We found Ji-hoon’s message in the hospital room.
Not immediately.
The police had searched the obvious places.
Bedside table.
Bathroom.
Clothing bag.
Wastebasket.
Nothing.
Mary Lou stood in the doorway, studying the room.
“He knew police would search.”
“Yes,” Soo-jin said.
“So he wouldn’t leave something where police would find it.”
“That defeats the purpose of leaving a message.”
“Not if it’s for me.”
She entered.
I followed.
The bed had been stripped.
Medical equipment remained.
A paper cup sat near the sink.
Mary Lou looked under the chair.
Nothing.
Then at the window.
Nothing.
She checked behind the television.
Nothing.
I watched her.
“You know his habits already?”
“No.”
“Then what are you looking for?”
“Kang Jun’s habits.”
That made sense.
The brothers had built systems together.
Mary Lou examined the hospital information board.
Patient name.
Doctor.
Medication times.
Under the printed schedule someone had written:
WALK 08:00.
BLOOD 09:30.
HOME 11:00.
Home.
Mary Lou stopped.
“That word.”
The final fragment.
Maybe coincidence.
In this family, coincidence had become suspicious.
She lifted the plastic frame.
Behind it was a folded strip of paper.
Soo-jin swore softly.
Mary Lou opened it.
Three sentences.
MARY,
HE TOOK KANG JUN FROM US.
YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CARRY WHAT I DO NEXT.
GO HOME.
No signature.
None needed.
Mary Lou crushed the paper in her fist.
“He’s going to kill Lee.”
Soo-jin read it.
“Or try.”
“With one shoulder.”
“Angry men have attempted worse.”
I looked at Mary Lou.
“What do you want to do?”
She stared at the note.
“Stop him.”
“Why?”
She looked at me sharply.
“Because murder is wrong.”
“Yes.”
“That should be enough.”
“It is.”
I waited.
“But?”
Her shoulders lowered.
“But I also understand him.”
That frightened her.
I could see it.
Ji-hoon had lost his brother.
Lived dead for fourteen years.
Watched Lee’s organization destroy people while he gathered evidence and waited.
Now Lee was fleeing.
The law had failed Ji-hoon once.
Why trust it now?
Mary Lou sat on the edge of the stripped bed.
“If someone killed you and I had the chance…”
She stopped.
I sat beside her.
“You don’t know what you would do.”
“I know what I’d want to do.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
She stared at the floor.
“No.”
I touched her hand.
“Neither was what Ji-hoon wanted for nine years and what he actually did.”
She looked at me.
“He didn’t kill Choi.”
“No.”
“He could have.”
“Probably.”
“He waited.”
“Until now.”
Soo-jin’s phone interrupted us.
A traffic camera had captured a vehicle linked to Ji-hoon heading south.
Busan direction.
He was moving toward Seongjin Maritime.
Mary Lou stood.
“How long ago?”
“Forty-five minutes.”
“Can police intercept?”
“They’re trying.”
“Min?”
“Still missing.”
We left immediately.
This time Mary Lou and I traveled with Soo-jin in an unmarked vehicle driven by an investigator she trusted.
No discussion.
No print van.
Mr. Kim stayed behind.
He claimed he was too old for car chases.
I told him that made two of us.
He replied that I had clearly not accepted the fact.
The drive south took hours.
During that time, information arrived in fragments.
Ji-hoon’s vehicle was found abandoned at a rest area.
A second car had been stolen nearby.
No confirmed sighting afterward.
Seongjin Maritime’s industrial property was partially evacuated before authorities arrived.
Several employees claimed they knew nothing about Lee.
The refrigerated truck had been spotted entering the property.
It had not been seen leaving.
“So he’s there,” Mary Lou said.
“Possibly.”
“You still say possibly?”
“I have learned caution from you.”
“That seems backwards.”
Soo-jin almost smiled.
Then another message arrived.
Investigators had found Deputy Chief Prosecutor Min.
