Chapter 184: Drawing the Sword (5)

A few days ago in the afternoon, Kang Cheol-woo called Assistant Manager Kim Sa-kong separately.

“Assistant Manager Kim, try contacting Lawyer Ju's spouse. Officially, it is to check on her well-being, and unofficially, find out if there are any movements of holding hands with someone else.”

With that one word, all explanations were finished.

Kim Sa-kong grasped Ju Yeong-gil's schedule and route, and that evening, he separately met his wife, Seo Ja-yeon, who was said to be living apart.

Seo Ja-yeon also quickly noticed that Taeseong Group already grasped the fact that the two were preparing for a divorce.

Kim Sa-kong packaged it as if he were worried on the outside, but the conversation naturally poked at Seo Ja-yeon's emotions to dig for Ju Yeong-gil's weaknesses.

People are bound to make mistakes when their emotions become intense.

It was now time to tell Chief Secretary Kang Cheol-woo the information he learned then.

“Actually, yesterday I met with Lawyer Ju's spouse as per your instructions, Chief Secretary.”

“Ms. Seo Ja-yeon?”

“Yes. When I tentatively brought up the story that the two were already preparing for a divorce, she feigned ignorance at first, saying there was no such thing. However, when I said she would not have much to gain if she divorced Lawyer Ju Yeong-gil, her expression changed completely from then on.”

Kang Cheol-woo's eyes narrowed.

“What does she say?”

“I conveyed the words in a way that Taeseong also knows to some extent. Tentatively, as if worrying whether Lawyer Ju might be trying to reduce the share of his wife and children seeing how he is organizing his assets these days. And I added one more word.”

Kim Sa-kong chose his words for a moment and continued speaking.

“I said there were assets originally promised to be handed over to the spouse and children, but seeing the flow these days, it seems a portion of them is slipping away to someone else's name. As soon as she heard those words, Seo Ja-yeon's face turned bright red.”

The expression of Seo Ja-yeon he recalled at that time passed through his mind like a flash.

A face where her hands were trembling, yet the suppressed anger burst out all at once.

“At first she said it was nonsense, but when I spoke indirectly saying that Taeseong hears all the rumors circulating in the law firm... eventually she spoke like this. She said Lawyer Ju had promised in front of her since long ago that he would definitely give the children's inheritance portion, but after starting the separation, he would get angry and avoid the spot whenever the topic of money came up.”

“…….”

“Furthermore, she said the money going out of her husband's bank account lately is strange. She secretly checked the card usage history and account transfer history, and money was steadily going out under a name she did not know. So when I spoke indirectly saying it looks like the husband has someone in an extramarital relationship. At that time, she completely vented her indignation. After that, even before I mentioned it separately, she said with her own mouth, ‘Is he not secretly handing everything over to that woman?’.”

Kang Cheol-woo's finger swept his chin once.

“So what else came out after that?”

“As expected, her mouth loosened once I touched her emotions.”

Kim Sa-kong took a short breath.

“Ms. Seo Ja-yeon said these words. ‘It is just like that day too, after all. He told me to dress up well and come to the hotel because he was revising the Chairman's will... and would you not know, some man was waiting? I was so furious.’ So when I asked who that man was, she said she remembered because she was angry that he asked what it was to her business to know.”

Kang Cheol-woo's gaze shook minutely.

“If it was a hotel….”

“Yes, I asked back on purpose. Then she remembered it accurately. She said it was the day the Chairman's will was being looked at. She said he used her to meet someone at a hotel late in the evening.”

The air inside the office became a layer heavier.

“Did she even say who he met?”

“She hesitated at first, but when I presented the money, she gave the name.”

Kim Sa-kong spoke in a low voice.

“It was President Lim Do-hyun. It seems he called his wife to meet President Lim at a hotel that night.”

A heavy silence flowed.

Kang Cheol-woo's gaze wandered through the air and then slowly came down.

The puzzle pieces were spilled randomly, and then they began to connect like a single line.

The day the Chairman's will was being looked at.

Late night hotel.

Ju Yeong-gil and Lim Do-hyun.

“…If so.”

The thought he was rolling around inside leaked out with a short sigh.

The will, borrowed-name accounts, borrowed-name stake list.

The people who could access all of those at the same time were extremely limited.

A legal representative backed by the Chairman's trust, and Lim Do-hyun.

Kang Cheol-woo slowly rose from his seat.

“Assistant Manager Kim.”

“Yes, Chief Secretary.”

“The story heard just now ends here. Do not contact Ms. Seo Ja-yeon's side for the time being, and consider the conversation shared with me today as work as well. I will organize the report.”

“Understood.”

Kang Cheol-woo stopped speaking for a moment and looked straight at Kim Sa-kong.

“From today, the report is related to Lawyer Ju only to me, just as before. The moment it leaks to another line, consider your career as Assistant Manager Kim over from then on.”

Kim Sa-kong swallowed his breath and bowed his head deeply.

“I will keep that in mind.”

The moment Kang Cheol-woo stepped out of the Secretary's office door, the hallway air had changed.

The TV where news flowed without rest, employees moving busily, the sound of telephone bells ringing in succession.

Among those noises, the phrase Chairman's borrowed-name account suspicion continued to be heard.

Kang Cheol-woo moved his steps toward the Chairman's office without stopping for a moment.

The top floor of the Taeseong Electronics headquarters, the Chairman's office.

As he reached the front of the door, the secretary who was guarding it jumped up and said.

“Chief Secretary, the Chairman is inside. Acting Chairperson Lim Hye-seon and Vice Chairman Lim Do-kyung are already here too.”

“Understood.”

