Chapter 138: Ah! So That’s What You Meant?

"You have a favor to ask me?"

Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong of the National Police Agency asked while pointing at himself, looking completely caught off guard.

"The fact that General Jeong Sanhak fled to our country is an absolute state secret. Because of that, he can't personally visit every victim to apologize and pay compensation."

Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong instantly understood the implication behind Cha Jiham's words.

It meant that the police would have to do it in General Jeong's place—apologize to the victims and compensate them. He wanted to accept the request, but there was one concern.

"Director Cha, I don't know exactly who the victims are or how much each of them lost."

"He has promissory notes that were collected from the victims."

"Ah, so he kept promissory notes?"

"That's right. Also, I'd like the arrest of former President Go Yeongjun to be officially credited to the police."

"Wow! That's an incredible gift!"

I understood perfectly why Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong was so delighted.

Who wouldn't be overjoyed to solve the country's biggest embezzlement case without lifting a finger?

"I'll transfer the 1.8 trillion won in corporate funds embezzled by former President Go into the police account. Please take responsibility for distributing the money among the creditors."

At that moment, Chairman Yoon Jongu interrupted, as though he had something to add.

"Director Cha, why not transfer the money after deducting the 500 billion won owed to Korea Investment?"

"If we do that, the other creditors may become suspicious of us."

"Hmm... now that I think about it, you're right."

Ignoring Chairman Yoon's remark, I turned toward President Cho Myeongsu.

"I'd like to hear the surveillance results regarding those bastards from the Scorpion Gang."

"The Scorpion Gang extorted a total of twenty victims, including former President Jang Seokcho. We've confirmed that they extorted amounts ranging from 300 million to 2 billion won. We also confirmed that two victims took their own lives after being unable to endure the gang's abuse."

"Those sons of bitches are worse than dogs!"

Chairman Yoon Jongu cursed furiously.

It was understandable.

The Scorpion Gang's methods of extortion had been unbelievably brutal.

Fighting through the heavy atmosphere, President Cho Myeongsu continued.

"At present, we're monitoring every move made by members of the Scorpion Gang together with the police."

"Arrest those scumbags immediately!"

However, my thoughts differed from Chairman Yoon's.

"Chairman, please wait just a few more days."

"I assume you have a reason?"

"I asked Vice Chairman Wei Chen for a favor."

"What favor?"

"There's a possibility that a gambling fraud syndicate made up of Koreans is operating in Macau. If such a group really exists, then there's a high probability that an affiliated organization is operating in Korea as well. If we wipe out the Scorpion Gang now, the people connected to them may simply disappear underground."

"Hmm... that's certainly possible. Did Vice Chairman Wei Chen say when he'd have the information?"

"He said it would take some time because every gambling fraud syndicate has to be investigated."

"Fine. I understand. President Cho, as soon as you receive the information from Vice Chairman Wei, wipe out every last one of those bastards in one operation."

At that point, Chairman Park Yeongil interrupted with an annoyed expression.

"Chairman Yoon, President Cho happens to be my subordinate."

"Oh, come on. President Cho and I are practically family. What's wrong with giving him a few orders?"

"So does that mean I can start ordering your Chief Secretary Song around as well?"

"Ahem!"

Chairman Yoon could only cough awkwardly, unable to think of a comeback.

Chairman Park glanced at him before addressing Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong.

"Once we've eliminated everyone connected to the gambling fraud syndicate, we'll hand the results over to the police."

"I almost feel guilty accepting everything on a silver platter."

"In return, make sure the cleanup is absolutely flawless."

"You have my word. We'll handle it perfectly."

Commissioner General Choi Dongyeong looked more confident than ever.

***

"Why are you so late?"

Cha Hyeonji asked from the living room as soon as I opened the front door.

"There were a lot of questions after the report to Chairman Park. Where's Saho?"

"He went out about half an hour ago to take care of his business. He should be back soon."

"I see. If there's nothing else, I'll head to my room."

Hearing my voice, my mother came out of the master bedroom.

"Jiham, come sit on the sofa. I need to talk to you."

Once I sat down, she continued calmly.

"After dinner, while I was washing the dishes, Chief Secretary Song Dosok came into the kitchen."

"What did Chief Secretary Song say?"

"He complimented my cooking and asked if I'd like to work in the cafeteria at Hangang Group headquarters."

"What do you think, Mom?"

"Honestly... I'd like to earn money and help support the family too."

"Your son already has more money than anyone could ever spend. Do you really need to work that hard for money? Besides, thousands of people work at Hangang Group headquarters. I can't imagine the workload there would be easy."

"...I see."

Disappointment was obvious in my mother's voice.

Still, I couldn't simply give in.

