Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oh Jeong-seok. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the Fifth Republic, but he wielded his gavel according to his own convictions without caring about the regime's moods. Thanks to that, he was someone respected by many figures in the legal world.
Having finished my greetings, I stood before him. I did not avoid his gaze as he merely looked at me without telling me to sit. It was only after a long while that his probing gaze dropped.
"Sit."
"Thank you."
As I sat down, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oh Jeong-seok's wife brought out some tea.
"You said you were Hyeon-woo's friend? Hoho, you are handsome."
"Thank you."
"Ahem."
When Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oh Jeong-seok let out a fake cough, she smiled and left the room. They said he was famous for being a devoted husband, and it seems the rumors were true.
Oh Jeong-seok, who was watching his wife's retreating back with a displeased look, shifted his gaze back to me and picked up his teacup.
"Drink."
I picked up the teacup with a nonchalant face, pretending not to notice.
"The tea smells good."
He continued to watch me without a word as he drank his tea. It seemed like he was trying to grasp my psychological state. Soon, Oh Jeong-seok set his teacup down and broke the ice.
"Did you say you were the grandson of Chairman Cheon of Pyeongchang District?"
I also set down my teacup.
"Yes, he is my maternal grandfather."
"Is Chairman Cheon doing well?"
"He is very healthy."
"Is that so? That is a relief."
His attitude of constantly beating around the bush and seemingly testing me felt like he wanted me to be nervous, which was not very pleasant. How long was he planning to act like that? Just as I was getting a bit bored, Oh Jeong-seok suddenly threw a direct question.
"What is your reason for approaching Hyeon-woo?"
"Approaching? Me?"
Nodding, he pushed his glasses up slightly and looked at me with a sharp gaze. He was checking to see if I was even a little bit flustered.
"Hyeon-woo and I are classmates from the same department, and we just happened to become friends."
"Right, up to that point, it could be considered pure friendship. But I can only think that there was some intention behind forming that gathering."
"Well, it was just a natural thought that came up since like-minded friends had gathered together after a while, and I wanted us to keep seeing each other for a long time. Hyeon-woo is also the one holding the president position."
"...Are you saying there was no intention at all?"
He had an expression that said it could not be true. I did not bother to lie and deny it.
"If I had to say there was a specific intention... Once we go out into society, we have to weigh our interests even when meeting friends, so you could say I thought it would be better to maintain a long relationship with the good friends I happened to make."
"So it is not like that now?"
"No one knows how far Hyeon-woo will be able to go decades from now. We do not even know what will happen to the gathering, and I am a bit too busy to intentionally invest my time in my friends' uncertain futures. Do you not know that?"
Oh Jeong-seok seemed to be trying to find something in my expression or words, but there was no need for me to fake an expression. No matter what, the aura I gave off would be vastly different from that of an ordinary twenty-year-old young man. On the contrary, I was observing him.
Continuously fiddling with his glasses seemed to be an old habit. As if he was used to controlling his expressions, there was not any particular change, but he could not hide the strange glint that appeared in his eyes behind his glasses lenses.
"Right, I know. I heard you eliminated your maternal uncles in one fell swoop. It was interesting. That is why I thought about meeting you once. You must have heard about me from Chairman Cheon?"
"Yes."
"He probably did not say good things."
"Hahaha..."
I substituted my answer with an awkward laugh. Oh Jeong-seok no longer hid his intrigued expression.
"That face looks a bit more like your actual age. I did not really have anything to tie me to Chairman Cheon. Even though we met a few times."
"You do not need to think of me as an extension of him. Grandfather and I are different."
It was an answer that could feel a bit bold. At that, Oh Jeong-seok was silent for a while before blatantly changing the subject.
"I heard from Hyeon-woo that you have no intention of taking the bar exam anymore."
"Yes, regardless of the first round, I thought I could not take the second round with a half-hearted mindset. Both my friends and me."
At those words, Oh Jeong-seok showed a slight smile on his face.
"Right. That is correct. If you had taken the second round without even intending to become a legal professional, it would have been an insult to the other test takers who prepared hard."
Following that, a more direct question returned.
"Then what do you plan to do? Do you plan to follow in Chairman Cheon's footsteps and become the king of the underground economy?"
"If someone like Grandfather had not been there, would the companies back then have been able to do business?"
