Chapter 139: Let’s Use HS Startup Investment

“Is he still in Las Vegas, unable to get a grip on himself and drowning in gambling?”

I let out a hollow laugh, finding the situation too absurd.

My father lost control of the company and was ousted from his position as chairman, yet the man responsible for this mess was still at the casino, gambling…

“Yes. I only have a grasp of his movements. He hasn’t left his hotel room yet.”

“Didn’t he go with his mom? That’s how I remember it.”

“That’s quite funny. I also heard that woman is rolling around with a white man…”

I felt pity for Kim Seong-hak.

Shaking my head, I sighed.

“What about Kim Seong-hak’s movements?”

“He filed for a temporary restraining order against the company, claiming there’s a problem with the process. But thanks to my arrangements, it will definitely be dismissed.”

“I expected as much. What else do you have?”

“Apparently, he went to see Chairman Kim Seong-hyeok. I don’t know what they talked about, but he came out looking quite the sight.”

He probably went to complain to Kim Seong-hyeok.

But from what I saw of Kim Seong-hyeok, he looked like a man whose eyes were clouded over with the thirst for revenge.

When he was told he had to hand over Hyunhwa Life and Hyunhwa Card, he didn’t show the slightest hesitation.

“Let’s start with Kim Hyun-jik’s gambling funds. Track how the money came in from the U.S. and report back to me.”

“Yes. I’ve already issued instructions to look into it.”

“I’m sure we can now bring Kim Seong-hak’s personal corruption to light. I’ll take care of this myself, so don’t worry about it.”

The more work piled up, the more I felt like Manager Ma needed to duplicate himself. He had way too many responsibilities on his shoulders.

“By the way, I’d like you to hire a personal secretary.”

Manager Ma, who usually wore a blank expression, widened his eyes in surprise.

“A secretary?”

“It’s not that I don’t like you, manager. It’s just that I have a lot of things to take care of right now.”

“But…”

It was hard to find someone to replace Manager Ma because most of the jobs I needed done were highly confidential.

“Just think about it for now.”

“Understood.”

“What’s my schedule for today?”

“There was nothing in particular that you needed to discuss with me.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to have dinner with my friends. If nothing urgent comes up, postpone everything until tomorrow.”

After sending Manager Ma away, I called Myeong-su and Hyeon-seong and made arrangements to meet with them for dinner.

‘Hyeon-seong should be looking for something new to do now…’

The Japanese loan sharks had all declared bankruptcy and left, and the vacancies they left behind had all been filled by those in Myeong-dong.

While some small-time loan sharks were trying to enter the market, I was too busy to care about them.

After an aggressive promotion campaign across the country, over ninety percent of the current loan market was dominated by the loan sharks operating under Myeong-dong Capital.

Having established itself firmly, there was no need to worry about any latecomers.

The Korean BBQ place I used to frequent when I started college…

There was no way I was going to take these guys to some fancy restaurant.

It felt like everything was the same as before, except I had to rent the whole restaurant because I hated the busyness of it.

The greasy, stained ventilation hood and the old signboard… I opened the sliding door made of tin and entered the store.

There were no other customers, and Myeong-su and Hyeon-seong were already there, eating meat and drinking alcohol.

“You’re here.”

Myeong-su looked at me and waved his hand. Hyeon-seong silently glanced in my direction.

I entered alone while ordering all the bodyguards, including Manager Ma, to wait outside.

“You already started without me.”

“You’re the one who didn’t come on time.”

It was a round iron table, with grilled pork belly slowly cooking over the charcoal fire in the center.

“Hurry and sit down. The meat’s burning.”

I sat down on a round chair without a backrest.

“I thought you fixed your dialect. I see there is still a long way to go.”

“What do you mean? It doesn’t matter since we’re just with each other.”

I liked how laidback Myeong-su was.

No matter who I was with and what kind of situation I was in, my friend remained the same man since we first met.

“Hah… This place hasn’t changed at all.”

As Myeong-su looked around the store, a nostalgic smile formed on his lips.

“What’s changing is probably us.”

Hyeon-seong spoke in a deep tone.

I nodded in agreement.

“Hyeon-seong’s right. We may have changed, but let’s not change the way we treat each other.”

Then Myeong-su smiled and, filling my glass with soju, said, “Since it’s late, let’s do a shot for the first round, then we’ll have mixers for the next. Deal?”

I lifted the beer glass filled with soju and drank it all in one go.

The strong alcohol of the soju going down my esophagus filled my nose with a stimulating scent.

“It’s been a while since I had soju.”

“Of course, Only a rich bastard like you would only drink expensive alcohol. Meanwhile, on the other hand, your poor friends are still drinking the same old shit.”

Complaining, Myeong-su filled my glass with a cocktail of beer and soju.

“How is it living in Seoul?”

“The same as ever. Everything that appears in dramas is a scam. I mean, don’t they get how fucking busy we are?”

I made Myeong-su get transferred to Seoul so that he could become a politician.

I had arranged it before President Yoon left office.

“What the hell?”

“Screw you. I’m being serious here.”

I laughed as I watched the two of them bicker.

“Why are you laughing?”

Rolling his eyes, Myeong-su placed the grilled pork belly on my and Hyeon-seong’s plates.

For a while, we continued laughing and clinking our glasses to toast each other.

“Hyeon-seong, don’t you have anything you want to do?”

“Me?”

“You work too hard in Myeong-dong. You can rest now. You already have a foothold in the market, and I trust that you can hand things over to Boss Kim… You’ve taken good care of me for a long time now, so tell me what you want to do.”

When Hyeon-seong didn’t answer, Myeong-su looked at us alternately and said, “You did tell me something before, right?”

