CHAPTER 209: CHAPTER 208. A FEAST OF BETRAYAL

Prosecutor Jang Haneul looked like he could become the protagonist of a law and crime drama. He had a decent face and seemed to exercise regularly, a good recipe for being the darling of the courtroom. His only flaw was that he didn’t come from a privileged background.

In an environment where connections were everything, it was a fatal one.

Eventually, however, the fact that he wasn’t tangled in any relationships with wealthy individuals allowed him to do this drug bust. They would have been told to stay put by their backers if it were anyone else.

That being said, Prosecutor Jang also knew that antagonizing the conglomerates too much wasn’t a good thing if he didn’t want to find himself found lifeless in a ditch somewhere. That was why he would never touch the Circle, and let go of Jasper easily--who would have had his drug in the Circle if he were older enough to go to one without a chaperon.

So Sarah was rather surprised when she saw him in the mansion. While looking neat like any other guests, Sarah could tell that the shirt behind the suit was unkempt, as if he hadn’t changed since yesterday. The dark circle beneath his eyes told her that the man hadn’t been sleeping much, probably to prepare for the hearing against Daesung.

That being said, he didn’t wear his prosecutor’s badge, which made it easier to smuggle him in through the side door without alarming the other guests. Sarah wondered if he was just the type who didn’t wear one, forgot about it, or if there was something else.

"Chairman Lee," the prosecutor bowed his head politely as he was escorted inside the study.

"Are you Prosecutor Jang?" the chairman gestured toward the couch. "What is this? I thought the case with my son had already been cleared."

"Maybe he got indicted again because he’s an adult now?" Sarah commented from the door, leaning against the frame with a cheeky smile adorning her face.

"Sarah..."

Oh, it had been a while since she heard that tone. Sarah started to think that it had become nostalgic. She chuckled and raised her hands in surrender. "Just kidding~"

"No, this is not about your son," the prosecutor told them.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, can we stay? I want to hear about it too," Sarah clasped her hands, looking at the chairman with bright, innocent eyes.

Amber rolled her eyes, thinking it wouldn’t work. But then, the chairman nodded and told them to come inside instead of loitering around the door.

The prosecutor looked at Sarah and Amber. "They are..."

"My second and eldest daughters," the chairman said.

Amber clenched her jaw, annoyed that Sarah got mentioned first. It reminded her of how partial their grandfather was about Sarah, and why she would never be able to be friends with this younger sister of hers.

"Ah..." the prosecutor nodded. "Well, I guess it’s alright."

Sarah arched her brow curiously. Would it mean that if it were someone else--say, Ruby or Mina--it wouldn’t be alright? How curious.

"Close the door, Puppy," Sarah whispered scandalously before strolling toward a decorative tea table in the corner of the office, which was usually there for a vibe only. But with the tray of canapes she snatched from the solarium, as well as the chairs Hajin grabbed from another corner, it became a legit tea table she shared with Amber.

The prosecutor glanced at Sarah weirdly, who leisurely started snacking on the corner. But the chairman cleared his throat and the prosecutor immediately returned to his original business.

"I did say it’s not about your son, but it still has something to do with that," he started.

"What do you mean?"

"The host of the party, the group that established the event and provided the drug, is backed by a construction company, Daesung."

The corner of the chairman’s eyes twitched. "Yes, I’ve heard of that."

How could he not? It had been reported in the news everywhere, enough to pressure them to fulfill the contract with Sarah--although it was through Henry’s company. Thanks to this, Jasper managed to avoid the chairman’s wrath, because the old man’s anger was shifting to Daesung.

"I don’t know if you know this, but Daesung used to be a crime organization before they became a legal company," the prosecutor continued.

"You mean they are gangsters," the chairman scoffed.

"That is so," the prosecutor nodded. "It turns out that they are still operating illegal activities even after they became a legitimate company."

The chairman tilted his head. "And what’s that have anything to do with us?"

"We’ve been investigating Daesung ever since. Since they were also involved in another lawsuit, we had been granted authority to peruse through their documents," the prosecutor explained. "Among them, we found all kinds of problematic deals they made."

