Max-Level Son of a Chaebol Family - Chapter 15

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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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15. Negotiation (2)

“Wouldn’t you like to use Seoul City land as collateral to make a big score this time?”

This kind of thing is more important than my age.

A golden opportunity to make a solid fortune!

“Hmm.”

Indeed. Having caught the scent of money, Master licked his lips with his tongue.

But this man, even at times like this, doesn’t bite immediately and tests the waters.

“Where is there land in Seoul City these days that isn’t rising in value? Kid, you don’t need to worry. I’m already sweeping up most decent land.”

“I’m sure you are. But what if it’s a situation where Taeseong Construction and Wookwang Construction are rushing in to develop it?”

Then the story would be different.

Gulp!

Master’s Adam’s apple bobbed loudly.

“The Gangnam apartment pre-sale boom? How many times more could that possibly rise? On the other hand, this is on a completely different level from that kind of small-time real estate speculation. Seoul City land itself has become the stakes.”

Master’s eyes flashed.

The same was true for Secretary Kim.

“Subway Line 2 construction!”

“The Subway Line 2 bid?”

I nodded my head.

“Due to Gangnam development, a railway line connecting Gangnam and Gangbuk became necessary, and to establish a major loop line through the Seoul Metropolitan Area that Subway Line 1 couldn’t cover. A major construction project with a total route distance of 48.8km and an estimated bid price of about 180 billion won has been planned.”

“…”

“The subway is free from noise and dust generated by railways, preserves the city’s ground-level functions and aesthetics, and is a nationally important facility that can also be used as an air raid shelter for evacuation from North Korean artillery or bombing attacks.”

“…”

“Moreover, it’s a national policy project that the Government is pursuing with great effort because it disperses the concentrated road traffic in Seoul’s downtown area, reduces travel time, and has many advantages such as speed, accuracy, safety, mass transportation capacity, comfort, low pollution, and affordability.”

“…”

“In addition, Underground Shopping Centers are planned to be included, where you can receive not only convenience facilities like drinking water and restrooms, but also food and emergency clothing supplies. In other words, it means nearby commercial districts will thrive and floating population will explode.”

“…”

Master pointed at me with that expression again and looked at Secretary Kim.

Then Secretary Kim answered with a sigh.

“I told you I’m seven years old.”

These guys, seriously, from earlier!

My age isn’t what’s important right now, is it?

“For that reason, even in major urban centers, land prices near subway stations where subways will open are expected to skyrocket to unprecedented levels.”

I smiled wickedly.

“Naturally, if we had insider information from the construction company handling the subway construction at this point? We could find out where the subway stations will be built before anyone else and secure land at cheap prices, right?”

For Master, who builds wealth by securing prime locations in advance, this would be information so tempting it would make his head spin.

It was why High-ranking Officials and Political Figures were going crazy and rushing for it.

‘During the past Gangnam development, High-ranking Officials like those from the Blue House Security Service used these methods to generate capital gains for political funds and fill their own safes.’

I know it, Master knows it, Wooguang knows it, and Taeseong knows it.

But Master pretended not to know and played dumb as he spoke.

“To be honest, I am tempted by land near subway stations. But if you want to extort 8 million won of my hard-earned money for that reason, you should have come from Wooguang, not as yourself! Don’t you think?”

Meaning that if Wooguang gets the subway construction contract, they’ll use insider information to sweep up land near subway stations.

Secretary Kim snorted.

“So you believe Wooguang has gained a more advantageous position than our Taeseong?”

“Of course. Isn’t that the truth?”

“Not at all. Our Taeseong will win this subway line 2 construction contract.”

“Won’t that be difficult? This time Wooguang is one step ahead. Word has reached even here that they’ve properly buttered up the High-ranking Officials.”

Who will award the subway construction contract?

The High-ranking Officials who directly plan and promote urban development will award it.

‘Wooguang is a representative company that grew through collusion between politics and business during the Military Government era. They tried to win contracts not through construction performance or lowest bid prices, but by bribing high-ranking Government officials.’

Anyway, both the bid prices and bidding process were conducted in secret.

This was an era when information disclosure and transparency were thrown to the dogs, and collusion between politics and business was rampant.

“To prevent Wooguang from winning contracts through bribes, we need a weapon that can match theirs. This is it.”

I shook the Document File left and right.

It was an Account Book with detailed records of the amounts of bribes Wooguang had distributed and the names of high-ranking public officials who had received illegal solicitations.

“Right now, the government is raising the banner of corruption eradication to root out corruption among high-ranking public officials, isn’t it?”

The public’s gaze toward the government is not favorable.

Since it’s a government that seized power through a coup in the first place.

Worried about being disliked by the people, they pretended to be extremely clean on the surface.

A competent and honest government, a government that revives the economy and serves the people.

Corruption eradication was part of such image packaging.

“If Mr. President finds out about this? Would the government leave alone high-ranking public officials and Wooguang who openly committed bribery and lobbying that the government has banned?”

It would definitely be execution.

They would purge them openly in front of the people to make an example.

And then they would proclaim once again.

That the competent and honest government, the government that revives the economy and serves the people, does not tolerate corruption and is doing its best to eradicate irregularities.

“While it was actually Wooguang that spread the bribes, the one who has to comply with the requests would be whoever has this ledger.”

In other words, it’s both a weapon to blackmail high-ranking public officials and a leash to recruit high-ranking operatives.

There would be no other blade more coveted in the game of big shots.

