It's a Dangerous Object
In-hyuk sat in front of the dishes called "eggplant rice" and "squid soy stir-fry," hesitating.
'Why does the rice sll so tangy?'
As she said, it might be purple because it's eggplant rice, but rather than being a natural shade from the eggplant, it looked artificially colored.
Moreover, if he ate her food right now, it felt like he'd end up extending his hospital stay for reasons unrelated to Swordsmanship.
"I'm not really hungry right now... I'll eat it later."
"Hm. But it'll get cold if you don't eat right away, you know? I made it really delicious this ti!"
He had to wonder whose taste she had tailored it for.
"I'm really okay."
Before she could scoop so rice with her spoon, In-hyuk hurriedly closed the lid and put it up on top of the locker.
"Aw..."
"By the way, is it really okay to leave your post like this?"
"I've already placed orders for the stocks you ntioned. And on the investnt side, that guy—Norman or whatever—he's handling it anyway."
In-hyuk could only nod at this strangely cobbled-together answer.
"As long as you handled it well, that's fine. Ah, did you check all the data I sent you?"
"You an that TN SOFT company's files? Yeah, I saw all of them. They're developing sothing called TCL Code... How did you know about a company working on that kind of tech?"
Trace Chain Log Code.
It was a security-focused source code that was a higher-rank compatible version than blockchain, based on distributed computing technology for data tampering prevention.
"That's thanks to my information network. So, what do you think?"
Go Mi-ah's brow furrowed deeply as she pondered the question.
"That investnt portfolio was put together by that Norman or whatever guy, right?"
"That's right."
"Just looking at it as is, comrcialization will take a long ti. I can't say much about the comrcial aspects, but on the technical side, I expect there are lots of security loopholes or unnecessary parts in the source code. It'll be quite burdenso and heavy because of that."
In-hyuk nodded at her rather in-depth reply.
"What if you added your skills to the developnt?"
"? It's a pretty interesting technology, but... would they really let ? From what's been released so far, it looks more than 80% completed."
She wasn't wrong.
But In-hyuk had a reason for bringing up TCL Code with Go Mi-ah.
"What if we apply your code for source lightweighting to it?"
At that mont, Go Mi-ah blanked out for a second before speaking.
"I made sothing like that... Ah, right, I did. But how do you know about it? At least two years ago I made it just for fun."
"That's thanks to my info network, too. Anyway, what do you think about trying to apply it?"
Go Mi-ah's brow twitched at In-hyuk's follow-up question.
"Hmm... It's not a bad idea, but is there really a need? Feels like a big headache for ."
Currently, Go Mi-ah was perfectly content with the assets In-hyuk brought her just by doing a little work.
"How about this, then?"
He reached into his wallet on the small office shelf next to his hospital bed and pulled out a ticket.
Go Mi-ah's eyes widened as soon as she saw what it was.
"You, that's...!"
"DDS fall concert, royal A seat, center stage. You were really down about failing the ticketing this ti, right?"
"So how on earth do you have that?!"
"One of my major clients gave it to as a reward for their recent performance. Would this be enough to get a proper answer to my earlier question?"
Go Mi-ah looked genuinely torn, but her gaze remained glued to the concert ticket in In-hyuk's hand.
"Ummm! With my source code on TCL Code, comrcializing would definitely be possible!"
"How about working directly with TN SOFT on it?"
"Eeh~ One concert ticket isn't enough for that!"
In response, In-hyuk playfully waved the ticket.
"But to you, this isn't just any ticket, is it?"
"You're not playing so trick and giving a fake, right? At least let see it!"
Go Mi-ah moved in to grab the ticket from In-hyuk, suspicious.
But with almost 30 cm of height difference between them, all she could do was hop in place, and her hands could only reach as far as his elbows.
"Ah co on! Just hand it over!"
Creak—
At that mont, the hospital room door opened and Tae Ju-ha entered with her secretary, Heo Yu-rim.
They saw In-hyuk and Go Mi-ah standing close and had the sa reaction as before.
"No way... again...?"
