The Scandal Shift
Kang In-hyuk left the chairman’s office after finishing his conversation. Kang Chun-gyu, still seated inside, stared at the closed door for a moment before speaking to his secretary, Noh Geun-cheol.
“Could you bring me those documents I looked at before?”
“Here they are.”
A tablet was handed over. On the screen was the personal information Noh Geun-cheol had gathered on Kang In-hyuk.
“An orphan with no known parents, graduated from Korea University with help from the Taeshin Education Foundation. Joined Taeshin Mulsan through open recruitment, worked three years in sales and one year in the executive office before marrying Tae Seok-hyun’s youngest daughter, Tae Ju-ha…”
There was nothing particularly unusual. That only piqued Kang Chun-gyu’s interest further.
“No close associates, kept a low profile at Taeshin Asset Management unlike his time at Taeshin Mulsan, then suddenly delivered impressive results recently… Quite an odd record and attitude.”
Noh Geun-cheol could guess what was troubling him.
“He’s shown a lot of changed behavior lately. That’s why the stock investment circles are paying attention.”
“But since he’s the grandson-in-law of Taeshin Group Chairman Tae Geon-seung, people can’t approach him carelessly.”
KQ Group had also taken notice of the recent surge in Raisen Energy’s stock price. The fact that Kang In-hyuk had achieved those results at Taeshin Asset Management made it impossible to ignore.
“We’re looking into leaks in that market, but so far we haven’t found anything concrete.”
“His subsequent performance has been quite substantial as well?”
“The clients he manages aren’t particularly large in scale, so the absolute amounts aren’t huge, but numerically he’s maintaining an average return of around 270 percent.”
“Keep monitoring Kang In-hyuk’s movements for now.”
“I’ll report regularly.”
After answering, Noh Geun-cheol left the room.
.
.
.
Kang In-hyuk, having left KQ Group, headed to Go Mi-ah’s residence. She was in the kitchen, shaking a frying pan as if preparing something questionable again.
“The forensics finished faster than expected.”
“There wasn’t much inside, so it didn’t take long.”
Four smartphones lay on Go Mi-ah’s desk, which was crowded with monitors. They had been recovered from the men who died alongside Pyo Jun-woo. Of course, the location tracker hidden in Pyo Jun-woo’s clothes had also been retrieved.
“Find anything?”
“Nothing special. I’ve pulled it up on the monitor, so take a look yourself.”
Kang In-hyuk sat at the desk and began examining the devices one by one. Before long, he came across a familiar piece of content.
“Why is this here?”
At his muttered question, Go Mi-ah approached with a spatula in hand. The TXT file displayed on the screen contained a string of alphabets.
“What is it?”
“A book cipher.”
“The one where you check the content based on specific keywords?”
Go Mi-ah understood it easily, likely because such systems were also used in computer frameworks.
“That’s right. Can you make a decryption program? Start by treating the words sent and received via the smartphones as keywords.”
“The program itself isn’t difficult. But I don’t know how long it’ll take if the keywords don’t match.”
“Can’t be helped.”
Kang In-hyuk sighed and looked around, feeling something was off. Just like the last time he visited, items that the original Go Mi-ah would normally have used to decorate her room were nowhere to be seen.
“…Do you like idols by any chance?”
Go Mi-ah, who had been typing on the keyboard, flinched and spoke up.
“Huh? What are you talking about? Idols?”
He knew exactly who she had liked and how in his previous life. Of course, Go Mi-ah had no idea about his true identity, so she put on an innocent expression as if she had been caught.
“You know, that idol group DDS. The one with Ha Eun-ho and…”
The moment he mumbled that, Go Mi-ah’s head whipped around and she glared sharply at him.
“You…! How much did you dig into my background?”
DDS was a four-member male idol group that had gained worldwide fame beyond South Korea. In her previous life, Go Mi-ah had been obsessed with them and never missed their broadcasts even while working with Kang In-hyuk. He, in turn, had heard more than enough unnecessary stories about them to the point of bleeding from his ears.
“If we’re going to work together, I should know at least that much. And what’s wrong with liking idols?”
“Exactly! Right! Nothing wrong with it! But why are you bringing it up?”
Kang In-hyuk paused to think before continuing.
“According to my information network, there’s an unpleasant event connected to them.”
“Huh? What event? Why DDS?!”
“There’s a tip about celebrities and second- or third-generation chaebol kids involved in drugs that’s been submitted to the prosecution, and they’re investigating. DDS is on the list.”
Go Mi-ah’s eyes widened and she shot to her feet.
“What?! Drugs? Is that true?”
“That’s what I heard from my sources.”
“DDS would never do that! Did you hear it wrong?!”
Her expression was one of utter disbelief. Kang In-hyuk scratched his nose and replied.
“The fact that they’re investigating is certain. I’ll need to look into the details further.”
“They’re really investigating? Damn it! Should I hack the prosecution server or something?”
Her eyes had already gone wild as she sat back down at the desk and tried to launch a hacking program.
“Wait. I’ll look into it more.”
“What if an article drops in the meantime?!”
“It’ll probably drop soon enough.”
“Then does that mean DDS really did drugs?”
“You were just saying they absolutely didn’t.”
“Of course they didn’t!”
She looked utterly convinced. Of course, just as she said, the idol group DDS had not used drugs at all. However, in his previous life, the incident had drawn intense scrutiny to DDS, and one member had faced enormous criticism based solely on being a person of interest before ultimately taking his own life. Even though he was later cleared of all charges, by then the real drug offenders had already escaped with light punishments.
