Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Hyenas Distributing the Spoils (2)
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Climbing the winding hill road of Pyeongchang-dong, right below the misty foothills of Bukhansan Mountain.
Seo Yun-ji stepped out of the car. Standing in front of SA Group Chairman Im Gye-hyeon's mansion, she took off her sunglasses.
The darkness was lifting, and the morning sun was just beginning to rise.
As the new light draped over the eastern peak, illuminating the new day, hope began to beat in her chest once more.
"Yes... maybe that old man could end up on my side."
Her two feet had sunk deep into the pit of despair, her body steadily sinking lower.
The tough vines wrapped tightly around her waist had long since unraveled like filthy straw.
So, she squeezed her eyes shut and reached out with one hand, expending her last ounce of strength.
"Welcome, Little Madam."
"Is the Chairman... no, Father-in-law...?"
"He's waiting upstairs. Please go up."
Seo Yun-ji slowly climbed the stairs.
Hearing the creaking wooden floor typical of a hanok, she gripped tightly whatever was in her outstretched hand.
Something that might be a new lifeline to save her, or a silk snake mocking her as she sank toward ruin.
"Yes. You've come right away. Sit down."
"Yes, Father-in-law."
It was early morning, but the housekeeper had already cleared away the meal, placing only a glass of crystal-clear water with floating pine nuts.
Seo Yun-ji found it odd.
Normally... Chairman Im Gye-hyeon's style was to share a meal when discussing important matters.
"Father-in-law, have you already finished breakfast?"
"Hm? Ah, yes. A guest came by earlier. What should I say... a very esteemed guest."
An esteemed guest.
And then, he had summoned Seo Yun-ji herself right after.
Was she imagining some kind of connection in her head?
An inexplicable subtle smile reflected on her face floating on the surface of the rippling glass.
"Could you tell me who it might have been? That esteemed guest you just mentioned."
"Well, the reason that person visited is the same as why I called for you today, Seo-ah. But before we get to that."
Chairman Im Gye-hyeon set the empty porcelain bowl down on the table.
Seated in his wheelchair, covered with a lap blanket, he looked at Seo Yun-ji with his characteristically bulging eyes and spoke.
"The Defense Ministry's new weapons procurement project. How do you think it'll turn out? Does it look promising?"
"......!"
"There've been all sorts of rumors flying around inside and out. I wanted to hear the explanation straight from you, my Seo-ah, so I called you here."
His father-in-law gazed at her with a purely benevolent expression.
She, whose lower body was being sucked into an inescapable quagmire, instinctively gripped with all her might.
Certain that the long thing she had unwittingly grabbed... would be her new lifeline.
'Now... now's the chance! I have to turn that old man to my side no matter what. That guest must be someone from the government side.'
Seo Yun-ji opened her mouth.
She straightened her posture immediately and unleashed a speech more passionate than any she had ever given before.
"We can do it! I absolutely, absolutely have the confidence to pull it off."
"Is that so? What's your basis for that? Yoon Hak-gil and Ham Pung-gil both got pushed out over this bed scandal, didn't they?"
"...China. There's a Chinese semiconductor company. You've seen the report, but the factory is operating normally, and projected sales are steadily increasing."
A lie to survive, growing like a snowball rolling down a snowy mountain.
The Guangzhou semiconductor factory, now forgotten ashes that had long since stopped beating.
Even though it wasn't operating at all, and local backlash made it hard to even approach, Seo Yun-ji had ordered a thorough cover-up.
Such trivial things... were nothing more than an exhalation to her.
An exhalation after charging through the river at full speed and reaching the shore.
"If SA Group headquarters just provides a little help... we can breeze past a crisis like this. Absolutely!"
"Heh heh, you really have spirit, Seo-ah. The complete opposite of my timid son."
Chairman Im Gye-hyeon laughed roughly, clasping his hands gripping his cane.
For a moment, a ray of hope shone before Seo Yun-ji's eyes.
'From his expression... did it work?'
The time it took for that ray of light to turn to darkness was but an instant.
Chairman Im Gye-hyeon nodded his chin toward his secretary standing behind him, giving some instruction.
And as if waiting, the secretary nodded and promptly pulled a yellowed document envelope from his bag.
"That's why Jae-ho will learn a lot from this incident. I just hope that soft lump of metal has hardened even a little."
"Father-in-law...?"
Flutter. Two documents pulled from the envelope.
Like twin swords with razor-sharp blades on both sides, the two documents aimed straight at Seo Yun-ji's throat.
One blade was already stamped with Vice Chairman Im Jae-ho's seal—a divorce agreement.
The other blade... was the SA Group headquarters secretariat's report on the actual state of the Guangzhou semiconductor factory.
"Th-this is...!"
"Did you really think SA Group was blind in one eye? That you could cover everything with that clumsy palm of yours?"
Stunned.
Her stark white face contrasted sharply with her jet-black bob.
Feeling as if she had been stripped naked in one go, she couldn't utter a word.
She merely hugged her arms tightly with both hands to calm her trembling body even a little.
"Step down from all your positions. And leave. You shouldn't even think about setting foot in the business world again."
Thud. With those indifferent words, he tossed a bankbook in front of her.
Inside was cash precisely calculated as the value of her share of the equity.
