Free Web Novel“Chairman Seo went into the Blue House?”
For the past few days, I had been meeting with the owners of newspapers I had connections with, telling them not to run any articles even if Ilseong gave the order.
I tempted them by promising to push in more major advertisements than whatever Ilseong might try to threaten them with.
But while I was working on the media front, I got a report that Chairman Seo Yonggeon had entered the Blue House.
“He’s not going to attack directly...”
Since he had once been badly burned by me, Kim Hakgwon wouldn’t make a rash move.
To get out of the IMF system as quickly as possible, the Kim Hakgwon administration was staking everything on this.
At this rate, they might be free from IMF interference by next year.
In a situation like this, he knew better than anyone what would happen if he got on my bad side. There was no way Kim Hakgwon would deliberately defy me.
“Let’s wait and see how they move.”
Still, there was a need to keep watch.
I gave orders to Chief Ma.
A few days passed without incident.
Then I got a call from Hyunwoo in the prosecution service.
“There’s going to be a major investigation into Geukseong Group soon. The target is Chairman Lee Sanggeun.”
An unexpected name came out of Hyunwoo’s mouth.
Seo Yonggeon’s moves were outside my predictions.
“Chief, contact Chairman Lee and tell him the prosecution and police could be raiding soon. Make sure everything is prepared so there’s nothing to be caught on even if they investigate.”
Was the strategy to attack the outskirts instead of me?
No matter how much they dug, it would be difficult to connect Geukseong Group to me.
So why target Geukseong Group at all?
I was curious, but for now there was no way to know.
“And call Yoon & Jang to assemble a defense team.”
“Yes, Boss. I’ll call right away.”
Not long after I gave the order to Chief Ma, a search and seizure warrant was issued for Geukseong Group.
The presidents of Geukseong Construction and Geukseong Cement were summoned to the prosecution.
Articles related to it poured out of Aseong Daily.
Aseong Daily was a newspaper Ilseong had created, but it was one of the large outlets that had handed over management rights to the in-laws due to government policy.
Before the investigation had even properly begun, they were putting out articles like they had been prepared in advance.
[Geukseong Group, a Gangster Organization Wearing a Corporate Mask]
[The True Face of the Living Loan Shark King of Myeongdong, Cheon Taesan]
Aseong Daily... or rather, Ilseong Group was tying Geukseong Group and my grandfather together to stir up a scandal.
I slammed the paper down.
“Phew.”
They were crossing a big line here.
“Chief, pull all Jongwoo Group advertisements from Aseong Daily and contact Hyeonhwa Group to pull theirs too.”
“Understood.”
Once Chief Ma left the study, I quietly took a deep breath to calm my anger.
The angrier I was, the colder my head needed to be.
Even if he was supposedly in very poor health, this was clearly a declaration that they were going to see this through to the end with me.
You couldn’t make money in Myeongdong’s lending world without doing illegal things.
No — I should say there were far more illegal dealings than legal ones.
The article went into detail about everything my grandfather had done and how he had lived from the moment he entered the loan shark business.
Of course, I never expected Seo Yonggeon to play fair.
‘Coming out swinging, huh.’
I got up from my chair and headed out.
“Let’s go to the Myeongdong office. And call in Chairman Lee.”
“Yes.”
When I arrived at the Myeongdong office, I sat on the sofa and waited for Lee Sanggeun.
“Boss, Chairman Lee is here.” freewebnσvel.cøm
“Send him in.”
Soon Lee Sanggeun entered, his face stiff.
“Chairman Lee, it’s been a while.”
“Yes, it has been.”
“Sit down. Sorry for calling you in when things must be hectic.”
This wasn’t the time for idle small talk — as soon as he sat down, I went straight to the point.
“How did the search go?”
“They took almost everything — computers, accounting books, you name it. I didn’t expect them to come down this hard.”
“It must have come as an order from the Blue House. So, is there anything they can catch?”
“I’ve cleaned up as best as I could, but if the prosecutors are determined, there’s nothing they can’t dig into.”
He added with a troubled expression,
“For construction alone, there’s a lot — bribes to officials, big payouts to redevelopment association heads. There are even traces of sending guys to threaten people.”
“Will it reach up to you?”
As long as Lee didn’t talk, there was no way to find a direct link to me.
I might be a major shareholder in Geukseong Group, but that alone wasn’t enough to tie me in.
That’s why Ilseong was trying to link it to my grandfather, creating a frame that Geukseong Group was a criminal organization built with his money.
“If they put their mind to it, there’s nothing they can’t do. Prosecutors don’t consider people like us to be °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° human — they’ll try to tie it together somehow, even by dragging out old cases.”
Seeing Lee shake his head didn’t feel good.
“This time, it’ll be hard for me to step in and help. Yoon & Jang will handle your defense, but exerting pressure myself would just expose a weakness. I could do it if I really wanted to, but...”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll find a way somehow.”
He tried to sound nonchalant, but the situation wasn’t good.
He would know it was dangerous for me to directly show any connection too.
“Yoon & Jang will buy you as much time as they can. When the time comes, I’ll wrap it up for you, so endure a little longer.”
“Understood. Is there anything you want me to do in the meantime?”
I handed him the Aseong Daily I had been reading earlier.
Lee glanced over it, then looked back at me.
“Take care of the reporter who wrote that.”
There were too many eyes on me for me to have Chief Ma do it.
But since they’d put out an article directly targeting Geukseong, there was enough justification for a hit.
“Going after a reporter directly is...”
“Will it be a problem?”
Seeing my gaze, Lee shook his head.
“No. I’ll take care of it.”
“You can go now.”
He stood, bowed, and left.
Just as I was gathering my thoughts again, Eva walked in, almost as if switching places with him.