"I am not ignoring Chairman Cheon. As someone who lived through that era myself, I think Chairman Cheon played a certain role. But it is true that his actions were too extreme."
"Were there people who were not extreme during those times? State power, judicial power, financial power, everything was extreme."
"Mmm..."
He let out a groan at the mention of judicial power. Since he knew it better than anyone, he probably could not deny it.
"It is because there were people who lived through those extreme times that this current era also exists. Where we choose to live in society is up to each individual. I think the era waiting for Hyeon-woo and me will be different once again."
"In the end, it sounds like you are saying you will follow your grandfather's footsteps exactly."
I do not know if it was just my imagination that I felt a sense of disappointment in his voice.
"It is true that I consider that to be my share as well. But I do not plan to stay only in the underground. I think the time has come to come out into the light."
At my words, his gaze changed again. My smiling face was reflected on the glasses he was fiddling with.
"Since the times have changed, we must change as well. Of course, I will not give up the underground. Where there is light, there is bound to be darkness, and if we leave it completely empty, there will be even greater chaos."
"Mmm... You have a lot of greed. It will be fun to watch."
"Please give me a lot of advice."
"What power does an old man in the back room have? I am just an old man wasting time watching the news."
Oh Jeong-seok waved his hand dismissively. After the long conversation ended, I left Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oh Jeong-seok's apartment. Before getting into the car, I looked up once at the floor where Oh Jeong-seok's house was.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oh Jeong-seok had a lot of desire for honor. Even if he did not have material greed, he was someone who valued his honor above all else. To be exact, should I call it a desire for power?
People think he is someone who sticks to his own convictions. But that is slightly different from the truth. The time Oh Jeong-seok would make a move is right when the IMF crisis breaks out and everything falls into chaos.
He was a person who had the power to help me.
Receiving Kim Mu-hyeok's orders, Han Gyeong-yeong began investigating the Mexican peso.
"It is overvalued, but isn't a devaluation going too far? Haa..."
For now, he had no choice but to trust Kim Mu-hyeok. Standing in front of the Goldman Sachs headquarters, Han Gyeong-yeong took a deep breath. Even while standing in front of the doors, he hesitated, fiddling with the cell phone in his hand.
'I trust you, brother. You just have to trust me.' It felt like he could hear Kim Mu-hyeok's voice.
Han Gyeong-yeong made up his mind and gripped his briefcase tightly as he walked inside the bank. Guided by an employee, he arrived at the meeting location and sat down. Soon after, a team leader-level employee whom he had run into at a few parties came in.
"Hey, James!"
"Peter! Long time no see."
After exchanging glad greetings, they began the meeting in earnest. Han Gyeong-yeong took out the product proposal he had made from his briefcase and placed it on the table. Giving Han Gyeong-yeong a friendly smile, Peter started to review the documents.
As the pages turned one by one, his eyes grew wider.
"You prepared a lot. It is unexpected. You did it meticulously and properly, huh? I see you in a new light."
"Thanks. So, how is it? Are you going to do it?"
"There won't be any bank that accepts a deal like this. Who would accept such a crazy deal?"
Han Gyeong-yeong let out a sigh. 'Do you think I don't know it's a crazy thing to do?' He felt just as dumbfounded as Peter did.
"I think there is a misunderstanding. I am betting on the drop in the Mexican exchange rate. Over five pesos against the dollar."
"What?"
Looking over the documents again, Peter stared at Han Gyeong-yeong as if he were a madman.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Huu... So, are you going to accept it?"
"This is not a matter I can decide on. What is the transaction amount?"
"Up to 300 million dollars. If you cannot accept it here, I will have to go around to other places."
Peter dropped his jaw with an appalled expression.
"Wait. I will bring someone in."
As he walked out, Peter looked back at Han Gyeong-yeong one more time and shook his head. Left alone, Han Gyeong-yeong's hands were drenched in sweat. 'Only a fool would refuse this, damn it.'
A short while later, several people walked into the room along with Peter.
"Hello, I am Tommy, the Financial Director."
As if he had heard the whole story, the man named Tommy scrutinized Han Gyeong-yeong with a fascinated look.
"A product like this takes a long time. We have to create Mexican bonds with maturity set for next January... Is it correct that the transaction amount is up to 300 million dollars?"
"Yes. I plan to use the 300 million dollars as margin to maximize the leverage."
