“Why did I get so upset over what he said?”
Huh, an exasperated sigh escaped him naturally. As Seung-kwon said, Sa Gong-hyun wasn’t just like this with him—the guy was just irritable by nature. Looking at it objectively, while his pride was hurt, it wasn’t something to get this seriously angry about.
It was justified to walk away this time, so he didn’t regret that choice. The truly ridiculous thing was that he couldn’t deny he had been genuinely angry.
After letting out an irritated breath, Jae-young resumed his previously halted steps.
***
Jae-young sat in a chair with his legs crossed. His long legs and feet dangled in the air. Perhaps due to the soju, his head ached from the hangover, and he felt unwell. He leaned his head back weakly in his seat.
He turned the chair seat about 90 degrees and tilted his head sideways to stare at Ju-seong. He thought about urging Ju-seong, who had been showing only the back of his head the whole time, but realizing it hadn’t even been 10 minutes since he arrived at his workspace, he closed his lips that had been about to move.
He got up from his seat and took slow steps. Approaching behind Ju-seong, Jae-young surveyed his workspace.
Unidentifiable screens floated on three large monitors arranged in a row. On a small monitor attached to the upper right, he found graphics that looked somewhat familiar.
The dot marked on the satellite map was the location of Sa Gong-hyun’s car. And the dot blinking nearby was probably Seung-kwon’s position.
The two had left Seoul. A bit further to the side was the West Sea. Around Incheon.
“It’s not an IP camera. There’s nothing from the computer that had connection history with the phone.”
The sudden voice distracted him. Jae-young glanced down at Ju-seong, who kept his eyes fixed on the monitor.
“So you can’t do it?”
“I’ll have to trace the IP as much as possible, since it might be connected to a burner phone.”
His voice was heavily laden with irritation, but Ju-seong’s face was surprisingly emotionless.
Since Seung-kwon was secretly following Sa Gong-hyun, who was heading to Incheon, he would likely return with results today. In contrast, Jae-young had gained nothing, making him feel needlessly anxious.
“Will it take long?”
Jae-young, who had been flicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, cautiously urged Ju-seong.
“It depends on how tightly it’s wrapped up.”
“So tight that even noona couldn’t handle it?”
“That probably won’t happen, but without any records, it’s difficult. If the firewall is the problem, we can disable it. If it’s been obfuscated, we can decode it. Even if there’s an intrusion prevention system installed, we can disguise the IP address to infiltrate… but if we don’t even know what code we need to crack, there’s nothing we can do.”
His mind was already anxious, and now faced with a potentially difficult situation, his thoughts multiplied. To find the safe containing the ledger, he would need to search the second floor multiple times. Even if he tried to look while Sa Gong-hyun was working, if he noticed anything, it would lead to a troublesome situation.
At the very least, Ju-yeon needed to control the server, and when Jae-young made his move, she needed to be able to shut down the cameras or overlay them with different footage.
No matter how much Jae-young, who was not an expert, racked his brain, nothing would change. Still, Jae-young continued to search for solutions. He needed to find a way to improve their current situation.
“This is giving me a headache. Besides the feature phone that can’t be hacked, there’s only one smartphone being used, and I can’t find anything. Seung-kwon oppa planted files in Sebin’s hardware, right? Even when I accessed it, I never saw anything like home CCTV.”
“If we don’t need to check every time, couldn’t we just move when we need to?”
“We’ll see. I’ll try my best to track it.”
He let out a short sigh, apparently with quite a headache. Ju-yeon tapped intermittently on the table where she had placed her keyboard.
Ju-yeon, who had been blinking with her head tilted back, suddenly wrinkled her eyes. She immediately straightened her back and unplugged the cable connected to her headset.
—Speak.
Before Jae-young could express his suspicion, Sa Gong-hyun’s voice flowed from the speaker. Then Ju-yeon turned up the volume.
—Executive Director, I think Chairman Choi’s side has caught on.
—So.
“Chairman Choi?”
Ah, I think I’ve heard that voice somewhere before. Jae-young pondered the familiar voice and specific title. Then Ju-yeon, finally removing her headset, spoke up.
“Chairman Choi Kyung-seok of LK Group.”
