Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Negotiation (3)

I grabbed the end of the document folder.

“I never said I was selling this ledger?”

“Huh?”

“This is already the third time. I said it was an 8-million-won matter, when did I say I would sell this for 8 million won?”

One end of the document folder is held by Master, the other end by me.

Neither of us let go.

“The collateral items I prepared were two. The watch and the business card. Did you forget again already?”

“T, that······!”

“This means I had no intention of collateralizing it.”

The strength left Master’s hand with a thud.

“But since I came all the way here because I need money, there’s no reason I can’t sell this.”

I tucked the ledger under my arm.

I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb.

“For reference, that uncle over there called 10 million won.”

“······.”

Master turned to look at Secretary Kim again this time instead of me.

Secretary Kim raised the corners of his mouth as if very satisfied.

“You, what kind of trick did you pull on the kid while I was briefly away?”

“Trick? I merely proposed a reasonable price.”

Secretary Kim grinned.

“Deciding whether to sell the item to the pawnshop or not is up to the owner, and that ledger is something Taeseong intends to buy. Is there any problem here?”

“······.”

Master opened his mouth wide.

I clapped my hands.

“Then, let’s start the auction from now.”

“Auction?”

“Auction?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“There’s one item but two people who want it, so deciding the owner according to the logic of capitalism is the cleanest, isn’t it?”

“······.”

“Anyway, you were planning to buy this, carefully keep the original, and resell copies expensively while going around the competing companies for the subway construction bidding.”

“Aigo, my back of the head. A customer holding an auction against me in my own pawnshop, does this make sense!”

“Taeseong is 10 million won, what about Songgolmae Pawnshop? Do you want to give up?”

“Who said I gave up? One thousand fifty!”

Master shouted at the top of his lungs.

This ledger would be an item Master would also regret missing from his position.

‘How many construction companies are drooling over the subway construction? Just circulating copies would make several times the original investment. Finding out where the subway stations will go in by teaming up with that guy is a bonus.’

If it’s Master with a good eye for detail and who seizes opportunities well, it would be a windfall opportunity he absolutely doesn’t want to miss.

But Secretary Kim uncle also had no intention of backing down.

“One thousand five hundred!”

Although numerous construction companies are eyeing the Subway Line 2 construction, Taeseong and U-gwang are unrivaled.

‘If we just push out U-gwang, there is no construction company that can compare to Taeseong, would Secretary Kim miss this golden opportunity?’

No way.

I know he has stayed by Chairman Cha’s side as the closest aide for over twenty years.

Surely he wouldn’t drop out easily just because he runs out of bullets.

“Ugh! One thousand five hundred fifty!”

“One thousand eight hundred!”

I raised my hand there.

“Then I’ll stop here.”

“Why! I have the intention to call more? One thousand eight hundred fifty!”

“Whether to sell or not is up to the item owner?”

“······.”

Master opened and closed his mouth.

After a moment, he burst out laughing as if dumbfounded.

“No, the guy who came to the pawnshop to collateralize and raise money is refusing even when I’m offering more money?”

“Ah, so about that. The items I was going to collateralize earlier, would you give them back?”

“······.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“The reason I came here was to cover the lacking remaining balance of 18 million won. But I’ve prepared all the money like this? In this situation, do I need to collateralize? Forcibly?”

“Hehehe.”

Master raised both hands as if he couldn’t stop me.

“Fine, take them.”

Master had no choice but to obediently return the two items that had been about to be collateralized earlier as well.

According to the pawnshop’s rules, the item becomes the pawnshop owner’s only after the collateral item and money are exchanged with each other.

But since I haven’t received the pawnshop’s money yet, our transaction was not established.

So the pawnshop owner has to return my items.

‘Thank goodness.’

I took back Father’s watch and Secretary Kim’s business card just as I had brought them.

‘I don’t have to sell Mother’s memories.’

This watch is the only item of Father that Mother is keeping.

Even while renting a room in the Guro-dong shantytown, even while selling vegetables at the market, Mother didn’t sell this watch.

She kept it preciously in a jewelry box.

The reason for not selling a watch that looks like it would fetch a decent price at a glance and keeping it preciously is obvious.

‘Even if she kept it to prove that I am Father’s bloodline, the fact that this is an item imbued with Mother’s precious memories doesn’t change.’

The thought of having to sell all of Father’s items to buy a house bothered me.

Even while bringing this from the inn, my heart wasn’t good the whole time.

But since I was able to prepare the money without selling this, there couldn’t be anything more refreshing.

‘If Secretary Kim hadn’t followed, I wouldn’t have been able to solve the money problem this easily.’

Luck is good.

‘Secretary Kim said he came to deliver Chairman Cha’s business, but if it’s something that the closest aide secretariat chief assisting the chairman leaves his seat for several hours, it’s obvious.’

It must be because of me.

‘He must be going to report the conclusion drawn after observing me to Chairman Cha. What kind of seedling it is.’

Regardless.

Thanks to that, I benefited greatly from Secretary Kim, so that kind of thing doesn’t matter anyway.

Swoosh.

I placed the bakery Western pastries I bought on the way on the pawnshop counter.

