Chapter 1576. Comprehending (1)

Clack!

The rear door of the luxurious sedan closed shut reassuringly.

Jeong Hong-Geun deposited his aged body in the comfy rear seats, then closed his eyes in apparent fatigue.

“Chairman? Did the meeting go well?”

Bak Sang-Wu sitting in the front passenger seat turned around and looked at his boss behind him.

Jeong Hong-Geun sighed deeply. “You can’t expect to get drunk with your first sip. We’ve only just begun.”

“...Of course, sir.” Bak Sang-Wu cautiously swallowed his saliva. “But if I may be so bold... Please forgive me for saying this.”

“Fine. Speak.”

Bak Sang-Wu hesitated for a few seconds before voicing his doubt. “Please forgive me for not seeing the overall picture, but I don’t know if this is the correct way, sir. Honestly, I don’t understand why you’d go this far.”

Jeong Hong-Geun smirked. “You don’t understand?”

“Unfortunately. Please forgive me.”

“Do you think you will get it even if I break it down for you?”

“...No, sir. It’ll be difficult for me to guess your wisdom.”

Jeong Hong-Geun shook his head. “Look. I’m not trying to imply that you’re not smart enough. But even if I explain to you right now, we won’t go anywhere. For now, trust me. Let me handle it my way.”

“Understood, sir.”

Jeong Hong-Geun sank deeper into the seat cushions while watching Bak Sang-Wu bow in appreciation and turn away.

You won’t understand me even if I explain to you dozens, nay, hundreds of times.

That was why Bak Sang-Wu was a mere salary-drawing employee, while Jeong Hong-Geun was the salary-paying entrepreneur.

Bak Sang-Wu probably thought that he had tasted the power of high-level connections and violence while serving Jeong Hong-Geun all these years. But that wasn’t true. Far from it, in fact!

Bak Sang-Wu had no clue. He didn’t know what it actually meant to possess such powers, and how many benefits one could earn by sticking close to someone possessing such powers!

Some might say Taegwang already possessed enough power, but that was a laughable notion. After all, power was relative.

For instance, the leader of a pack of dogs couldn’t defeat a tiger.

Yes, such a dog could live like a king where there were no other predators around. However, that status quo would change instantly when a tiger showed up. The dog’s authority would vanish, and it would morph into yet another ordinary mutt.

Perhaps no one knew better than Jeong Hong-Geun when it came to the limits of power Taegwang possessed. Maybe it was about enough to have a voice within the pack of dogs?

A mutt like that must tuck its tail between its legs as soon as a real tiger showed up. An overconfident dog that tried to show off its supposed fierceness to a tiger wouldn’t even get a chance to flee before deadly big-cat fangs sank into its throat.

So, Jeong Hong-Geun understood what he needed to do. For now, he must bow as deeply and obsequiously as possible. And then... gain even more power on the back of this tiger!

“Take me home,” said Jeong Hong-Geun, then closed his eyes again. Yes, this was merely the first sip. A brief taster.

He still had plenty of things to do.

***

“He’s wagging his tail, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with little concern.

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “His tail?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then... why?”

Kang Jin-Ho began tilting his head as if he couldn’t quite understand it.

No, to be more precise, he did understand that Jeong Hong-Geun was trying rather hard to signal his friendly intentions. Anyone with eyes could’ve seen that, after all.

But what Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t understand was why someone like Taegwang’s chairman felt the need to do that. He wouldn’t have suffered much even if his company didn’t form an amicable relationship with Kang Jin-Ho’s side.

Lee Hyeon-Su helpfully explained the logic. “The reason is simple enough, sir. He has determined that you’re the stronger party in this equation.”

“The strong, you say?”

“Yes, sir. It’s not as if they are deaf and blind, after all. They must’ve received various information about us. And the politicians, worried about us colliding against Taegwang head-on, must’ve provided them with pertinent information as well.”

Lee Hyeon-Su casually shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter how, they must’ve learned some important things about us. As a result, Jeong Hong-Geun must’ve realized we’re way too powerful for him to win against.”

Lee Hyeon-Ju tilted her head. “Really? If so, he could’ve just backed away and not come after us anymore, right? It’s not as if we were deliberately causing trouble with Taegwang, anyway.”