LK was a well-known corporation in South Korea. The first connection between Sebin and LK began when LK launched a new apartment brand, as he understood it.
Sebin Construction had provided labor for the large-scale apartment construction, and at one point, there were rumors that Sebin would be merged into LK. In the end, it was just an unfounded rumor.
—It seems they won’t just let it go. They appear to be tracking us with several bloodhounds. Should I instruct everyone to lay low for now? We’ve already caught two shadows so far.
—How far have they tracked?
—It seems they saw one of our carriers making contact with our people. We’re looking into whether photos were taken.
Sa Gong-hyun’s calm voice subtly deepened. “Carrier” was a slang term they used for a drug mule. Usually, drug trafficking organizations distribute roles within a single organization: smugglers, supply chiefs, middlemen, carriers, and dealers.
However, Sebin had chosen a cumbersome process to prepare for possible investigation networks. Sebin was responsible for smuggling and supply management, while intermediary supply, sales, and transportation were handled through various external brokers.
Only they would know how they managed and handled so many brokers. They had kept it strictly confidential despite the troublesome process, but now it had been exposed.
—That old man is still troublesome.
—I apologize.
—Find out for sure. If you confirm nothing exists, don’t politely receive it verbally, but send someone to Choi Seok-woo’s side. It’s been a long time, so he’ll stick something in without knowing what it is, so make it as dirty as possible with complications.
—Understood.
—Also, pick a cooperative journalist and give them an exclusive. Dig up all the evidence of Chairman Choi covering for Choi Seok-woo and details of the slush funds and deliver it.
—What are your plans?
—If he wants to go, we should send him. Prepare a lawsuit against LK as well.
—Understood, Executive Director.
Click. The call ended quickly. Choi Seok-woo, who appeared in the call, was Chairman Choi Kyung-seok’s only son and the sole heir to the LK Group.
Jae-young thought he had seen an article about him leaving the country to study abroad, but it seemed he remained in Korea.
Without clear subjects, the conversation was somewhat difficult for Jae-young to understand. If he had to determine who was superior, he would have thought LK was above Sebin, but Sa Gong-hyun’s attitude was suspiciously assertive for that to be the case.
If what Jae-young understood was correct, he thought the reality might be the opposite.
Based on the facts learned from the wiretap, it seemed that Sa Gong-hyun had leverage over Chairman Choi, and Chairman Choi had belatedly discovered Sa Gong-hyun’s drug business. He tried to investigate to turn the crisis into an opportunity…
Wait, even a few photos could have been enough leverage, so why did Chairman Choi escalate the situation? Not letting it go meant he was greatly angered by something.
What did it mean that he “covered for” Choi Seok-woo? How did Sa Gong-hyun know about that?
Deep in thought, Jae-young suddenly grimaced. Trying to shake off the uneasy silence, he forced himself to speak.
“…Don’t tell me they’ve been selling drugs to Choi Seok-woo all this time and got caught by Chairman Choi?”
There was only one assumption that matched Jae-young’s speculation. Sa Gong-hyun had been providing drugs to Choi Seok-woo behind Chairman Choi’s back. The chairman had covered up his son’s charges as much as he could, but now he discovered that Sebin was the supplier.
The article about going abroad to study was likely a smokescreen.
Even if he couldn’t accurately uncover the detailed process, the general outline was undoubtedly correct. When Jae-young cautiously raised his opinion, Ju-yeon let out a short breath.
“…It seems so.”
“I never thought I’d sympathize with a chaebol… He’s not going to drug me too, right?”
I already annoyed him once… Jae-young grimaced and shuddered. Sa Gong-hyun’s voice through the speaker was significantly lower in tone than when he had spoken with Jae-young. Moreover, that voice was… more vicious and severe than he had thought.
“There haven’t been any stories about that yet…”
Ju-yeon suddenly looked up at Jae-young and smiled awkwardly. That was even more chilling. It sounded like she was saying it could happen.
Drug addicts and gamblers were detestable. Despite committing all kinds of illegal acts, he had even promised himself never to get involved with drugs, gambling, or murder.
“If you’re going to say it with that face, don’t say anything at all.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
