Chapter 449 |
Park Jeong-seon mulled over his future operational plans.
His active promotion of the bypass method and distribution of the blocking prevention program seemed to have an effect, as the number of visitors to Helltokkaeng, which had been plummeting, gradually began to increase again.
However, there was a limit to growth while the website was blocked. It was impossible for it to beat Neotin Webtoon and become the number one webtoon site as it had before.
'Korean webtoons are very popular overseas as well. If I translate and service popular webtoons in various languages, it could work in foreign countries too. It would be difficult for artists or companies to deal with illegal sharing overseas, so let's start by targeting Southeast Asia.'
Surprisingly, he was aiming for the overseas market beyond Korea!
Normally, to service a product officially overseas, you need to get permits and approvals, and you also need to consult with the original author, but illegal sites don't have to.
Fortunately, even though the number of visitors had decreased significantly, advertising inquiries continued to come in. The advertiser didn't seem to know the market well and applied for a large banner and a pop-up ad without cutting the price, and deposited the money into the account he provided.
He drove around in his Porsche to various locations and withdrew money from the shell account. After withdrawing all the deposited money, he stopped by a cafe, ordered a coffee, and then went to the restroom.
While doing his business, he was organizing his future plans in his head. After washing his hands and coming out, someone standing in front of the door suddenly grabbed his hand and said playfully.
It was a slightly chubby young man wearing a gray tracksuit and black-rimmed glasses.
"W-who are you?"
The surprised Park Jeong-seon tried to pull his hand away, but the other person wouldn't let go.
"Y-you bastard! Let go of me!"
Park Jeong-seon raised his hand to hit the other person. But before he could swing his fist, two plainclothes police officers rushed in at the same time, subdued him, and handcuffed him.
"W-what. Who are you people?"
"We're the police. Are you Park Jeong-seon? You are under arrest for operating the illegal sharing site Helltokkaeng. You have the right to remain silent, your statements can be used against you in court, and you have the right to an attorney. If you do not hire an attorney, a public defender will be appointed."
The people in the cafe were surprised to see this. It was a scene they had seen countless times in movies and dramas, but it was the first time they had seen it in person.
When Park Jeong-seon looked up, the man who had first grabbed his wrist said with his arms crossed.
"I see you don't have a bag, so you must have left my money in the car."
"Who are you? Who the hell are you?"
The man said to the shouting Park Jeong-seon.
"I'll find you, and I'll kill you."
At that moment, something came to his mind.
"Y-you, are you the one who sent that email?"
He patted the shoulder of Park Jeong-seon, who was being dragged away by the police.
"Good luck."
***
The police who arrested Park Jeong-seon then searched his officetel and the officetel where the test server was located, and they also arrested an accomplice who was there.
With all the evidence already out, there was nothing to deny.
Hong Seong-hwan, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said to Taekgyu.
"Two of the accomplices are currently in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam."
Of course, the Korean police cannot exercise their authority in another country.
Taekgyu asked.
"Can't you request cooperation from the Vietnamese police?"
"That's true, but it takes time. You know how slow things are in Southeast Asia."
If they don't hear from him for even a few days, the accomplices will immediately notice. By the time the Vietnamese police move, they will have already destroyed the server and all the data and fled.
After thinking for a moment, Taekgyu said as if he had a good idea.
"Ah! Then I will contact the Prime Minister of Vietnam directly."
Hong Seong-hwan, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who had been nodding, was surprised.
"If you would do that... wait a minute. Who are you going to contact?"
***
Like China, Vietnam maintains a one-party communist dictatorship politically, but it has accepted a capitalist system economically through the Doi Moi policy.
Capital is needed for economic development. Therefore, the Vietnamese government has actively pursued a policy of attracting foreign investment.
Global multinational corporations willingly set up factories in Vietnam, seeing the low wages, political stability, and growth potential. Korean conglomerates such as Seosung Electronics and CL Electronics also entered Vietnam. Among them, Seosung Electronics has solidified its position in Vietnam, accounting for 30 percent of the country's total exports.
Thanks to this, Vietnam was able to beat other competitors and attract the electric vehicle industrial complex created by the joint venture of OTK Company, Seosung Group, and Eunsung Motors. The joy was even greater as they succeeded in attracting it by beating their fateful rival, Thailand.
The automobile is a technology-intensive and labor-intensive high-tech industry. It has the largest trade volume in the world, employs tens of thousands of people, and has a great impact on the entire parts industry.
Moreover, the demand for electric vehicles was only expected to increase, not decrease, in the future. If done well, it could become a key industry that could feed Vietnam in the future.
The Vietnamese government set a goal to continue cooperating with the Seosung Group and OTK Company and attract a second factory.
Prime Minister Nguyen Van Hoa was scheduled to have a summit with the Korean president next month. At that time, he was planning to visit OTK Company in person to request investment, but he suddenly received a phone call from the Vice President of OTK Company.
Prime Minister Nguyen Van Hoa, who heard the story through an interpreter, was surprised.
The Vice President of OTK Company is known to personally take care of matters related to subcultures such as games and manga with affection.
If this matter is handled carelessly, it could hinder future investment attraction.
As soon as he hung up the phone, he immediately gave orders to the police, and the Vietnamese police were in an uproar.
"Choi Myung-seon and Park Ji-woong! They are known to use the names Chris and Jun here. We must arrest them at all costs. If you miss them, be prepared to lose your jobs!"
***
After losing contact with Park Jeong-seon for a few days, Choi Myung-seon and Park Ji-woong realized that something had happened.
"I think he got caught. Let's bounce too."
