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# Chapter 3
Assistant Manager Park’s face quickly turned red and then pale by turns. The relaxed attitude he had displayed just moments ago had completely disappeared, and his lips were trembling slightly.
“Are you playing games with our company right now? I don’t know where you heard whatever nonsense you’re spouting, but fifty million won? Are you seriously kidding me?”
Assistant Manager Park deliberately raised his voice and lightly slammed his hand against the table. The other employee sitting beside him fidgeted nervously, repeatedly glancing between Park and Jin-oh.
“Do you want to get sued for leaking confidential information? And what are you going to do if we really do change the design? Do you honestly think Taeseong Development is going to be helpless against some young kid like you just because of one lousy access road?”
It was a final desperate attempt that mixed threats with bluffing.
But instead of Park’s face twisted with anger, what Jin-oh saw was the newly updated red status window beside him, which had become even clearer.
[Detailed Analysis: Estimated delay damages of 1.5 billion won per month if the access road design is changed]
[Increased construction costs and acquisition costs for an alternative road: Approximately 12 billion won in additional expenses expected]
Jin-oh let out a quiet laugh.
Every month of delay would cost them billions in interest alone, and the moment they scrapped the existing design, more than ten billion won would disappear into thin air.
It was laughable that an assistant manager was boasting as though he could take responsibility for such enormous losses.
“Go ahead, then.”
At Jin-oh’s calm response, Assistant Manager Park’s eyebrows shot up.
“Go ahead and scrap the design. Every month of delay will cost you 1.5 billion won just in financial interest, and an alternative road will easily add more than ten billion won to the construction costs. I suppose someone at your level can casually cover losses of that magnitude.”
“Y-You! How do you know those numbers...?”
Park’s jaw trembled.
The young man sitting before him was accurately reciting not only the company’s confidential information but even the projected losses calculated by the risk analysis team, which had not yet even received approval.
Cold sweat ran down Assistant Manager Park’s back.
Jin-oh no longer felt there was any reason to waste time.
He lowered the hand that had been supporting his chin and slowly stood up from his chair.
“It seems Taeseong has no intention of making a deal, so I’ll be going. Make sure you do a good job changing the design, and write a nice report to your company explaining that the project fell through.”
Jin-oh turned around without hesitation and headed toward the cafe exit.
One.
Two.
Three.
He counted silently as he took about three steps.
Then the urgent sound of a chair scraping violently across the floor rang out behind him.
“W-Wait! Mr. Kim Jin-oh! Please, sit down!”
Assistant Manager Park practically ran over and blocked Jin-oh’s path.
The arrogant expression from earlier was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his face was filled with such desperation that he looked as though he might get down on his knees at any moment.
“F-Fifty million won. We’ll give it to you. No, we have to give it to you! I’ll use the full company-approved amount and process the transfer immediately. So please, just stamp the contract first.”
Jin-oh stopped and looked down at Assistant Manager Park.
“If you had approached me like this from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to make things uncomfortable for each other.”
“You’re right. I overstepped my bounds. I’m truly sorry. Let’s proceed with the contract right now.”
In the end, guided by Assistant Manager Park, who had completely backed down, Jin-oh returned to the table.
The employee hurriedly pulled a new contract from his bag and busily wrote in the revised amount.
Jin-oh quickly scanned the contents of the contract and stamped it without hesitation.
---
A few days later.
Jin-oh’s smartphone gave a short vibration as he lay on the bed in his shabby rented room, staring at the ceiling.
[Deposit: Taeseong Development 50,000,000 won]
After counting the number of zeros displayed on the screen, the corners of Jin-oh’s mouth curved into a gentle smile.
The moment the money arrived, the first thing he did was open the loan application.
The seven-million-won high-interest loan from the secondary financial institution had been hanging over him like a noose ever since his discharge.
He also paid off all the interest that had been threatening to snowball.
[Loan Balance: 0 won]
[Repayment completed.]
It felt as though the heavy boulder pressing down on his chest had disappeared in an instant.
Jin-oh exhaled slowly and checked his bank balance again.
He had roughly 43 million won left.
The worthless piece of 100-pyeong land he had purchased using the three million won he had brought home after discharge along with seven million won in debt had multiplied fivefold in just one month and landed directly in his bank account.
This was the true taste of capitalism.
It was a thrilling sense of achievement on an entirely different level from sweating while carrying boxes or hauling bags of cement.
Capital multiplying itself.
For the first time in his life, Jin-oh had obtained a proper seed fund.
He got up from the bed and stretched.
“First, I need to eat.”
Jin-oh left the house wearing comfortable training clothes.
