No Longer a Toy
Tae Yeo-jun had always treated Kang In-hyuk like a toy he could play with however he pleased since high school. In-hyuk was supposed to bow his head and obey without question.
But the atmosphere in the room had shifted completely.
“Kang In-hyuk! Do you even realize what you’re doing right now?”
“…How could I not?”
Tae Yeo-jun’s face twisted further at In-hyuk’s calm, indifferent reply.
“Have you completely lost your mind?!”
In-hyuk swung his arm, the one he had been holding bent. Moon Jae-min staggered backward as if sliding across the table before crashing into something and collapsing.
Thud—
“Aagh!”
Tae Yeo-jun and Kwon Seung-hyun could only watch as Moon Jae-min rolled on the floor. In-hyuk met each of their eyes in turn.
“You’re all over thirty. Isn’t it time you left high school behind?”
“You think you can get away with this?”
“Why? Planning to run to Father-in-law?”
He meant Tae Seok-hyun, Tae Ju-ha’s father.
In-hyuk continued without pause.
“Or will you tell the Chairman instead?”
“You little bastard…!”
At that moment, In-hyuk feinted as if he were about to hurl the glass he had caught earlier.
“Aagh—!”
“…Coward. Did you really think I’d throw it?”
Clink—
The glass was set back down on the table without a sound. From the floor, Moon Jae-min, his groans subsiding, shouted at In-hyuk.
“You! You think I’ll just let this slide?!”
In-hyuk let out a quiet sigh. It was directed at the three men before him—and at the old Kang In-hyuk who had always endured their abuse. He knew they would never forget today’s humiliation and would begin plotting something in return. So he bent down, close enough that only Moon Jae-min could hear, and murmured softly.
At the same time, Moon Jae-min’s face drained of color, his lips trembling violently.
“From your reaction, it seems you understood perfectly.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with you?”
Tae Yeo-jun and Kwon Seung-hyun pressed Moon Jae-min, bewildered by the situation, but he gave no answer.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me over for pointless reasons again.”
With that, In-hyuk turned his back on the two men grinding their teeth and left the room.
It had been an excessive response, admittedly. But it had been deliberate. He wanted to see just how far Tae Yeo-jun’s childish tantrums would escalate and how the others would react.
‘How much will Chairman Tae Geon-seung and Representative Director Tae Seok-hyun indulge Tae Yeo-jun?’
It was a test. If the Chairman decided to cast him out because of this incident, that would be ideal. Then he would no longer have to continue his marriage with Tae Ju-ha.
.
.
.
Once the door closed, the remaining men settled back into their seats. Tae Yeo-jun looked down at Moon Jae-min still sprawled beneath the table.
“Seriously, what’s wrong with you? What did that bastard say to you?”
“…Huh? Oh! N-nothing. It was nothing.”
Kwon Seung-hyun stared at him, visibly frustrated.
“What do you mean, nothing?!”
“It really was nothing. More importantly… I should get going.”
Moon Jae-min stepped out into the hallway, leaned against the wall, and recalled what In-hyuk had whispered to him.
[Getting plastic surgery to improve your looks is fine, but you should be careful. What if your father and the prosecution find out?]
For some time now, Moon Jae-min had been visiting a discreet plastic surgery clinic recommended by someone he knew. In truth, it was only a clinic in name; it illegally distributed narcotic anesthetics and painkillers to clients. Moon Jae-min had become addicted to the pleasure it provided and visited frequently.
‘How the hell does that bastard know about it?’
The same question looped endlessly in his mind, yet he couldn’t begin to guess where he had slipped up. Eventually, Moon Jae-min clutched his trembling hands and staggered toward his car.
─┼
Several days passed.
After work, In-hyuk entered the Lake Plus officetel in Seodaemun-gu. He rode the elevator to the fourteenth floor, rang the doorbell, and sent a message. A reply came shortly after.
【Room 1414】
He was currently standing in front of Room 1211.
“So this is the office they set up as a front?”
His gaze naturally drifted toward the CCTV installed in the hallway. The blinking red light gave the impression that someone was watching.
Following the message, he walked to Room 1414 instead. When he rang the bell, the door opened and Go Mi-ah peeked out.