A blade that could cut off the heads of troublesome high-ranking bureaucrats when necessary.

“A death list of high-ranking bureaucrats. Depending on how this is used, the results of construction bidding could change. What do you think?”

As the bait swayed before his eyes, Master’s pupils also swayed back and forth following the document file.

“You even prepared the business card to make that one request to Secretary Kim earlier. What are you hesitating about?”

“Ahem!”

“It’s only eight million won. That’s not even the price of one Gangnam apartment, is it?”

“Hah, not a chance! The biggest problem still remains!”

Master said decisively.

“Whether that bribery ledger is real or not! That’s not even certain, so what am I supposed to trust to give you money?”

“Then why don’t you verify it yourself?”

I leisurely extended my hand toward the inside of the pawn shop.

“One phone call should be enough.”

“Hmm!”

“The person who made this bribery ledger is called Park Cheol-gu, a KCIA agent. Do you know him or not?”

“Fine. Excuse me for a moment.”

Master slammed shut the iron bars of the pawn shop.

Then he disappeared through the inner passage of the Pawn Shop.

Secretary Kim stroked his chin and smiled.

“Young Master, how about this?”

“······?”

“Sell that Account Book to Taeseong. We’ll give you a generous ten million won.”

Secretary Kim’s eyes wouldn’t leave the Document File.

I wondered why he was so eager for something whose authenticity hadn’t been confirmed yet.

Then I realized the difference between him and Master.

‘Uncle Cheol-gu must have stumbled upon this while doing Background Investigation on me.’

Secretary Kim probably had information that I didn’t know about.

That’s why he was so openly coveting this Account Book.

“Even if Young Master sells it to the Pawn Shop, it will eventually come to us anyway. I’m planning to get that thing by any means necessary.”

He was probably already picturing in his mind how to shake up the people connected to Wooguang with that bribe Account Book.

I smiled coldly.

“Well, that’s up to you, Uncle.”

When there are more competitors, it naturally favors the seller!

I could wait leisurely for the winner of this competition.

From the beginning, my goal was to secure the 18 million won I needed for the house contract.

‘Hey, Guardian Spirit.’

Snap.

[Why? Again? What? What’s going on?]

‘That thing you did earlier. Making it so I could eavesdrop on the Real Estate Ladies’ conversation. Do that again.’

[Ah, you mean this?]

The sounds coming from inside the Pawn Shop became clear and distinct.

* * *

The Secret Room prepared inside the Pawn Shop.

There was a Man organizing Secret Documents.

Master frowned and gave an order.

“Call the KCIA. If there’s an agent named Park Cheol-gu there, tell them to put him on the phone.”

“Yes, sir.”

After a moment, the man hung up the phone.

“Sir, the KCIA agent Park Cheol-gu has been dragged to the Seobinggo basement.”

“Dragged to the water torture room? For what?”

“He was caught investigating Wookwang Construction.”

“Hmm!”

“They dragged him in after catching solid evidence, but when they searched, those classified documents didn’t turn up. It seems he hid them perfectly.”

The man handed Master several documents he had been organizing.

“This just came in. Wooguang is moving with their eyes blazing right now. They mobilized all their secretariat personnel to meet with newspaper and broadcasting station people.”

“Blocking the media in advance in case it gets leaked?”

“The KCIA higher-ups moved too. KCIA agents were deployed en masse to round up Park Cheol-gu’s acquaintances.”

Master flipped through the documents the man handed him while listening to the rest.

“They hired thugs to ransack Park Cheol-gu’s house and started forced demolition. They even set fire to the entire slum.”

“Since it’s bothersome, they’re trying to burn everything down completely.”

“That seems to be the case. Whether it’s hidden in his house or the neighbor’s house. It’s better to destroy everything than to search for it. Even though there were quite a few casualties from the fire, the media is staying silent.”

“Hmm. Well, they’ve certainly bought off everyone everywhere.”

That was Wooguang’s specialty.

Along with widespread bribery, they formed sticky connections everywhere.

They had no qualms about using school ties, regional ties, and blood ties – the chronic diseases of the Republic of Korea.

“By the way, about those documents Wooguang is looking for. There’s apparently a torn section.”

“A torn section?”

“That’s all that came out when they searched Park Cheol-gu’s desk. It’s supposedly part of the slush fund records that Wooguang gave to Assemblyman Choi Il-tae?”

“We’ll know once we check. Whether that’s the original that KCIA agent wrote or not.”

Master slammed down the documents he received from the man onto the desk.

“Open the safe.”

“Yes, how much should I take out?”

“18 million won in cash.”

Years of experience and discerning eye tell him.

That must be the original ledger that Wooguang and the KCIA are frantically searching for.

* * *

Master came out from the inner passage of the Pawn Shop.

He opened the Iron Bars that had been closed.

Master’s hand stuck out through the gap for putting in Property.

“This is an 8 million won deal. I need to check the Property first.”

“If you wish.”

I obediently handed over the Account Book.

Master flipped through the pages and stopped at a certain section.

The paper was torn badly.

At the top of that page, the words ‘Assemblyman Choi Il-tae’ caught his eye.

Thud.

Master closed the Account Book.

“You’re quite a skilled little one. Good, I’ll buy this for 8 million won. The Watch, Business Card, and this Account Book – 18 million won total.”

He slid a thick-looking Paper Envelope toward me.

But I likewise slid that Paper Envelope right back toward Master.

“You’re being hasty. The Negotiation isn’t over yet, is it?”

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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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