Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 82

82. 24th. Espionage (2)

He took me to a high-end Japanese restaurant near the Shinseong Group headquarters.

“I was going to have some *seolleongtang* [ox bone soup] and *soju* [Korean distilled rice liquor] there for the first time in a while, but it’s all gone to waste. Let’s have spicy fish stew.”

“Sure, *hyung* [older brother or male friend, honorific].”

“One large rockfish and a spicy fish stew here. Bring them both at once.”

“Yes, sir.”

After placing the order, Jang Yong-jae grabbed a bottle of beer and opened it.

“It’s been a while, let’s have a drink. Director Park, you have a drink too.”

He filled our glasses with beer and then filled his own.

“Phew, I almost ruined the group’s image. If that had blown up, I would have had to bribe the reporters with drinks and money, which would have cost a fortune.”

He emptied his beer glass in an instant and shook his head, but he was laughing inside.

That bastard had slept with enough women in secret to fill several tour buses, and he spent over a hundred billion won just to get rid of the evidence and silence them. He said condoms reduce pleasure?

For a guy like that—no, for a guy who *would* do that—to talk about the company’s image was so absurd I couldn’t even speak. That son of a bitch.

But I had to agree with him now. I had to inflate his ego so he would talk about this and that.

“Still, *hyung*, you made a cool appearance and handled it well, so it’ll turn into a good story, right?”

“Exactly! That’s how you manage your image, Seong-min. If you leave even a small hole, the dam will collapse. Don’t forget what I showed you today, hehe.”

Jang Yong-jae even snapped his fingers and laughed, but I barely managed to hold back a hollow laugh because I was so dumbfounded.

What’s the point of plugging small holes all the time? He created a black hole in Shinho-dong, Busan, that sucks up money.

The Shinseong Motors Busan plant, which this guy and Jang Ho-geon are pushing to build, will suck up 800 billion won just to reinforce the weak ground—which is unique to reclaimed land—and a total of 1.6 trillion won by the time it’s completed. They poured the money to build four or five factories in Gunsan, Pyeongtaek, or Changwon, just to get the cooperation of the Blue House [South Korea’s executive office and official residence of the president] and the ruling party.

Of course.

This decision wasn’t made solely for political reasons. The import of parts from Nissan, a partner company, and the export of finished products were also taken into account, but building it while selling off commercial vehicle factories made Daegu and Shinseong Group enemies for decades, and the foreign exchange crisis made the group falter, so it will be the worst black mark in Shinseong Group’s history.

But there was no need to tell this guy about the future. If he becomes passive from the start, I won’t see any gaps to exploit Shinseong Group.

So, from now on, I have to make him lose his reason and constantly make unreasonable moves by stimulating his inferiority complex towards me and his desire to be recognized by Jang Ho-geon.

Hiding my true feelings, I had a meal with Jang Yong-jae and changed the subject to work to hear about Shinseong Group’s news.

“How’s the construction division of Shinseong Corporation?”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“It’s an accident republic. Construction companies need to build cleanly to prevent such accidents.”

Jang Yong-jae frowned.

“Don’t even mention it. Our father, your uncle, called all the presidents in and gave them a hard time because of the Seongsu Bridge collapse.”

“Really?”

I deliberately widened my eyes and asked again, and Jang Yong-jae complained without knowing that I was the one who had scratched his father’s insides.

“Yeah. President Park Byeong-jun was exiled to Panama because of that; it was a mess.”

Jang Yong-jae spoke with a pathetic expression and chewed on the sashimi, but I was quite surprised.

The Park Byeong-jun I know was even the chief executive officer of Shinseong Corporation. Not only was he demoted because of that incident, but he was exiled to Panama of all places?

I had to find out the details. One of the things I had marked as food was in Panama, and if they sent Park Byeong-jun there with that in mind, it would be a big loss.

“What do you mean? Why was that guy exiled?”

“He said he didn’t know even though he had a lot of construction experience, so he told him to go and review it. If it was Egypt, he could at least travel to Europe, but he sent him there to do bridge construction in Panama.”

Jang Yong-jae shook his head with a disgusted expression, even at his own father, and continued eating. It didn’t seem like he had touched what I was aiming for, but I was speechless at Jang Ho-geon’s ruthlessness.

Seeing that, Jang Yong-jae smirked.

“You’re surprised too, so how about me? Position makes a person, so I’m still a little nervous because I’m just an executive director.”

What a fool. It was fortunate that he didn’t know *why* I was surprised.

Originally, a bonanza that would be developed about 20 years from now will come out in Panama, and if Park Byeong-jun reports that bonanza to Jang Ho-geon, it will be a disaster. Should I dig a little deeper?

“*Hyung*, when will the Panama construction be finished?”

