Chapter 817: The Price of Betrayal

“It’ll be hard for him to get out easily. The moment the title of Chairman falls from Choi Woo-sik’s shoulders, he’ll be nothing more than a common economic offender.”

I turned my head towards the Legal Team Leader, who was standing blankly by the entrance.

“Isn’t that right, Legal Team Leader? If he loses his title at the temporary shareholders’ meeting, it’s illegal for the group’s legal team to act on his behalf. Will you abandon your position and return to being a nobody?”

……

This man had chosen to shed his robes at the Prosecutors’ Office and become a lapdog for the chaebol.

Meaning, he was a man who had thoroughly decided to follow the money.

Would such a man really return to being a nobody and defend Choi Woo-sik?

I was certain that he would absolutely not.

Especially judging by the Legal Team Leader’s inability to even respond.

I chuckled and turned my gaze back to Choi Woo-sik.

“You understand what I’m saying, right?”

……

I slowly walked over and sat down facing him.

We were already far past the point of exchanging small pleasantries like handshakes or greetings.

The reason I came to meet Choi Woo-sik was simple. I was curious about what he was going to say in this situation.

“Please have a seat, Choi Woo-sik.”

I now addressed Choi Woo-sik without his title of Chairman.

Choi Woo-sik stopped glaring at the Legal Team Leader and looked down at me again.

“I said have a seat. Or should I get up? You’re the one who wanted this conversation, not me. I’ve taken time out of my busy schedule to come here. Should I leave if you don’t have anything to say?”

“……No.”

Choi Woo-sik sat down, his lips pressed into a thin line. But his face was still stiff.

“Did I do something to upset Boss Kim Mu-hyeok? Why on earth did you conspire with Yoon Hyun-joo…”

I could tell he would go on with endless nonsense if I let him, so I raised my hand to stop him.

“I understand what you’re trying to say, but I have no reason to explain it to you, Choi Woo-sik.”

“……I’ve never held back my support for Boss Kim Mu-hyeok’s North Korean ventures, not to mention everything else. So why are you doing this to me?”

“Never held back your support? Wasn’t it always under duress after my coercion? You need to be precise with your words.”

At the word ‘support,’ I raised one corner of my mouth in a smile.

Choi Woo-sik was particularly fond of throwing wrenches into the works of my projects.

I didn’t know if it was his nature or if he simply disliked me, but that’s how it had always been. However, I had left him alone because in the end he had always joined me.

If Yoon Hyun-joo hadn’t offered me a deal that was beneficial to me, I wouldn’t have bothered to waste my time and effort to drive him out.

If I was going to do that, I would’ve teamed up with the Sovereign Fund to kick him out in the first place.

“And I have always paid a fair price. I protected KS Group’s management rights by negotiating with the Sovereign Fund. And what did I get in return? When I needed a smartphone production factory and asked to buy it, you gave me an outrageous price. Is that how you treat someone who saved your company’s management?”

Choi Woo-sik couldn’t say anything and continued to bite his lip.

I clasped my hands together and placed my elbows on the table. I leaned forward slightly and made eye contact with him.

“I gave you plenty of opportunities, Choi Woo-sik. Of course, it’s true that I made my move because the benefits Yoon Hyun-joo offered me were greater. But if you had behaved properly, I wouldn’t have thought of taking away your management rights.”

Choi Woo-sik’s brow furrowed.

“Are you trying to destroy KS Group for such a petty reason? I didn’t touch your family like Il-sung Group did…”

“Watch your mouth. Unless you want to go to the grave instead of prison. How dare you bring up my family in front of me… Do you really have a death wish? Do you think I won’t do it? You should realize that by now. You have absolutely no ability to learn.”

The moment I dropped the honorifics I had been using, Choi Woo-sik’s eyes widened in surprise.

Honorifics are for people, and the proper treatment for bugs is different.

