Chapter 56
Chapter 56
In the end, the disciplinary committee member fled, trembling, and spat out a line straight from a third-rate villain's script: "J-just you wait...!" The sheer shamelessness the three of us had put on display appeared to have exceeded her maximum tolerance for depravity.
She must have a remarkably vivid imagination. For all her protests, she probably knows a thing or two, doesn't she? That's why a few casual words from Ha-neul knocked her out cold. I suppose it's a classic cliché that the moral-committee, disciplinary-committee types are always the ones with the filthiest minds.
Well... to be fair, even I have to admit what was said was more than a little suggestive. If I hadn't been one of the people involved, I probably would have imagined something similar. I might not be a disciplinary committee member, but I was a healthy young man. Hearing suggestive talk naturally leads to suggestive thoughts.
And it seemed the incident in front of the school gate had spread through the student body like wildfire, carried by every student who had walked past.
Of course, no one whispered about it openly right in front of me. Everyone would be chattering away, only to startle and look away when I passed by, or attempt an awkward subject change in a forced, overly loud voice. Given that they were all still sneaking glances at me while doing so, their mission to pretend they were ignoring me was half a failure from the start.
I remained completely and utterly unfazed.
Because I know those misunderstandings are all wrong.
Uh... I mean, it is true that Ha-neul and Lee Su-a are wearing my underwear today, and the three of us did sleep together last night, but...
In any case, whether it was because of the rumors that had exploded after this morning's events, just sitting next to Ha-neul during first period was enough to draw everyone's undivided attention.
I'd thought it would take at least a month, but maybe by this weekend, someone might finally overcome their curiosity and approach me?
...Although, before that happens, there are a few things I need to prepare.
"I'm going to step out for a bit."
Not long after class started, I told Ha-neul that and left the classroom.
The chairwoman had reacted unexpectedly fast, breaking the schedule she'd set for herself.
That meant I had to come up with countermeasures even faster. I could only guess at how the chairwoman had sweet-talked the kids, their parents, and the schoolteachers, but whatever method I could imagine, they all had one thing in common.
Money.
Ideally, an enormous amount of capital, as much as I could pull together.
Whether it was blackmail, lobbying, or bribery, I needed money to fend it off.
I also needed to know how much the other side could spend, and how much I could withstand.
So, there was only one person I could go to.
*
"You're out early today."
Team Leader Han Ga-ram was wearing almost the exact same outfit as last time. The bank-teller hairstyle, the bank-teller uniform, the coat over it. Last time, not knowing she was a banker, I'd simply pegged her as an office worker, but now, looking closely, she was unmistakably a banker.
Except for the incredibly important-looking briefcase in her right hand. It looked less like something a teller carries and more like something a bank president would. I've only been living as a rich person for barely two months, but I'm starting to recognize what an 'expensive item' looks like.
...Sorry to say it, but Ha-neul's bag and the ones the other kids in class carry are distinctly different in material and wear and tear.
"I have a few questions I wanted to ask."
"I'm glad to hear it. One always feels more at ease handling the assets of a client who takes an active interest. I've seen too many people who keep their mouths shut and then come back later complaining that the terms are wrong or asking why their money barely grew."
Without waiting for my permission, Han Ga-ram plopped down in the seat next to me.
"I'm sorry to say this,"
she said, clicking open her briefcase.
"But honestly, it's convenient for me that you can step out during class, client. Other student clients have very strict time constraints."
Well, I suppose there would be security issues in having this conversation outside.
She pulled a leather diary and a capped ballpoint pen with a white star on its end from the briefcase, flipped the diary open to the notepad section, and continued.
"Alright, I'm ready. So, client, what would you like to consult about?"
"What's the maximum amount of liquid funds I could prepare at once?"
"I'm afraid we can't say."
Team Leader Han Ga-ram answered very breezily.
"Why?"
I furrowed my brow and asked again.
"Because we also don't know the exact total of your trust assets. Of course, the bank as an institution has a precise figure, but the late chairman wished for those trust assets to be managed across several teams. However, the real estate assets managed by our team amount to approximately 2.6859 trillion won. Since there are about five management teams, if the other teams manage similar amounts, your total real estate assets would be roughly 12 to 13 trillion won."
Team Leader Han Ga-ram answered, and then,
"Ah, you just had a little 'oh...' moment, didn't you?"
"Uh..."
Okay, I was a little disappointed, but it wasn't exactly an 'oh...' level thing. Saying that makes me sound like a terrible person. In this world, having 100 billion won, no, even just 10 billion, gets you called a tycoon. If you can't be satisfied with this much, you're not a human being, just a hungry ghost.
Honestly, my thoughts were more about whether that amount of capital could restrain or block the chairwoman.
"Oh, for your reference, the theme park isn't managed by our team but is operated on a bank-wide level. Naturally, since the theme park itself is a corporation, it isn't counted as a 'real estate asset.' Though, calling it a corporation is just a formality; its real power comes from the park's actual real estate. It's the same with other properties. We hold them because the money they generate just by existing is astronomical. The profits are so massive they outweigh even the enormous taxes."
"But still..."
As I hesitated, Han Ga-ram looked at me for a moment, then spoke as if to encourage me.
"In that case, client, may I ask how much money you were thinking of needing to make you ask such a question?"
"...."
I thought for a moment, then said,
"About... 15 trillion? Or so?"
"...."
Han Ga-ram was rendered speechless for a moment.
