novelraw Chapter 108 : You May Disguise It as an Accident
Chapter 108 : You May Disguise It as an Accident
Chapter 108: You May Disguise It as an Accident
Unable to withstand the force of the miners surging like raging waves, the tightly shut doors of the office building shattered like paper.
“Argh!”
“A-Are these bastards insane?!”
The screams and resistance erupting from inside were swallowed by the massive roar and could not be heard. Howling like beasts, the miners poured into the office.
Kwoong! Kwaang!
The sounds of shattering glass and breaking furniture exploded one after another.
Their violence, born from lives spent oppressed in narrow, dark tunnels, was rough and primal.
What began as madness among dozens spread like wildfire, engulfing the entire mine. Roughly more than a hundred people gathered around the office.
I watched the scene in silence. Beside me, Choi Cheol-gyu kept speaking to me anxiously.
“The backlash might reach us too, President.”
“It’s fine.”
The miners’ massive roar did not last long.
As several screams and crashing sounds from inside the office building subsided, a chilling silence once again settled over the mine.
Moments later, the office door opened, and the miners led by Kim Man-soo dragged something out.
It was Site Manager Ma Dong-cheol and his staff.
Under the sharp beams of the searchlights, the miners stood silently in a circle. The tips of the pickaxes and shovels in their hands caught the faint light and gleamed coldly.
At the center of that circle, Mine Site Manager Ma Dong-cheol and his subordinates were kneeling on the dirt ground.
Their appearances, having suffered rage-filled beatings, were miserable. Their faces were smeared with blood and dirt, and their expensive suits were torn to shreds.
They could not even lift their heads, only trembling like quaking aspens.
“President.”
At that moment, Kim Man-soo approached me, cutting through the night wind heavy with the smell of blood.
“We dragged those sons of bitches out.”
He jerked his chin toward Ma Dong-cheol’s group. I nodded silently and slowly walked toward them.
In time with my footsteps, the miners who had formed a tight circle quietly parted, like the Red Sea splitting.
‘They’re simple people.’
I had thought they would kill Ma Dong-cheol outright. Their hands and speech were rough, but their hearts did not seem so.
I stopped in front of Ma Dong-cheol, who was kneeling. At the sound of “President,” he lifted his head, then immediately grabbed my legs and begged.
“A-Are you the new President? Please spare me. These ignorant bastards are trying to kill me…….”
“Site Manager.”
I cut him off in a low but firm voice.
I had not come all this way to waste precious time listening to empty whining.
“You have the ledger, don’t you? The ledger where you falsified production figures and sent the siphoned money upstairs.”
“…….”
“Bring it out. Then I’ll let you live.”
“What are you talking about…….”
“Don’t say you don’t have it. I already came knowing everything.”
At that moment, Kim Man-soo spoke.
“There’s a safe inside the office.”
“K-Kim Man-soo! After all I’ve done for you…….”
Ma Dong-cheol looked at Kim Man-soo with a trembling voice. Kim Man-soo snorted as if it were ridiculous. His expression, however, was murderous.
“What nonsense. Did you think we wouldn’t know you fed money to even the pit bosses and team leaders? Do we look like fools and idiots to you?”
I had wondered why a few people in work clothes were kneeling as well.
As it turned out, he had even roped in the pit bosses responsible for the tunnels and the team leaders who commanded the foremen, building his own little kingdom and playing king.
“Is the ledger in the safe?”
“…….”
“If you don’t answer, I can’t guarantee your life. When one or two people die in a mine, the police don’t even bother.”
In times like these, when labor conditions were not yet properly established, people dying on the job was an all-too-common occurrence. Especially in grueling places like mines.
At my cold threat, Ma Dong-cheol’s shoulders jerked violently. He hesitated for a moment, then finally realized his life was hanging by a thread and barely nodded.
“L-Let’s go to the office.”
“Lead the way.”
As I said that, I signaled to Kim Man-soo. Kim Man-soo brought along a couple of miners, hauled Ma Dong-cheol up like a criminal, and headed for the office. Choi Cheol-gyu, Yoon Ji-seong, and I followed behind.
