A Ruckus in the Courtroom
───────────────────────────────────

When the first case closed, another one opened soon after—and another one. Eunha felt suffocated with court documents and procedures for multiple weeks while awaiting her trials for assault and homicide in a jail cell. She was too dangerous to be let go, so when she requested a new bail, the court rejected it. It shocked Jimin how she still had money after the last court ruling.

Minho was dealing with the same lawsuit Eunha had dealt with already. There was one difference, however. He was involved in something much bigger than a simple leak.

"Mr. Kwon was the CFO of the Byun Corporation until a few days ago when I caught him red-handed in my office searching through my documents," Baekhyun said. "Around six years ago, he became involved in an intricate scheme tied to an illegal acquisition of Byun Corporation's stocks. Illegal, I say, because he leaked information related to the company and took part in illegal insider trading alongside Kang & Co. members."

The man sitting at the defendant's side of the court stayed silent as Baekhyun provided evidence.

"There was a suspicious increase in the Byun Corporation's stocks, acquired by Kang & Co. before the announcement of our highly anticipated biotech advancements in Byun Pharmaceuticals. The stocks were acquired by Kang Sarah, CEO of Kang & Co. at that time."

Minho finally looked up at Baekhyun when he mentioned Sarah. It was the only thing that mattered to him. The woman that wasn't present and that he couldn't protect from the law.

"SPD Chief Officer Min searched the defendant's phone and found a message from Ms. Kang Eunha—Mrs. Kang's daughter and the current CEO of Kang & Co. In the message, she had sent him an address that led to a psychiatric institution. The message also said, 'Look for Jung Yoonah, room one twenty-five.' When the police arrived at the institution, they discovered Jung Yoonah was actually Kang Sarah. Her arrest was immediate as she was also involved in an elaborate scheme with pathologist Dr. Choi Siwon, but that's another case that's happening at this very moment next door. Right now, my focus is Kwon Minho. It's clear he has a connection to the Kangs. He had deliberately sent transcripts of the board of directors' meetings and emailed documents with crucial information to Mrs. Kang for months before the announcement. His actions explicitly violate the contract he signed with the Byun Corporation."

At that very moment, as Baekhyun stated, the infamous court case of the pathologist Dr. Choi Siwon was taking place. Sarah was brought in because of the doctor's statements during the interrogation and the bank records. Siwon felt disturbed as soon as he saw her and couldn't help but throw her under the bus, claiming she had wired him money to falsify the autopsy reports. He excused his actions, saying he only accepted because he was 'blinded by the enticing amount of money'. At that same moment, he called her a 'manipulative narcissist'.

Sarah looked at him with pure anger and couldn't help but say, "You disgusting piece of shit. You dare call me a manipulative narcissist? You killed my fucking husband!"

The judge looked at her and then looked at Siwon. Even Hoseok froze in his seat when he heard those words.

"Your honor, he killed my husband—"

"Your honor, she ordered me to! She wanted to be the next CEO of that fucking outrageous company! Just check the money she wired to me when Kang Eunhyuk died! Check my recordings! I submitted a recording I took months before the murder. She states in it clearly that she wanted me to kill him and was going to send me money directly!"

Siwon wasn't lying. When Sarah reached out to him so that he could help her with Eunhyuk's death, he had recorded the conversation and even saved it just in case he ever needed it. Just in case he ever went down. He never planned to go to prison alone. Suddenly, his hands turned into fists as he was on the verge of exploding.

"Just look at her! She is living proof of a manipulative narcissist! She's probably also involved in the Kwon Minho case, for all I know! They were lovers for years! She probably wanted to kill Eunhyuk because he figured it out! Maybe she wanted to kill him after she figured out he still slept with other women, or wait, might I say, other younger girls. They're all fucking crazy. That family is fucking crazy!"

The court had turned into a ruckus, as it was just bickering from both sides, back and forth. Both of them had committed perjury, but at the end of the day, they spoke the truth as one exposed the other. Sarah was now facing not only charges for illegal insider trading and conspiracy but also perjury, bribing, and homicide. Hoseok didn't know if he needed to request a break or if he needed to request the judge to silence them. Even the judge was unsure what to do since both had revealed so much.

"That family is such a fucking joke," Siwon continued. "Her own daughter contacted me to kill Byun Haneul once! When I said I wouldn't kill someone again for them, she contacted someone else. However, I fell short and succumbed to her dirty money when she bribed me to change the autopsy results. So I did it."

