Max-Level Son of a Chaebol Family - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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14. Negotiation (1)

Sitting in the passenger seat of the car, Namsan Leech crossed his arms.

“Hyung, that Snotty Kid. He definitely wasn’t ordinary, right?”

“What? You mean that noble-looking handsome Young Master?”

“Are your eyes rotten? Can’t you tell the difference between nobility and murderous intent? What was that poison and madness that made people shudder at that age? He’s definitely not normal.”

Thinking about it again, that little Brat wasn’t ordinary at all, from his eyes to his entire atmosphere.

“That fearless Brat looked me straight in the eyes, you know? He didn’t avoid them until the end, and didn’t even show a hint of surprise.”

That’s why it was strange.

“Rather, he looked down on me pathetically. Just like our Grandfather. Those were beautifully insane eyes.”

“You must be mistaken. Anyone else maybe, but how could he be compared to Grandfather?”

“Hyung, can you look me straight in the eyes for more than a minute?”

When their eyes met through the rearview mirror, the Attendant flinched and turned his gaze away.

One eye showed the whites above the iris, the other showed whites on three sides.

Eyes where murderous intent and hostility pierced down like blades, making his fifteen years of age seem meaningless.

Standing before those eyes made one’s hair stand on end, making it impossible to look for long.

“See, you can’t do it. This is the normal reaction, you know? That Brat is the abnormal one.”

Namsan Leech rested his chin on his hand.

“What the hell is that Brat really? I don’t like his confident attitude and relaxed composure either.”

That bean-sized Brat is getting on my nerves for no reason.

It’s strange, but it’s really true, you know?

“How dare he target the Home I’ve set my sights on? I need to show that fearless Snotty Kid the bitter taste of the world.”

That little kid will be furious when he loses the Home he was aiming for, right?

I absolutely must see him lying on the street making a scene and wailing loudly.

“Hyung, there’s a Public Phone over there! Call Mother first!”

Screech.

Unusually, his heart was becoming impatient.

As if someone would steal that house right from under his nose with his eyes wide open.

Even though he knew perfectly well that couldn’t happen, he strangely felt anxious.

Ring ring ring. Click.

-Hello?

“Mother, it’s me! Instead of an apartment for my birthday present, there’s a house I want to buy!”

-What?

“It’s a house in Hannam-dong, and if I want to sign the contract right away, I need money quickly…! Ugh!”

-@#$^#*&&$^%%*@$&%!!!!!

Suddenly, curses poured out with enough volume to make the telephone explode.

-Do you know what kind of house that is?! @!^@^&%$&*^%*&%!!!!

What?

“Mother, I haven’t even explained anything yet…”

-Shut up! If it’s about that ghost den, I don’t need to hear any more!

Gasp!

‘Wait, how does Mother know about that? I only mentioned it was a house in Hannam-dong?’

Not all those many luxury houses in Hannam-dong could be haunted.

How did she pinpoint exactly which house he was going to buy?

It was truly something that would make even ghosts wail.

-Absolutely not! That place is cursed with bad luck! Just buy an apartment! For investment!

“That’s all superstition and false rumors! I’ll just demolish the whole building with an excavator…”

-Grandfather’s election is right around the corner! Don’t cause unnecessary trouble, and get home right now! If you keep being stubborn, forget about apartments or anything else! I’m hanging up!

Click.

Namsan Leech held onto his confused mind.

Didn’t she say she’d buy an apartment as my share in advance and told me to pick one myself?

Why is she suddenly foaming at the mouth and opposing it so fiercely?

“This is driving me crazy. Wow, how did things suddenly get so twisted?”

If Mother won’t give him the money, he can’t buy that house!

Namsan Leech grabbed his hair in frustration.

“If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to lie down on the street in our neighborhood and protest.”

There’s no other way to immediately persuade Mother and get the money.

“Hyung, let’s go Home right now! Floor the accelerator! At maximum speed!”

Vroom!

The Namsan demolition crew and his Attendant left in their car.

A bloody Negotiation was anticipated.

