Chapter 444: I Made the First Move

The sudden gunshot made Black Secret staff members shield us with their bodies.

None of us had been hit though.

When I opened my eyes I saw the pistol had fallen from Han Ji-ho’s hand.

Blood was flowing from his hand.

Turning my head I saw smoke rising from the gun in Manager Ma’s grip.

Manager Ma had shot at Han Ji-ho’s hand.

“Boss are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“I apologize. He suddenly turned his gun toward us so I fired without permission.”

Manager Ma apologized but I patted his shoulder saying,

“You were protecting me Manager, no need for apologies.”

Seo Jae-hoon was staring down at Manager Han Ji-ho with cold eyes.

He’d ordered them to put down their weapons but Han Ji-ho hadn’t listened.

He’d turned his gun from Lee Seok-min toward me and tried to pull the trigger.

He’d disobeyed Seo Jae-hoon’s orders.

“Manager Han.”

“Ugh… argh.”

“Manager Han!”

Han Ji-ho looked up while clutching his hand which was spurting blood like a fountain.

“What have you done?”

“Vice Chairman… it’s all over now.”

“What? What’s over? Why are you disrespecting me too?”

“…”

Despite Han Ji-ho bleeding from his wound Seo Jae-hoon showed no concern.

Only faint traces of anger and bewilderment showed on his face at Han Ji-ho’s disobedience.

“CEO Kim Mu-hyeok! What’s going on here? That bastard just pointed his gun at me didn’t he?”

General Park Ji-hoon’s face had turned red with anger.

“Yes that’s correct. My secretary acted first because it was urgent. I apologize.”

“No it’s fine. But how did he even have a gun in the first place?”

Though Manager Ma had used his gun too there were no comments about that.

But Han Ji-ho turning his gun on General Park Ji-hoon was different.

A civilian possessing and attempting to fire a gun was already a serious issue.

In Korea only the military was authorized to use firearms.

While police could use guns too their use was restricted.

After calming Park Ji-hoon I turned my attention to An Hyun-soo.

He clearly hadn’t anticipated this situation judging by his flustered expression.

Lee Seong-jae asked An Hyun-soo with a stern face,

“Team Leader An.”

“Yes Commissioner.”

“Can you explain what’s happening here? I can’t understand why guns are floating around so freely in South Korea…”

“I’ll bring in my team immediately and arrest everyone.”

Lee Seong-jae shook his head firmly, clearly dissatisfied with An Hyun-soo’s response.

“No no. I’m not telling you to make arrests. Who tipped you off about this place? Bringing the entire SWAT team suggests you anticipated something like this.”

“…It was an anonymous tip.”

An Hyun-soo lied. He probably couldn’t admit Seo Jae-hoon had called him here.

I let out a hollow laugh and looked at Lee Seong-jae.

He too seemed incredulous heaving a deep sigh while glaring at An Hyun-soo.

“Anonymous? You brought everyone out for an unverified tip? You expect me to believe that? Since when does the Incheon Police SWAT team move on such flimsy intel?”

Lee Seong-jae’s initially calm voice grew increasingly angry.

“Did police deployment protocols change without my knowledge? Or did you have other motives?”

“No sir!”

“Then explain properly. Why did you deploy here? Otherwise I’ll have to report this to headquarters for an audit. Want to make things difficult for your team members because of you?”

Nobody was completely clean. From simple entertainment to taking pocket money from local entertainment business owners it was all common practice.

And once an audit began the headquarters audit team would turn everything inside out.

Those with plenty of dirt naturally cowered at just hearing the audit team’s name.

Even if this was An Hyun-soo’s independent action it could affect the team members who moved with him.

Using the team members as leverage An Hyun-soo bit his lip hard and said,

“Manager Han Ji-ho contacted me.”

“Han Ji-ho?”

When Lee Seong-jae asked dubiously I pointed at Han Ji-ho and said,

“That’s Han Ji-ho the one who got shot in the hand.”

Lee Seong-jae nodded and asked again,

“So what did this Han Ji-ho tell you that made you ignore jurisdictional boundaries and deploy with heavy arms?”

“…He said armed suspects would enter the villa and to arrest them all.”

“Damn it. Are you saying you moved the SWAT team on a personal request?”

Lee Seong-jae kicked An Hyun-soo hard in the shin again with his dress shoe.

“Argh!”

