Chapter 84: Accounting Audits Are Out; Oh Se-hyun’s People Will Be There.

“Accounting audits are out. Oh Se-hyun’s people will be the ones sitting there.”

“So, you’re going to hold onto the key to the vault? Hmph. Do you really think those number-crunching bastards can guard it?”

Damn it, why is he making me so uneasy?

“Do-jun.”

“Yes?”

“When it comes to siphoning off money from construction sites, those guys are artists. Falsely adding and removing hundreds of daily laborers? They can do that with their eyes closed. Skimming about ten million won a day without Oh Se-hyun knowing? That’s child’s play for them.”

He’s not just teasing me for fun.

It’s either a warning or advice… Which is it?

“You think that’s all? How about swapping out high-quality lumber worth hundreds or thousands for cheap wood worth a few bucks? Does Oh Se-hyun or his staff even know how to tell the difference? They skim on steel bar weight, and they even pilfer from the cafeteria budget. You’ll get swindled with your eyes wide open.”

“Why are you trying to scare me to death?”

“Still don’t get it? What this old man is trying to say?”

I met his sharp gaze, focusing all my senses. I had to figure out his intentions to avoid disappointing him.

“Are you saying I need to get my hands dirty to see the truth?”

Construction companies are the hotbeds of corporate corruption in South Korea.

Bid-rigging, union leader corruption, inflated construction costs, subcontractor scams, and more.

I concluded that this was advice to understand all those undercurrents.

“If you can control the executives of a construction company like puppets, you can say you’ve mastered handling underlings. Then, they’ll take care of making the money you need. When you need to use funds from questionable sources, there’s no place more reliable than a construction company.”

I only got half of it right.

He meant for me to secure a slush fund, not just get my hands dirty.

Still, I was relieved to see a look of approval.

“You said you’re reviewing the financial statements tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll send Soonyang Construction’s audit team. Take them with you. They’re on a different level compared to Oh Se-hyun’s low-level accountants. They can spot any discrepancies just by glancing at receipts and tax invoices.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

I jumped up and bowed my head.

If I can’t swallow Dae-ah Construction whole with this much help, I can only blame my own incompetence.

“You should save your thanks for later.”

“Huh?”

“You need to remember that all of this might be for the benefit of Soonyang Group. Don’t come crying to this old man if you get played. Heh.”

Oh, seriously. He’s messing with me until the very end.

Seeing my grandfather chuckle, I could only sigh.

* * *

“Do-jun, who are these… people?”

Oh Se-hyun blinked at the stern-looking men who came with me.

“These are staff from Soonyang Construction’s accounting audit team. They know the cement product numbers of construction sites inside and out. With just a few receipts, they can track down embezzled funds immediately, so we’ll have plenty of material to submit to the prosecution tomorrow.”

Oh Se-hyun’s face brightened as if he’d gained a thousand reinforcements.

“Well, we’ll have to celebrate with a big dinner tonight. Please, take care of things.”

“Leave it to us. We’ll strip them bare before the workday ends.”

Seeing the audit team’s confidence, I felt reassured.

As we rode in several vans towards Dae-ah Construction, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were a special forces unit launching a surprise attack.

As Oh Se-hyun walked into the Dae-ah Construction building, he pulled out his phone.

“Oh, Executive Director Kang. How’s it going… Have you found a client to buy our shares at a good price?”

– Ah, CEO Oh. We’re doing everything we can, and we’ll have good news for you soon.

“Oh dear, did I misspeak? Or did you misunderstand? It wasn’t by tonight, but by this morning… So… ding! Does that sound mean our deal is off?”

– What, what are you saying? No, no. Let’s meet. Let’s meet and discuss this calmly….”

“Let’s do that. I’m in the lobby of the Dae-ah Construction building right now, so let’s finish this conversation face-to-face in ten minutes.”

Oh Se-hyun winked at me while holding his phone, and I strode towards the lobby’s information desk.

“Which floor is the main conference room on?”

“I-It’s on the eleventh floor.”

With dozens of men in suits occupying the lobby, the information desk clerk stammered, looking terrified.

I signaled that it was on the 11th floor, and Oh Se-hyun said into his phone.

“I’m heading to the main conference room on the 11th floor now. Let’s meet there.”

He flipped his phone shut, and we got into the elevator.

When the elevator doors opened on the 11th floor, Executive Director Kang Mu-jin was there, fuming.

“CEO Oh, what is the meaning of this? How am I supposed to find buyers overnight? I told you we’d have it sorted out by today!”

“Does someone in your position still not understand the situation? It’s over. Now, I’m going to start looking after the shareholders’ rights.”

A man standing right next to Oh Se-hyun spoke up.

“Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, Article 14. Posting and Public Inspection of Audit Reports, Clause 5. Shareholders or creditors of the company may inspect documents at any time during business hours and may request copies of such documents upon payment of the fees determined by the company.”

As his dry voice finished, Oh Se-hyun grinned.

“Did you hear that? Bring all the financial statements and supporting documents from the last two years to this conference room. As a shareholder, I have doubts about the management’s capabilities. I need to see how you’ve been running this company into the ground.”

Executive Director Kang Mu-jin could only stare blankly at the retreating figures heading into the conference room.

“Executive Director. Do you have time to stand around like this? Bring the documents the shareholder is requesting, quickly. Unless you want things to escalate further here.”

I delivered the final blow and entered the conference room.

