“I’m Yoon Taegyeom.”
Yoon Taegyeom rose from his seat and introduced himself.
He did not bow at the waist or even give a little nod.
He looked exactly like someone from a chaebol family receiving a guest.
There was a reasonable amount of kindness and manners, but none of it seemed sincere.
Even though I had come carrying money, this was how I was being treated.
If I had come empty-handed, I probably wouldn’t even have been treated like a person.
In fact, I had let a little information slip before coming here.
That a rich fool with nothing but money was looking for somewhere to invest.
I spread the rumor that I was overflowing with cash but couldn’t find a suitable investment opportunity.
That rumor had created today’s meeting.
Today, I had come as a big player—and a fool—to invest in Taelim Holdings.
And I was genuinely willing to let myself be taken for a fool.
As long as it could be solved with money.
As long as it could end with a conversation.
If I could avoid making things complicated and simply plaster the problem over with money, spending a little more wasn’t an issue.
I could spend as much as necessary.
That would be good for me, and good for this stiff bastard sitting across from me.
Wasn’t that a win-win?
And yet this bastard was acting stiff even toward a big player like me.
Was he really going to make a living in this line of work?
“Did you have any trouble on your way here?”
Yoon Taegyeom asked in a voice that held no real curiosity whatsoever, as though it were merely a habit.
“Thanks to you, I got here comfortably.”
I sat on the sofa, crossed my legs, and spoke.
“Would you care for a drink?”
“Do you have anything strong?”
Yoon Taegyeom immediately gave his secretary a knowing look.
A moment later, the secretary wheeled in a trolley.
Liquor in a crystal bottle, along with ice and glasses.
Neither special nor inadequate.
Yoon Taegyeom glanced at the bottle, then picked it up.
“I’ll pour you a drink.”
I quietly lifted my glass.
It was filled.
But why did the air seem to grow heavier along with it?
A strange atmosphere filled Yoon Taegyeom’s office.
Yoon Taegyeom slowly began to speak.
“I heard you were considering making an investment.”
“That’s right.”
“May I ask how much you’re planning to invest?”
Yoon Taegyeom asked.
When I stared at him with an expression that said, Why are you asking me that? he continued.
“The portfolio differs depending on the amount invested. Wouldn’t it be better for you to earn more if we prepare thoroughly for our client?”
“Could you handle about one trillion?”
I slowly swirled my glass, pretending to think,
then gave him an answer as vague and difficult to gauge as possible.
A look of bewilderment crossed Yoon Taegyeom’s face when he heard my answer.
He clearly couldn’t figure out what I meant by one unit.
Of course it was ambiguous.
One hundred million was too little, while ten billion or one hundred billion weren’t called one unit.
But Yoon Taegyeom’s hesitation was brief.
He decided to simply ask.
If it was one hundred million, he could just send it through a teller window.
“When you say one unit, exactly how much do you mean? I assume you don’t mean one hundred million.”
“Are we running a corner store? One hundred million? Our minimum starts at one trillion.”
At the mention of one trillion, Yoon Taegyeom’s face filled with surprise, bewilderment, and delight.
One trillion.
Yoon Taegyeom had worked in finance for a long time, but he had never seen anyone claim they were investing on a trillion-won scale.
No, how rich did someone have to be to invest one trillion?
Then how much in assets did this man have?
Yoon Taegyeom felt as though he had landed a whale.
With one trillion, there was no need to join forces with anyone else.
Even operating one trillion alone would be enough to shake the market.
A substantial return could be expected.
Even so, Yoon Taegyeom did not get excited or show it.
He acted calmly, as though this were an everyday occurrence.
“At that scale, I believe we could create a separate portfolio for you.”
“No, forget the portfolio. If you grant me one favor, I’ll invest ten units with you instead of one. How about it?”
Yoon Taegyeom barely managed to suppress a scream.
He felt dizzy just hearing the numbers.
One unit had already been shocking, and now it was ten.
Ten units meant ten trillion.
At this point, he had to check whether this was some hidden-camera prank.
Or whether the man was a fraud.
