Myung Hee sighed, watching Hae Soo fretfully twist her coffee cup around and around on the kitchen table. She knew her younger cousin was desperate for some news about her 'elevator savior'—as Hae Soo carefully referred to Wang So whenever there was a chance that someone other than Myung Hee might be listening.
She had previously assured her that Wang So was okay, but still in ICU where only immediate family and only one person at a time was allowed to visit. His older brother was with him, and not even Myung Hee herself had been able to go see him yet.
Hae Soo stopped twisting the cup for a moment. "Can you maybe call again before I have to leave for work?"
"I could," Myung Hee replied patiently, "but he is still on the ventilator and wouldn't be able to talk to you because of the breathing tube. It might get removed today, but most likely not until after ten o'clock when the doctors make their rounds."
Drawing a disheartened breath, Hae Soo went back to twisting her cup. Only a couple of turns, however, before she stopped again and looked up, suddenly excited.
"Wait! I got it!" she exclaimed. "You said he was typing whatever he wanted to say on his brother's phone yesterday, so why couldn't I just text him?... You know, just to say 'Hi' and ask how he's doing?"
Myung Hee heaved another sigh at Soo's enthusiasm. Aigoo! So-yah, my friend, you really have this girl head over heels in love with you! Now what are you going to do? she thought.
She didn't have the heart to relay So's 'sorry for everything' message to Hae Soo, knowing it meant that Wang So had already decided to distance himself from Soo, just as he had distanced himself from her too, in an effort to protect her.
"Eonni?" Soo queried concerned as she noticed the sudden change in Myung Hee's expression. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Myung Hee assured her with a forced smile, and startled when her phone rang at that instant.
She answered it quickly, then just listened silently before ending the call with a short "Thank you!" a few seconds later.
She sat unmoving for a moment, still holding on to the phone, before she turned to look at Soo who was fidgeting with the cup again and anxiously chewing on her lower lip.
"Was that..." Hae Soo started to ask, staring at the cup. "Is...is he okay?"
"Yes, it was," Myung Hee replied low, "and yes, he is okay. He had a seizure this morning and they don't know yet what caused it, but..."
"A seizure?" Hae Soo's head snapped up, her eyes wide in alarm. "Isn't that really dangerous?"
"It can be, but Doctor Seong assured me that So pulled through it without any major complications and he's okay now. One of the guards I have assigned to his room knew what to do and she handled the situation..."
"She?" Soo cut in.
Myung Hee couldn't quite suppress a chuckle. "Yes, she, but don't worry, because Soon Deok won't give you any competition. She is more like a big sister to So-yah ... he always called her his 'Noona' too...and she has known him since he was a little boy. They were in the same boarding school in America, and Soon Deok took care of So and protected him."
"Protected him from what?" Hae Soo squinted puzzled. She couldn't quite imagine that someone like her 'elevator savior/tough guy biker' would need to be 'protected' against anyone—much less protected by a girl.
"Well..." Myung Hee wavered noticeably, unsure how much Soo already knew about Wang So. "Do you know why So wears the long bangs?" she finally asked.
Hae Soo's hesitation before she answered was even more obvious. "To hide that scar under his left eye."
"Right!" Myung Hee nodded. "And since you have apparently seen it then, try to imagine the mocking and bullying a little five-year-old boy with a scar like this would have had to endure from other children."
"But it's not even that bad," Soo remarked, "and he could always have plastic surgery to..."
"He won't!"
"Why not? Lots of people have plastic surgery all the time for all kinds of things," Soo argued.
Myung Hee fixed her with a solemn stare. "Do you know how he got that scar?"
Hae Soo squirmed anxiously. "N...no, he just told me to forget I ever saw it, when I noticed it by accident because the wind blew his bangs to the side." She felt a shiver run down her spine when she recalled the image she had also seen in her mind at that moment.
"His mother caused that scar when she tried to cut his throat with a broken bottle and his older brother interfered," Myung Hee told her.
"His own mother tried to kill him?" Soo gasped. "Why?"
"Who knows?" Myung Hee shrugged. "She has hated So from the day he was born, and made his life miserable at every step...Just like now, she is trying to frame him for a crime he didn't commit...no, worse actually...for a crime that she, herself committed!"
Soo stared in disbelief. "How can a mother do something like that to her own son?"
"You wouldn't believe what Yoo Shin Myeong is capable of," Myung Hee stated harshly. "And with her and Yeon Hwa now teamed up and working together with Wook against the Wang brothers..." She left the implication hanging.
"I think Yeon Hwa wants revenge for Wang So-nim breaking up with her," Hae Soo suggested guardedly.
"I wouldn't doubt it," Myung Hee agreed. "But why in the world he ever hooked up with that evil snake to begin with, I will never understand." She shook her head. "The only thing that woman loves is herself and money...but I guess suckering people into believing she is actually a good person is one of her special talents. She sure had me fooled for quite some time."
