Chapter 91: All the Pieces

I made up my mind and turned to look at the Grim Reaper.

You’re just the one to deliver this premium information to Secretary Kim.

‘Hey, Guardian Spirit. Bring me the list of those who died because of the gas leak in Bulgwang-dong.’

[That is...!]

‘Why? The lingering spirits around that guy must be babbling. Or at least, shouldn’t a list be easy enough to check in the afterlife?’

[That’s true, but... Still, making a trip to the Underworld is a bit... ahem.]

He’s the same one who claimed to have met King Yeomra in the Underworld when he wanted extra credit for my achievements.

So he’s hiding something, huh?

Well, there’s no helping it.

I guess life really is about carrots and sticks.

‘About that state-of-the-art television I mentioned earlier. Wouldn’t it be nice if it became yours exclusively?’

[...]

‘Ah, so you’re not interested in channel rights? Then never mind.’

The right to the remote is a power granted only to those with real authority!

A TV without channel rights is like red bean buns without filling, or underwear with broken elastic, you know?

[I’ll be right back!]

The Grim Reaper disappeared without looking back.

No, he was about to disappear.

Suddenly, he popped back in with a mischievous expression.

[By the way, this can’t be helped.]

‘What can’t be?’

[Even if I bring the info, you’ll have to write it down yourself. See you in a bit.]

...Wait, what?

---

The Secretary’s Office on the 16th floor of Taeseong Group Headquarters.

Yoo Jong-tae straightened my clothes in front of the office door.

“Tsk, you look sharp today, sir. Should I go in with you?”

“No. I need to have a word with Secretary Kim first.”

“Understood. I’ll wait in the hallway, then.”

Knock, knock.

“Yes, come in.”

“Hello, Secretary Kim.”

“Master Junghyuk! What brings you all the way here?”

Secretary Kim, busy at work, shot up from his seat.

A mountain of documents was piled high on the desk.

“You must be here to see the Chairman. I’ll request a meeting for you right away.”

“No, I’m here to see you, Secretary Kim.”

“Me?”

I opened my coin purse and pulled out Secretary Kim’s business card.

“I know how busy you are. But I’d like to ask for just five minutes. It’s something very important.”

“What would you like to drink?”

The three secretaries waiting for approval bustled about, looking flustered.

“Do you like cocoa? How about citron tea or honey water?”

“Wouldn’t Job’s tears tea be best for the stomach?”

“We also have peanut cookies and chocolate candies. Shall we warm up some soy milk or milk to go with them?”

No, no, that’s not it.

I shook my head.

“I’ll be gone in five minutes. No need to go to any trouble.”

“You came all the way here yourself. We can’t just turn you away without even offering tea, like a door-to-door salesman. Secretary Song.”

Secretary Kim closed the document he’d been reading.

“Serve Master Junghyuk some Ssanghwa tea. With two eggs floating on top.”

As expected of Secretary Kim!

At his signal, the other secretaries quietly slipped out of the office.

Click.

Now only Secretary Kim and I remained in the secretary’s office.

“So, something very important. I’m quite curious what it is.”

“First, I thought I’d lighten your current workload a bit.”

“My work, you say?”

“The people who sabotaged the Taeseong Family’s charity event. I heard you’re investigating them, Secretary Kim?”

Secretary Kim nodded quietly.

“Bulgwang-dong Gasoline. He’s a loan shark, one of the worst of the worst.”

As expected of Secretary Kim!

You found out so quickly.

“From now on, I’ll take care of it so you don’t have to worry, sir.”

“But your hands are tied at the moment, aren’t they? You had to give up the Taeseong Group’s 5th Security Team to me.”

I took out neatly folded documents from my coin purse.

There were three sheets.

“I brought these for you, to make up for it.”

“What are these?”

“The list of crimes and victims of Bulgwang-dong Gasoline and his lackeys.”

“Excuse me?”

“Leave these chores to Team Leader Yoo.”

That’s why I had Yoo Jong-tae wait outside in the hallway.

“How did you find this out?”

Secretary Kim quickly unfolded the documents I handed over.

“Crime scenes, times, methods, even evidence and witness lists—so detailed...”

