Chapter 252: The End of the Investigation

“The minister and the prosecutor general have instructed us to close the investigation. They also asked me not to forget to apologize if you were offended, and to ask for your understanding,”

Lee Hak-jae casually placed a cigarette in his mouth.

“Oh really? HW Group must be doing quite well. It seems their status is high enough to ignore Soonyang’s requests?”

“Otherwise, it’s easy to create misunderstandings that the government is interfering with fair competition between companies.”

“Is that all there is to it?”

“Considering HW Group’s standing and Miracle Investment’s influence, it’s like a shrimp getting caught in a whale fight.”

The director of the Audit Bureau spoke cautiously, and Lee Hak-jae frowned.

“Stop beating around the bush and answer me. Is it done, or not?”

“It’s done, sir. They won’t be bothering the chairman anymore.”

“The prosecution and the Ministry of Justice must have taken a lot of money. They’ve got so many straws stuck in there.”

The director of the Audit Bureau bit his lip and frowned, seemingly bothered by Lee Hak-jae’s crude and vulgar language.

Chairman Lee Hak-jae’s eyebrows twitched, noticing this. Perhaps out of anger, he even made the mistake of tapping his cigarette ashes into the water glass instead of the ashtray.

“Tell them I received the memo well. And know that I’ll take even better care of you than before, so keep that in mind.”

Whether it was because he was being released from an uncomfortable situation or because he was being offered more money, the director of the Audit Bureau’s expression brightened again.

“Thank you, Chairman. Then….”

As he jumped up and bowed his head, Chairman Lee Hak-jae said,

“But you still have to keep your word, right?”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you say you’d have another drink with me when I got home?”

Lee Hak-jae pointed to the water glass with cigarette ashes in it.

“Why? Don’t you like this house? Does it have to be Soonyang?”

“Ah, no, sir.”

The director of the Audit Bureau quickly picked up the glass and downed it in one gulp.

Lee Hak-jae watched him and smirked, saying,

“That’s why I can’t bring myself to hate you. Thanks for running the errand. I put a box in your car, so use it for the kids’ snacks.”

The director of the Audit Bureau bowed respectfully and left.

Left alone, Lee Hak-jae didn’t even have the leisure to enjoy the relief of no longer being chased by wolves.

“Chairman, Chief of staff Jin Do-jun is here.”

* * *

The congratulatory wreaths filling the chairman’s office seemed to offer a glimpse into Chief of staff Lee Hak-jae’s web-like network of connections.

“Congratulations, Chairman Lee Hak-jae.”

“Enough. It’s just hiding in a safe place. What is there to congratulate?”

Lee Hak-jae waved his hand, as if uncomfortable with my congratulatory remarks.

“If you don’t like the position, you can always resign.”

He flinched at my straightforward words, but quickly regained his composure.

“I understand how a civil servant demoted to the provinces must feel. But in terms of position, isn’t this a huge promotion? Anyone can see it’s a prestigious move.”

He might have reluctantly accepted the chairman’s position, but such remarks shouldn’t be repeated. The presidents and executives he will lead aren’t fools.

If the chairman looks like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse, a collective backlash from the existing management is inevitable.

“You’ve been driving a large car like Soonyang Group, so you probably think handling HW is like steering with one hand, right? It looks easy, doesn’t it? You’re wrong. Even though HW Group is smaller than Soonyang, it’s not a compact car, let alone a corner store.”

Chairman Lee Hak-jae waved his hand again. This time, it had a different meaning.

“Enough with the nagging. I’ve heard so many congratulations today that I’m embarrassed. I never thought it was easy, and I never thought I was demoted. I’m just afraid and scared that I won’t be able to do well. I can’t even sleep these days.”

“Are you putting on an act now?”

“I’m serious.”

His expression was indifferent, without even a hint of desperation. Since he isn’t one to show his emotions, I had to read his sincerity from his assertive tone.

“I’ll believe you.”

“When an opportunity arises, you hound people relentlessly, just like your grandfather.”

Seeing the small smile on his lips, I smiled slightly too.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

He erased the fleeting smile and said,

“A friend from the Ministry of Justice visited earlier. He apologized, saying they wouldn’t bother me anymore.”

“Oh Se-hyun put in some effort.”

“I should at least thank him… but that man is nowhere to be seen.”

“He says it’s burdensome for a shareholder to see a professional manager too often… he’s probably packing his bags right now.”

“Packing? Again?”

This was the most surprised expression he had shown during our time together.

“Yes. He’s returning to Kota Kinabalu. He explicitly asked me not to call him no matter what happens.”

“Really? The agent is leaving, and the real shareholder… no, the owner remains.”

He raised his hand slightly and pointed at me.

“I’m different from Oh Se-hyun. I’ll never let my watchful eye stray. Hehe.”

“This doesn’t match the rumors? I heard you don’t get involved in Soonyang Financial Group except for major personnel matters?”

“My grandfather gave me that company for free, but I bought this one piece by piece with my own hard-earned money. It’s a different level of importance.”

“Alright. I’ll be mindful not to let your hard-earned money go to waste.”

“That’s not all. If you can’t prove your management skills here, you won’t get the Soonyang Group chairman position we agreed on.”

“You need to take over Soonyang first to keep that promise. Save the big talk for later.”

Our eyes met, filled more with ambition than trust.

“Did you bring all your secretarial staff?”

“Yes. They’re packing up now. I told them to delete what needs deleting and pack what needs packing, so there won’t be any issues later.”

“Were there any employees who wanted to stay at Soonyang?”

“Quite a few. But I persuaded them. The ones who wanted to stay had ignored me when I contacted them before. So, they feel sorry. But what’s the point of staying in an empty place and being miserable? I have to take care of them.”

