At Least Double – 1

"Ah, you mean Seongdo Construction."

Moon Sung-il was quick on the uptake; he grasped what I was after in a heartbeat.

"Yes. I made a promise to Yongsoo — the soul behind the skeletal remains found in the basement of the Chinese restaurant in Ugok 5-ri."

I gave them a brief account of my encounter with Yongsoo, then looked back and forth between the two men.

"I don't believe this was something Joo Chang-nam did alone. I suspect Jeong Hyeon-taek, the man who handled the highway civil works at the time, was his partner in crime."

"That would certainly fit."

Moon Sung-il nodded.

"And the money they raised under the banner of building the Yeongcheon Theme Park most likely became the founding capital of Seongdo Construction."

Tteokbokki stands, hot dog carts, ice cream shops — the people who borrowed money to open businesses at that theme park. The people who dumped their entire retirement savings into it. Many of those families were ruined, and more than a few breadwinners took their own lives.

And not a single soul was ever held accountable.

Jeong Hyeon-taek simply defaulted, then dropped dead of heart failure not long after.

So while one side of the ledger wept tears of blood, the other side was apparently throwing a banquet. Jeong Hyeon-taek's son had grown Seongdo Construction at a terrifying pace.

Then, when the Ugok 5-ri case and Yongsoo's remains set the whole country buzzing, the village abruptly went up for auction. Whether it was to bury the evidence before it could be dug up, or simply to sever the tail before it got stepped on, there was no way to know.

"So that's who put the village up for auction..."

"Who was it? Someone bought the entire village and now wants to sell it off?"

Lee Ho-young asked, blinking, his personal curiosity clearly piqued.

It was Moon Sung-il who answered.

"SD Financial. Every time Seongdo Construction needed to move money from its right pocket to its left, SD appears to have handled the laundering."

To put it simply —

"Jeong Hyeon-taek died after paving himself a throne out of every illegal scheme under the sun, and now his son is dancing a sword dance on top of it."

At my words, Moon Sung-il even broke into applause.

"Mr. Kim, I'd say that phrasing is remarkably precise."

"Secretary Yoon dug this up for us."

Moon Sung-il pulled out his phone, thumbed through it for a moment, and sent the file over to me.

A soft chime announced its arrival. I opened it to find a collection of articles about the townhouses Seongdo Construction had built.

I vaguely remembered hearing about it in passing on the news. A mid-sized construction firm had thrown up shoddy townhouses, and the residents had suffered enormous losses as a result.

How furious must a person be to take their own life over it?

The problem was that there were so many companies like that, people forgot almost immediately. Whether it was Seongdo Construction that pulled it, or Seongji Construction, or Seongo Construction... they were all putting up defective houses, so unless it was your own home, it never even registered in memory.

Maybe that was why.

"And yet despite all this, Seongdo Construction is apparently starting apartment construction in another redevelopment zone."

"That's my parents' neighborhood."

I told them a massive Seongdo-built apartment complex was going up directly across from my family home.

"Have they broken ground yet?"

"No. Something between the old apartment blocks and the redevelopment villas is still being negotiated, so demolition hasn't even started."

"Then we can still stop it."

"You can actually halt the construction?"

I asked back, genuinely startled.

The redevelopment association had already awarded the job to Seongdo Construction. And yet Moon Sung-il wore the expression of a man who could flip the entire board over.

"Redevelopment follows the same pattern everywhere you go. The association chairman will have a dirty connection, without fail."

At the sight of Moon Sung-il's brimming confidence, I answered with a smile.

"Then while you, Representative Moon, expose Seongdo Construction's corruption, I'll start digging into SD Financial."

"You intend to go up against a loan shark yourself, Mr. Kim?"

"There's no need to make it so dramatic. The land is going to auction anyway, so if I place a bid, I imagine they'll be the ones coming to me."

Could Son Gu-chul of the Marsh Snail Hangover Soup joint really afford to buy all of Ugok 5-ri?

'No. I only intend to buy the Chinese restaurant building and the two or three plots around it.'

But if I acted as though I meant to buy the entire village, who would SD Financial rather sell to? Handing over the whole package in one piece beat splitting it up and selling it off piecemeal — so naturally, they'd reach out to me first.

