Chapter 94
The Existence of Another Faction or Force
The night was growing late.
Baek Ye-ju, the eldest daughter of the W&W Group, was slightly tipsy.
She arrived at her home, located deep inside Pyeongchang neighborhood, riding in a car driven by a knight.
As she entered, her father, Baek Ji-woong, who was seated in the living room, greeted her.
"You only got back to Korea yesterday, so why are you running around so busily?"
Baek Ye-ju ignored his words and was about to go upstairs, but then she stopped in her tracks.
"Dad."
"What?"
"Do you know Kang In-hyuk?"
Baek Ji-woong paused and set down the newspaper he had been flipping through.
"Why are you asking about Kang In-hyuk?"
"I'm asking if you know him."
"Is there anyone in this field who wouldn't know him these days?"
Baek Ye-ju's brow twisted with frustration.
"I'm asking if you know him *personally*!"
"We aren't particularly close. We've exchanged greetings, but that's all. More importantly, why are you asking about Kang In-hyuk?"
"I just met him at the Seoran Gallery."
This time, Baek Ji-woong's face contorted.
"Were you the one who took that invitation? Why did you go there?"
"I heard bits and pieces about Taeshin Group even in LA, and when I saw the invitation yesterday I decided to check it out. But when I went to greet Tae Ju-ha, her husband started saying that I was being rude, or whatever."
Baek Ji-woong looked at her with an even heavier atmosphere.
"What kind of trouble did you cause there?"
"What trouble? They were the ones who caused trouble, not me."
"Haa..."
With a sigh, Baek Ji-woong pulled out his phone and called Do Jung-geol, who was waiting in the annex.
The door opened and he entered, quietly coming to stand at the front.
"To now on, assign a secretary and a security guard to Ye-ju as well."
"Dad—!"
Baek Ji-woong ignored her protests and continued.
"Make it a woman. Considering shifts, at least four people. We don't want to create troublesome situations unnecessarily."
"Understood. I'll look into it right away."
"Are you really doing this?!"
"If you hadn't wandered around however you pleased like today, I wouldn't have to. And since you're back in Korea, you should be more careful."
Baek Ji-woong was curious about what had happened between Kang In-hyuk and his daughter.
However, he doubted whether Baek Ye-ju would tell him the truth even if he asked.
He thought it'd be more accurate to hear about the situation from someone who had witnessed the events among the attendees at the Seoran Gallery's charity auction.
Both Baek Ye-ju and the second daughter, Baek Hae-na, were difficult to control.
"Why do I have to live while watching everyone else's reactions?"
"If you didn't want to deal with people's attention, you shouldn't have caused someone a ruptured ligament in LA just because you hated the scent of the perfume on some woman passing by in a club!"
This was why Baek Ye-ju had returned to Korea.
Of course, she hadn't directly done it herself. The security guard she'd hired abroad had acted on her behalf.
But the problem was what happened after. The victim's father turned out to be a famous real estate developer in LA.
Fortunately, he was someone who understood business, so the matter was settled through a negotiation.
However, the local media picked up on it, so they had no choice but to call Baek Ye-ju back.
"I just didn't like the scent and told her to change it, but she answered me rudely. I just told them to scare her...!"
"Haa... Anyway, keep a low profile here. Don't cause unnecessary trouble at the company, either."
"More importantly, what about Kang Do-young?"
Suddenly changing the subject made Baek Ji-woong frown.
"What about him?"
"He's Hae-na's fiancé. Judging by the circumstances, hasn't the chairman completely ousted him?"
Baek Ye-ju had no idea about the things Baek Ji-woong was plotting.
"Still, he's the successor of KQ Group. Appearances need to be kept, so there won't be any talk. They'll probably call him back when the time is right."
"Do you really think so? I hear things over there are a mess these days."
"If you have time to worry about that, why don't you focus on our company's affairs first? You have plenty you need to check since you'll be starting as the division director at Holdings next week."
Since today was Friday, it would be right after the weekend.
"I'll handle it, so stop interfering too much. By the way, what about Mom? She didn't come home yesterday either."
"She's just been busy lately."
"At the entertainment company?"
"Just go upstairs already."
Baek Ye-ju grumbled as she walked up to the second floor.
Meanwhile, Baek Ji-woong opened his newspaper again and thought of his wife, Kwon So-jeong.
In truth, she was busy due to the recent incident with Hwain Techon.
The original plan was to quietly and swiftly wrap things up there.
However, a sudden investigation from the prosecutors and the tax authorities had begun, turning things noisy.
Although the media was being managed as best as possible, there were limits.
In fact, trying too hard to suppress the press could draw even more unwanted attention, so they had to let go at an appropriate line.
'Of all the places, AMK Partners were the ones who reported Hwain Techon to the prosecution...'
Hwain Techon had intended to seek another loan from the headquarters of AMK Bridge.
Since a giant investment firm with a registered Korean branch was the whistleblower, the prosecution could not just sit still.
Of course, AMK Partners had faced their own challenges because of public criticism over rejecting Hwain Techon's loan, spurred by the scandal.
Still, it was unexpected that through the loan process, they'd be able to uncover the shell company behind it all.
As the tables turned, Kwon So-jeong was now completely focused on taking care of the shell company side of things.
"Director Do."
He called out to Do Jung-geol, who was still standing and had not returned to the annex.
"Yes, sir?"
"Hae-na will be coming back soon, so prepare a security guard for her as well."
"I'll prepare accordingly."
Baek Hae-na was currently at the Hong Kong branch of WISE&WIRE Holdings.
The reason for her return was to push up her wedding date before Kang Do-young hit rock bottom.
* * *
A few days later.
