TMPW Ch 12 part 2

Ten seconds after President Min and Hong SeRyung’s car had departed, the real Hans Benerst was waiting at the real Zurich Cantonal Bank a few blocks away. He was waiting for the VVIP client who was coming all the way from Korea.

A few days ago, they had been alerted to an attempted cyber attack. Thanks to that, the security offices were drowning in calls. The security offices sent over their emergency team, and they were currently still investigating the security systems of the neighboring towns.

However, the VVIP client in Korea had somehow heard about this incident and had insisted on visiting the bank personally. They began to endlessly question the bank about their security before finally announcing that they were going to transfer their entire account back to their country of Korea.

That would cause a lot of problems for the bank, but in the end, they couldn’t do anything more to hold on to this longtime client. This client had stored a large sum of money in the bank, so the bank had also used a lot of resources to maintain. He wouldn’t be getting that promotion after this. Hans was irritated, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The Zurich Cantonal Bank didn’t have an online banking feature. Therefore the account holders had to personally come to the main bank to withdraw their accounts.

One could see it as a last-ditch effort to dissuade clients from leaving. Hans was prepared to offer his client an exceptional interest rate to get them to stay.

He saw the VVIP limousine enter the town through the surveillance camera. He checked his necktie one last time before heading for the elevator. The elevator door was already open, and the security camera inside was recording Hans as he entered. The surveillance footage glitched for a moment but then went back to normal.

[Welcome.]

The limousine door opened, and a slender leg in black stockings stepped out. Hans swallowed.

He had heard that this was the Korean president of R&K’s young wife. The slender, beautiful woman was living with a man who could be her father. Her brown, wavy hair, her cold face covered in sunglasses, her red lips, and her short Chanel dress.

[This way.]

She languidly followed after him. Behind her was a tall man who seemed to be her bodyguard or secretary. He was also wearing sunglasses.

They got on an elevator and went up. They went through seven rooms and flawlessly passed through the security checkpoints. When they arrived at the identity checkpoint, the woman took off her sunglasses and pulled back her hair. Her light, smokey-eye make-up made her seem sexy and haughty.

Hong SeRyung. Once they checked her passport, they let her through. They checked the man’s passport as well. His name was Jin SooHan, and he was from Hong Kong.

When they finally entered the VVIP room, they sat in front of the machine that would be scanning their faces and their fingerprints.

[Please place your head here.]

The woman slowly put brought her head closer to the machine.

Yuan’s grip on her purse tightened. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous. It was one thing to practice the motions back when they were still planning this. But now that she was actually here, her feelings were totally different. However, now that they had come this far, there was no going back.

Behind her, Seo JoonHun didn’t waver. He was constantly against this plan for the past week, but in the end, he had no choice but to lose to Yuan’s persuasion and persistence.

He only had one condition.

He would go with her.

Surprised, Yuan shot it down, but he was also stubborn. He wasn’t going to let her go alone in this situation. If something went wrong, it wouldn’t only the end for her. It would also be the end for him.

“If I’m there with you, we’ll be able to solve any problem that comes our way.”

As JoonHun spoke persistently, he stood up to her. What was she going to do? Even though it sounded ridiculous, Yuan was confident she could do it. However, she felt extremely nervous about letting JoonHun help her. Derrick and Eri stepped up and told her they’d help out, and only then did she begin to feel better.

They had already rolled the dice. The only way out was to pull through to the end. She needed to trust in Derrick and Eri, who currently had the ‘Book of Death’ ready to operate at a computer at any moment. JoonHun and Yuan needed to succeed no matter what.

While a face was being scanned, the bank’s security monitor would show the actual Hong SeRyung’s face that was scanned when the account was initially opened. However, if Eri had successfully hacked into the system, the face on the monitor would be changed to Yuan’s face instead.

Would they succeed?

Her hands dampened with sweat.

Yuan clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her purse. Once this was over, there was no way back. She felt as if every cell on her face was on edge.

The manager looked at her strangely. If she hesitated any more, she would attract suspicion. She barely suppressed the impulse to get up and leave the room. She calmly put her head on the scanning machine.

A red line of light skimmed up and down over her face. The manager hunched over and looked at the computer monitor. The page with the German word for ‘Security’ did not change on the screen. Hans slightly frowned.

[I apologize. Could you do that one more time, Miss Hong?]

Eri!

Yuan groaned inside and helplessly put her head back on the machine. She could feel JoonHun’s eyes behind her. The red light skimmed up and down once again until, Beep. The machine made a sound as the computer moved on to the next page.

It monitor showed Yuan’s face instead of Hong SeRyung’s. Then the words ‘Identity confirmed’ flashed on the screen.

Hans faintly smiled.

[Now we’ll move onto your fingerprints. Please place your right hand onto the scanner.]

Yuan wiped her sweaty hand on her dress and raised her hand. Again, a red line of light skimmed over her hand. And again, ‘Identity confirmed’.

They were finally at the last step. Hans gestured over to the tablet in front of her. The final step was inputting the password. It would be the thirteen-character password that the real Hong SeRyung had just put in at the fake bank.

Yuan carefully punched in the thirteen characters. She had memorized the password that Eri had passed on to her before she had arrived at the bank.

However, a red warning appeared on the tablet screen indicating that the password was incorrect.

[Huh?]

Yuan, JoonHun, and Hans were all surprised.

[Ah, did you make a mistake? You may try one more time.]

That was definitely the password…

Yuan’s heart twisted inside her chest as she punched in the password one more time. But it still failed.

