After finishing the long schedule in Japan, I arrived not in Seoul, but in Busan.
For a week, I received no contact whatsoever and simply enjoyed resting.
I didn’t watch the news, nor did I read the newspapers.
I just ate the als Grandma made at ho and rested without thinking about anything.
After that dreamlike week passed, I left Busan with my grandmother seeing off.
In the car heading up to Seoul, I turned on the phone I had kept switched off and asked Manager Ma, who was in the passenger seat,
“Did a lot of calls co in?”
“Yes.”
A firm answer ca back. I let out a faint chuckle and nodded. Judging by that reaction, there must have been a lot.
I felt a bit sorry toward Manager Ma, but since it was my first ti cutting off all contact and taking a full rest, it felt like my energy had returned.
“Ah, what about important contacts? Did anything co from China?”
“There was nothing, Boss.”
Through Murdoch, I had shaken Li Peng.
Though it was foreign press, Murdoch’s standing had grown even higher than before.
With Murdoch’s ability combined with my capital, his dia empire had beco even more solid.
Even though it must have scratched his nerves quite a bit, Li Peng showed no movent whatsoever.
“Hmm.”
Without realizing it, I let out a low sound and tapped the armrest.
“Still not enough?”
Well. Among the materials on Li Peng obtained through Black Bear, I had detonated the weakest one.
But even if it was weak, it shouldn’t have caused no damage at all.
It wasn’t a fatal weakness that could bring Li Peng down, but it was enough to sar his na.
After pondering briefly, I picked up my phone again and checked the received ssages one by one.
There were contacts from Myeongsoo and Hyunseong, and also a ssage from Oh Hyunwoo.
But among them, there was one ssage from an unexpected person.
It was from Cheon Jisoo.
[I'd like to et once.]
For what reason did Cheon Jisoo contact first?
I had torn Ilsung Group to pieces and finished all my revenge.
As the massive empire called Ilsung Group collapsed, my desire for revenge had also subsided.
And in the process of dismantling the group, Cheon Jisoo had also taken a fair share of the bait I offered.
After that, I had erased Cheon Jisoo from my mind entirely.
“Manager, look into what’s going on with Cheon Jisoo.”
“Understood. I’ll contact Black Bear imdiately.”
After giving instructions to Manager Ma, soone suddenly ca to mind.
“Co to think of it, what’s Jiyeong up to these days?”
“I understand she’s preparing a new album this ti.”
Cheon Jiyeong had now beco a star everyone in Korea knew.
Every album she released was a huge hit, and every film she starred in succeeded.
It wasn’t because Cheon Jiyeong needed money and worked nonstop.
She simply worked hard because she wanted to do what she loved, and that was why she stood where she did.
“She’s doing well. That’s a relief.”
Perhaps because I brought up Cheon Jiyeong, Manager Ma played a sample of her new song.
Her clear voice echoed inside the quiet car. Without realizing it, I lifted the corners of my lips and smiled.
While I cut off all contact and rested, Cheon Guk Church was slowly forgotten by people.
But just because it was forgotten from the public’s mory didn’t an everything was over.
As soon as I arrived in Seoul, I headed to the Myeongdong office.
It was a building with a shabby exterior, built long ago.
Once, Eva had asked this question.
‘Boss. Why on earth do you keep staying in this shabby building?’
Since it was only natural to move the office to a better building after making money, Eva seed unable to understand my actions.
To her question, I answered like this.
‘Because this is the place that marks my beginning. If I leave here, it feels like I’d lose my essence.’
Even after my answer, Eva still looked like she didn’t understand.
But the Myeongdong office was a place that kept from losing my original intention, so I had no intention of leaving it.
Breaking free from my thoughts, I opened the door of the Myeongdong office, which I had returned to after a long ti.
Just because I hadn’t co didn’t an there were no people in the office.
As I stepped inside, all the employees stood up from their seats.
Most of them were people Manager Ma had personally selected.
“President. You’ve arrived?”
“It’s been a while. Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”
“Yes. Nothing happened!”
“Good. Go ahead and work comfortably.”
