Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: The Old Fox and the Young Tiger
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The heart of Taesung Group, the chairman's office, was serene like the calm before a storm.
The deep aroma of premium coffee beans wafted subtly through the air,
and outside the window stretched the miniature vista of Teheran-ro, the artery driving South Korea's economy.
"……"
Chairman Cheon Myeong-hwan said nothing.
His gaze was fixed on the Go board before him and the young woman seated across from it.
Han Yura, Executive Director of Blue Sky Investment.
The enemy's sharpest spear and most capable shield.
This dangerous woman was calmly sipping coffee in his office, playing Go with him.
Clack.
Han Yura picked up a white stone and placed it on the board without hesitation.
Her stone plunged deep into the heart of black's territory—an aggressive, audacious move.
A faint smile tugged at Cheon Myeong-hwan's lips.
"Heh heh. You take after Representative Kim exactly. Your playing style is ferocious."
Han Yura merely offered a light smile in response to his words, which could have been praise or criticism.
"To seize territory, one must take risks, Chairman."
"Taking risks and being reckless are different things. Can you save that stone?"
Cheon Myeong-hwan's words were aimed at the Go stone, but their intent was directed at Han Yura herself.
'Can you survive under that reckless lord, Kim Cheolsu?'
Han Yura lifted her teacup for a moment, savoring its aroma.
Her demeanor was astonishingly calm and composed.
As if this weren't the enemy's stronghold, but her own comfortable office.
"A stone has to look dead for the opponent to let their guard down, doesn't it?"
She smiled as she watched his hand pick up a black stone.
Her response, too, used the Go stone as a metaphor for her own situation.
Cheon Myeong-hwan fell silent and focused on the game.
To him, Han Yura was a clever opportunist.
And as clever as she was, she was the greedy sort.
He had already issued her a subtle warning.
No matter how fiercely Blue Sky rampaged, if a conglomerate like Taesung unleashed the net of 'regulation' and 'procedures,' they would be tied down and wither away.
Besides, she was merely Kim Cheolsu's 'concubine' at best.
The Kim Cheolsu he had analyzed was a man who pathologically prioritized 'family.'
A woman as smart as Han Yura would know she was inevitably disposable to him someday.
His overture was sweet and pragmatic.
For all those logical reasons, Cheon Myeong-hwan judged that she had walked into the tiger's den of her own accord.
To grab a new lifeline before Kim Cheolsu's ship sank—or before she was discarded.
But something still felt off.
His vast experience was sending danger signals.
Was she truly here to find a new nest?
Or was she a Trojan horse planted by Kim Cheolsu?
In recent days, strange undercurrents had stirred within the group.
Movements beneath the surface at Taesung Pharmaceuticals and Heavy Industries, infamous for their militant unions.
Still just minor rumors, but like the first cracks in a massive dam.
Could all this be connected to the woman before him?
Cheon Myeong-hwan played a decisive move, surrounding her white stones completely with his black ones.
Those white stones were now perfectly trapped.
Dead stones with no breathing room.
"Well, what now? You're truly isolated this time."
He looked at Han Yura, sensing victory.
At that moment, she placed a white stone with a clack in an unexpected spot.
In the middle of a vast empty space, unrelated to the surrounded stones.
"Why place a stone there?"
Cheon Myeong-hwan asked, puzzled.
Han Yura smiled for the first time—a smile so beautiful it bordered on cruel.
"I'll abandon that stone, Chairman."
"……"
"In exchange for sacrificing it, I'll take this entire house."
As her words ended, a chill ran down Cheon Myeong-hwan's spine.
Her new stone had flipped the entire board's momentum.
The small stone he thought he'd captured now threatened his vast territory with death.
It was bait.
She had willingly sacrificed her stone to claim something greater.
Cheon Myeong-hwan glanced between the board and her face.
She was no longer just a young, capable subordinate.
She was a fearsome gambler who saw moves on his level—or beyond.
He quietly set down his teacup.
The game was over.
"Now… be honest with me, Director Han."
Cheon Myeong-hwan's voice was low and icy.
"What is it you really want?"
Han Yura met his eyes straight on without flinching, as if she'd been waiting.
Her answer wasn't money, security, or vain glory.
It was a razor-sharp demand for raw 'power.'
"In the ongoing Paju Bio Complex construction project, I want more authority than Director Cheon Hye-yeon."
Cheon Myeong-hwan's eyebrow twitched faintly.
The Paju Bio Complex was a joint venture between Taesung and Blue Sky.
The audacity to demand greater say than his own daughter—the princess of Taesung—in a place symbolizing their groups' harmony.
But Han Yura's demands didn't stop there.
"And for the upcoming Double Dragon Automobile acquisition battle, I want a piece of that too."
Hearing that, Cheon Myeong-hwan fully grasped her true intentions.
Double Dragon Automobile.
It wasn't just an M&A deal.
