Guys, a few corrections.
1) The story is now in first person.
2) Eunji and Howon both work in corporate. (Ask me if you're confused what it means?)
3) It's not haundae that Woohyun live in but Hongdae, which is a suburb in Seoul, Haungdae is apparently in Busan.
4) Handwriting analysis and such are not related to the Kim Sung gyu we all know and love.

And a few clarifications.
1) The details below are mostly fictional.
2) Bae, Kim and Lee exists for real, but most of the details I have given is fictional.
3) Harvey and Kim is unreal.

And also, I'm deeply sorry if there are mistakes. I have no idea about legal stuff, and well, about private investigators and how they work in S.Korea. Nevertheless, ENJOY!
 

In the end I decided to unload all my belongings at the private investigators office for the time being. The mess was too much to handle in a rush, what with having no place to go and also having to break the terrible news to Woohyun one way or the other. As of now I had decided to let it all slide and secretly reside at the office premises, being careful to not give the sharp-eyes Sung Jong any inklings about being dismayingly homeless.

The office, in fact was a rented two story apartment house. The ground floor was entirely ours, of which the master bedroom was converted into the main office and the guest room to the other. The hallway was the lobby and the reception where our visiting receptionist Song Naeun-who did about five jobs a day and was now on study leave-worked. Each of the rooms (offices) had an attached bathroom and mine came with a miniature kitchenette where I would have the occasional coffee breaks. The lobby was, at most times, empty, otherwise with Naeun tittering about in her four inch heels, complaining about how pointless her life was because she was miraculously failing her exams, and the place which always bustled with work was my office while Sung Jong was almost all the time out with a case in hand.

Up on the second story was an Indian couple, the Patels, who were here on a three month study vacation, something or the other about a research on rising consumerism and its effects in South Korea. I have met them a few times, a pair of bronze skinned, bespectacled adolescents who’d look at you as though you were the sheer cause of the rising consumerism in South Korea whenever you’d pass by. I had nothing against them, to be honest. But there was something about them which I couldn’t exactly pinpoint, which irked me to no end.

I was three hours late than my usual time of arriving at work, and fortunately Sung Jong had previously informed me that he was off on the final bits of the financial crisis case of the print shop chain and that he won’t be back until lunch. All by myself, I managed to huddle in all my suitcases and career bags into the bathroom and locked it up in case Sung Jong would happen to pass by and see. My plan was to give him the excuse of staying overtime to work and sleep in. True, there were no comfortable sleeping arrangements in the office, nor could I get around to purchase the sleeping bag I was planning to buy, what with my emotional debacle, but I assumed I could work something out as long as I had the will to keep my dignity and sanity secure.

I was off my rails all the way to the office in the taxi. My mind was in haywires, yet again having inner conversations with myself, at that time debating what I should be doing after this point of time. I could, of course call up Woohyun and ask if he happened to have a spare bedroom in his house. He certainly did, judging by the sheer enormosity of the entire place but that would also mean that I would be projecting the likelihood of being a hopeless homeless. I could rent out an apartment, or stay in a hotel room until I locate one for a generous rate. But I couldn’t exactly afford a flat with a generous rate let alone a flat or even a hotel room at all. The rent of the office had to be paid and I despised keeping over dues, and also I had to live a life and bring the firm to a hilt. It brings me back to Woohyun, to asking him if I would be able to borrow a few thousand wons, which again would bring me back to being a homeless hopeless case, and I despised it. The only option as of now were secret sleeps and residing at the office and having meals of coffee and snacks from stores around. It didn’t sound half as bad for a plan, regarding the circumstances. At least I had a place to sleep and food to eat. And it also saved me from hurting my pride.

So I decided to leave everything aside, keep my head up, be completely steadfast and headstrong, and get down to work. It helped me immensely, considering that dealing with other people’s personal problems would really help you to overlook those of your own.

I made myself a warm mug of coffee and settled down with the plastic folder with Sung Gyu’s case details inside. For a moment, I just sat there, regarding his neat, exquisite handwriting and made a few obvious observations.

1. Right handed.
2. Straight minded, independent thinking. (Un-slanted, straight-up lettering)
3. Reliable and self-control, not falling even at a time of loathing. (Straight lines)
4. Rational and logical thinking (Connected lettering)
5. Steadfast, unwavering and somewhat forceful. Determinant.(Written with tight force on the pen, letters almost embossed to the next sheet)
6. And lastly, the signature, a large, scrambled, bloody mess of lettering shows his high self-esteem, arrogant persona which I couldn’t exactly pinpoint in the state he was in, but I assume to have denoted when he projected somewhat an authoritative air when he called me despicable the other day.