After briefly greeting everyone, I entered my office.
It was ti to get busy again.
* * *
After receiving Li Peng’s summons, Luo Gan canceled all his schedules and arrived at his residence.
Facing Li Peng, Luo Gan greeted him respectfully.
“Premier. You called for ?”
Although Li Peng was already a retired elder, he was more aningful to Luo Gan than anyone.
He was the one who had led him.
Though now called pro–Jiang Zemin faction, Luo Gan himself thought of himself as Li Peng’s successor.
“Luo Gan. You’ve grown quite old as well.”
“Haha. Ti does not pass by either.”
“Yes, that’s right. Ti is the sa for everyone. How is it? Is serving as a Standing Committee mber manageable?”
“Thanks to your support, Premier, I was able to secure even the lowest seat on the Standing Committee. I am always grateful.”
Luo Gan lightly lowered his head, but the words that returned were a sharp question.
“But these days, there are many rumors that you are Jiang Zemin’s cleaner, taking care of his sses. Is that true?”
Li Peng sent a sharp gaze. At the direct criticism, Luo Gan furrowed his brows and spoke.
“It is true that I move together with Chairman Jiang Zemin because our thoughts align. But wasn’t this also sothing you permitted, Premier?”
At Luo Gan’s slightly uncomfortable response, Li Peng let out a hollow laugh.
“Luo Gan. You know, I still cannot forget the ti when I was pushed out by Jiang Zemin.”
“That is...”
Luo Gan knew better than anyone how Li Peng had been pushed out of power.
After Li Peng took office as Premier of the State Council, he had called him in.
From that ti on, for ten years, he stayed close at hand, inheriting all of Li Peng’s political legacy.
“I do not regret crushing Tianann. Not even once have I regretted what happened then. But if there is one thing I regret, it is that I grew distant from Deng Xiaoping at that ti. And so a man I had never even heard of, Jiang Zemin, suddenly entered the central political arena.”
Luo Gan silently listened to Li Peng’s lant tinged with regret.
“It is all true that I declared martial law and ordered the suppression. But all of it was the will of the elders. I rely followed their will. Yet people curse only . They praise Deng Xiaoping as the Little Giant and call the Eight Elders heroes of China, while they call a butcher.”
“That is not so. I know better than anyone that you think of China above all else, Premier.”
Of course, Luo Gan did not believe Li Peng bore absolutely no fault.
Conservative elders who disliked the reform and opening policies of the Eight Elders and Deng Xiaoping had lent their strength to Li Peng.
The elders’ support. That was what brought Li Peng misfortune.
Deng Xiaoping also agreed on forcible suppression, but he did not desire bloodshed.
Yet Li Peng, in order to enlarge his own stature, declared martial law first without even reaching an agreent with Deng Xiaoping.
In the end, Li Peng rolled tanks into Tianann, and Western dia gave him the nickna “Butcher of Tianann.”
It was Li Peng himself who made that choice, and it was because of that choice that he bore the stigma.
As a result, he grew distant from Deng Xiaoping, and Deng Xiaoping raised Jiang Zemin as Li Peng’s rival.
“Still, I was not afraid of Jiang Zemin. I thought I could move him as I pleased.”
Li Peng believed he could keep Jiang Zemin in the palm of his hand and control him.
But Jiang Zemin was not such an easy man.
In the end, it was not Jiang Zemin who was devoured, but Li Peng.
After speaking at length about his past, Li Peng finally moved to the main point.
“Have you read the article published today in the UK’s The Sun? It was an article targeting .”
“Yes. I read it on the way here. Please do not worry too much, Premier. The Sun is not a highly credible dia outlet, is it?”
“That’s right. I know it’s yellow press. But this is a warning directed at . You know President Kim Muhyuk as well, do you not?”
At Li Peng’s question, Luo Gan nodded with a puzzled expression.
“Yes. I am aware of him. Did you not et him once in Shanghai back then, Premier?”
“Have you ever received contact from him?”
“What business would I have to be entangled with that man?”
From Luo Gan’s reaction, Li Peng could tell.
