Chapter 63: Let’s Deal with Shin Seong-il

Though he looked young, it was definitely Moon Tae-beom.

“Young Master?”

The repeated call snapped me back to reality.

I put on my habitual smile as I faced Boss Shin.

“Ah, I was just lost in thought. Shall we go in? Are your employees behind you?”

“Yes, do you recognize any of them?”

“No, I don’t. Is your business going well?”

Even as I conversed with Boss Shin, my mind was in turmoil.

Moon Tae-beom was definitely a Korean-Japanese Yakuza.

He was the vanguard of Japan’s invasion into Korea’s private loan market.

The link between the Cheongpung Group and Japan.

Why was Moon Tae-beom with Boss Shin?

I sat down with Boss Shin on the office sofa.

Sitting in the main seat, I pretended to survey the surroundings while confirming once more that it was indeed Moon Tae-beom.

“What brings you here? Do you have any instructions for me?”

With Moon Tae-beom’s appearance, I completely scrapped my original plan.

“No, do I need a reason to visit? I felt I’ve been neglecting the Myeong-dong bosses lately, so I’m making the rounds. Is that inconvenient for you?”

“How dare I think that way? I’m merely the Chairman’s servant.”

Was this man’s claim of being the Chairman’s servant true?

‘That guy’s the hardest to figure out. He does what he’s told well, but…’

Grandfather’s words came to mind.

“Your loyalty to the Chairman is always impressive. But don’t you think it’s time you showed that loyalty to me?”

“Haha, isn’t my loyalty to the Chairman the same as my loyalty to you, Young Master?”

I nodded, studying Boss Shin’s face.

Today, his smiling face seemed particularly artificial.

“Well, I understand. No other issues?”

“No, everything’s the same. People who can’t get loans from banks or savings banks come to us.”

“You know this business better than I do, so I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you. Oh! Young Master, a junior from my hometown just came up. I’d like to introduce him to you, if that’s alright?”

“An introduction?”

“Hey, Tae-beom, come here.”

Shin Seong-il gestured towards Moon Tae-beom.

I suppressed the urge to laugh.

“You called, brother?”

“Say hello. This is the Young Master.”

Moon Tae-beom bowed to me.

“Hello, I’m Moon Tae-beom. It’s an honor to meet you, Young Master.”

“Boss Shin, you say he’s a junior from your hometown?”

“Yes, his father and I are friends. I’ve known him since he was young.”

“And your hometown is?”

“Masan.”

“But your accent sounds like you’re from Seoul.”

“I moved to Seoul when I was young and have lived here ever since.”

“Ah, I see. Work hard.”

“Thank you.”

Moon Tae-beom bowed again and stepped back.

I scrutinized his face as he lowered his gaze and bowed his head.

“He seems capable.”

“You think so? I thought he might be suitable to serve you, Young Master, so I introduced him.”

Sigh…

What kind of trick is this now?

What’s this bastard’s real identity?

I studied Boss Shin’s face for any changes, but he kept smiling.

“We’ll see. I do need someone, actually.”

“He’s a smart kid. He’s quite good with foreign languages too. He won’t be lacking in serving you, Young Master.”

“Seems that way.”

I wrapped things up and stood from my seat.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I need to meet the other bosses too.”

“Ah! I see. But don’t you think your security detail is too small? Isn’t Manager Ma alone insufficient to protect you now?”

It was a loaded statement.

I feigned nonchalance and smiled.

“Don’t worry about me. Manager Ma alone is still sufficient for now. I’ll see you next time, Boss Shin.”

As I was walking out, I stopped in front of Moon Tae-beom.

“Moon Tae-beom, right?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“We’ll be seeing each other often.”

“It’s an honor, Young Master.”

After patting Moon Tae-beom’s shoulder, I left the office.

“Manager.”

I called out to Manager Ma as he drove.

“Yes, Boss?”

“When you investigated Boss Shin Seong-il, you said you didn’t find anything unusual, right?”

“Yes, is something wrong?”

“Please investigate Moon Tae-beom as well.”

“Understood.”

We had thoroughly investigated the Myeong-dong bosses.

We couldn’t find any connection to the Cheongpung Group with the four bosses.

But Moon Tae-beom, a Cheongpung Group lackey, was by Shin Seong-il’s side, and he was introduced to me as a hometown junior.

This meant that, at the very least, Shin Seong-il was connected to the Japanese Yakuza.

“Let’s meet Twin Blades next time. Please cancel the appointment and let’s head home.”

“Understood.”

Upon arriving home, I went to Grandfather’s study.

“Grandfather, it’s Mu-hyeok.”

“Come in.”

As I entered the study, Grandfather put down the book he was reading and smiled.

“Weren’t you meeting the Myeong-dong bosses today?”

“I met with Boss Noh Ik-seon and Boss Shin Seongg-il before returning. I postponed the meeting with Boss Kim Ho-sik.”

“Is something wrong?”

Grandfather tilted his head, sensing the odd atmosphere.

“About the Myeong-dong bosses, how much do you trust them?”

“How much do I trust them? Those guys?”

“Yes.”

“Hehehe, Mu-hyeok, I don’t trust anyone except Myung-hoon. Apart from family, Myung-hoon is the only person I trust.”

“Then why did you give money to the Myeong-dong bosses and entrust them with managing Myeong-dong?”

“…Something must have happened.”

Looking intrigued, Grandfather rose from his desk and walked to the sofa, taking the main seat.

“Sit down. This sounds interesting.”

I looked at Grandfather with a surprised face when he told me to sit.

In the study, no one except Grandfather was allowed to sit.

Neither before nor now, not once had I ever sat in the study.

It was the same for my uncles and the Cheon Ji-soo and Cheon Ji-soo siblings.

