“Did you look into Mi-sook’s case? Is there anything suspicious?”
Chairman Cheon, who had been gazing out the window, suddenly asked. Due to the unseasonable rain, not only the outside but also the study was dim. In the hazy darkness, Manager Ha’s voice could be heard.
“The records are not properly intact.”
“The more I think about it, the stranger it is,” Chairman Cheon muttered in a grave voice.
His voice was close to a lament. But in the room where only the soft sound of rain could be heard, his voice sounded particularly loud.
“My daughter died, and it makes no sense that the news didn't reach me. Unless someone intervened.”
“For now, I will continue to look into it.”
“...My first and second sons weren’t involved, were they?”
The Chairman’s face looked pained as he asked the question.
“There is nothing we can know for certain yet. I have sent people down to Busan. I’ve instructed them to meet the police who investigated at the time and to do a background check.”
“I am the sinner. I am the one to blame.”
“Chairman...”
“What wealth and glory could I possibly enjoy by selling my daughter, when the girl was so happy, so happy...”
“...”
Raindrops slid down Chairman Cheon’s reflection on the windowpane.
“Look into it properly. An injustice must be righted. So that I can at least catch the culprit before I die. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
There was no telling how far the butterfly effect would ripple. Chairman Cheon had begun to question the death of his daughter, Cheon Mi-sook. Something that had not happened in Kim Mu-hyeok’s past life was about to unfold.* * *After arriving in Seoul, I dropped Myeong-soo and Hyeon-seong off at the house Myeong-soo had found.
I headed to my grandfather’s house in Pyeongchang District. As I came downstairs after putting my luggage in my room, my grandfather spoke as if he had been waiting.
“Let’s go to the study.”
“Pardon?”
“Why? Shouldn’t we decide on the prize for the bet now? Such talk should be had in the study. There, you shall treat me not as your grandfather, but as a business partner.”
“...Yes.”
In the past, I had entered this place for the first time only after graduating from university. Feeling a strange sense of emotion, I stepped into my grandfather’s study. The study was exactly as I remembered it.
Chairman Cheon, seated in his chair, opened his mouth.
“Now! Tell me the prize for the bet.”
Chairman Cheon looked at me as if curious about what I would say.
“I want to learn the work that you do.”
“Do you say that knowing what it is I do?”
His sharp gaze studied my expression.
“I do not know the details. But I know that I can obtain great power.”
“Great power? What will you do with power?”
“I will tell you that later.”
I had thought about it a great deal. What should I get?
Money? People?
In the end, I decided that the best thing was to stay close to my grandfather, pretending to learn his business, and move him according to my will.
“Can that truly be considered the reward for a bet? Is that really all you want? You could receive something much greater.”
“It is said that too much is as bad as not enough. I thought it would be more helpful to learn how to earn money and gain power with my own hands rather than being overly greedy.”
A sense of satisfaction could be felt on Chairman Cheon’s face.
“Ho ho, what a fellow. Manager Ha! Are you outside?”
Manager Ha, who had been waiting outside, opened the door and came in.
“Yes, Chairman. You called for me.”
“Mu-hyeok says he wants to learn the business. What do you think?”
“Isn’t it too soon? I think it would be more than enough to do so after he graduates from school.”
“Right? But this fellow wants that as his reward for the bet.”
Manager Ha looked at me with a new expression. My grandfather, stroking his chin in thought, gave an instruction.
“For now, you will teach him the work whenever you have a little time. I was planning to make him start from the bottom after he graduates from school, but since he wants this as his reward… Start with what you do. Understood?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“You may leave. I have more to discuss with Mu-hyeok.”
“Yes.”
Manager Ha bowed and left. My grandfather glanced at me.
“Is this to your satisfaction?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“But why did you apply to law school? Are you planning to take the bar exam?”
“No. I went to law school to build connections. I debated between that and business administration, but it seems law school alumni wield more power for now.”
“Hoh, isn't it a waste of all the studying you’ve done so far?”
“Even if I pass the bar exam, I have no intention of becoming a judge or prosecutor, and to study just to become a lawyer is...”
“Hahaha.”
I smiled at Chairman Cheon, who let out a hearty laugh.
