107.
The moment he recognized Seo Miso, Ahn Sejin pulled Gye Yeoul, who had been standing beside him, behind his back. Even knowing it was a meaningless action, he had no choice but to do so. Though she was smiling like a normal person, considering the things she had done until now, being on guard was natural.
“What? Who is that? Do you know her?”
“Yeah, someone I knew before. Could you go inside the house for now?”
Though Gye Yeoul frowned, she obediently followed Ahn Sejin’s words. As soon as she disappeared inside the house, Ahn Sejin’s expression turned cold.
“Seo Miso-ssi. Why have you come here?”
When he asked this, Seo Miso opened her eyes wide and asked back. Her exaggerated expression was very unpleasant.
“I thought you would know the reason. Don’t you?”
Of course he knew. Even though he had come down to stay in this small village, Ahn Sejin’s value as a former secretary still remained. At one time, he was someone who knew most of the evil deeds that Chairman Jang wanted to hide.
“What if I don’t know?”
“Then I’ll have to make you know.”
Seo Miso stepped closer to Ahn Sejin.
“What would change if I knew?”
“Things would change. A lot would change. Ahn Sejin-ssi.”
Her slender finger lightly poked Ahn Sejin’s chest.
“Weren’t you curious about how you’ve been able to preserve your life all this time?”
Chairman Jang wasn’t the type to let someone who held his weaknesses live. Moreover, no matter how cleverly Ahn Sejin had hidden himself, tracking his whereabouts wouldn’t have been difficult. Ahn Sejin knew this too.
“Was it you people?”
“Yes.”
They had blocked information so that Ahn Sejin could hide in the small village and live safely.
“Something I never asked for!”
“But you think it’s fortunate, don’t you? You’ve been anxious the whole time.”
Those words weren’t wrong. Even while staying at the guesthouse, he had thought about it many times. The thought that maybe leaving here would be the right thing to do for them. If Chairman Jang came to catch him, he might not leave them alone. That’s why even while receiving kindness from the guesthouse grandfather and Gye Yeoul, he was always tormented by anguish.
“Ahn Sejin-ssi. You know you have nowhere to run anyway. If you just help us with this one thing, we’ll help you leave for another place and start a new life. We’ll also make sure the people at the guesthouse where you’re staying can continue living as they always have.”
Ahn Sejin squeezed his eyes shut and opened them.
“You must keep your promise. If you don’t keep it!”
“I knew you’d say that, so I’ve prepared it in writing. Please read it.”
Seo Miso took out a document envelope from the bag she was carrying and handed it over. Ahn Sejin stood there and carefully examined the documents she had given him. Only after finishing his review did he speak again.
“I’ll give you the materials.”
And so Seo Miso received all the information from Ahn Sejin that could bring down Jang Deokman. And that information naturally fell into Choi Mujin’s hands.
“Good work.”
“Not at all. I just did what needed to be done.”
“But Secretary Ahn had hidden away more than I expected.”
Dozens of documents bound with thick clips, one USB, and files with printed transcripts, etc. Seeing that he had siphoned off this much while claiming to trust Chairman Jang, that trust must not have been complete.
“Didn’t Chairman Jang use Secretary Ahn a lot when eliminating people?”
If he had continued participating in such work, even firm trust would have gradually been worn away. That’s probably why these materials could remain.
Kim Chunbong whistled lightly while skimming through the documents on the table.
“This is beyond imagination. Accounting manipulation, illegal contracts, slush fund creation.”
He had done every bad thing possible. Was this much necessary to climb to such a position? Kim Chunbong thought this while finding and pushing aside materials related to the hospital fire.
“Thank you.”
Haseo was sitting there. Choi Mujin disliked Haseo being deeply involved in this matter, but he had strongly insisted on participating. His words that he no longer wanted to stay still while knowing nothing ultimately decided his participation.
“Don’t mention it.”
Haseo carefully examined the materials Kim Chunbong had handed him. And there he found a memo instructing the deletion of CCTV footage from the time of the hospital fire. The scrawled handwriting on the memo was Chairman Jang’s. Seeing it, his hands began to tremble finely. No matter how much he tried to act calm, memories of that time kept surfacing. Seeing this, Choi Mujin firmly grasped Haseo’s trembling hand.
“I’m okay.”
