Mining And Construction Tycoon [EN]: Chapter 196

Mining Tycoon and Construction Conglomerate – Episode 196

196 The Valley of Emotion (1)

The next day, newspapers and broadcasts blared the Cheongil Apartment incident as headline news.

As the shocking news spread, reports flooded in from all sides.

– Mr. Kim (36 years old): The basement turns into a swimming pool every rainy season! The drainage is awful!

– Mr. Choi (56 years old): The roof leaks! Mold grows on all the wallpaper, and the door frames are falling apart! It’s unlivable!

– Mr. Han (72 years old): What’s the point of having an elevator if it’s always out of order? I have to climb to the 9th floor at my age?

– Lee (12 years old): The smell! Seriously, it reeks of garbage inside! Did they bury a body in the walls or something?

Everywhere people gathered, they talked about Cheongil Apartments.

The shocking sight of the massive garbage wall, vividly displayed in broadcasts and newspaper articles, caused immense shock and horror.

Cheongil Apartments earned the infamous title of ‘Garbage Apartment,’ a first in Korea.

The premium apartment brand that Han Cheong-ho had invested so heavily in was now ruined.

Bang.

Lee Moon-bok slammed his fist on the desk.

“What on earth did you do to Cheongil Apartments? Shoddy construction with garbage materials?”

Han Il-kwon sat in his chair, casually propping his feet up on the desk.

On the desk sat a nameplate:

Han Il-kwon picked at his ear with his little finger.

“I don’t know. Kim Jae-hak did it, I tell you.”

“Kim Jae-hak? You mean Kim Bong-nam’s son, the former Executive Director of Cheongil Construction?”

“Yeah, him.”

Han Il-kwon wiggled his toes.

“Don’t you know? He went to jail because of the Cheongil Construction mess. They say he took the fall for everything.”

Kim Jae-hak ended up in prison, shouldering the blame for the criminal evidence that surfaced from the Gukbin Manor [a luxurious private residence].

This was because the Gukbin Manor ledger was marked as ‘Cheongil Construction,’ not ‘Han Il-kwon.’

“Now is not the time to assign blame. We need to solve the immediate problem first.”

“Not the time to assign blame? Then why are you here arguing with me?”

Han Il-kwon slammed his shoe on the desk.

“Solve the immediate problem. Get rid of all those noisy bastards out front.”

Han Il-kwon said, gesturing towards the protesters visible below the window.

“And somehow, successfully complete the Cheongil Apartment sales.”

The Cheongil Apartment sales contracts had vanished completely, replaced by a daily uproar of refund requests.

Out of 144 households, only 23 had been sold.

And those buyers were protesting every day.

So the remaining 121 households remained unsold.

“Chairman, starting with Cheongil Apartments, the stock price of the entire Cheongil Group is plummeting daily.”

“You need to fix that. You’re paid handsomely, so earn your keep. What makes you think you can come here and argue?”

Han Il-kwon glared at him.

“Think carefully about why I gave you the position of Vice Chairman. Got it?”

At Han Il-kwon’s words, Lee Moon-bok bit his lip.

“I’m working myself to death! But what can I do when Cheongil Construction is on the verge of bankruptcy? The Cheongil Hotel also burned down, so it’s just a money pit, not an asset!”

Lee Moon-bok held his head, suffering from a headache.

“Cheongil Apartments, which should be providing immediate relief, are in chaos due to shoddy construction! What do you want me to do? My credit is so bad that I can’t even secure new construction projects!”

“Can’t get new construction projects? Go to the Middle East. They say there’s a lot of oil money there, right?”

“Huh, the Middle East?”

“Kang Tae-soo earned $1 billion from one construction project, so we can just get a few of those. Simple.”

Lee Moon-bok was speechless, his mouth agape.

Middle East construction sounded easy, but breaking through the barriers and winning contracts was far from simple.

If it were easy, Han Cheong-ho wouldn’t have been lobbying the Saudi minister so desperately.

In fact, didn’t the Jubail Industrial Port project fall through despite all that money spent?

Lee Moon-bok’s sigh deepened.

“Do you even know how much of a deficit Cheongil Construction has accumulated?”

“Do I need to know that too?”

If the group chairman didn’t know, who would!

Lee Moon-bok barely swallowed the curse that threatened to escape his throat.

“If Cheongil Apartments aren’t sold, Cheongil Construction will go bankrupt.”

“Preventing that is your job.”

“Cheongil Motors, Cheongil Shipping, Cheongil Distribution, Cheongil Cement! All the money from the affiliates has been poured into Cheongil Construction! All the affiliates are currently operating at a loss!”

