Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Those Emerging from the Shadows (7)
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The cheerful elevator chime rang out for the second time, following my previous visit to meet Defense Minister Ham Chae-eun's daughter.
For some reason... every time I came here, I ended up having unexpected encounters with unfamiliar women. And with Kim Beom-ho stuck to my side like a side dish.
"Hey, you're here? Over here! Over here! Come sit down quick."
Kim Beom-ho greeted me enthusiastically, sporting a large lump on his scalp that looked like the aftermath of a knuckle rap. His arm swung in a big circle, resembling an SOS signal.
When would this guy ever grow up? He was over thirty, but... so innocently bright, honestly.
"Long time no see. And."
A curt greeting toward Kim Beom-ho. I immediately shifted my gaze to the woman sitting on the right.
Wavy dark brown hair cascading to her shoulders. One leg crossed over the other, high heel dangling as she swung her ankle.
A strange energy lurked in her black eyes beneath thick double eyelids.
The kind of woman who seemed like she might explode if you poked her wrong—like nitroglycerin?
"We haven't met before, right? Prosecutor Park Eun-ji?"
"Hmm."
The hand I extended hung awkwardly in the air as she sat still, scanning me up and down.
Just as the awkward silence thickened the already heavy atmosphere, Prosecutor Park Eun-ji finally spoke. Like a judge on some singing contest show.
"Soap dish face... okay, pass. Nice frame... and that old-man suit actually suits you pretty well, so hanger status: pass. Final verdict then..."
"Um, Prosecutor Park?"
"Ah, you stay quiet for a sec. Hey, Kim Beom-ho? Front and center, attention."
Her finger beckoned with a flick-flick motion.
He apparently couldn't even dream of defying her. Kim Beom-ho rose awkwardly from his seat and stood at attention in front of Prosecutor Park Eun-ji.
"W-what's up? What's this about? Ack!"
She grabbed his chubby cheeks with a slap-worthy grip.
A coquettish soprano voice soon filled the room.
"Our pretty Beom-ho! Should sis buy you pizza later?"
"Hey, pizza for a chaebol heir... Anyway, you two have fun or whatever. I'm heading to the other room."
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji didn't forget to pat Kim Beom-ho's butt as he left.
She really had a ridiculously distinct personality.
If you tried to intervene with someone like her, it'd never end. Best to cut to the chase before any useless misunderstandings deepened.
To keep her from bolting anywhere, I leaned forward and spoke.
"I was thinking of discussing something important now, but my throat's dry. Bear with me."
Thud. I downed the cocktail in front of me in one go, then slammed the glass roughly onto the table.
Then, slowly parting my lips again.
"Truth is, I told Kim Beom-ho to lie to you. This whole man-woman harmony event was just bait to get you here."
* * * *
"What...?"
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji seemed to short-circuit for a moment. A rainbow of expressions flickered across her small, pale face.
As that impressive pantomime wrapped up, she chugged straight from a bottle of liquor, wiped her lips with her sleeve, and turned to me.
"Damn, no wonder that soap dish face looked familiar. You're Ammunition Group Chairman Han Seo-jun, aren't you?"
"Correct. Guess getting splashed across the media a few times means a decent number of people recognize me now."
"Whatever. That's not the point right now."
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji shot up from her seat. Clutching a high heel upside down in her right hand, she paced the hallway barefoot, bellowing loudly.
"Hey! Kim Beom-ho! Where the hell did you run off to, you bastard...!"
"Relax, relax."
"Relax my ass. A chaebol chairman just flapping his mouth like that."
I placed my hands on the shoulders of Prosecutor Park Eun-ji, who looked ready to sprout horns.
She was still fuming, snorting through her nose.
"Even if it's not happy as a woman, couldn't it be fulfilling as a prosecutor? That's why I'm here."
Just some casual sweet talk tossed out without much thought. Did my persuasion work? Or was it resignation and absurdity washing over her?
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji scratched the back of her head roughly, then returned to her seat and flopped into the chair.
A half-smoked, luxurious dark Cuban cigar clamped between her lips.
"Ha, fuck... figures my luck would be like this. So, why'd a chaebol chairman summon a dirt-poor prosecutor like me?"
"Yes, well..."
"Ah, hold on! Just in case, you know."
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji pressed her right index finger to my lips. Exhaling acrid gray smoke into the air, she growled low at me.
"If you're here spouting crap like 'cover this up for me' or 'pull some strings,' you're done for."
Pfft. A laugh slipped out unbidden.
Exactly as expected—a hard-boiled prosecutor who could be called stubborn.
Her personality was a bit offbeat... but people like this were easier to work with.
