The party leader glared at me with eyes blazing.
But I no longer had time to indulge his tantrums. I decided to be brazen.
“Is this really anything new? For a lobbyist, it’s just data, like financial statements.”
“You little bastard!”
“Please calm down. I’m not giving this to you because I plan to expose it. I’m giving it to you so we can have a convers—”
Before I could finish, the desk was overturned.
“You son of a bitch, how is this a conversation? If you shove a knife down someone’s throat, that’s a threat, not a conversation!”
“Then please take this knife back.”
“What?”
“It’s the original. There are no copies. If you take it, no one will know where the money came from anymore.”
“What the hell are you—”
“And is that all? Inside that ledger are people hostile to you and people favorable to you, all mixed together. There are plenty of lists handed over by construction companies too. I’ll give you the materials, so please use only the names you need.”
“...”
“How about it? Then this isn’t a threat, is it?”
The wariness in his eyes, which had been brimming with venom, eased a notch.
Unless he was a fool, there was no way he wouldn’t understand the value of this knife’s hilt. Especially now, when the conservatives had been devastated and every constituency had become hostile territory for the Daehan Party. Because of that, all the multi-term, senior, and elder lawmakers were fleeing to TK.
As a result, factional conflict on this side was more intense than ever.
“Oh, come now, Sejun... If that’s what you meant, you should have said so earlier. Why did you have to scare me like that?”
“I apologize.”
“Sorry for losing my temper. I thought you were trying to stab me in the back.”
“Of course not.”
His eyes turned serpentine.
“But how far can I trust you? Is this really the original ledger with no copies?”
“Yes. I’ve never shown it to anyone else. It was material only I knew about... no, now it’s material only you and I know about.”
“Ha ha... I don’t have a hobby of peeking into other people’s diaries. But for the sake of public discipline, I suppose I can’t help but take a look.”
The party leader reviewed the ledger, and the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.
If the ruling party’s factional conflict was a battlefield, this place was hell. Seeing his lips twitch, it seemed there were many names he hated in there.
“In exchange, I have one condition.”
He closed the documents.
“A condition?”
“Yes. Since I’ve given you the hilt of the knife, please grant me one request as well.”
After hesitating for a moment, I spoke.
“The ruling party is preparing a pension reform bill.”
“Yes, I heard. Kim Sang-cheol must have lost his touch in his final years. An own goal right before the general election? It’s good for us, though. Heh heh heh.”
“Chairman, please support it.”
“Wh-what?”
“The Blue House says it will take the bullet, so the opposition has nothing to lose, does it? As you know, because of this factional fight within the ruling party, I don’t think there will even be a hundred votes in favor. Without the opposition’s help, it will be difficult to pass.”
The party leader silently glared at me, then said,
“That’s your side’s problem. Why should we care about that?”
“Chairman...”
“Sejun. Do you not know who opposed the pension reform bill the most during the previous administration? The ruling party—no, Kim Sang-cheol stood at the front and created higher pension payouts. And now he wants help?”
“Chairman... How can you let personal feelings sway decisions on state affairs?”
“I’m saying this because I have no personal feelings. I repeatedly said during the last administration that higher pension payouts were impossible! Then did President Kim not know, back when he was in the opposition, that it would come to this? Back then he was a representative of his camp, and now he’s a representative of the people, so he changed his mind?”
“...”
“They said THAAD deployment would emit electromagnetic waves, didn’t they? That eating American beef would give you mad cow disease, didn’t they? That Fukushima contaminated water would give you radiation sickness, didn’t they? When I think of what we suffered from Kim Sang-cheol during the last administration, even chewing him up wouldn’t be enough. Absolutely not!”
I watched the party leader as he flew into a rage.
To be honest, I didn’t really understand what politics was either... Even on issues where the correct answer was obvious, when you were in the opposition you opposed it, and when you were in power you supported it. Then why on earth had they fought...?
The same was true of the Participatory Government, which had most recently reformed the National Pension dramatically.
Twenty years ago, the Participatory Government lowered the income replacement rate from 60 percent to 40 percent, greatly delaying the point at which the pension fund would be depleted. If they had failed to reform it then, it would be depleted by now.
But if you asked whether that was an achievement of the Participatory Government, I wasn’t sure.
During the presidential debate, candidate Lee Hoi-chang argued for pension reform, saying they had to be honest with the people, but the one who opposed him, saying the National Pension must not become the people’s pocket money, was candidate Roh Moo-hyun.
Yet when the Participatory Government came to power that way and put forward a pension reform bill, the Grand National Party opposed it that time.
Looking at that, it didn’t seem especially meaningful to distinguish between “camps.” Perhaps every party’s official line was simply “the opposite of whatever the ruling party proposes.”
Like Yi Bang-won, who opposed abolishing private armies, then abolished them first as soon as he ascended the throne; like Yi Bang-won, who purged his brothers-in-law first after taking the throne—was it the fate of great politicians to make use of camp logic in moderation, then stab everyone in the back with ghostlike timing?
“Then shall I take this ledger back?”
I spoke with a cold expression.
“What?”
