The Regressed Vault Keeper Took It All Chapter 19 : I Thought I Would Die of Fear

Chapter 19: I Thought I Would Die of Fear

Choi Min-jun’s eyes glistened with blatant hostility.

He glared at as if he would kill and opened his mouth.

“Yeah. How was your sightseeing at Namsan? Did you enjoy it?”

His tone was dripping with mockery.

I deliberately hunched my shoulders and answered in a timid voice.

“I thought I would die of fear. Truly.”

“Hahaha! You were scared, you say?”

Park Jeong-ho laughed heartily, but behind that laughter hid a cold blade.

His eyes clung to persistently, as if not wanting to miss a single reaction.

“Yes. Truly. When would I have ever gone to such a terrifying place? I lived only thanks to Teacher Yang.”

Choi Min-jun’s gaze dug in sharper.

Unlike Park Jeong-ho’s laugh, he did not let down his guard even slightly.

“But… was it Deputy Section Chief No Gi-tae himself who saved you? Huh, that man isn’t soone who moves recklessly. It seems Old Man Yang really does wield trendous power.”

Park Jeong-ho stroked his chin and muttered as if to himself.

“Or could it be… that you’re so hidden son of that old man?”

Though spoken like a joke, it carried a sharp probing intent.

I flailed my hands in denial, almost jumping, not forgetting to glance around as though afraid soone might hear.

“Oh no, President. Please don’t say such things. How could I be so hidden son? I’d be chased out of Teacher Yang’s house if anyone heard that.”

“Heh, if not, then not. Why get so overly startled?”

Park Jeong-ho grinned slyly and asked again.

“So, was it Old Man Yang who sent you today as well?”

“No, sir. Today I ca for another matter. I ca to sell this.”

I lightly shook a slightly crumpled envelope containing Daegung stock securities.

Both Park Jeong-ho and Choi Min-jun’s eyes instantly locked on the envelope.

“I think it’s risen enough now. And just a few days ago, I nearly fainted. With all that sudden talk of delisting and whatnot, my guts shrank to the size of a pea.”

“Daegung stock? You’re selling that now, at this ti?”

Choi Min-jun asked again, as if he could not believe it.

His eyes held a look as if demanding to know what trick I was up to.

“Yes. Well, it may rise further, but… honestly, after that incident, I’m too frightened to keep holding it.”

I even feigned a shiver, making a terrified expression.

Acting the anxiety of a naïve beginner was key.

“Hmm… I think it’ll rise further. Isn’t it too soon to pull out when the opportunity is still here?”

Park Jeong-ho spoke as though regretful.

But his gaze was still razor-sharp, still trying to weigh my true intent.

“No, sir. I think this is just right for the size of my bowl. And it’s already risen nearly threefold. For , that’s more than enough.”

I recalled that when Park Jeong-ho first recomnded buying Daegung stock, it hadn’t even reached 2 hwan.

I let my tone carry the nuance that I owed all my profit to his advice.

“Threefold, huh… You’re lucky, indeed.”

Repeating the number, Park Jeong-ho smiled aningfully.

“Well, that aside. I don’t know what Old Man Yang has been up to lately. Did he ever say anything about Kim Jin-ho?”

“You an President Kim?”

At last, the long-awaited main point.

Though I had yearned for this question, I kept up the guise of innocence.

Tilting my head as if puzzled, I asked back.

“Did sothing happen? I did hear that Teacher Yang had a eting with him a few days ago. But how would soone like know what was said between them? I’m just in a position of running errands.”

“Hmm, is that so? And no other strange movents?”

Unwilling to give up, Park Jeong-ho kept probing about Yang Sobo’s moves.

I maintained the sa stance of knowing nothing.

“I really don’t… Teacher Yang always stays in his office. What could I possibly know?”

At my consistent ignorance, Park Jeong-ho seed to gradually lose interest.

Perhaps he had never expected much from in the first place.

Clicking his tongue, he waved his hand while looking back down at the assembly boiling with frenzy below the railing.

“That’s enough. Go on down now. If you say you’re selling that, they’ll all rush to buy. You’ll get a good price.”

As if I’d been waiting, I bowed politely.

“Thanks to you, President, I’ve gained greatly. I’m truly grateful. Next ti, I’ll surely treat you.”

Of course, inwardly I swallowed other words.

‘Once you collapse, I’ll buy you a consolation drink on the ruins.’

Instead of answering, Park Jeong-ho rely gestured for to leave.

I turned and headed toward the stairs.

That was when—

“Wait.”

Manager Choi Min-jun called in a low voice.

I turned back at him with a puzzled look.

“Follow .”

He jerked his chin toward a secluded spot.

Unlike Park Jeong-ho, who had lost interest, his eyes still glead with sharp suspicion.

I obediently followed him into a deserted corner.

“I still haven’t let go of my suspicion about you.”

Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, he spoke bluntly.

“I truly don’t know anything, Manager.”

“No. My gut tells . You’re not just so lucky bastard. That crash in KEPCO stock, and the moves after… you were definitely involved sohow.”

Persistent bastard.

Sharp-eyed, I’ll give him that.

Swallowing curses inside, I outwardly wore a face of unjust bewildernt.

“What could I possibly do to ease your suspicion, Manager?”

“Simple. Bring decisive information on Yang Sobo. The old man’s weakness, or a hidden plan. Sothing that can tie him down for sure. Then I’ll trust you.”

Perhaps because my act of naïve foolishness had disard him, Choi Min-jun revealed his true intent so readily.

In the end, he too only wanted Yang Sobo.

I was never their true target.

