You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 403

“KDL Company?”

That was the company that surfaced during the Woo Shin special investigation.

At the time, KDL Company’s main business was leasing, and the key point was that L&B, the largest shareholder of KDL Company, was owned by Koh Sang-jun.

Back then, Lee Jung-chan was also found to have been receiving money from KDL Company before Koh Sang-jun’s involvement was known, and he was investigated by the prosecution after his retirement as president.

For this company to be resurfacing already…

Perhaps things might be easier than I thought.

“If it’s UHB Bank, doesn’t it seem like a foreign bank?”

Kang Min-jae said, scanning the file names in the folder.

“Open the files and see if there are any issues.”

“Yes.”

Kang Min-jae opened the files one by one using the mouse provided by the National Intelligence Service.

There was a vast amount of documents, enough to take a considerable amount of time to check them all.

“There are no corrupted files, and everything seems to be in order.”

The National Intelligence Service agent, who was looking at the screen alongside him, added.

It doesn’t seem like the crucial documents are here; I should check them carefully at the office and at home.

I also need to check if there’s anything more than what I already know, and share it with Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-jun.

“Give me the SD card.”

“Here you go.”

I put the SD card in my inside pocket and gestured to Kang Min-jae.

“Let’s go, Attorney Kang.”

“Without even saying thank you!”

The National Intelligence Service agent shouted from behind as I was about to leave the room.

Then, Kang Min-jae, who had already left the room, peeked his head back in and looked at the National Intelligence Service agent, saying,

“Thank you.”

“Begging for a bow. Get home safe.”

I haven’t seen the contents of the SD card yet, so I don’t know exactly what’s on it, but Lee Jung-chan died trying to hand this data over to me.

That means this data is damaging enough to Woo Shin.

I can only hope it’s the information I already know.

“I’m terrible with economics, so I’m in big trouble,”

Kang Min-jae said, starting the car.

“I really don’t know much. I only handled criminal cases when I was at Tae Kwang.”

“You can learn this time.”

“Easier said than done……”

Kang Min-jae muttered, merging onto the main road.

Economics isn’t my specialty either.

But I studied this and that while preparing for the special investigation in my previous life.

“Step on it a bit more.”

Looking out the window, I felt like the car was going too slow, so I urged Kang Min-jae.

“I have to drive safely. You just want to see the contents of the SD card quickly, don’t you?”

“If you know, step on it.”

“You’re so impatient. How am I supposed to step on it here……”

I ignored Kang Min-jae’s grumbling and called Choi Jong-hyun.

─ Oh, Attorney Cha. I was just about to contact you.

“Are you with Jo Bong-jun?”

─ Yeah, we’re together. Why?

“I need you to come to my house.”

─ Why?

“I found the data that Lee Jung-chan was trying to give me. I think we should look at it together.”

─ The data Lee Jung-chan was trying to hand over?! From that Hwagun Reservoir?

“Yes.”

─ You’re crazy. How did you find it?

“It just happened. Let’s talk when we meet.”

─ Okay. I’ll leave now. Hey, Bong-jun. Get dressed. Let’s go to Attorney Cha’s house.

With those words, the call ended.

……Is Jo Bong-jun not wearing clothes at home?

“Are we going to the lawyer’s house instead of the company?”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

When we arrived in front of the front door, Jo Bong-jun and Choi Jong-hyun were already there before us.

“Why are you so late! We were waiting.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s because I told him to step on it, but he didn’t.”

I answered, pressing the password to unlock the door.

As soon as we entered the house, Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-jun went straight into the study where the computer was.

They would normally take a seat on the sofa and laze around, but they must have been so curious about the data Lee Jung-chan was trying to hand over.

“Open the data quickly.”

At their urging, I barely washed my hands and sat down at the desk.

After inserting the SD card and waiting, a folder soon popped up.

“UHB Bank transaction history?”

“Where is KDL Company again?”

“Let’s start with the UHB Bank transaction history.”

When I clicked the file, the file I had checked with the National Intelligence Service agent earlier opened.

Upon closer inspection, UHB Bank was a bank headquartered in Switzerland, and the transaction history wasn’t just one or two pages.

A large sum of money was being paid to Lee Jung-chan every month under the name of stock dividends.

It’s the same as what I confirmed in my previous life.

“The dividends here are paid out every month. In Korea, it’s common to have them paid four times or once a year.”

Jo Bong-jun muttered, and Kang Min-jae asked.

“Is that up to the company to decide?”

“That’s right.”

“The company that pays these dividends is KDL Company.”

Choi Jong-hyun said, finding the name KDL in the transaction history table.

Certainly, it was found that KDL Company was depositing money into Lee Jung-chan’s account every month, ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won [Korean currency, where 100 million won is roughly equivalent to $80,000 USD].

“What kind of company is this that gives Lee Jung-chan money every month like this?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Lee Jung-chan said he would give the corruption data of Woo Shin. So, it must be a company run by Woo Shin.”

“I don’t think it’s a subsidiary. I haven’t seen this name on the list of subsidiaries.”

“Could it be a shell company?”

I clicked on a file named ‘KDL Company Shareholder List.’

“It says Lee Jung-chan owns 20%. Koh Sang-jun’s name isn’t among the rest. There’s no Koh at all.”

