Hammurabi Style - Chapter 18

Attendance was full at the funeral at the Ohsung hospital.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Of course, I should come… It’s for my friend, Daehong.”

“My father must be happy.”

The chairman of Pia group bowed in front of the portrait of the deceased man and then held Jinbum Park’s hands.

“He has raised you very well. I’m sure you can take good care of the Ohsung group. He must’ve left without any worries.”

Jinbum just bowed without any words.

*

“It was tough.”

“You did well, sir.”

Jinbum bowed several hundred times to the people who visited on the first day of the funeral.

After finishing carrying a coffin out of the house and cremating his father, he patted his lower back.

The manager was sucking up towards him and Jinbum let out a sigh.

“But I’m relieved that he left at the right time.”

“Indeed. He hung on until his son’s succession, inheritance tax evasion, and etc were completed without problems.”, an executive director replied back.

At that moment, a sharp-looking guy wearing glasses opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry, but can I leave now? An important sample is going to be ready today.”

The atmosphere became frozen suddenly.

“Mr. Lee, don’t be in such a hurry. From now on, the new era of Jinbum Park is here. If it was a national holiday, it would be like the National Foundation Day of Korea. Even though it is an important experiment, you should stay for today.”

The manager was trying to change the atmosphere.

However, Mr. Lee was still standing still.

Jinbum stopped his steps and looked back towards Mr. Lee.

“Are you checking the results?”

“Yes, sir. You can expect it.”

Jinbum Park smiled brightly.

It was his brightest smile since the funeral.

“Good. You should go.”

“Yes. I will see you later.”

Mr. Lee disappeared in the other direction.

Jinbum turned around and walked again as if nothing had happened.

His subordinates, who didn’t know what to do at that moment, followed their new chairman hurriedly.

***

The next day of the funeral.

There was a VIP meeting room that only reliable people close to the chairman could come to.

Many people already sat down in the meeting room.

The manager finished preparing the screen and presentation, gave a deep, and started the meeting.

“Now, the new chairman is coming.”

People stood up altogether and then sat down after Jinbum Park came in and sat down on his seat.

The manager standing in front of a presentation table turned on a laser pointer.

“Let me start the briefing.”

“Um.”

“We are going to see a video first.”

A projector was showing the video on the screen.

The video looked like a recording of a security camera that was zooming in and showing one person.

The guy pulled his baseball cap lower and had a tight mask that was covering more than half of his face.

No one could see his face.

They could only guess that person was a man by looking at his height and body.

He came into the hospital through the spinning door, looked around, and went to the basement.

Jinbum watched the video and mumbled.

“It’s around the control room. I guess the video is going to be over soon if he went to disable the security cameras.”

When a security guard passed by the man, he followed after the security guard secretly.

The security guard entered his card key and went inside of the control room and then another security guard relieved his shift and came out of the room.

As soon as the security guard came out, the man approached him.

The security guard wavered and fainted at the same time the man got closer to him.

The man caught the security guard’s body quickly. He took the security guard’s card key and opened the control room while supporting him.

Then, it was just like what Jinbum Park said.

The video ended right there.

Jinbum Park pointed to the manager and asked a question.

“Did the guards fall asleep? Or…”

“Sleeping pills were not detected in their blood. I think he used his skill.”

“Hm. Let me see when the guard fell again.”

The manager rewound the video and played back the moment.

“Keep repeating until I tell you to stop.”

Jinbum Park watched it almost 10 times and nodded his head.

“I see he definitely didn’t use any tools. Skills…. Can you zoom in more and play it again?”

“We have tried to zoom in more, but the security camera couldn’t do that.”

When the manager zoomed in the video, the screen broke into small pixels due to the low resolution.

Jinbum Park nodded his head.

“Let’s just pass this for now. Next.”

The manager pressed a remote to turn to the next scene.

The screen had a video of a security camera when Dongsoo Choi died.

“Next, it’s a comparison between the control room incident and Dongsoo Choi’s incident.”

“They look almost the same.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think they are the same person?”

The manager hesitated for a second and then opened his mouth.

“Yes, our strategy team concluded that way.”

“The reason is?”

“They have in common that they wore a similar outfit and also approached the important people in Ohsung who were ill in bed.”

“How are you going to explain the skill’s difference? Dongsoo Choi’s cause of death was illness. Then, are you saying the guards fell asleep with some kind of sleeping illness too?”

“No, sir…”

Jinbum Park opened a bottle of water next to him and drank it. Then, he continued his questions.

“Anyways, you are saying he seems like he might have a skill that makes a person sleep. Ok. Then, what was the reason why he broke the security cams when he came to my father?”

