The One Who Pushed Him Forward (1)
On the day of the self-immolation, there had been two YouTubers at the scene.
Gang-hae subscribed to both of their channels.
Voice of Truth
Frankenstein
Their channels leaned heavily to one side of the political spectrum.
And they didn’t stop at politics; they also covered celebrity scandals and social issues.
Every recent video they had uploaded dealt with the self-immolation incident, too.
They’d chosen thumbnails designed to provoke outrage.
Gang-hae watched every video they had, and even while eating or taking a brief rest, he never set his phone down, earphones still in place.
Seong Ha-yeong watched him from the side and thought it was exactly like Gang-hae to throw himself so completely into someone else’s business.
Tap—
Seong Ha-yeong set an iced Americano down on Gang-hae’s desk.
“Have this while you watch.”
“Thank you.”
There was still half an hour left before lunch ended.
Gang-hae drank the iced Americano Seong Ha-yeong had brought him and rubbed at his dry, tired eyes.
“Hey, Gang-hae.”
“Yes?”
“I knew you’d go this far.”
“……”
“If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”
“Thank you.”
Seong Ha-yeong smiled and returned to her seat.
Watching Gang-hae treat another person’s trouble as if it were his own was, in some ways, a little maddening.
And yet she also thought that was what set him apart from the obvious kinds of men.
When Seong Ha-yeong went back to her desk, Gang-hae put his earphones in again.
The video he was watching had been uploaded by Voice of Truth, a channel with one million subscribers.
Voice of Truth was run by a former lawyer named Kim Tae-jin.
As a lawyer, Kim Tae-jin had made a name for himself years earlier as a political panelist on television.
But he had been suspended from his license after violating the Attorney-at-Law Act through falsifying private documents.
After that, he had become an extreme political YouTuber.
He had added his voice to every noisy corner of the world.
And Gang-hae listened to the voice of Kim Tae-jin coming through his earphones.
When the video ended, another one began playing automatically.
It had been uploaded six months earlier.
It showed Kim Tae-jin eating at a subscriber’s restaurant.
Gang-hae picked up his phone to skip the video.
And then, from inside the video, he heard a voice he recognized.
It wasn’t Kim Tae-jin’s voice.
Gang-hae rewound the video.
It sounded like the man filming from across from Kim Tae-jin.
The voice of a young man, heard from inside the tent.
Gang-hae kept watching, and eventually realized the owner of that voice was the PD of Voice of Truth.
* * *
The next day.
Voice of Truth office, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Kim Tae-jin had just finished a live broadcast and stretched his arms over his head.
He called over to the young man fiddling with the camera.
“Hey, Kang PD.”
“Yes, Lawyer Kim!”
Kang Tae-ho was a big man, but he had the kind of face that made him look a little dull.
He was a 27-year-old who had majored in film production in college.
And the moment he graduated, he became the PD for Voice of Truth.
After becoming PD, Kang Tae-ho learned that Kim Tae-jin was out there doing all manner of filthy things.
But every time, he closed his eyes to it in exchange for the money Kim Tae-jin handed him.
Since then, he had been made to do everything under Kim Tae-jin’s thumb, from filming live broadcasts to editing and uploading the videos.
“How much did Super Chat bring in today?”
“Just under eight million won.”
“And the account donations?”
“Looks like a little over five million.”
“Damn it, man, a person’s burned alive and about to die, and that’s all we got?”
Over the two-hour broadcast, thirteen million won had come in, but Kim Tae-jin was not satisfied with the amount.
“Hey, Kang PD.”
“Yes, Lawyer Kim.”
“How’s the guy who set himself on fire doing?”
“They say he’s still in the ICU.”
“Damn... if that bastard would just die, our Kang PD could sleep with both legs stretched out.”
Something surged up inside Kang Tae-ho.
The day before the self-immolation, it had been Kim Tae-jin who ordered him to go see Mr. Kim, the man who later set himself on fire.
Kang Tae-ho had thought he was only relaying Kim Tae-jin’s instructions exactly as given.
But if things went wrong, he had a feeling Kim Tae-jin would deny ever knowing him.
“If only some idiot hadn’t shown up with a fire extinguisher, he’d already be in heaven by now. It’s the family that suffers, really.”
Just then, the office phone rang.
Ring—ring—ring—
Kang Tae-ho answered it.
“Yes, this is Voice of Truth.”
"Hello, I’m a member of Voice of Truth’s membership program. I really enjoyed today’s broadcast, too."
It was the voice of a young man.
Calls like this came in by the dozen every day, regardless of the caller’s age or gender.
Kang Tae-ho gave a perfunctory thank-you and was just about to hang up.
“Yes, thank you.”
"By the way, is the man who self-immolated still in the hospital?"
“Yes.”
"From what I heard on the broadcast, his family is struggling financially... that’s terrible."
“We appreciate your concern. Please continue to support Voice of Truth.”
"Ah, wait! Is there any chance I could help?"
“Help?”
"Yes. You said the man who self-immolated is having a hard time financially, so I’d like to cover the hospital bill."
Kang Tae-ho’s eyes widened.
“Sir, thank you sincerely. Would it be all right if we contacted you?”
"Of course. Please do."
The man gave his contact information.
The instant Kang Tae-ho ended the call, he relayed the news to Kim Tae-jin.
