The One Who Pushed Him Forward (2)
“I, I was just, just running errands…… th-that’s all……!”
Terrified, Kang Taeho stammered the words out.
From the back seat, Kim Youngchan grabbed a fistful of Kang Taeho’s hair and said, “Don’t try any bullshit.”
Choi Seongbeom, sitting beside Kim Youngchan, chimed in as well. “You little bastard. You thought you could insult our Respected Comrade Leader and get away with it? We’ll cut your throat today.”
Kang Taeho shuddered in terror.
He thought back to all the videos criticizing North Korea that had been uploaded to Voice of Truth.
But he had never once imagined that people from North Korea would actually come for him.
“P-please…… save me…… p-please…….”
He begged for his life again.
“A little while ago, you met the comrade who set himself on fire at the South Korean government complex, didn’t you?”
“I, I was only…… t-that lawyer…… no, Kim Taejin…… he told me to! I just relayed what Kim Taejin said……!” Kang Taeho blurted out in panic.
“Then you didn’t do anything wrong?”
“I…….”
Kang Taeho could not finish the sentence.
A moment later, tears spilled down his face.
“You want to live?” Lee Minsu asked.
At once, Kang Taeho nodded frantically.
“Then there’s a little something you’ll do for us.”
At Lee Minsu’s words, Kang Taeho’s eyes flew wide open.
It was the look of a man who would do anything if it meant surviving.
“Can you do it?”
Kang Taeho nodded hurriedly.
Tap, tap-
With his rough hand, Lee Minsu lightly patted Kang Taeho’s cheek and said, “We’ll be in touch again. Keep your phone on you at all times.”
Then he pulled a USB from the car’s black box.
Meanwhile, Kim Youngchan and Choi Seongbeom, still in the back seat, patted Kang Taeho’s shoulders and said, “If you call South Korean puppet police, we’ll bury you right in your dead father’s grave.”
“We’re watching you. Just keep breathing and wait.”
The three of them got out of the car.
Kang Taeho watched them disappear into the darkness.
All three of them had problems with their legs, so they walked with limps.
But to Kang Taeho, that only made them more frightening.
And once their figures vanished, he panted hard, drawing ragged breaths.
“Hahh, hahh, hahh…….”
A little later, after moving away from Kang Taeho’s car, Lee Minsu called Kang Hae.
Yes, sir.
“It’s done.”
By now, his North Korean accent was gone.
Thank you. You’ve done well.
The client who had called Voice of Truth and offered to cover the medical bills was Kang Hae.
And once Kang Hae had secured the promise of a donation transfer, he’d called Lee Minsu and asked him to handle what had just happened.
The agents from Tianjin Team 1 had been itching to leave the scene, and they gladly took Kang Hae’s request.
All three of them were in less-than-perfect shape, but they were veterans who had been through everything overseas.
Pretending to be special forces from the Reconnaissance General Bureau and intimidating a target was nothing.
In fact, it was the sort of thing they had done several times during real operations abroad.
“So what happens now?”
The dogfight begins.
“Sounds fun.”
What about Kang Taeho?
What Kang Hae worried about was whether Kang Taeho would go straight to the police.
“Don’t worry about it. He was terrified out of his mind.”
Based on his experience, Lee Minsu didn’t think Kang Taeho would dare go to the police.
Thank you. I’ll contact you again.
“Sure. Talk to you later.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The next day, the video Frankenstei n had filmed during the self-immolation incident went up on YouTube Shorts and every major social media platform.
The footage showed the victim thrashing in agony, engulfed in flames.
And as he filmed the scene, he recited his lines with a look of ecstasy on his face.
The video even came with subtitles.
In no time at all, it spread across every community forum.
The comments section erupted with criticism.
By afternoon, the newspapers had picked it up too.
The night before, Frankenstei n had been drinking with Kim Taejin.
He woke up in the afternoon, and the moment he picked up his phone, he knew something was wrong.
Dozens of missed calls and KakaoTalk messages had piled up.
It didn’t take long to understand what had happened.
“Fuck……! Kim Taejin, you motherfucker……!”
Frankenstei n swore the instant he watched the video.
It had clearly been filmed with Kim Taejin’s camera.
More importantly, none of the things Kim Taejin had said were in the footage.
Only Frankenstei n’s own voice was recorded there.
Frankenstei n immediately called Kim Taejin.
Yeah, what?
Kim Taejin’s voice came through the phone, thick with sleep.
“Hyung, what the fuck is this video?”
What……? What are you talking about all of a sudden?
“The video from the day we set that bastard on fire in Gwacheon got leaked!”
What the hell are you talking about?
Kim Taejin still sounded half asleep.
“Check it right now and call me back!”
Frankenstei n hung up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A motel in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul.
The previous night, Kim Taejin had taken a woman who worked at a room salon out for round two, and after she left the motel, he had passed out cold. Then Frankenstein’s call woke him.
By then, Kim Taejin’s phone was already filling up with calls from acquaintances who knew he and Frankenstei n were close.
Kim Taejin checked the video as well.
Then he called Kang Taeho immediately.
Yes, sir.
“Hey! What’s with that video, you asshole?”
Ah, about that…… I’m looking into it too, but it seems the footage leaked from the company we outsourced the editing to……
“What?! You idiot! Why would you outsource something like that?”
I’m sorry……
“This is why people from shit-tier universities never amount to anything……!”
After saying that, Kim Taejin hung up.
Then he called Frankenstei n again.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
What the hell happened?
“Looks like it leaked from the editing company.”
What? You fucking kidding me? That’s your answer right now?
Frankenstei n’s furious voice came crackling through the receiver, and Kim Taejin felt irritation surge up at once.