"Have you perhaps found a company you'd like to buy?"
she then asked cautiously.
...Is 15 trillion really a scale that big?
"Uh, no. I just think I might have some personal use for it..."
"If it's for personal use, what kind...?"
"...Like, giving it to my friends...?"
"...."
Han Ga-ram was quiet for a long while, then recapped the ballpoint pen she was holding. And closed the diary.
After letting out a small sigh, she asked again.
"What made you think of doing that?"
"...Are you aware of my current situation?"
"Yes, I am. That very situation is what made me struggle for years to earn your trust. Do you recall how many times you dismissed our trust assets as unnecessary?"
...I said something like that?
"My hands were shaking so badly when I was procuring those sleeping pills for you..."
Did I blackmail her into getting them?
Right, it did always seem odd that a banker got me sleeping pills. I guess when you're dealing with sums in the tens of trillions, procuring a bottle of sleeping pills is no big deal. Mm.
"So, I'm having trouble understanding the current situation. What is your reason for suddenly deciding to hand out 15 trillion won to your friends?"
"...."
I fell silent for a moment.
And after a brief hesitation, I decided it was best to tell this person. She manages my assets. I can't efficiently pull out and use money without at least minimal information sharing.
"Because the chairwoman's money is what created this situation. If she uses money to threaten my friends..."
"Are you saying you would block it with that 15 trillion won?"
Han Ga-ram murmured, dazed.
She was quiet for a moment, then—
"Um, client. If it's not too rude, could you perhaps give me 1 trillion won?"
—she very randomly said that.
"Why would I?"
When I shot back with a look that said 'what kind of nonsense is that,' Han Ga-ram breathed a sigh of relief.
"No, I was worried your judgment might be clouded. Seeing this, you truly seem to have thought this out of concern. Well, I suppose when you're trying to escape a situation, there's no better method than money."
Han Ga-ram nodded to herself, muttering, then declared definitively,
"But you won't need to prepare as much as 15 trillion."
"...Why?"
"Because the amount a single person can borrow isn't as large as you might think. The same applies even if you extend it to family, relatives, and companies. No matter how wealthy the families of the children attending this school are, it's rare for a 'family's' own capital to exceed 1 trillion won. This is a school with roughly twenty-five students per class, twelve classes per grade across three grades, mixing boys and girls."
"Ah..."
I started to get a rough idea of what Team Leader Han Ga-ram was saying.
"Moreover, this country has quite a lot of rich people, enough that they could keep coming as long as this school exists. But honestly, if you exclude the top few percent, the rest are all mid-sized or small businesses. I can guarantee there is 'not a single student' whose 'personal' assets amount to 215 trillion won in stocks alone, like yours. No, not just students. Even those who could easily be your 'father's' or 'grandfather's' age didn't possess even half of that."
It seemed the 5.7 percent stake in Yujin Electronics, plus my shares in other affiliates, all added up to that figure.
"So..."
"So, I'm saying that if the 'current chairwoman,' who owns 8.5 percent of Yujin Electronics stock, decided to ruin someone at this school, she could do it a lot more easily than you'd think."
Team Leader Han Ga-ram said that.
"Driving a company into bankruptcy, heaping a mountain of debt onto a single person... Even if it's illegal, with enough money, you can smooth over a lot of things. Though the smoothing-over methods are also illegal, of course. Unless we were in America, crawling with billionaires and where lobbying is legal, the rest of the people in this country simply don't have enough money to control the 'rich family' of the Yujin Group. Even most banks would break their backs trying to match your credit limit."
"So, to ruin someone's future, you can do it with less money than you'd think, and, "
", Which means, to prevent that ruining, you can also do it with less money than you'd think. By your standards, client, not the perpetrator's."
"...."
Just what kind of media outlet was it that posted my picture?
Do they have no fear, no sense of self-preservation at all, or is it completely gone?
"If a friend ends up with hundreds of billions in debt, just slip them a hundred billion won. Gift tax at 50 percent? Would someone who was thinking in terms of 15 trillion worry about something like that while saving a friend?"
"Uh..."
I hesitated for a second, then said,
"But, most of my assets are in stocks..."
Don't I have to sell stocks to get money?
"...."
Han Ga-ram stared at me, hard.
"Wh-what is it?"
When I asked, flustered, Han Ga-ram wiped her face with her hand.
"You know? Stocks have this thing called dividends."
"Uh, yes. But they're incredibly small—"
"Yes, they are. Right now, Yujin Electronics pays a dividend of 205 won per share, quarterly. So if you had '200 million' shares, by simple math, you'd get about a million won a year. Wow, really a pittance, right?"
"Ah."
"But, oh dear, you happen to own roughly 200 trillion won worth of stock. Since 200 trillion is 200 million times one million, 200 million divided by one is... wait. 200 trillion is one million times 200 million, so you'd multiply that million won by one million. Now then, how much does that come out to?"
"Aah!"
"On top of that, if you include the cash assets, physical assets left by the late chairman, and the profits generated from the real estate assets you currently own, the sum grows much larger. So, yes. Honestly, if it's just a matter of 'preparing' 15 trillion won, it could be processed with a single phone call in under 10 minutes. You'd just have to check your cash balance."
"...."
As I sat there with my mouth hanging open, Han Ga-ram looked at me with a serious expression.
"Hey, client."
"Yes."
"If it's not too rude, could you just give me 50 billion won?"
"Are you insane?"