Chapter 62: The Truth Revealed

There are no walls that don’t have ears. The death of the chaebol Yoon Tae-min shocked all of Korea, and the explosive news of the Yoon family became the talk of the town for all Korean netizens.

The public didn’t know the details of the case, only that the suspects were Yoon Nam-hyuk and Yoon Nam-woo, Yoon Tae-min’s two sons. Even Yoon Nam-hyuk’s assistant, Yoo Ji-hoon, and his bodyguards were taken away because they had been loitering near the crime scene.

Netizens speculated:

「It must be Yoon Nam-woo, right? He struck right when Yoon Nam-hyuk had no management rights, so he, as the eldest son, could smoothly inherit the family business. After all, his business talent has never been very good. It would be difficult to compete with legitimate means, right?」
「But wasn’t the younger son’s subordinate also seen near the villa? Yoon Nam-hyuk has had so much bad news recently, and he was also stripped of his management rights by Yoon Tae-min. He must be very unhappy, right? Maybe he killed him in a fit of passion because of this.」

Both were suspects, both had motives.

The final conclusion would have to wait for the police’s judgment.

Police interrogation room.

The police officer stared at Yoon Nam-hyuk. “Were you alone with Qi Huai last night? You were alone together for a long time.”

Yoon Nam-hyuk nodded. “Yes.”

The police officer: “Is there a witness?”

Yoon Nam-hyuk: “It was Assistant Yoo who brought Qi Huai over.”

The police officer: “Mmm… but you didn’t meet with Yoo Ji-hoon, right? We checked his dashcam and phone. He said that after he dropped Qi Huai off at the Yoon family’s main residence, he stayed in the courtyard. You had a short text message exchange during this time, but you didn’t meet.”

In Assistant Yoo’s testimony, he had dropped Qi Huai off at the Yoon family’s main residence, and then had not seen him again. He had never seen Yoon Nam-hyuk at all. Later, he was taken away by the police for following Yoon Tae-min and Yoon Nam-woo.

And in Goo Ah-ra’s testimony, she had brought Yoon Nam-hyuk a bowl of soup, but she had never seen him before or after that, let alone Qi Huai.

Neither of these two witnesses had been with Qi Huai and Yoon Nam-hyuk for a long time. If the two of them couldn’t provide a definite alibi, the police would also suspect that Goo Ah-ra, as Yoon Nam-hyuk’s sister-in-law, might be committing perjury.

“I have physical evidence.”

Yoon Nam-hyuk let out a long sigh. “Qi Huai’s phone has our photos and videos. The time and location of the shooting are automatically recorded. This content can be used as physical evidence.”

Yoon Nam-hyuk felt that Qi Huai was truly his lucky star. He had originally told Assistant Yoo not to let him come back, but Qi Huai had insisted on seeing him. If not for that, his suspicion would probably be as great as Yoon Nam-woo’s.

Outside the interrogation room, two police officers stood with their arms crossed.

“Can we contact Qi Huai?” one of them asked.

The other shook his head. “We’ve been trying to contact him since we interrogated Yoo Ji-hoon. We haven’t been able to reach him so far. His phone is turned off.”

“This is difficult…”

Ring, ring, ring—

The landline on the desk at the police station suddenly rang loudly.

“Hello, this is…” The police officer who answered the phone was stunned. “Uh, you mean you found a blood-stained golf club and a SIM card in the trash can?”

It was an anonymous phone call. The police sent the golf club for testing and found that the bloodstains on it did indeed belong to Yoon Tae-min, and the shape of the weapon matched the wound on his head.

As for the SIM card, after verification, the only call made on it was before Yoon Nam-woo had followed Yoon Tae-min. The person who answered the call was Yoon Nam-woo.

And, there were Yoon Nam-hyuk’s fingerprints on the golf club.

---

Qi Huai was held for a long time and was finally released due to lack of evidence. Both the time the timed bomb was lost from the props department and the dashcam footage of Qi Huai’s return to the film set could fully prove that he was not at the hotel before the explosion. The explosion could not have been staged by him.

The released Qi Huai got his phone back, only to find that it had been formatted. All the previously stored files and recordings were gone.

The police were very surprised. “How is that possible? Could it have been damaged at the explosion site? Aigoo, it’s a Samsung after all…”

The film crew had suffered heavy losses due to the explosion. Many props had to be remade. The crew had no choice but to take a long break. Besides Qi Huai and the injured Assistant Xiao, many artists and staff had already returned to Seoul.

The formatted phone had no missed call records. Qi Huai called Yoon Nam-hyuk but couldn’t get through.

Just as he was about to contact Assistant Yoo, the other’s call came through first. “Hello? Assistant Yoo, Nam-hyuk, he…”

Assistant Yoo’s voice was urgent. “Actor Qi! Oh my God, I finally reached you. Where are you now? Are you back in Seoul? Have you seen the news?”

Qi Huai was stunned, a bad premonition rising in his heart. “I’m still on the film set. What’s wrong? Did something happen to Nam-hyuk?”

Assistant Yoo said with difficulty, “…Chairman Yoon Tae-min’s body was found in a villa in the suburbs. The president and the director have both become suspects. Originally, it was just suspicion, and the police were investigating their alibis. But somehow, an anonymous tip suddenly came in saying that the murder weapon used to kill Chairman Yoon Tae-min was found near the Yoon family’s main residence. It has… the president’s fingerprints on it.”

Not only that.

According to Assistant Yoo’s guess, there was definitely a big shot pulling strings from above to push for Yoon Nam-hyuk’s conviction, because none of the political families who were close to the Yoon family would answer his calls, including the Kim family.

