A Shared Memory, A New Resolve

“That’s an unexpected answer.”
[Giving up is a word that’s very far from me.]

We exchanged a few more short words like that and then ended the call with a customary remark.

“Let’s see each other soon.”
[When you say it like that, Lawyer Cha, it really doesn’t sound like an empty promise.]
“I don’t make empty promises. You know that.”
[I know. It’s just that people like that are rare. I’ll be in touch again.]
“Yes, Mr. Im Suho. And.”
[Do you have a favor to ask? Just say it. I’ll grant it.]
“It’s not that…”

I knew how hard it is for a person to admit their mistakes and wrongdoings.
Because I had also made mistakes several times. And because I had watched from the side for a long time.
The people who could say that they were wrong were mostly people with the right beliefs.
And they always tried to move forward, using their mistakes as a stepping stone.
This part was once again clearly brought home to me.
And so, I also honestly greeted Im Suho, who had made me feel that way.

“Thank you.”
[…Me too.]
“What?”

By the time I asked back in surprise, the call was already disconnected.

“Is he embarrassed?”

He’s the type who would be.
I chuckled and looked at the night view, which had now lost some of its lights.

Step.

I heard a presence from behind.
It was a footstep that actually made me feel relieved.

‘Everyone has a different footstep sound.’

When I first heard this, I just tilted my head, but as time went by, I came to understand.
A person’s scent was also in their footsteps.

“Your stamina is better than I thought, Lawyer Cha. An ordinary person would have collapsed by now. Even I would have.”

Won Youngoh naturally stood next to me and leaned his arm on the railing.

“Weren’t you sleeping?”
“I woke up. And so did Mr. Lee Ilwoo. Though the office manager is sleeping comfortably.”
“It’s dawn now, are you okay?”
“And are you okay, Lawyer Cha? What are you doing here without sleeping?”
“I have some things to think about.”

From the rooftop, you could see Go Eunhyeok’s hospital if you looked straight down.
Though there was no light now.

Swish.

Won Youngoh stretched out his hand in front of my eyes and blocked my view.

“Can’t you just stop thinking for a bit?”
“What?”
“No, every time you say you have something to think about, it’s never been a trivial thought.”

Won Youngoh had a rather serious face.
So I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Lawyer Won.”
“What, what kind of scary story are you going to tell me now?”

Won Youngoh playfully narrowed his sharp eyes.
I wonder what I should call the emotion that rushes in every time I discover a new side of a person’s many facets.
After a long thought, I opened my mouth.

“…Thank you.”

It was a cliché and a trite greeting, just like the one I had given to Im Suho.
But Won Youngoh smiled handsomely and asked back.

“All of a sudden?”
“I’ve always felt that way, but now I’m just saying it.”
“You should say it. How would I know if you only say it in your mind? Not just to me, but to others too.”

The other people Won Youngoh was talking about would be people within a very small radius.
Because Won Youngoh was a person who clearly knew my fence.

“Especially Office Manager Jeong worries a lot about you. He said he thought you were involved in a very dangerous matter, and that you should pull out now.”

I smiled, raising the corners of my mouth at those words, and shrugged.

“I’ve already gone too far.”

Won Youngoh just stared at me.

“Even if I pull out now, the footprints will all be left, and then K will just follow me.”
“……”
“Quitting now is just telling the guy that I’m here, that I’m going to hide here. That will just lure him in.”

Won Youngoh quietly mulled over my words for a long time.

Whoosh.

The winter wind brushed past us.
Won Youngoh stood up from the railing and opened his mouth as if to get a promise from me.

“…Then let’s make one promise. Then I’ll also do my best to help you in whatever you do.”
“Yes.”

Won Youngoh added, staring at my wound.

“Don’t do anything reckless like today ever again.”

I thought there would be another condition.
Perhaps this was the most Won Youngoh-like story.
I quietly nodded.
Because I could feel Won Youngoh’s worry.

“Ah, I can’t believe it. A promise is based on trust, but you, Lawyer Cha… never mind. Is it enough to just give your trust to your client?”

Won Youngoh let out a sigh and roughly ran a hand through his hair, which had been loosened by the wind.
It was his loosened appearance that I had seen after a long time since the memory of the past.
So I somehow ended up spitting out a more definite promise.

“There won’t be another day like today.”
“You’d better. And it shouldn’t happen. …It’s a promise. Let’s go in now. It’s cold.”
“Yes.”

And so, we entered the building.
As we entered the place where the wind was blocked, I felt the chill that had been enveloping my body in an instant.
I rubbed my now-cold arm and followed behind Won Youngoh.

Step, step.

The back of Won Youngoh, who was going down the stairs ahead of me, somehow…

“By the way, Lawyer Won…”
“What.”
“Are you by any chance drunk?”
“Hah, no. Who’s drunk?”

I’ve never met a person who said that and wasn’t drunk.
Won Youngoh held onto the railing and turned around.

“Just you wait. I’ll hand you the contract first thing in the morning. And don’t you dare say you don’t remember the promise you just made, Lawyer Cha. I’ll get your signature one way or another.”
“Haha.”

My laughter filled the stairs.

“What’s so funny? I’m being very serious right now. Don’t laugh, Lawyer Cha.”

Even the sound of Won Youngoh’s laughter, who had started by telling me not to laugh and had ended up laughing with me.

A few hours ago, evening.

A secret space where not a single noise comes in, even when the old sign sways creaking in the wind.
The sound of typing echoed with a sense of speed.
At a glance, it was a scene no different from usual.
Except that the screen that the others, excluding Im Suho, were looking at was a chat window.
They, who were guaranteed an independent space, were talking about their boss in a chat room without him.

