[Anchor]

An operator of a delivery service agency has been reported to the police on charges of assaulting an employee with a baseball bat and embezzling the victim's industrial accident insurance benefits. The victim, who had been friends with the operator since childhood, stated that he was forced to live like a slave due to constant threats and physical abuse.

Jeong Jiyeon reports exclusively.

[Reporter]

A, a 35-year-old who has worked as a delivery rider for an agency in Sejong City for the past six years, claims he has never received a proper salary.

He says he lived solely on the pocket money provided by B, the agency operator who has been a friend from his neighborhood since they were young.

[Gong Hoon (pseudonym): At first, I received 50,000 won, 30,000 won, or 100,000 won (a week), and when I asked for a raise, he increased it to 200,000 won.]

A says that every time he asked for more money, B would resort to violence, and that even those around them could not stop him.

[Agency Associate: When he asked for the money he earned, (B) would hit him with a baseball bat. He didn't really care about what others thought...]

B allegedly used verbal and physical abuse to make it difficult for A to even speak up, and the delivery commissions that A was supposed to receive were deposited into the account of B's wife.

["You're really going to die this time. You're going to die. (Yes, I understand.) You saw OO get hit 20 times with a club in front of you last time, right? Hey, where is the baseball bat? You son of a b, you're going to get hit 30 times."]

[Agency Associate: I heard the 'thud, thud, thud' sounds and saw him hitting him. If something didn't please him, he would start by swearing and picking up a club. He was even proud of doing such things.]

In 2023, when A fell while making a delivery on a rainy day and suffered a rib fracture, nearly 30 million won in industrial accident insurance benefits was deposited into the account of B's family.

Instead of receiving the insurance money, A was forced to continue making deliveries under someone else's name despite his injury.

[Gong Hoon (pseudonym): It was a busy season, so he told me to come out and that he would create an account under someone else's name for me. I was completely a 'slave.' People who haven't experienced it wouldn't know. This gaslighting is something else.]

A said he started working for B after a business failure left him with nowhere else to turn, as B had promised to "save the money I earned and build up a lump sum for me."

Unable to endure any longer, A filed a police complaint alleging that B had taken over 300 million won from him. The police have booked B on charges of fraud and special assault and have recently conducted multiple search and seizure operations.

(Video Editing: Yoon Tae-ho, VJ: Noh Jae-min)