“Could the culprit possibly be…”
“Please, tell me.”
“Yes, I understand. The truth is, that crazy bastard committed rape.”
“Rape?”
“Yes.”
“It’s something those rich bastards always do.”
They think because they have money, they can cover it up with money.
And there are many cases like that. Although it’s not the case now, rape used to be an offense that could be dropped if the victim agreed, so it wasn’t a difficult crime to cover up with money. That’s why there are so many guys still stuck in their old ways.
“So, the rape victim was a married woman. Moreover… she was pregnant.”
“He raped a pregnant woman?”
“Yes.”
Since he raped a pregnant woman working at the company, the CEO was furious and flew into a rage.
Unlike the father, who was too enraged to consider a settlement and wanted to throw that bastard in jail, the mother couldn’t bring herself to do that and secretly attempted a settlement, managing to reach an agreement somehow.
“2 billion won was spent on the settlement. We had no choice.”
The woman, traumatized by the rape, miscarried and even developed symptoms of mental disorder.
“After that incident, the CEO was so angry that the vice president effectively stepped down from the business…”
Since it’s unlikely they had 2 billion won in cash, they probably covered it up with company money first. And the CEO couldn’t put his wife in jail for embezzlement.
“So, they kicked him out of the company afterward.”
Yang Do-shik’s father, thinking that anyone working with him would be in danger, had him do real estate work, which he could do alone.
‘Come to think of it, there was no one at the real estate office.’
It is unusual, considering that real estate offices usually have two or more people.
“And the company was planning to operate under a professional management system in the future.”
“I see.”
It was as expected. A son ignored at home, harboring resentment towards his parents, and suffering huge losses due to futures trading.
“He’s an only child, right?”
“Yes.”
“He did something stupid.”
“Pardon?”
“There was a time when you could have put on the brakes.”
If they had handled the rape case properly, he wouldn’t have developed into a murderer. No, there were probably many opportunities even before that.
“But his mother kept shielding him, didn’t she? Or am I wrong?”
“…….”
In fact, many criminals grow up that way. Whenever there were assault cases, threats, or sexual harassment incidents, the mother would cover it up behind the father’s back.
In the first place, the rape case wasn’t the first time.
But previous rape cases occurred at clubs and such, and didn’t involve married women or pregnant women.
Since they were both unmarried and the incidents occurred in clubs, where people go for ‘one-night stands,’ or even involved women who appeared to be gold diggers, it was easier to handle.
So, they were able to stop it before the father found out.
But this was an issue that occurred within the company, and it even involved a pregnant woman.
It couldn’t be covered up.
‘Sometimes, unconditional love ruins lives.’
Psychopaths or sociopaths shouldn’t be raised with love. Of course, it’s not that they don’t need love. But you shouldn’t assume they’ll understand your feelings just because of love and respond accordingly.
Because they don’t understand it. There’s no point in expecting that from someone who can’t understand.
So, when raising psychopaths or sociopaths, you need rational and calculated education that shows them what kind of disadvantages will come from certain actions, rather than emotional responses like love.
‘It was a good opportunity, but they covered up the incident instead.’
Since the person who has no intention or will to understand learned that they won’t be punished, there’s no way they can grow up normally.
“Then where is our CEO?”
“We have to find him.”
“But still, could Yang Do-shik really commit murder…”
Someone cautiously opened their mouth. Well, they must still think of him as their parents. But that’s for normal people.
“Yang Do-shik lost over 1 billion won in the futures market.”
“1 billion won?”
“It doesn’t seem like the company or his parents gave him that money. He probably did something with personal information he obtained while working in real estate.”
“Could it be…”
“There are people like that, who think they can make up for it by winning.”
But he didn’t win. And that’s the problem.
“Looking at the current situation in the oil futures market, the loss is probably around 20%. So, he must have embezzled at least 5 billion won.”
“More than 5 billion won?”
“Does Yang Do-shik have any way to make up that money?”
“Uh, no.”
No, he doesn’t. The company can’t give Yang Do-shik a single penny now. Even his mother, who used to cover for him, was completely removed from financial matters after the last incident.
The CEO fired all the employees who gave money at his wife’s request and those involved. Even though she’s the vice president, it was because they granted an unfair request.
He even announced it to the other employees, so no one will give her money even if she asks for it now.
“Then he can’t avoid going to jail this time.”
The only way is to inherit the estate and make up for it.
“Crazy…”
“That’s why we need to resolve this quickly.”
“But then, where could he be…”
“It probably won’t be a place related to the company.”
If it’s a place related to the company, the possibility of him being identified is too high.
Moreover, if the victims are his parents, it’s even more likely.
“The police are already checking the situation.”
The culprit uses a place that people don’t frequent but is on the market as a murder scene.
Park Do-joon came here in a hurry, but the team leader is having the police look for places like that on the market.