In conclusion, Sung Gyu was rather arrogant and had a high self-esteem, always wanting to be the center of attention, made steadfast decisions of his own and never changed his mind about anything. According to my opinion, solely based on his handwriting analysis, the reason for the leaving of his wife can also partially be caused by the personality of his. Sung gyu was a natural leader, yet attentive and seemed to have an insightful vision with life decisions. He also seemed stubborn and always hold onto his opinion and only his opinion would matter. I couldn’t say that these opinions of mine were absolutely correct. But with confidence I could say that I wasn’t exactly wrong either.

Afterwards I went through the details he had provided me. Most of them were things that I already knew. The names, designations and place of residency and the like. His wife’s name was Yoon Bomi, aged same as myself and had been married to him for twenty months (I tend to count marriages in months since years could hardly give out anything important). He had known her for sixty two months and have gotten married over an arrangement done by the two sides of their families. Sung Gyu’s father was a retired barrister, mother a retired Journalist who had worked over thirty years for the Seoul observer and he had an older sister by the name of Kim Jieun who currently resided in Tokyo, working full time as a lecturer in International politics. Both Yoon Bomi’s parents were lawyers, father retired, mother still working and she was the only child. She was an SNU graduate, same as her husband (And my brother and also myself. I wondered why I haven’t come across Sung Gyu or Bomi or anything related to them. But then I realized that I actually used to give no two hoots about my brother or anything related to him) and had started off as a junior associate at Bae, Kim and Lee four years ago. She was currently working under Jung Ye-bin, a partner at BKL, and I was certain she was doing everything to gain a partnership herself. I could almost imagine her in my mind. Possibly a smug, long legged, nosy little woman, running around four-inch heels and constantly whining and complaining. I tried to fit Sung Gyu with the mental image of her that I already had and ceremoniously failed.

Then I decided to look her up on the net.

I tried to locate Yoon Bomi’s employees’ profile on the official website of BKL. It was a rather fancy website with animations and a graphical interface of pastel blue and turquoise designs. The firm had a number of departments ranging from the department of recruitment (Of which Kim Sung Gyu was the head. If so, why the would he come around, trying to employ me?) To corporate, finance, company, fair trade and detective work. And the employees of each department were listed down, hierarchically and chronologically. It was fairly difficult to locate a single employee whose department I was unaware of, provided that, as Sung gyu said, there were more than two hundred employees working for the firm. I could only find Sung Gyu since I knew what his department was. I needed to find Bomi. To locate her, follow her, find her whereabouts. So I phoned up Sung Gyu on his personal number. This time, it was his PA who picked it up.

“Hello, this is the personal assistant of Kim Sung Gyu, department of recruitment, Kim Bae and Lee. Mister Kim is unreachable at the moment”

“Good afternoon” I responded in a business-like manner. “I’m Jung Eunji. From….” And I trailed off. Of course I couldn’t tell them what I worked in, definitely not that I was currently investigating his unfaithful wife. Thus I opted to reply with; “Well, it’s a rather personal matter…when will he be available?”

“I’m not quite sure” She said, and I could hear scribbling and paperwork in the background. “But I could take him a message if you wish”

“Well, just tell him someone called Jung Eunji rang him, and that he should call me when it’s possible” I said. The PA girl agreed and soon the line was off.

The next thirty minutes I spent reading up on BKL. It kicked start a few years after Harvey and Kim in 1980 and eventually came to a tip top position to battle with its rival firms Harvey and Kim and Chang and Kim. Although BKL wasn’t as high up as the former two, which were indeed the two leading firms of the local legal arena, it was rapidly rising, winning case after case and hiring young associates who were highly sought after. According to its description, Bae, Kim and Lee was the ‘rising legacy of Seoul’s legal arena’. It was ‘among the top firms in south Korea in all recognized clients or peer assessments’ and was also ‘above all, proud to say a great many clients have retained their services for five, ten years, even longer, based on their consistency in delivering high quality advice’. It had won ‘the best deal of the year award’ in 2015 ‘Korea law awards’ and also the ‘firm of the year’ award the same year. There was a whole lot of snobby crap about its history and service and the reliability and efficiency of the lawyers. Descriptions about each of the departments, and also another pile of crap about being the ‘only firm in Seoul to have a separate Recruitments department, employed with the most endowed legal recruiters of whole of Korea’ or whatever who are ‘accountable in recognizing the most capable young associates who may dominate the legal arena’. Honestly, it does sound all promising, what with all the fancy big words and such, but I was certain this firm, as any other, was all about exploiting the ones below by the higher ups, injustice and implausible workload and billing millions from every single client, which none of the firms would ever really mind to mention in the description.

