The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 22

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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 Heir — Episode 22
The man who had been playing the role of a fake Bukchon King Ant slipped out of the reception room with a hardened expression.
‘Bukchon King Ant.’
Anyone who understood the underbelly of Korean finance could not fail to know that name.
He was a legendary individual investor who had burst onto the scene like a comet in the mid-1980s, during the great bull market brought on by the so-called 3-Low Boom—low interest rates, low oil prices, and a weak dollar.
Rumors abounded that a lone retail trader had made hundreds of billions in stocks, yet no one had ever seen his face.
Years later.
Word spread of a new big money player funneling massive cash into the Myeongdong loan-shark market—a certain Jeon Ju.
His residence was Bukchon. The source of his funds: a stock windfall in the eighties.
People naturally began calling him the Bukchon King Ant.
‘And how did I come to know of this man?’
Exactly five years later, a massive corruption scandal rocked the Republic of Korea.
When the Bukchon King Ant was arrested as the suspected mastermind behind the affair, his true identity was laid bare before all.
The figure standing before the prosecutor’s office photo line was not the dignified gentleman in his forties or fifties whom the Myeongdong loan sharks had known.
An elderly man in his seventies, his hair silver with age.
Only then did people grasp the truth: every chairman they had met and bowed to all those years had been a proxy.
‘A man who had lived his entire life meticulously concealing himself.’
He would soon appear before me.
Creak—
While lost in thought, the heavy wooden door swung open smoothly.
And a man walked in.
‘That’s him.’
Cold, sharp eyes visible beyond silver-rimmed glasses; an upright posture; a vigor that belied his sixties.
There was no doubt—it was the elderly man who had stood in that photo line on the news.
Kim Jong-su. The real Bukchon King Ant.
He gave me a cursory once-over, then settled into the sofa across from me.
“How did you come to know of me?”
His opening words. Despite his identity being exposed, he showed no trace of alarm, and his voice remained steady.
‘Truly formidable. A frightening man.’
He was someone who understood that there was no need to raise his voice—someone who had spent a lifetime mastering the art of subduing others through silence itself.
I mustered an air of calm composure.
“I have a capable secretary under me.”
“That’s hardly an answer.”
“Believe it or not, it’s the truth.”
……
Kim Jong-su regarded me wordlessly. There was a power in those eyes alone that could intimidate a man.
But I was no pushover myself. A mind tempered by every hardship known would not waver at a mere staring contest.
“If you truly can’t believe me, let me offer one more hint. Your proxy was far too light.”
“Light?”
“Yes. As if afraid his pretense would be discovered, he affected exaggerated gestures and an arrogant demeanor. The genuine article never bothers proving himself—not like that.”
I rested my chin and continued.
“Much like the man sitting before me now.”
At my words, a faint smile crossed Kim Jong-su’s lips.
“All the rumors about the Bukchon King Ant were the same—violent temperament, arrogance, ruthlessness. So I decided to look for the real man. I suspected the one everyone talked about was a fake. Why would someone manipulating hundreds of billions of won bother barking like a dog?”
“Ha.”
Kim Jong-su let out a bitter laugh.
“Amusing. I’d heard the Seonjin heir was weak, nothing but a bookish fellow, yet here you are showing a different face?”
……
The intelligence was accurate. In my previous life, Kang Seon-woo had indeed been exactly that.
I gave a slight shrug.
“We’re both hiding who we are, aren’t we? In a world full of enemies, such precautions are necessary.”
“True enough. Where there’s wealth, there are always vultures circling.”
Kim Jong-su nodded and leaned forward.
“I like that cocky advice of yours. Well noted. Now then, let’s get to business. What brings you to seek me out?”
“I’d like to borrow money from you.”
I stated it plainly.
“That’s not difficult—provided the collateral is sound. What do you need it for?”
“Asking where the money will be used—isn’t that a question only third-rate loan sharks in the Myeongdong underworld ask?”
At my remark, Kim Jong-su laughed aloud once more.
“Ha-ha-ha! You’re right, absolutely right. I momentarily forgot who I was dealing with. Very well then. What collateral do you offer?”
“None.”
“……No collateral?”
Kim Jong-su’s eyes narrowed. The temperature in the room plummeted instantly.
“Then there’s no money coming out of this meeting.”
His refusal was firm, but I did not yield. I played my next card.
“Instead, I’ll pay interest at the highest market rate. Beyond that, I’ll set aside twenty percent of whatever profit I make with those funds as a separate commission for you.”
“Twenty percent of the profit.”
Kim Jong-su waved his hand dismissively.
“I appreciate your resourcefulness in uncovering my identity, but business is another matter. I don’t gamble. Lending money without collateral runs against my principles.”
“Principles, you say……”
“Be on your way. I’ll overlook today’s impudence on the condition that you never breathe a word of my identity.”
It was a dismissal.
An expected response. A man worth hundreds of billions would hardly abandon his principles over mere words.
But I still had a card left to play.
“What if I could save your life?”
“What?”
Kim Jong-su’s eyebrow twitched.
I spoke quietly but distinctly, three syllables that hung in the air.
“Cho Hui-chul.”
In that instant, Kim Jong-su’s pupils contracted ever so slightly.
It was a fleeting moment, but it did not escape my gaze.
‘As I thought.’
“That man is currently orchestrating something quite interesting. With your money.”
……
“I suggest you look into it carefully. There’s wisdom in the old saying that the lamplight casts the darkest shadow.”
I offered no further explanation. I had planted the seed of suspicion; whether to nurture it and investigate was his affair now.
I rose from my seat and placed a business card on the table.
“My number. Look into it, and I’ll be waiting for your call.”
I walked out of the reception room without a backward glance.
The bait was cast. Now I had only to wait for him to bite.

