TOIGC 33

Chapter 33 …

The Crown Prince of the New Military Faction (1)

‘My second uncle.’

The person who came to mind was none other than Choi Cheol-kyu.

Yoongi had singled Cheol-kyu out for two simple reasons. First, in the original timeline before his regression, Cheol-kyu had been sharp enough to recognize Ryu Geun-tae’s talent. Second, he had correctly foreseen who would eventually take the reins as Samwoo Group’s chairman. Though Choi Deok-bae hadn’t spelled it out, Yoongi reasoned that Cheol-kyu was precisely the kind of man who would have secured his own personal nest egg long before Samwoo Group hit rock bottom.

“What was my second uncle’s life like within the group?”

<You’ve already basics, enough haven’t heard know the to you?>

“I want to hear about the years before it went under.”

<To But Chemical Group’s I Samwoo That’s a around be before collapse… for foreign glued ground held his honest, how investors leadership like of one overall practically shares side solid sure: surprisingly the their thing’s to tossing toy, until was was. well. were while year your>

“Just as I thought.”

<Why a all anyway? are asking of sudden, you>

“Because it looks like I need a new card in my hand.”

Yoongi picked up the receiver and spun the rotary dial of the house phone.

Coincidentally, the tea shop Choi Cheol-kyu picked for his meeting with Yoongi was the exact same spot where he had recently met his older brother, Choi Cheol-min.

‘I still can’t wrap my head around how a grown man can be more incompetent than a child.’

12:20 PM.

It wasn’t Yoongi who had suggested a lunch meeting, but Cheol-kyu himself. Yoongi had originally offered to meet in the evening so as not to interrupt his uncle’s work, but Cheol-kyu had deliberately shifted it to lunchtime.

With ten minutes left until the agreed time, Cheol-kyu pondered the situation. The kid obviously wasn’t asking to meet just out of nephewly affection; he had business to discuss. In a negotiation like this, granting the other party an abundance of time was a strategic disadvantage.

‘Wait… Could Yoongi have calculated that I’d reject an evening meeting, intentionally prompting me to squeeze it into lunch?’

The thought flickered through Cheol-kyu’s mind as he casually sipped his black tea.

‘Almost time.’

With seven minutes remaining, Cheol-kyu signaled the waiter and asked him to clear the used cup from the table.

“Please don’t let on later that I’ve already had a cup.”

Sliding a thousand-won bill across the table, Cheol-kyu watched the waiter nod with a smile and clear the dish away. Moments later, Yoongi stepped through the entrance.

“Hello, Uncle. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“Ah, Yoongi. Have you been doing well? Take a seat.”

“Thank you.”

Watching Yoongi’s polite demeanor, Cheol-kyu briefly recalled his other nephew, Choi Jeong-gi.

‘Comparing Yoongi to Jeong-gi at that age…’

It was a night and day comparison—flat-out impossible. He wondered if Yoongi had ever acted like a normal kid when he was younger, but the boy had displayed remarkable maturity for as long as he could remember.

‘Honestly, he acts more mature than Cheol-ho.’

If his second older brother, Choi Cheol-min, was reckless and flighty, his eldest brother, Choi Cheol-ho, was simple and mild-mannered. While drawing direct comparisons might be insulting to Cheol-ho, Cheol-kyu genuinely felt his nephew possessed a cooler head than his own father.

“What would you like to drink?”

“Coffee, please.”

“You don’t need to force yourself.”

“Not at all, I drink it often. A cup helps when I need to study late into the night.”

“Fair enough.”

Cheol-kyu calmly ordered two cups of coffee, internally marveling at the boy once again. Had Yoongi ordered milk or a soda, Cheol-kyu would have assumed the kid was letting his guard down or simply acting his age.

‘He knows the appropriate drink for the setting, and he understands he’s the one who sought out this meeting…’

Had it not been for a lesson Choi Gi-hyeon had imparted earlier, Yoongi might have made the blunder of asking when Cheol-kyu planned to visit his grandfather’s house next. Of course, Cheol-kyu had no way of knowing that.

Clink, clink.

Only the quiet clinking of teacups filled the air. Time was entirely on Cheol-kyu’s side. Even the seconds spent swirling coffee in his mouth were time Yoongi couldn’t afford to waste.

‘Surely he’s not planning to use casual sit-downs like this to build rapport with me?’

If that was the boy’s strategy, Cheol-kyu would be profoundly disappointed. Though given his age, perhaps that was the upper limit of his tactical thinking.

