Chapter 111
We Were Outmaneuvered by a Bluff
WISE&WIRE Group Chairman's Office.
Baek Ji-woong's head throbbed from the recent events.
First, the disappearances of Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha. It had already been more than two weeks, and there was still no word from Im Deok-chang.
On top of that, funds had been seized when the Gulf of Guinea pirates, Delta Scourge, clashed with Oruch Al Pasha.
"How are they even handling things...?"
Just then, after a knock, his secretary, Do Jung-geol, entered.
"Chairman. It seems there's a problem with the situation in Russia."
At the same time, Baek Ji-woong's brow furrowed deeply.
"Russia? Don't tell me this has to do with Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha?"
"There was intelligence that Gordon Grimes appeared at Yakutsk Airport not long ago. The agents searching for Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha were deployed there."
Since it was quite an important situation, Baek Ji-woong accepted it with a nod.
"So? What happened?"
"Well, here's the problem. Gordon Grimes appeared at airports in Singapore and Dubai in sequence after that."
"Are you saying they went on a wild goose chase?"
"That's not it. There are no traces that he used the airports or ships."
Baek Ji-woong's expression grew grave.
"So it's just like in Hong Kong. How is this possible? Is it perhaps deepfake?"
He was referring to the technology that implements a virtual person in a video.
"I believe that's likely. Perhaps to confuse us after leaving traces in Hong Kong."
"If that's really the case, he's exceptionally meticulous. Hyottoko got caught by it."
"Also, since we had to deploy people searching for Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha to that lead, the Organization will probably have something to say as well."
His headache getting worse, Baek Ji-woong pressed his temples with his fingers.
"I'm already out of my mind from the Delta Scourge incident, and now there's this... It's enough to drive someone crazy."
"If Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha show up safely, Hyottoko's side might try to drag you into things as well."
"I'll make sure to draw a line there."
bzzz— bzzz—
At that moment, Do Jung-geol's phone started vibrating from his pocket.
"Excuse me for a moment."
The call didn't last long, but Do Jung-geol's expression became even more serious.
"Chairman. Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha have boarded a flight from Moscow to Korea."
"What?! Where did you get this information?"
"It's from the W&W Days desk. There have been reports to other media outlets as well that the two are returning."
Baek Ji-woong's face turned cold.
"They used their situation to set the stage. If all focus is on them, nobody can make a move. But how did they get from Vladivostok to Moscow?"
"Don't you think they used a car or a train?"
WID agents had been conducting surveillance at Vladivostok and nearby airports until just a few days earlier.
Of course, gaps could have opened there.
Had they broken through the airport, they would have come straight to Korea, but since they were arriving from Moscow, it was a different story.
"How much of the shares do the companies visited by Tae Ju-ha hold?"
"Taeshin Trading has 12%, Taeshin Electronics about 5.22%. However, there are no records so far of any official transfer on paper."
Baek Ji-woong found this odd.
"So, in the end, it wasn't a share succession?"
Even after time had passed, the share situation hadn't changed.
This meant that the companies visited by Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha had acted differently from what was expected.
"That's what it seems."
"We were outmaneuvered by a bluff. We moved too hastily."
Do Jung-geol, seemingly confused, titled his head.
"But wasn't that not their intention?"
"You're right. It was our own rash judgment and actions. That's what ended up exposing us."
He was referring to the incident of killing a National Intelligence Service agent in Hong Kong.
Of course, they had erased as many traces as possible, but the National Intelligence Service would surely have lingering doubts while tracking them.
A short silence followed. Then Do Jung-geol's phone vibrated again—this time with a message.
"... Chairman. News just arrived from the Hong Kong SGA."
A few days ago, he had personally gone to Hong Kong to ask SGA about Gordon Grimes's visit.
He had tracked down and connected with SGA executives and staffers dissatisfied with the current CEO, Raven Delaquora.
"Really? What do they say?"
"They're in the process of transferring Taeshin Group's shares held by SGA to AMK Partners."
With that answer, Baek Ji-woong looked even more serious.
"Did you hear the terms?"
"They say it's in exchange for SolarView shares. The deal hasn't closed yet, but if there are no issues with SolarView's due diligence, it'll proceed."
SolarView was a semiconductor company in Taiwan. It was also the spark that started whispers about investments by AMK Partners.
"... SolarView's share price did rise quite a bit, but it shouldn't be enough to trade for Taeshin's shares."
The gap in scale was enormous.
He couldn't grasp the rationale immediately.
But SGA, which had shown significant investment success until recently, wouldn't strike a deal with AMK Partners at a loss.
"Should I look into that side as well?"
"We have a mountain of things to do, and none of it's coming together..."
Do Jung-geol quietly waited for his instructions.
Baek Ji-woong, lost in thought, finally opened his mouth.
"We can't make any moves on SGA right now, so leave them be. Instead, try arranging a meeting with Norman McGrath. As for Kang In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha, there's no point interfering anymore, so let them be."
After all, Taeshin Group shares abroad had not gone directly to Tae Ju-ha, so now he needed to move on to other matters.