[What’s with the boss? Did something happen again?]
[I don’t know, he suddenly asked me where I had left the car earlier, and he was also looking for the car keys]
[The car? Did he by any chance want to get rid of someone? The boss has a driver’s license he never uses]
[That’s why I just said I didn’t know]

The talents of Korea’s prestigious universities, as well as the Ivy League, could not guess the mood of their boss, Im Suho.
Except for the fact that one side of the office had been rapidly becoming gloomy for the past few minutes.

[Ah, social life is hard…]
[Come to think of it, it seems to have been like that since the breaking news came out a little while ago, the fire]
[Breaking news? This?]
[Link]
[Oh? This is where the boss and I investigated]
[??]
[Everyone, please check]

While they were investigating the fire that had been on the news, Im Suho had gotten up from his seat several times as if he were about to run out.
They couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘The boss is trying to go outside…?’
‘Did I see that wrong?’

Im Suho rarely went outside this building.
No, this neighborhood.
Because this building and the few buildings nearby, and perhaps the entire neighborhood, were all Im Suho’s.
He was wasting the spaces to disguise it as an insignificant place, but their office was connected to all the floors.
Not only was there a separate elevator inside the office, but the food that the chef prepared with care every day was more delicious than the high-end cuisine of any hotel.
No one ever came to visit this place, and Im Suho never went out to meet anyone.
At least, ‘that man’ from a few months ago was the last visitor to this place.
For such an Im Suho to show such a reaction.

[It must be serious]
[I can’t breathe]
[I’m already breathless]

And so, as the employees were complaining of their respective shortness of breath with their fingers, a new breaking news story appeared in the floating window.

[Changil-dong fire, 0 casualties]

For a moment, everyone’s hands stopped.
Im Suho threw off his jacket and sat back down, concentrating on the announcer’s voice coming through his headphones.

[…We’re reporting. This is the scene of the Changil-dong fire. The firefighters are currently conducting the final extinguishing work.]
[It has been confirmed that there are no victims trapped inside the building. This is an unusual case for a fire of this scale.]

The reporter pointed to the blackened building with the tips of her four fingers and continued her report.
But he couldn’t be relieved yet.
Im Suho looked at the screen with a stiff expression.
Then he found an ambulance that was parked far away, barely caught in the angle.
He paused the news and magnified the screen through a program.
The silhouette, of such low quality that the facial features could not be identified, gradually became clearer, as if it were being colored in.

“Haa…”

Im Suho let out a sigh without realizing it.
His sigh, mixed with various emotions such as relief, guilt, and anger, spread widely.

Clack.

A moment later, Im Suho stood up from his seat again and immediately opened his mouth.

“Put everything you’re working on on hold for now. Something has come up that needs to be handled first.”

Snap!

As Im Suho snapped his fingers once, everyone’s monitors changed to the same screen.

“……”

One of them, who had looked at the contents, rolled his eyes and asked.

“Uh, boss. The one I’m working on right now is plus 500 million dollars. Should I put it on hold?”
“Me too. Who is K? Is this that urgent? Or is it more important?”
“Does the price matter?”

Everyone answered Im Suho’s question silently.
Im Suho nodded and answered.

“No fee.”

That was a word that Im Suho had never said before.
Everyone was in shock and looked at him, unable to find a suitable answer.

“But don’t worry about it and just do it. I’ll give you 5 or 10 billion per person when it’s done, so don’t worry.”

The employees could not hide their surprise.
Im Suho had never been stingy with money with them, but he had also never given them an excessive amount of money compared to the work.
That also meant that the information they handled always had that much value.

“Now, are you ready? Let’s do it.”

The sound of typing, which had been rhythmic as they had been exchanging with each other until just now, now filled the space with an irregular sound.
Numerous pieces of information were listed on the dozens of monitors hanging from the ceiling.
Im Suho, who had confirmed that the information was being reinforced as the screen went back and forth countless times, started to walk.

Ding.

He got on the internal elevator and entered the top floor.
On the outside, it was an old building.
But the inside had been remodeled and newly designed by Im Suho one by one.
The windows were all bulletproof glass, and the entrances could be sealed off remotely.
He had even created an escape route leading to the basement in case of an emergency.
The spacious elevator rose without a sound.

‘I should do a fireproofing work again, just in case.’

As soon as he realized that there was something strange about the building in Changil-dong, he hacked the system.
That was not a normal fire shutter.

‘A fire shutter that blocks even the emergency exits. It must have been that bastard’s doing.’

Then that bastard must have realized his own existence by now.
He thought he had done as much as he could, even if it wasn’t his full strength.
He wondered if it had become like this because he had thought so. A thought that maybe he had been negligent without realizing it, because he found himself being swept away by Cha Yohan to be funny.
But Im Suho also knew.
If Cha Yohan hadn’t been righteous, he would have set a trap for Cha Yohan first, not K.

‘Even if it hadn’t been for Lawyer Cha, I would have handled people like Gi Seongjin or Oh Uiseong as I always had.’

But there was no commonality in the current situation.
At least, among the people Im Suho had punished, there was no one as vicious as this.
Just today, it was an accident that would have caused numerous casualties if Cha Yohan and his group hadn’t solved it.

“This can’t go on.”

He muttered softly.
As long as he didn’t catch that bastard, he couldn’t remain in this industry where trust is everything.
Even if he continued this work, he felt like he would constantly doubt himself.

Ding.

And so, as soon as he got off on the top floor, Im Suho called Cha Yohan.

[Thank you.]
“…Me too.”

The only thought that came to his mind when he finished the call with Cha Yohan was this.
I hope this person doesn’t die.
Like that person.