“My eldest uncle seems to be making a huge fuss lately.”

“Is that so?”

Cheol-kyu set his cup back down on the saucer with an innocent look, though he was already fully aware of the situation.

‘So my second brother is desperately trying to sabotage Yoongi, is he?’

At the same time, he secretly sneered at Cheol-min. If you’re going to make a move, you do it quietly. Leaking your movements to a kid was the height of amateurism.

“Yes. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Grandfather gives him a severe earful soon. And I doubt it’ll be a gentle scolding like usual…”

Yoongi stopped right there, letting his words trail off.

It was hardly rare for Cheol-min to get chewed out by Gi-hyeon. Cheol-kyu gave a gentle, understanding nod, but behind his calm facade, his mind was furiously calculating the variables.

‘Cheol-min is going to get chewed out by Father? Does that mean whatever he’s pulling against Yoongi crosses the line? But there’s no way Father knows less than Yoongi. Which means Cheol-min hasn’t actually executed his plan yet. Is Father directly involved in what Yoongi is doing, then? No, that doesn’t add up either.’

Yoongi gave Cheol-kyu plenty of breathing room to run the numbers, allowing him to arrive at the inevitable conclusion.

‘What my brother is planning goes far beyond acceptable boundaries for family!’

He couldn’t pinpoint the exact scheme just yet, but if Yoongi’s words held true, Cheol-min was about to completely destroy his standing within the family.

‘…! ‘

In that same instant, Cheol-kyu realized his nephew had intentionally granted him the silence needed to think it through. If Yoongi had interrupted him mid-thought, he never would have reached that conclusion so smoothly.

‘What a terrifying kid…’

Cheol-kyu raised the white flag in his mind. There was zero chance of beating this boy in a direct confrontation. If he had a wealthy father like Cheol-ho or powerful backing from the US Military like Brigadier General Colson, he might have had a fighting chance. But his wife’s background—a modest family of local elites—simply didn’t offer enough leverage to compete. Even in a financial war, the wealth Cheol-ho had accumulated alongside their father over the years was on a completely different level.

‘The kid was born with insane luck, too.’

Hiding his inner turmoil, Cheol-kyu took another quiet sip of coffee, openly taking his time to process the situation. Since his nephew had graciously granted him time, he had every right to think things through.

‘If I were close in age to him as a brother, or sitting in Cheol-ho’s shoes, I might harbor grand ambitions. But right now, I don’t see a single winning scenario. Which means…’

His decision was made: fulfill his nephew’s request while simultaneously building his own pillar of support. If Yoongi proved himself capable of taking the reins of Samwoo Group without stumbling, Cheol-kyu would simply focus on making his own standing thicker and taller—even if Yoongi’s pillar ultimately dwarfed his own.

“Hmm, the coffee here really is quite excellent.”

Setting his cup down softly, Cheol-kyu locked eyes with his nephew.

“Your uncle admits defeat.”

Had anyone nearby been listening in, the exchange would have made zero sense. Their brief battle of wits had taken place entirely above the surface.

“And you’re satisfied with just that?”

Expecting his nephew to dive straight into business, Cheol-kyu raised a single eyebrow in rare surprise.

“What is that supposed to mean…?”

“I’m asking if you’re truly satisfied with just the president or chairman seat of Samwoo Chemical, Uncle.”

“Well… if Samwoo Group keeps growing at its current pace, wouldn’t that be a position well worth having?”

Cheol-kyu’s single flaw was that his ambition paled in comparison to his talent. Had his ambition matched his capability, the thief never would have managed to hijack Samwoo Group in the original timeline.

“Do you really think Samwoo Chemical will grow any larger than it is now if my eldest uncle takes over Samwoo Group?”

It sounded like a simple question, but Cheol-kyu instantly caught the underlying message: Don’t just refrain from siding with Cheol-min—become my trusted ally.

‘Cheol-min doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance against Yoongi anyway. Leaving Yoongi out of the equation entirely, Father would never name him successor in a million years.’

Siding with Cheol-min was less about putting Cheol-min on the throne and more about dragging Yoongi down. Joining forces with Cheol-min only made sense if Cheol-kyu intended to swoop in and claim the crown for himself in the aftermath. But his mental calculations had already told him his odds of becoming successor were practically zero.