No sane person invested ten trillion.
If you had ten trillion, you could make money doing anything.
Why invest?
To make money.
But if you had ten trillion, you could make money no matter what you did.
With ten trillion behind you, whatever you did, money would automatically come rolling in.
He would have to verify it, but if the ten trillion was real, he couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
He had to secure this man at all costs.
“Just tell me what you want, and I’ll prepare it immediately.”
Yoon Taegyeom spoke in a slightly trembling voice.
“Break things off with Gwon Jua. That’s all. Then I’ll invest ten units with you. What do you say?”
Yoon Taegyeom was flustered by those words.
Gwon Jua, of all people?
Gwon Jua, who didn’t matter whether she was there or not.
Gwon Jua, who could be replaced at any time.
Why was someone with nothing to offer, like Gwon Jua, even being brought up here?
He had investigated Gwon Jua thoroughly, but he had never known she had a friend like this.
The financial industry was sensitive to information.
It didn’t matter whether something was true.
People made money from rumors, and they went broke because of them.
That was why they spared no expense collecting information.
Information was that valuable.
But where had this man come from?
There was no way the intelligence team could have overlooked someone this important.
He would verify that later.
For now, he needed to find out what this man was thinking.
“I didn’t know Jua had a friend like you.”
“We have a rather secretive relationship.”
“I’m sorry. That isn’t a service we provide.”
Yoon Taegyeom collected himself after his brief excitement and began calculating.
His eyes changed into those of a predator that had spotted even larger prey.
“Wasn’t this a place that would do anything as long as you had money?”
“You misunderstood me. I meant that it’s a much more expensive service.”
“Hahahaha. You’re a greedy young man.”
“You look younger than me, though.”
“I’m probably younger than you, too. But in this line of work, isn’t the guy with more money the big brother?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then how much would it cost to provide that service?”
“It would be possible for one hundred units.”
“One hundred units…”
Yoon Taegyeom was a lunatic too.
He was asking for one hundred trillion.
But there was no reason not to give it to him.
It wasn’t as though I was giving the money to Yoon Taegyeom. I was investing in a financial company.
They would take my money, invest it in various places on my behalf, and earn more money for me.
A fund’s rate of return was like its signboard.
The better the signboard, the more investment it attracted.
They might lose money while investing, but they wouldn’t deliberately lose money.
Nobody tried to go bankrupt on purpose.
Even if they lost a little, it wouldn’t matter.
“One hundred trillion… Can Anna handle that?”
I asked, glancing at Anna beside me.
“Yes. Easily.”
“She says it’s no problem. Proceed.”
When I readily agreed, I could sense Yoon Taegyeom’s dismay.
He hadn’t expected me to actually have one hundred trillion in cash.
The total assets of the Taelim Financial Group were around 150 to 170 trillion.
This man had an enormous amount of cash amounting to nearly 67 percent of the Taelim Financial Group’s total assets.
Once his other assets were included, he might even be wealthier than the Taelim Group.
Greed surged within him.
A man willing to pour one hundred trillion into a woman like Gwon Jua.
How much more could he invest?
He was curious.
He wanted to test it.
The chances of failure were high.
But that was fine.
As long as he had Gwon Jua in his grasp, this man would have no choice but to be dragged along.
He would have no choice but to invest.
He had struck it rich.
He hadn’t even imagined something like this.
He had picked Gwon Jua because of her image, but an unexpected jackpot had appeared from somewhere else.
He couldn’t stop here.
He felt he could squeeze out even more.
Yoon Taegyeom’s gaze changed.
“I’m sorry, but the price just changed.”
“What?”
“The price has gone up. Tenfold.”
“Hahahaha. This place certainly knows how to do business. There won’t be a dull moment.”
I laughed sincerely.
He was crazier than I had expected.
“Thank you.”
Yoon Taegyeom took my sarcasm head-on.
“Can you give me a discount?”
“Our prices are fixed.”
“You’re charging a disgusting amount. Anna, can you handle one thousand units too?”
Anna checked something on her laptop before answering.
