Ad Maiora Semper [Vincenzo Cassano]

Chapter Seven

"At 3:30 this morning, there was an incident believed to be a gas explosion, at a villa in Yangyand, Gangwon Province," the news reported said and Mr Hong immediately put his papers down whilst Ha-yun stared at the tv in surprise. She was trying to read few a collection of new documents relating to a different case that had nothing to do with Babel. "Employees of Babel Pharmaceuticals' Drug Development Division were at the villa for a company getaway. All fourteen researchers were killed in the accident."

"Accident?" Mr Hong scoffed.

"The fire authority said..."

"It was murder!"

"12 researchers were dead at the scene. Two others were taken to the hospital..."

"Mr. Hong please," Vincenzo tried but Mr Hong stormed out.

Vincenzo quickly followed and Ha-yun watched them both before she looked back to Mr. Nam. "Sometimes, I do feel like we're in the mafia," she scoffed, "so much action...barely any document work... doesn't feel right," she muttered to herself rather annoyed over it all and Mr. Nam hummed in agreement as he moved to help her.

"So we won a small victory, but the truth is we can't hold off the demolition much longer," Vincenzo confessed. The tenants were all sat in the dance studio again and this time, Ha-yun was sat in the seat that Vincenzo had been seated in the last time. She already knew most of it out of common sense or discussions in the law firm but sometimes it felt nice to not have to work it out for herself but instead hear it from someone else who would be explaining it.

"That's right. That means..." Mr Lee began, slamming the floor and standing up, "we, bring on the muscle," he stepped in front of Vincenzo and Ha-yun smiled out of amusement. "There will be blood. I'll take-"

"There will be no blood," Vincenzo cut in, stepping in front of Mr. Lee, "what I would like is to offer you an alternative." Mr. Lee sat back down. "I have plans to purchase a similar building nearby which means we could relocate all of you there."

Ha-yun's smile dropped and the whole group looked at him completely bewildered.

"Huh? Permanently? You're kicking us out?" Mr Tak asked.

"It's a new beginning. As a bonus your rent is free." Now Ha-yun truly didn't understand it. There had to be something in this building that made it worth that.

"You're serious?" Mrs Lee asked.

"I don't believe you," Mrs Kwak added on, neither did Ha-yun. "Why would you do that for us?"

"I think it's best for everybody-"

"Maybe too good," the dancer cut in. "In the words of my grandmother, the only free cheese is in the mouse trap."

"Larry has a good point. You get what you pay for," Mrs Kwak confirmed.

"I'm serious, there's no smoke and mirrors. The advantage of the new building is you could move in immediately."

"Oh, so basically we pack up and go," a new guy asked, and Ha-yun looked at him confused. When did he move in? "Suonds brilliant."

"Do I know you?" Mi-ri asked.

"I don't know you," Mrs Lee added on, and Ha-yun was thankful she wasn't the only one who was completely out of her depth as of this moment.

Toto quickly stepped in to introduce the new person, "this is my new apprentice. He wanted to learn from a highly successful master chef, you see."

"Oh, goodness." Everyone greeted him.

"I think he's pretty per se at all, we can trust him," Mi-ri said, and Ha-yun wondered whether she was saying that because Vincenzo was attractive or not. She then thought that she should probably stop saying that. Even if it was to herself, constantly thinking of Vincenzo as attractive could only end in bad news. Right now she should just be thinking of him as the puzzle she wanted to figure out.