“Shut up!”

Hyeon-seong raised his voice.

“This guy does nothing but keep asking me those dumb questions. Isn’t it annoying?”

Ignoring Hyeon-seong, Myeong-su said, “I’m not looking at you now, am I?”

It seemed that Myeong-su was purposely ignoring Hyeon-seong.

Well, nothing unusual about that.

“I have never even thought of keeping anything from you guys.”

Instead, I glanced at my beer and filled it with soju.

I guess my friends were precious to me.

Even in this age when building good friendships was difficult, I couldn’t help but think it was lucky that I had these friends around.

I smiled and moved my gaze toward both of them.

“If you have something you want to ask, just ask. You already warned me that if I don’t tell you, you’ll beat the shit out of me.”

Seeing the two of them bickering again, I smiled knowingly.

However, agree grew weary of the atmosphere. The only sound that reached my ears was the sound of sizzling meat, which was occasionally interrupted by the sound of rain falling.

“…I’m also worried about the decisions I have to make…Is this the right decision?”

A long while after, Hyeon-seong finally spoke up.

“…I’ve been learning about the Myeong-dong market. There’s so much I still don’t know. I’ve been buying and studying textbooks on my own.”

“You studied? Wow, I never thought I would see the day our Park Hyeonseong studied.”

“…There are some government policies that our country is pushing, and I want to give them a try…”

“You want to invest in a venture capital firm?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the kind of company you want to establish.”

“Wow, he really doesn’t know anything yet…”

I realized that he had no idea what I was talking about.

“That’s what they call the companies that invest in startups. Once they go public, they get a share of the company. They’re one of the main players in the upcoming IT bubble, and they are also the ones establishing the new ventures…”

“…My advice applies here. If you want to start the company, go ahead and do it. I’ll provide the funds, but you have to pick the company you want to invest in. I won’t interfere with anything you do. That would be meaningless.”

“…Why? You said you wanted to do it…”

“We’ll just wait until I’ve given you the green light to do what you want. Since you’ve studied, you must be serious about it…”

“But what if I fail?”

“…In the US, there are stories of investors who make a lot of money from only one of ten startups they invest in. So, just give it a shot. You won’t lose anything for trying.”

I felt I made the right decision to send Hyeon-seong to Myeong-dong.

He only knew of sports, yet he was now so focused on his goals.

I was curious about what kind of company he’d pick.

“Okay, I’ll help you set up the company. You will own 51% of it, I’ll have 29%, and Myeong-su gets 20%.”

“I get a share too?”

I was all for helping him become successful. The more he grows the company, the more we all benefit. I wouldn’t even mind if it went bust…

“…When I asked to help you set up just a small company…Oh boy.”

…You could have told me that you were helping me out of pity…”

We could have wasted time haggling over his shares of the startup, but I wasn’t planning to help him any further. However…”Oh, you know what? Just go ahead and tell it to that other bastard.”…

All to that bear bastard,…”

Yup, that was the last memory I have of that night.

“I’m so dead…”

Checking the time, I saw that it was past noon. I could still smell alcohol on my breath.

I quietly called Manager Ma.

“What time did you finish?”

“We finished at 4am.”

“You’ve been drinking for quite a while. What about my friends?”

“I dropped them off at home.”

After drinking a refreshing glass of icy water that Manager Ma brought me, I recalled the conversation we had before I passed out.

‘Let’s use HS Startup Investment.’

A smile suddenly crept onto my face.

“Manager Ma, we need to set up a corporation.”

I ordered Manager Ma to set up a venture capital firm.

“Start with a hundred billion won in capital. Just put Me and Manager Ma’s names on it for now. I’ll later change the names of the other people on the board. Oh, and make Hyeon-seong the representative director.”

After giving him my orders, I called Myeong-su.

“Did you wake up?”

What time is it?”

The voice on the other line belonged to a hungover Myeong-su.

“It’s 3pm.”

Fuck! It’s already that late?”

“How about we meet?”

Again?”

“Yesterday, your conversation revolved around work. You should start making a name for yourself by now.”

“Understood.”

When I arrived near Myeong-su’s apartment, he called me.

“Where are you?”

“I’m outside your apartment.”

“Come up. I need to show off my skills. It’s been a while.”

The front door of his apartment opened, and I saw that he was waiting inside.

“You’re here. Have a seat.”

When I went inside, I found Myeong-su waiting for me, having prepared bean sprouts soup and rice.

“You’re busy, yet you still cook for yourself?”.

“I’m tired of eating out.”

How could you gain weight? You only cook for yourself….”

Whatever mentioned cooking reminded me how he used to just boil ramen. Now he’s back to cooking… Did he even bother to get his hair cut?”

When we started eating, he and I engaged in some small talk.

So, what you’re saying is, you want me to arrest Kim Seong-hak? The chairman of a conglomerate?”

“He’s not the chairman anymore.”

I sighed. I know he’s no longer in charge…I just didn’t expect some no-name grunt like me to be tasked with arresting the head of a conglomerate.”

I can arrange it so that your case starts with an intelligence investigation. I’ll talk to the higher-ups…”

You can’t do that. Give me more time, and I’ll look for relevant evidence of his scandals. As for Kim Seong-hak, I’ll try to lure him out with the scandal at the Hyunhwa Group.”

….I need to see his face at least once.”.

Right after Kim Seong-hak’s secretary… Kim Seong-hak’s secretary managed to escape…With lightning-fast reflexes, Seong-hak lured the secretary, who was managing his slush funds, as sheep went out to look for a wolf… was perfectly smooth during the latter half of this year… No one knows who he is, and whines abound in every place across the country. I know this because I know his face…”