The Crumbling Succession (3)
The shocking headline, printed in bold gothic type across the front page, was enough to make Park Do-cheol feel as if his soul had momentarily left his body.
“Ugh!”
“Chairman!”
As the Chief Secretary hurriedly grabbed Park Do-cheol from behind, the bodyguards also rushed to support him.
“Take him to the hospital!” the Chief Secretary ordered. But Park Do-cheol, regaining his senses, shook his head with great effort. “Ch-Chairman’s office. Let’s go to the Chairman’s office.”
“Chairman, for now, your health...”
“I said let’s go to the Chairman’s office!”
At Park Do-cheol’s roar, the Chief Secretary couldn’t say another word and headed to the office with him.
“Ah!”
The Chief Secretary, who had just been about to leave the conference room, hurriedly went to Park Do-cheol’s seat to pick up the newspaper he had brought. Thanks to that, he barely managed to stop the directors from seeing the article. However, a single newspaper cost only a coin. In the end, the Chief Secretary had committed a grave mistake.
Thwack!
The sound of leather bursting echoed through the Chairman’s office.
“You worm-like bastard!”
Park Ki-ho, his cheek swollen bright red, couldn’t offer any excuses and simply hung his head low.
“This! This! This! This! This!”
Park Do-cheol’s repetition of the word “this” was truly endless. There were countless newspapers laid out on the desk. Most of them were covering Park Ki-ho’s alleged incitement of murder on the front page, or if not there, on other pages. The first newspaper the Chief Secretary brought, and the others that followed—the board meeting had started early in the morning, which meant the information had reached the news agencies no later than last night.
“Do you even have any idea what this means?”
Even with Park Do-cheol’s voice trembling with rage, Park Ki-ho couldn’t offer a single rebuttal.
Thwack!
With another sound of leather tearing, Park Do-cheol stomped his shoe down. No, he stomped down on his son Park Ki-ho’s left foot.
“Gah!”
Unable to bear the pain, Park Ki-ho slumped to the floor, instinctively reaching for his foot.
“Does it hurt? Is this hurting you? I’m in more pain! I’m in more pain because you have absolutely no idea what this situation signifies!”
When his son didn’t answer again, Park Do-cheol grabbed the hair of his son, who was kneeling on one knee, and yanked his head back.
“Tell me. Do you really not know why this is such a big deal?”
“Because I failed to handle the matter properly...”
Thwack!
Finally, the capillaries in Park Ki-ho’s mouth burst, and blood began to flow from his lips.
“You dull-witted fool! It wasn’t just one or two news agencies that broke the scoop; almost every single one of them published it simultaneously. This wasn’t something they discovered on their own—someone leaked this information!”
Only then did shock fill Park Ki-ho’s eyes.
“Th-that is...”
“You’ve been caught in a snare! The news agencies dared to publish this without even glancing at Seth’s influence. The people who set us as their target are at least at our level, if not higher! How on earth did you handle things to get caught like this? And killing them? When did I ever order you to kill these people!”
The newspaper article was about a couple who owned a small-to-medium enterprise that had refused a merger and acquisition about 12 years ago. When the couple went missing, Seth naturally merged with the company, but in reality, the couple hadn’t gone missing—they had been murdered by subordinates under Park Ki-ho’s orders.
“Father told me to handle it quietly...”
Thwack!
As the veins in both of Park Ki-ho’s cheeks burst, the amount of blood spilling from his mouth increased.
“I told you to handle it quietly, when did I order you to kill them! It wasn’t the Japanese colonial era; what are you doing committing such acts when we are a company that needs to work in the light? Didn’t you know that threats and kidnapping were the limit?”
Park Do-cheol had no interest in the personal details of the couple his son had killed. The part Park Do-cheol was currently angry about was entirely different.
“Fine, I’ll concede a hundred times over that you could kill them. But you got caught. How can I trust someone who handles things like this!”
The method Park Ki-ho used to solidify his position as successor was simple: ‘Don’t get caught.’ Even if he used excessive force, he just had to make sure no one outside his inner circle knew. That was why he had earned his father’s recognition by quickly handling tasks that would take others twice as long, but now, an event he never imagined had surfaced to the public eye.
