Chapter 9: Not the Real Culprit

Si-hyeon’s short-lived escape attempt came to an end.

After taking barely two steps outside the hospital room, he was moved somewhere else instead of returning to the messy room he had left behind. Sitting there in his slippers and wiggling his toes, Si-hyeon lifted his head when the man across from him spoke.

“We’ll be putting the cast back on your leg. It had just healed enough to switch to bandages, but this is the result of your own actions.”

Another twenty-five thousand dollars had been added.

Si-hyeon felt too ashamed to even raise his head.

“As I said before, you don’t need to worry about the hospital bill for now. Of course, the investigation is still ongoing.”

“I’m really going to pay it back… I’m not a minor anymore… I know I have to take responsibility for myself now. I’ll stay right next to you until I’ve paid everything off… I just needed to go outside for a moment… those bald guys are way too intimidating…”

Si-hyeon mumbled awkwardly, but Cha Hae-jun ignored him and continued speaking as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“So you’re saying you’d rather leave your injuries untreated.”

The gentle tone made anxiety rise in Si-hyeon’s chest. For a moment he wondered if he had some fatal illness he didn’t know about, but the ridiculous thought quickly faded.

His healthy body was the only real asset he had. There was no way something had suddenly gone wrong with it.

“What? I’m not sick anywhere. I’m perfectly fine. Even this broken bone will heal soon.”

“Yes. That might be true. You’ve received proper treatment, and at this rate you’ll be able to leave the hospital smoothly.”

“…As long as the hospital bill is paid.”

“…What?”

His response came a beat late.

Smiling brightly at him, Cha Hae-jun added,

“I’m saying you can be discharged if you’re able to pay the medical expenses.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

The unfiltered words slipped straight out of Si-hyeon’s mouth.

****

“This country really is a land of scammers… Who called it the land of dreams and hope?”

“That might be true. It’s comfortable for people who have money. Isn’t Korea similar in that regard?”

“Well… I guess…”

Hearing Cha Hae-jun’s slow reply, Si-hyeon suddenly snapped back to his senses.

Blinking, he began writing on the paper in front of him. The English printed across the white page made him feel dizzy just looking at it.

But he had no choice.

Si-hyeon glanced toward the police officer standing near the door, casually drinking coffee with one leg crossed. Then he lowered his head again.

After repeatedly searching words in his phone dictionary and failing to understand them, he finally called out to Cha Hae-jun, who was sitting not far away.

“Boss, could you help me for a moment?”

He tapped the thin hospital sheet with his fingers. Cha Hae-jun looked at Si-hyeon’s round head with a slightly annoyed expression.

When the man didn’t come over no matter how long he waited, Si-hyeon glanced up again.

By then, the man’s face had softened as if nothing had happened.

“What do you need help with?”

“Well… it’s nothing big… I’m just not very good at English…”

Si-hyeon trailed off awkwardly, explaining that using a dictionary had its limits. He pointed at a word on the page with the tip of his pencil.

“The dictionary says it means this… but I still don’t understand it. I thought maybe there was another meaning…”

Embarrassed, he showed Cha Hae-jun the search history on his phone.

The screen was filled with English words.

Even aside from the fact that his highest level of education was middle school, English was a language Si-hyeon had never managed to get used to.

When he first came to the United States, he had managed things through gestures and broken words, but paperwork like this was completely beyond him.

If he had known it would be like this, he should have studied those tourist guidebooks more carefully.

But regrets always came too late.

Watching Si-hyeon repeatedly scratch the back of his neck, Cha Hae-jun reluctantly explained the meaning.

Si-hyeon nodded eagerly and wrote everything down without any sign of embarrassment.

As he watched the small white hand move busily across the page, Cha Hae-jun couldn’t help but sigh, wondering how he had gotten involved in such a troublesome situation.

The beginning of the whole incident had been trivial.

After telling Si-hyeon to rest and bringing him back to the hospital room, Si-hyeon had suddenly rolled around on the floor demanding that someone call the police.

Even though Hae-jun had intentionally allowed only discreet people into the room to avoid making a scene, it was impossible to control every conversation.

When his secretary mentioned that rumors were slowly spreading among the medical staff, he had no choice but to call one of the police officers stationed at the hospital.

Yet the reason Si-hyeon gave when he stuttered through his explanation wasn’t even anything serious.

He just wanted to report that his wallet had been stolen.

If it had truly been stolen, it probably wouldn’t be found anyway.

In a world where tens of thousands of wallets were stolen and bags were taken every day, the police weren’t going to assign their limited manpower to such a trivial case.

