Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Shall We Make the Board Bigger? (Paid Start)

I welcomed Secretary Kim with a joyful heart.

“Secretary Kim, welcome!”

I gathered both hands and did a navel bow.

Secretary Kim raised the corners of his mouth.

“Thank you for welcoming me. Have you had dinner?”

“Yes. Has Secretary Kim had it?”

“Unfortunately, not yet.”

It meant he had been very busy.

The reason Secretary Kim came running without even properly having a meal was probably because of that gift.

“Since you came all the way here, would you like to have dinner at our house before going?”

This is my goodwill for the errand.

“Fortunately, Grandmother Ok-bun cooked today’s dinner too. Grandmother Ok-bun’s cooking skills were the best in the Guro-dong shantytown, you know?”

I stuck close to Secretary Kim and whispered softly.

“Once you taste it, a taste of magic that you absolutely can’t forget! It will be a meal without regret.”

“Hoho, is that so?”

Secretary Kim raised both hands and showed them.

There were two large and heavy-looking travel bags.

“But unfortunately, now doesn’t seem to be the time to leisurely eat dinner. There are quite a few things to convey.”

“What are all these?”

“The chairman sent them. This side is the gift to Young Master Jeong-hyeok.”

Secretary Kim held out the travel bag he was holding with his left hand toward me.

“If it’s a gift, it means there’s no solicitation or compensation, right?”

“Yes. Actually, the compensation has already been paid by the young master. So strictly speaking, it can also be called a reward.”

Gift and reward are strictly different.

A gift is given for sincerity and goodwill, a reward is given to pay the compensation for merit.

“Actually, the chairman hasn’t even fully paid the bribe value yet.”

The contents Grandfather omitted were two.

Apologizing to Mom, and permitting the marriage.

I handed over the three cut pages before fully settling the bribe in order to soothe Grandfather’s anger and to obtain the desired written pledge, no, IOU.

“Let’s consider it as having opened a credit transaction with Grandfather too.”

“You don’t need to worry about being freeloaded on that. The chairman is a person who knows business morals.”

“We’re family. It’s fine even if I lose a bit.”

I grinned.

But Secretary Kim shook his head.

“If one-sided losses accumulate, regret accumulates subtly. The regret piled layer by layer turns into resentment at some moment. The chairman is thorough about rewards if nothing else.”

Secretary Kim carefully put down the bag at my feet.

“That’s why this bag returned to the young master. But the reason I said gift instead of the word reward is because of the heart with which the chairman thinks of the young master.”

The travel bag that Secretary Kim said was my share looked quite heavy even at a glance.

“Just now, the president of Taeseong Construction was dismissed.”

Fast!

It’s a matter of cutting the neck of the construction company president who is a biological younger brother.

I had vaguely expected that it would take a few days if short, a few months if long until everything was finished.

“Although procedures such as the shareholders’ meeting remain, since the chairman’s will is firm, it won’t take that long. You can consider it a confirmed matter.”

“Grandfather opened the deodeok liquor?”

“For reference, the president of Taeseong Construction drank cheap soju.”

I like it!

It was as I had requested to Secretary Kim when giving the deodeok liquor.

“What happened to that person? To the police? To the prosecution? Or to the KCIA?”

“Did you even predict up to that?”

Secretary Kim raised the corners of his mouth.

“Unfortunately, none of the three.”

“Hmm. If Grandfather who handles matters this quickly is acting leniently for some reason······.”

I fell into thought carefully.

Secretary Kim waited quietly with an interesting expression.

“I heard the president of Taeseong Construction was really bad at work?”

“That’s right. But how did you know that?”

Because I read the Taeseong Group report.

Taeseong Construction became independent as an affiliate, but not long after, it was completely ruined.

I can’t say that factually.

Is there a way to explain··· there is!

“Even though our Dad brought in so much work, looking at Taeseong Construction’s stock price being dirt cheap, it’s obvious.”