“It’ll be finished around next year? My father said he’ll call that guy back to headquarters around that time. He’s been taking all kinds of crap since my grandfather’s time, and he’s good at his job, so he’ll at least give him an advisory position.”

Jang Yong-jae answered as if it was nothing, but his eyes suddenly sharpened.

“But why did you ask that?”

“Huh?”

“You’re asking too deeply?”

I forgot that this guy was sharp. Damn it.

“No, my family is also in the construction business. I was wondering if I should tell my uncle to hire him as an advisor if he gets kicked out of *hyung’s* company. Connections are important in construction, hehe.”

Jang Yong-jae smirked as I acted like a naive kid.

“You still have a long way to go, huh? Once someone enters Shinseong, they’re Shinseong people until they die. And…”

He stopped talking and rinsed his mouth with beer.

“Your family is doing a lot of business these days, right?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you know? The department store and discount store are your work, so I guess you know, but from all kinds of construction projects to the Kazakhstan copper mine, the Australian zinc mine, and the Shinseong Electronics loan… Group executives are talking a lot about what’s causing the Haedong Group to do this.”

To be exact, this guy probably heard it from his mother. Isn’t he the eldest son of Hwang Na-yeon, who uses the *Chosun Ilbo* [major South Korean newspaper] to control group executives like her own limbs? He’d be shocked if he knew that the list of group executives was in my hands, but I pretended not to know and said.

“Our family needs to increase our assets now. That’s why we changed the governance structure this time.”

Jang Yong-jae narrowed his eyes as I glossed over it with generalities.

“Are you saying that for me to hear? The guys we used to drive around with are so jealous. You’re the richest of our peers, right?”

“Hey, *hyung* will make a lot of money soon when he becomes the group chairman, with his salary and dividends… I’m more jealous of *hyung*.”

Jang Yong-jae waved his hand with a look that said it was absurd and asked back, and Jang Yong-jae chuckled.

“You still don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“There’s another way to make money?”

“What is it?”

“Construction materials, work clothes, manpower introduction, parts subcontracting… There’s money everywhere, hehe.”

What a cliché. He was listing the methods I knew without an inch of error.

Isn’t that all about sticking a straw into the companies that make money and sucking their marrow? When I was exiled to the secretary’s office, I had to replace all my upper and lower molars with implants because of cleaning up the shit that the Jang family, except for Jang Ha-yeon, was doing.

“Ah… is that so?”

Even though I clenched my fist so hard that the blood vessels under the table bulged, I asked as if I was hearing it for the first time, and Jang Yong-jae’s shoulders straightened even more.

“Other groups are probably similar? I, Soo-yeon, and Min-jae can make money that way.”

“What about Ha-yeon *noona* [older sister, honorific]?”

At that moment, Jang Yong-jae looked at me with a stiff expression and said.

“She won’t be able to take anything.”

“Why?”

“You’ll get hurt if you know.”

He didn’t want to say more, so he acted serious, but I don’t need him to tell me. The assets that I will increase for Jang Ha-yeon will be bigger than the share that you three siblings will divide.

***

After finishing his meal, Jang Yong-jae returned to the company and headed to the outdoor smoking area. He opened the door and went outside, putting a cigarette in his mouth.

“What is this guy hiding?”

He lit the cigarette and leaned against the railing, looking at the sky, and muttered to himself with the smoke coming out of his mouth.

If what he heard from his mother’s side was correct, the department store-related transactions between Haedong Group and Shinseong Group were made because Lee Seong-min asked Jang Ha-yeon for a favor.

Not only that, but seeing that he was able to do department store and discount store consulting so well, he was so frustrated that his sister, who was crazy about dating, couldn’t catch him.

But.

The Lee Seong-min he saw today was a scholar who only cared about things in the sunny land and didn’t know about the shady land. Even the fact that he said he had some experience was ridiculous.

“I need to keep an eye on him…”

He sucked on the cigarette and took out his cell phone from his pocket.

“Jang Yong-jae of Shinseong Corporation… Chairman?”

He turned off his cell phone, put out the cigarette with a crumpled face, and hurriedly ran down. His father’s surprise inspection!

***

I sighed when I got home, and Park Tae-jin also had a bitter look on his face.

“I expected it, but he’s ruthless. He’s not going to give her anything.”

“From Jang Yong-jae’s point of view, he must be dissatisfied with Ha-yeon *agassi* [young lady, honorific]. Chairman Jang Ho-geon is fighting with his blood brothers.”

“I guess… he’s watching and learning in real time, so *hyung* is probably right.”

Jang Yong-jae knows that he has to kick out Jang Ha-yeon, his half-sibling, first to increase his share, whether he fights or compromises, because he’s watching Jang Ho-geon fight with Jang Ho-min and Jang Ho-gyeong.