Secretary Kim’s eyes darted quickly behind his silver-rimmed glasses as he read.

“This isn’t Yoo Jong-tae’s work. He may be clever, but not to this extent.”

No way I can tell him about the Grim Reaper and my own struggles!

There’s no good way to explain.

“Now isn’t the time to worry about minor details. The important thing is elsewhere.”

“You’re right. The most important thing is, ‘How do we deal with these bastards?’ Just say the word. I’ll follow your wishes, sir.”

Secretary Kim spoke calmly.

“Should we send them to the torture chamber at Seobinggo, bury them in the hills, or just cut off the hands and feet they dared to use so insolently?”

“I have no intention of wasting time punishing small fry.”

“Then are you saying you’ll just forgive them?”

When did I ever say that?

I never said anything like that.

“Why should you bother with troublesome, annoying work like that, Secretary Kim?”

“Excuse me? Well...”

“Let’s dump those unpleasant tasks on Woo Kwang.”

“Why would Woo Kwang volunteer to punish those guys?”

“Want to bet?”

Make Woo Kwang come forward first to smash the Bulgwang-dong Gasoline gang?

I think I can pull it off.

Killing with a borrowed knife (借刀殺人).

That’s one of my favorite idioms.

“They’ve grabbed Woo Kwang’s weakness. He must be furious about it.”

“Woo Kwang’s weakness? Hahaha.”

Secretary Kim laughed.

“Sir, with all due respect, there’s no way Woo Kwang would let that slide.”

Secretary Kim adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses.

“If what you say is true, by now those men would already be cold corpses.”

“If it were just an ordinary weakness, that might be the case.”

“You mean...”

“What if they seized a real, fatal weakness?”

Bulgwang-dong Gasoline was a crafty one.

Unlike his lackeys, he slipped out of the Central Intelligence Agency’s torture chamber unscathed.

“Woo Kwang has a lot to lose. Those who have much to lose must hide their claws until they regain what was lost. Throwing some pocket change at the problem isn’t difficult.”

Bulgwang-dong Gasoline survived and eventually ended up under the Namsan Leech.

But there wasn’t a countdown to the afterlife glowing above his head.

“Hmm, if a mere loan shark has seized a fatal weakness of Woo Kwang’s...”

“The Woo Kwang Chemical Fire.”

“...!”

“Was that really just an accident?”

Secretary Kim’s face hardened.

“On New Year’s Day, I went to tour the Taeseong Chemical factory with President Shim. There wasn’t a single flammable material inside Plant No. 6.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s a chemical factory—if there’s a fire, it explodes. Everyone knows, so they’re careful.”

“They even strictly managed small amounts of dangerous substances according to safety protocols.”

“But what about the Woo Kwang Chemical fire?”

“A large quantity of flammable material was discovered in the plant. Things so hazardous, Plant No. 6 didn’t even need them.”

Secretary Kim let out a small sigh.

“That’s why the tank the fire spread to exploded, making the damage far worse.”

“Could Woo Kwang really have missed such basic facts?”

“No way. That’s just not plausible.”

Secretary Kim’s face was extremely stiff.

“This is why Woo Kwang is desperate to suppress the media.”

“And Bulgwang-dong Gasoline knew that.”

The future I saw when I touched Bulgwang-dong Gasoline.

The lackeys confessed in the Seobinggo torture chamber, and Bulgwang-dong Gasoline himself admitted it.

“Let me ask. Why did so many people from Woo Kwang’s side show up on the day of the Taeseong Family’s charity event?”

“Because there was a rumor that Chairman Kim of Woo Kwang and the executives of the affiliates would be there.”

“Bulgwang-dong Gasoline isn’t stupid. Why bring his lackeys along on that particular day?”

“To meet key figures from Woo Kwang, who are usually hard to approach. Hah, it was a calculated move.”

As expected of Secretary Kim!

His eyes, behind the silver-rimmed glasses, lowered.

Secretary Kim, who’d been lost in thought, suddenly flashed a cold gaze.

“So, what do you want to do, sir?”

“I’m planning three stages.”

In the past, my nickname was the Sillim-dong Antlion.

