"If there are pictures, there must be a photographer as well." He gnaws the inside of his cheeks, staring vacantly across the river. His face is deeply furrowed, weary-looking, the skin sagging around his smart eyes, which seems to have hidden so much. He looks like a seated scarecrow. Sighing, he shakes his head and looks ahead, studying the silver surface of the water, reads the river's currents, enjoying the moonlit ripples that streamed in broadband before him.

 

A man approaches and bows, "We found him"

 

His lips curve into a small smile, "Bring me to him" The night is deep and quiet. Passing through the main entrance of the Momenatre Gallery, darkness settles around him as he is being lead out of the labyrinth through the secret passage, escaping every surveillance camera, and they go, meeting with a locked room. The door opens and he enters, greeted by a few more men who are guarding inside.

 

He stares at the man tied onto a chair across him. He pulls out thin black-colored silk from his pocket and tied it over the lower half of his face. He gestures for the sack bag to be removed. The man with pale blue eyes anxiously looks around the dark as he struggles, trying to free himself.  There's a table near him with an iPad on top of it. "I won't beat around the bush, you only have to answer me, Henry Edgar Bowen"

 

Henry halts. His thick, black hair falls across his forehead down into his eyes. He brushes it back and squinted, desperately trying to make out of the shape from the shadow across him, "If I don't want to?" he challenges.

 

"Then, I have to use violence, to what extent you can bear the torture, I don't care. The red hot iron will consume the flesh from off your bones. By any means, I'll make sure you open your mouths. Humans are weak, on the brink of death, fear will consume you, the will to live never completely disappears, you'll beg me to save your life. Especially, someone like you. So, choose wisely. I don't have time to waste" 

 

Henry turns his head to the only source of light inside the room. There's a portable brazier with charcoal fire burning in it stands at the corner of the room. As the smell of heated iron fills the air, it glows into dull red. He gulps, "What do you want to know?"

 

"Look at the iPad's screen. It was you, am I right? Four years ago, you took pictures of this man, you were following him. Who ordered you?"

 

Henry looks over the screen and examines it, he vaguely remembers, only pieces of memory that it was a one-time work and he was paid immensely for a trivial job as taking pictures. The screen displays a surveillance camera showing him photographing a young man. He frowns, "I---it was a long time ago."

 

"Will this makes you remember?"

 

The screen shifts into videos of his little sister running around the playground, climbing blissfully on a dome-shaped structure. Henry grits his teeth, thrashing his legs and battling to get loose, " you!! Show yourself, you piece of ! Don't you dare lay a hand on my sister" He shouts so loud purple veins pop out of his neck and his features become distorted.

 

"Do you remember now?"

 

Henry groans and closes his eyes, forcing himself to recall a past that almost forgotten. He sighs when he finds none significant information, "I don't know alright. I never met the person. We only communicated via email. I'd only heard his voice once."

 

"It's not wise to lie to me, Mr Henry"

 

"I'm saying the truth! Please I beg you, don't harm my family. I really never seen him. He offered a large sum of money to followed that man around and took pictures. I only did what was told. Please don't harm my sister" Tears drips onto his clenched knuckles. Henry lowers his head in a fit of shame and anger. He waits for a response and getting more anxious as the thick silence remains agonizingly long. It's then, he remembers something that might be valuable enough to offer. "Ah, voice record" He immediately raises his head. 

 

"I recorded his voice when we were calling just for emergency, in case he was scamming me since that offer was ridiculous. That much money only to take pictures, seems too good to be true. That man that I was following must be someone important, and if something did happen to me, I had the voice recording to prove my innocence. I still have it and the email address" Henry looks up with pleading eyes, fear evident behind his gaze. Indeed, pointing the tip of your sword towards the enemy's weakness is the quickest and easiest way.






 

*   *   *   *

"Young master, will it be fine to let him go just like that?"

 

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. Appears as weak and vulnerable as a flower, as clueless and innocent as a child. Allows yourself to be a potential prey while hiding a dagger behind your back.

 

Chaeyoung unties the black-colored silk that covers his lower face, "Few men will keep an eye on him for a while in case he contact that person. I'll be informed if there's any suspicious movement. From what I can observe, he was just a new photographer who was desperate for money and opportunity, that person knew that well and used it to his advantage. That photographer is nothing but just a temporary puppet. We won't gain much from him" He turns to the butler, "Now, can you track the phone number?"

 

Mr Kang shakes his head, "We couldn't find it on the database. It seems like he was using a burner phone."

 

"How about the email address?"

 

"There's no recent activity. It hasn't been used for years. We only managed to locate the last time the email was used, it was at Han River"

 

"What's the time span?"

 

"21st October 2019, 04:00"

 

Chaeyoung narrows his eyes. It was around the time before he was sent to America to solve issues regarding a project under him, and was forced to leave Mina. He barely saved his father from false accusations of tax cheats and stealing foreign profits, also regain the Son Group's reputation. He had found the financial director that went missing after the incident. The director himself admitted to the embezzlement, confessing that a man had threatening him using his family and he had no choice. Chaeyoung decided to let him go and kept their meeting a secret. He didn't want to bring it to the court since it will alarm the man and reveals his identity. He has to lay low and maintain his kind and innocent demeanor, a perception of him that everyone believed.

 

21st Oct. The timeline doesn't add up, Chaeyoung frowns. The director said he had never met the man but he had seen the man wearing a mask when his family was kidnapped. It was also around that time. The director met the man in America while an email was sent from South Korea to the photographer, on the same day. "There is more than one person?" Chaeyoung mumbles. If it's indeed true, he has to be extra cautious. "Have you check the CCTV around Han River?"

 

"My apologies, we couldn't find anyone suspicious at least within the range of the surveillance camera. The increased installation of closed-circuit television was only added recently. There was lack of it during that time"

 

Chaeyoung sighs. His breath comes out in short puffs. The wind ruffles his hair and cooled his flesh but does not quench the fire burning inside him. The determination of finding the truth. He looks up and fixes his gaze on the dark sky. "All right, get some rest. I didn't expect anything from it anyway. We still have the voice recording, hopefully, it'll lead to something. Also, keep an eye on Hahn. He's supposedly leaving for Los Angeles yesterday but he might still lurk around here. It seems like there are more of them, one might stay in United States. Make sure we have our man following Irene to ensure her safety."

 

Mr Kang bows as Chaeyoung wheels his chair about, steering it towards the car parked near a willow tree. They gather and exchange information in an abandoned lake, a heavily restricted area, some men are patrolling the place. He had changed his outfit and make sure all his man including himself undergo a full-body scanning before entering the place---to make sure there is no hidden gadget on his body. He left his phone, knowing it marked his location. The Momenatre Gallery was built under his supervision. A secret passage, a hidden basement, where he stored all of his information and conduct a plan, monitors his gallery and his house through CCTV. He has full control over it although knowing camera are all around the gallery. He knows perfectly the blind spot's location.

 

"Inform me if there's anything. We need to go back, it will be suspicious if I'm away from home for too long" Chaeyoun