[Is This Why He Became a Supreme Council Member... Supreme Council Member Gim Hui-seong, Corporate Entertainment Suspicions Largely Confirmed True!]
[So It's Daddy's Chance for Public Enterprise Entry? Supreme Council Member I Jae-sung Maintains Silence on Job-Seeking Requests for His Eldest and Second Sons!]
[MBC Exclusive! Additional Suspicions Surrounding Gim Hui-seong and I Jae-sung Confirmed to Implicate Not Only the Individuals But Also Family Members!]
With the National Convention just one month away, the ruling party's infighting reached new heights of intensity.
When the two Supreme Council members denied all charges, even bigger suspicions exploded in the next news cycle. When they still denied them, the blade turned toward their families.
Truthfully, mudslinging between ruling and opposition lawmakers in political circles was a common occurrence, but this time the atmosphere was different.
Every allegation had broken in the progressive media, and all the additionally revealed materials had started from their broadcasts.
On the contrary, the conservative media did not treat the matter with much weight. They had no time to watch another house burn. The conservative media was busy begging supporters who still believed in election fraud and were holding a three-year mourning rite for the previous president to please stop.
"If I'd known it would come to this, I wonder if I pardoned them for nothing, Prime Minister. Heh heh."
Gim Sang-cheol let out a hollow laugh as he looked at the two men dominating the newspaper headlines again today.
Gim Hui-seong and I Jae-seong were prominent pro-Cheong Wa Dae figures who had consistently shown hostility toward Bak Hyeon-seop.
And yet now those reliable loyalists were standing side by side in the prosecution's photo line. If he'd known this would happen, should he have simply not granted them pardons and reinstated their rights?
"Prime Minister, is Minister Bak Hyeon-seop really the one leading this?"
"...It can't be otherwise. The initial reports all came from progressive media on our side."
"The progressive media... That's upsetting. I thought we were at least friends."
"..."
"Tomorrow the two Supreme Council members will be standing in the prosecution's photo line. Prime Minister, could this be a warning message Minister Bak is sending me?"
I Chan-ho shook his head firmly.
"He will never cross that line. He will keep his promise to guarantee the President's post-retirement safety."
"But what if I don't stop fighting?"
I Chan-ho was rendered speechless.
Gim Sang-cheol spoke with a face devoid of any amusement.
"I'm asking if that condition remains valid even if I say I'll fight to the end."
"Mr. President..."
"Personally, I cannot agree. If he becomes party leader, he'll grip the nomination rights tight and fill every slot with his own people—then what happens to those who followed me?"
"But..."
"Of course, I know I did the same before taking power. But that was paying back the debts I'd accumulated. How many people lived as private citizens, tagged as non-mainstream and discriminated against, while I rose to the presidency?"
Living as a non-mainstream lawmaker within the party was a terrible thing.
It felt like a child born out of wedlock coming to live in the main family home? Living under the same roof but always treated as a freeloader, and the discrimination and contempt that came with it were things you couldn't vent anywhere. If you spoke of such things aloud, you'd be branded an internal traitor.
That made it possible to be all the more cruel.
During the last election, Gim Sang-cheol had inserted his own aide factions through unprecedented nominations, yet he felt not a shred of guilt. It felt like he was finally being compensated for the humiliation he'd suffered for twenty years.
"..."
I Chan-ho clamped his mouth shut tightly.
Two close associates were already wounded, yet the President showed no signs of halting this fight.
"Then do you have a plan..."
"I'd like you to take charge of it, Prime Minister."
"If I run in the party leadership election, the infighting will intensify even further..."
"Do you not wish to do it?"
"...Two are already wounded. If the fight grows bigger, more people will get hurt."
"Even if we fight like this, we won't lose the election to the opposition."
"The problem is your post-retirement, Mr. President. Yielding and having something taken are different. If we fight bloody battles only to lose the regime, a president more frightening than the opposition will appear."
He meant it. A toothless power becomes a plaything for the succeeding regime.
Gim Sang-cheol's political life itself was far from clean, so there were endless weaknesses to seize upon.
Knowing this situation, I Chan-ho had tried to persuade him with an earnest tone, but Gim Sang-cheol merely laughed as if it were no big deal.
"Prime Minister, if I approve, would you be willing to do it?"
*
Even President Gim Sang-cheol's leadership, which had seemed impregnable as a fortress, was coming to an end.
About one month before the National Convention.
When former Minister Bak's faction purged two pro-Cheong Wa Dae figures, Cheong Wa Dae responded with a counterattack.
The day after the two Supreme Council members appeared at the prosecution, scandals involving Minister Bak's faction erupted, and the fight devolved into an all-out, no-holds-barred brawl.
Political observers evaluated Cheong Wa Dae's counterattack as unexpected. It made sense—he was a man with many vulnerabilities in a waning power. They had predicted fierce psychological warfare but assumed it would wrap up before becoming too controversial.
They had to avoid prosecution after the president's retirement, didn't they?
But Cheong Wa Dae's counterattack was very real.
The scandal ignited by Cheong Wa Dae involved sexual misconduct, which was the most ambiguous issue to defend even in political circles.
[Breaking News—Sexual Misconduct Scandal Involving Lawmakers Choe Dae-seong and O Myeong-su!]
[Once Again the Starting Point Is Progressive Media... A News Story Commissioned by Cheong Wa Dae?]
[Former Minister Bak Maintains Silence on Corruption among His Associates!]
[The Crux of the Case: 'Did He Know, Not Know, or Cover It Up?' Multiple Insiders: "Former Minister Park Already Knew the Facts"]
[Former Minister Bak Silent for Four Days... Are Suspicions That He 'Covered It Up' True?]
