Chapter 76: Suspect Kang Chahyuk
A little past 9 o’clock, detectives stormed into Dragon Holdings headquarters. With unsettling rumors already circulating about Executive Director Kang Sunhyuk and Managing Director Kang Dohyuk being attacked one after another yesterday, the employees became agitated when detectives showed up.
“Is Kang Chahyuk inside?”
The place the detectives were looking for was Director Kang Chahyuk’s office.
“What’s this about all of a sudden?”
The office secretaries blocked the detectives’ path, startled.
“We’re arresting Kang Chahyuk on charges of assault and conspiracy to murder Kang Sunhyuk and Kang Dohyuk.”
The detectives pushed past the secretaries and opened the office door. But inside was completely empty.
“Where did Kang Chahyuk go? Don’t tell me he hasn’t come to work yet?”
One of the detectives asked with a twisted expression. A secretary standing behind them looked inside, flustered.
“He was here just a moment ago…”
At the secretary’s muttering, the detectives exchanged glances and immediately made a call somewhere.
“Put out an APB on Kang Chahyuk. He might still be near Dragon Holdings, so search thoroughly.”
After the detectives rushed out, the office secretaries were left dumbfounded.
“Are they saying the Director tried to kill the Executive Director and Managing Director?”
It was a fact known to all Dragon Holdings employees that Executive Director Kang Sunhyuk and Managing Director Kang Dohyuk weren’t on good terms, but everyone was baffled to suddenly find Kang Chahyuk caught in the middle. Kang Chahyuk had always treated coming to work as if he were half on vacation. His personal secretaries knew this better than anyone. It was unbelievable that someone who walked around with such a carefree smile would suddenly try to eliminate both Kang Sunhyuk and Kang Dohyuk.
***
Yeon bowed as he entered the Managing Director’s office. The secretaries, now accustomed to his face hidden by a hat and sunglasses, returned slight bows. Some even offered gentle smiles.
Despite being careful, Yeon was discovered by the Managing Director’s office secretaries after just three days. No matter how much they tried to pass him off as a sugar baby, it was bound to raise suspicions when he followed Dohyuk to and from work every day. Just as he was getting uncomfortable with the secretaries’ strange expressions whenever they saw him, Yeon had briefly removed his hat and sunglasses while Dohyuk was away at a meeting. That’s when he ended up face-to-face with a secretary who had entered without knocking, assuming the office would be empty.
The secretaries found it easier to accept once Yeon’s face was revealed. They already knew him as the bodyguard who had saved Dohyuk’s life, so it made sense. They thought it was more typical of Kang Dohyuk to have a bodyguard than some suspicious sugar baby. Thanks to Director Choi covering things up well, the secret was kept from those outside the Managing Director’s office. As a result, Yeon found his time at the company much more comfortable.
“The police are here, and the company is in an uproar,” Director Choi reported.
Dohyuk looked up.
“It seems the men they arrested yesterday confessed that Kang Chahyuk instructed them. The police have named Kang Chahyuk as a suspect in the assault and conspiracy to murder both you and the Executive Director.”
Dohyuk’s eyebrow cocked up crookedly. While the case against Kang Sunhyuk made sense, it was strange that the police would also name Kang Chahyuk as a suspect in his own case. He had sent the man who attacked him yesterday to the police, but that man had insisted that Kang Sunhyuk was behind it. Had he changed his story? Or were the police trying to wrap up both cases at once?
Dohyuk himself believed both incidents were likely ordered by the same person. Could it really be Kang Chahyuk? Something felt off about that.
“What about the man we let go?”
“I was just about to report on that. Listen to this.”
Director Choi played an audio file from a tablet PC.
“It seems he wasn’t meeting anyone, but was on a phone call.”
Soon, a voice presumed to be the man they had released yesterday came from the tablet.
[Kang Dohyuk didn’t catch on, I think. …Yes. I told them it was Kang Chahyuk’s orders. …No, I wasn’t followed— Urk!]
The audio file cut off there. Yeon, who had been sitting on the sofa, jumped to his feet. He hadn’t been trying to listen, but being close by, he heard everything.
“Is he dead?” Yeon asked with a pale face. Dohyuk and Director Choi said nothing.
“Who on earth…”
“The real culprit, I suppose. Anything else?”
“After this call, the man’s location continued to move. There’s been no movement since dawn, so I checked his location, and it was here.”
Director Choi showed them the map. It was a remote hillside with nothing around it.
“They buried him,” Dohyuk said.
Yeon’s face hardened further. Dohyuk’s expression was equally serious. The man they had released to get some clues was now dead, so they were back to square one. The only certainty was that Kang Chahyuk wasn’t the culprit.
Was Kang Chahyuk being used too? First himself, then Kang Sunhyuk, and now Kang Chahyuk. Who would want to get rid of all the Dragon Holdings heirs at once? It was clear they weren’t targeting specific individuals but rather the heirs to Dragon Holdings.
Just who…
As his thoughts deepened, Dohyuk’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s Kang Chahyuk doing now?”
“Well… it seems he’s fled.”
