The Scapegoat and the Stolen Genius

"S-sorry for the intrusion!"

The sound of the door clicking shut echoed through the office. Kang Yoon-sik, the DS Division Head, and his entourage had bolted out as if fleeing a burning building. In the awkward silence that followed, I picked up the two business cards they'd left behind.

"Kim Yoon-sik, Head of the DS Division. And Park Dong-hoon, Director of Next-Generation Technology Development..."

"Aseong Electronics must really be struggling these days, huh? I mean, when their top executives barge in like this and just start throwing insane proposals around?"

"No kidding. This is a clear line crossed."

Attorney Kim Cheol-min nodded along to my playful question, then spoke with a more serious expression than I'd ever seen on him.

"If Aseong deliberately pressured you to ignore the NDA and hand over technical information, this is something we could formally report to the SEC."

"The SEC?"

"Yes. Ontel is an American company. If a foreign company's illegal actions cause damage to a US company, the SEC can step in directly."

The SEC wielded enormous power — if an American company was involved, it didn't matter where the other party was located. Kim Cheol-min ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shook his head, muttering that getting on their bad side meant a serious headache, then settled onto the sofa and slowly began playing back the recording he'd saved.

"Hmm..."

"What is it?"

"It's a bit ambiguous."

"Really?"

Because the recording had started partway through in the rush of the moment, not everything had been captured. And Division Head Kim Yoon-sik had deliberately hedged, circling around his meaning with vague phrasing — so there was plenty that fell short of being airtight evidence.

"Our legal team will need to review it further, but in my judgment, this alone is a little thin for a report to the SEC..."

Attorney Kim Cheol-min set down his phone with what looked like genuine disappointment.

"Well, at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠least now we know what Aseong Electronics is planning. That's what matters, right?"

Aseong Electronics — ignorant of optical semiconductor technology, yet desperate for it. The fact that an executive of division-head rank had come in person, made an illegal proposal first, and dangled a blank check told us just how dire their situation was.

"They got burned once, so they won't come back with more tricks. They'll keep quiet for a while."

"...I'll report everything that happened today to headquarters separately."

"Do that."

"Ontel will likely come out swinging on this. Expect a forceful response from their corporate side."

For Ontel, this project was a matter of survival. They had thrown everything into it — every ounce of capital and manpower, all focused on optical semiconductor production — so there was no doubt they'd respond aggressively to Aseong's underhanded move and tear into them.

"Ooh, a war between two global corporations? Sounds fun."

"...I'll move quickly to select and contract a security firm first."

Attorney Kim Cheol-min shot me an exasperated look at my spectator-at-a-fire reaction, but he just sighed with the weariness of a man long used to this, rose from his seat, and went off to do what needed doing.

And so, a few hours later...

Ontel, foaming at the mouth, had airlifted more than a dozen security personnel from somewhere at breakneck speed. They stormed into the Limitless building, organized round-the-clock shifts, and began running airtight security as if declaring that no outsider would ever be allowed through those doors again. They even hauled in CCTV units and other security equipment nobody had asked for and installed them all over the building on their own authority.

All of this happened...

in less than a single day.

"Heh heh heh... Our Division Head Kim. You've certainly pulled off one magnificent blunder."

Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik wore a pleasant, kindly smile. But Kim Yoon-sik couldn't manage a single word under those eyes — so utterly cold, so at odds with that smiling face.

"What on earth did you say over there, that Ontel is raising hell about suing us to the SEC and pressing charges for interference of contract? The legal team has been in complete upheaval."

Barely hours after Division Head Kim had returned to the company, the legal department had been thrown into chaos. Ontel's response was unusually fast — and unusually ferocious.

"According to Director Lee, Ontel's CEO made the call himself. Screaming curses you couldn't repeat in polite company, swearing to see it through to the bitter end until one side or the other was dead... Did you perhaps go over there to declare war on Ontel?"

"...I have no face to answer with, sir."

Division Head Kim bowed his head slowly and fell silent. Watching him, Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik continued in a glacial tone.

