"He was blocking the exit path. Creating unnecessary risk. I made a decision."
Another pause.
"If venue security reviews the footage, the angle won't be conclusive. And if they blame anyone, they'll blame Griffin."
My hands curled into fists.
When Soo-jin shoved Micah, he was already planning how to frame me for it.
"Griffin wasn't even—"
"Griffin has a history," Soo-jin said on the recording, patient, as if he were explaining something obvious.
"Seattle. Past security failures. It's documented. If this becomes an issue, the narrative already exists."
"That's—"
"Protective. I'm protecting Violet Frequency." Soo-jin's voice sharpened slightly. "Griffin's proximity to Rune is destabilizing. This simply speeds up the inevitable correction.."
The audio cut.
Silence crushed the room.
I couldn't look away from Do-hyun's tablet. The waveform sat there, each spike and valley a record of Soo-jin's voice admitting what he'd done.
What he'd planned to blame on me.
Micah's head. The marble. The blood. Soo-jin's hands. Shoving hard enough to knock a muscular young man down.
Kang's voice was lethal. "You assaulted someone."
Soo-jin's expression didn't crack. "I removed an obstruction during a high-pressure transfer. Protective operations require real-time decisions. Sometimes contact is unavoidable."
"You planned to blame Griffin."
"I anticipated how the incident would be interpreted." Soo-jin's tone remained level. "Given his history, that was a reasonable threat assessment."
"You used his history as a weapon, and someone nearly died."
Soo-jin tilted his head slightly. "I used the available variables."
Do-hyun's jaw tightened. He tapped the tablet again and looked at Kang. "Mr. Nakamura filed an incident report. Stated someone shoved him from behind. Couldn't identify who. Assumed it was an accidental crowd surge."
"It wasn't," Kang said flatly.
"No."
I finally found words. They came out quiet. Controlled. "He hit his head on marble," I said. "It sounded like something breaking."
Everyone looked at me.
"He could have died."
I looked at Soo-jin.
"You did that. And you decided the problem was me."
Soo-jin's expression didn't change. "You were already too close to Rune. The hotel staffer was simply—"