“Still, be faithful to your school life. Whether it’s building connections or whatever else, that time will never come back.”
“Yes, I’ll split my time as much as possible to learn.”
Chairman Cheon, nodding with satisfaction, seemed to think of something for a moment before continuing.
“You should still have a car, though. A foreign car is a bit much for now, so I’ll give you a Grandeur to drive to school. Do you have a license?”
“Yes.”
“You’re well-prepared. Getting your license while studying, you do everything you need to do. Hahaha.”
I had quite a long conversation with my grandfather in the study. When I came out, Manager Ha was waiting.
“Young Master, let’s go to your room. I will explain the work you will be doing.”
“Yes.”
I went up to my room with Manager Ha. As soon as the door closed, Manager Ha got straight to the point without even sitting down.
“Do you know exactly what the Chairman does?”
“I don’t know the details.”
Of course, I knew, but I pretended not to.
“The Chairman’s business is in lending. To put it badly, people call it private loans, or moneylending. However, the people the Chairman currently meets with directly are only the chairmen of major domestic corporations.”
“Ah…”
In my past life, I had started from the very bottom after graduating from university. When the IMF crisis hit and lending companies began popping up one after another, I started at the lowest rank and learned the business. But this time, I would be able to deal with major corporations from the very beginning.
“Generally, I meet with the working-level staff below them to handle the overall coordination, and then the Chairman and the corporate chairmen meet, talk, and the money is lent. What you will learn, Young Master, is the preliminary coordination process that I handle. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Manager Ha nodded and explained again.
“There is much to learn, such as how to read ledgers, collateral, related laws, and so on. Just because it’s private loans doesn’t mean it’s easy. Since a surprisingly large amount of money is exchanged, the collateral must also be secure.”
“I see.”
I nodded, sitting on the bed. To be honest, watching Manager Ha explain while standing so ramrod straight, I was just thinking, he sure stands up straight without leaning on anything.
“The Chairman does not often accept stocks as collateral. He says their prices fluctuate too much. The only times he accepts stocks as collateral are when he receives or purchases important shares, shares that can influence management rights. For example, the Dae-hyun shares we received three years ago...”
This was the first time I had seen Manager Ha speak for so long. I looked at Manager Ha’s face with a newfound sense of wonder. Perhaps thinking that I was listening intently, Manager Ha explained quite passionately.
“The presidents are dealing with other companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises, and general self-employed people. This is usually called the Myeon District business.”
I feigned to listen as closely as possible to the basic information Manager Ha was providing.
“Besides those two, there are a total of four Myeon District family members. The Chairman is their backer. He provided the money to help all the employees who struggled under him become independent. You will need to know all of that later, Young Master.”
I know.
Because those four Myeon District family members were the ones who joined hands with Cheon Su-man and Cheon Su-han to stand against me.
“Viper, Twin Blades, Hammer, and Bandit. Those are the four. They are presidents who have worked in the Myeon District’s private loan market for a long time, so they will not be easy to deal with.”
I gave a slight smile to Manager Ha, who looked a little concerned.
“Don’t worry. If they are people I have to face someday, it’s better to run into them sooner rather than later.”
“I am proud of you.”
The private loan world is a truly dirty world. People who would do anything to get their money back. There were even vicious bastards that made organized crime members take a step back.
Chairman Cheon was also a legendary figure who had survived in that world to reach his current position. Among the moneylenders, there were many who were not gangsters but acted like them.
‘Still, could they be as bad as me, who has died once before?’
In the private loan market, where money is power and money is everything, a single, lofty dragon named Chairman Cheon currently ruled, but once that dragon ascended, a warring states period would break out. In this life, I planned to sort everything out before the warring states period began.
“For now, let’s have you join me for the next meeting. Still, I hope you will enjoy your school life a bit first and take things slowly.”
“Yes. I play well. I’ll hang out with my friends and do everything I want, so don’t worry too much.”
At those words, Manager Ha gave a faint smile, then bowed and went outside. Lying on my bed, I organized what I had to do.
‘First, I have to win my grandfather’s heart, then slowly get the four major Myeon District organizations in the palm of my hand.’