"Let's establish the facts first. What I instructed you to do was to build a strategic roadmap for developing optical semiconductor technology within five years. Correct?"

"Yes..."

"And then, on your own unilateral judgment, you approached the CEO of 'Limitless' — the company partnering with Ontel — and, borrowing Aseong Electronics' name, made a proposal that bordered on technology theft. An illegal one."

"Yes... Yes? What... what do you...!"

At the Vice Chairman's words, Division Head Kim jerked his head up in shock.

"What's the matter? Is any part of what I said factually wrong?"

Under that frigid gaze, Kim Yoon-sik could say nothing. He knew it wasn't the truth. But in this situation, the only thing left for him to do was...

"No, sir. Everything was my own doing. My unilateral mistake."

...to admit that every word the Vice Chairman said was true.

"What a shame. Why would a talent like you take such a reckless gamble?"

Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik shook his head with a bitter expression, as if the disappointment were heartfelt. Then, patting the shoulder of the pale, trembling Division Head Kim, he pressed a single envelope into his hand.

"I won't forget how hard you worked to prop up a lacking man like me all these years. I'll do my utmost to see that this matter doesn't come back on you — so have your resignation on my desk by end of day."

"..."

"You'll want to walk away with your severance intact, won't you? If this blows up into a disciplinary dismissal, it won't do you any good at all."

"B-but..."

"Oh, by the way — how's your daughter doing these days? I hear she just joined Aseong Hotel this year?"

"..."

"And that golf club membership registered under your wife's name. Which company was it that gave you that one, exactly? Lately there've been a lot of people getting burned after gobbling up whatever subcontractors slip their way. I can't say how things will shake out, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you'd best be careful."

The threat was clear: resign now and salvage at least a severance package — dig in your heels, and you'd walk away with nothing. Kim Yoon-sik had merely moved like a chess piece, pledging his loyalty to orders handed down from above. But his opponent was the closest confidant of the Aseong Group Chairman — the de facto number two of Aseong Electronics itself.

And so the mere division head, made to shoulder the blame for everything, had no choice but to slink out of the room in disgrace.

Click.

The moment Kim Yoon-sik stepped out, Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik's face twisted into an expression of pure venom — where, exactly, had that kindly smile been hiding? He slammed his documents down irritably.

"Tch. Honestly... Can't even carry out a simple order without botching the whole thing like this?"

Kang Gun. The whole world was marveling at the technology he'd developed, but he was still a green young CEO not yet thirty. That was precisely why Woo Hyun-sik had expected that with the right handling, Aseong Electronics could siphon the core data needed for optical semiconductor development right through the boy.

Of course, as if they'd anticipated his plan, an Ontel attorney was already glued to Kang Gun's side, watching his every move.

"You're supposed to vet everyone around your target thoroughly before you pounce. Now he's lunged in blind, and the man can't even be approached anymore."

Ontel had barely been poked — one tentative jab at a persimmon they couldn't reach — and had come charging in foaming at the mouth, ready to die for it. If Aseong approached Kang Gun again after ignoring that warning, a full-blown corporate war — Aseong versus Ontel — might actually erupt. Woo Hyun-sik clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Vice Chairman."

"Ah, there you are."

The Strategic Planning Office — the shadowy arm that handled every manner of problem, legal and otherwise, across Aseong Electronics and the entire Group. It had contributed no small part to Aseong Electronics' rise to the top of the industry, and at the appearance of Director Lee, its chief, the Vice Chairman's face brightened as if nothing had happened at all.

"So? How did it go?"

"We've explained it as a matter of miscommunication on Ontel's side. Now that the person responsible has been dismissed, Ontel won't be able to keep pushing hard for long."

"Good. Sorry to put you to the trouble over a mess that wasn't yours."

Relieved by Director Lee's report that the affair would likely blow over, Woo Hyun-sik smiled his pleasant smile. Then Director Lee produced a single white envelope, and the Vice Chairman raised an eyebrow.

"What's this?"

"The results of a separate investigation the Strategic Planning Office conducted into this matter."

