Releasing the Other Sources
In the luxurious hotel elevator.
A short while later, when they reached the hotel’s top floor, Baek Si-hwan—assigned to the Tae Shin Group’s security detail—stepped out into the corridor.
He rang the doorbell of the suite. A man cracked the door open, and Baek Si-hwan raised his left palm in a silent signal. The door opened fully.
"How’s the shoulder?"
As he entered the living room, the white-haired middle-aged man seated on the sofa asked the question without looking up.
“It’s a little uncomfortable, but there’s no issue. I apologize for causing you concern.”
The middle-aged man was none other than Baek Ji-woong, Chairman of the WISE&WIRE Group.
“I never imagined someone of your caliber would be injured so badly. And I certainly never expected you to flee without finishing the job.”
Not long ago, Baek Si-hwan had clashed with a dangerous individual in a warehouse in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Instead of eliminating the target, he had retreated with only wounds to show for it.
His head lowered deeply.
“…I have no excuse.”
A heavy silence settled between them before the chairman spoke again.
“I heard they took the operatives’ belongings as well. You’re certain there’s no problem?”
“All communication was encrypted. There should be no issues.”
“No chance of decryption?”
“As you know, it’s impossible without the rotating keywords periodically distributed within the organization. We changed the keywords immediately after the incident.”
Baek Ji-woong gave a slow nod.
“That’s fortunate, at least. Still… you couldn’t identify the opponent at all?”
“We found vehicle traces nearby, but it was a ghost car with swapped plates. Tracking will be difficult.”
“Anything else?”
“From the movement analysis, the individual was trained at a level equal to our own. Moreover…”
When his words trailed off, Baek Ji-woong’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Is there a problem?”
“It appeared the subject was using WID’s TMT.”
Baek Ji-woong’s brow furrowed at the explanation.
“You’re sure you didn’t see it wrong?”
“The chance of it being a mistake is less than ten percent.”
“Then… are we looking at a UID alumnus?”
TMT was a combat technique developed roughly seven years earlier by the Defense Intelligence Command’s elite intelligence unit, UID, and later adopted by their own organization. The group Baek Ji-woong and Baek Si-hwan belonged to stood behind its creation. Even the name UID had been derived from the current WID.
“Just to be sure, I checked all UID personnel listed as killed in action or discharged, but no one matched.”
WID were the off-the-books private army of the WISE&WIRE Group. Until now they had carried out every order without a single failure. At the same time, they were entities that could never be allowed to surface.
Yet this was their first mission failure—and it had risked exposure.
“What about the possibility of Aoshika?”
“No activity has been detected from them since the split.”
Aoshika was a separate faction that had gone dark after an internal schism.
“So unless they move again, finding the culprit will be difficult?”
“For the time being, yes.”
“This has become a headache. Then it can’t be helped.”
The conversation ended there.
Baek Ji-woong flicked his hand in dismissal. Baek Si-hwan bowed once more and left the suite.
Kang In-hyuk sat at his desk at the company, same as any other day.
Soon Noh Dong-jun, his classmate from the adjacent office, approached cautiously.
“Team Leader Kang In-hyuk. What’s kept you so busy lately?”
By now In-hyuk had recovered nearly all his memories of company affairs. Noh Dong-jun was moderately skilled and maintained decent social connections. He could be noisy—something In-hyuk disliked—but for the original Kang In-hyuk, who had kept everyone at arm’s length, the man had been the closest thing to a friend.
“I took it easy last year, so it’s time I actually looked like I’m working. What’s up?”
“I came to check if my classmate was burning himself out. Coffee upstairs?”
In-hyuk thought for a moment, then logged out of his computer.
“Sure.”
The two men rode up to the park-like lounge on the middle floor and pulled mixed coffee from the vending machine.
“Mix is still the best!”
“The mental check was just an excuse, wasn’t it? What do you really want to know? Did Team Leader Ko from the second team tell you to dig up information on me?”
Noh Dong-jun gave a sly grin.
“Your recent performance has been pretty impressive, right? The other teams are desperate to figure out your sources. Our Team Leader Ko has been breathing down my neck, so…”
He was referring to Ko Jin-woo, head of Stock Operation Team 2.
“Too proud to ask me directly, I see.”
“There’s been talk ever since you became team leader. After staying quiet for so long and then suddenly exploding like this, the rumors were bound to get louder.”
They still believed In-hyuk’s results came from the Tae Shin family’s private information network.
“The way you’re asking makes it sound like you’re only going through the motions for appearance’s sake.”