‘This kid isn’t just asking for help in a family feud—he’s trying to draw me completely into his inner circle. From what I’ve gathered, he draws a razor-sharp line between friend and foe…’

Although the legal concept of forced heirship was introduced in 1977 and set to take effect in 1979, succession battles within Korean conglomerates during this era were still cutthroat bloodbaths. If a patriarch funneled all his assets to a single child, the remaining siblings were left with virtually no recourse.

‘Siding with Cheol-min is foolish, and standing against Yoongi brings zero benefit. Ultimately, becoming Yoongi’s key ally is the only move. Beside… isn’t it far better to gather high-level intelligence from Yoongi’s side than to sit isolated at Samwoo Chemical? A brother can be discarded easily, but a trusted confidant isn’t so easily cast aside.’

Having weighed his options, Cheol-kyu let out a deliberate sigh to reopen the conversation.

“Mmm…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to choose the path where the pie gets bigger, rather than smaller?”

“Are you saying you can make that happen?”

“With your keen eye, Uncle, I imagine you already know the answer. Or is my judgment mistaken?”

Yoongi presented him with a double-edged question. Answering “Yes, your judgment is mistaken” would mean calling himself incompetent rather than insulting Yoongi’s judgment. Answering “No” would render their entire conversation up to this point redundant.

“Can’t you spare your uncle a little dignity?”

When the white flag was officially raised, Yoongi finally smiled and brought up his true objective.

“There’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

“Very well. If it’s within my power, I’ll help as much as I can.”

“Wonderful. In that case, please visit our house more often from now on. A tea shop isn’t the right place for these conversations.”

“Yes, that sounds best. I’ll drop by this evening, then.”

“Great, I’ll see you tonight.”

As both stood up, Yoongi quickly stepped over to the counter to handle the tab.

“That’ll be 450 won.”

The cashier quoted the price for three cups of tea. Cheol-kyu’s face twitched slightly as he shot a glance at the waiter, but he quickly regained his composure and looked at his nephew, embarrassed at having been caught drinking two cups.

Yoongi, however, didn’t show a hint of reaction. He simply bowed politely to Cheol-kyu and took his leave.

“…”

A quiet, considerate gesture. As long as the ship named Yoongi didn’t rust out, Cheol-kyu would never jump overboard.

Inside Yoongi’s room.

A new figure sat inside—neither Yoongi’s parents nor Ryu Geun-tae. It was Choi Cheol-kyu. He had visited Yoongi immediately after finishing work, and the two had been deep in conversation for quite some time.

“Your plan is certainly plausible. With the military holding real power right now, building connections in advance can’t hurt.”

Yoongi hadn’t mentioned anything about President Park’s impending death next autumn.

[I’m still young right now. If I establish a solid network early on, it will be a massive asset when I jump into business full force.]

Finding his nephew’s plan perfectly logical, Cheol-kyu nodded and expressed his full support. However, he raised one question.

“Is there really a need to contact JSD first, though? Wouldn’t it be better to reach out to JD directly?”

As of 1977, JSD was the right-hand man to JD—the undisputed leader of the new military faction—and was poised to become the right-hand prince the moment the military seized power. JSD was precisely the kind of historical figure whose name would be uttered by almost everyone in the future.

“I thought about that, but JD’s price tag is way too high for us to approach right now. JD and JSD are thick as thieves anyway, so building a line with JSD will be more than enough.”

Cheol-kyu didn’t bother asking how Yoongi possessed such high-level intelligence. After all, the boy’s maternal grandfather was Brigadier General Colson, a man of significant clout in the US Military.

‘With US Military backing, it’s no surprise he knows the basic power dynamic of the Hanahoe faction.’

Instead, Cheol-kyu offered a further suggestion.

“Yoongi, could you dig up some details regarding JSD’s family situation?”

“Sure, give me a few days.”

“Let’s touch base again once you have that info. JSD is older than expected, so we need to craft a careful approach.”

“Sounds like a plan. It’s getting late—would you like to stay for dinner?”

“Shall I?”

Eating dinner at Choi Cheol-ho’s house meant sharing a table with Choi Gi-hyeon. The patriarch had already pieced together a rough idea of what was happening when he saw Cheol-kyu talking with Yoongi in his room, so he refrained from prying.

Just as Cheol-kyu stepped out through the front entrance, the main gate swung open and Choi Cheol-min walked in.

“Huh…?”

Cheol-min blinked in confusion as he locked eyes with his younger brother.

“Cheol-kyu? What on earth are you doing here at this hour…?”