The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 446



Only Krnovel

446. An eye for an eye (1)

Taewoo Semiconductor Technology Development Team Leader Younggeun Jeong.

He had two affiliations and was very likely a spy.

However, I couldn’t pressure him without any evidence, so I had to start by verifying the information.

This is something Captain Kang specializes in.

If necessary, I could have borrowed Myeongdong’s power, but first, I decided to start with a simple background check from Captain Kang.

“Please do background checks on just one person. Please check everything from Taewoo Semiconductor’s Younggeun Jeong’s bank account to who he recently met.”

[What level of investigation intensity should be used?]

“First, check the information that can be quickly confirmed, and then check all the information up to your cousins ​​and 8th cousins.”

[I will investigate at the highest level. If you give me just one hour, I will check your account and report back to you, including any recent increases in assets.]

It didn’t even take an hour.

Less than 30 minutes later, I received a call from Captain Kang, who gave me much more information than I had expected.

[I checked all of Deputy Jeong Yeong-geun’s accounts, but no unusual transactions were detected. However, there is a record of continuous receipt of credit card cash advances. If you include credit loans, it exceeds 500 million won.]

“Is anyone in your family sick or hospitalized?”

[That’s not true. Both my parents are healthy, and I’m not married yet, so I don’t have any children or a wife. And I don’t own any apartments or buildings.]

Not to brag, but Taewoo Group boasts the highest level of annual salary.

Among them, Taewoo Semiconductor was paying a large amount of bonus every year.

There was no reason to take out a loan of over 500 million won when there was no one sick at home and we hadn’t bought a house.

And if it’s a general loan.

Whether you buy a car or a house, there is bound to be a record.

However, there were no records left for Deputy Jeong Yeong-geun, only records of money being spent.

“What are some things that would cost money on a regular basis?”

[I’ve only ever had one case like that around me. People addicted to gambling tend to show that tendency.]

“That’s highly likely. Put them under close surveillance 24 hours a day. And there will definitely be traces of money being received under someone else’s name. Find out quickly who received how much.”

After a brief phone call with Captain Kang.

I headed to the break room where Cheon Min-jeong was sleeping.

Even before opening the door, I heard groaning sounds, and when I went inside, I found Cheon Min-jeong sweating and having a nightmare.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Did you find anyone suspicious on the list?”

“I suspect Deputy Jeong Yeong-geun. There is a possibility that he is in contact with China’s Cheonghwa Group.”

“If it’s Tsinghua Group, it’s a Chinese semiconductor company.”

“I can’t move yet because I haven’t found any concrete evidence.”

“Can I look for evidence?”

Eyes that feel alive.

Cheon Min-jeong showed with her eyes that she was determined to catch the culprit.

“You’re not thinking of doing anything illegal, are you? If so, it would be safer to leave it to Captain Kang or another expert.”

“I plan to use a method that will never be detected. I plan to install a backdoor program through the company’s email and investigate what they do on their PCs and mobile phones.”

“You know that if you get caught, it becomes an illegal temple, right?”

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. If necessary, I’ll get Captain Kang’s help.”

In fact, it was a waste to put Cheon Min-jeong through this.

As the head of the Artificial Intelligence Center, she was also at the center of many of Taewoo Group’s affiliates’ core businesses.

But I couldn’t stop her.

Because it was a matter of pride and nothing else.

“Then, Director Chun will take care of the internal affairs of the group. Captain Kang will take care of the external affairs.”

“I will do that, and if the other party is Cheonghwa Group, I can guess to some extent what information they would want. So I will set a trap in advance.”

Cheon Min-jeong’s body became alive.

She was so proactive that I wondered if she was really the person who had been sick until just now.

***

After work, Captain Kang’s office.

Center Director Cheon Min-jeong was conducting a background check on Deputy Jeong Yeong-geun together with Captain Kang.

As soon as I arrived, they started pouring out all the information they had researched like a waterfall.

“I turned Deputy Jeong Yeong-geun’s cell phone into a zombie phone. I tracked everything from the messages he received recently to the sites he frequently visited. And the site he visited the most was illegal Toto.”

“Are you talking about illegal private sites?”

“That’s right. We have even secured information that hundreds of millions of won were lost through illegal Toto.”

Illegal Toto was a highly addictive form of gambling.

First of all, when money is involved, you end up watching minor sports games that you wouldn’t normally find interesting.

“I also have some new information. After looking into Manager Jeong’s family accounts, I found a record of 600 million won being deposited into an account under his grandmother’s name.”

“So you’re saying you sold your conscience for a mere 600 million won?”

“Where can a gambler have a conscience? Wouldn’t they do anything as long as it provides them with money to gamble?”

There is a reason why there is such a saying in gambling circles.

If your arm is cut off, you gamble with your leg, and if your leg is cut off, you gamble with your tongue.

So, you must have sold your conscience for a mere 600 million won.

A career as an employee at Taewoo Semiconductor was never worth less than 600 million won.

Since the annual salary increases are high and it is possible to retire after reaching retirement age, the expected income is over 2 billion won.

“Did you discover any connection with the Cheonghwa Group?”

“That’s the problem. It seems like they exchanged money and information through a broker. Deputy Jeong Yeong-geun can be arrested right away, but it’s difficult to touch Cheonghwa Group.”

