KOR
The story we want to tell "you" this time is the episode **"Tracker vs. Fugitive: The Man with Two Faces,"** which aired on June 25. Special guests included BOYNEXTDOOR's Jaehyun, singer Lee Ye-ji, and Lee Min-woo. (In line with the unique style of *Tails of Tales*, this review is written in an informal, conversational tone.)
**▲ The Man Who Vanished Like Smoke**
The time is January 2013. A hopeful new year has dawned. Ju-yeon (pseudonym), who lives in Seoul, welcomed the new year happier than anyone else. In just a few days, she was scheduled for her wedding photoshoot. She must have been so happy, dreaming of her upcoming marriage. But then, one day, she suddenly loses contact with her boyfriend. A few days later, his phone is completely turned off. Just recently, they were busy preparing for their wedding, looking into "S-D-M" (Studio + Dress + Makeup) together, and with the photoshoot right around the corner, he suddenly vanishes. What on earth happened?
Meanwhile, shifting locations, we are at a small-to-medium enterprise (SME) in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. On the morning of Friday, January 4, 2013, a man working at this company receives a text message. It was from his subordinate.
"Hyung-nim, I'll head into work this afternoon. I just got a call that my father isn't feeling well."
The text says he will come in late because his father is sick. Naturally, his supervisor replies, "Hurry and go check on your father." However, the subordinate who promised to show up in the afternoon never does. But the company didn't think much of it at first, assuming he couldn't make it because of his sick father. But remember, this was a Friday. After the weekend, on Monday morning, the supervisor receives another text from him.
"I won't be able to make it today either. I'm back at the hospital. If anything comes up, please text me."
There doesn't seem to be anything particularly strange about the text. However, the employee who sent this message never shows up to work again. He is completely unreachable. The company eventually contacts his home, and his family's response is shocking:
"We don't know what's going on. Everything is fine at home. No one is sick here."
Even his family knows nothing. In fact, his father isn't even sick. By the way, do you have any idea who this employee is? He is the exact same person as the boyfriend who went missing right before his wedding. What could possibly be happening to this man that he is skipping work and cutting off contact with his girlfriend? First, let me show you his picture.
He is in his mid-30s, referred to as Mr. Kim (pseudonym). He has a gentle-looking face. One day, Mr. Kim suddenly vanished like smoke. But he wasn't the only thing that disappeared. Something else vanished along with him—something absolutely massive. What could it be?
**▲ The Identity of the Massive Thing That Disappeared**
Mr. Kim's story spread beyond his company all the way to a broadcasting station—right here to SBS. Let's hear the story.
"We were having an evening meeting with the writer and the team leader to brainstorm items. When I heard this story, I immediately said, 'Let's meet tonight.' I knew right away that this had immense broadcasting value."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-PD of *Curious Stories Y*
At the time, PD Yoon Young-hwi was a 15-year veteran producer. With his seasoned instincts, he knew this was an item that needed immediate coverage. And what they uncovered through their investigation was beyond anything anyone could have imagined. What is the shocking story behind the missing Mr. Kim?
As mentioned, Mr. Kim was working at a company in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. His position at the time was manager. He joined the company as an assistant manager in 2010 and was promoted to manager in just two years, recognized for his competence and diligence. The department Mr. Kim worked in was the finance team, which handled the company's cash inflows and outflows. Since we mentioned he disappeared with something massive, can you guess what it was?
On Friday, January 4—the day Mr. Kim sent his first text message to the company—the finance manager transferred money from the company's account to his personal account six times. How much was it?
"It's a huge amount of money—4.7 billion won. Back then, 4.7 billion won was worth even more than it is now. The value of 4.7 billion won today is different from what it was back then."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-PD of *Curious Stories Y*
Finance manager Mr. Kim had vanished with a staggering 4.7 billion won of company funds. Once the company realized what had happened, they immediately reported it to the police and requested a freeze on the accounts. The company's response was swift and precise. The problem, however, was that Mr. Kim was even faster. After skipping work on January 4, there was a place he headed straight to: Gangnam, Seoul. Why did Mr. Kim, who lived in Asan, go to Gangnam? The reason will give you chills.