“It would be difficult to provide one thousand units immediately.”
“You heard her. She says we can’t.”
“Then shall we consider the investment canceled?”
Yoon Taegyeom asked quietly.
“Of course.”
“You give up more quickly than I expected.”
Yoon Taegyeom threw my own sarcasm right back at me.
“What can I do? I don’t have the money. And you won’t even give me a discount. What I want isn’t an investment, anyway. I want you to leave Gwon Jua alone… I was just going to hand you a reasonable amount and end it, but you rejected that.”
“Didn’t I tell you it was expensive?”
Yoon Taegyeom answered as though he possessed some incredible treasure.
“It isn’t yours, though. You’re trying to do business with something that doesn’t belong to you. Even so, I was willing to buy it from you, and you kicked away the offer.”
“It will belong to me in the future. So it is mine.”
“You’re even crazier than I thought. I like it. I can crush you as much as I want.”
“What?”
I emptied the drink Yoon Taegyeom had poured me in one gulp.
“To be honest, I didn’t think this would work, but now that I’ve confirmed it, I feel better. Buying things with money doesn’t suit my personality after all. I tried to handle this as politely as possible, but it didn’t work. Consider negotiations over.”
“What else do you have left?”
Yoon Taegyeom asked, still wearing the smile of a victor.
“Yeah. Plenty. From now on, all kinds of shitty things are going to keep happening. When they do, blame yourself—the man who threw away this meeting today, and threw away one hundred trillion.”
Leaving him with those words, I walked out of Yoon Taegyeom’s office.
.
.
.
Inside the car on the way back.
Anna sat beside me.
“What the hell was that bastard? He was a complete piece of shit!”
The moment Anna got into the car, she unleashed all the curses she had been holding back.
She seemed furious over the way Yoon Taegyeom had behaved.
After experiencing him firsthand, I had to admit he wasn’t an ordinary bastard.
For one thing, he hadn’t been swept up by the atmosphere.
Even when I offered one hundred trillion, he refused to make the deal.
He even demanded one thousand trillion instead?
He must either have something he firmly believed in, or he was under some kind of delusion.
He also seemed incapable of tolerating things not going his way.
Regardless, there was no changing the fact that he was insane.
“That’s right. That’s why I didn’t want to send Gwon Jua away. He didn’t listen to a word I said.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
Anna looked at me with an expression full of curiosity.
“I was going to handle it with words or money, but he rejected both. Now I’ll have to use force.”
“Should I call in the Daehunpa and the triads? I’ll tell the Sandro Group to join us too.”
Scott, sitting in the passenger seat, spoke up.
“No. I don’t think that’ll be enough.”
“Is Taelim really that formidable?”
Scott looked surprised.
“No. Those bastards aren’t particularly afraid of getting hurt themselves. What they’re more afraid of is losing money.”
Anna’s eyes glittered at the mention of money.
“You can’t treat bastards like that as though they were human beings. You have to think of them as numbers.”
“Then what?”
“We take their money away. We turn their numbers into ‘zero.’”
At my words, both Anna and Scott nodded.
.
.
.
The headquarters of the Hong Kong triads.
Through Anna, Duman-sik was distributing the thoroughly laundered money among his subordinates.
No, he was practically scattering it.
Of course, it was President Alex’s order.
To transform the triads into an intelligence organization, they needed channels through which information could flow in and out.
They needed places where people could gather, talk, and listen.
Bars, cafés, restaurants, massage parlors, currency exchanges, used-car dealerships, and so on.
They needed places that appeared ordinary on the surface, but where rumors and information changed hands.
President Alex had ordered them to completely remodel the existing businesses, and to establish new ones wherever none existed.
He had also provided more than enough funding for the task.
Duman-sik gave money to the new branch leaders and ordered them to establish businesses.
The conditions were simple.
Information and tribute.
President Alex had said he didn’t need tribute payments or anything of the sort, but this was tradition and custom.
Tribute was the thread connecting the triads across generations.
It was how one knew who stood above them, and whose favor allowed them to survive in this world.
Without it, the organization could not continue.
