Chapter 132: The Gold Bar Deal That Was Concluded in an Instant

As always, life refused to follow the script.

The reason was simple.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen just kept asking question after question without stopping.

Because of that, our explanations dragged on endlessly, stretching out like taffy in the summer heat.

"Director Cha, isn't it possible that the weapons were smuggled in simply for Colonel Jeong Sanhak's personal use?"

"There are dozens of assault rifles and tens of thousands of live rounds stored in the basement. Colonel Jeong simply doesn't have enough subordinates to justify that quantity."

"What if he imported them to resell to someone else?"

To completely eliminate Vice Chairman Wei Chen's doubts, I decided to deliver the decisive blow.

"Director Qin Hao testified that those weapons were intended for use during a coup d'état."

"Hmm... I see. Go on."

"On the third floor, there was a massive safe containing three hundred kilograms of narcotics and an enormous amount of cash."

"Are you saying those North Koreans were distributing drugs behind our backs?"

"No. It has been confirmed that Vice Chairman Chen himself was responsible for distributing the narcotics."

"And I can trust your words, Director Cha?"

"Colonel Jeong Sanhak didn't know the combination to the safe. Director Qin Hao, on the other hand, knew it perfectly."

"Ha... Is that so?"

Watching Vice Chairman Wei Chen let out a heavy sigh, I felt that we were finally approaching the finish line.

Now all I had to do was make one final move and bring everything completely under control.

"If you agree to three conditions, I'll hand over the flash drive in my possession."

"Let's hear your conditions."

"First, stop dragging citizens of our country who come to Macau as tourists into fraudulent gambling schemes."

"That's hardly a difficult condition."

"Second, completely eliminate every underground gambling syndicate made up of our country's citizens."

"I was planning to do that anyway."

"I'm glad to hear it. And finally, the Triad must never expand its influence into our country."

"When Director Cha is watching us this closely, do you really think we'd dare?"

"Haha. I trust your word, Vice Chairman Wei, but I trust written documents even more."

In other words, I made it clear that those conditions needed to be put in writing.

"Director Pan, draft a written agreement together with Chief Secretary Kang."

Director Pan Kai and Chief Secretary Kang Inhan headed into the office to prepare the document.

After briefly watching them leave, Vice Chairman Wei Chen resumed the conversation.

"Director Cha, capturing the Golden Mariner alone won't be enough to bring down Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan. Do you have any other original ideas?"

"The United States and Japan intend to turn the seizure of the Golden Mariner into a major international incident. Furthermore, it's already been confirmed that Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan regularly accepted bribes from Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui. Once that comes to light, he'll inevitably suffer a devastating blow."

"And do you have proof that he accepted bribes from Vice Chairman Chen?"

"Vice Chairman Chen regularly transferred enormous sums of money to someone named Zhang Chao."

"So Zhang Chao is an alias?"

Just as I'd expected, he caught on immediately.

"Exactly right, Vice Chairman Wei. By the way, have you managed to determine Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui's whereabouts?"

"So far, all we've confirmed is that he's somewhere in Hong Kong."

"I understand. Please excuse me for a moment."

Interrupting my conversation with Vice Chairman Wei Chen, I dialed Director Glenn Nevers.

The line had barely begun ringing before he answered, as though he'd been waiting for my call.

["Director Cha, I'm listening."]

"Director Nevers, do you know where Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui is hiding?"

["He's staying at Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan's villa on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. I'll send you the address by text as soon as we finish talking."]

"I'm sincerely grateful for your kindness, Director Nevers."

["Compared to the help you've given us, Director Cha, this is nothing at all."]

"Well, when you put it that way, I don't really have anything to add."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, I ended the call.

A moment later, a text message arrived with the address of Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan's villa.

Without wasting a second, I showed it to Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

Wei Chen immediately called someone and began speaking in Chinese.

Naturally, none of us could understand what was being said.

Some time later, he hung up and turned toward me.