The inside of the office was utter chaos. Broken furniture and torn documents were scattered messily across the floor, and the pungent smell of alcohol assaulted my nose.
“Open the safe.”
I gestured toward the heavy steel safe occupying one corner of the room.
Ma Dong-cheol turned the dial with trembling hands. After several failed attempts, the safe door finally opened with a dull thud.
The moment it opened, short gasps escaped from everyone who saw inside.
Inside the safe were several gleaming gold bars and stacks of old Japanese yen bills that reeked of age, as if they had not yet been exchanged.
And on the top shelf lay several thick ledgers—the evidence of all that corruption.
“You goddamn bastard……!”
Kim Man-soo’s eyes flipped at the sight. Howling like a beast that had lost its reason, he charged at Ma Dong-cheol. Fists filled with rage mercilessly slammed into Ma Dong-cheol’s face.
“We’re starving to death, and you piled up gold with the money you sucked from our blood?!”
“P-President! Please spare me! Please, just let me live!”
Covered in blood, Ma Dong-cheol crawled toward me like an animal, clutching at my pant leg as if grabbing the last lifeline.
I looked down at him like he was an insect and roughly kicked his hand away.
“Where do you think you’re putting those filthy hands. Take him away, Kim Man-soo.”
Kim Man-soo’s gaze drifted toward the inside of the safe. A flicker of greed passed through his eyes, but he soon clenched his fists tightly and spoke.
“Everyone heard that, right? Drag him out!”
At Kim Man-soo’s order, the miners dragged Ma Dong-cheol away again like a piece of baggage. His desperate screams and pleas gradually faded into the distance.
Without even glancing toward the door, I gave instructions to Yoon Ji-seong.
“Check the ledgers.”
Yoon Ji-seong set down the bag he was holding and took out the ledger on top, beginning to examine it. After scrutinizing it for quite some time, he looked up.
“There’s a bribery ledger, and also transaction records for the siphoned limestone.”
“Good. Pack them carefully, and when we get to Seoul, hand them over to Department Head Yoon Sang-hyeon.”
“Yes, President.”
“And gather that as well.”
At my instruction, Yoon Ji-seong picked up a bag rolling on the floor and began stuffing it with money and gold bars.
It was enough to fill a fairly large bag to the brim.
“Let’s go.”
When I moved first, Yoon Ji-seong followed me out carrying two bags. The gazes of more than a hundred people all fixed on the bags he carried.
“We’ll start by paying one month’s wages. And, Kim Man-soo…….”
Kim Man-soo, whose name had been called, swallowed dryly and looked at me. I took one of the bags Yoon Ji-seong was carrying and opened it. Upon seeing what was inside, the eyes of Kim Man-soo and the laborers widened.
From now on translate from Korean to English while following all translation instructions and names in the knowledge with utmost accuracy. Preserve the line breaks as is from the raw.
“This will be exchanged into won later and then distributed fairly among the laborers here according to headcount. This currency is useless now.”
“Th-That’s really true?”
“Yes. Because all of this is your blood and sweat.”
At my words, the miners’ mouths fell open. If one added up the gold bars and hwan banknotes in the bag, it would easily amount to several million won. Their reaction was only natural.
But because of that, my conviction that this decision was right only grew stronger. Rather than pocketing such petty money, earning their absolute trust was far more valuable.
“Director Yoon. Let’s pay the wages.”
“Yes, President.”
Yoon Ji-seong stepped forward and spoke to Kim Man-soo.
“Foreman. May I ask for one desk and one chair?”
When Kim Man-soo instructed another miner to bring them, they went into the office and carried out a desk and chair that were still relatively intact.
Yoon Ji-seong placed the money bag beside him, set the wage ledger on the desk, and asked,
“Foreman. Is everyone here? I understand there are a total of 154 mine laborers.”
“Nope. There’s folks who ain’t here.”
“If we contact them, will they come quickly? I’d like to pay everyone today, but they have to receive it in person.”
“Course! Hey! Kim, Jang! Go down to the village and gather everyone!”
Yoon Ji-seong began calling out names, and I took Kim Man-soo with me and went back into the now-quiet office.
