To Apprehend the Big Fish
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When the break was announced, Ara quickly pulled Baekhyun to the corner to ask him what he thought. Eunha had pulled a last-minute strategy to discredit Jisung, and there wasn't much to connect her with Sunggyu and the murder. Hoseok had barely shared any details from the case, which worried Ara. She thought that maybe there wouldn't be enough to punish Eunha once and for all. Just maybe.

"I believe Hoseok knows what he's doing," Baekhyun said. "We don't know how things are going to end. We can only see how they progress. Hoseok was never specific about his plan, but I know he's starting small. Jimin told me to trust him, and even Seokjin backed up his words. I just need to see it to believe it. Sunggyu is already guilty, and we all know that, but we need Eunha. Hoseok is focusing on the body first and the evidence found with the report, but little by little, it'll progress to something even bigger: Eunha."

Jimin approached them and stood beside Ara as he said, "I've always put my trust in Hoseok's words. You should never fully trust lawyers, but he desperately wants a promotion, so he'll outdo himself with this case. He's mainly doing it for himself."

Baekhyun shrugged as Jimin turned to face Ara. He softly smiled at her, and she did the same. For a few seconds, both had completely forgotten about Baekhyun's presence, and he noticed. To gather their attention, he slightly coughed, and both turned to face him.

At that moment, a wave of reporters came rushing towards them. The cameras were flashing, and the reporters were questioning—asking how it felt to reopen the case, asking how it felt to see the murderer face-to-face. Ara didn't answer, and Baekhyun didn't give it any thought. They walked back to their seats as Hoseok returned to his side of the courtroom. The judge was back, and the court was again in session. As soon as it started, Hoseok stood up and displayed a document on the monitor screen.

"The correct autopsy report stated there were skin cells and hair follicles found underneath Mr. Byun's nails. When they were compared to the defendant, Mr. Kim's, it turned out that they were indeed his."

Once Hoseok finished explaining the information to the jury, he walked over to Sunggyu and said, "Since you confessed you murdered Mr. Byun, I must ask, was there any form of resistance from his side?"

Sunggyu nodded and explained, "When I took out the syringe, I administered the drug through the IV, just like we had planned. I was quiet and careful not to wake him, but he still opened his eyes. It was like he knew. He pulled me by the hair, but I fought back. When I removed his hand, he tried to scream for help, but I covered his mouth. He still tried to resist and even grabbed onto my arms to stop me. It ended up leaving a deep scratch."

At that moment, Sunggyu lifted his arm sleeve, demonstrating his scratches to the judge and the jury. "He struggled to resist. I tend to scratch my arms when anxious, which is why the scratches never leave my body. The drugs Eunha would give me made me scratch myself more often."

Hearing that made Ara sick to her stomach. Every single detail made her feel lightheaded again. She only had one lingering thought in her mind: right after her father's death, she married her own father's murderer. Just right after it happened. She admired him; she loved him; she slept with him. All of it left her disgusted with herself. Her father would have felt disgusted by her.

That was when Hoseok returned to his table and reached for a phone. He then switched the monitor screen, and a screenshot of a conversation appeared.

"This phone is Mr. Kim's," he said as he showed it to the jury. "He left it in his old house and bought a new one when he tried to flee. He cooperated with the police and told them where to find it and the important information it had inside. When the police found it, they discovered messages between Mr. Kim and Ms. Kang. Ones that have to do with Byun Haneul."

He zoomed into the conversation on the screen and read, "One down. I'll tell Minho to plan the daughter's marriage as soon as possible. Get ready to marry Byun Ara, Sunggyu. Soon, when this is all done, we will head toward the big fish."

Ara quickly turned to Baekhyun as he looked at her and nodded. It was true. Minho had planned the marriage, and he was foolish enough to accept it without asking for her opinion. Everything was connected now—the sudden marriage with the irrelevant man and the sudden loss of money.

"Kang Eunha sent this message right after Mr. Kim sent her a picture of the deceased to confirm his death. Later on, Mr. Kim married Ms. Byun, the daughter of the deceased, Mr. Byun."