Half an hour later, Sung gyu happened to ring me up on my phone.

“You called? Sorry, I was at a meeting” His voice was echoing as he spoke, so I assumed he had hidden himself in a bathroom, which he might as well do.

“I want to know what department she works at” I said, straight up, no greetings. “And also I would like it if I could meet her, in a friendly manner that is, so I can observe her quite closely and see what she is up to”

“She works in corporate” he said, his voice was law and resonant. “And I guess that can be arranged. We’re recruiting these days, in the corporate M&A. So we can say you’re in need of some, say, consulting? Would that be fine?”

“Sounds like a plan” I replied, jotting down the details on the clipboard before me. “It’s better if we can start soon.”

“Like, when?” He asked.

“Today” I replied.

*

Few hours later I found myself standing in the balmy autumn wind, looking up at a tall glassy building with its panels inflicting warm sunrays around, with my eyes narrowed and breath held, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the colossal size of the sheer building. There were people, men and women alike, dressed in smart attire hurrying in and out of the massive glass paneled entranceway, all engaged in their own profound conversations, eyes starry and excited, certain depressed, just as myself have been a few months ago. But of course, the expanse of Harvey and Kim was wider and the number of employees was higher, the areas of legal service was extensive too. But by sense I could say, it wasn’t much different from how things were at Harvey and Kim for me. Though it was the start-up, I wasn’t made for the exploitation and injustice in law firms, high and low. So I was certain, though I felt drawn to BKL by instincts, it would never be ending up on my list of options of career choices.

I phoned Sung Gyu to inform that I had arrived, took a deep breath and stepped inside, joining the flow of lawyers entering as myself. The reception was a wide stretch with a number of young girls, dressed in turquoise and white answering phones and looking into people’s requirements. There was a wide area of a lobby with plush turquoise green seats and potted green ferns and all over the marble floor was the tattering of people hurrying about, all in worlds of their own. I walked over to one of the plush seats and waited for my phone to ring. It did, a few minutes later. It was Sung Gyu and his voice was breathless as he spoke. “I’ve got only a few minutes…oh! I can see you, look to your right”

I did as I was told, and there he was, dressed in a smart navy blue suit, tie flying as he walked, his winter jacket, now a black cashmere, flying behind him like an overgrown bat. And his hear, soft and dark, was pushed up in a stylish up-do above his forehead. For a moment, he looked actually quite nice.

“Good afternoon” He said and took my hand warmly in both of his. His hands were warm against the cold ones of mine. “Good to see you here”

“Good afternoon to you too, Mister Kim” I greeted back, and retrieved my hand. “How are you?”

“Quite well” He said, and then he was swiftly ushering me across the hall towards the lift, his hand on my back. And indeed, he looked far better than he did the previous night, which wasn’t surprising. Though in closer inspection, I could see the creases around his eyes. As soon as the lift arrived, we shambled in together. Once the door closed, he turned towards me. “Okay. Here’s the thing. You’re hoping to join BKL and someone from our department is showing you around. You work in corporate so you would like to discuss work with one of our employees. Sounds good?”

“Alright for me” I said, giving a confident nod.

“And how are you planning to…” He hesitated, and carried on nevertheless. “To approach this…situation?”

“I won’t” I replied. “I don’t have to. It’s all about observing her behavior”

“Like a child specialist” He commented, and I grinned in response.

The lift dinged after a while, the door parted and Sung gyu ushered me out to a wide expanse. Before us was a marble wall with bronze lettering saying ‘Department of legal recruitment’. We rounded the corner in a hurry, only to be greeted by a vast area with partitions, a number of cubicles scattered around with about fifty people working in their confines. There was a similar number of both men and women, answering calls and engaged in paperwork. Sung Gyu then ushered me to a side, to what I assumed as his office, separated by a matted glass partition and there was a young girl in cropped short hair and an excess of blue eye shadow, blabbering on the phone. She put it down the moment she saw Sung Gyu approaching. He stopped by the table before her. “Tell Myung Soo to come around for a moment, will you?” His voice was stern and authoritative when he spoke, completely different from what I’ve heard. And I could swear I felt a chill on my spine. Then he brought me into his office.

His office room was as big as the entire expanse of my little firm. The walls were of varnished wooden stripes and up on the front was a massive glass panel, overlooking the city outside. His table was quite a mess with papers and folders scattered about and a laptop computer open, on its keypad was another pile of papers. There was a massive turquoise plush cushion couch, similar to that out in the lobby area and a coffee machine and a water dispenser. He invited me to take a seat and he perched down on the arm rest and cleared his throat.