"Nowadays, you might buy cryptocurrency or something, but it wasn't like that back then. From a criminal's perspective, the safest thing is cash. So, naturally, he had to withdraw the money."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
At the exact time he texted the company saying his father was sick, he was actually in Gangnam.
This is Mr. Kim's trail on January 4. In a single day, he visited a whopping 12 different banks.
"What made him so meticulous was that banks don't keep that much cash on hand. There isn't a single bank branch where you can just walk in and withdraw hundreds of millions of won on the spot. It's even harder in the provinces."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
There is something very important to note here: his route. The numbers indicate the order of his visits, and he moved in a highly efficient loop, as if circling the area. How could Mr. Kim, who lived in Asan, navigate Gangnam so flawlessly without any wasted movement, hitting bank after bank? He must have planned it all out.
"He calculated his route in advance. If you map out the major banks in Gangnam, he moved perfectly along that path."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
Since it was impossible to withdraw such a massive sum all at once, he mapped out this route to withdraw the money in increments of 100 million, 200 million, and 300 million won. The crime was incredibly planned and systematic.
Even after the weekend, on Monday the 7th, Mr. Kim continued his efficient run, hitting five more banks to withdraw cash. The total amount he managed to withdraw was a staggering 3.36 billion won. It appears he couldn't withdraw the remaining portion of the 4.7 billion won because the accounts were frozen in time. Still, 3.36 billion won is an astronomical sum. Can you even picture that much cash? Here is something to help you visualize it.
This is a bundle of 50,000-won bills. Since it contains 100 bills, it's worth 5 million won. He would need 672 of these bundles. Mind-blowing, right? Mr. Kim slipped away quietly with 3.36 billion won in cash, betraying his fiancée and the colleagues he had worked with for years.
"The person who felt the deepest sense of betrayal was probably the director who hired him. He was incredibly upset and went through a very difficult time."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-PD of *Curious Stories Y*
"And it wasn't even money he earned. It represents the blood, sweat, and tears of other people... (tears)"
- Director of the victimized company
Shortly after Mr. Kim vanished, a bag was left in front of his girlfriend's house. Wondering what it was, she opened it to find a luxury watch and 50 million won in cash. Who sent it? Yes, it was her boyfriend, Mr. Kim. It came with a message: "Wait for me. I'll come get you." But could a gesture like this ever heal the pain and betrayal his girlfriend felt?
Of course, the company recovered the items and the money. But Mr. Kim's lies and betrayal didn't stop there. As the company traced his steps to track him down, a shocking truth came to light. The graduation certificate Mr. Kim submitted when he was hired was completely forged. He had never even attended that university. Just like in the movie *Parasite*, he had completely fabricated his academic background.
**▲ Find the Missing Mr. Kim**
They had to find Mr. Kim immediately. Every second counted. As time passed, the amount of money they could recover would only shrink because he would keep spending it. Literally, time was money.
The company quickly reported him to the police and reached out to *Curious Stories Y* for help. To catch Mr. Kim as fast as possible, they put up a bounty of 100 million won. The company's employees also joined the search, treating it as if it were their own personal matter. The company, the police, and the broadcast media joined forces to find Mr. Kim.
However, this case was quite different from others. Normally, the hardest part of an investigation is identifying the culprit. But in this case, they already knew exactly who did it. Did that make him easier to catch?
"In a typical police investigation, identifying the suspect is the hardest first step. Once you pin down who it is, half the job is done—especially in violent crimes. But in this case, because he knew his identity was exposed, he would have tried twice as hard to stay hidden. I thought, 'This won't be easy. This is going to be a real challenge.'"
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
Just as the detectives said, if a criminal knows they will be instantly identified, they wouldn't just run without preparation. He must have prepared meticulously. That made solving the case even harder, putting the detectives' investigative skills to the ultimate test.
Detective Han Jae-gap was specially recruited for cyber investigations and specialized in online tracking. On the other hand, Detective Lee Kyung-ho was a veteran from the violent crimes unit, specializing in offline tracking. They were the perfect combination of online and offline tracking—a dream team.