Hoseok then walked over to Eunha and said, "Before the break, you stated there was no reason for you to harm Mr. Byun. That there was no connection with you in this case. Ms. Kang, are these your messages? Were you aware that Mr. Kim had murdered Mr. Byun? Did you order Mr. Kwon to plan a marriage between Mr. Kim and Ms. Byun? Did you order Mr. Kim to marry Ms. Byun? Did you really have nothing to do with any of this?"

Eunha scoffed and remained silent, refusing to talk. Hoseok knew talking to her was useless, so he walked to Sunggyu and asked, "Why did Ms. Kang send those messages, Mr. Kim? What's the story behind it?"

"There was a plan," he responded as he glared at Eunha. "We take over the Byun Corporation, infiltrating the company from every corner, whether with a mole or a marriage. The murder was just so that the company remained under a less experienced person: the oldest son. That way, we could manipulate the mind of that person and infiltrate ourselves into the family. The goal was to bring home the money since the Byun Corporation was as big as Mr. Park's before the sudden death of the CEO. When they lost their glory, the plan changed."

Suddenly, Eunha interrupted Sunggyu's testimony and yelled, "What the fuck, Sunggyu? You're acting like I'm a gold digger! Worse yet, a mastermind or something! Your honor, I'm not capable of doing any of this. Honestly, why would I even do it? Doesn't it sound hypocritical? I'm the daughter of Kang Eunhyuk!"

"No, Eunha. You're fucking not," Sunggyu yelled back at her. "You're the daughter of a middle-class man named Kwon Minho! The daughter of Kang Sarah, who's serving time in prison for the same reason you will accompany her! Get over your high and almighty status already. It's not doing you any good."

This time, Eunha glared at him as she bit her inner cheek in frustration. The judge struck the gavel, directing the courtroom to remain silent. For what seemed like an eternity, Eunha and Sunggyu remained fixated on each other. The look of hatred was plastered all over her face, while the look of irritation displayed all over his.

In a matter of seconds, he continued, "The marriage was planned so I could marry Ara and take all her money after the divorce. I really didn't want to marry someone I didn't love, but whenever I told Eunha I didn't want to, she would end up drugging me so that I wouldn't be thinking so much. After a couple of slaps and punches, I would submit to her. She would reassure me she would marry the oldest son of the Byun Company if it made me feel better, that she would marry him so we could be equal and steal money from both sides. However, she didn't. I ended up marrying Ara as planned. You can ask her. She's here."

Hoseok looked towards the judge, and she signaled to bring in the new witness. Ara looked at Jimin, confused, but he smiled reassuringly and said, "Tell them everything, just how it happened."

Ara stood up and walked to the witness stand to testify. She took the oath and sat down before Hoseok asked, "Ms. Byun, you were mentioned in these text messages between Mr. Kim and Ms. Kang over five years ago. Do you mind telling the court how this relationship with Mr. Kim came about?"

Ara nodded and said, "When my brother took over the company, he was very new to it, so his board of directors easily manipulated him. They told him it was time for something new to gain everyone's attention. When my brother told me about the marriage, I couldn't believe his words. Marriage right after a funeral? I refused, but it didn't matter because the board of directors had forced him to plan the engagement. A few months after my father's death, I was introduced to Mr. Kim on my birthday. He didn't have the same amount of wealth as me or a company under his name. I'm sure he didn't even have a family. Apparently, he was close to our level, or maybe influential, I don't know, but the board of directors demanded that I marry him. We dated, and I fell in love, but it was all so short. From one day to the next, things went out of hand. He would be distant and wouldn't come home. Right after our marriage, I was hit with a divorce, and my bank account was left at zero. I had to drop out of college because I couldn't afford it."

Satisfied with her response, Hoseok turned to Sunggyu and asked, "What happened to all the money seized from Ms. Byun?"

Sunggyu looked at Eunha, giving her one last chance for her to confess. For her to even say something, but she didn't. She knew he was staring at her, but she didn't give him the attention he wanted.

