Chapter 158: A Transaction…

“A transaction, you say…”

Isn’t exchanging money for power a frequent kind of commerce? It’s nothing new.

Chief Prosecutor Bae Jae-hwan stared intently at me for a moment before offering a slight smile.

“Prosecutor Lee mentioned you’re quite different from your average silver spoon. Now I see what he meant.”

“How am I different?”

“You have a talent for saying brazen things as if they’re nothing, and even making them sound quite plausible.”

“The person giving can afford to be brazen. After all, people trying to get a piece of the rice stuck to my silver spoon will keep appearing, won’t they? Don’t you think so?”

There are many small-time dealers trying to sell their power. A whopping two thousand of them, aren’t there?

“You… you’re also quite skilled at making people feel embarrassed. Understood. I’ll create a proper product and come sell it to you.”

This one understands things quickly.

Belief, trust, loyalty… This guy knows that a mutually beneficial transaction is a much stronger driving force for long-term relationships than any of that nonsense.

“I’m in a hurry. Please bring something good within a month. I’ll pay you handsomely for it.”

“Prosecutor Lee seems to be in more of a hurry. The one in a rush will dig the well.”

“Ah, since this is our first transaction, I’ll pay in advance. Tell him the Cheongju assignment is off the table. And add that I look forward to even better results with his renewed efforts.”

Chief Bae beamed and bowed his head.

“I thank you on behalf of Prosecutor Lee.”

“The thanks are mine.”

“Pardon?”

“One of the half-dozen or so people you mentioned might end up in a situation where they have to take off their uniform. Do you have someone suitable?”

“Take off their uniform, you say?”

Chief Bae looked genuinely surprised and asked again.

“I’m just thinking of all possibilities. It just needs to be someone for whom money is more urgent than their career as a prosecutor. Someone willing to take the fall. In return, we’ll hire them as a lawyer in our Miracle legal team.”

Seeing his hesitation, I eased his remaining concerns.

“Even if they end up getting their license revoked, it’s fine. Since they’ve studied law, their core knowledge isn’t going anywhere. The company needs legal knowledge, not necessarily a license.”

“You’re planning something big.”

“As I said, it’s just in case.”

“I’ll check. If I have a friend considering opening their own practice, this would be a godsend.”

No one would refuse the chance to earn in a year what they could make in ten years as a lawyer.

“Then I’ll be waiting. Since this is our first deal, let’s work together smoothly.”

Chief Bae gripped my offered hand firmly.

* * *

“Poking around the prosecution was right. The real target is the Financial Supervisory Service.”

“Have you figured out what they’re doing?”

“They’re digging into our company, of course, but also you and me, even our personal transactions. They’ve started backtracking the funds used to establish Miracle Korea.”

Oh Se-hyun said it casually, but a hint of unease seeped into his tone.

“Is there anything they can actually pin on us?”

“We’ve moved trillions of won. Even scraping up the crumbs could amount to hundreds of billions. We call it tax optimization, but they’ll see it as tax evasion. It’s a matter of legal interpretation. If they find enough circumstantial evidence, the National Tax Service will come knocking.”

“I’m a little nervous.”

“Worst case scenario, we pay the taxes and penalties. We have enough money for that, so it’s fine. Heh.”

“You know this isn’t just about the money, right?”

Seeing my stern expression, Oh Se-hyun’s smile vanished.

“How far are you planning to go with this?”

“If you draw your sword, you have to strike at least once. I’m not planning to just cut air and put it back in its sheath.”

His expression turned even more serious. The fact that I had no intention of settling meant that Soonyang Group and Miracle were headed for a fight.

Can we really pierce an iron fortress like Soonyang? Or will we be the ones getting hurt?

His expression clearly reflected these worries.

“You said it yourself, Uncle, that in the worst case, we just pay some penalties. If we can stop it with money, it’s a cheap solution. There’s no need to back down.”

Having confirmed my resolve, Oh Se-hyun backed down with a deep breath.

“Is the blade ready?”

“Yes. There’s a prosecutor named Lee Kang-shik in the Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Financial Investigation Department. He’s about to be transferred to Cheongju. Can we cancel his reassignment order?”

“Is he our hitman?”

“Something like that. He’s gathering the stragglers within the prosecutor’s office to bolster our strength.”

“That’s no problem. The Southern District isn’t exactly a key position.”

“Then it’s settled. Let’s wait and see how sharp the blades our stragglers bring are.”

And less than a month later, our hitman arrived with a useful weapon.

* * *

“Internal trading and sweetheart deals weren’t significant enough to warrant our attention. Instead, we focused on tracking overseas companies… and this is what we found.”

Oh Se-hyun snatched the documents Prosecutor Lee Kang-shik offered. He scrutinized them, not missing a single number, and even let out a low whistle. This was solid evidence.

“The Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Financial Investigation Department is impressive. To find this!”

“Everyone skims off slush funds, and the fallout is huge. Since it’s difficult to expose, we focused on currency arbitrage and hit the jackpot.”

“You couldn’t have done this without help from the US, could you?”

“I was lucky enough to participate in a Ministry of Justice training program. It’s the kind of perk given to Seoul National University graduates, but they throw in a nobody like me for show. That’s where I met a third-generation Korean-American. He helped me.”

“What is it?”

Oh Se-hyun asked, pointing at the documents and grinning broadly.

“They siphoned off dollars. Money that disappeared from accounts linked to the US.”

