Hazardous Concentration Chapter 17

“Well, that’s hard to say. The story might get quite long, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly right now.”

The moment Assemblyman Jung replied kindly, he felt the sliding door behind him open smoothly. Assemblyman Jung, who had been facing the door, looked up, narrowed his eyes slightly, and teased, “You rascal, you promised to buy me a meal since it’s been a while, but are you going to just leave me neglected like this?”

That was when it happened.

“I’m sorry, Uncle.”

Eunhoo, who had been silently clearing the empty plates and tray, froze.

“Never mind, never mind. Sit down quickly. The food looks hearty and delicious.”

“Yes. It’s a place Hyunseong found out about; he said it was quite good.”

It must just be a similar voice. There’s no way he would be here. Just as Eunhoo was about to creak his head up with that thought, his gaze met a pair of black eyes.

Thump. His heart sank.

Eunhoo’s mind was in total chaos. He knew his restless behavior must look suspicious, but he simply couldn’t calm down.

What do I do? His brown pupils were trembling uncontrollably. Just as he bit his lip in anxiety, Yeo Taejun brushed past him.

“The taste of the food is one thing, but they say the pine needle wine here is exquisite.”

Yeo Taejun continued talking as he sat down across from Assemblyman Jung.

Did he not recognize me?

Come to think of it, the lighting in the room that day was dim, and Yeo Taejun had been excessively intoxicated. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that he hadn’t recognized him. Coming here might have been pure coincidence.

“The dessert is fine, so you may leave now. That’s okay, right, Uncle?”

“Hm? Well, I suppose so.”

Eunhoo hurriedly left the room while clutching his pounding heart.

Joo Eunhoo had left the room in a hurry, his face pale as if he had seen a ghost. Yeo Taejun recalled the face he had just seen and slowly ran his tongue over his canine tooth.

Seeing Joo Eunhoo in a sober state, he seemed much more fragile than he had in the photos. Moreover, with his small face and fair skin, he gave off a strong overall impression of being pretty.

As he met those clear, transparent eyes that had disturbed his mind for days, he knew immediately. It was definitely a face he had seen before. However, since he wasn’t sure exactly where he had seen him, he was silently digging through his brain when Assemblyman Jung’s voice drifted from across the table.

“Taejun-ah.”

As he looked up, Assemblyman Jung asked with a worried face.

“Gijoon, is he doing very poorly?”

Assemblyman Jung knew very well how much Yeo Taejun cherished Yeo Gijoon. When Yeo Gijoon was going through his rebellious phase, even his father, Chairman Yeo Jiseung, couldn’t touch him easily—but Yeo Taejun was different. He caught him every time he ran away from home, and when problems arose at school, he went and solved them himself. Even if it was a younger brother with a large age gap, it was usually difficult for a brother to look after everything from one to ten like that, but he had done it all.

“I heard he regained consciousness?”

“Yes.”

Although it was a serious accident that required the car to be scrapped, Yeo Gijoon’s condition was not critical. Of course, that was only in terms of whether his life was in danger or not; the injuries themselves were not light. Bruises were a given, and sprains or fractures were found in his legs and arms, but the most severely injured area was his collarbone. As luck would have it, the sharp bone from the fracture had pierced through the skin and protruded outwards. Still, the fortunate part was that there was no damage to his nerves.

“He is recovering now. Chief Seo is having a hard time nursing him.”

Yeo Taejun rubbed his brow with his index finger.

“Still, it’s a relief he was discovered quickly. I heard the place where the accident happened was on a secluded road.”

If it were in Korea, it would be one thing, but it was a stroke of heavenly luck that he was discovered immediately after the accident in the U.S. Especially if it was during the dawn hours.

However, there are no such coincidences in this world. The reason Yeo Gijoon could be discovered early was because there were eyes watching over him. When Yeo Taejun sent Yeo Gijoon to study abroad, he sent not only Chief Seo but also other subordinates along with him. Thanks to that, they were able to deal with this accident quickly.

