Former Mastermind To Chaebol Son-in-Law Chapter 35

This Guy Was That Guy

After work, In-hyuk visited the studio at Go Mi-ah's summons.

"Why do you look so tired? Did you stay up all night?"

The dark circles beneath her eyes were deep enough to notice, even as she sat in front of her computer.

Ever since Norman McGrath handled things by separating into the Korean branch of AMK Partners, things should have beco easier for her, so the situation was odd.

"It's because of the work to lighten up the TCL Code for TN SOFT!"

"Ah!"

"What? Ah—? You made do such a damned annoying and complicated task, and you completely forgot about it?!"

"I thought you would use what you'd made before."

"That was unfinished code, wasn't it? Ugh∼!"

Go Mi-ah, as if her irritation was rising, scratched at her long red hair roughly.

Seeing sothing white flake down around her, In-hyuk stepped back a little and spoke.

"... By the way, you said there's evidence that soone was looking up AMK Partners online. Did you find that through Under Investing?"

"You know about it? Well, for soone who knows that much about stocks, it'd be stranger if you didn't know."

It was a stock information site a level above rumor mills, operated on high mbership fees and a subscription-based model.

While not quite insider trading, company insiders sold nearly factual information there for a high price.

Of course, In-hyuk also frequented the site in his previous life.

A few years later, the operator would be arrested and the site shut down after a prosecutorial investigation into insider trading.

"Did you find out where it originated from?"

All transactions on Under Investing were conducted anonymously.

To track soone's identity from there required Go Mi-ah's abilities.

"I just finished it. The location is Taeshin Asset Managent, and the last extension on the IP trace is... 4885?"

"That's Managing Director Yang Chan-woo's number. So, did you discover what information they got?"

"As you know, the only transaction where AMK Partners really stood out was Raisen Energy. Besides that, most were traded for short-term gains, so unless you do a targeted investigation, nothing will stand out."

"So at least this ti, we'll know the recent profits they've made."

"Probably, yes."

In-hyuk fell into thought.

AMK Partners was a ans to find and topple Baek Si-hwan's backer.

Even now, he was steadily growing the funds with his experience and future knowledge.

But he still couldn't gauge the opponent's scale.

After all, if they've planted people in nurous corporate security teams and can ddle with police investigations, that's not a trivial opponent.

'I've purposely kept as low a profile as possible... but for none other than Managing Director Yang Chan-woo to catch on, that's odd.'

At present, Yang Chan-woo was struggling to expand his influence within Taeshin Asset Managent by fronting Oh Kang-goo, the leader of the executive faction.

Of course, they claid to be moving quietly in their own way, but In-hyuk knew very well how the company would end up later.

'Originally, after Tae Ju-ha's death, Executive Vice President Oh Kang-goo beca CEO, and Tae Seok-ho used him to take over Taeshin Asset Managent and shell companies to get shares of Trading as well.'

That proposal Tae Seok-ho had tossed to In-hyuk previously was part of the plan to swallow up Taeshin Group.

After finishing his thoughts, In-hyuk looked at Go Mi-ah.

"More or less, I get what's happening."

"Do you have any guesses as to what?"

"There are signs of a war breaking out inside Taeshin Group. It's the timing I was waiting for, too."

"You were waiting for it? And by war, do you an a succession war is about to break out?"

"It should have started a long ti ago."

Thanks to Chairman Tae Gun-seung's lengthy reign, the dissatisfaction of brothers Tae Seok-hyun and Tae Seok-ho had already reached its peak.

"Don't tell , we were gathering up shares for that? Do you intend to join the Taeshin Group's managent rights dispute?"

"I'm still considering. Whether I'll seize the top seat myself after the vacancy, or... put soone else there."

"Is that possible? We did manage to gather quite a bit... but it's still just over 3.5%."

Based on Trading's current share price, that amounted to about 680 billion won in shares.

While In-hyuk had gathered it each ti the price dropped based on his mory, considerable capital had gone in.

"I'll take care of that, so don't worry about it. More importantly... it's about ti they arrived."

When In-hyuk looked at his watch, Go Mi-ah tilted her head in confusion.

"Huh? Arrived? Who's coming here?"

Dding-ding-ding-ding

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

Heading for the entrance, In-hyuk checked the intercom, saw who it was, and opened the door.

"Hey~ Boss!"

Charybdis's Hong Yu-geon and Van Hester were standing there.

"Co in."

They glanced around at Go Mi-ah, who was sitting in the computer chair behind In-hyuk.

"... Who's that?"

"She's a programr I work with. Her na's Go Mi-ah. She's twenty-four. These two are Hong Yu-geon and Van Hester. They're forr rcenaries who handle information gathering for from the outside."

Hearing the introduction, the two were startled, and Hong Yu-geon exclaid urgently.

"This little squirt is twenty-four?! She's not a middle school student?"

It was because her face looked so young.

At that, Go Mi-ah scrunched up her face and shouted.

"What?! Little squirt? Are you crazy, old man?!"

"Old man? Who are you calling old man!"

Hong Yu-geon beca inflad and tried to approach her, but In-hyuk blocked his way.

"Whoa, whoa. She only looks young, she really is an adult. These guys just look older because they've had a tough life. Anyway! I called everyone today so we could all get acquainted. I think there's going to be a lot of collaboration from now on."

"So how do these old guys gather information?"

"Tail jobs, wiretaps, things like that."

"Oh, a private detective?"

Hong Yu-geon's brow twitched.

On the other hand, since the conversation was all in Korean, Van Hester just stood quietly with a blank expression.