One of the reasons I got that nickname was because my specialty was digging traps and luring prey in to strip them bare.

‘That’s why I came to see Secretary Kim. I need his help for this.’

I counted on my fingers.

“First, I’ll snatch the weakness Bulgwang-dong Gasoline has on Woo Kwang.”

The reason Woo Kwang had to pull every string to get Bulgwang-dong Gasoline out of the Central Intelligence Agency.

That’s the reason I need to take for myself.

Once I have it, he’ll never get out of the torture chamber at Seobinggo.

“Second, we have to sink Woo Kwang.”

“Sink Woo Kwang?”

“It’s a decisive weakness I got my hands on. I can’t let such a great opportunity slip by.”

“Agreed.”

“And conveniently, we have another razor-sharp blade ready.”

“Ah! The Woo Kwang Construction bribery ledger!”

As expected of Secretary Kim!

There’s no need for lengthy explanations!

“Sir, are you planning to expose Woo Kwang’s secrets...?”

“Yes. I’m going to make them public.”

Secretary Kim’s eyes flashed sharply behind his silver-rimmed glasses.

“You’re planning to make this a big deal.”

“That’s the only way to force the Blue House to act.”

“You’re right. If it’s shady collusion behind the scenes, they could cover it up. But if the secrets are made public, there’s no way to hide them. The Blue House won’t sit back and do nothing.”

The government seized power in a military coup.

That’s why it’s sensitive to legitimacy and public opinion.

They shout about a clean and righteous government, putting on a show of eradicating corruption.

“Even Chairman Kim of Woo Kwang couldn’t defy His Excellency’s will.”

Woo Kwang was already marked after the forced eviction at the Guro-dong shantytown.

On top of that, after the Woo Kwang Chemical fire, he was summoned to the Blue House for a harsh scolding.

Yet, Woo Kwang still hadn’t shown enough repentance to satisfy the Blue House.

Now, if decisive evidence regarding the Woo Kwang Chemical fire is revealed?

It’s a grand slam out!

“Third, when Woo Kwang goes under, we swoop in and buy up his prime affiliates for pennies on the dollar. How about it?”

“Brilliant.”

Secretary Kim couldn’t hide his satisfied smile.

“Woo Kwang ranks ninth in the business world. Is there any juicier, fresher prey than that?”

The moment the prey collapses, the hyenas will rush in.

“Fortunately, Taeseong has plenty of cash on hand. All thanks to you, sir.”

Since New Year’s Eve, donations have been pouring in, and the budget is overflowing.

Plus, with several major government contracts, we’ve received hefty sums from the national budget as well.

“This is the perfect chance for us to gobble up Woo Kwang Securities, Woo Kwang Construction, Woo Kwang Chemical, and all the other prime affiliates! We can fill our bellies with as many as we like.”

Secretary Kim’s laughter was low and ominous.

“Taeseong’s ranking in the business world will leap in an instant.”

Secretary Kim’s gaze was intense.

He was clearly ready to hunt.

“Sir, shall we go to the Chairman now? It would be best to enjoy your Ssanghwa tea there.”

Secretary Kim turned to check the wall clock.

The five minutes I’d requested for the meeting were almost up.

“The Chairman never overlooks merit. You can look forward to a hefty reward.”

I’d already gotten a solid promise from Grandfather!

Right now, I’ve got the contract he wrote stuffed in my coin purse.

-No matter how much I adore my grandson, I can’t take away my child’s rice bowl for you.

-Then I’ll take something from another company, not Taeseong. Like a new or bankrupt company. Those don’t cost much, right?

-Oh-ho, you want me to buy you a non-listed or a company worth merging? That’s a common method of gifting. Fine. I have no reason to refuse that. I’ll buy you another company instead of Taeseong Construction stock!

-You have to hand that company over to me—completely, entirely, every last bit, all mine.

-So you mean 100% of the shares will be yours, and no one else can touch it? Fine. How much could a non-listed or bankrupt company possibly be worth, anyway?

That contract practically radiated with golden light.

It was so bright, I was nearly blinded.

‘I never wrote that I’d only acquire one company.’

Did you think I only wanted Yugong and took that contract?

I’ll look after my own share!