Chapter 953: Ghost (1)
Before the regression, right around the time Top Entertainment had just been listed on the KOSDAQ, Ju Yung-In had once landed the lead role in a highly anticipated project called Murderer of the Storm.
Back then, just like now, entertainment articles had flooded the media. At the time, the company's PR office hadn't lifted a finger, so we thought it was simply the market's reaction and celebrated. And immediately afterward, the company doubled its support for Ju Yung-In and started forcing him into every broadcast they could.
However, three months later, we realized it had all been an attack. While all of us were caught up in excitement, booking TV appearances and going out for beef dinners with the staff, Top Entertainment's shares had quietly been handed over to someone else in massive amounts. And only much later did we learn that the company which had used those manipulators to swallow up Top Entertainment's stock was HK Inc.
Panicked, Kim Dong-Soo immediately paid off a powerful political figure and requested mediation. Only after paying back double the stock price did he finally get the shares returned.
That was when I first learned about the existence of these "operation teams" that manipulated stock prices using favorable news to consume company shares—And that their team lead was someone known as the "Ghost."
Looking at what was happening now, it was exactly the same method that Ghost used. Their strategy began with exaggerating good news in phase one, making both the stock market and the company's employees misunderstand the situation.
Since the articles were inflated using facts that genuinely existed rather than outright lies, people might find it odd, but no one actually became suspicious. After deceiving the public that way, they repeated the same thing every time another piece of good news appeared. And while repeating the process, they slowly devoured shares little by little with the money they earned.
Then at a certain point, the operation teams would hand the shares over to relatives connected to HK Inc., and those people would begin acting on HK's behalf. By the time you realized what was happening, a massive amount of company ownership had already been consumed.
Before the regression, HK Entertainment had swallowed up three entertainment companies that way alone.
Because I remembered all of that, I was certain this excessive stock surge was Ghost's doing. No matter how positive the news of recruiting Writer Lee Ji-Yeon was, there was no way the market cap should suddenly jump by 200 billion won.
Just then, President Kang Gam-Chan tilted his head in concern and asked, "Chief Jung, why do you look like that? Everyone's celebrating because we signed Writers Lee Ji-Yeon and Kim Soll-Ip."
I quickly erased my expression and smiled. "We're not planning to sell shares immediately anyway, so the stock price going up doesn't really change anything. And I think it'd be best to establish a dedicated stock response team in the PR office soon. If the stock rises too excessively like this, there'll be a lot of victims when it crashes."
"True. No point getting carried away. Got it. I'll look into finding experts related to that, so don't worry."
"Yes, sir."
Kang Gam-Chan looked around and shouted in a booming voice, "Alright, everyone settle down and focus on work."
Only then did the noise inside the meeting room finally die down.
"Oh, and Chief Jung. How many of our people can we get into Writer Lee Ji-Yeon's project?"
He was asking whether anything had already been discussed ahead of next week's auditions for Land of Happiness.
I answered, "They'll probably be as accommodating as possible, but it would only be right for us not to make unreasonable demands either."
Kang Gam-Chan nodded and addressed everyone. "You heard him, right? All chiefs should only recommend A-class talent or higher!"
Everyone answered in unison, "Yes, Mr. President."
There was just one difficult issue, however.
"Though among the child actors, Yoon Kkot-Nim will probably end up as Miso. The writer wants Miso very badly," I said.
"Alright. Let's do that."
Ju Ho-Sung from Actor Division 3, who had recently recruited the child prodigy Yoo Jung-Ae, frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything.
Still, I couldn't focus on the meeting any longer. Before the regression, there were only two things Kim Dong-Soo had told me about the Ghost. First, the team lead in charge of HK's stock manipulation, the Ghost, only worked out of hotels while the stock market was open. Second, the moment the market closed, he immediately moved to another hotel.
For this reason, I had to move as quickly as possible. The current time was Friday, 11:30 a.m., which meant there were only four hours left until the stock market closed at 3:30 p.m.
"Mr. Kang. I think I need to step out for something urgent."
Kang Gam-Chan tilted his head. "What is it?"