In the midst of this, In-hyuk let out a brief sigh.

"You're all making money and getting paid thanks to , right? So don't pick fights for no reason."

"Che."

"Tch..."

Once they quieted down, In-hyuk continued.

"There's going to be a lot we'll need to share going forward. Security will be even more important. So you two, just send your findings to Mi-ah here."

"Well, that's not hard."

"Mi-ah, set up a program on their devices."

"Ok—! Hands up your phones, old n."

While handing over their phones, Hong Yu-geon seed to rember sothing and spoke up.

"There's a file I haven't passed on yet."

"What file?"

"Photos from tailing Baek Si-hwan. I forgot because of stuff on the Daemyung side. It's only a few days, but look if you have to."

On In-hyuk's orders, they had followed Baek Si-hwan after the Andong incident.

"Was there anything noteworthy?"

"How would I know? Oh, he did go to a hospital."

"Hospital? Go Mi-ah. Can you pull up those photos?"

With the sound of keystrokes, the computer screen changed.

Just as Hong Yu-geon said, there was a photo showing Baek Si-hwan entering a hospital.

"... Shinhyeon Hospital? Did you check what he did inside?"

"Of course. If you go forward, there should be a video. It was hard to take pictures in the hospital."

As he said, when the video appeared, Go Mi-ah played it right away.

It showed Baek Si-hwan entering an exam room.

"Can you find the dical records for this ti slot?"

"Hold on."

With that reply, Go Mi-ah's fingers moved quickly.

The screen rapidly changed as she bypassed Shinhyeon Hospital's security system and found what In-hyuk had requested.

"I have no idea what it ans... but is this it?"

It was a dical chart.

In-hyuk approached the monitor to check the details.

"Sutured stab wound about 3cm long..."

"So this is treatnt for a knife wound."

Hong Yu-geon and Van Hester were able to understand the contents.

In-hyuk's gaze stayed glued to the monitor.

'This guy was that guy.'

The wound and its location exactly matched one In-hyuk had inflicted on the uninvited guest when he dealt with Pyo Jun-woo's gang on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

Considering the connection between the organization Pyo Jun-woo belonged to and Baek Si-hwan, the chances they were the sa person were high.

At the sa ti, a smile spread across In-hyuk's face.

"Thanks to you, I figured out sothing important."

"I'm glad if it helped you, boss."

At that mont, Go Mi-ah noticed sothing else and spoke up.

"He also went into a place called Pasiz Hotel?"

"Oh, the security there was tight even from the lobby, so I couldn't follow."

With Hong Yu-geon's explanation, Go Mi-ah fluidly accessed the hotel server and searched for footage corresponding to the fild date and ti.

"Can you see what he did inside?"

When In-hyuk asked as he checked the monitor, Go Mi-ah frowned.

"The security system here is weird. As soon as he gets in the elevator and presses a floor button, the CCTV cuts out. Sa with the server."

In-hyuk knew what that was about.

"Security floor. It's a separate suite room that's nearly impossible to access except for approved users."

"There's sothing like that in a hotel?"

"It's a top-level service, even among VIPs. Who uses it is kept top secret. Even if you dig through the server, there probably aren't any records."

The security floor at Pasiz Hotel would later be investigated for tax evasion and embezzlent, once it was revealed they'd been taking enormous fees via shell company accounts for over a decade.

"Geez... thorough to a pointless degree. So now what? We're curious what Baek Si-hwan did there, right?"

"I'm more interested in who he t than what he did. Still, thanks to you two, I can figure out the next step."

At that, Hong Yu-geon and Go Mi-ah tilted their heads in curiosity.

"Check through the other files, too."

"Hold on, once the programs are fully installed on the phones."

In-hyuk turned his head slightly and saw Van Hester picking up a chocolate-colored (?) cookie from the plate on the dining table and putting it in his mouth.

"Ah, don—!"

But before he could finish, Van Hester bit into the cookie.

Crunch—

The results were all too easy to predict.

Yet Van Hester chewed it up as if nothing was wrong and even gave a little interjection.

"Um∼ Sabe bien. (This tastes pretty good.)"

It was his native Spanish.

At the sa ti, In-hyuk couldn't help tilting his head in confusion.

"... Seriously?"

"What? I skipped dinner to co here, so I'm hungry! Why is he the only one eating?"

Hong Yu-geon grinned and popped a cookie in his mouth.

Not long after, his face wrinkled up and he tried to spit sothing out.

In-hyuk, anticipating this, clamped a hand over Hong Yu-geon's mouth.

"Mmmpf—! Mmmpf! Mmpf? Mmpf? (Let go?)"

In-hyuk wrapped an arm around his mouth and body to keep him from spitting out the cookie.

However much Hong Yu-geon struggled, In-hyuk's arm didn't budge in the slightest.

With the cookie still unchewed in his mouth, Hong Yu-geon had no choice but to swallow it.

Gulp—

Once he saw the Adam's apple bob, In-hyuk quietly whispered to him,

"Don't you dare say it tastes bad. If you understand, nod."

Once Hong Yu-geon slowly nodded, In-hyuk finally let him go.

Go Mi-ah, focused on her computer, was entirely oblivious to what had just happened.

"Ugh! What the hell is this?"

"Shh! Mi-ah made it herself. If you say what you're thinking now, she might chase you to the ends of the earth."

"Seriously! What did she put in this?"

"I tried to stop you... But hey, why is Van fine?"

But Van Hester, perhaps enjoying the taste, was already reaching for his third cookie.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Poor Hong Yu-geon...

But at least Mi-ah now has soone with similar taste...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】