You'll Get into Trouble
Tae Ju-ha finished getting ready early in the morning and went out into the living room.
A peculiar silence filled the room.
"Did he already leave?"
In-hyuk's shoes were not by the front door.
When she went down to the parking lot and got in the car, Heo Yu-rim handed her a tablet from the passenger seat.
"There's a bond managent headquarters eting scheduled for today, as well as etings with the division director of Managent Headquarters and the Legal Team."
"No external appointnts?"
Recently, there had been an overwhelming number of client managent tasks at Taeshin Asset Managent.
"Nothing is scheduled for now."
They talked about work until they arrived at the company.
Tae Ju-ha spent ti in the CEO's office, handling urgent approvals first.
Then, a call ca in from Song Tae-ho, chairman Tae Gun-seung's secretary.
"The Chairman wants to have a al together with In-hyuk-nim?"
The unexpected request made Tae Ju-ha tilt her head in confusion.
[Just decide on a suitable date and ti and let us know.]
"... May I ask why?"
[Even I don't know that.]
"Alright. I'll discuss it with In-hyuk-nim and get back to you."
After ending the call, Tae Ju-ha put down her cell phone and picked up the internal line.
Even as a married couple, it felt a bit too personal to call his mobile.
The line rang for quite a while before it was picked up.
[Equity managent... No, this is Seo Jae-young from M&A Team 1.]
The confusion was because the departnt had recently changed.
"I'm calling for Division Director Kang In-hyuk... Is he not at his desk?"
The phone in the division director's office had kept ringing, so Seo Jae-young had answered it instead.
[Where are you calling from?]
On the other hand, Tae Ju-ha hadn't expected to be asked that and hesitated a little.
"Ah... the CEO's office."
[By CEO, do you an... our CEO?]
Seo Jae-young paused, then asked again with a vague tone.
[... Are you referring to our CEO?]
"Yes. Where did the division director go?"
[Ah, CEO! Sorry! The division director took annual leave today. He didn't co in.]
"Annual leave? Do you know why?"
[I'm sorry, I don't know, either.]
"Okay. I'll contact him directly. Thank you."
After the call ended, Tae Ju-ha tapped Kang In-hyuk's na on her phone.
.
.
.
In-hyuk had left ho early in the morning and set off for Andong.
As expected, he noticed vehicles tailing him from the house all the way here.
"They really don't get tired of this..."
While he was driving, a call from Tae Ju-ha ca through.
[I heard you're on annual leave today?]
"I'm on my way to Andong for personal reasons."
[Ah... Andong?]
"I'm headed to the orphanage where I grew up. As far as I know, there's nothing urgent at the office—did sothing happen?"
At In-hyuk's calm question, Tae Ju-ha hesitated, then spoke.
[Grandfather wants to have a al together.]
"The chairman? I doubt he just wants to eat... Did he say why?"
[He didn't tell either. He said we should decide on the date. When would be good for you?]
In-hyuk let out a short sigh through his nose.
"I'm driving right now. If it's not urgent, I'll check my schedule tomorrow when I co in and let you know."
[Okay.]
After ending the call, In-hyuk glanced at the familiar cars in the rearview mirror.
They were still following at a set distance.
After driving for about another hour, he arrived at Hanseung Orphanage in Jeongsang-dong, Andong.
The orphanage, built on around 6,000 square ters, had three two-story buildings—one in the center, one on each side—plus two single-story buildings used as a storeroom, laundry, and cafeteria in the back left.
At a glance, it appeared clean and peaceful.
But to the original Kang In-hyuk, the orphanage was a place filled only with narrow-minded disdain and discrimination.
"It's not even my mory, and yet, it pisses off..."
mories of the ti the original Kang In-hyuk spent at Hanseung Orphanage—and the wounds he suffered—ca flooding back.
They weren't even new mories, but they made his head pound.
After standing there briefly, clicking his tongue, he headed into the main building.
Children passing by noticed In-hyuk and glanced his way.
Soon, Park Mi-jung saw the car parked outside and ca walking down from the upper floor.
"You're here."
Now over sixty, she wore her hair neatly in a bun and a floral two-piece outfit, smiling gently.
But In-hyuk knew well what kind of character lurked behind that face.
"Is that person here?"
"What's the rush—you just arrived! Let's go to the director's office and have so tea first. And since it's been a while, you should look around, too."
Disgust creased In-hyuk's brow.
"I'm busy with work, so I need to leave as soon as I finish here."
At that, Park Mi-jung's expression wavered subtly.
"Still... shouldn't you at least feel a little grateful to the place that fed and sheltered you as a child?"
"I seem to recall I already repaid enough in that regard."
"There are many mouths to feed here. Do you think that was enough?"
"Well, considering the conditions, a lot of the facilities seem pretty outdated for a place getting funding from Taeshin Education Foundation. To an outsider, it might look like soone's lining their own pockets."
Her expression turned icy.
"What are you implying..."
"It's a joke. A joke."
Thanks to the mories and unpleasant feelings from the original Kang In-hyuk, another thought that he hadn't intended surfaced.
He rembered the incident where Park Mi-jung, head of Hanseung Orphanage, was caught embezzling most of the donations from the Taeshin Education Foundation.
But that incident only broke out about three years from now.
Of course, if it were the current In-hyuk, he could bring that tiline forward as much as he liked.
"By the way, your father's acquaintance will be late."
"How late?"
"It'll probably have to be dinner at least."
Bzzzz― bzzzz―
Just then, his phone vibrated. After checking the ssage, In-hyuk's face hardened.
