Chapter 10 — Swept into the Wave of Love

Viet Khoi spent the next morning wandering around the logistics area, trying to strike up a conversation with the elderly technical assistant that Lam Khue had pointed out on the suspect list. His name is Huynh Ba Thinh, and he has worked for the organizing committee of the Mui Ne Golden Wave tournament for nearly twenty years, since the first seasons when the scale was small, with only a few dozen athletes participating.

"Have you been doing this job long?" Viet Khoi opened his mouth, pretending to be chatting while checking his surfboard at the maintenance area.

"Nearly twenty years ago," Mr. Huynh Ba Thinh replied, his hand still quickly tightening the screw on another board. "This tournament has only been held for a few seasons. At that time it was still very poor and not as grand as it is now."

"You must have witnessed many interesting things over the years," Viet Khoi continued, trying to lead the conversation naturally. "Is there any athlete you still remember?"

Mr. Huynh Ba Thinh stopped for a moment, his eyes filled with nostalgia. "There are many. But the most memorable is probably the scandal ten years ago, a very talented athlete, winning several championships in a row, but in the end was accused of cheating, losing his entire career. Back then the whole tournament was in turmoil for several months."

Viet Khoi's heart beat faster, but he tried to keep his face calm, just continuing to ask like a harmless gossip. "Do you know about that? I heard it vaguely but I don't know the beginning or the end."

"I know, at that time I was still young, only a few years into the profession," Mr. Huynh Ba Thinh lowered his voice, looking around as if in case anyone heard. "That athlete's name is Trac, he's very good, very popular with the people. Yet suddenly someone accused him of bribing the referee, releasing some recordings that sounded terrible, although later many people said that if you listen closely, those recordings are not clear and show signs of being edited."

"Collage?" Viet Khoi asked immediately, unable to hide his attention.

Mr. Huynh Ba Thinh nodded and lowered his voice even further. "At that time, I heard a few people talking behind my back, saying that the recording sounded unnatural, like it was spliced together from many different parts. But at that time, no one dared to say it out loud, for fear of getting into trouble. The story was over and gone, no one mentioned it again."

"So who is the accuser?" Viet Khoi asked, trying to keep his voice as normal as possible even though his heart was churning.

Mr. Huynh Ba Thinh was silent for a moment, seemingly hesitant, then shook his head. "I don't know much about that. I just heard rumors that someone in the referee committee at that time came forward to denounce it, but the official identity was not publicly announced. Well, it's an old story, why are you asking? Let's worry about practicing for the upcoming semi-finals."

Viet Khoi thanked him and left, his mind reeling with the information he had just collected. He quickly found Lam Khue and recounted the entire conversation, especially emphasizing the details of the suspected cut-and-pasted recording.

"Do you know anything about the recording that incriminates your father showing signs of being edited?" he asked as soon as he met her at the familiar coffee shop.

Lam Khue was stunned, his eyes wide open in surprise. "My father once told me, before he passed away, that he believed the recording was not his real conversation, even though the voice sounded very similar. But he could never prove it, because no one bothered to re-examine the case once there was an official conclusion."

"So it's possible that the recording was fabricated," Viet Khoi said, his voice firm. "If that's true, then this is not just a simple misunderstanding or mistake, but a deliberate plot to harm your father."

Lam Khue clenched her hands, her eyes were red but she tried to suppress her emotions. "All these years, I have always believed that my father is innocent, but there has never been concrete evidence to prove it to others. If there are clues now that the recording was fabricated, it could be the key to clearing his honor."

"One more thing," Viet Khoi said, his voice low, his eyes serious. "The current method of sabotage - the device was secretly tampered with, looks like an accident but was actually intentional - it has a strange similarity to the way people harmed her father in the past. Both are sophisticated tricks, cleverly disguised so that no one would suspect human hands intervened, until someone was meticulous enough to detect it."

Lam Khue remained silent, letting his words slowly sink into her thoughts. "Do you think the person behind the incident in the past and the person who is sabotaging the current tournament are the same person?"

"I can't say for sure," Viet Khoi replied, "but the way they act is too similar to be a coincidence. If it's the same person, then maybe they're afraid of something related to your appearance at this year's tournament, enough to make them act again after sixteen years of silence."