‘Who on earth... who on earth leaked an incident from 12 years ago...’
The handling of the matter at the time had been perfect. That was why it hadn’t been discovered for 12 years, wasn’t it? Furthermore, the ‘retired employees’ who handled the work back then had been taken care of one by one by hiring a Chinese organization. Yet, he was caught. Park Ki-ho couldn’t even guess who had spread the word.
“Where is it.”
“...Yes?”
At his father’s words, Park Ki-ho was momentarily flustered and asked back.
“I asked where you buried the bodies! We need to hide the evidence quickly!”
“Gasp!”
Park Ki-ho finally grasped the severity of the situation and stood up, forgetting the pain in his foot.
“Hide the evidence quickly! Destroy the evidence first and shower the reporters with money. Then force them to issue a correction. That’s the only way!”
“Understood!”
Park Ki-ho, who bolted out of the Chairman’s office, took his close aides and headed to a place he could barely remember anymore. To the very spot where he had buried the couple alive while they were crying and begging to be spared.
“Faster! Even faster!”
Park Ki-ho’s aides also realized the gravity of the situation and drove at a frantic speed, reaching the shabby land of his memories. And there, they encountered a stranger.
“Oh ho, you really came?”
Seo In-pyo, the Chief of the Detective Division at Jongno Police Station, welcomed Park Ki-ho warmly while he and his subordinates were in the process of securing two skeletons.
“My, my, President Park, how did you end up here? And in such a rush? Looking at your face, it seems you were beaten up pretty badly by someone—who hit you?”
Jongno Police Station, Detective Division. Despite hearing Superintendent Seo In-pyo’s sarcasm, Park Ki-ho didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at Superintendent Seo with a look of utter disgust, projecting the thought, ‘How dare someone like you speak to me?’ Superintendent Seo was well aware of this attitude. However, the extent of Superintendent Seo’s capability was just being sarcastic. After all, Park Ki-ho wasn’t someone he could easily touch.
“Superintendent Seo, don’t be like this, let’s talk.”
A lawyer from Seth’s legal team appeared late and spoke to Superintendent Seo, and Park Ki-ho stood up as if it were only natural.
“Let’s make sure we don’t see each other again, shall we?”
Ignoring Superintendent Seo’s words, Park Ki-ho walked out. Meanwhile, the lawyer stayed behind and handed Seo In-pyo a bag of street steamed buns. Of course, what was inside wasn’t buns, but bundles of cash.
“Hey, you know this isn’t enough. You know this isn’t just some ordinary matter, right?”
‘You son of a bitch!’ At Seo In-pyo’s behavior of cleverly mixing informal and formal language, the lawyer forced a smile and walked out, saying, ‘Please wait a moment.’ When the lawyer returned, he handed Seo In-pyo another bag of buns.
“Ahem! Well, just because you were at the scene doesn’t mean there’s proof you committed a crime, so I’ll let it slide this time for the lawyer’s sake. But a second time will be difficult.”
“Will there be a second time?”
“Who knows? Can you guarantee it?”
“Yes, I can guarantee it. Tsk!”
Having achieved his goal, the lawyer left, clearly showing his discomfort, and Superintendent Seo immediately called his aides to distribute the cash.
“Hey! Good work! You guys must never be bribed regarding this matter. Following this brother is much more profitable than being bribed. Got it? If you want to set up a nice shop for your families, listen to me.”
It was a stern warning. Since the effect of the cash was immense and Superintendent Seo hadn’t treated them poorly in the past, the police officers answered loudly with bright smiles.
[[[[[Yes!]]]]]
“Good. Then let’s head to the other locations. This time, we split up!”
Seo In-pyo’s aides each took their own subordinates and headed to the locations they were assigned. The places they were heading to were Park Ki-ho’s ‘memory lane.’ Before long, a situation unfolded where Park Ki-ho’s aides were arrested by Seo In-pyo’s men at every single one of those locations.
