“It’s fucking hot.”
Zamboanga International Airport.
The first thing Manager Kim Taeyoung of Daeyeon Development’s TF team said as he left the airport was a curse, and the next was a complaint.
His face was full of irritation.
And it wasn’t just Kim Taeyoung.
Every member of the TF team who had entered the country with him looked sour.
They had the faces of people who had come here reluctantly, as if they’d been pushed from behind.
With deeply crumpled expressions, they stood in front of Gate 3 of the airport, waiting for the people who were supposed to pick them up.
.
.
.
Manager Kim Taeyoung, who had joined the TF team as the surveying specialist, was in an extremely foul mood.
He didn’t like a single thing about this situation.
If he had his way, he would hand in his resignation right now and leave the company.
If not for the jeonse apartment he had moved into not long ago after maxing out his loan limit.
Loan interest, maintenance fees, phone bills, utilities, transportation costs, insurance, even subscription services.
Living in Seoul meant money went out just for breathing.
Kim Taeyoung needed his salary.
You could make several times that measly salary doing something else.
This company wasn’t right for you.
You couldn’t achieve your dreams here.
You didn’t fit in with the people.
He had seen far too many seniors, juniors, and colleagues quit because they didn’t feel good about things, only for it to end badly.
They all had one thing in common that they said.
Outside was truly hell, so unless they kicked you out, cling on no matter what.
So Kim Taeyoung decided to endure.
He chose to keep his head down as much as possible.
But then the company had been sold.
To some gangster bastard.
When it had been sold to a private equity fund, he had thought there was nothing to be done.
But hearing it had been sold to a gangster made him feel embarrassed for no reason.
He was ashamed to be working at a company owned by a gangster bastard.
Unfamiliar men in black suits began coming and going through the company.
He never had to work with them directly or meet them face-to-face,
but even just passing by them was frightening.
According to rumors, they were the most brutal organization in Seoul.
He heard they had bought the company by threatening to cut off the president’s arms and legs.
It felt as if the company had become a mob company.
He didn’t want to get mixed up with them.
He wanted to quit.
Still, he held it in.
Wasn’t it enough to just do his own work well?
All he had to do was keep his head down and diligently handle the tasks he was given.
But now they were telling him to go to the Philippines and prepare for construction?
Prepare for construction?
They wanted them to prepare for construction?
He was furious.
What the hell did they know?
Were they saying that knowing anything at all?
What did they know about construction?
Those ignorant bastards gathered up all of the company’s aces into a TF team and told them to go to the Philippines.
Those morons who didn’t even know how construction projects progressed were telling them to go to the Philippines and prepare for construction.
“That’s not how construction works, mister,” rose all the way to his throat, but he barely managed to swallow it down.
He was good at holding things in even on a normal day.
He wasn’t in the department in charge of bidding, but he knew the order of a construction project.
Once the tender notice was posted, you surveyed the site, took measurements, conducted a basic investigation, reviewed the design, analyzed competitors, gathered all of that together, and submitted the final bid documents.
If you won the bid, you proceeded with construction. If the bid failed, that was the end of it.
Only after winning the bid could you prepare for construction.
Only then could you prepare construction according to the design you had submitted.
But they had come to the Philippines without even seeing a tender notice.
And they were being told to prepare for construction?
They were supposed to identify the necessary materials, manpower, and equipment according to the design and report back.
Where were they building?
What were they building?
You had to know that before you could prepare.
Depending on the weather, the terrain, the soil, and the type of construction, the difficulty level, equipment, and manpower required all changed.
A sigh escaped him on its own from the sheer hopelessness of it.
The thought of working with bastards like this made the future look bleak.
He felt the urge to quit so badly.
.
.
.
They had been told to wait at the airport and that a pickup vehicle would come.
While waiting for the pickup vehicle, he was smoking a cigarette.
In front of Manager Kim Taeyoung was Assistant Manager Song Minho, the youngest member of the team and the person in charge of support.
They were the only two smokers on the TF team.
“Is this your first time in the Philippines?”
“No. I came to Cebu once with friends.”
