The Start of the Massage
James was sitting in front of his monitor, clicking through an internet article.
“Damn, this is a good piece.”
The article referred to them only as Mr. E, Mr. K, and Mr. Choi, so there was no way to tell which conglomerates they belonged to. But if you searched the case online right then, there were already plenty of market-rumor-style writeups speculating about which second- and third-generation heirs had been involved. It wasn’t fake news. It was real information built on facts.
“The son of a former police commissioner, a talent agency CEO, singers, a financial holding family...”
The people implicated were either the children of powerful families or prominent figures in the entertainment world.
“The interest is so hot it’s practically burning.”
In particular, the Choi family, identified as the main culprit, belonged to the largest corporation of the bunch.
“TY Telecom. This is the one causing the most trouble. Maybe I should leave a comment too?”
James began posting under the article.
Thanks to the flood of comments, the line James had added vanished almost at once, but that was enough. He had helped fan the controversy.
“Mr. Park really does his job well.”
At the end of the article, there was even a note saying that all the evidence related to the case had been handed over to the prosecution.
“The prosecutors will probably apply their usual rubber ruler, though.”
Normally, drug offenders were prosecuted under detention because of the risk of flight. But when the people involved were from chaebol families, the opposite often seemed to apply, as if non-detained investigation were the rule. In some cases, they fled overseas during the investigation itself. Even when charges were filed and trial began, nothing changed. At worst, they walked free on probation.
“Still, there won’t be any problem.”
That was thanks to the chaebol money that functioned like a private slush fund for the prosecution. James closed the article and looked somewhere else.
“All right. How far did it fall?”
This time, it was time to check how much TY Telecom’s stock had dropped.
“Oh. Good. Exactly right.”
TY Telecom’s chart showed minus 14.7 percent. The risk surrounding the owner family had hit the stock directly.
“Then I’ll close out the short position today, and...”
Even in the middle of all this, James was still keeping an eye on his short position so he could squeeze out as much benefit as possible from the stock drop.
“Then the rest is accumulation, huh? Heh heh heh.”
The lower the price fell, the less it cost to buy up shares, but money was still being spent. Even so, James’s available cash had not shrunk. If anything, it looked ready to blow through the seams of his account and ascend to the heavens.
“I did end up with quite a bit of free money.”
Thanks to that, Tom, who managed James’s assets, had even started demanding to know what on earth he had been doing lately. Forty billion dollars had been deposited into a Citibank overseas branch, more than the increase in his assets over the same period. It was the money Choi Jeong-san had transferred to Blody, which James had simply collected for himself.
Funding is comfortable... and my support is solid...
From his original two billion dollars, the amount he had grown through investment was nearing one billion more. Of that, 1.5 billion had been allocated to stock accumulation, but with the additional 4 billion now added, his remaining holdings stood at 5.5 billion dollars. On top of that, the share-buying operation was being handled by Mr. Park Jin-tae, while ST Group, his reliable ally, was moving along smoothly, hiding the accumulation of shares as if it were nothing at all.
And the work he had requested from the Vatican national wealth fund was also highly encouraging. Father Stefano, who had been in charge of the Vatican Museums, had changed positions and come over as the fund’s administrator.
* * *
-Brother James. If you need any funds, just tell me.
He had survived death only because of James, so when James spoke, he treated the words with greater reverence than the God he believed in. That was why he didn’t even ask why James wanted him to buy shares.
“...After the share purchase, when the share battle starts, I’ll need you to take the lead.”
-What percentage would be appropriate?
“Please keep it under 10 percent. As for the completion timing... the end of this year.”
By then, TY Telecom might have shaken off the bad news, and the value of the shares would likely have risen considerably once the real struggle for control began. If that happened, and ownership changed hands after the battle ended, it could also create losses on the investment. James was asking the Vatican to absorb that loss.
-I will make sure to reach 10 percent and repay your trust.
“There’s no need to force it to 10 percent. Just approximate it. Anything over 5 percent is enough.”
