-Lee Chanho! Lee Chanho!
“Thank you, fellow party members! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
-Let’s win a landslide in the general election and go all the way to the presidential election! This is the era of Lee Chanho!
-Eradicate the opposition! Eradicate the opposition! The Minkuk Party is one team! The Minkuk Party is one team!
A miracle unfolded.
Lee Chanho, who had been at a disadvantage throughout the entire convention schedule, seized party leadership after a desperate struggle.
The election committee chairman showed the vote share, saying the margin was extremely slight; it was an even narrower victory than the last presidential election, which had been decided by 0.7%. He had barely overcome his slight disadvantage in the party vote through the public vote.
[Breaking News - Minkuk Party Convention, Candidate Lee Chanho Elected!]
[He has seized party power, but public sentiment remains cold... 53% opposition to Blue House pension amendment proposal]
[Lee Chanho’s acceptance speech: “Even if it is painful, our generation must not turn away from its responsibility”]
[Will they push through the pension amendment? Blue House sends congratulations, saying it is “especially grateful to the people”]
With this, the pension amendment bill entered its final countdown.
Prime Minister Lee Chanho—no, now party leader—made meaningful remarks from the very start of his acceptance speech, hinting that he would accelerate pension reform. Seeing the Blue House respond in kind, their will to push it through before the end of the term was certain.
Having been elected party leader, Lee Chanho immediately held talks with the opposition leader, and he did not forget to meet the lawmakers from other party factions who had suffered bitter defeats.
All of this was to prevent rebellion votes.
[The real election begins now... Who is Mr. A, the man who shook the party convention?]
[Daehan Party: “Yet another bribery allegation has emerged during the Minkuk Party convention. Now that the election is over, the truth must be thoroughly uncovered!”]
[Prosecution: “The investigation was delayed during the convention due to concerns over election interference; after confirming the facts, we will thoroughly reveal the full story”]
And when that arduous process ended, all arrows now turned toward “Mr. A,” who had shaken the convention floor.
*
“Congratulations, Prime Minister. No, I suppose I should call you Party Leader now.”
One day after the convention ended.
Thanks to Lee Chanho’s special consideration, I dared to arrange a private meeting with him.
“Call me whatever you’re comfortable with. Personally, I prefer the title of Prime Minister. Haha.”
They say the party leader who holds the nomination rights is more powerful than the president, and indeed, that saying was true.
His office was packed so tightly with countless congratulatory wreaths and orchids that there was no room to step. Not only his own people, but aspiring politicians and even lawmakers from the opposing faction had all begun lining up before him.
“Oh dear. This old man failed to read the room. I’m sorry. This isn’t a situation to be laughing in.”
“No, it’s all right. My matter was already expected anyway.”
“What’s your current schedule?”
“The prosecution sent over a summons. I’ll probably appear tomorrow.”
I handed him the documents.
“These are the statements I’ll be giving to the prosecution. I summarized them as much as possible, so please read through them once.”
Holding the documents, he looked at me with pity in his eyes.
“Park Seongcheol... You’re involving the division head too?”
“Yes. It’s too big a bomb for me to carry alone. In the current situation, the shrapnel might fly all the way up, so the division head has agreed to help.”
“So the story will be that, under the former division head’s orders, you prepared illicit political funds?”
“Yes. Then only Division Head Park and I will take the fall, and everyone else should be safe.”
“I see. Yes.”
Lee Chanho looked apologetic, but on the other hand, relieved.
I had given what needed to be given, so now it was my turn.
“Prime Minister. How is the pension amendment bill going?”
“This is... not as easy as I thought. I met the opposition leader as soon as I became party leader, but their response is lukewarm.”
“Is that so? I’m certain I asked the opposition leader for cooperation as well...”
“Yes. That’s why they won’t openly oppose it. They say they’ll leave it to the conscience of individual lawmakers without a party line, or some such... Instead, they said they’ll attack to the end the pension that our president created back when he was opposition leader, the one that makes people pay more.”