"I came in through the cyber special recruitment, so I knew my way around computers. I enjoyed and was good at analyzing and tracking things digitally."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
"Before working in the cyber crime unit, I was a detective in the violent crimes unit at Asan Police Station. So, tracking down and arresting suspects was something I was always confident in."
- Lee Kyung-ho, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
"So the two of us had great chemistry. Our performance back then was really good, and we were great at catching criminals."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
The two detectives first examined a year's worth of Mr. Kim's phone, card, and bank records. However, no clues turned up. Naturally, he wasn't using a phone under his own name. As expected, he had gone completely off the grid. What should they do next? The detective duo kept a close eye on Mr. Kim's phone records. Even if Mr. Kim wasn't making calls, he could still receive them. They wanted to check his incoming call history.
During this process, they spotted a suspicious number. An incoming call starting with "02" appeared—a landline number from Seoul. Since Mr. Kim had left a trail in Gangnam, the detective duo focused on this number. It turned out to be the number of a department store in Gangnam, Seoul. Why would a department store call Mr. Kim? The detectives immediately rushed to the department store in Gangnam.
"It was very unusual. Why would a department store call him? Is his girlfriend there? Or maybe some acquaintances? With those thoughts, the two of us rushed straight to the department store."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
When they inquired at the department store, they learned that Mr. Kim had indeed visited as a customer. And he had used this.
It was a 10-million-won cashier's check. To use a check of that size, you have to leave your name and contact information. Mr. Kim had accidentally left a trace of himself. However, he quickly realized his mistake. He later asked the department store to return the check, saying he would pay with a different method. The call log was left when the department store contacted him to return the check.
This mistake by Mr. Kim became a crucial lead. The detectives checked the department store's CCTV footage. What did they find?
Mr. Kim had gone on a luxury shopping spree at the department store. But he wasn't alone. There was another man shopping with him. The day they went luxury shopping was January 4—the very day he embezzled the 4.7 billion won. Mr. Kim had bought luxury shoes for this other man. What was the relationship between Mr. Kim and this man? They had to find out.
**▲ The First Accomplice**
But could they identify this man? All they had was a blurry face on the CCTV footage. The detective duo gathered hundreds of photos of people associated with Mr. Kim, from his past to his present. Then, they compared them one by one with the face on the CCTV.
"We filtered through everyone's personal details. Out of hundreds of people, we excluded company associates and others, narrowing down the list to compile their details and photos. We spread them all over the office floor and started comparing them with the CCTV footage. We hoped one of them would match. This guy (Detective Lee Kyung-ho) has a really sharp eye, much better than mine. He looked at the CCTV screen and narrowed it down to a few people, saying, 'Oh? This one looks similar...'"
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Asan Police Station
After narrowing it down, they identified a man named Mr. Park (pseudonym). While investigating Mr. Park, they uncovered an unexpected clue. A new phone had recently been registered under Mr. Park's name, and the last four digits of the number were highly suspicious. They were identical to the last four digits of Mr. Kim's original phone number. This was a total bingo! It appeared Mr. Park had lent his name to Mr. Kim. Furthermore, they confirmed that Mr. Park had recently purchased a top-of-the-line imported luxury car. There was a high probability that this car also belonged to Mr. Kim. The detectives concluded that Mr. Park was an accomplice helping Mr. Kim.
Detectives Han and Lee first headed to the villa where Mr. Park lived. This was the home of Mr. Park and his wife. Upon arriving, the detectives did what they called "ear-pressing." They quietly approached the door and pressed their ears against it, listening for any sounds inside. Since they weren't certain Mr. Kim was inside Mr. Park's villa, they had to proceed with extreme caution.
A sound is heard from inside the house. Someone is there. But it's hard to make out what they're saying. So, the detectives quickly borrowed a stethoscope from a nearby hospital. Listening through the door with the stethoscope, they heard the voices of a man and a woman. But the woman was screaming.
"Hey, you crazy bastard! What on earth are you doing with my identity?"
