“What the hell? Why is this psychopath bastard here again? Didn’t you hear me say to get rid of him?”
I got angry seeing Sin Jung-gi walking over in nothing but his underwear.
“We got rid of him earlier, but he seems to have come back. I apologize. We’ll remove him right away.”
“This time, take him far away. Somewhere he can’t walk back from.”
“Understood.”
As the subordinates tried to drag Sin Jung-gi away, he rushed in front of me and fell to his knees.
“Please spare me just once. I was wrong.”
Sin Jung-gi, looking like a beggar, bowed his head deeply and pleaded for his life.
He wasn’t the Sin Jung-gi who had held his head high and shouted loudly before.
Desperation to survive was seeping out of him.
Did he get a taste of Mindanao’s heat?
“Spare you? What do you mean, spare you? I have no intention of killing you. I simply don’t care about you at all. Whether you live, die, or drop dead on the street, I don’t care about you in the slightest. We just have to live according to our own fates. I live my life, you live yours. Okay?”
“I will do well.”
“Do well at what? Confessing to your ex-girlfriend? ‘I’ll do better’? I’d rather you just quietly fuck off.”
“Please, just spare me once.”
“What’s this psychopath bastard saying. What are you doing—hurry up and get rid of him.”
As the subordinates approached, Sin Jung-gi pressed himself even lower to the ground.
“Please spare me.”
“If you keep this up, I might just cut your Achilles tendons and dump you. Then you’ll really die.”
“If I’m going to die anyway, please kill me here. If I must die, I think it’s better to die here.”
“What are you talking about. Why would I kill you? No. Too annoying. Then contact Korea. Go to Korea. Wouldn’t prison be nice? Eating three meals a day, living by your favorite routine—you’d be happy, wouldn’t you?”
“If there is anything I can do to help here, I will do anything.”
“I don’t trust a psychopath bastard like you. Lose your temper and you’ll smash someone’s head with a rock again, won’t you?”
“No. I can change. I will live diligently and hard. I mean it. Please spare me just once. I will do everything I’m told.”
“Sigh… What a pain…”
******
Asend Factory in Darapanan, Philippines.
Edward was so focused on his research in the lab that he didn’t even notice the day was ending.
To increase production tenfold.
When Alex asked if production could be increased tenfold, he had answered that it was possible, going along with the mood.
Somehow, it had felt like saying no there wouldn’t have been an option.
And a part of him had thought that maybe it would work out if he tried hard enough.
That was how the research began.
He was realizing all too painfully how vastly different thought and reality were.
It didn’t work.
It wasn’t working at all like he’d thought.
It wasn’t something that could be done by simply increasing the ingredients tenfold.
Nor was it possible just because people were helping.
For example, think about cooking instant noodles.
A person who cooked one package now has to cook ten.
Cooking one and cooking ten are completely different.
Not only is it difficult to adjust the soup powder and water amount, but if you boil ten in one pot, they become a perfect mush.
Then can’t you just boil them one by one in ten places?
But there aren’t ten pots?
Then can’t you just buy ten pots?
Then you need ten cooks.
But this isn’t at a level where it can be cooked like instant noodles.
It requires far more precision, and the people doing it need relevant knowledge as well.
Even with the pots, there was no one to boil them.
So either Edward had to boil ten pots by himself, or he had to come up with a method to boil ten in one place.
Naturally, the taste had to come out the same regardless of which pot was used.
The amount of soup powder, the amount of water, the heat intensity, even the chewiness of the noodles had to be identical.
Medicine was the same.
It had to be produced at the same purity.
Edward was clutching his head over this unsolvable problem.
The problem was so unsolvable that he even thought about giving all of this up.
But the environment he was in now was too good to do that.
During the day he made medicine, and in his spare time he conducted research.
He didn’t want to give up this life of hanging out with people, eating delicious food, and falling asleep watching dramas in the evenings over fried chicken and beer.
Honestly, he was happy here.
He didn’t want to leave this place.
Moreover, he now had someone to help him.
He had said he didn’t need anyone, but they told him to take the person and use him.