In-hyuk looked at Tae Ju-ha and Heo Yu-rim, who had just entered and found Go Mi-ah right in front of him.
"Ah, this isn't what it looks like."
"And what is it supposed to be?"
"No, I an, there's a reason..."
"What kind of reason?"
Tae Ju-ha already looked convinced that whatever In-hyuk said wouldn't matter.
*Haaa*
"I said last ti, didn't I? This is a business relationship, and she ca to visit for that."
He felt this should have been enough explanation, but their expressions remained ambiguous.
With a deep sigh, In-hyuk passed the ticket to Go Mi-ah.
"Wow, this is real! I can actually keep it, right?!"
"For now, just head back and think positively about what I said."
"Got it! See you next ti, oppa."
With that, Go Mi-ah took her parting shot and left the room, only nodding politely to the other two as she exited.
Left behind, In-hyuk, whose head was starting to ache, turned his attention to Tae Ju-ha once more.
"There really isn't anything strange going on between us."
"... Did I say anything?"
"Your face says it all. Especially you, secretary Heo."
Heo Yu-rim, standing beside Tae Ju-ha, wore an expression full of disgust.
"Ahem! I'll just step outside."
Stung by In-hyuk's comnt, Heo Yu-rim quickly left.
Only then did Tae Ju-ha slowly look In-hyuk up and down as he sat on the bed.
"Luckily, you weren't seriously hurt."
"I already told you that."
"Is this related to that accident that we were involved in last ti?"
She was referring to the incident at Kang Cheon-gyu's mansion, where they almost died from soone tampering with the car systems.
As the accident had been so sudden, Tae Ju-ha couldn't help but suspect.
"It was just a car malfunction that led to a traffic accident."
But In-hyuk had no intention of explaining the full story.
After all, even if she knew, it would only invite unnecessary interference.
"Malfunction?"
"The cause hasn't been fully determined yet. For now, just an issue with my car's brakes is all I've been told."
In the accident, In-hyuk was technically at fault.
The brake applied by the car ahead was partially to bla, but there were complicated reasons he wouldn't bring up.
"A perfectly good car suddenly malfunctions?"
"That's what they say. In any case, the other party agreed to settle for compensation. Thankfully, their injuries weren't serious, so we drew up a mutual agreent imdiately."
Daemyung also didn't want the incident to escalate, so things were settled quietly, as In-hyuk expected.
Tae Ju-ha's face filled with suspicion.
"You're sure... it was just a coincidence?"
"If it wasn't, there's no way things would have ended so quietly."
As In-hyuk spoke, Tae Ju-ha thought back to the scene where Pyo Jun-woo was apprehended in the hospital.
She still couldn't fathom why she and In-hyuk had almost been killed so absurdly.
"... If it wasn't, that's a relief."
"So... were you worried about ? Is that why you ca?"
At that, Tae Ju-ha's face flushed slightly.
"Worried? There's no way! It's just that as a company, we can't afford for Director Kang In-hyuk to co to any harm! I just dropped by to check."
"If you say so, then I'll take your word for it."
"By the way... Is that girl from earlier really just a business acquaintance?"
"She is."
"Business partners who make lunch boxes for each other—is that a thing?"
In-hyuk's gaze followed hers to the lunch box on top of the locker.
"Ah... That's not a lunch box. It's a dangerous object."
"... What?"
Calling a very obvious lunch box sothing so suspicious, Tae Ju-ha tilted her head.
In-hyuk added,
"It's almost like a poison or sothing."
* * *
Several days later.
After completing a thorough physical at the hospital and being discharged safely, In-hyuk visited Go Mi-ah's officetel.
Of course, he tid his visit to avoid al hours, aiming for the slot between lunch and dinner.
"The code's been cracked?"
They were talking about a two-person cipher found on a phone previously recovered.
"It turned out to be Japanese. But there was a word I couldn't figure out."
"What was it?"
"Koou (紅雨). The keyword was to enter it as it sounds, in English letters."
【KOOU】
Go Mi-ah typed in the keyword as she answered, and the smartphone displayed decrypted content on screen.