# # #

“Hyung-nim! Those bastards….”

Executive Director Kang Mu-jin burst into the Dae-ah Construction president’s office.

“What is it? Why are you in such a fuss?”

President Kang Mu-sung sensed something was wrong seeing his younger brother’s pale face.

“People from Miracle have swarmed in. They’ve already occupied the main conference room, saying they’re conducting an external audit!”

“What are you talking about? You said you resolved things well yesterday!”

“He clearly stated his intention to resell the shares and left. I never expected him to stab us in the back like this….”

“How can you be so incompetent at your job?!”

President Kang Mu-sung yelled at his brother and quickly picked up the receiver.

“President Song, it’s me… What? They stormed in there too? Damn it!”

President Kang Mu-sung slammed the phone down.

“They’ve swarmed the accounting firm too.”

“What? That son of a bitch….”

President Kang Mu-sung began pacing around his office.

“Why is he doing this? Is he really going to go through with an external audit?”

“Hyung-nim. Could this be a ploy to drive up the stock price?”

“What?”

“Isn’t that it? His gaze, his expression yesterday. It’s still vivid in my mind. He’s not the type to cause trouble for no reason. His goal is definitely money. Isn’t he a stockbroker?”

“This is all a show?”

“Definitely. There’s no benefit for him to actually go through with an external audit.”

“So? What are you suggesting? What’s the conclusion?”

President Kang yelled, agitated.

We were walking on thin ice, racing against the clock. We couldn’t allow investment firm sharks, as good as professionals, to rummage through our company.

If this news reaches the creditor banks, they might jump in and demand their own audits.

“I’ll bring Oh Se-hyun here. We’ll settle things in this office and send him back.”

President Kang hesitated, looking reluctant, so his brother urged him again.

“Hyung-nim. We don’t have time to dither. We need to end this before it gets any louder.”

“You idiot! It hasn’t even been a day since you said it was nothing to worry about. Settle things here? What if we mess everything up?”

“Then we can’t just leave things as they are, can we? Before they start making a scene using their shareholder rights….”

“Enough. Stop it and bring him here quickly. Damn it, all sorts of leeches are sticking to us.”

# # #

“What are you talking about? If the CEO has something to say, he can come here. And stop wasting time, bring the financial records quickly.”

“CEO Oh. Aren’t I asking because there’s something urgent to discuss? Don’t be so difficult….”

Seeing Executive Director Kang’s pitiful expression, I almost laughed.

Like Oh Se-hyun said, how could a person in his position be so clueless….

“Executive Director. We know you want to offer a high price for Miracle’s shares, but our CEO already said it’s too late, right? Don’t waste your efforts and bring the documents. We’ll wait ten minutes.”

Executive Director Kang’s face flushed red as I, a mere youngster, spoke like a warning, but he knew this was the time to hold back.

As he kept glancing at Oh Se-hyun without saying anything, I urged him again.

“If we don’t receive the requested documents in this conference room within ten minutes, we’ll proceed to the next step. Our lawyer is waiting at the courthouse right now. If you ignore the legitimate demands of a shareholder, he’s waiting for my call to file an injunction to suspend the duties of Dae-ah Construction’s management.”

As expected, law is stronger than words.

The words “lawyer” and “court” made Executive Director Kang’s face turn pale.

At that moment, an audit team member who came with us from Soonyang Construction shouted.

“Damn it, I can tell just by looking. There’s a hell of a lot of shady stuff here. Hey, Executive Director. We need to get something out of this to make a deal, right? I bet we can figure out the fair price of our shares in half a day… Don’t you think?”

Rough language came out of his mouth, but he was smiling. He even winked.

The implication was that this was just a formality to raise the price of reselling the shares. Executive Director Kang still hesitated.

He wasn’t sure if our true intention was just a formality or something more.

“Seriously, you’re slow on the uptake. If we make a fuss, what good will it do for us? Still not getting it? Fine. Call the lawyer. Let’s turn everything upside down!”

“Okay, okay! Hold on! You could’ve said so sooner….”

Executive Director Kang subtly raised his hand to stop us and quickly left the conference room.

The Yeouido guys looked at the Soonyang Construction guys with curiosity, who just smiled awkwardly.

“If those guys are corrupt, we’ll just pretend to be a little tainted too. In this industry, you can smooth over almost anything with some backhanders.”

“Why is it like this? The construction industry, I mean?”

When I asked out of curiosity, they scratched their heads.

“It’s because of the tight deadlines. Completing everything by the set date is the ultimate goal. There’s no time to worry about what’s legal or what’s a shortcut. If you can fix it with money, you have to. That’s how you end up without time to stick to principles. That solidifies into common practice and becomes the nature of people in this industry.”

The Yeouido guys nodded in agreement.

One group only dealt with numbers, while the other dealt with rough men.

They weren’t exactly a matching pair when put together.

While I was contemplating the strange combination of people, Executive Director Kang Mu-jin returned to the conference room.

“Here, we’ve brought everything. Enjoy your shareholder rights and come to the president’s office whenever you feel like negotiating. I’ll be waiting.”

Following Executive Director Kang, Dae-ah Construction employees pushed in carts, each piled high with boxes of documents.

A strategy to bury us in paperwork—a scene straight out of a legal drama.

Shaking my head in disbelief, the Soonyang employee chuckled and said.

“Geez, do they really think these old-school tactics still work today?”