The outdoor parking lot at the Hangang riverside park, shrouded in deep darkness, was completely empty except for a single old Sonata standing alone.
Lee Cheol-gyun, sitting alone in the driver's seat with the engine off and the window slightly rolled down, was smoking a cigarette when he noticed the bright headlights of a car entering the parking lot.
Under the moonlight, the car soon revealed itself—it was Seok-won's prized BMW 540i.
As the BMW came to a stop a short distance away, Lee Cheol-gyun opened his car door and stepped out.
Scanning his surroundings with sharp eyes, he flicked his half-smoked cigarette onto the concrete ground and crushed it under his shoe.
Then, he walked over, opened the BMW's door, and got into the passenger seat.
Seok-won, seated in the driver's seat, turned his head toward Lee Cheol-gyun and spoke.
"You contacted me a day earlier than expected."
"I figured it was urgent, so I moved a little faster."
Lee Cheol-gyun shrugged.
"It's good that you got results quickly, but I hope the information isn't lacking."
"If there's one thing I can guarantee, it's that I always earn my keep. You don't need to worry about that."
With that, Lee Cheol-gyun unzipped his jacket and pulled out a folded manila envelope, handing it over.
When Seok-won opened it, he found several documents and photographs inside.
The first thing that caught his eye was a photo of Woo Ho-geun standing in front of a high-end Japanese restaurant with someone else.
"What's this?"
Seok-won asked, his face filled with curiosity.
Lee Cheol-gyun calmly explained, "That man is Kwon Seung-seop, the president of Donghae Mutual Union. This photo was taken about a week ago by the guy I had tailing Woo Ho-geun. After you mentioned his name, I decided to dig a little deeper, and I found something quite interesting."
"And what's that?"
Seok-won asked, intrigued.
"As you can see in the attached documents, Donghae Mutual Union recently loaned 32 billion won to a company called Iljin Trading."
"How is that relevant to what I asked you to investigate?"
"At first glance, it looks like a legitimate loan. But if you take a closer look, there are too many red flags."
"Be specific. What exactly are you talking about?"
Lee Cheol-gyun's voice lowered slightly.
"First of all, Iljin Trading has never done business with Donghae Mutual Union before. And yet, they were suddenly granted a loan—not a few billion, but a staggering 32 billion won—all at once. Doesn't that sound suspicious to you? And to make things even more questionable, it wasn't even a secured loan. It was given purely on credit."
That was indeed highly irregular—under normal circumstances, such a loan should never have been approved.
'There's always something shady hiding behind abnormal transactions.'
Sensing that Lee Cheol-gyun had found a solid lead, Seok-won focused even more on the conversation.
"So I dug a little deeper. Iljin Trading is registered as a trading company based in Hong Kong. It's been around for over a decade, but in recent years, it has barely recorded any sales. Essentially, it only exists on paper."
Seok-won's eyes sharpened.
"A shell company."
Lee Cheol-gyun gave a small nod, as if confirming the correct answer.
"Exactly. And the day after Donghae Mutual Union wired the 32 billion won to Hong Kong, Donghae Group suddenly started buying up large amounts of Mido Department Store's stock."
"…!"
"It's too perfect to be a coincidence, don't you think?"
Seok-won lowered his gaze and carefully examined the documents that accompanied the photographs.
According to the report, the company in question had no revenue, yet the loan documents described it as a solid business generating over $60 million in annual revenue with millions in operating profit.
If Lee Cheol-gyun's claims were true, someone had fabricated the financial records to secure a massive illegal loan.
As Seok-won skimmed through the documents, Lee Cheol-gyun added, "What's even more suspicious is that the entire process—from the loan application to screening and approval—took only four days."
Seok-won furrowed his brows and looked up. "Are you serious?"
"I verified it through an employee in the loan department. There's no doubt about it," Lee Cheol-gyun replied confidently.
Seok-won had been wondering how Lee managed to obtain copies of confidential loan documents, but his explanation cleared up that mystery.
Running a hand over his clean-shaven jawline, Seok-won muttered, "A loan of this magnitude being processed so quickly and recklessly means it was an orchestrated fraudulent loan from the start."
"Exactly. And there's a high chance the order came from the very top."