Who was she saying this to? Was it Mr. Park? Or Mr. Kim? Surprised by the harsh language, the detectives gathered near the house for an emergency meeting. They thought the person she was talking to might be Mr. Kim, but they weren't sure. That's when the detective duo came up with an idea: they decided to call the phone suspected to be used by Mr. Kim.
One detective made the call from outside, while another listened closely at the door. When the call went through, a phone ringtone echoed from inside the house. And then, someone answered.
"We played our last card. One of us was listening at the door with a stethoscope, and another detective, who had practiced beforehand, made the call. 'Hey, isn't this so-and-so?' pretending it was a wrong number..."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
After making the call as if it were a wrong number, they played the recorded conversation to the company employees to see if it matched Mr. Kim's voice. However, the recorded voice was not Mr. Kim's. As it turned out, Mr. Kim was not at the accomplice Mr. Park's house, and the newly activated phone was not being used by Mr. Kim either. But this wasn't the end. There was still another clue: a luxury foreign car. Mr. Kim might be driving this car. The color and license plate of the vehicle were identified, and it was said to be a rare model.
The detectives decided to thoroughly search Gangnam. Since Mr. Kim had been to Gangnam and had even shopped at a department store there, they set out to find the car in the area. And they weren't alone in this search—the company's employees rolled up their sleeves to help. In the freezing cold of January, the detectives and company employees combed through Gangnam until their feet were sore.
"I thought there wouldn't be that many of those foreign cars. I figured, 'We just need to find that car. How big could Gangnam be? We'll find it if we just drive around.' But as it turned out, there were a lot of foreign cars in Gangnam."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But both the detectives and the company were just that desperate. They couldn't afford to overlook even the smallest clue.
Was there really no other clue to be found from the accomplice they had worked so hard to track down? The detectives noticed something unusual in Mr. Kim's phone records. They focused on the fact that there were no call logs with Mr. Park. Why was the absence of records so important? If the two had gone to the department store together and Mr. Park had lent his identity, they must have contacted each other in some way. Yet, there was no record at all? Highly suspicious.
The detectives thoroughly examined the communication records of the accomplice, Mr. Park. They found a call from the '041' area code. 041 is the area code for South Chungcheong Province, where Mr. Kim used to live. The call to Mr. Park from 041 came from a public payphone. The detectives immediately secured CCTV footage around that payphone and confirmed footage of Mr. Kim using it. Could this lead to a new clue?
"This was Detective Lee Kyung-ho's idea. There was a record of Mr. Kim calling the accomplice from a payphone, and he thought, 'Did he really only call that one person from that payphone? Since he was already there, wouldn't he have contacted other people as well?'"
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"People don't really use payphones much these days. I thought he might have definitely called someone else from that payphone as well."
- Lee Kyung-ho, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
The detectives decided to look into the payphone records. Among those who received calls from this payphone, they identified a Mr. Jeong (pseudonym), who was of a similar age to Mr. Kim and from the same hometown. Did Mr. Kim really use a payphone just to make a friendly call to Mr. Jeong? Probably not. Mr. Jeong could be another accomplice.
▲ The Man Behind the Mask
Upon investigating Mr. Jeong, they found that he had a recently activated cell phone. The detectives examined the call logs of this newly activated phone. However, a very strange record emerged.
"Several plastic surgery clinics showed up in the call logs. It was so bizarre. Why plastic surgery clinics all of a sudden? I got a shiver down my spine. 'Could it be?' I still remember what Detective Lee Kyung-ho said: 'Could he have changed his face? Like a face-off? Is that what this is?' We had to check. It felt so strange because it involved plastic surgery."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
The detectives rushed to a plastic surgery clinic in Gwangju. As it turned out, Mr. Kim had indeed visited the clinic. He had undergone plastic surgery there. Looking at the before-and-after photos, his appearance had completely changed. Let's hear in detail what kind of procedures he underwent.
