Justified Self-Defense
The decision on Manager Yoon came down.
Recommended resignation.
The branch manager had reported the matter upstairs exactly as it stood, and Audit moved in person. It was a case that might have ended in severe disciplinary action, and yet the interviews with the staff startled Audit all over again. Verbal abuse and cursing were the baseline. On top of that came sexually degrading remarks. When they pulled the access logs on personal information, they found it had not been once or twice.
It even came out that he had taken a liking to the looks of a woman who came into the bank, looked up her contact information without authorization, and reached out to her in private. Jinhan Bank cut Manager Yoon loose without hesitation.
Yoon decided Dahun was the root of every bit of it. He changed numbers and kept sending messages anyway.
Dragging family into it was enough to send Dahun to the police. I stepped in and stopped the report.
"I've got a good idea."
"What kind?"
"Just leave it to me. I know a specialist in that line of work."
Manager Yoon Seongjun paced outside the apartment where Dahun lived. A single brick was clenched in his hand.
"Fuck. I'm not going down alone. You get wrecked once, too. I'll show you I'm not all talk."
And in that instant, a short voice came from behind him.
"Hey."
"...?"
Yoon Seongjun turned his head toward the sound. He swallowed. The build was massive. The face didn't even fit properly into his field of view.
"Somebody calls you, you answer."
"...Yes?"
"You don't smoke?"
"......"
"I asked if you smoke. A person talks, you answer. Rude little bastard."
The man clearly looked younger than he was. Yoon Seongjun dropped his gaze and could not bring himself to talk back.
"Yes. I don't smoke..."
"Better than the last guy."
"But who are you..."
The man glanced at the brick in Yoon Seongjun's hand and let out a short laugh.
"And what's with the brick?"
"......This is just..."
"What? Gonna crack somebody's skull?"
"Ah, no, sir..."
Still smiling, the man took the brick out of Yoon Seongjun's hand.
"Ever brought this down on a person?"
"S-sir, I think there's some kind of misunderstanding..."
And then—
The hand holding the brick shot up toward the sky.
"Urk!"
Yoon Seongjun folded in on himself by pure reflex. A dull crack followed, and blood began to run in thin streams.
"...?"
Yoon Seongjun himself was perfectly fine. Then who in the world—
Drip. Drip, drip.
Blood was seeping from the man's forehead. Yoon Seongjun thought, Why the hell did this lunatic smash his own head? For a second he wondered if this was the self-harm extortion racket he had only ever heard about.
"All right. Listen up."
The man held out the blood-smeared brick. Then, with a perfectly shameless face, he said to Manager Yoon Seongjun:
"Why'd you smash a brick into a man's head?"
"...Pardon?"
"You hit me. My head's bleeding, isn't it."
"Sir. You just brought it down on yourself a moment ago..."
"Got proof?"
"Pardon?"
"I said, got proof. You little shit. Proof that I hit my own head."
Damn it. Against exactly this sort of contingency, Yoon Seongjun had already mapped out the spots without CCTV, and he had been waiting for Dahun in one of them.
"Well? Ignoring me again?"
"...I don't."
"You don't, right? Then you take exactly what I took. From here on, it's self-defense."
"W-wait a moment, sir. Th-there must be a reason you're doing this. If it's money..."
"Money I'll toss in as the fee for kicking your ass. All right. Here comes your shot. Take this, and live like a human being from now on. Quit living like a disgrace."
What happened after that, no one could say. Only this: the messages from Yoon Seongjun stopped coming to Dahun's phone.
What on earth did Jinyeong do?
Dahun had been ready to report those ongoing threatening texts to the police. And on the very day he meant to, Ju Jinyeong had stepped in, saying there was a better way. After that, word from Yoon Seongjun had vanished as if a ghost had taken it. The man knew the home address, so Dahun had been on his guard at first, but Yoon never so much as came near the place.
If it turned out well, then it turned out well.
A buzz. A message arrived on Dahun's phone.
Dahun finished the exchange and came into the house.
"I'm home, honey."
"You're early today... What's that in your hand?"
One thick shopping bag. A Chanel logo was stamped on the outside.
"Can't you tell? It's Chanel."
He had braced for his salary to drop. Instead Ju Jinyeong had set it at two hundred million won a year, and the quality of his life had only improved. No one chewed him out for no reason anymore. He no longer had to grind through overtime he couldn't refuse. Dahun wanted to give something back to his wife, Eunyeong.
If she had opposed him, none of this would have happened. More than that, he might still have been spending his nights under Manager Yoon, swallowing every kind of abuse and curse.
"And you don't need to find some separate job after you drop the kids off. I make plenty. When you've got a little room, like now, just rest."
"Oppa..."
A kindness received was a kindness returned. That was only human. Eunyeong shook her tied-up hair loose.
"I'll wash up and come back. Wait for me."
"...Huh?"
No. Don't. This was not, by any measure, the situation Dahun had been hoping for.
"I'll be right there. Be ready."
He swallowed. Faced with the greatest crisis of his life, Dahun began to stammer.
