Payback: Reversal

13 - Broken Wings

The morning Yoohan first opened his eyes in the hospital room after the accident, he was alone. The room was dark, and even the sound of medical apparatus seemed muffled. He was basking in the leftover sensation of his dream.

It was a beautiful dream where he lived peacefully with his mother and brother, in a humble house in the countryside. They had no money, had to sleep in the same room, and he had to work laboriously. But they were together, they were laughing, they were happy.

He was awoken from that beautiful dream into a perpetual nightmare of reality.

If it wasn't for the fact that Yoohan still had his attendants, that people like Yoo Ilhwan still stayed by his side, he would have already broken down the moment he read about his brother's obituary.

Lee Yoohan had never slept in a dark room after that.

He hated the memory of waking up alone in the dark, into a nightmare of his sin and the hell he lived in.

The morning when Yoohan realized he was alone in the private room, when he realized Jay wasn't there, he was frightened.

If it wasn't for the water and the hangover cure, as well as the neatly folded clothes, he would probably have gone into panic; crouching on the floor choking on the lump in his gut and throat, thinking that again, he was left alone.

If he had seen the choker laying down on the table without its wearer at that time, after such night, he would probably go into a spiraling depression.

It was fortunate that Jay decided to bring the choker with him. It was also fortunate that he was too dizzy and flustered to feel scared.

Waking up to the smell of coffee and the rustling sound of Jay's movement around the annex always gave Yoohan so much relief, much more than he dared to admit.

It was hard for him and his pride to admit he was getting dependent on the older man's presence. He knew it was already way different from the master-subordinate relationship he had in the past, and he could no longer deny it the moment he gave in to that first kiss they shared.

Even now, after his pledge to wait until his revenge was over, his eyes still tried to find the older man's trace from time to time, even though he was supposed to concentrate on the ledger in front of him.

They were back at the hotel suite they used as their base, trying to find a clue of the one ordering the group to mess with his car. It was a specific job to make him lose control of the steering wheel and the brake dysfunctioned.

Yoohan was driving alone that night, since he wanted to spend personal time with his family on his birthday. He was sure that his car was just fine when he picked his family up and drove to the restaurant. It was when they got back that the car suddenly turned strange.

Which meant, it got tampered with when they were inside the restaurant.

When he first found out his car was being tampered with, Yoohan had thought it was the work of someone with a grudge against HS. But when the evidence about tampering suddenly disappeared from the case, and it was deemed as careless driving, he knew it was an insider work. Someone who worked on the plan, hire the gangster, and told them about his movement. Someone strong enough to order an erasure of evidence in the report.

Since it was someone from the HS Group side, it was inevitable that finding clues was hard. The closer the perpetrator was, the more careful they would be in hiding their tracks.

Still, Yoohan was hoping for even the smallest crumb.

Giving away Yoohan's schedule, and places he would visit during his vacation—at least contact should be made with the informant, whether through direct meeting or other means. As long as that little trace could be found, the little bird would take care of the rest.