Love Is .........

25 장

Seoul, 2017

Flashback

After three months being away on unrecorded leave to take care of his wife, Tae Pyung was trying to cope juggling work and house chores. There are so many tenders and contracts he needs to review and the overdue backlog works he need to finish up. Files and documents were piling up on his desk and his inbox are almost full. To make things smoother, Tae Pyung asked his junior, Seo Jung Hoon to go through all the details and highlight if there were any amendment needed. Having full trust on Mr Seo as he has been working together with him for so long, Tae Pyung just verified all the documents that he has screened. He admitted, he did not go thoroughly checked it as he was raising against deadlines. That is when things started to go south.

He was called to the Senior Manager room as there was a problem raised by the tender committee. Not knowing the severity of the problem, Tae Pyung went inside his superior room after reaching the hi office that morning. It was a Tuesday, May 16. A date he won't forget or perhaps a date he wishes to erase in his life. That day, his manager told him that he was involved in a bribe case involving a tender contract. A big company won a tender of a project he oversees without going through the regular process. Well that is not the main problem, the real problem is an amount of money was involved in the 'dealing' which he is unaware of. However, according to the committee and the proofs that they received, he is the one who signed off the paperworks and even it was log in the system.

Still confused of what is happening when he just came back to work for two weeks, he took a look on the said documents and indeed the signature looks like his. Infact, the record also was keyed in using his ID. He remembered he asked his manager that he wanted to check on the matter and willing to co-operate with the investigation as he knew he was innocent. For three days, he worked on the case. Trying to find where it went wrong and why his ID was being used when he was away on leave. And how can his signature was on the documents when he did not sign anything during his absence from the office. After days and nights of checking and backtracking, he found the core of the problem. It wasn't him who signed or locked in the company into the system, it was his junior. His most trusted subordinate, Seo Jung Hoon. Even the said money transferred was for Jung Hoon although the transaction was done under an account with his name. Sad and betrayed. That is how he felt upon learning the truth. He should have just report his hoobae to the police but because they had worked together for years, he wanted to meet him and asked his reason before sending him to the police. His humanity backfired.

Seo Jung Hoon admitted his mistakes. He indeed the one logging into his account and keyed in the tender information. He also the one who hired a person to forged Tae Pyung's signature but he did that under someone's order. However, he did not mentioned who even Tae Pyung asked him so many times. Seo Jung Hoon swear he did not know who ordered him because he got all those instructions via phone calls and the voice underwent an alteration device. He was in need of money because his mother was hospitalised and need to go a major operation. Seo Jung Hoon is the breadwinner of his family. The eldest of four siblings. His three younger siblings are still in school. Living with unemployed alcoholic and gambling addict father, all the living expenses are shouldered by him and his mother who had two jobs at an eatery and as a cleaner in municipal office. Tae Pyung knew about his hoobae's family condition as he visited him once to take his mother to a hospital. So he knew for sure Jung Hoon is not lying and he indeed was trapped in a situation where he can't decline the money offered.

Although Tae Pyung was feeling betrayed being stabbed at the back by the person he trusted the most, but he decided to take responsibility because he feels bad to charge Jung Hoon. If he ended up going to jail, who is going to take care of his younger siblings and sick mother. Partially, it is his fault too for not properly supervise those under him. His mind were clouded with his personal problems that he did not gave his best at works. Besides, all proofs were pointing to him. The transaction record were through a bank account with his name although he did not know when he opened it. The bank verified all the information on the bank account is legit his. That is when, his best friend Park Hoon offered to help. Claiming that he knew someone from HS Landscape and Design, he arranged Tae Pyung to meet with the CEO to discuss and that is how he met with Hattie Song back after years of losing contact.