The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 113

113. Excavation or Grave Robbery

The hotel’s general affairs manager hurried down and handed an envelope to the firefighter.

“Please use this for a company dinner with the crew tonight. We will correct any issues pointed out immediately.”

“Sir, are you trying to add bribery and obstruction of business to the charges?”

“Pardon?”

The hand holding the envelope couldn’t have felt more awkward.

During Chairman Wang’s era, a massive fire at Daeyeonggak Hotel resulted in 191 deaths and 63 injuries, earning the unfortunate title of the world’s largest hotel fire.

The cause of the fire was an LP gas explosion in the coffee shop on the first floor.

The building had few emergency stairs, and even the rooftop door was locked, leading to the discovery of over 20 bodies in front of the rooftop entrance.

At the time, the country’s tallest 32m ladder truck was used for firefighting, but it only reached the 7th floor.

In addition, fire disasters continued due to low safety awareness, including the Yongdu-dong shantytown fire that burned down 130 houses and the Namdaemun Market fire.

The law passed by the National Assembly this time was a measure taken by the President to prevent such large-scale accidents in advance.

The firefighter replied.

“The law has changed. The executive branch has issued instructions to strictly manage and inspect for prevention. The number of personnel has also been greatly increased, so there will be frequent regular and surprise inspections, not just temporary crackdowns. Don’t even think about glossing over things.”

Daeyeonggak Hotel received a strong punishment of a one-month business suspension for the first time in the country. It was a pilot case.

Large lodging facilities and buildings were put on high alert.

A major fire disaster did not occur at Daeyeonggak.

*

Namdaemun Market.

The clothing market mainly conducted wholesale business at dawn, so it closed in the afternoon except for street stalls.

A merchant, with clothes piled up like a mountain on a stall, clapped and stomped, shouting.

“Come on, pick, pick! If you pick well, you can get a suit for the price of socks, come on, pick, pick!”

For men, dyed and reformed military uniforms were popular. They were durable and less prone to getting dirty, making them perfect for work clothes.

For women, parachute skirts were popular. They were made by tailoring real parachutes, making them light, never wearing out, and less prone to getting dirty.

In a corner of the grocery store, a section selling American chocolate, gum, cookies, butter, and coffee was popular.

A safety patrol team was formed, centered around veterans who had returned from Vietnam with injuries.

When it was time to close, the safety patrol team would invariably appear, blowing whistles and shouting.

“Check if you’ve turned off the heaters!”

“Report any old wires that are short-circuiting!”

“Clear all items from the fire escape routes!”

The shop owner grumbled.

“Why don’t you crack down on those street vendors instead of telling us what to do with our shops!”

“Sir, will you only come to your senses after getting your face burned like me? Safety is for your own good. Street vendors pack up and leave when the sun goes down. Proper shops should lead by example, not the street vendors. If a fire breaks out, everything will turn to ashes.”

“Honestly, this isn’t for the shops, it’s just to give the injured veterans work. Let’s just do it roughly.”

“Sir, you’re saying something that could cause big trouble. On the battlefield, doing things roughly means immediate death. Don’t you know the President’s personality? Daeyeonggak was immediately suspended. Suspending a few shops is nothing.”

The safety patrol team only had the right to inspect, not to arrest, but shops that were reported on the daily safety inspection report were investigated by the police the next day and always punished.

The safety budget was increased more than threefold, and the number of inspectors was greatly increased, establishing constant inspections.

Expensive ladder fire trucks and fire extinguishing equipment for high-rise buildings were also greatly reinforced.

The building codes for new buildings were strengthened to the level of developed countries.

* * *

The Songsan-ri Tombs in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province.

A drizzle was falling.

Under the direction of the Cultural Heritage Administration, workers were repairing waterways at Tombs No. 5 and No. 6 in Songsan-ri, which had already been excavated.

With heavier rain expected tomorrow, they were digging around the mounds to prevent water from seeping into the mural tombs.

“Heave-ho!”

Clang!

While hoeing, the worker’s tool hit something dull at the end.

Looking closely, it was a baked Baekje brick.

“Oh, what’s this?”

“Kim, what’s wrong?”

“This looks like an old brick.”

“Probably just a shard. Dig it up anyway.”

Digging down along the brick, a wall appeared, and the upper part of an arch, seemingly an entrance, began to emerge.

“Oh, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“It looks like a royal tomb with its splendor.”

“What isn’t a royal tomb around here? The problem is they’ve all been looted.”

Unlike Silla tombs, Goguryeo and Baekje tombs have accessible structures, so ten out of ten were looted, leaving only murals like the Songsan tombs, with no burial goods.

The museum director, following the manual, reported by phone to the Director of the Cultural Heritage Administration, who in turn reported to the Minister of Culture and Sports.

The Minister instructed.

“It seems a new tomb has been discovered, send an expert to take a look.”

It was a routine instruction.

A tomb expert arrived, and the workers continued to dig.

But it wasn’t a fragment, it was a complete tomb.

Thud, thud!

Continuing to dig, an entrance blocked with bricks and firmly plastered with lime appeared.

“It’s raining a lot and it’s getting dark, let’s continue tomorrow when the rain stops.”

Swish-swish-

That evening, heavy rain fell.

The workers spent the night digging ditches in front of the tomb, diverting rainwater to prevent it from entering the tomb.

Fortunately, the rain stopped the next day.

The excavation work resumed.

The lime was blocking the tomb entrance as hard as concrete, slowing down the progress.

“Let’s tie it with a rope and lift it with a crane.”

It was afternoon before they could lift the lime.

“Okay, lift!”

The top line of the lime hanging from the rope was lifted, and light entered the hole.