And what comes next is already decided. I sharpened my blade as I pictured the faces of the brothers, Cheon Su-man and Cheon Su-han.
‘Uncles, please look forward to it. I will be sure to repay you for my past life.’
And so, my first night in Seoul passed. The next day. I drove the car my grandfather gave me to Myeong-soo’s house.
Myeong-soo had rented a house near the university on a lease and planned to live there while attending school. It seemed Hyeon-seong planned to live in the dorms and come over to stay with Myeong-soo on weekends. But if he's a physical education major... it won't be easy for him to come up.
I arrived at Myeong-soo’s house and rang the bell.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
Myeong-soo welcomed me as he opened the door.
“What’s up? You’re here early?”
“Yeah. I came by car.”
I twirled the car key on my finger.
“Oh! You already bought a car?”
“Grandfather gave it to me as a gift to drive around. It worked out well. I’ll pick you up when you go to school.”
“Oh! That’s my friend, Kim Mu-hyeok! Hey, hurry and come in. Hyeon-seong and I were just about to boil some ramyun.”
As I entered the house, the smell of ramyun greeted me.
“You’re here?”
Hyeon-seong, who was in the kitchen boiling ramyun, also greeted me lightly. As I sat on the floor and waited, Hyeon-seong placed the pot of ramyun on the floor.
“Wow, how many packs is this? Why’d you cook so much?”
“Six packs.”
That guy Hyeon-seong, his words have gotten shorter and shorter since he started working out.
“What are you talking about? Six packs is just enough for me and Hyeon-seong. We have leftover rice from yesterday, so we can mix it in later. Let’s eat first, before the noodles get soggy.”
At Myeong-soo’s words, the three robust twenty-year-old men literally inhaled the ramyun without another word of conversation.
“Hyeon-seong, bring the whole rice cooker.”
“Yeah.”
The noodles disappeared in five minutes, and Hyeon-seong brought the entire inner pot from the rice cooker. He pushed the rice into the pot. Because we put in too much rice for the amount of broth left, it turned thick like pig slop.
Another storm of inhaling began. I was the first to raise my hand.
“I can’t eat anymore.”
Whether I stopped eating or not, the two of them were busy eating without a care in the world. Hyeon-seong is on an athletic team and he's big, so I get that he eats a lot, but what on earth is wrong with Myeong-soo?
“Where does all that food you eat even go?”
“I don’t know. What can I do if I don’t gain weight? Don’t talk to me while I’m eating.”
You lucky bastard... After finishing our meal, we lay staring at the ceiling, dazed, without any thought of cleaning up. Myeong-soo was the first to speak.
“Did you call your grandma?”
“Yeah. You guys?”
“We both did yesterday. Man, I thought I was going to die from my mom’s nagging. She just rattled on without taking a breath.”
“I called too.”
For some reason, a sigh escaped.
“I already miss Grandma’s cooking.”
“At least you’ll be eating proper meals at your grandfather’s house, right? For me, it’s either ramyun or eating out. Hyeon-seong and I went to a nearby restaurant yesterday, and it was so damn bland we just ruined our appetites.”
“You have to get used to it.”
“The future looks bleak.”
“When are you moving into the dorms?”
This time, I asked Hyeon-seong. Hyeon-seong tilted his head for a moment and said.
“Next week.”
“Will you have time to come up?”
“I’ll have to see.”
“If you have time, come up often and let’s hang out on weekends. If you let us know in advance, we won’t make other plans, so call Myeong-soo.”
Hyeon-seong nodded silently.
“Did you guys buy pagers?”
“We were planning to go out and buy them today. You’re getting one too, right Hyeon-seong? Mu-hyeok already has one.”
“Yeah.”
“Really? Where?”
“Apgujeong District? We should go check it out.”
“Why go all the way there just to buy a pager?”
“We’re going to buy a pager and look around at the same time. Why? You wanna come too?”
I shook my head.
“I have something else to do today. More importantly, about what I wanted to talk to you about today.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
I looked back and forth between Myeong-soo’s and Hyeon-seong’s faces.
“This is a really important story.”
“What is it?”
“Um.”
Not everything, but they were set to play important roles in my future plans.
“I need your help.”