Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Betraying the Betrayer (1)
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Seoul, Ammunition Group headquarters, top floor.
Back in Korea—not on vacation, but wrapping up a not-quite-vacation—I heard Uncle Kim Won-cheol’s impression of a famous movie line as the first thing upon diving back into work.
“Ye-rim! Check that hand! Is it a jang?”
Uncle Kim Won-cheol was too busy teasing Aide Yoo Se-na, who’d suddenly become a female gambler.
She’d already endured a not-quite-torture in Guangzhou, and unlike usual, she reacted emotionally to the uncle’s teasing.
“Ha… For starters, my name isn’t Ye-rim. And I’ve never even played hwatu. Secretary Chief.”
“What’s this? Why so cutthroat between pros? You’re not gonna crush my hand into a fist with those ohamma grips today, are you?”
“…Should I call the facilities team and have them bring the real thing?”
Gawking at fights is one of life’s top pleasures, but not right now. Work comes first.
I pulled a red box from my desk drawer and handed it to Uncle Kim Won-cheol, the aspiring actor.
“Have something to eat while you two spar.”
“What’s this? Smells too good to be ordinary.”
“Beef jerky. Chinese beef jerky. You asked me to get some on the way back.”
“Oh! I love jerky more than my ex-wife. Way more.”
Only after food hit his mouth did peace finally return to the office.
After sending off Aide Yoo Se-na to her tasks, I chewed jerky with Uncle Kim Won-cheol while going over reports.
“So, you have an update on the Defense Ministry’s new weapons project?”
“The overall package looks solid. Stands up to SA-Chilhwa Techwin with no sweat. The issue is…”
He swallowed the chewy jerky in his mouth and immediately showed me the report summary.
Post-Chilhwa Semiconductor acquisition, the production equipment concerns were now fully addressed.
Every comparison came up clean—no obstacles to proceeding with the project.
Just a straight, flat road ahead. Flat for me, and too flat for the competition.
“They’re just as good as us on paper.”
“No groundbreaking edges, so yeah.”
“It’ll come down to a single point, like in hwatu—Aide Yoo Se-na’s favorite.”
She’d only rolled dice a few times following my lead, yet somehow earned the gambler title.
I tuned out the cackling bald elementary schooler in front of me and sank into thought.
A test with no differentiators.
But subjective, essay-style.
This project… without a standout difference, it’d hinge on the graders’ whims.
“The big shots at Defense will decide with a flick of their fingers—feast or famine.”
“That’s about the size of it. No lobbying, no chance.”
“Lobbying…”
“What? Not your style?”
Not my favorite, but necessary when needed.
And right on cue, I had the perfect conduit.
The Defense Vice Minister who’d swung hard my way during the Saudi coup.
With projected 90 trillion won in defense exports on the line, he was still favorably inclined toward me.
“Tap the Defense Vice Minister first. Gauge internal dynamics at the Ministry—factions, decision-makers, all that.”
“Roger that. Locked in.”
“Tech side’s covered by President Michelle Foucault, so no worries there. Let’s proceed this way.”
Report wrapped.
Fatigue hit, so I sank deep into the sofa, my hand drifting to the jerky without thinking.
Glossy red strips bought from the Guangzhou casino hotel.
“Tasty stuff.”
“Out of this world. The more you eat, the more it hooks you.”
“There’s another box—eat your fill. Bought with ex-President Lee Tae-gyu’s money anyway.”
“Oh yeah, what happened with that Lee Tae-gyu guy?”
A chuckle escaped, recalling that day.
As I sat smiling serenely like Buddha without a word, Uncle Kim Won-cheol fidgeted with curiosity.
“Slapped a big dog collar on him. That’s the gist.”
“Just a collar? Think bigger—future-oriented IT angle.”
His giggling demanded I spill the tale.
After swallowing my jerky, I slowly unpacked the behind-the-scenes.
How I’d tamed the clueless horned goat scaling the cliff.
“Think of it as implanting a behavior-control chip. Cutting-edge tech he can’t defy.”
* * *
Guangzhou Casino.
I picked up the promissory note beside the red chips on the table.
Done playing avenging angel, I shook the note in front of ex-President Lee Tae-gyu’s face, bare-faced.
“Long time no see, ex-President Lee Tae-gyu. Never thought we’d meet like this, in a foreign land.”