“Their loyalty will deepen. Now that they’ve been pardoned.”

“You idiot. There’s no calculation like that. This is about loyalty.”

Chairman Lee Hak-jae glared at me before changing the subject.

“By the way, what are your thoughts on this upcoming general election?”

“Isn’t it a foregone conclusion?”

“Why?”

He asked in detail, even though he knew the answer, seemingly to test my political acumen. It’s not difficult to tell him what he already knows.

“With the aftermath of the president’s impeachment being so severe, the ruling party will have a landslide victory.”

“A landslide victory? To what extent?”

“More than a majority.”

This time, he seemed a little surprised.

“Isn’t that too much? The ruling party is a minor party right now. It only has 47 seats, the third-largest party. More than a majority?”

“The main opposition party has abandoned its headquarters and is camping out in tents in Yeouido, trying to garner sympathy votes. They’re doing that show because they feel the crisis acutely, but it’s already too late. They probably never imagined that the president’s impeachment would become the best marketing tool for the minor ruling party.”

With the general election just around the corner, the opposition party set up tents in a vacant lot, calling it their ‘apology to the people.’ It was their tent headquarters. They had no choice. The stigma of being the ‘slush fund party’ was too strong, and the aftermath of impeaching the president was severe.

The tent headquarters was a desperate measure taken when it was generally expected that they wouldn’t win even 50 seats in the general election.

The tent headquarters was set up in the former site of the Small and Medium Business Exhibition Center in Yeouido, symbolizing a ‘completely new start from the stigma of being a corrupt and privileged party.’ Opposition lawmakers commuted to the tents.

Ironically, they paid 42 million won for 50 days to rent the site of the former Small and Medium Business Exhibition Center for their tent headquarters, while the ruling party’s headquarters rent at the time was 25 million won per month.

They wasted taxpayer money in a bizarre attempt to gain public sympathy.

Lee Hak-jae still didn’t seem to believe my prediction of more than a majority, but he acknowledged one thing.

“No one can follow your political predictions, so I have no choice but to trust your judgment and act accordingly. So, should we bet everything on the ruling party?”

“No. We’ll donate just enough not to suffer any disadvantages for not showing goodwill. It’s a guaranteed win anyway, and the current ruling party doesn’t seem inclined to give big favors to big companies like us.”

“Really? Then we won’t waste unnecessary money.”

“No. Instead, the opposition party that’s currently camping out in tents, shouldn’t we send them a few boxes of instant ramen?”

“You want to bet on a loser?”

“Why do you ask when you know the answer? The opposition party putting on a show with tents right now is always, and has always been, a pro-chaebol party. They always repay us for what we give, so there’s no harm in it.”

Chairman Lee Hak-jae nodded.

He already knew this well but asked to get confirmation from me because I am the owner of this company. He’s the kind of person who considers this the minimum courtesy.

“I’ll spread it around appropriately, so keep that in mind. Do I need approval for things like this too?”

“Of course not. It’s better not to get involved in illegal activities and pretend you don’t know. Even if you get caught later, the owner should be able to slip away clean.”

“You shameless bastard. At least pretend to feel sorry. Hehe.”

As we laughed and exchanged jokes, the secretary knocked on the door.

“Chairman, it’s time for the executive meeting. What should we do? Should we postpone it?”

He lightly waved his hand at the cautiously speaking secretary and stood up.

“No. My business here is finished. It’s the first executive meeting presided over by the new chairman, so we shouldn’t be late. The presidents will complain. They’ll say the chairman is showing off and showing up late.”

Chairman Lee Hak-jae also stood up to attend the meeting and offered me his hand.

“Don’t come too often. It makes me subtly nervous.”

I took his hand and said,

“Chairman.”

“What is it? Do you still have more nagging to do?”

“There should be an acquisition of Alfa Romeo during the automobile project. It’s in the final stages, so please review it carefully. Haha.”

* * *

The expressions on the two brothers’ faces grew increasingly grim as they reviewed the reports.

Eventually, Vice-chairman Jin Young-gi, lacking patience, threw the report down.

“Did these bastards even sabotage things before leaving?”

Jin Dong-gi looked up from his report at Jin Young-gi’s shout.

“They cleverly erased the intermediate links. This is going to be a headache.”

The conclusion of the report was that some of the connecting links between the controlling stake subsidiaries could not be identified, and the establishment of a holding company would not be possible until next year.

“We need to report that Lee Hak-jae bastard and all the secretaries who worked under him. How dare those leaving bastards pull something like this?”

“Calm down. We have to solve this ourselves. If we investigate them, we have to trace the transfer of controlling shares step by step. Do you want to advertise our illegal gifting to the world?”

Jin Young-gi frowned even more at his calm younger brother’s words.

“So? Are we just going to sit here and watch?”

“Let’s wait until the general election is over and the decision on the presidential impeachment is made, then we can come up with a plan again.”

“Hey! What do we have to do with those guys?”

“Let’s think. The prosecution has washed its hands of it. The only weapon we can use is the political arena. Let’s get them to shake up HW Group. We have the National Tax Service, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Fair Trade Commission. If people don’t work, we target the company.”

“Damn it. Always waiting and constantly making mistakes. What kind of situation is this?!”

Jin Young-gi, who had seen everything resolved smoothly with just one word or order from his father, was frustrated to the point of bursting because things weren’t going as easily now.

“It means our position isn’t as solid as it used to be. It can’t be helped. Everyone said so. Qingil Group, Hwasun Group… they all struggled during the second-generation era. Look at Daehyun Group. It’s still noisy.”

“We need to elect a chairman quickly and take firm control. That’s the only way to move efficiently.”

Jin Dong-gi frowned at his brother’s words.

Suddenly, the conversation was heading in a strange direction. Elect a chairman?