“Here, a company called L&B owns 75% of KDL Company’s shares.”

“What’s L&B again?”

Scanning the shareholder list, the largest shareholder was listed as a company called L&B.

Jo Bong-jun looked at it for a while, then turned to me and asked.

“I think this is a paper company. Attorney Cha, let’s check the corporate information of KDL Company.”

As he said, when I clicked on the file containing corporate information, detailed information was included, starting with the business type.

“They’re in the leasing business. And they’re based in Liechtenstein.”

“Liechtenstein is a typical tax haven. Lee Jung-chan included the corporate information of KDL, but not the corporate information of L&B, so L&B might be a ghost company.”

Jo Bong-jun was flying high now that his area of expertise had come up.

“Are ghost companies and paper companies different? I thought they were the same.”

“They’re different. Paper companies have company functions, but ghost companies are really just ghosts. They’re not even registered.”

“I see……”

“We need to look into it in more detail. If our prediction is correct, Lee Jung-chan, who owns 20% of the shares, takes at least tens of billions of won a year, so how much money would L&B, which owns 75%, take? If that company called L&B really belongs to Koh Sang-jun……”

“A special investigation is even possible.”

Just like in my previous life.

* * *

Sang-gil was sitting idly in the playground, watching the young children playing.

He wanted to play mobile games, but he couldn’t even go to the bathroom because his brother told him not to take his eyes off Yerim for a moment, so he was just watching Yerim.

“Toad, toad, I’ll give you an old house, give me a new house.”

Yerim, who carefully placed the soil piled on her small hand and carefully removed her hand, clapped her hands at the completed toad house.

Then, a boy appeared from somewhere and started smashing Yerim’s toad house with his feet.

“What toad house! Hahaha!”

“Hey! Park Young-min! Do you want to die?!”

After that, a game of tag began between the child named Young-min and Yerim.

Sang-gil sighed, watching Yerim running after Young-min.

Those were the good old days.

He is doing this kind of work now, but there was a time when he played so purely like that.

Of course, his role was Young-min, not Yerim.

“Hey, Park Young-min! Come here!”

“You’re going to hit me!”

“Then why are you breaking the toad house!”

The children, who had been running around for a while, sat down on the dirt floor, exhausted.

Well, even if they are fresh kids, they would be tired if they ran that much.

He’s just sitting still and rolling his eyes following Yerim, but he’s tired to death.

“Oh! It’s ten thousand won!”

Then Young-min shouted, taking out a crumpled bill from the dirt.

Sang-gil opened his mouth in surprise.

The only money he could pick up in the playground when he was young was ten won, one hundred won, and five hundred won [very small amounts of Korean currency].

But even if times have changed, ten thousand won [a more substantial amount, roughly $8 USD]…

I want to have that.

“Wow, ten thousand won!”

“What should we do with this?”

“Shouldn’t we give it to the security guard?”

“Let’s buy ice cream!”

At Yerim’s words, Young-min narrowed his eyes and held up ten thousand won high.

“Who wants to eat ice cream!”

Then, even the children who were playing cops and robbers on the slide gathered and started shouting ‘Me! Me!’

“I’m not buying you ice cream.”

Young-min said to Yerim.

“Why!”

“You said we should give it to the security guard.”

“Buy me some too!”

“Mwe twoo, pwease!”

Young-min spitefully imitated Yerim’s words.

Yerim shouted, hitting Young-min’s back.

“You’re dead!”

“Okay, okay! I’ll buy it for you! Let’s go quickly. Let’s go to that supermarket!”

Young-min and Yerim left the playground in a crowd with the other children.

Sang-gil couldn’t miss it either, so he hurriedly got up and chased after Yerim.

The supermarket the children were going to was across the street.

Because it might be strange to get too close, Sang-gil stood under the traffic light like a pedestrian waiting to cross the street.

“It’s a green light!”

At that time, Yerim ran quickly onto the crosswalk.

At the same time, a car that had crossed the stop line was rushing onto the crosswalk.

“No!”

Sang-gil quickly picked up Yerim and twisted his body to protect her.

The car passed by, and Yerim was wide-eyed in Sang-gil’s arms, as if surprised.

“Little one, are you okay?”

Yerim nodded at Sang-gil’s question.

“You shouldn’t run out right away even if it’s a green light. You have to wait and then go.”

“Yes……”

He was giving the child a true teaching as an adult when suddenly the owner of the stationery store in the shopping district right in front of him ran out.

And with rough hand movements, he made Yerim come down from Sang-gil’s arms and held Yerim’s hand tightly.

“Hey! What are you doing now!”

“Yes?”

Sang-gil, who had suddenly been robbed of Yerim, looked at the stationery store owner with a bewildered face.

“Don’t you know what happens if you touch kids these days?”

“No, I’m just……”

“You look like a gangster……. If you touch the kids one more time, I’m going to report you to the police. Got it?! Yerim, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay.”

“I’ll give you a slushie. Let’s go.”

The stationery store owner glared at Sang-gil to the end and headed towards the stationery store with Yerim.

“What are you looking at! Go your way! It’s a green light!”

And after adding one more word, he disappeared into the stationery store with Yerim.