"Hey, you are a bit scary, you know?"
A US citizen. He was the core of everything I had planned.
"I am the one who found where you were hiding, so how could I not know your personal details? Anyway, you still have it, right?"
Han Gyeong-yeong nodded his head.
"But why?"
"Roughly wrap up your life in Korea and let's go to the US. Go to the US, establish an investment firm, and recruit the people I tell you to."
"An investment firm? Can't we do it in Korea?"
"I need you because we have to make people mistakenly think it is US funds. After you settle down there, you can establish a branch in Korea a few years later and come back."
"I do not know. What you are thinking..."
Han Gyeong-yeong shook his head with a confused face. Of course he would not know right now. I just smiled.
"Once the firm is set up, about four hundred billion won will go into the firm's account."
At those words, Han Gyeong-yeong spat out the water he was drinking. Fortunately, he did not spit it on my face.
"Cough, cough. F-four hundred billion?"
"Yeah."
"Not four hundred million, but four hundred billion?"
I frowned looking at the table soaked in water and added.
"Use that to invest in a few places I tell you, and you can roll the rest on your own. The US stock market will be booming for a while, so unless you deliberately plan to put me in a tough spot, you probably won't blow it."
Han Gyeong-yeong stared at my calm face, realized it was not a lie, and let out a long sigh.
"...I cannot do it. How much is four hundred billion? That is over four hundred million dollars. How can I touch that? My hands shake just dealing with a hundred million won."
"Do not be scared. You can do it. If you recruit everyone I tell you to recruit, they will faithfully do their parts too. You just need to watch the overall flow. I cannot go to the US, you know."
"...Is there a reason you trust me this much?"
Han Gyeong-yeong's eyes wavered as they reflected my image. I calmly shook my head.
"I am not trusting you, I am trusting my eye for picking you. Besides... do you even have the guts to think of trying anything funny?"
My face reflected in his eyes was smiling. However, Han Gyeong-yeong shivered as if he saw something he should not have seen.
"Ugh, scary. Do not smile like that."
"Hahahaha."
"Phew... Four hundred billion... I cannot even grasp how big of an amount that is."
Han Gyeong-yeong shook his head a few times as if to shake off his rising thoughts, then smiled at me.
"Okay. Then should I wrap things up here right away?"
"No, do a few last things for me before you go."
"What?"
"Use the account you have now for the expenses to establish the investment firm in the US, and open one account under your name."
"Under my name?"
Han Gyeong-yeong grumbled, saying I was only saying confusing things.
"I will put ten billion won in there. From the 13th, all stocks will plummet. At that time, buy all the Ilseong affiliate stocks that have dropped to the lower limit. Whether people sell or not, just buy. The price will not go up just because you buy, so buy absolutely all Ilseong affiliates without question."
"Ilseong? But why under my name specifically?"
"It is because I have a use for it later."
"...So something really is going to happen on August 12. You knew that and asked me to make a bet?"
I smiled without answering. Han Gyeong-yeong furrowed his brow, then let out a sigh.
"Even if you pull a scam, you have the makings of becoming a legendary scammer. You bad guy."
"It is Ilseong. Do not mind the other stocks. Without question, Ilseong."
"That much is easy. I am looking forward to August 12. I wonder what will happen."
Looking at Han Gyeong-yeong laughing casually, I smoothly changed the subject.
"Do you want to have a drink? You will be very busy starting next week."
"Shall we? Yeah, let's have a drink for the first time in a while."
Han Gyeong-yeong followed me and stood up from his seat. Without even being able to imagine what was going to unfold in the future.
A dark hotel nightclub in Haeundae. Clack, clack, clack. Along with the sound of dress shoes rapidly going down the stairs, the place instantly turned into a mess with the shouts of men.
"Hey! What is this?"
"These crazy bastards, where do you think you are causing a scene! Kill them!"
There were people silently walking past the spot where burly men were hitting and fighting each other.
"What is this! Catch that bastard!"
"Block him!"
