A Fraudulence of Evidence
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It was late at night, and Jimin was waiting outside Minji's house. Once again, he wasn't there for his sister, but for her roommate. He had to see her. He couldn't stop thinking about her. For just one second, he had to see her. He leaned against his car as he blew smoke out of his mouth. He held the cigarette with his fingers until he noticed Ara walking out of the house. She looked at him as he dropped the cigarette and stepped on it. He blew the remaining smoke out of his mouth and smiled as Ara walked his way. Ara remained serious as he opened the door to the passenger seat so she could sit inside. He then walked over to the driver's side and got in the car to head over to the nearest park.

Once they reached their destination, they got out and walked to a nearby bench. They sat down and looked at the view in front of them. The night sky was beautiful, and the stars shined brighter than ever. However, Jimin ignored the sky and directed his view to Ara. How lovely her skin was when the light shone upon it. How gorgeous her eyes were when she looked directly at the stars. He was deeply in love with her, and only now he had discovered his feelings for his maid.

"Ara," he said, making her face him. "I'll be straightforward with you. I'm sure you figured it out already, and if you haven't, I just want to tell you I'm not playing with you. It's all completely different from that. I don't know how this happened, but I developed feelings for you—and yes, I know I have a fiancée, but I can't help but listen to my feelings instead of my company at this very moment. I don't want to be with Eunha, I want to be with you."

Ara went from looking at him to looking at the floor. She sighed as she started playing with her fingers. Deep down, Ara knew it wasn't just him; she felt something, too. After the few kisses they had shared and even the masquerade, she was nonstop thinking about him because she liked him. She just couldn't admit it because if she did, then that meant it was real. That her feelings were real, and she didn't want them to be. She felt stuck between two people who also felt something for her. Her heart was a mess.

"Does it bother you?" Jimin asked, slightly lowering his head to look at her. "If my feelings bother you, tell me. If you have someone else, just tell me. I couldn't help but feel this way for you. It's complicated, I know. My engagement is a bond with two companies, but I'm tired of it. I'm sick and tired of being Eunha's puppet. I've seen through her because of you. You took the video that day, and you endured its consequences. You're hurting because of me, and I understand why."

Suddenly, Ara lifted her head and said, "That's called pity. You pity me because of your fiancée. You feel pity because the woman you love is hurting someone who has helped you before. That's not love."

For a moment, Jimin remained silent. He didn't expect her to respond in such a way. He knew very well the difference between pity and love. If he felt pity, it meant his crazy beating heart was wrong. If he felt pity, it meant he was mistaken all along. He was sure of what he felt, and it definitely wasn't pity.

"You don't believe me," he mumbled, clear enough for Ara to hear. "I don't have a reason to lie. My feelings are real. I know how my heart beats when I'm with you and how it breaks when I'm not. If the passionate moments we shared meant nothing to you, then tell me now."

As soon as Ara was about to respond, she was interrupted by Jimin's phone ringing. He looked at it and saw Yoongi's name on the screen. He hung up, but his phone started ringing again. At that moment, he knew it had to be important if Yoongi kept calling, so he answered.

"Yes, Yoon—"

"J-Jimin, I don't know how this happened," he stuttered through the phone. "The Eunha case—it was leaked. Mr. Byun contacted me today and told me the news. Kang & Co. immediately stated that the information had been manipulated and that the leaked evidence was false. Eunha knows it's real, but she said it was false! Everything is out, Jimin. The news is everywhere."

Jimin suddenly felt chills flowing through his whole body, as he couldn't utter a word. He hung up the phone and started looking at the news. It was in every single headline.

"Breaking news: Park Corporation & Byun Corporation involved in a suspicious leak of manipulated evidence in light of the Kang & Co. mysterious lawsuit brought forward by attorney Mr. Byun," Jimin said as he read the headline. Ara looked at him, confused, as she moved closer to read the news from his phone.

