Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 103

30th. Panama’s Golden Egg (5)

Park Byung-joon returned to his hotel room, unaware that Lee Sung-min, the man who had orchestrated his exile to Panama, was staying in the same hotel.

“Damn it.”

Park Byung-joon sat on the bed, muttering a short complaint.

“That bastard Jang Ho-min, it’s been ages since I contacted him…”

Park Byung-joon’s insides were boiling.

It had been over a month since he sent Jang Ho-min an SOS request along with information about the Panama copper mine. Yet, Jang Ho-min hadn’t even made a single phone call, which was driving him crazy.

Sighing deeply, Park Byung-joon got up and grabbed a can of beer from the refrigerator. In this sweltering heat and under this stress, beer was the only thing he could rely on.

As Park Byung-joon opened the can and took a sip, his phone rang. He lowered the can and answered.

“…Yes. I’ll go there.”

Park Byung-joon hung up and tilted his head.

“Who the hell wants to see me…?”

He couldn’t imagine why an anonymous man would want to meet him at a bar. Even the employees dispatched to the site were subtly avoiding him, so who could it be?

“Oh well, whatever. I’ll go and get some free drinks.”

Since he felt he had nothing to lose, Park Byung-joon got off the bed and left the room.

He walked down the hallway, took the elevator, and got off at the floor with the bar. Following the waiter’s directions, he arrived at a table.

“Who… are you?”

In response to Park Byung-joon’s question, the younger of the two men sitting at the table stood up and extended his hand.

“I’m Lee Sung-min from Haedong Group.”

At that moment, Park Byung-joon’s face crumpled.

###

Seeing Park Byung-joon’s reaction, Park Tae-jin’s eyes narrowed. I reached out to subtly restrain him, then smiled at Park Byung-joon.

“It seems you’re not happy to see me. Mr. Park Byung-joon, CEO of Shinsung Corporation’s construction division.”

“How could I be? Thanks to your uncle, I got screwed and have been exiled to this jungle for three years.”

Despite Park Byung-joon’s blunt reply, I maintained my smile.

“I didn’t intend it, but I am sorry about the Seongsu Bridge incident, Mr. Park Byung-joon. But our uncle didn’t do that to bring you down; he did it to try and make a living.”

“What did you say?”

Park Byung-joon’s voice rose and his eyes widened, but I continued speaking.

“And didn’t you confidently declare that you would never collapse? You said you’d bet your head on it, so isn’t it your own fault? Why are you blaming our uncle for that?”

Park Byung-joon’s clenched fist trembled, and Park Tae-jin started to rise. I stopped Park Tae-jin with my right arm, calmed him down, and said to Park Byung-joon.

“It’s already in the past. I think it would be more productive for both of us to plan for the future… what do you think?”

As soon as I finished speaking, Park Byung-joon scoffed.

“You’re a funny guy. Just because Haedong Group has grown in the last few years, you think you’re invincible?”

“That’s not important. What’s important is that Director Park Tae-jin and I know that you tried to stab your former master in the back, Mr. Park Byung-joon.”

I raised one corner of my mouth, and I could see Park Byung-joon’s eyes wavering.

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“We know everything about you joining hands with Vice Chairman Jang Ho-min to screw over Chairman Jang Ho-gun, Mr. Park Byung-joon.”

Park Byung-joon flinched for a moment, then shouted at me.

“Do you have proof? Do you have proof?”

“Proof? We have it. The Cobre Panama copper mine, isn’t it?”

As I coldly revealed the evidence, Park Byung-joon’s eyes widened.

“H-how did you…?”

“It’s a long story. One thing I can say for sure is that even Vice Chairman Jang Ho-min has abandoned you.”

People collapse when their last hope disappears, unable to bear the weight of despair. Just like Park Byung-joon, who was now slumped in front of me, his legs giving way.

Park Byung-joon’s shoulders shook as he lowered his head. He made a sobbing sound, and tears fell to the floor, scattering in all directions.

Watching Park Byung-joon’s continued sobbing, Park Tae-jin and I wore bitter expressions. Even though he lived like a bat [someone who plays both sides], he was just a salaried worker who had no choice but to do so to survive, so seeing him made me uncomfortable.

How long had it been? Park Byung-joon raised his head, his cheeks stained with tears.

“So, what do you want to say? Did you come all the way here to laugh at me?”