“And that’s the difference between you and Jeong Hong-Geun,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with a smirk, then he shifted his attention to Kang Jin-Ho. “Sir, this is how that man has built up his company throughout the decades. In fact, you could say that’s how his entire family operates.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned. “...? Hmm?”

“The Jeong family went all-in as pro-Japanese during the Japanese occupation era, then cozied up with the Americans before the Korean War. After the war, they resumed being pro-Japanese but also sidled up to the military dictatorship in the ensuing years to become even wealthier.”

Lee Hyeon-Su shrugged again.

“Despite being entrepreneurs, Jeong Hong-Geun shouldn’t even be compared to someone like Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu.”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes. “So, what you’re saying is...”

“Yes, sir. The Jeong family is always ready to bow their heads and wag their tails if they realize there’s another player in town who is stronger than them and can provide them with lots of benefits. So, Jeong Hong-Geun will start off by trying to build bridges with us. And then... cling to us like a bloody-minded leech.”

“...” Kang Jin-Ho groaned hollowly. “He’s not doing this for some other ulterior motives?”

“This is his ulterior motive,” Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled. “Sir, don’t overcomplicate this. He simply wants to become, shall we say, pro-Martial Assembly?”

Lee Hyeon-Ju responded, still not understanding the situation. “Even if all that is true, he still probably does not know about the Martial Assembly’s existence. In that case, doesn’t that make his actions illogical?”

Lee Hyeon-Su cocked an eyebrow. “Why do you think it’s illogical?”

“For one, the amount of information they have shouldn’t be enough for them to determine that sticking with us, with the Assembly, will benefit them.”

“And that’s why you don’t get the big bucks, Chief Lee.”

“I... What?”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled when Lee Hyeon-Ju stared back in stupefaction.

“By the time you used logic to determine what to do and tried to sidle up to the strong, your place would’ve already been taken away by someone else. Think of it as trading on the stock market. Once you learn about a company’s shares getting popular, it’d be too late to make ‘real’ money off it. You’d only be buying into the shares as they start to decline steeply. That’s how ants get robbed blind.”

Lee Hyeon-Su pretended to cut his own head off.

“You may not like it, but you should acknowledge that man’s intuition, at the very least. He built his empire on the tactic of intuitively figuring out who the stronger party is, then clinging to them before anyone else to extract the maximum amount of benefits. One mistake somewhere, and the corporation called Taegwang wouldn’t have carried on to this day.

“But that man? He still sussed out the stronger party in all those countless decisive moments and sided with them. Every single time. He probably didn’t even need verified information about us in this situation. Just the surface-level stuff would’ve been enough for him.”

“...” Lee Hyeon-Ju clamped her mouth shut. This explanation made the most sense when considering this situation. Even if she found it absurd, to say the least! “Then... Just like how he got in bed with the dictatorship, he wants to get in bed with us? That’s why he was acting that way earlier?”

Lee Hyeon-Su nodded. “Yup.”

“...Doesn’t he have any pride?”

“Well, him having pride would be weirder to me. I mean, he’s a pro-Jap, right?” Lee Hyeon-Su shook his head. “That man’s mindset is drastically different from ours. Stuff like pride is something he only cares about when dealing with people weaker than him. He will never understand why some people consider bowing to the stronger party and wagging his tail as humiliating.”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Ju genuinely couldn’t think of something to say. Even worse, she felt light-headed, too.

Of course, it wasn’t as if she rejected such a way of living. Humans acted according to the benefits on offer, after all. The thing was, though, most ordinary people would try to find the balance between benefits and their pride. However, from what Lee Hyeon-Su said, it sounded as if Jeong Hong-Geun didn’t even understand the concept of such a balancing act.

“In a certain sense, that’s pretty terrifying, isn’t it?”

“Well, you could say he’s true to his desires,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with another casual shrug. “Don’t bother labeling him or insulting him for it. Others will do that even if we don’t, anyway. But, yeah... I won’t tell you who to like or dislike, so knock yourself out.”

Kang Jin-Ho listened to the two Lees’ conversations in silence before finally cutting in.

“Then...”

“Yes, sir?”

“What is the best way to handle this situation?”

