Seeing Jun-kyung, the five men stood up at the same time, as if they had planned, and bowed. Jun-kyung looked at them longer than usual. They were guys who were usually ready to receive orders when they got the indication that someone was around. But today, their faces were hardened with a tension that they couldn’t hide.
“What’s wrong?”
Jun-kyung asked in a monotonous voice. Then, the five gazes headed to Woo-hyun’s room at the same time. Only then did Jun-kyung discover that the door to Woo-hyun’s room was slightly open.
“Since when has he been here?”
“Since before the change of shift.”
That meant that he had stayed up all night in the office. Since Woo-hyun often left unless something important happened, Jun-kyung, who was going to his room, turned his steps and headed towards Woo-hyun’s. Jun-kyung knocked on the door with his eyes down so that he wouldn’t look at the open gap.
“It’s Lee Jun-kyung.”
“Come in.”
It wasn’t until he was given permission from beyond the door that Jun-kyung opened it and went inside. Naturally, his gaze turned upwards. The room was terribly dark because the vertical blinds were closed, preventing any ray of light from entering the room, but the light that seeped in through the door showed Woo-hyun lying obliquely on the sofa.
His long legs were stretched out over the 3-seater sofa. Thanks to the light going over his body and reaching his face, his expressionless face was clearly visible.
The empty eyes directed at the ceiling, the tightly closed mouth, and the eyelids that slowly closed and opened again.
“I’ll turn on the light.”
As there weren’t any words of restraint, Jun-kyung closed the door and turned on the desk light. Although it got brighter, the room was still dark. Jun-kyung looked at the closed blinds.
Woo-hyun rarely closed the blinds. If he had something to think about while working, he had the habit of organizing his thoughts while looking at the night view. Jun-kyung’s gaze stayed there longer than usual because it seemed to be evidence of some kind of a change of heart taking place.
“You didn’t go home?”
Jun-kyung asked, thinking that he had clearly taken him home yesterday.
“There was no car in the parking lot. How did you come here?”
Although Woo-hyun didn’t answer, Jun-kyung continued to ask questions.
“I parked it outside.”
“What’s going on?”
Only after Jun-kyung’s cautious question did Woo-hyun raise his head.
“What happened to Executive Director Kim’s place of business?”
Instead of answering, he asked a different question. It meant that he shouldn’t ask him useless questions.
“I’m poking around everywhere as you told me, but I won’t last long.”
The manpower was limited, and Executive Director Kim was reacting sensitively, so it would be a headache if he got caught by mistake.
Although there was a personal war of nerves among the members of the organization, Woo-hyun was the one who would be in trouble if the fact that he was messing with him like this reached the chairman’s ears. Although Woo-hyun’s reaction was indifferent, in reality, it wasn’t a situation to be relaxed about.
“I think I can shake him up once more at best, but it will be difficult for the time being. Also…”
Despite Jun-kyung’s reports, filled with worry, Woo-hyun was closing his eyes. He couldn’t tell if he was listening, but Jun-kyung continued the report he had prepared in his mind.
He conveyed in detail what kind of damage Executive Director Kim’s businesses had suffered, how much his surveillance personnel had increased, and what kind of business Executive Director Kim was doing. Even after the report was over, Woo-hyun gave no instructions.
“Executive Director Kim is searching for a spy, so he can’t do much.”
“No. In Gamjeon-dong.”
“I left a few behind, and withdrew most of them.”
Jun-kyung quickly answered, noticing that he was talking about Yoo-hwa. It had been a long time since he had said anything about Yoo-hwa.
After going to the morgue, Woo-hyun had not talked about anything related to Yi-woon. Like a person who decided to forget.
“Why?”
Jun-kyung gave him a strange look at the sudden question.
“I’m not sure what you mean…”
“I never told you to withdraw them.”
“We judged that it was over already…”
Then, when Jun-kyung tried to answer calmly even though he was flustered, Woo-hyun raised his body in an instant and sat upright. It was such a quick movement that it seemed like he had never been lying down. Jun-kyung, who was amazed that such a movement could come from someone that tall, stiffened as soon as he met Woo-hyun’s eyes.
Focus returned to his empty eyes. A quiet sharpness pierced his face.
“It was over already?”
The voice that quietly asked him was heavy. It was asking who had made that judgement on their own.
“I apologize.”
Jun-kyung apologized straight away. His judgement was wrong.
“How many people did you leave there at least?”
“Two people.”
“Triple the number of surveillance personnel.”
“If I do so, Executive Director Kim…”
“I’m sure he already knows.”
“…”
Jun-kyung looked at Woo-hyun as if asking what he was talking about. Woo-hyun’s gaze turned colder.