The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 74

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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’s Third Generation — Episode 74
“Is the Chairman in?”
Outside the Chairman’s Office at Jungseong Group Headquarters.
The moment Jung Hyun-il received the summons from the secretariat, he understood from the undertone.
There were only two reasons his father called him. When he was in a good mood, or when he wanted to wring someone’s neck.
“Yes, I’ll inform the Chairman of your arrival.”
From the secretary’s expression, it wasn’t the former.
Knock, knock.
“Chairman, Jungseong Construction’s President Jung Hyun-il is here.”
—Tell him to come in.
At the secretary’s words, his father’s voice came from within. Jung Hyun-il took a deep breath and opened the door.
His father, Jung Min-woong, sat at his desk reviewing documents without even glancing up at his entrance.
Park Manager from the Planning Office stood beside him, and the moment Jung Hyun-il saw him, everything clicked into place.
“Sit.”
Jung Min-woong spoke without lifting his eyes from the papers.
“Father, what’s this about—”
“Yun In-chul fell through, I hear?”
Jung Min-woong’s gaze lifted.
His eyes, still holding the weight of the documents, fixed on his son.
“That professor — you contacted him yourself, and you were confident about bringing him in, weren’t you?”
“Yes. Given his credentials and government connections, he was the optimal candidate—”
“And this optimal person went somewhere else?”
Jung Min-woong set the documents down on the desk.
“I’m currently investigating the circumstances.”
“Circumstances?”
Jung Min-woong’s voice rose.
“What circumstances do you need? You failed to manage it, didn’t you?”
Jung Hyun-il’s shoulders tensed imperceptibly.
“How many days has it been since you made your proposal to Yun In-chul? Some other bastard came in and snatched him away, and what were you doing all that time?”
“My government connections are functioning normally, and operational meetings with Park Han-su’s team continue. The Yun In-chul matter involved unforeseen variables—”
“Variables? Excuses come easy, don’t they?”
Jung Min-woong shot up from his chair.
“When did I hand you the Seongshin acquisition? It’s been nearly half a year! What have you done in that half year? You can’t even secure an old man, can’t even hold onto a professor!”
His father’s furious voice filled the Chairman’s Office entirely, and Jung Hyun-il found himself unable to speak.
“And on top of that, you’re telling me someone else came in? Do you even know who?”
“I haven’t been able to confirm yet.”
“You haven’t confirmed?”
Jung Min-woong slammed the desk.
“How can you claim to be managing anything when you don’t even know who your opponent is? I gave you one thing — Seongshin. One! If you can’t even do that, tell me right now. I’ll have someone else handle it!”
Jung Hyun-il’s fists clenched at his sides.
But his lips remained sealed.
There had never been a time when talking back in this room ended well.
Jung Min-woong exhaled roughly.
“One week. If it’s not settled in one week, hand it over to Park Manager.”
At that, Jung Hyun-il’s gaze drifted back to Park Manager, who stood unmoved, his expression unchanged.
“Get out. I don’t even want to look at your face. Next time you come before me, bring results—either that or your resignation from Jungseong Construction. Choose one and come back.”
Jung Min-woong waved his hand dismissively. Jung Hyun-il swallowed his anger, bowed his head, and turned to leave.
As he stepped out of the Chairman’s Office into the corridor, Park Manager followed.
Jung Hyun-il didn’t slow his pace. Park Manager fell into step beside him.
“Park Manager.”
Jung Hyun-il’s voice was low.
“I thought I’d asked you to step back.”
“I stepped back from assisting you, President.”
Park Manager’s reply came swift.
“Reporting to the Chairman is my job — and the Chairman’s order.”
“——”
Jung Hyun-il stopped walking and looked at Park Manager.
Park Manager didn’t bow his head or avert his gaze.
He’d never been Jung Hyun-il’s man from the start. That hadn’t changed.
“I see.”
Jung Hyun-il nodded. He was smiling, but it wasn’t a smile.
“Let’s see how long that stiff neck of yours can hold up in front of me.”
Park Manager said nothing.
Jung Hyun-il turned and walked toward the elevator.
As he stepped out into the first-floor lobby, a black sedan was waiting.
He got in through the rear door, and the Vice President turned from the passenger seat.
“President, I’ve found out.”
“Found out what?”
“It’s the Bukchon Investment Group.”
Jung Hyun-il let out a dry laugh. Bukchon — that loan shark from Myeongdong who’d been drooling over Seongshin was the one obstructing him.
“Kim Jong-su, the Bukchon moneylender?”
“Yes. Yun In-chul has attached himself to that Kim Jong-su.”