"I need to prepare Miso as well, and I think I should discuss the audition with the writer once more."
I couldn't explain the full situation to Kang Gam-Chan, so I deflected with an excuse.
Kang Gam-Chan nodded. "Alright. We'll continue the meeting ourselves then. If something important comes up, I'll call you, so keep your phone on."
"Yes, sir."
I gave a short bow and left the meeting room. The moment the door closed, I immediately started making calls to my people. I started with Programmer Lee Doo-Oh, then Kang Eun-Gi and Lee Soo-Chan from Reverse Entertainment. I even reached out to President Tae Beom-Gu of BM Report, the Yeouido stock rumor publisher I had once stripped bare in the past but was now working with.
'This time, I'm definitely catching you, Ghost.'
***
The current time was 12 p.m.
BM Report was located in the basement level two of an old building in Yeouido—they had just recently moved in. The office interior looked to be around sixty pyeong in size, with three separate exits and multiple security cameras installed at the entrance so they could quickly detect outside intruders.
Inside, BM Report's president, Tae Beom-Gu, was waiting for us with two employees.
"Welcome."
Tae Beom-Gu had once been a reporter known for celebrity exclusives and had made a living collecting and processing information floating around Yeouido. But after getting tangled up with me, he stopped spreading stock rumors and was now working under Reverse Entertainment, gathering information related to Yeouido instead.
I smiled. "It's good to see you, Mr. Tae."
"Yeah, yeah. It looks like everyone came together?"
Next to me stood Lee Doo-Oh with his laptop, along with Kang Eun-Gi, Lee Ho-Jae, and Lee Soo-Chan from Reverse Entertainment, all dressed in suits and having rushed over.
I nodded. "Yes. We happened to run into each other on the way. Anyway, to get straight to the point, I have a favor to ask."
Tae Beom-Gu laughed. "Chief Jung asking us for a favor... What is it this time? Trying to destroy another company?"
I shook my head and asked him, "Have you ever heard the name Ghost in Yeouido?"
Tae Beom-Gu flinched before quickly masking his expression. "Ghost? What ghost? I don't believe in ghosts or anything like that."
'So he's heard of it.'
"According to my information team, that's what they call the leader of a stock manipulation team operating in Yeouido. You're saying you've really never heard of him?"
That was when Tae Beom-Gu abruptly shot to his feet and raised his voice. "Chief Jung, just who the hell are you?"
At the sudden sharp reaction, Lee Soo-Chan glared and spoke. "Mr. Tae. You're not really in a position to raise your voice at our hyung-nim like that, are you?"
Faced with Lee Soo-Chan's fierce stare, Tae Beom-Gu flinched and stepped back. "I'm not threatening anyone. I was just startled, that's all."
I calmed Lee Soo-Chan down before pressing Tae Beom-Gu again. "You know about him, don't you?"
Tae Beom-Gu dropped heavily back into his seat and let out a sigh. "Seriously now. Because of you, Chief Jung, I'm never going to die peacefully. Yeah. I know him."
"Who is he?"
"I don't know his name or what he looks like. I've only heard about him. And that if you get involved with him or start digging into him, you'll lose everything."
Letting out a sigh, Tae Beom-Gu began explaining that a certain operation group had appeared in the Yeouido scene about a year ago. But unlike ordinary stock manipulators, they behaved differently. At some point because of them, one of the operation firms ranked sixth in the industry suffered massive losses. So the sixth-ranked firm spent money and manpower trying to uncover their identities and retaliate, only to get trapped instead and go bankrupt.
One of the top three firms had also tried tracking down Ghost, only to have its location exposed to the securities crime investigation unit and get completely wiped out. And aside from those, countless other groups had attempted to find Ghost and failed, ending up bankrupt or arrested by prosecutors and sent to prison.
After that, the operation groups in Yeouido started referring to the entire organization itself as Ghost. It was because no one knew who they were or how large the organization actually was.
'But Kim Dong-Soo said the team lead was Ghost?'
I couldn't exactly go back before the regression and ask him again, so for now I would just have to find them first and confirm it afterward.
