The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 7

7. The President’s Secret Private Life

Before his inauguration, the president had hinted at a lifetime tenure during a drinking session, only for the carefully prepared proposal to be shot down without a second thought.

He couldn’t understand why the president had suddenly changed his tune.

“Ah, well…”

Lee Woo-rak smacked his lips.

“Ultimately, the people should decide the president’s term. The 3.15 rigged election [a fraudulent election in 1960 South Korea] and the first president’s plot for a lifetime tenure led to that harsh modifier, ‘limited to one term.’ If the successors do well, the people will demand a second term. If you truly want a second term, you must prove yourself as president.”

“Ah, I understand, Your Excellency! I was short-sighted.”

The glasses went around again.

Previously, the president would become intoxicated, and his close aides would whisper and pursue their own interests in his weakened state.

However, Chairman Wang was a heavy drinker, so the president held the reins of the drinking session.

The president brought up the day’s topic.

“You are my right and left arms. My right and left legs, too.”

“We are unworthy, Your Excellency!”

The three henchmen danced like whales at the president’s praise.

“That’s why I’m saying, you must also lead by example, like me.”

“If it is Your Excellency’s command, we are ready to carry gasoline cans on our backs and jump into the furnace, Your Excellency!”

The three henchmen were flushed with intoxication and overflowing with bravado.

“I will carry out a full-scale cabinet reshuffle.”

The words ‘full-scale reshuffle’ made them flinch.

“A reshuffle, you say?”

“Yes. Look here, Lee Woo-rak!”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

Lee Woo-rak straightened up in a rigid posture, even in his drunken state.

“Tell everyone in the Blue House [the executive office and official residence of the South Korean president], the Prime Minister, and the heads of each ministry to submit their resignations.”

The three men looked at each other and blinked.

“Then, we too…”

“Yes. Without exception.”

“…….”

The alcohol wore off instantly.

However, humans think selfishly. They twist situations to their advantage.

Even the three henchmen thought until this point that it was a procedure for promotion.

But they froze at the president’s next order.

“A merit-based Republic of Korea, I declared to the entire nation in my inauguration speech. Now it’s time for you to show your true skills to the people in the field. If you’re stuck in the Blue House, the people can’t know your abilities. Go down to each ministry and demonstrate your expertise.”

“…….”

Leaving the Blue House was no different from being a eunuch expelled from the palace.

A dagger suddenly came in a pleasant atmosphere, and they were stabbed without even a groan.

The alcohol they had drunk so far evaporated to the top of their heads.

Dark clouds of worry gathered on the faces of the three henchmen.

It was a demotion, not a promotion.

All they had learned was military command, so how could they demonstrate expertise in specialized areas?

The president pressed on without giving them a chance.

“Wherever you work, it all flows and gathers into loyalty to Your Excellency and the country.”

Only then did the three men realize why they had received the ‘Superior Man is Like Water’ calligraphy [a reference to Lao Tzu’s philosophy, suggesting adaptability and strength].

No one dared to object to the work that the president was pushing forward with the determination to part with his family.

This was the power of leading by example.

“Look here, call the musicians. Let’s loosen our belts and drink until we pass out for the first time in a while.”

“Ah, yes, yes, Your Excellency!”

The three henchmen had to act like entertainment, masking their true feelings, like forced drinking buddies.

When they rang the bell, young women rushed in.

Kim Young-wook instructed the women.

“You, sit next to His Excellency over there. You, here.”

The president was bewildered.

*This woman is not my type. Why are you distributing partners as you please without asking my preferences?*

The unwritten rule here at the safe house was to never remember what happened below the waist.

As a kind of president’s sanctuary, the president visited the Gongjeong-dong safe house more often after losing Madam Yoo before his regression.

The women he met were mostly from the entertainment industry, such as movie actors, TV actors, theater actors, and models.

The chief of protocol at the KCIA’s [Korean Central Intelligence Agency] main task was to find and offer suitable women to the president whenever there was a drinking session.

There were also principles in how to procure the president’s women.

Two ‘big-handed’ madams, who had about 100 women with various occupations, mainly supplied the women.

When the madams recommended women for banquets, KCIA staff conducted ‘interviews,’ and after considering their appearance and experience, they selected women who seemed likely to keep their mouths shut to serve them.

To prevent the president from falling for a woman, the serving women were not used more than once. In other words, one-night stands were the rule.

The Joseon kings were forced to sleep in order, but the president had to sleep with a woman he met for the first time that day.

If the president looked for the same woman, they would try to dissuade him, and if that didn’t work, they would allow her to serve him only one more time.

Chairman Wang didn’t like this pre-modern way of meeting.

During Chairman Wang’s time, he would pick out a woman he liked from his work or on TV.

Then, his personal secretary would contact the woman and negotiate the price, and once an agreement (?) was reached, he would enjoy the rendezvous.

If Chairman Wang liked her, he would continue to meet her, and if he became attached, he would generously give her an apartment as a gift.

The president thought, sipping his drink.

*Hmm, it’s difficult now that I’m president. The bodyguards kill the mood, so I can’t go out as I please, and if I have a bad affair, the president’s reputation will be ruined. Besides, the compensation is not my money, but the people’s taxes. One of the reasons I sent my family abroad was to enjoy the freedom of being single, but, ugh~ what pleasure will I have to spend the long nights.*

Thus, President Wang’s first banquet came to an end.