“Yes, Chief Seo. Things are proceeding smoothly? Good, don’t worry, and use this opportunity to squeeze out as much money as you can. Even if you take the money, there’s no evidence left, and just because those guys showed up doesn’t mean it’s proof of murder, right? Since you can’t book them, just take the money and add it to your household budget.”
[Thank you. Everyone is happy because of this unexpected bonus. To think you’d just give us such high-level information...]
“That’s just because you’ve aligned yourself well, Chief Seo. But the finish is the most important part of this job. You know that, right?”
[Of course. I will make sure to finish it definitively, no matter what.]
After hanging up, Ryu Geun-tae called Im Si-chan to the President’s office.
“Did you call for me?”
YK Department Store President’s office. At Ryu Geun-tae’s call, Im Si-chan stood politely with a slightly flushed expression.
“Yes, Manager Im’s information was a huge help this time. So, I called you to give you some credit.”
“To think my information was helpful... you are too kind. Honestly, the content wasn’t very useful, but the fact that you turned it into something usable is entirely due to your ability, President.”
Im Si-chan was being polite, but it was largely true. Because Im Si-chan only knew the approximate location where the bodies were buried, not the exact spots. Therefore, Im Si-chan was truly in awe of Ryu Geun-tae’s information analysis ability. Of course, Ryu Geun-tae was amazed by Yoon-gi’s analysis, and Yoon-gi had simply asked Choi Deok-bae to confirm the skeletons buried underground near the suspected burial sites.
“By the way, Park Ki-ho, contrary to his public image, he handled things quite ruthlessly. It feels almost like a successor to a Japanese Yakuza.”
“I was honestly surprised too. These were things my seniors told me about while drinking, saying, ‘You might have to do something like this someday,’ and to think they were real events... The fact that I lost contact with those people...”
Im Si-chan’s fists trembled. The seniors who had pledged loyalty to Seth long before him. He was furious at the fact that those seniors had pledged loyalty even at the cost of murder, only to be ‘dealt with’ in the end. They weren’t people living honest lives, but Im Si-chan was enraged that if one was going to get their hands dirty for their master, they shouldn’t have been discarded like a used tool.
“Have you ever committed murder?”
Im Si-chan honestly shook his head.
“I was lucky, so I never reached that stage.”
“I suppose even doing dirty work requires luck. Anyway, are your subordinates moving well?”
“Yes. Currently, they are helping Superintendent Seo In-pyo collect Park Ki-ho’s dirty traces.”
“Good. Whether this works out or not, I should reward you for it. Take that bag.”
A briefcase that looked like it would hold quite a bit of cash. Seeing it, Im Si-chan bowed until his navel touched his thighs.
“Thank you so much. I will continue to do my best.”
“I look forward to it.”
Dismissed, Im Si-chan took the money bag and left politely, and Ryu Geun-tae immediately called Yoon-gi through a secret line.
The massive slush fund that had been accumulated over the years. That fund was being drained at an incredible speed.
“God damn it!”
Seth Chairman Park Do-cheol roared in the office. The money flowing out to the Jongno Police Station to cover up his second son Park Ki-ho’s crimes was at a level that made his eyes pop out. It was a slush fund that shouldn’t have been used for such things, but there was no other way.
‘To think there isn’t just one incident, this is insane...’
At first, he thought his son had only caused one accident. But his son had used any means necessary to gain his favor. To think that the son he thought had the qualities of a manager turned out to have the qualities of a Yakuza. Park Do-cheol had no idea how to resolve the current situation.
‘Who on earth is leaking sources to the Jongno Police Station? Does this make sense? Logically, it doesn’t make sense for the incidents Ki-ho covered up so well to explode all at once like this!’
He had tried to pull strings above the Jongno Police Chief to stop the situation, but it seemed the other side had already made their moves, and no satisfactory conversation was happening with the higher-ups. Just as Park Do-cheol’s head was about to explode, the phone in the office rang.
“Who is it!”
A shout full of temper. Then, a mocking voice came through the receiver.
[Father, are you still thinking of the younger brother as the successor?]
Only then did Park Do-cheol grasp a part of the picture behind this incident.