Chapter 212: A Toast to Us

Seo Yong-geon raised his head from the stack of documents regarding investments in Ilseong Electronics he’d been reviewing in his study.

“What? Gong Seung-yeon has gone missing?”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Since when?”

“She disappeared three days ago. Her family filed a missing persons report with the police yesterday after waiting in vain.”

Seo Yong-geon’s expression contorted in disbelief at the news.

“Was there no tracking?”

“Before she vanished, she told her bodyguards she was going out to drink with friends, convincing them to leave. Since she does that frequently, the guards withdrew accordingly.”

The fact she’d sent the bodyguards away made Seo Yong-geon click his tongue in frustration.

Though he anticipated that Gong Seung-yeon’s love for alcohol would lead to trouble, he didn’t expect she’d slip away like this at such a critical moment.

“So what now?”

“We searched her room but found no CCTV or anything useful. The staff confirmed she left in a car and went home.”

“She might’ve gone off the grid voluntarily. Have you talked to the last person she drank with? What did they say?”

“They said they just shared old stories over drinks. I don’t think she left willingly. If she had, there would be some trace of her, but no one has seen her since.”

Frustration boiled over as Seo Yong-geon slammed his palm on the desk, yelling.

“Then where the hell did she go!”

“We’re looking into it.”

“Gong Seung-yeon drew half the succession plan for Jae-hoon. And you’re managing this mess? What are you doing? Find her! I don’t even want to see your face right now, just get out!”

Despite the verbal assault, Lee Seok-min hesitated, standing there uncertainly.

Annoyed by his indecisiveness, Seo Yong-geon pressed him.

“Why? Do you have more to say?”

“Chairman… The Blue House refused the meeting request.”

“…What?”

“The President’s schedule is too packed; they said it’s hard to spare time for a meeting.”

Before Lee Seok-min’s sentence could fully register, Seo Yong-geon erupted.

“That’s ridiculous! Who said that? Which fool had the audacity?”

“I spoke directly with the Secretary.”

“Get me through. Right now.”

Lee Seok-min took out his cellphone and dialed. After a few rings, Secretary Pyong Min-guk answered.

“Yes, Secretary. This is Lee Seok-min. The Chairman wishes to speak with you directly. Yes, yes. I’ll pass him through.”

He handed the phone to Seo Yong-geon, who snatched it eagerly.

“Secretary, this is Seo Yong-geon from Ilseong.”

― Chairman, I hope you are well.

“You’re saying I can’t meet with the President?”

The usual greetings were exchanged, but Seo Yong-geon cut straight to the heart of the matter.

― Yes, all appointments are fully booked until next month. The staff has suggested that meeting with a conglomerate chairman too frequently doesn’t look good. I apologize.

“Is this truly the President’s decision?”

Seo Yong-geon’s brow furrowed, visibly enraged.

However, no emotion was reflected in his voice during the call.

― Indeed. It’s the President’s wish. How could I refuse the Chairman’s request?

“You truly mean this is the President’s intent?”

― Yes, Chairman. I’m sorry.

“…Make sure he understands he’ll regret this. Tell him that!”

Without a farewell, Seo Yong-geon slammed the phone down, hurling it to the floor.

“These fools are testing me!”

The phone shattered into pieces, scattering across the study floor. Rubbing a hand through his neatly arranged hair, Seo Yong-geon spoke impatiently.

“How many lawmakers can we contact right now?”

“We can reach twenty from the Progressive Party, ten from the Conservative Party, and about five from the Moderate Party.”

“Thirty-five? That’s all we have?”

“…Yes.”

While Seo Yong-geon pondered with his chin resting in his hand, Lee Seok-min began cleaning up the debris of the phone on the floor.

“Start leaking the weakest file we have on Kim Hak-gwon to the press. Get active lawmakers to escalate the situation.”

“Understood.”

Seo Yong-geon lacked confidence in confronting Kim Hak-gwon directly.