“Welcome.”
Following her inside, he found a studio apartment roughly fifteen pyeong in size. A desk, computer, and multiple monitors lined the walls. And…
“…Don’t tell me you actually cooked something?”
A strange smell assaulted his nose the moment he stepped in.
“Smells good, right? Ribeye steak. Since it’s your first time here, I put in a little extra effort.”
No. It smelled extremely dangerous.
On the table in front of the kitchen sat a suspicious-looking lump of meat(?) drenched in green sauce.
The sight triggered an unpleasant memory in In-hyuk’s mind—a former colleague who had eaten Go Mi-ah’s cooking and ended up in the emergency room.
“Sorry, but I already had dinner.”
“Already?”
He hadn’t, in fact. He had come straight from work without time to eat. Truthfully, he was a little hungry. He could also appreciate the gesture. But Go Mi-ah’s cooking was absolutely off-limits.
‘The guy who ate that sweet-and-sour pork once… ended up getting his stomach pumped.’
In-hyuk spoke while nervously hoping his stomach wouldn’t growl.
“I had a late-afternoon meeting that included a meal.”
A lie, of course.
“What a shame. It turned out really delicious. Don’t come begging for a bite later~!”
He never would.
“How’s the new company going? Are you following my instructions?”
In-hyuk quickly changed the subject and approached the desk with the monitors. Stock charts filled the screens, their graphs shifting slightly every hour.
“No problems so far. But where are you even getting this information? Same with that twenty billion won that got deposited the other day.”
She meant the money sent by Jang Hyeong-cheol.
“The source is confidential. As for the money, it was invested by someone named Mr. Jang from Haeundae.”
“Huh? That Mr. Jang? The loan shark king of the southern provinces?”
“You know him?”
“When you run an information market on the dark web, you end up learning all sorts of things. Word is he’s been keeping a low profile for a while now. How did you get him to hand over funds?”
In-hyuk shrugged.
“Lucky, I guess.”
He had never imagined that the notorious loan shark Mr. Jang would be classified as an A2 client at Tae Shin Asset Management. In his original memories, there had been a time when the old Kang In-hyuk had handled Jang Hyeong-cheol as a client, but back then he hadn’t known the man’s true identity and had failed to secure the stock management contract, eventually terminating the relationship.
“Anyway, we’ve got a big influx of capital to work with now. Total returns have already exceeded 250 percent.”
He could confirm it on the monitor.
“Not bad. But don’t get greedy. You need to enter and exit exactly when I tell you.”
Meanwhile, Go Mi-ah dipped a piece of the meat she had cooked into the green sauce and took a bite.
“Mmm! These are all pump-and-dump stocks, right?”
“Correct. A little side profit is fine, but if we cross the line, they’ll get involved.”
“Which operation are we riding?”
“H&T Fund. Run by a man named Tae Seok-ho. Publicly, a guy named Noah Gardner is listed as the representative.”
Go Mi-ah let out a shriek around the meat in her mouth.
“What?! You mean the second son of Tae Shin Group? Executive Director Tae Seok-ho of Taeshin Mulsan? You’re messing with one of his operations? What if they find out?”
Pump-and-dump schemes were illegal operations where specific individuals or groups manipulated stock prices for massive profits. If outsiders tried to siphon off gains, a good outcome was unlikely.
“They won’t be able to expose us anyway. We’re only taking scraps.”
“You’re way too bold… How did you even get the information on that operation? Did you plant someone inside?”
To run a pump-and-dump, you needed a target company and a major shareholder willing to play along. Without being an insider, obtaining the details—and especially the buy and sell timings—was nearly impossible.
“That’s also confidential. From now on, you can take half of the profits you make.”
“Huh? That much?”
The source of the profits was the information In-hyuk provided. Go Mi-ah only bought and sold stocks as instructed, so she found it strange.
“Think of it as hazard pay.”
“Well, I’m not going to complain about getting more. But I’m genuinely curious…”
“About what?”
“If you have this kind of information, why bother working at a company? You could just run the one you just started.”
