Episode 38
The next day, at the Jinsung Group's Management Support Office.
It was after lunch, and Seongjun was busy handling work in his office.
Knock, knock.
"Yes, come in."
At Seongjun's response, his secretary entered the room holding a document envelope.
"Sir."
"Oh, what is it?"
"The staff have organized the information you instructed us to collect earlier."
"What information?"
"The investigation into Ain Entertainment's trainee, the one you asked for."
"Ah! I'd forgotten about that, I've been so busy. So, is the background check complete?"
"Not entirely. We're still looking into his early years. The family moved around quite a bit, so we prioritized the most recent records first. The rest is still being investigated. They sent over what they've compiled so far for your review."
"Alright, I'll get the rest of the report later… Tell me what we have for now."
"Yes, sir. This is the summarized report."
Secretary Cha pulled out a stack of papers from the envelope, set it on Seongjun's desk, and began reporting.
"His name is Kang Seunghwan, 18 years old, currently a second-year student at Cheongsa High School in Mapo. He's a trainee at Ain Entertainment. He was originally with J-One Entertainment, but three months ago, the team leader of Ain Entertainment's second artist team scouted him.
He's known among agencies as a skilled trainee, and many companies have shown interest in him. He currently lives in Dain Apartments in Gangnam with his parents, and he's an only child. His father runs a fairly large plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam, and his mother is a homemaker. On his mother's side, the family is reputed to own extensive land holdings in Changwon.
Kang Seunghwan lived in Changwon until elementary school. After entering middle school, he moved to Incheon halfway through his first year. Six months later, the family moved again, this time to Goyang City. In the first semester of his second year of middle school, he suddenly dropped out, telling people around him that the family was moving to the provinces. However, records show the family actually moved to Suwon, and three months later they left for the United States. Seunghwan attended middle school briefly in the U.S. before returning to Korea, where he enrolled in his current high school."
Seongjun chuckled faintly as he listened to the secretary's report.
"Secretary Cha, I think I can already guess what the rest of the report says even without hearing it. Transferring schools that often and even dropping out in middle school? This kid must have caused quite a lot of trouble, right?"
The secretary nodded.
"Yes, sir. We're still investigating his elementary school years, so we don't have the full details yet, but even then, it seems he caused a lot of problems. As an only child, he was spoiled by his parents and maternal relatives. We keep finding instances where they paid off the parents of students he troubled to keep things quiet. Back then, money was enough to smooth things over.
But once Kang Seunghwan entered middle school and started hanging around with delinquents, things escalated. Our investigation shows that in his first year, he regularly drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. He also had complicated relationships with girls. But the real problem was when he targeted a male classmate and began bullying him.
At first, it was just extorting money and making him run errands, but over time the abuse grew worse. He beat the boy daily, whether at school or elsewhere, and eventually even tortured him, burning him with cigarettes, among other things. Things got so bad that classmates reported it to the teachers, but since it was a private school, the homeroom teacher and principal brushed it off. We've confirmed that Kang's maternal family paid the school staff to cover it up.
After that, his torment intensified, and eventually, the victim jumped off the school rooftop and took his own life. He left a note, and only then did his parents learn the truth and file a police report. The case grew serious enough to be covered by local news. In the end, Kang's family paid the victim's family a large settlement, and Kang transferred schools. Legally, he faced no major consequences since he was protected under the juvenile law."
"Hmm… If it were me, no matter how much money they offered, I wouldn't have settled with the person responsible for my child's death."
"Yes, we looked into that too. The boy's biological mother had remarried. She died in a car accident before the victim finished elementary school, leaving him with a stepfather. People we interviewed said the boy had been mistreated by his stepfather even before his mother's death. So when the case came up, the stepfather took the money and agreed to the settlement."
"Ha… The poor kid. Lost his mother, and then even in death, his so-called guardian cared only about the payout."
Seongjun's expression darkened bitterly.
"Yes. Anyway, that's how that incident was resolved. After transferring to Incheon, Kang Seunghwan reportedly kept a low profile at first. But a few months later, he was involved in another serious incident, he sexually assaulted a female student in his grade."
"Ha! This kid really is something else…"
"Yes. That incident caused an uproar at the school. The girl's parents reported it to the police, and an investigation began. But during the investigation, another male student suddenly came forward and confessed that he had been the one who assaulted her.
Then, the girl tragically took her own life. A note was found in which she apologized, saying she had lied and that she had never been assaulted. As a result, Kang Seunghwan was cleared of all charges, and the boy who confessed was also released due to insufficient evidence. That was how the case was closed."
Hearing this, Seongjun tilted his head in confusion.
"What do you mean? Didn't someone confess?"
