He still looked young, but it was definitely Moon Taebeom.
“Young Master?”
His voice calling again brought back to reality.
I glanced at Boss Shin’s face and gave him a habitual smile.
“Ah, I was just thinking about sothing else. Let’s go inside. Are those employees behind you?”
“Yes. Do you recognize any of them?”
“No. Business is going well, I assu?”
Even as I exchanged words with Boss Shin, my head was spinning.
Moon Taebeom was definitely a Zainichi Korean yakuza.
The vanguard of Japan’s invasion of the Korean loan market.
The link between Cheongpunghoe and Japan.
Why was Moon Taebeom with Shin Seongil?
I sat down on the office sofa with Boss Shin.
I pretended to scan the room from the seat of honor and once again examined his face—it was definitely Moon Taebeom.
“What brings you here today? Are there any orders?”
Moon Taebeom’s appearance made scrap the plan I had originally intended to carry out.
“No, do I need a reason to visit? I figured I’ve been neglecting the Myeongdong bosses lately, so I’m making the rounds. Is that a problem?”
“I wouldn’t dare think that. I’m rely the Chairman’s servant.”
Was that true? Was this man really just Grandpa’s lackey?
‘He’s the hardest to read. He does what he’s told, but...’
I rembered what Grandpa once said.
“Your loyalty to the Chairman is admirable as always. But I think it’s ti you started showing loyalty to instead.”
“Haha. My loyalty to the Chairman is no different from my loyalty to you, Young Master.”
I nodded, watching his face.
His smiling expression felt especially fake today.
“Well, all right. No issues on your end?”
“No, nothing new. We’re still approached by people who can’t get loans from banks or credit unions.”
“You know this business better than I do, so I’ll trust you.”
“Thank you. Ah! Young Master, by the way—soone from my hotown recently ca up. I’d like to introduce him to you, if that’s all right?”
“Introduce?”
“Hey, Taebeom, co over.”
Shin Seongil waved to Moon Taebeom.
I had to suppress a laugh.
“You called, hyung?”
“Co greet him. This is the Young Master.”
Moon Taebeom bowed toward .
“Nice to et you, sir. I’m Moon Taebeom. It’s an honor, Young Master.”
“You’re from Boss Shin’s hotown?”
“Yes. My father and the boss are old friends. We’ve known each other since I was a kid.”
“Where’s your hotown?”
“Masan, sir.”
“You sound like you’re from Seoul, though.”
“I moved to Seoul when I was young and lived here since.”
“Ah, I see. Work hard.”
“Thank you.”
Moon Taebeom bowed and stepped back.
I glanced down and scanned his bowed face.
“He looks quite solid.”
“Right? I thought he’d be more than capable of serving you, so I introduced him.”
...Ha.
What kind of cheap trick is this?
What the hell is this bastard’s true identity?
I watched Shin Seongil’s expression for any sign of change—but he just kept smiling.
“We’ll see. I do need people right now.”
“He’s a smart kid. Speaks foreign languages well too. I’m sure he won’t be lacking.”
“Seems like it.”
I wrapped things up and stood from my seat.
“Leaving already?”
“I still have other bosses to et.”
“Ah! Got it. But... I think your security team’s a bit thin. Isn’t it a bit much to have Chief Ma looking after you alone these days?”
A rather loaded comnt.
Feigning nonchalance, I smiled.
“You don’t need to worry about . Chief Ma is still more than enough. See you next ti, Boss Shin.”
As I walked away, I stopped in front of Moon Taebeom.
“Moon Taebeom, was it?”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“We’ll be seeing each other.”
“It’ll be an honor, Young Master.”
I patted him on the shoulder and left the office.
“Chief.”
I addressed Chief Ma, who was driving.
“Yes, Boss?”
“You said you didn’t find anything unusual when investigating Boss Shin Seongil, right?”
“That’s right. Why?”
“Investigate Moon Taebeom too.”
“Understood.”
I’d conducted thorough background checks on the Myeongdong bosses.
There hadn’t been a single link to Cheongpunghoe among the four bosses.
But now, a known Cheongpunghoe agent, Moon Taebeom, had appeared at Shin Seongil’s side, disguised as so ‘hotown junior.’
That alone ant Shin Seongil was at least connected to the Japanese yakuza.
“Cancel the eting with Twin Blades. Call and reschedule. Let’s go ho.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once I got ho, I headed straight to Grandpa’s study.
“Grandpa, it’s —Muhyuk.”
“Co in.”
As I stepped in, Grandpa put down the book he was reading and smiled.
“Weren’t you eting with the Myeongdong bosses today?”
“I t with Noh Ikseon and Shin Seongil. I postponed the eting with Kim Hosik.”
“Sothing’s happened, hasn’t it?”
Sensing the shift in my tone, Grandpa tilted his head.
“Grandpa... how much do you trust the Myeongdong bosses?”
“How much do I trust them? Those guys?”
“Yes.”
“Haha, Muhyuk. I don’t trust anyone besides Myeonghun. He’s the only person I trust outside of family.”
“Then why entrust the Myeongdong bosses with money and managent?”
“...So sothing really did happen.”
Looking intrigued, Grandpa stood from his desk and walked over to the sofa, taking the seat of honor.
“Sit. This sounds like an interesting story.”
I was startled.
No one sat in this study besides Grandpa.
