Chapter 2 : CEO Go-Jong Tak

At my answer, the man’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

It was such a subtle movement that anyone else would have missed it, but for me, it was a sufficient answer.

“Hahahahaha.”

“I didn’t say anything, why are you suddenly laughing?”

22 years of secretarial life.

I’m specialized in reading and interpreting the meaning behind another person’s gaze or gesture.

Without such ability, I wouldn’t have been able to reach this position.

“Amazing. How did you know?”

“Well. You’d be even more surprised to hear this.”

I gave a bitter laugh at the man’s question.

Actually, on the surface, there was no reason to suspect CEO Go.

Today, by the CEO’s directive, I received an unprecedented special promotion, and that was the reward for dedicating my life.

There was no employee in Lee and Yeon’s history who’s loyal like me.

Lawyers are evaluated by their performance, but employees only receive overtime pay.

The only thing that bothers me is that I hold too much information.

I gathered all my strength and lifted my head, which kept drooping downwards.

“Are you going to keep listening like this cowardly, CEO Go?”

Ever since I woke up in this place, there was one strange thing.

I felt a presence.

So at first, I thought it was that man’s.

He was the only person visible in the dimly lit space.

But even as I spoke, I couldn’t shake off a sense of incongruity.

At that moment, something suddenly came to mind.

What kind of guy Go Jong-tak was.

“I’ve been loyal to you, CEO, for almost 20 years. Isn’t it a waste to just watch from behind?”

The silence continued.

Perhaps it was a delusion because I was too broken.

But what about this?

“Ah, now that I think about it, there’s a report I couldn’t give you because I left in a hurry.”

Go Jong-tak would never overlook this.

So, if this was truly a delusion, it would be right for there to be no response.

But.

“It’s about the Han Joon case.”

“How did you know I was here?”

Go Jong-tak is a suspicious person.

But the man he entrusted the job to mishandled it, so I’m still alive.

I, who was supposed to die in a traffic accident in a taxi, as originally planned.

Then, if I were Go Jong-tak, how would I have moved?

‘He’d be anxious. So this time, he’d try to make sure I’m dead.’

That’s why he would have moved immediately upon hearing that I was still breathing.

This place must be a secluded spot where such movements wouldn’t be caught at all.

“Your moves, Go Jong-tak, are obvious.”

“What?”

“Why? Did you expect me to still treat you respectfully after all this?”

“You’re disrespectful, not even recognizing the grace of being taken in for almost 20 years.”

“Ahaha. That was the funniest thing I’ve heard recently… Ugh.”

Before I could finish speaking, lightning struck before my eyes.

The man next to Go Jong-tak had slapped my cheek.

“Secretary Kim, if you want to die gently from now on, you’d better watch your mouth.”

“If you were going to kill me gently, you shouldn’t have dragged me to a place like this in the first place.”

Then I wouldn’t have felt this horrible pain and betrayal.

I glared up at Go Jong-tak, my eyes stained with blood.

“Since when have you been trying to kill me?”

“My question comes first. What were you going to report to me?”

“Ah, that.”

Actually, I had half-guessed Han Joon, but I didn’t know it would be the right answer.

The starting point was simple.

He wouldn’t have tried to kill me simply because I knew too much.

If that were the reason, I would have disappeared from this world long ago.

“Well. What could it be?”

It’s too unfair to just die like this.

Even if I’m going to die, I need to know for sure why this happened to me.

I forcibly squeezed out a sense of composure.

Because the more I provoked him, the more likely he was to show an opening.

I would dig into that.

“I was going to let you go, considering our past relationship, but I guess that won’t do.”

At Go Jong-tak’s signal, the man swung his fist, clad in a leather glove.

“Ugh.”

Iron-like fists poured down mercilessly.

I writhed in pain and screamed.

“Aargh!”

“How about it? Do you feel like talking now? What were you going to report about Han Joon? Did you perhaps leave any materials in the office?”

So this was it, after all.

Since I handled so much information, he was worried that there might be important data related to Han Joon among them.

Then why would this be a problem?

On the surface, we’re just providing consulting to Han Joon.

“Why? Are you afraid I might have obtained slush fund data?”

It seems everything I say is the correct answer.

Even as my vision blurred, I let out a hollow laugh.

Han Joon, more precisely, Han Joon Industrial. A company that ranks among the top 15 in South Korea’s business world, solely through trade.

At least outwardly.

Han Joon Industrial was able to reach that position solely through trade due to a long-standing collusion with the government.

It started with smuggling, and then it expanded into defense, specifically weapons, and even specialized services.

The most suspicious thing here is defense.

This was the reason I targeted Han Joon in the first place.

Military-related cases are tied to national security, so they cannot be handled by general courts and prosecutors.

That’s why there are military courts and military prosecutors, and to handle those, you’d need to be a special prosecutor…

‘This is it.’

I said in a confident tone.

“A special prosecutor bill will be submitted to the National Assembly soon, won’t it?”

Indeed.

It was too big, way too big.

The fact that I wasn’t given information about the special prosecutor meant that CEO Go deliberately omitted it.