"Yes. But further inquiries revealed that the student who confessed was actually at a PC café at the time the girl claimed the assault happened. Later, he changed his story, saying he confessed as a joke."
"Then what about Kang Seunghwan? If he really did it, wouldn't there have been physical evidence on the girl?"
"According to her initial statement, the assailant used protection during the assault. Moreover, the girl was so traumatized that she took multiple showers immediately after coming home. Her parents only realized something was wrong later when her behavior became unusual, which delayed their report."
"Hm… But didn't the note say Kang wasn't the culprit?"
"Yes. However, there's something suspicious about that. The note wasn't handwritten, it was typed on a computer and printed out. Her parents insist that their daughter would never lie about something like this and take her own life. They continued to protest to the police even afterward."
"Did she die at home?"
"No, she jumped from a construction site near her home. The note was found in her bag on the building."
"And was that all the note said?"
"No. It also stated that she had secretly liked Kang Seunghwan, but when he rejected her feelings, she acted out of spite and made up the story. She said she had intended it as a prank but couldn't handle the fallout once the situation got out of control, so she decided to end her life."
"This doesn't sound right…"
"I agree. On top of that, when we spoke to her friends, they all said she actually disliked Kang Seunghwan. In fact, they said he had been pestering her ever since he transferred to their school. Her friends were unanimous in insisting that she wasn't the type of person to do something like that. She was known as a bright, model student, intelligent, well-behaved, and admired by everyone."
"Did the police ever question her friends?"
"That's what's strange, it seems the police handled the investigation in a very perfunctory manner. According to the students, none of them were ever approached by the police for questioning. And after the victim's death, the case was closed almost immediately. Her parents continued to protest, but their appeals were ignored."
At this, Seongjun rubbed his lips thoughtfully with his fingers.
"So, there must have been outside pressure, or the police were bribed."
"Yes. When we checked the financial records of the officers in charge, we found that shortly after the incident, they purchased new cars or moved into larger homes."
"Ha… Alright, what happened next?"
"After that, while still in Incheon, the family moved to Goyang City when Kang Seunghwan was advancing to his second year. At his new school, he reportedly behaved himself for a while. However, three months later, an accident occurred, early in the morning, he had been drinking with friends, took his father's car, and struck a pedestrian, who died as a result."
Seongjun slammed his hand on the desk, his anger boiling over.
"Wow! This isn't just a problem child, it's like a disaster package. A kid that young, causing all kinds of accidents… and people keep ending up dead because of him!"
The secretary, sharing Seongjun's anger, continued his report.
"It was confirmed that the accident was reported to the police only an hour after it happened. Since it happened in a secluded area, there were no witnesses. A first-year middle school student from Kang Seunghwan's group of friends confessed to being the driver. The incident caused some noise, but since the driver was protected by juvenile law and Kang Seunghwan's side paid a large settlement to the victim's family, the case was quietly closed."
"The driver was a juvenile? And Kang Seunghwan's side paid the settlement even though he wasn't the one driving? Am I the only one who finds that suspicious?"
"From the investigation results, it seems they substituted the driver. Because the confessor was underage, he wouldn't face serious punishment, so they likely convinced him to take the fall. We also confirmed that the student's family moved to another area shortly after, and a family that had been renting suddenly bought an apartment."
"That money must have come from Kang's family."
"Yes, sir."
"Then after that, Kang Seunghwan dropped out of school and left for the United States a few months later?"
"Yes. And here's an important detail, Kang Seunghwan isn't his original name. His birth name was Kang Jun-il, but after he dropped out, the entire family legally changed their names. After the name change, they moved to Suwon, and during that time, the whole family underwent plastic surgery. Since Kang's father owns a plastic surgery clinic, it seems they did it secretly at his clinic. In Kang Seunghwan's case, the surgery was so extensive that he's unrecognizable from before. Here are his pre- and post-surgery photos."
The secretary handed Seongjun two photos from the envelope. Seongjun looked at them and let out a low whistle.
"This is a completely different person! No one would ever think they're the same."
"Yes. We believe they did this to completely reset his identity."
"So, going to America was also a smokescreen, to make sure no one could connect Kang Jun-il with Kang Seunghwan."
"Yes. In fact, friends from his Goyang days all believed his family had gone bankrupt and moved to the countryside. They just assumed that was why they lost contact."
Seongjun chuckled dryly.
"Whoever came up with this was clever. Now that he's about to debut as an idol, they can just say he was studying abroad in America. No one would suspect a thing."
"Yes. He kept a very low profile during his time in the U.S., barely noticeable at all. The whole family didn't socialize much. They stayed there for about a year, and after Kang graduated from middle school, they all returned to Korea."
At that point, Seongjun asked another question.
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