“Sorry about that. Rush hours”

It was three in the evening at that time. “I understand”

“How is it going so far?” He inquired and walked over to the coffee machine. “Coffee?”

“No thank you” I replied. “Well, so far I have analyzed your side of the matter…I analyzed your hand writing and made conclusions on your personality traits”

“Oh you have…” He said and returned to the sofa with a cup of water in his hand. “So what conclusions have you drawn?”

“Arrogant” I said, and listed down off my fingers. “Won’t change your opinion. Headstrong. Natural leader. High self-esteem. Reliable. Independent. Self-control. Stubborn. Logical and rational…”

“Sounds very positive to me” He said and took a sip from his cup.

“Well yes,” I said and rested my hands on my lap. “But I can see potential reasons within all the positivity, though indirectly, that may have affected this…whole thing”

He raised his brows. “Such as?”

“Well, arrogance, for one. And independence, and of course, high self-esteem-,”

I could see Sung Gyu’s lips slowly form into a smile, which was quite strange. But neither of us could continue when the glass paneled door creaked open and a rather handsome young man in a dark grey suit hurried in. Sung Gyu swiftly climbed up on his feet.

“Did you ask for me, sir?”

Sung Gyu was back in his authoritative form when he spoke. “Yes I did…I hope you have some time in hand?”

“Until four, sir. I have an interview scheduled”

Sung gyu nodded and gestured at me with an extended hand. “Here is Jung Eunji. She’s working in corporate and hopes to join our firm. Would you mind ushering her to look around? And please introduce her to…Miss Yoon. She would take it up from there”

In a matter of minutes, I found myself hurrying across the hallway towards the lift with the rather handsome recruiter Myung Soo on my side. He was silent throughout, checking his wrist watch every five minutes and only spoke a word to ask why I was interested in joining BKL in a typical recruiter manner and a dashing smile. I didn’t go in for making long explanations and said that I was only planning to shift firms and later think about working as a private practitioner. He nodded, said nothing, and soon we were getting down the lift to face another marble wall with bronze lettering ‘Department of Corporate M&A’

Instinctively, my eyes began to wander about, searching for a female employ with appearance likely to suit the mental image I had of Sung Gyu’s Missus Yoon. Just as it was with the recruitment department, the entire place was of parted cubicles with placards of names attached above. It was all hierarchically ordered, from partners to senior advocates to junior associates. After quite a silent walk through corridors, hurriedly reading names off the cubicle doors, we finally came to a stop. Just as well, it was the office of junior associate Yoon Bomi. Myung Soo extended a hand and lightly tapped on the door. A soft, mellow voice called from inside and I was surprised that it didn’t sound whiny at all, as I had imagined, but quite nice. Myung Soo opened the door for me then and stepped back so I can enter first. Inside whom I happened to find was the gorgeous specimen of a female junior associate who was Yoon Bomi.

Her dark hair was in a neat bun behind her head, her skin healthy but pale and she had an extraordinarily beautiful pair of eyes. Her face was round and she was actually quite chubby, which made her look prettier. All in all, she was nothing like I had imagined her to be, based off the details I had. In fact, I could now place her very well in the picture with Sung Gyu. This soft-spoken, pretty, round-faced lady associate with the strict, authoritative, intimidating Head of department Sung Gyu. It seemed to make a perfect picture, but then, something was amiss.

But of course, Yoon Bomi was cheating on Kim Sung gyu. One really should not judge the book by its cover.

“Hello!” She greeted, a smile gracing up her lips. “How may I help you?”

*

We planned to meet up that evening over a cup of coffee for a friendly, off-work, one-one rendez vous. Yoon Bomi turned out to be rather sweet and charming with her soft spoken words and rather aloof persona. It was difficult for me to gather anything notable at our first meeting in the Corporate M&A department with Myung Soo the recruiter present beside me. But the evening meeting was indeed an excellent idea. I was, in fact, inclined to finish the primary phase of the investigation as quickly as possible before I could move on to the next, which didn’t come to me as any easy given that it was a fairly difficult task to locate whom the man was. I phoned up Sung Gyu that afternoon, who said he had only a few quick minutes to spare (Who also definitely had many minutes, being the head of the department, to come and bother me) and I asked if he could specifically mention whom the man was.

