The First Wave: Tax Evasion

Ever since we started dating, Jin Ho became a happy man and even V could tell.

"You have been smiling a lot lately", he chuckled at Jin Ho. The two were working out at the gym in Virel's house. But then, Virel dropped the dumbbell in his hand and asked my boyfriend: "Hey, are you sure that you are the CEO of Zerogate?"

"What do you mean?" Jin Ho asked whilst building his muscles with two dumbbells.

"Check this out", V said to him as he showed him his tablet and Jin Ho had no choice but to stop working out. He looked at the tablet and couldn't relate.

"What's this?" He asked as he needed a detailed explanation.

"Can't you see? The income is unusual", Jin Ho was told.

"Why is that so?" He asked.

"I don't know. This is the kind of money that companies guilty of evading taxes gain so I'm kind of surprised", V mentioned. He looked very concerned about the matter.

"We pay our taxes, don't we?" Jin Ho asked him.

"We do. Should I look into it?" V asked and he got the reply: "Do that as soon as possible."

Jin Ho then took a towel and wiped the sweat on his face. "I'll go take a shower", he said to V and threw the towel at him.

"Come on bro!" V complained. But as Jin Ho was about to leave, he called him again. "Jin Ho! There is one more thing that you need to know", he told him.

"Which is?"

V went ahead to say: "The NIS has an insider. I don't know who it is but my hunch tells me that there's a bad guy on the inside."

"Alright, I will look into it", Jin Ho said to him.

"Sure thing bro", Virel said as he heaved a sigh of relief. He had full trust in his friend as he knew how he always took care of matters.

After the shower, Jin Ho came out looking like a college student with the most followers on social media.

"Are you going to meet Amy?" V asked whilst eating his toast.

"Yes. See you later", he bid him goodbye and left

"He sure is dating a lot. Can I ever go on a date? What is Ra Ra doing right now?" V wondered by himself.

Ra Ra was busy at work when she received a call. Seeing the caller, she smiled to herself. But after picking it up, she rudely asked: "What is it?"

"What are you doing?" V asked her over the phone.

"Of course I am working", she answered without emotion.

"I mean, when would you be free?" He asked. My friend, who was very hard to get, replied: "I have a very tight schedule and I don't think I would be free."

"Then what about tomorrow?" He asked.

"I will be busy as well", she replied.

"The next day?" He asked and she said in reply: "Still busy."

"Even on Sunday?" He asked, trying to confirm how busy she was.

"Yes, I am a designer. There's no break in my work", she said what was obviously a lie.

"I see. Alright, would you be working at home throughout?" He asked.

"Why do you ask?" She wanted to know his intentions.

And all of a sudden, she heard a voice behind her say: "Ta-da."

She turned around and was surprised to see him right at her workplace. "What are you doing here?" She asked whilst looking around.

"Don't worry. It is lunch time and all your colleagues are in the cafeteria", he mentioned. She saw him with a large suitcase and asked: "What is this?"

He opened it up and took several items out of it. Whilst taking them out, he explained their usage.

"This is for your neck. This is for you to sit on. This is to massage your back if it hurts. This is to massage your palms and this is for your stomach. Make sure to eat a lot", he explained.

Ra Ra looked at the items and then at Virel. "Why do you keep doing this?" She asked, looking totally unhappy.

V smiled but wasn't allowed to give an answer as Ra Ra told him: "Our friends are dating, not us. So why do you keep bringing this stuff?" She asked since this wasn't the first time he had done something like this. For the past month, he always brought her things that would help ease her stress at work.

Funny enough, V replied: "They are different from what I brought last time."

"It doesn't make a difference to me. Get them out of my sight and stop coming here. You are frustrating", Ra Ra said in a harsh way.

"Is it because of our age difference?" V asked since Ra Ra was seven years older than he was. She was twenty seven whilst he was twenty without a seven.

"I have dated a lot of guys younger than you. I just don't like you", she gave a shocking answer which was clearly a lie.

V, however, was not going to let her win. He told her: "I don't care. No matter what you say, I will keep on seeing you. As I said earlier, you need someone and I will be that someone."

He left looking quite sad and Ra Ra asked herself: "When would he give up?"

At the NIS, that guy with a scar was causing trouble. He was fueled up with so much pride that the tank had overflown. In the martial arts room, he was picking on another agent with his gang.

"Hey, why didn't you stand guard last night? Huh?" He asked as he kept pushing the shy female agent.

