He looked young, but it was definitely Moon Tae-beom.
"Young Master?"
The repeated calling brought me back to my senses. I put on my habitual smile as I looked at Boss Shin's face.
"Ah, I was just thinking about something else. Let's go in. Are those your employees behind you?"
"Yes, is there anyone you know?"
"No. Is your work going well?"
Even as I talked with Boss Shin, my mind was complicated. Obviously, Moon Tae-beom was a Korean-Japanese yakuza. The vanguard of the Japanese invasion into Korea's private loan market.
The connecting link between the Blue Wind Association and Japan. Why is Moon Tae-beom with Boss Shin? I sat on the office sofa with Boss Shin.
Sitting in the seat of honor, I pretended to look around and checked his face once more, but it was definitely Moon Tae-beom.
"What brings you here? Do you have any orders for us?"
With Moon Tae-beom's appearance, I completely scrapped my original plan.
"No. Do I need a reason to come? I felt like I've been paying too little attention to the Myeon District bosses lately, so I'm doing a round. Are you uncomfortable?"
"How would I dare to think such a thing? I am nothing but the Chairman's servant."
Was this guy's claim of being the Chairman's servant true? 'He is the hardest one to read. He is good at doing what he's told, though.'
I remembered what Grandfather had said.
"Your loyalty to the Chairman is always amazing. But don't you think it's time you show your loyalty to me now?"
"Haha. Isn't my heart for the Chairman the same as my heart for the Young Master?"
I nodded and examined Boss Shin's face. His smiling face felt especially fake today.
"Well, understood. Are there any other problems?"
"No, it's the same. People who can't get loans from banks or merchant banks come to us."
"You know the nature of this field better than I do, so I will trust you."
"Thank you. Ah! Young Master. By the way, a junior of mine from my hometown came up this time. I would like to introduce him to you, is that alright?"
"An introduction?"
"Hey. Tae-beom, come here."
Shin Seong-il gestured toward Moon Tae-beom. I held back the laughter that was about to come out.
"Did you call me? Elder brother."
"Say your greetings. This is the Young Master."
Moon Tae-beom looked at me and bowed his head.
"Hello, my name is Moon Tae-beom. It's an honor to meet you, Young Master."
"You're a junior from Boss Shin's hometown?"
"Yes, my father and the boss are friends. We've known each other since we were young."
"Where is your hometown?"
"It's Masan."
"But you talk like someone from Seoul?"
"I moved to Seoul when I was young and have lived here ever since."
"Ah, is that so. Work hard."
"Thank you."
Moon Tae-beom bowed and stepped back. I scanned his face as he kept his head bowed and gaze lowered.
"He seems quite tough."
"Is that so? I introduced him to you because I thought he wouldn't be lacking in serving the Young Master."
Ha...
What kind of bullshit is this? What the hell is this bastard's true identity? I searched for any changes in Boss Shin's face as if to probe him, but he was just smiling.
"Let's wait and see. I do need people anyway."
"He is a smart guy. He is quite good at foreign languages, and he won't be lacking in serving the Young Master."
"It seems like it."
I roughly wrapped things up and stood from my seat.
"Are you leaving already?"
"I have other bosses to meet."
"Ah! Understood. But it seems your security detail is too small. Wouldn't Section Chief Ma be insufficient to protect the Young Master all by himself now?"
It was a meaningful statement. I faked a carefree expression and smiled.
"You don't need to worry about me. Section Chief Ma alone is still enough. Then I will see you next time, Boss Shin."
I left my seat and stopped in front of Moon Tae-beom as I walked.
"You said you were Moon Tae-beom?"
"Yes, Young Master."
"Let's see each other often."
"It's an honor, Young Master."
I patted Moon Tae-beom's shoulder and left the office.
"Section Chief."
I called out to Section Chief Ma who was driving.
"Yes, Boss."
"Boss Shin Seong-il. You said you didn't find anything unusual during your investigation, right?"