Haseo muttered as if making a vow and carefully set down the memo in his hand.
“I’m really okay.”
Haseo pressed his lips tightly together. Memories of when his grandmother passed away and he thought something was strange came back to life. At that time, even knowing it, he couldn’t do anything, but now was different. The evidence of the crimes Jang Deokman had committed was right here. He could make him pay for what he had done. So it was enough. Pushing back the surging emotions, Haseo organized the documents he had received.
“This should be given to the media. We’ll also tip off the police about some parts. Since we’re going to blow it up anyway, let’s do it spectacularly.”
At Choi Mujin’s words, Kim Chunbong nodded.
“I was already in contact with the prosecutor line that’s likely to handle the relevant case. I’ll provide the materials in the form of an internal whistleblowing.”
Since Ahn Sejin had only handed over the materials and withdrawn, the internal whistleblower would be someone else.
“And Ryu Jiyeon-ssi agreed to handle the media.”
“There was one media company bloodline on the Toho Construction side.”
“So it should be possible to proceed more smoothly.”
“Alright, let’s do that then.”
The stopped clock hands began to move again. And the moment those hands moved, Chairman Jang would lose everything he had left.
Bang!
Chairman Jang roughly pounded the desk and shouted.
“What the hell is this!”
His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the monitor on the desk. Various article headlines were displayed there.
「Evidence destruction, CCTV deletion orders… Hospital fire ‘ignited’ by Jang Deokman’s instructions.」
「Former Isaac Finance Chairman Jang Deokman, circumstances of ordering hospital arson… Did he try to eliminate fatal witnesses?」
The articles with sensational headlines were rapidly climbing in views. Breaking news appeared there, and stock charts began to fluctuate wildly. Email notification windows had been in an explosive state for a long time.
The things Jang Deokman had meticulously hidden for decades were all surfacing at once. Everywhere he looked, there was chaos from what he had done. Jang Deokman, glaring at the photo that appeared on the main portal news, ground his teeth.
“Who the hell!”
Jang Deokman forcefully threw the mouse in his hand onto the desk. Then he picked up the phone that was placed on one side of the desk.
‘Ahn Sejin.’
In the current situation, there was no one else he could think of. He had covered up everything at the end and sent him away, planning to deal with him outside. But at some point, his whereabouts became strange. Even hiring several people to tail him, they couldn’t find him.
“As expected, it was Choi Mujin, that bastard pulled strings.”
If those two had joined hands, this situation was only natural.
“Ungrateful bastards!”
He had pulled them up from crawling around like bugs to get this far! Without knowing gratitude, they were biting the hand that fed them. Jang Deokman didn’t think about what he had done and only blamed others.
He pressed Ahn Sejin’s number saved in his phone, but all that came back was the sound saying it was a disconnected number.
“That vermin!”
All kinds of curses spewed from Jang Deokman’s mouth. After doing this for a while and barely calming down, he opened the safe hidden under the desk. Inside were gold items and bundles of cash hidden in preparation for any possible situation. The volume wasn’t small, but now this was his last hope. If he couldn’t manage this situation and lost everything, he had to take at least this and run away.
Then, urgent knocking sounds came from outside.
“Chairman! Chairman!”
Even after being pushed out of the chairman position, Jang Deokman couldn’t give up being called chairman.
“Come in!”
When he answered in an irritated voice, the newly hired secretary entered with a pale face.
“Chairman! A search and seizure warrant has been issued by the prosecution!”
Things progressed faster than expected. That sound meant all this wasn’t just Choi Mujin’s solo work. Jang Deokman used the remaining live lines to gather information. And he confirmed that more than one or two people had participated in this matter.
“Even Toho Construction?”
It seemed that bastard Jeong Heejun had developed a deeper relationship with that woman Ryu Jiyeon than expected. No matter what, he had thought that if Chairman Ryu was in his right mind, he wouldn’t bring him into the family. It seemed he was planning to welcome that half-wit as Toho Construction’s son-in-law.
“Crazy bastard.”
Jang Deokman spoke in despair. At this rate, going to prison would be the natural course. Then it seemed he should quickly leave for overseas before that. For him, who had been doing dark work all along, obtaining a ticket to go overseas wasn’t difficult.
No, it should have been. But things turned out differently from Jang Deokman’s thoughts.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