“Then just turn the deficit into a surplus.”

It was impossible to communicate!

If it were as easy as it sounded, what would be the problem?

“We need to sell the affiliates. Let’s use that money to pay off some of the deficit first.”

“Is there even a company willing to buy Cheongil Group’s affiliates?”

No.

Cheongil Group had lost all credibility.

Everyone was reluctant to acquire Cheongil Group because Han Cheong-ho had engaged in shady dealings with Cheongil Oil.

Now that the financial situation was much worse, there was nothing left to salvage.

“Then we need to get more loans from the bank. We need to extend the repayment period as well.”

“Go ahead and try. Good luck.”

Han Il-kwon took out a knife from the drawer.

He closed one eye and aimed at Lee Moon-bok, contemplating whether to throw it or not.

Lee Moon-bok flinched.

Swish. Thud.

The knife, released from Han Il-kwon’s hand, narrowly missed Lee Moon-bok’s temple.

It landed perfectly in the dartboard on the wall.

Shiver.

Lee Moon-bok swallowed hard, staring at the knife embedded in the dartboard.

‘It’s a real knife?’

The grazed skin tingled.

Lee Moon-bok, startled, left the chairman’s office without looking back.

“Tch, he got scared.”

Han Il-kwon smiled, spinning the knife with his finger.

“Should I meet Muryong, my uncle from Cho Myeong Bank, first?”

Han Il-kwon lowered his legs from the desk.

It seemed he needed to visit Cho Myeong Bank.

He needed to ask them to extend more loans to Cheongil.

* * *

Cho Myeong Bank.

Choi Mu-ryong smiled wryly as he looked at Han Il-kwon.

“A loan of 1 billion won [approximately $750,000 USD]? You should talk about repaying the existing loans from Cho Myeong Bank first. You’re putting the cart before the horse.”

“So you won’t do it?”

“You should know that Cho Myeong Bank is struggling these days. Your father visited several times. I’ve already done as much as I can.”

“What do you want?”

“Cho Myeong Motors. You should give me that much.”

“Are you robbing me in broad daylight?”

Han Il-kwon clasped his hands together and leaned back on the sofa.

His smiling face was sinister.

“So you had this kind of conversation with my father.”

“You have no respect for your uncle!”

“Uncle? That’s ridiculous. Why would you be my uncle?”

Han Il-kwon clicked his tongue.

“My father is such a nice person. He just let a pathetic bastard like you walk all over him. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Han Il-kwon kicked the table.

The overturned table crashed into Choi Mu-ryong.

Choi Mu-ryong, horrified, quickly dodged.

“I don’t do favors or negotiations. I make threats.”

“Hey! Han Il-kwon! You son of a……!”

“I’ll give you three days.”

Han Il-kwon said coldly.

“Prepare 1 billion won. Otherwise, you’ll see Cho Myeong Bank go bankrupt.”

“What?”

What was this nonsense?

“Let’s all go down together. We’ll funnel all the losses into one Cheongil affiliate and take down Cho Myeong Bank with it. Ever heard of a chain reaction bankruptcy?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Can I do it, or can’t I? Why? Do you think I’m bluffing?”

It was scary because it seemed like he was capable of it.

There were too many financial ties with Cheongil Group.

‘I worked hard to accumulate shares with Han Cheong-ho, helping each other out. And now this!’

Choi Mu-ryong tried to ignore the cold sweat and shouted.

“Don’t you have any business ethics, you bastard?”

“I don’t deal with ethics. Anything.”

Han Il-kwon shrugged.

“It’s not like I worked hard to build this anyway. I have nothing to lose.”

He truly didn’t seem to have anything to lose.

It was a completely different approach from Han Cheong-ho, who desperately tried to protect his affiliates.

“Then, let’s meet again in three days.”

“You son of a bitch! How can you say that now……!”

“I need to help you make a decision, right?”

Han Il-kwon winked.

“You’ll be hearing from me soon.”
Han Il-kwon smiled even more vilely.

“Hey! Han Il-kwon!”

That’s when it happened.

Ring-ring. Ring-ring. Ring-ring.

The phone in the president’s office of Cho Myeong Bank rang loudly.

“What are you doing? It’s an important call, answer it.”

Choi Mu-ryong reluctantly answered the phone with a sullen face.

-Dad…….

His daughter’s voice sounded strange.

Choi Mu-ryong’s hair stood on end.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

-I need… I need money, Dad, please…….

