The Clash of Obstruction and Bluffing (1)
‘Could it be?’
Jung Taeryong, the Managing Director of Daehan Group. Until he heard this information, the possibility that Taeryong had any connection to the hints dropped by JSD was extremely slim. However, the moment Taeryong reacted to Ryu Geuntae, that probability climbed from a decimal point to a single-digit percentage.
‘If...’
Yoon-gi waited for Taeryong’s next move, considering a single possibility. What if Taeryong went to greet Geuntae? One could interpret that as a mere coincidence—a businessman in Japan wanting to make the acquaintance of a promising Korean entrepreneur. But Taeryong only watched Geuntae from afar, never approaching him. And when Geuntae left by car, Taeryong followed suit, driving in the same direction.
‘It was him...!’
He didn’t know yet if Taeryong was the ultimate mastermind or just an intermediary. But in this situation, the moment Taeryong started digging into Geuntae’s trail, the possibility of his involvement jumped into the double digits.
‘Perhaps things will get easier now.’
Yoon-gi nodded and headed toward Jung Dong-yoon’s house.
Jung Dong-yoon’s house was empty. Since Dong-yoon was the president of Japan Commodity, he was at work, and his wife had gone to visit her parents. Furthermore, his daughter, Jung Hana, was at work at a magazine publishing house. Thus, the only ones in the house were Yoon-gi, Choi Deok-bae, and Kim Ryeon.
As soon as he woke up, Yoon-gi washed his face, sat on the sofa in the second-floor living room, and had Deok-bae and Ryeon sit opposite him.
‘I can certainly see why Grandfather would be interested.’
Although she was said to have died at forty-five, Kim Ryeon looked to be in her mid-to-late thirties, thanks to her attire, makeup, and natural features. Sitting next to Deok-bae, she looked almost like a daughter-in-law to him.
‘What a thief...’
Thinking he had almost uttered the most insulting thing in the world, Yoon-gi cleared his throat once and addressed Ryeon.
“According to information from Korea, it seems certain that Taeryong is in Japan. And the appearance you described over the phone matches what I saw yesterday. But, are you absolutely certain that Taeryong of Daehan Group is the one who killed your son?”
“Then there is no mistake that Taeryong is the culprit.”
Of course, there was the possibility that Ryeon might be lying, but since Taeryong was an enemy of YK, there was sufficient reason to bring him down regardless. Yoon-gi decided to put the verification of the truth on the back burner for now.
“By the way, you asked me to liberate your son, but I don’t see him. Is your son following Taeryong around?”
Ryeon nodded with sad eyes.
Watching Deok-bae quietly place a hand on the shoulder of Ryeon, who was clutching her skirt with both hands, Yoon-gi continued.
“Grandfather, you can see him, right?”
“I see. If he is around Taeryong, is there any room to utilize him?”
Deok-bae shook his head immediately. It was a polite way of saying that since it was Ryeon’s son, beating him up was impossible, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be as useful as Johnson.
“First, tell me everything you know about Taeryong. You’ve been following him for nearly ten years, so you must know quite a bit, right?”
Ryeon looked perplexed for a moment before she began to speak.
It was truly mundane information. Yoon-gi clicked his tongue, knowing he could have found this out easily through Im Sichan—or rather, Choi Cheol-gyu.
“Other than that, is there no more detailed information? Like Taeryong’s interests, or his weaknesses. That would help in targeting him.”
Ryeon began to rack her brain desperately. Taeryong was her mortal enemy. However, because Ryeon herself lacked the ability for this kind of thing, the relative difficulty of taking revenge was too high.
“Has Taeryong done anything bad since he was in middle school?”
Ryeon tried again to recall any weakness. But the problem was that she knew nothing of accounting terms and lacked the ability to grasp the quiet, illicit things Taeryong had done.
‘I realize anew just how incredible a ghost Grandfather is.’
Even though he was frivolous, light-headed, and sometimes grumpy, Yoon-gi realized the extent of Deok-bae’s ability, much like how Deok-bae boasted of being a ‘top-tier successful spirit.’