Seok-won nodded as he stared at the photograph of Woo Ho-geun and President Kwon Seung-seop together.
Suddenly, everything clicked into place—he now understood exactly where the money had come from.
"There's one more thing I found out. Yesterday, Woo Ho-geun met with Yoo Jung-il, a loan shark from Myeong-dong."
Hearing the familiar name, Seok-won's expression briefly showed surprise. "You mean Yoo from Daegu?"
Lee Cheol-gyun raised an eyebrow, as if intrigued. "That's right. From your reaction, I take it you know exactly who he is."
While he wasn't as influential as Chairman Chun Sung-duk, Yoo Jung-il was still well-known in Myeong-dong for managing hundreds of billions of won in underground money.
In particular, after the launch of KOSDAQ in July, he had made a fortune funding market manipulators who engaged in stock price rigging. He was notorious in the Yeouido financial circles, so there was no way Seok-won wouldn't know about him.
'Now that I think about it, Yoo Jung-il's son was friends with Woo Ho-geun.'
As the puzzle pieces clicked together in his mind, Seok-won smirked in amusement.
"They must need more cash to fend off the attack on Donghae Oil and secure enough shares before the emergency shareholders' meeting. That's why they're borrowing money."
If they had found an external investor other than Hong Kong's Peregrine, things might have gotten a bit troublesome. But since they were scraping together funds through illegal loans and private lenders, there was no need to worry.
'Actually, this might make tying up loose ends even easier.'
Lee Cheol-gyun watched Seok-won, who seemed lost in thought, before speaking again. "I hope this is satisfactory."
"You did an excellent job."
A satisfied smile formed on Seok-won's lips.
"I knew bringing you in was the right decision."
At that, Lee Cheol-gyun smirked slightly and said, "There's still a lot more to uncover. Should I keep digging?"
Seok-won hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.
"With only a short time left until the emergency shareholders' meeting, let's leave the final steps to someone who can wrap things up more quickly and efficiently. We'll step back from this now."
"Understood," Lee Cheol-gyun replied without hesitation.
Seok-won placed the photos and documents on his lap before pulling a thick envelope from inside his jacket.
"A bonus for you."
"Thank you."
Without any pretense, Lee Cheol-gyun quickly accepted the envelope and tucked it away.
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
"Go ahead."
With a slight nod, Lee Cheol-gyun opened the car door and stepped out.
Now alone in the car, Seok-won smirked coldly and muttered to himself, "Using a shell company to secure an illegal loan… They must have been desperate. But they'll soon realize they've only hastened their own downfall."
He took out his phone and dialed a saved number.
After a few rings, Woo Chun-il, the Secretary-General of the New Era National Committee, answered the call.
[Hello?]
"Secretary-General, this is Park Seok-won."
[Ah, President Park! What brings you to call at this hour?]
Hearing the pleased tone in Woo Chun-il's voice, Seok-won picked up one of the photographs resting on his lap.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you with a late-night call."
[Haha! I always welcome a call from you. Feel free to reach out anytime.]
The Secretary-General laughed heartily before continuing.
[But I doubt you're calling just to exchange pleasantries. What's the matter?]
Seok-won glanced at the photograph of Woo Ho-geun and smirked slightly.
"I have something I think you'll find quite interesting."
[Oh? And what might that be?]
"A certain chaebol family has funneled hundreds of billions of won through one of their affiliated credit unions using illegal loans."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
Then, Woo Chun-il's voice lost its laughter and took on a serious tone.
[Are you talking about Donghae Group?]
"That's right. As it happens, there's a parliamentary session scheduled for tomorrow where the Ministry of Finance will be questioned. If this issue were to be brought up there, it would certainly attract a lot of attention."
As expected, Woo Chun-il took the bait immediately.
[If we bring this up in parliament without solid evidence, we risk making fools of ourselves instead.]
"Come on, Secretary-General. Do you really think I would call without proof?"
[Are you saying you have evidence?]
"Of course. Even though they're copies, internal loan documents from Donghae Mutual Credit Union should be undeniable evidence."
[Let's meet right away. Where would be a good place?]
As if he had expected this response, Seok-won replied leisurely.
"I'll contact Oh Jin-am and have him clear out a private annex."
[Understood. See you in an hour.]
"Sounds good."
