Chapter 95: A Clean Way to Resolve the Problem

"...Ugh..."

The consciousness of Today News CEO Kim Mansu, who had been lying unconscious like a corpse, slowly began to return.

But something was wrong.

He remembered drinking the water the secretary had brought during his conversation with Department Director Cha Jiham before falling asleep.

Then why was there a stale, moldy smell irritating his nostrils now?

On top of that, he could clearly feel a hard surface beneath his back.

Sensing that something had gone terribly wrong, Kim Mansu fully regained his senses. He hurriedly sat up and looked around.

"W-What is this?!"

The spacious room contained a table surrounded by four iron chairs.

Beside the table stood two barrels, whose mere presence looked highly suspicious.

Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heartbeat, he climbed off the bed and looked inside one of the barrels.

It was half-filled with concrete.

"They're... they're going to seal me inside a barrel..."

The horrifying realization made his legs go weak, and he collapsed onto the cement floor with a dull thud.

Knowing he couldn't simply sit there doing nothing, he rushed to the basement door and desperately pulled on the handle, trying to escape.

But, as though proving that bad premonitions always came true, the basement door was firmly locked.

From that moment on, his every thought was consumed by his primal instinct for survival.

Bang! Bang!

He pounded on the basement door with all his strength and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hello! Is anyone there?! Help! Somebody save me!"

Click!

At that moment, the basement door opened.

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan entered together with Executive Director Cho Myeongjeong and several of their men.

Each of them carried a one-meter iron pipe.

The instant Kim Mansu grasped the situation, he dropped to his knees on the cement floor and pleaded.

"C-Chief Secretary Kang, please spare me!"

"You can relax. We have no intention of killing you right this moment."

So you'll kill me eventually?

The words reached Kim Mansu's throat but never escaped.

Displaying superhuman restraint, he forced himself to remain silent.

Kang Inhan looked at the blackmailer, who was trembling violently, before turning toward Security Team Leader Jeong Gwangseok.

"Well then, shall we begin questioning this man and Reporter Hong?"

"Yes, sir."

After tying Kim Mansu's hands and feet with rope, Jeong Gwangseok seated him in the chair opposite the table.

Soon afterward, Korea Investment employees brought in Reporter Hong Yeonggi, whose hands and feet had likewise been bound, and seated him beside Kim Mansu.

Looking back and forth between the two trembling captives, Kang Inhan spoke in a chilling voice.

"You understand why those barrels are here, don't you?"

Instead of answering, Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi merely nodded frantically, their entire bodies shaking.

"I'm glad you understand. I have no intention of granting either of you an easy death. I trust the message is clear."

"...B-But we haven't committed any crimes."

"Oh? Can you honestly swear that with your hand over your heart?"

"...I swear."

After a long silence, Kim Mansu forced out the lie, clearly hiding something.

"Listen, Director Kim. Do you take us for fools?"

"..."

"It seems neither of you fully understands the situation you're in."

Boom!

The moment Kang Inhan finished speaking, Jeong Gwangseok viciously kicked Kim Mansu square in the chest.

Still tied hand and foot, Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi toppled sideways together with their chairs.

Immediately afterward, the Korea Investment employees began beating them with iron pipes.

Curiously, however, they deliberately avoided striking their faces.

"Cough... Ghaa..."

"P-Please..."

The basement filled with screams and agonized cries.

No one showed the slightest mercy.

Eventually, both captives lay limp on the cement floor.

The employees then brought buckets filled with water and dumped them directly onto their faces.

Splash!

After reviving them, they lifted the two men back into their chairs.

Kang Inhan looked at the battered prisoners, who were trembling like leaves in the wind.

"Director Kim, I imagine you're dying to know what's going on."

"...Sob... Yes. P-Please... I'll do whatever you ask."

"Very well. Satisfying your curiosity before sending you to the next world isn't such a bad idea."

"T-The next world?!"

"Why pretend to be fools in front of professionals? Have you ever heard of the Hweyang gang that dominated this country's underworld ten years ago?"

"The Hweyang gang?!"

Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi cried out in unison, terror spreading across their faces.

"I'm glad you've heard of it. Director Cho and I once led that organization while serving our Chairman."

"So we've long since investigated every crime the two of you have committed," Cho Myeongjeong continued. "I'll list them one by one. Tell me if I get anything wrong. You've committed two crimes against our Department Director Cha Jiham."

"But today was the first time I'd ever met Mr. Cha!"

"Is that what you think? Director Cha was also present at Juya last night."

Kim Mansu's vision went dark.

He hadn't even known Cha Jiham had been there, yet he had shamelessly lied right to his face.

But what could he do now?

The dice had already been cast.

"...Please forgive me."

"I thought you'd deny everything until the bitter end, but you confessed so easily. Remarkable. Instead of crawling before Director Cha and begging for forgiveness, you even demanded money from him. Don't you think you've gone a bit too far?"

"..."

"And there's something else. At the end of January last year, you investigated the hit-and-run at the intersection near Jonggak Station, didn't you?"

"...I did."

"The young woman Chen Shao struck was named Cha Hyeonji..."

"N-No way..."

Kim Mansu instinctively interrupted him.

"Exactly. Miss Cha Hyeonji is Director Cha's only younger sister. If you hadn't sold those investigation materials to Li Jiahan, our Director wouldn't have had to work himself to exhaustion just to pay her hospital bills. And the witnesses to that accident certainly wouldn't have been mercilessly murdered."