"Yes, is something the matter?"
"Please investigate Moon Tae-beom too."
"Understood."
The background checks on the Myeon District bosses had been thorough. I definitely couldn't find any connection to the Blue Wind Association among the four bosses. However, Moon Tae-beom, a pawn of the Blue Wind Association, was right next to Shin Seong-il, who deceived me and introduced him as a junior from his hometown.
At the very least, it meant Shin Seong-il was connected to the Japanese yakuza.
"Let's meet Twin Blades next time. Please contact him and cancel the appointment. Let's go home."
"Understood."
Upon arriving home, I sought out Grandfather's study.
"Grandfather, it's Mu-hyeok."
"Come in."
As I opened the door to the study and walked in, Grandfather put down the book he was reading and smiled.
"Didn't you say you were meeting the Myeon District bosses today?"
"I met Boss No Ik-seon and Boss Shin Seong-il and returned. I postponed the meeting with Boss Kim Ho-sik to next time."
"Did something happen?"
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Grandfather tilted his head.
"About the Myeon District bosses. How much do you trust them?"
"How much do I trust them, you ask?"
"Yes."
"Hahaha, Mu-hyeok. I don't trust anyone except Myeong-hun. Aside from our family members, the only person I trust is Myeong-hun."
"Then why did you give money to the Myeon District bosses and leave the management of Myeon District to them?"
"...Something must have really happened."
Looking intrigued, Grandfather got up from his desk, walked over to the sofa, and sat in the seat of honor.
"Sit down. It sounds like an interesting story."
I looked at Grandfather with a surprised face at his words to sit down. In the study, no one was allowed to sit except for Grandfather. Both in the past and present, I had never once sat down in the study.
It was the same for the maternal uncles, as well as the siblings Cheon Ji-won and Cheon Ji-soo. Ji-young was an exception, though...
"Grandfather."
"Haha. What is the big deal about telling you to sit."
I silently bowed my head and took a seat.
"The only people who could sit with me in this study were Chairman Seo of Ilseong Group, Chairman Song of Daehyun Group, and Chairman Park of Jungwoo Group. Do you know why?"
"I don't know."
"Because I needed to tell them who was holding their leashes. Nowadays, there are plenty of financial institutions like banks and merchant banks that lend money to companies at low interest rates. But it wasn't like that in the past. Still, they looked down on me. Calling me a lowly person who just plays with money."
A cold smile hung on Grandfather's face.
"I stopped lending to them. During the second oil crisis, that is. At that time, all those so-called high and mighty corporate chairmen came and bowed their heads to me. They begged me to lend them money. From that point on, I made it so that no one could sit in front of me in this study."
Grandfather often fell into memories like this. As the national economy continued to grow, and banks and merchant banks borrowed money from abroad to lend to companies at low interest rates, the corporate chairmen sought out Grandfather less often. There were existing loans, but the large conglomerates didn't borrow new money.
"Such a day will come again. Grandfather."
"When that time comes, you, Mu-hyeok, will be sitting in this seat. It's time for me to rest, too."
"Grandfather."
"I told you to sit down to show that we are now having a conversation on equal footing. Now, what happened with the Myeon District bosses?"
Seeing Grandfather change the subject as if he wouldn't listen to any objections, I had no choice but to open my mouth.
"Boss Shin Seong-il is suspicious. I have a strong feeling he is connected to the Japanese side."
"Seong-il? What could he possibly have to do with Japan? He's just a country bumpkin who used to do ssireum."
"He might have been by your side, hiding his true identity for such a long time that even you didn't notice."
"Hmm... Seong-il is a guy whose true thoughts are hard to read, but he's not someone with a quick brain."
"That is why I plan to get rid of him."
I thought about it while coming to Pyeongchang District from Myeon District.
"Get rid of him?"
