The Chairman's Decree
Kang In-hyuk went to work as usual and carried out his daily tasks.
However, the information he had obtained through Charybdis left his mind in turmoil.
Why is Jeon Hae-in targeting me instead of Tae Ju-ha?
It was because her bodyguard, Lee Jeong-tae, had commissioned the Daemyeong Detective Agency to move against him.
Based on the circumstances so far, it was clear that the original Kang In-hyuk had been killed in what was staged as an accident at their hands.
Yet he still could not understand why he himself had become her target.
Buzz— Buzz—
Just then, a call came in from Go Mi-ah. It seemed she was reporting back after he had asked her the previous night to trace the movements using the information obtained from Charybdis.
“How did it go?”
Kang In-hyuk stepped into the conference room to take the call.
[Recently, she’s only been moving within downtown Seoul. From the route, it looks like she was tailing you.]
“And?”
[Until a little while ago, she was traveling a lot outside the city. But there’s something strange… most of her destinations were orphanages.]
The itinerary made no sense, so Kang In-hyuk tilted his head.
“Orphanages?”
He wanted to know the reason immediately, but that would only be possible once they caught Lee Dae-myeong or raided the office.
[Anyway, that’s it. No other unusual points. As for Lee Dae-myeong of the Daemyeong Detective Agency, there was nothing strange beyond the background you already gave me. Ah, the reason he left the police was because he was dismissed after being disciplined for police brutality and leaking investigative information.]
“That’s all?”
Incidents of that level were commonplace within the police force. For someone who had graduated from the Police University and risen to the rank of senior superintendent, connections alone should have been enough to smooth things over.
[There were multiple cases of bribery, embezzlement of investigation funds, and unauthorized concealment or destruction of evidence that were brought before the disciplinary committee but ultimately covered up. On top of that, the final brutality case even involved negligent homicide. Somehow the charges were dropped, though.]
“A man with a very dirty past.”
[Why is a detective agency run by someone like that tailing you? Did you cheat on your wife or something? Is Tae Shin Group behind it?]
At that moment, Kang In-hyuk’s brow furrowed deeply.
“I—! Haa… Don’t say such nonsense. We’re done with Daemyeong. And there’s still no word on the phones, right?”
He was referring to the phones they had collected after dealing with Pyo Jun-woo and the other three men on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province last time.
Go Mi-ah had been trying to crack the duplicate-patient-style cipher code found on those phones, but so far there had been no results.
[I’ve been trying different codes, but nothing’s working.]
“You’re still only inputting in English, right?”
[Yeah.]
Since it was a cipher meant to protect classified information, the format had to be sentence-based.
Of course, he had already tried every cipher he had heard or used during his time in the UID special forces due to possible connections, but none of them worked.
That meant the men were using a completely different cipher of their own.
“No incoming messages on those phones either?”
[I turned off transmission and only left the reception code open, but it’s been quiet.]
Since they had already manipulated the number of bodies found in the warehouse, the other side had likely taken measures as well.
“Could you try converting hiragana and katakana into English letters and testing those?”
[Huh? Japanese?]
He remembered the men in the warehouse speaking Japanese to each other.
“If it’s possible, give it a try.”
[It’ll take quite a while… the equipment might not hold up.]
Decrypting a cipher was like a computer rapidly trying every possible puzzle piece. Naturally, the more combinations it had to test, the greater the risk of overload.
“Buy whatever equipment you need. If cost is an issue, you can use my funds.”
[Got it.]
“Just make sure they never trace it back to us.”
[Don’t worry about that!]
After ending the call, Kang In-hyuk sighed and was about to return to his seat.
Yet the office atmosphere, which had been perfectly normal until moments ago, had suddenly grown restless. Colleagues were even whispering as they watched him emerge from the conference room.
Just then, Deputy Manager Jeong Jong-hyun from Team 3 approached him.
“Team Leader, have you seen the notice?”
“No. What happened?”
“You should probably go back to your desk and check the notice first.”
Urged on, Kang In-hyuk walked to his seat. The murmuring among the employees was spreading and growing louder.