Jung Hyun-il’s expression transformed.
It was no longer the face that had cowered before his father moments ago.
The corners of his mouth were lifting. The rage he’d swallowed while being scolded by his father was giving way to confidence once again.
“Remarkable. A loan shark dares to acquire a savings bank?”
Jung Hyun-il leaned forward.
“Set up a meeting with the director-level official handling this matter at the government. Both the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Financial Services Commission.”
“You’re going to target the government side?”
“That’s right. If a loan-sharking nobody tries to acquire a savings bank, do you think any official in this country would actually stamp it?”
The Vice President’s eyes widened.
“Once we apply a little pressure, they’ll eliminate Kim Jong-su of their own accord. And once they do, there’s no one left but us.”
Jung Hyun-il settled back into his seat, laughing.
“Father gave me a week. With the opponent being a loan shark, the game just got much easier. Arrange the meeting in four days.”

* * *
“Is it confirmed?”
Ribbon Capital Office.
The moment Jung Tae-sung entered, I asked.
“Yes, I’ve confirmed it.”
Jung Tae-sung took his seat.
“I’ve secured an inside source at the Goryo Economic Daily.”
In fact, a few days ago I’d instructed Jung Tae-sung to establish a line capable of obtaining internal information from the Goryo Economic Daily.
To turn suspicion into certainty — that Jung Hyun-il’s side had orchestrated the bank run.
“What kind of source?”
“A deputy director at the editorial department. A position where they can see article placements and editorial desk directives.”
A solid source. Not a journalist, but someone in editorial who could trace where stories originated.
“He was greedy — demanded five million. Quite the appetite.”
“Well done. At that price, it’s a bargain.”
An inside line at a subsidiary media outlet was worth that without question.
Jung Tae-sung must have known that too, which is why he led with the amount.
“So what did you find?”
Jung Tae-sung adjusted his posture.
“The Seongshin Savings Bank article that ran just before the bank run — the journalist didn’t write it from independent reporting. It came from above. Direction and tone were specified.”
“From above, you mean the editorial desk?”
“Higher than that, apparently.”
Higher than the desk.
The Goryo Economic Daily is a Jungseong Group subsidiary.
Since the owner is Jungseong, editorial independence exists only on the business card.
Only the subsidiary’s president can dictate article direction above the desk level, and only one or two people within the group could issue such directives to a subsidiary president.
The documents Jung Tae-sung handed over contained materials and notes that only insiders would know — sufficient legal evidence that someone had deeply manipulated the article both formally and informally.
“It’s clear-cut.”
I nodded.
“Jung Hyun-il issued the directive directly. The bank run wasn’t organic. He orchestrated it to pressure Chairman Park Han-su and break his negotiating position.”
Jung Tae-sung agreed. All of it lay bare in the materials he’d brought.
The evidence was solid.
“You’ve done well. Thanks to you, we have evidence, and now that they’re about to attack, we’ve got ammunition to fire back.”
“Attack?”
“Yes. Professor Yun In-chul has officially contacted us about joining.”
Yesterday, Kim Jong-su received Yun In-chul’s call. He was in.
Now the consortium structure was complete.
Yun In-chul would be the public face, Kim Jong-su would provide the capital, and behind them, SJ Holdings pulled the strings.
“Since Yun In-chul would have turned down Jungseong’s offer, once people start asking around, the name Bukchon Investment Group will surface quickly. And it’s only one or two degrees of separation from Chairman Kim Jong-su from there.”
“I agree. He’s likely already aware.”
Jung Hyun-il.
This man’s pride was fierce. And his pride moved faster than his intellect.
The mere fact of losing Yun In-chul would have set him ablaze, but what happens when he learns his opponent was born from a loan-sharking background?
He’d look down on him first.
The moment he did, he’d reach for the easiest card.
“Director Jung.”
“Yes.”
“Jung Hyun-il would have figured out that Chairman Kim Jong-su is his competitor. So he’ll attack, right? What would be the easiest play?”
At my question, Jung Tae-sung thought for a moment, then spoke.
“If I were him, I’d move the government. A loan shark acquiring a savings bank — that frame alone would make the Ministry of Strategy and Finance or the FSC anxious about approval.”
I smiled and nodded.
“I think so too.”
“——”
“If he moves the government to exclude Kim Jong-su, then Jungseong becomes the sole bidder. Even if Chairman Park Han-su hates it, there’s no other option. It’s the simplest and most certain method.”
“Then we should prepare a defense—”
“Not defense. Counter-attack.”
Jung Tae-sung looked puzzled.
