The Japanese restaurant with separate private rooms even had doors, so you couldn't see inside. It was nothing like a barbecue place, reeking of grilled meat.
Secretary Kwon Jae-hong, who arrived after being contacted by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Dooyoung, frowned. It was because Park had failed to fulfill the request he had made.
"I'm disappointed."
Downing a glass of liquor in one go, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park swallowed a piece of sushi whole.
"He had the surveillance recording."
"That's impossible. The police already confirmed everything during their investigation."
In other words, the surveillance footage had already been taken care of in the police investigation stage. And not just once, but checked thoroughly several times.
Hearing that the local police had fabricated evidence, Park Dooyoung only tasted bitterness on the tip of his tongue. But he wasn't a rookie who would let such feelings show.
"His bodyguard seems to have taken it. That's for you to find out."
Flustered, Secretary Kwon belatedly realized it must have been Section Chief Kim Myungjun. Since it was an internal company matter, he didn't ask in detail.
"...How do you suppose he got it?"
"I wouldn't know. But if he was there when the police raided the club, he would've had the chance. If he was close to Choi Minhyuk at the time, he could have slipped the recording out early."
"Ugh."
Seeing Secretary Kwon take the hit straight on, Park Dooyoung felt fairly satisfied as he grumbled.
"I do trust Vice Chairman Choi, but this incident is disappointing. If they had used that recording to stab me in the back, my situation would have been very difficult. The same goes for others as well. Imagine if that damage had fallen entirely on Vice Chairman Choi."
Secretary Kwon stepped back slightly and poured him another drink. A faint smile had appeared on his lips.
"I'll look into it again."
Ha, I knew it. Only an idiot would trust the likes of you.
But Park Dooyoung didn't voice that thought as blame toward Secretary Kwon. Instead, he also wore a faint smile and kept up small talk.
"Even if it failed, I invested a lot into this case. As I've mentioned several times, I want to work at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office."
Every prosecutor dreamed of getting assigned to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, but such an appointment wasn't easy. Even Secretary Kwon would need to pull a lot of strings.
"That matter will work out."
"But after seeing how this drug case turned out, I'm not so sure."
"I'll look into it again."
"I'll trust you."
The two men exchanged drinks, each harboring thoughts of their own.
Of course, Secretary Kwon's mind was complicated with the report he had to make.
It wasn't even that difficult a job, yet failure. This is a headache.
⸻
KM Group, often called the pioneer of Korea's electronics industry with its color TVs, semiconductors, and electronic watches, had recently begun to feel the limits of its growth and was searching for a breakthrough.
That breakthrough was entry into the non-memory semiconductor field.
The problem was that entering this field required astronomical amounts of capital.
KM Group had been conducting repeated research to secure this capital and advance into the non-memory sector.
Vice Chairman Choi Moonkyung continued to search for alternatives to raise funds.
"How's the mood with the European delegation this time?"
"France, Germany, and the U.K. governments seem positive. France especially showed strong interest in economic restructuring and investment cooperation."
"And on our side?"
"Yes. They didn't doubt the potential of the non-memory sector at all. Britain and Germany both said they could invest depending on the terms."
"Good."
But when Secretary Kwon entered, he dismissed the Planning Director and the planning team staff from the Vice Chairman's office.
He snatched up a newspaper on his desk, its headline covering suspicions of preferential treatment for a chaebol heir in a drug case, and threw it down.
"What's this about the club employee supplying the drugs? And how the hell does Minhyuk, arrested on drug charges, just walk free?"
"They're saying it was an error."
"Secretary Kwon, do you hear yourself? No matter how incompetent the Korean prosecutors are, how do you arrest a guy caught red-handed and then immediately let him go without charges?!"
"Well...apparently another surveillance tape was found."
He frowned, since he too had heard about the chaebol heirs from top-ten conglomerates who had been in that club.
"I thought everything had been cleaned up?"
"It seems Section Chief Kim Myungjun smuggled one out separately."
"Kim Myungjun…you mean Minhyuk's bodyguard?"