“Han… Han Seo-jun… Chairman!”
He looked utterly flustered.
His blank expression showed drool trickling from his mouth, as if his white-hot panic was spilling out.
His kneeling knees trembled like aspen leaves, beyond his head’s control.
“N-No, I mean… Chairman. Why are you here…?”
“Why do you think? Not to punish a traitor, that’s for sure.”
Traitor. Punish.
Those words from me sent him slamming his head to the floor in terror.
Quick pivot—he clasped his hands overhead like praying flies, groveling.
“I—I lost my mind for a moment! Please, Chairman, for old times’ sake, just one chance…!”
“Head up first. Look me in the eye when you speak.”
Ex-President Lee Tae-gyu barely lifted his head to meet my gaze.
A horned goat desperate not to die. I looped a rope thick as a child’s wrist around his neck.
“If you could turn back time, would you?”
“Chairman…? You mean…”
His instincts hadn’t dulled.
He snapped to attention, bellowing with resolve.
“One chance! Let me live once! Man Lee Tae-gyu will burn this body solely for you, Chairman!”
“Good. Then… let’s do this.”
I folded the white promissory note in half and pocketed it in my suit jacket.
Perching on the table’s edge where the dice had rolled, I looked down at ex-President Lee Tae-gyu and spoke.
“Spill everything about what went down in Guangzhou. And report SA-Chilhwa Techwin’s future moves here.”
The traitor kept kneeling, eyes squeezed shut.
Patting his reluctant shoulders in acceptance, I strolled out of the dice room.
Leaving final words behind.
“Do those two things right, and this scrap of paper won’t choke you.”
* * *
Incheon International Airport.
Reporters clustered at arrivals, cameras ready, waiting for someone.
Not entertainment beat idol-chasers—their vibe screamed different.
“Why the holdup? Senior, any lines at customs or immigration?”
“Wait it out. Maybe a drug scan. She’s no ordinary woman. Oh! Here she comes!”
Click-clack of heels with the automatic doors.
Seo Yoon-ji, in oversized black sunglasses, was swarmed instantly.
“President Seo! Why hire ex-judges as lawyers for the adultery and drug charges?”
“Divorce rumors with SA Group VP Im Jae-ho—any comment?”
Flashes erupted.
Seo Yoon-ji blocked with one hand, then raised her arm high awkwardly.
Plastering on a fresh-baked fake smile.
“Oh! Honey, you’re here?”
Reporters whipped around.
At the end: Im Jae-ho, playing doting husband welcoming his wife.
“I’ve been waiting. Let’s go.”
Their display clashed wildly with the scarlet letters of adultery, affair, divorce trailing her.
Ditching the barrage of questions, it didn’t take long in the car for masks to drop.
“Phew. I can’t fathom why I’m doing this cheap charade. For some harlot I wouldn’t touch.”
“Don’t play dumb. Half the profits mine, half yours. You’re not planning some melodramatic love sob story now, are you?”
Exhausted from Guangzhou’s grind, she fired back at his thorny words.
Im Jae-ho ground his teeth, face stiff, then sighed heavily, fist clenched.
“Watch your mouth. Get that not-guilty verdict clean. Not for you—for SA Group.”
“Ex-judge team’s on it—no worries. Forget that nonsense; Guangzhou’s the real deal, right?”
She stretched her fresh nail art hands like a yawn.
Satisfied with her Guangzhou haul, apparently.
A hollow shell of a semiconductor firm. But as a disposable for the Defense Ministry’s new weapons project? Profit-loss balanced perfectly.
“Solid company. No need for your concern.”
“…We’ll verify later. After the new weapons bid.”
“Suit yourself. Anyway, your and SA Group’s rep’s on the line—don’t skimp support.”
She smirked via rearview at her not-husband.
Useless to SA Group HQ, just snowballing losses—a Guangzhou semiconductor outfit.
But… Seo Yoon-ji knew.
By the time Im Jae-ho dug deep, she’d have plucked all the fruit she wanted.
-Brrrring!
“Huh, me. Speak—fine now. China? Guangzhou? Wait, what did you just say?”
Her satisfied poise froze at the call.
Like a statue who’d turned where she shouldn’t.
“What the hell! Factory operations halted? And why’s that bastard Lee Tae-gyu vanished?”