'And soon enough, we'll find out who actually stands at the head of SD Financial.'

"It seems the inspection of the gold bars is finished, sir?"

Just as our conversation was winding down, Secretary Yoon approached and handed a stack of documents to Moon Sung-il.

"Representative, we've tested the gold for foreign impurities and completed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weighing. Here are the composition analysis and the measured weights."

"Good work."

Moon Sung-il skimmed the papers, then arched his eyebrows high.

"Wow!"

"What is it?"

When I asked, Moon Sung-il held the papers out to me, chest puffed out proudly.

"Have a look for yourself, Mr. Kim. You too, Representative Lee."

With a pounding heart, I took the documents from him.

Hold on a moment.

'Am I reading that right?'

Blink. Blink. Blink-blink.

I blinked rapidly, but the number refused to change.

"Three tons... is that what this says? And it's all pure gold?"

"Yes, sir. That is correct."

"WHAAAT! Three tons?!"

Lee Ho-young sucked in a huge breath and started blinking just like I had.

I'd watched the security staff haul the gold out of the cave, sweat beading ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on their foreheads, groaning under the weight. It had been divided across three black jeep-like vehicles that looked straight out of a cash-in-transit fleet.

'Still, I never imagined it would come to three tons.'

When it had been transferred to the private vault in the basement of Moon Sung-il's company, it had occupied roughly the volume of a large refrigerator lying on its side.

It was the moment I truly understood, in my bones, just how dense gold really was.

"So roughly speaking, how much is three tons worth?"

"One gram is a little over 190,000 won, so..."

Lee Ho-young answered without a beat of hesitation.

"529 billion!"

Seriously?

My mind went completely blank.

Lee Ho-young swept both hands back through his hair and began laughing like a madman.

"Hahahahahaha! And that's just the gold bars! The golden Buddha statue and every other artifact are on top of that!"

"That's right."

"Divided by three is... no, wait — you're taking half the profits, Sunbae-nim, so your share comes to over 200 billion won—!!!"

Lee Ho-young shot to his feet, cackling wildly.

"Congratulations, Sunbae-nim! You have officially entered the 200-billion-won class!"

Moon Sung-il fetched cognac from the display cabinet and poured for everyone.

"Congratulations. All of this is thanks to you, Mr. Kim."

I accepted the glass he offered, but my head was still swimming.

So I was really becoming a man worth over 200 billion won?

I wanted to keep a clear head for this moment, so I set the glass down and looked at the documents again.

Three tons of pure gold.

The golden Buddha, the golden gourd bottle, the golden chest, and all the rest aside — the gold bars alone weighed three tons.

And half of that was mine.

"Ha, hahaha."

All I could do was laugh. Terrified that my trembling hands would give me away, I set the papers down and thrust both fists into my trouser pockets.

'I should sell off all the meteorites in my bank safe-deposit box and put this gold in there instead.'

Then again — would a bank even agree to store one and a half tons of gold in a private vault for me?

At this rate, I might just have to commission a titanium vault of my own, same as Moon Sung-il.

Did you know?

Among bank safe-deposit vaults, there's a separate VIP-grade vault reserved for bulky holdings. Even one and a half tons of gold wasn't actually that large by volume — it filled two travel suitcases with room to spare.

But when that much volume weighed a ton and a half, simply moving it was a job in itself.

After entrusting the 1.5 tons of gold to the bank's private vault, I stopped by my parents' house for a moment.

"It's the middle of farming season, and you show up out of nowhere? What's going on?"

Mom's face filled with worry the instant she saw me at the door.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I had business up in Seoul anyway, and I missed you, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so here I am."

I gave Mom a tight hug, then held out a shopping bag.

She took it with a flustered look and opened the jewelry box inside.

"What's this? A gold ring and a gold bracelet? Oh my — honey! A gold necklace too! Do you have any idea how expensive gold is these days? What were you thinking, buying something like this?"

Mom, your son owns more than one and a half tons of gold.

Naturally, I couldn't say that, so I just smiled.

"All I sent you for Parents' Day was carnations and an allowance — I couldn't even share a meal with you two. So I picked up some gifts on the way."

"You already send us a million won a month as it is."