Just then, a new message arrived on Baek Ji-woong's phone.
bzzz— bzzz—
It contained no words, just an image made up of strange symbols and lines.
【─┼◎┼─】
After checking the message, Baek Ji-woong's expression went cold.
"Have they finally decided to make a move at the top?"
Do Jung-geol, watching his reaction, cautiously asked,
"Has... something happened?"
"The Council has called a gathering."
A meeting for the organization's executives.
The last time had been four years ago, when the head of the Organization changed. Since then, there had only been top-down directions.
"I suppose it's to draw up countermeasures."
To this, Baek Ji-woong let out a snort.
That might be what anyone would think. But his own thoughts were different.
"Is it that they've only now realized how serious this is, or are they finally ready to cut off anything unnecessary after watching until now? We'll have to see."
Baek Ji-woong let out a meaningful sigh.
* * *
In-hyuk and Tae Ju-ha were en route to Incheon International Airport, having transferred at Shanghai Pudong after departing Moscow.
The whole trip, including layovers, took 18 hours.
The journey from Vladivostok to Moscow had already been grueling, so Tae Ju-ha was practically half-passed-out any time she sat down.
"Ungh..."
About an hour after leaving Shanghai, Tae Ju-ha stretched and sat up, seeing In-hyuk doing something on his tablet he'd purchased in Moscow.
"... Aren't you tired?"
She asked because, despite all the travels, she'd barely seen In-hyuk sleep.
"I'm fine."
At that monotonous answer, Tae Ju-ha stared at him for a moment, then cautiously asked,
"Are you really never going to tell me where you went for three days, leaving me alone in Moscow?"
As she said, In-hyuk had vanished for three days.
His destination was Naya, Mongolia—a place reachable in about seven hours by plane from Moscow.
But the reason he went was because of the camp in Naya mentioned by Pyo Jun-woo, a KQ Group security guard and agent of Kooou.
In the end, however, only traces of tents remained, suggesting that the group had already moved on.
"Are you that curious?"
"How could I not be curious?"
Since In-hyuk continued to keep quiet, Tae Ju-ha was growing increasingly frustrated.
In-hyuk casually opened his palm.
When Tae Ju-ha saw that, she narrowed her eyes.
"You're not about to pull the old 'If you want to know, it's 500 won' joke, are you?"
She was trying to lighten the mood.
In-hyuk silently withdrew his hand.
"......."
"Pfft—!"
Tae Ju-ha, not having seen this side of In-hyuk before, couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"You seem a lot better than before."
"... But is it really okay for things to get so big?"
She was referring to how they'd tipped off the domestic press about their return.
Naturally, with the reports, everything had exploded, and news articles were still pouring out.
"If we're highly visible, no one will try anything rash."
"But doesn't that make us more of a target?"
Given the harrowing experiences they'd had, her worries had grown.
"Don't worry. I've prepared something for that."
"Did you know something?"
"What is it?"
"Every time you say something like that, things always get bigger."
When they drove into the sea, when they traveled from Vladivostok to Moscow, when he made her wait alone for three days before getting on this plane together...
Nothing ever happened quietly, so she couldn't help but be anxious.
"It was necessary."
"I might not understand, but I survived thanks to you, so I'm sure there was a reason."
"I appreciate you seeing it that way."
Silence fell again. After another hour of flight, they arrived at Incheon International Airport.
Most of their luggage was local, so they didn't have much to carry. With just a single bag, In-hyuk walked to the arrivals hall with Tae Ju-ha.
As the doors slid open, countless camera flashes went off at their appearance.
At the same time, Heo Yu-rim, Hong Yu-geon, and Van Hester, together with Taeshin Group's security guards, approached and surrounded them protectively.
"CEO! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Heo Yu-rim came closest, thoroughly checking on Tae Ju-ha's condition.
"I'm fine. What about Secretary Heo?"
"I barely got any sleep, worrying about you, CEO."
They'd spent about two weeks in Russia without even the chance to contact them.
This had been In-hyuk's doing to avoid leaking their location, but it had also compounded everyone's anxiety.
Just then, Baek Si-hwan approached.
"Division Director."
Hearing him, In-hyuk merely squinted in the flurry of camera flashes around him.
"It's been a while."
"On head office instructions, a hospital appointment has been made. Please transfer to the vehicle first."
"Head office? You mean the chairman?"
At that, Baek Si-hwan hesitated, then replied,
"It was Executive Vice President Tae Seok-ho. And he also asked that interviews be conducted in consultation with the head office, for the sake of the company's image."
He could tell what they were aiming for.
Of course, In-hyuk didn't intend to listen at all.
"Tell the executive vice president it's not his place to interfere. And Manager Baek, I understand your position. However, you should choose more carefully what to relay and what not to."
Meanwhile, the reporters blocked by Taeshin's security guards were shouting questions.
"I heard this is another life-threatening incident—how did you escape?"
"We heard your car crashed! Can you tell us about that?"
"This is the fourth reported assassination attempt! Have any suspects been identified?"
"Why didn't you reveal your survival earlier?"
Listening to their voices, In-hyuk slowly moved forward.