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Chapter 1 : Seeing the Future (1)
Chapter 1: Seeing the Future (1)
The chaebols were insane.
They even used their younger brother’s death as an opportunity.
They scammed tens of thousands of investors.
They even pinned the crime on their nephew.
Е n um a. ĭd
That was right.
It was my uncle’s story.
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To survive in this insane world, you had to be crazy about at least one thing.
So he decided he would go crazy too.
※ ※ ※
Yuseong Securities headquarters.
Е́ṅu ḿа . id
The area in front of the Yuseong Securities building, which had caused the largest financial fraud scandal in history, was packed with protesters.
“Punish the fraudster Lee Jaseong!”
“Full compensation for the victims!”
“Stop special treatment for chaebols!”
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The moment a black sedan came into view, hundreds of protesters surged forward and surrounded the car.
Pressed in by the crowd, the vehicle could only inch forward a few centimeters at a time.
Е̇ nù ma . і d
The driver, sweating profusely, turned back to look at him.
“Sir, wouldn’t it be better to turn back for now?”
“It’s noisy.”
“…Pardon?”
“Outside.”
He jerked his chin toward the window.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
At that moment, someone shouted, ‘Lee Jaseong, come out!’ and rushed forward. A red placard began slamming against the car with loud bangs.
After looking at the man for a moment, he turned his head back toward the driver.
“Could you turn on the radio?”
The driver turned on the radio and raised the volume to drown out the commotion.
Soon, the car filled with the voice of a news anchor.
— We will now move on to the next story.
Ẽ ń u m а
The prosecution announced that a criminal complaint had been filed against Yuseong Securities CEO Lee Jaseong on charges of fraud and breach of trust. The prosecution stated that CEO Lee Jaseong had...
His name came up at just the right timing.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The driver, flustered, hurriedly reached for the radio button.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll turn it off right away.”
He waved his hand to stop him.
“No, just leave it.”
Е.n̄ü ḿ ä
“Yes? But...”
“I’m curious. I might as well hear what kind of fraudster I supposedly am.”
At his indifferent tone, as if it were someone else’s business, the driver hesitated before focusing back on driving.
The news continued.
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He closed his eyes and listened to the anchor’s voice.
— CEO Lee Jaseong deliberately avoided auditing insolvent affiliates after taking office...
Ё n ǔ m̂а
False.
— CEO Lee Jaseong concealed risks prior to issuing corporate bonds...
False.
— CEO Lee Jaseong instructed the CFO to manipulate accounting records...
False.
— Meanwhile, investor losses are expected to exceed one trillion won. Approximately forty thousand individual investors are expected to suffer principal losses...
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True.
Ironically, among the countless statements, only the numbers were true.
One trillion won.
Forty thousand people.
Those numbers were the noose currently tightening around his neck.
And just like that, he became the protagonist of the ‘unprecedented financial fraud’ that caused one trillion won in losses and victimized forty thousand individual investors.
W̊ eb̄ n о̄v́ е̄ l Ěnu̇mа̄
‘And all within just three months of taking office.’
Wasn’t that a truly astonishing capability?
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After his parents had passed away.
As a third-generation heir of the Yuseong Group, he had taken office as CEO of Yuseong Securities.
That had been barely three months ago.
If this were true, it meant he had committed fraud at the fastest pace in history.
Ẇёb̄nõ v е l̃ Ė n̄umа̂
‘Who the hell wrote a script this sloppy?’
Korean prosecutors sometimes acted like idiots, but even they should know how flimsy this script was.
And yet they planned a large-scale investigation targeting a chaebol?
What kind of nerve did that take?
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‘I need to get into the company first and figure out what’s going on.’
The car finally broke through the crowd and arrived at the main entrance. Security guards cleared the way, and he stepped out of the car and headed straight up to the executive office.
Е ñu m̌a . i d̈
But the moment the elevator doors opened.
He had no choice but to stop in his tracks.
The executive office had already been completely ransacked.
Investigators were shoving documents into boxes as if they were rummaging through a warehouse.
Another one was roughly tearing down a painting worth hundreds of millions of won, as if handling a poster.
He warned the investigator.
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“Handle that carefully. That single painting is worth your ten years’ salary.”
The investigator jumped in surprise and carefully set the painting down. At that moment, a man wearing a long coat walked out from the inner room.
“You even know an investigator’s salary?”
“I know a prosecutor’s salary too.”
He replied while checking the prosecutor’s ID hanging from the man’s neck.
“If you quit that job right now and take on my defense, I’m willing to pay ten times that. What do you say, Prosecutor? Care to make a fresh start tomorrow?”
Ė ń u m_á .і d́
“You’re still awfully relaxed. Chaebols are all the same.”
