost his parents when he was young. Just looking at the photo without any emotion, So-eun's heart ached, and she turned the photo over with tears in her eyes.
The next photo was of a strange man in a blue prison uniform sitting in the defendant's seat in court. Her heart, which had been stinging, seemed to drop.
She looked at it carefully, again. It was a familiar face.
A face that she could barely recall in her hazy memory, only in photos. Dad. Her missed dad.
So-eun took a deep breath and raised her right hand to her mouth.
She didn't want to try to guess what these two photos meant. So-eun, with tears welling up in her eyes, picked up the next document. It was a newspaper article from 20 years ago.
「K Electronics President Kim Seok-woo and Broadcaster Seol Jin-hee Die in Traffic Accident>
K Group Chairman Kim Jae-pil's eldest son, Kim Seok-woo, and Kim Seok-woo's wife, Seol Jin-hee, died in a traffic accident on the night of the 10th. The car they were in crossed the center line near Hwangsan Intersection around 10:20 p.m. that night and collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction.
Immediately after the accident, Kim Seok-woo and Seol Jin-hee were taken to a nearby hospital but eventually died, and the driver, Mr. Han, was also seriously injured and is receiving treatment.
The cause of the accident is known to be the driver's drowsy driving, and police are reportedly planning to investigate the exact cause of the accident with the driver, Mr. Han.」
Among the terrible descriptions continued in a dry style, the words 'Driver Mr. Han' stood out.
She felt like blood wasn't flowing to her head. She felt like the world was spinning around her with her in the middle. She was so dizzy that she couldn't tell where the ceiling was or where the floor was.
No.
No. No way. No.
She kept imagining heavy things about a distant event that she couldn't even pick up 20 years ago. Now she was afraid to read the next document. Her breathing became rapid as she turned the next page. The next document was a very thick document.
The title was 'Seoul Central District Court Ruling'.
It was the judgment of the 20-year-old case.
「Case: Violation of the Special Act on the Handling of Traffic Accidents (Homicide)
Defendant: Han Hong-gyu
The defendant is sentenced to one year in prison.
Facts of the crime: On March 10, at around 10:20 p.m., the defendant was driving a passenger car on National Route 43 in Hanam-si towards Seoul when he fell asleep and crossed the center line, colliding with a truck coming from the opposite direction, resulting in the death of the victims Kim Seok-woo and Seol Jin-hee, who were in the back seat......」
The wad of paper fell from So-eun's hand with a thud. So-eun folded her waist and crouched down.
Huff, huff, huff.
This time, she was suffocating. She felt like a heavy shackle was placed on her neck instead of her ankles. Her pulse raced to the extreme and then seemed to stop abruptly. Her chest was painfully constricted. Somewhere deep in the sea, in a place where nothing could be seen or heard, in a cold place where it was difficult to breathe properly, she seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper.
Ah, ah, ah......
No. I've never even lived with my dad. The dad in my memory is just a photo.
She wanted to deny what she had seen. No, she wanted to deny her birth. She said that what she had seen so far was not her story, that the chairman knew something wrong. She said that she, that her dad, was not that kind of person.
So-eun tried to cheer up and picked up her cell phone.
When she pressed the call button with the phone number she remembered, she heard a familiar voice not long after.
[Hello?]
"Aunt, it's me, So-eun."
[Yes. Long time no see? What's up.]
Her aunt answered sullenly. So-eun only contacted her aunt about once a year, on holidays or her aunt's birthday. So-eun carefully parted her lips.
"Aunt, I have something to ask you. About my dad."
[......Why are you bringing up your dad's story.]
"Just, I'm curious."
The next word didn't come out of her throat as if a sickle had been stabbed into it.
After hesitating a few times, she finally made a voice.
"......Did my dad kill someone?"
The aunt, who had been silent for a while, answered.
[......Now that you're an adult, you need to know.]
A sigh of regret flowed from the other side of the receiver.
[So-eun, I don't know what you'll think, but I did my best. Your dad's last words when he went to the Philippines were that. Don't make you the daughter of a murderer.]
It felt like blood was flowing out of her open mouth instead of a sigh. So-eun covered her mouth again.
[It was hard for us to live, so I may have made you feel bad sometimes, but I lived while keeping that promise. But your dad cut off contact and didn't even send child support later.]
"......Was that murder a traffic accident?"
[I told you. Your dad caused a traffic accident due to drowsy driving, and a wealthy couple was injured. Actually, they didn't just get hurt, they died. The only lie I told was that.]
"Was that wealthy family K Group?"
[That... right. The chairman's son and his wife. The chairman lost his only son in that accident.]
