Sudden Acceleration
It didn’t look like he was cleaning the car at all.
In the blink of an eye, the RRM shot past 5,000 with no sign of braking.
In-hyuk quickly yanked the steering wheel, swerving to avoid the brick wall directly ahead.
Screeeeech—
By then, the car’s speed had accelerated to the point where it was nearly impossible to control.
“Kyaaaaaah—!”
Tae Ju-ha’s startled scream rang out.
In-hyuk yanked the handbrake while continuing to spin the wheel. The car fishtailed dangerously across the gravel driveway of the mansion before slamming sideways into the wall, scraping the driver’s side.
Finally, the vehicle that had been surging forward crashed into the end of the wall and the gate pillar.
Crunch—crash!
Only then did the car come to a stop.
“Get the people inside out first!”
The KQ Group security guards stationed at the parking area and main gate had been watching since the car began moving erratically. But they couldn’t approach during what looked like a sudden unintended acceleration. Only after the vehicle stopped did they rush forward.
Crack—
The heavily cracked windshield was suddenly kicked outward and ripped free. In-hyuk had smashed it open with his foot. He emerged with blood trickling from his head, dragging the unconscious Tae Ju-ha with him.
The KQ Group guards who had been trying to open the passenger door quickly helped support both of them and moved them onto the grass.
“What on earth is going on here!”
Kang Chun-gyu, Chairman of KQ Group, had come out personally after hearing the loud crash.
The guards quickly explained the situation. Kang Chun-gyu hurried over to In-hyuk, who was pressing a handkerchief against the wound on his head.
“You are…?”
He asked, recalling the man who had been with Chairman Tae Geon-seung earlier.
“I am Kang In-hyuk, husband of Tae Ju-ha, Representative Director of Tae Shin Group’s second daughter.”
“Ah, yes. You had the wedding last year. Are you all right?”
“I appear to be fine for now.”
“What happened?”
“The moment I tried to start the car, it suddenly accelerated on its own.”
“Sudden acceleration?”
By now, the other guests who had remained in the garden had come outside to watch.
“I’m sorry. It seems there was a problem with the vehicle.”
“Nonsense. No need to apologize. The important thing is that no one was seriously hurt. Since it will take too long for an ambulance to get here, it would be better to take one of the security vehicles to the hospital.”
He said this while looking at Tae Ju-ha, who was still unconscious.
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Just what is going on here…”
“Ah, please excuse me for a moment.”
In-hyuk walked over to the car and reached for the black box in the center of the driver’s seat.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking the SD card from the dashcam. Since sudden acceleration is suspected, I’ll need to hand it over to the police and the insurance company.”
This wasn’t just any event—it was the book launch party for the autobiography of the KQ Group chairman. If In-hyuk hadn’t used the wall to stop the car quickly, it could have led to major casualties.
“Goodness…”
“Ah, I will take full responsibility for the repairs to the wall and any nearby vehicles.”
The tires had spun wildly on the gravel, spraying stones everywhere and damaging several cars. Most of the invited guests were prominent figures from politics and business, so their vehicles were all luxury models. The wall itself was also badly scraped and destroyed.
“More importantly, you should take care of yourself first.”
“Other than a slight headache, I’m fine. There are still guests here, so please go back inside, Chairman.”
“I’ll explain the situation to everyone.”
“Thank you.”
In-hyuk lifted Tae Ju-ha in his arms and, guided by the KQ Group security guards, got into one of their vehicles. He immediately checked the face of the man already sitting in the driver’s seat.
It was the same security guard who had tampered with In-hyuk’s car earlier.
Did he get in because he was curious after I took the SD card he tried to steal?
As expected, Tae Ju-ha’s car accident was no coincidence. Someone had clearly planted malicious code in the vehicle’s ECU to cause this malfunction.
But the original timing shouldn’t have been in the parking lot of Kang Chun-gyu’s residence. It was only because it had collided with the additional malicious code In-hyuk had asked Go Mi-ah to create that the sudden acceleration occurred here.
Of course, it had been an extremely dangerous situation, but since he had anticipated the accident, he was able to control it.
.
.
.
Thirty minutes away, in a private room at a general hospital in Gangdong-gu.