The prosecutor sneered as he walked over and gave his shoulder a familiar pat.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“But I’ll pass. Being a prosecutor who catches chaebols is cooler than being a chaebol’s lawyer. I need to show that even chaebols are not exceptions before the law.”
He let out a snort of laughter.
“If someone heard you, they’d think you were a righteous prosecutor. Chasing shadows while leaving an innocent person alone.”
“What did you say?”
Ŵ еb ǹо̀.v е̌l̂ Еń.û mа̃.
“Forget it. Who planned this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Forty thousand individual investors suffering one trillion won in losses in just three months? I appreciate you thinking of me as such an extraordinary talent, Prosecutor. But we both know it. This was all planned. Who gave the order?”
From the moment the complaint had been filed with the prosecution that afternoon, to obtaining and executing a search and seizure warrant within just a few hours.
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It had been far too fast.
There were only a handful of people capable of pushing legal procedures forward at that speed.
Ӗ n̈u m̂ а̄ . і ď
The very top of the political sphere, or else....
Just then, the door to the executive office opened again, and a familiar voice rang out.
“Jaseong.”
He slowly turned his head at the sound of that voice.
Chairman Lee Jeonghwan of the Yuseong Group.
His uncle.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The moment the prosecutor saw his uncle, he hurriedly bowed. The insolent posture he had shown toward him vanished without a trace as he respectfully stepped back.
“Ah.”
Everything suddenly began to make sense.
He let out a hollow laugh.
“Of course. Who else but the chairman could give the prosecution permission to rummage through the Yuseong Group as much as they liked.”
“Jaseong.”
E ǹù mа. і̃ d́
“Since when was it? No—there’s no need to ask.”
The answer was already crystal clear in his mind.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Right after my parents passed away.”
Back then, his uncle had taken exceptionally good care of him.
Helping him through the inheritance process step by step, handing Yuseong Securities over to him, even personally giving him management lessons.
All to create a pretext for this very moment.
Е n̊u m а
His uncle spoke with a bitter expression.
“There was no other choice. The situation is serious. The losses are one trillion won, and there are forty thousand victims. The government had to calm the enraged public somehow. Someone from the Yuseong family had to go to prison. They needed an example.”
“And that someone was me.”
“You know why, don’t you?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“I know very well. Because I’m a nephew you can discard at any time, because my parents are gone so I have no backing, and because I’m young—perfect for dressing it up as ‘a lone crime committed by an inexperienced manager.’”
The more he listed them, the more cynicism seeped into his voice.
Ѐ n ǔ mа . і d̈
“Very efficient of you.”
“I’ve already assembled the best legal team. You only need to endure for one year. I’ve secured a promise to get you out next year through a Liberation Day special pardon. If you step forward, I’ll give you five percent of Yuseong Group’s shares and all of its financial affiliates.”
“Giving up one year in exchange for Yuseong Group shares and financial affiliates. That’s quite a generous offer.”
“This isn’t a suggestion, Jaseong. Accepting this offer will benefit you as well. Otherwise, it won’t be one year—you’ll rot in prison for several years.”
“Yes. I’d rather have that.”
“What did you say?”
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“I said I’ll rot in prison for several years.”
The dogs his uncle had raised would have accepted this generous offer with gratitude.
After all, they would live in luxury for the rest of their lives in exchange for a few years behind bars.
He had probably used people that way until now....
“Rather than thanking you for alms-like mercy, I’d prefer to be despised by the entire world.”
He let out a short laugh and shifted his gaze to the prosecutor.
Ёn̄ ú_m̂ а̀
“You brought an arrest warrant, didn’t you?”
“...Pardon? Ah... yes.”
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“Then arrest me.”
Perhaps he hadn’t expected things to unfold this way, because the prosecutor looked flustered and stole a glance at his uncle.
When the man nodded, the prosecutor took out a pair of handcuffs.
Cold metal touched his wrists.
Е́_num̄а. ì d̃
With a sharp click, the handcuffs tightened around them.
* * *
After he kicked away his uncle’s magnanimous offer, he became a nationwide bastard.
Everything proceeded exactly as his uncle had laid it out.
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The government wanted to resolve the situation quickly, the enraged public needed a punching bag, and the prosecution needed the achievement of a successful chaebol investigation.
For their sake, the Yuseong Group offered him up as a sacrifice.
Е nŭ_m а
A dreary space barely one pyeong in size became his entire world, and the rough prison uniform irritated his skin.
It was his first time feeling the sensation of a coarse blended fabric against his body, something far removed from the finest cotton.
The detention center’s visitation room.
The one handling his defense was a mid-sized law firm.
That was because all the major firms, pressured by the Yuseong Group, had refused to take his case.