She was scared but still managed to say: "I am not your minion. I am also an agent."

"Did you just say, 'I am also an agent'? This girl doesn't know this place well, does she? Let's teach her the norms of this sanctuary", he said to his gang and they surrounded her. He cupped her face and was about to slap her on the cheek when an authoritative voice shouted: "Agent Ahn!"

He paused in motion and tilted his head towards the direction of the voice.

"There comes that old geezer", he said and let go of the female agent.

She quickly ran and hid behind the incoming agent. The agent was Jin Ho's uncle, Agent Lee Won Taek.

"Agent Lee!" The rude agent with a scar said to his superior.

"Agent Lee?" Jin Ho's uncle repeated. He looked very angry and his knuckles were recharging.

"Sorry, I mean Deputy Chief Lee", the rude agent corrected himself though he said that earlier on purpose.

"Agent Ahn, who gave you the right to abuse your power?" The Deputy Chief asked him. He didn't give a reply and neither did he apologize hence Jin Ho's uncle told him: "Be prepared for your punishment. This matter won't be overlooked."

The other agents who were with him finally showed their faces after they had run off. "Hey, I think you might be severely punished this time round", one of them mentioned.

"Don't worry. I already have things in place", he said. They all looked at each other with lots of questions running through their minds. But one of them didn't look happy at all.

As all of this was going on, I was also facing my challenge. "Why hasn't Jin Ho called today? I miss him", I told mom. Not seeing Jin Ho for eight hours was my challenge.

"Already? I must say, you are really clingy. If you miss him that much, then visit him at his workplace", mom advised.

"You're right. Mom, see you later", I said with a lot of joy. That option was there but it seemed like I just needed someone to give me the boost I desperately yearned for.

Since he loved me so much, Jin Ho had told me about his job. So I knew that he was the CEO of Zerogate Factory, the leading AI development center in South Korea.

Once I got there, I took out my phone and called Jin Ho. The call did not go through.

"Is he busy? Well, if he is, I will wait for him", I convinced myself and walked towards the glass door.

I held its handle and nearly pushed it open, when all of a sudden, a group of vans parked before the company. In a haste, a group of police officers alighted from the vehicle and rushed for the door. I stepped back as they entered with boxes in their hands. Wanting to know what was happening, I went inside and heard one of them say: "This is the prosecution. We hope you all cooperate with us as we make a thorough search."

The workers kept mumbling amongst each other and the prosecutor took out a sheet of paper and showed it to one of the heads of the company's departments, who was speaking to him.

He told him: "We have been granted permission to investigate this company. Please cooperate." The department head had no other option than to step back.

The prosecutor then said: "Search everywhere, right now!"

"Yes sir!" The police officers replied and went to work.

As I watched the scene, I didn't know what to do. Virel, who was on his way there, finally arrived. He rushed inside and saw the officers going through the drawers and files in the offices.

"What's going on?" He asked one of the employees and he explained things to him. He was as confused as me but upon seeing me there, he ran to me and asked: "Amy, what are you doing here?"

"Virel, what's happening?" I asked him and he replied saying: "I don't know all the details. But this morning, the numbers were not tallying. And all of a sudden, the police are here with tax evasion charges. It looks like a well planned crime", he said.

"What?" I asked as I still didn't get a thing.

Mom was at home when she saw the news. As several TV stations had already arrived at the scene, it wasn't long before the news broke out.

~Breaking News: Zerogate Factory has been charged with tax evasion. The company is said to have evaded taxes for the past three years. According to the statement made by the prosecution, the CEO of Zerogate Factory, Mr Joon Jin Ho has been presenting false documents all along. Due to this, he might be asked to pay a fine of over ten million dollars or would serve a prison sentence.~

This was the news being given on every media outlet.

One of the agents at the NIS received the news and headed to the Deputy Chief's office to make the report. But before he could get there, the police were already there.

Standing behind the door, he eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Are you Deputy Chief Lee Won Taek?" An officer asked Jin Ho's uncle, who was calm in his seat.

"What do you want?" He asked with lots of patience.

"You need to come with us to the police station", the officer mentioned.

"Why?" He asked.

"You are being summoned as a witness for the charges pressed against the CEO of Zerogate Factory, Mr Joon Jin Ho", the officer revealed and finally the expected reaction came to be.

"What did you just say?" He stood up from his seat and asked.

The four waves of unending problems had begun and this was just the beginning.