The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 105



Only Noblemtl

I received a brief report that evening.

There was nothing different.

“Are they both people who just do their own work diligently?”

“Of course, reporter Kim Il-seon didn’t seem to be all that diligent, and he seems to have been busy recently with a special feature article on corporate mergers and acquisitions.”

“Attorney Hyun-gyu Kim said that he has been looking for work here and there these days because there is no work at Kim & Chang. He said that he often went to Wonju Pharmaceutical, where he used to know me.”

“You even went to Wonju Pharmaceutical?”

“Yes. Wonju Pharmaceutical was asking researchers who had merger and acquisition issues to prepare a class action lawsuit.”

“Class action suit?”

“Yes. It seems that Dream Castle forcibly laid off half of the researchers during the merger and acquisition process.”

[Dream Castle Acquisition and Merger]

I wrote some words between the two.

I was quietly looking at the letters and asked Hyuna.

“Put the company data you researched today on your desk and leave work. Send me the address of Dream Castle headquarters now.”

“All right.”

“Thank you all for your hard work today. Let’s meet again tomorrow at this time with more information.”

As I was about to rush out, Hyejin asked.

“But, where are you going, inspector?”

“I’m going on a business trip to meet the boss. What are you doing? Ji-cheol. I have to drive you.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

Gangnam Yeoksam-dong.

The evening building radiating brilliant light in the middle of it all.

I checked the address HyunA sent me.

Dream Castle.

It was dinner time, so I headed to the lobby while everyone was leaving work.

“I came to see the chairman.”

The girl working in the lobby sees me.

“Did you promise?”

“My name is Kang Ji-hyeok, prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office.”

I presented the certificate to her.

“If I submit this, will you give me a temporary pass? I need to take it to the president’s office.”

“You cannot meet the Chairman without prior arrangements.”

I scratched my head and said, taking out my cell phone as if I had no other choice.

“Then there are only two ways for me to meet the chairman? One is to obtain a search and seizure warrant and go in right away, and the other is to obtain an arrest warrant and arrest him now and then see him in the interrogation room… How about calling the prosecutor general and asking him?”

“Hold on a second. I’ll call the secretary’s office.”

The person in charge sitting in the lobby hurriedly picked up the phone.

I pressed the speakerphone on the phone.

“If you do that······.”

“Let’s do that. If we do what you said earlier, will you be able to continue working here? Isn’t Dream Castle such a good company?”

The person in charge did not respond.

The call was heard on speaker phone.

“Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok has arrived in the lobby.”

– Kang Ji-hyeok? That handsome prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok that appeared on TV? Why that crazy guy?

I spoke quietly but clearly.

“Is this the secretary’s office? I’m not crazy, I’m prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok. I need to meet with the chairman, but I forgot to get an arrest warrant. What should I do? Should I apply for an arrest warrant now and go in?”

There was silence for a moment.

And then a thick male voice came over the speakerphone.

– Bring him to the 20th floor. Be careful not to upset him. I’m sorry for calling him crazy in the secretary’s office earlier, Inspector Kang.

“No. You don’t have to feel sorry. The biggest problem is the chief of the central investigation department who suddenly asked us to come without prior arrangements. Do we, as practitioners, have any power?”

Tiit.

The secretary hung up the phone without answering.

I smiled and said to the pale-faced manager.

“They asked me to bring you… If you give me a temporary pass, should I go alone?”

“Oh, no, sir. Please follow me.”

Kindly, she gave her fingerprint.

A small drawer opened, and inside he took out a gold-framed pass and let me in.

“Are you building a nuclear weapon in the Dream Castle president’s office? It’s quite complicated.”

“We don’t make nuclear weapons. We used to be an IT company, but now we’re just a company researching vaccines.”

“You work in the lobby, so you don’t know much about the company?”

The only place she followed me was an elevator.

‘It’s a similar system to the Heavy Water Supply Department? It’s a separate direct elevator? It’s more secretive than I thought.’