In the event of a marriage between his daughter Cheon Hye-yeon and Kim Cheolsu, it would be Kim Cheolsu's 'dowry' to Taesung.
Han Yura was now carving out her place in that dowry.
Knowing better than anyone that their union spelled her doom,
she aimed to embed herself in its core symbol, making herself indispensable.
She wasn't a mere traitor switching lords.
She was an independent predator, fattening herself amid the clash of whales—be it Kim Cheolsu or Cheon Myeong-hwan.
Han Yura hid nothing of her motives.
"I just want to carve my own path to survival."
At those words, the 'chairman''s dignity and the 'elder''s composure vanished from Cheon Myeong-hwan's face.
Instead, the face of a 'peddler' emerged—one who'd spent a lifetime hustling markets for profit.
His eyes narrowed, gleaming with cold calculation of gains and losses.
This was an intriguing game.
The enemy's sharpest blade was now bargaining her price to turn on her master's heart.
He leaned forward, voice that of a merchant opening negotiations.
"If I help you, how will you help me?"
Han Yura didn't avert her gaze and immediately played her card, as if ready.
"The exact moment Kim Cheolsu ends his break and starts burning Taesung down."
Cheon Myeong-hwan said nothing.
Heavy silence crushed the office.
He weighed her offer.
Kim Cheolsu was holed up in a postpartum care center for his wife's delivery.
A self-imposed exile.
The 'timing' of when he'd emerge and bare his claws was priceless intel.
But it wasn't enough.
As the silence dragged, Han Yura spoke first.
"What do you say?"
Cheon Myeong-hwan peered into her eyes, probing her card's authenticity in a low murmur.
"Burn Taesung?"
"Yes."
Han Yura answered without hesitation.
Cheon Myeong-hwan shook his head, as if unable to comprehend—or unwilling to.
"Burn Taesung, which will become his company someday? Why would Representative Kim do that?"
It defied common sense.
No matter the enmity, there was no reason to reduce to ashes a company that would soon be his.
That wasn't how business worked.
To his rational question, Han Yura replied with a single line mocking all worldly logic.
"Because it's Kim Cheolsu."
At those words, a chill crept up Cheon Myeong-hwan's spine.
Yes.
Kim Cheolsu.
He wasn't a man driven by common sense or reason.
A destroyer who would rather torch a rotten kingdom and build an empire from the ashes than repair it.
The kind of madman Cheon Myeong-hwan could never understand in his lifetime.
And this woman before him perfectly grasped that madman's mindset.
That was the surest proof of her value.
She saw not just his plans, but his very soul.
Cheon Myeong-hwan finally exhaled a long breath and leaned back deeply in his chair.
The deal was sealed.
"Fine. I'll back you on Paju and Double Dragon."
His voice now held not a peddler's calculus, but a strange camaraderie acknowledging another predator.
"In return, you'll be my eyes and ears. His hands and feet—and the inside of his head."
Han Yura smiled in satisfaction, as if she'd anticipated it.
Her smile perfectly blended the arrogance of victory
and the anticipation of a new deal—a picture-perfect expression.
"You won't regret it, Chairman."
With that flawless smile, Han Yura rose gracefully, bowed politely to Chairman Cheon Myeong-hwan, and exited the office.
Click-clack, click-clack.
Her high heels echoed flawlessly across Taesung Group's vast marble lobby, cold and unyielding.
Countless executives and employees cast awe and admiration toward her—one of South Korea's most capable and beautiful women.
Finally, as she stepped past the grand gates and breathed the outside air.
The picture-perfect smile vanished from Han Yura's face like a lie.
In its place settled deep disgust and contempt.
She moved to a secluded flower bed, glanced around, and quietly spoke.
"Hah, that retard fucker was right—real old bastard scum… Fuck, won't even say shit when he's about to get eaten by his own daughter… Tch, my mom's more of a parent…"
Her face twisted in genuine revulsion as she spat thick phlegm on the ground.
"Kah… Ptooey!!!"
The elegance and intellect from moments ago were gone.
This was her true face—the one only Kim Cheolsu knew.
Suppressing her anger, Han Yura turned, and her waiting bodyguard sharply opened the car door.
Sinking into the soft leather seat, she picked up her phone.
After a few rings, the call connected, and her voice flipped 180 degrees.
The vulgar rage vanished without trace,
replaced by an intellectual, gentle tone that soothed the listener.
"Yes, hello. Professor Park Seon-woo? This is Han Yura, Executive Director of Blue Sky Investment."
She paused briefly, as if listening, then continued softly.
"We spoke before, remember? About the 'Korean Modern History Museum' we're preparing. Have you… given it any thought?"
The war had already begun.
Deceiving Cheon Myeong-hwan while secretly approaching his true heir.
Han Yura was executing flawless acting on two fronts with two faces, per Kim Cheolsu's orders.