The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 152

152. Tell the President to Come Out!

The union leader responded to Director Cho’s request.

“I’d like to accommodate you, but all the tickets are sold out, Director.”

“Hmm, I see.”

The director grumbled as he hung up.

“The union is the boss, the boss. Why are they so obsessed with money?”

“What should we do, Director?”

“Ugh, push out one more! That’s the only way.”

“…….”

“What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?”

“Yes, I understand.”

The name of the young man in third place was crossed out with a red double line.

Afterward, the young man’s interview score was drastically manipulated to half its original value.

*

Street stall.

The rejected young man poured bitter soju [Korean distilled spirit] down his throat in indignation.

He was already on his third bottle of strong soju.

“Hey, does this make sense? It’s not like I botched the interview, but I failed?”

“Senior, calm down. You’ll ruin your health if you drink like this.”

“Who cares about my health? There’s definitely some corruption going on here. Suddenly, the number of interviewees increased from 5 times the quota to 7 times.”

“Suddenly?”

“There’s definitely something fishy going on.”

“It’s a problem since it’s different from the hiring guidelines. Did you check with the company?”

“When I protested to the company, they cut me off, saying that the right to hire and manage personnel is the company’s inherent authority, and told me not to interfere with their work, damn it!”

“Really? Hmm, it stinks to high heaven. But we commoners need to have power. There’s nowhere to turn to complain.”

“Where should I report something like this?”

*

A room salon [Korean-style hostess bar] near 00 Port.

Under the pinkish, flushed lighting, Director Cho of the 00 Port Authority was meeting with the head of the local police station, who was in plain clothes.

Having received a call from the police chief saying he had important information, the port authority director grabbed a bag full of cash and rushed over to buy the information.

After dismissing the hostesses, the two men began to whisper.

It was clear that the information was quite sensitive.

The police chief, who had been stalling for a while, finally downed a shot of sake and opened his mouth.

“How do you manage your organization, Director Cho?”

He wondered why he was making such a fuss just to say something like that.

If he needed pocket money, a simple phone call to any bar to settle the bill would have been taken care of immediately by a staff member, but today he had insisted that the director come in person.

“What do you mean….”

“It seems your labor-management relations are very good.”

This time, he was mocking the labor-management relations, and he couldn’t figure out what he was getting at.

“Ah, yes. There are few places where labor and management coexist as well as in our company. We received an award for excellent labor-management relations in the province last year.”

The director boasted without a clue, and the chief struck a blow.

“I hear the Port Authority and the Port Labor Union are colluding to sell jobs?”

“Yes? Wh-who is making such accusations? The only requests are those that come down from above.”

“Someone sent a tip-off to the higher-ups.”

“A tip-off?”

“The list, the amounts, the dates, the forged documents, etc., are very specific.”

“Damn it! It’s an inside job!”

“I told you it was expensive information.”

“Who the hell is the snitch?”

“I don’t know. The identity of the whistleblower is confidential. The higher-ups told me to investigate because I’m in charge.”

“God damn it! Who the hell is the rat?”

“The investigator will be there tomorrow, so get ready.”

“I understand, Chief. Thank you. Uh, but if you could just tell me who the rat is, I’ll prepare two big ones [bribes].”

“…….”

Director Cho handed the police chief a heavy bag.

*

Off the coast of 00 Port.

Seagulls squawked.

A small fishing boat was floating on the sea, 30 minutes away from the port by boat.

Men with menacing expressions, their arms covered in tattoos, surrounded the personnel director of the Port Authority.

“Ugh, ugh!”

The personnel director, wearing only swimming trunks, had a gag in his mouth, and his hands and feet were tied with nylon rope.

A man holding a sashimi knife chewed gum in a nonchalant manner and said.

“Betrayers die. If you’re born with balls, you should stick to one thing. How dare you stab us in the back? If you just did as you were told, your future would be bright, but why are you acting like that? Did you want to be a hero so badly?”

“Ugh, ugh!”

“Don’t struggle too much from now on. You’ll run out of energy and die quickly. If you want to last even a few seconds longer in the water, you need to conserve your strength from now on.”

The man gestured, and another man tied a rope with a concrete block to the personnel director’s waist.

“This is how Chunhyang [famous Korean folktale character] dived into the sea to meet the Dragon King.”

A subordinate chimed in.

“Boss, it’s not Chunhyang, it’s Shimcheong [another famous Korean folktale character who sacrifices herself to the sea].”

“What? Are you disobeying me now?”

“Ah, no, Boss!”

“Do you want to dive with him?”

“I was wrong, Boss!”

“Chunhyang and Shimcheong are sisters. Got it!”

“Yes, Boss!”

“Hmm, hmm, push this guy in!”

“Ugh, ugh!”

The personnel director, terrified, struggled.

The man pushed the personnel director off the deck into the sea.

Splash!

The subordinate watched the personnel director disappear from the surface of the water and said.

“He must have a family, but to become fish food, the end of a snitch is pitiful, Boss.”

“Why would he die? We’re just scaring him.”

“Yes?”

“You idiot, his hands and feet are tied with nylon rope. We can pull him out of the water right away! If we were going to kill him, we would have tied him with galvanized wire. Once he comes back to life, he’ll be wide awake.”

“Ah, I see!”

“Throw a rubber tube over there. Let him swim hard.”