"Director Cha, are you certain the information you received is reliable?"

"The person I was just speaking with was FBI Director Glenn Nevers."

And at that exact moment, an unexpected situation unfolded.

Director Pan Kai burst out of the office.

In an agitated voice, he reported to Vice Chairman Wei Chen,

"Brother-in-law, Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa was robbed last night!"

I instantly became alert.

After all, the people who had emptied Liu Peiqi's villa were none other than us.

Unlike me, Vice Chairman Wei Chen reacted rather calmly.

"So what?"

"They're saying dozens of police officers have gathered at his villa!"

At that moment, Wei Chen realized something was seriously wrong.

If dozens of police officers had descended upon Liu Peiqi's villa, then whatever had been stolen had to be something incredibly valuable.

He asked Director Pan Kai what he thought.

"I agree with your guess, Brother-in-law."

"Haha. Why does hearing that make me feel so good?"

"I feel exactly the same."

Watching Vice Chairman Wei Chen and Director Pan Kai exchange remarks, I let out a silent sigh of relief.

If they had been on friendly terms with Politburo member Liu, the entire plan I'd put together would have ended up in the trash.

Director Om Giyeon apparently came to the same conclusion and quietly whispered to me,

"Fortunately, everything worked out."

"You can say that again."

"When are you planning to tell Vice Chairman Wei?"

"I'm waiting for the right moment."

Bzzz—

Just then, the phone lying on the table began vibrating.

Glancing at the screen, I saw an unfamiliar number.

Normally I would've ignored what looked like a spam call, but this time I answered.

The country code began with +86.

China.

After apologizing to Vice Chairman Wei Chen, I accepted the call.

"This is Cha Jiham speaking."

["Hello. My name is Zhen Weiliang. I run a small company in Hong Kong. Chairman Park Yeongil told me about you, so I decided to give you a call."]

"Hello. I should have paid you a personal visit to show my respect. Please accept my apologies."

["Not at all. I heard you're on a business trip in Macau. When will you be able to come to Hong Kong?"]

"I'm currently in the middle of some very important negotiations, so I can't give you an exact time."

["I understand. Contact me once your meeting is over."]

Click.

The moment I hung up, Vice Chairman Wei Chen looked at me curiously.

"Director Cha, may I ask who you were speaking with?"

There wasn't any reason to hide it.

It wasn't a secret.

"Chairman Zhen Weiliang, who runs a business in Hong Kong."

"And how does Director Cha know Chairman Zhen?"

There was a deeper meaning behind Wei Chen's question.

He knew Chairman Zhen Weiliang himself.

Testing my suspicion, I cautiously asked,

"Allow me to ask something first. Do you happen to know Chairman Zhen's age?"

"Considering he's been close friends with our Chairman for about fifty years, I'd say somewhere around eighty-five."

"So my guess was correct. Chairman Zhen Weiliang is Supreme Chairman Gui Tao's sworn brother."

Huh? Where did that come from?

"I see."

"Could you tell me why you want to meet Chairman Zhen?"

This was the decisive moment.

Everything depended on how I handled the situation.

"If you promise to keep this an absolute secret, I'll tell you."

"I promise. Go ahead."

"The truth is... we're the ones who robbed Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa."

"What did you just say?!"

Vice Chairman Wei Chen shouted in complete shock.

Director Pan Kai and Wei Fei stood there with their jaws hanging open.

A moment later, Wei Chen asked again, still looking stunned.

"Director Cha... I assume you're going to explain why you robbed Politburo member Liu's villa?"

"Of course. Former K&J Bio CEO Go Yeongjun, whom we captured, purchased gold bars from Politburo member Liu..."

"Wait."

Vice Chairman Wei Chen interrupted me.

I stopped, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"Director Cha, are you saying the item Politburo member Liu lost was gold bars?"

"Exactly right, Vice Chairman Wei."

"So I was right after all... Please continue."