"Where to?"
"I don't know. Let's go to Hanoi for now, or cross over to Thailand. Anyway, we can't stay here."
"Let's get the money first."
They opened the safe and stuffed the dollars piled inside into a bag. They then came out of the building and were about to get into the car, but what greeted them were police officers who had completely surrounded the building, pointing their guns at them.
The commander shouted in English.
"You are surrounded! Surrender peacefully!"
In this case, a movie protagonist would somehow escape, but unfortunately, they were real people.
The two didn't even dare to think about running away, and they quickly put down their bags and raised their hands.
The Vietnamese police carried out an arrest operation that mobilized over 100 police officers and even a special forces unit, as if they were cracking down on a criminal organization, and caught Choi Myung-seon and Park Ji-woong just before they could flee.
It didn't end there.
The Vietnamese police launched a crackdown on all illegal sharing sites suspected of being operated in Vietnam. Not only Helltokkaeng, but also the operators of all sorts of illegal sites were arrested one after another.
In addition, they announced that they would continue to cooperate with the Korean police in the future, share information, and conduct joint investigations.
The Vietnamese police said that they would extradite the two arrested gang members to Korea as soon as possible and would also strongly punish the Vietnamese programmers who were involved in the crime.
***
After the accomplices overseas were arrested, the police began to distribute press releases in earnest.
[(Breaking News) Operator of Korea's largest illegal webtoon sharing site, Helltokkaeng, arrested!]
[Estimated industry damage of over 300 billion won]
[Strong response to illegal sharing sites!]
[Accomplices arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in cooperation with Vietnamese police!]
[Webtoon sites all welcome the news!]
[Webtoon artists post celebratory drawings...]
Portal sites, including Neotin, featured this article as the main story, and it was also covered as major news on TV and in newspapers.
Each webtoon site posted a pop-up notice about the shutdown of the Helltokkaeng site and the arrest of its operators, and urged users not to use illegal sharing sites.
The webtoon artists were overjoyed. They thought it would be a relief if the site was just shut down, but who would have thought that they would actually catch the operator!
The artists took time out of their busy schedules to draw celebratory pictures and expressed their gratitude for the police's hard work.
Neotin Webtoon filed a petition for the operators to be punished severely without leniency, and also filed a separate lawsuit for 10 billion won in damages for the losses the site had suffered.
The same was true for other webtoon sites. And separately, on behalf of individual artists, they decided to file separate lawsuits for damages for the losses each artist had suffered.
The total amount of the lawsuits exceeded 100 billion won.
***
Min Hayoung, who met Taekgyu, held up an internet article in front of his face and asked.
"Did you do this?"
There was not a single mention of Oh Taekgyu in the article. But Min Hayoung could intuitively tell that Taekgyu had something to do with it.
Taekgyu, who had been itching to talk anyway, boasted about what he had done to Min Hayoung.
"Do you know what her expression was like when I grabbed her hand and said, 'Gotcha, you little rascal'?"
Throughout the story, Min Hayoung felt her body tremble and her mind go blank.
"B-because of me...?"
Taekgyu nodded his head.
"Of course. A friend was in trouble, so I couldn't just stand by."
"..."
At that moment, in Min Hayoung's eyes, Oh Taekgyu looked more handsome than any movie star or idol singer.
'What do I do? I think I'm going crazy.'
Her heart was pounding so hard that she could barely look him in the face.
"Your face is red. Are you sick?"
Min Hayoung was startled and waved her hands.
"N-no. I'm fine."
What kind of man would do this for her?
It wasn't just this time; looking back, it had always been like that. He had saved her when she was stuck in a pyramid scheme with no way out, and he had helped her get a license contract for Lost Fantasy. Whenever she felt like giving up, he was there to cheer her on so that she could continue drawing her webtoon. Thanks to him, she was able to achieve her dream of becoming a webtoon artist.
Min Hayoung said without realizing it.
"I like you."
"Huh?"
Min Hayoung looked Taekgyu straight in the face and said.
"I said I like you."
A moment later, when Taekgyu realized the meaning of her words, he froze on the spot.
'Hmm, this is a completely unexpected development.'
For a long time, neither of them said anything, and an awkward silence flowed between them.
A moment later, Min Hayoung burst into laughter.
"Pfft! Look at you getting flustered. Why are you so surprised by a little joke?"
At her words, Taekgyu was flustered.
"Uh, what? It's a joke?"
"O-of course. It's just a joke between friends. A-anyway, you went through a lot. I feel so reassured thanks to you. Haha!"
Min Hayoung laughed even louder on purpose. Then she quickly got up from her seat.
"I have a deadline, so I'll get going. I just came out while I was working on it."
Taekgyu got up with her.
"I'll take you."
"No. I'll just take a taxi."
"A taxi? What's the occasion? You don't take taxis."
Now that she was a popular webtoon artist who earned more than a large company's annual salary in a month, she always used public transportation, perhaps because of her habits from her difficult times.
"I-I have to stop by somewhere later. Anyway, I'll get going."
"Let's go out together."
The two of them went outside. Fortunately, they were able to catch a taxi right away.
Min Hayoung got into the back seat of the taxi.
"See you next time."
"Yeah. Bye."
The door closed and the taxi drove off.
At that moment, Min Hayoung burst into the tears she had been barely holding back.
"Waaaaah!"
The taxi driver was surprised and asked.
"A-are you okay?"
Min Hayoung cried her eyes out and shouted.
"Waaah! Oh Taekgyu, you jerk! If you were going to be like this, why were you so nice to me? Waaaaah!"