[Short Story] The Crack, Part 3

11. Awakening

 

Beep——.

Beep——.

 

The sound came first. Then came the light. Fluorescent lights were mounted on the ceiling.

They were white and cold. I blinked. Once. Twice. The world came into blurry focus.

 

The back of my hand felt heavy. An IV needle was inserted. An oxygen saturation sensor was attached to my left index finger. The bed rails were raised. Two rows of fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling. The curtains were drawn. Gray curtains.

 

It was the intensive care unit.

 

I turned my head. Someone was sitting to my right. They were holding my hand with both of theirs.

They sat quietly with their head bowed. Their shoulders were trembling slightly.

It wasn’t my wife.

It was Jae-hoon.

 

*

12. The First Crack

 

“Hey.”

My voice didn’t come out right. It sounded hoarse. Jae-hoon looked up.

His eyes were red. The skin under his eyes was dark and puffy. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

 

“…You’re awake.”

“How many days?”

“Three.”

Three days. I stared at the ceiling. My daughter. My wife. The box. The detective.

“Where’s my wife?”

“She’s sleeping in the hallway right now. I finally got her to sleep last night. She’s barely slept for three days.”

 

I closed my eyes and then opened them again.

“The documents I submitted to the police station—I need to contact the detective. He gave me his business card, but it’s in my pocket—”

“I know.” Jae-hoon’s voice dropped.

“That’s the problem.”

 

I looked at Jae-hoon. He let go of my hand.

He pulled his chair closer and sat right next to me. He lowered his voice.

“I saw you go into the police station. I was following you. People from the construction company.

 

I followed them secretly too. The moment you finished your statement and came out, that car—“ Jae-hoon pressed his lips together. ”It was intentional. It wasn’t an accident."

I knew it. Vaguely.

“What about the documents?”

Jae-hoon hesitated for a moment.

“They went missing at the police station.”

 

Lost.

 

“They were put into temporary storage, but when the detective in charge checked the next morning, the box was gone. The CCTV footage for that time slot was corrupted, too.”

 

I didn’t say a word. I stared at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Inside the police station. The evidence. Had disappeared.

 

“That detective—can you trust him?”

Jae-hoon didn’t answer. That silence was his answer.

 

*

 

13. Name

 

Jaehun pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket.

“I took this right before you were rushed to the hospital. At the scene.” Jaehun unfolded the paper.

It was a photo he’d taken with his smartphone and printed out. The scene of the collision. The car’s license plate was visible.

 

“I ran the license plate. It’s a rental car. But here’s how I found out the renter’s name—”

Jae-hoon pointed to a corner of the photo with his finger. I narrowed my eyes.

The image was grainy. It showed someone getting out of the car.

 

It was blurry, but I could make out the face.

It was a face I recognized.

It was the detective in charge.

 

I held my breath. I felt something rising in my stomach.

It sounded like a fluorescent light buzzing. Actually, fluorescent lights don’t make any sound. It was just my head ringing.

“It’s connected to the construction company,” Jae-hoon said.

 

“That detective’s name is Park Seung-ho. He used to be a supervisor at that construction firm.

He joined the police force through a special recruitment program after retiring. There are more connections.”

“How high up does it go?”

Jae-hoon folded the paper again.

“All the way to the district office.”

 

*

14. The Second Crack

 

Jaehun pulled out another stack of papers. This time, it was thicker. There were several sheets.

“I wasn’t just sitting around either,” Jaehun said quietly.

“When you ran off with the box, I stayed behind at the scene. I had a feeling there might be something else in the dust.”

 

Jae-hoon handed me the paper. I reached out. The IV line tugged. I unfolded it slowly.

They were photos. Taken by Jae-hoon. The building’s internal structure. Cross-sections where the rebar was exposed.

And—numbers scrawled in spray paint on one wall. They looked like dates.

Below them, initials.

 

“J.H — Verified. As planned.”

“Do you know who J.H. is?”

Jaehun nodded.

 

“Jeong Hyun-ho. He’s the site manager for this apartment construction project.

And—” Jaehun paused briefly. “He’s a college classmate of the head of the district office’s architecture division. Same department.”

 

I set the paper down.

Substandard construction. Internal collusion. Neutralization of the construction supervisor. Destruction of evidence. And a mole planted within the police.

 

This wasn’t a simple accident. It had been planned from the very beginning.

The cracks, the collapse, my running out with the documents, getting hit by a car—all of it was part of someone’s plan.

I thought of Min-cheol. I thought of Ji-soo.

“What do we have left?”

 

Instead of answering, Jae-hoon handed me the last sheet of paper.

A USB drive was taped to it.

“These are the original files. I scanned everything before opening the box. I also uploaded them to the cloud.

I’m the only one who knows the login credentials. This is evidence that’s still alive.”

 

Still alive.

 

*

 

15. A Visitor

 

Just then, the curtain opened.

It wasn’t a nurse. He was wearing a white coat, but—he didn’t have a stethoscope in his hand.

He was in his early fifties. He had a dignified appearance. His eyes were calm. So calm, in fact, that it was almost eerie.

 

Jae-hoon hid the USB drive behind his back.

The man closed the curtain. The room seemed to shrink.

 

“You’re badly injured.”

His voice was low and soft. There was nothing threatening about it. That made it even more frightening.

“Who are you?”

“Me?” The man stood at the foot of the bed and looked down at me.

“I’ve come to help you.”

“Who sent you?”

 

The man smiled. His eyes didn’t smile.

“I’ve come to offer you a choice. There are two options.

The first is—to give up everything you have right now and settle this quietly on favorable terms.

Medical bills, compensation, everything, including Dae-hoon. Min-cheol and Ji-soo too.”

 

“And the second?”

The man was silent for a moment.

“The second is—once I leave this room, whatever happens, we’ll have nothing to do with it.”

 

Beep—. Beep—.

The machine kept beeping. I looked at the man.

The man looked at me. I could hear Jae-hoon holding his breath.

 

I slowly opened my mouth.

 

“Give me your contact information.”

The man’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“I’ll think about it.”

The man handed me his business card. I took it. He opened the curtain and walked out. His footsteps faded into the distance.

 

Jaehun whispered, “What are you doing?”

I flipped the business card over. Then, with the hand still attached to the IV drip, I slowly reached out and took Jaehun’s arm.

“We’re going to strike first.”

 

 

● Next : https://tota-books.tistory.com/62

[Short Story] The Crack, Part 4 (The End)