Season one, chapter twenty-one

"She's the proof that you
can walk through hell
and still be an angel"

"Am I a private detective agency to you now?" Jangmul asked aggressively throwing a folder of papers onto the table "Making me run background checks? You shouldn't do this!"

"They've been reading people's minds using their powers as counters, and I got anxious" Ms. Chu exclaimed taking a plastic cup from the coffee machine full of this before approaching the team sitting around the wooden table "They'll be excommunicated as soon as Yung finds out. I can't believe their nerves"

"I know it's just a cup of coffee but try to have some class. That's what life's about" Jangmul claimed as Ms. Chu put the cup of coffee in front of him

"Just take what you get, okay? Great work" She praised, checking the papers she had in her hands

"Those brothers lived very dirty lives, even for kids whose parents died early and who didn't have good circumstances" Jangmul began to explain

"I can't believe this. How did someone with 11 previous convictions become Taesin's executive director?" Ms. Chu questioned, frowning

"They found a successful lord. It's Cho Tae-sin" He showed them an image of Tae-sin before placing it on the table "Cho Tae-sin, this guy. He's unbelievable. He was a dealer"

"A drug dealer?" Mun asked with brows raised

"Yes, then he cleaned up everything, made himself presentable, and came out into the world. Then Cho Tae-sin took over a construction firm, and Noh Hang-gyu found a goods and services company. Then the next year, all of a sudden, Jungjin was overtaken with redevelopment craze" Jangmul explained

"All of a sudden?" Mo-tak asked leaning towards him

"All of a sudden" Jangmul repeated, nodding his head "Fishy, isn't it? They have someone in their hands"

"Who?"

"Shin Myeong-hwi" Mun exclaimed, getting the point of everything Jangmul explained to them

"Yes, that's right" Jangmul nodded his head "Shin Myeong-hwi was the head of this borough back then. The puzzle is coming together, right? They made up Tae-sin Group as a front" He spread the papers on the table "But they've been operating 11 more companies with a puppet boss, just as he did while dealing drugs"

Thea narrowed her eyes when they came across someone in particular among the papers scattered on the table. She curiously took the paper in her hands, instantly recognizing who it was, how to forget the person who made her father's life a living hell, it was Park Ye-Jun, her uncle.

She squeezed the paper tightly, her knuckles turned white in a matter of seconds and the paper began to wrinkle in her hands, it was to be expected that two people in particular would notice this. Thea gasped in surprise when someone took the paper from her hands, completely ruining her plans to destroy the entire paper. Thea turned her head towards whoever had been responsible, although she lowered her gaze almost at the same moment her eyes made contact with Hana's.

The black-haired girl fixed the paper as best she could, unfolding and flattening the parts of the paper that were wrinkled.

"These have to be paper companies that launder money to create slush funds"

"There was an article on this back in 2014" Hana began to say "The prosecution began to investigate Taesin's slush fund, but the article and the case both got deleted very quickly"

"They got their hands on the prosecution too?" Jangmul asked with brows raised in surprise

"The prosecutor in charge of the investigation was seen on TV as Song's attorney. He's part of Taesin's legal team" Hana explained, looking at Thea from the corner of her eyes

"How do you know that?" Jangmul questioned with his eyes wide open, surely surprised by the way Hana knew about all this

"Song Man-ho's company, Daejong Construction Firm... belonged to my dad before" She responded as Mo-tak took the papers from her hands "All these companies were taken away from their owners, like my dad. They dry up funding by stopping their subcontractors, then lend them money"

"That had to come from Noh Hang-gyu, then. Isn't that right?"

"A day after the repayment date, they sue the CEO for fraud, take over, and put jerks like him and Park Ye-Jun in charge" Hana explained pointing to the photos on the table

Thea's eyes remained on the smiling face of the monster she called uncle, his eyes radiated 'innocence and kindness' that anyone would fall into his trap just by looking into his eyes.

She wanted so badly to wipe that smile off his face and she would not fail to do so.

"My goodness. And that happened to your family?" Ms. Chu asked making Hana look down in response

The place was silent for a few seconds, Thea processed all the new information she received, although she already knew that Park Ye-jun alias her uncle's job consisted of stealing innocent people's companies, it wasn't for nothing that he had taken over her father's company when he passed, however all this was very strange to her, this leads her to make some theories about the murder of her family.

After all, Thea always knew how envious her uncle was of her father and several times he tried to take away all his belongings. Fortunately, her father was smarter and nothing happened any further.

"Who's blocking the sunlight like this?" Mo-tak asked with his gaze outside the restaurant

The group turned to see what was happening outside the restaurant, a black car had parked a few meters from the establishment and several men began to emerge from it with sticks and pipes of wooden and iron in their hands.

"That's the true nature of Taesin Group, one of the top 50 groups in Korea" Jangmul said pointing at the group that was approaching the restaurant menacingly "How does it make sense that they rank three sentences it's higher than my company?"