He then read, "Kang & Co. CEO Kang Eunha denies all accusations and states that the leaked information was all false. She states it has targeted her image and ruined her company's reputation. When asked if this changes anything with her marriage to Mr. Park, she replied, 'This is a tough situation for all of us. My fiancé and I are trying to figure out how this all happened. He had never seen such evidence before. Someone must have left it in his office anonymously just to trick him. Mr. Byun contacted us about the lawsuit, and I can reassure you it is a civil lawsuit, nothing criminal. Kang & Co. has no hidden secrets. No, the marriage won't be canceled. It will be postponed until next month.' She also denied Mr. Park's involvement in the lawsuit and stated it was simply fake news surfacing in light of their sudden marriage after such a short time. The Byun & Park Corporations have yet to speak on such matters."

"They know what you had against them now," Ara said, still not knowing if she should believe that her father had died from a car crash or a murder. However, the whole scandal seemed convincing in a way. Eunha was so suspicious with her words. Jimin passed his fingers through his hair as he laid back on the bench. He didn't know what to do. All the information from the packet had been leaked, and he didn't even know how.

"They know about the mysterious guy, the autopsy report suspicion, the key details of the case. They know we're out for them, and they know it's for murder. Now, they're going to get rid of all the evidence we have," Jimin said as he sighed. "They're going to get rid of the autopsy report. They're going to deny that there was a mysterious guy and maybe even provide footage showing the cameras had been working that day. I already know what they're about to do. They will provide a fake recording and say it recorded no mysterious guy. They're going to pull so much shit all of a sudden."

Suddenly, he received another call, this time from Baekhyun. Ara noticed, so she snatched his phone, answered it, and said, "Let's meet at Jimin's office. We need to discuss the matter."

+

Jiyong had accepted the money. He had grabbed the envelope and handed his phone to Eunha so she could type in her number. At that moment, he had accepted being controlled heavily by her while he did the "task" assigned.

Later that same night, Jiyong rushed to the Kang Hospital to see his sister, who was in critical condition. She couldn't move, and she couldn't speak. He walked into the room with an envelope in his hand and tears in his eyes as he looked at his sister. She was deep asleep. She had been deep asleep for a few months.

"Jia, we need to go," he said, knowing he wouldn't get a response from her. He walked back out and did whatever he could to get his sister transferred to another hospital. He offered all the money he had in his envelope and gave it away that same night. Jia was going to be in a hospital in Busan. He signed some papers and even changed his sister's name, all under the pressure of one night.

She was no longer Jang Jia, but Han Sunhee.

+

Everyone in the room was shaking. Everyone was nervous. There was Jimin, Ara, Baekhyun, Yoongi, Seokjin, Namjoon and even Jungkook. Someone had leaked the case, but no one dared to point fingers. No one except for Baekhyun. It was his case, and he was understandably upset.

"Jimin, I think you have a mole," Baekhyun said, unironically not knowing he had one in his company for years. "My current case documents always stay in my safe, and only I know the code to access it. It's in my mind. Not even Ara knows it. No one could have taken the papers from my office. That is, unless you cracked the safe open if you knew the papers were inside. I sent you a copy of those documents. Do you think someone leaked them from your office?"

Jimin looked at him and was about to say something until he stopped himself. The documents had been on his desk since he had left work the day before. Anyone could have walked inside his office and leaked the information. Suddenly, a strange thought crossed his mind. He recalled the moment he had told Dongwoo about the case. He didn't want to think that Dongwoo could've done it, but he couldn't think of anyone else. No one walked into his office. He trusted all his employees; they were like family. No one disrespected his privacy, so he never locked his office.

"It makes sense," Jungkook said. "We just have to find who it is. If there is a mole, then it has to be Eunha's. Think about it. The information was leaked a few hour ago, but Eunha was already prepared to release a statement regarding the case. She had to have time to prepare herself. She even provided camera footage to back up her story. Eunha knew all about it and planned to do it for this reason. So that she can refute everything we ever had and leave us with nothing."

"I mean, we all know it's fake, but nothing I say about the mysterious man will be valid now," Namjoon said. "Since she provided the footage, I'll look like I'm making it all up."

Ara didn't know what to say. There were so many people in the room, and all of them were working together as they believed that her own father had been murdered. All shared the same thoughts, and there was even a witness—her ex. At that moment, Ara felt that there could be a possibility, a slight chance, that her father really could have been murdered that night.

