Like an Old Man
Seunghwa's Set nu in Donui Neighborhood, Jongno District.
Tae Seok-ho was sitting at a silver-plated table, pouring himself soju and drinking.
Not long after, there was a knock and the door opened.
Jeon Joon-seok, the executive vice president of Taeshin Life, entered, bowing at the waist.
"It's been a while...."
"Forget the greetings. Just sit down and have a drink."
With his lips drawn in, Jeon Joon-seok nervously approached and sat down on the opposite side of the table.
The two n's glasses were filled, and they imdiately downed their drinks.
Soon, Tae Seok-ho stared at Jeon Joon-seok with a cold expression.
"You said things got overturned?"
"I'm sorry. I should have been more attentive...."
"No need for useless words. Is it true you got done in by Kang In-hyuk?"
Jeon Joon-seok bit his lip hard for a mont, then continued slowly.
"... According to Executive Vice President Oh, yes."
"What thod did he use?"
"Blackmail. When I questioned a few people, they said he put pressure on them using embezzlent and illegal activities from previous projects."
"So, they got caught by their weaknesses. But how did Kang In-hyuk find out about that? Wasn't he keeping a low profile at Taeshin Asset Managent?"
"That's what I'm curious about. Actually, it's not even certain that the one who did the blackmailing was Division Director Kang In-hyuk. Everyone received emails containing evidence of their unlawful acts and a warning to stay quiet. But circumstantially, the person who gained the most was Division Director Kang In-hyuk, so that's what people think."
At that, Tae Seok-ho let out a deep breath.
"As I thought... Are you saying there's soone behind Kang In-hyuk?"
It was one of the theories he'd considered for a while.
Between being suddenly rejected and seeing Kang In-hyuk—who hadn't made much noise in Taeshin Trading's sales departnt—pull huge funds and succeed with every investnt, everything had started feeling unfamiliar.
"Do you an there's soone else pulling the strings?"
"It's only speculation for now. So how does Taeshin Asset Managent plan to handle this? If things stay this way, isn't it going to be difficult to intervene with the Chulsan Capital bid?"
The necessary funds and coordination with Oga Finance were already in place.
But Tae Seok-ho didn't feel reassured.
There were already so many variables in the preparation stage that he was determined to be thorough.
"There's no guarantee sothing like this won't happen again, so for now it seems difficult."
The atmosphere grew heavier.
anwhile, Tae Seok-ho filled his glass again and downed the soju like he was throwing it into his throat.
"Ugh—! Aren't you saying you're useless to a little too casually?"
At the sa ti, Jeon Joon-seok stood up abruptly and bowed once again.
"S-sorry!"
A mont of silence passed. Watching this, Tae Seok-ho again raised his refilled glass.
"It would have been better if I'd just gotten rid of the excuse for my nephew to return in the first place... Still, you seed to have influence within Taeshin Asset Managent, so I promoted you to Taeshin Life. And now this? What am I supposed to make of this situation?"
"Well, that's..."
"I don't want to hear any more, so just go back now. Oh, and lay low for a while. Don't draw attention."
Jeon Joon-seok quickly got up, bowed deeply, and left.
Tae Seok-ho, left alone at the table, mumbled as he drank.
"What should I do about it, Deputy Chief Lee?"
The question was directed at his security guard, Lee Jae-jun, who was standing by the entrance.
"If it's about the Chulsan Capital bid, there's no need to worry, is there?"
"You an because we've already made so moves in the financial sector?"
"I hear things are going according to plan."
Tae Seok-ho nodded slowly.
He knew that recently Silver Bell Capital and AMK Partners had been looking into loans from the financial sector.
Of course, through his connections and strength, Tae Seok-ho had ensured that the loan process would take longer.
"That's true. Still... sothing feels off. Things are going so smoothly, it's almost ominous. And it was odd how one of Chulsan Capital's CEOs suddenly disappeared."
He'd found out that the real owner of Chulsan Capital was Jang Hyung-cheol.
With the help of Baek Ji-woong, chairman of W&W Group, he'd managed to influence the prosecution, and if H&T Fund, thanks to Han Jae-won's sches, had just swallowed up Chulsan Capital, that would have been the end of it.
But every part of the plan had gotten tangled up, leading to the current situation.
"Let know if there's anything else you need and I'll send people to investigate."
"Has Jang Hyung-cheol made any recent moves?"
"Other than eting Director Kang In-hyuk about the Chulsan Capital bid at a restaurant called Hanul a few days ago, nothing noteworthy."
He'd had people keep tabs on Jang Hyung-cheol regarding the Chulsan Capital bid.
"I guess they've gotten closer since Taeshin Asset Managent is handling the funds well."
"So, the bid could have happened within their own company. They probably let it go on purpose."
"Assign so more people to AMK and Silver Bell's field operatives. Report at once if you see any other movent."
"Understood."
Having finished their conversation, Tae Seok-ho left the restaurant with Lee Jae-jun.
* * *
In-hyuk was on a Ghost Link call in Go Mi-ah's workspace.
[As instructed, I made all the loan inquiries necessary with the financial sector. Everyone responded with a vague sense that it was possible, but told us to wait.]
The caller was Norman McGrath.
"Good work."
