Chapter 269: The Ferret-like Old Man

The ferret-like old man had completely wiped away his sly expression, now only showing a sharp look that matched his piercing demeanor.

“Are you trying to buy me off with money?” he asked. “With all due respect, I’m not that valuable. My connection to the Soonyang Art Foundation makes me nothing more than a lawyer occasionally offering legal advice to Madam Lee.”

“How much do you get paid?”

“Pardon?”

“How much do you receive for advising our grandmother on legal matters?”

“That’s not your concern.”

Clearly offended by the blatant and somewhat vulgar question, his voice began to rise slightly.

“Stop poking around unnecessarily and tell me what you want. What business do two men have spending the night in a hotel room?”

It was important to make my position clear to this man. To properly carry out my grandmother’s instructions, I needed to hammer home that even groveling wouldn’t be enough.

“Excuse me for a moment. I need to make a quick call.”

Ignoring his scowl, I turned on the phone’s speaker.

As the line connected, a low, deep voice flowed out.

– Hello?

“Good evening, Chief Secretary. This is Jin Do-jun from Soonyang.”

As soon as I revealed my name, a voice brimming with warmth resonated from the speaker.

– Oh, my! Who is this? It’s been a while, Chief Jin.

“Hope you’re doing well, Chief Secretary.”

– This difficult life in the opposition party… not so well. The persecution is harsh. Haha.

“Still, you were promoted after the general election, weren’t you? Floor Leader of the Opposition Party. Haha.”

The floor leader of the main opposition party.

Upon realizing the identity of the person on the other end, Director Cheon Sang-pil couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Chief Secretary, I’d like to offer you a small token. Consider it a congratulatory gift for your promotion.”

– Oh, no need for gifts… The orchid you sent was more than enough.

“This gift will be more to your liking.”

– Oh? What could it be? It sounds intriguing.

“I recently returned from a business trip to New York and discovered some suspicious activity at the Korean Consulate General in New York.”

– The Consul General?

“Yes. It seems that employees of the consulate are involved in the smuggling of national treasures.”

– What? Smuggling? You mean trafficking?

“Yes, blatant smuggling. As you know, diplomatic pouches aren’t subject to customs inspections. They seem to have taken advantage of that.”

– Those crazy bastards! We need to cut them open and check their guts!

The loud voice boomed through the speaker. Cheon Sang-pil was already pale as a ghost.

“Please calm down. I’d like to discuss this matter in detail. How about dinner tomorrow evening?”

– Of course. Even if the sky falls, I’ll make time. Tell me the details.

“Yes, then I’ll be going….”

The moment I turned off the speaker, Cheon Sang-pil exploded.

“W-what are you doing right now? National treasures? What is this…!”

“Smuggling cultural assets has a bit more impact than just art smuggling, wouldn’t you say? The outcome will be something like this: While the rumors of the Consulate General smuggling national treasures are unfounded, they were involved in smuggling high-value artwork. Either way, it’s the same.”

“Stop it right now! If you continue like this, you won’t get a single thing you want!”

“Listen, Mr. Cheon Sang-pil. How did you survive by our grandmother’s side with that kind of brain?”

“What? Listen here….”

“Still don’t understand what I want?”

His yelling ceased at my firm expression.

He glared at me for a moment before sighing.

“Damn it… You’re not going to stop, are you?”

At his sigh, I pressed the intercom button.

“Bring up the liquor we had prepared.”

A hotel employee brought in a bottle of Balvenie whiskey, glasses, and ice, placing them on the table.

“Looks like we’ve finished the preliminaries. Let’s have a drink.”

Cheon Sang-pil poured and downed two glasses of liquor that cost a staggering 350,000 won per glass.

The warm alcohol seemed to soothe him, and he spoke in a composed voice.

“If you’re not going to stop, why did you meet me? You could have just proceeded.”

“Not stopping is the means to get what I want. But what I want is something else entirely.”

“Can we skip the wordplay?”

“Everything about our grandmother, Madam Lee Pil-ok.”

Cheon Sang-pil poured himself another drink.

“Be realistic. Madam Lee has two sons who are vice-chairmen of Soonyang. They won’t stand idly by. They’ll do anything to smooth this over.”

“I expect as much. The limit of our family’s troubles is usually the prosecutor’s office. We might get summoned, but we never actually stand trial. There are always people, close aides, who stand in court and await sentencing.”

“So they can exert influence from the outside. Whether it’s a suspended sentence or release on bail….”

He suddenly stopped talking.

He was quick-witted and sharp. He had already pictured what was about to unfold.

Cheon Sang-pil was the one who drafted the secret contract, and our grandmother, who claimed not to understand a word of English, simply signed it as her trusted lawyer instructed. She believed the contract was for lending the paintings for an exhibition at a New York gallery, not for selling them off.

Cheon Sang-pil was the one who had been secretly selling all the paintings, and Madam Lee Pil-ok was only just now realizing this.

Finally, collapsing from the shock of her trusted aide’s betrayal, she was hospitalized.

Isn’t it a meticulously crafted picture?

“You’re the one who directed the embezzlement of the foundation’s artwork, aren’t you? So, who will the arrows point to? The most suitable target is Director Cheon, you.”

The more he drank, the clearer his mind became. It wasn’t because it was expensive, high-quality liquor. It was the anxiety, the fear brought on by the unavoidable danger.

