Former Mastermind To Chaebol Son-in-Law

Chapter 25

Did You Cheat?

In-hyuk went to work and spent his day as usual.

However, his mind was tangled because of the information he had discovered through Charybdis.

'Why did Jeon Hae-in target me instead of Tae Ju-ha?'

That was because Daemyung Detective Agency had moved on the instructions of Lee Jung-tae, her security guard.

From the current circumstances, it was certain that the original Kang In-hyuk had been killed at their hands, disguised as an accident.

Yet, he still could not understand why he was her target.

Brrrr— Brrrr—

At that moment, Go Mi-ah called.

It seemed to be about the favor he had asked, to trace the movements with the information obtained from Charybdis last night.

"How did it go?"

In-hyuk stepped into the meeting room to answer the call.

[Recently, they've only been moving around central Seoul. Judging from the route, it looks like you've been tailed.]

"And?"

[Until a little while ago, they went out of town frequently. But there's something odd... Most destinations were orphanages.]

Since that behavior didn't make sense, In-hyuk tilted his head in confusion.

"Orphanages?"

He wanted to know the reason right away, but it was only possible if he caught Lee Daemyung or raided the office.

[Anyhow, that's how it was. Nothing else particularly suspicious. That Lee Daemyung from Daemyung Detective Agency also wasn't odd apart from the background info you gave me. Oh, and the reason he quit the police is because he got discharged for assault and leaking investigation info.]

"Just for that?"

Such things were all too common within the police.

If the man had graduated from the National Police University and had reached the rank of superintendent, which was near high-rank, he could easily have smoothed things over with connections.

[There are plenty of other things that got brushed under the rug— bribery, embezzlement of investigative funds, unauthorized hiding and destruction of evidence. And the last assault case, it even included involuntary manslaughter. The charges were dropped, though.]

"What a shady guy."

[Why is a private investigator run by a guy like that tailing you? Did you cheat on your wife or something? Was it someone from Taeshin Group who assigned them?]

At that moment, In-hyuk's brow furrowed deeply.

"Me—! Hoo... Don't say ridiculous things. Enough about Daemyung. And the phones—no news yet, right?"

He meant the phones recovered when he took care of Pyo Jun-woo and three others in the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

Go Mi-ah had been trying to decipher the dual patient code they'd found on the phone, but there hadn't been any results.

[I've been trying all sorts of codes, but it's not working.]

"You're only trying English inputs, right?"

[That's right.]

Since the code was for confidentiality, the sentence format was clear.

He had tried all the codes he'd learned or heard as a special forces member through the connection with UID, but nothing worked.

That meant the perpetrators probably had their own preferred code.

"Nothing received by that phone in the meantime?"

[I turned off outgoing connections and only opened the incoming code, but it's been quiet.]

They'd already messed with the corpse count found in the warehouse, so it was clear things had been covered up on that side too.

"Can you try running it with hiragana and katakana converted to romanized English?"

[Huh? Japanese?]

That was because he remembered the men speaking in Japanese in the warehouse.

"If you can, please try it."

[That'll take a really long time... the hardware might not last.]

Cracking codes is like letting a computer fit puzzle pieces rapidly.

Of course, the greater the number of calculations required, the more overloaded the machine could get.

"Buy whatever hardware you need. If the cost is a problem, use my funds."

[Got it.]

"But don't let the trace lead back to you, ever."

[Don't worry about that, tremble, tremble!]

After ending the call, In-hyuk let out a sigh and was about to return to his seat.

But the office atmosphere, which had seemed normal only moments ago, was suddenly restless.

People whispered to each other as In-hyuk came out of the meeting room.

At that moment, Jung Jong-hyun, the deputy team leader from Team 3, approached him.

"Team Leader, did you see the announcement?"

"No, what happened?"

"For now, I think you should go to your desk and check the announcement first."

Urged on, he walked to his seat. The murmuring among the staff grew louder.

Meanwhile, In-hyuk noticed an alert in the corner of his monitor and checked the notice.

【Notice of New Business Division Establishment and Assignment】

― Division: M&A／PEF (Private Equity Fund)

― Appointment: Kang In-hyuk, team leader (senior manager), Equity Investment Team 3

― Team Members: Additional personnel will be assigned, including 4 members from Equity Investment Team 3

― Location: Taeshin Asset Management HQ, 6th floor

― Date: Sometime in June 2025

.

.

The proposal he had offered to Tae Ju-ha was decided by Chairman Tae Gun-seung's authority.

Jung Jong-hyun came up next to him and spoke.

"Did you know about this, Team Leader?"

"This information? I did make a proposal to Executive Director Chu last time. But approval came much faster than I expected."

"So is it true? Is our team really being promoted to the M&A／PEF division?"

He looked as if he still couldn't believe it even after reading it himself.

"Yes, that's correct. So let's prepare to relocate our office by the appointed date. You, deputy Jung, will be team leader of M&A Team 1; existing staff will be under you. If you don't like it, you can stay here as is."

The team members hurriedly looked for cues in each other's faces.

Of course, In-hyuk didn't think they would all follow him by default.

The new M&A／PEF division, for all its fancy name, offered no guaranteed prospects at the moment.

Especially, employees valued stability over an adventure that could be walking a tightrope.

However, In-hyuk had already planted a few seeds.

"... I'll do it."

When Jung Jong-hyun made up his mind, Ahn Woo-chan, visibly surprised, raised his voice a little.

"Deputy!"

"This wasn't to pressure you or anyone else; decide for yourselves."

"But..."

Jung Jong-hyun was able to make that decision because of In-hyuk's track record in the stock market.

