Chapter 89
Chapter 89
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Betraying the Betrayal (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A new moon night where venturing just beyond the streetlamp's glow plunged everything into pitch-black darkness.
The rough sound of footsteps pounding against the cracked cement ground.
Near the port by Gwangjeo-u IT Industrial Complex. A middle-aged man with a fedora pulled low over his face was darting frantically through the alleys, breathing heavily.
“Huff, huff, huff… Damn it, I’m dying. That crazy bastard of a chairman…! The more I think about it, the shittier this all feels!”
Muttering complaints, only to hastily clap a hand over his mouth in case someone heard—Lee Tae-gyu, the former president turned bill scammer.
The moment he got caught by the local company presidents, in his fugitive state, he’d end up in some human anatomy exhibit without a doubt.
“You damn… What? As long as I obey well, those bill scraps won’t choke me?”
Lee Tae-gyu, the former president who’d been playing double agent like a dog for the past few weeks.
The bill payment deadline ticking closer like the second hand on a time bomb. In his growing anxiety, he’d made an international call and posed a question.
‘Um… Great leader of Ammunition Group, Chairman Han Seo-jun. About those bills you took last time… I’d like to know what I should do….’
‘Ah, that. Don’t worry. I’m not cruel enough to discard our loyal spy agent Lee Tae-gyu like a used rag.’
Lee Tae-gyu had barely swallowed the urge to scream that he shut up with his nonsense and hand over the bills already.
Finally, a frantic response reached his ears, after he’d suppressed his patience.
‘I’ve arranged a ship heading to Southeast Asia, so just board that.’
‘No, Chairman! Southeast Asia? If I don’t pay the local companies in Gwangjeo-u, they’ll definitely riot…!’
‘They will. A fierce, raging riot.’
From the start, that had been the plan—the playful tone coming through the phone.
Soon after, the final order came down. One he hated to follow but couldn’t refuse.
‘So what I’m saying is this, Mr. Lee Tae-gyu. Escape from the Gwangjeo-u IT Industrial Complex. While thoroughly pissing off the locals….’
Splash—Lee Tae-gyu dove into the water in the middle of the dockside shallows.
He ground his teeth thinking of the chairman who’d turned him into a drowned rat.
-Vroooom!
After shivering in the cold water for a while, a rubber boat approached him.
A masked man of unknown identity spoke up.
“Mountain goat with horns?”
“Yes. I’m here on the angel’s orders.”
“Get on quick. I’ll take you to the Ammunition Group freighter.”
A rubber boat he’d ridden countless times as a Marine Corps officer. Trembling atop it, Lee Tae-gyu gazed back toward Gwangjeo-u.
In that moment, amid the dim electric lights, a single flame erupted. Seeing that familiar place blaze with furious shouts, he muttered to himself.
“You son of a bitch, total asshole. Everything goes his way in the end. Sigh, whatever, screw it.”
* * * *
SA-Cheolhwa Tekwin headquarters.
Seo Yun-ji stepped out of the car and headed for the elevator, her stiff expression unchanging.
The click of her high heels echoed as she bit her thumbnail, receiving a report from her secretary trailing behind.
“More than half of the repaired semiconductor production machines are damaged. It’ll likely take considerable time to recover….”
“Buy some cheap crap from overseas! Even junk from a scrap yard is fine—I told you that!”
Thud! The moment she entered the elevator, Seo Yun-ji smashed her fist like a hammer against the side mirror.
Her reflection in the now-fine-cracked mirror looked ready to shatter at any second.
After a brief pause, her secretary quietly continued with the report.
“…The passage from the factory entrance to the materials warehouse has also collapsed due to the fire.”
“Ha! Fire? What the hell is that?”
“A riot in disguise… Looks like the local companies hired regional gangsters to vent their anger. Over not getting paid for the bills….”
Lee Tae-gyu, the former president who’d groveled like a dog in front of her to snag those bills.
A spark ignited in Seo Yun-ji’s eyes for an instant.
Recalling his sleazy face boiled her blood. After a deep breath, she rubbed her temple and ordered her secretary.
“That bastard Lee Tae-gyu. Find him now. Bring him back alive if possible—if not, bring his head!”
“Yes, President. I’ll instruct the intel team accordingly.”
Seo Yun-ji slumped into her office chair, eyes bloodshot.
Her desk held a report that caught her cooling gaze after quenching her inner fire with cold water.
A report titled [Ministry of National Defense New Weapon Development Project Bid Plan]. Rendered useless by the Gwangjeo-u incident, she tore it to shreds with both hands.
“This worthless trash…! Now we have to start all over from scratch!”
White paper scraps fluttered to the floor like snow from the sky.
Seo Yun-ji trampled them like walking a snowy field, venting all her rage before standing by the window.
