A Thug Girl as the Building Owner? (4)
“Hello. I’m Kim Seongwoo, tax accountant.”
The tax accountant who entered was a man in his early thirties, with neatly combed-back hair and square metal-rimmed glasses.
Damn, I didn’t ask who was coming because the anticipation of not knowing was fun, but it would’ve been nice if it was a woman... Oh well, can’t be helped.
I skipped the greetings and just showed him my smartphone.
Hypnosis Successful -1000 coins. Coins remaining: 11000
Daily Mission Complete: Hypnotize a man (1/1) +2000 coins. Coins remaining: 13000
Weekly Mission: Hypnotize 7 people over the course of a week (Current: 5/7)
[Rewards: 10000 coins, ??? : Locked]
Ah! Forgot the daily mission yesterday. But luck’s on my side today.
The tax accountant, dressed in a gray suit, stood there blankly.
Dalgeon spoke up at the sight.
“Hey, Kim Seongwoo, why are you just standing there all spaced out? Take a seat.”
“Hmm... Dalgeon,”
I planted three major suggestions in him, along with some minor ones.
1. Unless you're in the same place as me, you won't remember or recognize anything related to hypnosis.
2. You can only talk about me to people I've explicitly permitted, and only then will the relevant info from your deep memories surface. Right now, that's just Kim Seongwoo the tax accountant and Park Sia the lawyer.
3. Especially with Park Sia the lawyer, you're permitted to discuss plans with me in secure locations.
And so on for the minor suggestions.
I planted suggestions in Kim Seongwoo too.
“The one speaking to you now, Han Seongtae, is your Master. You obey the Master's commands unconditionally.”
“Yes. I will obey all commands, Master.”
“Refer to me as ‘Seongtae-nim.’ You won't even realize you've been hypnotized—you've simply come to understand that serving Seongtae-nim is your top priority.”
“Yes, Seongtae-nim. I will serve you devotedly.”
“Even if you commit illegal acts alongside your Master, you feel no guilt whatsoever and devote yourself fully to helping achieve the Master's plans.”
“Yes. I feel no guilt over illegal acts. I will cooperate fully with Master's plans.”
“However, you must handle any instructions I give secretly and alone. You can't recall or discuss any info or memories about me with anyone except those I've permitted. Right now, that's just Gwak Cheolyong the lawyer.”
“....... I won't discuss Master with anyone except Gwak Cheolyong the lawyer.”
I exchanged secure phone numbers with him using the burner phone Cheolyong had given me, and implanted the suggestion that he must answer calls from this number discreetly and naturally, without drawing attention.
If he was in a situation where he couldn't take the call unavoidably, or in a crowded place he couldn't slip away from, he shouldn't pick up—that was the security measure.
This aligned with all the security-related suggestions I'd implanted before.
Ironclad security.
Even if his illegal activities were exposed, he'd take the fall alone—with no connection back to me. Lie detectors or torture wouldn't make him spill a thing about me.
Once the suggestions were set in both of them, we sat down to talk.
“When I clap, you'll snap back to normal with all the suggestions intact.”
Clap!
Tax accountant Kim Seongwoo bowed deeply and greeted me again.
“This lowly one finally has the honor of meeting Han Seongtae-nim.”
“Yeah, sit down. You eat yet?”
As he took his seat, he replied,
“No, I haven't eaten yet.”
Cheolyong, puzzled, asked me,
“You two know each other?”
“Nah, first time meeting. What you just saw was hypnosis.”
“Seongtae-nim, I blacked out for a bit so I don’t remember, but did you hypnotize me in that time too?”
“Yep. You got hit too.”
“Seongtae-nim, I haven’t been hypnotized. Honestly, I still can’t quite believe it.”
“Let’s say that’s true. But Kim Seongwoo’s definitely under. Wanna test something? You’ll need to believe in hypnosis if you want things to go smoother.”
“Hmm... what should we do?”
“Think about it slowly.”
I figured experiencing it firsthand would be more effective than some vague ‘believe in hypnosis’ suggestion.
After a moment’s thought, Cheolyong said,
“Have him do something he’d never do normally? Like, tell him to take off his pants.”
“You hear that? Take off your pants.”
“Yes.” With that, Kim Seongwoo shot up and dropped his pants. Black boxer briefs popped into view.
Are all us guys only capable of thinking up the most primal shit?
“Holy crap, no way. He actually did it?”
“Ugh, put ’em back on. Don’t wanna see that.”
“Yes, putting my pants back on.”
“Dalgeon, can’t you get more creative?”
“Then ask him about companies he handles taxes for—any that help with tax evasion, and how big the scale is?”
“You hear the lawyer? Spill some tax evasion details.”
Still fumbling with his zipper, he rattled them off smoothly.
“Most recently, I helped Harmon Steel, a mid-sized steel manufacturer with annual sales around 30 billion won. But manufacturing has low margins, so the siphoned funds under the president’s name were about 3 billion won.”
“What’s the average profit margin for steel manufacturing?”
“Around 5%.”
5% of 30 billion is 1.5 billion, but they siphoned 3 billion to the president?
I showed him the Apple phone Cheolyong handed over.
“What’s the profit margin on these Apple phones?”
