The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 87

The Hands That Move the World (3)

Wall Street.

In the heart of it all was Sean Luke’s office. It wasn’t as large as his boss, Neil Hamilton’s, but it had a long table with nine chairs for formal meetings and three telephones.

“Welcome.”

John River stood before Sean Luke.

“What brings me here today?”

“Have you considered the offer I made the other day?”

John River sighed briefly before answering.

“Sigh… I believe I said no that day, didn’t I?”

Sean Luke raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Look, John. You could be making hundreds of times your current salary just by switching jobs. Is there anyone in the world foolish enough to turn that down?”

John River frowned as he replied.

“Mr. Luke, I’m not a fool. You’re offering me that much money when I was unemployed until last year? I’d be dead before I even got to spend it.”

Sean Luke’s eyes widened at his words.

“What do you mean? Dead?”

He wondered if Victoria Corporation or Robert might have threatened him.

‘If those guys really threatened John, then I’ve got one of their weaknesses.’

However, John River’s answer was far from what he expected.

“Mr. Luke, hiring a hitman costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but JP Morgan would have to give me $100 million.”

He was implying that after promising to give him $100 million, they would hire a hitman to kill him once their objective was achieved.

Sean Luke was dumbfounded.

“What are you talking about? Why would we kill you?”

John River straightened his shoulders and raised his voice.

“I know Wall Street’s ways very well. If I hand over Victoria Corporation’s secrets, they’ll disguise it as a drug overdose or a robbery-homicide. It’s much cheaper and simpler that way.”

‘Is he watching too many movies?’

Sean Luke felt his energy draining away after hearing John River’s story.

‘Ha… This is insane.’

He knew John River wasn’t ordinary, but he didn’t expect him to be this eccentric.

“John, that would never happen.”

“It’s okay. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“John!”

John Luke lowered his head and said,

“Mr. Luke, I want to live a long life.”

He fled Sean Luke’s office as if running away.

Thud.

As the door closed, Sean Luke let out a long sigh.

“This is driving me crazy.”

This one phrase was sincere.

John River’s absurd remark had ruined his planned Plan B.

‘How could someone like that be the New York branch manager?’

He frowned, thinking of Jung Hyun-woo, who had appointed John River as the New York branch manager.

‘Well, that guy’s not all there either.’

Sean Luke thought that aside from Robert and Sarah, there wasn’t a normal person at Victoria Corporation.

Beep.

The intercom rang from his secretary.

Sean Luke reached out and pressed the button.

“What is it?”

“Mr. Bernard is here to see you on the first floor.”

“Mr. Bernard…”

Sean Luke recalled Robert’s face and raised his voice.

“Go and escort him up here yourself.”

“Understood.”

Sean Luke thought it was fortunate that Robert had appeared as soon as Plan B failed.

“Hehehe. If Robert handled things properly, Plan B wouldn’t be necessary.”

He smiled and prepared to greet Robert.

A moment later.

Robert opened the office door and stepped inside.

“Mr. Bernard!”

Sean Luke greeted Robert with open arms. But Robert’s face was not pleasant.

“Mr. Luke, this is no time to be smiling.”

His serious expression wiped the smile off Sean Luke’s face.

“Mr. Bernard, is something wrong?”

Robert sighed deeply before answering.

“Hoo… Everything’s ruined because of your mistake.”

A shadow fell over Sean Luke’s face.

“Completely ruined?”

“I went to Las Vegas to persuade Charlie and Sarah, but I only got a severe scolding.”

Robert’s face was grave.

“What exactly are you saying? You were scolded by them?”

Sean Luke thought that even if you combined Sarah and Jung Hyun-woo’s ages, it might still be less than Robert’s.

‘Those two kids rebuked Robert?’

Robert raised his eyebrows and raised his voice.

“They scolded me, saying you approached John to try and poach him. And then they said this: ‘Robert, aren’t you in cahoots [conspiring] with Mr. Luke too?'”

Sean Luke was speechless.

“T, that happened…”

“Sean! Is it true that you approached John?”

When Robert asked, Sean Luke couldn’t deny it.

“It’s true that I made him a small offer.”

Robert’s voice grew even louder.

“Why would you do that?”

Sean Luke replied defensively.

“I didn’t think I could rely solely on Mr. Bernard.”

Robert covered his face with both hands.

“It’s all over now.”

‘If Jung Hyun-woo or Sarah had seen his performance, they would have clicked their tongues, saying he deserved an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.’

Sean Luke frowned and asked.

“Mr. Bernard, what do you mean it’s all over? Are they planning something?”

Robert replied with a deeply furrowed brow.

