Chapter 68: Didn’t Expect That, Did You?

Five?!

To an ordinary person, the thought of someone ruthlessly killing another is horrifying enough. If the death toll is five, is that still a murderer? Isn’t that a serial killer?

The press conference was frighteningly quiet. Even the netizens in the live stream held their breath.

Was it true? The dignified RC Chairman Eun Chul-woo was actually a murderer? Besides Best Actor Kim, who else had he killed?

“Ahem…” The Police Commissioner cleared his throat, trying to get everyone’s attention. “Reporters, please turn off the live stream cameras. Regarding Kim Joo-hwan and Eun Chul-woo’s—hey, hey, hey!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the media swarmed forward, surrounding Qi Huai and Eun Chul-woo.

The Police Commissioner was pushed around by the crowd. By the time he realized it, he had almost been pushed to the main entrance.

Police Commissioner: Shibal…

Live stream cameras, microphones, phones, voice recorders… almost every electronic device in the news industry was piled up at the forefront of the gossip.

The reporters frantically asked questions.

“Actor Qi, do you have definite evidence?”
“Chairman Eun, do you have any rebuttal to Actor Qi’s murder accusation?”
“Actor Qi, who are the five deceased people you mentioned?”

Indeed, who were they? Yoon Nam-hyuk looked at Qi Huai, a sense of unease inexplicably rising in his heart.

Eun Chul-woo, his half-brother, Yoon Tae-min’s real illegitimate son. Who had he killed? Yoon Nam-hyuk still only had a partial understanding. But today, looking at the way Qi Huai was looking at him, he had a bad premonition. Could it be…

Qi Huai secretly held Yoon Nam-hyuk’s hand.

Yoon Nam-hyuk subconsciously squeezed back, his lips pressed tightly together.

There are no secrets in front of the media. This hand-holding in full public view was practically a gift of news material. The reporters lowered their cameras and were busy filming when they heard Qi Huai slowly say five names.

“Kim Min-kyung, Yoon Tae-min, Na Mi-yeon, Robert… and, Hyun Si-young.”

The sound of cameras clicking suddenly stopped.

Even the scowling Kim Joo-hwan and the Police Commissioner were stunned. Hyun Si-young, President Hyun Hyung-joon’s daughter, Yoon Tae-min’s accidentally deceased wife… that lady was a goddess of their generation.

“How is that possible!” Kim Joo-hwan’s eyes widened. “Him? How old was he then! How could Si-young have been killed by someone like him—”

“Demons have no age,” Qi Huai sneered.

Most people would have thoughts of killing someone, of retaliating against society, at some point in their lives. But only a very few would actually do it. For example, Go Eun-hee. Even if you put a sharp knife in her hand, she wouldn’t kill anyone.

But some people, like Baek Soo-kyung, when you put a knife in their hand, they will constantly rationalize the knife for their own benefit, and then stab others with it in the name of being forced, and each stab would be fatal.

And Eun Chul-woo, this true demon. He would create every opportunity for everyone to pick up a knife, until he achieved his own goal and killed the person he wanted to kill.

「Father.」

A voice came from Qi Huai’s phone. The audio file was crackling, sounding old. The owner of the voice was a teenager, speaking with a clear, standard London accent. 「I’ve seen those documents.」

「Oh? Then does Chul-woo want to go home? After all, the person in the photo is your biological father.」 The one who answered him was a mature man. If Director Baek Se-won had been present, he would have immediately recognized it as the voice of Eun Chul-woo’s adoptive father, Mr. Robert.

「I don’t want to go back.」 the young Eun Chul-woo answered firmly, without a trace of hesitation.

「Ah, why?」 The other seemed very surprised.

The young Eun Chul-woo: 「Because he doesn’t want me. My real father and my real mother both don’t want me. They don’t want me, and I don’t want them. That’s fair.」

「But the one who sent you to the welfare center was this lady.」 Robert seemed to have picked up a photo.

「I know, but it makes no difference.」 the young Eun Chul-woo said. 「My real mother gave birth to me but didn’t want me. I’m 11 years old now, and my real father still hasn’t found out I was swapped. Neither of them treats me as their biological son. So you are my father, he is not.」

「What a good boy you are.」 Robert was extremely satisfied.

