The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Regression of a Fallen Chaebol Third Generation — Episode 21
January 2004. A new year had dawned.
In a tea house where soft aromas drifted through still, settled air.
I sat across from Jeong Tae-sung.
“I’ll replace the entire portfolio of SJ Holdings as you’ve instructed.”
I laid out the same logic I’d explained to Han Jae-yi days earlier, now delivering it to Jeong Tae-sung.
The strategy was to reduce our weighting in steel, shipbuilding, and machinery sectors—those riding the wave of positive sentiment from China—and reallocate toward telecommunications equipment and component stocks.
Jeong Tae-sung jotted down my words carefully in his notebook. He offered no objection.
“I’ll execute the selling in tranches to minimize market impact.”
“Good. Please do that.”
Once Jeong Tae-sung finished his notes and closed his notebook, he looked at me.
“Is there anything else you’d like to instruct?”
Instead of answering, I simply held his gaze.
Only the soft sound of boiling water filled the tea house.
As the silence stretched, questions began to crystallize in Jeong Tae-sung’s eyes.
“Director Jeong.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“You need to make a choice now.”
Jeong Tae-sung’s eyebrow twitched.
“A choice? What do you mean……?”
“It’s unclear whose instructions you’re taking. That’s what I’m saying.”
My directness left Jeong Tae-sung visibly flustered.
He quickly straightened and pushed back.
“I am a man who moves on your instructions. I have never once gone against your will.”
“That’s true. But before you execute, you add one more step.”
……
“Vice President Kim is certainly someone I need. And someone who trusts me and helps me. But when you go report my instructions to him and get his approval before acting—that’s not following my instructions.”
Jeong Tae-sung’s mouth clamped shut. I’d hit the mark.
He looked like he wanted to make excuses, his gaze dropping slightly.
“That’s……”
“You don’t think I’d notice?”
I exhaled slowly and spoke.
“Of course I understand. You were originally Vice President Kim’s man, and the reason you were assigned to me was probably both oversight and support.”
“……Oversight? That’s hardly……”
“But we need to clear this up.”
I met Jeong Tae-sung’s eyes directly.
“There can’t be two decision-makers.”
Tension hung over the table.
Jeong Tae-sung is a capable administrator.
The more I observed what he’d accomplished, the more I appreciated it—and the more the need for clarity became obvious.
“I’m not saying don’t report to Vice President Kim. You can brief him afterward. It’s fine to inform him what I did and what results came from it.”
……
“But stop the kind of reporting where you ask his permission before executing my instructions. If you’re going to keep doing things as you do now, I’d rather you leave. I don’t like having my judgment questioned.”
Jeong Tae-sung fell silent. For a moment, quiet hung between his firmly closed lips, and I could see various emotions flicker across his eyes.
It was certainly not an easy choice.
But from where I stood, I needed him to answer that difficult choice as if it weren’t difficult at all.
Because that’s the only way I could trust him going forward.
‘I mean, from my perspective there’s the anxiety of losing Jeong Tae-sung…… but I still have to do this.’
After a moment, Jeong Tae-sung drew a deep breath and looked up. His eyes were clearer now.
“Understood.”
His answer was short and firm.
“I will report after executing your instructions. I will not seek prior approval going forward.”
Only then did a smile cross my lips.
From what I’d observed of Jeong Tae-sung, he wasn’t a man of empty words or lightness.
If he said it like this, I could trust him more and delegate with confidence.
“Will you be alright? I understand you’ve served Vice President Kim for quite some time.”
“……That’s true, but when Vice President Kim sent me to you, he said I should serve you going forward.”
Jeong Tae-sung spoke with conviction.
“From the first day we met, I pledged to serve you. Rather, I feel relieved that you’re clarifying this now.”
“Now we’re truly partners.”
“I won’t let you down.”
Jeong Tae-sung bowed his head.