“I am not entirely sure” He said, sounding a little tired. “But I do have a hunch that this guy is someone I know”

“Well, who is it?” I pressed on, a little frustrated myself. “I would greatly appreciate if you could at least, give a name”

“But that’s impossible, miss Jung” He reciprocated in the end. “You see, the thing about having assumed things is that you can always end up being wrong. I have a hunch. But I don’t want to end up suspecting people”

And that was that.

Until evening came, I stayed at the canteen of the BKL, having iced tea and reading over the phone about the corporate department of BKL. There were, again the fancy descriptions and wordings, details on their clients and peers and efficiency of ‘first class’ lawyers of a ‘first class firm’ as themselves; all the same things that Harvey and Kim had in their description and I who happened to work in corporate ended up here after a rather terrible debacle which stayed with me as a long lasting scar. I thought of all the many lawyers of all the many firms all over the world who may end up with the same fate as me. Unless you manage to attain a partnership, you can only be defined as either a junior or senior associate, or a gobe pile of void. You should either become a partner or go home and wail or start a low running private practitioner on your own. The life of a lawyer was indeed very dismaying. It’s about the struggle, the competition, the battles between cases, firms and sleepless hours, billing thousands for every minute you smoke or drive around the car more than the times you actually spend working, and be crashed and stomped by the merciless partners if you weren’t competent enough. And then there was the inevitable risk of ending up on the road, unemployed, hopeless. Thus I spent the next few hours, having tea and crackers, having inner conversations with my mind and contemplating life decisions.

And then, the evening came.

As we discussed, Bomi and I met up at a Starbucks a few feet away from the main building. She was claiming she wasn’t planning to overwork tonight, she said this in a rather flippant manner, adding that her husband was going home early (Which I had a great urge to question but I restrained) and I gave a quick laugh in response, saying that I won’t take long. We settled down in a table for two and I went ahead to order cappuccino for the both of us. When I returned, Bomi was on the phone. I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, not even what she was saying, not clearly at least. But I could barely catch phrases like. ‘Yeah, soon, yes’ and ‘I checked email’ and ‘Yes, I sent it in’. I stayed still, calmly stirring my coffee and pouring in the right amount of sugar. After the call was done, she turned back to me and gave me a smile.

“I’m sorry about that...”

“It’s all fine” I said, smiling, and noticed the golden chain around her neck. There was a pendant, and I could see a single symbol on it.

“That’s a rather nice pendant you got there” I said, nodding at her neck. “Quite unique…”

Her face, I could tell, shadowed a bit as she looked down and it the slightest. It’s Sung Gyu who had given it to her. I was sure. “Ah this…thanks…” She cleared then and looked up to give yet another plastic smile. “You were saying you were planning to join BKL, is it?”

“Indeed” I nodded, my narrowed eyes blatantly observing every single gesture she made.

“Well, as you may already know, the department of corporate M&A of BKL had worked for quite a number of well-known organizations and consumers. We’re already in a tip-top position in this manner, and for this reason, we at BKL only employee the best of the best” She then gave a little laughter, and added, “Which is us!”

I gave her a smile. “I’m sure…well, I started off in corporate too, to be honest”

“You must have” Bomi said with a smile. “Well, tell me a little about it…”

“Well”, I cleared my throat and gave Bomi a closer look, my eyes looking out for any potential clue or give away that could help me rule down the clues. “I started off at Harvey and Kim, worked for four years…and now I’m between the ideals of BKL and C&K, which are both incredible!”

At the mention of either Harvey and Kim or, C&K, Bomi stiffened. But it was slightest of a movement and reaction that I could hardly catch when it happened, and so I decided to try again when suddenly she chipped in and asked, in a rather friendly manner; “You worked at Harvey and Kim? How is it there?”

And her eyes were sparkling, like diamonds.

“It’s…rather exciting” I said, which went very well with the expression she sported at that very moment. “The work load is there, but the hourly billing rate is 450000 Won for an associate, which isn’t half as bad…”

“But why did you leave?”

“I didn’t” I lied. “Well, not yet, at least…”

I did leave, because Harvey and Kim turned my life upside down. But Yoon Bomi didn’t need to know that.

“But why?”

“Because I simply needed a change” I pressed on. And by this time, I had figured she did show a particularly benevolent interest towards Harvey and Kim, which surreptitiously implied that;

1. Her secret boyfriend was at Harvey and Kim or,
2. She was planning on shifting firms,

Both of which were likely circumstances as of now. In fact, I was in a difficult position. Yoon Bomi was definitely interested in Harvey and Kim, but then there were million reasons why she would be so, which may or may not include that one reason where her secret boyfriend whom she was cheating on her head-of-department husband with. It was a fairly difficult task for me given that it could even be none of the above. There was also the chance of the secret boyfriend not being a lawyer after all.