Master pushed up his monocle as if what is this again.

“It’s a gift.”

“Hmph, rather give me a bribe. Something like that ledger you’re holding under your arm. Ahem!”

“A bribe is something given for a solicitation. What solicitation would I have to the pawnshop president? Unless it’s collateralizing and raising money.”

“······.”

“They said a gift is something conveyed from the heart without compensation. So you can receive this without thinking of ulterior motives.”

I neatly put both hands together and did a navel bow.

“Stay healthy. Next time I’ll come visit with a better gift than Western pastries.”

Ding.

I turned my back and left the pawnshop.

Secretary Kim silently followed behind me.

I opened my mouth only after leaving the building.

“This ledger is a bribe.”

Secretary Kim looked down at me with a peculiar gaze while taking the ledger I handed over.

“Well. According to the young master’s word dictionary, a bribe is something given for a solicitation, but didn’t I pay a reasonable price?”

“Even though there was someone who wanted to raise the auction price more, I refused and only received exactly 18 million won. That’s why it’s a bribe.”

“······.”

Secretary Kim stopped his steps while walking.

“Moreover, I’m doing a losing business right now. I haven’t even received the money yet, but I gave the ledger first. Is there a more certain credit transaction than this?”

“······.”

“That’s my goodwill.”

This person is one of the closest aides that Taeseong Group Chairman Cha trusts and cherishes.

It’s good to leave a mark when I can.

As he said, when you live life, there are times when you see dirty sights, and at that time, you need at least one joker you can pull out.

“If we win the Subway Line 2 construction, how much will Taeseong’s stock price soar? What about the value of Taeseong’s name that will be embedded in people’s minds?”

“······.”

“The expected bidding price for the Subway Line 2 construction alone is about 180 billion. Compared to that, the bribe ledger value of 18 million won is really cheap, cheap! This doesn’t even reach the bribe value distributed by U-gwang.”

“······.”

“Offer that ledger to Chairman Cha. It will come back more than what was extracted from me. This is a service.”

I winked one eye.

“That’s why I say it’s a bribe.”

“Hahaha!”

Secretary Kim burst out laughing loudly for the first time.

“I will gratefully receive the bribe the young master prepared without declining.”

Of course.

This is all the oiling that makes the world’s affairs run smoothly.

Where else is there a better lubricant than this?

“So about that. The KCIA agent Park Cheol-gu who was dragged to the Seobinggo basement. The person who wrote this ledger.”

“Yes.”

“Uncle can get him out, right?”

Secretary Kim grinned.

“Of course. In a situation where there isn’t even clear evidence that he investigated the background of U-gwang Construction, would it be difficult?”

This is all thanks to me diverting the original.

The underworld messenger next to me gave a thumbs-up.

‘If Uncle Cheol-gu had gone around finding the political figures listed in the ledger and threatened them first, he wouldn’t have suffered this. Tsk tsk, he couldn’t think that far? No, what was he doing without even making copies until now?’

A gentleman with good intuition but slow hands.

It was a matter of life, what was he doing all that time to get dragged away?

“Please.”

“No need to worry. If it’s something U-gwang can do, Taeseong can also do it. Leave this matter to me.”

This is really reassuring.

As expected, Secretary Kim! The fixer who handles the dirty work of Taeseong Group!

“I’ll consider this my goodwill in return for the young master’s sincerity. Since I received something, I should also provide service.”

Trust sprouting within the sincerity going back and forth!

I was able to achieve the purpose without even using Secretary Kim’s business card.

As expected, preemptive oiling is the best.

“Not much time left until the appointment with the chairman.”

Secretary Kim checked his wristwatch and said.

“Let’s quickly finish the house contract first and move to the Taeseong Hotel. I’ll guide you.”

* * *

The coffee shop on the second floor of the Taeseong Hotel was elegantly decorated in European style.

A barista who studied in Italy roasted and brewed coffee immediately upon order, and a tea ceremony artisan who learned tea ceremony in Japan and returned personally brewed tea in a ceramic set.

“I’ll have milk coffee, and Jeong-hyeok would like cocoa, right?”

“······.”

Cocoa!

In a place with such good coffee aroma, cocoa!

Not even British milk tea, not even double flower tea with two eggs floating, cocoa?

“By the way, how did you prepare that much money? You even brought back the watch you said you would leave at the pawnshop, by what means?”

“······I’ll drink cocoa.”

I gulped down cold water.

There’s no way to explain this?

As expected, at times like this, I have to shut up and drink.

Even if it’s gutter water or lye, it’s a time when I have to shut up and gulp it down.

“Surely you didn’t forcibly extract money from Secretary Kim, right?”

“Am I a beggar? A robber? I really didn’t.”

Secretary Kim who was drinking espresso across from us also nodded in agreement.

On Secretary Kim’s table, there is only one ledger hidden in a paper envelope.

Suddenly, Secretary Kim put down his teacup and stood up abruptly.

“Chairman, have you arrived?”

Chairman?

I turned my head to where Secretary Kim’s gaze was directed,

“Aigo, my precious child!”

A man who came running with both arms open while grinning broadly hugged me tightly.