“You said it was Executive Director Lee Jaewook who ordered the accident?”

“Yes.”

Assemblyman Jung twisted his lips.

“That bastard—he has no one else to touch, so he touches Gijoon. If you need my help, tell me anything. If it’s something I can do, I will naturally help.”

Yeo Taejun smiled quietly.

“Then, since you brought it up, may I ask for one favor?”

“Of course.”

The combination of TS—a group far removed from the law, or rather, the axis of evil—and a clean, righteous diplomat-turned-politician was bizarre by any standard. However, it wasn’t that strange if one considered that his grandfather’s most wholesome hobby was collecting talent. Realizing that times had passed where everything could be solved with a fist, unlike in the past, he had selected children with potential among orphans and sponsored them. The most prominent figure among them was Assemblyman Jung.

“It’s not about Lee Jaewook.”

His subordinates alone were more than enough to handle someone like that. Assemblyman Jung looked puzzled for a moment, then soon nodded, saying he understood.

“A few days ago, I went to [Desire] and ingested a drug. Someone played a prank on my drink.”

“What? Who would do such a thing! No, more importantly, are you alright?”

Assemblyman Jung looked at Yeo Taejun in surprise.

“Yes. I had a headache for two or three days, but I am fine. It didn’t even require a separate antidote, as if it naturally leaves and disappears over time. However, Dr. Kim’s words were different. He said it was an absolute miracle that it ended at that.”

“There is no harm in listening to Dr. Kim. You must be careful and even more careful.”

Assemblyman Jung scolded him with worry. Yeo Taejun nodded, as if he agreed.

“Yes. That is what I intend to do.”

But then, he frowned and said, “That is why I have something I need you to look into.”

He knew every type of drug circulating domestically. But the drug he ingested that day was a little different. It had typical properties of an aphrodisiac, such as stimulating the brain to amplify pleasure or inducing a state of intoxication via hallucinations, but there were suspicious parts.

Yeo Taejun had just felt dizzy as if drunk and had only slight damage to his memory, but a normal person would have shown dangerous symptoms such as coma, convulsions, or respiratory depression.

“The drug itself was revealed to be North Korean, but the refinement was done in Korea.”

Whether the threats worked or not, President Jeong had scraped together and brought the information related to the drugs not long after.

“Uncle, you have many acquaintances at the embassy, right?”

Although he had turned to politics, he still had a foot in that world. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs was also Assemblyman Jung’s peer.

“That’s true. Since all my acquaintances are there. Are you, by any chance, suspecting the embassy side?”

Assemblyman Jung asked with a serious face, but smuggling through the embassy was not the first time it had happened. For decades, drug smuggling through embassies and diplomats, which were relatively loosely monitored, had occurred occasionally.

“If you touch them, it will get noisy.”

“That is why I am asking you. I don’t particularly want to touch that side either.”

Even for Yeo Taejun, poking at government agencies—including the prosecution—was dangerous. He had no desire to do so. He just needed to know who had released the drugs at [Desire], and his own backyard at that.

Assemblyman Jung slowly stroked his chin as if thinking about something, then said, “…I will look into it.”

“Thank you. That gives me peace of mind.”

With this, one of today’s goals was achieved. Now, the only thing left….

“We haven’t seen each other in a while, yet I’ve only talked about dark matters.”

Yeo Taejun poured pine needle wine into Assemblyman Jung’s glass and asked, “Is Hee-ran doing well? I don’t think I’ve seen her since I saw her last year.”

As soon as his daughter’s name came up, Assemblyman Jung’s face softened noticeably.

“These days, she’s busier than me with her senior project or whatever. That’s exactly why I told her to just learn business administration instead of modern art.”

“Hee-ran is smart and capable. She’ll do well on her own. Please send me an invitation when you get one later.”

“Oh my, if I tell her that ‘Taejun Oppa’ is coming, our Hee-ran’s mouth will tear from smiling.”

“She’s a younger sister I cherish just as much as Gijoon. Of course I would.”