Chapter 95
Chapter 95
95.
The Standard of Estrangement
The afternoon after the MH Group's 40th-anniversary party.
In the hotel suite where Kwak Chi-young was staying, Oh Han-sung finished a call with the subordinate he had given instructions to.
"Lim Do-hwa is taken care of."
They had sent someone to the hospital where Lim Do-hwa, with his broken arms, was hospitalized, and killed him.
Kwak Chi-young nodded, seemingly satisfied. MH Group couldn't report the incident in the end due to the company's image.
At the same time, the police would be in a difficult situation, so it was settled reasonably well.
"Not bad. Then, are you still tracking the other two?"
"We secured the CCTV evidence that was handed over to the police and just finished confirming it. But it seems like they were taken down by someone else."
At the unexpected answer, Kwak Chi-young couldn't help but frown again.
Oh Han-sung showed him the CCTV footage he had retrieved on a tablet.
"...Taken down?"
"It seems someone tampered with the CCTV. However, a bit was recovered, and footage was captured of Go Sam-woo and Gye Jong-wi being taken down by one person in the hotel staff passage. Another person then appeared and took them away."
"The tracking?"
"We couldn't secure the footage, whether the people who took the two tampered with the parking lot CCTV as well."
The situation had become completely tangled. Oh Han-sung lowered his head deeply, feeling ashamed.
Kwak Chi-young groaned and clenched his fist tightly.
"What is going right?"
"...I'm sorry."
"What about the client?"
"The guys we sent to China in advance will take care of it soon."
Meanwhile, Kwak Chi-young repeatedly checked the noisy fight scene in the hallway.
"...But, the guy who took down the Three Fiends alone. Could he be the one who interfered when we tried to take down Baek Shin-woo?"
He was referring to the mysterious organization that they suspected had taken down Nam In-hwang and Moon Tae-beom, whom they hadn't been able to find until now.
Of course, they hadn't even found a trace of their existence. They had suspected the National Intelligence Service last time, but there was nothing special to see in their movements either.
"They seem similar in appearance. But I wonder where they got the information."
This plan had a short preparation period. Lim Do-hwa's case could be considered an individual failure, but if they were able to take down the remaining Three Fiends, there was a high probability that there was a leak from the early stages of the plan.
"Is there a chance the client blabbed?"
"The Seven Circle Society is in charge of their request. They wouldn't reveal the details of the request unless they were crazy."
Kwak Chi-young's mind raced.
"Or maybe something went wrong between us and the Seven Circle Society."
"What? But we have no reason to be on bad terms with them... Are you talking about the China branch?"
Oh Han-sung easily caught the meaning of those words.
Kwak Chi-young had no choice but to nod slowly.
"That's the only place where information could be leaked right now. But they can't betray us, who are exchanging large sums of money, unless there's a problem."
Then Oh Han-sung recalled a piece of information that had come out of the Seven Circle Society while he was looking into the assassins in China.
"I heard there was an accident in the Macau vault management area a while ago."
"The vault? Who's in charge of that?"
"Lu Wens, an executive of the Macau branch. Lu Wens and his subordinates all died in the accident, so the Seven Circle Society is desperately trying to find the culprit."
Kwak Chi-young's face hardened even more.
"Damn it—!"
"...What's wrong?"
At Oh Han-sung's question, Kwak Chi-young stopped himself from speaking.
"Tell the others to leave for a moment."
With a nod, all the 666 Unit members guarding the room ran out into the hallway.
Once the door was tightly closed, Kwak Chi-young calmed his briefly agitated heart and opened his mouth.
"The Seven Circle Society's Macau branch is where the China branch's Black Ground funds were supposed to be stored. Lu Wens was the one in charge of that."
"Yes? Does that mean... there's a problem with the funds in the China branch?"
The TSF's Black Ground Project was a grand undertaking of the organization that was being carried out all over the world.
Of course, only the branch managers in charge of the area and a minimal number of related people knew the detailed flow. Originally, Kwak Chi-young shouldn't have known where the Chinese funds were stored either.
However, Kwak Chi-young had more information than the average branch manager, as he was called the Lion of Nemea within the organization.
"I'm not sure, but there's a high probability. Besides, there's also the situation where Dorothy McDaniel was trying to divert my attention elsewhere."
When he visited China, Dorothy had suggested that Kwak Chi-young scout a duo of mercenaries who were active in the Middle East and Africa.
At first, he had only listened quietly with questions, but when he matched it with the current situation, it seemed to fit perfectly.
"Honestly, I don't understand the situation. It's just a business relationship, so what could go wrong?"
"I heard that the funds being stored were frozen. The reason is that the Ray Sung Group incident came up earlier than expected, but Lu Wens' death must be related as well."
Kwak Chi-young continued to voice the puzzle he had put together in his head.
"...The death of Lu Wens of the Seven Circle Society's Macau branch, who was storing the China Black Ground funds, and the leak of the Im Won-hee assassination plan... It's hard to connect them right away, but it's hard to say that they're completely unrelated."
"I think so too, but there's no clear connection other than the Seven Circle Society. If they had a problem with it, they would have attacked the China branch directly, not leaked information."
That wasn't wrong. Kwak Chi-young could also sense that his guess was severely off.