The court had taken a break right after the last statement of Siwon. Hoseok had requested to bring Eunha as a witness to testify and possibly confirm Siwon's details in court. The judge allowed the witness to take the stand, so the officers transferred her from the jail to the courtroom. She sat down with cuffs on her hands, and the court session began again.

"Ms. Kang Eunha," Hoseok said, receiving a scoff from her. "Dr. Choi stated before the break that you contacted him and asked him to be an accomplice in the supposed murder of Byun Haneul. That you bribed him so he could change the autopsy results? I must ask you, is this true, given the recent opening of the Byun Haneul case?"

Eunha shook her head immediately and said, "You've got the wrong Kang. It was her."

She pointed her finger at her mother as Siwon scoffed at her behavior. She was just like Sarah. Lying until the very last moment to get some charges off her shoulders.

"My mother killed my father and Byun Haneul," she said. "Just look at the autopsy reports! They're very similar. My poor father died at the hands of that witch!"

At that moment, Sarah felt a sudden overflowing rage throughout her body and smacked the table with her hand as she stood up and yelled, "You sick bitch! Your poor father? Guess what, Eunha? That man you so desperately call 'father' does not share a single fucking gene with you! That man you never even remotely cared about had no relationship with you. I made that happen! I made him your father because I couldn't have a bastard child! You don't deserve to be the heir!"

Sarah's anger left her mouth with a simple but lengthy laugh as she threw herself back in the chair. Eunha froze with her words. She knew her mother was an expert at lying, but her words sounded very convincing. They stung her for a moment. She didn't know what was happening. Hoseok didn't know what was happening anymore. He surely had heard a lot of terrible details during his court trials, but that was something else.

"I hope you open your eyes, my child," Sarah continued. "Your fucking father is right next door!"

She wasn't lying. Minho was Eunha's father. Their affair had been consecutive since before Sarah's marriage to Eunhyuk. After all, she was a prostitute, and Minho was her client, just like Eunhyuk was. Eunha was Minho's daughter, and even he knew that. He wanted to stay with Sarah for all those years because of their special bond. A child. One he always despised after she grew up full of hated and bitterness.

After hearing that confession, Hoseok stood up and walked over to Sarah. He looked at her and said, "Mrs. Kang, if Eunha, as you say, is Mr. Kwon's daughter, then is that why you wanted to get rid of Mr. Kang?"

Sarah glared at him but then focused her view on Eunha. She felt dazed as she stared at the floor in front of her. Nothing, but also everything went through her mind. Sarah felt no guilt. Eunha had to know eventually. It had been too long. She turned to Hoseok and leaned back before she said, "I had a suspicion. You see, Eunhyuk wasn't the amazing man everyone thought he was. I learned that the hard way. When I worked as a prostitute in my teenage years, I thought I was the only young girl he slept with, but I wasn't. I needed money. It was everything for me. I never fell for Eunhyuk. He was just an escape. He was a client, and so was Minho. When I got pregnant, I knew who my baby's father was, and it wasn't the man I was going to marry. Through the years, I figured out that Eunhyuk was still soliciting prostitutes, mainly young girls. Underage girls. He had an obsession."

Suddenly, her words became too heavy to say. Tears rolled down her eyes as she gripped her shirt and said, "I saw that asshole with another young girl once in our room. When she left, I stopped her at the front door and asked how old she was. She was thirteen. Fucking thirteen. His own child was thirteen during that time. I felt disgusted. Brutally shaken. But I did nothing. For a while, I thought I was the issue. Maybe I wasn't pretty like before? That year, I got a couple of surgeries to fix my face and then my body. However, the girls kept coming. All he did was humiliate me whenever he saw my surgical scars. I wanted to kill him every single night. I wanted to strangle him in his sleep. You have no clue how many times I dreamt of that. But I didn't."

"So you're saying Mr. Kang was mentally abusive while he slept with underage girls?" Hoseok asked, and she nodded.

"Mentally and physically," she replied. "I remained married because I needed money, but I slept with Minho, and he knew that because he saw our messages once. When Eunha was in her early twenties, he confronted me about it. We had an entire argument, and I confronted him about those underage girls. That was the first time he slapped me. After a while, he kept referring to me as a 'slut' and bringing back my past as a sex worker. Whenever he remembered my affair with Minho, he would throw me in bed and do unspeakable things to me to remind me who I 'belonged to'. To remind me why I was brought into this world. I was merely an object to please him and only him. Soon after, I called Dr. Choi and wired him the money."