"His eyes became much sharper, so he likely had double eyelid surgery. There's a high chance he had ptosis correction. The distance between his eyes looks narrower, suggesting an epicanthoplasty (inner corner fold removal). For the nose surgery, he probably raised the bridge between his eyes while making the tip of his nose higher. Since the width of his nose was reduced, he might have also had alar reduction, or raising the tip of the nose could have naturally narrowed it slightly."
- Shin Yong-ho, Plastic Surgery Specialist
Would someone really be unrecognizable after that much surgery? To see the dramatic change in image caused by plastic surgery, the production team of *Tails of Tales* prepared something. They simulated how the hosts of *Tails of Tales* would look if they underwent double eyelid surgery, epicanthoplasty, nose surgery, and eyebrow tattooing just like Mr. Kim did.
The before-and-after faces look completely different, don't they? What if they also changed their hairstyle and clothing? Would anyone be able to recognize them? The detectives showed Mr. Kim's post-surgery photos to people who knew him.
"He changed so much. Even the company officials said, 'I wouldn't recognize him.' They said they wouldn't know it was him if they passed him on the street."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"It felt like something that only happens in movies was unfolding in real life. And to think the criminal I was chasing actually did that..."
- Lee Kyung-ho, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
Mr. Kim underwent major plastic surgery just 17 days after fleeing. Would it be easy to find him now that he had hidden away with a completely different face?
▲ A Rat in a Trap
So far, it was confirmed that Mr. Kim was using a cell phone registered under Mr. Jeong's name. Could there be another clue in the communication records? The detective duo put their heads together once again. They reasoned that since Mr. Kim would find it difficult to move around, he must have ordered food delivery. They soon found a Chinese restaurant's number in the call logs.
Upon checking with the Chinese restaurant, they confirmed that they had delivered food to a certain villa. It was a villa in Gwangju, and they also discovered that the third floor and the fourth-floor rooftop room had been leased under Mr. Jeong's name. Was Mr. Kim really there? Detective Han and Detective Lee drove around the villa. Suddenly, their eyes lit up!
"We had to drive past the area quickly so we wouldn't get caught, and there it was—the foreign car was parked right there."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"When we saw the foreign car we had been searching so desperately for in Gangnam parked in the villa's parking lot, we were absolutely certain: 'Ah, this is it. This is where he is hiding.'"
- Lee Kyung-ho, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"I remember the two of us hugging each other and shouting, 'We found it, we found it!' I don't think I've ever felt such a thrill in my entire police career. I was so incredibly happy to see that foreign car."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
The car they had been searching for so desperately was sitting right there in the villa's parking lot. The location tracking results for the phone suspected to be used by Mr. Kim also pointed to this exact area. Finally, about 20 days after Mr. Kim fled, they had found his hideout.
However, they couldn't tell if anyone was inside. At night, only a faint light could be seen through the window, which seemed to be heavily covered. Was Mr. Kim really inside? The detectives staked out the front gate, the villa's only entrance. They planned to arrest him the moment he stepped out of or into the hideout.
On those freezing cold nights in late January, the officers couldn't even turn on the car heater during their stakeout, fearing that any noise might give them away. One day, two days, three days passed... but there was no sign of Mr. Kim. The detectives' worries grew. They wanted to storm the hideout immediately, but if only an accomplice was inside, Mr. Kim might cut ties and hide even deeper.
"If the criminal is inside, that would be the best-case scenario, but if he isn't..."
- Lee Kyung-ho, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"If we were to enter without being sure and the suspect found out, he would just go deeper into hiding. We had to be extremely cautious. One wrong move, and all our investigation up to that point would have gone down the drain."
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
▲ Vanishing into Thin Air Once Again
The detectives kept watch in front of the villa for a whole week. Then, a man walked out of the building. It was a face the detectives recognized: Mr. Jeong, Mr. Kim's second accomplice. After a brief hesitation, they decided to arrest Mr. Jeong. They then entered the villa with him to check the hideout. Was Mr. Kim inside?