While preparing investments for the third quarter, each team member had swung trades under In-hyuk's support.

They had also begun analyzing and collecting intel on the stocks they sold.

The aim was to find out why specific companies were growing and why their share prices increased.

But after days of exhausting research, they found nothing.

Meanwhile, the stocks In-hyuk had consulted on had been stagnant, then quietly began to climb.

"I'm at the tail end of my career, so if I don't move up now, changing jobs will only get harder. Or I'm stuck as deputy forever. But you all aren't in the same boat. Think it over carefully."

Equity Investment Team 3 had always lagged behind Teams 1 and 2 until In-hyuk started to stand out.

Just the grade of their clients made that clear.

If In-hyuk left as head of a new division, things would go back to how they used to be— possibly even worse.

So the other team members also thought hard and looked at each other.

* * *

Until recently, Jeon Joon-seok, who had been the president of Taeshin Asset Management, was promoted to executive director of Taeshin Life, a directly affiliated company of the group.

He was now sitting in his office with familiar colleagues.

Oh Kang-goo, executive director, and Yang Chan-woo, managing director, had come over suddenly and started pouring out everything that had just happened in the company.

"No matter whose approval it is, does it make sense? How can someone parachuted in become head of the newly established division?"

"Honestly, this is too much! What are executives for? Don't you think so too, director Jeon?"

Both of them were clearly aware of the true purpose of the M&A／PEF division.

Growth and expansion of Taeshin Asset Management.

If it worked out, it would provide strong nourishment for expanding Taeshin Group's foundation.

That made it even harder for Oh Kang-goo and Yang Chan-woo to accept.

Eventually, Jeon Joon-seok broke his silence.

"It's certainly an unexpected move. Plus, suddenly with M&A and PEF... I've heard Team Leader Kang's performance has been pretty good lately, but isn't this overestimating him?"

"So you think so too, director?"

Jeon Joon-seok nodded to Oh Kang-goo's agreement.

"Haven't there been rumors from before that higher-ups were backing Team Leader Kang, giving him strength to encourage him?"

Both men nodded, and then Oh Kang-goo continued.

"People are still talking about it. But since the chairman's the one who did it, no one can openly object."

"True. That's just how it is."

"Didn't Executive Director Tae Seok-ho have anything to say?"

Officially, Tae Ju-ha was the president of Taeshin Asset Management, but the real owner was group chairman Tae Gun-seung.

But now Tae Gun-seung was well into his nineties.

He might appear healthy for now, but at his age, it wouldn't be strange if he passed away at any time.

Naturally, the representatives and executives of the affiliated companies had already lined up behind the two main successors, Tae Seok-hyun and Tae Seok-ho.

Jeon Joon-seok had decided to side with Tae Seok-ho, and half of Taeshin Asset Management's six executives had done the same.

"I contacted him as soon as I heard about it."

"What did he say?"

Looking at their eager faces, Jeon Joon-seok replied.

"At first, he didn't know anything about this, then heard about it in a report."

"Even the Executive Director?"

If it had been the eldest son Tae Seok-hyun, president of Taeshin Electronics, it would be understandable.

But for Tae Seok-ho, executive director at the group headquarters, Taeshin Trading, to be unaware— it meant the chairman had pushed it through without any consultation with the executives.

"He was quite surprised, but he actually said it might be for the best."

"For the best? The chairman supporting Team Leader Kang means... he's thinking of something else, isn't he?"

Although Chairman Tae Gun-seung had named Tae Seok-hyun as the primary successor, everyone knew that decision could change at any time.

If Kang In-hyuk's position rose, it would also affect his wife, Tae Ju-ha, and in turn strengthen Tae Seok-hyun's influence within the group.

"I haven't heard anything since. You know how Executive Director Tae Seok-ho is— he doesn't reveal his inner thoughts to anyone, even those close to him."

Besides them, there were many people in the group companies who had lined up behind Tae Seok-ho.

Jeon Joon-seok wasn't in charge of a huge share. He was just an executive, not even president of Taeshin Life.

But he couldn't show any weakness to the two colleagues in front of him.

"Sorry, we were tactless to ask so directly."

"I understand your concern. But especially at times like this, keeping your cool and plotting your next move is best. For example... planting someone in the new division to bring back good news."

He was telling them to plant an informant or find a way to extract information.

Oh Kang-goo and Yang Chan-woo understood immediately.

"But if we get caught... Tae Ju-ha won't just stand by."

Even now, Tae Ju-ha was looking for ways to replace executives not on her side, to bolster her influence in the company.

And with her previously "puppet" husband now delivering results, she had no choice but to keep a close eye.

Jeon Joon-seok looked between Yang Chan-woo and Oh Kang-goo in turn.

"It's all or nothing. Besides, if we don't secure something here, we could fall from our positions in an instant."

"......"

As the two fell silent, Jeon Joon-seok continued.

"If things go well... how about I arrange a meeting with Executive Director Tae Seok-ho?"

"Really?"

"With Executive Director Tae Seok-ho?"

Jeon Joon-seok finally managed a thin smile.

"You don't have to bring back anything special. Even if the new division doesn't run properly, we still win. Of course, that's just a suggestion, so don't dwell on it."

He had tossed out a plan, in effect.

Oh Kang-goo and Yang Chan-woo understood all too well. But as Jeon Joon-seok had said, sitting on their hands wouldn't solve anything.

With their positions threatened by President Tae Ju-ha, they needed countermeasures— whatever they might be.

Slowly, both men nodded, seemingly having come to a decision.