Chapter 143: How Much?

“How much did you say?”

“It’s… about one trillion four hundred billion won.”

“You blew all that money on stocks?”

Chairman Jin frowned as he looked at his daughter, who couldn’t meet his gaze.

“I gave you the department store, and you used the money meant for the tenants on stocks? Are you out of your mind?”

“I’m sorry, Father. The pressure on operating funds was too much, so I was looking for a way out….”

“You take things so lightly. Did you think operating funds were just lying around in Yeouido?”

“Father, Soonyang Electronics invested in that company too. That’s why I trusted….”

Jin Seo-yoon stopped trying to explain, feeling the sharp edge in her father’s glare. Any further and she feared she’d be thrown out with nothing.

“Aren’t you separate from Soonyang Group now? How dare you chase after another company?”

“Isn’t Soonyang Electronics at fault for investing twenty billion won in a company that would collapse in just a few months? There’s no difference between my poor investment and Soonyang Electronics’ poor investment.”

“So? What are you trying to say? Why are you here? Just to pick a fight with another company?”

Jin Seo-yoon realized her mistake seeing Chairman Jin’s angry expression. Right now, she should be begging on her knees.

“Can’t you help me just this once? If I can get through this crisis….”

“Isn’t asking Oh Se-hyun for help your go-to solution? What help do you need from me?”

“No. I can’t borrow any more from Representative Oh.”

Seeing his daughter’s horrified reaction, Chairman Jin took out a stack of documents from his drawer and tossed it onto the table.

“I’ve completed the spin-off exactly as you wanted. Now it doesn’t matter if you drop the Soonyang name. It’s a completely separate company with not a single shared stock. If I help you now, it’ll be considered embezzlement of Soonyang’s funds. Do you want to see your old father get arrested?”

Jin Seo-yoon’s face turned pale even before she could open the file.

“F-Father. You can’t do this now. If the department store group falls into my hands now, it’ll be a disaster. We need to reverse this!”

“You’ve not only lost money on stocks, but you’ve also lost your mind. I gave you what you wanted… and you’re refusing it?”

“That’s not it….”

“Oh, my poor daughter. You’ve already abandoned your husband, and now you’re going to abandon your company too?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m just asking you to postpone it for a while.”

“Are you out of your mind? Do you know how much money was lost to give this to you? And you want me to just throw it all away? What on earth are you made of?”

Jin Seo-yoon squeezed her eyes shut as Chairman Jin exploded in anger.

From complex debt relationships to a gaping hole of one trillion four hundred billion won, to the large supermarket opening as the first business of the new millennium – everything was tangled beyond repair.

But a fact Jin Seo-yoon had completely forgotten slipped out of Chairman Jin’s mouth.

“By the way, under whose name did you make those stock investments? Was it under a borrowed name?”

He wasn’t asking because he didn’t know. Doesn’t everyone use borrowed names to ‘misappropriate’ company funds? This was just confirmation.

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“Just answer me! Is it true?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going crazy.”

Chairman Jin leaned his head back against the chair.

“Father, what’s wrong? Is there a problem… ?”

Chairman Jin pressed his lips together, saying nothing to his daughter’s careful question.

Jin Seo-yoon knew that in times like these, she had to wait in silence. She simply stared at Chairman Jin’s face.

“Seo-yoon.”

“Yes, Father.”

After a long pause, Chairman Jin parted his lips and called out to his daughter softly.

“Is Director Im the person you trust most?”

“Yes. He’s someone I’d trust with the key to the vault.”

“And he follows you with unwavering loyalty?”

“Probably. But Father, what’s wrong? You’re making me anxious….”

She asked with a trembling voice, but Chairman Jin avoided giving her a clear answer.

“That’s enough. I’ll take care of the rest. You go back and look after the company.”

I’ll take care of it.

These words felt like a ray of salvation.

“Father, thank you so much. I’ll really do my best. And about the one trillion four hundred billion won… I’ll try my best to settle it within a year.”

“What are you talking about? One trillion four hundred billion won?”

“Yes? You said you’d take care of everything… ?”

Mother and daughter widened their eyes simultaneously and asked each other.

Chairman Jin was the first to understand the misunderstanding.

“The money is your problem to solve. Are you still talking nonsense like that? Now that the company is split, the work and the money are your responsibility. Even if you squander it all, don’t come begging to me!”

“Ah, Father.”

“What I’ll take care of is making sure you don’t get arrested. You’re my only daughter, and I can’t bear to see you in jail.”

“Jail? What are you talking about… ?”

“It’s none of your concern. Just go back. I don’t want to see your face right now. Go!”

Jin Seo-yoon had no choice but to retreat at her father’s roar, utterly clueless. Her steps felt heavy with worry about the money.

* * *

“Did you find out everything?”

“Yes. We traced it through several rounds in Myeong-dong. It was dispersed under a total of sixteen names.”

“Ugh—”

Chairman Jin groaned involuntarily.

“How was the money withdrawn?”

“From the company through the CEOs, then through Myeong-dong.”

“Is Seo-yoon’s involvement traceable?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“That’s a relief.”

Chief of staff Lee Hak-jae said with a composed expression.

“I don’t think you need to worry too much. It seems she was careful.”

“You figured it out in a day, but what about the prosecution? They’ll trace the entire flow of money in half a day.”

Seeing Chairman Jin shake his head, Lee Hak-jae thought his worries were excessive.

“Even in a serious situation, would they investigate everyone who bought the stocks?”

“Over 5 trillion won has vanished. And that 5 trillion won isn’t chaebol money or tax money. It’s the money of ordinary people who carried their babies on their backs to the securities firms, trying to earn a bit for groceries. The anger of millions is reaching the sky. If we don’t handle this properly, even the government could be shaken. Until they find a scapegoat, we need to be careful, extremely careful.”