Let’s show the gold bordered pass,

Tiing.

The elevator came down quickly from the 20th floor, making a squeaking sound.

“Let’s go, Inspector Kang.”

“Go as safely as possible, sir.”

* * *

20th floor.

On the top floor, which was connected to the roof of this building, there were only the secretary’s office and the president’s office.

Next to it was what appeared to be a legal team.

I passed by and checked.

‘The legal team is with the security team. There are seven people in the security team and five people in the legal team?’

It was an appropriate number given the current size of Dream Castle.

They were guarding the owner of this dream castle, Yoon Tae-soo.

‘What is the owner? In a stock company, the shareholders are the owners.’

With that thought in mind, I walked down the hallway and opened the heavy door leading to the chairman’s office.

Squeak.

It was connected to the secretary’s office.

“Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok?”

“What are you doing?”

Two men held out a basket in front of me.

Although they were both wearing suits, the riot batons were visible through the gaps in their clothes.

‘He’s a bodyguard with a police background······.’

The two of them took out a piece of A4 paper and read it bluntly.

“Please give me your cell phone, recorder, weapons, etc. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this is essential······.”

“It’s not even the Blue House. I can’t even memorize it all, so I’m writing it down on paper and reading it. I didn’t even bring anything like that.”

I heard the voice that was on the phone earlier.

The main character had a thick voice.

“Here, please sign here.”

“Hello, Prosecutor Kang. I am Kim Se-yoon, Chief of Staff and Head of the Legal Team.”

Height over 185 cm.

A sturdy body that seems to weigh over 90kg.

There’s a stylish style with long, slicked-back hair.

He seemed to be a man in his late 30s.

“This is a pledge to take full legal responsibility if a problem arises in the chairman’s office or if secrets are leaked. As you know, the prosecutor does not have much legal effect.”

“Sir, you are well aware that unilateral notification in such a coercive situation is not legally recognized, right?”

“I won’t say much, since you know it well, sir. This is just a minimal device. So please sign.”

I signed the paper with the thick, round-tipped marker he held out to me.

‘You use a wide, rounded one in case someone messes with the pen?’

He put the paper I had signed into a file and stood in front of the chairman’s office.

“You can come in here. Chairman Yoon Tae-soo is a sharp person and hates making loud noises.”

I smiled, touching my horn-rimmed glasses.

“I also hate being loud, so that’s good.”

Wheein.

When Kim Se-yoon placed the gold pass he was wearing around his neck on the door, the door opened smoothly.

“You must have been rubbing it often. The wooden door hardly makes a sound.”

“Until last year, we used to rub it with vinegar, but starting this year, we will apply oil. Inspector.”

“That’s a good change. It’s really hard to rub it with vinegar······.”

That’s how I finally met Chairman Yoon Tae-soo.

I greeted him and closed my eyes for a moment.

‘The cub is not just a kicker of the Dream Castle.’

It was a name I had repeated countless times since that unforgettable day.

He was the guy who put a bullet directly into my head on that unforgettable day in the future, saying that hunting was his hobby.

Finally, I was deeply moved to be able to meet him in person like this.

Still, I greeted him as if nothing had happened.

Cool your head.

That’s how I intended to treat him.

The back of my head feels tingly, but······.

I decided to treat it that way for now.

“This is Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok of the Heavy Investigation Department.”

“It must be Prosecutor Kang of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. The Central Investigation Department is not a position or rank, is it? It’s not even a company.”

“Yes, sir, that’s right.”

“I’m sure you knew this, but this is Yoon Tae-soo from Dream Castle. Sit comfortably on the sofa over there.”

I sat on the sofa next to a table that looked like a dolmen, like something out of an alien flying saucer, in the center of the chairman’s office.

‘Isn’t that the lucky meteorite table?’

The table that looks like a dolmen is a meteorite from the moon.

I already knew it was worth billions.

I saw an interview from the future where Dream Castle said it was doing well after purchasing the meteorite table in England.