After knocking twice, he opened the door.

As the door opened, a familiar scene came into view.

By the window, Lim Man-seok was sitting on a sofa with his cane leaning beside him, and across from him was Lim Hye-seon in neat clothes, and beside her sat Lim do-kyung with a somewhat hardened expression.

On the table, several newspapers and reports were already scattered.

They were all articles related to Chairman Lim Man-seok's borrowed-name accounts.

“Cheol-woo, have you come?”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Lim Man-seok pointed to the sofa with a gesture.

It was a sign to sit and talk.

Kang Cheol-woo sat quietly in the seat opposite the two siblings.

While keeping his back straight, he placed the documents he brought in his hand on his knees.

Chairman Lim Man-seok's voice echoed in the office.

“What happened?”

“I will speak according to what has been grasped so far.”

Kang Cheol-woo took a short breath and continued speaking.

“First, since the Chairman's borrowed-name account and borrowed-name stake list were leaked to the outside, I re-screened the personnel who can directly access the Chairman's materials. There is something that was revealed in that process.”

Lim Hye-seon tilted her head slightly and asked.

“What does that mean?”

“It is the day you looked at the Chairman's will.”

The air in the Chairman's room became slightly heavy.

Kang Cheol-woo took out a photo.

“On the day the Chairman called Lawyer Ju Yeong-gil and revised the will. After finishing the work, Lawyer Ju Yeong-gil headed to a hotel. There, he disguised it as a meeting with his spouse, but the reality was that it was a plan devised to meet President Lim Do-hyun.”

Vice Chairman Lim Do-kyung's eyebrows twitched.

Lim Hye-seon also clenched her hands placed on her knees.

“Do you mean to say Do-hyun and Lawyer Ju met at a hotel that day?”

“Yes, according to the testimony of the spouse, Ms. Seo Ja-yeon, she witnessed her husband meeting President Lim Do-hyun at a hotel late in the evening on the day the Chairman's will was modified.”

He paused for a moment and then continued with a firm voice.

“The people who know the Chairman's borrowed-name account and stake list are extremely limited. It is the Chairman, Lawyer Ju Yeong-gil, and me. Considering even the circumstance that he met President Lim Do-hyun at a hotel that night, it is highly likely that the two already conspired.”

Lim Man-seok's gaze deepened.

“…Is there clear evidence?”

At the Chairman's question, Kang Cheol-woo quietly rummaged through the inside of a file.

Soon, several sheets of printed recording transcripts along with a small USB were placed on the table.

“It is this, Chairman.”

Lim Hye-seon and Lim Do-kyung's gazes turned to that side at the same time.

“It was handed over by Lawyer Ju's spouse, Ms. Seo Ja-yeon. It seems she had secretly recorded the conversation between her husband and President Lim Do-hyun at the hotel. Originally, it seems she had kept it to gain even a slightly advantageous condition in the divorce lawsuit. Yesterday, our person-in-charge met her, presented a certain amount, and had her hand it over to Taeseong's side.”

Lim Hye-seon's eyes widened.

“Then, that means this is a recording file?”

“Yes, she was quite a clever person. It seems she had been suspicious for a long time that her husband was siphoning off her and the children's portion. She must have needed decisive evidence.”

When the words reached that point, the inside of the office became quiet again for a moment.

The gazes of the three people merely hovered over the recording transcript left alone on the table.

Rather than pressing the play button right now, the problem of how to unravel this was a more headache-inducing problem for them.

Lim Hye-seon carefully opened her mouth.

“No matter what is inside that recording, the article itself has already gone out. The fact that there are borrowed-name accounts, and also that a separate list exists.”

She chose her words for a moment and then looked at her father.

The two siblings had not known about the borrowed-name accounts themselves, and it was like being hit in the back of the head overnight.

Furthermore, the news that the will had been revised was also something they were hearing for the first time.

Lim Do-kyung let out a sigh.

“It is not that we will interfere with father's personal assets... but because it is a matter that burst out suddenly, it is a bit embarrassing.”

Lim Man-seok, who was silently watching that appearance, slowly changed his gaze.

A chilly anger spread in his eyes that had been deeply sunken.

Strength was put into the hand placed on the sofa armrest.

A low voice flowed from him.

“…That fellow Do-hyun. The will, the borrowed-name accounts, and the list are all my burdens.”

His voice cracked little by little.

“But that son of mine conspired with a legal representative and communicated secretly at a hotel!”

In the middle of taking a breath while being unable to continue speaking for a moment, the air inside the office sank more heavily.

Lim Man-seok narrowly suppressed and swallowed his anger while slowly continuing his words.

“Phew. Since it is certain that it was something Do-hyun did, now I must think about how to settle it.”

His gaze was still burning.

Now it was time to push emotions back and think about how to pull down Do-hyun and Ju Yeong-gil.

How to protect Taeseong.

At that time, a knocking sound came from outside the door.

A secretary came in and handed a printout to Kang Cheol-woo while speaking.

Kang Cheol-woo checked it first, and his eyebrows twitched slightly.

Lim Man-seok asked.

“What is it?”

“Breaking news is continuing to follow. Now it has exceeded the level of media reports... the public sentiment is unusual. You must see this.”

A tablet screen was placed on the table.

On the first screen of the main portal site, large red letters were floating.

[<Breaking News> Prosecution reviewing all-out investigation into Taeseong Group Chairman Lim Man-seok's borrowed-name property.]

[Key figures of the ruling party, ‘No looking the other way.’ Foretelling strict response to chaebol corruption.]

[National Pension Service hinting at ‘active exercise of shareholder rights’ regarding Taeseong stakes.]