"Phew―! When did you find out it would be delayed?"
"I just heard. But... will you wait?"
"Why don't you give their contact number? I'll contact them directly."
"Are you really going to be like this?"
"I have nothing more to say."
When he quietly waited for her reply, Park Mi-jung sighed.
"They say you should never take in a wild animal with black hair..."
Was that really sothing an orphanage director should say? In-hyuk felt irritation welling up.
"If you keep losing your sense of judgnt, director, you'll get into trouble one day."
"What did you say?"
"Just give the number."
Her gaze grew even sharper.
But as if she realized there was nothing more she could say, she took out her cellphone and handed it over.
"This is the number."
In-hyuk input the number into his phone and, completely ignoring her, pressed the call button.
Ring— ring—
The ringtone continued, but no one answered.
"They're not picking up. Anyway, I'll be leaving. I'll leave a ssage—whether they reply or not is up to them."
"You're leaving already?"
"As I said before—I will never co back to this place."
"Don't you feel sorry for the ones like your younger brother?"
Now that she was trying to use the orphanage kids as leverage, In-hyuk felt his insides boil.
"If you really care about the kids, you should start by letting go of your own greed."
In-hyuk imdiately left the building and walked to his car.
But he didn't get in right away.
'So they've already tampered with my car during that brief window?'
The previous vibration was an alert from the program Go Mi-ah had installed in the car system.
At minimum, it ant soone had opened the car door.
Bzzzz―
Just then, Charybdis's Hong Yu-geon called.
[Boss. You're not seriously thinking of getting in that car after soone's probably ssed with it, right?]
He must have been watching from sowhere.
"When did you get up there to keep an eye on ?"
In-hyuk was already aware of the eyes on him.
The right annex rooftop; up there, Hong Yu-geon was peeking just enough to spy through binoculars.
[Hm? How'd you know?]
He sounded shocked, as if he'd been sure no one would notice him.
"There are ways. Where's Van? Waiting in the car?"
[Keeping an eye on the guys who visited your car. But—are you really planning to drive it?]
Hong Yu-geon had watched uninvited guests do sothing to In-hyuk's car.
He didn't know the details, but it was obvious it wasn't ordinary car maintenance.
"If I don't get in, they'll notice."
[Why not make the first move? Normally we wouldn't go that far, but... as a service, we could.]
Charybdis was a team Hong Yu-geon and Van Hester put together last year after growing tired of indiscriminate assassination contracts.
But pure intelligence gathering and tailing weren't enough to establish a base in this line of work.
Their operating funds were still tight, so for the future, they'd accepted In-hyuk's proposal.
"Who knows who might be behind those guys?"
[Ah...]
"If we act rashly, I'll just beco more suspicious."
[So we'd have to take care of the ones who gave orders to Daemyung as well, right?]
Through them, In-hyuk had also listened in on wiretapped conversations at Daemyung Detective Agency.
"If possible."
[So what's your plan?]
"Hold on."
In-hyuk got in the car, pulled out a detector, and swept it around inside.
Fortunately, nothing seed to be triggering any bug or cara detection.
"Anyway, it would be best to find out why they're targeting , but since that's difficult right now, I'll just handle today's business."
[Do you have a way?]
Click—click—
In-hyuk pressed the steering wheel and pedals, feeling a subtle difference.
"It looks like they tampered with the brake pushrod."
He ant the movent support attached to the brake pedal.
[Those guys from earlier?]
"They probably rigged it to snap under a certain amount of strain."
[Don't tell you're really going to drive it...]
"If I want to draw them out, I'll have to stick my leg in as well."
With that, he started the engine and turned the car out onto the road.
All the while, Hong Yu-geon's voice ca through the speakerphone.
[This is insane.]
"Do you know how many of them there are?"
[Each group has two guys, with three cars in total—just like Daemyung said.]
"Where's the point of attack?"
[We don't know that either.]
The exact location hadn't been ntioned even in the wiretaps.
"Then I'll have to lure them in."
[Are you sure about this?]
"Just keep following. And when it goes down—"
Based on everything he'd gathered, In-hyuk explained his plan to Hong Yu-geon.
* * *
A black sedan was trailing In-hyuk as he left the orphanage.
Inside were Kim Jun-hyung and Lee Chang-su from Daemyung Detective Agency.
The distance between them and Kang In-hyuk's car was about 15 ters.
At that ti, a voice from another team ca through the radio on the dashboard.
Static—
[5km till the target point. Comnce the operation.]
They each checked their positions via the GPS system installed in their cars.
With that, Kim Jun-hyung, who was driving, stepped on the gas.
He soon overtook Kang In-hyuk's car and once ahead, stepped on the brakes.
Screeeeech—
At the sa ti, Kang In-hyuk braked as well, so his speed inevitably dropped.
From that point on, the two cars kept provoking each other—speeding up, then slowing down.
"Leave a bigger gap. If you get too impatient, it might snap before we reach the target point."
He ant the tampered brakes on Kang In-hyuk's car.
Kim Jun-hyung carefully adjusted his speed. The tense cat-and-mouse driving continued until they entered a tunnel.
Suddenly, Kang In-hyuk's car bumped into theirs from behind—without braking.
"Haha! Spot on—it must've just snapped."
Lee Chang-su, in the passenger seat, straightened up from being thrown forward and burst out laughing, then pressed the radio button.
"We're going in."
anwhile, Kim Jun-hyung accelerated, racing together with Kang In-hyuk's car as he tried to pass, and then slamd on the brakes just as they'd made a dangerous gap.
Crash—!
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