[Lawmaker Go: "We cannot judge based solely on the accuser's claims; the presumption of innocence must be upheld..."]
[Lawmaker Choe: "Shameless, escalating out of control! An apology to the victims comes first! The secondary harm must stop!"]
[Lawmaker Gim: "The news breaking ahead of the National Convention feels highly intentional!"]
[Lawmaker I: "Another conspiracy theory? Explanations come before party power! Did former Minister Bak know, not know, or cover it up?!"]
Thus, the party convention that had seemed destined to end in an easy victory for Minister Bak was completely thrown into turmoil.
But one thing became certain as well. Many media outlets evaluated this revelation by Cheong Wa Dae as a 'severing of ties' within the Min'guk Party. While the suspicions raised about Minister Bak until now had all been absolved by presidential pardon, this was a matter that occurred after the pardon.
-Why don't the ones who should be severed get severed instead!
Are we the only ones severing ties? Are we going to hand over the government after another internal fight again? Please stop fighting. Let's punish the opposition!
⌞Caught you, you Bak loyalist bastard! You threw the first punch and now you're singing about external enemies?
⌞Real talk lol "Stop the division" is division in itself!
-Gim Sang-cheol, you ungrateful son of a bitch!
He's not clean, he's not capable. A guy from the political fringe—we made him president based on passion alone, and this is how he backstabs us? You bastard who should be deep-fried in shitwater, don't you have any loyalty?!
⌞Loyalty? He pardoned and reinstated them early in his term, so who backstabbed first? lol
⌞You an opposition party member or what? How is that a pardon! He normalized victims of unjust prosecutorial power
⌞That's literally a pardon...
It was history I already knew, but seeing it again was fascinating.
It seemed there was no such thing as absolute power in democracy. Even Gim Sang-cheol of the supermajority ruling party with 190 seats couldn't stop the power struggle as the end of his term approached.
It seemed politics eventually found equilibrium no matter how much the opposing camp crumbled. Hun'gu, Sarim, Dong'in, Seo'in, Nam'in, Buk'in, Daenam, Sonam... Could these not have been our ancestors' democracy to check absolute power, rather than the evils of factional politics?
"What's the occasion, asking me to make time for you?"
Thus, I visited the Prime Minister's office for the first time in a very long while.
I Chan-ho, whom I met after so long, looked so haggard that I felt sorry asking how he'd been.
I could tell the story without hearing it. With the blood-spattering infighting, this National Convention had narrowed down to a two-way race between Bak Hyeon-seop and I Chan-ho, and the tension was palpable even around the Prime Minister's office.
"I'm sorry. You must be very busy."
"Not at all. I was just thinking of having tea time; it's better to have someone to chat with."
"You've been quite busy these days, haven't you?"
"Things have turned out that way."
Slurp.
I Chan-ho's face looked bitter as he swallowed his tea.
Seizing the right atmosphere, I asked him.
"Prime Minister, will you run?"
"Run for what?"
"For party leader."
"Why would you be curious about that?"
"Is there anyone in the Republic of Korea who isn't curious about that? Won't you tell me too?"
I Chan-ho let out a sigh.
Many media outlets were currently predicting a two-way race, but he had still not made an official declaration of candidacy. It made sense because, though greatly shaken, Minister Bak's approval ratings were still formidable.
In fact, Minister Bak had been the crown prince since the previous administration and a leading next-term candidate from early in this administration's term; no matter how big a scandal erupted, it couldn't topple him at once.
"It's troubling... Very troubling. Cheong Wa Dae specifically asked me, but I don't know what to do about it."
"If the President is throwing his weight behind you, you should do it."
"You think it's as easy as it sounds? What if I step up and lose? Who guarantees the President's post-retirement safety?"
"You just have to win."
"Don't be absurd. This isn't something you can solve by sprinkling around a few pennies of political funds. Let's say, granting a hundred concessions, that I become party leader—who do I give nominations to, and who do I back for the next presidential election? If I run myself? Then I'll gain dozens more enemies."
I smiled bitterly.
If my memory served me right, Prime Minister I Chan-ho didn't aspire to the presidency either. In fact, I couldn't quite remember what path he took after resigning as prime minister. Which meant he had likely been reduced to a mere footnote in history, didn't it?
"Then what do you plan to do?"
"What can I do? I'll try to persuade Cheong Wa Dae as best I can."
"Will the President be persuaded?"
"Right now emotions are running high on both sides, but it's something we must look at calmly. Who's going to guarantee our old man's post-retirement when he's already got so many weaknesses? We absolutely shouldn't fight the next candidate. We'll reach a compromise and agree to secure a few of our seats during nominations."
With an impassive face, I pushed a document across the desk.
"Don't do that, Prime Minister. I may be insignificant, but let me be of some help, however small."
"What is this?"
"Please review it."
I Chan-ho, who had been reviewing the document with a guarded expression, turned ashen in an instant.
"Wh-what the hell! Team Leader I, where did this come from?!"
"I received it from the construction companies. Some of them are even lists where I personally handed over the money."
"Don't you understand what I'm saying?! I'm asking why the construction companies gave you these materials!"
"During the Ukraine reconstruction project, the construction companies divided the work through collusion. And in exchange for turning a blind eye to that, I asked for these materials."
Though greatly agitated, he soon calmed down.
He must have sensed something odd. My expression was far too placid for someone carrying a bombshell.
"Se-jun, the back of my head is tingling like crazy right now. You were the kind of person who kept ledgers while paying out money? And on top of that, you even got a cabinet from the construction companies? What on earth does this mean?"
"Don't misunderstand. The reason I'm giving this to you, Prime Minister, is of course so that you write down only the names you need. In exchange, there is one condition."
I looked at him.
"Pass the National Pension Reform Bill."