“There is no option where you get both. Either take this knife and put it to good use, or yield it to someone else.”
“Sejun, are you threatening me right now?”
“Compared to the gift I’m offering, it’s hardly much of a condition, yet you keep trying to haggle down the price.”
“Goddamn it, I knew it! Who is it? Did Kim Sang-cheol send you?!”
“If the Blue House knew about this material, why would they bother going through me? It would already have been handed to the prosecution.”
As expected, if nice words didn’t work, one had to mix in some harsh words too.
The moment I uttered a terrifying word like “prosecution,” I could see the party leader flinch.
“Chairman, whether this material becomes a threat or cooperation depends entirely on you. From a political standpoint as well, it would be better for you to side with the Blue House.”
“What?”
“Right now, aren’t all constituencies except TK hostile territory for the opposition? The best you can aim for is a three-way race, and in that case it’s advantageous for the ruling party’s internal strife to continue until the general election. Make a show of giving in and accept the pension reform bill.”
“Don’t spout sophistry. If we accept pension reform, we’ll lose the elderly vote too. How is that advantageous?”
“If the opposition loses ten votes, the ruling party will lose a hundred. Common sense—who will get more abuse, the guy who helped, or the guy who took the bullet?”
Was he being persuaded?
The sharp wariness in the party leader’s eyes gradually softened.
I spoke to him as if pleading.
“In any case, once the national convention ends, that party will split too. Until then, please do not take anyone’s side.”
A long silence passed like that.
Each second felt as heavy as eternity. Please, the opposition has to help... If we can’t gather a majority of votes, the bill is meaningless... Had he been persuaded?
After a long while, he picked up the ledger.
“This really is the original with no copies?”
I smiled brightly.
*
“A united Minguk Party! A beautiful Republic of Korea! I, Kwon Yeong-pil, will make it happen! Everyone, give me your strength!”
“Waaah!”
Gangwon-do Minguk Party headquarters.
In Gangwon-do, the first stop of this national convention, five candidates stepped into the gladiatorial arena. With factional conflict reappearing after twenty years, the media’s interest had reached its peak.
Perhaps this could be the Minguk Party’s last national convention.
The ruling party’s internal conflict had now reached a level that was almost impossible to resolve, and many experts predicted that no matter who won, a nomination controversy would erupt.
“Kwon Yeong-pil! Kwon Yeong-pil!”
The speeches of the candidates who had survived the cutoff began, but the cameras showed only two people.
“...”
“...”
Former Minister Park Hyeon-seop and former Prime Minister Lee Chan-ho.
This national convention was, in truth, centered on them. Many outlets predicted that one of these two would ultimately be elected, and among them, Minister Park led by ten percentage points, outside the margin of error.
“How times have changed. To think we would end up like this.”
While the supporting actors’ speeches continued, Minister Park quietly spoke to Lee Chan-ho.
“Prime Minister, I still don’t understand this situation. With the opposition utterly destroyed, is there any need for us to fight this fiercely among ourselves?”
“Better hot than cold. I hear flies are the only ones buzzing around the opposition’s national convention. Ha ha.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
Minister Park’s voice rose slightly.
“Prime Minister, I’m worried about this overheated atmosphere. If we fight until blood is spilled like this, we won’t be able to patch things up even after the convention ends. Are we truly going to split the party?”
“That is what I would like to say to you, Minister.”
“What?”
“The pension reform bill. Why do you keep opposing it? Why do you keep sniping at the Blue House and taking a different line?”
“That is not me opposing it. It is an issue the people oppose. The Blue House is the one that should please stop saying things that do not help the party.”
Lee Chan-ho’s eyebrow twitched.
“How heartless. The Blue House says it will solve one piece of homework for the country’s future before leaving office. Can’t you help a little?”
“Stop making reckless remarks. In politics, if you mishandle the elderly vote, even an election you were set to win can be overturned!”
“That is precisely why now is the right time. Looking at the polls, the opposition’s approval rating is still in the thirty-percent range. And since the opposition is also giving off the nuance that they support pension reform, their elderly vote is falling too.”
“As if. If they lose ten votes, we lose a hundred. Why does the Blue House keep committing acts that harm the party?”
Minister Park raised his voice, then soon composed himself.
“Instead, Prime Minister, let’s do this. The pension reform bill is not a problem a government with one year left in its term can solve. Leave it to the next administration.”
“If someone heard you, they’d think we had already won.”
“There is nothing to gain from fighting among ourselves. Prime Minister, please withdraw as soon as possible and support me. Then I will settle the party line properly and support the Blue House for the remainder of its term.”
As their verbal sparring continued, Lee Chan-ho’s turn approached.
Lee Chan-ho smiled and said to Minister Park,
“Minister Park... It has been bothering me for a while, but please don’t keep speaking as if you’ve already won. I know because I’ve been on the receiving end, but our party’s primaries have a history where a three-percent candidate defeated a thirty-percent candidate, you know? Ha ha.”
Minister Park’s face crumpled.
With that, Lee Chan-ho’s intentions became clear. Even if he lost, there would be no withdrawal midway... And the pension reform bill would be dealt with within this administration, no matter what.