"Let's leave Im Hee-yeon alone for now. It doesn't matter as long as we take care of the client and the Three Fiends. But the Macau situation is on a different level. If the guys who took down Go Sam-woo and Gye Jong-wi are the same culprits behind the China branch problem..."
Of course, if such a wide-ranging connection was confirmed, it meant that the organization's foundation had been revealed more significantly than expected.
They might have to stop everything that was currently being prepared or carried out. It was a matter of a different level of seriousness, so Kwak Chi-young couldn't easily say it out loud.
"Anyway, just move as I said earlier. And never mention the China Black Ground situation."
"I'll keep that in mind..."
Beep, beep, beep—
Oh Han-sung's phone rang. Looking at the screen, it was a call from the information line in Incheon. Usually, they wouldn't call like this, but he had left it open while chasing Go Sam-woo and Gye Jong-wi.
"Answer it."
With Kwak Chi-young's approval, Oh Han-sung brought the phone to his ear.
"Is there any information?"
Oh Han-sung's expression gradually turned pale as he continued the call.
Kwak Chi-young, who was watching the reaction from the side, couldn't help but become serious.
Finally, Oh Han-sung finished the call, swallowed hard, and said.
"Gye Jong-wi was found dead in a motel near Incheon Chinatown."
"...What?"
The surprises didn't end there.
"But the problem is... Gye Jong-wi was holding our 666 Unit Insignia when he died."
Kwak Chi-young's hardened face became even more rigid, with wrinkles forming all over.
In the meantime, an image was sent to Oh Han-sung's phone. It wasn't a color or shape that someone had arbitrarily made, but the 666 Unit's Insignia used by SHASS.
Kwak Chi-young, who checked the photo together, sighed beyond anger.
"How the hell is this happening? More importantly, did you recover the Insignia without any problems?"
"The place where the body was found is a motel mainly used by Seven Circle Society members. They checked it after the police arrived."
"Things are getting really twisted—!"
It meant that the Seven Circle Society would also know about Gye Jong-wi's death. Moreover, the 666 Unit Insignia he was holding in his hand would inevitably look like a trace of the culprit to anyone.
"What should we do?"
"What can we do in this situation! Quickly clean up the client and hide the assassination request. If only that's taken care of, the Seven Circle Society's attention will turn to the China branch, not us."
The plan was to put it all on Dorothy McDaniel. That was the only way for now.
Then Kwak Chi-young continued.
"Also, investigate exactly how Gye Jong-wi died."
At this point, it was clear that they knew the existence of the 666 Unit and the relationship with the Seven Circle Society. He felt painfully that the existence behind it, which was no different from estrangement, was not easy to deal with.
.
.
.
At the same time.
Shinwoo finished his outside work (?) and entered the MH Group headquarters using public transportation.
Then, Lee Doo-heon and the bodyguards in the lobby rushed over.
"Director! Why are you wandering around alone like that?"
Lee Doo-heon had been waiting in front of Shinwoo's house since morning.
However, when Shinwoo didn't come out even 20 minutes after the scheduled time, he confirmed that no one was home.
He heard that he was going to MH Tech by contact, but he was told that it wouldn't take long, so he went to the headquarters to wait so that they wouldn't miss each other.
"Because it's annoying."
"The situation is not good. So, I hope you will move with us as much as possible, thinking about safety."
"I'll think about it."
Shinwoo answered roughly and got on the elevator.
Lee Doo-heon, who was standing next to him, didn't stop talking.
"It's not just about thinking about it. You keep disappearing, like yesterday, so it's difficult to guard you. What are you going to do if you get into an accident like last time?"
Shinwoo disappeared during the party to chase Gye Jong-wi. After that, he ditched Lee Doo-heon and the bodyguards again to meet his colleagues, so he had every right to be angry.
"Why... you seem to be nagging a lot these days."
Lee Doo-heon had experienced Shinwoo's reckless behavior several times.
As a bodyguard, he couldn't like Shinwoo, who was stubborn, but he couldn't give up because of Im Hee-yeon's earnest request. So, he was trying to push forward without holding back, even if it was insubordination.
"Because it's worth it."
"No matter what you say, I refuse to follow you into your personal life."
"You have to think about the company too."
The elevator arrived on the 32nd floor. Jang Jin-ho, the secretary in charge of KITE affairs, who was passing by, stopped.
"Ah, Director! You're here. Please approve the KITE's budget and review the training schedule for next year's security and guard reservations."
"I told you that Director Yoo Hyung-jin can approve those matters."
"Director Yoo said no. He said you must give the final approval."
Shinwoo was the director of MH Future Security as well as KITE. Of course, he had a lot of work to do there as well.
Fortunately, Lillian was the head of the headquarters, so she discussed most of the work with Jang Man-soo and took care of it.
"Hoo! Let's check it."
"The budget allocation and the fourth-quarter inspection are also intertwined, so please do it quickly."
Jang Jin-ho was originally a bodyguard. He looked very reluctant when he was first told to be a secretary, but these days he almost seemed to be enjoying it.
"We'll go down. Please call us when you move outside."
Lee Doo-heon and the bodyguards also stepped back.
Shinwoo sighed again and entered the office. At the same time, he was speechless at the sight inside.
Lillian and Jang Man-soo were fighting again, with Lillian putting Jang Man-soo in a headlock.