“This place is probably a little different from what you’re thinking.”
“Is that so?”
“We did some construction near there too, and the ground was much softer than we expected, so we had a really hard time. We barely managed to solve it by driving in piles, but… even now, thinking about it makes my heart sink.”
“Really? The documents here say there aren’t any problems.”
“Don’t trust the documents the city hall gave you. You don’t know when they measured it or who did it. And you know even less about whether they did it properly. I’m sure city hall gave them to you because they thought the materials they had might be useful, but if you proceed with construction trusting those documents, you’ll be sweating bullets later.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. One hundred percent. It may take more time and money at first, but doing the surveying yourself will be better for your mental health.”
Representative Kang Jaeho, who had crossed over to Bohol for work, came to Mindanao and sought out Daeyeon Development’s TF team.
The TF team felt as though they had gained a powerful ally when they met Representative Kang Jaeho.
They didn’t know about other parts of the Philippines, but Koreans were rare in Mindanao.
There was nowhere to obtain information.
But now a Korean had appeared.
And he was a partner with whom they would have to collaborate going forward.
Perhaps because they were in the same industry, they understood each other well.
He gave them an enormous number of tips that would be useful in actual practice.
The TF team was able to obtain information they couldn’t have acquired even with money.
It was the best.
For his part, Representative Kang Jaeho also saw this collaboration as a major opportunity.
Representative Kang Jaeho was not an architectural expert but an interior contractor.
Although Alex had ordered him to take charge of the construction and he was managing the business, he still had many shortcomings.
He knew particularly little about construction and infrastructure projects.
Most of the work Patrick had handed over consisted of infrastructure projects.
Although the construction was proceeding, Kang Jaeho was not satisfied with it.
The methods used by Filipino technicians were extremely inefficient and improvised.
They seemed to do things roughly according to the circumstances at hand, without any set rules.
Kang Jaeho disliked that, but he had no alternative.
He had neither the technical skill nor the knowledge to force the Filipino technicians into line.
He often had no choice but to follow the local technicians’ opinions.
But then a good opportunity arose.
Collaboration with Daeyeon Development.
Kang Jaeho decided to learn as much as he could from this opportunity and actively pursued the collaboration with Daeyeon Development.
He asked in advance for their understanding, saying that he wanted to follow them around and learn this and that.
Daeyeon Development not only readily agreed, but also offered to provide him with the relevant materials.
“Then I suppose we should request an additional survey team from headquarters?”
“I think that would be best. We need to conduct a survey before we can draw up the plans.”
“Understood. I’ll have to make the request to headquarters. Thank you for helping us so much today.”
“Not at all. I’ll be following you around from now on too, bothering you with all sorts of questions.”
“If that’s all, you’re welcome anytime. And we’ll keep what you told us today among ourselves.”
“Yes. I’d appreciate it if you could, as much as possible. Then I’ll be going.”
“Sure. Get back safely, and see you next week.”
“Yes.”
.
.
.
After Representative Kang Jaeho left, the TF team organized the contents of the meeting.
There had been various matters to discuss, but the most urgent was the surveying.
According to Representative Kang Jaeho, the reliability of the materials provided by city hall was extremely low.
They had actually conducted a survey before, and the results differed from the city hall’s data, so they had been suspicious. Now that question had been cleanly resolved.
The city hall’s data was wrong.
The only answer was to conduct the survey themselves.
With their current personnel, they might somehow be able to carry out the survey, but it would take too long and be inefficient.
It would be better to have experts do it.
They immediately requested that headquarters dispatch a survey team.
And while talking with Representative Kang Jaeho, they learned another important fact they had not known before.
There was a powerful figure in the Philippines.
A magnate influential enough to move Philippine politics and the economy to some extent.
That magnate, who possessed absolute power in Mindanao in particular, was best friends with Daeyeon Development’s new president.
Unless the relationship between the two fell apart, there would be no case of them being unable to carry out construction work in the Philippines, or being prevented from bidding, at least.
So they could assume that there would continue to be construction projects in the Philippines.
They had bought Daeyeon Development precisely to carry out these projects.
The hotel where they were currently staying could also be considered that person’s hotel.
He might not own it, but if he wanted something done, it would be done.
At first, they had thought it was absurd bragging.
But after thinking it over carefully, it seemed to be true to some extent.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain the current situation.
The mayor himself had come out to welcome them and had made arrangements for them to select and carry out whichever construction projects they wanted.
They were extremely curious about who this magnate was.
They asked who he was, but Representative Kang Jaeho merely smiled and gave them the vague answer that they would meet him someday if the opportunity arose.
.
.
.