"Who's the asshole that stabbed Mo-tak?" Ms. Chu asked with a serious face, getting up from her seat like everyone else

"The boss" Mun pointed at the man with shaved hair. Thea couldn't help but scrunch her nose up in total disgust, just seeing his face made her stomach turn

"Mo-tak, let me see your wound" Ms. Chu asked turning to look at him. Mo-tak immediately lifted his shirt up, revealing several scars around his body

"Right here, right here, and here, then right here..." He began to say, pointing to the places where he had been stabbed

"Enough"

"Mr. Ga Mo-tak" Said who Thea assumed was the boss, opening the glass door as only his head peeked out. His eyes swept over each member of the group, inspecting each one from top to bottom, as if he were judging them with his gaze "There's a lot of you. Mr. Ga Mo-tak, I need to see you" He said walking into the restaurant with a smirk on his face

Although before he could get any closer to the group of counters, Ms. Chu gave him a strong blow with the palm of her hand on his chest and sent him flying out of the restaurant. Thea smiled with satisfaction, crossing her arms over her chest, feeling proud of her motherly figure.

"Damn it, that bitch" 

"Hey!"

"What happened?"

"What's going on?"

The group of thugs began to retreat as they saw each member of counters walk out of the restaurant one by one in a straight line, each one of them with the same expression of disgust.

"What's she doing?" A thug questioned when Ms. Chu grabbed his boss by the collar of his jacket

"You jerk. Do you think it's fun to kill people?" Ms. Chu said slamming her hand against the man's cheeks several times

"You freaking..." Ms. Chu bent his arm back and kicked him in the legs making him fall to his knees "Wait. Wait a second" He screamed in pain whereas his supposed companions only watched from afar the scene in front of them with fear written on their faces

"Hey, do you want me to crush all 206 bones on your body? How dare you show up here?" Ms.
Chu coldly exclaimed

"Hey, lady. Do you want to die?" A thug asked, abruptly pulling a knife out of his pocket and Thea could see his nervousness in his trembling hands so she couldn't help but scoff in amusement

"Kid, listen to the lady and get lost" Jangmul recommended breaking his knife in half with ease leaving the group of thugs even more surprised

"You're pretty brazen for someone who ruined Mo-tak's life" Ms. Chu nimbly turned him around grabbing him by the collar of his jacket again "You even took away his parents. How dare you show up to take more from them!?" She raised her voice before pushing him hard to the ground

"Boss!"

"Darn it"

The group of thugs began to make a big scene as they tried to pick up their boss from the ground.

"It'll take forever to erase their memories" Hana complained with a frown on her face as she walked forward

"Don't" Mo-tak asked, taking small menacing steps towards the group of thugs

"They saw everything" Hana justified

"They're like cockroaches. They'll keep coming back" Mo-tak exclaimed expressionless

"What did you call us? Cockroaches?" The head of the thugs asked, taking a knife out of his pocket

"You're that asshole who stabbed me to kill me, yet that sounds humiliating to you? If you show up here again, I'll pull out your tongue and wrap it around your neck. You know how crazy people can be when they lose their living, don't you?" Mo-tak exclaimed coldly before tightly grabbing the wrist of the man holding the knife "You still don't get it? I'm not who I was seven years ago, you asshole. You can't stab me with a toy like this"

"Ouch that hurts!" The man complained when Mo-tak bent his arm

"The presidency? Are you kidding me?"Mo-tak pushed him once more with clear annoyance on his face

"What are you doing, jerk? Let me go! Move aside, move!" The man said trying to free himself from his companions who were holding him so he wouldn't do something crazy. Although it's not like he could because after all the group of counters could make mincemeat of him in the blink of an eye "I haven't even started!"

"Boss!"

They began to retreat in terror from the group of counters in front of them, Hana raised her hand in threat and they did not avoid screaming as if they were a group of little girls being chased.

"We'll be back. You better be ready"

"Watch it, okay? Be good"

Thus the group of counters watched as the group of thugs got into their trucks and left the way they came, surely with no intention of returning but with plans for revenge.

"What's wrong?" Ms. Chu asked Mo-tak who looked more serious than usual

Thea tilted her head as she let out a scoff of frustration, after Mo-tak told them about seeing inside the man's memories, Thea began to question if her uncle was really on the side of all those scammers, although she knew that her uncle was not the greatest person, she had hope that there was something good deep in his heart.

"The presidency. The presidency" Jangmul repeated laughing "It's completely absurd, but not impossible. He has the highest approval ratings. People have no idea Shin Myeong-hwi has been doing dirty work behind people's backs"

"We have to expose this. This is absurd" Mun said without any expression, but Thea could see the fury inside the boy's eyes

"Whats the reservoir? They said they have to kill me because of the reservoir. Once the reservoir is exposed, his presidency and the third ICT redevelopment contract will be gone" Mo-tak explained

"The reservoir?"

"Yes"

"Is that where Kim's body is?" Thea questioned crossing her arms over her chest

"Her dead body?"

"Is there a reservoir in Jungjin?" Ms. Chu asked with curiosity

"Mo-tak. I saw 'reservoir' in my dad's notebook" Mun began to say, taking out a blue notebook from his backpack before putting it on the table, turning the pages of the notebook until he found what he was looking for "Right here. 'Reservoir' and some numbers" He pointed out, turning the notebook over so Mo-tak could see

"The reservoir?"

"What could it be?"

The group looked at each other for answers or perhaps trying to say something to each other, they were too good at these types of 'looks that say it all' but they weren't good at figuring out what these meant.

Author's note;

How are you all doing? It's been going great for me, especially because I'm really having fun writing these chapters, so I hope I can finish this story by the end of this year 🥲

Question of the day: Munea or Themun? 🤔

See y'all in the next chapter cuties! 💕