I Can't Say Anything About That
Monday had arrived.
Kang In-hyuk rose at the crack of dawn, washed up in the bathroom attached to his room, and stepped into the living room to prepare for work.
At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Tae Ju-ha emerged, a bath towel wrapped around her chest and another twisted around her hair.
“Ah.”
At the same time, In-hyuk quickly turned his gaze aside.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’d be up this early.”
“Are you heading to the office already?”
It was thirteen minutes before six in the morning.
With the drive to the company taking only fifteen minutes, it was an extremely early hour.
“There’s quite a bit of work I need to handle early.”
“I see.”
“If the living room bathroom is inconvenient for you, we can switch rooms.”
Tae Ju-ha offered a small smile.
“Aren’t you the one who finds it inconvenient?”
“Honestly… yes, a little.”
“Thank you for being considerate. I’ll have someone come by today to make the change.”
“Understood. I just remembered something I left behind…”
In-hyuk returned to his room and retrieved the old flip phone he had taped to the opposite side of the ceiling panel in the bathroom. It contained confidential data on the H&T Fund that he had hidden separately.
“If I had moved out of the house, I could have ignored Tae Seok-ho’s orders… but now I’ll have to come up with another way.”
Originally, his plan had been to divorce Tae Ju-ha first, resign from the company, and then move independently.
That way, Tae Seok-ho’s surveillance would loosen, and he could rebuild his foundation using the memories and information from his previous life.
However, if Chairman Tae Geon-seung took an interest in their current married life, it could draw unnecessary attention.
“Or… perhaps it would be better if she simply passed away.”
After all, if he left Tae Ju-ha alone in her current state, she would die as scheduled in the near future.
But he couldn’t make the decision easily.
In-hyuk slipped the old phone into his briefcase, then left the house for work.
.
.
.
A short while later, the other employees began arriving one by one.
In-hyuk had been the first to reach the office. After finishing most of his tasks, he was checking the overseas market trading conditions.
In the meantime, other staff members passed by his desk, each tossing out a comment.
“I heard Executive Director Jeon Jun-seok has been promoted to Managing Director at our parent company, Tae Shin Life?”
“It’s a decent promotion. But why would the new representative director insist on coming here? If she’s from the Tae Shin family, shouldn’t she be running a subsidiary or at least an affiliate company?”
“You still haven’t heard that rumor? She’s the daughter he had outside the family.”
“Team Leader Kang is pretty pathetic too. They said he was a live-in son-in-law… turns out he’s just a sitting duck.”
They spoke loudly on purpose, clearly intending for him to hear.
It was a clear demonstration of how unstable Tae Ju-ha’s position was within Tae Shin Asset Management. At the same time, they were openly disregarding In-hyuk, her husband and the live-in son-in-law of the Tae Shin family.
“They’re not even holding an inauguration ceremony for the representative director?”
“No matter how good her performance was at the New York branch, a parachute is still a parachute. Besides, she’s only thirty-one. If she had any sense, she wouldn’t dare hold a public inauguration ceremony.”
The voices of various people drifted past him.
In-hyuk paid them no particular attention, keeping his eyes fixed on the monitor, when his phone on the desk began to vibrate.
Vrrr— Vrrr—
Seeing the name on the screen made his brow twitch. It was a number he had saved about a year ago.
“This is Kang In-hyuk.”
[It’s me.]
“I know. What is the reason for your call?”
[There’s a dinner appointment set at the main house.]
In-hyuk scratched his forehead with his left hand.
“Must I attend as well?”
[The Chairman said everyone must attend without exception. So come down at five o’clock in my car and we’ll go together.]
Honestly, he had no desire to go. Still, seeing the other members of the Tae Shin family—including Chairman Tae Geon-seung—with his own eyes wasn’t a bad idea.
“Understood. Send me the location of your car and I’ll come down on time.”
[Alright.]
In-hyuk ended the call with a calm expression and returned his focus to work.
But not long after, the landline on his desk rang.
“This is Kang In-hyuk of the Third Stock Management Team at Tae Shin Asset Management.”
The moment he answered, Jang Hyung-cheol’s voice came through.
[What the hell is going on here?]
“Which part are you referring to?”
[I’m talking about Raison Energy, the one you said you invested my money in!]
Clients could check their investment status through Tae Shin Asset Management’s proprietary app. It seemed Jang Hyung-cheol was currently looking at the price movement of the stocks In-hyuk had sold using his funds a few days earlier.
“As far as I know, the current situation is proceeding smoothly.”
[Smoothly? This is way beyond smooth! Why is it skyrocketing like this?!]
Raison Energy was an American company that developed and sold solar power devices.
Yet the stock, which had been at $34.33, suddenly began surging the moment the market opened.
“There was a new technology announcement in the United States. At this rate of increase, we should be able to secure the returns I mentioned earlier.”
In-hyuk had boldly promised up to 220 percent.
But the figure was so high that even Jang Hyung-cheol found it hard to believe.
[You’re saying one new technology can push it up that much?]
“There’s also a large-scale project that has been finalized on their end. In any case, the results of the stock management appear to be favorable as you desired, so there shouldn’t be any problems, correct?”
Jang Hyung-cheol cautiously continued his questions.
[How high do you think it will go?]
“Based on my prediction, with the current price at $41.19, it should reach around $76.50. That would result in a final return of 223 percent, bringing the total—including principal—to approximately 1.5 billion won.”