I smiled bitterly.
To be honest, it was reaping what he had sown. But then, isn’t that what politics is?
“Minister Park’s faction is the problem. If half the opposition and all of our side vote in favor, we’d still be a few votes short of a majority. The question is how they’ll come out.”
“Prime Minister. Right now, you have the nomination rights for the next election firmly in your hands.”
“I know. That’s why, so far, no one has openly opposed me to my face. But so much bad blood built up during the convention that I’m at a loss as to how to resolve it...”
To him as he agonized, I gave a very simple and easy answer.
“Prime Minister. Then concede a few things.”
“Concede?”
“When persuading lawmakers, what better gift is there than a nomination?”
“You’re saying I should give them a few seats?”
“Even if you’ve seized party power, you won’t be able to fill every position with your own people anyway. If you give them the seats that need political allocation, you can earn goodwill and make negotiations easier.”
What exactly is power?
I’ve never held it, so I don’t really know, but in any case, I suspect its addictiveness is a level above even drugs.
Even perfectly decent people start spouting nonsense the moment they become members of the National Assembly, and at times they even destroy the achievements of their own lives for it. To them, is the gold badge something like the One Ring, inciting limitless greed?
In any case, every lawmaker I knew, without exception, became a docile lamb in front of a nomination.
“Political allocation... political allocation.”
After pondering for a moment, he smiled bitterly.
“This is quite clear to see. Park Hyeonseop’s close aides are all desperate to go to Honam, so there’ll be a massive moving season.”
“But in return, you’ll be able to persuade them for certain.”
After thinking for a moment, he answered.
“Fine, let’s do that. In any case, I’ll get it passed at next week’s plenary session by any means necessary.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll be going first. By the way, is there perhaps a back way out of this party headquarters?”
“A back way? Why a back way?”
“Because it wouldn’t be good if rumors spread that ‘Mr. A’ of the fund corruption met with the Prime Minister behind closed doors. Prime Minister, please devote yourself solely to matters for the country.”
With that final sad-funny joke, I rose from my seat.
Today was a very busy day. Since I had to appear before the prosecution tomorrow, I was now scheduled to become a nationally famous star. This might be the first time across my several lives that I’d become this famous, so I should probably get a haircut and some skincare done.
“Team Leader Lee...”
He called to me as I opened the door to leave.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
I nodded with a smile.
“I’ll leave the plenary session in your hands.”
*
Our next story. The fund corruption that shook the Minkuk Party convention. Today, the prosecution summoned the person involved for the first time and began its investigation. Mr. A, about whom rumors had been rampant until now, has been revealed to be Lee Sejun, head of the risk team at the pension fund.
Ahead of the summons investigation, the prosecution stated that the crime had been committed over a considerably long period of time.
Mr. Lee selected the Chinese fund firm “Changcheng Fund” as an entrusted manager and embezzled a significant portion of the fund’s profits into secret accounts.
Accordingly, the prosecution believes that most of the political funds were distributed through these secret accounts and has requested investigative cooperation from banking authorities, but since most of the accounts are in Singapore, Switzerland, and elsewhere, tracking them appears unlikely to be easy.
In response, the prosecution stated, “We are in a situation where we must rely on the suspect’s statements for a significant portion of the circumstances of the crime,” while adding, “We will do our utmost to uncover the truth.”
In addition, while summoning Mr. Lee, who directly led the crime, the prosecution also summoned Park Seongcheol, the former division head, for questioning on the same day.
The prosecution stated, “This violation is not something a low-level team leader could have carried out alone, and we are tracking those behind it.” According to the materials Mr. Lee submitted to the prosecution, all of this occurred while Mr. Park was in the division head position, and it has been confirmed that this is why the crime was not exposed for such a long time.
We will connect to the scene. Reporter Kim Jiseon?
*
-Please say a word! Some suspect there are more lists. How deeply are you involved?
-The funds confirmed so far alone exceed fifty billion won. Will you submit the Singapore accounts to the prosecution?