‘Johnson is someone Grandfather can control directly to maximize his abilities, but with this lady, if I’m not careful, the result might be worse than not using her at all.’
Of course, that didn’t mean she was useless. But it was difficult to delegate tasks that required her own judgment. That was Yoon-gi’s assessment.
“He hates being late?”
“Then he must have liked becoming a section chief, department head, and managing director quickly as well?”
Ryeon nodded, seemingly relieved by Yoon-gi’s reaction.
“What kind of happening...?”
“Was it because he didn’t get the spotlight?”
“What was the result?”
“Hmm... I see. Anything else?”
Yoon-gi didn’t scold her, as her behavior felt realistic. As she said, in a situation where she had given up on the possibility of revenge, there was no need to struggle to remember every single move Taeryong made.
‘To summarize Taeryong’s personality: he hates falling behind others and craves the spotlight? Based on this...’
Yoon-gi reached a conclusion and wore an absurd expression.
‘This guy, did he mess with YK because of me?’
Based on the data so far, no other hypothesis came to mind. The actual owner of YK Department Store was Yoon-gi himself. While outsiders thought it was just a succession scheme, the real owner was him.
‘The chance of this guy noticing my ability is near zero. But, what if he perceives me as a rival?’
The fact that Taeryong got angry at his grandfather when his article was restricted, and the fact that Yoon-gi was likely to enter society faster than Taeryong—something even others could deduce—combined to explain why Taeryong had targeted YK.
‘Based on general rationality, it’s an absurd action. But considering how Taeryong’s irrationality manifests, it’s not impossible.’
Yoon-gi decided to ask Ryeon one more thing.
“Ma’am.”
“Did your son also enter school a year early like Taeryong?”
“...Then, how were your son’s grades?”
“Pardon?”
It was a very liberal upbringing, hard to imagine for the 70s. The problem was that it had become poison in the present.
‘If her son’s grades were better than Taeryong’s, Taeryong might have had enough reason to kill him. He might have tolerated an older classmate having better grades due to rationality, but a classmate of the same age having better grades? Hmmm...’
And if this clue turned out to be true, the suspicion that Taeryong held a grudge against him was explained more clearly. After all, it was true that Yoon-gi was living a life in the spotlight far more than Taeryong’s past.
‘Cannot forgive someone who shows themselves to be superior to him based on the same age... If this deduction is correct, he’s a guy with a very twisted outlook on life.’
Yoon-gi nodded and picked up the secret line phone for Guster.
Since Taeryong was currently diverting all his intelligence organizations to Japan, it was quite easy for the Im Sichan group operated by Yoon-gi to obtain information related to Daehan Group. Of course, this meant they didn’t have to worry about anyone’s eyes, but it didn’t mean the time required could be ignored.
“I see. Thank you, Uncle.”
Yoon-gi hung up the phone, confirming his deduction was correct.
‘Wow... what a guy.’
A week after putting the Im Sichan group into full operation, Choi Cheol-kyu organized the information they had collected and reported it to Yoon-gi over the line. In particular, the information Yoon-gi requested most urgently was the grades of Ryeon’s son, Lee Jaeseo, and Taeryong during their first year of middle school. Im Sichan had managed to find this out after three days of illegally breaking into the middle school every night to dig through old report cards.
The result was Jaeseo’s superiority. With most of the puzzle pieces fitting together, Yoon-gi decided to trust Ryeon’s words more and simultaneously set Taeryong as a definite enemy of YK.
To the words of Deok-bae, who was sitting on the sofa in the second-floor living room, Yoon-gi also shook his head while seated.
“Turning Daehan Group into an enemy is a very inefficient thing to do. In the first place, the entire Daehan Group hasn’t made YK their enemy yet.”
“I’ll think about that when the time comes, but if Taeryong loses his grandfather’s trust, there’s no reason to make them an enemy. It’s hard to say we’ve fully digested the byproducts of Seth, so there’s no good in bringing down Daehan Group additionally. Furthermore, domestic reinvestment is blocked anyway.”
“That’s true.”
“It’s just a feeling, but I think this will be a battle of obstruction and bluffing.”