Cas Vegas

Im Suho sat in his chair, leaned back heavily, and looked up.
He tapped his foot and continued his explanation while keeping his eyes on the monitor.

“To someone who knows nothing, it would have just looked like a normal program, so your client is probably an unfortunate civilian who got caught up in it.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”

I only knew he was innocent after meeting Lee Donghyeon and using my skill.
But Im Suho, who was convinced of Lee Donghyeon’s innocence faster than I was, still tapped his foot and swept back his brown hair.

“Because if he knew what he was making, he wouldn’t have made it this diligently, nor would he have backed it up so diligently. He would have tried to erase the traces somehow.”

It was a plausible story.
Besides, Im Suho was unrivaled in this field.
I nodded as if in understanding.

“He’s recorded it very diligently. At this point, it’s like he’s confessing, ‘I’m the culprit.’ In fact, if this had been included in his statement, he would have been sentenced to prison right away.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Yes.”

At that moment, Lee Donghyeon’s determined expression came to mind.

“I’ve never done anything that would make me ashamed to face my parents.”

Im Suho fiddled with the drawstring of his hoodie and spoke again.

“When people hear the word ‘program,’ they think of phone apps, games, and the web, but the area where it’s actually used the most is separate.”
“…What is it?”

Lee Ilwoo, who had been silent all this time as if observing since we entered the room, asked for the first time.
Im Suho replied, smiling like a mischievous child.

“Money.”

Im Suho made a circle with his index finger and thumb and blew through it as if blowing a soap bubble.

“Think about it. In the old days, you had to go to the bank to buy and sell stocks, but now you can do it all with a single phone.”
“The same goes for banking.”
“Yes, it’s nice to be on the same page. What kind of developments must have happened to get to this point? People now get frustrated even with the thirty-minute bank maintenance at midnight. Because they’ve gotten used to it.”

Lee Ilwoo nodded.
Im Suho pointed to the monitor with his fingertip.
I followed his gaze and stared at the screen.

“The ones who made people so accustomed to it are, in the end, the people who have been continuously creating those programs.”

A while ago, there was a time when I often heard about the profession of a developer from clients or acquaintances.
It was when banks and securities firms were attempting a major overhaul from online services to mobile services once again.
That was the part Im Suho was talking about.
Im Suho followed my gaze, looked up at the crowded screen, and continued as if explaining.

“This is also about money in the end. There used to be a lot of sites like this in Korea, but now they’re almost all gone.”
“Because of the crackdown?”
“The crackdown is part of it, but they mostly moved overseas, saying the pie wasn’t big enough. There are still some left, but this is a much more advanced program than those.”
“So it’s not for domestic use.”
“Yes, that’s right.”

If so, I could somewhat understand why Lee Donghyeon had to go to the Philippines, and how he was arrested there.
Im Suho turned his chair and typed on the keyboard a few times.
Soon, a site boasting flashy graphics appeared on the screen.

[Black Casino]
[the last chance]

“This is a program that’s usually used in illegal gambling sites in Southeast Asia. This is one of the bigger ones.”

Screech.

I stood up from my seat and approached Im Suho.

“I received a request to track something a while ago. It was an illegal gambling site that mainly uses this program.”
“So you recognized it right away.”

Im Suho nodded and placed his hands on the keyboard again.

“But there’s something that bothers me about what you brought. You won’t be able to understand this anyway, so, hmm.”

He pointed to the screen full of code once, then shook his head and took out another phone from his drawer.

“I’ll just show you.”
“Mr. Lee Ilwoo, let’s look at this together.”

Lee Ilwoo approached without a sound.
In the meantime, a white site appeared on Im Suho’s phone screen.

“This is the program you brought, running. But do you see this here?”

At the tip of Im Suho’s index finger, I saw a familiar alphabet.

“K… Don’t tell me the owner of this site is K?”

A K, written in elegant cursive, continuously appeared at the bottom of the site.
Im Suho answered with an unreadable expression.

“This is the signature K of ‘Cas Vegas.’ Has it been about 7 years? For several years, this has eaten up all the illegal casinos in Southeast Asia.”
“Cas Vegas… I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s a name that people who live diligently have no reason to hear. It’s probably not related to K.”

Lee Ilwoo and I examined the phone that Im Suho had handed us.
After a few taps, the language of the site changed to Korean.

“The minimum bet is five hundred…”
“You can’t even finish a single game with that.”
“You can’t even play one game? Then how much does one round cost?”
“If you’re very lucky, ten million won? If you’re unlucky, it just keeps piling up. The stakes are that big, so the site has no choice but to grow.”

While we were checking the phone, Im Suho was back on his computer.

Tap-tap-tap, clack.

Im Suho tilted his head and brought up a new screen on one of the monitors.

“You two, take a look at this.”
“What’s this? An accounting ledger?”
“Something came to mind after hearing what you said. Hmm, proof that ‘you never know’ might be true?”

Click.

With a single movement of his hand, another monitor filled with numbers.
Dollars and various other currency units were jumbled together.
Rarely, I also saw yen and yuan.

“Unlike other sites that only accept dollars, Cas Vegas lets you place a bet as long as the total amount matches. They even handle the currency exchange themselves. And they take a little commission while they’re at it.”
“That’s amazing, in a different way.”
“This right here is the sales information for Cas Vegas. This was as far as I could get from the previous request. Let’s just say this is the net profit…”
“Okay.”