Dead.
The vehicle became silent.
“Where?” I asked.
“His apartment.”
“How?”
Soo-jin hesitated.
“Gunshot.”
Mary Lou stared ahead.
“Suicide?”
“Unclear.”
“Meaning?”
“The weapon was beside him. No note.”
“And the compass?”
“Not found.”
Min had possessed it.
Now he was dead.
Someone else had taken it.
Ji-hoon?
Lee?
Choi’s remaining people?
The object had become another moving piece.
“What did Min need it for?” I asked.
Soo-jin answered slowly.
“He may not have known.”
“Then why take it?”
“Because Kang Jun owned it.”
That was enough.
Min knew Kang Jun’s habits.
Anything hidden might matter.
Mary Lou looked out the window.
“If Lee had Min killed, he’s cleaning up.”
“Yes.”
“Choi could be next.”
“He is under heavy protection.”
“So were we.”
Nobody argued.
We reached the outskirts of Busan late afternoon.
Rain had replaced snow.
The port city appeared beneath low clouds, cranes rising in the distance.
Seongjin Maritime occupied a large industrial property near the water.
Police had established a perimeter several streets away.
We were stopped before reaching it.
Mary Lou protested.
This time I sided with the police.
“You are not going inside.”
She stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You followed me into a warehouse.”
“Which taught me things.”
“Mom.”
“Ji-hoon wrote you a note specifically so you wouldn’t follow him.”
“That is not persuasive.”
“True.”
I sighed.
“But you don’t have to personally enter every building containing a dangerous man.”
Her jaw tightened.
Soo-jin interrupted.
“They found Ji-hoon’s stolen car.”
“Where?”
“Inside the perimeter.”
Mary Lou closed her eyes.
He had arrived.
Then an officer brought a tablet.
Security footage from the property.
Ji-hoon entered through a service gate forty minutes earlier.
Arm in a sling beneath his coat.
He carried a small bag.
Five minutes later, cameras on that section failed.
“Deliberately?” Mary Lou asked.
“Likely.”
Another camera showed the refrigerated truck parked near a warehouse.
Its rear doors open.
Empty.
Lee had transferred somewhere else inside the facility.
Police prepared entry teams.
Then a call came.
Not to Soo-jin.
To Mary Lou’s temporary phone.
She stared at the number.
Unknown.
“Don’t answer,” Soo-jin said.
Mary Lou did.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then Ji-hoon.
“Mary.”
She put it on speaker.
“Where are you?”
“You should leave.”
“Where are you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Ji-hoon.”
A pause.
Then, “Warehouse Four.”
Soo-jin immediately signaled the officers.
Mary Lou continued.
“Is Lee there?”
“Yes.”
“Is he alive?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Ji-hoon breathed.
“Mary.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand exactly.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Then explain.”
Silence.
Mary Lou walked several steps away from the officers.
“Your brother wrote that I didn’t owe him revenge.”
Ji-hoon said nothing.
“He wrote that I could walk away.”
“This isn’t about what you owe.”
“Then what is it?”
“What I owe.”
“To Kang Jun?”
“Yes.”
Mary Lou closed her eyes.
“Killing Lee won’t bring him back.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because Lee will escape.”
“Police are outside.”
“Lee owns police.”
“Not all of them.”
“Enough.”
Mary Lou looked at Soo-jin.
Soo-jin held her gaze.
Ji-hoon continued.
“I trusted the law fourteen years ago. A man died in my place.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes, it was.”
“No.”
“I gave evidence to the wrong person.”
“Lee killed him.”
“Because of me.”
Mary Lou’s voice softened.
“And if you kill Lee?”
Ji-hoon did not answer.
“What happens to you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
That surprised him.
It surprised Mary Lou too.
She continued.
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I know.”
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
“You watched me for years and decided I was safer trapped.”
“Yes.”
“I may stay angry a long time.”
“You should.”
“But you’re Kang Jun’s brother.”
Her voice broke slightly.
