Pay With Your Heart

498 Finding The Culprit

There was a long list of people who’d want to hurt Dan-Han, but only a few had motives to go this far and be as calculative to carry out such a precise plan.

They had outsmarted him and had predicted his reaction.

Dan-Han thought long and hard about who it could be, but he couldn’t come up with any name.

But despite the confusion and uncertainty, there was one thing he was sure about, and that was whoever did this knew what Ji-Tae had been up to and was either in communication with him or had him under surveillance.

And that brought him back to the enemy Ji-Tae was supposedly working with.

Who could it be? He wondered.

He thought about the people he had vendettas with and could be in communication with Ji-Tae, but he still couldn’t come up with one.

Only Ji-Tae could give him a name.

Ji-Tae might not have been the executing hand, but he had played a role in this, so there was no way he could be excused from this.

.....

But if he would comply and give him a name, they could come to an agreement. But knowing Ji-Tae, the brat would want to be an opportunist.

He’d want to make him beg for it, and that wasn’t going to happen.

If he wasn’t detained and Tae-Ho wasn’t injured, he’d have hung him from the roof of his base, with his fingers being peeled off one after the other, till he was screaming the name of whoever he had been in contact with.

“Are you really sure Ji-Tae was in the hospital at the time of the murder?” Dan-Han asked him one more time.

His lawyer had come over to give him a report on things going outside.

“Yes, he was. His GPS history had shown he was there, and the CCTV has attested to it too.” The man affirmed, and Dan-Han nodded and fell back deep into thought.

“What are you thinking about?” The man asked when Dan-Han’s silent musing became prolonged.

“Ji-Tae might know whoever is behind this, but it would be futile talking to him as he’s also about to face his own demons and have his own nemesis.”

“To get out of this, we must make whoever was behind this come out on their own accord. We must set a trap to find them and make them pay for what they did.”

Set a trap? The man wondered.

“And how are we going to achieve this?” The Lawyer asked, wanting to hear the ingenious idea Dan-Han might have conjured in his head.

Dan-Han laid back on his chair and habitually drummed his hand on the table in front of him.

He focused his eyes on the man and started. “If my guess is right that this has to do with whoever Ji-Tae was working with, they’d have eyes on him. His phone could be taped, or someone by his side might be a mole, but whatever it is, information is getting to the other side, and in that case, I think we should give them something worth sharing.”

The man’s brows thoughtfully narrowed as he tried to make sense of what Dan-Han was hinting at.

Was he saying they should spread false information to lure the real culprit?

Dan-Han pulled away from his chair and leaned towards the table to speak closely to the man, who also leaned closer.

“First, pay a visit to Ji-Tae and do exactly what I’m about to tell you. If I’m right, then we’d know who the real culprit is.” Dan-Han said, and the lawyer raptly listened to him.

He furrowed his brows as he paid rapt attention to Dan-Han’s instructions, which were not sounding so promising.

He arched a brow at him. “Are you sure this is going to work?” He skeptically questioned, and Dan-Han affirmatively nodded.

“Whoever carried out the job would want to make a confirmation and ensure he had not made any mistake,” Dan-Han assured him, and though the plan wasn’t quite convincing, the lawyer nodded.

“I’ll get to it as soon as possible. Hopefully, this works. We’ll find the real culprit, and we can get you out of here.” The lawyer told him, while Dan-Han sighed.

He badly wanted to get out of there.

He was tempted to ask about Eun-sun, but he stopped himself from doing so. He was sure her family and his would have their eyes on her and would look after her.

If there was anything that truly made him desperate to get out of there, it was Eun-sun, but thinking about her at the moment would only disrupt his mind and make him anxious.

The lawyer got ready to leave and do as Dan-Han had instructed, but he suddenly stopped at the door when he remembered Dan-Han had mentioned something about Ji-Tae facing his demons.

“Is something going to happen to Ji-Tae?” He asked. “If there is, you should tell me now, so I can-”

Dan-Han dismissively scoffed. “There’d be no need for that. It’s nothing at all, but I’m sure he’d learn his lesson on how fleeting his life can be soon enough.” Dan-Han said, and though the lawyer still didn’t understand what he was trying to say, he nodded and left.

He had worked for the man long enough to know the kind of person he was.

He wasn’t Dan-Han’s only lawyer, neither was he a part of PK’s legal team, but he had been working for Dan-Han since he took over the company, and he knew exactly what the man was capable of.

