novelraw Chapter 46: 어차피 그 재산, 지키지도 못합니다
Chapter 46: 어차피 그 재산, 지키지도 못합니다
Chapter 46: 어차피 그 재산, 지키지도 못합니다
Late at night, in a high-end hostess house in Gahoe-dong where people had long since gone,
an illicit meeting was taking place in the most secluded room. Under a dim lamp, the shadows of two men stretched long.
When Jeong Tae-soo lifted a heavy celadon kettle, Dan Tae-geon, who had been sitting opposite him, hurriedly knelt and politely extended his cup.
His overly deferential manner looked like a loyal dog turning over to its master to have its belly scratched.
Jeong Tae-soo called to that Dan Tae-geon in a low voice.
“Dan President.”
“Yes, Deputy Director.”
“You did well on this one.”
Dan Tae-geon accepted the sake Jeong Tae-soo poured, turned his head, and drained the cup at once. Then he returned the cup to Jeong Tae-soo and replied.
“Was it hardship? You arranged the whole board, Deputy Director. I only did as I was told.”
Jeong Tae-soo took the cup. Dan Tae-geon lifted the kettle and carefully refilled his cup. Jeong Tae-soo, too, drained his cup in one go and set it down with a sharp clack.
“There was something I wanted you to do from now on.”
“Order anything of me. Even if I must give my life, I will see it through.”
“Ha, ha, ha—no need to stake your life.”
Jeong Tae-soo’s amicable laugh flashed like a snake in his eyes.
“If you cleanly finish this job, I’ll give you the power to completely dominate the Myeong-dong loan market. That old fox Han Sang-hoon won’t be able to look down on you anymore.”
The words Dan Tae-geon had coveted finally slipped from Jeong Tae-soo’s mouth. A greedy expression bloomed fully across Dan Tae-geon’s face.
“What must I do, Deputy Director!”
“Bring me all of Park Jeong-ho’s hidden assets. Use any means necessary.”
Most of the enormous profit from this operation had to be handed over to Chairman Han as political funds.
Of course, the amount Jeong Tae-soo could skim for himself was considerable, but that alone could not sate his endless greed.
He wanted everything Park Jeong-ho had scraped together in his lifetime.
“All of President Park Jeong-ho’s… assets?”
“Yes. Left alone, those funds would only be trivial money the state would eventually reclaim. Better we put it to useful use, don’t you think? So, can you do it?”
“Of course! Extracting money is my specialty!” Dan Tae-geon answered confidently. His brisk reply belied an utterly sinister expression.
“To be honest, tasks that required thinking like this didn’t suit my temperament. I’m cut out for this kind of thing.”
Jeong Tae-soo smiled faintly, almost imperceptible.
“Good. Can I really trust you with this?”
“Just leave it to me, Deputy Director!”
Dan Tae-geon straightened and raised his voice in a crisply measured posture.
Jeong Tae-soo gave a slight nod, leaned forward, and, in an even lower, more confidential tone, issued his instructions.
“After the capital’s settlement day passes, Park Jeong-ho will be driven to the edge of a cliff. That’s when you strike. Strip his real estate, bonds, dollars—leave not a speck of dust. It won’t matter if there’s a little noise during the process. All the blame will fall on that bastard Park Jeong-ho anyway……”
The darker and longer Jeong Tae-soo and Dan Tae-geon’s grim plotting went on, the deeper and darker the hostess house’s night grew.
When I mentioned Jeong Tae-soo’s name, Park Jeong-ho’s pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
“Th–the Deputy Director Jeong Tae-soo—why would he…?”
He faltered as if struck by great shock. I cut him off without mercy.
“Who else could possibly interfere with an operation the KCIA director personally involved himself in unless they had that much power? And who do you think pulled that person into this game?”
“Yang Sobo…….”
Park Jeong-ho muttered in a voice of despair.
I stepped a pace away from his side. A cold smile naturally rose at the corner of my mouth.
“You should have stopped at enough, President Park. You could have made plenty from the operation alone — so why did you have to try something with Mr. Yang as well? You knew full well he wasn’t someone who would just sit there and take it.”
“…….”
“Have you not seen President Kim Jin-ho lately? Where on earth could he have gone?”
