He wasn’t simply enjoying his honeymoon. Dowon was now holing up and sharpening something.
Though it wasn’t clear what he was aiming for, an ominous premonition that the blade’s edge was pointed at him ran down his spine.
“The inheritance Seong Yeohwi brought, are you planning to use that as a weapon?”
Do Jingyu furrowed his brow and cupped his chin.
“But still, that would only be pocket change, not much at all.”
As far as he knew, the inheritance Chairman Seong left behind only had high nominal value, and there weren’t many assets that could be immediately liquidated. At best, it would be enough for Dowon’s maintenance costs.
Yet it was on a scale that required the legal team to move in utmost secrecy.
“Is something hidden……?”
Do Jingyu’s eyes glistened with suspicion.
Could there be slush funds that the dead Chairman Seong had separately hidden away for his grandson? If Dowon had found them and intended to use them as live ammunition to attack him, the story would be different.
“Just in case, I should thoroughly dig into this again. Huh?”
Do Jingyu tapped the desk with his finger.
Dowon was a threatening opponent even alone.
But if he had gained a financial backer with enormous capital, especially mysterious funds whose identity was unknown, that would be a threat. Even more so if that backer was a naive child that Dowon could manipulate as he pleased.
‘Could it be that Father had this in mind too……?’
The sudden political marriage. He thought it was a welcome declaration to completely exclude Dowon from succession candidacy. If he’d been mistaken, it would be a disaster.
“Director Kim.”
“Yes, President.”
“Reinvestigate the scale of Chairman Seong’s inheritance comprehensively.”
“Pardon?”
“What we know might not be everything. Besides the reported inheritance, hidden slush funds, borrowed-name accounts, overseas corporations……”
Do Jingyu leaned forward and growled lowly.
“Don’t miss even a single rat, dig up and bring everything. How much the exact scale is, where it was hidden.”
“Understood. I’ll start immediately.”
“And, change the target. Don’t think about hitting Dowon. That bastard has no openings. Touching him now would just create more problems.”
“Then, who…… do you mean?”
“Seong Yeohwi.”
The corners of Do Jingyu’s mouth rose smoothly.
“If that bastard is Dowon’s money line, we need to cut that line first.”
“Should I proceed with a background investigation as well?”
“Yes. Very thoroughly.”
Delight mixed into Do Jingyu’s voice.
“From when he was born until now, dig up even the air that bastard breathed in and out. Did that inheritance really pass cleanly? In the process of that young bastard inheriting alone, was there tax evasion, illegal gifting, or…… disputes with relatives?”
He was certain.
Where there’s money, there’s no cleanliness. There’s no rich person who doesn’t produce dust when shaken. If there isn’t any, just put dust on them and create it.
Seong Yeohwi was Dowon’s legal spouse, and had been proclaimed as his husband in name and reality at the founding party. So if Seong Yeohwi collapsed, Dowon would fall together with him. He would become the most useful weapon for Do Jingyu.
“And one more thing.”
Do Jingyu added.
“Find his weakness. Not money, but people. Whether it’s a tutor he relied on in the past or a kicked-out relative. Find someone who would stab that bastard in the back if given money.”
“Understood.”
After Director Kim left, a heavy silence once again settled over the president’s office.
Do Jingyu looked down at downtown Seoul visible through the window.
“Wonah, you impudent bastard. How dare you covet my position?”
He glared in the direction where Dowon’s mansion would be, far away.
“Sometimes I want to lock you in the attic and beat you thoroughly with a rod like when you were still young…… That expression when you clung to me crying and begging is still vivid in this uncle’s eyes.”
The storm had not yet arrived.
But the black clouds were already silently gathering above the roof of Dowon’s mansion. They were the thunder clouds that had followed him all his life.
***
Before long, the tail of the season was changing.
In the place where the bright sunlight beating against the windows had subsided, traces of autumn descended.
The clear and blue summer air now settled heavily, carrying the smell of rustling fallen leaves, and the greenery of the garden surrounding the mansion was also dyed with colorful autumn foliage.