“I think it’s over 25%. There was an article recently saying it topped 30%, but I’m not sure.”
Apple’s margins are insane.
Seongwoo rattled off a couple more while standing, but I cut him off.
“Enough. Dalgeon, convinced about hypnosis now?”
He stared with the most serious expression imaginable.
“I have to be. No way he’d casually admit to tax evasion right in front of me like that...”
“What, wanna call up a prosecutor buddy now?”
“No, nothing like that. Just... the world’s so rotten. Even Kim Seongwoo’s corrupted like this.”
“He had a clean image or something?”
“Yeah. Total shock. He’s a junior from my university, introduced through a mutual friend. Known him for years, never suspected.”
“What uni did you go to again?”
“Korea University, class of ’04, Year of the Monkey.”
“I’m your junior then. Class of ’19.”
“No wonder you give off that extraordinary vibe, Seongtae-nim. A Korea U junior, haha.”
“Enough chit-chat. Let’s talk business.”
“Understood, Seongtae-nim.”
I laid out the future plans.
“Registering as a sole proprietor was a breeze. Already done. Takes about three days.”
Cheolyong asked,
“What kind of company are you planning, sir?”
“Company name’s Miracle Company. We’ll issue coins first. Coin name: Miracle Coin—or MC for short.”
Juvenile name. But MC’s double entendre for Mind Control.
“Seongtae-nim, we need to clarify terms. Are we talking coin or token?”
“Lawyerly question. Start with a token. Coins require building our own mainnet. We’ll issue Ethereum-based ERC tokens first. Raise funds, hire devs, then make our own coin.”
“May I ask about the main features?”
“Later. Was gonna make it anonymous, but Korea bans that legally, right? For tax evasion probably.”
“Yes, stuff like Monero or Litecoin got delisted from most Korean exchanges for enabling anonymity and tax dodging.”
“Okay, main point: I want most of the profits as my own. Where and how do you set up a paper company? And is a corporation better, or sole proprietor?”
Cheolyong said,
“Normally it depends on the situation, but since you can use hypnosis, sir, go with a corporation. Put someone else as the representative.”
“Why?”
“Register the business under someone with zero ties to you, then buy whatever you want through the corp. High-end cars as business expenses—you drive ’em around.”
Tax accountant Kim Seongwoo chimed in.
“Not sure of the details, but coin profits can be conveniently ‘omitted.’ And for you, Seongtae-nim, just route the money through a few unrelated spots and it’s untraceable money laundering.”
“Like in the movies—laundromats or casinos with lots of cash flow?”
“We can do it more elegantly. Not sure how much you plan to make, but if setting up a paper company, I recommend Antigua and Barbuda.”
“Antee-what?”
“Antigua and Barbuda—a small island nation in the Caribbean.”
“Huh? Isn’t it Switzerland or the Virgin Islands that are famous? Saw online that Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia’s good these days.”
“Switzerland was big, but they open books if the Korean government demands. Kuala Lumpur signed an agreement with Korea last May—risky now.”
“So what’s Antigua and Barbuda do?”
“Officially gambling and tourism. Famous tax haven. No capital gains tax. But do you really need that?”
I’m asking because I don’t know how much I’ll rake in. And I don’t wanna end up in jail by going out front.
“Might as well get filthy rich since I was born this way, right?”
At least become a mega-tycoon who runs Korea!
After that, I grilled the tax accountant on more curiosities.
Lunchtime hit, so we ordered more food. Tried shark fin for the first time. Cheolyong chatted fluently with the waiter.
“Cheolyong, you speak Chinese well.”
“Haha, a little. Back in school, Japanese was the trend, but I got hooked on Chinese from reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”
China, huh...
As we bantered, the food started arriving.
I scooped up some shark fin soup with a spoon.
“Whoa, this is shark fin.”
“Enjoy, Seongtae-nim.”
Munch munch.
“What the? Hyped for shark fin, but it’s tasteless? Like bland noodles. Broth’s okay, but not my thing.”
“It’s eaten for the texture.”
“Yeah? Not for me anyway.”
Texture, huh... Wonder what Choi Ga-eun’s texture’s like? Maybe switch it up this time?
“We’ll discuss the rest after taking the building today and setting up the company.”
Finished eating around 1 PM.
About three hours of talk in the Chinese restaurant.
“Still two hours left. Seongwoo, right? You can go. Good talk today.”
“Then I’ll head out, Seongtae-nim. And Senior Cheolyong! Great seeing you after so long. Drinks next time?”
“Sure, Seongwoo. Head in.”
Kim Seongwoo the tax accountant left, leaving just me and Cheolyong.
“Seongtae-nim, shall we go too?”
“We’ve got time. Hold on...”
I recalled the bank loan repayment reminder texts from this morning.
Back when I first got the hypnosis app, those pissed me off so I was like ‘fuck it’ and paid up.
The bank was about 10 minutes by car; I owed around 20 million won.
Things are getting complicated—better unlock the app’s new features before meeting Choi Ga-eun.
“Bank first.”
“Pardon? The bank suddenly?”
“Dalgeon, just drop me off nearby by car. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cheolyong paid, and we headed to the bank first.