The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 6

6. At the Safe House in Gungjeong-dong

Whether managing a conglomerate or governing as president, the work processes were similar, allowing Wang, who had regressed [returned to an earlier state], to adapt quickly to the Blue House [the presidential residence] system.

The problem was his personal life. Wang’s biggest challenge was his sexual desire.

‘Damn it, this is driving me crazy. What pleasure is there in being president?’

Back when he was Chairman Wang, he was a womanizer who enjoyed finishing work during the day and having secret rendezvous with beautiful women at night.

Thinking of exquisite beauties, the desires he had suppressed while adjusting to the Blue House resurfaced.

Although his appearance had changed, his memories and inclinations remained the same.

‘How on earth do they handle that in the Blue House?’

Humanity’s appetite, lust, and need for sleep are basic instincts. Those who are wealthy often want to fulfill these desires to the fullest.

The previous president must have had ways to satisfy his desires as well.

The President cautiously hinted to his Chief of Staff about a private dinner.

“Look here, Chief of Staff! Shall we have a company dinner sometime?”

‘Look here’ was Wang’s habitual way of addressing someone.

The Chief of Staff seemed accustomed to the word ‘dinner’ and replied,

“Understood, Your Excellency. I will prepare it immediately.”

* * *

The safe house in Gungjeong-dong.

The safe houses, located around the Blue House in Gungjeong-dong, Samcheong-dong, and Cheongun-dong, totaled 12 buildings, covering an area of 11,000 pyeong [approximately 8.9 acres].

The Blue House safe houses were originally established for security reasons, to hide intelligence agents and the President’s movements, but gradually transformed into places where the President could freely drink and relax.

Among them, the Gungjeong-dong safe house was the President’s preferred dining venue.

Inside the room, a twelve-panel screen stood, and two long mother-of-pearl tables were connected in the center.

On the table were snacks such as pancakes, skewers, bulgogi [Korean marinated beef], seasoned vegetables, and stew, along with the President’s favorite Chivas Regal whiskey submerged in an ice bucket.

The President and the Blue House trio sat on silk cushions.

The President looked around.

‘Ah, this is where President Park had his last supper!’

Before his regression, the President knew that in twelve years, he would be shot by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the President’s right-hand man, in this very place.

The President, acutely aware of this fact, felt a chill down his spine.

A serving woman filled the whiskey glass with ice.

‘How could I be having a drinking party at the place where I died? It’s not like I’m performing an ancestral rite. My appetite is completely gone.’

Kim Young-wook, not wanting to be left out, grabbed the whiskey bottle first.

“Your Excellency, allow me to offer you a drink.”

“No, I’ll pour the drinks today. You’ve all worked hard, starting with the inauguration ceremony and going through a series of events.”

The three men knelt down without being told and received the glass with both hands.

At first glance, it wasn’t much different from the etiquette of a gangster drinking party.

As the President clinked glasses, the trio recited familiar words of blessing as if they had rehearsed.

“Your Excellency, may you live a long and healthy life!”

As the President emptied his glass in one gulp, the three men turned slightly and drank it down in one go.

“Ah!”

As the President took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, the head of the security detail was startled and took out another cigarette from the side.

“Your Excellency, please smoke this.”

It was a foreign cigarette. The President frowned.

“Ah, that reminds me, I need to make a phone call.”

The Chief of Staff presented a landline phone. The President said,

“Look here, get me the president of the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation.”

The three men were puzzled.

“Your Excellency, are you referring to the Office of Monopoly [the government agency responsible for tobacco and ginseng] ?”

The President had inadvertently used a future term.

“Hmm, hmm, yes, the Director of the Office of Monopoly.”

The Chief of Staff presented the connected receiver with both hands.

“This is the President, you there.”

– Your Excellency! I am deeply honored. At this late hour….

The Director of the Office of Monopoly, who had jumped out of bed in his pajamas and was holding the receiver with both hands, was vivid in his mind.

“The cigarette is harsh on the throat. Change it to be like foreign cigarettes within a year. Make it exportable.”

– Pardon? Did you say a year?

The first carbon filter cigarette, Galaxy, came out in 1978, and the first high-quality cigarette mixed with expanded tobacco leaves, which were only used in developed countries, was Sol in 1980.

It wasn’t until the 1988 Olympics that the 88 cigarette series was released.

Because the quality of domestic cigarettes was poor, smuggling of Japanese and foreign cigarettes was rampant. This had to be stopped.

“Install carbon filters and mix in imported expanded tobacco leaves to significantly improve the quality of the tobacco. I don’t have to tell you the manufacturing method, do I?”

– No, Your Excellency! I will follow your orders, Your Excellency!

“You know the merit-based Republic of Korea, right? If you don’t achieve it, you’ll have to take off your clothes [lose your position].”

– I understand, Your Excellency!

The Director of the Office of Monopoly was traditionally a position for rewarding the President’s close aides.

But now, there were no exceptions in the competition for competence.

The President succeeded in seizing the momentum of the meeting with the phone call to the Director of the Office of Monopoly.

To lighten the somber mood, the head of the security detail tried to liven things up.

“Your Excellency, shall we call in musicians and dancers?”

“No. There’s something we need to do before that.”

“….”

“Bring me an inkstone, a brush, and some Korean paper.”

He occasionally wrote calligraphy when he had a bit of alcohol in him, so the stationery was always prepared.

“Understood, Your Excellency!”

Shortly after, the Blue House trio watched the President writing calligraphy. They had no idea what was about to happen.

The President wrote ‘上善若水(Sangseon Yaksu)’ [The highest excellence is like that of water] in one stroke.

Chief of Staff Lee Woo-rak flattered him.

