I grabbed the edge of the file folder.
“I never said I was selling this Capital Account, did I?”
“Huh?”
“This is already the third time. I said I had business worth eight million won, but when did I say I would sell this for eight million?”
Teacher was holding one end of the folder, while I had the other.
Neither of us let go.
“I told you I brought two items for collateral. The watch and the Business Card. Did you forget again?”
“Th-that’s…!”
“It means I never intended to put this up as collateral.”
Teacher’s grip loosened all at once.
“But since I came all this way because I needed money, there’s no reason I can’t sell it either.”
I tucked the Capital Account under my arm.
With my thumb, I pointed over my shoulder.
“By the way, that gentleman over there offered ten million won.”
“……”
Once again, Teacher looked at Kim Secretary instead of me.
Kim Secretary curled his lips in obvious satisfaction.
“You, what kind of tricks did you pull on the kid while I stepped out?”
“Tricks, you say? I simply offered a fair price.”
Kim Secretary grinned broadly.
“Whether or not to sell at the pawnshop is up to the owner. Taeseong is ready to buy that Capital Account. Is there a problem with that?”
“……”
Teacher’s mouth hung open.
I clapped my hands.
“All right, let’s start the auction.”
“Auction?”
“Auction?”
I shrugged.
“There’s only one item, but two buyers. Isn’t it cleanest, in true capitalist fashion, to let the price decide who gets it?”
“……”
“Anyway, you were planning to keep the original, then sell off copies to competing subway construction firms for a hefty price, right?”
“Aigoo, my poor head. A customer is holding an auction against the owner inside my pawnshop—does this make sense?”
“Taeseong’s at ten million, what about Songolmae Pawnshop? Going to back out?”
“Who said I’d back out? Ten million, one hundred fifty thousand!”
Teacher shouted at the top of his lungs.
This Capital Account was too precious for Teacher to let slip away.
‘How many construction companies are drooling over the subway project? Even just making copies would net several times the cost. And finding out the exact locations for the subway stations with that guy’s help is a bonus.’
Teacher, with keen instincts and an eye for opportunity, wouldn’t want to miss out on this windfall.
But Kim Secretary had no intention of backing down either.
“Fifteen million!”
Plenty of construction companies had their eyes on the Subway Line 2 project, but Taeseong and Ukwang were in a league of their own.
‘If he can just push Ukwang out, no company will match Taeseong. No way Kim Secretary would pass up this opportunity.’
Of course he wouldn’t.
He’d served as President Cha’s right-hand man for over twenty years.
There’s no way he’d run out of money and give up that easily.
“Ngh! Fifteen million, five hundred thousand!”
“Eighteen million!”
At that point, I raised my hand.
“That’s enough for me.”
“What! I can go higher—eighteen million, five hundred thousand!”
“It’s up to the owner whether to sell or not, right?”
“……”
Teacher’s mouth opened and closed.
After a moment, he let out a laugh of disbelief.
“I mean, you’re here to pawn something and get a loan, but you refuse even when I offer you more money?”
“Ah, about that. Can you return the items I was going to use as collateral earlier?”
“……”
I shrugged.
“The reason I came here was to make up the shortfall of eighteen million won. But now I’ve managed to gather the money. Should I still pawn my things? Is there a reason to?”
“Heh heh heh.”
Teacher, shaking his head as if he gave up, raised both hands.
“Fine, take them.”
He had no choice but to return the two items I had brought for collateral.
According to the rules of the pawnshop, an item only becomes the property of the pawnshop after collateral is exchanged for cash.
But since I hadn’t taken any money yet, our deal wasn’t complete.
The pawnshop owner had to return my items.
‘Thank goodness.’
I carefully retrieved Father’s watch and Kim Secretary’s Business Card, just as I had brought them.
‘I don’t have to sell Mother’s memento.’
This watch was the only belonging of Father’s that Mother kept.
Even when we lived in a cramped room in Guro Shantytown, even while she sold vegetables at the market, Mother never sold this watch.
She kept it safe in a jewelry box, treasuring it.
There’s an obvious reason she’d treasure the watch rather than sell it, when it was clearly valuable at a glance.
‘Even if she kept it to prove I’m my father’s blood, it doesn’t change that it’s a precious memory for her.’
The idea of having to sell even Father’s belongings just to buy a house weighed on my mind.
Even when I brought it from the inn, I hadn’t felt good about it.
But now, having solved my money problem without selling it, I felt nothing but relief.
‘If Kim Secretary hadn’t followed, I wouldn’t have been able to solve this so easily.’
I was lucky.
‘Kim Secretary said he came to deliver President Cha’s message, but for the chief secretary—his closest aide—to be gone for hours, it’s obvious why.’
It was because of me.
‘He must be observing me and reporting his conclusions to President Cha. Checking my potential.’
Well, whatever.
Thanks to him, I got a great deal, so I don’t care about any of that.
Swish.
I placed the Western-style pastries I bought earlier on the pawnshop counter.