The humid wind blowing in from the sea carried the salty smell of the ocean.
The survey team began its work early in the morning.
Even though it was still early, it was exceedingly hot.
The survey team they had requested arrived quickly.
Since Daeyeon Development’s own survey team was insufficient, they had brought in outside personnel as well.
Thanks to that, the surveying proceeded quickly.
“You got the benchmark set, right?”
“Yes, it’s set.”
Manager Kim Taeyoung checked the benchmark after confirming the total station.
“Then check the distance to the opposite side.”
A man holding a prism pole stood on the opposite side.
“Laser received. Confirmed. 223.96 meters. Error within two millimeters.”
Manager Kim Taeyoung recorded the information.
They spent the early morning moving around several locations and conducting surveys.
.
.
.
The mayor’s office in Zamboanga.
“Will you be able to complete all of these projects?”
“Yes. We’ve run the simulations several times, and it’s more than possible.”
“That’s a relief. However, there is a problem.”
“A problem?”
“It’s true that all these projects are necessary for Zamboanga right now. But our budget is a little tight if we proceed with all of them at once. These were projects originally meant to be carried out over several years, so we seem to lack the budget to complete them all this year. Even if we use the reserve funds, we’ll still be a little short.”
Executive Director Han Jaewon smiled instead at Patrick’s honest answer.
“Thank you for speaking frankly. We were also planning to adjust the costs to some extent. The amount we can save by carrying out several projects together is substantial. We shouldn’t take all of that as our own profit. Shouldn’t it benefit Zamboanga as well?”
“Has this been discussed with headquarters?”
“It’s an instruction from headquarters. The president personally ordered us to do it.”
“I see. Then let’s have the projects proceed simultaneously, use this year’s budget first, and draw up the contract on the understanding that next year’s budget will be immediately put into effect as well.”
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. Just make sure the work is done properly.”
“Construction is what we do best. We’ll proceed while paying close attention to safety so that none of the Filipino workers are injured.”
After discussing the matter with the practical staff, they were able to draw up the contract before long.
Daeyeon Development would save a great deal by carrying out several construction projects at once.
For example, if they dug up the ground to work on the roads and, rather than stopping there, laid the water pipes, power lines, and telecommunications cables at the same time, the entire project could be completed in one go.
The underground map would be neatly organized.
But if the work were carried out separately, they would have to dig up the ground, cover it again, and repave it each time.
The roads would become a patchwork, and if they happened to damage a water or sewage pipe or a power line during construction, it could result in water or power outages.
Daeyeon Development was saying that they would handle everything at once.
Of course, this was not something just anyone could do.
To create extreme efficiency, they had to prepare thoroughly in advance and run simulations.
They also needed the ability to deal with unforeseen circumstances.
But Daeyeon Development, with its long experience and technical expertise, was prepared to carry out these projects.
Zamboanga welcomed it as well.
The construction period would be shortened, and the cost would be reduced because several projects would proceed together.
The cost fell by more than 40 percent compared to carrying out the projects separately.
This was not something Zamboanga had demanded.
Daeyeon Development had voluntarily reduced the price and brought the offer to them.
They wanted to become long-term partners.
The two sides clasped hands over a contract in which both would win.
.
.
.
A Korean restaurant near the hotel.
“All right! The contract has been finalized today.”
“Wooooo!”
“You’ve all worked hard during this time. We’ve prepared kimchi stew especially for dinner tonight. It may not be much, but it’s Korean food, which you don’t get to eat often, so please enjoy it.”
“Wowww!”
Because of security concerns, they had eaten only inside the hotel.
The TF team had worked hard surveying, drawing up designs, and creating construction simulations, but the food they ate had always been inadequate.
More than inadequate, much of it simply hadn’t suited their tastes.
This was the least they could do for the TF team.
They had reserved a kimchi stew restaurant near the hotel.
The bright-red broth stimulated their salivary glands.
The pork, piled in almost as generously as the kimchi, looked delicious.
The tofu, which seemed to have absorbed a great deal of broth, looked wonderfully soft.
When they scooped up a bite, the spicy yet sour flavor was superb.
It had a deep taste, as though beef-bone broth had been added.
It was top-class kimchi stew, the sort that was hard to find even in Korea.
The rolled omelet, stir-fried fish cake, grilled fish, and roasted seaweed served as side dishes made the kimchi stew stand out even more.
The stir-fried spicy pork provided as a complimentary dish further whetted their appetites.
The white rice clung pleasantly to their mouths.
No one could let such side dishes go to waste.
“Ma’am, could we get some soju here?”
Since soju could not be left out when they were eating kimchi stew after such a long time, people began ordering it.
