His Match

Chapter 30 - Revelations

After wandering around aimlessly in the rain for what felt like hours, thinking about what to do, I found myself in front of Geumga Plaza. Soaking wet. I walked inside and went to the office space of Jipuragi.
Everyone in there stopped in their tracks and stared at me like I was a ghost.
Cha-Young was the first to recover. "What do you want?", she asked in a hostile tone.
"I'm gonna get you a blanket, Miss. Just one second", a guy with glasses said and hurried away, completely ignoring Cha-Young.
I looked around the office and to my surprise saw Han-Seo standing there.

"What are you doing here?", I asked, also ignoring huffing and puffing Cha-Young.
"I could ask you the same thing. Where have you been? I was worried. I've been trying to reach you for hours."
"Sorry", I meekly apologized.
"It's okay. And for what I'm doing here: The same thing as you, I assume", he said. "Joining Vincenzo. Well, technically, I've already been with Vincenzo for a while now."
"Then you're right. Same thing."
"Take a seat", Han-Seo said and pulled out a chair for me to sit on. The guy from before came back and put a blanket around my shoulders. I thanked him with a smile.
"Do you want some tea, Miss?", he offered.
"Yes. Thank you. My name is Su-Mi, by the way."
He intruduced himself to me as Mr. Nam and then left to make some tea.
"I'm gonna get Vincenzo", Han-Seo said and disappeared through the door, leaving me alone with Cha-Yeong.

After a while he came back with Vincenzo in tow. Now all cleaned up. He just kept silent, sat down across from me and waited.
"I didn't know", I quietly said.
"That's what I thought. He kept a lot of things from you."
"I'm so sorry, Vincenzo."
"It's not your fault and you're here now. So, no worries", he said with a little smile.
"Here's your tea, Su-Mi", Mr. Nam said and handed me the mug.
"Thank you, Mr. Nam", I replied and smiled at him.
"You were right, Mr. Cassano. She is very pretty."
I looked at Vincenzo in surprise, while he explicitly avoided my gaze.
"Doesn't everyone think so?", Han-Seo said.
"Stop with that and rather tell me how this started." I gestured between him and Vincenzo.
And then Han-Seo spilled everything. How he was working with Vincenzo for quite some time now. All the coups they've actually been planning together, including revealing Han-Seok's and Han-Seo's past, which was broadcasted all over the news the other day.
"I knew something was up. You became kinda strange. During that whole pig blood scenario for example. Don't think I didn't see you laughing."
"Ya. You were laughing too", Han-Seo retorted.
"Because it looked funny", I said chuckling. "And that other time when Han-Seok got arrested, you were smiling to yourself."
"Yes, because it was our plan", he said.
"Why now?", I asked him.
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you decide to get rid of your brother now? I mean, I know he never treated you well, but why now?"
"Because now with Vincenzo it feels like I have a chance of winning. I want to take over Babel and run it right. No illegal stuff. No k*lling or blackmailing", Han-Seo said.
"Why didn't you come to me? We are friends. Why did you never ask me for help?"
"Honestly?" I nodded. "I wasn't so sure if you would've helped me. You seemed too much into Han-Seok." Wait? Is he telling me, that he didn't trust me enough? Ouch.
"But you are my friend. Did I tell on you when Mr. Han convinced you to turn against Han-Seok?" Han-Seo shook his head.
"And when I found out that Han-Seok wanted you to take the fall for his illegal activities I thought about a way to stop this and keep you out of it. Did you even know that?" Han-Seo looked at me with big eyes, shaking his head again. Duh. How should he have known?
"I'm sorry, Su-Mi. I should have trusted you more."
"It's ok. You're trusting me now", I assured him with a smile.
"Which is a big mistake by the way", Cha-Young, who was oddly quiet the whole time, chimed in.
"I don't expect you to trust me after everything that has happened. And you don't need to as long as the others do. But still, I want to apologize to you. Especially for what happened to your father." Cha-Young looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"Did you know about it?"
"Yes."
"Did you do anything to stop it?"
"No. I heard about it after it already happened. And I thought it was cruel and wrong." Cha-Young kept looking at me, probably deciding whether to believe me or not.
"I need some air", she said and stormed out. We all looked after her for a couple moments.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"Now you go back to Han-Seok", Vincenzo said.
"What?", me and Han-Seo asked at the same time.
"I want you to be our double agent. I want you to do the same thing that Paolo hired you to do, only you work for me now. Can you do that?"
"I'm not sure. Before I left, Han-Seok told me, that he talked to Paolo. He now knows everything about us, Vincenzo."
"Well, it may be problematic, but not impossible to regain his trust. I think it might be easier than you think."
"Yeah, my brother seems quite smitten by you. What his intentions are? I have know clue, though. But hold up a minute. Who is Paolo? And what did Han-Seok talk about, back at his house? About you being a k*lling machine and stuff?" Poor Han-Seo looked utterly confused at that point.
I turned to Vincenzo and he nodded, so I finally told Han-Seo the whole truth about me, while he listened with big eyes.
"And you knew about this?", he asked Vincenzo, who nodded his head in confirmation and took that as an incentive, to fill Han-Seo in about him too. Apparently he didn't know yet.
I noticed Mr. Nam looking at something at the door, or rather someone. Cha-Young was back and had Na-Ri with her.
"Su-Mi!", she called out and ran towards me, crushing me in a hug.
"Everything's alright", I said laughing. "How did you know where I was?" She let go of me. "Han-Seo called me and asked me where you were. He couldn't reach you. I got so worried. I called you like a thousand times." I took my phone out of my pocket and looked at it. "Dead", I said and held it up to let her see.
"I'm so glad that you're okay", she said and pulled me into another hug.
"Touching. So you're gonna trust her? Just like that?", Cha-Young said, interrupting the moment.
"I gave a simple observe and report task. Let's just wait and see how she does. Give her a chance", Vincenzo said.
"You trust her?", she asked him once more.
"Yes. I do", he said, looking at me.
"You're making a big mistake", she insisted and I've had enough.
"Look. I don't like you either. But you are part of this team, which means we have to work together. So let me prove myself. Let me help you with your next plan and I prove to you, that you can trust me. We don't have to become friends, but just trust me on this."
She looked at me for a while, pondering.
"All right, show me what you can do, super spy." I smiled at her.
"Oh, I will."