"Yes."
"If he took it upon himself to grab evidence, why didn't he report it to you?"
"I don't know."
Normally, he would've entrusted everything to Secretary Kwon, but he himself had persuaded Chairman Choi Yongwook to transfer part of Choi Byungmoon's shares to Choi Minhyuk. That had only been to make acquiring the rest of Byungmoon's shares easier.
It's far better to get shares through my father than to wring them out of Byungmoon. And it gained me some trust, too. The results weren't bad, but now this mess arises.
He had planned to use this drug case to send Minhyuk to prison briefly, so that acquiring the shares from him later would be easier.
But the plan had failed.
"His profile?"
"Here."
Vice Chairman Choi Moonkyung looked over Kim Myungjun's personnel file but found nothing unusual. Just that he had served in the military special forces, drifted through a few security firms, and was later appointed by Choi Byungmoon as his personal bodyguard. That alone made Moonkyung scowl.
"So he was Byungmoon's bodyguard?"
"Yes."
"Something's off….."
"He volunteered to protect the young master alone, and naturally became his official bodyguard."
"A peculiar fellow. Look into him thoroughly."
"Yes, sir. What about young master Minhyuk?"
At the words "young master," Choi Moonkyung grimaced but said nothing. He had already won full recognition from his father, Chairman Choi Yongwook, so Minhyuk was no longer necessary. Even if he had granted him independence as a gift for entering university, he still had to be cautious under the chairman's watchful eye.
"For now, nothing we can do. We'll have to wait for the next opportunity. But assign men to watch him around the clock. Opportunities will come easily enough."
"Yes, sir."
⸻
Because of the Real Name Real Estate Law, apartment prices had begun to fall. Real buyers were convinced that prices would sink into an unprecedented slump, so they sat on the sidelines.
Taking advantage, Choi Minhyuk bought a 100-pyeong (approx. 330 sq. meters) luxury apartment in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam, for 700 million won. He was satisfied both with the price and the view.
He even bought a separate 32-pyeong apartment for Section Chief Kim Myungjun.
Aside from being entangled with sociopath Vice Chairman Choi Moonkyung, there were some perks to being a chaebol heir, like being able to buy luxury apartments this easily.
The problem is, there's always an agenda behind this.
With Kim Myungjun's help, he had already altered what should have been his future—still being investigated at the Central Prosecutors' Office. Whether this was the past, or a dream, no longer mattered. What mattered was that the future knowledge he remembered was very accurate.
The problem was, with Choi Moonkyung keeping constant watch, he couldn't move recklessly. If he tried to buy stocks or real estate, Moonkyung would surely interfere somehow.
On a whim, Minhyuk stepped out for a meal.
He noticed Section Chief Kim's expression shift slightly as he followed beside him.
"Are we being tailed?"
"...How did you know?"
"Your face is too easy to read."
"...Yes."
He hesitated. After all, since handing over the surveillance tape to Park Dooyoung, Vice Chairman Choi Moonkyung must have already realized that Minhyuk had changed.
With that man's obsessive nature, he won't just sit back. That's the problem. I want to live quietly, but he'll never leave me alone.
Even receiving just a portion of KM Group shares meant hundreds of billions. Neither Moonkyung nor the other uncles had any intention of letting that wealth fall into Minhyuk's hands.
It didn't matter what Minhyuk thought.
Troublesome.
But he couldn't deliberately get himself jailed as a drug offender just to stay hidden. Especially now that Kim Myungjun's abilities had been exposed.
"Can you handle this quietly?"
The faint smile on Kim Myungjun's lips showed how much thought he had put into this.
"Take care of it discreetly."
"Understood."
Kim turned into a side alley that Minhyuk had just passed.
Out of curiosity, Minhyuk glanced into the alley.
Two men, frantically fleeing, suddenly rushed at Kim Myungjun when they saw him charging.
Kim crouched lightly, then sprang upward, spinning his right leg in a sweeping arc aimed at their faces.