"Yes. I don't want to waste my mental energy on Boss Shin. If he feels sketchy, he must be eliminated. As a warning to Twin Blades and Viper, too."
"Hmm..."
Grandfather closed his eyes with a small groan.
"Do as you see fit."
It was an answer that came out after a long time.
"Yes."
"Can you do it?"
"Section Chief Ma has taken over half of the forces from Manager Ha, and there's also a gangster helping me."
"That guy, Park Dong-soo or whatever his name is?"
"Yes."
"Can you trust him?"
"I don't trust people easily either. He's just someone with a lot of uses right now."
Because of Grandfather's warm smile, my heart felt warm as well.
"Grandfather. About the loans lent out to the top 20 conglomerates. Can you recall them even now?"
"Hmm. I can do it anytime. Why do you ask?"
"I would like you to recall them."
"Let's think about that slowly. Most of them are convertible bonds of companies at the very top of circular shareholdings, so they can be converted into stocks right away. Don't worry."
"But won't they become scraps of paper if they decide to change their governance structure at any time?"
"I'm not dead yet. If we see any signs of that, it won't be too late to act then. In that case, we can just get it back in cash. And we'll have to retaliate, right?"
"Understood."
I bowed to Grandfather and left the study. After returning to my room, I gave instructions to Section Chief Ma.
"Let's take care of Shin Seong-il. Bring Boss Shin and Moon Tae-beom to the factory, and deal with the rest on your own. You can get Boss Park's help. Try matching your teamwork with him this time."
"Understood."
Section Chief Ma replied without any hesitation to my sudden order.
"How long will it take?"
"It is my first time working with Boss Park. I think I will need two days."
"Leave the perimeter to Boss Park, don't worry about the small fries, and focus on Shin Seong-il and Moon Tae-beom first. You must secure their persons."
"Understood."
Section Chief Ma bowed and left. I called Park Dong-soo. — Little brother! I smiled slightly at Park Dong-soo's unchanging voice.
"There's a job to do. You can work with Section Chief Ma. Section Chief Ma will give the orders, and you just need to handle the perimeter. It's not a difficult job, so don't be nervous." — Got it.
Ah!
And we've taken over the redevelopment site. There was some resistance, so there was a fight, but we took over without any big problems.
"I knew you would. I'll see you after the job is done." — Alright.
Little brother!
A few days later. I arrived at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province. Rain was falling drearily around the factory.
Getting out of the car, I erased my somewhat troubled expression. In conclusion, I had taken the job a bit too lightly. 'No wonder I had a bad feeling about it.'
Although Section Chief Ma's forces had suffered some damage, Park Dong-soo's organization, which was handling the perimeter, ended up taking quite a heavy toll.
"Huu... Is Park Dong-soo weak, or are Boss Shin's forces stronger than we thought?"
"I apologize."
"No, Section Chief. I'm not trying to get an apology out of you. I'm saying this because my two forces combined to do this job, and we still took damage."
While we walked toward the factory, Section Chief Ma explained from under the umbrella.
"If it hadn't been for Boss Park Dong-soo, we would have suffered massive damage. We entered the building easily, but suddenly they pushed into Boss Park's side guarding the perimeter. If Boss Park hadn't blocked them, we would have been helplessly isolated inside the building."
Fortunately, we had secured Shin Seong-il and Moon Tae-beom. A chill ran down my spine at the thought that if I had only sent Section Chief Ma, I might have lost him.
"Let's go in for now."
The sound of the iron doors opening at the abandoned factory, with nothing but farmlands around it, rang out loudly. I went inside with Section Chief Ma. Section Chief Ma's subordinates, whom I had seen a few times, were standing around and then slowly stepped back.
Their faces and bodies were badly bruised. I quietly stared at Shin Seong-il and Moon Tae-beom, who were tied up and lying on their sides. Looking at their faces, I was certain that Shin Seong-il was connected to the Blue Wind Association.
< Let's take care of Shin Seong-il. > The End