“Once you stick your head in, it’s only natural for the rest to follow. It probably didn’t take long for a couple of million to turn into ten.”
Executive Director Lim Jong-yoon’s face turned pale, his lips trembling.
Just a little more, just this once.
That’s how it must have started. But when no problems arose, he grew bolder. He skimmed off a few more million, and with each increase, his courage grew, eventually ballooning to ten times the amount.
How much would it swell in a year at this rate?
“The Vice Chairman must know about this. Why is he staying silent?”
“Hey, did the Vice Chairman say something?”
Judging by Lim’s expression, it was clear that even Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki couldn’t overlook the amount that had been embezzled.
“Isn’t it scarier when he says nothing? Not issuing a warning might mean he’s already preparing the appropriate measures.”
“Measures?”
“Are you really that clueless?”
Fear of the unknown is the most terrifying. Lim’s mind must be racing with all sorts of scenarios.
“You’ve been with Sunyang for quite some time. Don’t you know how our family handles things?”
In two years of a cushy position, you can set up a retirement plan and buy a couple of apartments. But that’s the limit. Step outside the boundaries set by Chairman Jin, and you can’t escape severe punishment.
Those who overstep, mostly executives, have their pasts and private lives exposed. The ones who handle this are none other than Sunyang’s scholars within the prosecutor’s office.
Hidden accounts under family and relatives’ names are uncovered, and documents for secretly purchased land and shops are laid out on the table.
To avoid legal consequences, the only option is to cough up everything and retreat to the countryside.
If you try to negotiate by exposing the company’s corruption, you can’t guarantee your family’s safety. That’s Chairman Jin’s way of handling things.
Watching Lim shiver slightly with fear, I continued.
“Shall I tell you what I think is going on? You probably know some of Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki’s secrets. The manpower supply company was likely a hush money scheme or a reward for your efforts.”
Pretending not to know what I already did was frustrating.
“But if it were just hush money, my uncle would have just paid a lump sum and ended it. So, it must be a company set up for you to profit from for generations.”
I looked him straight in the eye and asked.
“Executive Director Lim Jong-yoon, what exactly did you do for my uncle?”
“Stop with the baseless speculation. Nothing happened. If my brother’s manpower company made excessive profits, I would have told the Vice Chairman directly to correct it! Enough with this nonsense.”
If he runs to my uncle, it would be a disaster.
I had to stop him from leaving.
“Are you still not getting it?”
“What? Hey! Watch your mouth!”
My provocative tone halted Lim’s steps.
“The Vice Chairman isn’t the problem right now. Our grandfather… the Chairman is planning to start a group audit. Director Lee Hak-jae has already begun assembling a special audit team. Do you understand? The first target is Sunyang Construction. You know why construction is first, right?”
It’s not an external audit. It means insiders who know the company best will be digging through it. And starting with the construction company, the hotbed of corruption, is only natural.
“Your manpower company will also hit Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki hard. How long did you think you could let such a company slide? Grandfather will be furious.”
“Hey, Jin Do-joon. What exactly are you trying to say? You’re poking here and there… just tell me what you want! Then…”
Finally, Lim realized that I had a different agenda.
“Pack up and run. Europe? America? Australia? Anywhere is fine. I’ll help you prepare.”
“What, what?”
“You’re not going to get past being an executive director anyway, right? You’re not aiming for the president of Sunyang Construction, are you? That position is for those who’ve slogged it out on the construction sites. You’re at your peak as the head of the management support division. You know that, right?”
He knows well that without field experience, you can’t become the president of a construction company.
“Running a manpower company won’t last much longer. When you leave Sunyang, that company will have to close too. Just think of it as retiring a few years early and take the money.”
He couldn’t answer easily.
He must have felt the same when he took a big risk to create a slush fund for my uncle.
He funneled a whopping 50 billion won into a non-existent company. If things went wrong, even as a passive accomplice, he couldn’t avoid criminal charges.
But he made a bold choice and ended up sitting on a pile of money.
It’s the same now.
For some reason, I’m offering him another chance.
He must instinctively know that he has to give up something and take a risk.
“You’ve been looking at ledgers for twenty years, yet you’re slow at calculating. What’s taking you so long to think? You should have an answer in ten seconds.”
As Lim racked his brain, my mouth went dry.
What if he values his loyalty to Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki more? What if he tells him everything we’ve discussed? What if he tries to protect the Vice Chairman from the Chairman’s internal audit?
Everything would fall apart.
But I trusted Lim Jong-yoon’s greed, who embezzled ten billion won using the manpower company set up by Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki, and his desire for money.
“Jin Do-joon, you seem to need something desperately. Tell me, what is it?”
“Have you finished calculating?”
