Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 139

Almost all major plans in South Korea need approval from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Think of them as the people who control the money.

The reason is simple: the budget.

Even if a plan is approved by the National Assembly committee, it can’t go ahead if the Ministry of Economy and Finance doesn’t approve the budget.

So, the Ministry of Economy and Finance controls the country’s money and has a lot of power over what the government does.

That’s why the Minister of Economy and Finance is a very important person in the government.

According to the Government Organization Act, the Minister of Economy and Finance is also the Deputy Prime Minister. That’s why they have so much power.

Woojin thought, ‘He used to be the Vice Minister of Economy and Finance… He has a lot of influence.’

Hwang Jong-ho used to be the Vice Minister, so he had a lot of influence within the Ministry of Economy and Finance, more than Woojin and Kyungwan realized.

Even after he stopped working there, people in the government still respected him, so he still had a lot of power.

Woojin realized how much power Mr. Hwang had when he saw the announcement about the Paramount design competition posted by the Seongdong-gu Office.

Mr. Hwang said he would look into it, and just three days later, the competition was announced.

The announcement showed the plans from the eight companies that were competing.

Woojin looked at the competition details and felt a surge of satisfaction. Everything was happening so fast!

Even without Mr. Hwang’s help, Woojin was sure he could have found a way to get this done eventually.

But thanks to Mr. Hwang, it was like driving on a highway instead of a bumpy, slow road. It wasn’t just about solving the problem anymore; it was even better than he had hoped.

Woojin had saved a lot of time and money because of Mr. Hwang’s influence.

Woojin thought, ‘And this time I’ve secured thanks to Mr. Hwang… It’s a golden opportunity to defeat Taeho Construction.’

So, as soon as Woojin got to the office that day, he called Jin-tae into the conference room.

He wanted to stop Taeho Construction from doing anything while they were confused.

“So, from now on, we need to leak this information to the press,”

“The press? Really? Just like that?”

Woojin nodded at Jin-tae’s question and said,

“Even if the announcement is made, it doesn’t matter if people don’t see it or care about it.”

“Hmm?”

“Think about it, hyung,”

“About what?”

“Do you ever visit the district office website?”

“No.”

“Have you ever looked at the announcements for local development projects?”

“Never.”

“That’s why we need the press. We need them to report that the Wangsimni private investment project is happening and that Paramount is doing this design competition with Seongdong-gu.”

“Ah, I see.”

“To say that these companies participated in this competition, and these designs were submitted…”

Jin-tae listened to Woojin and then tilted his head and asked,

“But would people be interested in that?”

“You don’t think so?”

“Hmm. Well, if there was an article about a shopping mall coming to the station, I’d probably click on it.”

Woojin chuckled and shook his head.

“That’s true. But I want more than that,”

“Really?”

“People will be interested, but they’ll only care about the project… They probably won’t pay much attention to the design of the building or the designs that were submitted.”

“That’s true. So, to make the design competition a big deal… what else do we need?”

Woojin’s eyes lit up.

“We don’t need anything else. We already have the information.”

“The information?”

“Let’s use Bruno’s reputation.”

Jin-tae listened to Woojin and then paused to think.

Woojin continued,

“The headline should be something like this,”

“Like what?”

“Bruno Sanchez, the designer of the Yongsan-gu Glacial Tower. Will his second masterpiece be at Wangsimni Station?'”

Jin-tae tapped the table and said in admiration,

“Wow… That’s really good.”

“Right?”

Woojin had checked the announcement just twenty minutes ago.

It had only been up for three minutes.

Taeho Construction probably didn’t even know about the announcement yet.

They probably thought their lobbying with the Seongdong-gu Office had worked, so they wouldn’t have checked for an announcement.

Woojin thought, ‘Taeho Construction will probably only find out when they see a lot of articles online. Or maybe Taeho Construction officials will be arrested first… I’m not sure.’

Woojin imagined how things would play out and smiled.

He was happy that things were going well and that he could be involved in the design of this Parafield, but…

Woojin was also happy that he could get rid of Taeho Construction, which had caused the deaths of more than ten people because of bad construction in his past life.

If their corruption was revealed, they would probably have to pay a lot of money.

And their reputation would be ruined, so Woojin thought it was only a matter of time before Taeho Construction went out of business.

It felt like he was finally getting rewarded for all his hard work since the beginning of the year.

“So, do you know what we need to do?”

“Okay.”

“While you’re contacting the press, I’ll talk to Paramount,”

“Paramount? Why?”

“The fact that the announcement was made means that Paramount has basically turned against Taeho Construction, right?”

“True. The announcement must have been made because Paramount shared the information.”

“That’s right. So, they probably know what’s happening. I’m thinking of offering to help them get rid of the bad parts and make some deals.”

They talked for another twenty minutes and made a plan.

After they finished dividing up the tasks, Jin-tae was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and said to Woojin,

“By the way, about Section Chief Park Kyung-wan…”

“Yeah?”

“He’s been a big help.”

“Right.”

“Mr. Hwang was introduced by Section Chief Park, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then we really owe him this time.”

Woojin chuckled at Jin-tae’s words.

He was right, and Woojin agreed.

But Jin-tae didn’t know everything.

“It’s true that we owe him, but I think we can pay him back right away,”

“Are you talking about Cheongdam Clio Summit?”

Woojin shook his head. “No, that’s not connected to this.”

Jin-tae leaned back in his chair. “Oh, really? So, how are you planning to pay him back then?”

