Chapter 37: Invitations to the Old Guard

I cut off my shared vision with the Grim Reaper.

‘Good. In that case, why don’t I start writing up the list of people to send invitations to?’

This isn’t the era when I was counted among the five titans of Korea’s underground finance world.

It’s a time when those older than me were still active.

The age of the shadowy giants who managed to survive despite the government’s crackdown and freezing of private loans.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

On a fresh sheet of paper taken from my coin pouch, with the Montblanc fountain pen from my coat, I began writing down the names.

“Oh my, you’re jotting down something odd?”

Oops. I must have been so deep in thought about whom to invite.

I didn’t notice my mother was watching me.

“Myeongdong Peregrine Falcon, Maljukgeori Horse Head, Kkachisan Lady Bang, Jongno Gold Tooth?”

“……”

“What’s all this?”

“……Just some neighborhood bosses’ nicknames?”

What? Why? What!

All the people written here are bigshots recognized in their areas—of course, they’re the neighborhood bosses!

“Then what’s our Junghyuk’s nickname?”

“……Sillim-dong Ant Hell.”

“What? Ahaha, that’s hilarious. Wow, is this how kids these days play?”

“……”

I’m sorry, Mother.

To be honest, I was called by such nicknames when I was all grown up, cough!

“Here, this is for you, Junghyuk.”

Tap.

Mother smiled sweetly as she placed a steaming cup of cocoa, the aroma wafting up invitingly.

“I made your favorite cocoa while preparing tea to take up to the study~”

“……”

Now is the time when even lye would go down if I just closed my eyes and drank.

I meekly accepted the cocoa.

“Thank you, Mom. I’ll enjoy it.”

“It should taste especially good today. I put in an extra spoonful of cocoa powder.”

“……”

There’s no way I could refuse my mother’s sweet kindness!

Resolving myself to filial piety, I gulped down the cocoa in one go.

“See? Kids always go crazy for cocoa! Next time, I’ll make it even sweeter.”

“……”

Mother picked up the tray and headed upstairs to the study.

For some reason, the coffee aroma today seemed especially nice.

It’s a whole different world from this sugary-sweet cocoa.

Just then, a large shadow loomed over me.

“Want some?”

Uncle Cheolgu was offering puffed rice snacks and silver mints.

“Want me to help you out?”

Uncle Cheolgu snatched my cocoa and downed it in one go.

Three seconds flat and the cup was empty!

“Ah, nothing beats something hot and sweet!”

Uncle Cheolgu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

The guy who drinks his coffee black, and scrunches up his face when given chocolate.

Who does he think likes stuff like this?

“Next time, I’ll get you ssanghwa tea. Two eggs floating in it. Sound good?”

Ha, can’t be helped.

I took a 500-won bill from my coin pouch.

“I’ll have yulmu tea, you take coffee, and you can keep the change as a tip. Shall we raid the vending machine again later?”

“Sounds good. The coffee there is great.”

Uncle Cheolgu grinned innocently as he ruffled my hair.

At that moment, someone poked their head out from behind Uncle Cheolgu.

“I like vending machine coffee too! The sweetest sugar coffee is the best!”

The sharp-eyed bodyguard, self-proclaimed number two, and my loyal subordinate—Head of Security Yoo Jongtae.

“Unlike the blockhead Major Baek, I love sweets. So if there’s anything sweet you need dealt with, come to me, Yoo Jongtae!”

Yoo Jongtae rubbed his hands together eagerly.

“Loyalty, loyalty!”

“Yeah, you eat it all. Works for me!”

Uncle Cheolgu shook his head as he went back to his room.

Only then did Yoo Jongtae stop smiling and lean in to whisper in my ear.

“Want to know what I just carried up to the study?”

“Let me guess, stuff related to Taeseong Construction?”

“Gasp! How did you know?”

“Secretary Kim went up for a cup of tea and hasn’t come back—if she brought up a desk and chair too, that says it all.”

“As expected! As expected! As expected!”

Yoo Jongtae gave a big thumbs-up.

Then immediately drooped his shoulders.

“So, does that mean you also know I’ll be rolling around under your father for a while, helping with that stuff?”

He started rubbing his hands together again.

“I’ve sworn to serve only the Young Master! Can’t you get me out of this? I have a bad feeling I’ll be ground to powder…”

Oh ho.

“The Young Master’s loyal servant will only serve the Young Master! Loyalty, loyalty! If you tell me to crawl, I’ll crawl until my feet sweat! But…”

Is that so?

Click.

Just then, Secretary Kim opened the study door on the second floor and came out.

Spotting me, she strode right over.

“Young Master, have you been waiting long?”

“Not at all, Secretary Kim. Watching this, I lost track of time—it was entertaining.”

Every page I turned made me chuckle in disbelief.

“How could someone lose that much money?”

It’s fine to be generous with your subordinates, and investments need some savvy, but how do you manage to pick only the hopeless ones to throw money at?

“They burned it all in the stock market, and every piece of land they bought was in a place with almost no development potential. There’s just no hope.”

Looking through this only made me sigh and laugh in disbelief.

It’s hard to believe this is the same uncle who grew Taeseong Chemical from 1 billion to 30 billion in seven years.

“Overseas real estate isn’t much better. Still, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and New York are salvageable. Except those, sell off everything else and convert it to dollars, please.”

“Yes, understood.”

