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Chapter 18
Uhyeon nodded in satisfaction as Serin skillfully pieced together the plans drawn up by the three factions without needing anyone to tell her.
“You’ll see right away if you investigate the CEO of Daehyun Industries. Even if Kwon Woojin is the vice president, he couldn’t have processed a 3 billion won payment without the CEO noticing.”
“Since any transfer of money leaves evidence, he probably agreed to receive something like a promotion in return.”
“Yeah, roughly speaking, he must have promised that if Kwon Woojin became the overall chairman, he’d get the next vacant vice president position.”
Serin nodded, as if agreeing with Uhyeon, and immediately stood up.
“This should be enough. How do you want to receive the payment?”
“Physical assets worth 800 billion won, please. Daehyun Group’s stocks don’t mean much to me.”
“Got it. But it’ll take some time. Dealing with the traitor comes first.”
“I can wait that long.”
With Uhyeon’s response, Serin quickly left Namsan and headed home.
<About two weeks later, Southern Seoul Prison>
Roughly two weeks after buying information from Uhyeon, Yushin Hyuk drew his execution sword and swung it at the coup conspirators.
As a result, Kwon Woojin, the CEO of Daehyun Industries, the CEO of Youngsung Resources, Attorney General Ahn Youngseok, and others implicated in the so-called Kwon Woojin Gate were all swiftly imprisoned.
Because North Korea was involved in the plot they had orchestrated, all of them were immediately issued arrest warrants under the National Security Act.
Kwon Woojin, known as Yushin Hyuk’s closest friend, had colluded with the rival Youngsung Group to consume Daehyun. Even the sitting Attorney General and the opposition party were tangled in it, so South Korea was in chaos over the Kwon Woojin Gate for a while.
Had Kwon Woojin’s coup succeeded, the biggest victim would have been Yushin Hyuk, who almost lost his entire company. But another significant victim would have been President Lee Dae-soo.
If the coup had succeeded, there would have been a regime change after Lee Dae-soo’s term, accelerating his lame-duck status.
Therefore, when Kwon Woojin’s coup failed at the hands of Yushin Hyuk, Lee Dae-soo immediately dismissed Ahn Youngseok from his position as Attorney General and personally instructed the Ministry of Justice to purge the prosecutors.
Prosecutors who had sided with Ahn Youngseok changed from uniforms to prison garb one by one, and the opposition party received heaps of criticism for trying to destroy Daehyun Group just to achieve a regime change.
As the saying goes: succeed, and it’s a revolution; fail, and it’s treason.
The Kwon Woojin Gate ended in treason, and about two weeks later, the political and business worlds began to calm under the “execution sword” wielded by President Lee Dae-soo and Chairman Yushin Hyuk.
Once the aftermath of the Kwon Woojin Gate began to settle, Yushin Hyuk went to Southern Seoul Prison to meet Kwon Woojin after dealing with the traitors within his company.
Yushin Hyuk faced Kwon Woojin across a glass wall. Kwon Woojin, in prison clothes, looked like he had given up on everything, his beard unkempt and grown thick from neglect.
Seeing him like this, Yushin Hyuk spoke.
“Why did you betray me? Honestly, I don’t think I treated you unfairly. I gave you as much authority and profit as I could within the company. So why did you side with someone like Youngsung?”
Rather than asking about his well-being, Yushin Hyuk bluntly asked for the reason behind the betrayal.
Kwon Woojin’s answer reflected the complete 180-degree change in their relationship over just two weeks:
“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life trapped in your shadow. I wanted to prove that I’m a capable businessman, not just someone lucky to have a good friend.”
Yushin Hyuk shook his head, unable to comprehend it.
“If that was the case, you should’ve told me. I would’ve helped you become independent.”
“I dedicated my youth to Daehyun. And now you expect me to just leave with nothing?”
“Now I see. You’re really selfish. Don’t you care about my youth?”
Disgust laced Yushin Hyuk’s voice, and Kwon Woojin could no longer defend himself.
“…”
“I considered your youth too. That’s why I tried to cooperate with you, even gave you the vice president position. But you tried to monopolize the fruits of our joint effort, which contained both our youth.”
With disappointment heavy in his voice, Yushin Hyuk watched Kwon Woojin mutter:
“I’m sorry.”
Yushin Hyuk rose and delivered his final words:
“It hurt a lot, Woojin. Both in business and personally. I hope you feel the same pain, if not more, while in prison.”