“Haa…”
A long sigh escaped from pure exasperation. Fleeing in this situation only confirms that yesterday’s attacks were all Kang Chahyuk’s doing. The police would be more convinced that Kang Chahyuk was the culprit and would be desperate to catch him.
“Track Kang Chahyuk’s location. Catch him before the police do, by any means necessary.”
Rising from his seat, Dohyuk put on the jacket he had hung on the coat rack.
“Check if the Chairman has come to work.”
It seemed necessary to meet with Kang Mansik. With Dragon Holdings being shaken up to this extent, consulting with him would be appropriate.
“The Chairman is on a business trip to China.”
“China?”
He frowned, repeating the word because it seemed so random.
“I heard he was invited by a new Chinese buyer.”
Was there something going on with China that he didn’t know about?
“Find out who this buyer is.”
Nothing related to Dragon Holdings happened without going through Dohyuk. Even if business negotiations were still ongoing, it was strange that he hadn’t received any information about it.
***
Fuck, shit.
Kang Chahyuk cursed under his breath as he stepped on the accelerator. He couldn’t understand how things had turned out like this. Where exactly had it all gone wrong?
He’d had a bad feeling since receiving the report that Kang Sunhyuk had been attacked yesterday. When he first heard that a man disguised as a janitor had attacked Kang Dohyuk on his way to the conference room in the morning, he thought it was a common occurrence. Besides the sniper incident he had worked behind the scenes on, there was also someone who had rushed at Kang Dohyuk in the lobby last month threatening to kill him, so he hadn’t thought much of it. He assumed Kang Sunhyuk, who was seething over his mother’s death, was behind it.
But when he heard about the commotion in the executive parking lot in the evening, he had a bad feeling. One might think that the evening attack on Kang Sunhyuk was retaliation for the morning attack on Kang Dohyuk, but considering Dohyuk’s personality, that didn’t seem right. Kang Dohyuk wouldn’t move easily unless he was certain of something. But once he was convinced, he became completely different. He was the type to handle things quietly, without a trace, and with as few complications as possible.
The incident in the executive parking lot was too flashy for Kang Dohyuk. Moreover, they said Kang Dohyuk was the one who saved Kang Sunhyuk at the critical moment. Setting up an incident and then personally rescuing someone? Kang Dohyuk wasn’t the type to put on such a show.
Then who was it? Who was targeting Kang Dohyuk and Kang Sunhyuk? Dohyuk also suspected him of Kim Yumin’s murder, but it absolutely wasn’t him. He did want to deal a blow to Dohyuk because his influence was growing too large. He even thought it wouldn’t be bad to kill him if possible, which is why he had instigated Kim Seonuk to hire a hitman.
But Kang Sunhyuk wasn’t his target yet. Kang Sunhyuk, who appeared violent but had a soft side, could be manipulated later. There was no reason to threaten him by killing Kim Yumin.
No, who the real culprit was wasn’t important right now. Kang Dohyuk was suspecting him. His instigating Kim Seonuk had come back to bite him. Because of that, Dohyuk seemed to think all the other incidents were his doing too.
Am I going to take the fall for all of this? A chill ran down his spine. When Kang Dohyuk had come to confront him, he had been nonchalant, thinking there was no evidence—but the situation was becoming increasingly strange. With Kang Dohyuk and Kang Sunhyuk being attacked while he remained unscathed, even Dragon Holdings employees were whispering about whether Kang Chahyuk might be behind it.
It was all because of that bastard Kim Seonuk. That bastard went to Kang Dohyuk and revealed their connection, making him Dohyuk’s target.
What if Kang Dohyuk really did it all? What if his plan is to pin it on me?
Thinking about it that way made his blood run cold. Becoming Kang Dohyuk’s target was truly dangerous. It wouldn’t end simply with him stepping down from his director position at Dragon Holdings. Being half-brothers? That meant nothing to Kang Dohyuk. That bastard seemed like he could kill him without batting an eye, with a cold face.
This couldn’t continue. He had to do something before falling victim to Kang Dohyuk. The only clue he had to catch Dohyuk was Hovan Gallery, but despite digging into it for days, he couldn’t find anything useful. He felt like he was going to go crazy with all this frustration building up.
With his nerves already on edge, the detectives showed up. The moment he heard them say they had come to arrest him for conspiracy to murder Kang Dohyuk and Kang Sunhyuk from outside his office, he became certain he’d been set up by Kang Dohyuk. He escaped through the emergency exit he had prepared in his office, and the entire time he was fleeing to the parking lot, his thoughts of Kang Dohyuk made his teeth grind.
After driving far outside Seoul, the car finally stopped on a wide lawn. Standing in front of a large mansion overlooking Lake Cheongpyeong, Kang Chahyuk took a deep breath. Through the panoramic windows surrounding the living room, he could see someone moving inside.
This person was the only one who could help him now. He believed this person would protect him from Kang Dohyuk.
‘Strike Kang Dohyuk. Then I’ll give you what you want.’
It was this person who had been instigating Kang Chahyuk from the beginning.