In fact, my parents had been away traveling over Parents' Day. If I'd gone to see them then, I would have been keeping the house in solitary silence all over again, just like last New Year's.

Mom cradled the jewelry box, so delighted she didn't know what to do with herself.

"Can I really keep this?"

"Of course. Go on, try it on."

"I bought this dress with the allowance my son sent me. Now I'll have to wear my new dress with the gold necklace and the gold bracelet."

"Yes, Mom."

Just as Mom disappeared into the bedroom, the front door swung open and Dad came back from his walk.

"Yunho's here? Is something the matter?"

"You sound ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly like Mom."

I laughed and walked over to him.

"So now whenever I come home, it automatically means something's wrong?"

"As if! I'm just happy to see my son out of the blue, that's all."

I held out a gift box to Dad as well, filled with a gold ring, a gold bracelet, and a gold necklace.

"This one's for you, Dad."

"Well, well. Did you get into Bitcoin or something? Out of nowhere you go buying gold."

Dad tried the necklace on right there on the spot, declared it heavy, and then let out a hearty belly laugh.

Apparently, there is no one on this earth who dislikes gold.

I certainly never imagined I'd see Dad smiling that brightly with a gold necklace around his neck.

Just then, Mom emerged from the bedroom in a dress scattered with fluttery floral prints. Gold glinted at her neck and wrist too.

"How do I look? I bought this dress with the allowance you sent me."

"Wow, it's gorgeous! You could get remarried tomorrow, Mom."

"You mean you'll marry me all over again, don't you?"

At Dad's words, Mom shot him a sideways glance, as if to ask why he was stating the obvious.

"Were you planning on marrying some other woman, then?"

"Not a chance. That will absolutely never happen."

Gold flashed on the shoulders and arms of Mom and Dad as they gazed at each other so tenderly. Gold rings gleamed on their fingers as well.

'I'm proud. Genuinely proud.'

If this isn't happiness, then what on earth could be?

I spread both arms wide and pulled my parents into a hug.

"Live long and stay healthy, both of you. Next time, I'll bring you a necklace and bracelet densely studded with diamonds."

After spending the night at my parents' place, I headed down to Ugok-ri the next day.

'And they said the soybean flowers would bloom once the rain let up.'

Driving along the village road, I rolled down the window, and a sweet fragrance brushed the tip of my nose. Soybean blossoms, pale white, swayed in the breeze among the lush green leaves.

"Beautiful. Just beautiful."

I stretched my arm out the window and let the wind run between my fingers, utterly content.

"Oh! Boss!"

Chai, thinning the plants out in the field, spotted me and waved both arms. I'd come down in Moon Sung-il's car — knowing I'd have to bring No. 1 home with me, Moon Sung-il had ordered Secretary Yoon to chauffeur me all the way.

"Arrived safe and sound, sir. You must be exhausted after the trip?"

"You're the one who's been working hard, Secretary Yoon. Thank you."

The moment the car rolled to a stop in the yard, Chai and Bang Jeongsoo came hurrying over.

"Boss! You rest now, yes? Farming Chai will do!"

"I get to rest too, you know."

I chuckled, took Chai's hand, and pressed a small box into it.

"What this?"

"A gold ring."

"G-gold ring? Real gold ring?"

"That's right."

What was a don-weight gold ring — about four grams — to give the man who'd worked his fingers to the bone from planting season until now? I was a rich man worth over 200 billion won, after all.

Bang Jeongsoo had only been working with me a matter of days, so I'd prepared a women's gold ring for him to give to Han Mija.

"Since we haven't worked together all that long yet, I prepared a gift for Ms. Han Mija instead. I look forward to working with you going forward."

"Th-thank you so much!"

Bang Jeongsoo was so overjoyed he didn't know where to put himself.

"Right! Snack break first, then back to work! Today's menu is Gamasot Cauldron Pork Cutlet!"

Even a 200-billion-won rich man loves a good pork cutlet.

My mouth watered at the mere thought of that golden crust fried crisp in the old cast-iron cauldron.

"Meow."

And as No. 1 bounded out of the car and padded past me, a gold necklace glittered around its neck too.

No. 1 had been pestering me to commission it a full golden cat statue — I'd fobbed it off with a gold necklace instead.