We're Not Going to Live Together, Are We?
We're not going to live together, are we?
A few days later.
During that time, Kang In-hyuk adapted to his current situation with startling speed.
There were still questions that kept piling up, however. His physical strength and agility felt exactly like they had in his previous life.
“Hoo—!”
He was doing pull-ups on the exercise equipment he had bought three days earlier.
The original Kang In-hyuk had not been in terrible shape. Still, cranking out dozens of reps in a single set would have been difficult.
Unless, of course, this was the body that had survived the UID special forces unit and been head-hunted by the Tae Shin Group’s security team.
With a soft thud, In-hyuk dropped from the bar and considered one possible explanation.
“This body definitely feels like my own, though?”
It was as if he had overwritten the man known as Kang In-hyuk, son-in-law of the Tae Shin Group.
“But at this point in my life, even I shouldn’t have been able to do this many.”
During his special forces days, thirty had been his realistic maximum. A moment ago he had cleared fifty without pausing, and he still had energy to spare.
“…Don’t tell me it’s because of that drug?”
The unidentified red ampoule Baek Si-hwan had injected into him in the hospital room. The man had claimed it would dramatically enhance physical ability.
Right now, that seemed the most probable cause.
In-hyuk wiped his sweat with a towel and picked up the old smartphone lying on the living room table. He had bought it together with a laptop in Yongsan; the SD card he had found in the office drawer was already inserted.
“Never mind me—what exactly was this guy plotting?”
The H&T fund files inside were identical to the ones in his memory.
“If I had known something like this existed, I would have looked into Tae Ju-ha and Kang In-hyuk as well.”
In his previous life the pair had been quickly forgotten. He had only begun moving as Tae Seok-ho’s man afterward, so he had never paid them much attention.
At the same time, he tested an assumption based on everything he had recalled so far.
“Could it be… on the surface he was Tae Seok-hyun’s son-in-law, but behind the scenes he was Tae Seok-ho’s spy? And at the same time, he was actually targeting him in reverse?”
For now, the double-spy theory felt most plausible. Perhaps Tae Ju-ha and Kang In-hyuk had died while trying to take down Tae Seok-ho.
Yet the puzzle was still missing pieces.
Tae Ju-ha was Tae Seok-hyun’s illegitimate daughter; she had every reason to strike at Tae Seok-ho if he threatened her position.
Kang In-hyuk, however, had no clear motive to target Tae Seok-ho. His grudge should have been aimed at Tae Seok-hyun, the man who had used him as a political pawn in marriage.
“Which means… he might have joined hands with Tae Ju-ha.”
One question only bred another, and no clean answer emerged.
In-hyuk shook his head and decided to shower first.
The atmosphere on the fifth floor—home of Tae Shin Asset Management’s Stock Operations Division—was heavy.
In-hyuk, who had arrived at the office in the meantime, sat down with calm composure.
“Team Leader.”
“Yes, Deputy Manager Jeong.”
“About the A2 client from last time. You don’t have a separate plan in mind, do you?”
He was referring to Jang Hyung-cheol, the man who had thrown a fit on the very day In-hyuk returned to the past.
Tae Shin Asset Management categorized clients as S1, S2, A1, A2, B1, and B2. A2 covered those with assets between ten billion won and fifty billion won.
“I believe I said I would handle that myself.”
“I’m only asking because we cannot afford losses. Besides, you’ve never managed an A-grade client before, have you, Team Leader?”
The stock operations team consisted of three sub-departments. Teams One and Two handled the majority of S- and A-grade clients, while Team Three carried most of the B-grade accounts. Of course, Team Three still had a few S and A clients, but those were usually managed by Deputy Manager Jeong Jong-hyun and Manager Ahn Woo-chan.
By contrast, Kang In-hyuk—the parachute hire who had become team leader a year earlier—had produced poor results so far.
“Are you the team leader?”
“…Pardon?”
“I am the decision maker. Therefore, Deputy Manager Jeong, please focus on servicing our existing clients.”
“But—”
“Moreover, the investment for that client is already proceeding via swing trading, so there is no need for you to concern yourself.”
Jeong Jong-hyun’s eyes widened in shock.
“Not long-term blue-chip investment, but swing trading?”
Swing trading involved holding positions anywhere from several days to several weeks in order to capture price swings.
“Is there a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem. The domestic market is unstable right now, and the global economic outlook is hardly reassuring. In a situation where overnight risk is this high, swing trading is bound to cause trouble.”
Jeong Jong-hyun’s raised voice drew the eyes of the surrounding staff.
“I’ve known for a while that you don’t regard me as a superior, Deputy Manager Jeong. However, openly disregarding both my decisions and the responsibilities I have taken on is quite rude, wouldn’t you agree?”
The original Kang In-hyuk had tolerated disrespect from both above and below.
Suddenly being confronted so directly left Jeong Jong-hyun visibly rattled.
“W-when have I ever disregarded you, Team Leader?”
“You’re doing it right now.”
“…”
“Everyone has a limit to their patience. If this continues, I will exercise my authority as team leader and take appropriate action.”
The weight of the threat sealed Jeong Jong-hyun’s mouth shut.
In-hyuk turned his gaze toward the eyes that had fixed on him. The moment their eyes met, the onlookers hurriedly looked away as though avoiding something filthy.
“If you have nothing further to say, please return to your seat.”
Jeong Jong-hyun walked back to his desk with a face twisted in humiliation.
In-hyuk shook his head slightly and returned his attention to his work.
But it wasn’t long before a company-wide notice popped up on every computer screen.
Notice of Representative Director Change
— Previous Representative Director: Jeon Jun-seok
— New Representative Director: Tae Ju-ha / Former New York Branch Manager
— Effective Date: 2025 △△ Month △△ Day
Soon, murmurs rippled across the floor.