“Seriously?!”
“Yes. What should we do?”
“What do you mean, what should we do? Of course we take it.”
Kim Tae-jin hummed to himself in satisfaction.
Of course he would pass on the hospital bill to the family of the man who had tried to burn himself to death and was now in the ICU.
But he had no intention of handing over all of it.
Didn’t banks take interest when they lent money?
By that logic, if it hadn’t been for his broadcast, they wouldn’t have gotten the hospital bill at all.
So about half of the amount was his rightful share.
Thinking that way, Kim Tae-jin called the number Kang Tae-ho had given him.
"Hello?"
“Yes, hello. This is Kim Tae-jin of Voice of Truth.”
"Oh! Lawyer Kim! Thank you for calling me personally... I’m a fan."
Through the receiver came the voice of a man in his twenties.
Kim Tae-jin thought to himself that he’d hooked a fool with some money at home.
“Yes. Thank you for loving Voice of Truth.”
"Not at all! I’m always deeply inspired by the way you fight for justice, Lawyer Kim."
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m simply standing in for passionate patriots like yourself.”
"Yes, I’ll support you to the end!"
“Right. My PD told me just now that you’d like to cover the hospital bill for the man who self-immolated.”
Kim Tae-jin got to the point.
"Yes, Lawyer Kim. But there’s one thing that’s bothering me."
“And what would that be...?”
"My father runs a business. Quite a large one, actually."
“Ah, I see.”
"But if this gets out, it could put my father in an awkward position."
“That won’t be a problem. We strictly guarantee the anonymity of our donors.”
"Still, if there were a tax audit or something like that, couldn’t it get out...?"
In that instant, irritation rose in Kim Tae-jin’s chest.
This happened all the time: someone would come on as if they were going to make a huge donation, only to start changing their story at the last minute.
"So, what I’m saying is—"
“Yes?”
Kim Tae-jin’s voice was colder now than it had been a moment ago.
"Could I give it to you in cash, directly?"
But at the man’s words, Kim Tae-jin’s hardened expression melted away.
“Ah, of course. That’s possible!”
If he took the money in cash, he’d be free from taxes, too.
Before the man could change his mind again, Kim Tae-jin quickly set up a meeting.
That night.
A room salon in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Kim Tae-jin called the YouTuber Frankenstein there.
Frankenstein was one of the YouTubers who had been at the scene during the self-immolation incident.
He had more than 300,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Frankenstein also leaned politically the same way Kim Tae-jin did.
But rather than politics, his main content focused on attacking celebrities, sports stars, and influencers.
“Hyung, what’s this all of a sudden? Did you land some donations?” Frankenstein asked.
Kim Tae-jin held up five fingers.
“Five sticks? The big kind?”
“No, the small kind.”
“Then fifty million?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn, that’s crazy. Who’d you scam this time?”
“At first I figured it had to be some old boomer. But listening to the voice, it was some green kid.”
“Obvious. Probably some rich brat.”
“Exactly. I’m betting there’s a high chance he’s a black-haired foreigner.”
“Hahaha. Man, those black-haired foreigners never even went to the military, so why the hell do they love the Republic of Korea so much?”
“Hey, hey, hey. They’re patriotic with money, aren’t they?”
“Pfft. But Hyung, you served, right?”
“Of course!”
“……”
“I got exempted, you idiot.”
“Pffft. You too, Hyung?”
“You too?”
“Hyung. Do you know what delayed spinal nerve syndrome is?”
“What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know either, shit. Hahaha. My old man really blew a fortune trying to get that diagnosis slip.”
“Hey, drink.”
Clink—
The two men knocked back their glasses and drank whiskey.
“Ahh... that’s the stuff.”
“Hyung.”
“What.”
“So when are we getting the money?”
“Kang PD just went to collect it a little while ago.”
“Nice. Then Hyung’s buying the second round, too.”
“You buy the second round.”
Even after that, the two of them kept clinking glasses and imagining the donor however they pleased.
* * *
Parking lot 2 of Gwangnaru Hangang Park, Seoul.
Kang Tae-ho had turned off the engine and was waiting for the donor he’d arranged to meet.
Vrrring—
His phone vibrated.
It was a call from the donor.
“Yes, donor-nim. I’m at the parking lot now.”
He greeted them as he answered, but—
Click.
The call ended.
“What the...?”
Then the passenger-side door and the back door both opened.
Three people climbed into the passenger seat and the back seat.
Lee Min-su
Kim Yeong-chan
Choi Seong-beom
They were operatives from Tianjin Team 1, but Kang Tae-ho had no way of knowing that.
He was frightened by their rough, menacing faces.
“W-who are you...?”
Kang Tae-ho asked, looking at Lee Min-su in the passenger seat.
And the moment their eyes met, he was seized by even greater fear.
There was something about their harsh features, the atmosphere they gave off—something he had never seen before in his life.
“Comrade Kang Tae-ho.”
Lee Min-su, sitting in the passenger seat, called him in a low voice.
Comrade...
It was a form of address he had never once heard before in his life.
But he knew exactly who used that title after a person’s name.
“So you were just going to swallow someone else’s fifty million won without even putting up a fight?”
Lee Min-su smiled thinly as he said it.
And Kang Tae-ho felt a terror he had never once experienced since the day he was born.