I Became a Scoundrel of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 451
“...Given the nature of an intelligence organization, it’s difficult to disclose details about these special activity funds, and furthermore—”
A precious workday.
As Chairwoman of the Intelligence Organization Committee, Park Hyejeong was supposed to listen closely to the questions from the committee members and the answers from the NIS officials, and coordinate the proceedings. But her mind was somewhere else entirely.
“...”
She let the voices drift past one ear, idly rubbing her thumb over the dark phone screen.
Whenever the screen happened to light up, the top was filled with missed call notifications and an overwhelming stack of message alerts.
“...”
At that moment...
It had already been a week since the day she rescheduled the family gathering she had skipped without notice and met them at an upscale Korean restaurant.
When she’d been smacked with a soju bottle by Agent A, her rage had surged all the way to the crown of her head, but now it had cooled somewhat.
Even so, she’d been ignoring their calls for a full week.
She still left just enough traces to prove she was alive, but there had been zero interaction with her partner agents.
That was an act that could endanger not just herself but every agent involved—a truly fatal breach.
Yet, alongside the guilt from such irresponsibility, she felt an odd mix of anxiety and liberation.
“...I mean, even if it’s classified, if you’re operating in Incheon, shouldn’t you report to the City Council?!”
“I cannot answer that.”
“This man, really! Maybe we should bring the law down hard on you before you open your mouth?”
“It is classified under that very law. I cannot answer that.”
“Keep talking like that, and we’ll have no choice but to resort to our last measures.”
The faces of Agents A and B,
the days they had endured together, and the ideals they had sworn to uphold came to mind.
They had vowed to heal this rotten world and rebuild it with rightful power.
Now, that fire didn’t burn anymore.
‘I... have changed, haven’t I.’
She had no choice but to admit it.
She had changed.
Just as Agents A and B feared, she had changed a great deal.
That sense of her lifelong mission becoming blurry—it gave her a dizzying thrill, yet for some reason she didn’t want to bring it back.
‘But you know... that’s partly your fault too.’
It was a sense of betrayal toward the organization.
While she risked her life in the field, her two partner agents and headquarters gave her no proper support.
If anything, because she was too close to the upper echelons of power, they only suspected and kept her in check.
‘I always siphoned off plenty of funds for you. And every time, you looked at me like I was ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) possessed by some money demon.’
And it wasn’t just money.
Whenever she did the bare minimum of her duties as Intelligence Organization Committee Chairwoman, they would nitpick and suspect she had gone rotten.
The number of reports she’d had to write over that—it was enough to make her sick to death.
‘If I get suspected for not doing my job right, it’s not like they’ll cover my ass for me.’
The more she thought about it, the more dissatisfaction and anger rose up inside her.
“...No matter what you say, Assemblywoman, classified is classified.”
“You son of—!”
She shot a glance toward the NIS official.
He was the Planning Director overseeing operations, and likely had no idea about her true identity.
Even within the NIS, only an extremely small number of people knew about Abyss—a separate organization in all but name. And the mission she was currently on was known to only a fraction of even that number.
‘...Ha-ha, I really have... come far, haven’t I.’
She found herself unconsciously counting the people who knew her true identity, and let out a mocking snort.
At this rate, she’d have no defense if someone suspected her.
Tok, tok.
Park Hyejeong lightly tapped the gavel to draw attention.
“Director of Planning, if you continue to evade the questions, the committee will have no choice but to consider measures it can take. Please answer the questions sincerely.”
++++
After her busy schedule as a City Council member was done,
Park Hyejeong received a summons from the Dickhouse Association... no, the Incheon Public Safety Restoration Association.
As a senior officer who visited the association quite often, she didn’t feel anything unusual.
However...
“...Excuse me?”
What she heard upon arriving at headquarters was nothing short of shocking.
In a solemn setting with only a few executives—centered around Association President and District Mayor Kim Eun-ji, and City Mayor Jung Mina—talk turned to a “spy.”
“Name: Kwon Chang-sik. Age: 32. He’s worked as an aide to Assemblywoman Oh Hye-ji for quite some time, but in reality, he’s a spy planted by the NIS.”
And not just any spy.
Of all things—NIS.
“...!!”
Without realizing, Park Hyejeong’s eyes went wide, and she quickly pressed her lips shut, covering her mouth with her hand.
“His presumed targets are Chairwoman Minji-ah here, and our Young Master (Go Muyeol). We discovered records showing he’d been meticulously documenting and transmitting their every move. And... Chairwoman Heo Yewon?”
“Y-Yes??”
“It seems you were also one of the targets.”
“M-Me...? R-Really...?”
She stammered in her surprise, but thankfully no one pointed it out.
“You’re the Intelligence Organization Committee Chairwoman, aren’t you?”
“Ah... yes... th-that’s right...”
“Have you noticed anyone suspicious approaching you? Or anyone among your close aides who gives off an odd vibe? Given their skill, it’s entirely possible they could be disguised as someone else. As you know.”
“...!!”