He left the visitation room without looking back.
<Meanwhile, Namsan Hotel Restaurant>
At the restaurant inside Namsan Hotel, Uhyeon and Serin had finished their meal and were having tea with light refreshments.
“Four unregistered bonds worth 100 billion each, and the transfer papers for a seven-story building in Yeouido,” Serin said, paying Uhyeon the remainder of the promised information fee. Uhyeon collected the documents.
“Thanks for the smooth deal.”
As Uhyeon began putting the papers into his bag, Serin spoke:
“This time, I have a proposal.”
Uhyeon immediately responded:
“I can’t disclose the source of the information.”
Serin shook her head, clarifying:
“I know. Asking won’t make you tell me. I mean, if I have more information like this later, we could have an additional deal. I’ll make sure the payment is more generous than this time.”
“Seems like this information was quite juicy,” Uhyeon remarked.
Serin replied with a slightly bitter expression:
“Yes. Juicy to the point of tooth decay. I actually got some cavities from it.”
“As long as I get the payment properly, I’m fine. If a good deal comes up, I’ll consider it positively.”
<Meanwhile, Youngsung Group Chairman’s Office>
The chairman’s office, where major decisions of Youngsung Group were made, was holding an emergency meeting with Chairman Park Byeongil and his three sons.
The reason was clear: the coup led by Park Samhun, the youngest son and CEO of Youngsung Securities, had failed, ending in treason.
Their ambitious plan to devour Daehyun and achieve a regime change collapsed overnight, and now they had two giants as enemies: Lee Dae-soo and Yushin Hyuk.
The new Attorney General had already begun a full-scale investigation into Youngsung Group. Having seen the previous Attorney General Ahn Youngseok’s head fall for conspiring against the president, he needed to prove his loyalty.
Additionally, the head of Daehyun Group, who had been friends with Yushin Hyuk since childhood, had almost lost his entire company.
Before the coup, Yushin Hyuk had no particular hostility toward Youngsung Group, even cooperating when it suited mutual interests. Daehyun Industries could acquire monster corpses through Youngsung Resources because of this connection.
But with the coup’s failure, Daehyun now saw Youngsung as a complete enemy. Contracts with Youngsung Resources were canceled, severing the connection and signaling that Yushin Hyuk had drawn his sword against Youngsung.
“So what are you going to do? We can’t handle either Lee Dae-soo or Yushin Hyuk. What if both of them target us?”
Park Byeongil shouted at his youngest son, Park Samhun, demanding accountability, but Samhun, who hadn’t anticipated things going this badly, couldn’t answer properly.
“Through a parliament member who’s a Youngsung scholar…”
Bang!
Park Samhun suggested using a parliament member to pressure the “dinosaurs” Lee Dae-soo and Yushin Hyuk. Park Byeongil slammed the desk.
“Are you serious? How can a parliament member oppose the president and the head of Daehyun Group?!”
Breaking his silence, the eldest son, Park Ilhun, spoke:
“Turning both Lee Dae-soo and Yushin Hyuk into enemies is overwhelming even for Youngsung.”
Park Byeongil, impressed by the realism in his eldest son’s words, took a gulp of cold water and looked at him.
“Who doesn’t know that?”
Ilhun replied:
“Lee Dae-soo’s term is only five years, so we can handle him with some compromise. But Yushin Hyuk has no term limit.”
“You mean we can placate Lee Dae-soo, but we must reach some agreement with Yushin Hyuk?”
“Yes.”
Park Byeongil considered this and nodded, seeing reason in his eldest son’s words.
“How will you pacify Yushin Hyuk? He’s very strict with favors and debts. He won’t sit at the negotiating table for just anything.”
“We’ll use his daughter, Yushin Serin,” Ilhun replied.
“His daughter?” Park Byeongil asked in disbelief.
“Yushin Hyuk values his daughter immensely. He protected her information strictly from a young age. If we win Serin’s heart and have her persuade her father, Yushin Hyuk will reluctantly negotiate to a reasonable level.”
Park Byeongil, finding the idea somewhat appealing, asked calmly:
“It’ll be easier than dealing with Yushin Hyuk directly, but winning Serin’s heart won’t be easy. How do you plan to do it?”
Ilhun smiled:
“She recently awakened as a Player. And conveniently, so is our Junmo. We’ll use that to our advantage.”
