“Mr. Jung, I hear you knew Gwon Jaekyung?”
Just as expected, Mr. Ko shouted at Jiheon the moment he walked into the office.
“Me... sir?”
Jiheon asked, with a look of complete and utter surprise. Good thing Jiheon had anticipated this and even rehearsed his reaction. Otherwise, he might have been taken off guard and mumbled something like, Uh... Yes, I suppose you could say that. Then Ko would have had him right where he wanted.
“You trained in the same pool, right?”
Ko demanded, slamming his desk.
“We did. Us and several hundred other people besides. The swimming center was affiliated with the elementary school right next door. Each class had a swimming lesson once every two weeks,” Jiheon said, in what was a vaguely misleading answer. He and Jaekyung had received private lessons from the coach, which had nothing to do with their school, but he wasn’t about to explain that. Jiheon had to hide every detail he could. He wasn’t going to hand the man any more new information.
“So? Does that mean you haven’t even spoken to him?” Ko asked.
But hiding the truth wasn’t quite the same as telling a lie.
It was at this point that Jiheon faltered. If he lied at this point, Ko probably wouldn’t let him off easy. Which meant Jiheon could, in theory, bite the bullet and admit it. But Ko wasn’t the type to give up easily. If it came out later that Jiheon had lied, the consequences could be serious.
Jiheon chose to avoid lying, at least.
“I’ve spoken to him, yes, but only a few times. In fact, I probably spoke to him only once a year.”
“That rarely, huh?”
Ko seemed momentarily taken aback by this. Ko didn’t back down and pressed Jiheon again with another question.
“But you did say hello from time to time?”
“We weren’t close enough.”
“Oh...?”
Ko looked deeply disappointed. If Jiheon tried a little harder, Ko would probably sigh and wave him back to his seat. Jiheon did his best to keep a smile of relief from breaking through and spoke as if he himself genuinely regretted it.
“We seldom met at all. Jaekyung and I trained at different times, you see. As you know... he wasn’t exactly an outgoing person, even then. The coach probably spoke more with his mother than with him. The same was true of me. You could say I spoke more to his mother than with Jaekyung himself—”
“Well, that’s great news!”
Ko shouted, visibly brightening as he continued without pause.
“The number I have here is Mrs. Shim’s—Jaekyung’s mother! Someone from the athlete’s supporters association gave it to me, saying he didn’t have Jaekyung’s direct number. Well, this is perfect! You can be the one to contact her!”
Sh*t...
Jiheon bit his lip. He had only meant to emphasize how little Jaekyung cared about others and how he lived in his own little bubble, but he might have gone too far.
“There. That’s Mrs. Shim’s number. Call her and tell her that Ko Hyunseok from ProEdge gave you the number. Make sure to say it’s Jung Jiheon calling and explain clearly who you are.”
Ko handed him a business card, obviously excited. Jiheon took it with a shaky hand, wondering if this was the reason behind that strange dream last night. It had felt pointless at the time, but maybe it had been a sign.