Chapter 803: Unexpected Betrayal

“Divorce litigation? You know we don’t handle divorce cases.”

“Of course I know that. Do you think I’d forget? But make an exception this time. And now that we’ve greeted each other, let’s sit down. That includes you, Director Yoon.”

I gestured for them both to sit. Still looking bewildered, they sat across from each other.

Yoon Hyun-joo looked at me, a surprised expression on her face as she asked,

“You seem to be close with the Crown Prince of Yun & Jang?”

“Jae-ha and I were classmates at Korea University. Didn’t you know?”

Yoon Hyun-joo nodded blankly.

I thought she had at least known that much before coming to see me. She seems to have more than a few blind spots.

“Not to brag, but I got a perfect score on the college entrance exam and even did an interview with the press. And I was also the top student when I entered the Law Department at Korea University. I passed the first round of the bar exam, but I gave up on the second round. Being a lawyer didn’t seem to fit me. More importantly…”

I answered the questions Yoon Hyun-joo was likely curious about, and then I looked back at Yoon Jae-ha.

He looked like he was in deep thought. To ease his mind, I decided to explain the situation.

“I know why you guys don’t handle divorce cases. But this one is an exception. There’s a somewhat complicated situation. And don’t worry too much about getting on the wrong side of Chairman Choi Woo-sik. He’ll be kicked out of KS Group anyway.”

Yoon Jae-ha turned his head sharply at the mention of Chairman Choi Woo-sik being ousted.

“What? Chairman Choi Woo-sik is getting kicked out?”

“Yeah. If we combine the shares that Director Yoon Hyun-joo has and the shares I have, Chairman Choi Woo-sik will be ousted. He won’t even be able to take a subsidiary with him.”

Yoon Jae-ha looked back and forth between me and Yoon Hyun-joo as he listened to my words.

“I agreed to buy real estate in Gangnam in exchange for siding with Director Yoon Hyun-joo. And…”

Should I talk about the personal details too? I glanced at Yoon Hyun-joo for a moment.

As if understanding my hesitation, she spoke first.

“If you’re going to be my legal representative, you can tell him everything.”

I nodded and asked Yoon Jae-ha.

“If we’re going to delve deeper into this, you have to give me a definite answer. If you can’t do it, another lawyer is fine. After all, it’s the name Yun & Jang that’s important.”

“Ha… What does that make me if you say it like that? My father would sell me for your request.”

Yoon Jae-ha let out a deep sigh, scolding me.

His actions reminded me of our college days so I couldn’t help but smile. I then asked again.

“So, are you going to do it, or not?”

“I’ll do it. It’s your request and I want to get out of the office and actually go to court. But you’ll have to handle the Korean Economic Association side of things.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it.”

Yoon Jae-ha agreed. As soon as he gave his consent, he spoke to Yoon Hyun-joo.

Unlike how he spoke to me, his voice was serious and mature.

“Director Yoon Hyun-joo, you can come to Yun & Jang later and discuss the details. I will personally take care of it, so you don’t have to worry too much. My father will also pay a lot of attention to it.”

“I’d be grateful if your father would pay attention to it.”

Her face brightened. Yoon Jae-ha joked while pointing at me.

“Of course. My father would go to hell for Mu-hyeok’s request. He likes that Kim Mu-hyeok more than me.”

“Stop talking nonsense. Let’s talk about the real estate now.”

The divorce litigation issue wasn’t urgent and it wasn’t something I needed to be too involved in.

All I had to do was connect them with Yun & Jang, and later hand over the evidence of the affair that I had. That was all I had to do.

“Director, did you call Chairman Jo here?”

“Ah, yes. I asked him to bring his seal, personal seal certificate, and other necessary documents here.”

“Your conversation seemed to take quite a while.”

“I decided to give the Uncle some retirement funds after settling the real estate. He’s worked hard for our family so I should at least help him live comfortably after he retires.”

She is clumsy but she has a bigger heart than I thought. I nodded at Yoon Hyun-joo’s words.