Kim Muhyuk had not even attempted to approach Luo Gan.
‘He couldn’t grab hold of Luo Gan’s weakness. So he intends to move to block Luo Gan.’
After organizing his thoughts, Li Peng spoke again.
“You are the one leading the pressure on Korea, are you not?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“And this matter was agreed upon by Jiang Zemin and all the elders.”
“Yes. I understand that you also agreed at the ti, Premier.”
All the elders, including Li Peng, had gathered and agreed to apply political and physical pressure on Korea.
Unlike before, Korea’s status had risen too high.
Its conciliatory diplomacy with North Korea, its various projects with Russia, and even the protection of the United States.
Korea’s rise was not a good thing for China.
The prevailing opinion within the Chinese Communist Party was that Korea must be tad while it still could be.
Then, at just the right ti, a bloody incident involving ethnic Koreans from China occurred in Korea.
China decided to use this opportunity to pressure Korea.
“He is pressuring to stop that. Believing that I can restrain you, Luo Gan.”
Luo Gan furrowed his brows and asked back,
“Are you saying he dared to threaten you, Premier?”
“It seems you do not know President Kim Muhyuk very well. That man speaks his mind even in front of Jiang Zemin and secures his own interests. He must have been involved to so degree in the incident caused by the ethnic Koreans in Korea.”
Even at Li Peng’s words, Luo Gan could not understand at all.
He also knew Kim Muhyuk well.
He knew of his deep ties with Wen Jiabao, and that through that, he had t not only Jiang Zemin but also Hu Jintao.
He was already aware that Kim Muhyuk had been deeply involved in the gas and oil pipeline construction projects between China and Russia.
But this incident was a political issue. There was absolutely no reason for that man to be involved.
“Murdoch’s biggest backer is Kim Muhyuk.”
“......Murdoch is famous for being stubborn. Would such a man be swayed by a re Korean businessman?”
“You still need to broaden your vision. With eyes like that, how can you judge people?”
Li Peng clicked his tongue, but Luo Gan continued firmly.
“Are you not overestimating that man, Premier?”
“Do you know how Wen Jiabao was reinstated?”
“I understand he was reinstated by agreent between President Hu Jintao and President Jiang Zemin. I heard the two t separately and reached an amicable agreent.”
As if expecting that answer, Li Peng nodded.
“That is what the world knows. Then why would Hu Jintao bear political loss to save Wen Jiabao? Hu Jintao is not a man who accepts losses.”
“President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are political partners. He could not abandon him...”
“Nonsense. The man who moved Hu Jintao was Kim Muhyuk. I do not know what he gave Hu Jintao. But he created the conditions for Hu Jintao to act, and it was also that man who brought Jiang Zemin to the negotiating table.”
Shock appeared on Luo Gan’s face. He could not possibly believe Li Peng’s words.
The very idea that behind the agreent between Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin stood a Korean businessman nad Kim Muhyuk made no sense.
Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were n walking the path laid down by Deng Xiaoping.
To draw an agreent between those two powerholders would be impossible unless Deng Xiaoping himself ca back to life.
Jiang Zemin, head of the Shanghai faction, who had stepped down from all public office yet still exercised the greatest power.
And Hu Jintao, gradually inheriting that power and strengthening his own position.
To move those two was, literally, to move China itself.
Moreover, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin were still fiercely fighting beneath the surface to seize power from one another, so such negotiations could not have been easily achieved.
No one knew that better than Luo Gan.
“Do not doubt my words. That is why I evaluate that man so highly. Most powerholders know of his ability, yet no one in the world truly knows his identity. You understand how frightening that is, do you not?”
Luo Gan still did not fully understand.
But Li Peng was wary of Kim Muhyuk to an excessive degree.
That alone was enough to change Luo Gan’s view of Kim Muhyuk.
“You said the article in The Sun was a warning directed at you, Premier?”
“Yes. It ans to stop here. By moving you.”
“......”
“If I tell you to stop, will you?”
After pondering for a long ti at Li Peng’s words, Luo Gan opened his mouth.
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