Still, Si-hyeon seemed convinced that filing a report would somehow solve everything.

People with little education tended to trust public authority like that.

“Hmm…”

Completely unaware of the way he was being looked at, Si-hyeon frowned slightly as he checked the report form.

The paper filled with round handwriting looked less like proper sentences and more like a chaotic collection of English words.

Still, it wasn’t impossible to understand.

“I finished writing it.”

With slightly nervous words, Si-hyeon handed the report over.

Cha Hae-jun glanced at it before passing it to his secretary standing nearby. He would handle it appropriately.

“They’ll be able to find it… right? It’s really important…”

“Well. I’ll talk to the police first.”

After a brief pause, Cha Hae-jun suppressed another sigh, wondering how long this situation would continue.

“Boss… I really didn’t steal that thing.”

The awkward excuse was sincere.

It was hard to understand why that video had placed suspicion on him, but Si-hyeon had never stolen anything from this man.

That was the only truth.

Cha Hae-jun quietly looked at him before nodding slightly.

“…I know.”

“You… know? You know?”

Si-hyeon’s eyes widened at the calm answer.

He had expected to be accused until the very end, but the man said he already knew.

Si-hyeon grabbed both of the man’s arms and shook them enthusiastically.

“Right? I’m not the culprit! I knew you’d figure it out! So what happened? Did you catch the real criminal? What did he say? Why was he even there?”

“The culprit hasn’t been caught yet. But it’s true that you and the culprit were at the same place, so I plan to keep observing you for a while.”

“Wow, boss… you’re seriously paranoid. Ah! But that’s fine. I’m not the culprit, so you can watch me as much as you want. Watch me every day if you want! You can stay right next to me! Well, actually you have to anyway… but I’ll really do my best!”

He swung his legs as if he might start dancing.

After being wrapped in bandages for so long, his legs had lost muscle and looked thin.

The man frowned slightly at Si-hyeon’s excited behavior before smoothing his expression again. He gently but firmly removed Si-hyeon’s grip from his arm.

“It’ll be difficult to see me for a while.”

“Huh? Why? Are you busy?”

“I’m busy, and I also need to find out where the stolen item went.”

Si-hyeon nodded repeatedly.

Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he asked carefully,

“Are you… very busy? Could you stay with me a little longer?”

At Si-hyeon’s cheerful question, Cha Hae-jun felt as if he were sinking into despair.

It was difficult to demand repayment from someone like Bae Si-hyeon, who clearly had nothing.

But releasing such a rare extreme omega back into the streets was also unsettling.

Normally, in order to synchronize pheromone waves, two people needed to remain in the same place together for long periods.

Even if it meant sacrificing his busy schedule, he needed to stay near that omega.

But he lacked a proper reason.

Since it would be enough simply to remain in the same place periodically, Cha Hae-jun had forced himself to create an excuse.

He had even used the pretext of repaying medical bills that he never truly expected to receive.

If Bae Si-hyeon were to repay the debt through honest work, he would have to leave Hae-jun’s side.

That couldn’t happen.

So this was the second-best option.

[If the calculated amount cannot be paid due to unavoidable circumstances, Party A may consider Party B’s situation and provide the following special clause.]

[Special Clause 1: Party A will purchase Party B’s time for 10,000 won per ten minutes, provided they remain in the same location.]

Honestly, Cha Hae-jun had never expected anyone to believe such a ridiculous condition.

Bae Si-hyeon’s thought process went far beyond his imagination.

After silently staring at Si-hyeon for a moment, Cha Hae-jun swallowed a sigh and replied,

“I’ll try to make time… once each night.”

Si-hyeon immediately broke into a bright smile and nodded eagerly.

From Si-hyeon’s perspective, the offer was practically heaven.

If simply sitting there and breathing earned him ten thousand won every ten minutes, of course he would accept.

It was suspicious, but when he did the math, it came to over a million won a day.

If all he had to do was stay nearby to reduce his debt, there was no way he could refuse that kind of money.

“Then… boss.”

Si-hyeon smiled softly and waved his hand.

“Please make sure you find my wallet.”

“See you next time.”

With a polite smile, Cha Hae-jun left the hospital room, leaving Si-hyeon behind.

At the far end of the hallway, the police officer and Secretary Kang were talking.

“Cases like lost items are overflowing in New York. Haha. Well then, I’ll be going.”

As if he had never even accepted Si-hyeon’s report, the officer casually patted his back pocket.

Then he quickly stepped into the elevator at the end of the hallway.

Unlike when he arrived, he disappeared in an instant.