A big shot?

Qi Huai sneered. What other big shot could there be? he thought. It must be the Kim family.

The Go Eun-bin matter was like a time bomb for these high-level people. To put an end to it as soon as possible, the best way was to push out a scapegoat with enough status to convince the public.

For now, the Yoon family was the most suitable.

First, Yoon Nam-hyuk was injured in retaliation by Go Eun-bin’s family. Then Yoon Tae-min died. The suspicion of murder was placed on Yoon Nam-woo and Yoon Nam-hyuk. Even Goo Ah-ra was facing accusations of perjury. The Yoon family was being implicated one by one.

To the public who didn’t know the truth, this was just a dog-eat-dog family feud, a punishment from heaven.

If, at this moment, the prosecution were to make a show of searching for a few days and then produce a forged suicide note from Go Eun-bin, along with some testimony from minor Woosan artists accusing the company’s senior management of sexual coercion, then the Yoon family’s guilt would be sealed, and the entire family would be finished.

They caused the explosion to try to seriously injure me. When that failed, they arrested me and formatted my phone, all to destroy Yoon Nam-hyuk’s alibi, right?

Unfortunately, these people behind the scenes must not have known that when Qi Huai took photos of Yoon Nam-hyuk, he had used GATE. Blockchain technology. Even if the phone was destroyed, those photos and videos, along with their shooting time and location, had a uniqueness that was sufficient to be used as evidence in court.

This was Yoon Nam-hyuk’s alibi.

“Actor Qi, look at this.” Assistant Yoo on the other end of the phone suddenly exclaimed and forwarded a news article that had been pushed to the top of the social media trending list.

The article included a live broadcast from the police station entrance and numerous news screenshots. A large number of media representatives were surrounding the acquitted Yoon Nam-woo, frantically asking questions.

“Mr. Yoon Nam-woo, it’s rumored online that you are not Chairman Yoon Tae-min’s biological son. Is this true?”
“Mr. Yoon Nam-woo, are the paternity test and adoption report currently circulating online real?”
“Some people say they saw you at a testing facility. Is this true?”

Yoon Nam-woo was shocked. “Fake! This is all a frame-up! Don’t believe the online rumors! How could I not be my father’s son?!”

In the face of ironclad written evidence, verbal rebuttals seemed pale and feeble. What’s more, Yoon Nam-woo was already guilty. His panicked expression was broadcast live to the Korean public.

The Yoon family’s situation was very bad.

Yoon Tae-min was dead. Yoon Nam-hyuk was about to be imprisoned for murder. The only remaining bloodline of the foolish Yoon family was exposed in public as not being Yoon Tae-min’s biological son. Not only that, but he was also a mentally disabled bloodline adopted from a welfare center.

It seemed that the Yoon family was really finished. The shareholders were so desperate they wanted to jump off a building. This time, it wasn’t just Woosan, but the entire Yoon family conglomerate was about to collapse.

Once such a thought arose, the stock prices of both Woosan and the Yoon family’s other industries plummeted. And then, as Qi Huai had expected, several Woosan artists came forward to reveal that they had been sexually coerced by the company’s senior management, including Baek Soo-kyung.

Qi Huai watched all of this with a blank expression.

Cherish Welfare Center, Lee Min-ryong, Eun Chul-woo, Ms. Hyun’s donation, Yoon Tae-min’s death, the explosion on set, the framing for murder…

Oh, so that’s how it is.

So that’s how it is, Qi Huai thought. Eun Chul-woo is actually Yoon Tae-min’s illegitimate son. No wonder he targeted Nam-hyuk and Woosan, and even used Kim Min-kyung, Nam-hyuk’s childhood friend and a family friend of the Yoons, to do his dirty work.

From Ms. Hyun’s words before she died, it was clear that she had swapped the real illegitimate son with an abandoned child from the welfare center. The reason she had donated a large sum of money to the welfare center in her personal name was because she felt guilty towards the innocent illegitimate son, that is, Eun Chul-woo. So she had hoped he could live comfortably in the welfare center, at least be well-fed, well-clothed, and go to school properly.

Later, after a few years, Ms. Hyun regretted it. She wanted to bring Eun Chul-woo back from the welfare center. But by then, he had already been taken away by his British adoptive father. The wealthy British man had even bought the welfare center directly, so Ms. Hyun had completely lost track of him.

A strange twist of fate. If not for Director Baek’s film, the wealthy British man would not have adopted Eun Chul-woo, nor would he have bought the welfare center, cutting off the possibility of Ms. Hyun finding him. Eun Chul-woo might have been brought home by Ms. Hyun, grown up with Yoon Nam-hyuk, and become a pair of half-brothers.

But for some reason, Ms. Hyun died in a sudden car accident. From then on, no one knew about the swap of the illegitimate son. Ms. Hyun didn’t even have a chance to tell Yoon Nam-hyuk.

Otherwise, with her means and perseverance, she would definitely have been able to track down Eun Chul-woo in England.

Looking at it this way, the person who had caused Ms. Hyun’s death was also one of the culprits behind all this. Could it be Yoon Tae-min?

In any case, this old matter was no longer important. The most important thing for Qi Huai now was to bring Yoon Nam-hyuk home.

Having not eaten or drunk for nearly 24 hours, still covered in the dust and smoke from the fire, Qi Huai drove Yoon Nam-hyuk’s car back to Seoul alone, thinking to himself.

Eun Chul-woo, people will eventually be responsible for their own choices. You can use all your means to deal with me and Nam-hyuk, but everything you do will become your own retribution.

He knew how to use the System’s third wish.