Meanwhile, he checked the notice through the alert that had popped up in the corner of his monitor.
【Establishment of New Business Division and Personnel Announcement】
— Division: M&A / PEF (Private Equity Fund)
— Appointment: Team Leader Kang In-hyuk of Stock Operations Team 3 (promoted to Department Head)
— Team Members: Four members from Stock Operations Team 3, with additional personnel to be assigned
— Location: Tae Shin Asset Management Headquarters, 6th Floor
— Effective Date: June △△, 2025
The proposal he had made to Tae Ju-ha had been approved under Chairman Tae Geon-seung’s authority.
Jeong Jong-hyun came closer and spoke.
“Did you already know about this, Team Leader?”
“You mean this notice? I did submit the proposal to Director Choo last time. I just didn’t expect approval to come through so quickly.”
“So this is real? Our team is actually being promoted to an M&A / PEF division?”
Even after seeing the notice with his own eyes, Jeong Jong-hyun looked as though he could hardly believe it.
“That’s right. So let’s prepare to move offices by the announced date. Deputy Manager Jeong Jong-hyun will become Team Leader of M&A Team 1, and the existing staff will remain under him. If anyone prefers not to, you’re free to stay here instead.”
The employees of Team 3 were busy exchanging glances.
Of course, Kang In-hyuk did not assume they would all follow him. No matter how grand the title of the newly established M&A / PEF Division sounded, its immediate prospects were far from promising.
Especially for the staff, stability mattered far more than a risky gamble.
Yet there were seeds Kang In-hyuk had already sown among them recently.
“…I’ll do it.”
When Jeong Jong-hyun made the first move, Assistant Manager Ahn Woo-chan’s voice rose slightly in surprise.
“Deputy Manager!”
“This isn’t a decision meant to pressure you or anyone else, so decide for yourselves.”
“But…”
Jeong Jong-hyun’s reason for making that choice was Kang In-hyuk’s stock performance so far.
While preparing for third-quarter stock investments, each team member had received Kang In-hyuk’s support and entered swing trading.
At the same time, they had begun analyzing and gathering information on the stocks they had sold. It was to understand exactly why those companies were growing and driving up their stock prices.
However, after several days of intense investigation, nothing had come to light.
Meanwhile, the stocks Kang In-hyuk had recommended remained still at first, then gradually began to rise.
“I’m already at the end of my rope. If I don’t move up now, even changing jobs will be difficult. Otherwise, I’ll just end up a permanent deputy manager. But you all still have time. So think carefully.”
Before Kang In-hyuk had distinguished himself, Stock Operations Team 3 had always been overshadowed by Teams 1 and 2. The difference was obvious just by looking at the client tiers they handled.
In that situation, if Kang In-hyuk left to head the new division, things would either stay the same or, worse, deteriorate further.
Other team members also fell into deep thought, exchanging glances.
─┼
Until recently, Jeon Jun-seok had been the representative of Tae Shin Asset Management. He had since been promoted to executive director of Tae Shin Life, a group-affiliated company. Now, in his office, he sat with familiar faces.
Executive Director Oh Kang-gu and Managing Director Yang Chan-woo of Tae Shin Asset Management had suddenly visited and were pouring out everything that had just happened at the company.
“No matter how much the Chairman approved it, does this make any sense? Appointing some parachute hire as the head of a brand-new division!”
“Honestly, this is going too far! What are the executives even here for? Don’t you agree, Executive Director Jeon?”
Both men knew exactly what purpose the newly established M&A / PEF Division was meant to serve.
The growth and expansion of Tae Shin Asset Management. If that succeeded, it would become a major source of nourishment for strengthening the foundation of the Tae Shin Group.
That was precisely why Oh Kang-gu and Yang Chan-woo found it even harder to accept.
Then Jeon Jun-seok quietly spoke.
“This decision is certainly unexpected. And suddenly M&A and PEF… I’ve heard Team Leader Kang’s performance has been quite good lately, but I wonder if they’re overestimating him.”
“So you think the same way, Executive Director?”
At Oh Kang-gu’s eager agreement, Jeon Jun-seok nodded.
