Direct Report
Not long after meeting Chairman Kim Seong-oh, James met with Park. As before, it was the VIP room of a room salon, cut off from the outside world.
“Park. How’d you manage to hurt your forehead?”
A large bandage was stuck to Park’s forehead.
“...I had a little argument with President Choi over the Duojardin investment.”
“He invested the money and then blamed you for it?”
“That’s exactly what I said. I tried to stop him, but he went ahead and invested anyway, and now he’s throwing a fit, saying we need to recover the money.”
Even now, Park’s fist tightened so hard it seemed ready to crush itself.
“I heard Duojardin’s CFO got arrested too...”
“How long did they think they could fool the world? Duojardin is finished...”
Thanks to Duojardin, Park couldn’t help thinking about his own position as well.
“...I’m finished too.”
“Come on. We still have TY Telecom, don’t we?”
“Of course. I think it’ll feel great to drag that bastard down into hell.”
“I’ll be the one to drag him all the way to the bottom. That much is certain.”
Park could trust James’s words. He had also received a call from Director Ma at ST Group and learned more information.
“Thanks to ST Group dumping the shares they’d secured so far, our stake has now climbed past 31 percent.”
Chairman Kim had unloaded nearly five percent over the past few days. That had sent TY Telecom’s stock swinging wildly, but because the company had already been plagued by so much noise and speculation, most people assumed it was just part of a shareholder struggle.
“So we’ve definitely surpassed the current management’s stake.”
“Add the five percent from the overseas fund acting as the public face on top of that...”
“And before that, we need to count the six percent we secured through Citibank.”
“Ah. Yes. That brings our fully secured stake to 36 percent, and with the overseas fund’s five percent added, that makes 41 percent total. No one can stop us now.”
“Still, let’s raise our glasses after the job’s done. On the day TY Telecom gets a new CEO.”
“Um...”
“Why are you staring at me like a dog that lost its bones?”
Park was worried about what came next, since Duojardin had wiped out the retirement money he’d been counting on.
“Once the TY Telecom takeover is over... what happens to me?”
“Money’s run out, so now you’re worried about the aftermath?”
“Yes. I wasn’t worried at all when you said you’d give me all the money from that Choi bastard...”
Park had originally started helping James for the sake of seizing Choi Jeong-san’s slush funds. Of course, James’s magic was forcibly dominating Park’s mind, but Park had no way of realizing that.
“If that investment had succeeded, our Park would’ve been able to live without a care in the world.”
“...I’m ashamed to say this, but could I ask you to look after me?”
The fact that Park could make such a ridiculous request at all was thanks to James’s magic. He couldn’t hide a single thing from James.
“If you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat.”
“......”
“Work for me. Then I’ll make sure you earn enough to keep yourself alive.”
“......”
Crack. Crack.
Park desperately wanted to resist James’s orders, but the contract magic James had placed on him was far more powerful than any marionette spell.
“W-Well, anything you say.”
“Did you think I’d hand you a few hundred million once we won the share war?”
“A few hundred million wouldn’t be enough. At the very least, I’d need one trillion won...”
Park had once believed that the forty billion dollars in Choi Jeong-san’s slush fund was already within his grasp, and that had given him the nerve to think too big.
“Oh? So now you’re treating the money in my pocket as if it’s yours? Were you and Choi Jeong-san cut from the same cloth?”
“T-Then... five hundred billion? No, one hundred billion, just one hundred...”
The number kept shrinking until it finally fell into the hundred-million range.
“Five hundred million! Five hundred million is enough!”
“Come on. Your severance alone has to be over two billion, doesn’t it?”
“...Yes.”
Park was a team leader treated like a director in a major conglomerate’s strategy office, and since he had worked at TY Telecom for more than thirty years, his retirement package was worth well over three billion won.
“How luxurious do you think your old age is going to be if you’re dreaming about a trillion or a hundred billion?”
“...I just thought more would be better.”
“No matter how much money Park has, can you even spend all of your severance? And if there’s anything left over, is there someone you plan to leave it to?”
“No...”
But Park still believed that money was better when there was more of it.
“Park. Look at me.”
Park Jin-tae stared quietly at James.
“If I told you I owned money measured in trillions, how much different would I really seem to you?”
“...With that kind of money, James-nim could even buy out a major corporation. Money can kill and save people. Everyone would look up to me. I could be treated well anywhere, and I’d be superior to everyone else.”
James’s magic brought the deepest thing hidden in his heart to the surface. But that made the conversation easier, not harder.
“You’d look up to me and feel superior? So it’s because of the money, then?”
“Yes.”
“Then where am I in all this?”
“Pardon?”
“That means there’s no one in this world who respects me for simply being me. If everyone around me is only staring at my money, then I’ll always have to spend my life protecting it. The moment the money disappears, the superior me disappears with it.”
That’s one of Master Mercia Lynchberg’s teachings.
James was repeating part of what his master had once taught him. The great archmage and sage had left behind not only magic, but also lessons on the fundamental purpose of human life.
“What meaning is there in a life like that?”
“Meaning?”
“A life valued only for its material worth isn’t a true life. Human life has value far above that. If I said money—those little scraps of paper and numbers—was worthless compared to our noble lives, I wouldn’t be wrong.”