“That’s a good idea. You should take good care of your people so you don’t have problems later.”

We continued our conversation as we waited for Chairman Jo.

“The real estate won’t be acquired by me. It will be purchased by the Korean branch of Dream High Investment. We’ll pay 10% of the contract fee today right away. The rest will be deposited within three days.”

She readily nodded in agreement. It was thanks to Yoon Jae-ha showing up in person from Yun & Jang, that increased my credibility even more.

“Okay. But the KS Group is more important to me. Please keep your promise.”

“As I said before, I value trust more than anyone. Don’t worry about that, Director. If I were someone who took promises lightly, I wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

“I trust you. So, will you demand an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting right away?”

“I will. And…”

I was planning on using the justification for holding a shareholders’ meeting to get the Prosecutors’ Office and the court to move and request an arrest warrant for Choi Woo-sik.

Choi Woo-sik was currently on trial without detention for reasons like accounting fraud and embezzlement.

I was planning on getting an arrest warrant issued, sending him to the Detention Center then calling a shareholders’ meeting.

“The Prosecutors’ Office will probably be requesting an arrest warrant for Chairman Choi Woo-sik soon. And the court will likely accept it.”

“What? We agreed to proceed with it without detention…”

“Hasn’t the situation changed? In Korea, if you remove the label of being the owner of a large corporation, you’re just a rich person. No more no less. He was able to be on trial without detention because he was the head of a large company. If that wasn’t the case, he would have been arrested long ago.”

The scale of the accounting fraud committed by Choi Woo-sik and embezzlement was the largest since the Jungwoo Group.

The Jungwoo Group’s accounting fraud case shook the company to its core. People haven’t forgotten the incident since it only happened a few years ago.

Of course, unlike back then, the economic situation wasn’t bad, and internally they agreed to proceed with the trial without detention.

Well, I was going to overturn that now.

“In Korea, a chaebol isn’t just a rich person. They’re essentially a new power class. Isn’t that why you’re also aiming for the management rights of the KS Group, Director? So that you can pass it on to your son?”

“That’s right. I plan to pass the group to my son. But I don’t want to send him to jail. If I just take away the management rights…”

Was she naive or just out of touch? I was dumbfounded and cut her off.

“Director. Focus on one thing, just one. Fighting for control of a large corporation isn’t some amateur squabble. It’s like a small war. A major shareholder who loses management rights is just someone with a lot of shares but no power. That’s why Choi Woo-sik succumbed to Sovereign.”

The power of a chaebol owner in Korea was significant. If you let go of that seat and fight poorly, you never know how you could be counterattacked later.

When you push someone into hell, you have to throw them off the deepest cliff so they are thoroughly crushed.

“So, don’t show any weakness. If you show weakness, it’ll be impossible to pass the management rights onto your son.”

“…You agreed to help with the divorce litigation.”

She hadn’t yet given up on Choi Woo-sik.

Do they love each other even though they fight every other day and cheat on each other?

A deep sigh naturally escaped me.

“Helping with the divorce litigation doesn’t mean that preventing the divorce is the final goal. Your relationship is already over. The divorce litigation is meant to buy time and to expose Choi Woo-sik’s true colors. Well, if you don’t want the divorce, discuss it with your legal representative.”

I looked towards Yoon Jae-ha. As he received my gaze, he shrugged before opening his mouth.

“I haven’t heard the full details so I can’t say anything yet, but we will do our best to fulfill our client’s wishes. Don’t worry about that. But if Mu-hyeok is saying this, I would recommend that you reconsider it. He’s not one to speak carelessly.”

Yoon Jae-ha said that he’d naturally do whatever his client, Yoon Hyun-joo, wanted.

He looked reliable, but with both of us urging her, Yoon Hyun-joo seemed to falter.

She bit her lip, lowering her head.

“…I’ll have to think about it.”

At that moment, a knock came and Manager Ma entered the office.

“Boss, I have a report for you.”

I nodded and Manager Ma approached me, whispering into my ear.