“Let’s talk over a drink. I’ve prepared a good one to share with you.”

“…Alright.”

Park Tae-jin and I each grabbed one of Park Byung-joon’s arms, who was struggling to get up on his own. We helped him sit across from us.

“Glenlivet 25 years… a fine vintage.”

“It’s the oldest Glenlivet sells. It’s still younger than the time you’ve spent buried in Shinsung, though.”

A venomous look appeared in Park Byung-joon’s eyes.

Was it because he was thinking about the dust, dirt, and filth he had endured for Shinsung for more than five years longer than the liquor had aged? Or was it because of our family, who gave Jang Ho-gun an excuse to throw him into the gutter? Or was it because of the Jang family, who had abandoned him twice?

Whatever the reason, the angrier and more betrayed Park Byung-joon felt, the better. The source of that anger and betrayal would be found in the finishing blow, and there was no drug as effective for self-justification as those two emotions.

I opened the packaging, removed the cork, and filled the glass in front of Park Byung-joon with the bottle I held in both hands. As I was about to pour the drink, Park Byung-joon raised his hand.

“Wait a minute.”

“Why?”

“You don’t pour your own drink. You bought a drink for a washed-up guy, so you should at least pour it to make it worth the price, right?”

I hadn’t realized Park Byung-joon was this type of person. I thought he was just someone who played both sides… was he at least trying to salvage his self-esteem?

It wasn’t a bad request, so I handed over the bottle and politely received the drink that Park Byung-joon poured. Then, Park Tae-jin also held his glass out to the end of the bottle and received his drink.

Without a toast, Park Byung-joon took a sip of the drink and sighed.

“Life is really dirty. It’s more tiring to go from a tenant farmer to a steward [a person who manages another’s property]. Since you can’t go from a steward to a landlord, you have to watch the landlords’ every move.”

Park Byung-joon emptied his glass and began to complain about his situation.

“…I’ve earned hundreds of millions of dollars from the Middle East since you little punks were kids! But, hic! They abandon me? Those goddamn sons of bitches… !”

His face was red from the alcohol, and he couldn’t hide his background in the construction industry as he hiccuped and cursed. Park Tae-jin and I didn’t even frown and just listened to the curses calmly.

“Those dog-like bastards… they embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars in slush funds [secret funds used for bribery or illegal activities] because of me, and then they spit me out like chewed gum after sucking all the sweetness out? What do you think? Do you think that’s right? Hic!”

“No, our family wouldn’t do that.”

Park Byung-joon pointed at me with his finger as I chimed in appropriately.

“Yeah, Lee Sung-min! If your family can’t give the guys who’ve been to prison executive positions, they just set them up with dealerships or employment agencies, right? But Jang Byung-ho, Jang Ho-gun, Jang Ho-min… hey, you sons of bitches!”

The Jang family of Shinsung Group only took care of such rewards for a small number of people. Even considering the difference in size between Shinsung and Haedong, it was true that Shinsung Group was stingy, so Park Byung-joon’s curses were valid.

After that, Park Byung-joon rattled off things that Jang Ho-gun and Jang Ho-min would be shocked to hear, and he kept drinking.

Thump!

When about three empty bottles were piled up on the table, Park Byung-joon couldn’t handle the alcohol and collapsed. I shook my head as I watched Park Byung-joon snoring away.

“This guy is amazing. He emptied three bottles of liquor by himself.”

I knew that people from construction companies were heavy drinkers, but I was stunned that a man nearing sixty could drink three bottles of liquor without stopping… Unlike me, who was stunned, Park Tae-jin looked at Park Byung-joon with a bitter expression.

“His drinking must have increased as he drank while working. To kick someone out here who worked so hard that his body was broken…”

“But we got something out of this. If we close the deal by tomorrow, it’ll be fine.”

I grabbed the recorder hidden under the table, and then Park Tae-jin and I supported Park Byung-joon and left the bar.

***

The next evening.

Park Tae-jin and I were enjoying a room service dinner in Park Byung-joon’s room, listening to the recording playing on the table.

[Those dog-like bastards… they embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars in slush funds because of me, and then they spit me out like chewed gum after sucking all the sweetness out? What do you think? Do you think that’s right? Hic!]

Park Byung-joon looked at us with the knife in his hand as if he was going to kill us, but Park Tae-jin and I calmly cut the steak and put it in our mouths.