“Eva, come in.”
She had her long hair pinned up and was wearing high heels, looking like she had just come from work. She sat down with a curious expression.
“Boss, why the grim face?”
“Bit of a headache.”
She nodded knowingly.
“Then I should give you some good news. I’ve liquidated about half. If I dump too much at once, it’ll affect the price, so I’m selling just enough to keep it in the stable range.”
“Expected return?”
This time around, the KOSDAQ index had risen far higher than in my previous life.
Originally it had only peaked at 2,834 in March next year, but it had already broken past 3,000.
“Saerom Technology is up almost 16,000%, and most other stocks are over 1,000%. Will I ever see another crazy market like this?”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“This kind of bull run probably won’t come again. Everyone’s possessed by mania — by the illusion of the internet. Stocks are supposed to be about investing in the future, but at this point, it’s not investment, it’s just a gambling den.”
“I’m afraid it might all crash at once.”
“Mania dulls reason.”
IT stocks around the world — including NASDAQ — were skyrocketing again and again.
Korea, even with its limits on daily price swings, was going insane like this — so just imagine the U.S. market with no such limits. It was a spectacle.
“Can the staff handle it from here?”
“Yeah, unless there’s a sudden crash, returns won’t change much.”
“You’re still buying Ilseong affiliate stocks, right?”
Eva shook her head.
“The supply’s dried up. I think Chairman Seo’s side is buying them too — nothing’s coming out.”
“Keep buying as much as you can, even if it’s hard.”
“Okay.”
“We’re targeting Ilseong Trading, right?”
She nodded, pulling documents from an envelope she’d brought.
“It has the most stock in circulation. The largest shareholder is Ilseong Life with 20%. Several other affiliates hold about 5% combined, and Chairman Seo himself only has 1%.”
“Who’s the second-largest shareholder?”
“JC Sugar, with 12%.”
JC Group was a spin-off from Ilseong.
“Can you persuade them?”
“Do we even need to? JC Sugar could take management control if they wanted — their share structure’s weak. They’re in the middle of restructuring to a holding company, so it’ll take some time though.”
“Yeah?”
She flipped through the papers and handed me one.
“This is JC Sugar’s shareholding structure. See any obvious targets?”
“JC Holdings’ stake is lower than I thought.”
“Yeah. Even counting all related parties, it’s only about 30%. They have over 20% friendly shares, but that’s just a matter of how you attack it, right?”
The paper had a detailed breakdown of their shareholdings.
‘We’ve got about 12.3%, and foreign investment firms hold about 20%. If we can get it all, it’s doable.’
Then one name stood out.
“Who’s this? Jang Daeho?”
“Mm... I couldn’t pin that down. I think you’ll have to look into it yourself, Boss. I tried, but nothing came up.”
The name rang a bell.
Frowning, I got up and pulled out the file with Ilseong Electronics’ shareholding.
Sure enough, there it was — Jang Daeho holding 3%. freeweɓnøvel.com
“Eva, you’ve got the shareholding lists for all Ilseong-affiliated companies, right?”
“Mm? Yeah, at the office.”
“Call there and tell them to have it ready — I’ll send someone to pick it up.”
While she called, I summoned Chief Ma.
“Yes, Boss.”
“Send someone to Eva’s office to pick up some documents.”
Eva hung up the phone.
Things were getting interesting.
“Jang Daeho — I thought the name was familiar, and here he is with 3% of Ilseong Electronics too.”
Her eyes widened.
“Really? How can someone like that keep such a low profile?”
“No idea. We need to check the other Ilseong-related companies. This guy could be a wild card.”
We spent about an hour discussing possible scenarios.
Then Chief Ma returned.
“Boss, here it is.”
“Good work.”
I opened the bag and pulled out a thick stack of files.
“Let’s check.”
We split the work, each looking for Jang Daeho’s name.
When we were done, Eva whistled.
“Boss, this guy’s no joke.”
“Exactly.”
Not just Ilseong affiliates, but JC Group companies, plus Sesang Group and Solhan Group — all with shares held by Jang Daeho.
Every Ilseong-related group’s affiliates had at least 1–5% in his hands.
Even I was surprised.
“What’s his connection?”
“He must be tied to Ilseong founder Seo Ilseong. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense he has unlisted affiliate shares. None of the recently acquired companies have him on the list, so he’s been holding these for a long time.”
Founder Seo Ilseong had appointed Seo Yonggeon as successor before his death, giving the other children companies and independence.
At first, the shareholding ties were complicated, keeping everyone bound together, but after his death, most of those ties were sorted out.
Still, some companies maintained tangled connections.
For example, Seo Maenggeon’s JC Group still held a fair number of Ilseong-related affiliate shares.
But Jang Daeho — there was no public information at all.
“Finding him is the priority. While you’re buying Ilseong stocks, quietly start buying JC Sugar shares too — through multiple channels so word doesn’t get out.”
“Got it.”
“If you need money, say so — even pull from the Virgin Islands if you have to. We have to win this time, no matter what.”
Eva winked.
“With what we made on KOSDAQ, we’ve got plenty of ammo. But I’ll tell you if I need more.”
“This is worth losing money on — even if every won we put in here is gone, we just need to win. You know what I mean?”
“Understood, Boss.”
“I’ll handle Jang Daeho.”
She nodded and stood.
“Then I’ll get going. By the way, Boss, any plans for the end of the year?”
“Same as always. Thinking of heading down to Busan.”
She pouted slightly, but I ignored it.
Instead, I turned to Chief Ma.
“Find out everything on Jang Daeho — personal details, current address, his whole life story.”
“Yes, sir.”
“As quickly as possible. Anything else to report?”
“No, sir.”
I nodded and got to my feet.
“All right, let’s head out.”
