Chapter : 46
The phone was locked with facial recognition.
When Taeshin placed the phone against Myeong Hyun-joo’s face, she immediately closed her eyes.
“You’d better cooperate quietly.”
“Then just kill me.”
“Looks like something really important is on this phone.”
Taeshin picked up the pocket knife that had fallen on the floor and approached another large painting hanging on the inner wall.
“Yukhnovich. This must be another painting you treasure. Do you not care if this beautiful work is torn to pieces?”
The painting he pointed to would be worth at least two billion won, even on the low end.
“No! Don’t touch that painting!”
Recognizing the woman’s angry face as she puffed out her cheeks, he unlocked the phone and called Kang Hoon.
“Send the link through this phone.”
The link came immediately.
After installing spyware, Kang Hoon started searching through the phone.
When persuasion didn’t work, the woman resorted to threats.
“Do you know who I am? Do you think you’ll get away with this?”
Taeshin ignored her and asked,
“You know Yoon Sang-won from Ever Dining, right?”
At Taeshin’s question, Myeong Hyun-joo’s eyes wavered.
“You’ve got the wrong person. I’m Kim Hye-seon. I don’t know anyone like that.”
“Even if your face changes, your fingerprints remain the same. The prosecution already knows this.”
Realizing that hiding it was useless, she shamelessly asked,
“Did Yoon Sang-won send you? To get the money?”
Nam-hyun responded.
“You’ve embezzled money in so many ways: special bonuses without board approval, diverting franchisee contracts, relocating company stores to your own company, buying luxury goods and cars with company funds, and living in company-owned officetels without permission.”
Nam-hyun glanced around the interior of the officetel and continued.
“You ruined an entire family while living in luxury here. Not a shred of conscience, it seems.”
“If you came to get the money, it’s useless. It’s all been diverted. Tracking it is impossible. These days, there’s cryptocurrency. Nothing’s better for laundering money.”
“No need to track it; we’re not the police.”
“What?”
Nam-hyun interjected.
“Just selling the paintings and sculptures here would fetch about 12 billion won.”
“Untie her and talk. How much did they pay you? I’ll give you double. No, triple.”
“Ugh, so noisy.”
Nam-hyun covered the woman’s mouth with the scarf again.
Kang Hoon said,
- Most of the assets are in coins and stocks. Cryptocurrency can only be cashed if you know the private key. There’s a way to take it without the key, but it takes time.
“How much cash can we withdraw immediately?”
- If we gather everything, about 800 million won.
“Take it all and transfer it to Yoon Sang-won’s account.”
- Understood.
“Also take the payment for the paintings. The paintings can be returned later.”
Nam-hyun returned 1 billion won from the museum’s account to Myeong Hyun-joo, and Kang Hoon immediately transferred the received amount to Yoon Sang-won’s account.
18 billion won would be more than enough for Iseol to pay off the private loans.
It’s far less than the 12 billion won Myeong Hyun-joo embezzled, but still significant.
“Drain all the virtual accounts and convert them to cash. Leave them empty.”
- Yes.
If the police traced and recovered the funds, even if not all, a significant portion could be reclaimed.
“Ugh!”
Myeong Hyun-joo wailed behind the gag.
Nam-hyun said,
“Say you sent the money to Yoon Sang-won as an act of atonement. That should reduce your sentence.”
“Where are the accounting books?”
At Taeshin’s question, Myeong Hyun-joo clamped her mouth shut.
Taeshin searched the house for the books.
The dressing room was lined with extravagant clothes, luxury bags, and accessories.
While Yoon Iseol struggled under debt, Myeong Hyun-joo lived a luxurious life here.
The safe contained jewelry, bankbooks, passports, and property deeds, but no accounting books were found in the safe or on the study computer.
Without the accounting books, proving the crime would be difficult.
He had to find them somehow.
“Not found?”
Nam-hyun asked.
“No.”
While searching the vanity, Taeshin found a Zippo lighter.
“Why is there a lighter on the vanity? Looks like she doesn’t even smoke at home.”