That’s probably because I was negative about Han Joon from the start.

‘CEO, as you can see from the data I submitted, Han Joon seems a bit risky.’

Actually, I had even understated that a lot.

I couldn’t tell the CEO, ‘Why are we taking on this kind of trash?’

A secretary isn’t in a position to give opinions, so saying even that required courage.

Because that statement meant, don’t work with a place like that.

‘There’s no business without risk. Secretary Kim, you know that well.’

So, why is a person who knows that doing this?

Their supply list included USBs costing hundreds of thousands of won each.

What kind of special function could possibly justify such a price?

However, my opinion was completely disregarded.

Contrary to the report’s findings, Han Joon became Go Jong-tak’s client.

And that was already 9 years ago.

“I am mandatorily scheduled to be summoned.”

If the special prosecutor bill passes the National Assembly, I will inevitably be called in.

Even a little investigation would reveal that I hold a vast amount of the CEO’s information.

That, of course, includes Han Joon’s data.

And information accumulated over 9 years.

‘I didn’t even know that and thought the deal with Han Joon was over.’

The bitter taste rose in my throat as I recalled what CEO Go had told me recently.

‘Director Kim. Perhaps I should have listened to you then.’

‘What do you mean, CEO?’

‘About Han Joon.’

At first, I thought he was reflecting on the past.

‘Does that mean you’re going to pull out even now?’

CEO Go just smiled faintly without a word.

It was CEO Go’s unique way of affirming something.

‘But that wasn’t it; he was just reassuring me.’

Go Jong-tak was deeply involved in the creation of slush funds.

Doing things that couldn’t be done openly, working with that author.

‘Perhaps it could be more than that.’

Whatever it was, he was disgustingly intertwined.

I spat out blood and desperately racked my brain.

“As expected, Director Kim. Han Joon-related data would have been filtered and delivered initially, but you deduced this far. You’re so smart, how can I let you live?”

“Go Jong-tak!”

I screamed, consumed by rage.

I felt so pathetic and pitiful for dedicating my life to a man I didn’t even know was like this.

I was so angry, but the reality of being able to do nothing felt even more miserable.

As if reading my mind, Go Jong-tak grinned maliciously and lifted my chin.

“It’s quite a shame though. A capable slave who’s loyal like a dog, like Director Kim, is hard to find.”

“Dog, slave…”

I never knew the person I’d been loyal to my whole life thought of me like that.

No, did I even know anything properly?

What in the world did I live for all this time?

Just as he said, I worked like a dog, barely having time to spend my salary, so the money piled up in my bank account remained untouched.

It was because after my parents’ death, I had made CEO Go the reason for my life.

Because if even that was gone, there would be no goal left in life.

‘Looking back now, didn’t he exploit even that feeling?’

All I ever spent on myself my entire life was fare for commuting and clothes.

I only ever went between work and home, so I never even bought a pair of pretty sneakers.

It was just the same old shoes I’d worn for years.

The more I thought about it, the more wronged and resentful I felt.

“It looks like there’s nothing special related to Han Joon after all. What a waste of time.”

Just as I tried to find out why I was going to die, Go Jong-tak had been testing me all this time.

It would be troublesome if the Han Joon data was really in my hands and in a place he didn’t know about.

“If there was something to screw me over, you wouldn’t be making such a frustrated expression.”

This is all I can figure out for now.

I’ve extracted as much information as I can with what I know.

So there was no need to hide my expression anymore.

Instead, I can do this.

I forced strength into my head, which kept drooping downwards.

And I spoke with as much sincerity as possible.

“Indeed, your ability to recognize people like dogs is truly outstanding.”

“What?”

“Well, to climb to the CEO position with such mediocre abilities, you’d need something like that… Ugh.”

“Shut up.”

Go Jong-tak’s lifelong trauma.

It was his lack of ability.

Compared to other lawyers, he had an inferior academic background, family, and started later than his peers.

‘Go Jong-tak himself claims he’s from a prestigious school.’

It wouldn’t have been such a poor academic background elsewhere.

It was a mid-tier university in Seoul, after all.

But this was Lee and Yeon.

A place filled with monsters.

If he didn’t have the ability to recognize people to exploit where needed, he wouldn’t have reached this position.

He even got into this firm because he buttered up a judicial research and training institute professor.

Yes.

While they were professors at the institute, outside, they were prominent figures in the legal community.

Even at Go Jong-tak’s command to shut up, I scoffed with all my might.

“Hahaha. It’s the same now, isn’t it? Is all of this part of your plan?”

“What?”

As I got closer to the truth, a thought suddenly struck me.

Go Jong-tak is deeply involved in Han Joon’s corruption, but is that really the end of it?

Did Go Jong-tak even have the capability to use such a person as his limb?

I scanned the man standing silently next to CEO Go.

‘There’s not a hint of wavering in his intent to kill someone.’

This meant it wasn’t his first time.

I looked directly at Go Jong-tak and said.

“With that pathetic ability, could you even pull off something like this alone—”

I couldn’t continue speaking.

Go Jong-tak, consumed by an inferiority complex, had picked up the iron pipe lying on the floor.