In the process of appointing new branch leaders and rebuilding the triads, Heukhyang’s help had been invaluable.
Having pledged her loyalty, Heukhyang had become even sharper and more ruthless.
Moving about like an undercover agent, she restored discipline to the fallen triads.
He dealt with those who treated the name of the Triad lightly.
He frightened them a little, telling them that they might be happy while they were inside the Triad, but the moment they left or betrayed it, the Triad would turn into their enemy.
He drew a clear line, stating plainly that a traitor’s only end was death.
At the same time, he showed them how comfortable and cozy it could be once they entered the Triad.
He showed them how full their stomachs could be, too.
Things proceeded more quickly than expected.
Duman-sik was once again amazed by the greatness of Brother Alex, who had planned things this way.
Duman-sik opened the Biography of Seo Dae-hun to pray, running a hand over his completely bald head.
His prayers were sincere.
Beside Duman-sik was someone who had shaved off all his hair as well and was praying alongside him.
Because of Duman-sik’s changed status, he had gained followers.
Duman-sik held out copies of the Biography of Seo Dae-hun to them.
Like Duman-sik, they removed every hair from their bodies and chose the same faith.
That was when it happened.
A call came to Duman-sik while he was praying.
It was Boss Alex.
Duman-sik gave a loud greeting into the phone before answering.
“Understood. I’ll take care of it.”
Duman-sik’s gaze changed.
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.
.
Vice President Yoon Tae-gyeom sat in his office, staring at the door through which the man had left.
He felt a slight pang of regret.
Should he have accepted the deal?
One hundred trillion won was an astronomical figure.
Now that it was over, he regretted it.
At the time, he had completely lost his sense of reality.
If it had been ten billion or one hundred billion won, he might have accepted.
But the number was so absurdly large that Yoon Tae-gyeom himself had lost touch with reality.
It felt as though he were simply playing a game.
The money had disappeared at some point,
and all that remained was the feeling of competing against that man.
He did not want to lose.
To be honest, Gwon Ju-a did not necessarily have to be his marriage partner.
It didn’t matter.
They had only seen each other’s faces once, at the blind date.
He had decided to marry her because he liked her image.
But that man was trying to take Gwon Ju-a away.
Someone had tried to buy her.
He did not like that.
Suddenly, insignificant Gwon Ju-a seemed extraordinary.
She had become someone he could never let go of.
He had to keep Gwon Ju-a in his hands to draw that man out.
Only with Gwon Ju-a could he make that man move however he pleased.
He called for the chief secretary.
“Bring Gwon Ju-a here.”
“······”
“I don’t care what method you use. Escort her here or kidnap her.”
The chief secretary hesitated.
“Why?”
“We haven’t been able to trace Gwon Ju-a’s whereabouts since two days ago.”
“What?”
“After she left home two days ago, we haven’t been able to determine where she went.”
The chief secretary answered, clearly at a loss.
“Then track her phone.”
“It’s turned off.”
“Find her no matter what. Search all of Seoul if you have to, but bring her back.”
“U-understood.”
Yoon Tae-gyeom issued the order forcefully.
That was when it happened.
The head of the investment division hurried into the vice president’s office.
“Vice President, we have a serious problem.”
“What is it? Why are you making such a fuss?”
Already in a foul mood at the news that Gwon Ju-a had disappeared, Yoon Tae-gyeom spoke sharply.
“The Philippines has withdrawn from the Taerim Global Opportunity Fund.”
“What?”
“They made a partial withdrawal—within the range that allowed them to exit without taking a loss.”
The Philippines withdrawing from the fund?
It was strange.
The Philippines had been the country most enthusiastic about that fund.
And yet they were withdrawing?
They had cunningly withdrawn only up to the point where they would not suffer a loss.
It felt worse than actually taking a loss.
At that moment, the man’s words came back to Yoon Tae-gyeom.
‘From now on, all kinds of fucked-up things are going to keep happening.’
He had thought it was merely a common curse, but anxiety that it might not be wrapped around his entire body.
A chill ran down his spine.