Early morning.
A silver BMW 540i rolled down the slope into the underground parking garage.
The fluorescent lights flowing over the hood accentuated the sleek, well-sculpted body of the car.
Since it was still before working hours, many parking spaces remained empty.
Jung Hwan-yeop smoothly guided the car into a wide spot beside a pillar, then stepped out of the BMW he had recently purchased with his bonus, carrying his briefcase.
He shut the door lightly and pressed the remote button. With a short electronic beep, both side mirrors folded in smoothly.
"Mm-hmm."
Hoping the stock price would rise again today, Jung Hwan-yeop—wearing a red tie—ran his hand over the BMW with an affectionate gaze.
"Heh. Aren't you a fine-looking machine."
It was a car that pleased him immensely—well worth investing his entire bonus into.
"See you after work."
Jung Hwan-yeop soon began humming to himself as he walked toward the elevator.
After pressing the button and riding up, he adjusted his attire while glancing at his reflection in the mirrored wall.
A moment later, with a soft ding, the doors opened. Stepping out, Jung Hwan-yeop stopped in front of the door to the Asset Management Division office on the left side of the corridor.
With the increase in personnel—and more importantly, now managing an enormous fund that had grown well beyond the trillion-won mark—the newly relocated office had been equipped with much stricter security measures.
He took out his employee ID card and held it against the reader mounted on the wall to the left. Then, after entering the access code on the keypad, the door unlocked with a click.
"Good morning, sir."
"Hello."
"Good morning."
As Jung Hwan-yeop entered the office, the employees who had arrived earlier—chatting over coffee—greeted him warmly.
"Good morning, everyone."
He waved one hand lightly as he headed toward his desk.
After placing his briefcase on top of it and removing his jacket to hang on the coat rack behind him, he was just about to sit down when Yoo Seok-hyun—who had recently been promoted to manager alongside Hong Jae-hee—approached and asked,
"Sir, have you heard the news about SA Oil?"
"Of course. The rumor spread all over Yeouido since last night. If I didn't know about it, I'd better pack up and leave."
Jung Hwan-yeop shrugged as he spoke.
Yoo Seok-hyun let out a small chuckle at his usual casual tone, but soon his expression turned serious.
"Throughout last year, while every other stock was struggling, SA Oil kept rising without any particular good news. I thought it was strange—and it turns out it was being manipulated behind the scenes."
"Even taking into account the stock split last November, the share price still jumped more than fourfold."
"That's right."
Hong Jae-hee, dressed smartly in a two-piece suit and wearing small diamond-studded earrings for a subtle touch of elegance, stepped into the conversation with a cup of coffee in each hand.
"With Saudi Aramco as the major shareholder, I think it makes this even more shocking."
Aramco was a state-owned oil company responsible for exploring and developing all of Saudi Arabia's petroleum resources.
In the aftermath of the IMF foreign exchange crisis, when the Iseong Group fell into financial difficulty, it sold off its stake to Aramco as part of a restructuring effort. As a result, SA Oil was spun off from the Iseong Group.
At the same time, the company changed its name from Iseong Refining to SA Oil.
"Just because a foreign company is the major shareholder doesn't mean the business is run cleanly. Large-scale accounting scandals have erupted one after another not only in neighboring Japan, but even in the United States, where capitalism is highly developed."
"That's true."
Beside Hong Jae-hee, who nodded in agreement, Yoo Seok-hyun spoke up.
"When the market opens today, the stock price is going to plunge, isn't it?"
"We'll be lucky if it doesn't go straight to the lower limit."
Jung Hwan-yeop took a sip of the coffee Hong Jae-hee had handed him.
At that moment, Assistant Manager Go Seong-gyu—who had recently transferred from Bluehole Securities to the Asset Management Division—carefully chimed in, gauging the mood.
"It's really fortunate that SA Oil wasn't on the purchase list when we made those large-scale acquisitions a few days ago."
"Hmm."
"Mm…"
The three of them exchanged meaningful glances.
"Uh… why? Did I say something wrong?"