“You are a master calligrapher, Your Excellency!”

Intelligence Director Kim Young-wook, not wanting to be left behind, joined in the flattery.

“Even Chusa [a famous calligrapher] would weep, Your Excellency!”

Head of the Security Detail Park Jung-gyu also added his two cents.

“To compare you to Chusa is too much. Chusa’s style looks like earthworms crawling, but Your Excellency’s writing contains the spirit of the heavens.”

The President, who had written three pieces, put down his brush and asked.

“Do you all know what it means?”

The mouths of those who had been flattering him until their saliva dried up were as silent as rocks.

They were only passionate about loyalty competitions and had no interest in expanding their humanistic knowledge.

In other words, it was a cross-section proving that they were seizing positions of power because they were meritorious subjects of the coup, regardless of their abilities.

The President seized the momentum and attacked the trio. He asked the head of the security detail.

“Why do you work at the Blue House?”

It was the same question he had asked the Director of Intelligence in his office a while ago.

The head of the security detail stood at attention and answered without hesitation.

“I work for Your Excellency!”

Nodding, he then asked the Chief of Staff.

“And you?”

“I work for the country.”

The other two looked at the Chief of Staff with scornful eyes, thinking, ‘Idiot, the answer is Your Excellency!’

But the Chief of Staff soon added the reason.

“Because the country is Your Excellency, and Your Excellency is the country.”

The two men clicked their tongues. They felt like they were one step behind in the loyalty competition.

The President chuckled.

“So, you’re all saying you’re loyal to me?”

“That’s right, Your Excellency!”

The President looked at the Chinese characters and explained.

“Sangseon Yaksu, it’s what Lao Tzu [an ancient Chinese philosopher] said.”

The President explained the meaning.

“Politics should be like water. No matter where you are, in any field, water gathers in a large vessel called the sea. What you do, wherever you do it, is all about being loyal to me, so I mean that you shouldn’t be bound by formalities.”

“Your Excellency, that is a truly profound meaning!”

The men even had tears in their eyes.

The President handed out one of his handwritten pieces to each of them.

“Here, keep it and engrave it in your hearts.”

“We are deeply honored, Your Excellency! We will preserve it as a family treasure for generations to come.”

The President, having distributed the writings, began to work in earnest.

“There’s something you need to know first.”

“….”

The President’s bombshell declaration continued even at the drinking party.

“As you know, I have one son and two daughters. I’m going to send them all to study in the United States this time.”

The trio was startled as if they had received war news.

“Your Excellency, you mean both the young master and the young ladies will study in the United States?”

“Yes. My wife will go with them too.”

“The First Lady as well?”

“Of course, she has to take care of the children.”

“The status of the First Lady….”

The President retorted.

“Does my wife do state affairs?”

“….”

“Three children require more than twenty security personnel. Everywhere they go, they have to be monitored by bodyguards. I’m the president, not my wife and children. I can’t waste the people’s tax money. How can I preach to the people about integrity and modernization while doing that? I have to change first for the world to change.”

“….”

The three men swallowed hard, feeling as if they had been hit by an iron hammer.

They were the ones who had been receiving kickbacks in the name of interview fees, transportation expenses, and entertainment expenses from officials, regions, companies, and related parties every time the President toured government offices, regions, companies, and events, or who had been involved in vested interests with the Blue House’s backing and had been taking bribes.

So, during Chairman Wang’s time, when the Fifth Republic’s New Military faction came to power, all three members of the Old Military faction were tried on charges of corruption and had their assets confiscated.

But suddenly, the President was emphasizing integrity to the point of separating from his family, making the trio feel like they were sitting on an electric torture chair.

The President rebuked the dazed trio.

“What are you doing? Your glasses are empty.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

The trio filled their glasses and drank.

The alcohol going down their throats tasted particularly bitter.

The President brought up the main point of the day.

“As I begin my second term, I need to show the people a renewed image.”

“Of course, Your Excellency!”

“The aides here will have to push me even more actively.”

“Of course, Your Excellency!”

The trio was excited. They were inwardly expecting that they would be given important roles to further consolidate the regime as they entered the second term of governance.

Lee Woo-rak made the first move.

“Your Excellency, eight years is not enough to realize Your Excellency’s grand plan for national prosperity. The number of seats in the National Assembly exceeds two-thirds this time. We should take this opportunity to amend the constitution and fully implement Your Excellency’s will.”

The President clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘This guy is instigating a third-term amendment. That’s why he was promoted from Chief of Staff to Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.’

The President feigned ignorance and asked.

“What kind of amendment are you talking about?”

“If we just delete the five words ‘only once for one term’ from the constitutional clause ‘can be re-elected only once for one term,’ we will restore the original intention of the re-election system for presidents. The re-election of capable people is natural. Isn’t this the very example of the merit-based Republic of Korea that Your Excellency has been advocating?”

The re-election system for presidents means that there is no limit to the number of times a president can be elected if they are capable.

Connecting meritocracy with the re-election system, Lee Woo-rak’s quick thinking was better than expected.

In fact, Chairman Wang was also against limiting the number of presidential terms.

A five-year single term, or a four-year term with one re-election, was too short to carry out long-term national projects.

However, the reason why this re-election system was fixed as a single-term system was precisely because of the tyrannical acts of dictatorial presidents who sought to stay in power for life. A resolution by the person who started it was inevitable.

The President looked at Lee Woo-rak and admonished him.

“If I finish this term excellently, the people will regret my retirement and rather desire a re-election system. If it becomes the greed of the ruler rather than the will of the people, we will run towards lifelong rule and repeat the unfortunate history of dictators.”

Lee Woo-rak’s mentality crumbled at the President’s rebuke.