After ending the call, Seok-won glanced at the photograph of Woo Ho-geun in his hand and muttered coldly to himself.
"Not even the best lawyers will be able to get him off with just a suspended sentence this time. Looks like he's headed straight to prison. Well, he brought this on himself."
* * *
The next afternoon
After finishing a lunch meeting, Chairman Woo Yong-gap returned to his office. Feeling the wave of post-meal drowsiness, he leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes for a short rest.
A few moments later, a soft knock on the door was followed by his secretary cautiously waking him.
"Chairman."
"Mm… What is it?"
Woo Yong-gap murmured drowsily, his eyes barely open.
"Chief Secretary Jeon is here to speak with you."
Still groggy from his nap, Woo Yong-gap let out a small grunt of annoyance before adjusting his posture.
"Let him in. And bring me a cup of coffee to wake me up."
"Yes, sir."
The secretary left, and shortly after, Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol entered the room, giving a respectful nod.
"Have a seat."
Woo Yong-gap gestured toward the sofa on his right with a tilt of his chin.
As Jeon Hae-cheol settled into his seat, Woo Yong-gap, his voice still slightly hoarse from sleep, asked,
"So, what is it that you need to discuss?"
At that, Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol straightened his posture and spoke with a serious demeanor.
"I have something to report regarding the Hong Kong investor that Executive Director Woo recently found."
"Not this again."
Woo Yong-gap furrowed his brows, clearly growing tired of the subject.
Jeon Hae-cheol, undeterred by the chairman's reaction, leaned forward slightly and continued.
"I conducted an independent investigation, and there are significant doubts about this so-called new investor. I inquired with contacts in Hong Kong, but no one has ever heard of a company called Cubic Capital. On top of that, the company's registered address is in the Bahamas. There are too many suspicious details."
"Didn't Executive Director Woo say he connected with them during his time in Hong Kong?"
Woo Yong-gap responded indifferently.
"They said it's a private equity fund financed by a small group of wealthy investors, so it's possible that not many people know about it."
His tone suggested that he didn't see the point in fussing over such details.
"Even so, a firm handling funds of this scale should have at least some recognition. But no one has even heard of it. What's more concerning is that no one has ever met these investors in person—only Executive Director Woo communicates with them directly."
Woo Yong-gap, who had been listening with a displeased expression, shot a sharp look at Jeon Hae-cheol.
"Are you saying that Woo is lying to me? That the investor doesn't actually exist?"
Jeon Hae-cheol remained silent, his lack of response serving as tacit confirmation.
At this, Woo Yong-gap's face twisted in irritation, and he snapped angrily.
"We're not the ones investing money here—we're the ones receiving it! Why on earth would he lie about that? And even if he was lying, where the hell would Ho-geun get hundreds of billions of won to bring in? It's not pocket change we're talking about."
Even Jeon Hae-cheol couldn't answer that question. He had the same doubt himself.
After his brief outburst, Woo Yong-gap's gaze turned cold and penetrating as he fixed his eyes on Jeon.
"I trust you, but there are lines you shouldn't cross."
As expected.
Despite the warning, he was once again blindly protecting his son. Disappointed yet again, Jeon Hae-cheol lowered his head reluctantly.
"…Understood."
"If you have nothing else to say, you may leave."
With a curt nod toward the door, Woo Yong-gap signaled for him to go.
"…Excuse me."
Jeon Hae-cheol bowed slightly.
Just as Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol was about to rise from his seat—
The door suddenly burst open, and a staff member from the secretary's office rushed in without even knocking.
Already in a foul mood, Chairman Woo Yong-gap immediately raised his eyebrows and shouted in anger.
"Do you not know how to knock?!"
"S-Sorry, sir!"
The staff member, his face pale as a sheet, flinched at the scolding but quickly remembered the urgency of his message and lifted his head.
"There's a major problem! A few moments ago, during a parliamentary questioning session, it was revealed that Donghae Mutual Credit Union issued an illegal loan of over 30 billion won, using a shell company, to acquire shares in Mido Department Store!"
"What?!"
Woo Yong-gap shot up from his seat in shock.
At the same time, Jeon Hae-cheol, upon hearing the news, clenched his eyes shut—his ominous premonition had just come true.
TL/n -
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