Lee Hyeon-Su smirked softly. “Leave him be, sir.”

“...? Mm?”

“One of your bad points is that whenever you’re facing a problem, you try to find solutions right away. But, sometimes? Leaving the problem alone can be a solution, too.”

“Mm...!”

“We’re not the ones with our feet on fire, after all. Besides, it doesn’t matter to us how Jeong Hong-Geun decides to act, sir. He should be the anxious one, not us.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So, my recommendation is to let him be. Observe him. Once he realizes that we aren’t going to lift a finger, he’ll get very antsy and try to do something about it. We sit back and watch what he does, then decide how to respond afterward.”

That was when Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression grew icy-cold.

“Either we get rid of him or turn him into our dog.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Our dog?”

“I understand your reservations, sir. But please think about it. It hasn’t been long since we traveled to Japan to nurture the pro-Korea faction. And now, we are even getting ready to teach those, shall we say, unsavory Japanese warriors, too. But we just found a volunteer who wanted to become our dog. Is there a reason for us to chase him away, in that case?”

“Mm...”

“Please think about it, sir. Taegwang really is a massive corporation. In terms of ranking in the business world, it easily rivals Jaegyeong, and then some. Being able to use such a company as our underling will be a huge advantage for us. With how we’ve been trying to secure our foothold in the business world, an opportunity like this won’t come around every day.”

“But we have Jaegyeong on our side, no? In that case, why...”

“I really didn’t want to say this, but...” Lee Hyeon-Su scratched his cheek. “Jaegyeong is Chairman Hwang’s company, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“In that case, what can we even do with Jaegyeong, realistically speaking?”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly clamped his mouth shut as if to say he couldn’t think of a response.

“Sir, a friendship is just that, friendship. In most cases, friendships can be a good thing, but in matters like this, they could cause serious complications. We certainly can’t tell Jaegyeong to manage our business interests in Japan, now can we?”

“That... Yeah, we can’t.”

Sure, Kang Jin-Ho could make a request. But that would mean revealing even more secrets about the Assembly to Jaegyeong. That would be a problem, since Jaegyeong was merely a corporation that MK had a friendly relationship with, not a business partner.

Maybe such a thing could be done once Kang Jin-Ho had taken over Jaegyeong as Hwang Jeong-Hu’s successor, but that story was still several years away, at the very least. There wasn’t much he couldn’t do about that right now.

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. “Isn’t that why we set up MK in the first place?”

“Unfortunately, MK doesn’t have the capacity yet as it’s currently focused on two specific industries at the moment. The Martial Assembly’s presence is what gives MK its power. On its own? MK is nothing more than a small company that has just begun its cafe franchise. There’s a limit to how much it can achieve.”

“...So, you think we shouldn’t even compare ourselves to Taegwang as a company.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Su grinned away. “There’s another plus point to consider here. Chairman Jeong Hong-Geun understands the rules of this game. He must know that in order to extract benefits for himself from us, he must offer us something that we’d find drool-worthy first.”

“Right... He did say he was even prepared to hand over his grandson.”

“See? That’s how scheming and nasty he is. However, no matter how despicable he’s being, he’s not an idiot.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned. “Why don’t you just insult him instead?”

That evaluation was worse than actual insults, no?

“In any case...” Lee Hyeon-Su summarized the situation. “I’m not saying we should tame Taegwang no matter what. For now, the best course of action is to sit back and watch. So we can figure out whether they can immediately become obedient dogs that are happy to wag their tails at us or some wild dogs that need a bit of discipline first.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned deeply. “Sounds like you’ve already made up your mind, though...?”

“Eiii~, there’s no way, sir. That’s a misunderstanding.”

Lee Hyeon-Su cackled away.

Kang Jin-Ho groaned softly at this sight. Still, at least now he knew what Jeong Hong-Geun was aiming for, which made it easier for him to respond.

Right. Let’s do as Lee Hyeon-Su recommended and wait.

However, neither Kang Jin-Ho nor Lee Hyeon-Su had realized it at that point in time.

They didn’t know how persistent Jeong Hong-Geun could get once he had discovered a bed he could jump into! And the event that would help them realize the truth came much sooner than they had expected.ℴℴ𝘮