Woojin grinned, a flash of white teeth. “Well,” he said, lowering his voice a little, “once we show everyone how corrupt Taeho Construction is, the company will likely fall apart, right?”

Jin-tae nodded slowly. “I guess so.”

“And what about all the building projects Taeho Construction is supposed to do?” Woojin continued, his eyes bright.

Jin-tae’s eyes widened slightly. “Ah!” He understood.

“If we secretly take those projects and give them to Cheonwoong,” Woojin finished, “can’t we use that to pay back some of the money we owe Elder Jongho?”

Jin-tae listened to Woojin’s plan and laughed a little, but in a thoughtful way.

Hearing those words, he could instantly understand why Kyung-wan was working so diligently as if it were his own affair.

He also understood why Woojin wanted to call Paramount and make an agreement.

“Goodness. You really have a quick mind.”

“It’s obvious, really. It’s just that I’m a bit faster at responding.”

“Hehe. If you become an executive this time, your work record will look much better quickly, right?”

“Well, yes. Isn’t it good to help each other out?”

Jin-tae left the conference room and hurried back to his seat.

The things Woojin had asked for would be most effective if handled as quickly as possible, so there was no time to spare.

He quickly typed on his keyboard and made phone calls, Jin-tae’s expression was very pleased.

Woojin and Kyung-wan were both people he liked.

Seeing them helping each other and growing rapidly made him feel good.

Of course, what pleased him most was the fact that he himself was growing along with them.

“Yes, reporter. I really appreciate you writing about our CEO last time. This time, I’m calling because I have some sources related to the Wangsimni Station private investment project……”

“Ah, of course. This is a bit secret, but let me give you a small clue… Taeho Construction might be doing something dishonest……”

“I can’t give this information only to you. I’ve already told a few other news places.”

“Anyway, please take good care of the article!”

The deadline for the Parafield design competition was Monday, January 10th.

And today was Monday the 17th, exactly one week later.

Paramount Planning Department said that the competition results would be announced in early February, so there were about two weeks left.

Perhaps before those two weeks were over, everything would have changed.

Click- Click-

On the 10th floor of the Taeho Construction building, Executive Director Yoon Jung-yeol sipped his coffee with a relaxed expression, clicking his computer mouse.

What was on his monitor screen was an Excel file filled with complex numbers.

This was an Excel file that neatly organized the money spent while carrying out this Wangsimni private investment project.

Even though they had not started building anything yet, and the design contest results were not announced.

The reason why amounts of over several billion won were already written here and there was simple.

All this money was used to bribe people to get the building and design rights.

Jung-yeol was organizing this Excel file, figuring out how much money he would get for himself.

“Hmm. It cost a bit more than expected… but if I organize it well, I’ll still have something left.”

Jung-yeol put his coffee cup down on the desk, revealing his white teeth as he smiled.

He was in a pretty good mood today.

In fact, after putting in the lobby to the Seongdong-gu Office last week.

Even though he acted calm in front of his younger coworker, Jung-yeol was actually very worried.

If something went wrong, he would be arrested and taken to jail, even if they got the building or design rights.

But even though the week passed safely and the weekend had passed as well.

No contact had yet returned.

What Jung-yeol lobbied for was not to ask for something to be done, but to pretend not to see it.

When you bribe people like this, if you don’t hear anything back, it’s a good sign.

“Hehe. As expected, no one hates free money.”

For a government worker, if they just ignored a problem people complained about and pretended not to see it, they would get a lot of money for doing nothing.

Isn’t it foolish to reject such a proposal?

At least, Jung-yeol thought so.

People can only see the world as much as they have the vision to see.

“Good. I think I can organize it to this extent. It’s too bad… but I can’t get any more money from this.”

The amount at the very bottom of the organized Excel file was about one billion won.

This was the amount that Jung-yeol was trying to pocket, so just looking at that number made Jung-yeol giggle.

It was just numbers on a computer file right now.

But Jung-yeol already felt like this money was his own.

“What should I do with this? Should I buy a foreign car?”

Jung-yeol saved the file and got up from his seat, humming.

The sunlight coming through the window blinds, which was usually too bright and annoying.

Today, Jung-yeol felt it was warm and pleasant.

“Time is passing too slowly. I wish next month would come quickly.”

When February comes, the competition results will be announced and the construction cost will be executed.

The one billion won written in this Excel file will become Jung-yeol’s.

Jung-yeol, imagining that, clenched his fists and trembled.

“Heh, hee hee hee!”

But right at that moment, when Jung-yeol was having such happy thoughts.

Someone began to knock on the door of Jung-yeol’s office.

Thud- Thud! Thud!

When Jung-yeol heard that sound, his happy face suddenly changed to a worried face.

It wasn’t a careful knock, but a loud pounding that was so annoying, that he became very annoyed.

“Who is being so loud and impolite?!”

These days, there was no one in the company who could treat him carelessly.

Even the CEO was watching him, so Jung-yeol couldn’t understand who would dare to knock on his office door so loudly.

“Who is it?! Who is making so much noise?!”

But in the very next moment.

Bang!

Before he could finish talking, the door suddenly flew open with a bang.

Jung-yeol was speechless.

Many men in black suits rushed into the room through the open door.

Only then did Jung-yeol realize that something was wrong.

A man walked towards Jung-yeol, whose face had turned pale.

Then, with no emotion on his face, he spoke to Jung-yeol.

“We’re from the Seoul Western District Prosecutor’s Office.”