He headed toward the neighborhood gukbap restaurant he had always passed by without ever stopping.
“Grandma, I’ll have one special sundae-gukbap. And please slice me a plate of boiled pork head meat too.”
“Oh my, what’s gotten into you today, young man? You’re even ordering boiled pork. Something good happen?”
“Yes. I paid off all my debts and came into some money.”
As he put the hearty hot gukbap and chewy boiled pork into his mouth, Jin-oh quietly smiled.
It wasn’t a steak being carved at an expensive restaurant.
But at this moment, it was better than any feast in the world.
This small, peaceful daily life.
Being able to eat something delicious without having to worry about money or complain about not having enough.
The reason Jin-oh wanted to accumulate enormous wealth was precisely to protect this kind of certain happiness.
After filling his stomach, he left the restaurant and headed straight for the bus stop.
But the destination of the bus he was about to take was not the temporary construction site where he had worked until yesterday.
---
A regional court auction house located in the city.
From the entrance, the place was crowded with brokers dressed in suits and investors carrying document envelopes.
As Jin-oh entered the midst of the murmuring crowd, his vision once again began to heat up pleasantly.
Above the numerous property descriptions posted on the bulletin board outside the auction courtroom, colorful holograms poured down like a waterfall.
[Property Number 202X-1134]
[Hidden Rights: Malicious tenant currently residing with opposing rights]
[Profit Rate Compared to Expected Winning Bid: -25% (Beware of Losses)]
[Property Number 202X-2599]
[Hidden Rights: Enforcement fine for illegal construction scheduled to be imposed]
[Expected Profit Rate: 0%]
The commercial buildings and apartments looked perfectly fine on the surface, but the reality reflected in Jin-oh’s eyes was completely different.
There were countless trap properties displaying red warnings.
It was a minefield where an investor could easily lose their entire fortune by jumping in after conducting only a superficial analysis of the property rights.
Jin-oh calmly filtered through the flood of information as he slowly scanned the bulletin board.
Then his gaze stopped on a single old sheet of paper posted in a secluded corner where hardly anyone was looking.
A soft silver hologram was shining brilliantly above it.
[Property Number 202X-4587]
[Property Type: Multi-family Housing, Semi-basement]
[Three Failed Auctions. Current Minimum Bid: 32 million won]
It was the semi-basement unit of a villa appraised at 130 million won.
But after failing to sell at auction three times, its price had plunged to less than a quarter of the appraised value.
It wasn’t difficult to figure out why.
In the on-site photographs attached to the property description, vicious words painted in red lacquer were clearly visible above the tightly closed entrance.
‘Lien being exercised. Unauthorized entry will result in criminal charges.’
In the auction market, one of the most troublesome and complicated issues was precisely this kind of lien.
If the claims and construction payment disputes tied up in the paperwork could not be resolved, even a successful bidder could not use the property.
That was why ordinary investors wouldn’t even consider such a notorious property.
The people lingering nearby clicked their tongues and turned away as soon as they saw the photograph.
“This is the kind of property that’ll make you bleed if you touch it. The lien holder is determined to squat there.”
“It’s a semi-basement with a lien on top of that. Who’s going to buy it? It’ll probably go through another failed auction.”
But despite the mocking whispers around him, Jin-oh’s eyes remained steady and bright.
The silver status window before his eyes was telling him an entirely different truth.
[True Rights Status: False lien created through document forgery. No legal effect whatsoever.]
[Solution: Eviction lawsuit and report for forgery of private documents can result in eviction within one month.]
It was a lien fabricated by manipulating documents.
It was a typical scam intended to frighten the opposing party into giving up.
Without legal knowledge and the courage to stand their ground, it was easy to be deceived.
But to Jin-oh, it was nothing more than an empty shell.
Above all, what made Jin-oh’s heart pound was the key advantage that appeared beneath it.
[Key Advantage: Designation as a small-scale housing redevelopment district confirmed within one year]
[Expected Compensation and Value of New Construction Allocation Rights: At least 300 million won]
A run-down semi-basement villa that would transform into an allocation right for a brand-new apartment within a year.
It was a perfect future.
The current minimum bid was 32 million won.
The 43 million won in Jin-oh’s bank account was enough to win the auction and still leave him with money to spare.
The dizzying thrill of possessing information that only he knew coursed through his entire body.
Afraid someone else might snatch it away, Jin-oh tore his gaze from the document and immediately headed toward the booth where he could fill out his bid form.
Jin-oh stepped inside the narrow partitioned booth and pulled a pen from his pocket.
Without the slightest hesitation, he boldly wrote down the magical number on the bid form, the number that would make his second seed fund grow.