“Chairman Jo went to the Taesan Bank headquarters. He’s now headed towards Incheon instead of Myeong-dong.”

I turned to look at Manager Ma. He spoke quietly, so only I could hear.

“It seems that he’s trying to go to Incheon Airport.”

“Just as I expected.”

Yoon Hyun-joo looked at me, curious about what we were talking about, so I told her what I heard from Manager Ma.

“Chairman Jo is headed to Incheon Airport instead of here.”

“What? What do you mean…?”

“It seems that the servant is having different thoughts.”

“……”

She hadn’t even considered that Chairman Jo might try to disappear, and just stared blankly at me.

Manager Ma quickly asked out loud for everyone to hear.

“Boss, if you give me the order, I’ll have them catch him at the airport and bring him here.”

Instead of answering myself, I decided to let Yoon Hyun-joo make the choice.

“Director? What do you want to do? You shouldn’t be spaced out like this.”

Startled by my words, she yelled,

“Catch him! Please!”

“Alright. Manager, bring him here in one piece.”

“Understood, Boss.”

Manager Ma left again and the conversation ended. There was a heavy silence in the office.

Yoon Hyun-joo couldn’t believe Chairman Jo’s betrayal.

I mean, he was someone she trusted and relied on enough to call him ‘Uncle’.

Even if he was a servant of a noble house, if he had been with his master for a long time, the master would naturally feel human affection for him.

Especially someone like Chairman Jo who had been entrusted with immense wealth for a long time would be someone you would trust and rely on even more.

“Director. Didn’t you expect this kind of thing to happen? Most of the time, people get scammed or suffer huge losses because of those closest to them.”

“…”

“Even if you trusted and relied on him, you should have doubted him repeatedly. I heard that’s how Minister Yoon did things.”

At my words, Yoon Hyun-joo looked like she was about to cry. I can see how Minister Yoon raised her.

Minister Yoon never trusted anyone. Most people in power were like that, but he was the type to choose various options and make sure to look before he leapt.

That was also the secret to how he maintained his power to the end, even after two military dictatorships collapsed.

By staying close to power while keeping a certain distance, he was able to live out his natural lifespan even when all the power brokers of the military dictatorship had fallen.

Yoon Hyun-joo who grew up watching her father didn’t seem to inherit that talent.

“It’s not an excuse to say that you didn’t have an adult to rely on after your parents passed. Entrusting all that real estate and believing them completely was something that you should never have done.”

Even though I was much younger than her and speaking to her in a lecturing tone, Yoon Hyun-joo couldn’t argue back.

Although she was glaring at me, she must have accepted it since everything I said was true.

“It’s a good thing we marked Chairman Jo just in case. If he had escaped to another country, all of your plans would have been ruined. You should be grateful to me.”

Seeing the top of her bowed head, I decided to stop lecturing her for now.

Yoon Hyun-joo herself was probably the one who was the most complicated in her thoughts right now.

Also, thanks to Chairman Jo running away at the right time, it gave us an advantage. It was a good opportunity for me. There was no need to push her further.

I called Manager Ma to take her to the next room.

It was to give her time to think alone.

After the storm had passed, Yoon Jae-ha mumbled in a bewildered voice.

“What was that? What is even happening?”

“What do you mean? The caretaker tried to escape overseas without the master’s knowledge and got caught.”

“Don’t tell me that Director Yoon Hyun-joo didn’t keep an eye on the person managing her assets? Seriously. Is she naive, or just plain stupid?”

Yoon Jae-ha said with a dumbfounded tone and I just laughed.

“Never mind. Let’s talk about you until Chairman Jo gets here. How have you been?”

I spent the time listening to Yoon Jae-ha’s story.

Several hours passed in a flash, and only after the sun had set did Chairman Jo arrive at the Myeong-dong office.

Surrounded by burly men, Chairman Jo looked intimidated as he arrived.

His face, which looked like a rat, was now covered in age spots.

“Are you Chairman Jo? I wouldn’t have recognized you if I passed you on the street.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Chairman Jo who looked older than his photos.