TOIGC 25

Chapter 25 …

Goal: 4 Years Later (2)

‘Every single time I see him, I’m reminded of just how hopelessly airheaded he is.’

Despite the biting thought, Choi Cheol-gyu maintained a smooth, polite smile as he raised his coffee cup toward Choi Cheolmin.

Their eldest brother, Choi Cheol-ho, strongly resembled their father with his burly, heavily built physique. Cheolmin, who took after both parents, had a fairly average build. Cheol-gyu, on the other hand, inherited most of his features from their mother, resulting in softer lines, a youthful face, and a distinctly refined appearance. Though he was thirty—just one year younger than Cheolmin—he easily passed for a man in his early twenties.

Knowing how to leverage his looks as a weapon, Cheol-gyu avoided slicking his hair back with pomade and intentionally wore softly tailored suits. Using that unassuming exterior to catch people off guard, he had been steadily planting his flag inside Samwoo Chemical despite currently holding a mere deputy manager title.

“Was it a hassle coming all the way here?”

At Cheol-gyu’s gentle tone, Cheolmin laughed and shook his head.

“Not at all. I’m just coming to see my younger brother.”

Internally, Cheol-gyu scoffed.

‘Hilarious. It’s not like we’ve ever been close. And sneaking out during working hours again? Even after the reaming Father gave him recently, he still hasn’t learned a thing.’

While Cheol-gyu hadn’t managed to plant an informant inside the executive office, he did have a maid on his payroll at their father’s main estate. The intel stream had gone cold while his father was staying over at their eldest brother’s place, but once his nephew left for America during the break, the reports started flowing again.

The maid had confirmed that Cheolmin took a severe dressing-down from Choi Gihyeon. Given that Cheolmin had arrived here at Samwoo Chemical during lunch hours, it meant he must have slunk away from Samwoo Trading well before noon. Cheol-gyu quietly downgraded his opinion of Cheolmin even further.

“Well, I’m always grateful when you take the time to drop by, Brother.”

The words carried a sharp undertone, but Cheolmin completely missed it.

‘Cheol-gyu being this friendly toward me is going to make things so much easier.’

Taking a sip of his warm ssanghwa tea—complete with a raw egg yolk floating on top—Cheolmin cut straight to the chase.

“To be honest, I came here because there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“Let’s team up.”

Cheol-gyu had to exert every ounce of self-control not to knit his brows in disgust. Given his absolute disdain for incompetence, had anyone other than his immediate brother made such a proposal, he would have shut them down on the spot.

“Team up? What do you mean by that?”

Playing completely oblivious, Cheol-gyu coaxed the details out of him, and Cheolmin eagerly spilled his motives.

“It’s about Yoongi.”

“What about our nephew?”

“Don’t you think he’s getting… a little dangerous?”

“Dangerous?”

“Yeah. From what I’ve gathered, the kid is getting an allowance that rivals the salary of the president of Cheil Textiles…”

“Weren’t those funds awarded because his corporate strategy succeeded? He’s a sharp kid. For all we know, Eldest Brother might have submitted that strategy to Father under Yoongi’s name.”

“That’s not all! He’s using that cash to aggressively buy up land in Cheonggyecheon!”

“Land in Cheonggyecheon? Well, why wouldn’t he? There’s no reason to leave money sitting idle in a bank.”

“And that’s still not the end of it!”

“There’s more?”

Cheol-gyu was practically floating on cloud nine inside. It was rare to secure high-level intelligence like this, let alone have it served on a silver platter for free. Maintaining a fascinated expression, he skillfully egged Cheolmin on to keep blabbering.

“Father personally lent money to Yoongi using that Cheonggyecheon land as collateral. Does that make any sense to you?! Why does that kid get special treatment?”

Cheolmin laid every single one of his cards out on the table: his raw hostility toward Yoongi, alongside every piece of high-level intel he possessed. Cheol-gyu, meanwhile, revealed absolutely nothing of his own.

“Wow, Brother, you really are incredible. I had no idea about any of this.”

Cheolmin beamed with pride at his younger brother’s praise.

“I pulled a few strings. So, what do you think?”

“About what?”