Im Suho scrolled down on the adjacent monitor and pointed to a picture of a ship with his cursor.

“And this is information I found while investigating K. I thought it was unrelated at the time…”
“A ship and a container.”
“Yes. The identity of the recipient is unknown, but there was intelligence that one of the containers on this ship, which comes to Korea once every fortnight, was filled with dollars.”

Lee Ilwoo, who had been quickly comparing on the side, spoke up.

“…When the amounts on the left monitor are all converted to dollars, the total amount is similar to the dollars on the right.”
“You’re quick with calculations. Mr. Lee Ilwoo is right. This can’t be considered clear evidence that K is the owner of Cas Vegas, but you never know.”

I lowered my gaze from the monitor and stared out the window.
It was a height from which you could even see the expressions of the people walking by, if you concentrated.

“…Three coincidences are no longer a coincidence.”

My head, which had been noisy since a while ago, became even more complicated.
To prove Lee Donghyeon’s innocence right now, there was only one way.

‘I have to prove that the illegal gambling site, Cas Vegas, is behind this, and that Mr. Lee Donghyeon was simply used.’

However, they had hidden themselves in the Philippines for the sole purpose of evading the law and investigations.

‘Then it’ll take a long time just to identify them.’

To request cooperation from the local police, I had to persuade the domestic police first.
The chances of that were slim, and even if it did happen, I couldn’t be sure how much time it would take to catch them.

[In the meantime, it’s as clear as day that Mr. Lee Donghyeon will be sentenced to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.]

‘If I had my way, I’d go to the Philippines right now. Linking them directly there is the best option for Mr. Lee Donghyeon, but it’s realistically impossible.’

No, it would be possible if I pushed myself.
Won Youngoh and Jeong Donghyeok were the types to readily agree.
But that was the very point that made me hesitate.

‘Those two have been overworking themselves too much because of me.’

I couldn’t be indebted to them again.
Even though we had hired new people…
The deeper my worries, the stiffer my expression became.
But I wasn’t the only one with a stiff face.

“…Attorney.”
“Yes, Mr. Lee Ilwoo. Are you uncomfortable? Your face looks really bad right now. Please sit down.”

Lee Ilwoo shook his head with an even stiffer face and continued.

“No. It’s not that I’m not feeling well… I’m sorry to say this, but are you not going to proceed like you did with Ms. Lee Jimin’s case?”
“Are you suggesting we go to the Philippines in person?”
“Yes.”

He added with difficulty.
Im Suho looked at us with interest.

“I can’t turn a blind eye because I know how it feels. I keep remembering that time.”

Even with Im Suho there, Lee Ilwoo honestly revealed his inner thoughts.
I could feel his sincerity in that.
But…

‘Even if I get Mr. Lee Ilwoo’s help like when we went to Japan, there are more things to worry about now.’

I couldn’t guarantee what might happen if we left the office.
Above all, apart from the name Cas Vegas and what Im Suho had just told us, we had no information.

‘There’s too little time.’

Rushing headlong into such an uncertain situation in a criminal trial could bring a huge defeat for the client.

“Attorney Cha, are you really thinking of going to catch them yourself again?”
“No, I can’t be sure this time.”

It was true.
I couldn’t affirm it like usual.

‘As the things I have to protect increase, the constraints on my actions also increase.’

It was a newfound realization.
Just then, Im Suho casually gave me a push from behind.

“I’ll watch over them for you.”
“What?”
“If you go to the Philippines for that client, I can watch over them for you in the meantime. Your colleagues.”
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of wiretapping me again. You said you got rid of the cloned phone last time.”

Im Suho laughed cheerfully and picked up the phone that still had the Cas Vegas screen on it.
And he shook it gently.
He looked vaguely annoying.

“I can always make another one, right? I was actually scolded by an employee to respect the client’s privacy. And even for me, I only have one body.”

Im Suho looked at me with a smile I had never seen before.

“I wish I had the luxury to check on your every move all day long too.”
“That’s a bit… even for me, that’s terrifying, Mr. Im Suho.”

Im Suho shrugged, unfazed, and raised his index finger to point at the ceiling.
There, numerous monitors were hanging as if pouring down.

“I’ll watch over the people you’ve designated, one for each of those monitors. I’ll even contact you if anything happens.”
“You’ll watch over them?”
“Because I’m sure you’ll say you’re going if you see this, Attorney Cha.”

He rummaged through a drawer, took out a silver USB, and shook it.

“I wasn’t going to say anything because I know your personality… I thought you’d go straight to the airport if you heard.”
“Tell me.”
“I knew it. Fortunately, it’s not that there’s no information on Cas Vegas at all.”

Im Suho connected the USB without hesitation.
New screens popped up.
A photo taken from a distance, a mugshot, and a trial photo.
Even though the first photo was taken from very far away, I could confirm that the man’s entire body was covered in blood.
I didn’t feel any particular emotion from the second photo, but the clothes he was wearing caught my eye.

‘A military uniform…’

Finally, a photo of him tied up in a rope, looking straight ahead with the same blank expression.

“Who’s this?”
“The Korean general manager of Cas Vegas.”