Now that ST Group had entered the fray, the Vatican fund’s share of the burden had decreased. If ST Group acquired more shares than expected and served as the black knight, then even the minimum 5 percent might not be necessary.
-Yes, Brother James. Contact me anytime. Ah, and was the forty billion dollars from last time resolved properly?
The forty billion dollars that Duojardin’s CFO Blody had received from Choi Jeong-san had been transferred back into James’s hands, but it could still be treated as criminal proceeds whose source would be difficult to prove anywhere. Unexplained money on that scale was enough to draw attention from both Interpol and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. But James had the solid backing of the Vatican, and Father Stefano answered his trust with faith of his own.
“Thanks to the Vatican handling it well, it was easy.”
Tom at Citibank Investment had been able to review the documents and confirm that James’s profits were legitimate. The Vatican had officially issued income verification papers.
-I’m relieved, Brother James.
Because the Vatican had recognized the forty billion dollars as legitimate income without question, James felt deeply grateful.
“Come visit Korea sometime. I’ll treat you properly.”
-I think I’ll have time once this matter is finished. Still, I’ll be sure to visit. Last time, things were so rushed that I didn’t even get to greet the bishops in Korea.
“I’ll look forward to the day Father Stefano comes.”
* * *
Everything was going well, but there was one thing that bothered him a little.
“Why is she so busy?”
Lately, it had become as hard for James to see his lover Su-ji as it was to pluck a star from the sky. The process of receiving shares in the affiliate companies had been complicated and time-consuming, and after taking over the shares she had to familiarize herself with the company’s current state.
“It’s not like I’m the one running it directly anyway...”
But Su-ji had brushed him off, saying what kind of major shareholder didn’t even know the condition of the company she owned, and she stayed busy shuttling between the electronics manufacturing company that had become hers and ST Fashion, where she had kept working since graduating from university.
The affiliate Su-ji had just received was a company tied to audio products, one of the core product lines of ST Electronics, so there was even a home theater system from that brand installed in James’s house. It was a gift from Su-ji. But the gift had not been free. She had sold it to him at an employee discount, saying she couldn’t give the company’s products away for nothing. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t really a gift at all.
“Maybe I should never have handed it over.”
James hadn’t expected Su-ji to take her responsibilities this seriously.
It feels like Chairman Kim Seong-oh’s blood was all passed down to Su-ji.
She might lack company experience and professional expertise, but when it came to the mindset of running a business, she was no different from Chairman Kim.
“Sigh. Maybe I should go to the casino with Tony after all.”
While James was enjoying this rare sense of freedom, one of the families mentioned in the drug article was in an uproar.
* * *
“You little bastard!!!”
Choi Jeong-san was pointing a golf club at the person kneeling in front of him.
“You rotten piece of shit! You said you’d be careful so you wouldn’t cause any trouble, and now what is this? Drugs?”
“......”
Tae-jin was trembling, unable to lift his head.
One wrong word and I’m dead... but as long as I get out of here, I can live through this.
Given his father’s temper, Tae-jin judged that if he could just survive the moment, he might find a way to live after all.
“Hah, I got to Korea and used it without knowing it was a drug. I just heard it was supposed to be good for the body...”
It was even true, in a sense, that it had made his body better.
“So you didn’t lead it? But the article already says it was all your doing.”
Seeing a tiny glimmer of hope in his father’s question, Tae-jin insisted even harder that it wasn’t his fault.
“It’s true! I didn’t even know what it was...”
“What do you mean you didn’t know!”
When Tae-jin saw his father pointing the golf club at the floor, he quickly flattened himself there, palms pressed down.
Thwack!
“Aaaagh!”
The golf club slammed into Tae-jin’s ass.
“You think a punk like you can suddenly grow a spine? You weren’t even interested in women?”
Thwack!
“Ghk!”
Given how he had been drinking with his friends and chasing women almost every day since returning to Korea, it had been a lie from the start.
“And you think you can inherit the company while messing around with female employees? Are you out of your damn mind?”