The stares that had just begun to fade swung back toward In-hyuk once more.
Meanwhile, his eyes drifted to his phone.
She’s not seriously planning to move into that house now that she’s back in Korea, is she?
Judging from the state of the apartment and the call history on the phone, they had clearly been a show-window couple. Aside from the oversized wedding photo hanging in the living room, there wasn’t a single item that could be considered hers.
There were five bedrooms; one besides the master had a bed, but it was covered in pristine white sheets and showed no signs of use.
The ugly whispers continued around him.
Even so, In-hyuk paid them no mind. He focused on his tasks while wondering where Tae Ju-ha would end up living.
Saturday arrived.
After finishing his morning workout for physical maintenance, In-hyuk showered and stepped into the living room.
Today he planned to go out and confirm Baek Si-hwan’s movements following Tae Seok-ho.
Ding-dong—
The intercom rang.
The problem was that the sound had come from the apartment’s front door, not the building entrance downstairs.
…Who could that be?
From the call logs and personal relationships he had reviewed over the past few days, no one should be visiting the apartment.
After a brief pause, In-hyuk slipped on a bathrobe, pressed the intercom button, and spoke.
“Who is it?”
[….]
The small screen remained pitch black, as if broken, and no answer came.
In-hyuk walked to the kitchen, picked up a kitchen knife, and gripped it reversed before cautiously approaching the entrance.
“Who is it!”
Again, no reply.
A chill of suspicion ran down his spine. He reached for the digital lock.
Beep-beep-beep—
The moment the lock released, he turned the handle and flung the door open.
“Whoa—!”
A familiar face appeared with a shout.
In-hyuk instinctively recognized a threat and thrust the knife upward from below, but stopped himself at the last second.
“…Go Mi-ah?”
She wore a black cap, hoodie, sunglasses, and mask, but the vivid red hair spilling out was impossible to miss.
It was Go Mi-ah’s trademark—congenital melanin deficiency had given her that hair color from birth.
“We’ve never met, yet you recognized me without seeing my face? Wait… you weren’t actually going to stab me, right?”
She had noticed the knife frozen just beneath her chin.
In-hyuk quickly lowered the blade.
“Of course not. Come in.”
Go Mi-ah trudged inside and flopped onto the sofa like she owned the place. She removed her sunglasses and mask, then let out an impressed whistle.
“Pretty nice place for a salaryman. Being the Tae Shin Group son-in-law has its perks, huh? That your wife?”
She had spotted the wedding photo on the living room wall.
Apparently eager to show off the background check she had run on him, she rattled off more.
“More or less. But what brings you all the way here? You didn’t miss the dark-web cleanup window and get the National Intelligence Service on your tail, did you?”
Go Mi-ah frowned deeply and clicked her tongue.
“No, idiot! I barely finished in time. Just like you said, some of the data posted on the dark web had phishing viruses embedded in it.”
“Glad it worked out.”
While speaking, In-hyuk carried the kitchen knife back to its proper place in the kitchen.
“If you were really scared, shouldn’t you have grabbed a proper chef’s knife instead of that little thing? Who could you kill with that?”
If he had recognized her even a second later, the blade would have been buried under her chin.
“This was enough.”
“Haha! The way you talk, anyone would think you’ve killed before.”
In-hyuk offered a small smile at her attitude.
During his time in the UID special forces, he had killed men using nothing but a palm-sized piece of wood.
“What makes you so sure I haven’t?”
“Because I checked everything myself.”
Of course Go Mi-ah had dug up his criminal record along with the rest of his personal information. There had been no dangerous red flags, which was why she had dared to come here in person.
“Think whatever you like. The fact that you came all the way here means you’ve made up your mind, correct?”
“I’ll decide after I hear how much you can actually pay me.”
She was weighing her options.
“Do you have a number in mind?”
“Hmm… at least ten billion won? Oh, I mean in Korean won, not Vietnamese dong or anything.”
In-hyuk let out an involuntary chuckle.
“Heh.”
“What’s so funny? The dong part? That was a joke.”
“No. The part where you said ten billion won like it was some small amount.”
“Dollars? Are you insane—! Do you even know how much that is in won?”
“Roughly fourteen trillion won, give or take?”
“Who asked about the exchange rate?! I’m saying that’s not a realistic number!”
Even as Go Mi-ah snapped back in irritation, In-hyuk remained utterly calm.
“What if it is possible?”
“Are you messing with me? Or are you actually crazy? Fourteen trillion isn’t the name of the neighbor’s dog.”
When he had been chairman of Blue World, In-hyuk’s personal wealth had exceeded eighty trillion won. It had not been easy money, but under the current circumstances he could earn it even faster.
“If you work with me, it’s possible.”
“…And if you’re lying?”
“I’ll give you my life.”
The answer came without the slightest hesitation, and his eyes grew deadly serious.
At that moment—
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep— click.
The keypad at the front door suddenly chimed as someone entered the passcode and the door opened.
With no time to spare, In-hyuk signaled Go Mi-ah to stay quiet, snatched a ballpoint pen from the nearby shelf, and pressed himself against the wall.
The sound of rolling wheels approached the living room.
In-hyuk swung his arm to strike first, but the moment he recognized the person he tried to stop—just like with Go Mi-ah. The full force behind the motion made it impossible to halt completely, so he redirected it at the last instant.
Crack—
“Kyaaak—!”
The ballpoint pen flew past the woman’s head, shattered against the wall, and exploded into pieces. A sharp scream rang out.
It was Tae Ju-ha, who had been in the United States for the past year.
“Ah…”
Then Tae Ju-ha’s gaze shifted from In-hyuk to Go Mi-ah, who was still sitting on the sofa.
At present, In-hyuk wore nothing but a thin bathrobe over his bare body.