At my question, Park Jeong-ho’s eyes widened, then his face drained of color.
“C–could it be that Old man Yang…?”
I feigned ignorance and shrugged my shoulders.
“I don’t know for sure. But one thing was certain: Mr. Yang valued his money more than his life. If anyone dared to do him harm, he was the sort to pull the traitor’s very marrow out and make sure he got his money back.”
Park Jeong-ho trembled like a leaf. Cold sweat ran down his ashen face.
He must have known well what kind of man Yang Sobo was. The fear that Mr. Yang’s claws might reach him, too, was eating him alive.
“Putting Mr. Yang aside, all of this happened because of a power struggle inside the KCIA. And in those fights, who were the first to be sacrificed? Men like you or me, the pawns, weren’t we?”
Park Jeong-ho bit his lip hard. Had he thought himself different, or had he deliberately looked away even though he knew?
The taste of power was that sweet. Under the name of power that blinded one’s sight, everything became possible.
But if one got drunk on that sweet scent and failed to watch their surroundings, one could be turned to ash in an instant like a moth to a flame — that was also the nature of power.
I had once tasted that sweet scent at Jeong Tae-soo’s side, so I knew how vicious it could be.
“Shall I tell you how to survive?”
If it was the Jeong Tae-soo I knew, after this was over he would surely try to seize every asset Park Jeong-ho owned.
Park Jeong-ho looked up at me with vacant eyes.
“Survive, you say…?”
“Go to the KCIA director or whoever it is today and turn over all your assets to the state treasury. Say that you’ll donate all your assets to the nation to minimize the damage because the entire responsibility for this incident rested with me.”
“What? What kind of crazy talk is that!”
“You won’t be able to protect those assets anyway. The state will eventually reclaim them, and you might end your life in a cold prison for the rest of your days. So take the initiative first and at least save your life.”
Park Jeong-ho looked at me with hollow eyes. There was no longer any anger or arrogance left in them.
“The choice is yours. I told you how to survive; whether you walk that path or not is up to you.”
Having said that, I rose from my seat. I no longer had business with him.
“Then I hope we can ‘definitely’ meet again.”
I left those final words and turned my body away. Small choked sounds came from behind, but I did not even look back.
“Let’s take the money and go, President Cheon.”
Cheon Sang-do glanced once at Park Jeong-ho, who had collapsed to the floor, then came up beside me.
When we left the Exchange, there had been an envelope in Cheon Sang-do’s hand.
It was an envelope containing a check — the Exchange’s last remaining pride.
After stopping by Mando Securities and confirming the check I received from Park Jeong-ho was in order, I placed it safely in Cheon Sang-do’s personal safe.
When everything was finished, the tension broke and fatigue washed over me.
“Young President. It’d feel lacking to part like this — how about a drink with me?”
Filling the empty space left by tension with the warmth of alcohol seemed fine, so I didn’t refuse his offer.
We headed to a small tavern in a shabby alley far from the bustling district.
A worn wooden sign faintly read “Jingogae Tavern.”
“Jingogae Tavern… Do you even drink in places like this?”
“Ay, what do you take me for?”
At my puzzled question, Cheon Sang-do grumbled as if incredulous.
“I’m someone who suits a place that smells of musty makgeolli rather than glittering hostess houses.”
Even though he spoke humbly, the smile that rose on his face was so warm that it didn’t feel humble at all. Cheon Sang-do pushed open the creaking wooden door and stepped inside.
“Auntie! I’m here!”
He called out loudly to the owner.
Soon an elderly woman with greying hair poked her head out from the kitchen and immediately spit out a blunt string of curses.
“You rotten bastard! I told you never to show your face again — what are you crawling back here for!”
“Ay, auntie! It’s been a while — why you always like that? Today can we close a bit late? I brought a precious guest.”
Cheon Sang-do bantered easily and collapsed into a seat inside. I sat across from him.
After a moment, the owner — still swearing — prepared delicious food.
On the table were plates of pork lung and liver roughly sliced, a dish of pig skin stir-fried in bright red seasoning, and a hot pot of kimchi plunked down.
Then makgeolli in a yellowed kettle arrived with dented aluminum bowls. The fragrant smell of nuruk and the spicy scent of the side dishes pricked the nose.