He had always worked alone and thought having someone around would be uncomfortable, but having someone there was actually more convenient.
“Jung-gi, go get some materials.”
“Jung-gi, can you clean up here?”
“Jung-gi, what did I say earlier? You don’t remember this?”
“Jung-gi.”
“Jung-gi.”
Edward had a new button to press.
********
MHK Private Equity Fund, Seoul Branch.
Seo Dae-hun visited the office located in Gangnam.
Kim Chang-su, the Head of M&A at MHK Private Equity Fund, asked Seo Dae-hun.
“You want to buy Daeyeon Development?”
“For now?”
Leaning back deeply into the sofa and fidgeting with the coffee cup in his hand, Seo Dae-hun replied listlessly.
Kim Chang-su’s face wrinkled slightly at the sight.
He didn’t like that someone who looked so young had come to buy Daeyeon Development, nor that he sat with his legs crossed and spat out casual speech left and right.
To Kim Chang-su’s memory, no one who came to negotiate acted like this.
These people’s goal didn’t seem to be buying Daeyeon Development, but something else entirely.
He didn’t know what that was.
He decided he needed to wrap this up quickly and send them on their way.
His time was too precious.
“For now? What do you mean?”
“I need to see if the goods are right before I buy them, don’t I? I have to see the merchandise before I can make an estimate.”
“Aha. So our president is the cautious type. You’ve never heard of Daeyeon Development?”
“I’ve heard of it, but we can’t buy merchandise just based on its name, can we?”
“Sometimes reputation explains everything. Isn’t the name value of ‘Daeyeon Development’ enough?”
“We’re the practical type, so we value specs over names. I’d like to check the package condition a bit.”
“We’ll prepare the documents for you.”
“I’m illiterate, so I can’t read those well. And don’t you show the actual goods here when selling merchandise?”
“Of course we show them. To customers who are actually purchasing.”
“Isn’t the order reversed? Don’t I need to see the goods before I can decide whether to buy or not?”
Kim Chang-su was trying to block the due diligence by any means.
The private equity fund had already sold off everything profitable from Daeyeon Development.
Land, assets, construction bid rights, licenses.
They had even sold the building Daeyeon Development was using and switched to paying monthly rent.
In the long run, it was nonsensical behavior, but the private equity fund was going to exit anyway, so it didn’t matter.
If it could make money ‘now’, they sold it all.
Later? That was a problem for whoever bought it later, not something the private equity fund needed to worry about.
If due diligence was conducted in this situation and the circumstances became clear, the merit would drop.
He couldn’t take them to a lifeless office.
He had to hide and conceal as much as possible.
The due diligence had to be done roughly, and the battle had to be fought with documents.
Information had to be buried in mountains of paperwork so that even if seen, it couldn’t be found.
That way, the private equity fund could boast that they had provided all information.
It would become free of legal problems.
That’s why they said they would only provide documents.
Making the company look good through document manipulation was what the private equity fund did best.
Making nonsensical contracts was also what the private equity fund did best.
If they didn’t like that, they could just kick over their chairs and leave.
It was also what Kim Chang-su wished for most.
“Wouldn’t there be differences for each item? The standard procedure is to review the documents, say okay, and then we proceed to due diligence. We’ll give you the documents, so review them carefully, and if you decide you want to purchase then, make another appointment and come back. Even if we do due diligence, it’s just an office—what could possibly be there?”
“Sigh… It’s been a while since I felt this uncomfortable coming to buy something. The customer service here is a mess. If I asked for the president to come out, would that be me throwing my weight around?”
“Probably?”
“Then let me throw my weight around a bit. Call the president out.”
“Hahahaha. That’s not the kind of president who would come out just because you asked. To be exact, he’s not even the president. And here, I am the person in charge.”
“This place is fun. Chief Go.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“What business card did you give this bastard?”
“I gave him the Seoul Services representative card.”
“So that’s why this bastard’s neck is so stiff. You didn’t bring any others?”
“The only others are the bar and the loan shark cards…”
“Give him those. Wouldn’t that scare him a bit?”