At that moment, Tae Beom-Gu spoke. "I know Reverse Entertainment's protecting me and all, but I don't want to get involved with those bastards. One wrong move and my accounts could get wiped clean, or I could end up in prison."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that'll be possible. They're targeting Hoop Entertainment."
Tae Beom-Gu's expression stiffened. "Wait a second. Then all those articles flooding out today were their doing?"
As expected from the president of a stock rumor publisher, he instantly connected the situation to Ghost.
"Yes. Based on what I've confirmed, that's the case. And this is only a guess, but I think HK is the one using them."
I subtly leaked some of the information I knew from before the regression. After all, we would need to combine all the information each of us had if we wanted to find them.
"HK? Wait. Is that why nobody could uncover their identities? No... that actually makes sense. Hiding under a conglomerate's protection. Wow, that's insane. That's why nobody could find them. Those bastards were HK's blade all along!"
I calmed the agitated Tae Beom-Gu and said, "Alright, alright. We don't have time to be shocked. You know Ghost disappears once the market closes, right?"
"How the hell do you know that too? Seriously, if they're Ghost, then you're a goblin, Chief Jung."
'Not a goblin. A regressor...'
"Whether it's goblins or ghosts doesn't matter. We have to catch them before 3:30 p.m. today. And we will."
Tae Beom-Gu's eyes widened. "How?"
"First, find the people who received the stock rumor orders. If we follow them, won't we eventually reach the one giving the commands?"
"True. That makes sense. To flood the market with that overwhelming amount of articles like today, there's no way they could avoid leaving traces. Alright. Okay." The moment he said that, Tae Beom-Gu shouted to his two employees. "Hey. Filter out the list of companies that pushed out today's article surge."
"Yes, sir!"
"And pull up the usual locations, hangouts, and meeting spots of the presidents listed there."
The two employees immediately sprang into action. At the same time, Lee Doo-Oh, who had come with us, started hammering away at his laptop in his own attempt to track down Ghost.
Tap tap tap tap.
Inside the silent BM Report basement, a soundless war to track the Ghost of Yeouido had begun.
***
Tap tap tap.
The current time was 3:15 p.m.
The back of Lee Doo-Oh's shirt was soaked with sweat as he pounded away at the keyboard. For someone capable of tracing most people's locations within thirty minutes using only a few clues, spending over two hours unable to locate a single person was an exceptionally rare occurrence.
"Doo-Oh. Is it that hard to find him?" I asked.
Lee Doo-Oh let out a brief sigh before answering, "Using the clues you gave me, I've narrowed it down to two places now. Conrad Seoul in Yeouido and Fairmont Ambassador Seoul. I think they're paying the rumor publishers there and ordering them to spread the articles."
Both hotels were only about five minutes away from here. They were close, but each hotel had hundreds of rooms, so we couldn't move out with information this incomplete.
'We're running out of time...'
At 3:30 p.m., the stock market would close, and my anxiety kept growing. Once today ended, that bastard would simply move to another hotel and continue attacking Hoop Entertainment. And if he realized someone was tracing him, he would disappear completely just like a ghost.
If that happened, the only thing Hoop Entertainment could do would be to defend the stock price by buying shares in advance with enormous amounts of cash.
Of course, if we combined the shares held by me, Kang Gam-Chan, Director Kang Ji-Yung, and Chairman Choi Eun-Tae, there was no chance we would lose management control. But if they became major shareholders, they could interfere with company operations. So no matter what, I had to stop that.
At that moment, Tae Beom-Gu set down his phone and spoke. "Chief Jung. Some of the guys said they received requests from the 7th and 10th floors of Conrad Hotel."
Finally, there was overlap with the locations Lee Doo-Oh had tracked down.
I immediately turned to Lee Doo-Oh. "Doo-Oh!"
Lee Doo-Oh nodded. "Yes. I'll check whether any information was sent externally from those IPs."
Even Tae Beom-Gu, now convinced we were closing in on Ghost's true identity, rolled up his sleeves with renewed motivation. "Okay. I'll start making calls again too."