A tear went down Eunha's face this time. Hoseok knew there was nothing else for him to say. After the witnesses were called down from the stand and Hoseok displayed the evidence, the judge came to a verdict and said, "After considering all the evidence and testimony presented, the court finds the defendant, Choi Siwon, guilty on all original counts, including falsification of autopsy reports and acceptance of monetary bribes. Given the seriousness of these offenses, the court sentences the defendant to a consecutive twenty-eight years in prison for the crimes committed in his entrusted position. As for the additional charge of first-degree murder added for Kang Eunhyuk's death, the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The plea deal was revoked because of perjury charges, fined one hundred thousand dollars. Any assets seized through the monetary bribes will be confiscated, and the defendant's medical license will be revoked. The defendant will be financially responsible for compensating the Byun family."

Siwon looked at Sarah in pure anger as the judge gave the verdict. It was all her fault.

"As for Mrs. Kang Sarah, the court finds her guilty of conspiracy to falsify an autopsy report, solicitation of murder, and bribery. Given the severity of these crimes, the court sentences Mrs. Kang Sarah to fifteen years for conspiracy to falsify the autopsy reports and life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Mrs. Kang will be fined two million dollars for the bribery and conspiracy charges, and any assets seized through illegal means will be confiscated. Ms. Kang Eunha will be fined fifty thousand dollars for perjury charges and will have to await her court trial for her final verdict. Court is adjourned."

+

The day after the trials, Jimin, Baekhyun, and Ara reunited at Jimin's house for dinner and sat together at the dining table. Since Jimin and Baekhyun were constantly working together in a professional environment, Ara never had the time to tell her brother of her relationship with Jimin—which wasn't even a relationship yet. She knew she wasn't forced to tell him, but she wanted to include her brother in her life for once. She wanted to have a proper bond with him.

"Did you guys see any new updates from Dr. Choi's trial?" Ara asked, simply getting the two men in front to shake their heads as they focused on the food.

"It's a closed session," Jimin replied. "I haven't had time to ask Hoseok. He's been extremely busy these days."

"My trial took place right next to the trial for Dr. Choi," Baekhyun said. "Before I entered my courtroom, I saw the police bring in Mrs. Kang. After that, all I heard was that they agreed to make the trials public because it centered on a highlighted murder."

Ara nodded. That was when she realized how massive her father's murder had been. She only ever saw it from one perspective: her loving father was dead. She never saw it as the murder of a multi-millionaire executive crucial to the economy.

Jimin saw how she remained silent and said, "Don't worry, Ara. They'll pay for what they've done."

He smiled as Baekhyun looked at the small interaction. Ara's cheeks turned slightly pink as she smiled back at him. He then looked at Jimin as he kept looking at her. Baekhyun didn't want to say anything, but he knew something was up. After the dinner, he excused himself and said he had to return to his office as he had some pending work. Ara walked him to his car, and he stood outside it, leaving her confused. She furrowed her eyebrows and pointed at the car, getting no reaction from him.

"How much do you like him?" he asked as he crossed his arms. "Is it because of how much he has helped you? Is it because he's handsome? What is it?"

Ara gulped at the sudden questions. She turned to the house and saw Jimin waiting there with a smile. She then turned to Baekhyun and said, "He's just powerful."

Baekhyun chuckled as she then said, "No. Not just money-wise. I'm referring to status-wise, skill-wise, communication-wise, intelligence-wise, ability-wise, charisma-wise. He has everything. A man who has everything and doesn't need anything else just needs a good person to stick beside him. I want to see if I can be that someone for him."

Ara was right. Jimin had everything he could have, but with the wrong person by his side, he could lose it all in a second. He needed someone that complemented him to stick by his side. Ara had experienced the cruel aftermath of sticking next to someone who didn't complement her. She knew how it felt and experienced how it left her without anything. Jimin, however, was still standing and smiling. Of course, he never lost as much as she did.

Baekhyun smiled at her as he opened the door to his car and got in. When he left, Ara walked back to the front door to where Jimin was and walked with him inside.

"Did he say anything about us?" Jimin asked, but Ara shook her head and just smiled. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she got closer to his body, just so that there would be no space left in between.

Jimin enjoyed the sudden action and wrapped his arms around her waist in response. He left a peck on her lips and said, "Can you stay here tonight?"

───────────────────────────────────
• 2800 •