Genius Grandson Of The Loan Shark King

Eunmi Apartments.

In my previous life, there were so many problems that the apartments were never redeveloped, not even by the time I died.

The biggest issue among them was the bankruptcy of Hyunbo Group, which had built Eunmi Apartments, and the unregistered land owned by Hyunbo Group’s chairman, Jang Taeho, who fled the moment the company collapsed.

In order to recover the unpaid taxes left behind by Chairman Jang Taeho, the tax authorities combed through his assets and confirmed the existence of roughly 600 pyeong of unregistered land inside Eunmi Apartments.

Their plan was to register the land under Jang Taeho’s name, then put it up for public auction to recover the delinquent taxes.

However, some residents—including the Eunmi Apartments Redevelopment Promotion Committee—filed lawsuits, dragging things out endlessly.

On top of that, the commercial district within Eunmi Apartments also opposed redevelopment.

The commercial area in front of Eunmi Apartments was a gold mine.

There was no reason for them to give up their shops by being lumped into the apartment redevelopment.

With all these complex issues tangled together, redevelopment ultimately never happened, and people even mocked it, saying it would not be redeveloped even after a hundred years.

But not in this life.

When Hyunbo Group went bankrupt during the IMF crisis, I bought up all the Eunmi Apartments commercial properties and the land within the apartment complex that Hyunbo Group had owned.

When the foreign exchange crisis hit and everyone was dumping real estate, I quietly gathered Eunmi Apartments one by one.

It took time, but in the end, I managed to acquire most of Eunmi Apartments. Those who refused to sell until the very end were eventually persuaded—or threatened—until I secured 100%.

All that remained was the commercial district.

But the price they demanded was absurd, so I chose a different approach.

“Thanks to you, things went smoothly. You’ve worked hard, Jinpyo.”

Hong Jinpyo, who had been tied to me by a bad relationship in both my past and present lives, stood beside me, smiling awkwardly.

“As if. It was one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever had.”

Reuniting at a redevelopment site, Hong Jinpyo was working passionately for the National Evictees’ Council, even as he limped on a damaged leg—one that had been ruined because of me.

Redevelopment and reconstruction projects were businesses where enormous interests were tangled together like a spider’s web.

There was no way civic groups with a keen nose for money would stay out of such projects.

Both the moderate National Evictees’ Council and the hardline National Evictees’ Federation jumped into the redevelopment business.

Their main source of income was acting as negotiators alongside evictees when deals were struck, then taking a significant cut of the compensation as commission.

In redevelopment projects in places like Gangnam, Seoul, fly-by-night groups rarely got involved.

So I used Hong Jinpyo to negotiate on behalf of the Eunmi Apartments commercial tenants.

“You handled a difficult job well. Without you, this might have dragged on for several more years.”

This project already had all approvals lined up from the government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Rumors had been circulating for a while, and the amounts demanded by the commercial owners were completely unreasonable.

Hong Jinpyo approached them, offering to handle the stalled negotiations on their behalf.

In the end, after being entrusted with full authority, he moved back and forth between the commercial tenants and the construction company, quickly producing results both sides could accept.

The shop owners agreed to compensation at twice the current market price, and the tenants agreed on the condition that their goodwill payments would be recognized.

Unlike other redevelopment areas plagued by illegal violent protests, this case wrapped # Nоvеlight # up quietly.

“It was really nothing. With the developer and the builder cooperating this much, if you can’t negotiate under these conditions, how are you supposed to make a living?”

He spoke as if it were trivial, but I already knew how hard he had worked.

I patted his shoulder a couple of times in thanks, then walked ahead.

The redevelopment covered more than 70,000 pyeong of land.

Right in the heart of Seoul—no, in the very center of Gangnam.

Some people were already calling it the second Gangnam development.

Media and public attention had begun to gather.

Unlike typical redevelopment projects led by associations, this one was monopolized by a real estate development company, so most of the buildings to be constructed would be sold outright. freёwebnovel.com

Hong Jinpyo’s contribution in getting this massive project off the ground could not be called small by any measure.

“Keep this up. Or how about starting out as a professional association head?”

“······Association head?”

“I’ll give you redevelopment information in advance. I’ve already bought properties worth squatting on. I’ll transfer ownership of those buildings to you.”

Hong Jinpyo, who had been following slowly behind, moved right up beside me.

“What? Is that even possible?”

He asked in a hushed but shocked voice, carefully lowering his tone so no one would hear. I chuckled.

“What’s so hard about it? Redevelopment and reconstruction projects only happen if the Seoul city government approves them. You become the promotion committee chairman, negotiate with the city, and secure the permits. If you pull that off a few times, do you really think there’ll be only one or two redevelopment sites trying to recruit you?”

The power of a redevelopment association head was greater than most people realized.

Otherwise, why would construction companies secretly stuff them with massive amounts of cash just to win contracts?

Because of constant fights over vested interests, it was common for rival factions to push out the current association head.

I remembered someone who was once called the god of redevelopment.

Whenever permits were delayed or projects stagnated, he would step in, push the redevelopment through successfully, and reap enormous profits.

It was only natural that multiple associations fought to recruit him.

There was no reason Hong Jinpyo couldn’t become that kind of person.

If Hong Jinpyo became an association head, Joongwoo Construction would naturally become the contractor—good for both sides.

“There are things I’ve done. Are you really okay with that? Don’t you hate me?”

“Me, hate you? That was ages ago. Why are you still holding onto it? And isn’t that my line? You’re the one who should hate me and Myungsoo.”

“······I realized that hating someone I can’t beat doesn’t help my life at all.”

I glanced sideways at Hong Jinpyo as he spoke bitterly.

When I decided to use him, I looked into the life he had lived after we stopped keeping in touch.