[Do you know who's behind this sort of move?]
Norman McGrath had a long career in the economic market and was very familiar with situations like this.
While following In-hyuk's orders, he'd also tried to look into who in the bidding companies had connections with the banks, but hadn't found any.
"It's probably Oga Finance."
[However... As I recall, they've already exhausted their facility and operating loans. Their capital adequacy ratio is also low. If you go by that alone, their conditions are worse than ours or Silver Bell's.]
"They probably have soplace else lined up to pull in capital, just like us."
[Do you... already know where that is?]
He asked, half in doubt, but it showed how highly Norman McGrath regarded In-hyuk's abilities as Gordon Gris.
"It's H&T Fund. Ah, leave that one to —don't try to approach them yourselves."
[Ah...]
For a mont, Norman McGrath's voice trembled over the receiver.
If In-hyuk hadn't said so first, he would have tried investigating himself for sure.
"I know you're in the habit of verifying things several tis. But I'm handling this plan well, so trust ."
[I'm not worried about that. But... I still haven't heard why you want to acquire Chulsan Capital. Can you tell now? Honestly, that company is only notable for its cash liquidity—its other assets are just bonds, real estate, and stocks... and AMK Partners doesn't plan to go into finance.]
In-hyuk let out a faint chuckle.
It was true.
Chulsan Capital's profits were based on loan interest.
AMK Partners was making several tis more money through investnts in a much shorter period, so acquiring it could easily seem pointless.
"Mr. Gold Eye, is your insight lacking today?"
He said it teasingly, and Norman McGrath coughed, raising his voice.
[Cough—! Why are you using that old na?]
Gold Eye was the nickna given to him in the Middle East before he joined FOURGMA—a na attached to both legal and illegal lobbying, not always with positive aning.
"Wasn't it proof of all the great deals you pulled off? Anyway, you won't lose out on this one either, so don't worry."
[... Very well. I'll trust only you, CEO.]
The call ended there.
anwhile, Go Mi-ah, who had been typing on the computer, looked at In-hyuk with an incredulous expression.
"I've thought this before... But why do you talk like that, president?"
"What's wrong with the way I talk?"
"You're too much like an old man. Are you doing it on purpose?"
Just as In-hyuk was about to tilt his head, he realized the reason easily.
'Is it because of all the years I lived before?'
Of course, he'd only been 45 when he died.
But after dealing with so many difficult people, a sense of age had seeped into his manner of speaking, even without realizing it.
"I didn't even know."
"Maybe it's just because you are an old man?"
"Well... maybe so. If it's true, it's true. Anyway, what are you working on?"
Even as she conversed, Go Mi-ah's fingers never stopped on the keyboard.
"That phone we analyzed before. I found more records of ssages sent in similar patterns. I cross-referenced those with cell tower and satellite comms logs nationwide and globally, then plotted them on the map using ti and trilateration."
In-hyuk stared at the monitor in surprise.
Thin red lines, like threads, crisscrossed the map of the world busily.
"How did you filter the signals? Was there a specific code to identify them? Or... was it a cipher?"
"That's right."
"But with dual patient code ciphers, accurate filtering would be hard."
In-hyuk had considered that approach too.
But with jumbled alphabet-only ssages, it was very hard to isolate the relevant encrypted ssages.
"I entered a huge number of filtering keywords. That's why I've been up for three days straight—I'm dead tired."
Go Mi-ah's heavy dark circles proved her point.
"Good work. But were there really that many signals?"
The red lines marked on the map looked like multiple layers of spiderwebs.
Especially among Asia, Europe, South Arica, and North Arica—it was as if the regions were deliberately divided.
"Much more than I expected."
At one point, program execution slowed, as if overloaded—proof of just how much data was being processed.
"I never thought my new computer would be this overloaded in less than a year."
"Buy a new one with as much money as you need. If it's necessary, buy an entire building for a supercomputer setup."
Go Mi-ah's head whipped around in shock.
"Really?!"
"You deserve to be treated according to your skills. Now, zoom in on the points concentrated in the US and Korea."
"Okay!"
The screen changed instantly to reflect the new request.
"How many years' worth is this?"
"It's not years! Depending on usage, custor data is kept 5–10 years, but communication logs never last that long. At best, 12 months; at minimum, 6 months. This is all from that period. Ah—and satellite transmissions are similar. Private satellite logs last as little as 3 months."
The implication was that during just one year, coded ssages had crisscrossed the world. In-hyuk couldn't help but be surprised.
"There are no new records, right?"
"Either the person making the cipher changed the code, or nothing is being caught by my filter."
Gazing at the screen, In-hyuk unconsciously clenched his fist.
Besides the cell phone he'd chanced upon, the only other things he'd discovered were the mysterious tattoo and the close connection between Baek Si-hwan and Baek Ji-woong, chairman of W&W Group.
And W&W Group itself was proving a formidable opponent.
Then, a particular area with concentrated signals in Korea caught his eye.
"Zoom in on the coordinates with the most concentrated signals."
"That's easy."
Go Mi-ah pressed a key, magnifying the map's scale.
Kwa-ji-jik—
At the sa ti, a loud sound rang out from the corner of the desk where In-hyuk had been leaning expectantly.
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