TOIGC 32

Chapter 32 …

You Need Talent to Seize an Opportunity (3)

“Boss, can you really picture us working inside an actual office?”

Oh Jung-seon let out a snicker and looked at his crew, who couldn’t hide their grins either.

These guys made their living extorting money from helpless shopkeepers or stirring up trouble to extort a heavy payout—working an actual, honest job was the last thing on their minds.

“This payout is massive. If everything goes smoothly, I can easily cover your living expenses for a whole year.”

At the mention of a full year’s expenses, the look in Jung-seon’s eyes shifted. Up until a second ago, he had taken it as a joke, but he quickly realized the wealthy sucker standing in front of him was genuinely asking for a major favor.

“So, you’ve got a specific job in mind?”

At Jung-seon’s probing look, Choi Cheol-min nodded eagerly.

“Right. I can’t spill every single detail to you guys, but I need you to get hired at a construction office I point out and just act like normal employees for now. I’ll give you your orders later. Handle that assignment properly, and you’ll walk away with a massive fortune. I mean, how long are you going to keep wandering the streets collecting petty protection money? You should at least be running a high-end hostess bar with fifty private rooms, shouldn’t you?”

Though he lacked formal education, Jung-seon possessed a sharp street instinct that allowed him to run a gang without rubbing the local mob bosses the wrong way. Naturally, he sensed instantly that this job was a far bigger deal than it seemed on the surface.

“So, all we have to do is get hired and pretend to work?”

“Exactly. Just stay put and work quietly. It might take a bit of time, but I’ll make sure you’re handsomely rewarded. Have I ever treated you guys poorly?”

Hearing that, Jung-seon broke into a sly grin and bowed his head respectfully toward Cheol-min.

“Heh heh heh… Boss, we know better than anyone how well you treat us. But if this drags on too long, you’re gonna have to grease our wheels along the way, right? We’re hardly the type to stick around one place for long.”

Cheol-min paused to mull it over before nodding.

‘I’ll manage the money somehow. Cheol-kyu said he’d help out, after all.’

Relying on calculations from a broken mental abacus, Cheol-min convinced himself his plan was absolute perfection.

“Once a month. How’s that?”

“Come on, Boss, that’s harsh. Make it once a week.”

After a bit of back-and-forth haggling, the two compromised on once every fortnight and shook on it.

“Make sure you pull this off. It’s extremely important.”

“Of course. Handling dirty work is our specialty, isn’t it?”

Even as he received the name of the construction office from Cheol-min, Jung-seon had no idea how difficult getting hired there would actually be.

“Wait, people showed up asking for work?”

Scanning the morning local paper to keep tabs on regional developments, Kim Jeong-seon set the news down and looked at his lead design manager, Yu Jin-hee.

“Yes. How should I handle them?”

“Manager Yu, did you happen to put up a ‘Hiring’ sign out front?”

With a receding hairline characteristic of his family, Manager Yu—in his early forties—was the elite of the elite among the men Jeong-seon had brought up from his previous firm. Though he possessed ample authority to make decisions, Manager Yu certainly hadn’t put up any hiring notice outside the office.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Then why on earth are they walking in asking for a job?”

“Well, it happens. Should I just send them packing?”

“No, bring them in first. If they’re swallowing their pride to wander around looking for work, they might actually have some grit.”

The office Jeong-seon currently ran with Yoongi’s backing consisted of six people in total, including Jeong-seon himself: President Kim Jeong-seon, two department managers, an assistant under each manager, and an accountant. While they weren’t desperate for staff just yet, picking up a decent hand in advance wasn’t a bad idea.

“Ah, President Kim! Thank you so much! We were really desperate for a job!”

Jung-seon marched into the office with his three crew members in tow, bowing deeply toward Jeong-seon.

“You young men certainly have drive, walking around looking for work this early in the morning.”

“We used to work at another construction office, but the place went belly up, leaving us stranded on the streets. We know our way around construction, so please hire us. We’ll take whatever monthly pay you’re willing to give.”

Back in the 1970s—and well into the 1990s—the phrase “I’ll take whatever you give” carried real weight. Using it during a job interview was a reliable way to win an employer’s favor, so desperate job seekers threw it around constantly. Of course, a month later, many found themselves stuck taking responsibility for those words when handed an almost empty pay envelope.

“Pay should match the work put in, especially if you have prior experience. Take a seat first.”

When Jeong-seon offered them seats, the four men squeezed onto a firm three-seater waiting couch.

“Right then, what are your names?”

“I’m Oh Jung-seon.”

“Ho! Your name ends with the same character as mine, does it?”

“It must be fate bringing us together, sir.”

“Hahaha, it seems so!”

Up to this point, the mood was remarkably warm, and Jung-seon’s plan to infiltrate the office seemed to be moving smoothly.

“Let’s see… where do you all live?”

“Yes, sir, we all live nearby. We’re a close-knit group.”

“Then commuting won’t be an issue.”

“Overtime or weekend shifts are no problem at all, sir.”

“Good, that’s the right attitude.”

After jotting down the names of the other three, Jeong-seon moved on to the real interview.

“So, what kind of work did you handle at your previous firm?”

Jung-seon froze, completely at a loss for words.

“Uh… well…”

To Jung-seon, a “construction office” simply meant manual labor at a site. But Jeong-seon’s firm was an architecture and planning outfit that secured projects through contracts and designs before hiring site workers to begin construction. In short, the odds of Jung-seon getting hired here were virtually zero from the start.

“Hmm? Was it something specialized?”

“No, it’s not that… We just did a little bit of everything.”

The moment he heard that answer, Jeong-seon knew for a fact these men had zero relevant experience.

“Have you men ever actually worked at a construction office before?”