“But why did you need a change?” Bomi was saying, her words tumbling out like water down a fall. “I mean, Harvey and Kim is a bestowed firm, already in the top-most position, definitely higher than BKL, and the billing rate is a lot higher comparing to ours which is a lousy 375000. It’s certainly a mystery as to why you want to leave, unless, of course, if anything…” She laughed then, and didn’t seem like the goddess she seemed to appear as all this time anymore.

And then I caught up. Just like that.

She was shifting firms.

And also, her boyfriend had a fifty percent chance of being someone who’s working in there.

And also, quite strangely, I had a hunch too. It just didn’t feel right, because it was impossible. Because no words were to be let out after what happened a few months ago at Harvey and Kim. They promised to keep it down, to be discreet, and let me be. Then how…?
Yoon Bomi, when she spoke, really sounded like she actually really knew me, and like she wanted to find out more.

*

I was trying out all the potential places which would suit for one to nap in when Woohyun happened to call up on my phone. Sung Jong only came in for a few minutes to hand in the report of his now completed investigation, and hurried off claiming that he had a date, which was incredibly good news for me. I had no reason to give excuses thus, so I simply locked the door after having given the Patels’ an annoyed look who happened to pass by looking at me as though I was a potential criminal, had a cup of coffee, changed into sweat pants and a lose shirt and walked around kicking at chairs and cushions for how blatantly disappointingly they served regarding the comfort of the users. A few minutes later, then, Woohyun was on the phone.

“How is tomorrow for you” He was asking me. I could hear vehicles in the background. He was on the road.

“Tomorrow is like any other day” I said, finally sitting down on the plush chairs in the reception. “Work, work, work”

“Would you happen to have a minute to spare?” He asked, his voice was beating against the wind. “Well, I’m sure you do”

“I have a case” I said, a little annoyed. “I am working”

“Is it Sung Gyu’s case?”

“Sung Gyu doesn’t have a case” I lied, because I had promised Sung gyu to keep it discreet. “He’s only desperate to get me into BKL. You know, H&K, BKL, enemies”

“Ah…” Woohyun went, understandingly. “Well, anyway, if you happen to have a few minutes, get a pretty dress for yourself, won’t you?”

I had almost forgotten it, Woohyun’s wedding. It was in another three days, for which I haven’t even prepared. I had to buy a dress and accessories, and it was all a big hassle for me. And then there was the invitation trouble and having people looking down on you as though you were a stale piece of meat if you happen to walk in, newly single, after you had ever so graciously announced your impending marriage at a fancy engagement party. It was all a big mess.

But I couldn’t not attend the wedding, given that Woohyun would later on make a big fuss out of it. I had to somehow save the situation, and my dignity along. So after Woohyun had put down the phone I rang Howon, ignoring the fact that I felt deeply angered by all the surging emotions. He picked up at the fifth ring.

“Eunji” He greeted, sounding eerily cheerful. “Hey!”

I ignored the greetings and went straight down to business. “Look. Woohyun’s wedding. We have to attend together”

There was silence and I could hear hurried footsteps, probably of his, probably of him getting away from his cherry lipped bimbo in case she’d magically figure out he was talking to his ex-fiancée. And then he was hissing into the phone.

“I thought you were going to tell everyone that it was over!”

“To two hundred people? Are you nuts?” I hissed back, getting frustrated. “Look, the invitation is addressed to the both of us”

“So?”

I had this massive urge to bang his silly head to a wall. Was he even serious?

“So we have to bloody go together!”

There was silence again, and I was already regretting having called him. It wasn’t like I particularly enjoyed going to a wedding, or any kind of social event for that matter, with a pathetic cheat of an ex-boyfriend who was shamelessly running away from a wedding. I could almost fathom how his mind must be working at this very moment. Cursing, badgering, regretting. But I was even more annoyed that he was seeing this entire ordeal as a situation he could so easily get away with. Lee Howon ing cheated on me and betrayed me. I was taking the responsibility so it saved the trouble for the both of us. It was incredibly idiotic if he was taking that as an excuse to save his skin from everything that he did and leave me in a hapless pit of shame. He wasn’t going to do that to me. Because if he really was intending to leave me in a hapless in a pit of shame, I was dragging him along with me.

“Eunji you bloody well know that-,” He started, so I stood up and began to hiss into the phone myself. “Listen you little piece of . You ing cheated on me, you wanted the wedding off and I, because I didn’t want to deal with a pile of ing emotional turbulence, whatever, said I’d say I did it on my own accord, which we both know isn’t ing true. So you, for god’s sake, do not leave me with the entire pile of and run away for the scared little fox you are, get your together and come to the wedding before I make mass announcements about how you shagged some bimbo on our bed and had our ing hamper wine with her, did I make myself clear?”