Regardless of the state of a lame-duck presidency, he was still the President. No one could predict how a president cornered in the last stage might retaliate.

“Let’s float this as something unrelated to us. No need to give away weaknesses. Right, that should work. Just suggest the suspicions regarding the Progressive Party’s involvement in the next election.”

This was merely a subtle warning to Kim Hak-gwon: If he ignored Seo Yong-geon, he was likely to suffer consequences, too.

“Is Jae-hoon still unable to finalize negotiations?”

Currently, the negotiations regarding the future of Ilseong were stalling more than those with the Blue House.

He tapped his fingers on the report in front of him.

“If the negotiations fail, what’s the use in all this? This is about determining the next twenty years for the group. How’s lobbying with the Japanese government going?”

“We’ve mobilized every method available. But, it seems our status as a Korean company is holding us back. The Japanese government is wary because of that.”

Once again, Seo Yong-geon clicked his tongue and sank deeper into his chair, his brow furrowed, tensions evident on his face.

“This country does nothing to help me but hinders my path. Regardless, keep negotiating with the government. If we struggle, we can prevent Taiwan from advancing too.”

“Yes, I will contact Vice Chairman Seo Jae-hoon.”

Seo Yong-geon felt a headache coming on.

Out of nowhere, he recalled what Kim Mu-hyeok had said at the funral. According to him, everything had begun to unravel after Cheon Tae-san’s death.

Barely recovering from the foreign exchange crisis, he now needed to properly expand the company, but not a single thing, including the succession of management, was working as it should.

“What about the mercenaries?”

“They’ll arrive next month.”

“They’re reliable, right?”

“Yes, they’re all solid assets.”

Finally, he heard a satisfying response. Seo Yong-geon nodded slightly in relief.

“First, find Gong Seung-yeon’s whereabouts. If not, track down the materials related to the succession plan she prepared.”

“Understood, Chairman.”

“Tell them to come clean up in the study.”

Lee Seok-min bowed his head and exited the study. Soon after, other staff members entered to start cleaning.

With his head resting against the chair’s back and eyes closed, Seo Yong-geon sank into deep thought.

‘Could it be that Kim Mu-hyeok moved this quickly?

A sense of inexplicable unease swirled in his mind. Seo Yong-geon shook his head, trying to erase thoughts of Kim Mu-hyeok.

* * *

Eva burst into the office.

“Boss!”

I looked up from the computer screen, where I had been scanning U.S. newspapers, and smiled at Eva’s voice.

“You’re here, Eva?”

She approached eagerly as I walked toward the sofa, wrapping me in a warm embrace.

“It’s been so long, Boss! I missed you!”

“You’ve lost some weight. Let’s sit down for a moment.”

“Really? I think I look the same.”

Eva appeared much thinner, the effect of her busy schedule traveling all over Asia.

She tilted her head, glancing around her body before taking a seat.

“Did you handle things well in Hong Kong?”

“Of course. Peter Wang, the representative from Peregrine, will do an excellent job. It cost quite a bit to bring him on board.”

“Peter Wang?”

“Yeah. He’s an American of Chinese descent, pretty well-known on Wall Street.”

Since I had entrusted all matters regarding Hong Kong to Eva, this was new information to me.

I didn’t have Peter Wang’s name in my memory.

“Yes. He’s more interested in derivatives than stock trading. I think he took a big hit trying to invest in derivatives at his previous firm and got fired because of it.”

“Is it okay to have someone like that as our representative?”

Eva smiled confidently at my hesitant question.

“He’s capable. If only he had a little more time, he would’ve come out on top eventually. He regretted it later and tried to get him back, but by then, I had already scouted him.”

Her bright demeanor made me unconsciously smile as well.

Noticing my grin, Eva’s expression turned serious as she cautiously asked.

“By the way, Boss. Are you alright?”

“Huh?”

“…I meant the Chairman.”

“I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry about it.”