"Well, she is very beautiful," Soo conceded pensively.
"Only on the outside! So-yah is usually a very good judge of character who doesn't get hung up on appearances, and I have no idea what he saw in her. I bet he is asking himself the same question after she..." Myung Hee stopped herself, remembering too late that Hae Soo didn't know the full story yet, of what had transpired on the previous day.
Soo's eyes widened in alarm. "Eonni?..."
"I might as well tell you, so you will know without any doubt what kind of people we're dealing with." Myung Hee's voice trembled with barely suppressed rage as she filled Soo in on the details, and everything her 'spies' had discovered so far.
With tears welling up in her eyes, Hae Soo's face lost all color. "But why...why would she do...something so cruel?" she choked out, sobbing, when Myung Hee told her about Yeon Hwa reopening So's scar.
"Who knows?" Myung Hee muttered grimly. "Maybe to punish him for leaving her, maybe because of you, or maybe just because she enjoys inflicting pain on others."
"Because of me?" Soo gaped incredulously. "We only met twice...we barely know each other...I don't even know if Wang So-nim likes me at all...why would she think...oh, no!" She paused and stared wide-eyed. "Wook told Yeon Hwa in the elevator that Wang So-nim already had a new squeeze...does she think we...?...No, no, no! I don't want to be responsible for..."
"Soo-yah..." Myung Hee tried to interrupt.
"No, I can't be responsible! I have to..."
"Soo-yah, listen to me..."
"I can't let him get hurt because of me! I need to stay away from him! I can't..."
Myung Hee firmly grabbed Hae Soo's shoulders. "Soo-yah, enough!" She fixed her younger cousin with a firm stare. "Now you listen to me very carefully, Hae Soo... Listen, I said!" she sharply cut off Soo's impending objection, but released her shoulders. "Are you listening?"
Soo nodded and sniffed, wiping her hands across her tear-streaked cheeks.
"If...and that's a big IF... Yeon Hwa cut So's face because of you, then she did not do it to punish him, but to scare you off," Myung Hee explained. "In her twisted mind, So's scar is the most disgusting and revolting thing ever, and she would expect you to feel the same way about it."
"But I don't! Not at all!"
"I know you don't," Myung Hee nodded, "because you're not shallow like Yeon Hwa. I seriously doubt that she ever even had any true feelings for So-yah...My guess is she only hung on to him to irritate Wook and because Wang So is, after all, still a legitimate heir to the Wang Empire. She first tried to break up Wang Mu's marriage, and when that didn't work she unsuccessfully chased after Wang Yo for years. Baek Ah, Eun and Jung are too young, which left only So to get her claws into the company...even though she despised his 'bad boy' image."
"Wang So-nim told me she hated his Harley, and that he really made her mad when he came to her office, dressed in his motorcycle clothing," Hae Soo interjected with a half-hearted giggle.
"No doubt!" Myung Hee chuckled softly, then turned serious again. "But whatever the case, and whatever you do...please do not turn your back on So-yah because of what Yeon Hwa did. It would hurt him worse than having his face cut for a second time."
"But what if she really did it because she's jealous? What if she continues to hurt him if I stay with him? I couldn't stand seeing him get hurt because of me," Soo argued.
"Let So-yah make that decision for himself...that is, if he has not, as I suspect, already decided to distance himself from you for your own protection," Myung Hee told her.
Hae Soo squinted puzzled. "From what do I need protection?"
"From getting caught in the middle between Wook, Yeon Hwa and Yoo Shin Myeong on one side, and So and his brothers on the other side. The power struggle for the companies isn't over yet, and you have already seen how dirty Wook's side is fighting."
"But isn't that all the more reason for us to help Wang So-nim and his brothers?" Soo asked.
"It is," Myung Hee agreed, "but we can't afford to become a distraction...or worse, leverage that Wook can use against So. And believe me, Wook would not hesitate for even a second to use either one of us as a hostage, to force So into giving up the fight."
"But you're his wife!"
"Only on paper," Myung Hee smiled despondently, "or when it's to Hwangbo Wook's benefit somehow. Other than that, I'm only the person our families arranged for him to be stuck with...at least for a little while longer."
"Eonni," Soo furtively wiped another tear from her cheek, "please...please don't keep talking like you have already given up."
"Oh, I'm not giving up just yet!" Myung Hee straightened, a defiant glow in her eyes. "We still have way too much work to do, and I'm not willing to give Wook and his sister...and especially Yoo Shin Myeong...the satisfaction of having the last laugh. No! I will fight with my last breath to make sure So and his brothers all have their names cleared and regain control over their father's company," she stated resolutely.
"After what happened yesterday, I went ahead and had my shares of Hwangbo Enterprises officially transferred into So-yah's name...he just doesn't know it yet, and neither does Wook," she added with a sly wink.