「Don’t worry.」 he said. 「You are my most beloved child, the most beautiful good child in the world. Everything I have will be yours. When you grow up, you can pick up any weapon to take revenge on them, until you are satisfied.」

The young Eun Chul-woo pondered for a moment. 「But I can’t wait, Father. Do I have to wait until I grow up?」

「Hmm?」 Robert was a bit surprised. 「Then what does my good boy want to do?」

The young Eun Chul-woo blurted out, 「I want them to die now. All of them, including those two children.」

Robert was stunned, then laughed heartily for a long time. 「Good boy, one death can be an accident. Many deaths will become a case. Let’s pick one first, okay?」

「Two.」 The sound of photos being flipped came from the table. 「Her, and her. I hate them the most. Let them die first.」

Eun Chul-woo’s biological mother, Na Mi-yeon, a woman who had abandoned her biological son and desperately developed her career abroad. Yoon Nam-hyuk’s mother, Hyun Si-young, who had swapped Eun Chul-woo and was now living separately from her husband, shuttling between the company and home every day.

Two people who were far apart and “unrelated” to each other. If they died together, no one would notice.

Robert exclaimed in admiration, 「So smart.」

Eun Chul-woo was the mastermind, his adoptive father the accomplice. This was only a part of the audio. In the full audio, Robert and Eun Chul-woo had mentioned Hyun Si-young and the others several times.

As long as the police carefully investigated the whole matter, they could definitely piece together this long-sealed case of a chaebol swapping children.

Qi Huai pressed the pause button with his right hand. His left hand was holding Yoon Nam-hyuk’s cool, damp palm. The temperature made his heart ache.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Yoon Nam-hyuk closed his eyes.

Regarding Hyun Si-young’s death, he had thought of all kinds of possibilities. He had guessed that it was Yoon Tae-min who had hired a killer out of hatred, or that the people who had forced his grandfather to commit suicide wanted to eliminate the roots. He had even comforted himself that it might have just been an accident.

But he had never thought that the real culprit would be an 11-year-old child, his half-brother.

Hyun Si-young’s words had become a prophecy.

She had done something that weighed on her conscience, and she had also suffered the consequences of her actions. She had thought that an eye for an eye was the best atonement, but she had never expected that the butterfly wings from back then would really trigger a “hurricane” that lasted for twenty years.

Kim Joo-hwan was slightly stunned. As a smart person who knew a lot about the Yoon family’s old affairs, he almost immediately understood the key points in the audio.

So, Eun Chul-woo is Yoon Tae-min’s son? But wasn’t Yoon Tae-min killed by him… he thought.

Patricide.

How ruthless.

“Heh.”

Eun Chul-woo suddenly let out a cold laugh. “Qi Huai, you think you can convict me with just some audio from God knows where? Who knows if you just hired an actor. Audio from twenty years ago? How old are you?”

He suddenly raised his voice, his dark eyes coldly scanning the surroundings. “Don’t forget, everyone, this guy’s identity is very problematic!”

He continued, “Whether I’m a murderer or not, this should be handled by the police. It’s not up to someone with an unknown identity to point fingers. If any reporters spread false news under his instigation, you will become an accomplice of a spy, and an innocent person will be wronged! I advise everyone to turn off the live stream. This press conference is now over. I am willing to cooperate with the police investigation!”

Ha, cooperate with the investigation?

In his dreams.

Qi Huai, you say I killed someone, and everyone will believe you? The evidence is not that great either, Eun Chul-woo thought.

Just a broken audio file. It’s a dream to pin the deaths of those two women on me!

And at the scene of Kim Min-kyung’s death, there were absolutely no CCTV recordings in the villa. I’m very sure of that.

As for Yoon Tae-min’s death, just blame it on Lee Min-ryong. Anyway, I have the video of that guy snatching the medicine and running away in a panic after Yoon Tae-min’s heart attack. That’s what you call solid evidence, okay?

As for Robert, my God, hahaha, that was so many years ago. I still remember the scene now. There’s no way there could be any evidence left!

Innocent. I will be innocent no matter what!

Kim Joo-hwan’s downfall is a foregone conclusion. If so, there’s no need for me to stay here anymore. I can negotiate with the high-level police like Yoon Nam-hyuk, and then leave this place and go back to England. I believe RC’s wealth is still quite attractive—

“Oh? My identity is questionable?” Qi Huai suddenly said in surprise. “I thought it was already quite obvious, Eun Chul-woo.”

The reporters who had been discussing whether to turn off the live stream were stunned. What did he mean? There was more dirt?!

Eun Chul-woo squinted. “What did you say?”

Qi Huai chuckled and said, “Haven’t you ever thought about it? The GATE that provided the alibi for Nam-hyuk, the GATE that deeply cooperated with Woosan at a critical moment, the GATE that suddenly gathered the Woosan shareholders at a hotel so you couldn’t find them at all—how is it such a coincidence that it’s all GATE?”

In an instant!

Eun Chul-woo’s expression changed drastically.