A hint of a sneer appeared on the nodding Tommy's face. The employees carefully checked to see if there were any toxic clauses in the product proposal. Eventually, upon hearing from his subordinates that there were no problems, Tommy reached out his hand with a bright face.
"We will handle all of it. We won't make you go through the trouble of finding another bank. Dreamhigh Investment... This will be a good transaction. Let's meet often."
They shook hands with each other and signed the contract. The wide smile never left Tommy's face. It seemed like he was already thinking about the performance bonus he would receive from this deal.
Having finished all the contracts, Han Gyeong-yeong walked out, turned around to look at the Goldman Sachs building for a long time, and then eventually moved his feet. It was a day that made him crave strong liquor.
— Kim Mu-hyeok, you bad bastard! I woke up from my sleep because of a phone call that came in at dawn. Whether he had drunk a lot of alcohol, Han Gyeong-yeong's words were slurred.
"Brother... It is dawn here." — You damn bastard.
I signed the contract today. It was truly a crazy thing to do. Do you know how much those bastards laughed at me?
It was my first time realizing that someone can make a person miserable just with a look.
"Hahaha." — Stop laughing.
I set the maturity to the last day of January.
"Good job. How many times did you pull the leverage?" — Thirty times.
"As expected, I was right to trust you, brother."
He bet 9 billion dollars with 300 million dollars. Han Gyeong-yeong had done more than I expected. — Haa... Can't I go back to Korea?
"Not yet. Later on, when you come back to Korea, you will be returning in glory and everyone will be praising you, brother, so wait. You have worked hard." — 300 million dollars...
I burned money that I couldn't even touch in my entire life all at once. Damn it, it makes no sense. He must have had a lot of worries, but seeing Han Gyeong-yeong ultimately follow my words allowed me to prepare for the future.
"This is just the beginning. Do not get weak already."
After talking with Han Gyeong-yeong for a long while, I hung up the phone. Having already completely woken up, I poured water into the glass next to me and drank it. 'How much did the peso drop?'
There were still plenty of opportunities to make money. As I spent time checking over my plans again, the view outside the window quickly started to brighten. Time flowed quickly.
I also met with Yoon Jae-ha's father. He too showed more interest in the fact that I had become Grandfather's successor. If there was a difference from Oh Jeong-seok, was it simply the extent that he had already taken a liking to me?
Chairman Song Yeong-ju ultimately announced at a press conference that he would completely step down from the frontlines of management. His retirement announcement was broadcast live. At the end of June, all my friends took the bar exam second round.
There would be an opportunity next year too, but it would be nothing short of perfect if all four of us passed together this year. On my way to meet them right when the exam ended. As I was lost in thought while watching the fast-moving scenery outside, the cell phone in my pocket rang.
"This is Kim Mu-hyeok." — ......
I could hear breathing, but there were no words. Who is it?
"This is Kim Mu-hyeok. Please speak." — Brother Mu-hyeok...
It is me, Ji-young. It was Cheon Su-han's daughter, Cheon Ji-young.
"Oh, Ji-young. It has been a while. Is something the matter?"
I felt like I could not hate this child just because of Cheon Su-han. — Um... Do you have time? Hearing her voice, it seemed she had found out what Cheon Su-han did to me.
"It will be hard today since I have plans, but tomorrow is fine. Where do you want to meet? Do you want to come over to my house?" — Huh?
Can I go over to your house?
"Of course. You should drop by sometimes to keep Grandfather company too. He said he missed you a lot. Let's meet at my house during the day tomorrow then." — Yeah.
After hanging up, I looked down at my phone for a long time. I had thought for a while about how I should treat Cheon Ji-young. Cheon Ji-young was the same in the past, and also when I came back to life.
So I could not help but worry. At the sound of announcing we had arrived at the destination, I finally snapped out of my thoughts. When I stepped out of the car, a wave of heat rushed over me.
Come to think of it, was the summer this year unusually hot? Looking at the faces of my friends who had just finished taking their exams, I erased the phone call from a moment ago from my mind.
The long drinking session with my friends ended with a promise to raise our glasses in celebration again when the list of successful applicants was announced in September. The next day. Cheon Ji-young came to the Pyeongchang District.
It was not her old face that was brimming with confidence and charm.
"Brother, I am sorry..."
It was Cheon Ji-young, who burst into tears before we could even properly exchange greetings.
< Only a fool would refuse this. > The End