Sunye was busy studying the case files in front of her. She returned from the strip club merely an hour ago and had to take another thorough shower before sitting at her study to prepare for her case against Shin Hyun. She had already prepared quite a few points beforehand and if the defense opted for a plea bargain like she had offered, then the case was pretty much a win for her.
"Byungsoo's clients…" she muttered. "The deal with Yakuza and then the party."
She took out the transaction details of the hitman and stapled a copy of it in her file.
Finally, she was done with the case. Stretching her limbs, she stood up to fetch water from the fridge. She took out a bottle of cold water and gulped it down.
Ding!
Someone rang the doorbell. Who could it be? She wondered.
Opening the door, she found Jonghyun standing outside. She was a little wary of him after he revealed that he had waited for her all night outside her building. It was something which made her very uncomfortable.
She liked her privacy which is why she was not active on social media nor interested in much press coverage. Even SD knew not to cross that line with her. Which is why he never barged into her personal space. The only time he took her to his house was due to the fact that Jonghyun was outside her building during off hours. And even then, he kept her safe.
"Can I come in?" Jonghyun asked but Sunye blocked the way.
"Do you want something?" she asked.
"I wanted to talk about the case," he said warily. Sunye pursed her lips, debating for a minute.
"There's a cafe right across the street," she said. "You go and wait there. I'm bringing the file. We'll discuss it there."
Jonghyun did not argue. He sensed the coldness in her tone indicating that she was still angry at him for that night.
He obeyed her orders and headed back to the elevator. Sunye locked the door and sighed. She did not mean to be so rude to him but in the end, he was merely her boss and she was his employee. It was strange to be meeting him like this at her house.
She quickly got dressed and picked up the file before pausing. Taking the papers out, she scanned the papers on her laptop and saved all the files. Was it paranoia after her first encounter with SD or was it cautiousness, she did not know. But she had to keep several copies of a file with her. One paper fell out of the file. Sunye stooped to pick it up.
"This is…" she said to herself. "A transaction from Country I."
She had dug up information on this particular account and it turned out to be from the central office of the late President Rihan. The payment was done through several routes to ensure that it was untraceable but after Rihan's death, the new government had exposed his dealings and this account happened to be one of them.
Sunye debated with herself. Jonghyun was the son of the country's PM. Showing him this evidence might mean that his father would end up getting his hands on this. She decided to take out the document and put it in her drawer for safety. Locking it tightly, she took the rest of the files and left her apartment.
Meanwhile, Jonghyun waited for almost half an hour at the cafe for her. He was wondering if she changed her mind to meet him when she entered the cafe, holding a large file. She put it in front of him and sat on a chair opposite to him.
"Why did you want to meet me?" she asked. "I've already organized the file. I doubt there's anything left to talk about."
"There is," Jonghyun said. "The drugs. Those haven't been found yet."
Sunye sighed. This was the main problem with their argument. Their whole case was built on the fact that Hyun killed Byungsoo because the latter knew about his drug deals and was about to betray him. The two men were lovers for many years but their relationship was held by a thread.
But where were the drugs? That was the main question.
"The Company…" Sunye said. Jonghyun, who was about to take a sip from his coffee, froze. But Sunye did not notice it, lost in her own thoughts.
"What did they mean when they were talking about the Company?" she wondered. "Byungsoo mentioned in the tapes that Hyun was about to betray 'The Company'. What is it? Is he referring to some kind of firm? Or someone from the government? I've never heard about this 'Company' before."
"Might be their drug cartel," Jonghyun suggested. "Last year, the biggest cartel in the country was taken down but that doesn't mean that there aren't others. For years, the former Cartel had been ruling the black market with its connections. But now that it's gone, new cartels are emerging. Might be the codename for one of them."
"So the Company might have the drugs," Sunye murmured. "But how did they manage to take the drugs away? It's so weird that we don't even have CCTV footage on the ship. Hyun must have wiped out all evidence of his trade but got betrayed in the end. The Company took advantage of the camera blackout and stole the drugs. The Yakuza will think that Hyun double crossed them while Hyun will think the Yakuza stole it. In the ensuing confusion, Hyun is arrested and out of the Company's way."
She picked up Hyun's bank receipt. He had received a tremendous amount of money from different foreign offshore accounts which meant that high ranking officials from several countries were involved in this.
"The hitman who was caught, stated that he never killed Byungsoo," Jonghyun pointed out. "They are not going to admit to the killing of Byungsoo, are they?"
"I can't discount the fact that he might be telling the truth," Sunye said. "But the timing of his arrival and Byungsoo's death timing matches. Besides, the CCTV cameras did not show anything strange either. The hitman was shown entering the prison and after a few minutes, Byungsoo died. It's seemingly obvious that he did it. But if we can make him admit he killed Byungsoo, then the defense will have to opt for a plea bargain. Hyun goes to jail on reduced sentence and escapes death penalty."
Jonghyun looked at her carefully. She had planned out everything and was ready to fight.
His mind was echoing with his mother's warning. Even though he did not want to think about her, he knew that she spoke the truth. If Hyun went to jail, then he would become their enemy.
And the country's jails were full of the government's enemies. The political prisoners caught during the war were still in there, biding their time. They loathed the government which was being controlled by the Company. Hyun would become a dangerous foe if he decided to join them.
"Do you want to have a cup of coffee while we go through these?" he asked.
"No, I-" Sunye began to say but Jonghyun had already walked towards the counter.
"Iced Americano, right?" he asked. Sunye shrugged and let him order. He picked up a cup of iced coffee and headed back towards their seat. Sunye's eyes were on a paper in front of her so she absentmindedly stretched out her hand to pick up the cup.
SPLASH!
The cup fell on the ground, splashing coffee everywhere. The cuffs of Sunye's shirt was stained while Jonghyun apologized for the gaffe.
"I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she assured him. "Just my sleeves…"
"You should go and clean them at the washroom," he suggested. Sunye nodded and went to the washroom, leaving the file on the table. Jonghyun glanced around and took out a paper from her file. It was the evidence on the offshore accounts. He clicked a photo of it and sent it to his mother before putting the paper back into the file.
Sunye came out after a few minutes, wiping her sleeves. Jonghyun sat at their seat, waiting for her.
"I should get going," she said. "I'll have to read more on the case and see if the defense has come to its senses. I'll see you on Monday at court."
"Wait…"
Jonghyun stood up, looking a little nervous. Sunye blinked at him, waiting for him to speak.
"I just want to apologize to you for offending you," he began. "I shouldn't have come to your place that late at night and stayed there. It wasn't right."
Sunye nodded her head. "Thank you for apologizing," she said. "And it's okay. Try not to repeat it."
"There's one more thing," he said.
"What is it?" Sunye asked, picking up her file before facing him.
Jonghyun gulped, unable to decide what to do. He had never done this before and Sunye's deep gaze only made it harder for him.
"That night, I wasn't just coming over to ask you about the case," he admitted. "There was another reason. And I don't want to pressurise you or anything but I just had to ask it. Unfortunately, time hasn't been on my side but I think it's best if I admit it now."
Sunye was now a little skeptical of what he was about to say. "What is it?" she asked slowly.
Jonghyun took a deep breath and asked, "I like you, Han Sunye. Will you go out with me?"
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