“Whew… Guess the only card left is to sweet-talk those old Defense Ministry fogeys.”
The Defense Ministry new weapon development project—one that had to succeed no matter the sabotage.
Or more precisely… solidifying her personal position between Cheolhwa Group and SA Group.
Biting her nails out of habit, she picked up the phone and connected to the project lead.
“It’s me. Listen up. For this one, SA can’t know a damn thing.”
“That’s… There’s a reporting structure to HQ, so it might be tricky….”
“Hey, who do you think is the one feeding you?”
A plea full of distress came through the line.
In proportion, Seo Yun-ji’s fury exploded, forcing the lead to bow his head and ask for her desired solution.
“…Understood. So, what should I do?”
“Ha, you idiot! Cover up the accident as much as possible and make it look like the factory’s running fine!”
A problem bound to surface later. The lead, destined to be the scapegoat, squeezed his eyes shut.
Under Seo Yun-ji’s threats, he felt there was no escaping this quagmire.
“If you screw this up, I die—and you die with me! No, I’ll make sure you die too. Got it?”
“…I’ll do everything in my power.”
Click. The call ended.
Having put out the immediate fire, Seo Yun-ji habitually opened a drawer and pulled out a cigarette.
She lit the harsh smoke, exhaling hazy gray clouds, then drew a metallic object from her skirt pocket.
A circular pendant made of gleaming gold.
“Both the old man and the kid ended up like this… One slip in my guard, and I’ll follow.”
Click—prying open the pendant with her nail revealed a single photo.
Worn from handling, it showed two figures she felt ambivalent toward.
The late Seo Guk-cheol, former Cheolhwa Group chairman. And beside him… his half-brother, the young Seo Yun-seok, smiling warmly.
“Those bitch sisters are ruthless. Not content with killing the old man, now they’re after the kid too.”
Her little brother, now a vegetable from a recent suspicious car accident.
With the heir to Cheolhwa Group’s crown wandering the brink of death in bed, the inheritance dispute had turned into a prolonged war.
Seo Yun-ji gripped the pendant—her late father’s memento—tightly, a smile creeping onto her lips.
“The situation… is good. If they keep fighting long enough, I’ll win in the end.”
The cigarette burned to the filter.
Seo Yun-ji didn’t bother with an ashtray.
Indifferently, she pressed the glowing butt against the glass over the pendant photo.
Her madness, transcending desire, now seemed inseparable from her very being.
“With the Defense Ministry new weapon project, I’ll secure my position… Then the Cheolhwa Group holding company shares that SA Group controls—opportunity will come to my hands for sure.”
Her resolve set, Seo Yun-ji’s fiery rage vanished as if it had never been. Humming a tune, she made a call.
“Oh my! Minister, it’s been ages. I feel bad for not reaching out more often—what to do?”
Twirling the coiled phone cord around her finger, she opened with a coquettish voice.
Glancing at the hand mirror on her desk, she applied red lipstick and flashed a coy smile.
“Let’s meet this weekend. There’s something I really… want to tell you. And something I want to give you.”
* * * *
A Japanese restaurant near the Yongsan Defense Ministry building.
In a tatami room set aside in a private annex beyond the garden, I downed the sake poured by the Defense Vice Minister.
“Not bad. Rich aroma and deep flavor.”
“Ho ho ho. No matter how good this sake is, can it compare to my bond with our Chairman Han?”
With the faint shamisen melody as background, the Vice Minister and I exchanged glasses again.
After the Saudi coup and Hanwha’s 90 trillion won arms export deal, he seemed fully committed to a friendly alliance with me.
“I only hope a man like you rises ever higher for this country’s sake, Vice Minister.”
“Hmm? Chairman Han isn’t one for lip service like this.”
In the warmed-up drinking session, I tossed out a subtle bait.
Proving he hadn’t risen to Vice Minister on luck alone, the sharp-eyed man caught my intent.
He tilted the celadon teapot to refill my glass.
“I’d love to help directly… but with my current rank and limited authority, it’s tricky.”
“It’s a big project. I expected factional infighting within the Defense Ministry.”
“Well, if it were just internal faction struggles, how easy that would be?”
I raised a hand, and the shamisen stopped instantly.
The musicians, sensing the shift, slipped out the sliding door. Only then did the Vice Minister slowly speak.
“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to our chairman.”
“I don’t expect more than what your authority allows. Please, speak freely.”
He waited until the musicians’ footsteps faded out of earshot.
Once the bamboo water strike in the inner garden clacked once, his calm voice followed.
“A new stone has rolled in, upsetting the balance between the Minister and me. Likely… influence from Cheolhwa Group.”
“This rolling stone… who the hell is it?”