⊷ 7
Chenle pushed the door to the office open.
"Guys, I met Ji-yoon on the way."
The mention of the name made the rest of the boys look at the two newly arrived ones. Ji-yoon carried a soft smile, held two bags in her hands.
"Morning," she greeted them. Jaemin and Jisung seemed happy to see her, whereas Renjun and Haechan were just interested enough in her appearance to offer her a short glimpse. "I bought you breakfast."
She didn't allow anyone to react to that before she started unpacking the two bags, distributing drinks and food.
Jisung smiled, took the little cookie that was placed safely in a box next to the rest of his breakfast. He glimpsed at the boy to his right.
"I know you don't like her but I think she's pretty great," Jisung mumbled as he took a bite which only left Haechan more irritated.
Ignoring the small bag she had put on his desk, Haechan leaned forward and glared at Ji-yoon intently which she returned by smiling at him.
He was about to say something when Ji-yoon cut him off.
"Before you say anything you should take a look at your food," she said, the way in which she said that making him suspicious. "I want to know if you like what I got you."
Ji-yoon motioned towards the little paper bag in front of the boy. Urging him to take a look, Haechan eventually gave in.
After she had turned around and walked over to the sofa where Chenle had already started eating, Haechan opened it and looked inside.
Huh?
"What's that?" Haechan asked as he pulled an envelope out of the bag. She didn't look at him and focused on her food instead.
"A written statement of my whereabouts during the murder," she said, then moved her index finger through the air, dragging it down to the bottom of the imaginary paper in front of her. "It's signed."
Surprised but not necessarily displeased, Haechan looked up at her, a brow raised in question. However, he didn't even need to ask her for her to know what his question was.
"I am not asking you to trust me but I want to prevent you from wasting more time by making me a suspect," she said, sounding polite and calm despite her accusatory words. The police had wasted enough time not investigating properly.
She had wasted enough time as well.
"I hope it's helpful," she then added.
Haechan looked down at the letter and nodded. "It will be. For us."
It was the way in which he put emphasis on these last two words that made Ji-yoon already regret trying to be considerate.
Ji-yoon looked at the ground in front of her. She hated how complicated he made this for her. She couldn't really claim not to understand him though.
"What do you mean?" she asked exhaustedly.
"There was something we discussed yesterday," he began, smug smirk on his lips. "Apparently private investigators aren't allowed to investigate homicide cases."
He wasn't quite sure how he expected her to react. However, what he definitely didn't think would happen was that Ji-yoon would just... not care.
"And?" she asked.
"So..." he began, clearing his throat. "You can't continue working with us on this."
"But I'm not even investigating the murders," she deadpanned. Her tone and attitude kept Haechan from replying, so Renjun did it instead.
He looked at her in disbelief. "Then what are you investigating?"
The question alone made it obvious that they didn't know. And seeing as that was the case, Ji-yoon threw a glance towards Chenle who just shrugged.
She sighed, trying to stay calm. Friendly.
"The theft?" she said.
Jisung laughed awkwardly. "What theft?"
Speechless, Ji-yoon let herself fall back into the sofa cushions. She closed her eyes, let her head tilt back until it couldn't go any further.
"I thought that was one of the main reasons why you considered LTM as the culprit in the first place," she mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose before she took a deep breath, regained her composure and put on her usual smile.
She got up, walked over to Haechan and stopped in front of his desk.
"Cho In-sik was a member of our IT department. He stole the AI system that we developed, deleted all the data and security footage we had so there is no way to prove it. He sold it to JYP, whom he is now working for," she explained briefly.
The boys looked at each other. Renjun and Jaemin tried to communicate through eyebrow movements.
"Then..." Jaemin began, attempting to sound as confident as he could. "Why didn't you report that to the police?"
"We did," she said. "Right after it happened and we figured out what In-sik did, I called the police."
Jaemin frowned, pulled his lips between his teeth before leaning closer to Renjun.
"Why don't we have any documents on that?" he whispered.
Not so sure himself, Renjun looked at the girl. Something was off. How could the police not have communicated that?
"You don't have a patent?" he inquired.
"It's hard getting patents on software systems," she pointed out. "We tried in earlier stages but it was denied and we didn't try since. I know JYP is going to try it soon though."
She paused, smiled tightly.
"Which is why this is urgent," she noted and added, "I have no doubt though that this is related to the murders, so I stuck around."
Silence erupted, making the already awkward situation only worse. All eyes fell on Haechan or Chenle who both seemed clueless and a little overwhelmed. While the younger one wasn't quite sure what to do, the older one quickly got up.
"Okay. Renjun, Ji-yoon and I will go to meet Taemin and get more info on this," Haechan declared, then looked over at Chenle. "You and the others find out why we didn't hear of this."
And just like that, after a tense and rather quiet car ride, the three of them were at the company. They walked up to the front desk where Jugyeong was already greeting them with a smile. Her eyes fell onto Ji-yoon first.
"CEO Lee is in a meeting with Mr Kim," she informed her. "He asked me to tell you to please wait in the lobby."
"We'll wait here then," she said to Jugyeong who nodded appreciatively before she watched the three walk over to the chairs distributed in the lobby to allow for a comfortable stay.
Allowing everyone to sit down first, Haechan soon went ahead and looked around the big hall. Just as he remembered it. Spacious and luxurious yet it was easy to feel comfortable here.
"Who is Mr Kim?" Renjun asked curiously.
Ji-yoon tilted her head from side to side, thinking about a proper answer.
"Someone closely related to the board of directors," she then explained.
"I thought you usually just barge into his office," Haechan noted. "Is there a problem with the shareholders?"
Giving him a brief look, ignoring what he was implying, she shook her head as she let her eyes run through the lobby.
"Mr Kim visits regularly. It has nothing to do with the shareholders." She looked at Haechan, smiled warmly. "But thank you for your concern, Sunshine."
Frowning at how his question backfired, Haechan looked away, didn't reply.
Just a few minutes later, Jugyeong walked up to them. She had a smile on her face, standing with her back straight.
"CEO Lee will see you now," she said politely at which all three got up.
Allowing Ji-yoon to go first, both Haechan and Renjun stood still for a moment whereas the girl already started walking. She took a couple of steps towards the elevator when she stopped.
Her unfazed expression, her small smile, everything - it somehow melted away.
It had been a few days only but the change in her behaviour made both of the boys feel uneasy. Even Jugyeong wasn't immune to it.
She quietly watched Ji-yoon whose eyes followed someone through the lobby.
"What's he doing here?" she asked at which the secretary turned around. Different from the two boys, she knew who she meant right away.
"Shotaro?" she questioned. "He has work today."
"He should be on vacation," she mumbled, taking a single, hesitant step towards the boy that was smiling brightly as he vanished behind a corner. "Why is he here?"
"Should he be?" Jugyeong asked in return.
Looking at the older girl, Ji-yoon faked a smile. "Please bring them upstairs for me."
"Sure," she complied without hesitation, then joined the two boys as they watched Ji-yoon disappear behind the same corner that Shotaro disappeared behind just moments earlier.
Yet, once Ji-yoon was gone, the boys followed Jugyeong wordlessly at first. But Haechan couldn't help but ask.
"Who was that?"
"Osaki Shotaro, a member of the APT team," Jugyeong replied swiftly, then briefly turned around to Haechan as they left the elevator. "CEO Lee asked me to help you to the best of my abilities, so please feel free to ask me about anything."
As she finished saying that, she reached the office, knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Jugyeong opened the door. "The agents are here."
"Wasn't Ji-yoon supposed to come with them?" Taemin asked as he got up and walked over to the three that were just entering.
The girl still seemed a little confused.
"She saw Shotaro in the lobby and went to talk to him. It seemed urgent."
"Oh," Taemin breathed out before he mumbled to himself, "I was going to tell her..."
Jugyeong looked at him. "Sir?"
He shook his head, dismissed her and then soon found himself alone with the other two boys that had been waiting patiently.
After they sat down and having been offered something to drink, Taemin came straight to the point.
"You came here on such short notice. Is something the matter?"
"Ji-yoon said one of your former employees stole something from you," Renjun said.
Taemin nodded quickly. "Ah, you didn't know?"
The two younger ones looked at each other, once again not being able to do more but shrug emptily.
"Even so, why would that explain the murders?" Haechan questioned.
"The software that was stolen was good," Taemin explained quickly. "But we weren't done yet. Plus, the version developed enough to qualify for the testing period wasn't on our company computers. So In-sik didn't even get access to it."
Renjun frowned. "But isn't that good? Even if you can't prove the theft, you will still have an advantage."
"It's not," Taemin urged.
"Why?"
"Because it was approved," he said. "The mayor approved of the system that JYP submitted although it was our old version of the system. The same version that he had rejected just a few weeks earlier."
Renjun hummed understandingly. "That's odd. Why would he approve it then?"
"Time pressure?" Haechan asked.
"Unlikely. He's already working faster than necessary. If it goes on like this he will give it green light despite having an unfinished product." Taemin closed his eyes briefly as he tried to calm down. He looked back at the boys.
"JYP's team is trying to fix what their version of the software is lacking. Ji-yoon and I think that that's why they are targeting our employees."
"This might sound stupid to you but if the system is faulty then people could die once they start testing it," he pointed out. "I trust Chenle, so I will trust you too. Please help us out."
He had a point. So when Renjun looked at Haechan and saw him give a small, yet affirmative nod to the older one, he smiled and went along with the decision.
"May I ask though," Renjun began. "What's with Shotaro?"
"Oh." Taemin seemed frustrated himself, not quite sure what to do or say. "As you know, three of the seven former project members have already died."
It was hard to say out loud. Both, Taemin and Ji-yoon, were close to the employees - they were more like friends. Some of them, they even considered family.
"Ji-yoon got worried right away. She started thinking about ways to keep them safe. She barely slept at all, I guess that's why she thought of something as extra as that," he said, smiling to himself. "She wanted to send them on vocation. Fly them out of the country for a few days until she came up with something better. But none of them wanted to accept it, so they just came to work anyway. I didn't want to worry her yet, so I didn't tell her at first. That's on me."
Perfectly timed, the door pushed open at that very moment, revealing an angry-looking girl. She stood in the doorway as she watched Taemin get up hastily. He watched her nervously.
"Listen-"
"I can't believe you allowed them to stay," she pushed out angrily and already made a step into the room when Taemin hurried over to her and took her hand.
"Let's discuss this somewhere else," he said in a low voice, then turned around and offered the younger ones an apologetic head bow. "Do you mind if I leave you alone for a moment?"
"No, go ahead," Renjun said kindly. "Could we talk to the APT team in the meantime?"
Taemin quickly nodded. "Their office is on the fourth floor... but apparently you might find them wandering through the lobby as well," he added the last part with an awkward laugh before pulling Ji-yoon away with him, leaving the two alone.
Renjun cleared his throat, looked at Haechan hesitantly.
"We might have been wrong about Taemin and Ji-yoon," he mumbled carefully.
Sighing, Haechan threw his head back before he got up. "Let's just go talk to that boy."
Breakfast ⊶
thank you for reading~ 💚