‘So, from now on, Dream Castle will start to rise?’

While looking at the meteorite table, Yoon Tae-soo asked.

“What kind of car would you like?”

“Something that smells good.”

“It smells good······.”

He spoke to his chief secretary, Kim Se-yoon.

“Se-yoon. Black tea from England. Bring that out.”

“That’s what the Chairman cherishes the most······.”

“So. Come out.”

“All right.”

“There’s no need to go that far with your favorite tea. Something like chrysanthemum tea would do.”

“No. This is the level of treatment that Kang Ji-hyeok, the next ace of the Heavy Water Division, deserves.”

How much does this kid know?

About me.

I’ve had a lot of good teas, but this black tea is definitely on a different level.

Huruk.

Yoon Tae-soo drank his tea noisily and then asked me.

“Why are you looking for me in the Heavy Water Division?”

“I did some research.”

I took some papers out of my pocket and placed them on the meteorite table.

Yoon Tae-soo looks at the documents with an interested expression.

“It’s my habit to present the evidence first······. That document. It’s the Wonju Pharmaceutical document that was recently acquired and merged.”

Huruk.

I also drank my tea noisily.

Yoon Tae-soo continued to look at the documents.

I continued the story.

“Even though the company looks shabby, it is strong in new drugs and vaccines. Just six months ago, the company’s corporate value soared to 200 billion won. There was even talk that a Japanese pharmaceutical company would buy it for twice as much. That document is an email from a conversation with the Japanese side at that time.”

“How did you get this information?”

“I can’t tell you everything, but the Central Investigation Department is the best prosecution organization in South Korea. It’s even more so than you think, Chairman.”

I continued speaking, making the usual larger hand gesture with my index finger and thumb.

“But four months ago, there was a fire in an important research lab at that company. And one of the key researchers died.”

I spoke while tapping the third document with my finger.

Director Kim Se-yoon spoke to me with a flushed face.

“Who is tapping on the document you are looking at right now?”

“I’m telling you this because I don’t think the chairman has gone through with the documents. Hey, Mr. Kim Se-yoon. Lower your voice. What are you doing so ignorantly? It’s making my head spin.”

“What? What did you just say······.”

Kim Se-yoon approached with a fierce face.

“I told you to keep your voice down. I told you to.”

I glared at him and spoke coldly.

“Director Kim. Be quiet. The inspector is talking.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman. I must stop because I was being too reckless.”

“Can I continue with the reason for your visit, Mr. Chairman?”

“Okay, Inspector Kang.”

I took another sip of my tea and continued to explain why.

“The company’s value has dropped because of the fire. On top of that, research data has been lost in the fire, and the most important researcher has died… It makes sense, right? But then….”

widely.

I said, hitting the meteor table with my palm.

“Dream Castle approached me in an exquisite way and swallowed up the company for only 48 billion. It was really a honey trap.”

“Is it a problem for the prosecution to buy a struggling company cheaply?”

“No, that’s not a problem at all. But the fire is a problem.”

Bam.

I hit the fifth document in Yoon Tae-soo’s hand with the back of my hand.

“After investigating, I found out that, contrary to rumors, all the hard disks in the research lab where the fire occurred were gone. The data wasn’t lost in the fire, but rather had already been taken out before. They even cleared out the internal server?”

I took out the black straw I had secretly brought with me.

“Besides, there’s something strange about the autopsy results of the researcher who was burned to death.”

He whispered while holding the straw to Yoon Tae-soo’s neck.

“A straw hole was found in the neck. The autopsy results showed that the body was partially burned, but that he had already died before that. No ash was found in the lung area. So, he died first.”

Hold on.

I said, gently pressing the straw against Yoon Tae-soo’s neck.

“More than 4 liters of blood flowed out, and the body was not only burned on the neck and chest. He was sitting on a chair when he was hit. That’s why the autopsy results were so accurate? Isn’t it amazing? Chairman Yoon Tae-soo.”