The sun that used to linger even at late hours now set earlier with each passing day, drawing the windows into deep blue darkness.
Within that flow of time, Dowon’s study was a sealed room cut off from the world. A secret place where stifling silence, the scratching sound of fountain pens, typing sounds, and the irregular breathing of two people intersected.
Seong Yeohwi had long lived as Dowon’s shadow. Every morning he commuted to the study and memorized and memorized again the vast amount of materials and specialized knowledge Dowon threw at him.
It was teaching in the style of dropping him off a cliff without any mercy, but Yeohwi didn’t run away and took on those fierce waves with his whole body.
His determination to somehow accomplish it led him forward, and thanks to Yeohwi following along better than expected, a subtle change also occurred in the atmosphere between the two.
Though it was a coexistence connected by education and surveillance under the rigid justification of a transaction, the temperature when their eyes occasionally entangled while meeting tired gazes late at night or when exchanging brief conversations was slightly different from before.
For instance, you could call it a bond connected by a shared purpose.
Though it was merely a temporary alliance before the conclusion called divorce, at least for now they could be accomplices preparing for the day of decisive battle while sharpening their blade together.
And finally, that time came.
“The ownership structure of Stone, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) established in the Cayman Islands, is, on the surface, distributed among numerous borrowed-name accounts.”
Yeohwi swallowed his dry saliva inwardly and pulled out one by one the sentences he had engraved in his mind. His protruding Adam’s apple bobbed greatly with tension. The air in the study swayed precariously like a stone tower stacked high to its limit.
“However, if you trace back the source of the funds, it matches exactly with the dividend flow from the unlisted stock of Taesung Logistics. Do Jingyu tried to launder these funds and participate in KD Construction’s paid-in capital increase to strengthen his control.”
Dowon was leaning obliquely against the edge of his desk.
His lips firmly closed with his arms crossed. Blue veins stood out on his forearm with rolled-up shirt sleeves.
His black eyes without luster persistently chased after Yeohwi’s lip movements, not missing even the trembling of his eyelashes.
“Therefore, we……”
Yeohwi caught his breath for a moment. A drop of cold sweat ran down his temple.
“We need to induce Stone’s debt default through an offshore fund and force liquidation of Do Jingyu’s borrowed-name stocks held as collateral. The funds needed at this time will be procured through the convertible bonds I inherited.”
The moment the last sentence ended, only heavy silence remained in the study.
From Dowon’s expressionless face, his thoughts were completely unreadable. Only the ticking sound of the antique clock in the study filled the space.
Yeohwi clenched his fists tightly. His shortly trimmed nails dug into his palms, leaving crescent-shaped marks.
The pounding of his heart was clear enough to be heard in his ears.
Was it wrong? Was it too fast?
His long index finger tap, tapped his own crossed forearm. That regular beat grated on Yeohwi’s nerves.
“……Dowon-ssi?”
Dowon slowly raised his body.
As his figure approached, a huge shadow engulfed Yeohwi. A cool cedarwood scent was felt.
Yeohwi unconsciously shrank his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut. In case he’d be scolded again. In case he’d face another heartless judgment of being insufficient.
“Open your eyes.”
He slowly lifted his trembling eyelashes. Right before his nose, at a distance where breath could touch, Dowon was looking down. Close enough to see his own reflection in his pupils.
“Pass.”
“……What?”
“You did well. Not a single particle wrong.”
The moment those low, heavy words pierced his chest, Yeohwi’s legs nearly gave out and he almost collapsed. His fingertips gripping the desk turned white.
The hardships of the past month, the times he stayed up all night gulping down bitter coffee, passed like a revolving lantern. The words “you did well” that came from those dry, red lips that had never given a single word of praise. The weight of those words was so sweet.
“Then, is it really starting now?”
Yeohwi asked in an overflowing voice. His clear, excited eyes sparkled as they caught the light.
“Yes.”
Dowon turned his body and walked to the world map occupying one wall of the study.
His long, straight finger pointed to a spot in Europe, a small country nestled beneath the Alps. Yeohwi inwardly admired how even each joint of his fingers, each action was elegant and powerful.
