The last day of 1998
The chaotic year of 1998, overshadowed by the national financial crisis, was finally coming to an end today.
All subsidiaries of Taewoo Group had already held their year-end closing ceremonies, and even the planning office staff had left early for the day.
"Director, you should head ho early as well. I'm about to leave myself."
"This is the first ti I've seen you leave work on ti, Executive Director."
"I must be giving you a hard ti, aren't I?"
"Not at all. It's an honor to work under you."
Sharing so pleasant words, we took the elevator down to the first floor.
I then got into the car that had been waiting for in advance, ready to head ho.
"Director! Watch out!"
The driver suddenly shouted and sharply turned the wheel.
A dump truck sped past us.
Whether the driver was drunk or drowsy, the massive vehicle was recklessly barreling forward.
Could it be…?
A scene from a movie or drama flashed through my mind.
Dump trucks often appeared in assassination attempts—an unsubtle yet effective tool to silence soone permanently.
Was soone trying to kill ?
"It seems like drowsy driving. I apologize for shouting."
"Who drives drowsy at this hour?"
Fortunately, my suspicion seed unfounded.
The dump truck had crashed into a roadside tree and co to a stop. A man with a simple, honest face stepped out, bowing his head repeatedly in apology, looking completely dazed.
I was about to brush the incident off when my eyes caught sothing.
A sticker on the truck.
"Have you ever seen a sticker like that before?"
"I think I saw sothing similar in a Japanese movie."
It was an image of an oni, a Japanese demon.
The design closely resembled the irezumi tattoos commonly associated with the Yakuza.
"Did you catch the truck's license plate?"
"I don't rember the full number, but I saw that it was from Busan."
Before my regression, license plates didn't indicate regions.
But in this era, they did. That ant I could determine where a vehicle was registered.
"Is it common for dump trucks from Busan to co all the way to Seoul?"
"Dump trucks travel between regions all the ti, so it's not unheard of."
A truck from Busan. And an irezumi-style sticker.
The uneasy feeling creeping into my mind grew stronger.
Just as I was deep in thought, my phone rang. It was Captain Kang.
[President! Lee Young-han has been attacked. The perpetrators weren't from Myeong-dong. They seem to have co from Japan.]
"He's not dead, is he? How badly was he hurt?"
[We managed to intervene in ti to prevent a fatality, but he suffered serious injuries and has been taken to the hospital.]
That lingering suspicion solidified into certainty.
What were the odds that a truck from Busan would just happen to nearly crash into at the sa ti that an attack was carried out on Lee Young-han?
Coincidence? No.
Soone had orchestrated this.
"Turn the car around."
Instead of heading ho, I directed the driver to Captain Kang's office.
When I arrived, I was t by a team of security personnel who quickly escorted inside.
The atmosphere was tense. There were significantly more n stationed around the building than usual, standing guard with unwavering focus.
We made our way through the security detail and headed up to the office.
Inside, I saw Captain Kang with his arm wrapped in bandages.
"Captain Kang, are you injured? What happened?"
"There was a big fight in Myeong-dong. Amid the chaos, a man who appeared to be Yakuza attacked Lee Young-han. I got injured in the process, but fortunately, Dimon was unhard."
"Hmm… did the attacker have an irezumi tattoo?"
"Yes. Were you attacked as well?"
"It wasn't exactly an attack—more like a warning."
I told Captain Kang about the dump truck incident.
He beca so agitated that his bandages unraveled, causing fresh blood to seep from his wound.
"How dare they target you, President?! I'll handle this myself. I'll make sure they never walk the streets alive again!"
"Calm down. They clearly didn't intend to harm directly—at least, not yet. But that doesn't an I'll let this slide."
I was just as furious.
I had given them the courtesy of playing fair, but they had chosen to fight dirty.
Fine.
If that's how they wanted to play, I had no reason to hold back either.
"What do you need to do?"
"First, track down the dump truck driver from today's incident. Get his photo, and look into his bank accounts as well."
"I'll secure that information imdiately."
"And the gang using Yakuza—wasn't that Ohseong?"
"Yes, they're the largest organized cri syndicate in Busan."
"We need to wipe them out first. Support their rival gangs."
"Do you an financial support, or are we providing manpower as well?"
"Give them everything. If they've sided with the Japanese, we'll erase them completely."
"I'll select forr special forces operatives and send them to Busan."
The first step was severing Park's strongest support—Ohseong.
Next, I would cut off his financial resources.
"Also, use the National Tax Service to track down Park's slush funds and accounts under borrowed nas. I have quite a bit of inside information, so it shouldn't be too difficult."
"If the tax office isn't enough, I'll involve the police and prosecutors."
Those hidden accounts originally belonged to Gwanghwamun Bear.
I had shared a great deal of information with him, so I had a rough idea of how those funds were being managed.
It wasn't enough to track them down just yet.
But as the battle in Myeong-dong escalated, Park would inevitably tap into those funds—creating an opening for us to expose him.
"And investigate the funds being moved by Executive Director Lee Joon-soo."
"Wouldn't it be easier to hand over evidence of Lee Joon-soo murdering Chairman Lee to the police?"
"He's backed by Yakuza money. Do you really think he hasn't bribed the police? Besides, the evidence is weak—they'd let him go in no ti."
