With the internal mole handled, Minji turned her attention to the external threat. The novel's biggest antagonist, besides Kai, was Joo Seok-Kyung, the powerful and merciless CEO of the Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC). She was the one who processed the insider trading charges against Jungkook in Chapter 35.
"We need to meet Joo Seok-Kyung," Minji declared.
Jungkook was shocked. "Seok-Kyung? She's the one who always wants to see Dusk fall. She's Rion Kai's most reliable weapon against me."
"In the book, yes. But she wasn't a villain; she was a tragic anti-hero," Minji explained. "She enforces the rules absolutely because she was betrayed by a corrupt partner years ago. Kai exploits her paranoia and provides seemingly flawless evidence. If we show her the Origin Point evidence, proving Kai is the true source of corruption, her loyalty will immediately switch. She won't rest until Kai is ruined."
Minji added the necessary detail: "She keeps a small, antique silver music box on her desk. It was given to her by her partner before his corruption was exposed—a piece of painful sentimentality that defines her character."
Jungkook, recognizing the highly personal and unverifiable detail, finally agreed to the dangerous meeting.
Jungkook secured a private, high-level meeting with Joo Seok-Kyung at her FRC office. Minji was present as his "Executive Research Strategist."
Seok-Kyung was intimidating—cold, sharp, and impatient.
"CEO Jeong, I have no time for attempts to soften your regulatory burden," Seok-Kyung stated immediately.
Jungkook bypassed the pleasantries. "Madam Joo, I am not here to discuss my company's compliance. I am here to expose the greatest threat to market integrity, and it involves a man you trust implicitly: Rion Kai."
He then did what Minji advised: instead of presenting the digital log immediately, he mentioned the personal detail.
"I understand you value absolute integrity, Madam Joo. The kind of integrity that made you keep the antique silver music box your former partner gave you, even after he betrayed your trust. Integrity built on profound personal experience."
Seok-Kyung went utterly still. The mention of the music box—a detail no one outside her home should know—shattered her composure for a fraction of a second. She stared at Minji and Jungkook, realizing this was no ordinary business meeting.
Jungkook immediately projected the verified Origin Point file onto the wall—the coded log proving Lee Sang-Ho's creation of the shell account, tied directly to the Archon acquisition, proving the frame-up was pre-planned.
"Rion Kai is not a hero, Madam Joo," Minji stated, stepping forward. "He is using your justifiable paranoia to orchestrate an insider trading plot against CEO Jeong, purely to consolidate market power and remove his biggest rival. He plans to manipulate your agency in Chapter 35 to do his dirty work."
Seok-Kyung reviewed the forensic details instantly. She was a genius at tracking financial manipulation. The depth and complexity of the pre-planning—the use of an obsolete acquisition to hide the trail—was sickeningly familiar to the betrayal she had experienced years ago.
Her eyes hardened, focused not on Jungkook, but on the injustice of Kai's manipulation.
"Kai used me," she murmured, a terrifying resolve setting in.
"He tried to," Jungkook corrected. "But now, we can stop him. We need an internal asset at the FRC who knows how to spot his future evidence manipulation. We need you, Madam Joo."
Seok-Kyung closed the file, a slow, powerful smile spreading across her face. "Rion Kai will not see Chapter 35. Mr. Jeong, Minji. You have my absolute cooperation. We will treat him as the corporate criminal he is. The Financial Regulatory Commission is now your ally."
Seok-Kyung's resolve was immediate and absolute. She was a woman who dealt in facts, and the Origin Point log was the most compelling fact she had encountered in years.
"Rion Kai is extremely cautious," Seok-Kyung stated, leaning back, the silver music box now a subtle, glinting weight on the periphery of her vision. "He won't just drop the attack. He will simply adjust the timeline and find a new channel for the evidence."
Minji nodded. "He needs an internal asset, Madam Joo. The novel was vague, but it implied that Kai used a mid-level analyst in your department to feed the fabricated evidence package directly to your desk, bypassing the usual review."
Seok-Kyung's eyes narrowed. The idea that her system could be compromised by a low-level mole was an insult to her rigor. "Give me the criteria."
Jungkook stepped in, pointing to a holographic projection showing Lee Sang-Ho's network traffic. "The mole will exhibit the same pattern as Sang-Ho: high activity outside of standard working hours, a focus on internal communications encryption, and a suspicious, sudden interest in regulatory cases involving Dusk Industries. Specifically, a history of cross-referencing defunct or obsolete acquisitions—the same trick Kai used here to bury the shell company."
Seok-Kyung gave a single, curt nod. "I will deploy an internal, silent audit. Mr. Jeong, you and Ms. Minji must continue to play the 'target.' Kai must believe his evidence channel is still secure."
Over the next 48 hours, Seok-Kyung's internal investigators worked with the cold efficiency of a surgical team. The result was Analyst Kang Yoo-Jin, a brilliant but underpaid technician who had been lured by Kai's promise of fast, massive wealth and professional elevation. Kang Yoo-Jin had no idea she was working for a corporate criminal; she simply thought she was helping a powerful CEO execute a brilliant, complex business maneuver.
When confronted privately by Seok-Kyung, Kang Yoo-Jin cracked instantly, revealing the digital drop box where Kai had instructed her to deposit the final, forged insider trading reports. The reports were nearly finished, dated for delivery in eight weeks, perfectly timed for the Chapter 35 trigger.
Seok-Kyung didn't arrest her. She did something far more devastating: she placed Kang Yoo-Jin in a high-security internal holding pattern—a kind of regulatory purgatory—keeping her physically secure and digitally isolated.
"Kai is expecting a final signal from his asset," Seok-Kyung informed Jungkook and Minji. "We will give him a signal. A delay."
Minji formulated the counter-signal: "The Analyst must report a sudden, unexpected technical glitch in the FRC's internal server architecture that prevents her from accessing the final encryption key for the next three weeks. It must sound highly technical, frustrating, and unavoidable. Kai needs to think the system failed him, not the mole."
The message was sent via Kang Yoo-Jin's monitored, encrypted channel. Kai received the news, and his reaction was exactly as predicted: frustration, but not suspicion. He was used to the bureaucracy of the FRC. A three-week delay was a minor inconvenience, easily absorbed into his grand timeline. He merely ordered his team to wait, confident that his weapon was simply jammed, not neutralized.
Jungkook and Minji had bought three critical weeks. Not only was the primary legal weapon (the FRC charges) neutralized, but Kai was still convinced his plan was moving forward.
"What now?" Jungkook asked, feeling the unfamiliar relaxation of a major threat being averted.
Minji smiled, the strategist in her thriving. "Now, CEO, we address the other half of the strategy. The 'Quiet Contrast.' We use these three weeks to solidify your role as A-Ri's confidante, and we give her another chance to see Kai's true colors."