“From what I’ve heard, the incident that’s about to break is nothing more than a smokescreen. The real key figures are using DDS as a sacrificial lamb to save themselves.”
“What? What kind of crazy bastards!”
“It’s obvious. People who only care about their own safety.”
Go Mi-ah seemed to have a rough idea and looked ready to explode.
“Politicians or chaebols? Damn… This won’t be easy.”
She had assessed the situation with surprising composure. However, Kang In-hyuk could change things from how they had played out before.
“There is a way to handle it…”
“Really? How?”
“You’ll have to help.”
“I’ll do anything, so tell me! What do I need to hack? The prosecution? NIS? CIA? MI6?”
She looked ready to hack every intelligence agency in the world.
“No hacking needed. Just make sure the articles from the sources I feed you don’t lose momentum.”
“Articles? So you’re not looking for evidence?”
This was to clear the idol group DDS, whom Go Mi-ah adored, of any wrongdoing. Being told it was about articles rather than evidence collection naturally made her suspicious.
“It would be best if the investigation into DDS didn’t proceed at all… but that’s impossible right now. So minimizing the damage is the top priority.”
“What kind of articles?”
“I’ll hand you the sources on the people who really deserve punishment. All you have to do is push search traffic as soon as the articles go up. Especially focus on outlets other than the major media companies. YouTube channels would work too.”
Go Mi-ah tilted her head at this explanation.
“Even with firepower, wouldn’t you need credibility from the opposite direction?”
After all, major media outlets would have a greater impact if the goal was to amplify the media’s influence.
“If politicians and chaebols are involved in the incident, where do you think they’ll try to intervene first?”
“Ah…”
“On top of that, keep stirring up communities and just follow the plan I’ve laid out. Then things will go the way you want.”
After finishing the necessary discussion, Kang In-hyuk prepared to head home. Suddenly, Go Mi-ah rushed into the kitchen.
“I made some stir-fried anchovies with wasabi as a side dish! Want to take some?”
“No thanks. I don’t eat at home.”
With that answer, Kang In-hyuk quickened his pace and walked out. He had caught a glimpse earlier—the stir-fried anchovies were a pale green, exactly the color of wasabi.
‘Just what did she do to anchovies to get that color?’
Articles began pouring out from the morning onward. While getting ready for work, Kang In-hyuk checked the headlines and smiled. Originally, the first articles should have been about DDS being linked to drugs. But this time, he had twisted the narrative so that the real key figures were mentioned first. In particular, M Corporation referred to Moonseong Mulsan, and Mr. M was Moon Jae-min, the man who had picked a fight with him at Risenburn last time. He had bundled that previous warning together with others and detonated it all at once.
“They’ll try to water it down, but if we keep hitting them, the effect won’t be as strong.”
Honestly, whether it was DDS or DDR wasn’t a major concern for Kang In-hyuk. He simply wanted to remove one of Go Mi-ah’s biggest worries before they started working together. Of course, he also planned to secure shares in the companies that would be shaken by this incident through AMK Partners.
After getting dressed, he stepped into the living room and ran into Tae Ju-ha, who was coming out of the master bedroom.
“You haven’t left yet?”
“I’m about to. You seem to be leaving later than usual today.”
Since the last incident, Tae Ju-ha had been going to work early and coming home late every day. Knowing that the accident had been orchestrated by someone, she seemed to be pushing herself to forget it.
“I have a morning meeting scheduled at an awkward time.”
“I see. Good luck today.”
Kang In-hyuk nodded and headed for the entrance. Just then, Tae Ju-ha called out in a hurried voice.
“In-hyuk!”
“What is it?”
“The additional stock investment plan for the second quarter from Team 3 still hasn’t been submitted. Is something going on?”
Kang In-hyuk tilted his head.
“Are you personally concerned about a single team’s plan, Representative Director?”
Stock investment plans were approved by the division head and executives. While the representative director, Tae Ju-ha, could certainly review them, Team 3’s assets under management weren’t large enough to warrant that level of attention.
“Because Team 3 has the highest performance lately.”
“We got lucky.”
“Honestly, calling it luck doesn’t explain such a high profit margin. That’s why the executives are talking.”
An average return exceeding 270 percent. While the scale of assets under management wasn’t large, it was enormous compared to other investments that rarely exceeded 50 percent.
“I doubt the talk has been positive.”
“…You knew?”
“Profit alone isn’t necessarily something a company would unconditionally welcome.”
Taeshin Asset Management was divided into multiple factions. Tae Ju-ha had barely solidified her position thanks to the shares she received from Chairman Tae Geon-seung upon becoming representative director. However, internal lines still existed for Chairman Tae Geon-seung, successor Tae Seok-hyun, and Tae Seok-ho, along with the faction of former representative director Jeon Jun-seok. She couldn’t afford to let her guard down for even a moment.
“If you understand the complicated situation, I’d like you to attach detailed plans for any investments of significant scale.”
Kang In-hyuk gave her a nonchalant look.
“I believe there was a condition I set.”
He was referring to the agreement that no one would interfere with how Stock Investment Team 3 operated.
“I know that. But I didn’t expect the performance to be this good. That’s why the executives are raising objections, wondering if there’s insider trading involved.”
It was an obvious excuse. Even they found the profit margin Kang In-hyuk had generated hard to believe.
“I have no intention of sharing my investment sources. So if you’re willing to give up the company’s profits as well, feel free to handle it as you see fit.”
“…”
It was his way of saying that if they wanted to fire him, they could. Understanding his meaning, Tae Ju-ha suddenly fell silent.
“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be heading to work now.”
Kang In-hyuk turned his back on her and left the house.