An Unexpected Offer
After Frankenstein’s broadcast.
Kim Tae-jin launched a live stream to deny it.
He exposed the secrets he knew about Frankenstein.
Frankenstein went live again.
And the two of them dragged each other through a miserable, drawn-out exchange of accusations.
Violence.
Drinking.
Fraud.
Gambling.
Blackmail.
Prostitution.
Their filthy little scandals spread all over the internet, and the police opened an investigation.
Frankenstein submitted the recording of his phone call with Kim Tae-jin to the police, and during the search of the Voice of Truth office, they found a receipt showing that Kang Tae-ho had bought gasoline at a nearby station.
The case was handed over to the Eastern Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office.
Kim Tae-jin was charged with incitement to suicide.
Kang Tae-ho was charged with aiding suicide.
* * *
The investigation room at the Eastern Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office.
Kang Tae-ho looked across the table at the prosecutor.
He was a man who looked to be in his early thirties, and without meeting Kang Tae-ho’s eyes, he asked his questions in a dry, businesslike voice.
And Kang Tae-ho was filled with fear.
According to things he had overheard under Kim Tae-jin, that was exactly how prosecutors acted when they were confident they could prove the charges.
He also remembered that when proof was thin, or the evidence was lacking, they tended to raise their voices the way they did in movies and dramas.
“Excuse me, Prosecutor…”
“Yes.”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I was actually being threatened by a spy…”
“A spy…?”
Only then did the prosecutor look Kang Tae-ho in the eye.
“Yes…! He used North Korean speech, and he knew my home address too!”
The prosecutor looked unconvinced.
But he couldn’t just let that pass.
“Do you have any proof of this threat?”
“My phone…”
“You said you lost it recently.”
The prosecutor said irritably.
“That’s suspicious too! I always keep it in my pocket… I’ve never lost it once. I think the spies did that too!”
Days earlier,
Kang-hae had trailed Kang Tae-ho to work on the subway and casually stolen his phone.
Stealing one item in a crowded train was child’s play.
“Then did you have a phone call?”
“Yes!”
The prosecutor picked up the telecom records provided by the carrier.
“Do you remember the date?”
“Yes. Exactly two weeks ago!”
“And the time?”
“Around 2 p.m., I think…”
“Do you remember the number?”
“I think the last digits started with a 1…”
“Was it 1109?”
“Oh, yes!”
“Are you sure?”
“I-I think so!”
“Listen, Kang Tae-ho.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think the Republic of Korea’s prosecution service is a joke?”
The prosecutor barked for the first time, and Kang Tae-ho flinched.
“What, a spy? We already confirmed that number was used by a voice phishing ring!”
“Voice phishing…? N-no, that’s not it…”
“What do you mean, not it? You think bringing up spies is going to reduce your charges?!”
“I’m telling you, it really wasn’t me…”
“You tried to muddy the waters with YouTube, and now you want to muddy the investigation too.”
After the prosecution’s investigation ended, both Kim Tae-jin and Kang Tae-ho were taken into custody out of concern they might destroy evidence.
Some time later, the prosecution sought ten years for Kim Tae-jin and five years for Kang Tae-ho.
There was still time before the court hearing, but legal experts predicted that neither of them would escape prison time.
* * *
The Office of the Second Kaesong Industrial Complex Task Force at the Government Complex in Gwacheon.
Seong Ha-yeong arrived first.
The moment she got to work, she started reading every article she could find about the Voice of Truth.
Then, looking at the article saying Kim Tae-jin had been arrested, she muttered to herself, “He really did it again…”
At that moment, Kang-hae arrived at work.
As he sat down, he greeted Seong Ha-yeong.
“Good morning.”
“Kang-hae.”
“Yes.”
“I knew you’d handle it. I just thought that this time I’d end up…”
Seong Ha-yeong made a dramatic motion with her hands, the kind that belonged in a Hong Kong action film, and Kang-hae sat down without any particular reaction.
That left Seong Ha-yeong a little embarrassed.
She cleared her throat.
“Ahem. Anyway, that was amazing. Really.”
“I got lucky.”
He meant it.
Kang-hae thought luck had been on his side.
If Kang Tae-ho had reported him to the police or the National Security Office, or if Frankenstein hadn’t immediately gone live to expose everything, the situation might not have unfolded the way he wanted.
