Clear and Present Danger

Freak Accident

Yeonssi and I went home after we talked about what we just learned from Im Chul Woo. She wasn't feeling very well after what happened so I made her sleep earlier than usual. I called Lee up and gave him some instructions.

'Lee, bring Captain Im to your place please. You need to keep an eye on him. I will talk to him tomorrow. I'll let you know where,' I said, as I sat in the lounge waiting for sleep to come to me so I could join my wife in bed.

'Yes, man. I will bring him there. Is Yeonssi okay?' he asked.

'Not quite,' I replied, as I reclined on my seat, massaging my temples. I could only imagine what could have happened had we not become who we are now. I could have been dead not knowing the truth behind who killed her father. Or she could have died thinking that it was me.

I ended the call with Lee and closed my eyes for a moment. Everything seemed like a blur, and the truth we just heard was something that allowed me to think through a different perspective. I don't know why but it just dawned on me that it might be something else.

Suddenly, I felt two hands on my forehead, massaging it. It was definitely my wife's because her scent lingered in them. I smiled at the thought that she was awake. She was silent and I felt that she might want something to talk about.

'Honey,' I called her. She only hummed as a response. 'Why don't you come here?' I asked as I moved to give her space beside me. She then came and reclined beside me.

'How are you?' I asked as I kissed her forehead, as she rested it on my shoulder.

'Not quite alright, but I will be fine,' she said softly. I perfectly understood why. We fell silent as we both dozed off, and as I woke up an hour after, I carried her to our room so we could sleep comfortably. I brought her close to me, as it was the only thing I could do for now to let her know that I do understand what she is going through.

'Captain Kim, is she really the daughter of Kim Eui Song?' Chul Woo asked when I went to see him in Lee's apartment. Yeonssi did not come with me, as she couldn't bear the thought and the idea of seeing her father's real assailant once more. At least for today.

'Yes, and please call me Seo Jin,' I told him. 'I am no longer that captain.' 

He nodded at me, and his eyes were becoming wary again. As I studied him, a thought flashed through my mind and took me back to what I was thinking last night.

'Can I call you Chul Woo, since I think you are not in the service anymore,' I asked. He nodded once more and looked at me.

'Why did you say that you killed Mr. Kim?' I asked directly, which caught him off-guard for a moment. He looked at me.

'What do you mean?' he asked. Surely his expression changed likened to a man being caught in a trap. Something that did not allow him to go anywhere else but there.

'Are you playing us?' I asked. 'No, let me rephrase that. You are playing us.'

By the looks of him I knew that I was right. My hunch last night was right. His pupils dilated, a thin sheen of perspiration lined up on his hairline and he was becoming fidgety. Someone can easily say that it was the withdrawal from the drug that he had been taking that was doing it, but it was not what I saw at the moment.

Lee was dumbstruck likewise. I sent him outside as I wanted to talk to Chul Woo alone. As he did so, I pulled out a chair and faced the man in question. I took out my phone and showed him the picture of his wife and daughter.

'I am afraid I cannot protect them if you continue to play us,' I said. Holding my cards in front of him, he began to weep.

'If you think that I do not have connections, think again, Captain Im. It's an easy job for me,' I said, as I have my men from Beijing who could easily cross the border to North Korea and find his family. When I said I would do anything to bring light to this case, I meant anything and everything.