It was the first sunlight in 1400 years.

The expert looked inside through the hole.

Most looted tombs are desolate.

But looking inside, he swallowed hard.

In the tunnel-shaped entrance, a jar was overturned, and a stone animal was glaring at him with two epitaphs [inscriptions] in front of it.

His heart sank.

“It’s an untouched virgin tomb!”

The possibility of it being the first unlooted Baekje royal tomb increased.

He calmed himself and quietly instructed.

If the rumors spread, even the workers might turn into grave robbers.

“Okay, carefully remove the bricks blocking the entrance.”

He kept his mouth shut so that the people around him wouldn’t notice and took the bricks away one by one.

As the entrance was opened, the expert dismissed the workers and carefully entered with the director of the Gongju National Museum.

The shape of the baked bricks carefully stacked was unusual.

The two moved cautiously with trembling hearts.

As they saw in the hole earlier, there was an overturned jar and an unknown stone animal (stone statue).

They dusted off the epitaphs under the stone statue.

The first line of the epitaph read:

– 寧東大將軍百濟斯麻王

The two looked at each other, unable to close their mouths.

Wasn’t Sama (斯摩) the name of King Muryeong (武寧)!?

The 25th king of Baekje, who stabilized Baekje, which had fallen into chaos after losing the Han River area to Goguryeo (reigned 501~523).

“Oh, my God! This is incredible!”

One of the characteristics of Korean tombs is that they do not write the era or name.

Therefore, even if a virgin tomb is excavated, the most important era cannot be known, which is a fundamental obstacle to revealing our ancient culture and history.

The greatest wish of domestic historians was to discover artifacts with the era and inscriptions written on them.

But that appeared as a reality before their eyes.

Moreover, it was the tomb of a Baekje king!

Going further inside, they saw artifacts such as stone lanterns, gold crowns, and ring-pommel swords.

“Let’s report to the central government immediately.”

The museum director immediately ran to report to the Minister with a trembling voice.

“Minister, it’s King Muryeong’s tomb. It’s a virgin tomb with the burial goods of the king and queen preserved as they are!”

The Minister immediately reported to the President.

“Your Excellency, please rejoice!”

The President had an ominous feeling at that first word.

Sure enough, the prediction was correct.

“Your Excellency, the unlooted Baekje King Muryeong’s tomb has been excavated in Gongju!”

He proudly reported it as an achievement.

The President was startled.

Then he lost his reason and shouted.

“Stop the excavation and never let the media know!”

“What? We need to excavate to prevent looting…”

“Send a police special forces unit to control the area so that no one can even approach it! Stop the excavation immediately!”

“…….”

“Don’t you take a single step inside, don’t touch the burial goods! If you can’t stop it, it’s your head!”

It was the first time the President had been so furious.

The Minister, stunned, conveyed the President’s instructions via direct line.

“It’s the President’s order. Withdraw completely from the tomb and prevent even an ant from entering! And never let the media know!”

Only three or four people went inside to look, and fortunately, they were not yet about to take out the artifacts.

However, the museum’s public relations officer called the reporters, saying it was a scoop.

During Chairman Wang’s era, the excavation of King Muryeong’s tomb left a shameful stain on the history of world archeology.

The name of King Muryeong spread across the country through the airwaves, and before the excavation, the area around the tomb was instantly crowded with spectators and newspaper reporters who had rushed from all over.

The excavation team, losing their reason due to the unexpected large excavation, came to this conclusion.

Before more people gathered and it became difficult to manage, they decided to finish the excavation quickly, even if it meant working all night.

That night, reporters with three or four cameras around their necks desperately rushed in, clamoring to take pictures first.

So they promised to let each newspaper take pictures for only 2 minutes from the entrance to the inside.

However, the cameramen who went in couldn’t take their feet off, and they went inside recklessly, even stepping on and breaking a spoon.

The excavation team, in a hurry, quickly turned on the generator and turned on the lights.

The rotten coffin boards were scattered all over the room.

As they wrapped the artifacts in cotton cloth and took them out one by one, tree roots covered the floor like loofahs in the gaps between the floor bricks, and beads and gold ornaments were scattered between the rotten boards.

It was a task that took several months to cut out those tree roots one by one with scissors and then take out the ornaments.

The work of fighting with reporters, taking notes in the dark at night, drawing maps, and taking out objects continued until morning.

The Baekje royal tomb was hastily excavated in just one night.

This time, such a disaster had to be prevented.

Thud, thud, thud!

It was the President’s helicopter. He arrived near the site before the Minister of Culture, reporters, and police.

Without warning, the President, the Chief of the Presidential Security Service, and two bodyguards got off and ran over.

The excavation team members and museum officials were surprised and didn’t know what to do.

The President, with bloodshot eyes, shouted at the museum director.

“Have you secured the royal tomb?”

“Yes, Your Excellency! We are completely controlling it as ordered.”

“I told you not to let the excavators in either!”

“Of course. We are only guarding the entrance.”

At that moment, reporters with cameras around their necks rushed over.

“Where is the royal tomb?”

The President’s brow furrowed with anger.

The museum director turned pale and trembled like a rabbit in front of a tiger.

“I told you not to inform the media!”

“I’m sorry, Your Excellency! The staff had already contacted…”

The reporter urged without noticing.

“Where is the site? Oh, there it is!”

As the reporter ran towards the tomb, the President shouted at the Chief of the Presidential Security Service.

“Shoot that guy!”

“Pardon?”

“Give a warning!”

“Yes, sir!”

“You can shoot to kill if he doesn’t comply!”

The Chief of the Presidential Security Service took out a pistol from his chest holster and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang!