The Unwanted Support
The police officer glanced over with a polite nod, then locked eyes with Woo-yeon, who stood frozen a few steps behind Han Lee-won. “Excuse me, but what happens to the victim student?”
“I’m the complainant. Han Lee-won.”
“Ah, so that’s you. We actually had a few things we wanted to ask the complainant.”
As the officer confirmed Lee-won’s identification card, a warm smile spread across his face. He stepped out of the patrol car, and the faint, ominous chill that had been crawling up Choi Hong-yeon’s spine suddenly intensified.
“What kind of relationship do you have with the victim student?”
“The man who reported it. Han Lee-won.”
“Oh, really? We do have a few questions for the complainant.”
After confirming the identification, the officer smiled brightly and stepped out of the patrol car, a wave of unease rising behind Choi Hong-yeon.
“What is your relationship with the victim student? How did you know about the assault and report it?”
The officer asked several questions in rapid succession. When they heard that the two had never met before and had first encountered each other only a few hours earlier near the Han River, their expressions subtly shifted.
One of the other officers murmured something, and the lead officer spoke in a noticeably firmer tone. “The story is getting quite long. Could you come with us to the station for a moment?”
“Director-nim! Are you… going to the police station right now? I’ll call Chairman Park. What is this! Director-nim!”
“Enough.” Han Lee-won waved off the protest without turning around. “You’ll understand the situation of that child once we get there. Follow me in your car.”
Choi Hong-yeon let out a startled cry and did not even look back as Han Lee-won climbed into the rear seat of the police car.
The questioning lasted a long time and the questions were far from simple. At some point during the interrogation, it became unclear whether Han Lee-won was being treated as a mere witness or had somehow become a suspect. Especially the relentless grilling about why he had paid five million won.
When Han Lee-won finished explaining what had happened on Mapo Bridge, the detective writing the report stifled a chuckle and repeated the same explanation several times. Lee-won remained silent during the entire session until the officer asked if he could show his phone. He let out a short sigh, turned toward the waiting Choi Hong-yeon, and spoke quietly.
“Call Chairman Park Won-ju.”
That was the last thing he said before falling completely silent.
“What is this now! You saved her life, paid her tuition, and even filed a report for her—how dare you treat her like a criminal! You’re not giving her a commendation, just treating her as if she were the criminal! The man who bought her was her father, not you! And you just came back from her funeral this morning!”
Park Won-ju, who had rushed from Yeouido to Deokcheon-dong in only twenty minutes, exploded with fury and quickly laid out the situation. Once the lawyer arrived and the detective recognized Lee-won’s identity, the officer’s attitude changed abruptly.
“Ah, Chairman Park, I’m just confirming the statement of the suspect out of courtesy to the witness. It’s not… it’s not what it seems.”
“Wait a second.”
Han Lee-won, who had been quietly seated in the corner, rose and asked calmly, “If I’m the suspect, then it must be Mr. Jin Hyung-sik. What exactly did you ask him? If you tell me what you want to confirm from my phone and give me a reasonable explanation, I’ll cooperate.”
“Director-nim, a written response is sufficient. You are a witness, not a suspect. You are the one who helped rescue the victim, not the perpetrator.”
Chairman Park’s shout was interrupted by Choi Hong-yeon, who was frantically trying to calm her boss from behind. At that exact moment, a loud voice echoed from the inner room.
“Fucking hell! That bitch got five million won through prostitution and came back! Which father’s head doesn’t work? She got it for free? Which crazy bastard hands out that kind of money for nothing? Is he a billionaire? A Middle Eastern oil king? Five million isn’t even a tip for a couple of meetings. Even the detective knows that much, right?”
Both Choi Hong-yeon and Park Won-ju turned deathly pale. Han Lee-won felt as if someone had struck him in the back of the head with a hammer. Prostitution? That kid… Jin Woo-yeon?
A moment later another thunderous shout erupted.
“She’s been doing that kind of thing for a while! Since high school, she’s been meeting men through chat apps and hanging around. I even reported her once back then.”
“It’s embarrassing to say, but I have to reveal the relationship. At the time, she got her legs broken badly and promised never to do it again. But when she couldn’t pay the tuition, the stupid girl started doing something else again…”
“The bastard who met our daughter isn’t the first one! We should seize the phone right now and dig through it! It’s probably connected to her number or the chat app, and there should be call logs! If we don’t check immediately, she’ll delete everything! That pervert! The one who told her to put on her school uniform and meet him by the Han River!”
“Sex trafficking? A chat app? What kind of insane… nonsense are you even talking about in front of the director-nim?”
Muttering voices drifted from the back. Han Lee-won did not even manage a chuckle. The detective in charge began to stammer excuses.
“I’m truly sorry. The thing is, the father wasn’t lying. If I suspect anything even a little, I have to investigate thoroughly… Please understand.”
“What do you mean by ‘not lying’? He wasn’t lying.”