"If it ans 'hongu(紅雨),' it's 'crimson rain'."
"Right. But the actual contents are even stranger. By the way, who did you get these phones from?"
Go Mi-ah herself didn't know the owners, so she looked puzzled as In-hyuk had only asked her to do the forensics and decode them.
"Did you check the contents?"
"I did. It's packed with what looks like surveillance on soone."
In-hyuk squeezed next to her and sat down.
【△△:△△ — KDC, secret talk with GF BTW. Intervened in bidding for construction work...】
【△△:△△ — LSK, assaulted a woman at Club Cyclops. Asked Gangnam police chief for a favor...】
【△△:△△ — IGR, secret eting with CHN WD. Gave unlisted WDFA stock as bribe...】
.
.
Just as Go Mi-ah said earlier, the contents were detailed records of soone's every move, all sent out.
"It really is surveillance."
And In-hyuk could already guess, based on the initials, who these people referred to.
'Chairman Go Dong-chan of Manseong Construction and Executive Director Bang Tae-won of GF Trading... and the case where Lee Seon-gu, heir of RE Capital, had his aggravated rape quietly covered up.'
These were incidents that had happened both in his previous life and in this past.
He could also infer which companies the other two n, handled together with Pyo Jun-woo and Kim Seong-tae at the warehouse on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, belonged to.
'So the others were from Manseong Construction and GF Trading. And the use of Japanese... Is this all the work of a secret Japanese-based organization?'
anwhile, Go Mi-ah voiced her suspicion.
"Are these phones... used by soone like a National Intelligence Service agent?"
"Well, close enough."
Go Mi-ah had no idea what had happened to the phones' original owners.
She'd just helped In-hyuk with forensics and code cracking.
"What kind of people are you dealing with? Are you even safe?"
"Just keep doing what you're doing. And hand over the program to . The newly decrypted data, too. I'll pay a separate fee. If you want more AMK Partners shares, I can pay that way."
He couldn't know what would co up as he kept gathering intelligence on these people.
"Is that really necessary?"
"It could get dangerous."
Go Mi-ah made a sour expression at In-hyuk's words.
"I don't need fees or shares, just use it."
"Why?"
"Think of it as payback for saving when I nearly got caught by the National Intelligence Service."
"That works for . Oh, and did you get anywhere with that symbol I asked about?"
He also asked her to check the small tattoo found between the knuckles of their fingers along with the phones.
"No, there's been nothing."
"Not even anything vaguely similar?"
"Only tons of cross-like ones."
Since the symbol wasn't that unique, it was hard to distinguish.
In-hyuk hadn't expected much.
"It can't be helped. You can quit looking into it."
"Alright. But you're doing fine health-wise, right?"
"I'm fine."
During the comprehensive check-up, he'd asked them to run the most precise tests for the pancreatic cancer that had afflicted him in his previous life.
Fortunately, nothing at all was detected, so he could relax for the ti being.
"You really need to stop getting into trouble. It'd be a disaster if my moneymaker gets hurt."
"You think I can just wish that away?"
"You're the Taeshin Group's son-in-law! And you got promoted to division director, right? So you can use a good car and even get a driver now. Ask for so bodyguards, too."
Go Mi-ah still believed the two accidents In-hyuk had experienced were just pure coincidence.
"I'll take care of it, just focus on the tasks I asked. By the way, the paynt's going smoothly to the new paper company, right?"
He ant the paper company set up to pay Hong Yu-geon and Van Hester.
Of course, he also prepared accounts under borrowed nas for security.
"You an the company called Charybdis? No problem, I'm sending the funds as 'investnt capital'. We've inflated the company's own operating funds so there's nothing suspicious in the laundering process. But what's it for?"
"A kind of private detective agency under my command."
"You use things like that, too? With AMK Partners' Korea branch and all... Just how much are you involved in?"
"They're all necessary. Anyway, I have other business, so I'll get going."
"Already? Oh! By the way, how was the lunch box I gave you last ti...?"
Before she could finish, In-hyuk hurriedly slipped out of the officetel.
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