"...Eu-Eunyeong."
He was still trying to work out how to escape the crisis when the phone buzzed. A call from Ju Jinyeong. The man really wasn't called Joo-nim for nothing.
Click.
Dahun hung up and crammed his feet into his shoes.
"Honey, looks like Jinyeong has something urgent to go over for work. I'll be right back."
Jinyeong had called at exactly the right moment, and Dahun felt his loyalty surge all over again.
I won't forget this kindness. I'll spend the rest of my life paying it back.
A grand mansion in Itaewon-dong, Seoul. Inside it, the royal family of Jinseong Group had gathered in one place.
Lee Chanmo, chairman of Jinseong Group. He was cold enough that people said he had no feelings at all, and when he spoke of business he spoke only in numbers. He had never once given so much as a smile even to his own children. The single person that man cherished without reserve was his youngest granddaughter, Lee Jayeong.
Once a month, the royal family sat down to dinner together. Chairman Lee Chanmo lifted his spoon.
"Begin."
"Please enjoy your meal!"
The dinner was so silent that no one could have said whether the rice was going down a mouth or a nose. Smacking one's lips was forbidden. Letting a spoon or a pair of chopsticks strike a bowl was forbidden. The only sound was breathing.
Before a single spoonful was finished, Chairman Lee Chanmo opened his mouth.
"Jinseong Construction."
"...Yes, Chairman."
It was the affiliate run by Lee Byeonggwon, the chairman's second son.
"Speak. Why did we lose the Qatar contract?"
Lee Byeonggwon swallowed his sweat.
"The competition was fiercer than expected, and the Chinese side's dumping bids developed beyond what we anticipated..."
"Expected? By your account, this group failing to foresee things is hardly a one-time affair."
At the chairman's words, the dinner table froze in an instant.
"Last year, the Saudi smart city. This year, the Qatar airport complex. Two contracts lost in a row. Jinseong Construction has lost its foothold in the Middle East."
Chairman Lee Chanmo set his spoon down on the table.
"If I judge that Jinseong Construction has no prospect of recovery within six months, I will hand the domestic and privately financed SOC division over to Jinseong Capital. If that displeases you, stepping down from your seat first is also an option."
"...Chairman."
"Next. Jinseong Electric."
This time Lee Taehyeon, Lee Chanmo's cousin, answered.
"Yes, Chairman."
"You raised debt to expand the U.S. plant without approval. Why?"
"...The policy structure allowed us to receive subsidies, so we treated it as a preemptive investment..."
"What you decided was not an investment. It was a gamble. Replace the entire finance team at Jinseong Electric. And put Kim Taegil in as head of management. He's a Yeouido man, so don't even think of playing games with the numbers."
"...I will do so."
After that, the heads of the affiliates—Jinseong Capital, Jinseong Chemical, Jinseong Electronics, and the rest—went pale one by one beneath the chairman's razor-edged assessments.
"And, Lee Jayeong."
"Yes, Chairman."
"That's enough of the hands-on work. Start as an executive at Jinseong Planning and build your experience as a manager. Next year, I intend to seat you as chief executive."
"...!"
"Chairman. Jayeong is far too young. She still lacks experience..."
"Is there anyone here qualified to advise me?"
"......"
"Then proceed with the personnel order on that understanding. And... the chairman of Shinseong Group has a grandson he dotes on. I'll arrange the introduction, so meet him once."
"!"
Every eye in the family, blood and in-laws alike, fixed on Lee Jayeong. Who could say no in front of the chairman? Fall out of his favor, and Lee Chanmo would cast you aside without hesitation, even if you were his own blood.
Chairman Lee Chanmo looked at Lee Jayeong. That bold gaze, not the least bit cowed even while it met his own. He did not dislike the sight of her like this.
"Is there at least someone you're seeing?"
"There isn't."
"Then meet him once. You never know where a connection between people might lead..."
"There is someone I like."
"...You, Jayeong? There's someone you like?"
Lee Jayeong nodded.
"A very wonderful man."
"Wonderful is not a proper word. It has to be proven with money and reputation. Can this man prove that?"
"No. He isn't someone with money and reputation on that scale."
Chairman Lee Chanmo's brow drew tight.
"Then you've let some man with no foundation at all put the blinders on you?"
"He saved me. He's something like the person I owe my life to. I'd say that's reason enough."
Lee Jayeong was the first to rise from her seat.
"Your nagging's going to run long, Grandfather, so I'll excuse myself first. And cut these banquets back a little. Everyone comes to eat, and I've never once seen them actually eat."
Home again, Lee Jayeong dropped straight onto the bed. A royal family other people would envy. She hated those words.
And because of that, look what happened to my parents...
The report she had recently received from Director Lee had been shocking enough on its own.
Now there was no way to see him except to contact him herself. Right. What if she kept playing hard to get, and someone prettier made a move first? Lee Jayeong gathered her courage, lifted her phone to call Ju Jinyeong—and in that instant it buzzed.
A grin tugged at her mouth. One text from him, and the tension and fatigue piled up through the banquet seemed to wash clean away.