Park Tae-jin smiled as I bit my lip with a slightly bitter expression.

“But Ha-yeon *agassi* has *doryeonnim* [young master, honorific] next to her. Please continue to protect her from the side, haha.”

“Same with *hyung*. From next year, you can hold the director’s nameplate in your hand and protect Manager Yoo, huhuhu.”

While we were laughing at each other, Park Tae-jin carefully opened his mouth.

“But… when the story of President Park Byeong-jun of Shinseong Corporation came up, something seemed to bother you.”

“Huh?”

He has the eyes of a ghost. He’s a former special forces officer, and he was even drafted into the intelligence agency, so his attention is extraordinary…

I looked at him and quickly brought up what happened before.

“Do you remember when I went to the department store in New York before I returned to Korea?”

“Yes. Chairman told you to come in while you were shopping that day, right?”

“That’s right. I was looking at the UN data while riding in the car with Claire, and it said that they sponsored the exploration of the Panama copper mine.”

Only then did Park Tae-jin look at me and nod.

“So that’s why you were sensitive.”

“Yes. According to the data, the reserves seem to be quite large, and it’s close to the coast, so transportation will be convenient.”

The copper mine, called Cobre Panama, is only about 20 kilometers inland from the coast of the Caribbean Sea. The copper ore reserves are 3.183 billion tons, and the purity is high, and it also contains gold, silver, and molybdenum, making it a profitable mine.

I couldn’t bring myself to say this fact, but Park Tae-jin’s eyes narrowed.

“Then it’s a big problem. If Park Byeong-jun has risen to that level in Shinseong, he’ll do everything he can to return to headquarters. He might even upload that information.”

“That’s what he’ll do. Uncle Ho-geon is spending a lot of money on cars, but he’s also trying to grow his resource development business.”

After thinking for a while after hearing my words, Park Tae-jin made an interesting suggestion.

“Why don’t you have Gong Seong-pil intercept it?”

“Intercept… that’s good, huhuhu.”

That’s what I was thinking, but I pretended to think about it for a while and answered. Isn’t the owner someone who makes decisions after receiving advice from the people around him?

After hearing his words, I made a phone call. He’s probably having fun with that call girl right now, but it would be fun to ruin his fun.

After confirming that the signal had stopped, I ignored the woman’s moaning sound coming from the receiver and opened my mouth.

“This is Lee Seong-min, Director Gong.”

[Ah, *doryeonnim*! What’s going on?]

“I heard that Shinseong Corporation is doing bridge construction in Panama, is that right?”

[Yes? Yes! Our corporation is connecting the local and headquarters.]

“Is the person in charge there Mr. Park Byeong-jun?”

[Yes. He was dispatched to the Panama construction site early last year due to your uncle’s matter.]

After confirming the facts, I brought up the main point to stop listening to the foreign woman’s grumbling next to Gong Seong-pil.

“If any unusual business data comes up from Panama, let me know *only to me*.”

[Yes?]

“I’m telling you to let me know *only to me* about anything other than the construction report and to cut it off. I’ll give you reasonable compensation for that.”

I’m going this far because of the changing history.

Whether it’s because they made a lot of money from the yen carry trade, Taehyun Group will soon write off the Iraqi accounts receivable and build the Hadong Steel Mill next year, and GK Group, my mother’s family, is negotiating to recover all of the US Caltex shares in GK Oil, whether it’s a preliminary work for separation of affiliates.

All of them are different from the original history, but only Shinseong Group is quiet among the three houses we brought in. In this situation, Shinseong Corporation was taken away from the Kazakhstan copper mine by Haedong Corporation, and a high-ranking official who was demoted from headquarters is dispatched to Panama, where there is an alternative.

So, we can’t rule out the possibility that the butterfly effect will happen in Panama. The Panama copper mine development permit will be issued next year, and Shinseong Corporation is pouring money into cars, but we can’t be careless.

“No matter how good you do for the company, what comes back to you is less than what I give you, right? I’ve taken care of you more than Chairman Jang Ho-geon, right?”

[That’s right. Besides, there’s even someone dispatched from the headquarters secretariat recently.]

Gong Seong-pil’s voice was full of complaints, but it was an opportunity for me.

“Thoroughly exclude that person and only find ways for Director Gong or Director Gong’s people to make a living. I believe you won’t be stupidly caught when the purge is obvious.”

[I understand, *doryeonnim*. I would appreciate it if you could take care of those friends too.]

“Of course. I’ll fill those people’s pockets too.”

I don’t care how much it costs to spy. If I can put Shinseong, the Jang family, under Jang Ha-yeon and my family, it will be cheap.

After hanging up the phone and taking a breath, I looked at the calendar on the wall.

Today is December 2nd… Jobs should be sending out invitations soon; when will it come?