That meant a profit of roughly 800 million won.
More than double the original amount, so Jang Hyung-cheol couldn’t help but be shocked once again.
[…Is it difficult to go any higher than that?]
“You certainly have quite the appetite.”
[The bigger the target, the better. So what do you think?]
“Even reaching that point is remarkable. Of course, there will be some bubble deflation, so if you want to maximize profit, it would be best to follow my earlier suggestion.”
[Do you have any other investment options? Something that could perform as well as this. Wait, never mind! Are you free today? I’d like to meet in person and talk.]
The Jang Hyung-cheol who had been furious just days ago had completely vanished.
“I have a separate schedule today, so it will be difficult. I will contact you separately.”
[I’m available anytime, so just call me.]
As soon as the call ended, the team members in the front seats stared at In-hyuk intently.
Among them, Manager Jeong Jong-hyun approached with a displeased expression.
“Did you really purchase shares in Raison Energy?”
He hadn’t mentioned the company name, but the conversation had contained the current stock price and situation.
Jeong Jong-hyun had been able to guess which company it concerned.
“Yes. I did buy them.”
“Did you possess information about Raison Energy’s new technology and project?”
“If I did?”
Perhaps because In-hyuk’s reaction was so indifferent, Jeong Jong-hyun’s brow twitched as he pressed further.
“If you had that kind of information, why didn’t you share it with us?”
The current rise in Raison Energy’s stock price in the U.S. had already exceeded 20 percent. If the other team members had invested there as well, it would have been an enormous achievement for the team.
“If I had shared it? Would you have believed me?”
“W-well… that’s something we could verify by checking the source and making our own judgment.”
“Do I look like a fool to you?”
At In-hyuk’s suddenly serious question, Jeong Jong-hyun was visibly flustered.
“…”
“If you have nothing more to say, please return to your seat. Don’t waste time standing around here.”
Unable to hide his resentful expression, Jeong Jong-hyun returned to his desk and sat down.
In the meantime, rumors about In-hyuk’s latest investment began spreading beyond the team to other parts of the company.
In the representative director’s office at Tae Shin Asset Management, Tae Ju-ha, who was on her first day of work, was focused on her tasks.
Then came a knock, and her secretary, Heo Yu-rim, entered.
“Representative Director. I have something to report.”
“What is it?”
Along with the question, Heo Yu-rim handed over the tablet she was holding.
“This morning, the stock price of an American company called Raison Energy has surged dramatically.”
“A new technology announcement and the successful joint project with the aerospace company General Technologies… yes, that certainly explains it.”
The resulting stock price increase was exceptionally high, so it was impossible not to notice.
“There are teams that jumped in late, but there is one internal team that purchased shares even earlier.”
Tae Ju-ha’s eyes widened slightly.
It meant there was a team that had predicted the company’s stock surge and acted on it. She wanted to keep an eye on them.
“Which one?”
“It’s the Third Stock Management Team. To be precise, Team Leader Kang In-hyuk invested there using funds from an A2 client.”
Tae Ju-ha’s face filled with surprise.
“How much was the amount?”
Heo Yu-rim swiped her finger across the tablet screen.
“The A2 client managed by the third team leader had 1.3 billion won in investment funds. 700 million of that was invested. The current return has already exceeded 120 percent.”
“Exactly when did they enter?”
“The current stock price is $41.19. Calculating from the purchase price, it was $34.33 at the time of buying.”
“There was no reaction at the time of purchase. That means Team Leader Kang In-hyuk must have had information regarding Raison Energy.”
But even when Tae Ju-ha had been in the United States, she had failed to catch that information.
Because the aerospace company General Technologies was involved, both the new technology announcement and the project had been kept strictly confidential.
“Does Team Leader Kang In-hyuk really have that level of intelligence network?”
“The amount he managed was too large to call it a coincidence. He wouldn’t have done it without considerable confidence.”
“Should we quietly look into information routes connected to Raison Energy or General?”
At her meaningful question, Tae Ju-ha pondered for a moment before answering.
“Can you do it discreetly?”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t leave any traces.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you. Also, could you pull up the list of investments currently being managed by Team Leader Kang In-hyuk?”
“I already anticipated you would ask and prepared the list while reporting on Raison Energy.”
The two had worked together for a long time, so they understood each other perfectly.
The tablet screen slid sideways once more.
“The number of clients he’s in charge of isn’t that large.”
“There are twenty-seven in total. Excluding the newly assigned A2, they are all B2 clients.”
Even if all the investable funds of those clients were combined, it didn’t even reach 10 billion won. Among them, the A2 client Jang Hyung-cheol, who had invested in Raison Energy this time, was by far the largest.
“I understand for now. Also, make sure that the data on the members managed by Team Leader Kang In-hyuk cannot be accessed by other executives.”
System-wise, anyone at the head-of-division level or above could view it.
“Should I set it so that only you, Representative Director, can access it?”
“Please do so.”
After Heo Yu-rim left the office, Tae Ju-ha continued examining the client data for Kang In-hyuk displayed on the tablet.
“…Was that woman really his informant?”
The image of the red-haired woman she had encountered at home with Kang In-hyuk came to mind. Her extremely youthful face and youthful attire still made it hard to believe.
Although they were publicly married, there was no emotional attachment between Tae Ju-ha and Kang In-hyuk that would make such matters worth questioning.
“I can’t really say anything about that.”
Tae Ju-ha muttered to herself and returned her focus to work.