After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 24
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 024
The meeting with Incheon City was scheduled for a week later.
The reason for delaying was that information was needed.
‘JS Global Construction committed various lobbying acts. They also stuffed bribes into city council members’ pockets.’
They work as much as they receive.
The problem was that JS’s owner had changed.
‘Once they find out, they’ll turn around completely.’
The project could be overturned.
That had to be prevented.
“Manager Jeong, please gather evidence of the lobbying that was committed.”
“Understood.”
Work processing was fast.
All materials were gathered in just one day, and Kang Hyeon examined them.
All the materials were perfect.
If he shoved these forward, he could put a leash on them.
“Phew!”
Something he had never done before.
But it had to be done.
Crying about not being able to do it wasn’t something others could do for him.
He made an appointment with the city council member and visited the office.
When he said he was the representative of JS Construction, the meeting was arranged smoothly.
Well, he was someone who stuffed money into their pockets.
There would be no reason to refuse the meeting.
Creak-!
Soon the door opened and a man in his 60s with greed written all over his face entered.
“Huh? Who are you? Wasn’t Representative Oh supposed to come?”
Speaking informally from the first meeting.
As expected, being a city council member, that kind of thing was a passive skill.
“I’m Choi Kang-hyeon, who newly became the representative of JS Global Construction.”
“What? You became the representative? What kind of nonsense is this! Where’s Representative Oh? Tell Representative Oh to come!!”
Well, that gentleman has already crossed the Jordan River.
Of course, he didn’t really cross it, but by now he would be stuck at home unable to even come outside.
Or preparing to flee abroad.
Anyway, he had to seize the initiative.
Thud!
When he threw the documents on the table, the city council member’s eyebrows twitched.
Since he was someone who lived for his own arrogance, this attitude wouldn’t sit well with him.
But what could he do? The leash was already in my hands.
“After acquiring the company, while examining the financial statements, I confirmed there were many corruptions committed by the former representative.”
“Why are you telling me about your company’s corruption? You guys handle it yourselves, and I have nothing to say to you…!”
“Part of that corruption was lobby funds that went into your account, Council Member.”
The city council member’s mouth shut.
Now it seemed like we could have a conversation.
“Do you really have nothing to say?”
Ah, I wanted to record this expression and watch it from time to time.
Just moments ago, like a bulldog barking with a fierce expression from behind bars, but when the bars opened, it shut its mouth – exactly that kind of expression.
“…What do you want?”
“It’s simple. The business that Representative Oh entrusted to you, Council Member, I hope you’ll proceed with it as is.”
“That’s all it takes?”
“For now, yes.”
“For now…?”
He didn’t answer the question.
There was no need to open all his cards.
‘Now he must know. The fact that a leash has been put around his neck.’
The bulldog lowered its tail.
* * *
After the meeting with the city council member.
Manager Jeong and Choi Lawyer welcomed Kang Hyeon as he returned to the office.
“How did it go?”
“It was resolved well. I think we’ll be able to maintain an amicable relationship with Council Member Kim Tae-gu going forward.”
Choi Lawyer was surprised.
He had been somewhat worried when this young representative said he was meeting with a local government city council member.
‘Those guys in politics are the type who harbor about a hundred vipers in their bellies. He cooked and boiled such a person?’
Even he, who had been seasoned as a lawyer, felt drained when meeting political figures.
But he said he resolved it in just a few hours.
No matter how perfect the materials were, it could be called considerable skill.
“And the possibility of our site being selected for the K-Theme Park has increased.”
“Really?”
“Yes. So we need to demolish all the villas.”
“Huh… You already knew up to this point… Ah… No. I misspoke.”
Manager Jeong shut his mouth.
Actually, he didn’t know.
The light just burst out so strongly that he thought there would be something, whether redevelopment or some other reason.
He never dreamed it would be this big of a jackpot.
Choi Byeon, who had been listening to the story, opened his mouth.
“Then Council Member Kim Tae-gu’s influence will work strongly. He’s someone who’s served 5 terms just in Incheon City.”
Five terms.
The greed written all over that gentleman’s face wasn’t just how he naturally looked.
Choi Byeon picked up the map on the table with his hand and said.