Seeing Assistant Manager Go Seong-gyu flustered, as if he had made a mistake, Jung Hwan-yeop smiled deeply.
"You think it was a coincidence that SA Oil wasn't on the purchase list?"
"Are you saying it wasn't?"
The other employees in the office also seemed to perk up their ears, their attention shifting toward them.
With one corner of his mouth slightly raised, Jung Hwan-yeop replied in a relaxed tone.
"It may have turned out to be false, but regardless, even in a tough industry where all the other refiners were struggling, it kept posting steady operating profits. On top of that, most of its production was for export, and it offered relatively generous dividends compared to other domestic companies. Wouldn't it be stranger if the boss had accidentally left out such a solid stock?"
"Huh?"
Assistant Manager Go Seong-gyu, who had been wearing a puzzled expression, widened his eyes.
"Then are you saying he excluded it from the purchase list on purpose, knowing something like this would happen?"
"He didn't say so outright, but the fact that we bought everything except SA Oil—and then, almost uncannily, this incident breaks out—seems a bit too coincidental to be mere chance."
The stock's price trend had certainly been strong, and as a high-dividend stock, it had been widely favored.
On top of that, its price had fallen, making it an ideal candidate for buying at a low point—so leaving it untouched felt almost unnatural.
Jung Hwan-yeop grinned as he looked at Assistant Manager Go Seong-gyu, who stood there with his mouth slightly agape.
"Besides, SA Oil was part of our portfolio until just a few months ago—we sold it after locking in substantial gains."
"!"
At that final remark, Assistant Manager Go Seong-gyu felt as if he had been struck on the back of the head with a hammer.
The other employees, too, seemed not to have considered that far; they couldn't hide their shock as a wave of murmurs rippled through the office.
But long-time staff members such as Hong Jae-hee, Yoo Seok-hyun, and Noh Hee-won—who had witnessed Seok-won's moves on numerous occasions—had already suspected as much, so they accepted it without surprise.
In fact, watching the newly joined employees react in astonishment, they even wore faint smiles, as if recalling that they had once reacted the same way.
Jung Hwan-yeop lightly patted the still-bewildered Go Seong-gyu on the shoulder and said confidently,
"If you stay here, you'll have plenty more surprises ahead—so you might as well look forward to it."
***
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
Standing before the panoramic window of his office, Seok-won looked down at Olympic-daero, choked with traffic, as he spoke with Lee Cheol-gyun on his mobile phone.
"So they secretly siphoned off 100 billion won in company funds, opened more than 2,000 accounts under employees' names at six securities firms, and drove up the stock price through high-priced orders and wash trades, pocketing over 80 billion won in illicit profits."
[That's correct. On top of that, although both operating profit and net income had posted losses of tens of billions of won, they manipulated the accounting books to make it appear as though the company had recorded profits in the hundreds of billions.]
"Even accounting fraud alone would be a major scandal. But if the executives directly engaged in stock manipulation—and not merely to defend against a falling share price, but to line their own pockets—then there's no escape for them."
[There's more. Although it hasn't yet been reported in the media, there's an additional charge.]
"What is it?"
[Chairman Lim Young-seok, who has led SA Oil as a professional manager since 1991, allegedly created a slush fund exceeding 20 billion won, used tens of billions for lobbying and entertainment expenses, and has secretly concealed funds in 15 borrowed-name accounts to this day. The prosecution has uncovered this as well.]
Clicking his tongue, Seok-won spoke.
"Even based on what's been revealed so far, there's more than one or two charges. Not only the executives involved, but Chairman Lim himself will likely have a hard time avoiding arrest."
[As a matter of fact, the prosecution is expected to apply for a pretrial detention warrant for Chairman Lim Young-seok later today.]
Even though Chairman Lim Young-seok was a professional manager rather than a member of the founding family, it was generally customary in cases like this to conduct the investigation without detention.
But hearing that the prosecution intended to seek his arrest—just a day after executing the search and seizure, and against the head of a major oil refiner—Seok-won couldn't help but show a flicker of surprise.
"That's a rather unusual move. Is there a particular reason for it?"