After completing basic tests, Tae Ju-ha remained unconscious. In-hyuk, having received treatment, sat in a chair beside her bed.
At that moment, Pyo Jun-woo, a KQ Group security guard, entered the room.
“The traffic division from the Hanam Police Station has arrived at the scene. We haven’t confirmed exactly when they will reach the hospital, but they said they would come as quickly as possible.”
In-hyuk listened to the report while subtly observing him.
“Thank you.”
“If you give me the SD card, I’ll deliver it to the police.”
It sounded like a courteous offer, but In-hyuk knew exactly what his true intention was.
“No. I’ll hand it over to the police myself. If necessary, I can stop by the station once my wife wakes up.”
For a brief moment, Pyo Jun-woo’s brow twitched.
“…Understood.”
“Ah, there’s something I’d like to ask you, Officer.”
“Go ahead.”
In-hyuk turned the phone he had been looking at toward him and said,
“What exactly were you doing to my car? From the footage… it doesn’t look like you were cleaning it as a service.”
At that instant, Pyo Jun-woo’s hand shot out toward the phone.
In-hyuk pulled his left hand holding the phone back while swinging a fist with his right.
Thud—
Pyo Jun-woo, who had thought he could easily snatch the phone, was knocked backward by the sudden strike. He quickly got back up.
“Ugh—!”
“What are you going to do, glaring at me with a bloody nose?”
“It would be wise to hand over the phone and the SD card quietly.”
“You’re already far from quiet, so what kind of nonsense is that?”
In-hyuk let out a short laugh, slipped the phone into his pocket, and stepped toward him.
Pyo Jun-woo’s expression hardened as he charged forward.
Whoosh—whooosh—
Two fists, clearly trained in boxing, flew sharply toward In-hyuk’s head. If his opponent had been an ordinary person, they would have already been knocked out by the one-two combo.
But In-hyuk lightly moved his head to dodge, then grabbed the left wrist that passed in front of him and twisted it.
Crack—
“Aargh—!”
Pyo Jun-woo desperately pulled his body away before his arm could be completely twisted and retreated.
“You’ve got some strength.”
“You’re no pushover either.”
“Just no pushover?”
“I’ll have to rip that filthy mouth of yours apart first.”
At that moment, Pyo Jun-woo’s boxing stance and hand position shifted calmly.
Simultaneously, In-hyuk’s expression began to harden.
How does this guy know…
Pyo Jun-woo threw a punch at In-hyuk’s throat, not giving him time to think further.
Of course, dodging an obvious attack was easy. But In-hyuk knew it wouldn’t end there.
First strike: Yeomcheon. Second strike: Songpung.
They were the names of vital points on the Adam’s apple and the side of the neck.
In the meantime, the extended arm folded, and a hard elbow aimed for the side of In-hyuk’s neck. Just as expected.
Thwack—crunch!
In-hyuk, who had anticipated it, spun his body, caught the elbow, twisted it, and threw Pyo Jun-woo over his shoulder.
Pyo Jun-woo’s body was pulled forward by the momentum of his twisted arm, flipping once in the air before slamming into the floor.
Thump—
Of course, his arm remained firmly gripped and twisted in In-hyuk’s hand.
In-hyuk swallowed the question he truly wanted to ask and said,
“Who put you up to this? If you don’t speak quickly, even I don’t know what will happen to your arm.”
“What the hell are you—!”
Crack—
He twisted the arm before Pyo Jun-woo could finish speaking.
“Aaaaaagh—!”
“See? I told you I didn’t know what would happen.”
“You… you crazy bastard…”
“That’s not something a guy who tried to kill people should be saying, is it?”
In-hyuk twisted the already broken and bent arm even further.
“Aaaargh—!”
“So, why did you do it? Or did someone hire you?”
They had no prior connection. It was clearly the work of a third party.
“I don’t know anything!”
At that moment, the commotion caused the hospital room door to open, and nurses rushed in.
The moment they tried to speak, In-hyuk raised his hand to stop them. He then pinned Pyo Jun-woo’s broken arm between his knees, pressed down on his back with one knee to subdue him, pulled out his phone, and called the police first.