“In Dongsoo Choi’s case, he was in the normal patient room so the suspect could easily enter. However, the previous chairman was in the suite room… We guess it was to break through the security.”

“To break through the security… What about his motive you inferred?”

“His motive may be… revenge.”

“Revenge. I understand he could do that to Dongsoo Choi. However, I don’t understand that about my father.”

Jinbum Park tilted his head.

“You are right, sir. He harmed Dongsoo Choi himself, but he didn’t do anything to the previous chairman.”

“Indeed. I heard he didn’t do anything to my father and just left.”

“Yes… I think he went inside to take revenge but changed his mind after seeing the previous chairman in a coma. In fact, Doctor Park conducted an autopsy. We didn’t find any issues with the doctor’s opinion.”

“Right. The hospital director confirmed it.”

 Jinbum Park tapped the desk several times.

‘He changed his mind?’

‘No way.’

If it’s the same suspect with the one in Dongsoo’s case…

Jinbum Park giggled.

‘He changed his mind just because of that. It doesn’t make sense when I look at what he did to Dongsoo Choi.’

At that moment, something passed through Jinbum’s mind quickly.

He suddenly stood up.

‘What if he didn’t change his mind?’

‘He must know that my father was in a coma.’

‘That freak did all this just to see his face? No, I don’t think so.’

He narrowed his eyes.

‘It seemed like nothing had happened, but what if it turns out, something actually happened?’

‘What if he did something and it just didn’t leave any evidence?’

‘What if… he really came to take revenge and he had succeeded?’

‘Why did he break the security cameras? Is it really to break through?’

“Hey, Mr. Kwan.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you call the person with psychometry again? The same person you called for Dongsoo Choi?”

“No, sir. He is planning to stay abroad for a while, so I called someone else… But this guy’s skill is kind of ambiguous. He is like a downgraded version of the one for Dongsoo Choi.”

“Just give me the point.”

“He can read an object’s memories, but he can only see from its perspective. He can’t see if its view is blocked. It’s like an through the eyes of the object.”

“So?”

“We have tried the bed and the chair, but he could only see the guy’s butt from the chair and the previous chairman’s back from the bed.”

Jinbum’s eyes sparkled.

“Can you tell him to read the ceiling’s memory?”

“Memories stay only when a person touches that object. He said he can’t see anything if there is no memory. If you want him to, we can… but I don’t think he touched the ceiling.”

The manager showed unwillingness and Jinbum started thinking for a long time again.

‘If I’m right… in order to take his revenge he must have needed to take this action.’

Jinbum slowly opened his mouth.

“This time… tell the psychometry user…”

He drank one sip of the water and continued.

“…To try my father’s respirator.”

“Respirator? Oh…! I will… I will contact him right away!”

***

The manager went to the Ohsung hospital with the psychometry user again and Jinbum Park walked around the meeting room.

Step Step Step Step-

After a noisy stepping sound, the manager hurriedly came back into the room.

“Sir… Huff. Huff.”

Jinbum Park handed him the water bottle he was drinking.

The manager gulped several times and put it on the desk.

“You were right. The psychometry user said,”

All the eyes in the meeting room turned towards the manager.

“At some point, something he had to see wasn’t available to be seen and something he hadn’t seen was available to be seen.”

Jinbum knitted his eyebrows.

“Just get to the point.”

“There was a memory that the respirator was taken off from the previous chairman.”

Everyone in the room was shocked, but only Jinbum was annoyed.

“Obviously. Are you going to report it this way?”

“Excuse me?”

“After my father passed away, someone had to take it off. That’s why it has that kind of memory. Hey, are you playing around? Is that your best?”

“I’m… I’m sorry, sir, but… it was taken off twice.”

After the sweating manager’s words, everyone was disturbed.

Twice?

Then, it meant the respirator was taken off before the previous chairman died while the suspect was in the room.

Jinbum turned his face to the hospital director.

“Doctor.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Could my father survive for a short time without the respirator?”

“It is impossible. If it was really taken off, it would be a code blue which means our medical team would get the emergency alarm and rush to the suite room.”

“Right? But it didn’t happen.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think it means?”

The hospital director moved his mouth slightly and answered him.

“If what the manager is saying is true…, it means the previous chairman was in a condition that he could breathe for himself.”

“Right?”

“But…”

“What is it?”

He hesitated for a moment and continued.

“As you know… I’m the one who removed the respirator from the previous chairman and even conducted his autopsy. This situation is… unconvincing.”

“Yea? I think I can accept it.”

Jinbum Park smiled.

All the clues connected in his mind.

Jinbum opened his mouth and shocked everyone.

“I think I know who he is.”

The meeting room became a buzz.