Although they felt bitter about being demoted, the three henchmen did not give up hope.

They thought it was a temporary performance by the president to launder the image of his second term to the public. This is because the president’s power base is the military.

Even if they were demoted to the cabinet, the work would be done by the department staff anyway, and they thought they would keep their ministerial positions while accumulating illegal wealth, and then be called back to the Blue House when the opportunity arose.

They did not yet fully understand what meritocracy was.

The president began his show for the people.

* * *

Airport.

A U.S. military transport plane was waiting on the runway located within the military base.

Only the chief of the Presidential Security Service, the chief of staff, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency accompanied the president from behind.

At the military unit’s side, at the direction of the chief of the Presidential Security Service, they had prepared a red carpet, flower children, and a military band performance, but the arriving president was horrified and rejected them all.

It was to create a scene of leaving modestly in front of the cameras.

This farewell scene was broadcast live nationwide, and the Ministry of Public Information was filming the entire process for documentary films and press release distribution.

On the runway, the president said goodbye to Madam Yoo and his three children.

“Go and learn a lot, and bravely bring honor to Korea.”

“Yes, Father.”

The president hugged his three children in turn.

“Take good care of the children, dear.”

“Yes, take care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry about me. Show the children a lot about how the world works.”

Guided by two U.S. military officers, the four family members turned and approached the transport plane.

As the family boarded the transport plane, the president’s eyes welled up.

In fact, the president had no particular emotion about parting with his family. As a regressor dwelling in another person’s body, he did not feel the sense of being a couple or blood relatives.

Having embraced countless beauties during Chairman Wang’s time, he did not see Madam Yoo, with her dignified appearance, as an attractive woman, and he did not even hold her hand once.

Not to mention the children. They were just someone else’s children.

But now, he squeezed out tears, thinking of the saddest things.

His mother’s death, the scene of colleagues and employees dying in accidents during construction, the early days of his business when he survived on rice balls….

A drop of squeezed tears welled up in his eyes.

He took out a handkerchief and wiped away the tears.

The TV cameraman did not miss the scene and zoomed in to broadcast it nationwide.

People watching TV teared up together.

This performance show was being done for this one scene.

Shu-shoo-shooong~

As the plane departed from the runway, the president waved desperately until it took off.

The camera did not miss the scene of the president waving at the departing plane with a look of grief as if he had lost his country, and zoomed in.

This scene will be plastered on the headlines of today’s evening newspapers.

As the plane disappeared into the sky, the president turned coldly and headed for the waiting room.

*Heh heh, it was my first time acting with tears, but it was quite useful. It’s better for the First Lady to have a separation than a death.*

The First Lady was destined to die from a sniper’s bullet.

He didn’t know what results this measure would bring, but he felt relieved to have relieved the burden of family.

The president briefly interviewed the selected domestic and foreign reporters gathered in the waiting room about the meaning of today’s farewell.

“The president’s family is not the president. The people elected the president, not the family. To eliminate the existing practice of the families of the powerful enjoying privileges, I took the lead as a symbol of giving up the privileges of the royal family, which was an inevitable measure.”

The three Blue House power figures following the president from behind all had faces like they had eaten dung.

This was because they realized that the president’s resignation was sincere.

The heads of each ministry watching TV also began to write their resignations, which they had been putting off, with a sour taste in their mouths.

Newspapers and broadcasters competed to report on the president’s decision.

– President bids farewell to pre-modern bad habits and leads by example

– President personally practices “eliminating the practice of the families of the powerful enjoying privileges”

– The entire nation in a sea of tears at the president’s farewell

– President Park Jung-woong begins a reform drive for his new second term

– Demand for collective resignations from heads of administrative departments, foreshadowing a major cabinet reshuffle

The public opinion poll showed an unprecedentedly high presidential approval rating of 82%, the highest among countries excluding the communist bloc.

His reform engine was successfully started.

* * *

The Blue House Yeongbingwan (State Guest House) [a building used for official events and receptions].

In the Yeongbingwan, about 50 people from the Blue House and the cabinet ministries who had submitted their resignations were seated.

Luxury food was being placed on the tables one after another. It was the last supper.

The president was seated at the head of the table, and next to him was Chief of Staff Kim Chung-ryum, whom he had appointed first, assisting him.

The Blue House three henchmen grumbled.

“Oh, oh! This cabinet reshuffle was all Kim Chung-ryum’s work.”

“I know. I never imagined he would cut off all the founding contributors like this.”

“What did the KCIA do? They couldn’t even grasp one of the president’s intentions.”

“What? The chief of staff and the chief of the Presidential Security Service, who are serving him up close, should have provided the information.”

They did not dream that the president was a regressor, and thought that this reform was Kim Chung-ryum’s work.

“Stop it. The bus has already left [it’s too late to change things]. It’s no different from a purge of revolutionary contributors. Are we just going to be taken advantage of like this?”

“Hmm, hmm, that’s right. We can’t just throw away the contributors like worn-out straw sandals [discarding loyal servants after they’re no longer useful].”