Small and Fragile Things - Chapter 69

Soohwan tried to receive that look with a composed face, but he couldn’t stop his fingertips from trembling.

“I—I didn’t know she was a public donor at first… I found out later.”

Muk-hyun lifted his head as if something had just dawned on him.

“You came looking for her?”

“Yes. She came to me secretly, still not fully recovered, and told me the truth.”

“So you’re saying she was in the same hospital.”

“Taesung Hospital. She came to my room, and the staff dragged her out. After that… I don’t know where she went.” He ground his teeth. Bl00d trickled from his bitten lip.

Jung Yoon moved to support Muk-hyun, who staggered as he pressed his palm to his forehead, but it wasn’t necessary. Just as his body seemed ready to tilt, Muk-hyun swept the chairs aside with a shove and walked off a short distance.

“Ha… those fucking bastards…” He tilted his head back, and the corner of his mouth twisted into something chilling.

Even while muttering crude curses, he fought hard to keep his reason. No one dared touch him. His face had gone nearly gray with rage. Hands on his hips, he forced himself to calm down. A moment later, with a face that had decided something, he approached Kim Soohwan.

“When that little thing mustered that much courage, it means she was ready to accept the end.” Muk-hyun smiled, a bitter curl, watching the confusion on Soohwan’s face.

“Right, you’re right. Time’s short.” The change in the situation could be felt from the aura he exhaled.

“If the girl risked her life, I have no reason to leave any wiggle room.” Still, before Soohwan could really react, Muk-hyun lifted a hand toward Jung Yoon.

“Then we’ll skip the middle parts. Straight to the point.” A man’s face flashed in the blue-steel edge of a blade sharpened with poison.

Muk-hyun, smiling coldly as he looked at the already frozen Soohwan, quite literally looked like a lion.

“So what—what are you going to do with that…?”

“As you said, your father doesn’t open his mouth for little. So I’ll use the fastest method.”

Before Soohwan could dodge, his wrist was grabbed.

“For your poor ‘sister,’ giving up a finger or two, isn’t that acceptable?”

***

The package Muk-hyun sent was delivered to Moon Heesuk’s hospital room. She opened the box which was sent with her son’s name as the sender, without suspicion, and immediately fainted. Kim Deok-gyu left her and the box with the medical staff and called the number printed on the label.

Muk-hyun, politely identifying himself, told them where the son was.

“Soohwan!” Kim Deok-gyu arrived, face ashen. He was alone.

Jung Yoon had warned that bringing the whole police-prosecution force would be too dangerous, but Muk-hyun had known he would come alone. After all, Kim Deok-gyu didn’t know what Choi Hyun knew. Muk-hyun expected that Choi Jung-do knowing something didn’t necessarily mean Choi Hyun knew it too, so Choi Hyun wouldn’t risk exposing himself, and he was right.

“Good afternoon, Chief Prosecutor.”

“My son—!”

The fury in his eyes seemed ready to clamp Muk-hyun’s throat, but he had just enough sense to know that would be reckless. Muk-hyun looked at him blankly, then indicated a chair with his chin.

“Bring my son here right now, or—!”

“Lower your voice. It won’t do your son any good to hear our conversation.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t seem your son knows the whole story.”

Damn, that Kim Soohwan. The fellow who’d been fretting over his little sister and making a fuss about finding her had long since changed his face. He’d worried only about his fingers until he fainted.

“If you don’t send my son to the hospital right now, I swear I’ll make sure Choi Muk-hyun rots in prison for life.”

“If you answer my questions properly, I’ll send him right away.”

“Was this Choi Jung-do’s doing? You don’t think you can kidnap my son, injure him, and get away with it?”

“Time keeps moving even while you argue. If you want a severed finger reattached in time, it’s better not to waste words, isn’t it?”

Kim Deok-gyu was in no position to be obstinate. He had no choice but to accept Muk-hyun’s demands and began to scan the surroundings.

“Oh. If you want cameras, they’re over there. Everything you say might be recorded, or I might not.”

“What are you trying to do right now!”

“From now on, Chief Prosecutor, you should live with a little more anxiety.”

Finding Irang’s location was the top priority, but Hyun actually had a burning urge to take Kim Deok-gyu’s life with his own hands right then. He suppressed it with effort. Unaware of how hard Hyun was restraining himself, Kim Deok-gyu busied himself, seeking a way out. It was almost comical how intently he stared at the direction indicated, as if searching for camera lights.

“The deal’s already done. How stupid to think of using me again like this. Did you think I’d return the ledger with no countermeasure?”

“The ledger is none of my concern. Chief Prosecutor, would you be okay if the son you raised so dearly lived with only four fingers? I told you how to save him, why stall?”

Kim Deok-gyu didn’t intend to, but he felt a deep insult at Hyun’s calm reaction. From his point of view, the criminal who should’ve been trembling instead swaggered as if clueless about his place. For the first time, humiliation he’d never felt before mixed with the anxiety of not knowing his son’s condition, and he momentarily forgot about the cameras.

“You laundry-cleaning scum, thinking you can scheme. Do you think I’d associate with a vulgar bastard like you? I’m Kim Deok-gyu. If I want, Choi Jung-do will be arrested immediately. As for Samun? I can erase them until no one remembers such a place existed in Korea.”

A person’s true character shows in crisis. Kim Deok-gyu’s mask slipped, layer by layer, as he tried to hide his inner panic.

“After Choi Jung-do, it will be you. I’ll attach the worst charges, and the whole world will spit on your face. Think I’m bluffing? Once I have the state on me, see where you can properly live.”

The guardian of the law with a benevolent smile, this was the real face of Kim Deok-gyu, called the conscience of Korean prosecutors. An arrogant narcissist who believed himself above the law. A man so proud that his actions were, in his mind, law and justice.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t care if you do exactly what you just threatened.”

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”

Muk-hyun let out a loud, insolent sigh and crossed his legs arrogantly.

“If you know nothing about me, let me tell you: bringing down Samun and Choi Jung-do is my long-standing wish. If you don’t want to end up in the boiling pot, you must bite the hand that raised you. Right? I’d appreciate it if you did it for me.”

“…”

“Are there any more curses you want to pour on me? Time keeps passing… I’m genuinely worried about that son of yours who acts like his world ends because he’s missing a finger.”

Kim Deok-gyu knew the threats didn’t work, but he preserved his pride in silence.

Muk-hyun, restraining the urge to flatten that stubborn face, warned him.

“If you lie or refuse to answer my questions, your son will die.”

“…”

“Start by explaining why you called her ‘Illy’, and the reason she was made.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard that name!”

His firm denial didn’t surprise Muk-hyun in the least. He never expected it to be easy. Instead, he felt the need to make the man’s situation clearer.

Muk-hyun looked Kim Deok-gyu square in the eye and snapped his fingers.

“Director Jung. Go and cut off one more finger of Kim Soohwan.”