Love and War

Chapter Nine: Mysteries To Be Solved

"Ryota!" screamed Gi Hoon. "We understand that you're worried but like Hyun Woo, she wasn't the Miyazono Kaori you once knew. She can protect herself."

"Calm down, Ryota," Hyun Woo told him. "If she knew something, she would tell you, wouldn't she? I know she sent you for me."

Ryota was taken aback by what he said. "You truly still love her, don't you? If you do, why have you divorced her?"

"She won't be able to stomach what I can do and what I will keep doing in the future," Hyun Woo reminded him. "She accepted my will that we go our separate ways."

"If... If you suspect Kang Dong Min...," Ryota opened a bottle of water and asked, "will you be able to protect her?"

Hyun Woo snickered. "That's not something you should worry."

"Who's that man who looked like a powerful politician?" Ryota asked after he had calmed down.

"You do have amazing observation skills!" Gi Hoon told him. "The police and I are also suspecting Assemblyman Yang Yoo Min."

"Yang Yoo Min came into power by kneeling over my father's feet before," Hyun Woo replied. "Even so, a week before my father and I planned for a vacation five years ago, he came back kneeling over again to him to make him into a president but my father refused him as I have heard that he will be supporting Prime Minister Jang Min Oh. It angered him why my father chose a woman rather than him who's male."

"Does this mean that you only have suspects but no evidence to see who in the two people planned the attack?" Ryota asked him. "The reason why you want me to be here was to get me to investigate this personally while collaborating with you, is that right?"

"Hyun Woo has to concentrate on his job as the Chairman of the Board," Tae Jun reminded him. "Gi Hoon had to always be beside Hyun Woo. Don't worry about it since I could help you."

"Alright," Ryota spoke up after he took a long breath and exhaled. "I'll do my best to investigate the matter between the two people."

"You can leave now, "Hyun Woo told him. "Just press the blue button and it will take you back up."

"I'd guide him, young master," Gi Hoon offered. "He might press something wrong on that elevator, after all."

"Thank you, Gi Hoon," Hyun Woo told him. "Make sure not to say other things to him, would you?"

Gi Hoon bowed in respect to him. "I will, Young Master."

...

At the time Gi Hoon and Ryota both left the bunker room, Tae Jun fixed his eyes on Hyun Woo after he had sat down to drink some small cups of soju. "Talking about your father's death still hurts you, am I right?"

"Why wouldn't it be, uncle?" Hyun Woo also poured some for him. "Ever since he revealed that he was my father, he had always stayed next to me and had always made me feel accepted and happy. He wasn't like Takahiko who was always far away or my fake mother who abused me."

"It's a good thing you stopped smoking," Tae Jun commented. "Gi Hoon made you stop, am I correct? Do you trust him?"

Hyun Woo glared at him. "I don't like your tone, uncle."

"He was your father's confidant and now, he's your confidant," Tae Jun sighed. "If you trust him, I have no choice but to also trust him but as far as I remember, he was the only person who knew where you'd be five years ago."

"Are you suspecting Gi Hoon, uncle?"

"No, not at all," Tae Jun answered him. "He might get murdered by the man who tried to kill you and your uncle. I have heard he was investigating the case on his own."

"Ryota's on board, now."

"I do hope Ryota will be able to protect your butler, Hyun Woo." Tae Jun sat on the chair in front of him and drank the cup filled with soju. "You didn't say the third person you're suspecting to Ryota. Were you too afraid that he might be the culprit?"

Hyun Woo also drank his cup of soju and pointed his head sideways. "Why do I have to mention the man my father trusted to take care of me in Japan? I don't even know why I had to be in Japan for fifteen years and not know who he was."

"He's not someone you should trust nor protect, Hyun Woo," Tae Jun said to him. "If only you know the reason why your father had to rush to Japan and reveal himself to you..."

Hyun Woo's mouth went wide open and he also felt his heart beating too fast when he heard his uncle say those kinds of words. "What do you mean by that, uncle? You're speaking in riddles!"

"There are a lot of mysteries to be solved," Tae Jun told him. "One of them was for you to know why he suddenly appeared before you. I can't tell you everything as I might put you in danger. Like Gi Hoon, I have been investigating the case for five years. We've given a few to Ryota. Even so, it was a shock to me that you don't want to tell him that I am suspecting Takahiko."

"I don't believe he could kill me!" screamed Hyun Woo. "Please leave my room, uncle."

Tae Jun had enough of Hyun Woo's ramblings. "Trust must be earned, not given. You've shown that we could trust you. Remember the reason why you're the Chairman of the Board. Your father will never want you to be in danger. We are the easy targets, pawns, and knights in that game of chess. Instead of thinking about how to go back to playing the piano, why not learn to play chess? That's the only way you could survive."

A/n: Thank you to all those loyal readers who would keep reading my AU story!! I am honored that you're reading my book! :)