How a Salaryman Became an Underworld Boss

With a rather peculiar atmosphere hanging in the air, we finished dinner and immediately headed to the study.

Chairman Park Yeongil, Chief of Staff Lee Jihun, and Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong already knew about the Macau incident, but Chairman Yoon Jongu remained completely in the dark.

That became the source of a heated exchange between Chairman Park Yeongil and Chairman Yoon Jongu.

”Chairman Yoon, why don’t you hear Director Cha’s report on the destruction of the underground gambling syndicate separately a little later?”

”And why should I?”

”Ahem! We’ve already heard the report.”

Ignoring Chairman Park’s answer, Chairman Yoon Jongu turned to me with a piercing gaze.

”Director Cha, why did you report to everyone except me?”

I had anticipated that question and had already prepared a perfectly reasonable explanation.

”My original plan was to return to Korea after finishing the Macau business trip and report everything at once. However, Chairman Park called me at dawn and kept asking questions, so I had no choice but to report to him first.”

”I understand Chairman Park, but why were Chief of Staff Lee and Commissioner Choi brought into this?”

I deliberately turned toward President Cho Myeongsu.

As if reading my mind, President Cho immediately spoke up.

”I invited Chief of Staff Lee and Commissioner Choi to the company under the Chairman’s instructions.”

After hearing President Cho’s answer, Chairman Yoon redirected his attack toward Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong.

”Commissioner Choi, who provided Director Cha with a private jet for his Macau business trip?”

”That would be you, Chairman.”

”In that case, I believe I have every right to know what happened in Macau. What do you think, Commissioner Choi?”

Only then did Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong grasp the hidden meaning behind Chairman Yoon’s question.

He was expressing his dissatisfaction at having been left out while everyone else heard Cha Jiham’s report.

This was definitely not the time to upset him.

It was time for a well-intentioned lie.

”I assumed Chairman Park had personally invited Chairman Yoon.”

”I knew it! Chairman Park, look at that. Isn’t this unfair?”

”So what? Just listen to the report now and be done with it,” Chairman Park Yeongil replied indifferently.

In the end, I had no choice but to recount everything that had happened from the moment we arrived in Macau.

To save time, I only covered the most important points.

Naturally, any details I omitted were supplemented by Chief Secretary Kang Inhan.

”...After completely shaking off the FBI, we successfully captured Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, General Jeong Sanhak, and Director Qin Hao.”

”What was your reason for capturing Director Qin Hao?”

”He happened to be at General Jeong Sanhak’s hideout. We couldn’t simply leave him there, so we took him with us. At the time I didn’t realize it, but capturing him turned out to be a brilliant move.”

”What do you mean?”

”During interrogation, we learned that Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui had been secretly importing North Korean drugs and weapons behind Supreme Chairman Gui Tao’s back for resale.”

”Why would Vice Chairman Chen take such a risk by importing North Korean drugs and weapons?”

”Vice Chairman Chen had been secretly building up his own forces in preparation for a coup.”

”What a scumbag. Were those North Korean drugs and weapons imported through Korea Trading?”

I shook my head.

”The North Korean drugs and weapons were imported directly by Golden Trading, a company owned by Vice Chairman Chen.”

”I see. By the way, how does General Jeong plan to compensate the scam victims?”

”We’ve confirmed that he extorted approximately 3.5 billion won from Korean victims through the gambling syndicate. He was carrying five ten-kilogram gold bars and roughly one hundred thousand dollars in cash. Selling those five bars will generate around 6 billion won.”

”Director Cha also sold General Jeong’s hideout to Vice Chairman Wei Chen for 2.5 billion won. There is more than enough money to compensate every victim,” Chief Secretary Kang Inhan added.

”Director Cha, you said General Jeong extorted 3.5 billion won. How did he manage to accumulate that much wealth?”

”He targeted not only Koreans but foreigners as well.”

”Hmm... what a despicable bastard.”

Chairman Yoon Jongu shook his head with a sigh.

Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong then joined the conversation.

”Director Cha, why didn’t General Jeong transfer the money back to North Korea?”

”The North Korean government didn’t even know he was running an underground gambling syndicate.”

”I see. Then why did he keep his assets in gold bars instead of cash?”

”One kilogram of gold is worth roughly eight hundred thousand dollars.”

In other words, it came down to portability and value density.

”I understand that, but couldn’t he simply have deposited the money in a bank?”

”The Chinese government had no idea North Korea had established a secret network in Macau.”

”So he kept everything in gold in case of an emergency?”

”Exactly, Commissioner Choi.”

At that moment, Chief of Staff Lee Jihun asked another question.

”Director Cha, does the U.S. government know we’ve captured Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol?”

”Deputy Director Jo was captured without attracting any attention. We completely shook off both the CIA and the FBI before transferring him onto the submarine. Even if they suspect something, this round belongs to us.”

”Hmm... now that I think about it, you’re right.”

”If there are no more questions about Deputy Director Jo, I’ll move on to the capture of former President Go Yeongjun.”

”Please continue.”

”I decided to locate his hideout through the Triad.”

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan and I took turns reporting the operation to capture former President Go Yeongjun and the spectacular raid on Politburo member Liu Peiqi’s countryside villa.

”...In the end, we removed 205 gold bars weighing twenty-five kilograms each from Liu Peiqi’s villa.”

”You didn’t leave behind any evidence of the break-in?”

”I was worried about that myself, so I checked everything several times. There wasn’t a single trace.”

”That’s good. But if former President Go was only supposed to receive forty-nine bars from Politburo member Liu, why did you take all two hundred and five?”

