Chapter 161
Chapter 161
161.
A Relationship That Isn't About Money
Yoo Ji-young, the chairman of S1 Finance, arrived in a luxury sedan in front of a famous club called ‘SALLOS’ in Cheongdam-dong.
It was a little past lunchtime, so the doors were still closed. However, upon receiving a call, a man came out and opened the door.
Yoo Ji-young then entered with her secretary, Manager Oh Cheol-min, and her bodyguards.
Deep inside the club, a luxurious office had been prepared. And inside, a sturdy-looking middle-aged man with a light beard stood up upon seeing Yoo Ji-young.
“It’s been so long. Ji-young.”
Yoo Ji-young’s brow furrowed at the familiar tone.
“I’m here on business. Chairman Cheon Geum-seong.”
The man was Cheon Geum-seong, the boss of the Cheongeumpa, a gang that had conquered most of the nationwide organized crime syndicates centered in Seoul.
Despite her cold demeanor, Cheon Geum-seong approached her and tried to embrace her forcefully. However, Yoo Ji-young stopped him with her hand.
“Why so distant?”
“Is there anything to be distant about between us? I came today because I have business to discuss.”
“I’m genuinely disappointed. Please, sit down. Ah, I just got a good bottle of whiskey. Would you like a drink?”
Cheon Geum-seong, who had offered her a seat, walked towards the bar table instead of the sofa.
“No, thank you.”
“Heh.”
Cheon Geum-seong chuckled and poured himself a drink before returning to his seat.
“This is important.”
“I wish you wouldn’t be so stiff.”
“……”
“More importantly, how is our Seung-joo? I heard he’s still having trouble walking.”
At that moment, Yoo Ji-young’s expression hardened, and she spoke to Oh Cheol-min, who was standing beside her.
“I’ll speak with him alone, so please step out.”
“Understood.”
As Oh Cheol-min left, Yoo Ji-young glared at Cheon Geum-seong as if she could kill him.
“I told you not to mention Seung-joo’s name.”
“I don’t recall agreeing to that request. Besides, how can I not care about my son’s affairs?”
“Who says he’s your son—!”
The biggest reason Yoo Ji-young had dealt with the former chairman and her husband, who was the heir, wasn't greed. It was because they had discovered that Ahn Seung-joo was not the child of her husband, Ahn Byung-in.
That was why she had to make a risky move, accepting Kwak Chi-young of TSF’s hand to get rid of those two.
“If he’s not my son, whose son is he? Still, Ji-young, because of your request, I haven’t done anything to the man who crippled Seung-joo’s legs.”
“I said that because you shouldn’t get involved.”
The existence of Ahn Seung-joo’s biological father could have been revealed to the world.
This would have given the executives and major shareholders, the founding members of S1 Finance, a reason to turn their backs. It had to be kept absolutely secret.
Of course, Ahn Seung-joo’s position as heir was also at stake.
“So you’re just letting it go, even though you know who it is.”
“Haa… More importantly, I think I need to borrow some funds from the loan shark business.”
“It’s your money you’re using anyway, so why tell me?”
Despite his nonchalant expression, a subtle sharpness emerged.
“Because the profits from Cheongeumpa using that money are substantial. And this time, the amount of funds I need to return is a bit large.”
“How much is it?”
After a brief pause, Yoo Ji-young slowly began.
“Two hundred billion won.”
“…What?”
“In return, I will reinvest one billion won per month for two years as working capital. After two years, I will return the 200 billion and an additional 50 billion.”
Even with her explanation, Cheon Geum-seong’s momentarily stiffened expression didn’t relax. Similar requests had been made before, but the amounts then were at most around fifty billion won.
“You want to withdraw that much capital at once?”
“At the very least, I need to gather it and run it through the wash within a month.”
“But 200 billion right now is more than 90% of the capital circulating among loan sharks nationwide……”
“I know. That’s why I’m showing you this uncomfortable expression right now.”
She felt that if she had discussed this over the phone, something bad might have happened due to Cheon Geum-seong’s temper.
“The problem lies with the guys in the loan shark network. They’ll cause a stir if they have to collect urgently to match that.”
“That’s why I prepared the monthly circulating funds separately. The rest is up to you.”
Cheon Geum-seong downed the whiskey he had been swirling in his glass in one gulp.
“Kuh! It’s stronger than I thought.”
“You’re not saying you can’t do it, are you?”
“Hmm……”
Yoo Ji-young, observing his expression, sensed a problem.
“Don’t tell me… you’ve diverted the loan shark funds elsewhere?”
“……”
Cheon Geum-seong remained silent, as if confirming it. Yoo Ji-young’s expression contorted.
“Where on earth did you spend it, and how much?!”
“Kuhm! It’s not that much.”
“How much?”
Cheon Geum-seong bit his lip at the oppressive question.
“Tsk. About… forty billion.”
Yoo Ji-young was momentarily dumbfounded.
“Where did you spend such a large sum?”
“I just made a small investment.”
If the investment had had a high probability of success, Cheon Geum-seong wouldn’t have hesitated like this.
Sensing something ominous, Yoo Ji-young stared at him with an even colder expression.
“An investment? Exactly where did you invest?”
“…Telekom.”
Upon hearing the name, Yoo Ji-young’s face turned ashen.
Telekom no longer existed separately, having been acquired by Livio Soft.
At the same time, a person associated with that company inevitably came to mind.
“…Don’t tell me you revealed your identity to Seung-joo? And then you invested in that stock after hearing about it from Seung-joo?”