“If the local government proceeds with the theme park, acquiring the construction company here could actually work to our advantage. We already hold a construction business license and have related systems well-equipped, so while negotiating land rental, we might be able to secure related business rights.”
Huh?
That was something he hadn’t even thought of.
He had acquired JS Global Construction, but it was purely for securing land.
But now that land was going to be developed.
And it was a massive local government project called a theme park.
Until then, he had only thought about collecting hefty rental fees.
How could someone who only looked at charts and traded stocks every day think of the construction business?
But Choi Byeon was different.
His thinking immediately connected the pipeline to securing business rights.
‘Indeed, being a lawyer isn’t something just anyone can do.’
Quite promising.
No, he should remove the word “quite.”
This person was competence itself.
Having such a person nearby would make work comfortable.
There was no need to hesitate.
“Choi Lawyer.”
“Yes?”
“Would you consider changing jobs by any chance?”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll offer you double your current salary.”
“Yes?”
Instead of a composed “sam-yeon-byeong,” a surprised “sam-yeon-ye” came out.
His expression showed stages of surprise that were clearly visible.
That gentleman wasn’t maintaining a poker face after all.
“Well… the salary at our Choi & Jang Law Firm is quite high. And if you add the incentives on top of that…”
Well, their salary would be substantial.
But this side had plenty of money too.
He could afford that much.
“It’s fine. I’ll match it at 2 times.”
Yesterday’s change in Congressman Kim’s expression, and today’s change in Choi Lawyer’s expression.
There were quite a few scenes he’d like to record.
* * *
To cut to the conclusion, the answer was deferred.
So he went all-in again.
“I’ll offer 2.5 times.”
Isn’t there a saying like this?
If there’s something money can’t solve, consider whether you just don’t have enough money.
So he raised the salary.
At that point, Choi Lawyer finally crumbled.
“…I’ll consider it positively.”
It wasn’t a definite answer, but for now, this was sufficient.
There was still a lot to do.
“To secure the business rights, we’ll first need to reorganize JS Global Construction.”
“That’s right. Currently, JS Global Construction’s system is a mess. Since the CEO was already planning to flee, most of the personnel have been lost as well.”
“The first thing we need to do is appoint a CEO. Currently, Choi CEO is serving as interim CEO, but since construction is a completely different field, we need to appoint a new CEO to reorganize the system.”
That was correct.
As expected, this man was desirable.
If he rejected 2.5 times, he’d have to try offering 3 times.
Speaking of which, what a talent.
“Can we find someone useful among the people currently remaining at the company?”
“When I reviewed the financial statements, I checked various aspects, but most have little experience. It seems like most of them were just placed there for appearances.”
“Then what about the people who worked there previously?”
“The employment contracts remain. If we review those, we should be able to compile a sufficient list.”
Companies are obligated to keep employment contracts of dismissed employees for up to 3 years.
Since those remained, they could compile a list and seat someone as CEO.
Of course, they couldn’t just seat anyone just because they had extensive experience.
They needed to select a proper person.
Finding that out would be quite difficult though.
‘If my ability activates, it could be resolved.’
It wasn’t something he could control at will, but he should at least try.
* * *
Choi Kyeong-min lawyer, who had returned to his office, was lost in thought.
‘2.5 times… Based on last year’s salary, that would be roughly 3 billion won?’
It was a tempting amount.
But the reason for his hesitation was the Choi & Jang brand.
Choi & Jang was the top brand in the country and a law firm recognized even overseas.
Leaving that place.
It wasn’t an easy choice.
However.
“For 3 billion won, I could leave. Besides, I’ve become curious about how far that man will go.”
3 billion won was a fortune even for him.
Moreover, Choi Kang-hyeon’s seemingly limitless capital and execution power.
Above all, his bold investments that seemed to foresee the future were attractive just to witness.
“It wouldn’t be bad to go along and see how far he can go.”
His heart was leaning to some degree.
* * *
At the time when Choi Byeon was finishing his contemplation.
Kang Hyeon was checking emails in his office.
“This gentleman is also a workaholic. To think he’d send an email at this hour.”
10 PM.
But an email had come from Jeong Manager.
The content was a document organizing the former employees of JS Global Construction.
The document was very neatly organized.
At a glance, he could check names, experience, and areas of expertise.
“This gentleman is also capable. Should I scout him too?”