[During the search and seizure, it was discovered that Chairman Lim had urgently convened dozens of senior executives that very morning, informed them that a prosecution investigation was imminent, and instructed them to systematically destroy evidence.]
"I see."
Seok-won nodded in understanding.
Even if it was the smallest player in terms of market share, a major oil refiner like SA Oil would have been more than capable of obtaining advance information about an impending search and seizure.
The real issue was that their attempt to destroy evidence beforehand had been uncovered by the prosecution.
[It seems they tried hard to find a way out, but their actions were far too clumsy.]
Lee Cheol-gyun remarked in a tone of disdain.
[They didn't even manage to dispose of all the relevant evidence left in the headquarters office. And even if they had destroyed everything, it would have meant nothing—the prosecution had already secured enough evidence and witnesses to prove the charges.]
Seok-won clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"They've only managed to add another charge to the list."
[Thanks to that, he'll be entering the detention center alongside the key executives and undergoing questioning together. At least he won't be lonely.]
Seok-won gave a small nod.
"If there's solid proof that he attempted to destroy evidence, the court is highly likely to accept the prosecution's request for a detention warrant."
[You could practically say the arrest is all but certain.]
Lee Cheol-gyun replied with confidence.
"It's all of their own making."
Seok-won felt the same and answered coldly.
He then adjusted his grip on the phone in his hand and continued speaking.
"What's the government's reaction?"
[It's quite an awkward situation. Just as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy was actively supporting the refining industry—drawing up strategies for the development of the petroleum sector, promoting exports of petroleum products, and pushing modernization of refining facilities—this incident has erupted.]
"They've been pouring in massive amounts of taxpayer money to back the industry, and now two major blows—stock manipulation and accounting fraud—have broken out at the same time. It must be a headache."
[There's also the relationship with Saudi Aramco, the major shareholder. More importantly, if a large refiner producing 179.89 million barrels of petroleum products annually were to be shaken, the negative impact on the economy would be significant. So it appears they'll likely frame this as misconduct by Chairman Lim Young-seok and certain executives, rather than an issue with the company as a whole, to prevent the fallout from spreading further.]
"That would probably be the best course of action."
Seok-won nodded in agreement.
With the credit card debt issue already looming, if SA Oil were to default at this point, not only the stock market but the broader economy could spiral out of control.
And there was one more thing.
'With only a few months left until the presidential election, they won't be able to ignore that either.'
If the stock market and the broader economy were to deteriorate ahead of the election, it was as obvious as fire that it would work against the ruling party.
From the standpoint of the Blue House and the Minpyeong Party, the best course of action was to contain the fallout by any means necessary and resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
After ending the call with Lee Cheol-gyun, Seok-won gazed out the window and murmured,
"At this rate, SA Oil's stock price is going to plunge even further."
As he stroked his chin with one hand, deep in thought, a knock came at the door and Na Seong-mi stepped inside.
"President Yoon Ki-hoon is here."
"Send him in."
"Yes, sir."
Na Seong-mi stepped aside and opened the door. Soon, Yoon Ki-hoon, President of Bluehole Venture Investment, entered in a gray suit and gave a respectful bow.
Seok-won gestured toward the sofa by the sunlit window.
"Have a seat."
"Thank you."
Seok-won took the center seat first, and President Yoon Ki-hoon followed, settling onto the sofa to his right.
Leaning back against the cushioned sofa, Seok-won looked at President Yoon—who sat upright with impeccable posture—and spoke first.
"You've probably heard that several navy personnel were injured in the recent clash in the West Sea."
"Of course. At least there were no critically wounded in life-threatening condition, which is a small relief."
"That's right."
Crossing one leg over the other, Seok-won continued.
"I asked you here because I'd like us to help the navy personnel who were injured."
Caught off guard by the unexpected proposal, President Yoon Ki-hoon looked at him with a hint of surprise.
"You mean… us?"
"That's right. And if we're going to step in, it would be even better to extend our support to the sailors who took part in the previous Battle of Yeonpyeong as well."
"…!"
TL/n -
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