“I think I need to hear what you want to finish the calculation.”
Lim was showing more composure. He realized it was time to listen to my proposal, not my warnings.
“During the IMF crisis, you bought a ghost company, right? It must be a company in South America. You probably paid 50 billion won for a company that only exists on paper and wrote it off as a loss during the national chaos. I need all the transaction details.”
I saw the most surprised look on Lim’s face since we met today.
What would he say next?
“Then can you overlook the manpower company issue?”
Fortunately, he’s quick to calculate.
Everyone in the group knows that I have my grandfather’s special favor, and Lim is no exception.
His tone had already become more polite.
“The audit team will find it anyway, so I can’t overlook it. But I can make sure it doesn’t become an issue.”
Not making it an issue means not escalating it into a criminal case using the prosecution.
“Then how should I handle the manpower company?”
“Dispose of it. Sell it to a powerful place where no one can look into it.”
“You don’t know construction. The manpower company only has an office. It’s run through connections… who would buy it?”
“I’ll arrange for HW Construction to purchase it. Consider the purchase price of 2 billion won as your severance pay.”
“HW…? Oh, you mean Dae-A Construction.”
“And spend about five years abroad until Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki forgets about you. Of course, you have plenty of money, so you can fully retire and enjoy yourself.”
He still seemed hesitant.
Even if he received a large sum of 2 billion won, it was clear that if he couldn’t escape Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki’s reach, he wouldn’t be able to spend it all.
“If you leave Korea, I’ll erase your traces. You can rest thoroughly in a scenic foreign country for five years as if you don’t exist.”
“What’s the reason?”
“What reason?”
“The reason you want to hold Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki’s weakness.”
“Don’t you know that the more you know, the more dangerous it becomes? Look at yourself now. You’re in this mess because you know the Vice Chairman’s secret.”
He closed his mouth again. He was thinking about what conclusion to draw.
The most terrifying thing is Chairman Jin’s audit. Avoiding that and escaping the betrayal of Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki’s reach. Money comes after that.
“Create a work visa for a place where HW Construction has overseas projects. I’ll settle the manpower company, receive the 2 billion won severance, and when I’ve settled abroad, I’ll hand over the documents.”
“Documents first.”
“That’s not possible.”
For someone who mistakenly thinks they’re holding the knife, you have to show them the sharpness of the blade.
“Documents first, right now. Otherwise, all this long talk was for nothing. I don’t want to waste precious time, but what can I do? The last cog is out of place.”
He was visibly flustered.
“Oh, you still don’t get it. Manager Jung Kyu-hwan has already handed over the ghost company documents from Europe. That’s enough, but the more bombs, the better, so I’m just trying to get your documents too.”
“Manager Jung…?”
“He’s probably flying over the Pacific Ocean by now. He’ll also be abroad for over five years.”
“That can’t be…?”
“Bratislava Resource Development Limited. Doesn’t that name sound familiar? It’s the company name written at the top of the documents Manager Jung handed over… Still don’t believe me?”
It’s the name of a ghost company in Slovakia. Only three people know this name.
He couldn’t possibly not know that what I was saying was true.
He must have realized by now that the knife isn’t in his hand.
“Do you think I’d trust someone who embezzled 10 billion won behind my uncle’s back? I want to avoid hearing complaints later about 2 billion not being enough. Don’t overthink it and bring the documents. I’ll arrange for you to stay in Sydney, Australia, within a month.”
“I’m sorry, Vice Chairman.”
“Hmm… Is it really necessary to quit? You know how I feel about Executive Director Lim, don’t you?”
Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gi observed Executive Director Lim Jong-yoon, who had his head bowed low, and spoke in a calm, soothing voice.
“I understand. It’s time to let it go. I have my own sense of honor.”
“There are times in life when you need money, and mistakes happen. It’s alright.”
“No, it’s not. I’ve betrayed your kindness and done something terrible. I’ve been thinking it over, and I’m scared of what I might do next. And…”
Lim Jong-yoon glanced at the vice chairman, who was watching him with a gentle expression, though his eyes were sharp.
“It’s not just my immediate family; even my relatives are losing their minds. They’re acting like there’s a pot of gold to be had, desperate to get a piece of it. It’s more than I can handle.”
Mentioning his family, a flicker of disdain crossed Vice Chairman Jin’s face before disappearing.
He had seen this scenario countless times. In families where everyone struggles, the moment one person succeeds, the rest cling on like leeches.
At that point, they’re no longer family or relatives. They transform into ravenous creatures, trying to extract every last penny.
Initially, you help those relatives, flaunting your success, but soon you realize you’ve stepped into a trap you can’t escape. And then, the hell of dealing with these insatiable creatures begins.