Mr. Kim was not in the hideout. Inside the house, they found 170 million won, part of the embezzled money, mostly in 10,000-won bills. Had Mr. Kim not been in the hideout in the first place? Actually, Mr. Kim *was* inside the hideout while the detectives were staking it out. How on earth did this happen? How did he escape when the detectives were keeping a 24-hour watch right in front of the entrance? The answer lay inside the hideout. There was something in the room that left even the detectives utterly shocked.
"It can pan, zoom, and rotate a full 360 degrees. Up, down, left, and right."
- Employee of the victimized company
"We found evidence that he had installed high-definition CCTVs and had been monitoring us from the moment we arrived."
- Lee Kyung-ho, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"Multiple CCTVs were installed, and they were all pointed directly at our stakeout positions. There were cameras on the rooftop, in front of the door, everywhere. He was watching those feeds. So, he could see us staking him out. Who was monitoring whom, seriously?"
- Han Jae-gap, then working for the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
Mr. Kim had set up several high-performance CCTVs to monitor the outside world, which allowed him to spot the police stakeout. But since the police were guarding the entrance, how did he escape?
This is footage of Mr. Kim going up to the villa's rooftop.
And a short while later, Mr. Kim was captured on the CCTV of the adjacent building. This meant he had crossed over from the rooftop to the neighboring building. Were the two buildings right next to each other?
How does the distance between the buildings look to you? It's 2.5 meters (about 8.2 feet). Producer Yoon Young-hwi of *Curious Stories Y* reportedly visited the rooftop of the villa where Mr. Kim escaped.
"It's dangerous, very dangerous there. There are different heights and it's narrow, so if you fall the wrong way, you could get really seriously hurt."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-producer of 'Curious Stories Y'
Kim jumped from the villa's rooftop to the adjacent building, which was 2.5 meters away. And this was from the height of a three-story building. Kim pulled off a reckless, life-threatening escape, slipping right out of the police's sight.
But wait. When Kim jumped from the rooftop to the next building, could he have taken 3 billion won with him? Even in 50,000-won bills, 3 billion won in cash weighs nearly 60 kg. Moreover, when Kim was spotted on the rooftop, his hands were empty. Also, 170 million won in cash was found inside the house. So, could the rest of the money be hidden somewhere in his hideout?
There was one place the detectives focused on: the trunk of the car parked in the parking lot. They quickly called a technician to open the car door. But it was completely empty. No money was to be found anywhere inside the vehicle. Then, how did he disappear with all that heavy cash? This was his method.
Looking at this photo, you can see how Kim moved the money. There was something missing from the window blinds: the cords used to raise and lower them. Every single blind cord in the house was gone. Kim had tied the blind cords together to lower the bags of money through the window to the first floor. He lowered the money bags to the back of the building, out of the detectives' line of sight, escaped via the rooftop, and then retrieved the bags.
After moving the money bags to the roadside in multiple trips, Kim loaded them all into a taxi and slipped away from the scene undetected.
"We arrested one accomplice, but we lost the main suspect. We couldn't recover the money either. In a way, we were quite disappointed. But even then, Detective Lee Kyung-ho gave us some encouragement. He said, 'We took a hit, but the criminal must have taken a hit too.' We chased him all the way there, and things he didn't plan for started happening. He barely managed to escape. So, he must be panicking too..."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
The detectives were disappointed, but it only fueled their fire. They believed that Kim would have been rattled by their relentless pursuit.
▲ The Final Pursuit
The detectives predicted where Kim would head next to escape the tightening dragnet. Since Kim couldn't do anything under his own name, escaping without help would be nearly impossible. So, where did Kim go?
"Since his first and second accomplices had already been exposed to us, we thought there was a high possibility he would contact family, relatives, or someone close to him."
- Lee Kyung-ho, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
"In his current situation, he would have no choice but to seek help from close friends or relatives."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
The detectives suspected Kim had gone to his hometown. Kim was originally from an island in Jeolla Province. And there was someone else who kept a close eye on Kim's hometown: Producer Yoon Young-hwi of 'Curious Stories Y'. Producer Yoon's nickname was "The Fixer" because many of the cases he covered ended up being solved. While investigating Kim's hometown island, Producer Yoon heard something from a local resident.