Looking at him, I asked,

“What could it be?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The incredible self-sacrifice of those who consider themselves close aides. Or should I call it a scapegoat mentality? They’re just people getting paid a salary by Soonyang Group, yet they’re willing to ruin their lives to take the fall.”

“A kid like you wouldn’t understand even if you were reborn. You’ll understand the reason after living a few more years….”

“Puh-ha!”

To think that I, who understands the reason after being reborn, am hearing these words. I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“My apologies. It just brought back some old memories….”

I lightly bowed my head to his scowling face.

You’ll know when you’re reborn, no… before you die. It was just a pathetic slave mentality.

“Let’s stop with the nonsense. Talk about what’s possible. Taking everything from Madam Lee is impossible. Let’s compromise on a reasonable level.”

“There’s no room for compromise. I will take everything from our grandmother, and if she doesn’t end up eating prison food, someone else will take her place. For a very long time. I want both.”

As he shook his head in disbelief, I threw in one more remark.

“Especially the shares under a borrowed name. I must have them.”

Cheon Sang-pil’s expression wasn’t one of surprise at the mention of the shares under a borrowed name, but rather one of relief.

“So that’s what it was! The shares!”

Suddenly, his expression changed, as if he’d had an epiphany. It was the look of someone who had gained the upper hand.

“Then things are different. I don’t know how you found out about the shares, but they’ll eventually end up in the hands of the two vice-chairmen anyway. You know how your family goes crazy for shares, right?”

“Of course. That’s why I’m pressuring even our grandmother to get my hands on them.”

“Knowing that, you’re still doing this? If you just hand over the shares, the two vice-chairmen will resolve everything. Of course, someone will go to prison, but it won’t be me. I’m essential to converting the borrowed-name shares to real names. Hahaha.”

This was absurd.

That inescapable slave mentality, satisfied with just this much, thinking everything is resolved. Why couldn’t he take his thinking one step further and realize everything would change?

“Director Cheon, there’s no one loyal enough to go to prison except for you. Even if it were the chairman of Soonyang, who would go for an old woman? They wouldn’t even guarantee a position as the president of a subsidiary, would they?”

“That’s not your concern. The monetary compensation is quite good, too.”

Cheon Sang-pil emptied his glass with a satisfied expression.

He confirmed there would be no negotiation and he understood what I wanted.

All that was left was to come up with a plan.

And this plan had become straightforward. Since I wouldn’t stop, they’d just find a suitable lackey and place everything on his shoulders.

Cheon Sang-pil, having cleanly emptied his glass, smacked his lips and stood up.

“Good liquor, well enjoyed. I’d like to finish the bottle, but I’ll save that for another time.”

“But there’s something you haven’t answered yet. You should tell me before you leave.”

Cheon Sang-pil thought my plan was ruined, but perhaps it was my still-relaxed expression that kept him from leaving the room so easily.

“What are you talking about?”

“The number you genuinely desire, the one you might not even know yourself.”

“Why don’t you stop? You’re making yourself look pathetic.”

“No, why is talking about money pathetic? Is there anyone who dislikes money?”

“I have the shares under a borrowed name. Do you know their value? If I wanted, I could have pocketed them myself. I’m not swayed by money, so give up.”

“Shares aren’t money. And pocketing the shares under a borrowed name? That’s impossible, so you just managed them. Your life would be in danger if you pocketed them. Don’t act like some great loyalist. It’s sickening.”

The truth always cuts deep.

Perhaps it was the pain of that truth that contorted Cheon Sang-pil’s face.

“If you hand over the information to the opposition party tomorrow, there’s no turning back. And if this matter blows up, a massive amount of unexpected money will appear.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Doesn’t the person who created the secret contract know? The insurance money, that is.”

“I-insurance…?”

“If the secret deal is exposed to the world, it’s a breach of contract, isn’t it? Then you can claim the insurance money. A whopping 1.8 billion dollars! At the current exchange rate, that’s over 2 trillion won.”

He swallowed hard.

“I only need to recoup my investment. 600 million dollars. That leaves 1.2 billion dollars. How about it? Isn’t this number fitting for your deepest desires, the ones you might not even know you have?”

1.3 trillion won.

The sheer scale of this number made Cheon Sang-pil forget he was about to leave the hotel room, and he stood there dumbfounded.

“You don’t have the power to protect the shares, but I do. Even if all the borrowed-name shares are transferred to my name, I won’t die without a trace. And I’ll guarantee your safety too. Oh, and the 1.2 billion dollars can be deposited in an offshore account, right? You know the methods well enough to handle that yourself. You might not be able to swallow the shares, but you can swallow money, can’t you?”

I, who had only been drinking coffee, poured myself a glass of whiskey and downed it in one go.

The sharp aroma flowed down my throat, and my body instantly felt warm.

“Today, we’ve toasted separately, but next time, let’s clink glasses and celebrate together. For the moment I possess the shares, and you possess 1.3 trillion won.”

I left Cheon Sang-pil, still standing there blankly, in the hotel room and walked out first. Whether he would take the hilt of the sword I offered remained to be seen, but I had no doubt he would accept my proposal.

Someone who would refuse 1.3 trillion won outright would have refused all the dirty work under our grandmother from the start and severed ties with Soonyang long ago.

Right now, his mind might be a jumble of thoughts, but as time passes, only one simple, clear number will remain.

Numbers are a truthful language that never causes misunderstandings.

And the sweetness of 1.3 trillion won is a truth that no one can doubt.