Is That Even Possible?
In-hyuk approached Van Hester with cautious steps. The man was still steadily working his way through the cookies.
“...You sure you're okay with that?”
“It tastes good, though?”
The sincerity on his face was so genuine that In-hyuk found himself at a loss for words.
…
In the meantime, Go Mi-ah finished her work and spun around in her chair.
“All the programs are set up. You won't have to worry about wiretapping or tracking anymore. If you lose your phone, tell me right away. I'll remotely incinerate the system... Huh?”
Her explanation trailed off as her eyes met Van Hester's, who was still eating the cookies.
“Ah… Sorry. I'm a little hungry.”
“Does it suit your taste?”
“Good.”
“I made white chocolate fruit cookies for the first time today, and it turned out to be a complete success.”
At that moment, both In-hyuk and Hong Yu-geon froze in shock.
For one thing, the cookies were pitch black with not a trace of white to be seen.
What was she thinking, putting fruit in chocolate? And what the hell is with the guy who actually says it tastes good?
In-hyuk quietly asked Hong Yu-geon.
“Is it just me, or does Van have a weird tongue?”
“He does eat disgusting stuff without batting an eye usually… but I didn't know it was this bad.”
In-hyuk had been connected to both of them in his original future. But their relationship had been strictly professional, and they'd never shared a meal, so this came as a complete surprise.
Go Mi-ah was now offering Van Hester another type of cookie. This one was called rainbow cookies, and the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet were vividly distinct. In-hyuk had no idea what might be inside them.
“Oh, right. That old man Norman has been collecting entertainment shares as investment conditions lately. What's that about?”
She was referring to Norman McGrath.
Go Mi-ah looked genuinely puzzled. In-hyuk had always moved through AMK Partners with the sole goal of high returns.
This investment, however, was in the entertainment sector, where immediate high profits were difficult to expect. Most of the companies held relatively unknown celebrities, making major success even harder to anticipate.
“It's literally just an investment.”
“For an investment, you've got way too many small-scale entertainment firms in there… The scope is too broad. You're not thinking that if just one of them hits it big, right?”
“Why? Is that not allowed?”
When In-hyuk answered so shamelessly, Go Mi-ah let out a long sigh.
“Haah! If this were a normal company, maybe I'd let it slide, but not entertainment. Why don't you invest in Bluewing Entertainment where our DDS is? They're about to go public soon.”
“Don't drag me into your fangirling. Besides, aren't you already investing there? I heard a massive amount of anonymous tributes have been pouring into DDS activities lately.”
At the same time, Go Mi-ah quickly looked away, clearly guilty.
“Um… Did I? But it won't cause any problems, right?”
“If it were me… instead of the company itself, I'd rather invest in dramas or movies starring Haeun-ho, the one you're always obsessing over.”
“Movies? Our Eun-ho? He's already busy enough as a singer—what movies?”
“You never know.”
He deliberately kept his answer vague.
“Come on! That's ridiculous.”
In-hyuk shifted his gaze toward Hong Yu-geon.
“From now on, using only that method for contact will make things much smoother. Like I emphasized before, make sure your identity is never exposed. If it feels even slightly dangerous, pull back immediately.”
“You don't have to worry about that.”
For the time being, he wrapped up the conversation there.
Late that night, in a suite room on the security floor of the Pashiz Hotel.
Baek Ji-woong, chairman of the WISE&WIRE Group, sat on the sofa with a grave expression as he reviewed something.
A short while later, the door opened and Baek Si-hwan walked quietly up to stand before him.
“Chairman. As per your urgent instructions, I have placed my resignation from the Taeshin Group security team on hold.”
“Were there any problems?”
Originally, Baek Si-hwan had been scheduled to resign from the Taeshin Group security team and head to the United States.
He had already submitted his resignation, secured a residence, and prepared a cover job in line with the timeline. The sudden order to halt everything had caught him slightly off guard.
“There was still time until the final decision, so it was possible. May I ask what this is about?”
Baek Ji-woong pondered for a moment before speaking.
“The operation underway at Redbore in the United States has collapsed.”
“Redbore… Are you referring to the TN SOFT acquisition project? Wasn’t that supposed to be completed without any issues?”
Baek Si-hwan had been briefed on the matter, so he could recall the details clearly.
“Twenty percent of the shares tied to a twenty-million-dollar investment have been transferred to another company.”
“Twenty percent? From where….”
The current valuation of TN SOFT was not particularly high. Even so, acquiring twenty percent of the company at roughly twenty-eight billion won seemed excessively overvalued.
“It was a firm called AMK Partners.”
“If it’s them… weren’t they the ones who profited alongside Taeshin Asset Management during the recent Lazon Energy stock surge?”
Anyone who had been watching Lazon Energy would have recognized the name immediately.
“For now, the higher-ups have decided to put the TN SOFT acquisition on hold. We’ll need to investigate AMK Partners more thoroughly as well. Therefore, you will return to Taeshin Group.”
“Should I continue handling Executive Director Hwang Won-jun? Or join Team 1 and take charge of Chairman Tae Geon-seung?”
Baek Si-hwan’s original final destination had been the personal security detail for Chairman Tae Geon-seung.
However, the chairman’s direct security team was responsible for protecting the head of Taeshin Group, so they conducted extremely thorough vetting of any new personnel.
The minimum requirement was six years of service in the security team. Baek Si-hwan would only meet that condition at the end of this year, which was why he had been waiting.