“What’s the big deal? This isn’t even the first time something like this has happened.”
Since starting YouTube, Frankenstei n had stirred up countless scandals.
From past school violence accusations to big and small debt issues.
Most of the allegations were true.
But instead of apologizing, Frankenstei n would bury the controversy beneath an even more provocative issue.
Kim Taejin knew that, so he thought this time would blow over the same way.
Fuck, you really do talk like shit when it’s someone else’s problem……!
“What?!”
If you were the one who leaked it, then you better understand you’re going down too. I’m not going to sit still for this.
Click-
The call ended like that.
But Kim Taejin still believed people would forget it soon enough.
Meanwhile, at that same time, Kang Taeho had gone to work at Voice of Truth and was pacing anxiously.
He had edited the video.
He had uploaded it.
But what worried him even more than that were the North Korean agents who had shown up the night before.
Kang Taeho decided he should report it to the police or the NIS.
But more than the trust he had in the police or the intelligence service, which he had barely ever dealt with in his life, the atmosphere those men had carried last night felt far closer and more immediate.
Above all, there was one text message from that morning that kept flashing through his mind.
It was a photo of the house where he lived with his family.
If they had been just phone scammers, he would have reported them.
At some point, they would have shown themselves to collect the money.
But they hadn’t even set a time to meet again.
And the fact that there had been more than one of them made things worse.
Bzzzzt-
Then his phone rang again.
It was an unknown number, but Kang Taeho knew exactly where the call was coming from.
Tremble-
His hand shook before he even realized it.
He barely managed to answer.
“H-hello…….”
Kang Taeho, comrade. I need you to do one more thing for us.
“A-a thing……?”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Frankenstei n’s house.
His phone would not stop ringing.
Frankenstei n turned it off and tried to think of a way to calm the situation.
But no good solution came to him.
“Fuck, Kim Taejin, you bastard……!”
He finally shouted in frustration.
Evening came.
Frankenstei n turned his phone back on.
As if waiting for that very moment, it rang.
Bzzzzt-
It was an unknown number, but the voice felt familiar.
It sounded like the caller from earlier in the day.
Frankenstei n answered.
A young man’s voice came through the receiver.
Are you Mister Frankenstei n?!
“Who is this?”
Frankenstei n’s voice was full of suspicion.
Did you get the money yesterday?
“Money……? What money?”
I sent it through Lawyer Kim Taejin yesterday. The medical expenses for the person who’s in the hospital after the self-immolation incident.
It was a sudden, unexpected topic.
But it was about money.
So he couldn’t hang up.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Yes……? I subscribe to both your channel and Voice of Truth. I heard the two of you usually broadcast together and are close……
“No, we are close. But what do you mean you sent money?”
Ah, I thought it would look nice if the two of you covered the treatment costs together, so I sent some to your side too, Mister Frankenstei n. I asked the person I met yesterday to pass the money on to you……
“Are you sure?”
Yes. I asked the person who was supposed to deliver it yesterday, and they said they were from the Voice of Truth production team…… They clearly said they’d also pass the money to Mister Frankenstei n……
Frankenstei n hung up immediately.
Then he called Kang Taeho instead of Kim Taejin.
He had Kang Taeho’s number because he’d asked him a few questions about video editing a couple of times before.
Yes.
“Hey, Producer Kang!”
Yes, sir.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
W-what is it……?
It was over the phone, but Frankenstei n could tell Kang Taeho’s voice was shaking.
“You met the donor yesterday, didn’t you?”
…….
“I heard it all last night while I was drinking with Taejin hyung.”
Ah…… yes.
“But here’s the thing. The donor apparently said he’d make a donation to me too?”
Y-yes……?! Ah, t-that……
Kang Taeho’s voice trembled even more than before.
Something was definitely going on.
“What is it? What?”
Ah, that……
“It’s fine. Just say it.”
…….
“Hey, Producer Kang.”
Yes, sir.
“Don’t tell me Kim Taejin that bastard skimmed my money in the middle……?”
Ah…… the lawyer told me not to say anything……
……!
Frankenstei n was consumed by rage.
“I knew it. That fucker Kim Taejin really did skim it off the top…….”
I really did wonder if I should tell you……
“Hoo…….”
Frankenstei n let out a long breath.
And also……
“What?”
No, never mind……
As Kang Taeho hesitated, Frankenstei n cursed without even realizing it.
“What is it, you little fuck? Say it, asshole!”
…….
Silence flowed through the line.
Frankenstei n immediately regretted snapping at him.
“Ah, Producer Kang. Sorry. I’m just a little worked up right now.”
It’s okay……
“No, no. Say it. What is it? Is there something else I don’t know?”
You know that video…….
“The video……?”
The one that went up on YouTube this morning……
“Don’t tell me…… you uploaded that……?”
…….
“Did Kim Taejin tell you to do it?”
I’m sorry……
Click-
The call ended there.
“Aaaaaagh~!”
Frankenstei n hurled his phone to the floor.
Then he spat out his rage like a man talking to himself.
“Not only did you steal my money in the middle, now you’re trying to bury me too? Kim Taejin, you fucking bastard, you’re dead……!”
Frankenstei n immediately started a live broadcast.
“Yes. This is Frankenstei n. Many of you were shocked by my video this morning, right? It’s obviously been maliciously edited. I’ll explain everything clearly and in detail later.
What I’m going to talk about today is this:
I turned this on to tell you all what kind of person Voice of Truth’s Kim Taejin really is!
I’m talking about the person who tried to set himself on fire at the Government Complex in Gwacheon not long ago.
That was all orchestrated by Kim Taejin, everyone!”
And so the public takedown began.