Ignoring everyone else, they opened the door to one of the nightclub rooms and stepped inside. It was Park Dong-soo, Yang Su-hyeong, and Lee Sang-geun.
"What is this? Isn't it Dong-soo?"
The man with sharp eyes sitting in the seat of honor looked at Park Dong-soo. The three or four other burly men next to him also glared at them. Park Dong-soo sighed and glared back at him.
"Phew... I told you let's do this the easy way, didn't I?"
"Cut the bullshit. Hey! There is no one in Busan who does not know that you took out Elder Brother Sa-seong. What kind of son of a bitch bites the master who raised him?"
At his words, Park Dong-soo let out a hollow laugh. At first, such words made his heart ache, but since everyone spouted the exact same nonsense, now it was just ridiculous.
"Ah! You bastard, you talk too fucking much!"
Park Dong-soo dug into him without warning. The big guys sitting in their seats got up and rushed in to block him. At the same time, Lee Sang-geun and Yang Su-hyeong, who were next to Park Dong-soo, also jumped in.
While the two dealt with the subordinates, Park Dong-soo stepped on the table and dashed toward the man sitting in the seat of honor.
"Fucking bastard!"
The sitting man shouted as he pulled out a sashimi knife from his jacket.
Smack!
At that moment, in the blink of an eye, Park Dong-soo crossed the table and smashed the jaw of the opponent holding the sashimi knife. The man staggered from the hit and swung the sashimi knife he was holding. Blood quickly flowed down Park Dong-soo's suit jacket due to the blade grazing his forearm.
However, Park Dong-soo did not care and stuck to the falling man, throwing a punch toward his eye.
Smack!
He knocked away the flying sashimi knife with his left hand and struck his face with his right hand. Following that, he picked up a liquor bottle on the table and smashed it down toward the head of the man who was staggering to the other side.
Crash!
The liquor bottle shattered and blood flowed from the man's head.
"Fucking bastard, having a death wish. See how nice it would have been if you listened when I spoke nicely, Elder Brother Man-seok? Yeah? I am in a bit of a hurry. If I drag my feet in a place like this, I will not have the face to see my little brother, is what I am saying."
Park Dong-soo threw away the remaining part of the liquor bottle in his hand and looked back. Yang Su-hyeong and Lee Sang-geun had already subdued all the rest of the men.
"Su-hyeong, grab him!"
At those words, Yang Su-hyeong approached, grabbed Lee Man-seok who could not come to his senses, and laid him out on the table.
"Let's end it with this. Retire quietly. So you can make a living, I will considerately let you supply alcohol to one establishment. So be satisfied with that and live quietly. You understand, right?"
That day, Park Dong-soo cleared out all his opposing forces. So they could never rebel against him again, he forced everyone at the level of a mid-boss or higher into retirement.
"Phew... This much should not be embarrassing to show Mu-hyeok. Isn't that right, Sang-geun?"
"Yes."
It was the evening of August 12. All regular broadcasts were interrupted, and the President's special address was being broadcast live. — At this moment, with a solemn heart, in accordance with the provisions of Article 76, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution, I announce the 'Presidential Emergency Order on Real-Name Financial Transactions and Guarantee of Secrecy'.
Furthermore...
It was a sudden, unexpected announcement of the real-name financial system that no one had anticipated. — Dear fellow citizens, finally we will implement the real-name financial system. After this hour, all financial transactions will be conducted solely under real names. It was the moment the real-name financial system, which even the military regime could not carry out, was announced.
"Ha..."
Chairman Cheon, who was listening to the President's announcement in his study, let out a hollow laugh.
"Chairman..."
Manager Ha, who was standing in front of him, called him with a grim expression.
"Did the Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs contact us? What about the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs?"
"There was no contact."
"Ha... It couldn't be that these guys stabbed me in the back, could it? Try contacting them."
Watching Manager Ha pick up the phone and dial somewhere, Chairman Cheon fell into deep thought. 'To think he would do it this fast. I simply cannot grasp the President's thoughts...'
A moment later, Manager Ha finished the call and opened his mouth.
"He says he didn't know either."