“Y-yes! Of course! Work won’t move without us. Just look at our builds, sir—we’re made for construction!”

“Tsk.”

Jeong-seon stood up from the reception desk, walked over to his main desk, sat down, and spat out cold words.

“Get out. Do you think this is a day-labor agency?”

“President Kim! We can really do a great job. Sure, we lied about working at a construction office, but please give us a chance to learn! Just feed us, and we’ll work like dogs!”

“I don’t need it! Is this a school to you? You think we have the spare time to teach someone who doesn’t know the first thing about the trade?”

“President Kim!”

“I said get out!”

One of Jung-seon’s thugs flared up, ready to snap, but Jung-seon quickly calmed him down and spoke with forced politeness.

“Is there really no way, sir? Even just for one of us…”

“I said no. If you want manual labor, go down to the dawn market. You’ll find as much site work as you want there. Keep at it, and maybe you’ll end up working on one of our project sites down the line.”

“We can really do well… please… just one last chance?”

“No means no.”

Jeong-seon didn’t even bother looking at him anymore.

“We’re sorry to have bothered you. Well then… hopefully we’ll see you again under better circumstances.”

Jung-seon offered a polite bow on his way out, but Jeong-seon had already tuned them out completely.

Outside, the air was biting cold. Once they were a safe distance from the office, Jung-seon halted his steps, and one of his thugs immediately lost his temper.

“Boss, let’s just tear that office apart! Who the hell does he think he is talking to you like that?!”

SMACK!

A sound like a brick slamming into a wall echoed as Jung-seon struck the back of his thug’s head so hard it nearly hit the pavement.

“Damn, your head is hard. Hey! What do we gain by tearing that office apart? We need a connection to that place, remember?! Once their construction kicks off, we can hit the labor market and sneak onto the site. Until then, we need to look like polite, law-abiding citizens. You trying to ruin the whole plan before it even starts?!”

“S-sorry, Boss,” the thug mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck with his head bowed.

Staring at him for a moment, Jung-seon realized he needed to meet with Choi Cheol-min once again.

“Boss, we need to know the exact details if we’re going to infiltrate the site properly.”

At Jung-seon’s words, Cheol-min let out a troubled groan and fell into deep thought.

“When you told us to get hired, I thought it was just a day-labor gig, but it turns out you need actual specialized knowledge for that office. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was for us? Still, it looks like we can sneak in once they start hiring site laborers, but to move at the right time, I need to know the exact situation. Boss… don’t tell me you don’t trust me? That really hurts.”

Targeted by Jung-seon’s emotional appeal, Cheol-min ended up spilling the high-level intel he was supposed to keep strictly hidden.

“My nephew is planning to start a construction project in Cheonggyecheon soon. Once that work begins, you guys need to sabotage it by any means necessary. Don’t just delay the schedule—either shatter the project completely or make sure structural defects show up in the building later on.”

The moment he heard those words, Jung-seon was convinced he had to secure this job no matter what.

‘If I get this sucker to sign an IOU right before we start, I can bleed him for an absolute fortune.’

Even for a guy like Jung-seon, blowing up an entire construction project was nearly impossible. But sneaking in as a laborer and ensuring the building collapsed years down the road due to shoddy work? That was well within his wheelhouse.

“Now the picture is coming together. Don’t worry, Boss. Once construction starts, your little brothers will handle it with absolute perfection.”

Unaware of Jung-seon’s true intentions, Cheol-min simply nodded along.

“Right, just do a good job. If this goes well, I’ll reward you properly.”

“Since we only need to move once construction starts, you don’t need to cover our night-out expenses like we agreed before. I know money’s tight for you lately, Boss.”

“R-really?”

“Of course! Who am I to you? I’m your loyal brother, aren’t I?”

“T-thank you! Thank you so much! I’ll make sure to build you a hostess bar with over fifty rooms down the line!”

As Cheol-min gave him a tight, grateful hug, Jung-seon flashed a sinister grin over his shoulder.

‘Fifty rooms? Forget fifty—you’re going to owe me at least ten hostesses bars with five hundred rooms each.’

January 1978.

Two months had passed since the secret meeting between Choi Cheol-min and Oh Jung-seon, but peace still reigned over Samwoo Group. Yoongi’s construction project hadn’t officially begun yet.

However, Yoongi instinctively knew it was time to take his next step.

‘It’s time to build connections with the new military faction.’

Next autumn, President Park would meet his end. To leverage the power of General Chun, who would seize control following Park’s death, Yoongi had to establish a connection in advance. Trying to form a line after a successful coup would be a hundred times harder than building one right now.

Of course, given the backing of his maternal grandfather, Brigadier General Colson, and his recent ties to Gerster, General Chun wouldn’t dare mess with Yoongi’s business. But Yoongi was looking much further down the road.

‘I can’t settle for just avoiding interference—I need direct favoritism. Before I enter university, Samwoo Group must rank within the top sixty conglomerates at the very least.’

As far as Yoongi remembered, the IMF financial crisis would strike in 1997, a few years after his university graduation. For a company to be deemed “too big to fail” and receive massive government bailouts, holding a spot around 100th in the corporate rankings wasn’t going to cut it.

‘Top sixty when I enter university, and at least top forty by the time I graduate!’

Regardless of how feasible it sounded, Yoongi set that baseline firmly in his mind.

‘To contact the new military faction, I could ask my grandfather or Gerster, but wasting those favors this early would be a waste of precious ammunition.’

Using Ryu Geun-tae wasn’t an option either. The Hanahoe faction within the military would hardly look favorably upon someone with Geun-tae’s background.

‘Someone capable, driven purely by self-interest, and fully willing to move on my behalf if guaranteed a profit…’

A single figure fitting every condition flashed through Yoongi’s mind.