Cheolmin tapped his own chest in frustration.

“Man, at this rate, Yoongi is going to swallow Samwoo Group whole! That little kid is already running rampant through company affairs. If this keeps up, our conglomerate is going to collapse!”

It was a baseless, emotional outburst, but Cheolmin was too wrapped up in his own resentment to care how absurd he sounded.

“Hmm… then what do you think we should do, Brother?”

“I told you! We team up. That kid had a totally different starting line from us thanks to his powerhouse maternal grandfather. But if you, me, and the other brothers band together, we can easily counter him. You don’t seriously want to call a kid twenty years younger than you ‘Chairman’ down the road, do you?”

Instead of giving a direct yes or no, Cheol-gyu deftly shifted the topic.

“Alright, but how exactly are we supposed to combine forces? I’m just a salaryman with a deputy manager title.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll speak to Father and make sure he gives you more backing. Besides, as we climb the promotional ladder, our influence will naturally grow. Then, when the critical moment comes, we stab Yoongi in the back.”

“Hmm. That sounds a bit too far down the line, though. How about you bring it up again when you need concrete help? I need a specific plan of action before I can make a move.”

“Deal!”

It was nowhere near a firm agreement, but Cheolmin mistook it for an absolute yes and broke into a broad grin.

“Man, the coffee here is fantastic, Cheol-gyu! Thanks to you, I found a great spot. I should bring some of my business clients here sometime.”

“Feel free to ask me anytime if you need advice on entertaining clients. You know I’m well-versed in that.”

“Thanks, I’ll hold you to that!”

Sensing a newfound closeness with his younger brother, Cheolmin suddenly let out a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong, Brother?”

“I’m just wondering… what is Yoongi planning to do with the money he borrowed from Father? I need to know that so I can prep a countermeasure, but my connection in the executive office got cut off, so I’m stuck.”

As Cheolmin inadvertently dropped yet another piece of key information, Cheol-gyu weighed his options in his mind.

‘I actually have a pretty good hunch… Should I tell him? Or is it better to keep my mouth shut?’

The scales tipped toward telling him. It wasn’t because he wanted to join forces with Cheolmin, but rather because he wanted to sit back and watch how Cheolmin would fare when pitted against their nephew.

“Well… if he borrowed cash right after buying up land, wouldn’t he be planning to erect a building on it?”

“Aha!”

It was a casual remark thrown out offhandedly, but Cheolmin was so overwhelmingly grateful he grabbed Cheol-gyu’s hands.

“Thank you! Why didn’t I think of that?”

‘Because you’re an idiot.’

Hiding his true thoughts entirely, Cheol-gyu maintained a warm smile and offered praise instead.

“You’ve just had a lot on your mind lately, that’s all. Don’t push yourself too hard and make sure to take care of your health. You’re one of the main pillars of our group, aren’t you?”

“Right, absolutely. Anyway, I need to go pull together a plan right away. Thanks again, I’m heading out!”

Watching his brother rush off in a panic, Cheol-gyu let out a cold, internal sneer before finishing off his cup.

‘Unless Eldest Brother is secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes, there’s no denying that Yoongi kid possesses extraordinary talent…’

Cheol-gyu didn’t necessarily harbor a burning desire to inherit Samwoo Group. Unlike Cheolmin, Cheol-gyu had studied abroad, where he had already witnessed firsthand how much wealth a subsidiary chairman could enjoy within a family-owned megacorporation.

So long as his own vast fortune was guaranteed, he didn’t particularly care who took over the group. Of course, if no one proved more capable than himself, he fully intended to seize the throne.

‘With my nephew sprinting ahead like that, I can’t just sit on my hands as his uncle. Whether I end up competing against Yoongi or earning his recognition down the line, I need to start making moves of my own.’

As Cheol-gyu stood up to leave the teahouse, a hand suddenly grabbed his arm. He turned, looking puzzled, only to find a man in his thirties with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

“Can I help you?”

“You didn’t pay the bill.”

In an instant, the smooth, gentle smile Cheol-gyu had been wearing completely crumbled.

Once the school break came to an end, Yoongi returned to Korea.