She had never told Ahn Seung-joo about his biological father until now.
“You warned me so strongly, there’s no way I would.”
“Then how did you know about Telekom?”
Ahn Seung-joo had invested in Telekom after obtaining information from Myung Woon-suk.
However, Telekom had faltered at the time, causing significant losses. Because of this, he harbored resentment towards Baek Shin-woo, the true source of the information, and kidnapped him, resulting in both his knees being shattered.
“…I heard it from Moon Geun-cheol.”
“Team Leader Moon Geun-cheol?”
He was referring to Moon Geun-cheol, the head of S1 Finance’s Loan Recovery Team 1, who had been incapacitated for about a week after being kicked in the head by Shinwoo.
Moon Geun-cheol had always handled Ahn Seung-joo’s dirty work in addition to company matters, so he had been close by.
“That’s right. He told me that Seung-joo had landed a big deal. Of course, I didn’t pour everything into Telekom. I invested in various places for safety…”
The nuance of his answer was such that she could guess the rest without him finishing.
“It seems you’ve made a real mess of things.”
“Kuhm!”
A gangster dabbling in stocks in the first place. He had lost forty billion won on a hopeless venture.
“Did you really lose it all?!”
“I tried to recover it by dabbling in other things…”
Yoo Ji-young had no choice but to let out a deep sigh.
“Haa… Then what about the regular reports? It’s been months already, have you been falsifying the reports all this time?”
“Well, it was unavoidable.”
“Then what will you do about the funding gap? Can you fill it?”
Yoo Ji-young knew well that if it were possible, it would have been filled long ago.
Cheon Geum-seong met her gaze with a sheepish expression.
“If it’s really difficult, I’ll liquidate some businesses to cover it.”
“Didn’t you just say your subordinates would cause trouble if you suddenly withdrew funds?”
“It’s a hundred, a thousand times better than you being in trouble. Anyway, all you need to do is make it happen, right?”
“I’m counting on you.”
With those words, Yoo Ji-young started to rise from her seat.
At the same time, Cheon Geum-seong also stood up and grabbed Yoo Ji-young’s arm.
“How long are you going to leave that guy alone?”
“Who? Are you perhaps talking about CEO Baek Shin-woo?”
“Who else would I be talking about? You didn’t think I’d just let the person who did that to Seung-joo go, did you?”
Yoo Ji-young’s brow furrowed deeply, and she even shook off his arm.
“No matter how great you are in this world, do you really think you can do anything to Baek Shin-woo?”
“What’s impossible about it?”
“CEO Baek has highly skilled bodyguards protecting him 24/7. Moreover, CEO Baek himself is quite skilled. And you still think it’s possible?”
Cheon Geum-seong chuckled at this.
“Whether it’s possible or not is something we’ll have to see. So, you can consider your request fulfilled, right?”
“…Do as you please. However, whatever happens, the relationship between you and Seung-joo must not be revealed.”
“I will take care of it.”
With that, Yoo Ji-young left immediately.
Cheon Geum-seong, left alone, was entered by Gu Tae-hyung, his right-hand man in the organization.
“Hyungnim. Did the conversation go well?”
“You came at a good time. Bring me the data you gathered on that Baek Shin-woo fellow.”
“MH Group’s Baek Shin-woo?”
“Yes.”
Gu Tae-hyung went to a shelf next to Cheon Geum-seong’s desk and brought over a file, handing it to him.
“Hmm… This guy. Find out again where he is and what he’s doing now.”
“Understood.”
.
.
.
At the same time.
Kwak Chi-young’s mind was still replaying the conversation he had with Orthros that morning.
He sat at his office desk, tapping restlessly on the armrest, revealing his complex emotions.
Tap— Tap—
“FEROX…”
He had learned from Orthros that the organization showing activity in Ecuador was FEROX.
As he muttered this, Oh Han-sung, who was standing beside him, added his thoughts.
“If FEROX really took Go Seok-ju and An Dong-won, wasn’t it an order from MH Group?”
It was a reasonable suspicion, but Kwak Chi-young shook his head.
“If that were the case, they wouldn’t have dropped the two and their families in Switzerland and Russia, where they had disappeared.”
“My thinking was shortsighted.”
“There’s a high possibility someone is helping MH Group. It must be the ones who stopped Baek Shin-woo’s actions.”
“The mysterious organization you mentioned is still not showing any traces.”
The search had been ongoing since the failed attempt to kill Baek Shin-woo.
However, having found nothing so far, it only caused more trouble.
“This is the trace we couldn’t find until now.”
“But Orthros only confirmed FEROX’s movements in Ecuador, not that they successfully rescued the two, did he?”
“For now, we can only probe the most likely places.”
“FEROX is known for its strict secrecy.”
Moreover, their headquarters were in France, not Korea.
Even if they tried to confirm through force, they would have to bear significant damage.
“Tell them to select some capable individuals from the camp and send them.”
“What are you planning to do?”
Ignoring the question, Kwak Chi-young continued his explanation.
“Ah, that guy outside. Ahn Deok-chil, was it?”
“…Yes.”
“Send him along too. For this kind of job, someone with a dirty hand is more effective than someone clean.”
Oh Han-sung gave up asking further questions.
“Then, what’s the maximum number of people you’ll select?”
“Five, including Na Seon-hwi and Ahn Deok-chil. Tell them to head to France and await instructions.”
“I will issue the order for immediate selection.”
As Oh Han-sung went outside, Kwak Chi-young let out a long sigh.
“Hoo… I must find out for sure who the people who interfered with my work are and crush them.”