Chapter 3 - The Wolf in the West WingBy midnight, the grand mansion was shrouded in deceptive silence.
The security guards patrolled the perimeter grounds every thirty minutes, their heavy boots crunching against the gravel pathways. Inside, however, the real war was being waged behind closed doors.
I slipped through the shadows of the second-floor corridor, dressed in all-black attire, my hair tied back tightly. My target was Kang Dae-sung’s private office in the west wing.
Dae-sung was the syndicate’s chief financial officer on paper, but in reality, he was a smooth-talking opportunist who had spent decades waiting for his older brother to step down. With Chairman Kang recovering from his recent surgery, Dae-sung had assumed total control over the corporate restructuring.
The office door was locked with a heavy electronic keypad.
I smiled faintly. For seven years as a forensic compliance investigator in New York and London, I had picked locks far more sophisticated than a cheap commercial security keypad installed by a Korean syndicate.
Pulling a small titanium tension wrench and a rake pick from the lining of my sleeve, I inserted them into the override port beneath the panel. Three clicks later, the green indicator light flashed.
The door slid open noiselessly.
I stepped inside, closing it gently behind me. The room smelled of expensive imported cigar smoke, old paper, and leather.
Moving quickly to the mahogany executive desk, I bypassed the computer screen saver using a hardware bypass key that plugged directly into the motherboard. Files began downloading automatically onto my encrypted flash drive.
Offshore shell companies in the Bahamas... fake real estate acquisitions in Jeju Island... and signed contracts bearing Chairman Kang’s signature.
My breath hitched.
I zoomed in on the signature document authorizing the multi-million-dollar asset transfer.
It wasn't just Dae-sung’s handwriting. Beside it was a secondary signature—one belonging to someone much closer to the chairman than anyone suspected.
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Suddenly, the heavy oak door clicked.
Footsteps echoed softly in the hallway outside.