Ji-young was an exception, but…

“Grandfather.”

“Hehe, what’s the big deal about telling you to sit?”

I silently bowed my head and took a seat.

“In this study, only Il-seong Group’s Chairman Seo, Daeehyeon Group’s Chairman Song, and Jungwoo Group’s Chairman Park could sit with me. Do you know why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because I had to tell them who held their leashes. Now there are many financial companies lending money to businesses at low interest rates, like banks and savings banks, but it wasn’t like that in the past. But they disrespected me, calling me just a money-lender.”

A chilling smile spread across Grandfather’s face.

“I stopped lending to them during the second oil shock. That’s when those big-shot company chairmen came to me and bowed their heads, begging me to lend them money. From then on, I made it so that no one could sit in front of me in this study.”

Grandfather often got lost in memories like this.

As the national economy grew and banks and savings banks borrowed money from abroad to lend to companies at low interest rates, the frequency of big company chairmen visiting Grandfather decreased.

There were still outstanding loans, but the big companies didn’t borrow new money.

“Those days will come again, Grandfather.”

“When that time comes, you’ll be sitting in this seat, Mu-hyeok. It’s about time for me to rest.”

“Grandfather.”

“The reason I told you to sit is that I want to have a conversation with you on equal terms now. So, what’s going on with the Myeong-dong bosses?”

Seeing Grandfather’s expression that wouldn’t accept any objections, I had no choice but to speak.

“Boss Shin Seong-il seems suspicious. I get a strong feeling that he’s connected to the Japanese side.”

“Seong-il? What connection could that guy have with Japan? He’s just a country bumpkin who used to wrestle.”

“He could have been hiding his true identity for a long time, right under your nose, Grandfather.”

“Hmm… Seong-il is hard to figure out, but he’s not particularly clever…”

“That’s why I’m planning to eliminate him.”

I had been thinking about it on the way from Myeong-dong to Pyeongchang-dong.

“Eliminate?”

“Yes, I don’t want to waste energy because of Boss Shin. If something feels off, it should be eliminated. It will also serve as a warning to Twin Blades and Viper.”

“Hmm…”

Grandfather closed his eyes with a small groan.

“Do as you see fit.”

The answer came after a long pause.

“Yes.”

“Can you handle it?”

“Chief Ha has handed over at least half of his forces to Manager Ma, and I have some thugs helping me too.”

“You mean that Park Dong-su or whatever his name is?”

“Yes.”

“Can you trust him?”

“I don’t trust people easily either. For now, he’s still very useful.”

Grandfather’s warm smile made my heart feel warm too.

“Grandfather, about the loans to the top 20 groups. Can we recall them even now?”

“Hmm, we can do it anytime. Why do you ask?”

“I want to recall them.”

“Let’s think about that slowly. Most of them are convertible bonds for companies at the top of the circular shareholding structure, so we can convert them to stocks at any time. Don’t worry.”

“But if they change their ownership structure at any time, won’t it become just a piece of paper?”

“I’m not dead yet. If we see signs of that, we can act then. It’s not too late. At that time, we can get our money back, and then we’ll have to retaliate, right?”

“I understand.”

I greeted Grandfather and left the study.

After returning to my room, I gave instructions to Manager Ma.

“Let’s deal with Shin Seong-il. Bring Boss Shin and Moon Tae-beom to the factory, and handle the rest as you see fit. You can get help from Boss Park. Let’s see how you two work together.”

“Understood.”

Manager Ma responded to my sudden order without any hesitation.

“How long do you think it will take?”

“Since it’s the first time working with Boss Park, I think we’ll need about two days.”

“Let Boss Park handle the outskirts, don’t worry about the small fry. Focus on Shin Seong-il and Moon Tae-beom for now. You must secure them.”

“Understood.”

Manager Ma bowed and left.

I called Park Dong-su.

“Little bro!”

Park Dong-su’s voice, always the same, made me smile slightly.

“I have a job for you. You’ll be working with Manager Ma. He’ll give you the instructions, just take care of the outskirts. It’s not a difficult job, so don’t be nervous.”

“Got it. Oh! And I’ve taken over the redevelopment site. There was some resistance and a bit of a fight, but we took it over without major issues.”

“I thought you would. See you when the job’s done.”

“Alright, little bro!”

A few days later

I arrived at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

A drizzle was falling around the factory. As I got out of the car, I wiped the slightly troubled expression off my face.

To put it bluntly, I had underestimated the job.

‘I thought something felt off.’

While Manager Ma’s forces had suffered some damage, Park Dong-su’s organization, which was in charge of the outskirts, had to take quite a big hit.

“Sigh… Is Park Dong-su weak, or is Boss Shin’s force stronger than we thought?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, Manager. I’m not asking for an apology. I’m just wondering because we suffered losses even with my two forces combined for this operation.”

As we walked towards the factory, Manager Ma explained under the umbrella.

“If it weren’t for Boss Park, we would have suffered heavy losses. We easily entered the building, but suddenly they started attacking Boss Park’s side on the outskirts. If Boss Park hadn’t stopped them, we would have been trapped in the building.”

Fortunately, we had secured Shin Seong-il and Moon Tae-beom.

The thought that I might have lost Manager Ma if I had only sent him made me shudder.

“Let’s go in then.”

The sound of the iron gate opening echoed loudly in the abandoned factory surrounded by farmland.

I entered with Manager Ma.

Manager Ma’s subordinates, whom I had seen a few times before, were standing around and stepped back slightly. Their faces and bodies were badly injured.

I stared at Shin Seong-il and Moon Tae-beom, who were lying on their sides, tied up.

Looking at their faces, I was certain that Shin Seong-il was connected to the Cheongpung Group.