“Oh, come on—luck is a kind of skill too. Planning something like this, I mean. Before, it was all brute force, just throwing yourself at the problem. This time it was more like psychological warfare. Anyway, you surprised me again.”
“I figured Kim Tae-jin and Frankenstein were chasing money.”
“Ohhh, and analysis too!”
“……”
Kang-hae didn’t know how to respond, and Seong Ha-yeong kept going.
“Kang-hae, were you good at studying when you were a kid too?”
“Not bad.”
It was true.
Not as good as his brother, but for the amount of time he actually spent studying, Kang-hae always got strong grades.
His homeroom teachers and hagwon instructors used to tell him that if he focused a little more, he could get into a good university, but as a child he’d always preferred going to the coin karaoke room or the PC bang with his friends over sitting still at a desk watching online lectures.
But after his brother died, everything changed.
“You two. What are you talking about that’s so interesting?”
At that moment, Kim Jeong-min, the head of the National Crisis Management Center and the task force leader, came in to work.
“Good morning, Director.”
Seong Ha-yeong greeted him.
“Yes, good morning. Ah, right. You two. What are you doing after work today?”
Kim Jeong-min asked, looking at Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae.
“I don’t have anything special planned.”
“Neither do I.”
Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae answered in turn.
“Good. Then let’s have dinner together, the three of us. It’d be nice for the people from the National Security Office to have a talk and all that.”
Kim Jeong-min was both the task force leader and the head of the National Crisis Management Center, and an invitation from someone like that couldn’t be refused.
“Yes, understood.”
Seong Ha-yeong answered first.
Kang-hae followed.
“Understood.”
“Good. Don’t go looking for a restaurant. I’ve already booked one.”
After saying that, Kim Jeong-min sat down.
One by one, the others started arriving for work.
At nine o’clock, the day’s work began.
Lately, Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae had been reexamining the damage suffered by the companies that had moved into the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
After the self-immolation incident, public opinion had turned sour, and the government announced that it would come up with countermeasures.
Time passed quickly, and when six o’clock rolled around, Kim Jeong-min stood up and said, “All right, let’s call it a day here.”
The task force employees secretly clenched their fists at his words and forced themselves to keep a neutral expression.
For people who had been living under the burden of constant overtime, a punctual departure from work was like a shaft of light.
Of course, Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae didn’t feel the same way.
Seong Ha-yeong would have preferred overtime to having dinner with a superior from work.
Beep.
Then an internal messenger alert popped up on Seong Ha-yeong’s monitor, and she checked it.
It was a message from Kim Jeong-min.
- If the people from the National Security Office all eat together, the staff from the other departments might feel awkward, so let’s move separately.
- I’ll head out in ten minutes, so you and Kang-hae go first.
- Go ahead to a place in Cheongdam-dong called Woohwahun.
Seong Ha-yeong forwarded the message to Kang-hae exactly as she had received it.
Kang-hae replied that he understood, and then left the office.
An hour later.
Because it was rush hour, the drive to Gangnam took an hour, and Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae entered the restaurant Kim Jeong-min had told them about: Woohwahun.
Even without the Cheongdam-dong address, the place itself made it obvious that it was an upscale beef restaurant, and just looking at it made Kang-hae worry that paying with a corporate card might cause problems during an audit.
Then a waiter in a suit appeared.
“Do you have a reservation?”
“Yes. Please check it under Kim Jeong-min.”
“Confirmed. This way, please.”
The two of them followed the waiter to a private room.
“Our party may be a little late. We’ll order when they arrive.”
As soon as the host left, Kang-hae looked around the room.
From the tables to the interior design with water flowing down the walls, everything was top-tier.
“Does the National Security Office usually have company dinners in places like this?” Kang-hae asked Seong Ha-yeong.
“No way. Even before you came, we only ever went to pork barbecue joints.”
“Then why—”
Kang-hae still couldn’t understand why Kim Jeong-min would insist on paying for dinner in a place like this.
And then, just then, he heard footsteps outside.
“Looks like they’re here.”
Seong Ha-yeong and Kang-hae stood up.
A moment later,
Swish—
the door opened, and—
……!
Seong Ha-yeong looked at the people standing in the doorway.
It was her grandfather, Seong Hun.
“Hahaha. I heard my granddaughter happened to be here, so I stopped by.”