“Teacher Yang is the one who took in. How could I betray such a man…”

“Hmph. You think Yang Sobo will protect you forever? Rember this—once you lose value, he’ll discard you without hesitation. He’s a rchant without blood or tears.”

That, I already knew well.

I had long since won his trust.

I lowered my head, as if hiding a bitter smile, while he thought he was dispensing precious insight.

Seeing so, Choi Min-jun tapped my shoulder and warned.

“Plenty of people who once enjoyed his trust disappeared overnight. You’d better find your own way to survive.”

I kept my head bowed, as though deeply troubled by his words.

“I appreciate your concern, Manager. But I…”

I deliberately trailed off, once again showing a face of unjust grievance with a trace of fear.

“Well then, I’ll be going. I need to place a sell order.”

This ti, even Manager Choi did not stop further.

His eyes were still full of suspicion, but he had no grounds to act against now.

I quickly slipped out of his sight and went down to the first-floor assembly hall.

I approached a counter clerk and handed over the envelope.

“Please sell all these Daegung stocks. At 8 hwan, with imdiate execution.”

As my voice carried through the hall, part of the frenzy-filled crowd turned their eyes to in an instant.

8 hwan was well above the current price, but it was enough to seize people’s attention.

“Wh-what? Selling at 8 hwan? I’ll buy it! !”

“No! Over here first! Sell to !”

In an instant, people rushed toward .

Their eyes were all glazed and clouded.

I quickly stepped aside, accepted the receipt the clerk handed , and retreated further.

“I’ve given all authority to the staff here, so please talk with them.”

The area around the counter instantly beca a madhouse.

Leaving the chaos behind, I quietly slipped out of the assembly hall.

---

The next day.

When I collected the proceeds from the Korea Securities Exchange, the heaviness of the wad of cash in my hand made it feel all the more real.

In just one month, my Daegung stock investnt, which had started with barely 100,000 hwan, had snowballed into a cash bundle worth over 400,000 hwan.

By morning, rumors of soone getting rich overnight drifted like clouds across the streets of Myeong-dong.

Clutching the bag packed with thick wads of cash, I turned my back on the fevered atmosphere of the Exchange.

My steps naturally carried across the street, into the narrow alley where black-market money changers gathered in shadow.

Here, the official exchange rate ant nothing.

Only supply, demand, and nerve decided the price in this shadowy world.

‘It’s been a while since I ca here.’

With its musty stench, I stepped into the dim alley.

Unlike the wild mania of the Exchange, here the air was weighed down by stickier, more sordid desires.

This was the black-market dollar trade, where money revealed its other face.

Eyes gleaming with desperation, unable to trust yet craving sothing, flickered sharply all around.

A man leaning against a wall, an old woman with a cloth bundle laid out, a young thug scanning passersby—

all bartered in low voices, wary of each other.

From a corner, a middle-aged man, shoulders hunched, nervously fingered his worn fedora as he whispered to a money changer.

“C-could you exchange all this into hwan? I heard the rate was… good today.”

The money changer’s snake-like eyes slid over the bills, then he clicked his tongue and handed over a fat wad of hwan.

The man in the suit looked far from satisfied.

“That’s all you’ll give ? Isn’t it worse than last ti?”

“Rates change daily. Don’t like it, don’t take it.”

The reply was cold.

Biting his lip in frustration, the suited man stuffed the hwan into his pocket and scurried off.

His destination was back toward the Exchange.

That money would surely be sucked back into the frenzy.

Elsewhere, a man in grimy work clothes nearly clung to a money changer.

“Please, just a little more… even just 100 hwan more. I need to send it back ho, this won’t be enough.”

In his hand was a crumpled 10-dollar military scrip bill.

Issued for use in U.S. military bases in place of dollars, it had the sa nominal value but traded cheaper on the black market.

The money changer waved dismissively.

“Take it or leave it. Don’t pester with pocket change.”

The worker, nearly in tears, accepted the wad of hwan the exchanger shoved at him.

His shoulders sagged heavily as he sighed deep enough to sink the ground.

I watched all this without emotion.

As stock prices soared day by day, everyone had rushed here with whatever they had—dollars long stashed at ho, U.S. military scrip, yen, even gold trinkets.

All in a desperate bid to ride this frenzy with their last scraps.

I didn’t move rashly but leaned against a wall, quietly scanning my surroundings.

The eyes of passing black marketers darted at my bag bulging with cash, glinting like hyenas.

Then, I spotted an old man.

Unlike the others, he sat calmly on a bench deeper in the alley, flipping through a newspaper, as if the surrounding commotion didn’t exist.

‘Good to see you, Old Man Han.’

This was the elder who firmly held the reins of the Myeong-dong black-market dollar trade.

Still alive and well, it seed.

I slowly approached him.

Sensing my presence, the old man finally lifted his eyes from the paper and glanced at .

For a fleeting mont, our gazes t—his was dark and fathomless.

At that mont, two burly n sprang out of a side alley and blocked my path.

Their hulking fras and nacing looks exuded threat.

“What’s this? If you’ve got no business here, get lost.”

They gestured threateningly, but I ignored them, keeping my eyes fixed on the old man.

My lips parted to speak—

“Enough. Step back.”

The voice ca from the old man first.

Snapping his newspaper shut with a *thwack*, he spoke quietly.

At once, the two n stepped aside without protest.

The old man laid the paper down on the bench and looked straight at .

“Did Yang send you?”

His tone was casual, as though he already knew I was lodging at Yang Sobo’s house.

Instead of answering, I stepped forward and placed the money bag before him.

“400,000 hwan. I want to exchange it for dollars.”

His eyes drifted between my face and the bag, indifferent yet weighing, as though appraising its worth.