The one slightly ahead took the blow square on his chin and flew backward. The other barely managed to block the strike.
Kim used the impact to float as if swimming through the air, then struck the second man's face with his other foot.
The impact slammed him into a wall, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to rise.
Landing, Kim drove his knee into the face of the first man, who was already down. The man foamed at the mouth and lay unconscious.
Kim picked up a stick from the wall and struck the man's knees several times before calmly turning back.
Those men had belonged to KM Group's unofficial security team, not amateurs by any means.
Yet in barely two minutes, they had been taken down without putting up any real resistance. Such a result was impossible without overwhelming skill.
Minhyuk smiled brightly at Kim Myungjun's overwhelming display of force and turned away.
As expected.
⸻
While sipping the hot broth of a pork bone stew, Kim Myungjun glanced at Minhyuk, who was staring at him intently.
Minhyuk slid over the kimchi dish with a smile.
"You seem to like kimchi. Have some more."
"Thank you."
But he felt a lump in his chest and couldn't keep eating.
Setting down his spoon, he let out a sigh.
"Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?"
"You're working hard, Chief Kim. That's what I've been thinking about."
"I'm only doing my job as a member of KM Group's security team."
"As my father's former bodyguard, you had no reason to volunteer to guard me."
"That's..."
"Ah, I'm not trying to pry into your background. But the two men you knocked out must've been from KM Group. Secretary Kwon likely manages them."
"I know."
"And since you crushed them, avoiding notice will be difficult now."
"..."
To be honest, Kim Myungjun didn't particularly trust Minhyuk. He had reluctantly taken responsibility for him, and had only been watching quietly.
Until now, Minhyuk had seemed timid and unremarkable. But now he seemed like a different person altogether.
As if reading Kim's thoughts, Minhyuk smirked faintly.
"My point is, Secretary Kwon will now investigate you closely. Which means I'll be able to avoid some of the attention."
"Are you telling me to quit?"
"No. The opposite. I'll take responsibility for the rest of your life. From now on, act however you like. Stir up as much trouble as you want. If we're tailed, take care of it however you see fit."
Usually expressionless like a robot, Kim Myungjun frowned deeply.
Minhyuk struggled to suppress a laugh.
"That way, I won't draw attention myself."
"Ah."
Kim roughly understood. It was because of the KM Group succession issue. But he also tilted his head slightly.
"Then what do you intend to do, young master?"
"I'm still thinking. Maybe play the part of a chaebol family's spoiled brat for a while. But there's that problem, too. Ideally, I'd like to avoid domestic scrutiny by using an overseas channel..."
Right now, Lee Jisoo must be working hard in the U.S., honing her skills. But I can't just reach out to her. And I don't have anyone I can immediately trust here.
He had spoken carelessly, but Kim Myungjun paused, then spoke.
"Are you talking about something like a shell company?"
"That works too. But with Vice Chairman Choi watching..."
Kim pulled a few documents from his jacket. To Minhyuk's surprise, they were papers for a paper company. Though the capital was small, it was immediately usable.
"...What's this?"
After some hesitation, Kim spoke with a strange look.
"President Choi prepared this before he passed away. He told me to give it to you if you ever said you needed it."
Because of a few simple words, Minhyuk realized his future had shifted slightly. Had he not spoken just now, Kim would never have revealed these documents.
"My father did?"
"Yes. It may sound strange, but the late President Choi truly loved you. He only stayed away because of the eyes around him. He told me not to stir up unnecessary trouble."
At that answer, something unimaginable in his dream, Minhyuk's body trembled. Kim also handed him a few photographs.
They were photos of Choi Byungmoon quietly watching over Minhyuk from afar since childhood. His eyes moist, he had gazed at his son blankly, filled with aching affection.
Minhyuk realized it wasn't mere chance that he had met Kim Myungjun, or that he had been brought into the main family.
He forced back tears as he looked up at the ceiling.
Was that so?
Kim, who had been watching him silently, also held an investigation report about Byungmoon's death. But he didn't hand it over, fearing Minhyuk might act rashly.