“Money? Why do you suddenly need money? How much do you need?”

-They say it’s 1 billion won. They won’t give me the drugs. They’re going to sell me to a foreign country. Dad, please give me the money.

“Drugs?”

Choi Mu-ryong looked at Han Il-kwon without realizing it.

Han Il-kwon smiled with his hands in his pockets.

“1 billion won. That’s all you need for now.”

Choi Mu-ryong froze, the phone clutched in his hand.

* * *

Whoosh-

The wind blew fiercely on the rooftop of a high-rise building in Jongno [a district in Seoul].

His tie and clothes fluttered, but he paid no attention.

Basking in the hot sunlight, Tae-soo looked down at the building below.

Tae-soo gazed at the sign and listened to the conversation coming through the bug.

The former agents of the Central Intelligence Agency, newly recruited into the Tae Yang Group, were the best in the field.

-I’ll give you 1 billion won. So release my daughter.

-You should talk about that after giving me the money first. You’re putting the cart before the horse.

-It’s a whopping 1 billion won! You have to give me some time to raise the money!

-It’s only three days? You’re not at an age where you’ll miss your daughter so much if you don’t see her for a few days, right?

Kim Kwang-rok frowned.

“That bastard is a real piece of trash?”

I agree.

‘Han Il-kwon was actually much more extreme than I thought. He deliberately hid his true nature in front of me.’

He completely disregarded the complicated relationship between Cho Myeong Bank and Cheongil Group and resorted to threats.

He never showed such a side in front of Tae-soo in his past life.

That’s because he was instinctively wary of Tae-soo.

‘So Secretary Song was right, I was acting as a check on him.’

The chairman who guided Cheongil from behind and acted as Han Il-kwon’s restraint.

That was Tae-soo’s purpose.

Because of that, Han Il-kwon had developed in a way that involved more secret and insidious misdeeds.

Rather than committing crimes impulsively like now, he first gauged Tae-soo’s reaction.

Wasn’t he the one who secretly and subtly committed murder even then?

‘Han Il-kwon, I will systematically dismantle all the defenses and weapons that protect you.’

Tae-soo silently looked down at the building below.

“Tae-soo, what are you going to do?”

“A 1 billion won internal conflict.”

Cho Myeong Bank had many ties with Cheongil Group through shared interests and money.

Han Cheong-ho and Choi Mu-ryong had been working together for a long time and had grown together.

Until Tae-soo died in his past life, Cheongil Group and Cho Myeong Bank were closely intertwined.

It was a relationship they couldn’t easily sever because of their mutual interests.

“I’m going to turn them into mortal enemies.”

Emotions don’t matter when money is involved.

But sometimes, revenge is more important than money.

Just like Tae-soo.

“Tae-soo, I think those guys are already emotional enough?”

Choi Mu-ryong would be seething at Han Il-kwon because of this threat.

No father would remain calm if his daughter was being drugged.

“Wouldn’t it be fair if Han Il-kwon’s emotions were hurt too?”

What Han Il-kwon was willing to endure and gain was 1 billion won.

What if that 1 billion won was stolen by a robber along the way?

What if Choi Mu-ryong and Han Il-kwon were the only ones who knew about the agreement to exchange Choi Mu-ryong’s daughter for 1 billion won?

Who would Han Il-kwon direct his anger towards if he lost the money?

“I don’t understand what you’re planning at all.”

Kim Kwang-rok didn’t understand easily.

But he soon realized that it didn’t matter.

There was nothing Tae-soo couldn’t do once he set his mind to it.

He must have a plan.

“What should I do?”

“Is robbery possible?”

“Robbery?”

“I don’t think they’ll complain even if the 1 billion won extorted through such despicable means is stolen by a robber.”

Kim Kwang-rok smiled, revealing his gums.

“In that case, they can’t report it to the police and will suffer in silence, right?”

“Exactly. But we need to prepare thoroughly. He’s a persistent and sleazy guy.”

“He can’t be worse than the North Korean spies.”

Chijijik.

Choi Mu-ryong’s voice was heard from the bug.

-1 billion won. I will prepare it by tonight, even if I have to empty the entire vault.

-Good, so you’ll see your precious daughter returning home before curfew?

-Where should we meet? Gukbin Manor? Daeungak [a high-end restaurant]? Or here at Cho Myeong Bank?

-You have to deliver her to my house.

-What about my daughter?

-You can come and pick her up then.

Tae-soo turned to Kim Kwang-rok.

“Let’s prepare too.”

“Okay!”

Kim Kwang-rok nodded.