"The money I took was all for Eunha. I gave it all to her, and then she gave me forty percent. Whenever I did something for her, whether it was marriage or murder, she gave me forty percent of what we gained. However, when I counted the money and calculated how much we took from the beginning, I realized she gave me less than forty percent. It was twenty. I never argued about it. I never confronted her about it. She wanted all the Byun Corporation's money to join the one percent club and reach the big fish: Park Jimin."

Jimin scoffed when he heard that. He couldn't believe Eunha had planned such a scheme for years. At that moment, he remembered when he met her. He remembered how he met her—that one percent club. It all made sense now. It was all planned, everything. One step at a time, the ultimate plan was to seize him.

"Mr. Park owns the most out of any other powerful person here. We all know that. She wanted more and more, so she made Mr. Park her target. Knowing he organized a one percent masquerade event every year, she knew she had to join the one percent club and make her way to him. She had to seduce him."

"That's a lie!" Eunha yelled again, gathering everyone's attention and even startling Hoseok. "I joined the one percent club because I had the right to do so. I was already rich. Does no one fucking realize I'm Kang Eunha? I am the legal daughter of Kang Eunhyuk, the former CEO of Kang & Co. Of course, I was already rich. I went to the masquerade and met him there. He was attractive and all, so I fell. We talked for a bit, and after that, I left. It was a coincidence that my board of directors wanted me to marry him."

At that moment, Sunggyu let out a soft laugh, interrupting her words. Eunha rolled her eyes at his behavior as he declared, "Yes, Eunha, you're a 'Kang' by law, but not even all your father's money could ever be enough to reach the Park Corporation so easily. He was never even invited to the one percent club. Your mother, either. You joined because of the money you stole! It's so obvious, Eunha. You infiltrated the one percent club because you wanted him badly. You went there to seduce him, and you didn't have a problem figuring out who he was because of his speech at the ceremony. When the event ended and everyone removed their masks, you were relieved that it was him. You told me all of this, Eunha. You even brought up the marriage idea to your directors, and they all agreed because he was rich. They were blinded by the money, just like you. A perfect combination of CEO and directors."

Jimin remembered everything. Right after he met her at the event, there was already a rumor about a marriage announcement. He denied it since he wasn't aware of it, but when Kang & Co.'s representatives appeared at his office, they informed him of the decision. He ended up thinking about it for a week, and after researching Kang & Co., he realized it wouldn't be a bad idea. Both companies uniting could benefit them equally. On top of that, he loved her dearly.

On the other hand, Ara couldn't believe that Eunha had attended the masquerade event before. She couldn't believe that she had infiltrated two companies in such little time. She couldn't believe how much money Eunha would've had if her plans lasted through the end—after faking her mother's death, ruling over Kang & Co., killing off the CEO of the Byun Corporation, stealing money from Ara through a marriage, and, at the very end, marrying Park Jimin. For Eunha, money was raining from the sky.

At that moment, Hoseok walked to Eunha and asked, "Do you still testify that you did not take part in the murder of Mr. Byun Haneul with Mr. Kim? That there was no reason for you to harm him? That there was no connection?"

"I did nothing wrong!" Eunha yelled one last time. She then looked down as tears streamed down her face. While sobbing her crocodile tears, she mumbled, "Everyone is against me. Sunggyu wants to get revenge because I never liked him back. The Byun family wants me gone because they want to have Jimin for themselves. Ara—she always wanted to take him from me. Those people are fucking evil. He means everything to me. Why would I want to harm the person I love the most? Why would I? It's so stupid! They're just manipulating him."

"Manipulating?" Ara hissed in disbelief. "You manipulated your fiancé to believe that you loved him when, in reality, you were just obsessed with his money. You cheated on him every single day with a different man while he was out for work! Do you call that love? You even manipulated your partner in crime to do your dirty work for you when you knew he loved you. You knew he would do anything and everything for you! I don't understand your definition of love, Eunha. You blinded two men and manipulated them to the extent of hurting them! Wake up, for fuck's sake. For once, just open your eyes to what you've done. Admit it, you lost everything, and there's no way back now."

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• 2600 •
Update #2 for Feb. 7.