"A relative of that man, Kim, came to the island recently. They came twice. They said they were going to their grandparents' house..."
- Island Resident
A relative from out of town who suddenly visited the island. Producer Yoon decided he needed to investigate this relative's movements. Where exactly this relative went on the island was crucial. Producer Yoon focused on the taxis operating on the island, thinking they must have taken a taxi to get around.
"I dropped them off here. They walked along this path (into the mountains). Right along here."
- Taxi driver who drove Kim's relative
The relative who came to the island asked to be dropped off at the reservoir both times and walked toward the mountain. What's more, the relative was holding a shovel. But the taxi driver's story didn't end there. The most crucial detail was yet to come.
"I asked how they were going to leave... and they said a friend's car was coming to pick them up. But on my way down, I saw a taxi heading up..."
- Taxi driver who drove Kim's relative
Could Kim have been inside that incoming taxi? According to the taxi driver, the oncoming taxi was not a local island taxi, but one from outside. As soon as Producer Yoon heard this, he rushed to the ferry terminal and checked the vehicle entry logs.
"Vehicles from outside the island are required to be logged when they enter. So I checked the handwritten records, and sure enough, there was a taxi that had come in from Mokpo at that time..."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-producer of 'Curious Stories Y'
Producer Yoon immediately headed to Mokpo. There, he tracked down the taxi driver who had picked up the man suspected to be Kim.
"I happened to pick up that passenger that day. He had two coolers. You know, those big coolers. I waited there for about an hour and a half. Then he came back empty-handed, leaving everything behind. He even left the shovel. He brought two coolers and buried something with a shovel, didn't he? These days, the world is so crazy, I wondered if it was a body or something. But it didn't seem like that. I saw his face... (When shown Kim's photo) Yes! That's him."
- Mokpo Taxi Driver
The taxi driver from Mokpo clearly remembered Kim's face. He said Kim went onto the island with large coolers and came back without them. Upon further inquiry, they found another Mokpo taxi driver who shared a similar story.
"When he got in, he loaded two boxes into my trunk. The boxes were quite large. Since they were big, he loaded them himself in two trips. I asked him where he was going, and he said he was visiting a family grave."
- Another Taxi Driver
Kim had gone to his hometown island twice. Both times, he took a taxi to the island carrying cardboard boxes and left them behind. Could 3 billion won in cash be buried on the island? It was a highly plausible theory. Do you happen to know about the Gimje garlic field case? It happened in 2011, just two years before 2013.
It was a case where 11 billion won in cash was unearthed from a garlic field in Gimje. There was a high probability that a massive fortune was buried somewhere on this island too. So, what had to be done?
"Let's go find that 3 billion won!"
Producer Yoon and his team headed to the mountain behind the reservoir. They searched everywhere, poking around with sticks, spending the entire day looking for the 3 billion won. But they couldn't find it.
"We heard it from the taxi driver and confirmed that he brought it in. Since he brought it onto the island and headed in this direction, we thought it would be buried around here... but nothing came up."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-producer of 'Curious Stories Y'
While Producer Yoon and his team were searching for the money on the island, the detectives were also moving quickly. They secured statements from the taxi drivers and were investigating the relative who had boarded the taxi with a shovel. During this, they uncovered a crucial clue: a record of city gas being recently installed under the relative's name. Could that house be Kim's new hideout? The detectives were certain. They figured Kim's situation was desperate enough that he had to rely on a close relative.
▲ The Second Arrest Operation
Dawn on February 20. The 48th day of Kim's flight. This time, they decided to check the hideout immediately. The hideout was a villa in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province. Fearing that CCTV cameras might be installed again, the detectives kept their distance but tightly surrounded the perimeter. Just as they were preparing to breach the hideout, a call came in. It was Kim's family. They had contacted the police after hearing about the situation from the relative involved in the case.
"Let us go in first and persuade him. We'll talk to him so he cooperates with you quietly."
After some deliberation, the detectives accepted the proposal.