Chairman Jin wasn’t seeing this as a simple stock crash.

“When that New Data thing, whatever it was, was at its peak, I stopped Young-gi from selling the stocks held by Soonyang Electronics. That guy came to me foaming at the mouth about a tenfold profit.”

“Did you foresee this happening?”

“How could I not see it when those corrupt politicians were obviously involved? I figured it was better to lose twenty billion won. Imagine if we had sold back then. Soonyang Electronics would be the main culprit in this mess.”

“Now that we’re the victims, that won’t happen.”

At almost eighty years old, his judgment was still so sharp… It was truly remarkable.

“The prosecution and the Financial Services Commission have already drawn their swords for investigation. They’ll start by identifying the manipulative forces, so make sure Seo-yoon’s name doesn’t come up.”

“Yes, Chairman. But Seo-yoon’s name might come out of the mouths of those Myeong-dong guys.”

“Director Im was in charge of the funds, so dig into him. He’s been handling the department store and hotel money for over a decade; he must have accumulated a lot of scraps. We’ll turn a blind eye to that on the condition that he takes responsibility for this.”

He had already decided who would take the fall to prepare for any eventuality. It was Lee Hak-jae’s job to have someone take all of Jin Seo-yoon’s blame and willingly walk into the Prosecutor’s Office.

“We’ll handle this case accordingly. But what about the company? If we’re not careful, we could lose management control.”

The contract with Miracle was definitely serious. Using this incident as an excuse, they might claim the bonds and seize the collateral. That collateral was already in Jin Seo-yoon’s hands.

If Oh Se-hyun set his mind to it, he could take it away.

“Things that collapse always collapse all at once. They hold out until the very end and then collapse together. When I look at the tower, I feel uneasy because something that should have collapsed hasn’t.”

Chairman Jin muttered the phrase. Lee Hak-jae tilted his head, feeling like he had heard it somewhere before.

“Isn’t that a poem?”

“Yes. It’s the poem ‘Tower’.”

“Were you feeling uneasy?”

“The company will remain strong. The tower that will collapse is my child.”

He must believe that defending management control is already impossible. But wasn’t he waiting for the tower to collapse?

No, wasn’t he deliberately watching the unstable tower collapse?

Instead of the collapsing, unstable tower, didn’t he want a new tower that could ‘withstand the wind and rain for a thousand years in the most stable posture’?

Lee Hak-jae had a thought that was closer to certainty than doubt.

And he knew exactly who the new tower was.

* * *

“So, what are you planning to do now?”

“Are you talking about my aunt?”

“Yes. Thanks to President Lee Sang-soo, over 500 billion won came in. You earned back the money you used to take over your aunt’s company in one go.”

Oh Se-hyun used the phrase ‘to take over’ instead of ‘lent to’.

It meant he knew exactly what my objective was.

“It’s clear your grandfather helped you. Looking at how perfectly timed the group separation was.”

“He didn’t just help; he gave it to me.”

“To say he gave it is a bit of an understatement. The shares we hold as collateral are only 30%. President Jin Seo-yoon still holds 35%.”

“My aunt misused one trillion four hundred billion won. We need to acquire the remaining 25% with that money.”

“Do you think she’ll give it up willingly?”

“She blew one trillion four hundred billion won of company money on stock investments. The nature of the crime is heinous. We need to factor in covering that up as well.”

The major shareholder with 30% of the shares would turn a blind eye to the CEO’s embezzlement. And of course, cover the embezzled one trillion four hundred billion won.

At this level, it’s not a bad deal for my aunt either.

“Am I going to take the fall again? Do I have to play the villain again?”

“No. I’ll step up this time. I’ll show everyone who the real owner of the department store group is.”

Watching Oh Se-hyun’s surprised expression made me feel a bit awkward. I didn’t mean to sound so dramatic, but it made my hands and feet curl.

“Leaving aside how surprised your aunt will be, won’t the rest of your family become even more wary of you? Are you okay with that?”

“My aunt will keep her mouth shut. She hasn’t given up on her ambitions yet, so she’ll stick close to me for the time being.”

“You’re going to use your aunt like a puppet? You’re ruthless.”

“You once mentioned it’s in our family’s blood. Just take it as it is. Haha.”

“But what guts does your aunt have to be so quiet when she should be rushing here in a panic? Is she waiting for us to come to her? Still playing the princess.”

Just as Oh Se-hyun grumbled, the door burst open and someone rushed in. It wasn’t the aunt we were waiting for.

“Representative Oh! Please save me! Please help Chief Jin!”

The person who suddenly barged in was none other than Director Im.

“What is it? What happened now?”

I was bewildered, and also scared that my aunt had done something ridiculous.

“S-Soonyang is making me the scapegoat. If I stay still, I’ll end up taking all the blame. Please, save me!”

Just hearing the word ‘scapegoat’ was enough to guess everything.

Embezzlement is a serious crime.

Oh Se-hyun could guess what was happening, but he still soothed Director Im and asked for the full story.

“Chief of staff Lee Hak-jae came by. He dug into all my mistakes and is accusing me… I’m truly being framed.”

If Lee Hak-jae was involved, it meant he hadn’t just found mistakes but had thoroughly uncovered Director Im’s illegal activities. Lee Hak-jae was never careless.

Director Im knew the details of the contract between Miracle and my aunt. He knew that the only people who could save him from Soonyang’s threats were Miracle, who might become the owner of the department store group.

But it was a mistake made because he didn’t know our true colors.

A fox that ran from a tiger called Soonyang, only to enter a den of wolves.

This was Director Im’s fate.