“What do you think, Mr. Park Byung-joon? Should we send this to Chairman Jang Ho-gun and Vice Chairman Jang Ho-min to help them get along?”

I swallowed a piece of steak, wiped my mouth with a napkin, and Park Byung-joon shouted at me.

“Why are you going this far? To me, who has nothing!”

“You do have something: the connections you’ve built in Panama.”

Both the data that Gong Seong-pil intercepted and handed over and the data that Jang Ho-min handed over showed that Park Byung-joon had used up to 20 million dollars of his overseas personal slush funds to build connections for the Cobre Panama copper mine. What I wanted was those connections.

“Fernando Linares, Juan Diaz, Simon Blanco… they’re people who have some power in Panama’s political and business circles, especially in relation to mining development rights. Right, hyung [older brother or male friend]?”

Listening to my question, Park Tae-jin gently put down the wine glass he was holding.

“That’s right, young master. With those people’s connections, not only will it be possible to acquire mining development rights, but the environmental impact assessment period will also be shortened.”

“Th-this…!”

Park Byung-joon’s hand on the table trembled, but he couldn’t say anything. His leverage was tied to us because of his drunken rant yesterday.

“What are you going to do, Mr. Park Byung-joon? Are you going to sell those connections to us and take the money, or are you going to be boiled in a cauldron in the hands of Chairman Jang Ho-gun or Vice Chairman Jang Ho-min?”

Given their personalities, or rather, the characteristics of all chaebol [large family-owned conglomerate] owners, the only way to deal with such a traitor is to discard them after they’ve been used. Even if they hand over the mining data, they’re not the kind of people who would let them live peacefully.

Park Byung-joon glared at me, then grabbed the neck of the wine bottle next to him and began to drink straight from it. The way he emptied the bottle, whether it overflowed from his mouth or not, made him look like a bloodthirsty vampire.

Park Byung-joon, who looked eerie with his shirt stained with wine, glared at me and asked.

“How much will you buy it for?”

“Name your price, considering the tape of yesterday’s events.”

As I made a suggestion mixed with a warning that I wouldn’t be taken advantage of, Park Byung-joon made a groaning sound.

How long had it been? Park Byung-joon’s groaning stopped.

“Twenty million. Twenty million US dollars.”

Listening to his price, I put down the knife and raised my hand, folding only my thumb.

“Forty million dollars.”

“F-forty million dollars?”

I chuckled as I watched Park Byung-joon stuttering with wide eyes.

“I’ll put it in a Virgin Islands account after receiving the connections. How about it?”

Park Byung-joon hesitated for a moment, then stopped and nodded. Seeing that, I breathed a sigh of relief inside.

The slush fund to be used for the negotiation with Park Byung-joon was the money that my grandfather had hidden in Triumph. I had received permission to use up to a maximum of 50 million dollars, so I had kept 10 million dollars.

Watching Park Byung-joon drop the cutlery he was holding, I added one more word.

“Sell all your assets in Korea and move to the United States. That would be better for you.”

Ending my last consideration for Park Byung-joon, I emptied the wine, put down the napkin I had wiped my lips with, and left the room with Park Tae-jin.

***

Many things happened after that meeting.

We contacted Seon Hae-cheol to create an account in the Virgin Islands, laundered 40 million dollars of my grandfather’s slush fund, and took over the connections that Park Byung-joon had built with his introduction.

The influential figures in Panama that we met were initially puzzled, but after hearing about the achievements of Haedong Group’s resource development projects, they agreed to cooperate in the transfer of the Cobre Panama copper mine development rights.

In the process, I had to use a total of 40 million dollars of the slush fund I had created, but I didn’t regret it at all. Wasn’t I going to get a super-large copper mine worth 10 billion dollars in 20 years?

When we announced that the lobbying was over, the Haedong Corporation officials attempted to contact the Panamanian government, and as a result of the negotiations, they signed a contract to acquire 100 percent of the mine’s shares for 200 million dollars.

As soon as Park Byung-joon received the account information from us, he destroyed all related data and submitted his resignation to Shinsung Corporation’s New York branch, leaving Panama for the Virgin Islands.

Gong Seong-pil also erased his traces and resigned from Shinsung Group around that time, so Jang Ho-gun will never know that we picked up the golden egg he dropped.

Now all that’s left for us is to return to New York. We have to take care of company matters and personal matters.