Everyone enjoyed the meal.
In particular, the outsourced team that had joined the survey team late had far more soju bottles piled up on their table than the others.
They were not affiliated with Daeyeon Development. They had been hastily recruited because more survey personnel were needed.
They had come for the money rather than out of any sense of belonging.
There was the unusual circumstance of being in the Philippines this time, but they had agreed to participate because the pay was higher than elsewhere.
After the meal, everyone took the bus back to the hotel.
The outsourced team came to the hotel with them, but they did not go up from the lobby to their rooms.
“Why aren’t you going up, sir?”
“Don’t you feel like having a beer?”
“Can’t we have one at the hotel bar?”
“It’s uncomfortable drinking at the hotel bar. Besides, now that we’ve come all the way here, shouldn’t we have a beer somewhere local?”
“Weren’t we told not to go out because it’s dangerous?”
“It’s right near the hotel. See? There’s a beer place over there. Let’s go have just one and come back. When we drink at the hotel, there are other teams nearby, so the alcohol doesn’t even go down properly. You have to worry about everyone else, and you can’t relax. Here, it feels like we’re the only outsiders.”
“That’s true, I suppose.”
“Let’s go have just one each.”
.
.
.
“Ahhh~~~ This is it.”
At a local pub in front of the hotel, Manager Lee Seonghun downed a glass of beer in one go.
Manager Jo Hyeonmin across from him finished the beer in his own glass as though he refused to lose.
The rest of the outsourced team had simply gone up to their rooms. Only the two men, who had been close even before this, had come out separately to drink beer.
Neon lights switched on here and there brightened the darkness.
The strange atmosphere and foreign music.
And prices far cheaper than anything in Korea.
When they drank at the hotel, they had to watch the eyes of the others.
They had to be mindful too, but coming here made them feel free.
It felt as though all the things constricting Manager Lee Seonghun had vanished.
It truly felt as if he had come on a trip.
Coming to this pub had been a wonderful choice.
After drinking a little beer, Manager Lee Seonghun subtly put out a suggestion, apparently feeling that beer alone was not enough.
“Should we get a bottle of liquor? It’s cheap here.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to finish just this and go back?”
“Hey, Hyeonmin. Let’s breathe a little too. We’ve been living here unable even to breathe properly, tagging along with them like unwanted extras. We should at least be able to relax here.”
“That’s true.”
They ordered a bottle of liquor.
When they were told they couldn’t order by the bottle, they simply asked them to bring one anyway.
Manager Lee Seonghun’s mood improved.
It felt as though all the stress he had accumulated had vanished.
The incomprehensible song—one whose name he didn’t even know—put Manager Lee Seonghun in high spirits.
Before they knew it, they had emptied an entire bottle of liquor.
Their eyes had gone unfocused and their tongues had begun to tangle, but they did not stop.
“Hyeonmin, want to go to a karaoke room?”
“A karaoke room?”
“Let’s go. To a karaoke bar.”
“Do you think there’s a karaoke bar here?”
“Hyung, isn’t this the Philippines? Just trust me and follow.”
Manager Lee Seonghun had never been here before, but he began walking with the familiarity of someone who knew the way.
Years ago, Manager Lee Seonghun had spent several months studying the language in Manila, Philippines.
Perhaps because he had experience living in the Philippines, he was more desensitized to danger.
Manager Lee Seonghun thought that although people talked about it as dangerous, it really wasn’t all that dangerous in practice.
“People are the same wherever you go. If there’s a hotel, and there are bars in front of it, then naturally there’ll be bars right behind it, too.”
He was right.
As they entered an alley, bars glittered on either side, and women came out to solicit customers.
Oppa, you’re handsome.
Where are you from?
I’ll treat you well. Come play with me.
Tempting words flew back and forth as Manager Lee Seonghun and Jo Hyeonmin walked through them.
“Hyung, let’s just go into any place and have some fun.”
“Wait a minute. There has to be one somewhere…”
“There it is. Let’s go over there.”
“Where?”
“A place where we can go for round two.”
Even when he was in Korea, Manager Lee Seonghun had enjoyed this kind of nightlife and frequented such places.
There was a certain atmosphere to them.
We’re a wholesome establishment.
We’re a place where it’s okay to cross the line a little.
Manager Lee Seonghun had come to the Philippines to study the language when he was young,
and had already visited Manila, Cebu, and Bohol several times as a tourist.
Having played golf during the day and enjoyed the nightlife in the evenings, Manager Lee Seonghun could tell.
There was a bar up ahead.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes.”
They passed down a dim staircase and entered the basement, where a spacious area opened up before them.
