The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 106
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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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Episode 106
“Within 3 months… triple.”
“Triple?”
“They demanded triple the existing sales.”
Yoon Sang-do was no longer crying.
He was simply confessing the truth in front of his old friend.
Roh Tae-sung’s face was already dark.
“What kind of ridiculous investment did you accept?!”
“…At that time, I had absolutely no room to breathe…”
Yoon Sang-do let out a long breath, blinking his eyes that were about to blur again.
He no longer had the face to look at his friend.
This was a place he had appeared at by gathering all his courage.
Even knowing it was wrong from the beginning, crossing that line was entirely his own fault.
“That’s fraud! It’s fraud! Who would do such a terrible thing!”
“…I thought that was the last rope thrown to me. Tae-sung, I have no face to show you…”
He was shameless.
The company he had led for decades was crumbling beyond repair.
He didn’t even know where it had gone wrong.
Sales were shaking, and employees were shaking too.
In a company full of unsettling rumors, even he as the representative had nothing he could do.
“The line we released before completely failed.”
“…”
Roh Tae-sung’s lips were tightly sealed.
He already knew this fact too.
Yoon Sang-do’s New Furniture Design Line that had been prepared for so long was completely scrapped.
No one sought the design he had created with his blood and sweat.
[Biga Furniture, 3 consecutive years of management deterioration… Management “no comment.”]
Only bad articles poured out.
“Representative, I’m sorry… I can’t hold on anymore…”
Those who had worked together for a long time also left his side one by one.
When he tried to block one thing, another would burst.
As management deteriorated, Yoon Sang-do took out every loan he could get to try to at least pay his employees’ salaries.
However.
“…What could I possibly say. Even those friends’ payday keeps getting delayed by a day or two…”
The credibility wasn’t at a level that could be called declining.
It had crashed to the ground.
While Yoon Sang-do was struggling anxiously, his wife’s health deteriorating further was also beyond what he could prepare for.
“Sung-woo’s Mother…”
Tears flowed.
Yoon Sang-do felt a heart-tearing pain and lowered his gaze diagonally toward somewhere on the ground.
It was because he could no longer look at his friend.
No, actually. He didn’t even have the shame to come this far.
“…In the past, I could at least walk while holding onto something…”
“…”
“The day I came to borrow money from you for the last time.”
Yoon Sang-do couldn’t even think to wipe away the flowing tears.
It was miserable.
Though he had prided himself on living so diligently, there was nothing in his hands.
A life that disappeared faster than grains of sand, pain, and all the things he had tried to protect.
“Sung-woo’s Mother doesn’t have much time left to live, they said.”
“…”
Neither Roh Tae-sung nor the lawyer who had been looking at him coldly said anything.
They say bad things happen one after another.
Even though he was already at an age where he had lived enough, it was still so.
“The hospital said. The doctor said. That, huh… our, Sung-woo’s Mother…”
Yoon Sang-do finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears.
The emotions he had been suppressing came flooding in like a tide and devoured him.
All his senses were swept away like waves.
“So, so… after leaving Sung-woo’s Mother at the hospital like that…”
“…”
“The day I came out… yes, somehow… someone appeared saying they would invest in our company.”
That must have been the Paper Company that Loretta, no, Park Hyun-joo had created.
That design company.
A ghost-like existence that had nothing but an account to its name.
“The conditions… the conditions weren’t good. I told you. Three times the revenue.”
“….”
“There’s more. To the conditions. Convertible bonds, preferred shares… even exit clauses. There wasn’t a single fair part about it.”
Yoon Sang-do now swallowed his tears with a face flushed red.
Everything was already exposed.
It was already over.
The sin he shouldn’t have committed had been brought to light.
There was nothing left to hide.
“So… you actually signed that contract…?”
At his friend’s question, Yoon Sang-do nodded.
Because that was the truth.
“Loans won’t come through anymore. I had to at least take care of the employees’ salaries.”
“You!”
Blue veins bulged on Roh Tae-sung’s throat.
Anger, sadness. Even Roh Tae-sung felt pain and couldn’t catch his breath at his friend’s unbelievable fall, someone he had wanted to climb to higher places with.
“What on earth do you gain from going that far!”
“Nothing, so…”
Yoon Sang-do bit the soft flesh inside his mouth.
Words he absolutely couldn’t confess pressed heavily against his throat.
“…So that’s why.”
“….”
“The one who first introduced me to that investor… it was Lee Jin-seop.”
Lee Jin-seop.
Having worked with Roh Tae-sung at Wooa Furniture for a long time, he was also acquainted with Yoon Sang-do.
Though he never expected to receive such an email.
“…He said he would help.”
“…Jin-seop did…”
Roh Tae-sung groaned and slumped back against the sofa.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t the problem! So what exactly did you do?!”
“…After I stamped the contract… the investor said to bring Lee Jin-seop first and seat him as our executive.”
“What?! Does he even have the nerve?!”
At Roh Tae-sung’s scolding, Yoon Sang-do opened his mouth again.
“Then… then Lee Jin-seop would bring a way to overcome this situation…”
“Does that even make sense!”
“…Whether it makes sense or not, I… I had no choice but to accept it. The pressure kept getting worse…”
Yoon Sang-do’s voice became even more tearful.
“…How long has it been since you stamped the contract that they’re pressuring you?”
“…Exactly. It’s just that the company looked like a mess to the investor…”
Sung Tae-hyun, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, spoke up.