“In the worst-case scenario, they might tear JP Services away and hand it over to Bank of America.”

“What did you say?”

“I’m saying that Victoria Corporation could be taken over by Bank of America entirely.”

Sean Luke clenched his fist and said.

“That can’t happen.”

“It’s not something you can say so easily.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“How are you going to stop it?”

“With a lawsuit…”

Robert interrupted him sharply.

“Nonsense!”

Sean Luke was momentarily stunned.

‘Did this guy just curse at me?’

He was the head of JP Morgan’s technology division, and Robert was merely the COO of Victoria Corporation.

‘If you were to rewind their relationship to hundreds of years ago, Sean Luke would be a famous general of the empire, and Robert would be a knight leading a small lord’s order of knights.’

In other words, the difference in their status was too great for them to exchange insults.

Sean Luke raised his voice as if he couldn’t bear it.

“M, Mr. Bernard!”

However, instead of apologizing for his slip of the tongue, Robert confronted him head-on.

“Mr. Luke! Realize the situation!”

Sean Luke’s shoulders trembled.

‘This bastard!’

But he couldn’t reach out and strike Robert. First of all, Robert was taller than him, and his shoulders were much broader.

If he lost control of his emotions and threw a punch, there was a high chance he would be overpowered instead.

He suppressed his anger and raised his voice.

“Mr. Bernard, do you think our JP Morgan can’t stop them?”

Robert spread his hands.

“Bank of America and JP Morgan are equally powerful. If Victoria Corporation goes to Bank of America, how can JP Morgan stop it? With a lawsuit? Bank of America’s legal team is not to be trifled with either.”

As he said, if they engaged in a lawsuit with Bank of America, JP Morgan couldn’t guarantee victory.

“You fool!”

“The fool is not me, but you! Why did you do such a thing! You’ve messed everything up!”

Robert wanted to shift the blame for this incident onto Sean Luke.

‘It’s working better than I thought.’

Sean Luke was increasingly cornered.

“This…”

The moment he clenched his fist, the office door opened.

Click.

“The voices are loud.”

The person who entered was Neil Hamilton.

“Mr. Hamilton?”

Robert and Sean Luke raised their eyebrows simultaneously.

* * *

Sean Luke’s face was pale.

‘Everything’s ruined.’

Neil Hamilton was sitting in the seat of honor. He had watched Sean Luke and Robert clash fiercely with his own eyes, then had them sit down.

“So, you’re saying Sean made a mistake and things went wrong?”

Robert nodded in agreement.

“Everything has been messed up by his clumsy handling of things.”

“Is there a way to recover?”

Robert clasped his hands together.

“It seems we have no choice but to accept Mr. Jung’s demands.”

Neil Hamilton said coldly.

“Impossible.”

Even after hearing that the John River scouting had failed, he didn’t waver like Sean Luke.

“If we do nothing, Victoria Corporation will go to Bank of America.”

“Let it.”

Neil Hamilton was like an ice wall.

‘Mr. Hamilton, you’re not easy to deal with.’

Robert frowned and said.

“Mr. Hamilton, do you want JP Services to end like this?”

“Mr. Bernard, don’t underestimate JP Morgan’s technology. Eric is already developing a program to replace you.”

Eric Vogel was a figure who symbolized JP Morgan’s technological prowess. If he sincerely wanted to replicate JP Services, he could create it within half a year.

“Eric, you say?”

Neil Hamilton said, watching Robert’s wavering eyes.

“The program Eric is creating is our Plan B.”

Sean Luke’s eyes widened as he heard his answer.

‘Eric was developing a program without my knowledge?’

If this was true, his title as head of the technology division was nothing more than a facade [outward appearance].

Robert tried to maintain his composure, but his voice was trembling.

‘Damn it. They were already replicating JP Services.’

He thought he shouldn’t show any more signs of agitation.

‘It’s best to leave.’

Robert stood up and said.

“Mr. Hamilton, you’ve set up Plan B properly. I understand. Then I’ll go back and convey JP Morgan’s intentions to Mr. Jung.”

As he stood up, Neil Hamilton said in a low voice.

“Sit down.”

Robert tilted his head and raised his voice.

“Mr. Hamilton?”

“Plan B is just that, Plan B. I want to talk more about Plan A.”

He meant that apart from the replication program, he wanted to continue negotiations with Victoria Corporation.

“Are you saying you’re willing to talk to Mr. Jung?”

“I want to talk to you, not Mr. Jung.”

Robert frowned.

“What are you saying? You want to talk to me?”

“I want you to persuade them.”

Robert thought he was being unreasonable.

‘His stubbornness is worse than Sean’s.’