Though An Hyun-soo stepped back with a loud cry Lee Seong-jae growled even more fiercely.

“You bastard. Stand up straight! Can’t tell shit from soybean paste? What you did was use the police like a private security company. You must know that. How much did they pay you! How much did they pay you to do this?”

The police SWAT team had more lenient firearm use conditions than regular police like the military.

That meant they had to go through complex procedures to mobilize. They couldn’t move without the Commissioner’s orders.

“Is Commissioner Han involved in this too?”

“N-no sir.”

“Choose your words carefully. If this was your independent action things get worse. Did you really act alone?”

“…It was my independent action.”

An Hyun-soo answered after a beat only denying the intent to kill.

His response was essentially admitting they’d tried to frame someone for a crime.

Lee Seong-jae was so angry he started stuttering.

“Y-you… you crazy bastard. Hand over your gun.”

An Hyun-soo who’d been keeping his head down finally looked up.

“Hand over your gun you bastard! Someone like you doesn’t deserve to carry one.”

“…That’s beyond your authority. You can’t take my gun Commissioner.”

“Oh really? So that’s how you want to play it?”

Lee Seong-jae looked at me speaking with eyes still blazing with barely contained fury.

“CEO Kim please disarm this bastard. I’m asking as a favor.”

“Yes Manager Ma please take care of it.”

Following my order Manager Ma approached An Hyun-soo.

An Hyun-soo shouted and reached for his holster but stopped when Black Secret’s guns turned toward him.

“I’m going to disarm you. Don’t resist. You’ll get hurt.”

Manager Ma began removing An Hyun-soo’s weapons one by one.

Seemingly resigned An Hyun-soo closed his eyes and didn’t resist.

“CEO Kim Mu-hyeok.”

Park Ji-hoon called out to me.

“Yes General.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Hmm…”

I pondered Park Ji-hoon’s question. Should I send everyone away and kill Seo Jae-hoon?

It seemed wasteful to just kill him now after waiting all this time.

Now that we had proper evidence it would be better to destroy him thoroughly.

After coming up with the most rational but ruthless way to corner Seo Jae-hoon I said,

“Let’s have Commissioner Lee Seong-jae arrest Seo Jae-hoon and the guards. We need to uncover their crimes through proper investigation.”

There were limits to what Park Ji-hoon could do as a soldier.

In the end the police had to handle criminal matters.

“If you transfer Seo Jae-hoon and his people to headquarters in Seoul I’ll handle things from there.”

Things would get easier once they were transferred to headquarters.

I had many people there after all starting with the Police Commissioner General who was on our side.

Lee Seong-jae and Park Ji-hoon nodded.

“Let’s do that then. But what are you going to charge Seo Jae-hoon with? Do you have evidence that he directly used or ordered the use of guns? We can’t charge him without evidence.”

While CCTVs covered everything from the mountain entrance to the villa entrance there wasn’t a single camera inside.

But I had something better than cameras. I glanced at Lee Seok-min and asked,

“Manager Lee Seok-min. Do you know anything?”

Everyone turned to look at Lee Seok-min. Under their gazes he sighed and said,

“…Let’s go down to the basement first. There’s something you need to see.”

If it was Seo Jae-hoon’s doing Patrick’s corpse would surely be in the basement. Pretending ignorance I asked,

“The basement? What’s in the basement?”

“There’s a corpse.”

“What? A corpse? Someone died?”

Lee Seong-jae asked startled.

When Lee Seok-min nodded Lee Seong-jae pressed his temples.

A corpse would make things more complicated so his head must be hurting.

“Sigh let’s go check the basement then. CEO Kim.”

Despite his name being mentioned repeatedly Seo Jae-hoon stood quietly without any reaction.

Lee Seong-jae spoke to him,

“Vice Chairman Seo Jae-hoon please come with us.”

“I’ll stay here.”

Seo Jae-hoon refused to come along. We could have forced him but didn’t bother.

Lee Seok-min led the way and we went down to the basement.

Walking down the stairs we saw a thick iron door.

Opening the iron door revealed a pitch-black basement without a trace of light.

The stench of blood permeated the darkness where we couldn’t see an inch ahead.

Lee Seok-min entered first and felt along the wall.

Lights came on in the basement. Finally we could see inside.

There was a figure slumped in a chair tied up. No calling it a corpse mangled beyond recognition would be more accurate.

They’d have to investigate properly but it was likely Patrick’s body.