He was fidgeting a pen in his fingers, unaware of what was going on around him. The image of Sunye kissing a strange man was etched into his memory like glue, unwilling to move. Jonghyun's nostrils flamed every time he thought about it and wanted to stab something with the pen in his hand.
"Erm...sir?"
Haein's voice brought him out of his reverie.
"Huh? What?" Jonghyun asked. For a moment, he was confused about his whereabouts but then it hit him that he was at the office and Haein was reading out his schedule for the day.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Sir, there's a new tip from one of our informers about the drugs the former Finance Minister may have hidden," SD stated as he put a piece of paper in front of Jonghyun. "Our informer in the Yakuza told the police that they did not receive it."
"Then who did?" Jonghyun frowned.
"Hyun was collaborating with the Company," SD told him. "Perhaps someone from the Company got the drugs and took it before the Yakuza could? We didn't find any direct interference from them though. Maybe they worked in secret?"
Jonghyun thought for a while. Was it possible for someone from the Company to swoop in and take the drugs?
He read the paper Haein had given him. Mikhael, the ambassador of Country R has been mentioned. Someone was leaking in the underworld that he was associated with Hyun as well.
"Find out who else was colluding with Hyun," he instructed. "And hand over the evidence to the police. Assign Sunye to the case."
SD nodded, maintaining his persona well. He had to maintain this step extra carefully. Leaking this information directly to the underworld would have raised questions on his credibility as an information broker. Mikhael would have swooped in on him and the Company would find out that he was trying to leak their secrets.
Instead, he had to rely on sheer luck. Or rather make himself lucky.
He paid one of his informers to take Mikhael's secretary to a bar where the patrons included members of the Yakuza and also people who work with the Company in some capacity. The informer got the secretary drunk and made him spill the beans that Mikhael had smuggled the drugs out before the police could confiscate them.
This caused the information to 'leak' and spread like wildfire in the underworld. It eventually reached Jonghyun's informers who in turn reported it to 'Haein'.
It was a simple trick but mostly effective. All he had to do was create the grapevine.
"If Mikhael has the drugs then he must be smuggling it via one of his routes," Jonghyun said thoughtfully. "Do we have any update on the route?"
"Not yet," SD lied. "The one who knew about the route, Choi Kibum."
"Kibum?" Jonghyun frowned. "Choi Kibum...don't tell me he's the heir to the Choi clan!"
"He is," SD confirmed. "Or rather, he was. He's the one handling all the drug routes so far but there's been a leak. Someone leaked the drug routes to the Yakuza."
"Damn it!" Jonghyun cursed. "And his grandfather won't stay quiet. Choi Taek is going to scavenge the entire country, looking for the culprit."
SD remained cool. He knew that Choi Taek would come after them but the old man had been laying low after his men had killed some members of a rival clan in broad daylight. He would not be able to attack so openly now. But that did not mean the danger was gone.
"Look into the routes Mikhael controls at the Company," Jonghyun demanded. "And secure them. Tell Sunye to work on getting search warrants."
SD nodded and was about to head out but Jonghyun stopped him.
"One more thing," Jonghyun said. "Did you find out about Sunye's lover?"
"I've asked some of our colleagues wh get along well with her," SD stated. "But they have no idea she is dating. Han Sunye is quite secretive about her personal life. Perhaps we should wait until she reveals it herself?"
SD knew that his brother was not going to stop and his hunch was right. Jonghyun was not pleased with the news.
"Look harder then!" he snapped. "I'm not paying you to slack around!"
Jonghyun's calm composure had slipped and the jealous brat was acting up. SD was inwardly amused that even after so many years, Jonghyun was still so insecure and would not take no for an answer.
"I'll try harder sir," SD said with a bow before leaving the room. He could feel his brother's jealousy from a mile away but he did not care. SD was about to enter his cabin when he saw Sunye rushing through the corridor. To his surprise, she looked very angry.
He racked his brain to recall what he did but she strode past him and barged into Jonghyun's office, her eyes fired up. SD followed her.