Secretary Kim took away the overseas real estate files.

“This time, your father has been assigned the Subway Line 2 construction.”

“Great!”

This was the news I’d been waiting for.

Why else would I have gotten rid of all the flies clinging to Taeseong Construction?

“Looks like Grandpa is really backing Dad this time, huh? Please thank him for giving us this opportunity.”

“Yes, I’ll deliver the message.”

Secretary Kim smiled gently.

She knelt on one knee to meet my eye level.

“To win the Subway Line 2 contract, Taeseong poured everything into the bid estimates, shaving off even a single won.”

That makes sense.

Taeseong was ahead of U-Kwang in every aspect except price.

“We suspected U-Kwang was up to something behind the scenes, but we didn’t imagine the lobbying was on this scale. Using Taeseong’s own vault for bribes, no less.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“But the bribe ledger you brought changed everything. So the credit should rightfully go to you and your father, don’t you think?”

With that in mind, I’d deliberately left out the Taeseong Chemical details from the three pages I’d cut out.

First, I had to get rid of the parasites on Taeseong Construction.

That way, my father could finally take a seat at the table I set.

‘When it comes to Taeseong Construction, the rice bowl belongs to my father, no matter what!’

I had no intention of slaving away only for a bunch of bastards to eat my porridge.

“By the way, didn’t you say you had a request for me earlier?”

“Yes, this.”

I opened my coin pouch and took out the neatly folded paper.

I wedged it between my fingers like a cigarette.

“I want to invite these people to this year’s Year-End Night event. I want to send out invitations.”

“Oh dear. This year’s Year-End Night is being held at Hyeonmu Hotel, since it’s their turn in the Federation of Korean Industries’ rotation.”

Secretary Kim clicked her tongue quietly.

“If it were Taeseong Hotel like last year, it would’ve been a breeze. This time, it’ll be a bit tougher.”

“The owner of Hyeonmu Hotel is the CEO of Hyeonmu Construction, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then it might actually be easier.”

Lucky!

“The Apgujeong Hyeonmu Apartments were a huge hit, weren’t they? I hear the CEO is desperate to find another apartment site.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“And I happen to have just that—an apartment site!”

The useless Taeseong Construction CEO and his executives had kept postponing the apartment project and left the site to rot!

Tried to sell it to someone else but it was confiscated!

Grandpa just gave me the deed as a present.

“I’ll trade it to Hyeonmu Construction at a reasonable price for a few invitations.”

“Since it’s a quick sale, you probably won’t get full market value. Is it worth making such a concession just for a handful of invitations?”

“I promise, this is definitely not a losing deal.”

I was confident.

‘There’s not a hint of gold about this. If anything, it’s got that brown, dungy tint.’

It was just like the kind of property the useless Taeseong Construction CEO would have picked out and stolen!

Looks good on the surface, but it’s rotten inside, ready to burst!

How could he always manage to pick only the worst lots?

To be this incompetent is a kind of talent, I suppose.

‘All things considered, it’s not really a loss. I plan to use this chance to milk a fortune out of the old guard of the underground finance world and solve Dad’s headaches!’

Holding onto a dung-colored apartment lot would just give me headaches.

If I can turn a lump of dung into money, I absolutely should!

“Young Master, there are only three days left until the Year-End Night. If you want to send invitations, they’ll have to go out today or tomorrow at the latest.”

“I know. That’s why I’m willing to sell at a discount.”

I’ve got the deed, and I’m the one selling.

I’m fine with it, so why does Secretary Kim look so regretful?

Can’t really tell her I want out early because this is a doomed project!

How can I explain this?

“Young Master, reviewing the project’s business viability before handing over the apartment site isn’t possible with all the backlog we’re dealing with.”

Looks like Secretary Kim is determined to persuade me otherwise.

“With all the overdue work piled up by incompetent fools, your father is already under enormous stress. Meeting with the CEO of Hyeonmu Construction is going to have to wait.”

“Then I’ll handle this myself.”

“Pardon? You, Young Master?”

“But can I borrow Security Team Leader Yoo Jongtae for a bit?”

“If it’s just that… very well.”

Secretary Kim glanced at Yoo Jongtae.

“He’s my direct subordinate, so he’s got decent skills.”

Maybe this is a good time to test Security Team Leader Yoo Jongtae’s abilities?

If he can’t even manage a simple errand like delivering invitations, he’s not qualified to call himself my right-hand man!

Secretary Kim looked at me with interest.

“I really have no idea what you’re planning. How will you pull this off? Even dealing with the Hyeonmu Construction CEO won’t be easy.”

“I’ll handle that too.”

“Hm, now I’m really curious—just what kind of people are you inviting that you’re going through all this trouble?”

Secretary Kim glanced at the paper wedged between my fingers.

But by then, I’d already decided not to hand it over.

She’d be too busy helping Father, so I had to handle my own business.

“Just watch. I’ll prove that the invitations I got in exchange for this apartment lot were more than worth it.”

“Oh ho.”

“The Year-End Night event is going to be turned upside down in Taeseong’s name.”

“Then I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Secretary Kim’s eyes glinted behind her silver-rimmed glasses.

Her gaze was full of anticipation and curiosity.

“Team Leader Yoo.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Yoo Jongtae snapped off a salute.

“I’ll make sure to support Young Master Junghyuk and make this mission a success!”

I really do like enthusiastic guys!