Seeing her concern for me after my grandfather’s death, I shook my head gently.

As I gently smiled, remembering my grandfather’s last words from the funeral, Eva finally returned to her cheerful expression.

“More importantly, what’s my task now? Why did you call me back from Hong Kong? Are we finally starting the Ilseong project?”

Eva seemed to already know why she was summoned.

Nodding, I pressed the bell next to me. Ha Myung-hoon entered the office.

“Bring the prepared materials.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Ha Myung-hoon soon returned with a heavy folder in his arms.

After placing the stack of documents on the table, he exited, and I gestured for Eva to take a look.

“Not too much, is it?”

“Wow! You want me to review all these today?”

“Take it easy. We can start once Manager Ma arrives.”

Eva jokingly stated that and began to sift through the paperwork.

She really is a workaholic. I lightly patted her shoulder.

“You can read it later.”

Finally, Eva set the documents down and looked up at me.

“This project seems simple yet complicated. It’s going to cost a lot.”

“…Boss, you’re aware this is more than just a regular loss, right? The financial damage is far more substantial than we anticipated.”

Eva voiced her worries, and I understood why—a longer dot-com bubble than expected led to greater losses than planned.

“It’s alright. For now, we can take out a loan from Taesan Financial, and if that’s not enough, I can liquidate some of my personal accounts.”

“Still… This seems like a stretch.”

As Eva rightly feared, my directives for the derivatives contracts were consistently resulting in losses.

The two accounts I had set up in ghost companies had already been depleted.

It was only natural that the Dream High project in the U.S., run by Han Gyeong-yeong, would experience greater losses than Eva’s division in Asia.

“Forget it. Signs of recovery are starting to show, right?”

“That may be the case, but… We’ll need a drop of around 30% to recover the losses from the situation now.”

“The fruits of a long wait will be sweeter. We’ll raise a toast. In the end, it’s the one who laughs last that wins.”

“I trust the boss, but Peter Wang mentioned something. He thought he was the craziest guy around, yet he said the one who designed this product was truly insane. He asked who could possibly plan something so absurd.”

“Oh really?”

Suddenly branded as the crazy one, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You can imagine how much I laughed when Peter told me that. I still smile whenever I think back to it.”

Eva’s smile deepened, though it was clear her joy was not solely from that comment.

“So what did he say?”

“He said, if this was something prepared long ago, the person behind it is either a lunatic or a genius. He remarked that the losses are trivial, but creating such contracts is the real challenge, especially since no one else would draft such agreements right now.”

Gradually, the signs of the market’s madness seemed to be drawing to a close.

After months of stark increases sans corrections, the NASDAQ was beginning to fluctuate between rises and falls.

That shift would soon ripple through the Asian markets, leaving those swept up in the heated terrain uncertain before institutions like Wall Street began to withdraw completely.

From that moment would truly commence the inferno. A hell of ants where no one could escape. The ants trapped in there were doomed to shed tears of blood.

“Exactly. At this point, nobody’s making contracts like that. Anyone with sense knows what’s ahead—they can all guess it’s coming to an end.”

Eva nodded slightly in agreement.

Now believing that clearing up Ilseong was the priority, she quickly shifted the topic.

“So what are your thoughts?”

“For now, we’ll make duplicate investments in all ventures where Jungwoo Group is involved. Then, I plan to signal Taesan Financial to halt loans via the banking sector. You’re to declare a hostile M&A against JC Foods and immediately proceed with a public purchase.”

A public purchase is a strategy designed to obtain management rights by setting a timeframe for buying shares and advertising this via the media.

Given its significance to Ilseong, this would cost a considerable amount, but it was the best way to attack quickly.

“For today, go in and get some rest. Once Manager Ma returns to Korea next week, we’ll start then.”

That night, Eva returned to Korea, and we spoke extensively over drinks until late.

She meticulously pointed out matters I had missed, and together we plotted a grand strategy.

A few days later, Manager Ma returned from China.