During his stay in the US, his English fluency had improved beyond what could merely be described as ‘rapid progress’—largely thanks to the Harvard tutors he hired, who arranged for him to audit summer term lectures. Hearing native pronunciation in real-time at lectures, followed by endless speaking drills back at the hotel, had worked wonders.

Since Ryu Geun-tae accompanied him through the whole process, Geun-tae’s English skills had shot up dramatically as well. Though it might not serve much purpose right away, it would prove to be a massive asset when negotiating with foreign firms in the future.

<“Come to think of it, if you really set your mind to it, couldn’t you have built the department store much sooner? You could have launched the store, brought in revenue, and used that capital to invest instead.”>

Deokbae was endlessly curious about Yoongi’s strategy. Since Yoongi often used these explanations to fine-tune his own roadmap, conversations between the two had become a frequent routine.

“There are a few reasons, but the biggest one is that President P gets assassinated in ’79.”

<“Right.”>

“Once P dies, the power structure undergoes a complete seismic shift. Even P’s daughter—who eventually becomes president in the 2010s—loses all her political leverage at this point, right?”

<“True, true.”>

“So there’s zero reason to waste effort buttering up the old military regime prior to ’79. Once business ramps up, I’ll have to distribute bribes across multiple channels anyway. Why invest in people whose political lifelines are about to be cut short?”

<“Damn, impressive as always.”>

“Plus, there’s a massive policy divide between P and JD.”

<“How so?”>

“P operated under the belief that keeping a tight, oppressive grip on the populace was the only way to prevent revolution. JD, on the other hand, believes that giving the public room to breathe and enjoy entertainment is what keeps revolution at bay. Ultimately, revolution happens anyway, but I need JD’s ‘3S Policy’ in full effect for my department store business to truly thrive.”

<“Because you’re dealing in luxury goods?”>

“Exactly. I plan to import luxury items, high-end commodities, and foreign trends. It’s much easier to operate under JD’s regime, where those things are actually tolerated.”

<“Is that also why you didn’t jump into the video game market right away…?”>

“Yes, exactly. From what I recall, the government heavily cracked down on media like comic books throughout the 1980s. Lee Jae-ryong didn’t leap into the gaming industry until the 90s either. When I analyzed why he held back in the 80s, I realized that while he was a bit young back then, JD’s administration wouldn’t have looked favorably on that sector anyway.”

Deokbae once again marveled at the ten-year-old’s terrifying foresight.

<“So that’s why you’re going out to lay the groundwork today?”>

“You could say that.”

A few moments later, Brigadier General Colson’s voice echoed from outside.

“Yoongi, it’s time.”

They were at Choi Gihyeon’s main estate, but Brigadier General Colson had personally dropped by as well.

At 6:00 PM, Yoongi boarded Colson’s car and headed toward the Chosun Hotel. Among the top-tier luxury establishments in 1970s Korea—such as the Empire Hotel and the Chosun Hotel—they were heading to the latter.

“Right this way to your suite, gentlemen.”

Upon spotting the Mercedes, the hotel staff escorted Colson and Yoongi up to the suite with utmost deference. Once inside, the two waited for their guest to arrive.

“Yoongi, are you absolutely sure about this?”

“I’m sorry for putting you in a tough spot, Uncle Colson. But I assure you, this is going to be a massive opportunity.”

“Hearing your breakdown convinced me that it makes sense, but I can’t deny I’m still nervous.”

“I’ll make sure you never regret this.”

“I’m trusting you on this one. He’s a very close personal friend of mine, but because of his standing, he’s someone I find difficult to deal with.”

“I’ll keep that firmly in mind.”

It was a full forty minutes past the agreed time before their guest finally made an appearance. The moment the man walked in, Brigadier General Colson snapped to attention and delivered a crisp, formal salute.

“Hahaha! Colson, how long has it been since I retired? You don’t need to be so stiff. Relax.”

The man who stepped into the room appeared to be in his early seventies. Yet, his prominent features and the noticeable scars etched across his body projected the undeniable aura of a hardened military commander.

“To me, General, you will always be my commanding officer.”

The figure who held such absolute authority over Brigadier General Colson was none other than the former four-star general of the US Military: General Custer.