"Understood. I'll focus on tracking his finances."
But that still wasn't enough.
To completely take down Park and Lee Joon-soo, I needed the help of Myeong-dong's elders.
"Set up a eting with the Myeong-dong Three."
"I heard they were forced out of Myeong-dong by Gwanghwamun Bear."
"Where do moneylenders go when they leave? They always find their way back. I need to et them before they do."
Gwanghwamun Bear, Cash King, Old Lady Baek, and Chairman Kang.
They were once known as the Myeong-dong Four, but now, all of them had been pushed out.
The Three had been expelled by Gwanghwamun Bear, and later, Gwanghwamun Bear himself had been eliminated by his own cousin.
If Gwanghwamun Bear were still alive, I wouldn't have needed the Three's help.
The three loan sharks who once ruled Myeong-dong.
There was a ti when even corporate chairn lined up just to et them. But now, they had been pushed into the shadows.
It wasn't because they had run out of money.
They had rely gone into hiding to escape the overwhelming force of Gwanghwamun Bear.
But now that Gwanghwamun Bear was gone, it was only a matter of ti before they made their coback.
That's why arranging a eting with the Myeong-dong Three was not difficult.
I didn't even reveal my na.
I simply said that a supporter of Gwanghwamun Bear wanted to et them.
"It's a pleasure to et you. My na is Kim Min-jae."
My first encounter with the Myeong-dong Three.
As I walked through the door, their eyes widened in surprise.
It seed my youth caught them off guard. Then, when they heard my na, their upper bodies jerked slightly as if shocked once more.
"I was wondering how Gwanghwamun Bear could have turned into a man… Looks like Taewoo Group must have given him mugwort and garlic."
"Not Taewoo Group—I provided so personal assistance. I pointed out which companies were headed for bankruptcy and tipped him off about promising investnts."
Chairman Kang stepped forward as their representative.
Once, he had been a powerful corporate tycoon in Busan. But after falling out of favor with the military regi, he had ended up in Myeong-dong.
"I've heard rumors that Chairman Kim's grandson is quite extraordinary. But I never imagined he had the ability to take control of Myeong-dong. Hahaha."
"You received Hanbo Group stocks from Gwanghwamun Bear, didn't you? That was my suggestion. The sa goes for Samjin and Jinro—I orchestrated those as well."
Bang!
Cash King, Dan Cheong-soo, slamd his fist on the table.
He was furious after realizing that I was the one who had unloaded those worthless stocks on them during the financial crisis.
"Did you call us here just to mock us? Even your grandfather shows us respect!"
"I never engage in business that isn't profitable. Mocking you wouldn't put money in my pocket, so why would I waste my ti on sothing so pointless?"
"Then why did you call us?"
"Because I want to discuss a profitable opportunity. Originally, this was sothing I was planning with Chairman Lee of Gwanghwamun… but as you know, things have taken an unexpected turn."
A mont of silence filled the room.
The Myeong-dong Four had ford deep bonds after years of fighting and competing against one another.
Now, they found themselves reminiscing about Gwanghwamun Bear, who had t an untily death.
"What exactly were you planning with Chairman Lee?"
"Before we continue, there's sothing I need to tell you. The Japanese yakuza and loan companies are making moves to take over Myeong-dong. Team Leader Park, who was Chairman Lee's right-hand man, and his cousin, Executive Director Lee Joon-so, are acting as their lackeys."
"I heard there's a successor war over Gwanghwamun Chairman Lee's position, but I didn't realize things had escalated this far."
Chairman Kang clicked his tongue.
However, there was a misunderstanding that needed to be corrected.
"You have the order of events wrong. They didn't ally with the Japanese because of the successor war—the war started because they allied with the Japanese to take down Chairman Lee. His death triggered everything that followed."
"Are you saying Team Leader Park killed Chairman Lee?"
"Executive Director Lee Joon-so is directly involved in Chairman Lee's death, and Team Leader Park knew about it yet still chose to side with him."
"Tsk, tsk… What a bunch of rotten bastards. Even a dog doesn't bite its owner. Chairman Lee must have raised a monster without realizing it."
There was another mistake in his assumption.
In reality, Team Leader Park had no direct involvent in Chairman Lee's death.
However, it was more beneficial for to let that misunderstanding persist, so I didn't correct him.
"Starting with Myeong-dong, Japanese capital is aiming to take over the Korean private loan market. And they aren't just targeting the underground economy—they have their eyes on the legal financial sector as well."
"Are you saying Japanese loan sharks want to go legit?"
"They plan to officially register as loan companies and operate nationwide, lending money to the general public. I've even heard they're preparing TV comrcials."
"No matter how much money those Japanese lenders have, going legitimate won't be easy. They must have so powerful backing."
Breaking into the legal loan market without political support would be nearly impossible.
The Japanese lenders likely had not only political connections but also backing from financial institutions.
"I have powerful backers as well."
"What do you an by that all of a sudden?"
"Since you've already stepped away from Myeong-dong's underground world, why not use this opportunity to enter the legitimate market?"
Blocking the Japanese lenders by using the Myeong-dong Three.
That was my reason for eting them—and the best way to strangle both Team Leader Park and Executive Director Lee Joon-so.
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