“Hello, sir. I’m from Myeongjin Law Firm. Um... the situation is much worse than we expected.”
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“What sentence do you anticipate?”
“At the first trial, you should brace yourself for at least seven years.”
“Seven years?”
A laugh burst out of him at the sheer absurdity.
He crossed his legs and jerked his chin.
“Go ahead and explain it. My term in office was only three months, and even then, I was in the United States because of overseas deals. I wasn’t even in Korea. How are you claiming that I committed large-scale fraud?”
Е n ú_m̄â.. ïd
“Uh, well... first of all, testimony has come out stating that your stay in the United States during your term was for laundering slush funds.”
“Testimony?”
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“And it wasn’t three months. The prosecution claims that you had been engaging in ghost management for quite some time. That you were substantially involved in management even before your official appointment. The problem is....”
The lawyer wiped sweat away and pushed up his glasses.
“All five directors of Yuseong Securities are giving identical testimony. They’re saying that you were already deeply involved in management since last year and that you led the financial fraud.”
He cut in flatly.
Ё nũ m̃ а̄.і d
“Perjury.”
“But it’s not just testimony. Internal documents have surfaced.”
“Internal documents?”
The lawyer pulled out copies from a file folder and held them out.
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“These are documents discovered during a special audit by the financial authorities. The problem is that several documents bearing your signature were found. Look here. In November last year, there’s your signature on the review report for the corporate bond issuance of Yuseong Construction.”
It was unmistakably his signature.
Е̊ňü ḿ а. i d́
He immediately realized where that signature sample had leaked from.
“My uncle helped with my parents’ inheritance. He must have siphoned off my signature samples back then.”
“But proving that is extremely difficult. Sir, the situation is really bad.”
Unconsciously, he rubbed his left wrist.
Where his watch used to be, there was now only a red mark left by the handcuffs.
As if the privileges he had enjoyed had vanished just like that.
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A third-generation heir of the Yuseong Group.
The moment that modifier was stripped away, he was just a ‘third generation’—nothing more.
“Relentless. You even sealed off every tiny loophole.”
He went into the trial with nothing but a single lawyer, but it was nowhere near enough.
Before he knew it, the trial had entered its eighth month.
And finally.
Ẅѐb̆n о̆v́ е.l̂ Е ňu m а̀
The date of the final argument arrived.
Courtroom 417, Seoul Central District Court.
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The courtroom was already packed with people.
The victims filled the front rows of the gallery, and behind them, reporters prepared their cameras and laptops.
“All rise.”
At the booming voice of the court officer, everyone stood. Three judges in black robes entered.
E.ńū m̂a. i d
After everyone was seated, the presiding judge spoke in a low voice.
“We will now proceed with the final arguments in Seoul Central District Court Case 2011 Gohap 21, the Yuseong Securities financial fraud case.”
He stood from the defendant’s seat and swept his gaze across the courtroom.
His uncle sat in the witness stand, the victims packed tightly in the gallery hurled curses freely, and the reporters wore faces full of excitement.
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All this time, they had written the script together.
A fallen third-generation chaebol heir.
Е́ nü m ӑ
For the past eight months, it had been South Korea’s greatest drama.
Since it had become a spectacle for the entire world, shouldn’t he at least write the climax himself?
The essence of a climax was a twist.
A single line thrown at an unexpected moment that overturned the entire board.
So today, he decided to forgo a conventional final argument.
“Your Honor. Today, I will not claim my innocence in this court. Because my claims don’t matter in this courtroom anyway.”
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The presiding judge’s eyebrows rose. The lawyer beside him waved frantically with a flustered expression.
But he turned his body and faced the gallery head-on.
He slowly savored the contempt and resentment pouring toward him.
What would he use to create the twist? The truth?
No. He held far too few cards to use the truth as a weapon.
A truth that couldn’t be proven was powerless.
Ẃëb̊ n ŏ ṽе́ ĺ É ńum a
But.
‘Suspicion is different.’
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“I will speak frankly to the victims. The Yuseong Group made a deal with the prosecution over sentencing. In exchange for me admitting to all charges and taking the blame, they promised to get me out within a year through a Liberation Day special pardon.”
His uncle’s face stiffened. Bewilderment seeped through the deep wrinkles.
This was not the ‘statement of remorse’ they had expected.
A new scandal was being conceived in the final argument.
Е̊ñ ü ḿá. і̄d̃
Unlike truth, which required solid evidence, suspicion functioned on a single possibility alone.
Wasn’t that efficient?
With this statement, the seed of suspicion would sprout, and in the end, the destination of their rage would not be him, but his uncle.