But there are more places like that than expected, so it will take time to confirm.
“Could it be…”
“Maybe.”
In the worst case, both of them could be dead. But Park Do-joon thought differently.
‘Maybe one of them is dead.’
He has been sacrificing one person at a time. Of course, it could be because securing victims is dangerous.
But at the same time, that has become a rule. If something changes in the progress of the crime, the direction of the investigation may also change, so the culprit often has some kind of regularity.
If Yang Do-shik is the culprit, one of those regularities is likely to be sacrificing one person at a time, and Yang Do-shik will try to deceive the police by killing only one person as a sacrifice and then sacrificing another person later.
‘In other words, there’s a high possibility that one person is still alive.’
“Then could it be that the CEO…”
“No, if someone dies, it’s probably the mother first.”
“What?”
“Let’s talk about that later. The important thing is that the two of them are missing. So, let’s check the movements of those two first.”
“They didn’t even come to work?”
“I know. But there has to be a place to kidnap the victims.”
“Ah!”
“They live in apartments, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s impossible to kidnap them from the apartment.”
There’s no way to get the two of them out of the apartment while avoiding the CCTV. So, they have to be kidnapped in a different way. And to do that, they have to be kidnapped from outside.
“Ah!”
“What’s their usual route?”
“Their usual route wasn’t anything special.”
They said that after leaving work the day before yesterday, the two of them went home without saying anything. But Park Do-joon was thinking about other possibilities.
“What’s their relationship like?”
“The CEOs?”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t very good.”
Well, it couldn’t be good. Their son caused such an accident and they secretly tried to cover it up, but got caught.
“But it can’t be like that forever.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re a couple and business partners at the same time. They can’t be fighting forever.”
In other words, someone has to reach out. Unless they’re getting a divorce.
“And in those cases, it usually works well to reconcile over dinner in a nice place.”
If they’re a family that doesn’t worry about money, there’s no reason to worry about the money spent on it.
“Oh, and come to think of it, they left work a little early the day before yesterday.”
Of course, no one says anything even if the CEO leaves work a little early.
“But even if it’s a nice place, where would they go…”
There are plenty of expensive and nice restaurants. There are restaurants that cost millions of won per meal, but the problem is that they’re not people who would be burdened by going to such places at all.
“It probably won’t be a place like that.”
“Pardon? You don’t think so?”
“The concept of a nice place is different for everyone.”
Of course, such places are nice places for ordinary people. But it’s hard to give the feeling that a place you can go to if you want to, even if it’s not on a daily basis, is a nice place.
It might give the feeling of being expensive and fancy, but it wouldn’t be a place where you can talk openly.
In some ways, it’s mostly a business-like space.
“Moreover, this is an emotional issue.”
“An emotional issue?”
“Yes, their feelings for each other are hurt. Resolving that with something expensive only works for people who aren’t a couple.”
Couples have their own way of resolving things.
Just like a husband who was preparing for a divorce bought a tangerine on a whim and it gave him the will to live together again rather than divorce, couples have their own way of taking care of each other.
“If they’re trying to reconcile in this process, it’s probably a space with more memories than an expensive and nice place.”
“Even if it’s a space with memories…”
Most of the secretarial staff were perplexed. Because they don’t know anything about the CEO’s personal space.
Only one person, the chief of staff, could think of a restaurant.
“There’s a place called Agnes’s Forest.”
“Where is that?”
“Ah, it’s a rather old restaurant. It’s a restaurant in the suburbs, and it’s not expensive.”
Of course, it’s not a very cheap place either, but it’s not a place that billionaires would go to.
The taste isn’t a hidden gem, it’s just decent, and the facilities are very old.
“But it’s a special place for the two of them. He proposed there.”
That was when the two of them weren’t yet successful business people. They met as college classmates and started a business together. Their camaraderie turned into love, and at the time they decided to get married, the CEO gathered all the money he had and proposed there.
“He once told me with a smile that such a place was the limit because the business was taking up so much money.”
“Agnes’s Forest?”
“Yes.”
Park Do-joon immediately searched for the place. As the secretary said, it was a secluded restaurant located in the suburbs, not in the city. It was a charming restaurant located in the middle of a forest.
“It’s in the middle of the forest.”
And there are plenty of spaces to attack on the way there.
“Let’s go there first.”
Because there’s a high possibility that there will be some traces along the way.
“Here it is.”
Park Do-joon slowly drove the car and examined the forest path. Then he stopped at one place.
‘No matter how well you clean, you couldn’t have erased the skid marks.’
Because it would take a lot of time to erase them.
There are no traces of accidents or anything like that around, but the newly formed skid marks on the ground proved that there was a sudden stop here.
“Search the surroundings!”
The chief of staff hurriedly began to check the surroundings. In the meantime, Park Do-joon called the team leader.