“I don’t have a choice when the higher-ups pressure me. But seriously, you’ve changed a lot, haven’t you?”
“How so?”
They hadn’t been extremely close, but having gone through the training program together as classmates, Noh Dong-jun had seen the old In-hyuk clearly. The difference in aura was impossible to miss.
“You used to work in complete silence, never showing what you were thinking. Did something happen?”
Something had happened, all right.
A man had changed overnight.
Ever since returning to this point in time, In-hyuk had pondered the reason again and again.
The original me disappeared and the current Kang In-hyuk took his place. I still don’t know why.
The same past. The same flow of events. Yet his own plans had begun to twist the timeline little by little.
What frustrated him most was that he still hadn’t identified who stood behind Baek Si-hwan. Approaching the man too directly would only ignite suspicion.
“I’m simply making sure I don’t overlook the things I once ignored.”
“Wow. Look at you talking like some main character… Still, it’s not a bad change. Honestly, when you decided to marry into the Tae Shin family, it looked like you’d given up on everything. That felt pretty awful to watch.”
Noh Dong-jun smiled bitterly.
“Did it?”
“You don’t remember? You had the face of someone who’d already lived his whole life.”
At those words, In-hyuk recalled the scene as well. Because the memory played in first-person perspective, however, he couldn’t feel the exact emotions the original owner had experienced.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Oh, right—about this recent mess. Is your team’s portfolio okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“The drug scandal that’s been all over the news for days. The whole office is buzzing about it.”
The case had exploded after children of politicians and second- and third-generation chaebol heirs were revealed to be involved. Stock prices of related companies had taken hits, and the shock waves had reached every asset management firm.
Tae Shin Asset Management had not escaped damage. Related teams in the office were in an uproar.
“We don’t run many large-scale funds, so it’s not too bad… Most of our portfolios are unrelated to the incident.”
“But you were heavy on stocks.”
In-hyuk let out a short laugh.
“So that was the real reason you wanted to talk. You’re wondering if any of my clients took damage.”
“Ah, busted?”
The question had been far too obvious.
“You don’t have to dance around it. My side is fine. Whether by luck or design, none of the implicated companies were in my portfolios.”
Of course they weren’t. After all, he had been the one to orchestrate the entire affair.
Noh Dong-jun’s eyes widened in genuine surprise.
“For real? What was your stock allocation?”
“Around ninety percent.”
“And none of them got hit?”
“Most were foreign companies.”
He had deliberately focused on overseas stocks rather than domestic ones. That way, even with large profits, the risk of insider-trading accusations stayed minimal.
“Ninety percent foreign and still that kind of return… You’re incredible. Where exactly are you getting your information?”
“Why? Want me to share some decent intel?”
It was an offer extended to the one person the original Kang In-hyuk could have called a friend.
“Is that possible?”
“Only if you can trust me and follow through.”
That was the crucial part. Without belief in him, any tip would be useless.
“If it’s coming from you, of course I trust it.”
The answer came so readily that In-hyuk felt a flicker of doubt.
“…What if the information turns out wrong and you suffer a major loss?”
“It was my choice. I’ll bear the responsibility myself. I can’t blame anyone else.”
An unexpected reply.
In-hyuk stared at him for a long moment.
“…”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ll select suitable companies and send you the list today. And so I don’t have to hear any complaints later, treat the information as your own.”
“Oh! Thank you!”
After the conversation, the two men returned to the office.
As they stepped onto the fifth floor—home of the Stock Operation Division—In-hyuk’s phone rang. It was Go Mi-ah.
He gestured for Noh Dong-jun to go on ahead, then moved to a quiet corner and answered.
After ending the call, In-hyuk returned to his desk and checked the headlines linking the global idol group DDS to the drug scandal.
Inside the office, several people who had seen the breaking news let out sighs and began murmuring among themselves.
Being a global idol group, DDS had numerous advertising contracts; the companies involved had no choice but to pay attention.
But that lasted only a moment.
Articles exposing the true owners and associates of the club Riseburn—where the drugs had first circulated—began to surface. They were followed by real names, relatives, acquaintances, and even detailed records of bribe transfers.
At this point, even if they try to stir up more nonsense using the DDS group, they’ll be too busy putting out fires to manage it.
The evidence had come from material Go Mi-ah had once lamented over, back when she couldn’t save DDS in her previous life. Using his sharpened memory from the regression, In-hyuk had compiled the list and files so she could release them at the perfect moment.
At the same time, media outlets began sprouting countless branching stories related to the scandal, their headlines spreading like wildfire across every platform.