“Hahaha. No matter what you give us, we’re the same. A truckload of people come here every day with all sorts of ridiculous business cards. Most of them are fake. We’re just looking for someone to buy our goods at a fair price.”
“That’s why I came to buy. But you won’t show me the goods and just tell me to buy? Is that right?”
“I told you. We’ll give you the documents, so check those and match the appropriate amount. We have to take things slowly and step by step.”
“I see. Chief Go, how much did you say the estimated acquisition price was here?”
“10 billion won.”
“Then even if I offer 20 billion won, would you still take things slowly and step by step?”
“Customer, if you pay an expedited fee, we must provide service accordingly. Shall I prepare the contract right away?”
“Kwahahaha. This bastard is fun. What’s your name?”
“I’m President Kim Chang-su.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I heard you were the representative of Seoul Services.”
“Who usually becomes a services rep? I have loan shark cards and ten pro cards too.”
“……”
“Seeing as you don’t answer, you either don’t know or you’re pretending not to know. You’ve got more guts than I thought. The problem is using those guts in the wrong place.”
“If you use violence here, wouldn’t things become inconvenient in many ways?”
“That’s right. Using violence makes things inconvenient. That’s why we mainly use secret burials instead of violence. If you bury them so they can’t talk, problems don’t arise.”
The confident expression on Kim Chang-su’s face changed slightly.
This man didn’t seem to be saying this just offhandedly to scare him.
“Chief Go. There’s a broker bastard who arranged this meeting, right? Call that bastard here. I think he’s the problem.”
“Sir, you can’t do this here. I’d like you to leave now. If you refuse, I’ll call security.”
As the atmosphere took a strange turn, Kim Chang-su tried to stop Seo Dae-hun.
“Call him. You do it your way, and I’ll do it my way for once.”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“What? What am I doing? I’m someone who came here to buy goods, but you won’t show me the goods, treat me like a scammer, and are about to kick me out—shouldn’t I be offended?”
“You had no intention of buying anyway, did you? You don’t even have the money?”
“Look at this bastard. You had no intention of selling from the start? Then why the fuck did you make an appointment? Telling a busy guy to come and go like this.”
“Did I ask you to come? You said you’d come, so I told you to come. And you little punk bastard, stop with the casual speech. You rotten little punk.”
Upon hearing this, Lawyer Go Seung-min tried to step in, but Dae-hun stopped him.
“I never thought I’d get this pissed at a guy wearing a suit and tie. I’m not even dealing with gangster bastards.”
Seo Dae-hun picked up his phone.
“Geun-su. Ten minutes. No, I’ll give you twenty. Gather all the boys in Seoul and line them up in front of the MHK office.”
Through the phone, only a brief “Understood” came through, devoid of any doubt.
After hanging up with Geun-su, Dae-hun made another call.
“Boss. How have you been? The boys will be gathering in Gangnam today. I’m contacting you in advance so you won’t be surprised. Is it a big deal? Some bastard treated me like a scammer. So, I’m just saying I’m not a scammer. That’s about it. Since we’re gathering in Gangnam, we should at least eat some meat before leaving. They say Gangnam has the best samgyeopsal, don’t they? Yes, yes, yes, I called to tell you not to worry. Boss. Have I ever caused you worry? I’ll take care of it well within my own bounds. What I’m best at is handling matters quietly so no one knows, isn’t it? Yes, yes, yes. The schedule to meet this weekend is unchanged, right? Yes. Then I’ll see you this weekend.”
Chief Go Seung-min, who had heard the call, asked Dae-hun.
“May I ask who you were speaking with?”
“The Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. But shouldn’t I call the Chief of Gangnam Police Station too?”
“I think it’ll be fine. What big trouble could happen?”
“Yeah. I think it might get big. I fucking hate that bastard.”
“Then we just need to quietly take care of that bastard. Don’t worry. Boss. I’m here. If you handle him, I’ll finish it.”
This meant that even if Seo Dae-hun were to work Kim Chang-su over, Go Seung-min would take the blame instead.
Chief Go Seung-min muttered under his breath a passage that appeared in the chronicles of Seo Dae-hun.