Cheon Sang-do filled my bowl with makgeolli. Tiny bubbles popped on the milky surface.
“Here, have a drink. A day like today calls for this kind of liquor.”
I filled his cup in turn. We clinked our bowls without a word, and downed the makgeolli in one gulp.
The tart yet sweet drink slid down my throat and felt all right.
“Kyah, that’s good!”
Cheon Sang-do exclaimed in admiration as he dipped a piece of pork lung into salt and popped it into his mouth.
“By the way, about what you said to that fellow Park Jeong-ho today.”
“Do you mean about Deputy Director Jeong Tae-soo, or when I told President Park Jeong-ho to donate all his assets to the state? Which of the two are you referring to?”
“Both.”
“Hmm……”
I paused for a moment. Where should I begin, and how much should I say?
Seeing me hesitate, Cheon Sang-do filled his makgeolli bowl again, drained it in one go, and spoke as if frustrated.
“Ah, why are you hesitatin’? It’s not like I’m gonna blabber this around, and ain’t we shipmates now, ridin’ the same boat? I reckon you could tell me straight. Feels a bit cold, y’know.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I was just taking a moment to gather my thoughts.”
“Heh heh, that so. Thought you were makin’ a man feel embarrassed for nothin’.”
I poured myself a cup, drank it, and after sorting my thoughts, finally opened my mouth.
As he said, since we were already in the same boat, it was necessary to share a degree of truth if I wanted to make him firmly my ally.
“It started when……”
As the cups went back and forth several times, I told him most of how this operation had unfolded, leaving out the core secrets — my personal enmity with Jeong Tae-soo and the fact that I had regressed.
“Huh…! So that’s how things went down? And there I was, got all charmed by a young fella like you and bought Daegung stock without knowin’ a thing. I near took a huge loss there.”
Cheon Sang-do clicked his tongue in disbelief. I smiled and filled his cup again.
“In the end, you didn’t suffer much loss, did you?”
“Well, that’s true enough… But there’s one thing I don’t quite get.”
Cheon Sang-do looked at me seriously.
“If what you say’s right, that fellow Park Jeong-ho should’ve been completely ruined by this whole mess, no? So why’d you tell him to hand over his assets to the state — show him a way to live?”
I filled my own bowl, lightly clinked it against his. The cheerful sound of aluminum bowls colliding echoed, and some makgeolli spilled over the edge.
“Well, Park Jeong-ho will collapse one way or another. But… I just didn’t want to see Deputy Director Jeong Tae-soo walk away with all of Park Jeong-ho’s assets.”
“Why do you hate him so much? There really somethin’ that went on between the two of ya…?”
“No. Let’s just call it my whim.”
It was a reasonable suspicion, but I brushed it off with a smile. The fact that I was living a second life was something I could never tell anyone.
“Your whim? You’d risk crossing a man like Deputy Director Jeong Tae-soo over somethin’ so trivial?”
“Doesn’t it make your stomach turn?”
I replied lightly. Cheon Sang-do looked at me, even more puzzled.
“Don’t you feel the same, President Cheon? With this operation, Deputy Director Jeong Tae-soo must’ve pocketed an enormous fortune already. We earned a lot too, but compared to him, it’s like a drop in the ocean. Yet he’s still greedy for the money the state’s supposed to recover and return to the victims — isn’t that despicable?”
“…Didn’t know you were the type to think about the victims, young President.”
Cheon Sang-do looked at me, seemingly surprised.
I chuckled quietly. He was right — it wasn’t purely for the victims’ sake.
“Of course, as you said, those people suffered huge losses because of their own greed. But still, rather than letting a man like Jeong Tae-soo swallow all of Park Jeong-ho’s money, isn’t it better that at least some of it returns to them?”
Cheon Sang-do stared at me in silence for a while, then wordlessly filled his bowl and extended it toward me.
“Not bad. I like that whim of yours. Come on, let’s have another round.”
That night, we shared drinks without discussing the operation — just light, meaningless chatter, losing track of time as the night grew deep.
Perhaps, since I came back, it was the first night I’d drunk with such an easy mind.
And the next day.
Rumors began spreading through the securities world that Park Jeong-ho had taken full responsibility for the incident and decided to donate all his assets and businesses to the state.