”Tsk, tsk. You’re surprisingly slow today,” Chairman Park Yeongil answered before I could.

”What did you say?!”

Chairman Yoon Jongu flared up instantly.

Chairman Park gave him an irritated look before continuing.

”If exactly forty-nine bars had disappeared, former President Go would have become the prime suspect immediately.”

”Ahem... I hadn’t thought of that. My mistake.”

”Since you understand, that’s good enough.”

Chairman Park cut him off and turned toward me.

”Did you sell the gold from Liu Peiqi’s villa to Chairman Zhen Weiliang?”

”No. I sold it to Vice Chairman Wei Chen.”

”Why him?”

”No matter how you look at it, the gold from Politburo member Liu’s villa was stolen property. Vice Chairman Wei proposed buying it, melting it down, and only then putting it back into circulation to eliminate any risks. I thought it was a reasonable proposal, so I sold it to him at ten percent below the international market price.”

”Hmm. I see.”

”Vice Chairman Wei planned to resell the refined gold to Chairman Zhen Weiliang.”

”And Chairman Zhen agreed to buy it?”

”Supreme Chairman Gui Tao and Chairman Zhen are sworn brothers. With that relationship in play, selling the gold won’t be difficult.”

Chairman Yoon Jongu asked curiously,

”Director Cha, how much did you sell it to Vice Chairman Wei Chen for?”

”At a ten percent discount from the international market price.”

”Even if it’s stolen property, wasn’t that far too cheap?”

It was time to correct Chairman Yoon’s line of thinking.

”The gold from Liu Peiqi’s villa represents unearned income.”

”Unearned income? What do you mean?”

”Former President Go Yeongjun returned the 1.15 trillion won he had paid Politburo member Liu to purchase the gold. In addition, he successfully recovered the 50 billion won commission that had been paid to Vice President Liu Shen.”

”Ah, now I understand. Then what do you plan to do with the proceeds from selling the gold?”

”The sale brought in 3.7 billion dollars. Of that amount, 110 million dollars will be distributed as bonuses to the employees who accompanied me to Macau.”

Chairman Yoon Jongu looked toward Chief Secretary Kang Inhan.

As if he had already anticipated the question, Kang briefly worked something out on his phone’s calculator before replying,

”Forty employees went to Macau. That comes to roughly 2.75 million dollars in bonuses per person.”

”Director Cha, aren’t those bonuses a little excessive?”

”Without those employees, we couldn’t have transported the gold out of Liu Peiqi’s villa. Nor could we have captured Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol and former President Go Yeongjun. The amount is by no means excessive.”

”In that case, I have no objection. Continue.”

”We confirmed that former President Go Yeongjun embezzled 1.8 trillion won from the company. We recovered 1.75 trillion won, and I intend to cover the remaining 50 billion won from the proceeds of the gold sale.”

”And why would you do that?”

Chairman Yoon Jongu’s voice carried a hint of disapproval.

Naturally, I wasn’t concerned in the slightest because I was completely confident I could convince him.

”Without former President Go’s cooperation, we never would have discovered that Politburo member Liu was storing gold in his villa.”

”So you’re saying the 50 billion won is payment for the information he provided?”

”Exactly, Chairman.”

”And what will you do with the remaining money?”

”I intend to donate it to the government.”

”What?!”

Chief of Staff Lee Jihun exclaimed in complete surprise.

”Without the National Intelligence Service’s agents, we couldn’t have captured Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol. The Navy also dispatched a submarine specifically to extract him from Macau. Taking all those factors into account, the remaining funds should go to the government.”

”I understand your reasoning, but the amount is enormous.”

”As I told Chairman Yoon earlier, the proceeds from selling the gold are unearned income.”

”Chief of Staff Lee, accept Director Cha’s offer.”

Chairman Park Yeongil decisively settled the matter.

”Chairman Park, thank you sincerely for your generosity.”

”You shouldn’t thank me. Thank Director Cha.”

”Ha ha ha! Is that so?”

While the atmosphere in the study remained warm, Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong asked another question that had been on his mind.

”Director Cha, what will happen to Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui and Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan now?”

”Vice Chairman Chen has gone into hiding and is waiting for an opportunity to launch a counterattack.”

”But his entire faction has been destroyed. Can he really strike back?”

”His only path to becoming the Triad’s leader is to eliminate Vice Chairman Wei Chen.”

”Ah, now I understand. What about Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan?”

”The United States and Japan intend to turn the fact that his company, Eastern Shipping, transported North Korean weapons into a major international scandal. Given that, his future is likely to resemble a candle in a storm.”

”Hmm. That sounds entirely plausible.”

Chief of Staff Lee Jihun then looked at me with concern.

”Director Cha, both Vice Chairman Wei Chen and the U.S. government know that you were the one who emptied Politburo member Liu Peiqi’s villa.”

He was implying that either Wei Chen or the Americans might leak the information to Liu Peiqi.

”Vice Chairman Wei despises Politburo member Liu, so the chances of him leaking anything are extremely small. Even if he tried, we have him by his Achilles’ heel, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

”His Achilles’ heel?”

”We possess the Triad’s secret archives.”

”Well... with information like that in your hands, he certainly won’t dare make a move. But what protection do we have against the U.S. government?”

”The U.S. government is our accomplice, so exposing us to Politburo member Liu wouldn’t benefit them.”

”Why is that?”

”Because we robbed Politburo member Liu’s villa together with FBI agents.”

”Ah...”

Chief of Staff Lee Jihun nodded, finally understanding everything.