Jonghyun, who was casually looking through documents, merely glanced at her. He was not surprised at her anger which was directed towards him.
"Solitary confinement?" Sunye bellowed. "You issued a petition for Shin Hyun's solitary confinement? Why? That's against human rights laws!"
"He's a traitor to the country and deserves to be kept in a solitary cell away from the other prisoners," Jonghyun said in a calm tone. He leaned back against his chair, waiting for her to challenge his authority.
Sunye slammed her hands on the table and glared at him.
"A prisoner is put in solitary confinement only when he's a threat to others!" she argued. "All new prisoners have to be allocated public cells! It's their constitutional right. Prisons are for redemption and rehabilitation! Keeping a prisoner in solitary confinement throughout his sentence is cruel and illegal!"
"What he did to the country is crueler, don't you think?" Jonghyun shot back. SD stood silently at the corner, witnessing the heated exchange between Sunye and their boss. She was not going to back down from her stance.
"If Shin Hyun had proven himself to be a threat to the prisoners or conducted any illegal activities from jail, only then could he have been confined separately," she argued. "But he barely got there and was straight away taken to a solitary cell on the top floor of the prison! They won't even let him out to do the usual activities at the prison grounds! He's a criminal but not a caged animal. He's got rights too!"
"As the son of the Prime Minister," Jonghyun stressed. "I think I get to decide who has rights and who does not. Besides, it's for his safety too. There are political prisoners there. They might hurt him in prison. This is for the best."
Sunye snorted. "So the title which you claim to hate is now your main tool to establish your authority, huh? Lee Jonghyun, aren't you being too much? Is this how you want to handle the cases in your firm?"
"Yes," he simply replied. "I will. You can leave now."
With that, he went back to reading his file, indicating that she was being dismissed. Sunye glared at him and stormed out. SD stood there for a while.
"Tell the kitchen assistant to bring me a cup of coffee," Jonghyun ordered.
"Yes sir," SD said. He once again exited the room and conveyed Jonghyun's message to the kitchen staff before heading towards Sunye's cabin.
She sat on her chair, laying her head on the table to calm herself down. When she heard the door lock, she looked up.
"Did you know he would do this?" she asked.
"Even I didn't know he did this," SD admitted. "But I'm not surprised."
Sunye was about to ask why Jonghyun may have done this but changed her mind. What if someone overheard them?
"We'll talk later about this," she sighed, taking out case files to study. But SD did not leave. Instead he closed the door behind them and stepped forward. Sitting on the chair opposite to her, he put on a serious look.
"What is it?" she frowned.
"The drugs that Shin Hyun hid are with the Company," he revealed. "Mikhael, the Ambassador to Country A has them."
"But the drugs were at the party," she frowned. "How did…"
Then it dawned on her and she stared at the blue eyed demon who was pretending to be ignorant of her suspicions.
"Please don't tell me that you handed it to him," she gritted.
"If the Yakuza had gotten their hands on it, you'd never have been able to trace them back to the Company," he went on. "This was a necessary step."
Sunye was still suspicious of his motives but decided not to probe him at the office. It would be best if they talked in private somewhere else.
"As for now, we'll have to work together to discover the routes through which these drugs will be supplied," he stated.
"And I bet you know," she muttered.
Not to her surprise, he nodded but aloud he said, "The route was known to the heir of the Choi family, Choi Kibum but he's in a coma now. Once we find the route, we can find the drugs and capture members of the Company. If they fess up, we can find their leader and put him in jail."
He lowered his voice and said, "I've secured the route from Kibum on the night of the poker match. My informer will let me know about his findings."
Sunye nodded. She debated for a while on how to approach him about the issue with his eyes when her phone rang up.
"My building's caretaker?" she frowned. She picked up the phone while SD watched.
"Hello?" she answered. SD was a little surprised when he saw the color from her face being sapped as she listened to the caretaker. Suddenly, she hung up the phone and grabbed her bag as if in great hurry.
"What happened?" he asked.
"M-my apartment!" she stammered. "Someone broke into it!"
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