Dozens of women were inside.
Manager Lee Seonghun took a seat in one of the rooms.
The alcohol was set up, and the hostesses came in.
However, perhaps because he didn’t like the women who entered, Manager Lee Seonghun kept turning them down.
“No. No.”
“No.”
When Manager Lee Seonghun continued rejecting them, Jo Hyeonmin asked,
“Hyung, why do you keep turning them down? Aren’t they good enough?”
“Don’t worry and just trust me. If you keep rejecting them, younger girls will come out.”
“Younger girls?”
“Yeah. Aren’t younger girls better than ones who’ve been worn out by the business?”
They kept sending hostesses in, but Manager Lee Seonghun still wasn’t satisfied.
“No.”
“No.”
“More. More.”
“Younger. Younger.”
He was asking them to show him younger women.
The madam stepped in and explained at length that there were no girls younger than these, but the drunken Manager Lee Seonghun was being completely unreasonable.
The madam had no choice but to tell him to wait a moment before leaving.
After quite some time, the door opened with a knock.
Manager Lee Seonghun had been expecting a younger girl, but several men who looked like Filipino gangsters were standing outside.
The man who appeared to be their leader asked the madam,
“Is this the bastard? The piece of trash looking for underage girls?”
“Yes.”
Thwack!
The Filipino gangster strode up to Manager Lee Seonghun and slapped him across the face without warning.
Manager Lee Seonghun looked at the man in bewilderment after taking the blow.
But the man gently—though rather menacingly—caressed Manager Lee Seonghun’s cheek.
*****
Darapanan.
The Edward Institute.
Inside, Edward and Shin Junggi were bickering.
“Why are you being so stingy? Put a generous amount in.”
“If you don’t know anything, just shut up. Why are you butting in so much?”
Edward had gained an insight from Shin Junggi’s suggestion.
He had asked Shin Junggi to help with the work beside him instead of merely running errands, thinking that perhaps having him around would help with development.
But apparently, that had been a mistake.
This psychopath kept telling him to increase the amount of the drug.
He wanted to make it so addictive that no one could escape from it.
“You’re doing this because you’re being so damn slow. You’re pointlessly saving the ingredients. They say no restaurant ever goes under for giving out too much food. Pour in the fentanyl. Then it’ll instantly become a famous restaurant. All the famous restaurants dump MSG into everything, too.”
“Be quiet. Are we opening a restaurant? And the boss said it mustn’t cause any problems for people’s bodies.”
“Eating this would probably make you healthier. I thought it was some kind of health supplement. Stop putting in things that are good for the body. Why are you putting vitamins in this? Take those out and put in fentanyl instead.”
“What do you know?”
“I may not look it, but I’m a former doctor and a former senior researcher at ADD. I know everything.”
“You’re making a big fuss when you don’t even know basic chemical formulas. Since you’re from ADD, why don’t you go outside and build a missile or something if you want to make something?”
“Hey, give me the ingredients and I could make a thousand damn missiles. But do we have any need for missiles here?”
“Go see Dennis. He’ll fucking love it.”
“Dennis? Who’s Dennis?”
“You don’t know Dennis? He’s the one who traffics weapons under the boss.”
“What? The boss traffics weapons, too?”
Shin Junggi asked back in surprise.
The person Shin Junggi feared most was the boss, Alex.
He was a man before whom neither Shin Junggi’s stubbornness, his obnoxious behavior, nor his crazy actions worked.
Whenever he stood before Alex, his psychopathic tendencies were cured automatically.
His intermittent explosive disorder turned into excellent anger management.
He hadn’t known that such a boss also trafficked weapons.
Since the man always wandered around in Hawaiian shirts and slippers, Shin Junggi had thought he was just an idle good-for-nothing. But he seemed to be far more impressive than he had imagined.
If the boss trafficked weapons as well, then he was a much more frightening person than Shin Junggi had thought.
There wasn’t a single person in that line of work who wasn’t cruel.
“Probably? It doesn’t seem like he does it on a large scale. Apparently, he only sells guns and things like that in small quantities. He says selling them honestly doesn’t make much money. Still, he has existing customers, so he just does it as a service.”
“Crazy…”
“Even then, it seems he leaves almost everything to Dennis and doesn’t pay much attention to it.”
“Really?”
“But if you develop weapons and that side of the business takes off, wouldn’t he be thrilled?”
Hearing Edward’s words, Shin Junggi finally realized what he was supposed to do here.
There was a separate task Shin Junggi had to handle.
The thing Shin Junggi was best at.
He only needed to do that.
Shin Junggi immediately set out to find Dennis.