“Then, how about we just leave Director Jeong Yeong-geun as he is?”

At the same time, Cheon Min-jeong and Captain Kang were looking at me.

They couldn’t hide their bewilderment when they were told to just leave it alone after all the hard work they had put into collecting evidence.

“Are you saying that we should just pretend it never happened and end it?”

“Will it be over once we deal with Manager Jeong? Wouldn’t it be better to create a spy we can control?”

“It’s a strategy to keep the enemy closer.”

“And if you intentionally contaminate the information that Manager Jeong can access and send it to Cheonghwa Group, wouldn’t they just be wasting their money and time?”

Chairman Jia Wei of the Tsinghua Group, whom I met in person, was a very greedy person.

He was the type of person who would do anything to achieve his goal of developing semiconductors, and rather than being alarmed by the thought of being caught by a single spy, he would move even more actively.

“Chairman, then can we send the malicious code along with the contaminated information? If you take our information, we should also take their information so that it’s fair.”

“If you don’t know that we did it, you can do anything. Are you sure about that?”

“With the servers we built in Southeast Asia and the VPN we built using encryption programs and artificial intelligence, you will never know who did it.”

In fact, I didn’t covet the information that Cheonghwa Group had.

However, in order to appease the vengeful Cheon Min-jeong, revenge was necessary.

“Director Chun, please proceed with the work the way you want.”

“I will move perfectly. And I will analyze the internal information of Cheonghwa Group to find out if there are any other industrial spies.”

“But Mr. Chairman, Cheonghwa Group is a company supported by the Chinese government. If things go wrong, it could escalate into an international conflict.”

Captain Kang said with concern.

But his worried words actually gave me a resolution.

“We just need to break the strong bond between the Tsinghua Group and the Chinese government.”

“In Korea as well as in China, the bond between alumni is considerable.”

“The stronger the bond, the more easily it cracks even from a small shock.”

At the center of China’s semiconductor boom was Tsinghua Group.

If we interpret it differently, if only we could bring down the Cheonghwa Group.

There was even talk that China’s semiconductor boom could not succeed.

Previously, I actually didn’t pay much attention to China’s semiconductor boom.

Because no matter how hard they tried, Taewoo Semiconductor was confident that it would be at least one step ahead.

But now I think differently.

I have to kick the ladder away so that the latecomers can’t get any closer.

Since they messed with us first, wouldn’t it be natural to retaliate in kind?

“Chairman, I have one more concern. Aren’t there more spies besides Manager Jeong? These days, I’m even worried that all the employees might be spies.”

“I will conduct a background check on all the employees at Taewoo Semiconductor and the Artificial Intelligence Center through personal lines. So please do not have any unnecessary suspicions.”

Where would there be a separate personal line?

I have no choice but to use the abilities I have to check each employee’s detailed information one by one.

It was a much faster and more accurate method than mobilizing Captain Kang or other organizations.

The downside is that it takes up too much of my personal time.

However, I was willing to devote my time to punishing those who were trying to take advantage of the technology that Taewoo Group had invested time and capital into developing.

***

The last month of 2016.

Around this time, we used to call in all the presidents of affiliated companies and hold a meeting of executives.

This time, we held a year-end meeting by inviting only Taewoo Corporation CEO Lee Jong-su, who was suffering from a large deficit.

“Thank you for your hard work this year. I always feel sorry that I have burdened you with too much.”

“No. It all happened because of my lack of ability.”

“If it weren’t for CEO Lee Jong-soo, Taewoo Corporation would have been in a much harder situation than it is now. We just have to endure a little longer.”

The meeting began with words of encouragement.

All of the group’s executives were contract workers.

Executives with poor performance had difficulty renewing their contracts.

In particular, the pressure to perform was even stronger for the CEO, so CEO Lee Jong-soo couldn’t raise his head and looked like a criminal.

“That’s really fine. And in the case of underground resources, didn’t sales increase significantly?”

“There has been an increase in the production of underground resources in Mongolia and South America. However, most of the revenues will have to be reinvested as infrastructure construction continues until the year after next.”

“It’s okay. Once the construction is finished, it will become Taewoo Group’s cash cow.”

Developing underground resources was not an easy task.

It was a long and expensive undertaking, but if properly developed, it was a business that could last for decades.

“The problem is Rocket. This year, it recorded a deficit of close to 2 trillion won. It has secured over 6 million subscribers, but it is spending a lot of money on infrastructure construction, including expanding its logistics center.”

“Once the rocket is in place, there’s no problem. Let’s just suffer for two more years. Are there any other problems?”

President Lee Jong-su sighs.

I guess the new burden I gave you this time was really heavy.

“Taewoo Shipping is also a problem. There are many problems due to shipping alliance issues. We are trying to reduce the deficit, but it is not easy.”

“Are you keeping a check on the shipping alliance?”

“From logistics costs to freight costs, shipping alliances offer lower prices. That’s why many companies are looking for shipping companies that are members of shipping alliances.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of that problem soon.”

President Trump’s inauguration is just one month away.

At that time, the shipping alliance problem that has been bothering President Lee Jong-soo will be resolved.

Because we plan to reorganize the new shipping alliance around Taewoo Shipping.