The more talent, the better.
But he put Jeong Manager on hold for now.
“Choi & Jang is a partnership contract, but Samil Accounting Firm has regular employees, and I can’t just randomly poach employees from a business partner company. Plus, we’ll need to continue working with them in the future.”
Choi & Jang and Samil Accounting Firm had completely different natures.
Choi & Jang wasn’t a company employing staff, but operated as a joint law office by contracting with lawyers.
In other words, each lawyer was essentially a representative.
Because of that system, he could comfortably make a scouting offer to Choi Byeon, but he couldn’t do the same with Jeong Manager.
“Let’s solve this problem first.”
He focused on the document again.
He couldn’t control when his ability would activate, but this ability always appeared when he needed it.
Believing it would be the same this time, he examined the names written in the document one by one.
As he was checking dozens of names like that.
‘I can see it.’
One of the names glowed with red light.
[Kang Myeong-gu, 37 years of experience, resigned as executive director.]
When he clicked on the name, detailed information appeared.
[He spent all 37 years of his career at JS Global Construction. It appears he was with the company essentially from its founding.
Based on checking the company’s transaction records, he appears not to have participated in CEO Oh Jeong-seok’s corruption.]
Long experience, but no involvement in CEO Oh Jeong-seok’s criminal activities.
“That means he’s the real deal.”
Moreover, he was someone who had been seasoned in the field.
If they secured the theme park business rights in the future and JS Global Construction handled the construction as well, he seemed like someone who could lead the site.
“As expected, this ability is cheat-level. This must be how it feels to play StarCraft with map hacks.”
He could see everything at a glance and proceed.
If this wasn’t a cheat key, what would be?
What remained was bringing this man over.
“If he refuses, I’ll just throw money at him.”
* * *
Before seating Kang Myeong-gu as CEO.
First, he needed to finalize the negotiations with the city.
For that, he met with city officials.
“I’m Lee Woo-hyeon from Incheon City’s executive department.”
“I’m Choi Kang-hyeon from JS Global Construction.”
After briefly greeting Lee Woo-hyeon, whose face was worn with fatigue, the due diligence began.
The due diligence involved checking land registers and clarifying ownership.
“Hmm… No issues here. So this land is owned by JS Global Construction, and all the remaining villas are held by a company called KH Recovery.”
“That’s correct. Since I’m also the representative of KH Recovery, there won’t be any problems using it as the site for the K-Theme Park that Incheon City will develop.”
“That’s good, but what are you planning to do about the villas? There must be residents already living there.”
“All residents are scheduled to move out within two months. The rental contracts happened to expire, and we’ve already notified them that we won’t be proceeding with renewals. Here are the related documents.”
Lee Woo-hyeon nodded after reviewing the documents.
“It’s as if you knew the theme park project would proceed – everything fell into place perfectly.”
“How could that be? We were just lucky. While acquiring JS Construction, we discovered corruption, and in that process, we learned that the villas weren’t built through proper methods.”
There was nothing particularly to hide.
Since lawsuits and reports were already in progress, there was no way Incheon City wouldn’t know about this.
Rather, these aspects could somewhat explain how the timing aligned so perfectly.
“Indeed, the JS Construction acquisition, the lawsuits and reports, and even the non-renewal notifications – all happened before internal discussions about the theme park began within the city.”
Since Lee Woo-hyeon was directly managing this theme park project, he knew the dates precisely.
Therefore, he could cross-verify the dates of JS Construction’s actions and confirm there were no irregularities.
“I understand. Then let’s get to the main point. If selected as the theme park site, we’ll pay the land usage fee through one of two methods. The first is to sell directly to the city.”
Lee Woo-hyeon wrote the word “sale” on a blank sheet of paper.
Then he wrote another word next to “sale.”
“The second is a rental method where you receive rental fees for leasing it. Of course, in this case, we’d need to pursue a long-term contract, and the city would pay usage fees accordingly…”
There was no need to deliberate on this part.
“I’d like to go with rental.”
That word was already glowing after all.
And that wasn’t the only thing he wanted.
“I’d like to add one more condition to that.”
“A condition?”
“Yes, I’d like to receive priority negotiation rights for the theme park construction.”
Might as well eat the egg while eating the pheasant.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————