“How much?”

Lee Kang-shik stated with confidence.

“Over 20 billion won. The problem is there’s no record of where that money went after it left the US. In such cases, it’s usually gambling.”

“Gambling?”

“Yes. This is something only the owner’s family could do… Does Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki enjoy gambling?”

Lee Kang-shik’s eyes gleamed as if hoping to get a new lead from me.

Gambling, huh?

I know someone. Isn’t gambling even harder to quit than drugs? Someone who has caused endless trouble with gambling their entire life—my aunt.

Park Hye-young.

Born into a wealthy chaebol family, she married into an even wealthier one.

A woman who uses her inexhaustible wealth to possess anything she desires and endlessly flaunt her vanity.

Someone who lives by indulging her desires to the fullest – enviable in a way.

Men, gambling, and shopping. Things that are inseparable from her life.

“Compare the withdrawal dates from the overseas accounts with your aunt’s travel records.”

“Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki’s wife?”

“That’s right.”

Both men’s jaws dropped.

The eldest daughter-in-law of a chaebol family being caught up in high-stakes overseas gambling is a matter of moral condemnation even before considering its legality.

“Let’s imitate politics for a bit. We leak it to the press first, and when public opinion gets noisy, the prosecution makes an announcement. Then the press reports it again.”

“Will any media outlets take it? They’ll lose all their advertising revenue if Soonyang gets angry.”

Those on the outside often have a more accurate grasp of power dynamics than insiders. Prosecutor Lee had experienced firsthand the media ignoring the prosecution’s requests numerous times. Especially in cases involving chaebols.

“We’ll compensate them accordingly. We also have construction, automobile, and department store businesses. It’s more than enough.”

But he still shook his head, anticipating the obvious outcome.

“That will be the limit. Just know that even summoning her for questioning will be difficult. It will probably be wrapped up with written inquiries and a ‘no charges’ outcome.”

“It’s fine. Even if my aunt is truly innocent, no one will believe it. The fact that the pampered wife of a chaebol family engaged in overseas gambling becomes the truth just by being mentioned.”

The goal is to inflict damage. To make them realize I also have a blade.

“Before that, Uncle, why don’t you meet with my uncle? Gently suggest that if they stop now, we can avoid any unpleasantness.”

“If they stop? If the Financial Supervisory Service stops investigating, do we stop too?”

“No. We keep going straight. We need to show them we’re fierce from the start. Otherwise, this will keep happening.”

I didn’t expect him to clap in agreement, but Oh Se-hyun’s hardened expression went beyond my expectations.

“Is it really necessary to go that far? They’re lowering the knife pointed at us… If we lower ours, even this prosecutor can avoid some difficult situations.”

He doesn’t understand.

They will never put down their blades. They won’t stop until they seize something. The only question is whether they’ll detonate what they hold, but they need to know to their core that we also wield a blade before they’ll stop.

“Don’t trust our family members. Uncle, you only know my father, so you see them in a softer light. They’re all ‘Iron Face.’ It’s not just Grandfather.”

And I need to make them clearly aware of what our real weapon is.

The reason my uncle is putting pressure on us might not be just to show off his power. He might also be trying to take away our real weapon.

* * *

“Thank you for making time for me, Vice-chairman.”

“No problem. You’re the teacher guiding my adorable youngest nephew, so you’re welcome anytime.”

“Then please just keep seeing me as adorable.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t let me get caught in the crossfire of your vigilance against Do-jun.”

“Ah, that? Haha. Goodness… you’ve misunderstood.”

“Oh, I’m disappointed. Are you really going to deny it?”

“Deny what? No. I have no ill will towards Representative Oh. Nor am I wary of Do-jun.”

“Then what is it? If it’s neither this nor that?”

“Soonyang Automobile took what was rightfully mine, and I’m just figuring out how to get it back.”

To Oh Se-hyun, Jin Young-ki was an incomprehensible person.

He completely disregarded the first rule of negotiation: hide what you want.

“Automobile? Are you talking about the group shares held by Soonyang Automobile?”

Seeing Jin Young-ki nod with a smile, Jin Do-jun’s words flashed through his mind.

— Unleash our true blade.

Oh Se-hyun waited for the right moment to wield the blade.

“How is that yours? You sold it to Chairman Jin fairly.”

“The ownership temporarily changed. No, it’s more accurate to say I entrusted it during a chaotic time. You know… we called the IMF crisis ‘hwanran’ (exchange rate crisis), didn’t we? A foreign exchange crisis.”

Jin Do-jun’s words echoed. These people are ‘Iron Face.’ How can they so easily utter such illogical things?

“I’ll pay a hefty storage fee, so hand it over. If necessary, I can even pay the market price. It won’t be a losing deal for you.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Representative Oh, for someone who handles money, you’re quite slow on the uptake. Even if you hold onto it, you can’t do anything to Soonyang Group. Why hold onto those shares that only cause headaches? Exchange them for something you need.”

“By ‘headaches,’ do you mean mobilizing public authorities like now?”

“The Southern District Prosecutors’ Office and the Financial Supervisory Service are the nice guys. More vicious ones will come after you.”

“‘More vicious ones’… You mean a coalition of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Central Investigation Department and the National Tax Service.”

“And one more thing. An intense media onslaught.”

Watching the triumphant Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki, Oh Se-hyun slowly opened his mouth with a blank expression.

“Oh, I’m so scared.”