"I'll hold a meeting tomorrow morning," Jimin finally said after a while of silence. "I apologize for this whole situation. It's all my fault. I should have kept those documents somewhere safe. Somewhere no one could have found them. We're stuck now because of me."

The room went silent. It wasn't Jimin's fault, but no one had the energy to say anything when they knew the investigation was crumbling in front of their eyes. That was when Seokjin stood up. He had recalled his conversation with Yeri, which he had forgotten to tell Yoongi about.

"Byun Haneul's autopsy report—it was a fraud," Seokjin suddenly said, gathering everyone's attention. Ara stood up, confused, as Baekhyun walked over to him. Seokjin continued as he said, "I talked to my friend Yeri today—she has worked with Dr. Choi for years. She said they had found another person's skin cells under his fingernails, probably from resisting or scratching someone else. Dr. Choi had never in his career made a single typo in his reports. She found his conclusion of blunt force trauma to be suspicious and thought to herself that it had been a murder. He could have tried to hide it if he knew something. He probably knew who did it."

"We could use that!" Yoongi yelled. "What if she releases a statement saying that, in her expert opinion, she believes he died from resisting a murder? She could mention how the skin—"

"We can't use her," Seokjin said, interrupting him. "She works with him. If she makes a statement like that and we have no proof, then she could lose her job. If he's actually involved, then we don't know what he is capable of. She could lose way more than her job if we do this."

Then again, everyone went silent. The situation was a mess, and no one knew what to do. So much evidence was surfacing, and Ara believed it. The doctor, the autopsy report, the skin cells. Most importantly, if there was a mole willing to leak the documents that Jimin and Baekhyun had, then the information had to have some truth or value to it.

"The police department already stated that additional evidence was found. It's all a lie, but no one has to know. We could keep Yeri's words as the testimony only if we desperately need it, but we need to find something more," Yoongi said.

It was true. They had the skin cells and Yeri's words as backup, but they didn't have solid proof because the skin cells were never in the autopsy report, and Yeri couldn't be exposed either.

"I have an idea," Baekhyun said. Everyone turned to face him as he added, "I will release a statement. Eunha will not be expecting this."

+

Early in the morning the following day, Ara tried calling Jiyong for a study session, but he wouldn't answer. It felt weird, but she shrugged it off, thinking he was probably busy. She left him a few messages and then went to the cafe to study. The news was playing on the television as Ara worked on her homework.

"The Byun Corporation has released a statement saying the leaked reports from the case of Kang & Co. were not real. The CEO, Byun Baekhyun, denied all allegations, stating, 'The leaked evidence is not real, and the suspicions about the case are not true either. Kang & Co. is not being charged with murder. It is a civil lawsuit.' The Park Corporation has denied all allegations as well and stated that the leaked reports were fake. The CEO, Park Jimin, also confirms that the corporation will take legal action against the person or persons who leaked the documents. After all of this, the lawsuit with Kang & Co. remains unknown to the public."

At that same moment, the news reached every person in the country. Those who were close, and those who were far. The public didn't know what to believe in anymore. It was a constant back and forth. They only trusted the statement Yoongi's department had made days before the leak. The Byun Haneul investigation began when Yoongi released his statement about the additional information left out of the autopsy report. He had made that statement without solid proof, but he knew he was close to finding it. Everyone believed his words. It was Min Yoongi, the trusted chief police officer of the Seoul Police Department.

The news had gone so far that it had reached one person in particular. One person who was very far from where Byun Haneul's murder had taken place.

He sat on his couch eating chips when the sudden news interrupted his program. The name Kang & Co. sent shivers down his spine. The Byun Corporation made him recall a very important man he had seen in a hospital years before. Byun Haneul.

The man knew that the Byun Corporation was denying the allegations on purpose. He knew they needed help, and he knew the lawsuit was fake. It was just a strategy to change everything to a criminal offense at the last minute. The charges had to be for murder. He knew all of that because he was there the night of the attack. He saw the mysterious man. The mysterious man who was wearing all black as he ran away from the helpless intern. He saw his face, and he saw him run away.

Even though it was too late, he wanted to do something right. He knew it wasn't wise to run away like last time. Not again. He grabbed his phone and immediately booked a train ticket all the way to Seoul.

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