Kang Inhan swept an icy gaze over Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi before continuing sternly.

"Because of your greed, innocent witnesses lost their lives. I consider you a direct accomplice of Li Jiahan. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"..."

Bang!

Kang Inhan slammed his palm onto the table with tremendous force.

"Answer me!"

"I committed an unforgivable sin... I'll accept any punishment... I beg you, just spare my life..."

Kim Mansu muttered weakly, fully aware of the gravity of what he had done.

"And those aren't your only sins. You obtained information about the past of the famous blogger Park Sowon and extorted one hundred million won by threatening to publish it. On top of that, at the end of last year you discovered that a popular actress had given birth to a child out of wedlock..."

One after another, Kang Inhan methodically listed every crime they had committed.

Ashamed and terrified, the two men simply lowered their heads.

"...After committing so many vile acts, you still dare cling to life? Ridiculous."

"..."

"We'll put both of you into those barrels and sink them to the bottom of the East Sea."

The atmosphere changed instantly.

Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi threw themselves from their chairs onto the cement floor, kneeling and desperately begging for mercy.

Kang Inhan remained completely expressionless.

"Give me one reason why either of you deserves to live."

"W-Well..."

Kim Mansu faltered, unable to come up with a single justification.

"Team Leader Jeong, pack them into the barrels."

"P-Please... Spare us!"

Both men cried out together, barely holding back their tears.

Deciding they had suffered enough, Kang Inhan switched from the stick to the carrot.

"You pathetic worms."

"Y-You'll spare us?"

"I'll let you live under three conditions."

"What are they? Tell us! We'll do anything!"

"We intend to shut down your garbage outlet, Today News, completely. Therefore, the first condition is that you sell Today News to our company. The purchase price will be one won."

Kim Mansu knew the demand was utterly absurd.

But he had no choice.

"I agree."

"A wise decision. The second condition is that you compensate everyone who suffered because of your actions..."

"I'll obey any order you give, Chief Secretary Kang!" Kim Mansu interrupted.

"That's the second time you've interrupted me during this conversation. If you do it once more, don't expect mercy."

"...My apologies."

"We'll handle compensating the victims ourselves, not you. But you understand what you'll have to provide for that to happen, don't you?"

Kim Mansu instantly grasped the hidden meaning.

Kang Inhan wanted him to empty his pockets and surrender every bit of his hidden fortune.

...I'll give them half. That should be enough.

Just as he was about to answer, Hong Yeonggi quietly whispered,

"Director... Chief Secretary Kang knows absolutely everything we've ever done."

Kim Mansu silently thanked the reporter.

He had already experienced firsthand how powerful Korea Investment's information network was, yet he had still been trying to conceal part of his fortune.

Instinctively clutching his neck, he answered,

"I'll hand over every single won. I won't keep anything."

"Good. And how much have you hidden?"

"Around twenty billion won."

Internally, Kang Inhan was rather surprised.

According to their own estimates, Kim Mansu's secret assets amounted to roughly ten billion won.

Not a single muscle moved on his face.

"If you'd named a smaller figure, you'd already be inside one of those barrels."

"I'm telling you the truth."

"I believe you. Now listen carefully to the third condition."

"Yes."

"Tomorrow morning, both of you will go to the police and turn yourselves in."

Kim Mansu's list of crimes was extensive.

If all of them were proven, he faced at least ten years in prison.

How could he possibly agree to that?

"But..."

Kang Inhan immediately understood the source of his hesitation.

"Should I take that as a refusal?"

"..."

"So you've completely forgotten how to be afraid."

Right on cue, playing his assigned role perfectly, Cho Myeongjeong entered the conversation.

"Chief Secretary Kang, what if we simply send them out of the country instead?"

"And what do we do when they secretly come back later?"

"If we submit statements detailing their crimes to the police, the cases will remain suspended while they're wanted. That means they won't be able to return until the statute of limitations expires."

"Hmm..."

Kang Inhan deliberately paused, pretending to consider the suggestion.

Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi stared at him with hopeful eyes.

Finally, after a long silence, he spoke.

"Director Kim, what do you think of Director Cho's proposal?"

"I completely agree with Director Cho!"

"Very well. Then it can't be helped. Is there a particular country you'd like to go to?"

"We'll leave that entirely to your judgment, Chief Secretary Kang."

"How about New York in the United States?"

"What?! New York?!"

Kim Mansu cried out in astonishment.

He had never imagined such a turn of events.

In reality, Kang Inhan intended to send Kim Mansu and Hong Yeonggi to the United States solely so they could be placed under the supervision of the Gomez family.

Naturally, neither captive had the slightest idea of his true intentions.

"You can enter the United States without a visa, but after three months you'll become illegal immigrants. Do you still want to go?"

"It would be the same in any other country."

"If that's truly what you want, then I'll send you there."

"Thank you very much!"

"There's no need to thank me. But before your flight to America, there are a few things you'll need to take care of. You remember what they are, don't you?"

He was referring to selling Today News to Korea Investment for virtually nothing and handing over every bit of their hidden wealth.

"Yes. We remember perfectly."

"Good. Team Leader Jeong, take them away."

Thus, quietly and cleanly, the matter of Kim Mansu and his publication, Today News, came to an end.