“That’s right. If the chairman had judged management ability, that person probably wouldn’t have obtained a decent position.”

“Hmm, then how many children does the president of Taeseong Construction have?”

“There are three. The two sons are married, and the one daughter is unmarried.”

I got it!

I nodded.

“Grandfather overlooked it because he has to hold hands and enter at the youngest daughter’s wedding.”

“That’s right. Because she is scheduled to get married this spring.”

Secretary Kim smiled contentedly and opened the travel bag.

“This is Taeseong Construction’s stocks. On top of the 4% that the president of Taeseong Construction had, even the 3% scraped under a borrowed name. About 7% in total.”

When I wanted 100 million won worth of Taeseong’s stocks, Grandfather had brought 1% of Taeseong Construction’s stocks.

But this is 7%.

“This is the slush fund that the president of Taeseong Construction had diverted in the meantime.”

“Quite thick? Bearer bonds, gold bars, overseas real estate, and even dollar bundles.”

“We cleaned out the secret safe of the president of Taeseong Construction’s house.”

It would be Secretary Kim’s skill.

It’s also the kind of thing that gangsters or loan sharks do when heated and charge in.

It was a solution method very familiar to me too.

So the smile couldn’t help but come out.

“Of course, you also opened the safe of the Taeseong Construction president’s office?”

“That’s contained here. This is Young Master Seong-jun’s share. Because it’s company matters.”

Secretary Kim lifted the heavy travel bag he was holding with his right hand.

“From now on, if we thoroughly clean out the Taeseong Construction executives, we’ll bring more. You can look forward to it.”

It was a voice that naturally creates belief even if there was none.

“This is all thanks to the young master bringing the U-gwang Construction bribe ledger, and thanks to completing the writing of the cut three pages.”

Completing the writing?

At that part, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You knew?”

“The bribe ledger was all typed, but only that cut part was written in handwriting. Indeed it was so.”

Secretary Kim also grinned.

“As a result, my choice was right. Bringing Mr. Park Cheol-gu to the young master before bringing him in front of the chairman.”

“It was an excellent choice.”

I gave a thumbs-up.

The words that Secretary Kim had said on the day he brought Uncle Cheol-gu to me came to mind anew.

-Directly putting a knife to Mr. Park Cheol-gu can be postponed until after the negotiation with the young master falls through, it’s not late.

-Mr. Park Cheol-gu, understand properly. Who do you think you owe your life to? Live while being grateful to our Young Master Jeong-hyeok for a lifetime.

It seemed that Secretary Kim’s share was also quite entered into the Yellow Springs path counter sparkling noisily above Uncle Cheol-gu’s head.

Secretary Kim bowed at the waist with a polite attitude.

“Opening Mr. Park Cheol-gu’s heavy mouth is also the young master’s ability and capability. Thanks to that, Taeseong was able to block the leaking water jar. It’s a matter worthy of the chairman giving a reward.”

Come to think of it, there’s something I want to ask Secretary Kim.

“Speaking of the U-gwang Construction bribe ledger. There’s something I’m curious about.”

“What are you curious about?”

“How did you use the bribe ledger? By letter? Or by meeting openly?”

“Hoho. Did you even guess up to that?”

Secretary Kim pushed up his silver-framed glasses.

“I delivered it by letter.”

“Well done. With Grandfather’s personality, I thought he would call the people listed in the bribe ledger and talk big, but he was a person with stronger patience than he looks.”

“Because of the nickname Flame Bulldozer, people usually have that kind of prejudice. That is also something the chairman intentionally intended to some extent.”

“Then the aftermath of the threat will certainly be shouldered by U-gwang, not our Taeseong······.”

Then the front door opened with a bang.

“What’s the matter?”

It was Father.

‘It was an important part!’

Father glared at Secretary Kim with cold eyes.

“What kind of trick are you pulling holding a child now?”

“You misunderstood.”