If I could just lob her a shared target that hit her instincts dead-on.
Slowly peeling away Prosecutor Park Eun-ji's finger still stuck to my lips, I got to the main point of this meeting.
"Rather than covering anything up, it's more like I'd like you to pull some strings."
"Wasted my time today. The only 'pulling strings' I'd do for you is ripping your company apart."
Thud! She shoved back from the table and stood. As her retreating back strode away without a glance, I tossed two short words her way.
"Iljeongpa. And Joo Gwae-yul."
Irresistible bait for a real-deal prosecutor—especially someone of her caliber.
"Lately, the construction underworld's been buzzing with gangsters stirring trouble. They're thrashing around, trying to crawl from the shadows into the light."
The clear glass spun gracefully with a twist of my wrist.
Catching the light, my reflection inside it approached amid the sound of trudging footsteps.
"And wouldn't you know, they're metastasizing like cancer cells in the subcontractors linked to our Ammunition Group."
"Spill the details. No holding back."
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji bit the hook I dangled.
Our power struggle only wound down after the ashtray overflowed with butts.
Joo Gwae-yul and Iljeongpa.
Black money from illegal online gambling and Ammunition Infrastructure Construction as their money-laundering front.
After hearing all the details, she flicked her metal Zippo lighter with habitual clicks and spoke.
"No wonder the number of adult arcades around the neighborhood's been dropping lately. They've all gone digital."
"About a little over two years now. That's how long they've been running servers in Thailand."
"Man, when you see shit like this, making big money looks disgustingly easy. Over 100 billion in laundered funds in just two years. So."
Prosecutor Park Eun-ji eyed me slyly. She knew as well as I did—whether her side or mine, taking on Joo Gwae-yul under prosecutorial protection was tough.
"What's your angle, Mr. Hotshot Chairman?"
And I simply tossed out the proposal she wanted to hear—and one I wanted to make.
"If you cut us some slack on the money-laundering mess we're unfairly tangled in, there'd be no better ally than Ammunition Group for crushing gangsters, right?"
"God, you sure know how to open your mouth...."
Click. A cheap ballpoint scratched across paper. In Prosecutor Park Eun-ji's rough hand extended toward me was a square scrap with my name.
A piece of paper symbolizing our aligned interests.
"My card. Not the official number printed on it—only the one I just scribbled with this pen."
* * * *
"The alpha wolf couldn't trust his underling wolves. They'd steal the cave's meat anytime without it seeming odd."
Hands that had killed countless people.
Joo Gwae-yul's hands, thick with the stench of blood that no soap could wash away, held a cloth puppet.
To evade surveillance from law enforcement on organized crime, Joo Gwae-yul occasionally visited orphanages for volunteer work.
In front of the children gazing at him with sparkling eyes, he clumsily continued the puppet show with his bloodstained hands.
"So... the alpha wolf decided to pit the underlings against each other. To keep them watching one another, unable to unite."
The two underlings below the alpha: Hoon and Nak-gu.
Joo Gwae-yul knew of the invisible tension simmering between them.
Black money from illegal operations. They were the core of its laundering. If they ever joined forces, they could even threaten him.
"While the two underlings fought, all the delicious meat in the cave... went straight to the alpha wolf."
The brutal puppet show curtain fell. Leaving the orphanage and climbing into the car, Joo Gwae-yul flexed and unflexed his hands repeatedly. The puppet's texture still lingered on his skin.
The feel of underlings Hoon and Nak-gu.
"Hey, brother-in-law. How's Thailand looking?"
His most trusted right-hand man and brother-in-law. The only one who knew the full picture, he took his hands off the wheel and pulled the car over.
"Insanely growing. It'll hit mid-tier corp revenue levels in a few years."
"Money laundering's gonna get tougher."
"The construction idea from Nak-gu's hitting limits soon. Though it's still delivering solid results for now."
The puppet show's aftertaste clung thick to his hands. At Nak-gu's name, Joo Gwae-yul furrowed his brow as if pondering.
"Nak-gu's got ideas, but no execution. Hoon mobilizing the grunts made this one work too."
"That's true as well, sir."
Construction was a cumbersome wrapper with long tails and risks. Joo Gwae-yul wanted something more advanced for laundering.
Effortless, one-shot legalization of big sums—ideally digitized.
"Hm?"
And the moment when finding that method became not a choice, but a necessity, drew near for Joo Gwae-yul.
An ominous message alert buzzed close to his ear. The screen read:
A frantic message conveying they could no longer play in construction—raw urgency on display.
-Big bro, Ammunition Infrastructure is about to pull some crazy shit right now! Something that could completely shut down our money-laundering process...