Howon let out a heavy sigh on the other end, but I could catch his great impulse to punch a nearest wall with all that he could muster. He was angered, and his anger was no joke, I knew. But nor was mine, and putting him into a difficult position honestly made me feel incredibly content.

“Okay fine, Eunji, whatever you want”

I smiled, though he couldn’t see it through the phone, sweetly wished him good night and threw the phone across the plush seats.

The next morning I woke up really early with the warm autumn sunrays kissing on my skin through the parting of the curtain and also with an unbearable pain on my neck and my back. I had eventually fallen asleep in the reception seats with the heater on, and it hadn’t exactly served will with my sleeping requirement that I felt as though my head was about to fall off. Regardless, I got up, trotted across the hall to my office then to my personal washroom, had a quick shower (Yes, it had a shower stall), got into a beige suit and a winter coat, blow-dried my hair and walked off to the nearest Starbucks to grab some breakfast. By the time I returned, Sung Jong was already in, yelling at someone over the phone, something or the other about some ‘ing forged document’. I suppose he was still referring to the previous case he claimed he completed the night before. I left it that and decided to not question about it for the time being.

With a chocolate croissant, a cinnamon roll and a cappuccino in hand, I finally got down to work. In Sung Gyu’s case file I jotted down all the details I gathered the day before and stared at the written document for almost thirty minutes, debating if I should ask Sung Gyu whether Bomi or he knew about what happened and Harvey and Kim a few months ago which despondently was related to me. And then I decided against it. What happened at Harvey and Kim was a backslash, a terrible encounter, a deep scar which I had now buried under the soil of my past. And digging it all out for a completely unrelated case was totally out of question. So I phoned up Yoon Bomi instead, whose number I got hold of the previous day, and set up a friendly meeting after work. Then I borrowed Sung Jong’s car for the day and drove off to Gangnam to play spy at BKL.

The thing about playing spy was that you hardly had to do anything unless you spot the subject in question crossing the road or driving off in a rattle. It was the easiest thing about being a private investigator whereby there was no need of sitting in a cubicle all day in utter boredom or running off every five seconds to sign transactions. I found this life easier, hence quite pacifying. But there was hardly anything you could do to kill time. I had previously asked how the day was going to be for Yoon Bomi since she and I had made friends quite instantly, and she had rather dismayingly claimed that she’d be in all day, stuck in meetings and the sort, what with their new client, a hotel company who were to make a massive business transaction with a speed-boat supplier or whatever. So after being in look out for about an hour, I made a quick beeline to my usual clothing boutique and contacted my personal shopper.

There was a massive variety of dresses to choose from, all in the similar shades of beige, peach, pastel pink and magenta. Woohyun had specifically informed me that he’d rather if I’d dress brightly and come looking like a girl rather than the hot-headed lady whom I was, and he who personally knew my personal shopper because he previously went out with her older sister, had informed her that she shouldn’t listen to what I say, which might involve blue or dull grey suits and the like, and get me something very pretty.

To be perfectly honest, ‘very pretty’ did not very much enunciate my taste in clothing. I did not generally go for ‘very pretty’. In fact I do not go for very pretty under any circumstances. Woohyun interfering even with my appearance related matters was seriously climbing up my nerves. And I had also figured that he might have certain ulterior motives underlying in this propaganda. I did not speak of these while we surfed through racks and racks of dresses at the store though. Nor when the shopper handed me eight different dresses to try on, all in colors going with pink. In the end I opt to purchase a pearl white lacy piece with off shoulders and long sleeves. Then I found myself seated in a corner, playing with my phone while my shopper tried to match earrings and shoes up with the dress, which took longer than I wished it would. When I finally left the place after having spent about forty percent of my income of three months, it was already noon, and I was maddened about having wasted so much of time.

I returned to BKL soon enough and I was just about to enter the parking lot when a white Lexus drove on the opposite way, passing mine. I recognized the driver right away and began to get irritated even more. I was then mad at the entire world, because Yoon Bomi had lied to me. She might as well do so, although I didn’t think she had figured me out this so soon. I banged at my steering wheel in frustration, earning annoyed glances from the security gate when I accidentally hit the honk, made an aggressive U-turn, parked the car a few feet away and then followed after the white Lexus after making sure I wasn’t in sight.