“You’re the only person alive who remembers him before all of this.”
Ji-hoon breathed into the phone.
Mary Lou wiped her eyes.
“If you kill Lee, I lose that too.”
Long silence.
Then Ji-hoon said, “He admitted it.”
“What?”
“Kang Jun.”
My stomach tightened.
“He admitted ordering Kang Jun’s death?”
“Yes.”
“Did you record him?”
“Yes.”
Soo-jin’s eyes widened.
“Then you have what we need,” Mary Lou said.
“He also admitted Min worked for him.”
“Good.”
“And the accountant.”
“Good.”
“And others.”
“Then bring it out.”
“He will still find a way.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“No. You believe it.”
Mary Lou’s voice hardened.
“That is different.”
A noise sounded through the phone.
Someone shouting.
Ji-hoon whispered, “I have to go.”
“Wait.”
The call ended.
Mary Lou stared at the screen.
Police teams moved.
Warehouse Four.
Officers entered from two sides.
Minutes became unbearable.
Then gunshots sounded inside the property.
Mary Lou flinched.
More shots.
Radio traffic exploded around us.
Officer down?
No.
Suspect armed.
Movement upper level.
Then silence.
A minute.
Two.
Three.
Finally, Soo-jin’s radio spoke.
She listened.
“What?”
Her face changed.
“Lee is alive.”
Mary Lou exhaled.
“Ji-hoon?”
Soo-jin waited.
Then closed her eyes.
“Wounded.”
“How badly?”
“Unknown.”
Mary Lou moved toward the perimeter.
Officers stopped her.
She shouted.
I had never heard her shout like that.
Then an ambulance entered the property.
Another followed.
Ten minutes later, the first came out.
Soo-jin checked.
Lee Sang-ho.
Alive.
Under arrest.
The second ambulance emerged.
Ji-hoon.
Mary Lou stepped into the road before anyone could stop her.
The ambulance slowed.
A paramedic opened the rear door briefly.
Ji-hoon lay inside.
Blood near his abdomen.
Conscious.
Barely.
Mary Lou reached him.
He opened his eyes.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“I told you not to.”
“Your family gives terrible instructions.”
A weak smile.
He reached toward his coat.
The paramedic stopped him.
Mary Lou helped.
From the inner pocket she removed a small recorder.
Ji-hoon closed his hand around hers.
“He said everything.”
“We’ll use it.”
“Not revenge.”
Mary Lou shook her head.
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“Good.”
Then he whispered something.
She leaned closer.
“The compass.”
“What about it?”
“Lee has it.”
The ambulance doors began closing.
Mary Lou stepped back.
Ji-hoon was taken away.
She stood in the rain holding his recorder.
Behind the police lines, officers escorted Lee Sang-ho from Warehouse Four.
Older than I expected.
Gray suit.
No coat.
Hands cuffed.
His expression showed irritation rather than fear.
Then he saw Mary Lou.
He stopped.
Even from a distance, something passed across his face.
Recognition.
Not of her.
Of what she held.
Ji-hoon’s recorder.
Lee looked toward an officer beside him and said something.
Soo-jin translated quietly.
“He says Mary has no idea what Kang Jun really hid.”
Mary Lou stared back.
Lee smiled.
Then added one more sentence.
Soo-jin’s face changed.
“What?” I asked.
She looked at Mary Lou.
“He says the archive everyone has been fighting over is incomplete.”
Mary Lou’s grip tightened around the recorder.
“How incomplete?”
Soo-jin translated Lee’s final words before officers moved him away.
“The part that matters most was never digital.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 20: Lee Sang-ho’s Arrest Exposed the Missing Piece of Kang Jun’s Archive—and the Truth Hidden Inside the Brass Compass Changed What Mary Lou Thought She Was Returning Home To
Every December My Daughter Sent the Same Impossible Amount, Until One Tiny Pause Made Me Question the Life She Claimed to Have
Part 19 of 27