“What kind of pressure was it?”
Yoon Sang-do answered cautiously.
“Even our existing revenue dropped. Use whatever means necessary to raise performance within this month.”
The three-month period written in the contract was as good as nonexistent from the start.
The investment company pressured him daily.
They even sent representatives, threatening to exercise other rights remaining in the contract to sell off the entire company.
“And Lee Jin-seop… yes…”
Neither Roh Tae-sung nor the lawyer said anything.
Yoon Sang-do hung his head, unable to face his friend again.
“…As promised… he brought them. Lee Jin-seop did. Those… that you…”
“….”
“That you made… your father’s… patterns… those…”
Yoon Sang-do finally confessed in a whisper.
“…All of them. Finished works that just needed to be manufactured… all of them.”
* * *
“What would you like to do?”
After Yoon Sang-do left, I asked Roh Tae-sung, who was deep in thought.
His mind seemed complicated with tens of thousands of thoughts.
Sympathy and sadness for Yoon Sang-do who had been caught in someone’s trap, along with other complex emotions, showed clearly on Roh Tae-sung’s face.
“Well…”
“Representative.”
“….”
Roh Tae-sung wouldn’t be able to make a hasty decision.
“What do you think about it?”
However, Roh Tae-sung, who seemed like he wouldn’t say anything in the end, turned the question back to me instead of stating his own opinion.
“My opinion, you mean?”
“That’s right. Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun’s opinion. That’s what I’m curious about right now.”
His pronunciation was somewhat drawn out, as if all the tension had been released.
Me? Well.
Park Hyun-joo’s method was quite vicious.
However, if there was something that surprised me about Yoon Sang-do’s confession.
It was the fact that Park Hyun-joo didn’t seem sincere despite that vicious method.
If Park Hyun-joo had really decided to break up Biga Furniture piece by piece and sell it off immediately,
that should have already happened.
Because that was Park Hyun-joo’s method that I already knew.
‘Biga Furniture wasn’t particularly a profitable business either.’
In the end, it was a warning directed at me.
Through this Biga Furniture incident, I could feel her intention to show me a sample of the disadvantages I would face if I went against her.
Stealing Wooa Furniture’s designs.
Selling off the products they worked hard to create at bargain prices like inventory.
All of it was an attempt to pressure me by showing how she would trample on management rights.
“…Trade secret leakage is quite a serious crime. It’s not even a crime requiring a complaint.”
“…Yes. That’s right.”
“So actually…”
I acknowledge that Yoon Sang-do had unfortunate circumstances.
However, Yoon Sang-do was clearly a criminal as well.
Because he leaked and used Wooa Furniture’s trade secrets.
Regardless of his situation, it was something he shouldn’t have done.
“…We won’t be able to completely bury this on our side.”
This was the same.
Because Roh Tae-sung’s direct design team employees knew about this line’s design.
No matter how much Roh Tae-sung wanted to bury it, he couldn’t.
Biga Furniture would have to pay the price for their crimes.
Whether victim Roh Tae-sung wanted it or not.
“Hah…”
He let out a long sigh.
Despite the damage he had suffered, it seemed he was still concerned about Yoon Sang-do.
“If you wish, a settlement is possible to some extent. It’s not a crime requiring a complaint, so it won’t disappear just because you don’t file charges or withdraw them, but… However…”
“…”
“There is some room for it to be taken into consideration in sentencing.”
“…”
“Representative.”
Roh Tae-sung closed his mouth.
“It was something that would happen eventually.”
“…I know. I know, Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun. But really, my heart isn’t at ease. It’s not at ease…”
He muttered as if sighing.
“We’ve been friends since our parents’ generation, so for this kind of thing to happen… I, I lived wrongly.”
“Representative.”
There was one opportunity that Roh Tae-sung could give to Yoon Sang-do.
I carefully opened my mouth.
“If it really weighs on your mind.”
“…”
“Give Representative Yoon Sang-do a chance.”
“…A chance, a chance… What kind of chance do you mean?”
“…A chance to turn himself in.”
The punishment wouldn’t be exempted, but still, if he turned himself in directly, the level of punishment could be lowered a bit.
And that was the maximum consideration that victim Roh Tae-sung and Wooa Furniture could offer.
“Turn himself in…”
I looked at Roh Tae-sung, who was still caught up in contemplation.
Since I had never been in his position myself, it was difficult to add my words.
However, if Roh Tae-sung was swayed by his friend’s unfortunate circumstances and couldn’t make a proper judgment.
It was also my role to help him see things correctly to some extent.
“I’m being presumptuous in saying this, but…”
“…Yes, go ahead and say it.”
“Just because circumstances aren’t good doesn’t mean everyone commits crimes.”
Roh Tae-sung was the head of Wooa Furniture.
He also had employees below him that he had to take responsibility for.
“That would actually be an insult to people who have lived each day with responsibility.”
“….”
“It could be insulting.”
Personal feelings and public matters are also separate things.
It was something that could be taken as rude.
Roh Tae-sung paused for a moment and looked up at me.
Then he slowly nodded his head.
“Lawyer Sung is right.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. Yes… our employees would have been disappointed if they heard this. Even this kind of worry.”
Roh Tae-sung picked up the telephone as if he had made a decision.
“I’ll tell Sang-do myself.”
“…Yes.”
“Thank you for your hard work today.”
I slowly turned around and left that enormous living room.
‘The architect of all events.’
It was time to meet Park Hyun-joo.
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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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