In-hyuk was at the office when Baek Si-hwan handed him an envelope.
"What's this?"
"It's the material you requested last time about Hwain Techon."
It had been about four days since the request.
"Already? That's faster than expected."
"We managed to find one of Hwain Techon's shell companies. We traced a corporate entity operating shipping vessels between Portugal and Korea, and fortunately, I had some contacts there so we found it easily."
As he said, inside the envelope were documents regarding a company called Notex, incorporated near the port of Porto in Portugal.
"So this is where Hwain Techon funneled its funds."
"As you'll see, most of the capital flow occurring in the shipping process appears to be false entries."
"So you're saying money was siphoned off there. That would make Notex, at minimum, a front for Hwain Techon."
"That's correct."
While flipping through the documents, In-hyuk observed Baek Si-hwan's reactions.
Hwain Techon had W&W Group as its backer.
And yet, Baek Si-hwan, who was closely connected to Baek Ji-woong, the chairman of W&W Group, had brought him materials tracking Hwain Techon's embezzled funds.
That meant there were two possibilities...
'Either these are just flashy fakes, or... there really is another faction within W&W Group related to Hwain Techon.'
There had been things that had seemed suspicious for a while.
One was the encrypted message on Kooou's agent's phone.
It contained incidents of certain businesspeople, politicians, and high-ranking officials being "handled" in various ways.
At the same time, the message could be used to infer exactly where and how someone profited from those incidents.
But in those contents, there were also deaths that had nothing to do with W&W Group.
The situation was more complicated than expected.
'This means that, in Kooou, there must be at least one more faction in addition to Chairman Baek Ji-woong.'
That's why he decided not to act hastily, and instead kept Baek Si-hwan nearby to observe.
"... Division director?"
Baek Si-hwan's cautious voice called out.
"I've reviewed it. To what I've heard, Hwain Techon's patents or exclusive technologies were already pledged as collateral before the story broke, so it would be difficult to secure them now. And if the funds have already been moved overseas through a shell company, there's no way to revive it."
"That seems to be the case."
"Thank you for the documents. Thanks to you, I was able to make a decision quickly."
"It's my duty. Please let me know if you need me for anything else."
"I'll let you know."
Baek Si-hwan bowed his head and left.
Watching him go, In-hyuk set the envelope on his desk. In fact, the documents he had just seen might as well be a trap.
If he were to use them, it could be a trail for W&W Group to trace him back.
"They really aren't easy to deal with... Still, thanks to their moves, I was able to secure a bit more stake in Taeshin Trading and Taeshin Electronics."
Muttering to himself, In-hyuk accessed Ghost Link on his phone.
【Dorian: Taeshin Trading 3,977,200 shares. Taeshin Electronics 127,500,000 shares. Secured.】
【Kael: KR_T Trading 5,590,800 shares. KR_T Electronics 104,500,000 shares. Secured.】
It was a report on the shares bought up during the rapid plunge in Taeshin Trading's stock price not long ago.
Of course, the shares had not been purchased in In-hyuk's own name.
"If I combine these with the shares I'd amassed earlier, even if Tae Seok-ho starts causing trouble, I'll be able to manage it."
'Dorian' indicated Dorian Dusk, CEO of Lumen Holdings in the UK. 'Kael' referred to Kael Morburn, CEO of Orbis Investment in the UAE.
Including AMK Partners, that meant he was steering four companies from behind the scenes.
It hadn't been easy.
Initially, after succeeding in getting investment from AMK Partners, he pooled the capital and, via Ghost Link, connected with the other three foreign company CEOs, feeding them failproof investment information.
To then on, to those companies, In-hyuk's information was more valuable than anything—and more addictive than any drug.
It didn't take long for him to gain control over those companies via information.
Deep in thought, In-hyuk sent out a message through Ghost Link.
【To. Delta Scourge】
【14M/12D/–1.04624, –6.04438】
* * *
Chairman's office at W&W Group headquarters.
A middle-aged woman strode in without being stopped.
Bang—
As the door opened, Baek Ji-woong's eyes widened a little when he saw her.
After confirming that the door had closed behind her, he asked cautiously,
"Didn't you say you wouldn't be back from the Hwain business until next week?"
She was Baek Ji-woong's wife and the true owner of WISE&WIRE Group, Kwon So-jeong.
"I finished up the urgent matters in Korea given the situation here."
"... I see."
Baek Ji-woong responded routinely and shifted his gaze back to the documents he'd been reviewing.
As Kwon So-jeong sat on the sofa, she asked,
"Aren't you curious how it all got sorted out?"
"You mean Hwain?"
Without taking his eyes off the documents, he replied with a question.
"I mean how much loss there was after everything went off track."
"Why should I care about money that isn't even mine?"
"Is that why you're doing nothing even though things are like this?"
As if picking a fight, Kwon So-jeong's tone made Baek Ji-woong finally look at her.
"Hwain was your responsibility from the beginning to the end. The media, the bankruptcy procedure, the shell company clean-up... I believe those were all your domains, not mine."
Kwon So-jeong's expression turned even colder than before.
"Doesn't it all depend on the circumstances?"
Baek Ji-woong let out a shallow sigh.
"Seems like it's too late for me to help now."
"That's right. Everything's almost done. I just need to launder the funds and hand them over."
"The pre-estimated sum will take a while, then."
"About two months..."
Knock, knock—
As their conversation continued indifferently, a knock sounded.
"Come in."
As the door opened, a woman entered—bobbed black hair, a black sprite pantsuit.
It was Kwon So-jeong's secretary, Na Eun-seo.
"What is it?"
"Well..."
As the secretary explained, new lines of worry etched themselves into Kwon So-jeong's frosty face.