"What kind of nonsense is he saying? If the Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs doesn't know, then who on earth would!"
"He says he also only found out from watching the broadcast that this address was about the real-name financial system."
"What about the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs?"
"He is not answering the phone."
"Phew..."
Chairman Cheon let out a sigh and swallowed his anger.
"How much has been sorted out?"
"Fortunately, we started sorting it out early, so all the accounts under fictitious names have been completely sorted. But the amount in the shell accounts alone is roughly around four hundred billion won."
"It is smaller than I thought."
"Since we mostly opened accounts under fictitious names rather than shell accounts, we were able to sort out most of them."
"And the shell accounts can be recovered?"
At those words, Manager Ha, who seemed to think for a moment, nodded.
"Half are mostly under the names of the Myeon District people, so there shouldn't be a big problem... But the rest are under the names of debtors, so it seems we need to sort them out quickly before they get any other ideas."
Chairman Cheon frowned and clicked his tongue.
"Nonsense. No one can be confident in front of money. For now, mobilize all manpower, collect the debtors' bankbooks, and go to the bank to clear them. I will personally call the bank president, so do not forget to get their ID cards as well."
"Yes, understood. But those who refuse or..."
"Refuse?"
A brutal smile, one that had never once been shown in front of Kim Mu-hyeok, appeared on Chairman Cheon's face.
"You take care of that yourself. Act first, report later. No matter what, finish processing it by tomorrow. Because the more we drag for time, the more thoughts they will have."
"Yes, understood."
"As you leave, contact Mu-hyeok and tell him to come home quickly."
After Manager Ha bowed and left, the face of the left-alone Chairman Cheon brightened.
"Ha~ Did this rascal actually predict this properly? He is really something, really something."
"Hey... Is this what you were talking about?"
I nonchalantly nodded my head. Han Gyeong-yeong, who had been watching the broadcast with me, could not speak properly and just gaped for a while.
"Wow... Things are really going to stumble, huh? Did you know this was coming?"
"No, I just roughly figured it out from the atmosphere."
"You told me exactly August 12 just from roughly looking at the atmosphere? Is that even possible? If you are going to lie, at least make it believable. It really is true that the one who knows the information makes the money."
Awe could be seen in his eyes as he looked at me anew.
"This means I should sweep up Ilseong affiliate stocks starting tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, they will probably keep pouring out. Watch it, and once you feel it has dropped to the lower limit, buy from then on. In a few days, the chaos will die down, and it will turn back to an upward trend."
"A few days? Only?"
"It will be. The chaos will quickly subside. And the bull market will continue again. Before that, gather as much volume as possible."
"Okay. If I had this kind of information and couldn't eat, I couldn't say I invest in stocks. Just wait! I will sweep it all up cleanly."
I nodded at those words. At that moment, a call came to my mobile phone.
"This is Kim Mu-hyeok." - Young Master, it is Ha Myeong-hun.
Chairman says for you to come home immediately.
"Ah, Grandfather did? Understood. It will take about thirty minutes if I leave now." - Yes, I will tell him that.
A smile appeared on my face as I hung up the phone. It was now time to reel in the bait I had thrown while continuously talking about the real-name financial system.
"Brother, work hard for a few days then. I have been called home so I should get going."
"Huh? You are leaving?"
Waving my hand, I left Han Gyeong-yeong's house. When I arrived at the house in Pyeongchang District, Grandfather was sitting in the study with a stiff expression.
"Did you call for me?"
"Did I call for you? Are those the words coming out of your mouth right now? How did you know about the real-name financial system?"
Seeing Grandfather get straight to the point, I swallowed a laugh inwardly.
"Rather than knowing, I expected it."
"Expected it?"
"Yes. I judged it by looking at the President's personality, as well as his campaign promises and such."
"To call it an expectation, you continuously appealing your opinion to me... It certainly gives me the feeling that you knew in advance that the real-name financial system would be implemented within this year. Am I wrong?"
Even while speaking, Grandfather observed my expression and behavior. I calmly smiled and met his gaze.
< We will implement the real-name financial system. > The End