The Ugly Truth

I'm pretty sure every Korean knows Daesung Fire & Marine Insurance screws people over. If someone claims they don't know, they've either never dealt with them or they work for an insurance company.

"I figured since I had no expectations, I wouldn't be disappointed either... but this just leaves me speechless."

The data floating in front of me right now would cause some serious chaos if released to the world. To put it simply, the unpaid insurance money that they owed customers but quietly swept under the rug without informing them amounts to roughly 320 billion won.

"Is it just these guys that are crooked, or is the whole industry like this?"

I want to believe Daesung Fire is just the odd one out, but deep down, a bad thought keeps creeping up.

"Sadly, it's the whole industry. Deliberately omitting insurance payouts is basically a passive skill for them."

As soon as I heard Athena's words, I slapped my forehead.

"I'm going crazy. I don't even know where to start fixing this."

If it was just Daesung Fire pulling this crap, it wouldn't take much time to handle. But if the entire industry is disregarding ethical and legal responsibilities like this, then it's a bit too big for one person to deal with.

"For now... besides the money they didn't pay, is there anything else?"

"Unfortunately, yes. If we limit it to Daesung Fire, besides the unpaid insurance I just showed you, there are three other major violations."

Reading the text appearing before my eyes makes my head throb.

Steering repair work to specific garages, where the garages inflate parts prices and then trade kickbacks with insurance employees behind the scenes — it's practically standard practice.

Evidence that they illegally accessed family members' credit information and past medical histories unrelated to accidents to gain leverage in fault negotiations — privacy protection be damned.

And finally, to reduce their own losses, they routinely manipulate fault ratios from a clear 100:0 to something like 8:2, as if it's no big deal.

Which is exactly what they did to me.

"In a way... is this also collusion?"

"Something like that. When the entire industry does this, there's no way to stop it. Even if they're fined tens or hundreds of billions, for the big insurance companies, paying that and continuing business as usual is always more profitable."

"Does Cheonmun have an insurance company?"

"No. Are you thinking of acquiring one?"

"Let's be honest. If I expose this, will they actually change?"

"Hmm... probably not. At most, Daesung Fire would take a big hit and that'd be the end of it. There's the 'too big to fail' principle — Daesung would just pay a massive fine and be back in business, don't you think?"

According to the data Athena showed me, not everyone at Daesung Fire was engaged in this kind of behavior.

Just like you can't divide the world into black and white, there are certainly employees at Daesung who do their jobs conscientiously. As a percentage of the whole, it's a tiny handful, but still — there are some people trying to do right. But that doesn't mean I can just leave Daesung Fire alone.

"If I hadn't known, I might have let it slide... but now that I know, I have to do something, right?"

Out of the four major violations, the collusion with garages is practically child's play. The other three are evidence solid enough to dismantle an entire company if used properly.

"Which one should I release to crash their stock price the most? I want to swallow the company, but I don't want to pay full price."

"How about starting with the unpaid insurance? It's not just money they didn't pay — the moment this gets out, the accounting books take a direct hit, making it the perfect starting point to crush the stock price. We'll keep the rest for later use."

A post ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠appeared on Korea's most famous car-related community.

The post included carefully fabricated documents that Athena had prepared. A few other minor details were also thrown in, but the issue that drew the most attention was the roughly 320 billion won in unpaid insurance money.

I'd only released one piece of evidence, and it had already grabbed plenty of attention.

"This is fun. I could get addicted to this."

Watching the reactions to posts Athena wrote — or the results of my actions — was way more thrilling than I'd imagined.

"I sent the same material to news outlets as well. It's 11 PM now, so after they review the data, it should blow up by tomorrow morning."

"Ha... I feel like I won't be able to sleep because I'll be too busy lurking on the forums."

I needed to sleep early to enjoy the satisfying explosion tomorrow morning, but I couldn't sleep because I was getting a dopamine hit reading all the comments.

Even though the media has become a glorified community garbage truck these days, they still have some verification process, so it takes time. But pure user-driven internet communities don't have that luxury.

A topic just has to look interesting, and people share it around, get it trending or pinned, and when that happens across multiple communities simultaneously, a massive public opinion forms.

It started on the car community, but within just an hour, it had spread to every corner of the internet.

I stayed up until 1 AM watching reactions on forums and social media before passing out from exhaustion. When I opened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my eyes...

"Ugghhh... what time is it?"

"It's 8:30 AM. You could sleep a little more."

I don't really have anything to do, but I keep going to the office to maintain a routine, so no matter how annoying it is, I have to wash up and head out.

When I got down to the underground parking lot, instead of my first car — which was still in the shop getting repaired after the accident — the Ferrari I bought last time was forlornly guarding its parking spot.

"Well, nothing I can do about it."

I'd been avoiding driving it on weekdays because the attention was too much, but now it's been promoted to my daily driver.

Last time, due to the heavy traffic in Gangnam, the convoy formation broke down and my protection wasn't secure. But today, the cars are tightly packed in front and behind me.

"There's no crazy bastard who'd ram into a Ferrari, right?"

This car costs 500 million won, so I guess people don't want to risk their insurance premium going up. It's like the Miracle of the Red Sea happens around this car often.

"I'm controlling the formation, so that last incident won't happen again. Even if someone crashes into us, my men will make sure it's the other vehicle that gets hit, so don't worry."

"How is that your fault? If I hadn't let that car in front, the accident might not have happened."

A tiny compact car with a beginner driver sticker was struggling to merge, so I let them in, and the convoy broke formation. Then some crazy guy rear-ended me — basically a natural disaster.

"How's the reaction to what we posted yesterday?"

Since I just woke up, I expect it's spread even more than yesterday.

"The three major broadcasters started, and now every news outlet is churning out articles. Some of the reporters seem to have personal experience with this — the reactions are pretty intense."

"Well, it's not like reporters are immune to accidents, right?"

Now that they realize they've been victims themselves, they'll be gnawing on Daesung with a vengeance.

"Media outlets that receive a lot of advertising from Daesung are being a bit cautious, but everyone else is scrambling to publish articles."

After fighting through the horrible morning traffic, I sat down at my desk and turned on the monitor. I spotted a very interesting article.

"...Are they insane?"

The evidence was so clear I thought they'd tuck their tail and apologize, but they did the exact opposite and threatened legal action.

"Shall I set off one more?"

We started with the unpaid amount, but it seems they want another punch to the face.

"The other stuff is too big, so let's hold onto it for now... Let's spread the one about colluding with the garage."

If they still don't fold after this, I'll just have to destroy them.

Below the cleanly written post were the pieces of evidence Athena had attached. Evidence of parts swapping, evidence of steering work to specific garages and receiving bribes, even a manual on inflating parts prices.

"Oh shit, hold on a second."

Did they do this to my car too?

"Your car went to an official service center, so don't worry. The cost might be high, but they won't put in any shady parts."

"Ah, right."

While reading the comments, I suddenly thought of my car and got goosebumps all over. But Athena's assurance made me sigh in relief.