Acts We Shouldn't Do (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 72

In the pitch-dark study, Dae Hoon sat alone, downing a shot of soju, a deep furrow etched between his brows. The week he’d believed would mark the start of his prime had instead slipped by like a nightmare.

“Phew….”

He let out a sigh heavy with exhaustion, his eyes fixed on the curtained window, fatigue thick in his gaze.

He kept the lights off even in the middle of the night to avoid drawing the attention of any nuisance that might be lurking outside his house. Dae Hoon had been in self-imposed isolation since yesterday.

Creditors who’d stayed silent until now were suddenly bombarding him daily for overdue material payments. They’d gathered en masse in front of the company building, staging protests and denouncing Hyun Yang Construction’s exploitative practices, dragging every news outlet they could find for interviews.

Then, another bombshell dropped. An employee at a cement supplier confessed they’d been forced to manufacture substandard products just to meet the prices Hyun Yang Construction demanded.

To make matters worse, it came out that the bankruptcy of a steel rebar supplier was directly caused by Hyun Yang Construction’s failure to pay its bills.

That brought shoddy construction practices under public scrutiny, and residents of apartments built that year began rising up in protest. Around the same time, some shareholders started openly criticizing Dae Hoon’s ethics in corporate management.

“Damn it all….”

It felt as if disaster had been waiting for just this moment to strike, piling up relentlessly. Even the media’s tendency to blow trivial matters out of proportion left a bitter taste—almost as if someone had orchestrated the whole situation.

And it didn’t end there. Within a short period, Hyun Yang Construction’s shares had flowed into the hands of several obscure entities. How had he not seen it coming? He, who had guarded Hyun Yang Construction with such cold clarity—how had he let things come to this?

He’d been intoxicated by a fleeting moment of glory. The approaching brilliance blinded him so completely that he’d closed his eyes to savor it—so thoroughly that he hadn’t noticed someone quietly picking his pocket. It was arrogance, premature and foolish.

“Hmph….”

The low, irritated sound filled the silent study, betraying his unease. Eyes shut, Dae Hoon painfully replayed the past in his mind.

He’d heard reports that, right before the stock price began its surge, a group of investors had bought up massive quantities of shares. And during the days of consecutive daily trading limits, he’d also received word of a sudden, massive sell-off by foreign investors.

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