* * *

Songgolmae Pawnshop in Myeongdong.

As I entered the shop, faded memories came flooding back like a tide.

‘I endured here for 10 years.’

Under the pretense of developing my Appraisal Skills, I followed Master around for 15 hours a day, taking care of all sorts of menial tasks.

Besides me, people who came seeking to learn a thing or two would often visit, but they all dropped out midway.

In the end, I was the only one who received all of Master’s teachings.

But it wasn’t easy from the beginning.

I was so nervous that I stumbled from our first meeting, made mistake after mistake, and while trying to recover in panic, I failed multiple times.

Eventually, I received the judgment that I wasn’t up to Master’s standards and spent 10 years doing odd jobs while enduring constant scolding.

‘This time, I’ll definitely make a solid impression on Master!’

This level of determination should be enough.

“Shoo, shoo~. Kids, go away!”

A stubborn old man with white hair wearing a gray hanbok waved his hands dismissively.

He was indeed famous for his notoriously difficult temperament.

“Send the child out and let the adults talk.”

“You’ve got it wrong. The customer isn’t over there, but here – that’s me.”

I bowed deeply and smiled confidently.

“I’d like to secure a loan using collateral.”

“Oh my, little Young Master knows quite difficult words?”

Where in my appearance would the term Young Master come from?

The clothes were hand-me-downs from neighborhood hyungs, and even the new sneakers were cheap market brands.

Aha.

“You called me Young Master after seeing the attitude of that uncle standing behind me?”

“Ho.”

“That’s right. You shouldn’t judge by appearances. If you get fooled by fancy packaging, you’ll miss the pearl hidden in the mud.”

“My, my.”

Master pushed up his monocle.

“It’s been a while since such an interesting customer came by. Good, then shall we start negotiating? Just so you know, I don’t go easy on kids either.”

As if I wouldn’t know that.

I served you for 10 years!

“Seems like you brought something more expensive than expected.”

“What do you think I brought?”

“Stop the chatter and take out what’s in your right pants pocket.”

Really, he’s like a fortune teller.

But he only got it half right.

“I have two items to put up as collateral.”

“Good, good. I’m already curious about what our little customer has prepared.”

I placed Father’s Watch on the counter.

“Vacheron Constantin Patrimony 1970 Special Edition. It’s authentic.”

“······.”

“It’s a special edition produced in limited quantities by the Swiss luxury watch company established by Jean-Marc Vacheron in 1755, to provide the highest level of quality, sophisticated design, and craftsmanship.”

“······.”

“It’s in excellent condition. Since it was barely worn, you can tell just by looking at the watch band that there are hardly any scratches from daily use.”

Master looked back at Secretary Kim with a bewildered expression.

“Am I the only one who finds this situation perplexing?”

“I feel similarly.”

“How old is this kid?”

“I believe he turned seven this year.”

“······.”

Regardless of their reaction.

“How much will you give me for this?”

“Two hundred!”

Master said curtly.

“Originally, even expensive items can only fetch dirt cheap prices when sold as secondhand.”

“I guess you’re looking down on me because I’m a seven-year-old kid. Well then, shall we continue?”

“Huh?”

“I need to get at least five hundred. Honestly, two hundred is just unconscionably lowballing me.”

“······.”

Master quickly turned his head to look at Secretary Kim.

Secretary Kim pretended not to notice.

“Shall I recite in detail why the fair price should be five hundred?”

This is what I learned under you.

There’s nothing I can’t do.

I began to meticulously point out each detail as I had learned.

The more I did so, the wider Master’s mouth gaped open.

When I reached the topic of polish, Master finally raised both hands in surrender.

“Has this little Young Master been selling watches since he was babbling? Fine, I lose! Let’s make it five hundred.”

“You should speak properly from the start. Originally, if I had gone somewhere else instead of here, I could have easily gotten eight hundred for this. You know this well, yet you act like you’re doing me a favor.”

“······.”

“Am I wrong? Should I babble on once more about why my words are valid?”

