Dangerous Goods
Kang In-hyuk stared at the dish before him, labeled as eggplant rice and stir-fried squid in soy sauce, and fell into deep thought.
Why does the rice smell citrusy?
It might be purple because it was made with eggplant, just as she had claimed, but the color looked less like it had been dyed by the vegetable and more like someone had artificially painted it.
Besides, eating her food right now made him feel like he would end up extending his hospital stay—not because of the car accident, but for entirely different reasons.
“I’m not that hungry at the moment… I’ll eat it later when I feel like it.”
“Hmm. It’ll go bad if you don’t eat it right away, you know? I really made it delicious this time.”
He wondered whose palate this was even made for.
“I’m really fine.”
Before she could scoop up a spoonful of rice, In-hyuk quickly closed the lid and moved the container onto the cabinet.
“Aww…”
“More importantly, is it okay for you to leave your seat like this?”
“I already placed orders for the stocks you mentioned. And the investment side is being handled by that Norman guy—or was it Norang? Anyway, he’s in charge.”
Her strangely pieced-together answer made In-hyuk nod.
“As long as you handled it properly, that’s fine. Oh, did you check all the materials I sent you?”
“You mean that TN SOFT company? I looked through everything. They’re developing something called TCL Code… How did you even find a place working on tech like this?”
Trace Chain Log Code. It was a security source code that surpassed blockchain—a data forgery prevention technology based on distributed computing.
“Thanks to my information network. So, what do you think?”
Go Mi-ah’s brow furrowed deeply as she pondered the question.
“Is this from the investment portfolio that Norman or Norang guy got for you?”
“That’s right.”
“Just looking at it now, commercialization will take a long time. I can’t comment on the commercial side, but from a technical perspective, I expect there to be quite a few vulnerabilities in the security code and unnecessary parts in the source. It’ll end up being pretty heavy.”
Her rather in-depth answer made In-hyuk nod again.
“What if you added your strength to the development?”
“Me? It is a pretty interesting technology… but would they really let that happen here? From the description alone, it looks like it’s already over eighty percent complete.”
She wasn’t wrong.
But there was a reason In-hyuk had brought up the TCL Code with Go Mi-ah.
“What if you applied the source code optimization you created to it?”
For a moment, Go Mi-ah blanked out before speaking.
“I made something like… Oh, right, I did. But how did you know about that? I whipped it up as a hobby at least two years ago.”
“That’s also thanks to my information network. Anyway, what do you think about applying it?”
At In-hyuk’s follow-up, her brow twitched.
“Hmm… It’s not bad, but is there really a need? It feels like it’ll just give me a headache.”
The current Go Mi-ah was already satisfied with the assets In-hyuk provided her along with a bit of work.
“Then how about this?”
He pulled a ticket from the wallet he had left on the desk beside the bed and held it out.
Go Mi-ah’s eyes widened the moment she saw what it was.
“You… that’s…!”
“Royal A front-row seat for the DDS autumn concert. You were pretty depressed after failing to get tickets this time, weren’t you?”
“So how on earth do you have that?!”
“One of my clients gave it to me, saying they were satisfied with the performance they posted this time. With this, do you think you can give me a proper answer to my earlier question?”
Go Mi-ah began pondering urgently, but her gaze remained fixed on the concert ticket in In-hyuk’s hand.
“Ugh—! If we apply my source to the TCL Code, commercialization should be totally feasible!”
“Are you willing to work with TN SOFT?”
“Come on~ One concert ticket isn’t enough to go that far!”
In-hyuk waved the ticket teasingly.
“But it’s not just any ticket to you, is it?”
“You’re not messing with me using a fake, right? Give it here first!”
Suspicious, Go Mi-ah approached In-hyuk and tried to snatch the ticket.
But with nearly a thirty-centimeter height difference, all she could do was hop and jump, kicking off the floor. Even though she was right up against him, her hand could only reach up to his elbow.
“Ugh—! Just give it to me already!”
Click—
At that moment, the hospital room door opened, and Tae Ju-ha entered with her secretary, Heo Yu-rim. The moment they saw In-hyuk and Go Mi-ah pressed close together, they reacted exactly as they had the last time.