I told Choi Cheol-gyu, who tried to follow us in, to help Yoon Ji-seong, then closed the door.
“What would you like to do with the site manager and his collaborators?”
“What d’you mean? Do what with ‘em?”
“If you wish, you can stuff them all into the tunnels and disguise it as an accident that occurred during dynamite blasting.”
At the sight of me speaking so casually about killing people, he flinched. He soon protested fiercely.
“What’re you sayin’? We’re miners, not murderers!”
That was exactly what I expected. Even when they stormed the office in rage, the miners had not killed those insects.
Well, with people this simple, it made sense that Ma Dong-cheol thought he could skim money off them.
“Then can you confine them until someone from head office arrives? After the internal audit is finished, I plan to hand them over to the police.”
“We’ll do that.”
“I’ll send down a new site manager and office staff. For the time being, Foreman Kim, please manage this mine well. We won’t be resuming excavation immediately.”
Kim Man-soo hesitated, his lips twitching.
He had said he wouldn’t work without getting paid, yet now that I said we wouldn’t mine, he seemed anxious.
“We can’t pay full wages since there will be no work, but we’ll pay half.”
“Is that for real? You’re sayin’ we get half our pay even if we don’t work?”
“Yes. In return, you must guard the mine no matter what. Can you do that?”
Kim Man-soo’s eyes filled with resolve. He clenched his fist and answered.
“Yes! This Kim fella will guard it with his life!”
The core of cement was limestone, and limestone was mined at this site. The beginning of Daejin Cement was right here, at Taebaek Mine.
Even though mining was being halted, I promised to pay them half their wages because we had to prevent these skilled miners from going off to other mines.
“Yes. Please make sure to pass my words on to the other miners as well. Then let’s go.”
I went outside together with Kim Man-soo, whose expression had visibly brightened.
A heavy atmosphere, sunk deep with suppressed anger, filled Dan Tae-geon’s office.
The ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts like a small mountain. Ever since being harshly reprimanded by Jeong Tae-soo yesterday, his mood had been at its worst.
A subordinate, reading Dan Tae-geon’s mood, swallowed dryly and began his report.
“President. A report just came in.”
“What is it.”
“……It seems Daejin Cement has found a new owner.”
“What? Who would buy that toxic asset? Are they insane? Just leaving it alone, the government would’ve dumped it at a bargain price.”
“Well, th-that is…… Baek Min-woo is said to be the new owner.”
Baek Min-woo. The moment that name came up, shock and blazing hostility rose in Dan Tae-geon’s eyes.
“That brat—what money did he use to buy Daejin Cement?”
“The exact acquisition process hasn’t been identified. However, it’s said that he concluded everything in a single day after a private meeting with Chairman Lee Jin-seong.”
Grinding his teeth, Dan Tae-geon grabbed the ashtray full of cigarette butts and hurled it at the subordinate. It smashed against the wall with a crash and shattered to pieces.
“I told you to keep a close watch! And you’re only reporting this now? You useless parasites just eating rice and doing nothing!”
“I’m sorry! We never imagined he’d be targeting Daejin Cement…….”
“Damn it!”
Remembering Jeong Tae-soo’s scolding only made him angrier. Hadn’t Jeong Tae-soo compared that brat and himself before as well?
“Where’s Lee Jin-seong, that old man? Find his location immediately.”
“He left for Japan right after the deal was concluded.”
“What? Then the fines to be paid to the government…….”
Dan Tae-geon stopped mid-sentence. Something flashed through his mind.
“Ha! That bastard Baek Min-woo took on all the fines and debt. That stupid son of a bitch. He really drank the poisoned chalice!”
After finishing his words, Dan Tae-geon burst into loud laughter. The anger that had been boiling over moments ago vanished, and his mood soared.
“So where is that bastard now?”
“They say he went to the Samcheok factory.”
“What about Cheon Sang-do?”
“He’s closed his office and is staying with Daejin Cement.”
“With no cash on hand, he took on all the debt and fines and acquired it? Not even knowing that’s their grave?”
Dan Tae-geon laughed heartily for quite some time, imagining Baek Min-woo’s downfall.