“Then I have one more thing to instruct separately. I’d prefer you didn’t even report this to Vice President Kim afterward.”
“……Yes, please tell me.”
Jeong Tae-sung’s expression turned serious again.
“Find someone who will lend me money.”
“Money…… you say? If you need capital, you could increase shares or request it from your family home……”
“No. I want money that leaves no record, or major players outside the system.”
“You mean to use private loans?”
“Whether it’s a loan shark or a money master from Myeongdong—it doesn’t matter. The larger the scale, the better.”
Jeong Tae-sung, wisely deciding not to press further, nodded slowly.
“I’ll look into it.”
“Find someone reliable and keep it quiet. Please.”

* * *
That night.
Only the glow of the monitor on my desk illuminated the dark room.
I rested my chin in my hand, staring at the red numbers on the HTS screen.
My returns weren’t bad. No—for retail investors, it would have been remarkable.
But there was a problem.
‘The seed money is too small.’
With a capital base measured in tens of millions of won, even high returns had limits to how quickly the nest egg could grow.
Of course, I had accounts in my name, and the inheritance shares my father left behind were worth hundreds of billions.
But I was still in the process of handling inheritance tax payments, so they weren’t technically mine yet, and even if they were……
‘Money I can’t touch carelessly.’
Most of the inheritance was Seonjin Group shares. Even with my name on them, I couldn’t liquidate them or use them freely.
They were essential for maintaining management rights.
As for cash, until I came of age I needed my mother’s permission to spend any of it.
So I needed immediate access to money.
‘Clean cash with no strings attached.’
That’s what I needed.
Soon the DMB theme would sweep the market, and the opportunities were everywhere.
To ride this wave properly, I needed bullets to expand my position.
Ideally enough capital to multiply into serious money in a short timeframe.
The reason I’d discreetly instructed Jeong Tae-sung to find sources for secret financing was exactly that.
I was lost in thought when it happened.
Zing—
My mobile phone on the desk vibrated briefly.
A smile leaked out as I checked the screen.
It was Han Jae-yi.
[I’ve decided. I think Seogyeong Information & Communications looks good.]
‘As expected.’
It matched exactly with the stock I was accumulating.
No matter how hard you analyze, singling out the one stock that will rise among countless options requires instinct beyond mere skill.
Han Jae-yi had that.
She definitely had good instincts.
I pressed the keypad and sent a reply.
[Sounds good. Let’s restructure your portfolio with that then.]
The moment I hit send, my phone vibrated again.
Zing—
I thought it was her response, but the name on the screen was Jeong Tae-sung.
I immediately pressed the call button.
“Yes, Director? You didn’t find someone already, did you? I only mentioned it this morning.”
Jeong Tae-sung’s calm voice came through the receiver.
—Found him. Or rather, I didn’t really need to look, I think.
“Interesting. You didn’t need to look?”
—There’s a name I’ve heard whispered about before. One of the money masters in Myeongdong’s private loan market, with the nickname ‘King of Bukchoñ Ants’…… that’s all he’s known by.
‘King of Bukchoñ Ants!’
The moment I heard that name, a memory flickered through my mind.
A figure currently shrouded so thoroughly in secrecy that ordinary people don’t even know he exists.
But the me from the future knew exactly who he was.
—This King of Bukchoñ Ants apparently arranges financing for people from various chaebol families, or so I’ve heard.
Jeong Tae-sung continued.
—Of course, it’s not a rumor he spread himself, but information that leaked quietly from the borrowers’ side, so there shouldn’t be any security concerns. I thought contacting him directly might be safer and more reliable than fishing through the general private loan market, so I’m reporting it.
Jeong Tae-sung’s judgment was sound.
For someone like me where security was everything, there was no better opportunity than this.
I nodded.
“Good. Look into him further for me, would you?”
—Yes, understood.
Good.
I need to prepare to meet the King of Bukchoñ Ants.

* * *
Inside a black sedan heading toward Bukchoñ.