"As you know, Vice Chairman, breakthroughs in semiconductor technology aren't the kind of thing that emerges from one individual's research. So we dug meticulously into Kang Gun's past."

The CEO of Limitless. Kang Gun.

Woo Hyun-sik pored over the documents — a full dossier on the man's background, item by item.

"More ordinary than I expected... considerably so."

"Precisely."

Resident registration records, family relations certificates, military service records, immigration records, bank accounts, social media histories... even his elementary, middle, and high school conduct records — the Strategic Planning Office had stripped bare every scrap of personal information that existed. And nowhere in any of it was there a single noteworthy detail.

"Parents died long ago. Raised by his grandparents. Decent but unremarkable grades through school — smart, certainly, but nothing you'd call a once-in-a-century genius... Served in the military like anyone else, and until recently he had almost no assets to speak of."

Right up until he'd appeared before the public as CEO of Limitless, he had been nothing more than an ordinary young office worker... no, an ordinary job seeker, still hunting for his first real position.

"The one notable item is that the CEO of Limitless majored in electrical engineering at Yeonju University. He went straight into a master's program after finishing his undergraduate degree and conducted related research there... but he withdrew midway, caught up in some unpleasant business."

"Unpleasant business...?"

"We haven't confirmed the details yet. But according to his thesis advisor... the CEO of Limitless was continuously siphoning data out of the lab."

"I'm... sorry?"

"Please, take a look at the materials."

At Director Lee's words, Woo Hyun-sik hurriedly flipped through the documents. And then, as he examined the papers and research materials recently published by Yeonju University, his eyes began to gleam.

Professor Kim Hwan-soo's lab had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠published a string of papers on optical semiconductors in recent years. And the lab where the CEO of Limitless had once worked had been turning out papers on strikingly similar themes, one after another. From this, Woo Hyun-sik arrived at a single hypothesis.

"Oh ho... So you're saying this Kang Gun fellow didn't create the optical semiconductor on his own?"

"Wouldn't you say that's the most likely explanation?"

"Given that it's technology absolutely impossible for one man to achieve alone... yes, I suppose it is."

Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik's eyes narrowed to razor-thin slits. Tapping the cover of a paper stamped with the Yeonju University logo, he continued in a low voice.

"If that hypothesis is true... then optical semiconductor technology could be developed through another route."

"As far as we've confirmed, Professor Kim Hwan-soo has recently been concentrating his research on optical semiconductor topics. Several of the core concepts in Kang Gun's papers were organized in a manner almost identical to Professor Kim's work. The timing also matches the period when Kang Gun was enrolled in his lab."

"In other words, you're telling me that Professor Kim Hwan-soo is the architect — the man who established the foundational concepts and theory behind the optical semiconductor technology that brat completed."

Even if Professor Kim had failed to complete the technology itself, the odds were high that he still possessed the data and materials needed to get there. With the plan to approach Kang Gun now dead in the water, the suggestion that another path might exist made Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik's eyes flash.

"Contact Professor Kim Hwan-soo immediately. Bring him over to Aseong by any means necessary. Offer him the very best terms — salary, research funding, personnel, facilities, tell him we'll back him to the hilt. We have to move first, before Bynix or anyone else gets to him."

"Understood. I'll meet with him personally and open negotiations."

At Director Lee's pledge to recruit the man himself, Woo Hyun-sik nodded with an expression of complete trust. Then, alone in his office, he wore a satisfied smile and let his imagination run wild.

"Kukuku. Of course. As it should be. What kind of wet-behind-the-ears kid develops next-generation semiconductor technology?"

Vice Chairman Woo Hyun-sik relaxed, reassured by the fact that the world worked exactly as he'd always expected it to — that no such preposterous genius could possibly exist.

Before long, they recruited Professor Kim Hwan-soo — a man of advanced years, rich in experience, learning, and career — with the promise of a salary in the tens of billions of won.

And so began...

the chronicle of Aseong Electronics' optical semiconductor development team — a saga so grueling, so treacherous, and so endlessly distant from its goal that it would draw tears from anyone who heard it.