Coincidentally, Kim Seong-tae—who had been slated for Team 1—had been eliminated by Baek Si-hwan’s own hand due to his blunder during the KQ Group Pyo Jun-woo incident. Given the timing, if he were to continue operating within Taeshin Group, Team 1 was the logical placement.
“No. The place you will be entering is…”
As he listened, Baek Si-hwan’s expression grew even more rigid.
A few days later, during the lunch hour.
In-hyuk visited a restaurant called Hoam in Cheongdam-dong.
“You always insist on meeting here. Do you have a stake in this place?”
They had not once met anywhere else since their first encounter.
“Didn’t I tell you? This is a restaurant I invested in and operate myself. I needed a discreet location in Seoul for confidential business meetings.”
“Ah… I see.”
“So, what brings you to see me today?”
In-hyuk took a moment to steady his breathing before answering.
“It concerns the Cheolsan Capital matter.”
Jang Hyeong-cheol’s previously relaxed expression instantly turned grave.
“That place… Didn’t the prosecution and the National Tax Service turn it upside down not long ago? It had only just quieted down. Thanks to the heads-up you gave me, we managed to get through it safely. Has another problem come up?”
“It’s not a new problem. It’s one that was left behind. Honestly, do you truly believe the only reason those two agencies came knocking was the prosecution?”
For a moment, Jang Hyeong-cheol stared at In-hyuk with an even more serious look.
“Are you saying there’s a separate mastermind who moved the prosecution?”
“I don’t know about the mastermind, but I do know who provided the excuse. Without that, it would have been difficult for the warrant to come through so quickly.”
Jang Hyeong-cheol could easily guess what In-hyuk was implying.
“You mean… there’s a traitor among my people…?”
“Otherwise, internal information from Cheolsan Capital could never have leaked to the prosecution. Weren’t you already considering that possibility, sir?”
The timing of the prosecution’s raid on Cheolsan Capital had been shaped by the situation involving Riseburn.
Even so, the gap between the two events had been short. Unless the prosecution had been preparing in advance, it would have been nearly impossible to move that quickly.
“Hmm… You’re right. But from my position, I can’t just suspect people blindly… Still, you seem to already know who it is.”
“Don’t you have someone in mind as well, sir?”
Jang Hyeong-cheol was only human. Naturally, he would have placed his closest associates on the suspect list and conducted his own investigation.
“By any chance… is it CEO Han Jae-won?”
“You suspected him, but you couldn’t find solid evidence. Is that it?”
“Ahem…”
In the original future, Cheolsan Capital had been raided by the prosecution and National Tax Service, resulting in the arrest of its true owner, Jang Hyeong-cheol. While embroiled in various controversies, most of the company’s internal funds had vanished through someone’s scheme.
In-hyuk pulled a tablet from his bag and handed it over.
“These are records of companies that received funds from Cheolsan Capital under the guise of investments and loans starting three years ago. The money was then moved to a paper company in Myanmar, laundered, passed through a firm called Rush Enterprises, and finally funneled in as investment capital for a company named Redbore Technology.”
The hand holding the tablet began to tremble.
“One thousand six hundred and forty billion won…? How could this much be stolen without me noticing?”
“Side contracts and adjusted books must have been prepared. They reported lower actual profits and interest, so it would have been difficult for Cheolsan Capital to detect anything.”
“Do my eyes look like buttonholes? I conduct regular audits on the loan and investment divisions…”
Jang Hyeong-cheol couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Because the entire internal audit team and accounting firm involved in this matter belong to Han Jae-won. They’ve tailored everything to fit, so there was no way for you to know, sir.”
“This is truly outrageous… That bastard Han Jae-won, how dare he do this to me!”
He looked ready to flip the large table in front of him at any second.
Han Jae-won had been Jang Hyeong-cheol’s right-hand man. He had even considered placing the man in the CEO position of Cheolsan Capital to act in his stead.
Never once had he imagined being stabbed in the back like this. The rage was inevitable.
“Now that you know who the problem is, you’ll need to take action as well, sir. How would you like to proceed?”
At the question, Jang Hyeong-cheol’s forehead twitched violently.
“You speak as if you could swing the hammer in my place.”
“There’s nothing stopping me. If I send this data to the prosecution right now, legal punishment is possible for breach of trust, embezzlement, forgery of private documents, and more.”
Jang Hyeong-cheol’s face hardened.
“But if you do that… Cheolsan Capital won’t escape unscathed.”
The prosecution would obviously trace the source of the funds that had flowed into Han Jae-won’s paper company. If accounts linked to the underworld were exposed in the process, Jang Hyeong-cheol would inevitably be dragged in as well.
“From the beginning, Han Jae-won wouldn’t have acted without knowing that. The prosecution likely agreed to overlook the funds he hid separately on the condition that they could take Cheolsan Capital and you, sir.”
“You’re saying such a deal was made?”
Bang—!
When the furious Jang Hyeong-cheol slammed his fist on the table, the side dishes on top shook violently.
In-hyuk raised both hands in a calming gesture.
“It’s only my speculation for now, so please calm down. But if we consider the plausible range of possibilities…”
“It does seem the most likely. So what is your plan? How exactly do you intend to deal with Han Jae-won?”
Jang Hyeong-cheol’s fingertips were still trembling. In his mind, he wanted nothing more than to grab Han Jae-won immediately and toss him into the sea off Busan as fish food.
“As I said earlier, the best move is to throw him to the prosecution in your stead, sir.”
“That… Are you telling me to give up on Cheolsan Capital?”
“Sell the company before detonating anything. Sell it to a place the prosecution and the people behind them cannot target.”
“Is that even possible?”