Nam-hyun tilted his head.
Taeshin examined the lighter and pulled it from the bottom, revealing a USB drive.
“Look at this. She hid evidence in something like this.”
Nam-hyun muttered and checked the time.
“The police will arrive soon. Let’s go.”
When Taeshin and Nam-hyun were loading the paintings onto the truck again, the police and prosecution arrived.
He only checked the message confirming the money was deposited into his father’s account after the wedding.
Iseol had access to her father’s account, so all transaction notifications went to her.
[1,800,000,000.]
She couldn’t believe the amount in the account and counted the zeros several times.
The depositor’s name was Myeong Hyun-joo’s new name, Kim Hye-seon.
Taeshin’s claim that the money could be recovered was true.
Honestly, she hadn’t expected much.
She’d heard that money lost to embezzlement is difficult to retrieve, as it requires police investigation and often the perpetrator hides or moves it under someone else’s name.
She hadn’t expected Myeong Hyun-joo to voluntarily return it—so how did she receive the money?
She suddenly realized just how trustworthy and reliable Taeshin was, and her heart fluttered.
It felt like a butterfly was fluttering inside her, making it hard to eat.
With 1.8 billion won, even after paying off private loans, her grandmother’s loans, her own credit loans, and student loans, 1.3 billion would remain.
No debt meant no more struggling to pay monthly interest, she could buy the clothes she wanted, and during vacations, she could take her grandmother on a luxurious trip.
She could also move her father to a better hospital or even relocate their apartment.
All of this was thanks to Taeshin.
After the wedding, she called him, but he didn’t answer.
He said he was busy—he must be tied up with work.
Iseol rode in a taxi thinking about Taeshin.
Normally, she would have taken the bus even if tired, but seeing the numbers in her bankbook put her at ease.
Iseol held the bouquet in her hand and smelled it.
Her aunt’s friends were either already married or didn’t plan to marry, so she received it.
Shortly after the wedding, she received a message from Taeshin.
[Let’s talk in detail when we meet.]
[Come here.]
She thought it would be better to meet somewhere private than outside, so she gave him her aunt’s home address.
The newly purchased furniture, appliances, and stylish interior gave the house a honeymoon vibe.
Being alone in a house with such an atmosphere felt strange.
Iseol called her grandmother to say she had arrived safely, then, feeling hungry, cooked ramen.
She showered, browsed the wedding album, and sat on the sofa watching TV, yet couldn’t stop thinking about Taeshin.
After 10 p.m., she began to feel anxious.
Had he been caught by gangsters on the way here?
Or had something gone wrong while getting the money from Myeong Hyun-joo?
Then she remembered the location app.
He would know her location, so she thought it natural to check his.
She saw he was at a bar in Gangnam.
Was he meeting a woman?
A hidden girlfriend, perhaps?
No.
He wouldn’t be the type to act that way with a girlfriend—making her feel conflicted, speaking complicated words, and even kissing.
She knew him well enough to be sure.
Still, even if not a girlfriend, could he occasionally meet some woman for venting frustrations…?
Involuntarily, she pictured him kissing a sexy, beautiful woman and embracing her body.
Ha.
What am I thinking?
If that were the case, he’d go to a hotel, not a bar.
Iseol shook off the ridiculous thought.
She sat on the sofa waiting, trying to push away irrelevant thoughts, and eventually fell asleep.
Taeshin arrived around midnight.
The doorbell rang.
Opening it, she saw Taeshin dressed entirely in black from head to toe.
She was so happy she almost hugged him immediately.
Seeing him outside of Janghado somehow made it feel even better.
“Come in.”
Iseol restrained herself and stepped aside to let him in.
As he entered, she noticed blood on the bandage wrapped around the torn sleeve of his jacket.
Her heart sank.
“Are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious? You’re bleeding. Sit here.”
She helped him sit on the sofa and brought the first-aid kit.
When he took off his jacket, Iseol removed the bandage.
Sitting next to him and rolling up his shirt sleeve, she saw the cut from the knife.
