Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 257

Woojin frowned at the message on his phone. “The Board of Audit and Inspection?” he muttered to himself. That was serious.

He knew they were like the top police for government work, watching over everyone and reporting straight to the President. They had the power to punish anyone caught being corrupt in their jobs. It was a powerful organization, the kind you usually only heard about when something really big was going wrong in the government.

This was what confused Woojin: the Board of Audit and Inspection was directly ordering an audit of Icheon City’s public duties. Icheon City was just a small local government, not some big central agency.

This kind of thing almost never happened.

Of course, the Board of Audit and Inspection had the authority to do this, but there were tons of local governments like Icheon City in South Korea.

It was impossible for them to keep an eye on every little thing.

Usually, the main supervisory body or the audit officer within the local institution would handle audits.

You might think, “Can they check themselves properly?” But usually, it works fine.

When doing any kind of public work, different groups usually have to work together.

For example, the district-level development near the set in Icheon City needed the Urban Planning Committee and the Gyeonggi Provincial Office.

During this teamwork, each group’s audit officers would check the related groups at the same time. So, the audit system was usually pretty careful.

‘But the Board of Audit and Inspection is involved? And the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is complaining?’

The district-level plan that Icheon City and Woojin were working on was really small compared to the whole country.

He couldn’t understand why the Board of Audit and Inspection or the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport would get involved directly.

So, Woojin said,

“Well, it seems like you think so too, Director… There’s definitely no problem on my end, so don’t worry.”

[Yes, I understand. I’m just calling to be sure, haha.]

“And if it’s possible…”

[Yes?]

“Could you share the contact information of the people from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or the Board of Audit and Inspection who contacted the Icheon City Audit Officer?”

[Oh, that’s not hard, but… ]

“There’s no special reason. I’m just going to ask why they are doing this audit.”

[I know you’re upset, but it might be better to avoid contacting them.]

“Because they might get more aggressive?”

[That’s right. You know it well.]

Woojin smiled and answered.

“No need to worry. I don’t want to annoy anyone in charge. I’m just going to politely ask a few questions about things I’m curious about.”

[If that’s the case, I understand.]

“Are there any other problems with the project?”

[Of course not. Except for this audit giving me a bit of a headache… You don’t have to worry.]

“Yes, thank you as always, Director!”

[Same here! I’ll contact you again.]

Click-

Woojin hung up the phone with Director Jo Yonghyun. He leaned back in his chair, thinking.

‘Everything has a reason…’

Even though he didn’t have any proof yet, Woojin was sure there was a reason for the sudden audit.

He didn’t know exactly what it was, but he thought he could find it if he looked closely.

‘I can’t just sit back and let them ruin what I’ve already done.’

Even if the audit started, there wasn’t anything to worry about, but he didn’t want to just do what they wanted.

Woojin knew success always brought trouble.

Woojin’s mind started racing.

Soon after.

Whirr-

A message from Director Jo Yonghyun popped up on Woojin’s phone.

[Board of Audit and Inspection Office 1, 000]

[010-0000-0000]

[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Operations Division, 000]

[010-0000-0000]

After the morning meeting, Woojin asked Jintae to come to his office.

When something suspicious like this happened, Woojin liked to act fast.

The first thing to do was to get information.

“Hyung, do you have the business card of the team leader from the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Policy Planning Division who helped us last time?”

“Oh, of course, I have it. You told me to keep it safe.”

“Can you contact him and say I’d like to treat him to a meal?”

“A meal? Out of the blue?”

“There are some things I want to ask him about… I can’t just call him for no reason, can I?”

“Ah.”

“Tell him I want to thank him for helping us win the Seongsu District project last time by treating him to a delicious meal.”

“Okay.”

“And also, wish him a Happy New Year. Just say it’s for both reasons. I thought it would be better for you to call him, Hyung, since you talked to him directly back then.”

“Well, okay. He’s a nice guy, so it shouldn’t be hard.”

Woojin had strong connections with Gu Yoonkwon and Hwang Jongho, but he couldn’t ask them for help with this kind of thing.

It was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

So, he thought the next best thing was to use the connections he had made during the project.

Making connections with people in government ministries was important, not just for this, so he was trying to set up a meeting through Jintae.

“Well, is there anything else you need?”

“No. We talked about everything else at the meeting.”

“Okay, I understand.”

After Jintae left, Woojin started looking for information himself.

If he was going to ask anything of the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s staff, he needed to know something beforehand.