His fingertips almost dug into his palm. He had no choice but to listen to Qi Huai say, word by word, “Because, that’s my company, Chairman Eun.”

Impossible!

Impossible!

Impossible!

Eun Chul-woo blurted out, “Impossible!”

He stood there rigidly and said urgently, “That’s a company founded in America by Gavin Jennings. Although his founding team members are mysterious, they are all Ameri—”

The rest of his words suddenly got stuck in his throat like a chicken bone in a dog’s neck. Americans. Gavin’s team are all Americans. And he has a partner who has never shown his face! This guy Qi Huai is a Chinese-American! His nationality is American, right?!

Last time, he had seen the news at Kim Min-kyung’s house. But he had been too angry at the time, only thinking about how to retaliate against that dog couple, Yoon Nam-hyuk and Qi Huai. He hadn’t paid attention to so many details! Could he really be—!!!

“So what if you’re a founder of GATE!” Eun Chul-woo gritted his teeth. “Can’t an entrepreneur from America be a spy? Do you think this identity is a golden ticket to innocence? With your identity, you still went to Woosan to be an actor. Don’t you think that’s strange! Do you dare say you don’t have ulterior motives?!”

“If you put it that way, I do indeed have ulterior motives.”

Qi Huai sighed and nodded, resting his chin on Yoon Nam-hyuk’s shoulder. “When I first arrived in Korea, I was invited to a dinner party by Director Ahn and fell in love with President Yoon at first sight. Sigh, in order to get into his company and get close to him, I shamelessly faked my resume and successfully signed a contract. You can call me a love-struck fool, you can say I’m immoral, but to slander me as a spy is too much. As for my real identity… you can go ask the White House.”

Wow, what a romantic encounter…

Wait, what White House? The reporters and police officers looked at each other. What did this have to do with the White House?

Yoon Nam-hyuk’s ears turned red from Qi Huai’s confusing speech. He couldn’t help but kick his shin, signaling him not to make it so absurd. Qi Huai smiled and said nothing.

The Police Commissioner, who had been watching from the side, began to feel uneasy. He took two steps back and made a phone call. It was unclear who was on the other end, but he kept saying “Ne, ne, ne.”

Not long after, the savvy old man ran over to Qi Huai’s side. “Ah… I didn’t know it was you. Aigoo, you are too low-key. If we had known, we should have…”

The Police Commissioner chattered on obsequiously, his wrinkled face smiling like a chrysanthemum. But the more he chattered, the darker Eun Chul-woo’s face became.

The people present looked at each other and finally understood. Daebak… Actor Qi is really related to the White House?

So he wasn’t a spy. He was on a legitimate, above-board friendly diplomatic visit in disguise. It was already good that he hadn’t asked our president to receive him. And they were still calling him a spy?

A diplomatic incident!

An international dispute!

Absolutely not!

…and, if it displeases the US forces stationed in Korea, will those tall and strong guys come out and cause trouble and beat people up again??? The Police Commissioner’s smile was bitter. You guys from the prosecution, can you stop causing trouble for the police? Is managing social order easy?

Qi Huai couldn’t help but laugh.

The System’s second wish has finally come to fruition today, he thought. He had arranged a very impressive identity for himself, precisely to prevent this kind of thing from happening today.

The son of the White House president’s younger brother. After his parents died early, he traveled and studied everywhere, with no fixed residence but plenty of money. For such a person with such an identity, it should be normal to have as many passports as he wanted, right? Even if it wasn’t normal, there would be people with ulterior motives who would help him rationalize it. It didn’t matter.

So, even if Eun Chul-woo and Kim Joo-hwan pulled out more tricks, what could they do to him and Nam-hyuk? You use power to oppress people, others can also use power to oppress you.

At this moment, Eun Chul-woo’s eyes were dazed, and he was almost speechless.

That damned Choi Min-jun, he thought. Didn’t he say Qi Huai’s resume was fake? That he couldn’t be found abroad? I even helped him get a reduced sentence! That kind of guy who can’t even investigate an identity properly should die in prison!

It doesn’t matter… it doesn’t matter. So what if he has a special identity? He kept comforting himself. Just as he had thought just now, the other didn’t have any substantial evidence. As long as he could…

Ding, ding, ding—

At this moment, several videos were suddenly airdropped into the reporters’ phones. The scene of the first video was a villa living room. On the floor lay a person who was very familiar to everyone. The smell of a big scoop. The reporters quickly clicked play.

A fierce and ruthless voice came out. 「Yoon Tae-min, didn’t expect that, did you? I am your real son!」

Is that Eun Chul-woo?!