“There were already rumors that someone upstairs was helping boost Team Leader Kang’s momentum, weren’t there?”
Both men nodded, and Oh Kang-gu continued.
“That rumor is still going around. But since the Chairman himself made the decision, no one can openly complain.”
“True. That’s also correct.”
“Has Executive Director Tae Seok-ho said anything separately?”
The representative of Tae Shin Asset Management was Tae Ju-ha, but the real owner was Chairman Tae Geon-seung of the group.
However, Tae Geon-seung was now well into his nineties. Though he still appeared vigorous, at his age, anything could happen at any moment.
Naturally, the representatives and executives of the affiliated companies had already begun lining up behind Tae Seok-hyun and Tae Seok-ho, the two contenders in the succession race.
Jeon Jun-seok had decided to side with Tae Seok-ho, and half of the six executives at Tae Shin Asset Management had joined him.
“As soon as I heard, I contacted him right away.”
“What did he say?”
Jeon Jun-seok looked at their expectant faces and replied.
“He said that even Executive Director Tae Seok-ho only learned about this after receiving the report.”
“…Even the Executive Director?”
If even Tae Seok-ho, the executive director of Taeshin Mulsan—the group’s headquarters—had not known, while Tae Seok-hyun, the president of Tae Shin Electronics and the eldest son, might have, it meant the matter had been decided solely by the Chairman’s authority without any discussion among the executives.
“Because of that, the Executive Director was quite surprised as well, but he also said it might actually be a good thing.”
“A good thing? The fact that the Chairman keeps supporting Team Leader Kang… doesn’t that mean he has other intentions?”
Although Chairman Tae Geon-seung had designated Tae Seok-hyun as the primary successor, it was common knowledge that this could change at any time.
If Kang In-hyuk’s position grew stronger, it would also benefit his wife, Tae Ju-ha—who was Tae Seok-hyun’s daughter—and strengthen Tae Seok-hyun’s control within the group.
“I didn’t hear anything beyond that. You know how Executive Director Tae Seok-ho never easily reveals his true thoughts, even to those close to him.”
There were many others besides them who had aligned themselves with Tae Seok-ho within the affiliated companies.
Jeon Jun-seok had not secured a large share of that pie. After all, he was not even the representative of an affiliated company like Tae Shin Life—he was merely an executive director. Still, he could not afford to lower himself in front of the two men before him.
“We’re sorry. We asked without thinking.”
“I understand your concerns. But in times like these, it’s better to stay calm and look for opportunities rather than act hastily. For example… finding a way to bring back good news from the new division that Team Leader Kang is responsible for.”
He was suggesting they plant someone or recruit an informant to leak information.
Oh Kang-gu and Yang Chan-woo understood this without difficulty.
“But if we get caught… Tae Ju-ha won’t stay quiet.”
Even now, Tae Ju-ha was calculating how to replace executives who were not on her side in order to expand her influence within the company.
In such a situation, the fact that Kang In-hyuk—whom she had thought of as a mere figurehead husband—was producing results in Team 3 was bound to draw her attention.
Jeon Jun-seok looked back and forth between Yang Chan-woo and Oh Kang-gu.
“It’s all or nothing anyway. And if we don’t grab something here, we could fall at any moment.”
“…”
For a moment, both men’s mouths tightened. Then Jeon Jun-seok continued.
“If things go well… how about I arrange a meeting with the Executive Director?”
“Is that true?”
“With Executive Director Tae Seok-ho?”
Only then did a smile appear on Jeon Jun-seok’s lips, which had been firm until now.
“You don’t even have to bring back anything concrete. Even if the new division doesn’t run smoothly, it’s still to our advantage. Of course, this is just advice, so don’t take it too seriously.”
It was as good as handing them a plan.
Oh Kang-gu and Yang Chan-woo understood perfectly. Yet, as Jeon Jun-seok had said, doing nothing would not solve everything either.
Since their positions were being threatened by the representative, Tae Ju-ha, they needed some kind of countermeasure.
Soon, both men slowly nodded, as if they had made up their minds.