* * *
In the reception room after Seon-woo’s departure.
Kim Jong-su sat motionless on the sofa, his gaze fixed on Seon-woo’s business card lying alone on the table.
‘Cho Hui-chul.’
Those three characters would not leave Kim Jong-su’s mind.
Moments later, a knock sounded and the door opened.
It was Choi Manager, his most trusted aide.
“You called for me, sir?”
Even as Choi Manager entered and bowed, Kim Jong-su maintained his silence.
A heavy quiet filled the room.
Kim Jong-su tapped rhythmically on the leather armrest of the sofa, out of habit.
The moment the regular tapping ceased, Kim Jong-su spoke.
“What’s Cho Hui-chul been up to lately?”
At the sudden question, Choi Manager’s eyes widened.
“Do you mean Manager Cho of Myeongdong, sir?”
“That’s the one.”
Cho Hui-chul.
One of the middlemen who received Kim Jong-su’s vast sums of cash, dispersed them through the Myeongdong underworld, and collected returns—essentially a pipeline operator.
They had been doing business for some years. His collection record was solid, and on the surface, he was deferential and obliging.
But.
‘A viper.’
Whenever Kim Jong-su recalled Cho Hui-chul, a chill ran down the back of his neck.
Eyes that smiled while the mouth did not; a gaze teeming with greed.
Kim Jong-su’s hard-earned instinct—honed through decades of navigating the underworld—had always sounded a warning bell at the mention of Cho Hui-chul.
Yet without concrete proof, he had merely dismissed it as old man’s paranoia.
“Manager Cho has been keeping to the Myeongdong office as of late, as far as I know. There have been no unusual reports.”
“You’re certain?”
Kim Jong-su’s voice dropped low.
Choi Manager felt cold sweat begin to trickle down his spine.
“Is something…… amiss, sir?”
“The amounts he’s been pulling have grown larger than before, yet he sits idle in that office? You don’t find that strange?”
His eyes flashed with lethal sharpness.
“Find out exactly what Cho Hui-chul has been doing.”
“……Sir?”
“Everything. His accounts, certainly, but also who he meets at night, where he drinks—all of it.”
Kim Jong-su spoke in a glacial tone.
“Understood. I’ll dispatch the men immediately.”
Choi Manager bowed deeply and left the room.
‘The boy from Seonjin wouldn’t have wasted breath on lies.’
That unflinching gaze, that boldness even in the presence of Kim Jong-su himself—it remained vivid in his mind. When that boy had spoken Cho Hui-chul’s name, there had been no doubt in his voice.
“If, on the other hand, this amounts to nothing……”
The thought made Kim Jong-su toss the business card onto the table.
The answer would come soon enough.

* * *
Inside the car heading home.
Jung Tae-sung, who held the steering wheel, carefully broke the silence.
“How did your visit go, sir?”
“Ah, I wasn’t able to borrow anything today. Empty-handed, I’m afraid.”
I answered matter-of-factly. Jung Tae-sung’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Were you turned down? If so, shall I look into other contacts? There are still a few major players in the Myeongdong network we haven’t approached.”
I shook my head at his suggestion.
“No. The money will come from the Bukchon King Ant. It’s only a matter of time.”
“You seem quite confident, sir.”
“I am. But there’s something else I need you to do.”
“Say the word.”
“Can you investigate someone for me?”
At my question, Jung Tae-sung glanced at me briefly through the rearview mirror. A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
“That’s my specialty.”
Indeed. A man who had gathered intelligence under Kim Seok-jun, the executive director, weathering every hardship imaginable.
The caliber of people Jung Tae-sung inquired about and the depth of information he returned were always exceptional.
“Who should I look into?”
“A man named Cho Hui-chul from the Myeongdong loan-shark market. Investigate him for me.”
“Cho Hui-chul……, sir?”
Jung Tae-sung seemed to be searching his memory as though hearing the name for the first time.
“Yes. Check whether he’s been meeting frequently with the elders in Yeouido recently, and whether he’s been socializing with contacts in the prosecution and police.”
“So you want me to assess political lobbying activities.”
Jung Tae-sung understood without further probing.
“Exactly. He’ll be moving very discreetly.”
Exactly five years from now.
A massive stock price manipulation scandal will rock the Republic of Korea.
Cho Hui-chul will be at the center of it.
‘Cho Hui-chul is merely a middleman—a conduit managing funds from Kim Jong-su.’
The problem is that he uses that money not for legitimate corporate bill-discounting, but as a front man for stock manipulation syndicates.
He funnels Kim Jong-su’s money to the operation ring, and to cover his tracks, he cultivates connections with politicians, prosecutors, and police.
In the process, he thoroughly sold out the Bukchon King Ant.
‘It’s the Chairman’s money.’
‘The Elder of Bukchon will back us up.’
When the scandal finally broke, Kim Jong-su, who knew nothing, was arrested as the suspected mastermind.
It was the moment his reclusive identity was exposed to the world.
Because I knew that future, I could dangle the bait before Kim Jong-su.
“The picture that emerges will be quite interesting—or rather, quite ugly.”
“May I ask your reasoning?”
“You’ll see once you dig. Who’s money he’s playing with, and what game he’s running.”
At my words, Jung Tae-sung asked no further and simply nodded.
“Understood, sir.”
I gazed out at the Seoul night skyline rushing past the window.
‘He’ll call within days.’
Kim Jong-su is a suspicious man.
He will never simply let go of the bait I’ve dangled—Cho Hui-chul’s name.
I closed my eyes quietly and envisioned what was to come.

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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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