Teacher adjusted his monocle, as if to say, “Now what’s this?”
“It’s a gift.”
“Hmph, you might as well have tried to bribe me. Like that Capital Account you’re holding under your arm. Hmph!”
“Bribes are for favors. What could I possibly want from the pawnshop owner? Unless I needed a loan or collateral, of course.”
“……”
They say a gift is something you give from the heart, with no strings attached. So you can accept this without any worries.”
I pressed my palms together and bowed.
“Please stay healthy. Next time, I’ll bring you an even better gift than pastries.”
Jingle.
I turned and left the pawnshop.
Kim Secretary silently followed me.
I didn’t speak until we’d exited the building.
“This Capital Account is a bribe.”
As he took the Capital Account from me, Kim Secretary gave me a strange look.
“Now, according to your own definition, a bribe is given for a favor, but I paid a fair price, didn’t I?”
“You paid exactly eighteen million, even though someone else was ready to bid higher. That’s what makes it a bribe.”
“……”
Kim Secretary stopped walking.
“Besides, I’m the one taking a loss here. I haven’t even received the money yet, and I’m handing over the Capital Account first. What could be a more certain display of trust than that?”
“……”
“That’s my good will.”
This man is one of President Cha’s most trusted right-hand men at Taeseong Group.
It’s good to leave a lasting impression while I can.
As he said, in life you encounter all sorts of dirty situations, and it’s always good to have a joker card to play.
“If Taeseong wins the Subway Line 2 contract, how high will its stock soar? And how much will the name value of Taeseong get branded into everyone’s memory?”
“……”
“The estimated bid for Subway Line 2 alone is about one hundred eighty billion won. Compared to that, a bribe of eighteen million for the Capital Account is cheap! Even Ukwang’s bribe expenses can’t compare.”
“……”
“Give that Capital Account to President Cha. What you get in return will be worth even more than what you lost to me. Consider this a service.”
I winked at him.
“That’s why it’s a bribe.”
“Hahaha!”
For the first time, Kim Secretary burst into loud laughter.
“I’ll gladly accept this bribe from you, Young Master, with gratitude.”
Indeed.
This is the grease that keeps the world running smoothly.
What could be a more effective lubricant than this?
“By the way, about Park Cheolgu, the Central Intelligence agent dragged into the Seobinggo basement. The one who wrote the Capital Account.”
“Yes.”
“You can get him out, can’t you?”
Kim Secretary grinned.
“Of course. There isn’t even clear evidence that Ukwang Construction was being investigated. There’s nothing difficult about it.”
All thanks to me spiriting away the original.
The Grim Reaper beside me gave a thumbs-up.
‘If Uncle Cheolgu had gone around threatening the political figures listed in the Capital Account, he wouldn’t have ended up in this mess. Tsk tsk, he didn’t think that far ahead, did he? What’s he been doing all this time, not even making a copy?’
So sharp, but so slow to act.
His life was on the line—what was he doing, getting caught like this?
“Please take care of it.”
“Don’t worry. Whatever Ukwang can do, Taeseong can do as well. Leave it to me.”
That’s reassuring.
As expected of Kim Secretary! The troubleshooter who takes care of Taeseong Group’s dirty work!
“Consider this my goodwill in return for yours, Young Master. I received something, so I’ll provide a little service too.”
Trust blossoming through mutual favors!
Now, I could achieve my goal without even using Kim Secretary’s Business Card.
Truly, advance lubrication is the best.
“The time for your appointment with President Cha is drawing near,” Kim Secretary said, checking his watch.
“Let’s hurry and wrap up the house contract and then head to Taeseong Hotel. I’ll escort you.”
The coffee shop on the second floor of Taeseong Hotel was elegantly decorated in European style.
A barista, educated in Italy, roasted coffee beans to order, while a tea master, trained in Japan, brewed tea with a ceramic set.
“I’ll have a milk coffee. Jeonghyeok, you’d prefer cocoa, right?”
“……”
Cocoa?
Of all places, cocoa in a place filled with the rich aroma of coffee?
It’s not even English-style milk tea or a double egg ssanghwa-cha, but cocoa?
“By the way, how did you come up with all that money? You even got the watch back from the pawnshop. How?”
“……I’ll have cocoa.”
I gulped down cold water.
There’s no way to explain this.
Sometimes, you just have to shut up and drink.
Even if it were sewage or lye, there are times when you just have to swallow it.
“You didn’t force Kim Secretary into giving you the money, did you?”
“Do I look like a beggar? Or a robber? I swear, I didn’t do that.”
Kim Secretary, sipping his espresso across from me, nodded in agreement.
All that was on his table was the Capital Account, wrapped in a paper envelope.
Suddenly, Kim Secretary put down his teacup and sprang to his feet.
“President, you’re here.”
President?
I turned my head in the direction Kim Secretary was looking—
“Aigoo, my precious boy!”
A man ran toward me, arms outstretched, grinning from ear to ear, and swept me up in a tight embrace.
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