“Ah, that’s why you put him in a swimsuit!”

“That way, when he comes up, he won’t blame us if he doesn’t get rescued and dies.”

“As expected, I can’t keep up with your brain, Boss!”

It was an action taken on the orders of Director Cho, who told them to scare him so he wouldn’t talk, but not to kill him.

If the personnel director suddenly disappeared or floated up as a corpse, Director Cho would become a suspect.

“I’m Noel in this world.”

“Um, maybe, Nobel….”

“What did you say?”

“No, Boss. Noel is right, Boss!”

Only a black tire rubber tube was floating on the sea, and the fishing boat soon turned back.

Shortly after, as the man said, the personnel director’s head popped up above the water.

“Phew~ Huff, huff!”

He gasped for breath.

Thanks to being a swimmer in high school and a former Marine, he was able to easily escape from the restraints.

*

00 Port Authority.

Director Cho’s car, which had arrived for work, stopped in front of the entrance.

The secretary quickly ran to open the back door, and Director Cho got out.

At that moment, a black object jumped out from behind the flower bed.

And charged at Director Cho, wielding an iron pipe.

It was the personnel director.

“You bastard! Get out of the way!”

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

The secretary, who had blocked him, was hit by the iron pipe and fell to the ground.

The director recognized the personnel director and was horrified.

“Wh-what are you doing, Director Shin!”

“Shut up! Personnel is everything, you bastard!”

Thwack!

The iron pipe struck the director’s shoulder.

“Ugh!”

The personnel director dragged the fallen director into the elevator and went up to the roof of the building.

Click!

He locked the roof door and secured it with an iron chain and padlock.

On the roof, an air rifle, live ammunition, a mountain gas cylinder, water, food, and a blanket were prepared in advance.

The personnel director tied Director Cho’s bleeding hands and feet with wire and said.

“I’m already a dead man. I have nothing more to lose. Now you and I are going to die together!”

“H-hey, I was wrong! Let’s talk this out!”

“It’s too late. You should have done that sooner. I’ll make you regret not killing me.”

He gagged Director Cho and tied him precariously to the roof railing.

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh~

The police cars that had been called arrived.

The personnel director looked down and shouted.

“If you come up to the building, I’ll cut the director’s rope! Don’t even think about coming up!”

The police shouted through a megaphone.

“Director Shin Hak-soo! This will make things worse! Release the hostage and let’s talk!”

“You bastards! The police and you guys are all in the same gang! You’re the dirty snitches!”

“…….”

“Call the police chief and the newspaper reporters! Now!”

“Director Shin, calm down, release the hostage, and let’s talk!”

“Stop talking nonsense and call the police chief and the reporters within 20 minutes! If you don’t, the director will fall and be covered in blood!”

Even though they hadn’t been notified, reporters began to gather one by one.

A broadcasting station’s news camera also arrived and began filming.

When the reporters arrived, the personnel director scattered the prepared leaflets into the air.

The leaflets, fluttering like snow, listed the corruption of the Port Authority and the police as follows.

– I accuse the 00 Port Authority and the Port Labor Union of job corruption!!

– Director Cho of the Port Authority colluded with union officials to illegally pass as many as 13 out of 15 new employees through acquaintances or by receiving money in the new employee recruitment.

– The Port Labor Union received money in the name of employment in exchange for hiring dockworkers.

– Executives of the Port Labor Union’s branch in charge of cargo handling for regular ships made a secret agreement with the shipping company, paid workers much less than the amount they should have received, and embezzled workers’ wages.

– Executives of the Port Labor Union’s fisheries branch colluded with the joint fish market to pay workers working at the joint fish market far below the minimum wage and overtime, night, and holiday work allowances, embezzling and violating the Labor Standards Act.

– Union executives underreported the wages of union members in the relevant branch from the amount received from the corporation and business owners, and embezzled hundreds of millions of won by paying less in national pension and health insurance premiums.

– I reported these facts to the Provincial Police Agency, but the police informed the corporation of the investigation schedule and my identity, and Director Cho tried to have me murdered by submerging me in the sea.

– I do not trust the police or public power, so I am forced to take hostages to judge directly and inform the world!

When the vice president of the Port Authority arrived, the reporters flocked to him.

“Is it true that the corporation and the union are taking bribes and committing job corruption, embezzling in various vested interest projects, and the corporation is sharing profits through kickbacks?”

“Uh, there are many misunderstandings. It’s what a criminal is saying. Most of it is mostly unfounded or distorted. There are facts that relatives and others have been employed, but they have passed through legitimate procedures, such as possessing related qualifications, so there is no problem because it was not done through bribery requests. Everything will be revealed in the prosecution’s investigation.”

At this time, the head of the local police station arrived.

The reporters swarmed in and asked.

“Is it true that you provided the company with the identity information of the whistleblower, Director Shin, as he claims?”

“Hmm, hmm, that’s not true. It’s just an excuse from a criminal.”

The standoff continued like that.

*

The President’s office.

The President was watching the scene of the hostage situation on the roof of the 00 Port Authority through TV breaking news.

The leaflets scattered by Director Shin were also on the desk.

“It’s the Port Authority I attended! The director boasted that it was a company where labor and management were doing well, but it was a hotbed of corruption! Sigh~ I didn’t even know that and praised them….”

The President’s face flushed.