The Son of The Chaebol Family Chapter 26
Chairman Cha stroked the Wookwang Construction bribe ledger with a satisfied expression.
Unlike the fiery look he had shown just a moment ago, this time a warm breeze blew from his eyes to the corners of his mouth.
“If it weren’t for our precious grandson, it would have been quite a struggle. How can the Japanese bastards even get their hopes up with a small amount of money?”
“This level of weakness can be enough to tighten the leash. Right now, in mainland Japan, there is an atmosphere of not forgiving corruption among high-ranking officials due to Lockheed Gate.”
“Good! Even those annoying guys won’t be able to refuse to cooperate this time!”
A construction project worth a whopping 180 billion won was completed thanks to my seven-year-old grandson.
“If we can just get the construction of Subway Line 2, I plan to give back a lot of credit to you.”
“Mr. Chairman, that’s why I’m saying this.”
Secretary Kim opened his mouth, thinking this was the moment.
“Your Majesty, I would like you to return Taesung’s stock worth about 100 million won.”
Chairman Cha blinked his eyes.
High-ranking officials in Seoul experienced something eerie this morning.
Approval documents placed on the desk in the office.
It was because of a piece of paper that was slipped in there.
< Here is the bribe details that Wookwang Construction gave you. Please check.>
Where, on what day, what year, what month, what time, and how the bribe was received.
The details were recorded in detail.
< I hope you will give Taesung your strength in the subway line 2 construction bid. Unless Your Majesty does not want to receive this paper.>
If it’s a hundred, it’s a hundred.
There was no one who didn’t immediately crumple up the paper after reading it.
The current government is focusing on rooting out corruption among high-ranking public officials.
Taking bribes secretly from behind can be hush-hush, but if a paper with a detailed list of bribes is delivered to His Majesty, there is no way to avoid the sword.
“Damn it! Who the hell is that! Who snuck into my office······!”
There was no one who did not swallow gossip.
What matters now is not who delivered this paper.
You can’t help but comply with the threats made by the guy who delivered this paper.
I feel a cold sweat running down my spine.
There was no one who looked around and did not quickly tear up the paper into small pieces and burn it in a tin wastebasket.
If this gets discovered by someone else, there will be more people using this as an excuse to threaten others.
“Woo-kwang, you little bastards!”
Did you create a separate bribe ledger?
So it was stolen by others again?
Because of that, I got into a lot of trouble.
“Just wait and see. I will repay this debt in full!”
Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, etc.
High-ranking officials ruminate on Woo Kwang’s anger.
Meanwhile, something similar was happening in the National Assembly.
They also found the paper on their way to work.
However, in their case, it was a little different from that of high-ranking public officials.
Instead of being delivered inserted into the payment documents,
A member of parliament ripped off a piece of paper stuck to a wall in a hallway in the Capitol building.
It was a bribery record from Wookwang Construction written in my name.
“What kind of fucking punk would put something like this on display in a place where everyone can see it······!”
What the members of the National Assembly valued most was the attention of others.
Because they are the ones who maintain power through elections.
For that reason, the paper and the afterword received by the high-ranking official were also slightly different.
< Please give Taesung your support in the subway line 2 construction bid. If you don't want this paper to be published in newspapers and broadcasts.>
The congressman quickly looked around.
From early in the morning, the janitor diligently sweeps and cleans the hallways and stairs.
The congressman crumpled up the paper, put it in his mouth, and chewed it.
This was the only way to destroy the corruption immediately.
Some members of Congress in the hallways of the Capitol, some at the doors of their offices, and some on the steps of the main entrance.
The lawmakers who discovered the paper displayed as if it were nothing ran over and were busy tearing it into pieces and destroying it.
Naturally, lawmakers also erupted in the same swear words as high-ranking officials.
Anger over the failure to properly keep track of the bribe ledgers spilled over into U-Gwang.
Similar things happened at newspapers and broadcasting stations.
A reporter received a piece of paper while he was taking a dump.
The reporter’s eyes widened when he saw the paper shoved gently under the toilet stall.
But you can’t just run out without wiping your back!
You can’t open the bathroom door and check for the culprit with your pants down!
“Woo-kwang, these kids are real!”
Naturally, the afterword to the paper sent to the journalists was a little different.
< Taesung will win the subway line 2 construction bid. Please support us with favorable articles and news. If you don't want to become a target of press suppression, of course, if you ignore this, your advertising will be cut off.>
The reporter sharpened his teeth.
He tore the paper into pieces and flushed it down the toilet.
There was someone knocking on the door of the Taesung Hotel suite since morning.
Yoshimoto, a senior official at Japan’s Ministry of Transport, got up from the sofa and opened the door.
“I’ve never ordered room service before.”
“Excuse me. This is Kim Young-geol, Secretary General of Taesung Group.”
Secretary Kim was smiling coldly at the door.
Yoshimoto frowned deeply.
“That’s rude. I have no intention of talking to you.”
“I guess I’ll have to be rude one more time since I’ve already been rude.”
Secretary Kim thrust a piece of paper in front of Yoshimoto’s eyes.
It was a piece of paper with the bribe handed over by Woo Kwang Construction written down in detail.
Yoshimoto snatched the paper from Secretary Kim’s hands.
“Your intentions are so impure that I am extremely offended! Are you threatening me now? Huh, from now on, you will never meet me under the name Taesung······!”
“If this is delivered to the Japanese Prime Minister, then yes, you will probably never meet Taesung again. You will be purged.”
“Yes, so it is a threat.”
Yoshimoto’s eyes shook violently as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Isn’t the Japanese government in an uproar these days because of Lockheedgate?”
It is the biggest political funding scandal in Japanese history.
Lockheed bribed high-ranking officials in several countries in an all-out effort to sell airplanes.