I spread documents across my lap, listening to Jeong Tae-sung’s briefing.
The subject was the mysterious money master of the private loan market—the King of Bukchoñ Ants.
“According to rumors in financial circles, recently a second-generation heir of Sinseong Group invested in an IT company and failed. The source of that money is allegedly the King of Bukchoñ Ants.”
“Failed? How much was it?”
“Around thirteen billion won. He used his Sinseong Trading equity stake as collateral, which has put Sinseong Group in crisis mode.”
I stopped turning the pages.
Sinseong Trading was the group’s cash cow.
In desperation, the second-gen son had put up his crown jewel as collateral, and it hadn’t worked out.
If the King of Bukchoñ Ants I knew from the future was involved, he’d move ruthlessly to recover that money.
He had no blood, no tears, and certainly no reverence for chaebols.
“But even so, if it’s Sinseong Group, can they really just sell off the collateral? The group would pressure them……”
I asked as if testing the waters, feigning ignorance.
Jeong Tae-sung shook his head firmly.
“The King of Bukchoñ Ants would do it. He’s a man who doesn’t fear chaebols.”
“Doesn’t fear them, you say.”
“Yes. The rumor is that he has several hundred billion won in immediately available cash. Some say that when you include liquidizable assets, his total exceeds several trillion won. He can move more cash privately than most chaebol chairmen.”
That was accurate. After the Financial Real-Name System, there were only a handful of people in Korea who could move massive sums of cash like shadows.
Chaebol chairmen might control trillions in assets, but most of that was stock. Locked-up money they couldn’t sell freely because they needed to protect management rights.
But the King of Bukchoñ Ants was different.
His money was alive, immediately deployable cash, like a living creature.
“Since so many chaebol families source emergency cash through him, some might even criticize Sinseong Group for losing money not borrowed from the King of Bukchoñ Ants.”
“That would make sense. The borrower’s always at a disadvantage.”
A man who held the leash of chaebols with nothing but money—an attractive target.
Screech—
Shortly after, the car climbed the sloping streets of Bukchoñ and stopped in front of a quiet traditional house.
It was an imposing residence—high walls and a firmly closed gate that radiated authority.
“This is it.”
Jeong Tae-sung opened the car door and added, “An appointment has been arranged, but I’ll wait outside. Escorts aren’t permitted—that’s their principle.”
I nodded.
“Understood. Wait here.”
I straightened my clothes and stood at the gate.
When I pressed the doorbell, the heavy wooden door slid open smoothly.
“Where are you from?”
A man in a black suit asked flatly.
“I’m Kang Seon-woo. There should be an appointment.”
At my words, the man confirmed something on a radio in his chest, then nodded briefly and stepped aside.
“Come in.”
The interior was utterly different from the exterior.
Beyond the traditional hanok facade, inside was a Western-style reception room with marble floors and antique furnishings.
Like stepping into a salon from the enlightenment era—an incongruous sight.
“Please wait a moment.”
The man withdrew, and I sat on the leather sofa, taking in the room.
Shortly after, the inner door opened and someone walked in.
A middle-aged man in his mid-fifties wearing high-quality modified traditional dress. He had sharp eyes and an air of arrogance that seemed ingrained in his very being.
He plunked down on the opposite sofa, crossed his legs, and looked me over.
“So, what brings the Seonjin Group’s third generation to seek me out?”
His tone was direct, jumping straight to business.
It was the manner of a man speaking as if he were king of the realm.
I let out a quiet, mirthless laugh at the sight.
“What’s so funny?”
The man’s brow furrowed.
I reclined against the backrest comfortably and spoke.
“I’ll explain when the real King of Bukchoñ Ants shows up.”
“……What?”
The man’s expression hardened.
I held his gaze steady and spoke clearly.
“I’ll tell Kim Jong-soo directly.”
In that instant, the man’s pupils dilated sharply.

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