Not in the past, and not now. Not even my uncles or the twins, Jiwon and Jisoo.
Only Jiyoung had ever been the exception...
“Grandpa.”
“Haha. It’s just a seat—co now.”
I quietly bowed and took my seat.
“There have only ever been three people who sat across from in this study: Chairman Seo of Ilseong Group, Chairman Song of Daehyeon, and Chairman Park of Joongwoo. Do you know why?”
“I don’t.”
“To show them who really held their leash. These days, you’ve got banks, securities companies, and financial firms lending to corporations at low interest. But it wasn’t always like that. Back then, they all ignored . Just a lowly moneylender, they thought.”
A cold smile ford on Grandpa’s face.
“So I stopped lending to them. During the second oil shock. Suddenly, all those big-shot chairn ca crawling to , begging for loans. From that mont on, I made sure no one else ever sat across from in this room.”
Grandpa would sotis slip into these monts of reminiscence.
As the economy grew and banks started borrowing from abroad to lend locally at low interest, the major chaebols stopped coming to him for money.
There were still outstanding loans, but they stopped borrowing new ones.
“Those days will co again, Grandpa.”
“When they do, you’ll be the one sitting in this seat. I should rest soon, anyway.”
“Grandpa.”
“I let you sit today because I want to speak to you as an equal. Now then, what’s going on with the Myeongdong bosses?”
It was clear he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I finally spoke.
“I’m suspicious of Shin Seongil. I strongly believe he’s connected to Japan.”
“Seongil? What would that fool have to do with Japan? He was just so wrestling bumpkin.”
“He could’ve been hiding his identity all this ti—even from you.”
“Hmm... He’s always been unreadable, but he’s not exactly clever.”
“That’s why I plan to eliminate him.”
I had decided this on the ride from Myeongdong to Pyeongchang-dong.
“Eliminate?”
“Yes. I don’t want to waste ti or energy on soone suspicious. If sothing feels wrong, better to cut it out—send a ssage to Twin Blades and the Snake while I’m at it.”
“Hmm...”
Grandpa let out a small sigh and closed his eyes.
“Do what you think is best.”
His response ca after a long pause.
“Yes.”
“Can you pull it off?”
“I’ve inherited more than half of Manager Ha’s network through Chief Ma. I’ve also got gang support.”
“You an that Park Dongsu guy?”
“Yes.”
“Can you trust him?”
“I’m not one to trust people easily. But he’s still very useful.”
Grandpa’s warm smile relaxed my heart.
“Grandpa. About the loans extended to the top twenty conglorates—can we still pull them back?”
“Hmm. Of course. Why?”
“I want them pulled.”
“We’ll think on it. Most of them are convertible bonds at the top of cross-shareholding structures—we could always convert them into stock. Don’t worry.”
“But if they restructure their governance, won’t those beco worthless?”
“I’m not dead yet. If it cos to that, we’ll act. We’ll get our money back—one way or another. And we’ll retaliate.”
“Understood.”
I left Grandpa’s study after bowing.
Back in my room, I gave Chief Ma instructions.
“Let’s take care of Shin Seongil. Bring both Boss Shin and Moon Taebeom to the factory. Handle the rest however you see fit. You can work with Boss Park on this—use this as your first joint operation.”
“Understood.”
Despite the abrupt order, Chief Ma responded without hesitation.
“How long will it take?”
“It’s our first ti working together, so we’ll need two days.”
“Leave the periter to Boss Park. Don’t worry about the small fry—just focus on Shin Seongil and Moon Taebeom. Make sure we secure them alive.”
“Understood.”
Chief Ma bowed and left.
I called Park Dongsu.
― Dongsaeng!
His voice, always the sa, made smile slightly.
“There’s a job. You’ll be working with Chief Ma. He’ll give orders—just handle the periter. It’s nothing difficult, so no need to stress.”
― Got it. Oh! We also secured the redevelopnt site. There was resistance, but we took it with minimal issues.
“I figured you would. See you after it’s done.”
― Got it, dongsaeng!
A few days later—
I arrived at the abandoned factory on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do.
Rain was drizzling quietly around the facility. I stepped out of the car and forced away the grim expression forming on my face.
To be blunt, I had underestimated the job.
‘No wonder I had a bad feeling about it.’
Chief Ma’s forces had taken damage, but Boss Park’s n suffered even worse.
“Sigh... Was Park Dongsu too weak, or was Boss Shin’s force stronger than we thought?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, Chief. I’m not blaming you. I’m just frustrated that even with both of our forces combined, we took damage.”
As we walked toward the factory, Chief Ma explained from under his umbrella.
“If it weren’t for Boss Park, we would’ve been in serious trouble. We secured the building easily, but suddenly, the attackers struck Boss Park’s periter. If he hadn’t blocked them, we would’ve been isolated inside.”
Fortunately, we captured both Shin Seongil and Moon Taebeom.
If I had sent Chief Ma alone, I might’ve lost him.
“Let’s head in.”
The loud groan of the factory’s steel gates opening echoed through the air.
Inside, Chief Ma’s subordinates, all visibly bruised and battered, quietly stepped aside.
I gazed silently at Shin Seongil and Moon Taebeom, both tied up and collapsed on the floor.
The mont I saw their faces, I was certain—
Shin Seongil was connected to Cheongpunghoe.
< Let’s Take Care of Shin Seongil > End.
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