Honestly, Go Mi-ah had been half-skeptical when In-hyuk claimed he would make her a hundred billion dollars. But after trading stocks with the information he had given her, she could feel the possibility was real. Naturally, she couldn’t understand why he was still working as a parachute-hired team leader at Tae Shin Asset Management.
“There’s no need to split the profits you can earn alone with those people. That said, abandoning my position outright would be a waste. The marriage arrangement also has its own agreed-upon terms.”
The latter’s usefulness would depend on how events unfolded.
“Why? Is your wife refusing to divorce you? Want me to help?”
“How would you… Never mind. I think I can guess without asking.”
She was referring to the remark Go Mi-ah had casually dropped the last time she visited his house. This time would likely be no different.
“Don’t you know the best way to get a divorce is through infidelity? Once all affection—real or imagined—is gone, she’ll stamp the papers right away.”
“…”
“Did I say something wrong?”
In-hyuk sighed and shook his head.
“I’ll handle things with Tae Shin myself. Just focus on running AMK properly.”
“Okay! That’s easy enough. Oh, by the way—can I reinvest the money that comes to me along with the information?”
Go Mi-ah was growing confident in the stock tips and developing an appetite for profit.
“Do whatever you want. Just register as a corporate director under AMK instead of using a nominee, and manage the company’s profits through that structure. We might run into issues later when bringing funds back into Korea.”
Go Mi-ah’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Be honest. How much have you been skimming while pretending to be the Tae Shin Group’s son-in-law?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s weird! A guy who was basically a doormat until recently suddenly starts acting like this. You’re doing this to prepare for when they kick you out, aren’t you?”
“…If something like that happens, do you really think it’ll end with just getting kicked out?”
“They’d probably sue you first… and in the worst case, you could end up in prison?”
“The things I have in mind won’t lead to that, so you can stop worrying about nonsense.”
In-hyuk sighed again and opened the refrigerator, his throat dry. Instead of water, he found a clear plastic container, poured some into a cup, and brought it to his lips.
“Guh—!”
The moment the liquid touched his tongue, a bitter, fishy taste crashed over him like a tidal wave. He immediately spat it into the sink and stared at Go Mi-ah.
“Cough, cough! What is this?! That wasn’t water!”
“Oh, that? My special health tea.”
“What did you put in it to make it taste like this?”
“Only the healthiest ingredients, obviously. First, mackerel extract and—”
“Wait.”
That first ingredient alone was deeply suspicious.
“Why?”
“There’s something called mackerel extract? And it’s sold?”
Even In-hyuk, who knew little about cooking, had never heard of it.
“Of course not! So I made it myself! How is it? Tastes great, right?”
“How exactly did you make it transparent like water?”
“Hmm… Want me to tell you?”
“No. I really don’t want to know. Or what the other ingredients are.”
It was terrifying enough just hearing this much.
Moreover, she had added mackerel extract yet somehow made it clear and odorless…
In-hyuk considered dumping the container but ultimately put it back in the refrigerator.
“Aww! It’s good for you, though.”
“If I have to drink this to stay healthy, I’d rather not be that healthy.”
“Tch.”
“…Anyway, from now on, just follow the instructions inside this.”
He pulled a USB drive from his jacket pocket and handed it over.
“This is the next list of pump-and-dump stocks, right?”
“Correct. There will be actual investments later as well.”
“Investments—?”
Go Mi-ah, who had been about to plug in the USB, turned back to him. This was different from what she had assumed—that she would only be buying and selling stocks through AMK Partners.
“As the funds keep accumulating, we’ll need to diversify beyond just stocks.”
“If it’s investments, don’t we need contracts and stuff? That means meeting people in person. Are you going to do it?”
“I work at a company.”
Specifically, Tae Shin Asset Management. If word got out that he was helping another firm on the side, it could easily be twisted into insider trading.
“Then who’s going to do it? Don’t tell me… you want me to?”
“Absolutely not, so don’t worry.”
In-hyuk’s tone was firm. He couldn’t risk letting her serve her homemade cooking to important clients.
“Why go that far…”
“I’ll hire someone else for external sales. You just keep doing what you’re doing now.”
While they were talking, his phone rang in his pocket.
It was a call from Tae Ju-ha.