Secretary Kim pointed to the travel bag that was said to be my share.

“I was only explaining about the gift that the chairman sent.”

“Well. At this late hour, calling only the child outside without a guardian and whispering doesn’t look very fair.”

“Then may I go inside the mansion and finish explaining in front of the guardian?”

Secretary Kim smiled while lifting the two travel bags at once.

“Because I prepared quite heavily with both hands full and brought them.”

“Come in!”

I was welcoming.

“Dad, you shouldn’t treat a guest who brought a gift coldly at the door!”

“Umm.”

“It’s my guest. So if it’s a moment, it’s fine, right?”

“······It can’t be helped. Secretary Kim, I’ll give you 5 minutes.”

Father turned his back.

“5 minutes seems insufficient. It’s the chairman’s message. Does Taeseong collapse just because there’s no one chemical?”

“······!”

Father who was about to go inside the house stopped abruptly.

The Taeseong Group security guards who were receiving the travel bags from Secretary Kim couldn’t hide their surprised expressions.

Regardless.

Secretary Kim continued calmly.

“For reference, I will also inform the matters that the chairman instructed me. He said to extract an estimate of how much loss we have to bear if we step forward and clean up Taeseong Chemicals’ shares.”

“······!”

Father clenched both fists tightly.

That was the same for me.

The Taeseong Group security guards inhaled.

One of the security guards couldn’t hold back and asked.

“D, did the chairman really say he would give up Taeseong Chemicals?”

Secretary Kim didn’t answer.

Instead, he only conveyed Grandfather’s words further.

“He conveyed to attend this year-end night event accompanying Ms. Lee Su-jin and Young Master Jeong-hyeok.”

“······Father?”

Bringing an illegitimate child to an official event.

It was already clear what kind of matter would break out.

Father couldn’t hold back and looked back.

“Did Father really say so?”

“Of course.”

Secretary Kim straightened his collar neatly.

“As expected, 5 minutes seems too short to report in detail.”

“Please have a cup of tea in the study before going.”

“Thank you. It probably won’t be enough with one cup of tea, but I will follow the young master’s will.”

Secretary Kim walked without hesitation.

Even though the cold wind of midwinter was blowing whoosh whoosh, not a single strand of hair was disheveled, even the wrinkles of the pant hems had sharp angles, and the shoes were shining with gloss without a single speck of dust.

The security guards left outside couldn’t hold back and whispered softly among themselves.

“What’s all this matter?”

“If it’s Taeseong Chemicals, it’s a full 30 billion won business, right?”

“Even when first jointly investing, it was the chairman who grew the 1 billion won business into a 30 billion won large company.”

“If we clean up Taeseong Chemicals now, the loss won’t be ordinary······!”

When I followed behind Secretary Kim and entered the house, the security guards immediately closed their mouths.

But they couldn’t completely erase the soft whispering sound behind my back.

Regardless.

My footsteps heading to the entrance were only light.

‘Cleaning up Taeseong Chemicals?’

Grandfather has made a decision.

Even though it’s a matter where he might have to bear a loss large enough to make the insides ache.

‘If Grandfather has decided to bear that much loss in order to accept our Mother, I also have to roll up both sleeves and help with all my heart and strength?’

Life is originally give and take.

If you received goodwill, repaying with goodwill is a man’s duty!

‘Without Grandfather having to bear the loss! Rather, let’s make it so that we can eat Taeseong Chemicals for free and even receive thick damages from U-gwang! And one more there!’

The year-end night.

A gathering of key figures from the political and business worlds that combines a charity bazaar and sponsorship meeting to help the unfortunate neighbors at the end and beginning of the year.

‘Shall I simply fill even the hole created by the Taeseong Construction president and executives ruining it this time?’

Then I have to make the board a bit bigger.

‘Hmm, it seems I have to invite a few more people to the year-end night event.’

If he receives the invitation, the master will come running very happily.

The other big shots in the underground finance world would be the same.