At the Crossroads

Chapter 12

"What's today's dessert?"

Jinyoung always brought something for all three of them to eat after lunch and today was no exception. Usually it was fruits. But today, it was chocolate cakes.

"Only after the meal," Jinyoung warned, before Youngjae's hand moved forward.

"It's been ages since I last tasted chocolate cakes," Youngjae whined. He eyed the appealing snack while opening his lunchbox.

"What the fuck?" exclaimed BamBam, his eyes not leaving the phone screen. Shock and incredulity were evidently written all over his face.

"Eat first." Jinyoung looked at the ignored food and then at BamBam's undivided attention on his phone.

"What're you watching?" Youngjae peeked at the phone.

"You know Nam Yunseok? Actually I'd never seen him either. Apparently he was killed." BamBam shook his head and put the phone on the table.

"Killed?" Jinyoung grabbed the phone, whose screen was still displaying the news article BamBam had been reading.

The photo there was a sort of a profile picture of Nam Yunseok, not his dead body at the crime scene, much to Jinyoung's disappointment. Nam Yunseok, Jinyoung had heard of him. He had been the CEO of Captain Construction Co. According to the article, Nam Yunseok had been stabbed in his garden yard last night.

The fact that his team had not contacted him to inform him about this, might be because they did not believe it to be connected to Kim Shiwoo, Jinyoung assumed. Nonetheless, his chest felt heavy at this news.

He put the phone back on the table and this time, it was Youngjae who read the article. "Why ! He's still quite young. Must have been in his thirties at most. What a pity."

Youngjae and BamBam continued to talk about the murder while Jinyoung was lost in his own thoughts. He wanted more details of the murder. How had Nam Yunseok been found dead? Had there been any significant things found at the crime scene? Which could be examined to trace the murderer.

After lunch, Jinyoung intended to stay behind in the room, giving an excuse that he did not feel quite well. Youngjae and BamBam were worried. Jinyoung reassured them and waited till they left.

When he was alone, he gave Jaebum a ring. "What happened? I saw the news."

"You did? We were at the crime scene this morning. I don't know if this is connected to Kim Shiwoo or not. But we'd better not be reckless," Jaebum said.

"Tell me. What did you see there? In his own garden yard, that's insane. Didn't he have any butlers or security guards?"

"He had," Jaebum replied, "Two guards at the gate. But both'd been beaten. They said there'd been not one but three guys who tackled them last night."

"Three? Interesting. What about the faces?"

"No. There were masks. There's no obvious motive either. He had no one who would inherit his property. But of course, we don't have enough data yet."

"Was there any relationship between him and Kim Shiwoo? Shouldn't we check this first?"

"Yes," Jaebum agreed. "Speaking of which, where's Kim Shiwoo? Anything abnormal?"

Only then Jinyoung realised he had not seen Kim Shiwoo today. The last time was when Kim Shiwoo had been playing chess in Mark's room the previous day. Not only Kim Shiwoo, he had not seen Mark today either. Maybe they were together. He was not sure.

"I haven't seen him today. I don't even know if he's in his room now or not. Shall I go and check?"

"I don't know about this morning. But he hadn't been out of the hotel for the past hour," Jaebum said, sounding confident.

"What?" Jinyoung was confused. "How do you know?"

"Actually, I'm near the hotel. Once he's out, I'm going to follow him."

"Jaebum, what? Why didn't you tell me? Where're you exactly?"

"That's not important. I'm not suspiciously lurking around, don't worry," Jaebum reassured him.

"Are you alone? Where're the other two?"

"They're digging up more information about Nam Yunseok. By now, they must be in his company. Okay, I'm gonna hang up now. Will call you later."

"Be careful." The call ended and Jinyoung also left the room. At the hotel entrance, he subtly looked around at the outside. There was no sign of Jaebum's car, however. He had no idea where Jaebum was watching the hotel from.

The whole day, he did not see either Kim Shiwoo or Mark. That was only until the evening. At the dinner time, he caught a glimpse of Mark and Kim Shiwoo coming out of the elevator. Before anything, he hid himself behind the wall nearby before Mark could spot him.

It seemed they were having dinner. But a few minutes later, he saw Kim Shiwoo, all alone, pass by the reception and then going out.

In case Jaebum missed Kim Shiwoo, Jinyoung hurried to the staff room and texted Jaebum. Thankfully, Jaebum was still there and hopefully, this would not turn out to be a futile effort.

Today had been strange. Not just because of the murder. Mark had not searched for Jinyoung at all today. Had Mark and Kim Shiwoo been together the entire day? Jinyoung wondered.