“Grandfather, what brings you here…?”
“Are you going to keep this old man standing out here?”
“……”
Seong Ha-yeong was flustered.
And then she thought of Kim Jeong-min, who had stopped answering her calls some time ago.
Could it be…?
“I-I already have company.”
Seong Ha-yeong said that, but—
“We’ll get up when they arrive.”
Seong Hun said it so naturally, and sat down at the table without the slightest hesitation.
Only then did Seong Ha-yeong realize that her uncle Seong Gi-hyeon had come with him too.
“It’s been a while.”
Seong Gi-hyeon said in a cold voice as he took the seat beside Seong Hun.
With no real choice, Seong Ha-yeong sat beside Kang-hae.
For a moment, silence settled over the table.
“You’ve been busy lately, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
Seong Hun had called Seong Ha-yeong home several times, but each time she had refused, claiming she was too busy.
“Grandfather.”
“Yes?”
“This table… did you arrange all this…?”
Seong Ha-yeong finally asked the question that had been bothering her.
“Hahaha. I got the center director appointment for you, so what’s a small favor like this?”
“……”
She hadn’t known that even her superior, Kim Jeong-min, was one of the Ilseong Group’s retainers.
So that was why he had been promoted from section chief to head of the National Crisis Management Center at such a young age… because of her grandfather’s influence.
Seong Ha-yeong clenched her fist.
She felt ashamed.
Ashamed of her grandfather saying such things without a shred of hesitation.
And ashamed of the fact that she had inherited his blood.
“And who might you be?”
At last, Seong Hun looked at Kang-hae and asked.
“My name is Na Kang-hae. I work at the National Security Office.”
“So you’re the young man who’s been sticking close to our Ha-yeong lately.”
“I’m still not very good at my work, so Ha-yeong has been helping me a great deal.”
“I’d like to have a conversation with my family after so long. Why don’t you get up and excuse yourself first?”
He was essentially saying, I know you’re not supposed to be in this room.
So the one who should leave isn’t me, but you and your blood relatives.
Seong Ha-yeong stared at Kang-hae with a shocked expression.
She had never seen anyone speak to her grandfather like that in her life.
And Seong Gi-hyeon, seated opposite them, flushed red and raised his voice.
“Hey, you young punk—”
“That’s enough. He’s right.”
Seong Hun soothed his son.
Seong Gi-hyeon glared at Kang-hae in silence.
And unlike his son, Seong Hun looked at Kang-hae without showing the slightest emotion.
Kang-hae did not avert his eyes.
“You’ve got the eyes of a man with a complicated past,” Seong Hun said, studying him.
The people Seong Hun had met in his life were generally of two kinds.
Those who flattered him because they wanted to get on his good side, and those who tried to act strong because they wanted to get on his good side.
But it had been a long time since he’d met someone who was neither.
Seong Hun decided he would need to learn more about Kang-hae.
Just not now.
He had a reason for having Kim Jeong-min bring his granddaughter here.
Seong Hun turned his gaze back to Seong Ha-yeong and gave her a warm, grandfatherly smile.
“You must be busy with the North Korean issue these days.”
“If you’re going to ask me about anything related to North Korea, I won’t answer.”
“Hahaha. Do you think this old man lacks that much ability?”
“……”
As Seong Hun had said, Ilseong Group retainers like Kim Jeong-min were scattered throughout the government’s key agencies, and if he set his mind to it, he could get information even faster than the president.
“When a new industrial complex is built in North Korea, what will Ha-yeong do then?”
“Why don’t you ask Mr. Kim Jeong-min—no, Director Kim?”
It was a sharp answer, but Seong Hun kept smiling as he said, “An industrial complex will be built in North Korea next year. Our Ilseong Trading will be taking part as the construction contractor.”
“Nothing has even been decided yet, and you’re talking as if it’s already set.”
“Do you remember what you said to me the other day?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That you could arrange a position for me at Ilseong Trading as well.”
“……?”
“Come to Ilseong Trading. Take charge of the industrial complex project that will be built in North Korea.”
“……!”
It was sudden, and Seong Gi-hyeon, sitting beside him, let out a startled, stumbling protest.
“F-Father…!”
But despite his son’s desperate call, Seong Hun’s gaze remained fixed only on his granddaughter.