Chapter – 28
The warehouse door looked even more heavily padlocked than the first time I’d seen it, sitting beneath lighting that had grown darker and more oppressive over the past few days.
In front of the door, dusty materials—dragged out in haste—were scattered about, haphazardly serving as a “No Entry” sign.
“It’s thanks to you, Minha. I hadn’t really paid much attention to this warehouse.”
The thick padlock only came undone after Kim Geon twisted the key he brought several times.
As I reached to move the materials blocking the door, his hand stopped mine.
“I’ll handle this kind of thing.”
“It’s fine. Let’s do it together.”
“Dirty things should be touched by trash.”
Kim Geon smiled faintly.
“You’re still holding onto what I said about you being trash back then, aren’t you?”
“Yes. But the truth doesn’t have an expiration date, so even if I keep it in my heart, it won’t spoil. Don’t worry.”
Kim Geon, who had no hesitation calling himself trash, was impeccably dressed as always.
It was strange. Seongjin Capital was strange. Its power structure, its business practices, and every single person within it.
Then what about Do I-hyun? Was he strange too? No. He was just a little twisted—different from the others…
“All right. Let’s go in.”
Just as I was about to spiral into thoughts about Do I-hyun again, Kim Geon cut them off.
Lately, it kept happening like this. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had lit a fire inside my heart.
“Wow, this is even bigger than I expected.”
The warehouse was just as I remembered—surrounded by dust and old file boxes.
“Why did you suddenly bring me here?”
“I thought maybe what you’re looking for might be here. With so many old records, there’s bound to be something, right?”
His vague answer—half knowing, half not—made me decide not to think too deeply about it.
On the top shelf of the nearest bookcase, the file I had been looking for still caught my eye.
“That’s right. Keep the most important thing in the most ordinary place.”
Kim Geon followed my gaze from behind, and our eyes met.
“There’s nothing more ordinary than an unused warehouse.”
“I really like that look in your eyes, Minha.”
“Could you get the file on the top right? It says 2004–2005.”
“As you command.”
He rose slightly onto his toes, and his hand easily reached the file.
I hadn’t noticed before because of Do I-hyun, but Kim Geon’s height suddenly stood out. I wasn’t short either, and yet.
I opened the file he handed me.
“List of debtors under repayment pressure…?”
The faded pages were densely filled with handwritten personal information of what appeared to be debtors.
As I flipped through them, a folded document slipped out from between the pages.
Under the title “Change in Loan Interest Rates for Partner Companies,” the contents made me let out a bitter laugh.
Review of a 24% interest rate increase.
Possible early recall if there is no consent.
New borrowers to be classified as high-risk and managed separately.
My hands began to tremble.
To think that because of this alone, countless people like my father had been driven to the edge…
“Are you okay?”
Kim Geon’s hand overlapped mine as it continued trembling.
Startled by the unexpected coldness of his touch, I flinched.
“I knew Seongjin was trash from the start, but this is nuclear-waste level… It’s unbelievable.”
My body began trembling with uncontrollable anger.
“These are records from 2004 to 2005? That would make you about ten years old back then.”
“My father passed away in 2005.”
“Don’t tell me it was related to private lenders…”
“Yes. When these bastards from Seongjin forcibly entered the market, it seems they swallowed up the existing companies. And who do you think those companies took their anger out on to survive?”
“So that’s what happened.”
“Even after all this time, I can’t forget how much my father suffered. Thinking about it now… Overnight they demanded the principal and that insane interest immediately, smashed up the store—how could anyone endure that?”
“You must miss your father a lot.”
I suddenly realized he was still holding my hand. His cold hand had grown warm from my touch.
“No. I don’t miss him.”
Slowly, so he wouldn’t feel awkward, I pulled my hand from his.
“I just remember him.”
I kept turning page after page.
Just obtaining this file today was already a huge gain.
Then two photographs tucked at the bottom of the file caught my eye.
In one, three strong young men stood with their arms around each other’s shoulders. One of them was unmistakably Chairman Park Jin-ho in his younger days.
In the other, a young man stood beside a boy who still hadn’t shed his youthful features.
Thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, and distinct features even with baby fat—it was a familiar face.
“Do I-hyun…?”
The only difference from now was that the boy in the photo was smiling brightly.
“You recognized him right away. I think that was when I-hyun was in his first year of middle school.”
“Who are these men?”
“Chairman Park Jin-ho, I-hyun’s father, and… Chairman Myeong Se-gwang.”
“Myeong Se-gwang—the current head of Myeongcheonpa?”
They had founded Seongjin together. And it was said that Myeong Se-gwang betrayed them and caused I-hyun’s father’s death.
“Did Do I-hyun lose his father then too?”
Instead of answering, Kim Geon took the file from my hands and dusted it off.
“Chairman Myeong Se-gwang cruelly tortured him to death.”
I stroked the file hidden safely in my bag several times.
These documents might be the very reason I came here.
If I carefully prepared the early corruption records of Seongjin Capital and the suspicious circumstances surrounding EcoBlue’s CEO’s death and threw them at Seongjin, it would be a fight worth taking.
But Kim Geon slowed my momentum.
“Things from twenty years ago aren’t legally worth fighting over. If you want to strike Seongjin now, you’ll need stronger evidence than just the EcoBlue CEO case.”
I couldn’t refute that.
Right. A wise person observes the timing and acts at the most harmonious moment.
When I entered the bleak house today, my legs began to tremble.
As I leaned back onto the wide sofa in the center of the living room, my body collapsed into it.
Just a little more. Just a little further.
Suddenly, my gaze fell on Do I-hyun’s bedroom door in the distance.
Once, I had boldly opened the safe inside his room.
There, I had found a photo of a young Do I-hyun riding on a man’s back.
“Chairman Myeong Se-gwang cruelly tortured him to death.”
Do I-hyun. I wanted to call him trash like Kim Geon did.
Wasn’t there no difference between what Seongjin did then and what it does now?
If Seongjin collapses, then Do I-hyun—at its center—should receive the same karma he has built. That is the justice I pursue.
And yet, at the same time, I pitied him.
Like me, who lost her father as a child, he too had suffered.
The pain he must have felt in the face of his father’s cruel death at another’s hands seemed almost tangible.
How much must the tears of that fourteen-year-old boy—whose baby fat hadn’t even fully faded—have burned?
I couldn’t fully curse and hate him. The texture of our wounds wasn’t all that different. Only the paths we walked afterward had diverged greatly.
From not far away came the sound of a keypad being pressed.
“…Why are you there?”
The now-familiar low voice. It was Do I-hyun.
I lifted my head and looked at him.
I had thought that if we met today, I would look at him with anger and hatred.
“Welcome home.”
But my eyes held no sharp emotion.
“Do I-hyun, you really do keep coming home.”
No matter how much I tried to force them in, the jagged feelings kept bouncing away.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
Perhaps it was because he actually listened when I told him to come home. Perhaps it was because the warmth he brought into this space felt unexpectedly significant.
“No. I don’t.”
“If you think about it, this is my house.”
“That’s true. You’re always gone, so I keep forgetting.”
Or maybe it was because, somewhere twenty years ago at a certain point in time, a boy not so different from me had been hurting just the same.
“…Did something happen?”
“No. What about you, Do I-hyun?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s good. That it was an ordinary day for both of us.”
No matter how much I think about it, I still don’t know which it is.