“Yeah? Must’ve been fun. I went to Boracay once ages ago, had a hell of a time, and never looked at the Philippines again.”
“Boracay? But they say Boracay is amazing. Isn’t it one of the world’s top three beaches?”
“The beach is incredible. But getting there is no joke.”
“Don’t you just take a plane?”
“No. The route there is brutal. You have to take a plane, get off and take a bus, then a boat, then a tuk-tuk to get there. It took me twelve hours from the time I left home. I thought I was going to America or something.”
“Seriously? I didn’t know that.”
“Do you know what’s even more shocking?”
“Huh? There’s something even more shocking?”
“You have to repeat that whole thing on the way back. Take the tuk-tuk again, take the boat, take the bus, take the plane, then drive back home. On the way there, at least you’ve got the excitement of going on a trip. Coming back, I was so exhausted I thought I’d die.”
“Ugh, I’m getting chills just thinking about it.”
As the two of them smoked and made small talk, a luxurious minibus pulled in.
“They have buses like that here too?”
“I know, right? That’s interesting. Are some VIPs coming here today?”
“Well, I’m sure they have VIPs here too.”
“Keukeu, I guess so.”
At that moment, the luxurious minibus stopped, and a driver in uniform got out.
“Are you the people from Daeyeon Development?”
“Yes, that’s us.”
“I’ve come to escort you. Please board the bus. Leave your suitcases there. We’ll load them for you.”
The driver and someone who looked like his assistant guided the TF team to the bus.
Then they loaded the suitcases and equipment into the vehicle.
Meanwhile, the TF team boarded the bus.
Cool air-conditioning greeted them.
With just one air conditioner, it became a completely different world from outside.
The fact that there was air-conditioning made them happy.
Once the luggage was loaded, the bus departed.
At a glance, the road conditions didn’t look good, but the bus drove quietly without rattling.
Either the driver was good, the bus was good, or both.
After driving for about twenty minutes, the bus stopped in front of a hotel.
Hotel staff were already waiting outside.
They handled everything on their own without the team having to lift a finger.
When they sat down in the lobby, the staff completed the check-in for them.
The rooms assigned to them were one suite and six executive rooms.
One room per person, plus a suite.
The suite had probably been arranged out of consideration for a team that would often need to gather for meetings and other matters.
But who had done all this for them?
It definitely wasn’t the company.
If the company had arranged it, they would probably have been put two to a room.
“You’ve checked your rooms, correct?”
“Yes.”
The man who had driven them spoke smoothly with a practiced smile, like a guide.
“The meeting is scheduled for ten o’clock tomorrow. I will come to pick you up at nine, so please be ready by then.”
“Yes.”
Perhaps because they had been treated so well, the TF team’s mood had softened somewhat, and they answered readily.
“And there is one request I must make. You must absolutely follow it.”
“What is it?”
“Public security in Zamboanga is not very good. Especially for foreigners. Do not leave the hotel under any circumstances.”
The team members knew that much already.
Still, there was a question.
“Then what about meals?”
“You may eat at the hotel restaurant or order room service. We will take care of the cost. Don’t feel burdened; order whatever you want. Alcohol and beverages are fine as well. Please enjoy yourselves freely.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But do not leave the hotel. It’s dangerous.”
“Understood.”
Leaving the TF team’s reply behind, the driver left the hotel, and the TF team gathered for dinner, briefly prepared meeting materials, then each returned to their rooms to rest.
.
.
.
At nine o’clock the next day, that man came to pick them up.
And the place they headed to was City Hall.
Patrick greeted them.
“Welcome. You must have had a long trip. I am Patrick, the mayor of Zamboanga.”
The TF team was startled by the sudden appearance of the mayor.
The mayor had come in person?
Wasn’t this the sort of matter that could have ended at the level of the construction department head?
Everyone was surprised, but as expected, the first to collect himself was the team leader.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Team Leader Han Jaewon. Thanks to your consideration, we were able to come here comfortably.”
Executive Director Han Jaewon, the leader of the TF team, greeted him on their behalf, and we took our seats.
“But what kind of construction are we supposed to be doing? If we had known in advance, we would have prepared, but we had no information, so we couldn’t prepare properly.”