Only after reporting the incident did he explain to the nurses.
“He is a suspect in the traffic accident that occurred today. He followed us to the hospital and tried to harm us, so I subdued him.”
“Ah…”
“I’ve already called the police, so you may leave.”
“Understood.”
The bewildered nurses left the room again.
In truth, he hadn’t called the police. He still had things to do with this hard-won suspect.
Meanwhile, Tae Ju-ha, who had been lying in the bed, let out a faint groan and opened her eyes.
“Mm… What’s going on here?”
She had spotted Pyo Jun-woo pinned beneath In-hyuk.
“How much do you remem—”
“Uaaaaagh—!”
Pyo Jun-woo screamed and thrashed wildly.
In-hyuk, whose body was being shaken, pressed down harder with his knee, then loosened his tie and used it to bind both of Pyo Jun-woo’s wrists and one ankle together.
“Aaaargh—!”
“You’re really noisy. Excuse me for a moment.”
In-hyuk then removed his dress shoes and socks and stuffed the socks into Pyo Jun-woo’s mouth.
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“They don’t even smell that bad. Why are you making such a fuss?”
After finishing the restraint, In-hyuk let out a sigh and turned his gaze.
“Hoo—! So, how much do you remember?”
“What? Oh, right… the car suddenly…!”
“It was sudden acceleration. While you were unconscious, I checked the dashcam and found this.”
In-hyuk took out his phone again and showed it to her.
As the video played, shock was inevitable.
“…This man did that to the car? And who is he?”
“He’s a KQ Group security guard who drove us here. It seems someone hired him, but he won’t talk. We’ll have to hand him over to the police and investigate.”
“What?! A KQ Group security guard?”
Tae Ju-ha was shocked again when the organizer of the event they had attended was mentioned.
In-hyuk lifted Pyo Jun-woo’s torso and showed her the badge pinned to his collar—the symbol of KQ Group.
“When I took the SD card from the dashcam, it looks like he followed us here to get it back. Of course, as you just saw, his tampering was captured clearly on video.”
If the cause of the sudden acceleration in the vehicle system was revealed, there would be no way for them to deny it.
“But why would KQ Group…”
“We’ll have to find out exactly what happened. Ah, do you happen to have Chairman Kang Chun-gyu’s contact information? Since this is no small matter, it would be good to give him a heads-up.”
“I don’t have…”
It was unrealistic for her to have the direct phone number of a major conglomerate chairman.
“Then we’ll have to wait for the police to—”
Vrrrr—vrrrr—
While he was speaking, a vibration sounded from inside Pyo Jun-woo’s jacket.
In-hyuk searched him and pulled out the phone.
Just seeing the name was enough to know who it was. In his previous life, In-hyuk had once gathered information on Nam Hyo-chang, the head of KQ Group’s security office.
He had also seen him standing near Chairman Kang Chun-gyu at the event earlier.
“Looks like we won’t have to call him after all.”
“Are you going to answer?”
A KQ Group security guard had attempted to kill the youngest daughter of Tae Shin Group and her husband. If this fact became public, the repercussions would be enormous.
“If we inform them of the situation, they’ll have to take a stance, won’t they?”
“But…”
“First, check if you have any injuries.”
With that, In-hyuk pressed the call button.
"How is the situation progressing?"
A heavy voice came through the receiver.
“Excuse me. This is Kang In-hyuk from Tae Shin.”
There was no way Nam Hyo-chang wouldn’t recognize that name.
"You're Representative Tae Ju-ha's husband. But… why are you answering Deputy Pyo Jun-woo's phone?"
Only then did In-hyuk learn the man’s name.
“There was a problem at the hospital. Let me explain the situation…”
He recounted the events exactly as he had told Tae Ju-ha earlier.
Before long, Nam Hyo-chang’s voice rose slightly.
"Are you saying one of my security guards tried to kill both of you?!"
“The circumstances and evidence so far point to that. I haven’t called the police yet, but I thought Chairman Kang should be informed of the situation.”
"Please excuse me for a moment."
After the reply, there was a brief silence before the voice returned.
"You must be very uncomfortable after the accident earlier, but could you return to the residence?"