He was being paid a wholesome amount of money even though Dan-Han rarely required his services, but when he did, he let go of every other case and focus solely on him. 𝘧𝓇𝒆𝗲𝓌𝙚𝙗𝓷o𝘷𝒆𝘭.𝐜𝚘𝒎

He headed straight for the hospital where Ji-Tae was still admitted.

He wasn’t very familiar with members of the Lee household, but he had a dossier on each of them, and he knew after Dan-Han being the most ruthless person in the family, there was Lee Ji-Tae.

He was mad and greedy for power, so much he could wager anything to get it, making him wonder what Dan-Han had in store for him.

“Mr. Ji-Tae,” He greeted with a bow when he knocked and stepped into Ji-Tae’s room.

He saw Ji-Tae listlessly lolling on the bed with a cigarette in hand. He looked pale and weak, and that was the most vulnerable he had ever imagined seeing the man.

His eyes glanced over to the men standing beside him. One flicked a lighter for him to light the cigarette.

He patiently waited for Ji-Tae to do what he wanted till he turned towards him.

Ji-Tae dryly scoffed as he gave him a once-over. “I thought you were a ghost.” He snickered, his eyes still trialing over him, but the lawyer kept silent.

Ji-Tae took a drag of his cigarette as he kept peering at him. “It must have been a busy night for you. How’s my brother feeling in Jail? I’m sure he had a receptive welcome?” He mocked with amusement glistening in his eyes.

He tried to laugh, but that only resulted in him coughing.

One of the men passed him a tissue which he coughed into and the Lawyer furtively arched a brow when he saw the blood he coughed out.

His face regained its composure when Ji-Tae glanced back at him and took another drag of 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝒆𝘸𝚎𝙗𝒏oν𝙚𝘭.𝐜𝒐m

the cigarette. “Did he send you?” He asked. “Does he still think I killed her?”

“President Lee isn’t one to make assumptions. If he thought so, then there must have been a reason why? And if you didn’t, you must have had some reason for keeping her in the first place.” The man carefully replied.

Ji-Tae non-committally shrugged as he took another drag of his cigarette. He puffed the smoke into the air and gazed at it with fascination.

He darted his gaze back to the stoic-looking lawyer. “I can’t say that wasn’t the plan in the first place, but it seemed someone beat me to it. President Lee should have seen it coming, especially when he threads over people’s toes like he’s some god.” He hissed and rolled his eyes.

The lawyer keenly observed him and took a step closer. “So if this was the plan and you didn’t do it, does this mean you’ve been a puppet and someone else the puppeteer?” He suggestively asked, and Ji-Tae turned to him with a scowl which slowly turned into a full-blown smile and then a cynical laugh.

“Is that what he told you to do? To trick me?” Ji-Tae amusedly asked between laughter.

He tsked and shook his head in a pitiable way. “He must be at his end for him to be so desperate. Tell him if he wants to strike a deal with me so I can sing, he shouldn’t even bother.”

“Because I just received a death sentence a few minutes before you walked in, so apparently, I’m going to die. What did the doctor say again?” He made a show of pondering on it.

“Ah! Lung cancer.” He exclaimed dramatically. “And unfortunately for us, I have a few months barely, as they said. So you can tell Dan-Han to kiss my ass. I’ll die first and wait for him in the underworld; then, we can continue this feud of ours.” He said and coughed again while the lawyer silently peered at him.

Lung cancer? His brows narrowed slightly as he pondered on it.

Dan-Han’s words flashed through his mind and he wondered if this was Dan-Han’s handwork.

Ji-Tae discovering how fleeting his life could be must have something to do with discovering he had cancer.

Dan-Han was dangling his life before his eyes to teach him some lesson.

What a joke!

He chased Ji-Tae’s issue out of his head and continued with what had brought him.

He whipped out his phone and glanced at it as if reading a message. He slipped the phone back into his pocket and briefly bowed.

“I’ll be on my way then.” He said and turned to leave.

“So soon? You changed your mind?” Ji-Tae asked tauntingly, stopping the man on his heels.

He turned back to Ji-Tae. “Not at all, but there’d be no need to convince you.”

“Why, because I’m dying?”

“No, because the private investigator just found something at the scene. I’ll be on my way.” He said and walked away without stopping.

Ji-Tae watched him as he walked towards the door. His eyes darkened, and his fist clenched on their own accord, but he said nothing.

He took a long cigarette drag, prompting him to cough even more viciously.

“Boss-” One of the men tried to touch him, but he knocked his hand off as he struggled with the cough.

“Get..get your fu..cking hand off me.” He drawled.

Every smile and glint that had been on his face was suddenly gone, and all there was, was anger.

“I’ll kill that old bastard if that’s the last thing I do before I die!” He snarled.