Chapter 19 - Chess

But Sunye knew that no amount of doors could keep the information broker away. Even though she had her door locked with a passcode, he still managed to crack it and enter her home without any worry. As soon as she had shut it on his face, he simply entered the code and came into her apartment like he owned it.

"So Ms. Sexy Lawyer," he went on, keeping the ramen boxes on the table. "What are we having with ramen? Kimchi? Chicken stew?"

"How about poison?" Sunye scowled.

"I'd love to but I'm immune to almost all kinds of poison," SD declared, feeling proud of himself.

"Of course you are," she said warily. "After all, poisons neutralize each other out."

"That," SD agreed. "And also, it's part of the job. See, people try to kill me on a daily basis and being the open coward I am, I have built an immunity to poisons. You wanna know how?"

"No!" Sunye winced. "Just get out of my house!"

"Oh come one!" SD pouted. "One ramen. One ramen meal only. I'm so hungry."

He pretended to cry, making Sunye scoff. That man had no shame nor emotions. His smile, his childishness. Everything was a lie.

"Stop acting, SD," she stated. "Both of us know what kind of scum you are."

"Are you still hung up on the past, Sunye?" he sighed. "That was eight years ago. You needed a one night stand and I needed some information. Both of us were at a win-win situation."

"You tricked me and slept with me!" she retorted. "If I knew what sort of scum you were I'd have never fallen for that trick!"

She glared angrily at him, her mind drifting to the events which had occurred eight years ago.

….

Truth was that eight years ago, Sunye had been awarded her first case with her boss about a woman who was accused of murdering her husband. She was a nervous new lawyer but eager to look forward to fighting the case. One night, she went with her friend to drink at a bar, not knowing what was going to happen.

And then her attention was caught by a certain blue eyed stranger who flirted with her. Naïve and inexperienced, she got drunk and woke up the next day naked in his car. She did not remember the night much but recalled kissing him and had even undressed. Sunye was a little disappointed to have lost out on the memories because they were having a pretty good time. The man was gone and had left her a note that he enjoyed the night. At that time, she had vaguely wondered if she would meet the man again.

And she did. That day, when they were at the court room, the Defense shockingly made a statement which only the Prosecution knew about and hid from everyone. The documents on that information were on Sunye's phone and someone had leaked it to the Defense.

"A very important clue was leaked from our side!" Yang hissed. "We're gonna lose this!"

Sunye was confused and angry. Who could have done this?

She was at the courtroom, flabbergasted by the change in the scenario. That was when her eyes fell on a certain blue-eyed man who was smirking at her from the audience bench.

It was him! she realized. He hacked my phone!

SD sat there, grinning at her as if he had won. She could not believe that not only did she end up sleeping with him but also lost an important case! How could she be so careless?

"Hi!" he mouthed at her, gleeful at his deed. The Defense lawyer and the accused had paid him to leak the information to the court and his work was complete. The damage was done.

Sunye was stunned and humiliated. The case was completely overturned to the Defense and she had mere hours to salvage it. But how could she fix this mess?

Unfortunately or was it fortunately, she would never know, but the clue to winning the case came from the source of the menace itself. SD.

Before leaving, he was compelled to give her an evidence which changed the course of the case. And by sheer miracle, they won the case. But Sunye never forgot the slight SD had done to her.

I'll never come across this guy again, she swore. Never!

….

"Earth to Sunye!"

SD's devilish voice brought her out of her reverie. Sunye was startled and looked at him. He held up a package of frozen meat.

"I'm making a steak out of this," he said. "I'm hungry."

"And you have to eat at my house?" she asked sharply.

"Yes," he said.

"Why?"

"I was bored!"

Sunye wanted to throw the nearest thing she had at him but something told her that he would just stand up and brush it off.

"No need to make a steak!" she snapped. "Just heat up the ramen, eat it and leave!"

She glared at him. SD sighed and said, "Okay but don't come running to me for cooking you a delicious meal. Which I think you would since you're a terrible cook."

Sunye was unabashed. It was true anyway. She sat on the couch and went through her case files while SD heated up the ramen and sat opposite her. He began to slurp on the ramen while watching her.

"The Lim Byungsoo case," he began. "It'll be closed?"

"Probably," Sunye sighed. She looked at him and asked, "Why did you send me that picture of his and the minister?"

"Thought it'd help ya," SD simply stated.

"SD, you don't do anything without a payment," Sunye voiced out. "And yet, you didn't take any payment from me for it. Why?"

She then hesitated and asked, "Did you kill him? Lim Byungsoo?"

"What do you think Sunye?" he asked with a mysterious smile. "Do you think I killed him?"

"Did you?"

They stared at each other, none of them flinching. "No," he finally said. "I didn't kill him."

Sunye was not sure if he was telling the truth or not. The forensic reports clearly stated that Lim Byungsoo had committed suicide and there was no foul play involved. But he must have gotten that knife from somewhere.

"Did you hand him the knife?" she asked. SD leaned forward.

"If you want to know that, then you'll have to pay up hun," he said. "Are you ready to make the payment of three hundred million dollars? Or will you sell your soul to me again and owe me another favor? Which one is it, Han Sunye?"

Sunye drew a sharp breath. The man was sneaky. He would give her the information knowing fully well that she would not be able to afford the price.

"No," she said firmly, losing all interest in fishing out information from him. "I'm not interested. Even if I get you to confess, Lim Byungsoo still committed suicide. At most, you'll get a few years of jail time for handing him the knife. Nothing more than that."

"Oh well," he shrugged, standing up to throw the empty ramen box into the bin. "I must say, I'm quite impressed that you've managed to join LN Partners and made such a mark already."

Sunye did not reply but simply shook her head in dismay. SD merely shrugged and was almost at the door to leave when he paused and turned around.

"By the way, Sunye," he called her in a singsong tone.

"What?" She snapped, not looking up from her file.

"Remember that night when we slept together?" he asked.

"I'd rather not," she muttered.

"Yeah well," he began. "You see…that was all we did. Sleep."

Sunye's head snapped up. "What?" she asked. "We only slept? What do you mean?"

"You threw up in the car, took off your own panties in the drunken stupor so I had to help you go to sleep," he revealed with a mischievous smile. "Nothing happened between us. Congratulations on your newfound virginity!"

"YOU-"

SD scrammed as the series of pillows came flying his way followed by a pair of sharp heels. He dodged it all, laughing as Sunye's stream of curses tailed him. She threw more shoes at him as he got into the elevator, one nearly hitting him while the other hit the elevator door.

"YOU FUCKING LYING PERVERT-" She yelled.

"I know, I love myself too!" he announced as the elevator door closed. Sunye banged on it, cursing him more but SD could only smile. The lawyer knew how to entertain him.

But fun time was over. It was now time to get serious. The smile was wiped off his face as the coldness took over, blackening his heart with his mission.

The game was about to begin and Han Sunye was his biggest pawn. As long as she served her purpose, he would win.

"Let's play a game of chess, shall we?" he asked out loud.