"Former CEO Go purchased fifty twenty-five-kilogram gold bars from Politburo member Liu..."

I openly explained to Wei Chen and everyone else the details of the deal between Go Yeongjun and Liu Peiqi, as well as why we'd been forced to empty the vault beneath the villa.

However, for my own benefit, I conveniently glossed over the exact terms of the transaction.

"...Inside the secret storage room, there were two hundred and five twenty-five-kilogram gold bars, along with ten ten-kilogram gold bars."

In reality, the secret room had contained only the two hundred and five twenty-five-kilogram bars.

Even so, I calmly lied and added another ten ten-kilogram bars.

Strictly speaking, those ten bars had belonged to Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui.

In other words, they belonged to the Triad.

"Wow! That's an incredible amount! So what did you do with all the gold?"

"To avoid arousing Politburo member Liu's suspicion, we took everything."

"Hahahaha! Excellent work! Absolutely excellent!"

At that moment, curiosity got the better of Director Pan Kai.

"I'm not sure I understand your reasoning about 'avoiding Politburo member Liu's suspicion.'"

"If only forty-nine bars had disappeared, former CEO Go Yeongjun would've been the first suspect."

"Ah... That's true. So what are you planning to do with the gold now?"

"I insist on selling it to Chairman Zhen Weiliang, even if it means taking a loss. Director Om, however, believes we should transport it back to our country."

"Director Om, can you really move that much gold to Korea?"

Director Om Giyeon mentally reviewed the plan he and Cha Jiham had worked out before answering Pan Kai's question.

"Our submarine is already on its way here to retrieve Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol's group."

In other words, the gold would be loaded onto the submarine.

However, Director Om's plan contained one major problem.

Loading more than two hundred gold bars onto a submarine would take an enormous amount of time.

Director Pan Kai asked whether he had a solution.

"The submarine is equipped with a mobile crane for exactly that purpose."

"Hmm... In that case, there shouldn't be any problems."

Vice Chairman Wei Chen couldn't suppress the sense of frustration growing inside him.

If he could buy the gold from Cha Jiham at a discount and resell it, the profit would be enormous.

However, Director Om Giyeon clearly intended to take the gold back to Korea.

If Wei Chen offered full market price, Om might agree, but Wei Chen had no desire to overpay.

Deciding it was worth trying anyway, he finally cast out the bait.

"Director Om, hypothetically speaking, if the gold were to be sold, what price would you want?"

"The ownership of the gold bars belongs to Director Cha."

Director Om Giyeon tossed the hot potato back to Cha Jiham and quietly stepped aside.

"Director Cha, would you answer instead?"

"Before I do, I'd like to ask one thing. Do you actually have sufficient funds to purchase all these gold bars?"

"I can raise up to five billion dollars in cash in a single transaction."

"I see. The international gold price is currently around eight hundred thousand dollars per kilogram. Considering my good relationship with Miss Wei Fei, I can offer you roughly a seven percent discount."

Vice Chairman Wei Chen turned toward Director Pan Kai.

Pan Kai immediately understood what he wanted, opened the calculator on his phone, spent a few moments running the numbers, and finally spoke.

"The total weight of Director Cha's gold comes to 5,150 kilograms. With a seven percent discount, the purchase price would be approximately 3.83 billion dollars."

"Is that a fair offer?"

"Private gold transactions are usually discounted by around five percent. However, the gold bars in Director Cha's possession are... problematic."

"I understand. Director Cha, what about a flat ten percent discount?"

To be honest, I'd originally been prepared to go as high as a fifteen percent discount.

After all, the gold I possessed was, in essence, stolen property.

Yet Vice Chairman Wei Chen had voluntarily proposed only a ten percent discount.

That was a much better deal than I'd expected.

If I'd accepted immediately, it would've looked too eager.

So I pretended to think it over carefully.

After a deliberate pause, I finally gave my answer.

"I accept your offer, Vice Chairman Wei."