Park Hyejeong swallowed hard, forcing her trembling hand still as she brushed her sweat-damp bangs aside.
“N-No... no, I haven’t.”
“...Is that so? Well, just in case, when you go back, look closely at the people around you. Who knows? Another spy could be hiding in plain sight, disguised as someone else.”
“Yes... right...”
From the side, Minji-ah, watching with a displeased expression and crossed legs, gestured.
Her chief secretary handed out documents to the executives.
They contained the personal information and movements of that aide Kwon Chang-sik—along with photos of him dying in grotesque stages.
Thump! Thump!
With trembling hands, Park Hyejeong carefully flipped through the pages.
The man, still largely intact save for some burst blood vessels and bruises, was in the next photo covered in his own filth—bleeding, blotched, dehydrated, and suffering violent diarrhea from a raging fever.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The next photo showed the skin all over his body splitting like onion mesh, pus and blood oozing out.
The next—his fingers and toes blackened with rot, his hair and skin melting away.
And the next—
“Agh...”
Groans rose around the room.
Executives twitched at the corners of their eyes and turned away from the photos, some gagging.
Watching their reactions, Minji-ah spoke.
“He may be from a national agency, but this is different from officially authorized personnel deployment. He came in to spy on and sabotage what we’re doing. As a warning, we exposed him to radiation. It’s already progressed quite a bit, but we’ll keep him alive as long as possible. Likely two or three years of having his body melt away while still alive before he dies.”
“...”
She seemed utterly unfazed by what she was describing.
“This time, we caught it early. But you know the saying—if you see even one cockroach, the place is already crawling with them. There are more pests inside our association.”
Hic!
Park Hyejeong felt her heart plummet.
Her vision bleached out like an old black-and-white film.
‘Get a grip, Park Hyejeong!’
“From now on, look around you very carefully. See if there’s another pest disguised as someone close to you. Keep your eyes wide open and glare them down. If something goes wrong and our Young Master suffers for it, what you saw in those photos... will be you and your people.”
At Minji-ah’s chilling words, gasps sounded around the room.
“So please, let’s do this right.”
“Y-Yes...”
“Yewon?”
“Y-Yes?!”
At Minji-ah’s call, Park Hyejeong shot to her feet without thinking—like a raw recruit.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
Standing at rigid attention, trembling, she was silently stared down by Minji-ah.
‘Wh-What is this... what does she mean...’
Just when her insides felt like they were burning to ash, Minji-ah finally spoke. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
“I’m a little disappointed.”
“!!”
“Isn’t this the kind of matter our Chairwoman should have handled before I had to get involved?”
“Ah... th-that... I-I’m sorry!”
“I hope there won’t be anything else to disappoint me in the future.”
“N-Never! I will never disappoint you again!”
She barked the reply with the snap of a soldier under strict discipline. Minji-ah stared at her with a piercing look, then nodded.
“Good. From now on, you’ll have to work hard for me. Find every pest lurking near us and bring them to me.”
“M-Me...?”
“You’re the Intelligence Organization Committee Chairwoman, aren’t you? And an executive of our association.”
“Y-Yes, that’s... correct.”
“Then who else would do it, if not you? Should I do it myself?”
“N-No! I’ll do it!!”
Not satisfied with her tone, Minji-ah clicked her tongue.
Still, she firmly instructed the other executives to report anything suspicious to Chairwoman Heo Yewon.
‘Huh...? This...’
A strange feeling came over her.
It was clearly a life-or-death crisis, but she couldn’t help thinking it might also be an opportunity.
“Alright, everyone dismissed. Yewon, stay behind.”
Time seemed to drift in a daze.
The executives left the room, the noise fading into silence.
When only Minji-ah, her chief secretary, and Park Hyejeong remained, Minji-ah stepped closer.
Slide.
She set a hand—slightly pressing—on Park Hyejeong’s shoulder.
“Yewon, I trust you.”
“...Pardon?”
“You did mess up a bit this time, but the results you’ve shown so far, and your loyalty... You may have a bit too much of an eye for money, but that’s nothing.”
“Ah...”
“From now on, once a week, you’ll report directly to me. Tell me which pests are hiding inside this association—no, not just our association, but all the trash operating here in Incheon. Find them one by one and bring them to me. I’ll give you the backing you need.”
Gulp.
The unexpected offer widened her eyes and dried her mouth.
“You... really trust me?”
“Why else would I give you this job? Both I and the Young Master do.”
“Ah...”
“Oh, and I meant it when I said I was disappointed. So... you’ll also be punished.”
“Punished...?”
“That private offer you were given recently—don’t take it.”
“...!”
“You understand me?”
“Y-Yes... understood.”
It was a huge loss.
That secret offer could have brought her seventy billion won. Now not only was she losing it, but her credibility was on the verge of shattering.
She might never get such an offer again.
And all because of some random pest getting caught.
But did that matter now?
‘She... trusts me?’
At headquarters, she was under constant suspicion.
But in the organization she had infiltrated as a spy, she was trusted.
That irony tipped the balance of her precarious seesaw to one side.