Just as he was about to refuse outright,

“Mr. Bernard, if you persuade the woman and the child, I’ll deposit $100 million in cash into your account. How about it? Persuasion is better than betrayal, isn’t it?”

Persuade if you can’t betray.

It was something you could only say if you were in a position to look down from above.

Robert scoffed at his offer.

“Mr. Hamilton, you’re making the same mistake again. Persuading Mr. Jung is JP Morgan’s responsibility.”

As he turned around, Neil Hamilton said.

“Do you really think Bank of America can protect you?”

Robert replied as he moved his feet.

“I may not think so, but Mr. Jung does.”

“Mr. Bernard, the path you’re taking is a path of destruction.”

“Well, who knows? We’ll only know if JP Morgan is stronger or Bank of America is stronger if we fight, right?”

“Insolent.”

Robert said, grabbing the doorknob.

“Let me tell you one thing. Mr. Hamilton, you’ll never achieve your goals if you think of us as a subcontractor rather than a partner.”

Bang.

He slammed the door shut and disappeared.

“That insolent!”

Sean Luke raised his voice, and Neil Hamilton let out a long sigh.

“Hoo…”

Then he took out a cigar from his pocket.

“Sean.”

At his word, Sean Luke lowered his head.

“I’m sorry.”

Now that Neil Hamilton had learned about the failure of Plan B, Sean Luke had nothing to say.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Isn’t our only option to rely on the program Eric is creating?”

“Eric? That was a lie.”

Sean Luke asked with an incredulous expression.

“R, really?”

“I was just bluffing to pressure Bernard.”

Eric Vogel was already struggling just to link JP Services with JP Morgan’s data.

“Then what do we do? If we continue like this, it’s over.”

Neil Hamilton lit his cigar and said.

“You have to solve it.”

Sean Luke swallowed hard.

“Me?”

“Do you think I should solve it, then?”

Neil Hamilton’s turquoise eyes were staring at him coldly.

“Mr. Hamilton…”

“If you don’t resolve this, it won’t end with you just getting fired.”

“It won’t end with getting fired? What do you mean by that?”

Neil Hamilton puffed out cigar smoke and replied.

“I can forgive you, but the boss won’t.”

The boss.

Sean Luke realized that the person he was talking about was Arthur Morgan.

‘Arthur Morgan is going to kill me?’

He suddenly remembered what John River had said.

‘You fool! This is Wall Street. There are no hitmen here!’

He thought such a thing could never happen, but as he met Neil Hamilton’s turquoise eyes, his chest grew cold.

“I, I’ll come up with the next plan.”

Neil Hamilton put out his cigar and stood up.

“Of course, you should.”

He left the office with those cold words.

Left alone, Sean Luke trembled.

“D, damn it…”

The ambitious man who wanted to devour JP Morgan had disappeared, and only a pathetic human being struggling to survive remained.

* * *

Jung Hyun-woo boarded a plane again just four days after arriving in Boston.

‘Is it Washington this time?’

There was only one reason he was boarding a flight to Washington.

‘Justin Valmer. His name sounds familiar.’

Justin Valmer was a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and a figure trusted by the Reagan administration. His party affiliation was, of course, Republican.

MIT Education Committee Professor Mark Delin described him this way:

“Mr. Valmer is a meticulous person, so it’s best not to use clumsy tactics. And one more thing, don’t think you can get to him with money. He has much more money than you do.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought about that description and sighed inwardly.

‘Hoo, is there anyone we can win over or persuade with money?’

He had amassed a considerable fortune, but the people he had to deal with were too powerful.

Weeeeeeng.

With a roaring engine sound, the plane began to race down the runway.

“President, it’ll be a quick trip to Washington.”

Sitting next to Jung Hyun-woo was Ann Callin from the business support team. She was accompanying him as his secretary.

“The flight time is just under two hours, right?”

“We’ll arrive in 1 hour and 45 minutes.”

The moment Jung Hyun-woo was about to say something, the plane’s fuselage shook from side to side.

Ann grabbed the armrest and turned her gaze out the window.

“The turbulence is severe.”

If you travel by plane often, you frequently encounter turbulence.

Jung Hyun-woo closed his eyes in the shaking plane.

“Ms. Callin, wake me when you see Washington.”

Ann couldn’t help but be surprised as she looked at him with his eyes closed.

‘He’s sleeping while it’s shaking this much?’

However, this level of turbulence couldn’t stop the pouring sleep.

Ann thought as she looked at Jung Hyun-woo, who was snoring as he slept.

‘Ah! Come to think of it, he’s wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday.’

It seemed he had worked all night at the company.

“Unstoppable president.”

Ann had never seen a CEO as dedicated as him.