“D-don’t tell me… again…”
In-hyuk looked at Tae Ju-ha and Heo Yu-rim, who had entered the room with Go Mi-ah still right in front of him.
“Ah, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“What isn’t what it looks like?”
“No, there’s a reason…”
“What reason?”
Tae Ju-ha already wore an expression that suggested nothing In-hyuk said would matter.
“Sigh… As I clearly told you last time, she came to visit as a business associate.”
He thought it was a sufficiently detailed explanation, but their expressions remained strange.
With a deep sigh, In-hyuk handed the ticket he was holding to Go Mi-ah.
“Whoa, this is real? I can really have it?!”
“For now, go back and think positively about what I mentioned.”
“Got it~! See you next time, oppa.”
In the end, Go Mi-ah landed her final blow, gave the two of them only a slight bow, and left the hospital room.
Meanwhile, In-hyuk, whose head was starting to throb, turned his gaze back to Tae Ju-ha.
“It really isn’t a strange relationship.”
“…Did anyone say it was?”
“You’re saying it with your face right now. Especially Secretary Heo.”
Because Heo Yu-rim, standing beside Tae Ju-ha, wore an expression full of disgust.
“Ahem—! I’ll wait outside.”
At In-hyuk’s pointed remark, Heo Yu-rim flinched and headed out.
Only then did Tae Ju-ha slowly look over In-hyuk, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Fortunately, you don’t seem to be seriously injured.”
“That’s what I told you.”
“Does this have anything to do with the accident we suffered last time?”
She was referring to the incident at Kang Chun-gyu’s mansion where the car system had been tampered with, nearly killing them.
It had been such a sudden accident that Tae Ju-ha’s thoughts naturally drifted there.
“It was just a traffic accident caused by vehicle malfunction.”
However, In-hyuk had no intention of revealing the full story of the accident.
Even if she knew, it would only create unnecessary interference.
“A malfunction?”
“The exact cause hasn’t been determined yet. I was only told it was a brake issue with my vehicle.”
In the accident, In-hyuk had been the perpetrator. Of course, the brake the car in front had stepped on was also a factor, but there were too many uncomfortable details to nitpick over it.
“A car that was perfectly fine suddenly had issues?”
“That’s what they say. Anyway, the victim’s side agreed to settle with just the compensation money. Fortunately, their injuries weren’t severe either, so we immediately drew up the settlement agreement.”
Daemyung’s side also wanted the incident to stay quiet. That was why he had arranged for things to be settled amicably.
Of course, In-hyuk had fully anticipated such intentions.
Tae Ju-ha’s expression filled with suspicion.
“It really… was just a coincidental accident?”
“If it weren’t, it couldn’t have ended this quietly.”
Just as In-hyuk said, Tae Ju-ha recalled how Pyo Jun-woo had been caught in this very hospital room. And she still couldn’t find any reason why she and In-hyuk should have been so absurdly killed, which only left her frustrated.
“…If that’s the case, then that’s good.”
“By the way… did you come because you were worried about me?”
At that moment, Tae Ju-ha’s face flushed slightly.
“Worried? Not at all! The company can’t afford to lose Division Head Kang In-hyuk! I just came to see how you were doing!”
“Well, if that’s what you say, then sure.”
“More importantly… is that young woman really just a business associate?”
“She is.”
“I couldn’t tell that business associates went so far as to pack each other lunches.”
In-hyuk’s gaze followed hers to the lunchbox sitting on the cabinet.
“Ah… That’s not a lunchbox. It’s a dangerous object.”
“…Pardon?”
Calling something that clearly looked like a lunchbox “strange” made Tae Ju-ha tilt her head.
In-hyuk added,
“It’s similar to poison.”
Go Mi-ah's Cooking
A few days later.
After safely completing a comprehensive medical examination at the hospital and being discharged, In-hyuk visited Go Mi-ah’s officetel.
Of course, he had timed it to avoid mealtimes, aiming for the gap between lunch and dinner.
“The password came out?”
He was referring to the double-patient-room-style code found on the phone he had collected earlier.
“It got caught on Japanese. But a word I don’t understand came up.”
“What is it?”
“Koou (紅雨). The keyword was entering it in English according to the pronunciation.”
"KOOU"
⟨ DECRYPTION KEY ⟩
“Hongwoo (紅雨) means red rain.”