“The pathetic system that protects you doesn’t exist here. I could kill you right here and now and have it end up as an unfortunate death. You’re nothing to test my patience with. So let me warn you one last time. Whatever you do, don’t mention my family or cause any trouble.”

As I coldly uttered those words, I could feel the atmosphere instantly change.

The Legal Team Leader standing by the entrance, and even the guard standing by the prison entrance, both swallowed hard.

I leaned back again, opening my mouth without any emotion.

“Choi Woo-sik. Let’s not cross any lines. If I had wanted to, you wouldn’t be sitting here in the detention center, but lying behind a screen smelling incense.”

Choi Woo-sik’s mouth gaped, but he couldn’t say anything.

Perhaps he’d never heard such harsh words in his life. He might even be doubting his own ears.

But to bring up my family in front of me as if he were somebody was basically telling me to go all the way.

Even as time passed and memories faded, that was a bottom line I could not compromise.

“The reason I came to see you today, Choi Woo-sik, is to tell you to give up hope. What benefit would I get from abandoning the alliance with Yoon Hyun-joo and siding with you now? What can you offer me? If your proposal is satisfactory, I might consider it.”

Choi Woo-sik’s rigid expression slightly loosened.

“I’ll give you everything that woman promised you. If I could just get out of here…”

“Are you saying you can sell me the real estate in Gangnam, Seoul? Or do you own land throughout the nation? Yoon Hyun-joo gave me those properties. And I bought them with fair compensation. You’re insisting you can give me what you can’t.”

“The, all the cell phone production factories owned by the group, for free…”

It’s not even worth listening to. I cut him off.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. The moment I receive those for free, the company will have suffered immense losses, and you’ll be subject to another investigation for breach of trust. I am a businessman, not a beggar. I like fair exchanges. Do you have anything else that would interest me?”

After that, Choi Woo-sik kept telling me what he could offer, but I refuted everything.

After I rejected him several times, Choi Woo-sik’s face grew darker.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Aren’t we negotiating?”

“KS Group belongs to me. How can you try to negotiate for my things like this?”

He still hasn’t grasped the situation. How did Yoon Hyun-joo live with this frustrating man?

“Ha… do you even know what percentage of KS Group’s shares you own, Choi Woo-sik? How dare you try to act like the owner with that meager stake?”

“It was an unavoidable choice to grow the company.”

“I don’t know what’s so innovative about KS Group that you would claim it’s growing. If you had completely transitioned to a holding company, instead of using a circular investment structure like I advised you before, you might not have ended up like this. Consider it the price of ignoring my advice.”

I checked the watch on my wrist.

“If you have nothing else to offer, I’ll be leaving now. I have a dinner appointment with Director Yoon Hyun-joo.”

As I stood up, Choi Woo-sik jumped up as well.

“You bastard…! You never had any intention of talking to me from the start! What gives you the right to take the company that my family struggled to build?”

Choi Woo-sik suddenly rushed at me like a madman.

But I wasn’t afraid at all. Because Manager Ma stopped him immediately.

Manager Ma effortlessly used Choi Woo-sik’s momentum to throw him to the ground.

“Good grief. You should control your temper. Don’t you know how badly the court looks upon such behavior? Once you’re removed from your position as Chairman, not a single one of the top ten law firms will agree to defend you. So grit your teeth and hold on.”

I said coldly, then turned my gaze away from Choi Woo-sik who was lying on the floor.

I then spoke to the guards standing by the prison entrance.

“Guards. That’s the end of my visitation. Take him away.”

At those words, Choi Woo-sik jumped up again and rushed at me once more.

“Agh! You son of a bitch! Who are you? Who do you think you are to treat me like this!”

Like they say, a dog barks louder after losing a fight. That fits him perfectly.

Manager Ma grabbed Choi Woo-sik, who was rushing at me with a crazed look in his eyes, and flipped him over.

With a loud thud, Choi Woo-sik landed hard on the cement floor and gasped for air, clearly shocked.