“Ahem! Shall we move on to the next item?”

When I glanced over, one corner of Secretary Kim’s mouth was turned up.

‘He probably thinks I have no other property worth using as collateral besides this watch.’

Not a chance.

Thud.

I pulled out the business card of Kim Yeong-geol, Chief Secretary of Taeseong Group, that I had received earlier.

“This is a five million won business card.”

“That little scrap of a business card, what could you possibly exchange it for that you brought it to sell? You could pay money at a nearby print shop and sell something just like this.”

Master pushed Secretary Kim’s business card back toward me.

“For that reason, I can’t give you even a penny for this?”

“Even when the person in question is right here?”

I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb.

Secretary Kim was watching us silently with an interested expression.

“That’s correct. This is my business card. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Kim Yeong-geol, Chief Secretary of Taeseong Group.”

“There are scammers everywhere these days. If you want money, why don’t you try proving it properly?”

“Is there really a need to prove it? You already seem to know who I am.”

Master clicked his tongue with a tsk.

“Fine. I’ll accept this business card out of respect for you. Two thousand won!”

“Two thousand won?”

Secretary Kim frowned.

“I didn’t know my business card was worth only two thousand won.”

His tone was displeased.

“A Taeseong Group Chief Secretary’s business card isn’t even worth seven bowls of jjajangmyeon. This is disappointing, sir.”

“Where do you get off trying to take someone’s money for nothing? You’d be lucky to trade this mere business card for even one bowl of jjajangmyeon. Two thousand won is already generous.”

I added a comment.

“I made a bet with this Uncle here. The loser has to grant one favor. I’ll include that in the price for the business card.”

“Hmm, well that changes things.”

Master looked at Secretary Kim.

“Honestly, how many matters in my business would warrant mobilizing Taesan Group’s power? It’s not even Chairman Cha, just borrowing the Chief Secretary’s hand? One million won would be generous.”

This damn lowballing again!

Before Secretary Kim could open his mouth with twitching eyebrows, I struck first.

“Fine. Let’s forget about building a good relationship with Taeseong.”

“But this time I’ll specially value this business card at 5 million won!”

He was saying he’d recognize it as having the same value as a top-tier luxury watch.

“This little Young Master is really something special, isn’t he?”

Only then did Secretary Kim lift the corners of his mouth with a satisfied expression.

Master clapped his hands together.

“Good, so now all our business is finished, right?”

“Not yet. I still have an 8 million won matter to take care of.”

“8 million won? You have something else that can sell for more than this watch and a favor from Taeseong Group’s Chief Secretary?”

“Of course.”

“Earlier you said there were two items to use as collateral?”

“It’s not an item. I said I had an 8 million won matter to handle, when did I say it was collateral? Are you going to keep listening to only bits and pieces of what I say?”

“······.”

Master opened and closed his mouth as if he was at a loss for words.

But after a moment, he let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.

“Well, I’ll be damned. A customer who wants to borrow money from a pawn shop without pawning anything?”

“Sometimes information can be more valuable than collateral items.”

I placed the black document file down with a thud.

【Investigation Report on Wookwang Construction’s Slush Funds】

It was the document that Uncle Cheol-gu had prepared.

‘Uncle, that’s why I told you. It would be good to prepare several more copies.’

Naturally, this is the original.

I secretly took it when Mother and I packed our luggage to flee.

“These are KCIA internal documents.”

Master and Secretary Kim both dropped their jaws simultaneously.

“KCIA?”

“You stole KCIA internal documents?”

Usually, this kind of thing is called top secret information or classified material.

But so what?

I was the one who found their reaction puzzling.

“Why are you making such a big fuss? You all have this level of capability.”

“······.”

“······.”

Master pointed at me with his finger and asked Secretary Kim the same question again.

“That kid, how old is he this year?”

What’s so important about age in negotiation?

How much you can rip off is what’s more important.

Well then, shall we start a proper negotiation from now on?

Let me say it again – my goal today is ‘extracting money without giving up any property!’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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