"But why now?" Lam Khue asked, his voice full of concern. "I competed anonymously, no one knew I was my father's daughter. If that person was afraid of my identity being discovered, why did they choose such a dangerous way to sabotage the equipment, instead of simply finding a more discreet way to eliminate me from the tournament?"

Viet Khoi pondered for a moment, trying to piece together the pieces of information. "Perhaps her surfing style made them realize something. She once said, her father taught her to surf in a very unique style, not like any mainstream school. If that person had witnessed her father's style in the past, they most likely would have recognized the similarity as soon as they saw her compete, and that was enough to make them panic, worried that the old secret might be reopened."

Lam Khue shivered, a cold feeling spread down her spine when she realized that possibility was entirely possible. "If that's true, it means that the person behind all this is someone who knows my father's surfing style well, which means that person has been present in the professional surfing world since sixteen years ago, and may even still hold an important position in the current tournament."

The two people's eyes met, and at the same time they recognized a name floating in both of their heads, although no one dared to say it out loud due to lack of specific evidence. The only person on the organizing committee powerful enough to approve Lam Khue's special application, the person influential enough to quell all doubts about equipment sabotage, the person who has held a leadership position in the surfing world for more than a decade.

"Lu Khac Bon," Viet Khoi softly uttered the name, his voice heavy. "Do you know what position he held in the federation sixteen years ago?"

Lam Khue shook his head, his voice trembling slightly. "I don't know, my father never mentioned the specific name of the person who accused him. But if it is him, then things are becoming much more dangerous than I ever imagined, Viet Khoi. He currently holds the highest power in his hands in this tournament."

"One more thing," Viet Khoi added, his eyes lighting up as he suddenly remembered a detail he had overlooked at first. "Do you remember, it was he who personally approved your anonymous competition records, not handing them over to his subordinates to handle them as usual. If he was afraid from that moment, he could not have simply canceled your eligibility to compete or publicly questioned your identity, because doing so would be like asking yourself: why did the president of the organizing committee personally specifically approve the records of an anonymous athlete in the first place? He tied his own hands with his own hands. that decision, so we have no choice but to act in the shadows, instead of coming out."

Lam Khue was stunned, piecing together all the disparate pieces. "So he approved my application from the beginning... not out of kindness or due process, but because he wanted to personally control and monitor who I was, while still maintaining the appearance of being unrelated?"

"Very likely," Viet Khoi nodded slowly. "And when he realized that she was more dangerous than he thought, he had no choice but to take drastic action, even though he knew it was much riskier than silently pushing her away from the beginning."

The two sat in silence for a long moment, fully aware that they might be on the threshold of a greater truth, more dangerous than anything they had ever faced before, and that from now on, every step they took would require extreme caution.

"We need more evidence before thinking about direct confrontation," Viet Khoi said after thinking for a while. "If we just rely on speculation and say that name now, we will be like putting our heads in a trap before someone who has complete control of the tournament."

"That's right," Lam Khue agreed, her voice regaining some composure. "I need to find my father's relics and see if there are any clues I missed. He kept a lot of old papers. Even after his certificate was revoked, he still silently kept everything related to the case, as if still holding out hope that one day the truth would be revealed."

"Do you still have those?" Viet Khoi asked, his eyes flashing with hope.

"Yes, in a wooden box he left me before he passed away," Lam Khue replied, his voice softening with emotion when mentioning his father's souvenir. "I've never opened it to look closely, because every time I tried to do so, I didn't have the courage to face what was inside. But maybe it's time for me to do it."

"I will be by your side, if you need me," Viet Khoi said, his voice sincere without any hesitation.

Lam Khue nodded, her eyes shining with a new determination, mixed with a vague fear of what might wait inside that old wooden box. Even though she wanted to open it right away, she knew she needed a truly quiet evening, without the interruption of training schedules or any unexpected meetings, to have the courage to fully face what her father left behind. The two stood up, walked out of the cafe together, promising to open the box together as soon as they found a rare peaceful night amid the tournament's busy schedule, carrying a common determination: no matter how cruel the truth was, they would face it together, no longer alone like the long years before.