Honestly I didn’t know what to feel when the Lexus happened to park in front of a Chinese restaurant which was the exact restaurant we happened to come by when I used to work at Harvey and Kim. It was only in walking distance from there, and it was basically our second canteen because they served better food there for a much reasonable price. It was a meeting about her shifting perhaps? It might as well be a date with her secret Harvey and Kim attorney boyfriend. So I tied up my hair in a pony, put on a pair of shades and quickly hurried into the restaurant.

I could see Bomi seated in a corner, and she was sitting alone, which was quite suspicious. One of the waiters recognized me and he led me to my usual seat, which was good few feet away from the subject and also in perfect view. But it was no use. There was nothing to look at. Bomi was alone.

The next few minutes were like a game for me. I sat far behind her, and as would a hawk I closely observed every single move she made. Whether she’d call people or meddle with her phone or nervously push strands of hair behind her ear. But none of it came, as though she was aware that she was being watched. For a moment I was convinced that she did, but I overlooked that thought because there was no way that my cover was blown. I was careful, and only herself could not track me down. It had only been a day, and only such few hours was not enough. And I was right. She had not found out. The moment her phone began to ring, she started being nervous, she started to push her hair behind as though the phone recipient could see, and then she was speaking into it in her smooth, aloof voice. I traced the movements of her lips.

 ‘…I’m there…’

‘…what…?’

‘…you could have told me…’

‘…Fine…I’m okay…’

‘..See you later…’

And done. It wasn’t that hard to figure it out. Yoon Bomi was just stood up by her date. I couldn’t exactly pin-point what could the date be about at first glance, but then after the phone call, her behavior changed. Her eyes held fire and her skin was paled. She was enraged and tired, and they certainly were the kind of reactions that I would have made if I were stood up by her boyfriend.

Boyfriend. She was stood up by her boyfriend who worked at Harvey and Kim.

And then I noticed her finger nails scraping at the varnished surface of her table, the other hand on her handbag, locking and unlocking it on and on. She looked troubled, and the expression, the distress and anxiety gave it all away and hit me like a tidal wave.

Her boyfriend was her contact. She was leaving BKL to move to Harvey and Kim. Perhaps that was why she was cheating on Sung Gyu. Perhaps she was using this man to get in there. I could almost hear her words in my head from the previous day and now that I recall, I could catch a touch of jealousy, a hint of hope. She was in a fifty-fifty chance of getting in there. Maybe her contact was a higher up, maybe there was more. But all of these were unnecessary details for me. If anything, they were Sung Gyu’s to care about. I had the clues I needed, and now I only needed to rule them down, find the person, follow her more, find the reasons, bring them together, confront, and my work there will be done.

I figured that she would be leaving in a moment so I immediately stood up, gathered my belongings and hurried out the restaurant to the safety of Sung Jong’s car. While inside I contemplated if I should tell my new findings to Sung Gyu, but decided against it. Nothing was certain as of now. What I had were only assumptions and observations, and there was the possibility of them being wrong.

I reversed the car and brought it to a standby. Then I pretended to be in a call, my sunglass covering half of my face. I could see Yoon Bomi hurrying out of the restaurant, her eyes frantically looking down on her watch. She was too distracted, there was no way she would notice the ancient blue Honda Civic following her around. Nonetheless, I waited until she was a fair distant away and followed after her. Soon enough, we were back at BKL. She parked in the underground car park. I parked two blocks away from hers. Then I waited until she had gone on her way, stepped out, went up the lift across the massive hallway and out the glass doors. Then I sat down on one of the granite benches on a side and gave her a call. She picked up at the eighth ring.

“Hey!” Breathless, but informal. So soon. We’ve made friends. But of course I was formerly at Harvey and Kim.

“Hi” I said in charming politeness. “This is Jung Eunji, I just wanted to tell you that I won’t be able to make it in the evening today. Would you happen to be free tomorrow?”

“Oh…umm, it’s fine about today but I am not sure about tomorrow” deep breath from the end. “I’ll check with my schedule and let you know?”

She was eager to meet me. Very eager. That wasn’t half as bad but I had to promise myself to not dig too deep. Shifting firms was a big deal, especially if you were a high-powered lawyer who’s well-soughed after. I haven’t been there, haven’t done that, but I was certain it required more than a secret boyfriend from the rival company to move from one to another, but I wouldn’t go that far.

After that I sneakily slithered into the lobby, my eyes on my phone, flowing along with the rest of the hurrying people inside, and then I quickly ducked into a lift, went to the car park, got into Sung Jong’s car and drove out the building onto the road. The chase wasn’t over yet. There was still a lot to run.

Boring filler chapter