“That’s right. But the content is even stranger. Just whose phone did you get this from?”
In-hyuk had only brought it to her; she didn’t know the owner, so her expression was full of questions.
“Did you check the contents too?”
“I did. It’s full of stuff that looks like surveillance on someone?”
In-hyuk, who had been standing beside her, pushed her aside and sat down.
△△:△△ — Secret meeting with KDC and GF BTW. Involvement in construction bidding…
△△:△△ — LSK, assault on female at Club Cyclops. Request made to the Gangnam Police Chief…
△△:△△ — Secret meeting with IGR and CHN WD. Bribe with unlisted WDFA shares…
Just as Go Mi-ah had said earlier, these were records of someone’s movements, meticulously documented and transmitted.
“It really is surveillance.”
In addition, In-hyuk could roughly infer who the names written only in initials referred to.
Chairman Ko Dong-chan of Mansung Construction and Executive Director Bang Tae-won of GF Trading… and the special rape cover-up case involving Division Head Lee Sun-gu, the heir of RE Capital.
Events that had occurred identically in his previous life and the current past fit together.
At the same time, he could infer which organizations the other two people he had dealt with alongside Pyo Jun-woo and Kim Sung-tae in the warehouse on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province belonged to.
The rest were from Mansung Construction and GF Trading. But the use of Japanese… Is this some kind of secret organization with its main base in Japan?
In the meantime, Go Mi-ah asked with a puzzled look.
“By any chance… were these phones used by National Intelligence Service agents or something?”
“Something like that.”
Go Mi-ah didn’t know what had happened to the owners of the phones. She had simply processed the forensic analysis and password decryption that In-hyuk had requested.
“Just what kind of people are you dealing with? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“You just need to keep doing what you’re doing now. And transfer the program to me. Along with the decrypted content. I’ll pay you separately. If you want more shares in AMK Partners, that works too.”
He had no idea what additional information might emerge as he continued collecting data on them in the future.
“Is it really necessary to go that far?”
“Because something dangerous might happen.”
Go Mi-ah’s expression turned sour as she listened to In-hyuk.
“I don’t need payment or shares. Just use it.”
“Why?”
“Think of it as the price for saving me when I almost got caught by the National Intelligence Service.”
“If that’s how you want to do it, I’m happy to accept. Oh, did you find anything about the pattern I asked you to look into?”
He had also asked her to investigate the small tattoo found between the fingers of those men, along with the phones.
“No. Nothing at all came up on that.”
“Anything similar?”
“Well, just a bunch of cross-like things.”
Unless the pattern was completely unique, it was difficult to filter.
In-hyuk knew this, so he hadn’t held high expectations.
“Can’t be helped. You can stop looking into it for now.”
“Got it. But your body is fine, right?”
“Perfectly fine.”
During the comprehensive checkup, he had requested more precise testing than anything else for the pancreatic cancer he had suffered from in his previous life.
Fortunately, no problems were found, so he could breathe easy for the time being.
“Seriously, please stop getting into things like this. If the person who earns me money gets hurt, it’s a big problem.”
“Does it happen just because I want it to?”
“You’re the son-in-law of the Tae Shin Group. Plus, you’ve been promoted to division head this time. You should be able to use a nice car with a chauffeur. Ask for some bodyguards too.”
Go Mi-ah believed that the two accidents In-hyuk had experienced were mere coincidences.
“I’ll take care of it myself, so just handle the tasks I asked you to do. Oh, are the funds being properly deposited into the newly created paper company?”
He was referring to the paper company established to pay the employment costs for Hong Yu-geon and Van Hester. Of course, he had also set up accounts under false names for security to prevent tracking.
“You mean the company called Charybdis? I’m sending it without issue under the guise of investment funds. I’ve also increased the operating funds under the company’s name so the money laundering process doesn’t show. But what’s it for?”
“It’s like a detective agency I run separately.”
“You use something like that too? The Korean branch of AMK Partners as well… Just how big are you planning to make all this?”
“All of it is necessary. Well, I have other things to do, so I’ll be going now.”
“Already? Ah! How was the lunchbox I gave you last time…”
Before she could finish speaking, In-hyuk hurriedly dashed out of the officetel.