A Genius Speaks with Money

Chapter 54

Jeong Tae-jun wiped the cold sweat flowing on his forehead with the back of his hand and stared blankly at the television screen.

On the screen, Nam Yoon-kyung was still calmly answering reporters' questions, and camera flashes were going off continuously.

"This crazy woman... she dares to stab me in the back!"

Jeong Tae-jun felt a sour taste rising from within, making his mouth feel dry.

Then, panting for breath, he slumped down onto the floor.

'This must be a dream.'

An absurd thought flashed through his mind, but Nam Yoon-kyung’s appearance on the screen was all too vivid.

Only after accepting reality did Jeong Tae-jun feel that his lips were parched and red, and an unknown thirst was burning up from deep inside his throat.

At that moment, the secretary opened the door and walked in.

The secretary, who hesitated for a moment at the sight of the president sprawled out on the floor in a daze, did what they had to do while trying hard to ignore it."President, several reporters are currently requesting a statement from Taeseong Ilbo. And just now, from the Taeseong Group headquarters side as well...."

"Get out! Damn it, didn't you hear me tell you to get out?"

Jeong Tae-jun screamed and acted like a person who had lost his mind.

The secretary bowed their head with a frozen expression and quietly walked out.

Then, after roughly loosening his disheveled tie, he exhaled a deep breath.

His mind was dizzy and full of confusion.

Then, something suddenly came to mind.

'Could this... be a board that Nam Kun-ho set up in advance?'

Chairman Nam Kun-ho of Daehan Group.

It was a name anyone in the Republic of Korea would know.

Nam Kun-ho is a person who reached that position by any means necessary.

From the beginning, there was no way for Jeong Tae-jun to win against Nam Kun-ho.

If it was a board set up by Chairman Nam as he thought.

A hollow laugh escaped from Jeong Tae-jun.

He had been caught in the trap they set so pointlessly that it was truly absurd.

An unpleasant feeling and a sense of betrayal, as if his stomach were turning over, were intertwined.

Now that he had realized this, he knew better than anyone that there was no way out.

He stood up from his seat and staggered toward the window.

The sight of the tall buildings of the city lined up felt unfamiliar today.

Looking out the window, he muttered as if talking to himself.

"I just wrote a few lines of an article... So what of it...."

But even he knew that those words could not be an excuse.

Establishing paper companies, planned articles, and bribery.

He had published countless articles of this kind, but he didn't know he would be the one applicable.

He took his cell phone out from the inside of his suit jacket, which was crumpled like paper.

After hesitating while holding it blankly for a while, he finally pressed a number.

The name Lim Do-hyun blinked on the screen several times and finally went out.

Jeong Tae-jun bit his lip.

The smell of blood spread throughout his mouth.

"What do I say at this point? He's not the kind of gentleman who would listen even if I made excuses...."

Lim Do-hyun would surely deny it.

Perhaps he had already prepared a way out in advance.

If so, Jeong Tae-jun might have to take responsibility for everything alone.

The face of someone came to his mind.

He took out a small frame hidden in the desk drawer.

It was a photo of his child smiling brightly at a kindergarten presentation.

The memory of that day was still vivid in his eyes.

His hand holding the photo was shaking slightly.

The future he had promised his child was shattering into pieces before his eyes.

He had only been looking forward to the days he would spend with his young son.

He never thought that by playing a reckless move to bring that day forward, he would face such a backlash.

Jeong Tae-jun put on his jacket and hurried out of the office.

At this moment, the only one he could trust was his father-in-law.

No matter how much he hated him, he would not cast out his son-in-law.

Is he not a human who trembles at the thought of blood relatives?

That's why he protects Lim Do-hyun even if he acts that way.

Jeong Tae-jun hurriedly headed toward Taeseong Electronics.

He resolved to survive somehow, even if he had to grab his father-in-law’s trouser hem.

***

While Jeong Tae-jun was heading toward Taeseong Electronics, a heavy silence descended on the conference room of the HJ Partners headquarters.

On the screen, Nam Yoon-kyung was answering the reporter’s question in a voice without a hint of disarray.

"This matter is not just at the level of simple internal corruption. Illegal asset transfer took place through paper companies jointly created by President Jeong Tae-jun of Taeseong Ilbo and an aide of President Lim Do-hyun, and there are circumstances of planned articles and public opinion manipulation to support this."

The sound of someone gasping for breath was heard inside the conference room.

Choi Seo-jun also wore a flustered expression at the completely unexpected content.

"How did this happen? It seems it was prepared independently by Nam Yoon-kyung’s side."

Next to him, a working-level staff member from the legal department stood up.

"Representative, if this is true, the risk is far too great. If we are not careful, Taeseong might be shaken."

The inside of the conference room gradually became filled with murmurs.

Words mixed with confusion and anxiety were exchanged.

I, Lim Hyunjun, after organizing my thoughts while lost in contemplation for a moment, raised my head.

The image of Nam Yoon-kyung continued to flow on the screen.

I opened my mouth quietly.

"Chairman Nam Kun-ho made a much deeper move than I thought."

Choi Seo-jun looked at me with surprised eyes, but I continued my words while maintaining my composure.

"What we expected was a press conference to draw a line. However, the one they chose was a distraction."

I looked around and scanned the expressions of the employees.

Everyone was stiff, and a sense of anxiety hung in the air.

I stood up from my seat and said.

"It is fine. Although it is outside our expectations, this is something that inevitably had to be revealed someday. We have never been entangled with or intervened in this. Rather, it might be a relief that it was revealed now."

I took a breath and then said in a clear voice.

"Do not be confused. The exposure Nam Yoon-kyung threw out is irrelevant to us."

The atmosphere inside the silent conference room gradually changed.

I added it again.