"And..." Myung Hee paused momentarily for extra effect, "I have also contacted several of the former Wang Industries investors on So's behalf. Four of them are members of my network, and they have assured me that they will bring the rest of the investors that So has been negotiating with on board, and get them to agree to his terms."
"Are you not going to tell Wang So-nim and his brothers about this?" Soo queried. "They're probably worried what is happening with all of this while he is stuck in the hospital."
"I will tell them as soon as I get confirmation...in writing...that all of the investors have agreed to So's terms."
"But Eonni, if you already had those kinds of connections...to the investors, I mean ...why didn't you use them before?"
"Because before So didn't need my help. He was doing perfectly fine, dealing with those investors by himself. He could have done it all on his own, and earned the full credit for saving his father's company." Myung Hee paused and sighed glumly. "I really wanted him to have this victory... he deserved it, and it would have been good for him. But now, because of his mother, the entire situation has changed. Now it's not just about saving Wang Industries anymore. First we have to get So and his brothers out of the mess that Yoo Shin Myeong created for them."
"But how?" Soo squinted dubiously. "You said Wang Jung doesn't remember anything that happened to him, and that he is the only one who could clear them of the false charges."
"So far, yes," Myung Hee admitted, "and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up until all of the evidence my teams have gathered is authenticated and secured, and everything is absolutely certain. But...and this has to stay just between you and me for now, understood?"
"It seems," Myung Hee continued after Soo confirmed with a keen nod, "we may have found some vital evidence that could clear So, Eun and Baek Ah of the false charges against them, and we might even have proof that Wang Yo's car wreck was not an accident, and the deaths of Wang Mu and his wife and children were not murder-suicide but rather a sloppy hit-job."
"A hit-job?" Soo gasped. "Someone paid to have the whole family killed?"
"The money trail is still unclear, but we managed at least to get the investigation reopened. It was closed much too quickly, and there were several things that didn't add up."
"Like what?"
"Well," Myung Hee mused, "for one, five dead bodies in the living room, all stabbed directly through the heart, but the murder weapon was found in the kitchen...with not a single fingerprint on it. And then there's the fact, which was omitted from the official report, that all five victims...including Wang Mu... had rope-burn on their wrists, like they had been tied up."
Hae Soo shook her head. "Now who would be stupid enough to believe that this could have been a murder-suicide?"
"Exactly!" Myung Hee affirmed. "But that's what the official police report said."
"Oh, I sure hope your teams can find out what really happened and who did it!" Soo fixed her older cousin with an eager look. "Is there anything I can do to help? You know I have access to..."
"No, no, no!" Myung Hee quickly stifled Soo's enthusiasm. "You need to lay low and stay out of Wook's and Yeon Hwa's sight as much as you possibly can. Don't even try to get involved, or you might end up giving them exactly the leverage against So-yah we don't want them to have. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Soo conceded half-heartedly and dropped her head.
"Yah!" Myung Hee reached out and gently lifted Soo's chin until she looked at her again. "Don't worry, I have this under control. I have all the access we'll ever need, and I promise you that it will all get worked out. And one other thing...I have also arranged for your own guard now. His name is Jeon Yong Sun, and he will be assigned to the work station right behind you."
"Is that really necessary, Eonni?"
"Let's hope it won't be, but I don't want to take any chances. You can always call me like we've discussed before, but I feel better with someone I trust there to watch your back...just in case."
"Is this guy going to follow me around all day?" Soo grumbled.
Myung Hee couldn't quite suppress a chuckle. "Trust me, you won't even know he's there, unless you look behind you while you're at your station, or get into a situation where you need him to be there. I got him hired on at the company just after the takeover, but I bet you never even noticed him before. His nickname is actually Geurimja (Shadow), and for a very good reason. "
"That's almost kind of creepy," Hae Soo commented, yet with a light chuckle of her own. "But how will I recognize him, so I know it's really him and not some imposter?"
Instead of answering, Myung Hee reached for her phone and pulled up a list of numbers.
Hae Soo couldn't see which number her cousin tapped, but it brought up a specific image, and Soo quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling at the picture of a skinny boy with round wire-rim glasses, who looked young enough to have just barely graduated High School.
"How old is that picture?" she asked, trying hard to keep a straight face.
"I know what you're thinking," Myung Hee replied calmly, "but don't let that picture fool you. It's from last month, and just because Yong Sun looks like some nerdy high school boy, people will easily underestimate and ignore him. He is actually twenty-two, has a Master's Degree in Law and Political Science, and he is also a fourth Dan Tang Soo Do Master Instructor."
Grinning, because Soo's jaw had dropped, she added, "Now close your mouth and get going, before you're late again and give Wook another reason for a one-on-one session in his office."
"I'm going, I'm going!" Soo quickly grabbed her purse and emptied her coffee cup, grimacing as she swallowed the rest of the now barely lukewarm brew. "Promise you call me if you get..."
"I will call you with any news I get about So-yah," Myung He assured her, mentally adding, At least if it's good news!, as she watched her leave.