Oh my god. She felt like she was going to lose her mind. This was definitely the password that Eri had given her. Yuan frantically tried to recall the password.

[I’m sorry. Please think about it one more time. Once you put in the wrong password three times, the security system here locks the account. In that case, you need to come back and try again tomorrow.]

They couldn’t let that happen. Yuan paled. JoonHun carefully approached her from behind and spoke to her in Korean.

“Calm down. It’s okay.”

Calm down. It’s okay. These two sentences had many meanings. Yuan carefully took a deep breath and tried to recall the password. Was she feeling so hurried that she hadn’t heard correctly? Did she get 1 and 2 mixed up?

If she knew it was going to be like this, she would have asked for it in a text message. She shouldn’t have just listened to it while she was in such a nervous state. Additionally, in order to not get 1 and 2 mixed up, Eri had definitely used ‘hana’ and ‘dool’ to differentiate between the two. Had she gotten 2 and 6 mixed up instead?

She couldn’t think properly. Everything was getting dizzy. Yuan came back to her senses and looked back at the tablet with determination. If it didn’t work, this would be the end. They could just end it here. But what about JoonHun? It didn’t matter what happened to her, but what about JoonHun? Please…

She punched in the numbers again. This time, she changed the 2 into a 6.

Beep, beep. With that sound, her password was confirmed.

She wanted to shout with joy.

[Ah, thank goodness, Miss.]

Hans spoke brightly and straightened up.

900,000,000 Swiss francs.

In Korean currency, it amounted to a little over 1.0138 trillion won. Yuan suppressed her emotions and raised her eyes to look at Hans. He was currently rambling on about what a big loss this would mean for the bank, how this bank had helped this account make a lot of money.

[Mr. Benerst, I understand what you’re saying, but Madame’s mind has already been made.]

JoonHun leisurely spoke up from behind her and stopped the manager from continuing.

[Don’t you think we reconsidered this on our way over here? We know how much care and attention your bank gave us. However, this has already been decided, so please don’t waste any more of our time.]

Hans let out a sigh and nodded.

[Yes, I understand. Then to which account would you like to transfer your deposit?]

Yuan opened her purse and handed over a piece of paper to Hans. Hong SeRyung’s Korean account number was written on the paper.

[Are you planning on moving all of it to Korea?]

[Yes, that’s right.]

The man tilted his head for a moment. This would definitely induce a tax audit over the origin of these funds. However, since they said it had already been decided, he didn’t say anything.

[Yes, I understand.]

He entered the deposit amount, routing number, and the address into the computer. Finally, he clicked the mouse.

In that instant, the funds had been transferred.

[It’s finished.]

Yuan felt as if the bank manager’s voice was floating in a dream.

Yuan raised her head and looked at him. That’s it? 900,000,000 Swiss francs. 1 trillion won in Korean currency.

She silently got up from her seat and calmly turned around. No one knew how it took almost all of her energy to stay calm. She felt as if her feet weren’t touching the ground. Every time Yuan put one foot in front of the other, she felt the strength return to her body.

After they exited the thick iron door and passed through the security checkpoints, she could finally see the sunlight shining through the front glass doors.

And the limousine.

Get yourself together.

Yuan tried to stay alert. JoonHun opened the car door. Yuan got inside. A little distance away, underneath the bank sign, she could see a surveillance camera. She could see the cameras inside the cars parked far away.

Were they recording her as she got inside this limousine? Were they going to record the limousine leaving the bank?

Right now, Eri and Derrick were probably working hard to hack into the network to erase all the surveillance footage of Yuan and JoonHun. Oblivious to the bloody war that was taking place, the city of Zurich looked peaceful.

Finally, the limousine began to depart. The driver was wearing a cap that covered a lot of his face. He turned around and spoke.

“Well done.”

It was Choi Myung.

After that, no one spoke a word. The limousine drove for one hour before arriving at a secluded road in Baden.

“Please get off here.”

Choi Myung turned around and spoke.

“I will leave first to return this car to my friend.”

Friend. Honestly, Yuan was quite shocked by Choi Myung this time. The friend he was speaking of was an international smuggling syndicate. Burner phones and unregistered vehicles were nothing to this organization. How did Choi Myung know these kinds of people?

“I had a shady past.”

Choi Myung had said indifferently at Yuan’s wondering gaze. Then, as if it was nothing, he had managed to obtain forged passports, an unregistered car, and even an unregistered plane. She had spent over a year with this man, but Choi Myung was still a mystery to her. Why else would she have searched him up on the internet?

However, there was no trace of him online. He didn’t have a personal email or any ID. He had worked at HyunJin for 30 years, but there was no record of him.

“There’s a car that contains anything else you will need in the forest. Here’s the key to the car.”

Choi Myung handed out the car key as he spoke. She looked over at the forest he was talking about. Past a small hill, she could see an overgrown forest of tall ash trees piercing the sky.

“It’s alright. Just follow the sun westward. It will be about a 20 minute walk. You’ll find it in no time.”

“Don’t worry about us.”

“Then I’ll see you both in Paris. Please be careful.”

“Stay safe as well, Mr. Choi.”

Choi Myung faintly smiled at JoonHun’s words and replied.

“Don’t worry about me, Young Master.”

Young Master? Yuan was surprised. Choi Myung had always called JoonHun ‘Director’. Even though the term ‘Young Master’ seemed old-fashioned, she could feel the warmth in Choi Myung’s voice when he said it.

The limousine accelerated with a vroom and raced off into the distance. The sun began to set and shone its brilliant rays on the green hills.