“That person once filed a report saying his daughter’s phone had a sex-trafficking app installed and asked us to investigate the people connected to it. We even canceled it right away, but it’s true that something strange was on her phone… And there are quite a few runaway girls who, if they have nowhere to stay, meet men through those apps to cover food and lodging.”
Han Lee-won closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was quite shocking. He had no idea how to look at that child now. She didn’t seem like the kind of person who would do such strange things. Of course, one could never judge a person solely by appearance, but Han Lee-won had always believed his eye for people was quite sharp.
Was that timid, frightened child actually much more resilient and cunning than he had thought? Had her father’s “sex education” just been a brutal beating for that very reason?
The taste in his mouth turned bitter. After confirming why the child had been treated like a criminal, the anger faded into emptiness. He oddly felt betrayed by that child. The detective’s attitude was not right, but if anyone in a father’s position had heard those words, they probably could not have hidden the contempt they felt toward a minor engaged in sex trafficking.
What if that child really had done such things?
…Did I help for nothing?
At that moment, Han Lee-won’s eyes widened and his thoughts stopped dead. His head felt strangely buzzing. What was this? What did this have to do with the incident?
Whether the child had slept with men as a child was irrelevant to the core issue. Jin Woo-yeon was a victim of assault by her father. What right did he have to judge that she had “become corrupt and worthless and therefore deserved no help”? The thought shamed and pained Han Lee-won even for a second.
Han Lee-won took out his phone and held it forward. His voice sounded strangely hollow. “Even though I helped out of goodwill and ended up like this, it doesn’t feel good. I will cooperate to prevent any misunderstanding, but I ask that you verify it in front of the lawyer and me.”
After the three of them huddled together and the check was completed, the detective’s face had turned ashen as he repeatedly apologized. There was not even the slightest connection between Woo-yeon and Lee-won. Truly, they had only met by chance on the bridge and helped each other out of kindness. Moreover, given Lee-won’s position as Chairman of the Lee Won Maecenas Foundation that had been steadily supporting young artists, the situation did not seem strange at all.
At that moment, the victim’s statement was delivered that she had entered the shelter. Her statement matched Han Lee-won’s exactly. In the end, the detective had just caught the culprit’s false accusations and arrested the one who had helped. Only then did the realization sink in, and the officer had to apologize several more times before the station chief.
“Please ensure that no personal information of the suspect is entered.”
At least Woo-yeon had avoided being cut off and had safely entered the shelter, and it turned out she was not as innocent as he had thought. Those hardships had yielded something valuable.
It was past eight o’clock in the evening when Choi Hong-yeon and Han Lee-won finally left the police station. Lee-won’s voice sounded as if it might disappear, and his legs dragged along the ground. Choi Hong-yeon, gripping the steering wheel, asked carefully, “Are you all right, Director-nim?”
“…It’s frustrating.”
Leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed, Han Lee-won spoke softly after a long silence. “I’m fine.”
Of course, Choi Hong-yeon had never believed those words. He always said he was fine and had never shown any sign of struggle. But since he had entered the business front lines, there had been almost no time when he truly felt fine. Insomnia had become so severe that simply sleeping felt like a war, and he had secretly gone for counseling or medication.
As soon as they arrived home, Director Park Jeong-gi was waiting and followed them upstairs. After a quick examination, he sighed and pulled out an IV drip. Han Lee-won lay on the bed without even changing his clothes and received the fluid.
“You really need to rest now. You have severe insomnia, yet you brought down your caffeine intake.”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize to me. It’s not just that a person can’t sleep and becomes drowsy and dies. It’s actually dying.” Do you understand?”
“Yes. I won’t do that anymore.”
“Sigh, you always give such good answers!”
Director Park grumbled as he turned to leave. Han Lee-won covered his eyes with one hand and smiled faintly, like a candle flickering out.
“…By the way, Director-nim. Miss Yu Mi-hyun is in the emergency room right now. She said she would come see you today, but I told her several times it might be difficult… She insisted on coming anyway. What should we do, Director-nim?”
Director Song’s tone carried no hidden annoyance as she spoke. Choi Hong-yeon’s blood boiled with anger.
Of course, he understood her impatience. The management rights of Sungil Hotel—the lifelong dream of her mother—hung in the balance, so excitement was only natural.
Still, he had asked for some time to think. Why couldn’t he have let her rest even for a day or two? After just finishing her mother’s funeral, why did he have to be dragged out in the middle of the night and interrogated like this?
The man lying with eyes closed furrowed his brows deeply. A long sigh, a short groan followed. But soon he opened his eyes, struggled to sit up, and said, “Doctor, please remove the needle. I’ll go down for a moment.”
Director Park and Chairman Park sighed but did not stop him. Director Song and Mrs. Song Hee-in sighed neither. Both men knew that even the sigh of a subordinate was already a burden to him.