‘Board of Audit and Inspection Office 1… It seems like they don’t share anything. I think I can find the organization chart of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Operations Division…’

How did the audit happen?

He thought he could find out the shady details if he could at least understand the situation.

As Woojin looked at the organization chart on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s website, he found a bigger clue than he expected.

‘Director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Operations Division… Kim Jihwan?’

He hadn’t searched carefully, just glanced at the chart, but he saw a name he recognized.

‘Where have I heard that name before…’

After a while, memories from last summer came back to Woojin.

[So, Elder. Are you saying they ran away?]

[I think so, CEO Seo. It’s pretty clear, but the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport cut ties and ran… The Ministry of Economy and Finance’s auditor says there’s nothing he can do.]

[Well… The fact that my design was chosen unanimously means the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport abandoned the Architects Association.]

[Anyway, they’re good at sensing things. I was going to catch them and beat them up.]

[So, no one was punished for this?]

[One person was.]

[Who…?]

[Kim Jihwan, the director of the Operations Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, was in charge of this project.]

[Ah, I see.]

[Actually, I suspect that guy, but I can’t do anything about it.]

[What do you mean, suspect…?]

[I heard from the auditor that Kim Jihwan went to the same school as the association president.]

[Ah…!]

[It’s pretty obvious, but there’s no proof, so… Well, he must have been scolded.]

[It all worked out, so don’t worry about it, Elder.]

[Do you think I care about you, CEO Seo?]

[Yes?]

[I just can’t stand those kinds of guys.]

[Ah….]

[I should have thrown him in jail, it’s a shame. Sorry.]

[…….]

After the results for the were decided, Woojin had a drink with Hwang Jongho to thank him.

The name ‘Kim Jihwan’, the director of the Operations Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, was the name he had heard then.

‘I think I’m starting to understand something.’

Of course, Kim Jihwan didn’t call Icheon City directly.

But the fact that someone in Kim Jihwan’s department made the call was suspicious enough.

This project didn’t have anything to do with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Operations Division, so Woojin had good reason to be suspicious.

‘Someone at that level has enough power to ask for an audit. A district-level plan is under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s influence anyway.’

Woojin’s face lit up as he found a clue in this confusing situation.

But it was only for a moment.

A question popped up in Woojin’s head again.

‘So, they started an audit in Icheon City… just because they were mad at me? That doesn’t make sense, does it?’

It was true that there was an audit at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport because of Woojin, but there was no way for them to know that.

Woojin didn’t do anything directly, and they couldn’t think he had the power to influence the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Also, Kim Jihwan was punished because there were problems with how the construction company was chosen, not because of any design issues.

It didn’t make sense for them to hold a grudge against him.

‘If they started an audit because they were mad at me… they’re not just petty…’

If that was the only reason, Woojin was disappointed.

He couldn’t do anything about it, whether they were acting on their own or not.

An audit of a development project was a normal process that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport could easily do.

If they were just doing it to get back at Woojin, he had to accept it quietly.

‘Is that really it? Can someone be that narrow-minded?’

Woojin gathered more information, but he couldn’t find anything else.

So, feeling uneasy but without any real answers, he decided to put it aside for now.

‘If that’s the reason for the audit, I should be glad…’

He had other things to do, so Woojin went back to his other tasks.

It wasn’t a big deal since he had nothing to hide even if there was an audit.

A few days later, he met with the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s staff that he had arranged through Jintae, but he didn’t get any more important clues.

But he did hear more about Kim Jihwan.

“Ah, you mean the director of the Operations Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport? He was the one who was audited last year.”

“I thought so.”

“Is there a problem…?”

“Ah, no. I was just curious.”

So, Woojin decided not to worry about it for now.

He thought that if he wasted his time worrying about the audit, he would be doing what Kim Jihwan wanted.

‘I need to get ready for the audit. If I have to have an audit, I need to get through it as cleanly as possible.’

About two weeks later, Woojin, who had almost forgotten about this, got an unexpected clue from an unexpected place.

“Yes, Director. I heard the design contest ended last week?”

[Yes, CEO.]

“Did you get a lot of good entries?”

[Um, that’s….]

“What’s wrong?”

[I thought at least ten places would enter, but only one place entered.]

“Yes?”

A situation he had seen before.

A déjà vu.

[Luckily, a company called Geumseong Design Office, which is pretty big in urban planning and design, entered….]

“…?”

[Since only one place entered, we can go with them, right?]

Woojin’s mind raced as he heard Director Jo Yonghyun’s voice. He knew exactly what was happening.