"He could have acted unpredictably, or even jumped out of a window. He could have made an extreme choice. We thought, 'Let's tell him the detectives are here, they are waiting outside, so cooperate.' We were guarding the exits anyway. So we told them, 'Go persuade him to surrender peacefully.' That way, it could go more smoothly."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
Under the watchful eyes of the detectives nearby, Kim's brother-in-law—the person Kim relied on the most—entered the hideout. And so, Kim and his family member sat face-to-face.
Brother-in-law: "There's no reason for you to run away to somewhere else anymore."
Kim: "Are they all outside?"
Brother-in-law: "They are all here. Don't get any other ideas. Why did you really do this? Was it because of the money?"
Kim: "I am so sorry to the company. I will accept the punishment for my crimes. I can't even put it into words for my parents. The same goes for my girlfriend."
The detectives entered the hideout, and Kim was arrested without resistance. He reportedly told the detectives, "Now that I'm caught, my mind is at ease." And inside the hideout, stacks of cash poured out.
The cash found in the hideout was around 1 billion won. But remember, he had withdrawn a total of 3.36 billion won. Even considering the car purchase and his living expenses, a large amount was still missing. Where was the rest of the money?
After transporting Kim to the police station, the detectives interrogated him. When asked where the rest of the money was, Kim remained silent, keeping his mouth shut. The detectives found this completely baffling. He had surrendered peacefully and even said his mind was at ease, yet he refused to reveal the location of the remaining cash. What was Kim's motive? Did he think he just needed to protect the money at all costs for his future? But under the detectives' relentless questioning, Kim finally spoke up.
"I buried it in my hometown."
The next day, the detectives headed straight to Kim's hometown island. They began digging at the location Kim pointed out during a video call.
However, when they dug up the spot Kim specified, there was no money. But things did not go according to Kim's plan. In the end, they found the money—right inside his family home.
The money hidden in his family home amounted to 1.6 billion won. Ultimately, most of the 3.36 billion won he withdrew was recovered. When factoring in the car, purchased items, and the deposit for his hideout, over 90% of the embezzled amount was recovered. What a relief, right?
▲ After the Embezzler's Arrest
By the way, remember the 100 million won reward offered by the company? Who ended up with this money?
"They handed me two thick envelopes. They were quite thick. Given the size... how much would it have been? I didn't look inside because I didn't accept it. We went back and forth for about 30 minutes with them trying to give it to me and me refusing. But my purpose was broadcasting, and I received help from the victimized company during my coverage. On the other hand, that money felt like a lottery ticket. So in the end, I thought, 'This is like a lottery, but I don't want to spend my luck here.' Regrets? Money is important in life. It's not a matter of 'what is money anyway,' but rather it's a precious thing. Everyone is working hard to earn it. I think money is highly valuable and meaningful. But I believe it should be earned fair and square. I felt really good when I turned down that money. I felt proud. I don't know why. Maybe because I didn't actually see the cash? (Laughs)"
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-producer of 'Curious Stories Y'
After his arrest, the detectives asked Kim a question. During his time on the run, Kim had kept a detailed record of his expenses, almost like a household ledger. When asked why, he reportedly replied,
"Because it was money I had to live on for the rest of my life, so I wanted to spend it carefully."
Kim tried to change his face and his entire life using someone else's money.
Even though he had acquired so much money, he lived miserably—keeping all the curtains drawn, unable to turn on the lights brightly, and eating cheap dried snacks. The contrast between Producer Yoon, who turned down the reward, and Kim, who coveted someone else's money without any effort, is stark, isn't it?
"Did he really embezzle 4.7 billion won just to live like this? If he had earned money honestly, he could have lived with his head held high. But the result was just misery. If he had earned it himself, he could have proudly spent even 100,000 won. But even spending 100 million won, he looked miserable."
- Yoon Young-hwi, then-producer of 'Curious Stories Y'
"Exactly. Would you really be happy having that much money? When you're that anxious. Can you even go out and enjoy a good meal? You'd be too anxious, constantly thinking someone is chasing you."
- Han Jae-gap, then-member of the Intelligence Team at Chungnam Asan Police Station
What are your thoughts 'today' after hearing the story of 'that day'?
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.