The guards quickly grabbed Choi Woo-sik’s arms and pulled him up.

They dragged the breathless Choi Woo-sik out of the special visiting room with emotionless expressions.

I turned to leave the visiting room, but then paused to ask the frozen Legal Team Leader.

“You don’t understand, do you? How a chaebol like Choi Woo-sik can be treated like this.”

……

“What’s the point of explaining? It’s all because of money. In this era, money is more valuable than anything. But that’s not all there is to it. Being rich without any power is meaningless. In that regard, you definitely did not make a good choice, Legal Team Leader. You should have joined a major law firm. Then you would have earned more money and gained more power.”

I was about to end the conversation, then added one more thing.

“Are you going to keep holding onto a broken string? It looks like it would be better to change to another string. This is advice from a Korea University senior.”

I left the Legal Team Leader speechless and headed to the parking lot.

Before I got into the car and left, the Legal Team Leader came running towards our car from the detention center.

Blocked by the guards, he knelt down on the ground and shouted.

“Please! Please, save me. I can’t end it like this. Please, save me!”

The guards surrounding the area quickly surrounded the Legal Team Leader.

Manager Ma in the passenger seat looked at me and I shook my head and opened the car door.

“Everyone step back.”

At my command the guards stepped back a few paces.

“Get up. Everyone’s staring at you, what are you doing here?”

Sure enough, the eyes of the people in the parking lot, who were there to visit the inmates, turned in our direction.

Manager Ma who followed me out of the car, forcibly pulled him up.

“The person you should be asking for forgiveness is not me, but Director Yoon Hyun-joo. She’s the owner of the group now. While we still own some shares, it’s already contracted that we’ll be handing everything over to her.”

……

“I’ll mention you to her during dinner tonight. So don’t act like this and follow us. Then wait in the parking lot and come in when we call you.”

“Thank you. I’ll never forget this kindness.”

I told him to grab a new string, but it seemed the Legal Team Leader was trying to grab onto my pant leg instead.

The Legal Team Leader repeatedly bowed his head and thanked me.

“Manager Ma, please tell one of the staff members the restaurant location, and let’s leave.”

Manager Ma called one of the staff members and gave instructions, and the car carrying me quickly left the detention center.

* * *

Yoon Hyun-joo burst into laughter when I told her about my visit with Choi Woo-sik.

She laughed so hard, tears started to well up in her eyes.

“Ah, I should have seen that with my own eyes. What a pity.”

“Didn’t you already see him once at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office?”

She nodded her head and laughed.

“Once is not enough. I plan to lead Choi Woo-sik to his ruin. I’m not going to be satisfied with this. I’m going to take all his assets. Not even a single penny can go to that woman. I want to see if that woman will still love a broke Choi Woo-sik.”

They say when a woman holds a grudge, frost falls even in the fifth lunar month.

Yoon Hyun-joo, who had first come to me, and the current Yoon Hyun-joo, were so different.

I chuckled inwardly and turned my gaze toward the man next to her.

“Ah, this is the Group’s Chief Secretary.”

This person was Yoon Hyun-joo’s eyes and ears. I nodded and spoke to him.

“You betrayed your friend, are you okay with that?”

The Chief Secretary didn’t say anything to my question.

“Boss Kim, please don’t be too harsh. He’s already my man.”

“If you say so, Director. Anyway, the Legal Team Leader is waiting outside. Would you like to see him?”

“Our company’s Legal Team Leader?”

I gave her a quick rundown of what had happened. Yoon Hyun-joo, who had been pondering, nodded her head.

A moment later, the door opened, and the Legal Team Leader entered with his head bowed.

“Legal Team Leader, please lift your head. You should be looking at us when we speak.”

At Yoon Hyun-joo’s words, the Legal Team Leader raised his head.

However, his mouth slowly dropped open.

The Legal Team Leader was shocked as he made eye contact with the Chief Secretary next to Yoon Hyun-joo.

“Y-You, how…”