Once Lee Doo-Oh's technical skills combined with Tae Beom-Gu's network, the true identity of Yeouido's Ghost finally felt within reach.
"Eun-Gi. Let's head to the hotel first. And Doo-Oh, call me if anything comes up."
After saying that, I headed to the hotel with Kang Eun-Gi, Lee Soo-Chan, and Lee Ho-Jae.
***
We arrived at the Conrad Hotel located in Yeouido.
After reserving one room on the seventh floor and another on the tenth, our group split into two in the elevator. Lee Soo-Chan and I took the seventh floor. Kang Eun-Gi and Lee Ho-Jae took the tenth.
The moment I stepped off onto the seventh floor, I wandered around while waiting for a call from Lee Doo-Oh. Anxiously, I paced the hallway, trying to hear any sounds from inside the hotel rooms, but the soundproofing was too good to make out anything.
Just then, my phone started vibrating.
Buzz.
However, it wasn't a call from Lee Doo-Oh. It was a Fortune of the Day notification from Everyday.
[Notification: Today's Fortune of the Day has been updated.]
'At a time like this, Fortune of the Day?'
Wondering what nonsense it was, I checked it and found a completely incomprehensible message.
[Everyday V13]
[Date: April 30, 2021]
[Fortune of the Day: It's darkest beneath the lamp.]
"It's darkest beneath the lamp?"
I tilted my head, unable to understand what it meant. Then, the time turned 3:30 p.m., the moment Friday's stock market closed.
'Are we really going to lose him like this?'
As I stomped my feet anxiously, one thought suddenly crossed my mind. If these bastards were cautious enough to change locations every single day, then the moment the market closed, they would immediately leave wherever they had been working. To avoid being tracked, they would need to save every second possible. Which meant the people about to come out of this place had to be them.
I immediately called Kang Eun-Gi on the tenth floor.
"Eun-Gi. The market just closed, so keep an eye on anyone coming out. Especially any men carrying laptops."
Instead of an answer, Kang Eun-Gi's urgent voice rang out.
"Huh? Hey! Stop right there!"
I heard the sound of someone running, followed by Kang Eun-Gi chasing after them.
"Yoon-Ho! Two men in suits! They're heading for the east emergency stairs!"
The east emergency staircase was at the opposite end from where we were.
It sounded like the chase had begun, so I turned to Lee Soo-Chan beside me. "Soo-Chan. Suspicious guys are coming down from the tenth floor through the east emergency stairs. Let's move!"
"Okay!"
Lee Soo-Chan and I immediately took off running to catch them.
At that moment, the door to room 713 opened, and a blonde foreign woman in her mid-twenties stepped out.
Thud.
Click, click.
Beautiful enough to pass as a celebrity, she wore a glittering silver dress that clung tightly to her body, high heels, and carried an expensive handbag in one hand. The glamorous beauty looked like she was on her way to some award ceremony, but when she saw Lee Soo-Chan running down the hallway, she startled and pressed herself against the wall.
"Eek."
Lee Soo-Chan quickly bowed his head. "I'm sorry! Sorry!"
The blonde foreign woman nodded nervously."I-it's okay."
I was about to apologize and pass by as well. But suddenly, the words from Fortune of the Day crossed my mind.
'It's darkest beneath the lamp? No way...'
The moment I saw the hand holding her handbag, I became certain she was Ghost. Because in her rush to move quickly, she made one mistake.
'Found you, Ghost!'
I stopped dead in my tracks and stared directly at her.
The blonde foreign woman asked with a frightened expression, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
I grinned and answered with unwavering eyes. "Drop the act, lady. Or should I call you... Ghost?"
At that moment, the blonde foreign woman's face, which had been pretending to be shocked, twisted into confusion. "What?"
"I told you it's useless trying to fool me. So how about we talk alone for a bit?"
And then, fluent Korean suddenly came out of the blonde foreign woman's mouth. "Fuck. How the hell did you figure it out?"
The unexpected Korean caught me off guard. However, she was already a rat trapped in a cage anyway. So I simply smiled and started answering her question.
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