Hong Jinpyo’s father, who had tried to throw me in prison, fell into ruin. His mother abandoned both her husband and her son and left.

The family was completely destroyed.

It was the result of drawing my grandfather’s fury for trying to torture me.

“I’d be lying if I said I never dreamed of revenge. But not anymore. Do you know how hard it is to crawl out of the gutter? And besides······ my leg’s messed up.”

At those words, I stopped walking without realizing it.

Standing still, I looked at the leg I had ruined. Hong Jinpyo scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s all my own karma. Back then, you warned me to stop, but I kept bullying Lee Myungsoo anyway. I was young and stupid.”

I nodded quietly at his words.

Of course, I felt some guilt—but no regret.

What is destined to happen will happen, no matter what you do. Still, there were things I wanted to avoid as much as possible.

Myungsoo’s ruined leg was one of them. I ruined one person’s life to avoid fate—but I protected my own people.

“Thank you. Like you said, the past stays buried in the past. Now we move toward the future. So? Will you take my offer?”

“Of course. If you can’t eat when the table’s already set, you’re an idiot.”

“Good. Come with me. I’ll introduce you to the chairman of Joongwoo Construction.”

As expected, Hong Jinpyo didn’t refuse my offer.

I took him into the site. Demolition was already complete, and foundation work was in full swing.

I headed toward the Joongwoo Construction site office set up on one side of the construction area.

“Welcome, sir.”

Lee Sanggeun was waiting at the entrance with all of Joongwoo Construction’s executives in tow.

“Sorry. I didn’t call you for no reason while you’re busy, did I?”

“Not at all. If you call, of course we come.”

“The chairman’s luck has improved too. Let’s go inside first.”

Lee Sanggeun led Hong Jinpyo and me into the site office.

Calling it a site office was misleading—it was a large temporary building.

Given the scale of the project, and the fact that Joongwoo Construction was handling it independently rather than as a consortium, they had intentionally built it big.

Inside the conference room was a scale model of the apartment complex to be built.

“It really does look impressive when you see it like this.”

Eunmi Apartments would be demolished, and a premium residential complex would rise in its place.

As soon as I settled on that idea, I commissioned designs from several top architectural firms.

There was even a brief incident where President Yoon Changho, acting in good faith, lifted the height restrictions on two towers, forcing yet another design revision······.

After countless discussions, the final design selected was from the Swiss architectural firm Herzog&de Meuron, led by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.

It was a firm with a long history and enough influence to win the Pritzker Prize in 2001.

I had no intention of building some ordinary apartment complex on this hard-won land.

I wanted a premium residential complex counted among the best in Korea—no, in all of Asia.

A place everyone dreams of, but not just anyone can live in.

To make that happen, I applied to rezone part of the Eunmi Apartments site, which had been designated as a Type 3 residential area, into commercial and semi-residential zones.

“The rezoning application went through, right?”

“Yes. Fortunately, the Seoul city government approved the rezoning quickly.”

“That’s good. With the government’s will behind it, things must have been easier.”

“But civic groups are still protesting in front of Joongwoo Construction’s headquarters.”

Once we applied for rezoning, numerous civic groups protested in front of Seoul City Hall.

The protests continued daily, but Seoul City Hall eventually approved the rezoning.

At the same time, the Ministry of Land announced policies easing floor area ratio and building coverage ratio regulations for redevelopment and reconstruction.

In response, another redevelopment association in Daechi-dong—already well into construction after breaking ground two years earlier—filed a lawsuit.

It was absolute chaos, but we made no official response.

Unofficially, we handed money to some civic groups, and those that still refused to listen were pressured by force.

Most backed off at that point, but a few were still protesting.

“If it really doesn’t work out, tell Chunha Group to clean it up.”

“No. I’ll handle it myself.”

Lee Sanggeun seemed intent on drawing a line between himself and Chunha Group.

Whether it was because staying in constant contact with Yoo Seongjin would only cause trouble, or because he was following my order to operate in the open, I couldn’t say.

In any case, I respected his stance and didn’t push the matter further.

“Then please wrap it up well, Chairman. I don’t want this project getting noisy.”

“Yes. Understood.”

After finishing the conversation with Lee Sanggeun, I spent a long time studying the apartment model.

At the center stood two towers, spaced far apart.

They were the landmarks of this project—115 floors rising to a height of 540 meters.

To build those two towers, we reduced the original plan of thirty-three buildings.

With the increased floor area ratio, we had to lower the building coverage ratio.

No matter how much regulations were relaxed, cramming high-rises into a luxury residential complex would ruin the aesthetics.

The plan was to place the two 115-story towers at the center, with the remaining buildings spaced far apart and built to 49 stories, a total height of 200 meters.

There would be no small units—only large ones, mostly over 48 pyeong.

“Looks good. If it’s built exactly like this, it’ll be an unprecedented premium residential complex in Seoul.”

As I smiled in satisfaction, Lee Sanggeun smiled along with me.

Leaving the model behind, we all took our seats to begin the meeting.

“Before we continue······ Chairman Lee. You know this guy, right?”

I gestured toward Hong Jinpyo, who was sitting off to the side, watching the room.

Lee Sanggeun’s gaze naturally shifted toward him.

“This is Hong Jinpyo. He handled one major axis of this project.”

“I’ve received reports.”

“He’s also my classmate, and he’s extremely knowledgeable in this line of work. I’m planning to make him a professional association head specializing in redevelopment and reconstruction projects in Seoul and the metropolitan area. Please help him out, Chairman Lee. If he establishes himself properly, it’ll be good for Joongwoo Construction as well.”

At my casual gesture, Hong Jinpyo hurriedly bowed to Lee Sanggeun.

After finishing his calculations in his head, Lee Sanggeun gave a small nod in return.