Prosecutor Jang placed his briefcase on the table, leaning forward slightly as he lowered his voice.

"It doesn’t seem like your son is the only one who’s involved with them."

The chairman narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms as he leaned back. "Are you talking about my brother?"

Amber widened her eyes in shock while the prosecutor raised his brow. "Oh, you knew."

The chairman glanced at Sarah, who was eating the canapes in silence. "I knew he had a drink or two with Daesung’s CEO," he said. "I’ve given him a warning and it seems like he has stopped."

"In that case, I don’t think you know why he’s drinking with the CEO in the first place," the prosecutor nodded, adding in a serious note. "Or that someone else had met Daesung in his place."

This time, Sarah also raised her brows in surprise. Perhaps because she had been too focused on taking care of Joseph and planning the drug bust, she didn’t really watch the stuff happening around the house. There hadn’t been significant updates from her spies and Amber hadn’t found anything much.

And suddenly, a lead came from an unexpected source.

Although, in hindsight, Sarah should have already expected this. Once the office found Daesung, it was inevitable. But if she had to be honest, Sarah thought this prosecutor would only focus on the drug case.

Perhaps...

Sarah narrowed her eyes at the prosecutor. Right, she almost forgot; she didn’t choose this prosecutor because he was righteous.

It was because he was ambitious.

"I think it’ll be more convincing if you hear it yourself," the prosecutor opened his briefcase and took out a folder of documents, as well as a voice recording player. "Thankfully, this group is very careful about their clients--in the sense that they make sure they have dirt on them as a blackmail source."

Sarah glanced at Amber and gestured toward the couch. Together, they came closer to listen to the recording, which according to the prosecutor was made by Daesung. It took the prosecutor a while to decode the encryption on the files, but eventually, they managed to do it with the help of a while hacker.

[You can’t be impatient with this one] a heavy voice could be heard; Sarah recognized it as Daesung’s CEO. [It’s better to let the effect accumulate with time, disguised as exhaustion caused by old age. If you’re doing it all at once, there will be residue in his body, and there will be an investigation]

[So, how long will it take if we’re using the dosage you’re telling me?] this time, it was Lee Hyun’s voice.

[At least a year]

[What?!]

[Why? I told you to be patient] the CEO laughed. [I told you, it’ll be suspicious if someone who looks relatively healthy suddenly drops dead. You need to make him appear ill for at least that long before it progressively becomes worse]

They heard the chairman’s brother click his tongue. [Can’t you just create an accident or something?]

[Did you even hear me about avoiding suspicion?] the CEO sighed. [You’ve been waiting all this time, so what’s a year or so? You should use the time to think of an idea to forge your brother’s will or something. It’ll be funny if you kill him just for his son to take his place instead of you]

The recording ended with the CEO’s heavy, hearty, laugh. The sinister echo of the chilling sound swirled between the people inside the study.

"What..." the chief secretary and the security chief widened their eyes in shock. It looked genuine enough for Sarah to conclude that those two did not collude with Lee Hyun.

"Is he...were they talking about killing Father?!" Amber clasped her mouth.

Sarah furrowed her brows deeply. She did think they were planning something, but she never thought it would be this. "So they had been feeding poison to the chairman?"

"In that case, someone in this house must be involved," Hajin said, and the prosecutor nodded in agreement. "Someone who prepared the chairman’s food."

"Father--"

They all looked at the chairman, who had been gripping his armrest in silence. His face was grim, if not from the accumulated poison, then from the betrayal. They finally understood why the chairman had been losing health these days, and it was definitely not because of stress.

"I know it’s rude for me to come during your gathering, but we have just found it a few hours ago," the prosecutor continued his deliberation while playing another voice recording file. "But the biggest reason is this."

[Stop telling me to be patient! I don’t have much time now, and neither do you guys!]

The chairman gritted his teeth. "Jeong Mina!"

Yes, the one who came to Daesung after the chairman warned his brother and watched him was the third wife.