-There are also allegations that Representative Lee Chanho “ordered the tip-off.” How much of that is true?
-Were the two of you really the only ones who committed the crime? Is there no one behind it?
When I arrived in front of Seocho-gu, a barrage of flashes poured down as though a red carpet had been laid out.
With a calm face, I stood at the photo line.
“I will cooperate faithfully with the prosecution’s investigation.”
-Please say a word! The National Pension is the people’s retirement! Do you have nothing to say to the public?
After receiving such insults and rebukes, I arrived at the interrogation room, where Division Head Park Seongcheol, who had arrived first, was already waiting inside.
“Terrifying. I had no idea it would be this scary. Haha.”
“Division Head... I’m sorry.”
“Forget it. But after hearing from the lawyer, the sentence seems rather heavy. Since it’s a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, we can’t even hope for probation, and they said the minimum starts at five years?”
“Please don’t worry too much. We have March 1st, Liberation Day, and Buddha’s Birthday.”
“Then the next president absolutely has to be Lee Chanho. If Park Hyeonseop wins the presidential primary, we won’t even get a drop, will we? Haha.”
I smiled bitterly. The next president I knew no longer mattered. I had changed far too much of the past for that.
“By the way, I hear the plenary session is tomorrow. Did your talk with Prime Minister Lee go well?”
“Yes. It seems they’ve come to some agreement with the opposition as well, and I think they’ll suppress the no votes by giving a few nominations to Park Hyeonseop’s close aides.”
“Even conceding nominations? Hmm... You can’t trust politicians’ promises. They’ll already be busy taking care of their own people. Will he really concede?”
I nodded with a smile.
“He won’t be able not to.”
“What?”
“The convention was only the preliminary round. The real main match is the presidential election, isn’t it? Minister Park isn’t someone who will retire just like that, and he’s definitely a face Prime Minister Lee will have to see again during the presidential primary. Prime Minister Lee must be calculating all of that too.”
“Haha. Now that’s a proper safety device. If the pension amendment doesn’t pass, you’ll go over to Park Hyeonseop?”
“We’ll have to hope it doesn’t come to that. Well, it won’t.”
The Lee Chanho I knew was a brilliant man.
If everything I could and couldn’t say came out of my mouth, he would know very well who would be in the greatest danger.
As we were having that bit of idle chatter, the prosecutor in charge of the interrogation flung the door open.
“No, how can you put two accomplices in the same interrogation room? Hey, Prosecutor Park!”
-I-I’m sorry, Chief. But Prosecutor Park went to get the warrant right now.
Damn it. This prosecutor wouldn’t be easy.
The prosecutor in charge set down the file and said curtly,
“I won’t give a long explanation. Whatever it is, it’ll be best for you to confess to everything. And once the interrogation ends, the two of you will probably be arrested and detained immediately. The warrant judge has likely already decided on detention.”
“Prosecutor, I won’t run away, so can’t you investigate us without detention?”
“Don’t do that. Just stay in the detention center. Right now, that’s probably the safest place for the two of you.”
“Now that I hear it, that’s true too. Haha.”
“Mr. Park Seongcheol, please come out first.”
Division Head Park followed him out, then looked back and said,
“Don’t cry, Team Leader Lee. It was something someone had to take the bullet for. I’ll consider it an honor.”
After he left, breaking news flowed across the screen in the cramped interrogation room.
It was news that the hardline opposition and pro-Park lawmakers, who had remained hardline to the end, had for the first time mentioned a “bipartisan response” ahead of the pension amendment bill. And as its passage drew nearer, a public opinion poll was also released showing that opposition to the pension amendment bill had surpassed 60%.
But what could be done...
If my memory was correct, opposition from the public to the dispatch of troops to Iraq and the signing of the FTA had also exceeded seventy to eighty percent.
Even if one cannot avoid the criticism of the age, someone has no choice but to do it.
“...”
This is as far as I can go.
Was I right this time?
----------------------
End of main story.