IDTE 02

Chapter – 02

“I can go by myself.”

“At this hour, it’s hard to catch a taxi around here. And you can’t even use your phone now, can you?”

“I will never accept help from disgusting bastards like you.”

With Doyihyun refusing to back down and the men in black suits surrounding us joining in, the situation became overwhelmingly suffocating.

“We both know this is exhausting, so just get in.”

Before I could respond, the passenger door of the luxury sedan opened first. A silent pressure telling me to get in quickly.

“Wouldn’t it put our minds at ease if you make it to work safely?”

The crushing fatigue closing in on me made my eyes droop. Any further pointless argument was meaningless now. Reluctantly, I climbed into the passenger seat in an uncomfortable posture.

Soon, he got into the driver’s seat and the car glided forward smoothly. In the rearview mirror, the group dressed in black bowed their heads as they gradually faded from sight.

Inside the moving car, a sharp woody scent filled the air along with silence.

It was Doyihyun who broke that fragrant silence.

“I was going to come find you anyway. You’ve saved me the trouble.”

“……Is there a reason you would come looking for me?”

“I was curious what kind of person would take on Kim Hyungman’s advisory. Whether you’re someone with nothing to lose.”

The car stopped sharply at a red light.

“Or someone with a lot to rely on.”

I could feel his dark, unreadable gaze turning toward me.

“Seems like neither.”

“……There’s one thing I believe in.”

“I’m curious what that is.”

“Justice.”

One corner of his lips curled up under the orange glow of the streetlight.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m always sincere. Unlike some people.”

“How about trying to believe in something else?”

“……You should be the one to say that.”

The traffic light in front of us turned green. As the car moved again, the fragrant silence returned. It was nearing 4 a.m.

After driving for a while, Doyihyun’s low voice sounded again.

“Yoo Minha, I believe in justice too.”

At a word that didn’t suit him at all, my head turned toward him without realizing it.

In the darkness, his sharp features stood out even more vividly.

“But they say it’s more advantageous to create justice than to follow it. That’s the kind of justice I believe in.”

His absurd words were, unexpectedly, easy to digest.

I realized that this twisted man and I were running on parallel lines that would never meet in this lifetime.

After another stretch of hardened silence, we finally arrived near the villa where I lived.

I was simply grateful that this uncomfortable companionship hadn’t lasted any longer.

“Come out as soon as the materials are ready tomorrow. Someone from our side will be waiting.”

I nodded reluctantly instead of giving an answer I didn’t want to say.

“And.”

I half expected something threatening like You’re in the palm of my hand.

“Let’s never see each other again.”

There was no expression on his handsome face as he delivered the unexpected words.

“I’m not joking. Let’s not get entangled even after we die.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the sedan’s window slowly rolled up. He had never intended to hear my reply in the first place.

With the smooth hum of the engine, he finally drove away.

“Attorney Yoo, what happened to your face?”

I must have looked worse than I thought. As soon as I barely composed myself and came to work, shocked murmurs rose around me.

“Haha… I fell.”

“How do you fall badly enough to split your lip? It’s not like someone hit you.”

When I returned home at dawn today, aside from the exhaustion, bruises had bloomed across my body and everything hurt. But sleep wouldn’t come.

Whenever I closed my eyes, Kim Gwanghyun’s beast-like roar, the smell of blood, and the mocking smile on Doyihyun’s handsome face grew clearer.

More than anything, shame toward myself surged up.

Could I confidently say that I stood at the forefront of justice last night?

Could I truly be proud of myself?

“Minha, you’re really okay, right?”

Cutting through the murmurs, even Senior Choi joined in.

“I’m fine.”

“Did you at least go to the hospital?”

“Sunbae, I’m really fine. You know I’m always clumsy.”

I forced a smile and sat at my desk, busily turning on the monitor.

— Choi Yeonwoo: Let’s go to the hospital at lunch.

The messenger window blinked in the corner of the screen.

I hesitated, then withdrew my hand before replying. I had a lot to do today.

I didn’t want to think about why tears kept welling up.

A little past lunchtime, I slipped out of the building to avoid people’s eyes. As I looked around, a car horn sounded in the distance.

Not far away, a black SUV was parked by the curb.

I knew at a glance. Seongjin Capital.

Sweat began soaking into the envelope clutched in my hand. As I approached the vehicle, a large man with a buzz cut stepped out and glanced at me sideways.

“Attorney Yoo Minha?”

“Yes……”

“Hand over the materials Kim Hyungman entrusted.”

Instead of answering, I held out the envelope. He snatched it and carefully checked the documents inside.

“The USB’s missing.”

I had expected that. I took the USB from my pocket and handed it over. A cigarette-laced sigh escaped from the large man.

“You don’t have some kind of copy, right? Let’s make this easy for both of us, yeah?”

“I’m complying with the obligation to return the materials.”

“I don’t know about that complicated talk.”

“Attorney Yoo!”

Senior Choi’s voice rang out from afar. My heart dropped.

I worried how this would look. I didn’t want to invite unnecessary misunderstandings.

At the sight of Senior Choi approaching me, the big man cursed under his breath, jumped into the black vehicle, and disappeared in an instant.

“Who was that just now?”

“Sunbae.”

“I heard Kim Hyungman withdrew his case. What happened?”

“That’s… how it turned out.”

“You do have something going on, don’t you? First Kim Hyungman’s case, and now that gangster-looking guy just now—what did you give him? Don’t tell me he’s from Seongjin?”

“Well…….”

It felt like my pounding heart might be heard outside my chest.

Technically, I hadn’t done anything wrong. The client requested the return of the materials, and I complied.

But I knew the truth. I hadn’t been able to help Kim Hyungman to the end. I, too, had yielded to Seongjin Capital.

What would happen if Senior Choi, who dreamed of a just world alongside me, found out?

“Minha, don’t tell me you…….”

What if my heart leapt out through my throat from beating so hard?

“So this situation—have you settled everything with Seongjin Capital?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer either no or yes.

“Fine. Out of consideration for what we had, I won’t make this bigger. I’m disappointed. In many ways.”

The colleague who had always been on my side was slowly drifting away from me.

I don’t know how I got through the rest of the day.

As the pain spreading through my body worsened, I eventually took a half-day off and left the law firm while the sun was still up.

I hadn’t spoken another word with Senior Choi after that. How had things turned out like this? Even my head throbbed.

By the time I reached the alley near my house, I saw a group of men gathered not far away.

At a glance, they didn’t look ordinary.

Among them, one man squatting in a baggy khaki jumper met my eyes.

An intensely uneasy feeling crept over me. My heart began to race faster.

At least it was still bright daylight. I walked quickly along the main road, trying to pass them as fast as possible.

“Hey—miss.”

No way. When I turned around, the man in the khaki jumper was already close.

“Miss, can we ask you for directions for a moment?”

As it became clear he was calling me, my mouth went dry.

“So which way is Seongjin Capital from here?”

“……Why are you asking me that?”

“You don’t know? Don’t you work under Seongjin Capital?”

I felt my face heating up.

“Miss, you know Director Do, right? Aren’t you close?”

If they meant Director Do, they were clearly referring to Doyihyun of Seongjin Capital.

They didn’t seem to be from Seongjin’s side—so who were these people?

“I don’t know anyone like that.”

I could feel a few passersby starting to stare.

“Oh, our apologies. We must have mistaken you for someone else.”

The men stared at me blatantly and then strolled past.

Only after they left did I finally release the breath I’d been holding. A hollow heat lingered in my ears and face.

The same unpleasant sense of foreboding I’d felt before going to see Kim Hyungman yesterday returned.

Something was continuing to go wrong.