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
Just when it looked as though he might be beaten to death, Tae-jin’s savior appeared.
“Honey!”
Choi Jeong-san’s wife, and Tae-jin’s mother, could not stand it any longer and stormed into the study.
“S-stop it already. Huh?”
Tae-jin backed away on his knees in a hurry, hiding behind his mother while silently cheering her on.
“Why won’t you move? It’ll take a lot more than this to knock some sense into him!”
“He’s already so skin and bones he looks like he’s about to collapse. He needs to go to the hospital first.”
In truth, Tae-jin’s long-term drug use had left him emaciated. His hollow eyes and the way his whole body trembled made his poor condition obvious at a glance.
“...Hah.”
Choi Jeong-san tossed the golf club aside as if he were done hitting him.
Thump.
“Fine. If I keep hitting him now, he’ll die.”
“Right now, what we need to think about is how to deal with this...”
While she was letting her guard down, Choi Jeong-san was already moving toward Tae-jin.
Smack!
“Aaah!”
A red handprint bloomed across Tae-jin’s cheek.
“You bastard! Huh? How many times have I told you not to screw up?”
Smack. Smack!
“H-honey!”
Even as his wife tried to stop him, Choi Jeong-san couldn’t contain his fury and kept breathing hard through his nose.
“You! Get over here!”
“Enough already!”
It was a long time before Choi Jeong-san finally forced down his boiling rage and sat back down.
“Huuuu.”
“......”
Tae-jin could only roll his eyes and watch his father’s mood.
“...Honey. What do we do about Tae-jin now?”
“What do you mean, what do we do?”
Tae-jin’s path after causing trouble in Korea had already been decided.
“He goes back to the U.S.”
“Then what about the company?”
“Ha! The company? How is this bastard supposed to run a company? Call Yeong-jin!”
“!”
Tae-jin understood what his father meant by telling them to call his younger brother, and his mother understood as well.
“Still, Tae-jin is our eldest son. How can you just hand everything to the second son...”
“Who said I was handing everything to him? We need to buy time first, don’t we?! We have to show Grandpa even the second son and hold out until his anger dies down!”
Choi Jeong-san, like his own father, was fiercely proud of being the eldest son. That was why the idea of handing the company to a younger son had never come easily to him. He himself was running TY Telecom, the backbone of the group, precisely because he was the eldest.
“Then when does he come back...”
“Is that what you should be thinking about now? I barely managed to delay the prosecution’s investigation! Pack his bags and send him to the U.S. now!”
“T-the prosecution?”
“Hah... Mr. Park found out, and he said the materials have already been delivered to the prosecution. We have to get him out before the warrant comes down! Otherwise he’ll be standing in court for sure!”
Of course, they were confident that even if he were investigated by prosecutors and tried in court, he wouldn’t actually serve prison time. But continuing to show up in scandal after scandal during the trial would not be good for the company, nor for Choi Jeong-san himself.
“All right. I’ll get Tae-jin out to the U.S. right away.”
Choi Jeong-san could not rest easy simply by sending his son Tae-jin to America.
“Find someone separately. Someone who won’t take his eyes off that bastard for even a second.”
“...All right. I’ll keep a tight watch on Tae-jin so he doesn’t keep hanging around bad people.”
She still thought the problem had gotten worse because her son kept associating with the wrong friends.
“Bring the second son back home immediately.”
“......”
The second son still had about a year left at school, but right now the company mattered more than school.
“All right. I’ll explain everything to Father...”
“Just thinking about Father makes me crazy. Damn it! That bastard, I should just...”
When Choi Jeong-san reached for the golf club he had thrown aside, Tae-jin’s mother quickly grabbed her husband’s arm and shouted at her son,
“What are you doing standing there? Go pack your bags!”
“Ah, okay.”
“You’re still not coming over here?”
It wasn’t only TY Telecom where this was happening. The children of the chaebol families named in the article, as well as households connected to senior government officials and the entertainment world, were all in an uproar trying to dodge the fallout from the scandal.
---