On yesterday's (June 25) broadcast of SBS's 'Tails of Tales' (hereafter 'Tails of Tales'), the episode titled 'Pursuer vs. Fugitive - The Man with Two Faces' tracked the escape of a groom-to-be.
Joo-yeon was spending happy days ahead of her wedding photoshoot. However, her boyfriend and groom-to-be, Mr. Kim, vanished overnight. Shockingly, Mr. Kim disappeared along with 4.7 billion KRW of his company's public funds.
Mr. Kim, who had been promoted to manager in just two years, was working in the finance team of a company. However, after delaying his return to work with various excuses, he suddenly vanished with the 4.7 billion KRW.
Everything about Mr. Kim was a lie. To find him, the company even offered a massive reward of 100 million KRW. The police also began their pursuit of Mr. Kim.
After tracking Mr. Kim, detectives located his accomplices. In the process of tracking him, they also confirmed that he had undergone plastic surgery to change his face just 17 days after fleeing.
Through the relentless pursuit of veteran detectives, his hideout was discovered about 20 days into his escape. Detectives raided the hideout and found 170 million KRW in cash. However, Mr. Kim had already vanished.
In fact, Mr. Kim had been inside the hideout the entire time the detectives were staking it out. He had installed CCTV cameras in the rooftop room of the hideout to monitor the staking-out detectives. Realizing the detectives were about to raid, he moved to the adjacent building via the rooftop, grabbed his pre-stashed bag of money, and fled.
Mr. Kim's escape fired up the detectives once again. Deducing his final destination, they kept in mind the possibility of him contacting his family or relatives.
Mr. Kim was born on an island in Jeolla Province. A broadcasting producer covering Mr. Kim's case received a tip that one of Mr. Kim's relatives had entered his hometown island.
The producer found it highly suspicious that the relative had headed to the mountain carrying a shovel. Through further investigation, the producer also secured testimonies that Mr. Kim had previously visited his hometown island twice carrying large boxes. Consequently, along with the company's employees, the producer searched the mountain on the hometown island where Mr. Kim had reportedly gone to find the money. However, they were ultimately unable to find the money, leaving behind a sense of regret.
Afterward, detectives continued their pursuit of Mr. Kim and noticed that city gas had recently been installed in Mokpo under his relative's name. That was indeed Mr. Kim's new hideout.
Just as they were about to raid the location, Mr. Kim's family offered to persuade him, and the detectives accepted the proposal.
On the 48th day of his escape, Mr. Kim was arrested by the police. Expressing his apologies to the company and his girlfriend, Mr. Kim said, "Now that I've been caught, my mind is at ease."
Bundles of cash and bankbooks used for embezzlement were also discovered throughout his hideout. However, there was still money that had not been found. As detectives continued to interrogate Mr. Kim, he confessed that he had buried the money in his hometown. Yet, no money was found at the location he pointed out.
Ultimately, the place where the remaining money was found was his family home in his hometown. By discovering 1.6 billion KRW there, they successfully recovered over 90% of the embezzled amount.
The recipient of the reward offered by the company was none other than Producer Yoon, who was covering the story for the broadcast. However, he declined the reward. The producer explained, "I didn't want to use my luck here. Money is precious, but it seems to have value and meaning only when it is earned fair and square," adding, "I felt much better and more fulfilled when I didn't take the money," leaving viewers with much to think about.
Mr. Kim, who reportedly kept detailed records of his expenses to spend the money sparingly since it was meant to last a lifetime, wanted to change his life with someone else's money. However, for Mr. Kim, who coveted others' money without any effort, the ending brought nothing but misery and anxiety.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.