'Wait...! Cheolhwa Group, then what about the holding company shares in Cheolhwa Group that SA Group holds...?'
Seo Yun-ji, still unable to let go of her lingering attachment to Cheolhwa Group.
Chairman Im Gye-hyeon seemed to see right through her heart.
The towering figure of SA Group lowered his voice and shed his mildness.
"Didn't I tell you clearly? Don't even think of lifting your head in the business world. It's not just SA. Your own family, Cheolhwa Group, will be the same."
"Father-in-law! You can't do this, you can't! Cheolhwa Group is mine, I must... I must take it!"
"How do you plan to take it? You, who have no power at all."
Seo Yun-ji trembled, clutching her pant leg so tightly it might tear at the knee.
Tears fell onto the back of her hand.
As if utterly unconcerned with such things, SA Group's titan continued calmly from his seat.
"Child, you asked who the guest was that visited earlier, right?"
Her mascara ran horribly.
The black streaks tracing down her cheeks drew pure despair.
"The man you envied so much, and hated. And... the man who will carve up Cheolhwa Group with me, now that it's floating without an owner."
And that despair... slid down below her chin and began to strangle her throat.
Tattooing three unbearably hateful syllables into her ear.
"All talks with Ammunition Group Chairman Han Seo-jun are concluded. There's no place here for you anymore, Seo-ah."
* * * *
Boom! The sound of celebratory fireworks bursting, colorful confetti raining down like precipitation from the sky.
Back at the Yongsan Defense Ministry main building.
With all procedures related to the new weapons development project bid now complete, all that remained for me was celebration.
"Congratulations, Chairman Han. It should have turned out like this ages ago... Feels like it took too many twists and turns."
Defense Ministry Vice Minister Kim Cheol-geun—no, Kim Cheol-geun, the Defense Minister nominee—offered me a handshake and words of congratulations.
Having taken responsibility for the bed gate and stepped down, he would fill the vacancy left by former Minister Ham Pung-deok. He might even have been smiling brighter than me.
"I should be the one congratulating you. Won't I have to call you Minister soon?"
"Heh heh... There's still the confirmation hearing. Anyway, congratulations once more on winning the Defense Ministry new weapons development project bid."
At first, Kim Cheol-geun, the minister nominee, had stood against me alongside former Ammunition Heavy Industries President Park Han-i.
But now, he had come to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me for the years ahead. And in... a very favorable relationship.
"Then I'll take my leave. I'll visit again soon, Chairman Han."
He seemed busy with various matters.
After hearing whispers from a few subordinates, Kim Cheol-geun, the minister nominee, left the seat.
The large conference room was now empty.
Clack, clack. With the sound of my shoes, I slowly ascended the podium and lifted my gaze toward a certain spot.
The VIP seat from the first bid. The seat where Seo Yun-ji had sat, blinded by the mirage of victory, now sat dark and desolate.
"Sigh, she didn't even show up today, that Seo Yun-ji woman. Just sent a proxy like she had no spine."
Illegitimate daughter. And a strong desire for the crown.
Seo Yun-ji, who had revealed her tangled emotions toward me without filter, like a ball of yarn.
Pondering her, who had wanted to be my mirror image but ended up as shattered glass shards, I replied to Uncle Kim Won-cheol.
"It's not that she didn't attend. She couldn't. She's... already finished."
"That Im Gye-hyeon old man must've cut her down with one stroke. Can't even walk, but his info network is like a ghost's."
I left my final glance at that spot and turned my steps.
Perhaps because she resembled the old me... my heart felt a bit complicated.
But now, I had to move forward, so I left that complexity at the nameless grave.
Like offering a single chrysanthemum flower.
"Well, it's really all over now. Let's head back. Next up is probably the report from Vice President Yang Taek-su and President Michelle."
"Yeah. But before that, I'm starving. Let's grab some hot hangover soup. I'll treat. On the corporate card."
Buying on the corporate card meant I was paying anyway, but Uncle Kim Won-cheol spared no flair.
It was mealtime anyway. My mouth started watering at the felt hunger.
"Just let me pay so you can keep that corporate card away. Who can digest properly with this annoyance?"
"No, even when I offer to treat, I get insulted. Sheesh... Our chairman's heart has left me. His feelings for me."
Uncle Kim Won-cheol, who couldn't go a day without saying something weird like he was drunk.
He must've picked hangover soup because of last night's overdrinking.
I wondered if I needed to check yesterday's corporate card transactions again.
At that moment, a ringtone suddenly blared from Uncle's inside pocket.
-The name of the one who left my side is Ja-ok, Ja-ok, Ja-ok♪
"Huh? Hold on, hold on...."
The trot music rang out spiritedly.
I recalled his ex-wife's name was Park Ja-ok.
"Yes, yes? Ah, I see. Yes. I'll see you then."
"Your ex-wife, maybe? No need to squirm. Why not just get back together?"
"No, no, nothing that horrific will happen. What was it..."
Uncle Kim Won-cheol made an awkward face and wiped the phone screen on his suit jacket.
As I opened my mouth to tease him once more, an utterly out-of-left-field voice from Uncle reached my ear.
Something... on a scale too grand to handle.
"Our chairman... the President's coming to visit? Wants to have a meal together."