“Counter-attack?”
“Yes. If he moves the government, we move the government too.”
Jung Tae-sung’s expression was strange. Part of him wondering how we could possibly move the government, part of him already searching for a way.
“If we give the government a reason it can’t exclude Jungseong Construction, wouldn’t that work?”
“——”
“We need to use the information you brought.”
“The information I brought?”
“The inside source at the Goryo Economic Daily.”
Jung Tae-sung’s eyes flickered. Now he understood where I was heading.
“Jungseong Group’s subsidiary media outlet deliberately released an article just before the bank run. It came from the top down. What is that?”
I continued, looking at Jung Tae-sung.
“In a savings bank acquisition race, they mobilized subsidiary media to incite depositor panic and engineer a bank run to elbow out the competition.”
Jung Tae-sung nodded.
“We leak it to media outlets that rival the Goryo Economic Daily.”
“The Taesung Daily News exists.”
“Contact them. A headline like this should do: ‘Jungseong Construction Used Subsidiary Media to Orchestrate Bank Run for Savings Bank Acquisition’?”
I smiled, pulling my lips tight.

* * *
A high-end sushi restaurant in Gangnam. In a private room, two men sat facing each other.
Jung Hyun-il and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance Director-General overseeing the FSC and Savings Bank matters.
On the table lay premium dishes arranged with care, and an empty sake bottle sat nearby.
The atmosphere wasn’t bad.
“Wait, a loan shark buying a savings bank? Does that even make sense?”
Jung Hyun-il tilted his glass and laughed.
“A man who’s been running usury in Myeongdong for thirty years. He’s just changing the sign, not his nature, right?”
The director set down his glass and nodded.
“To be honest, when it came to my attention, I found it strange. Kim Jong-su’s a known name, but he’s so murky.”
“Murky doesn’t begin to cover it. The money behind him is all loan-shark capital. He’s just packaged it as an investment group.”
Jung Hyun-il pressed further.
“You know as well as I do what position savings banks hold in public opinion right now. They’re common people’s finance. If you seat a loan-sharking nobody there, can the approving authority handle the blow when it blows up?”
The director’s expression shifted subtly.
He wasn’t a man who didn’t understand the weight behind the words “the approving authority.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be easy, that’s for sure.”
“It’s not hard — it’s impossible.”
Jung Hyun-il poured more sake as he spoke.
“Jungseong is different. We have construction as our base, but we have experienced personnel in finance too, and we have concrete management normalization plans. Most importantly, our reason for the acquisition is clear. We’re going to preserve the common-people finance orientation while tightening PF soundness. We’re not looking for a money-laundering conduit.”
The director laughed lightly.
“If President Jung is willing to step in personally, it seems genuine.”
“It is genuine. My father is also personally overseeing it.”
The moment I mentioned Jung Min-woong’s name, the director’s expression shifted once more.
He understood the weight that name carried.
“Well, it’s not a decision I can make alone, but… still, Jungseong is more trustworthy than a loan shark, wouldn’t you say?”
Just as the director was bringing his glass to his lips—
Buzz.
A vibration sounded from inside the director’s suit jacket. He apologized with a glance and pulled out his phone, checking the screen.
Two seconds. Three at most.
The director’s expression changed as he read.
The face loosened by drink suddenly turned rigid.
Jung Hyun-il felt uneasy and asked.
“Is something wrong?”
The director didn’t answer. He stood.
“You and I never met today.”
Jung Hyun-il’s hand froze.
“Director?”
“My apologies, but I must leave.”
“Director!”
The director left without another look back.
Jung Hyun-il was alone in the room.
He couldn’t fathom what had happened.
The man who’d been nodding two minutes ago had suddenly gone pale at a single message and fled like he was running.
That’s when it happened.
The door to the adjacent room burst open.
It was the Vice President. He’d clearly been waiting, but he came running, breathing hard.
His face was ashen.
“President.”
“What is it?”
“The Taesung Daily News has run an exclusive.”
Jung Hyun-il’s eyes narrowed.
“An exclusive?”
“Yes.”
The Vice President’s voice was trembling.
“An article saying we used the Goryo Economic Daily to orchestrate a bank run at Seongshin Savings Bank.”
Jung Hyun-il didn’t move.
Why the director had checked his message and stood up.
What “we never met” meant. Everything was connecting.
“——”
The sake glass in Jung Hyun-il’s hand flew toward the wall.
Crash!
Shards scattered across the floor.
“Those fucking bastards!”
Jung Hyun-il let out a primal scream, unable to contain his fury.

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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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