As soon as they sat down, Team Leader Han Jaewon spoke first.
In truth, the most frustrated person was probably Team Leader Han Jaewon.
Even while leading the TF team, he had come all the way to Zamboanga in the Philippines without knowing what they were doing or how they were doing it.
Zamboanga was not an easy place to come to.
Zamboanga was a no-travel zone.
Mindanao was under a Level 3 red alert, but Zamboanga, along with Sulu and Basilan, was under a Level 4 black alert, a travel-banned area.
To come here, they had even submitted an application for exceptional passport use permission and a pledge to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Having come all the way to such a dangerous place without even knowing what construction they would be doing had been tormenting the team leader the entire time.
“I imagine that was the case. I apologize. We also tried to organize things on our end, but it wasn’t easy.”
Patrick stopped speaking for a moment, then stood in front of the monitor.
The monitor turned on, showing a map of Zamboanga City.
Patrick pointed to the map and began speaking again.
“This is Zamboanga City.
As you likely saw on your way here, our infrastructure is extremely poor.
We want to change this environment.
The roads and bridges need to be repaired, and the port and docks must be renovated as well.
We also need to build breakwaters. To prepare for flooding, we must reinforce rivers and streams.
At the current stage, it is difficult even to discuss things like water and sewage systems or strengthening the power grid.
That is why we could not tell you in advance.
We did not know what to do first.
It was difficult for us to say what we wanted done.
I am not a construction expert.
Zamboanga does not have that much money either.
But I want our citizens to live in a better environment.
I will give you a list of the construction projects we need.
From there, you can tell us how many Daeyeon Development can handle.”
After hearing that, Daeyeon Development’s TF team was so shocked their mouths fell open.
In other words, Zamboanga had a list of construction projects that needed to be done, and they were being told to choose the ones they needed or wanted from among them.
They were openly saying, “Just pick the good ones.”
The team leader could not understand the situation.
“Mayor, we are extremely grateful for your words. But to be honest, I don’t quite understand. This doesn’t seem like the sort of favor just anyone can receive. May I ask the reason?”
Mayor Patrick spoke with a benevolent expression.
“Let us just say that Daeyeon Development’s new president is very capable.”
.
.
.
The TF team returned to the hotel with the list.
As soon as they arrived, they set down the construction project list they had brought from City Hall.
It was an enormous volume, enough to fill several boxes.
From now on, the TF team had to review all of this and choose the projects best suited for Daeyeon Development.
They suddenly became busy.
They gathered in the suite and began checking the documents.
At first, they started lightly, listing things out and dividing them into categories.
They had to confirm what kinds of projects there were.
But as they organized them, they found several projects that seemed like they could be carried out together, two or three at a time.
“There’s a river embankment project here, right? I think we could build a road alongside it while doing this. Then we’d be doing two projects, and the cost would drop dramatically.”
“Here too. It would be much more efficient to work on the road and the water and sewage systems together. It would solve the leakage problem and prevent road subsidence.”
“If we’re burying things anyway, it would be best to bury the power lines and communication lines together too. Get rid of the utility poles, clean up the city, and reduce power outages.”
“The Philippines has a lot of typhoons, so blackouts are frequent. That would probably be really good, wouldn’t it?”
A smile formed at the corners of Team Leader Han Jaewon’s mouth as he listened.
And he immediately gave work instructions.
“Good. This is a great opportunity for us to take on multiple projects in a short period of time. Manager Kim Taeyoung, identify the locations and cadastral maps. Director Park Jihun, check the difficulty level of the projects.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Manager Jeong Yerin, look into local laws and administrative services. Director Lee Sumin, help her with that.”
“Understood.”
As they were all top performers at their respective companies, the moment they got to work, their eyes changed.
They dove into their tasks with that uniquely Korean urgency and insane efficiency.
They had no intention of wrapping things up with just one major job.
They were planning to knock out as many projects as possible in one go.
They were envisioning a display of extreme efficiency.
******
Beijing, China
Ministry of State Security (MSS) Headquarters Office.
Zhou Zhiming was receiving a report with a grave expression.