"Instead, from now on, everyone will have to stay sharp."

Firm power was contained in my voice.

"There must not be a single mistake. Depending on how we act, we will come to control what follows."

A center that is not shaken in a confusing situation.

That is precisely the virtue a leader should have.

In that regard, the leadership I showed was very reassuring.

At least, those who faced me inside this conference room thought so.

***

In the top-floor chairman’s office, the sight of Nam Yoon-kyung answering the reporters’ questions in a determined tone flowed from a large wall-mounted television.

Nam Kun-ho sat in a luxurious-looking leather chair and leisurely took a sip from a glass filled with wine.

The red liquid swirled slowly inside the glass.

"Hmm.... Our Yoon-kyung really looks good on screen. Hahaha."

Nam Kun-ho stared at the screen with a very satisfied expression.

By his side, Strategy Planning Chief Shin Jung-woo stood quietly.

In his eyes, which wore a refined expression, not a single trace of emotion could be felt.

Shin Jung-woo opened his mouth cautiously.

"Chairman, it was an announcement with a somewhat high level of intensity. The backlash from the Taeseong Ilbo side will also be significant."

Nam Kun-ho put down the glass and pointed at the screen.

His gaze was still fixed on the screen.

"Jung-woo, in this world, if you step back, they don't go easy on you. You have to go strong for them to kneel. If Taeseong falters with just this much, how fragile is what they have built up until now. If so, they would be proving it themselves."

"But Chairman, what will you do if a counterattack comes in by any chance?"

"If Taeseong had the capability to counterattack with this, they would have cleaned up guys like Jeong Tae-jun long ago."

At those words, Shin Jung-woo did not say any more.

Nam Kun-ho looked at the screen again.

Looking at Nam Yoon-kyung answering a reporter’s question in front of the camera, he said with a pleased smile.

"Good! She speaks much better than any politician. Hahaha."

Nam Kun-ho even clapped his hands, liking his daughter’s appearance.

Only the sound of his clapping echoed clearly in the quiet chairman’s office.

When Chairman Nam’s words full of admiration decreased, Shin Jung-woo slowly turned his head.

"Chairman, what do you plan to do now?"

Nam Kun-ho spat out his words leisurely, as if playing a game of Baduk.

"What do you mean, what to do. While watching Taeseong fight among themselves, we just need to enjoy it."

Shin Jung-woo bowed his head at Chairman Nam’s words.

The one who choked the life out of an opponent until they self-destructed was none other than Nam Kun-ho.

That was the rule of the match he had kept for a long time.

***

When Jeong Tae-jun arrived at the Taeseong Electronics headquarters, the time was already past the afternoon.

Unlike the sunny weather, his heart was not peaceful at all.

The urgency that he had to meet Chairman Lim Man-seok right now weighed down on him.

People whispered at the sight of him entering the lobby.

There was no one who did not know Jeong Tae-jun, the president of Taeseong Ilbo and the son-in-law of Taeseong Group.

However, unlike before, the gazes were quite different.

The employees who encountered him were startled as if they had seen a ghost and avoided his gaze.

They pretended to only do their work with stiff expressions.

Jeong Tae-jun felt a strange sense of crisis at the changed attitude of those who would have been busy bowing their waists in greeting in the past.

He got into the elevator without hindrance, but his anxiety did not easily subside.

As soon as he arrived at the Chief Secretary's office where the chairman's office was located, he asked urgently.

"Is my father-in-law in?"

However, the words that came out of the secretary’s mouth shattered his expectations into pieces.

"Uhm, the chairman is currently in a meeting. He is not in the chairman’s office right now."

Jeong Tae-jun stared blankly at the door of the chairman’s office.

Frustration rose up to his solar plexus.

Even so, having come unannounced, he could not recklessly barge into the meeting room.

He had no choice but to wait endlessly, sitting on a sofa in the waiting area near the chairman’s office.

Fiddling with his cell phone anxiously, he eventually could not hold back and asked the staff member again.

"Is the meeting not over yet?"

"Yes. It is still in progress."

Even if he continued to wait here, it was over if his father-in-law just walked out.

Jeong Tae-jun asked the staff member again.

"Where is the meeting room?"

The staff member hesitated for a moment and then answered the location.

As he headed toward the place the staff member pointed out, his heart pounded crazily.

It only calmed down after he tried hard to take deep breaths.

The front of the meeting room he arrived at was heavily guarded.

Two sturdy bodyguards were standing and guarding the entrance, perfectly blocking access to the interior.

"The chairman is inside, right?"

Jeong Tae-jun spoke cautiously, but the bodyguard’s expression was firm.

"He is."

The bodyguard seemed to answer reluctantly.

When Jeong Tae-jun tried to grab the doorknob, the bodyguard blocked him.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot enter right now."

At the bodyguard’s words, Jeong Tae-jun’s face turned deathly cold.

"Do you not know who I am? I am Jeong Tae-jun. The one and only son-in-law of Taeseong Group!"

In his urgency, a voice that had lost its reason echoed in the hallway.

Nevertheless, the bodyguard blocked him without moving a muscle.

Jeong Tae-jun did not give up either.

"Do you not understand me telling you to move? Move right now!"

In the end, Jeong Tae-jun, who lost control, began to cause a disturbance.

His desperate shout filled the quiet hallway.

It was then.

A murmuring sound was heard from inside the meeting room, and soon the door opened.

The figures of Chairman Lim Man-seok with a cold, frozen expression and the executive team of Taeseong Group appeared.

Jeong Tae-jun’s wife Lim Hye-seon and Taeseong Electronics Vice Chairman Lim Do-kyung were also there.

Their gazes entered Jeong Tae-jun’s sight.

In particular, Chairman Lim Man-seok’s cold gaze seemed to pierce through his heart.