Eventually, the heads of government and high-ranking officials of each country, including Japan, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia, were purged all at once, and the regimes changed overnight.
“Japan’s current prime minister has been arrested on bribery charges?”
“Of course, I heard that many high-ranking officials involved were purged, and the Liberal Democratic Party is suffering the humiliation of failing to secure a majority of seats.”
“Hey, why are you suddenly talking about the Lockheed incident······.”
“You got it too, didn’t you? From a Lockheed lobbyist?”
Yoshimoto couldn’t answer.
The paper only crumpled more in his hands.
“If all the high-ranking officials who took bribes were punished, the Japanese government would be completely paralyzed. Thanks to that, your neck is barely hanging on.”
“I know full well that he was hiding all his body and breathing carefully, and then he came over to Korea under the pretext of the Korea-Japan Technology Agreement.”
“What do you think would happen if you were accused of accepting bribes in Korea?”
“Why? Do you think Taesung is a small company and won’t be able to exert influence on the Japanese media? Unfortunately, it seems like the Japanese broadcasting stations and newspapers will attack you for doing so.”
Secretary Kim smiled coldly.
“You seem to have a lot of hate towards the media. What do you think? Are you still not in the mood to talk?”
“Hey, first, get inside······!”
Secretary Kim walked past Yoshimoto and into the suite.
Yoshimoto bit his lips so hard that the paper he had snatched up trembled along with him.
Secretary Kim sat at the head of the sofa in the reception room where Yoshimoto had been sitting.
He reached out and offered Yoshimoto a seat.
“Please sit down. It is not too late to carry out your threats after negotiations have broken down.”
“Sharing of Japan’s underground facility civil engineering technology.”
Secretary Kim leaned in and looked straight into her eyes.
An eerie, cold gaze flashed beyond the silver-rimmed glasses.
Yoshimoto let out a long sigh.
“What could be difficult? I came to Korea as a representative of Japan to resolve that issue in accordance with the Korea-Japan Technology Agreement.”
Yoshimoto held out his hand.
“We at the Japan Transportation Bureau would like to work with Taesung, not Wookwang, but what are Taesung’s intentions?”
“Willingly. I will accept your offer.”
Secretary Kim grabbed Yoshimoto’s hand.
The bed was soft and the blanket was cozy.
Thanks to the oil boiler being turned on while I was sleeping, the room was filled with piping hot air.
“Did you sleep well, my son?”
“Yes. What about Mom?”
“Mom, you slept well too. You’ll probably be surprised when you go to the living room.”
I went down the stairs holding my mother’s hand.
“Wow, it’s a Christmas tree!”
“Kid, are you awake?”
Mr. Cheol-gu was organizing the Christmas tree, and Taesung Group’s security guards were moving the wooden box.
It was a chest full of tree decorations.
“There was something like that in the basement. We wanted to get into the Christmas spirit while we were at it.”
I used to think that there were a lot of things in the basements of rich people.
I had no idea there would even be Christmas tree decorations.
“Jeonghyeok, do you want to decorate the tree with the uncles?”
“Yes! What about Mom?”
“Mom, I’m going into the kitchen to help prepare breakfast.”
I don’t think that’s a good idea.
My mother has no talent for cooking.
I had an ominous feeling that if I left it like this, a terrible hybrid food would be born and I would die.
And there are so many people who have to share that food.
I shook my mother’s skirt, burning with a sense of mission.
“Mom, let’s make it together. I’ve never made anything like this before.”
Of course, this is a lie.
Because every year I used to make a Christmas tree for little Kangwoo.
“Oh, I see. I see. Mom didn’t pay attention to that.”
For a poor family like ours, a Christmas tree was a luxury.
We couldn’t even afford to put proper furniture in our shack room.
“Hey, we can do it together now. I don’t remember when I was little, so even if you say something like that, I won’t know.”
I placed a large, sparkling gold bead in my mother’s hand.
Whatever, I like big gold nuggets.
The hearty reply came from the kitchen.
“Okay, Jeonghyeok’s mom. I’ll take care of preparing breakfast. Don’t make the baby sad, and help him quickly.”
“Thanks to Jeong-hyeok’s mom, our Cheol-gu came back safely. I’m so grateful for that, I want to treat him to a nice meal. Do you know how I feel?”
The landlady winked at me with one eye.
My mother squatted down so that she was level with me.
“Then should we make a tree together with Mom?”
It’s a sweet time that I can enjoy for the first time in 45 years.
A corner of my heart was ticklish.
“Mom, it’s snowing outside! Let’s go out! Hurry up!”
“Okay, okay. Okay. Just a moment. Put on your coat and scarf first.”
“Hurry up! They say if you make a wish when you see the first snow, it will come true!”
I ran to the front door and put on my sneakers.
Before I knew it, the Taesung Group men had brought my mother’s coat and mine.
It was a new outfit in a paper bag from Taesung Department Store.
“My dad will come back and wish for us all to spend Christmas together!”
Since Chairman Cha himself promised, I will definitely bring you back even if it means kidnapping your father.
I ran outside like a puppy.
“Did you make a wish, Mom?”
This is the real reason I came to Busan.
After all, customized service is the best.
“Yeah. Mom has the same wish as Jeong-hyeok······.”
At that moment, the Taesung Group security guard who was standing guard opened the front door with a bang.
The doorbell didn’t even ring, and there was no ID check or verification of identity.
He was a tall, long-legged man wearing a black long coat and a gray scarf, and he was much more handsome than most celebrities.
It seemed as if the heavy, sophisticated, and luxurious scent of men’s cologne was gently spreading on the cold wind.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us.
Mother covered her mouth with both hands.
“Senior Seongjun······!”