“...That’s hard to understand.”
“......”
“Even in this world, money matters more than anything else. It satisfies the most basic need: survival. And in society, money comes first too. Human life? Noble life? What good is any of that without money? Without money, you can’t live; life only becomes lowly and miserable.”
Right. If you could understand that in a single breath, you never would’ve killed my mother on Choi Jeong-san’s orders.
It was a conversation that reminded James once again exactly what kind of man Park Jin-tae was. It also gave him a chance to look back at himself.
And I’m no different. If I truly understood how precious human life is, I wouldn’t be trying to take revenge on Choi Jeong-san at all.
James was still bound to the world, still moving for the sake of avenging a mother he had never even seen. If he had truly understood and lived by his master’s teachings, then everything would have started to feel meaningless.
I’m just a foolish human too, same as you. For now... I still have more to learn.
What set Park Jin-tae and James apart, however, was their willingness to acknowledge themselves and keep moving forward.
But I’m finishing my revenge first.
He had no intention of moving on until the revenge he had started was brought to an end.
“Okay. Since Park’s made up his mind, I won’t force you any further.”
James had also stopped worrying about how to dispose of Park.
If you’re going to walk straight into hell on your own, there’s no reason for me to stop you.
“...Yes.”
“If you wrap up just one thing properly for me, I’ll give you ten billion won as a success fee.”
“!”
The amount that had dropped all the way down to five hundred million shot back up to ten billion.
“Anything you say.”
“I want Park to handle Choi Jeong-san’s end.”
“......”
Park asked again, half believing he had misheard.
“T-The end, sir? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Out on the East Sea.”
“!!”
“I want that bastard to meet the same... as my mother.”
James reached into his jacket, opened his inventory, and took out a knife, placing it on the table.
Thunk.
“...I want him to die.”
Just as Park Jin-tae had killed James’s mother on Choi Jeong-san’s orders, James was now ordering Choi Jeong-san’s death.
“That’s how it should be, isn’t it? The same person, the same ending.”
“James-nim... that comes with some serious risk...”
“Hah. You were planning to run me over with a truck not so long ago, and now you can’t do it because of risk?”
Gulp.
Cold sweat ran down Park Jin-tae’s forehead. Park had to do whatever James told him to do.
“I’ll do anything James-nim orders. When I mentioned risk, I meant the danger that would come to you, not me...”
But he still didn’t want to dirty his own hands if he could come up with some other excuse.
“Was ten billion not enough? Then let’s make it twenty billion. How about that?”
Twenty billion...
It wasn’t hard to have someone killed if you were willing to spend just a few hundred million. If he made contact with one of the overseas criminal groups operating quietly inside the country, he could probably have it done even cheaper. But this time, he had to handle it himself.
“If you don’t want to do it, I can always have someone else take care of it.”
“N-No! I’ll do it. I want to do it myself.”
Then he laid his hand on the knife sitting on the table.
I’ll finish that Choi bastard with this. I’m going to see the end of him with my own hands.
“......”
Watching Park move because of money, James could already see his future.
You’re going to be ruined by the very money you think is the best thing in the world.
“Good. I’ll release five billion first as an advance. Then when the shareholders’ meeting is over, I’ll release another five billion to bring it to fifty percent, and on the final day, when Choi Jeong-san is taken care of, I’ll pay the remaining ten billion.”
“Thank you, James-nim.”
“The conversation seems to have drifted off track, so let’s get back to our own business...”
The urgent matter, after all, was still taking TY Telecom. But if James stepped forward himself, Choi Jeong-san would no longer be able to predict his moves, so James had to stay hidden until the very end.
“Colt Evans has to step forward in my place. Let’s transfer some of the shares before the year ends and start working on the proxy authorization.”
James intended to place Colt at the forefront in his stead and take over TY Telecom that way, and Park already knew that plan. James had already asked Colt in advance to help with this matter.
“The one who’s close with you, James-nim.”
“That guy studied at the Ivy League, in his own way. He can handle being CEO of TY Telecom just fine.”
“But if there’s a communication problem, the existing executives may have trouble accepting him.”
“He speaks Korean like a native, doesn’t he?”
“Ah, in that case, there shouldn’t be any problem at all.”
In truth, considering the stake James and Park had secured, they could have installed almost anyone as CEO.
“After all, the shares we’ve secured are enough that even TY Telecom would have a hard time overtaking us, no matter how hard it tried.”
They had secured a full 41 percent. It wasn’t a majority, but buying up the scattered minority shares was almost impossible. On top of that, given the public distrust already boiling over toward TY Telecom’s management, even those on the other side could almost be counted as James’s allies.
“Maybe it’s time we let Choi Jeong-san know too.”
“...I don’t plan to tell that Choi bastard.”
“Then?”
“I’ll go straight to the main house.”
“So you’re going to report directly to Chairman Choi?”
“I’ll bring in the second young master too and emphasize that this is an emergency. He’ll hear the news that the sky is falling from someone else’s mouth.”
Park bore as much resentment toward Choi Jeong-san as James did.
“That wound on your forehead was his biggest mistake.”
Park peeled off the bandage on his forehead.
Riiip.
“Yes. I should show you this too.”
Beneath it was an ugly stitched scar running across his forehead.