“What? You couldn’t find the Ascend seller?”
“My apologies.”
“Don’t we have distribution channels? The guys moving the product. If we lean on them hard enough, shouldn’t it lead us up the chain somehow?”
“Ascend has completely vanished. It seems the product is no longer being supplied.”
“Really?”
“The routes I’ve checked are the same.”
After the first team leader’s report, Zhou Zhiming grew even more disappointed by the second team leader’s words.
The distribution of Ascend was concerning enough, but Zhou Zhiming’s own Ascend supply was also running dangerously low.
He grew anxious.
He had to secure Ascend quickly.
“Then what do we do? We need to make contact.”
“We will find a way.”
“Tell them we have business to discuss. Somehow get us a line to them.”
“Yes sir.”
******
These days, things are truly peaceful.
I’m seriously considering just living like this.
The conquest of China, Ascend—all of it feels utterly meaningless.
As if I’d even make much off that.
Ah!
Of course, it’s not like I’m in it for the money.
I have been trying to fulfill the dreams of those Chinese bastards, sure, but…
Do I really have to fulfill those Chinese bastards’ dreams for them?
Dreams are meant to be achieved on your own.
They’re not something someone else does for you.
These days, I’m staying in Darapanan.
I initially stayed because of Ascend and Edward, but living here turned out to be pretty nice.
Back when I was in Bohol, people constantly hounded me for meetings and reports, leaving me no room to breathe.
Plus, I never had a moment of peace with people constantly coming in and out just because I was staying at a hotel.
Whenever I tried to take a breather, I’d be swamped with tour guide work.
Here, all of that has dropped off significantly.
Admittedly, Scott nags me from time to time, but only having to worry about him makes things easy.
I can just kick back and relax.
It’s freaking awesome.
I earn roughly the same whether I work or not.
Money is piling up steadily.
Even now, my main source of income is the casino.
It’s not that Candy Tour, the hotel, crypto, arms dealing, or the gold mine don’t make money.
It’s just that the casino makes so damn much.
Besides, I’ve got nothing to spend it on.
I’ll never touch politics again.
I won’t be making any reckless decisions like running elections.
There’s no need to spend big money either.
I could live out the rest of my life on what I’ve already made without any major issues.
I’m not cut out for business.
I just somehow ended up here.
I started a tourism business to move drugs, and somehow it led to all this.
I’ve missed this kind of tranquility.
Even Edward, who used to annoy me constantly, doesn’t come out of the lab these days.
He seems to have realized something, but I didn’t ask.
As if I’d understand if I asked?
As if I’d get it even if Edward explained?
If I don’t understand, I just trust him and do what he asks of me.
If it doesn’t work out, so be it. If it goes well, I praise him.
Meddling without knowing, saying this should be done this way and that should be done that way, only makes things awkward for everyone.
I was worried he’d ruin his health obsessing over research, but unexpectedly, Sin Jung-gi manages Edward quite well.
Who knew that psycho bastard had a knack for management.
You really never know with people.
Seems like everyone has some hidden talent.
Just then, the phone rang.
It was Han-rin of Yeonggye Line.
“Yeah. What is it?”
— Have you been well?
“Get to the point.”
— These days, Public Security and the MSS are going crazy looking for Ascend sellers.
“Don’t they always do that? All our sellers went into hiding, right?”
— Yes sir. When you halted Ascend sales and told them to hide, they all went completely underground.
“Then that’s that.”
— You would think so, but… this is different. I don’t think they’re trying to conduct a crackdown.
“It’s not a crackdown?”
— It seems they have a message to deliver.
“A message? What message?”
— I asked on the sly, and they said they don’t know either. They simply said they absolutely had something to say to the Ascend seller or manufacturer and asked me to tell them if I happened to find out anything, then left.
“Hmm… do you have any guess what this is about?”
— I did hear something, but it seemed so absurd that I didn’t mention it…
“What is it?”
— There’s talk of legalizing Ascend, apparently.
“What?? Legal???”
Never in my life had I received such a shock.
It felt as though I’d been struck hard on the head with a hammer.
Legalize, of all things.