“And once this case concludes today, the entire Yuseong Group will receive a pardon. The real parties responsible will walk away without any punishment.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
A sharp intake of breath rippled through the gallery.
They had probably expected a fairy tale like this.
Ẁ е̊b̄ń о̃ v е l̈ Ӗ n̊ ũ.m̌ a
Righteous citizens would rage, the fraudster Lee Jaseong would be judged by the law, and the victims would receive proper compensation—a happy ending.
He kindly shattered that illusion.
The justice they expected did not exist here.
“By sacrificing a single person—me—the Yuseong Securities incident will be neatly wrapped up. Without any compensation, without punishing any responsible parties, and most of all, without any genuine apology. Your one trillion won will never return.”
His uncle sprang to his feet, the prosecutor shouted, and the judge banged the gavel.
But he smiled.
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The gallery was already ablaze.
The rage that had driven them to corner him began to flow in another direction.
“A sentencing deal? Then what about our compensation?”
“So we really won’t get that one trillion won back?”
“You bastard scammers! Give me my money! When am I getting my money back?”
“They’re all accomplices! Lock every single one of them up!”
Е̇ n̈ǔm â .і̇d̆
The agitated voices of the victims erupted.
“Maintain order in the court! I will issue an order for forcible removal!”
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The judge slammed the gavel and issued the removal order, but even that sound was drowned out by the uproar.
But then.
An unplanned variable appeared.
One of the victims suddenly burst out from the back of the gallery.
W̃ е̇ b n̆ о́_v е̄ľ Ӗ ň um̄ȧ
Taking advantage of the chaos, he vaulted over the railing and charged toward the defendant’s seat.
Court security hurriedly chased after him.
“Stop that man! He’s armed!”
It was too late. Tangled up in the crowd, the guards’ feet were bound, and in the meantime the victim reached him at an astonishing speed.
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The cold glint of a blade flashed under the fluorescent lights.
It felt as if his heart had missed a beat. His body froze, yet his mind was strangely clear.
Е̇n̂.u m̀а
‘So this is how it ends?’
Sharp metal dug into his neck. A cold sensation like ice shards brushing his skin. Then a searing pain spread.
Instinctively, he clutched the wound.
The vivid sensation of something fishy and wet gushing between his palms.
Through his blurring vision, he saw the attacker’s face. In his eyes lay madness, mixed with satisfaction.
“This is my severance pay, you son of a bitch!”
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Surely, this couldn’t be the end.
Like this, so futilely?
His uncle would probably make perfect use of even his death.
Damn it. For whose sake?
At that very moment.
The surroundings began to blur like a watercolor soaked in water.
Еñ u m̆ à . id̃
He looked around.
The courtroom rippled as if wavering, and sounds stretched long as though heard underwater.
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The judge’s shout, the shocked faces of the people, camera flashes. Everything slowed and distorted.
With the sensation of falling into deep water—
He was flung out of this place.
※ ※ ※
Е n umа . ї d
Lee Jaseong snapped his eyes open. His fingers clenched tightly around the armrest of the chair.
Blinking, he scanned his surroundings.
Not a courtroom under cold fluorescent lights.
But a familiar space bathed in warm lighting.
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In the walnut display cabinets, the collection he gathered was neatly arranged. Rubber balls laid out with constellation-like precision, boasting perfect order—this place was.
The penthouse study.
Enûmа̂
“Hoo....”
Only then did Lee Jaseong take a deep breath.
His heart was still pounding rapidly, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
He raised his wrist to check the watch.
3 a.m.
‘I must have nodded off.’
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On the wide desk, documents were neatly organized.
Last month, his parents had passed away in a sudden accident.
He had been reviewing documents all night to go through the inheritance procedures, and it seemed he had dozed off in the meantime.
But for a dream, it had been far too vivid.
The afterimages were still clear, as if he had truly experienced it.
The Yuseong Securities financial scandal. His uncle’s betrayal. The dreary walls of the detention center. The final argument in the courtroom.
W ѐ b̆n о v̇е́.l Ёnum̀ а̌
And the last moment.
The blade cutting into his neck.
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Lee Jaseong reflexively felt around his throat. The pain lingered like a hallucination, but of course, there was no wound.
‘What was that? I feel like I had a similar experience last time too....’
Over the past month, dreams with similar content had repeated.
Being interrogated at the prosecution office, getting hit by raw eggs at the photo line, being stabbed in the courtroom.
Е n uḿа̇
If it had happened once, he might have brushed it off as a nightmare.
But if the same phenomenon repeated continuously for a month, it was not something that could be dismissed as a simple dream or superstition.
Moreover—
— Jaseong, I’d like to discuss the matter of Yuseong Securities with you.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
If he had received such a message from his uncle, that was.
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