"You've already spent far too many years exhausting yourself just to feed this family. It's time to let go of those worries and enjoy a comfortable life."

"I'd like to, but I can't stand sitting around doing nothing."

"Then how about this?"

"What do you mean?"

She leaned toward me eagerly.

"You open a restaurant that's only as large as you can comfortably manage, and operate it strictly by reservation."

"But if we don't advertise the opening, will customers even come?"

"I'll take care of finding customers, so don't worry about that."

"Well... with your connections, I suppose that won't be difficult. But opening a restaurant takes a tremendous amount of money."

"I'll cover every expense."

"Jiham, thank you so much!"

"But there's one condition. Don't rush into it. Take your time, learn everything properly, and prepare thoroughly before opening. Now, may I go to my room?"

***

"Why did you follow me?"

I asked Cha Hyeonji after she walked into my room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Are you really going to open a restaurant for Mom?"

"Isn't that better than letting her sit around bored?"

"You know perfectly well how hard it is to run a restaurant!"

"There's a good chance Mom will give up on the idea herself."

"What makes you think that?"

"Opening a restaurant means planning absolutely everything from beginning to end. That's an enormous amount of work. If Mom has to handle all of it herself, do you really think she'll make it all the way to opening day?"

Cha Hyeonji finally understood what her brother had been planning.

He had been counting on their mother eventually becoming overwhelmed and giving up.

"Ah! So that's what you meant?"

"You understand that you absolutely mustn't feel sorry for her and help her, right?"

"Hey! Do you really think I'm that foolish?"

"Since you understand, that's good enough. I'm tired, so please leave my room."

"Hmph! Fine, fine."

After shooting me an annoyed glare, Cha Hyeonji flung the door open and stomped out.

***

Monday morning.

I had barely settled into my desk at the office when Senior Specialist Woo Changhun arrived.

We hadn't seen each other for an entire week, so I stood up and greeted him warmly.

"Senior Woo, how have you been? Everything all right?"

"Doing fine. When did you get back from your business trip?"

"Saturday afternoon. There's still plenty of time before work starts. How about grabbing some coffee?"

"Sounds good. Let's head to the break room."

We found seats in the lounge.

I bought two cans of iced coffee from the vending machine and handed one to Woo Changhun.

He opened it, took a sip, looked around, and lowered his voice.

"This isn't confirmed yet, but it looks like Specialist Yun is thinking about resigning."

"Come on, there's no way."

"And why are you so sure?"

"You know perfectly well how much Specialist Yun likes me."

"Or maybe you were too cold toward her and hurt her pride?"

"I suppose that's possible too."

"You never really know what's in another person's heart. But why don't you like Specialist Yun?"

Yun Sola was drawn to me because of the pheromones contained in the herbal tranquilizer.

Otherwise, someone with such perfect qualifications would never have become so infatuated with me.

Naturally, I couldn't tell him the truth, so I gave a different explanation.

"Senior Woo, you know about Isabella and me."

"Weren't the two of you just a one-night thing?"

"I don't think she sees it that way."

"Hmm... that's entirely possible."

Bzzz—

At that moment, the phone lying on the table vibrated.

Looking at the screen, I saw Chief Secretary Song Dosok's name.

After showing the caller ID to Woo Changhun, I stepped out of the break room and answered.

"Chief Secretary Song, this is Cha speaking."

"The Chairman wants to have morning coffee with you. Come upstairs immediately."

"Yes, sir. I'll be right there."

***

Chairman's office.

After receiving permission to enter, I found Chairman Yoon Jongu and Chief Secretary Song Dosok already inside.

I nodded respectfully toward Chairman Yoon, who was seated at the head of the room, and sat down on an empty sofa.

The secretary immediately served coffee to everyone present.

Chairman Yoon took a sip before speaking with a friendly smile.

"You heard about the proposal Chief Secretary Song made to your mother, didn't you?"

"Yes. She told me about it Saturday evening."

"And what did your mother say?"

Knowing Chairman Yoon might take offense, I chose my words carefully.

"My mother plans to open a restaurant that operates strictly by reservation."

"A reservation-only restaurant?"

"My mother spent her entire life working herself to exhaustion to support our family. I don't want her overworking herself again. She agreed with my opinion and decided to open a place no larger than she can comfortably manage."

"I see... When do you plan to open it?"

"We're not going to rush things, so I can't give you a specific date yet."

"Hmm..."

Chairman Yoon tapped the armrest of the sofa thoughtfully for a moment.

Fortunately, the silence didn't last long.

He stopped tapping and turned to Chief Secretary Song Dosok.

"Give Director Cha's mother every possible form of support so she can open the restaurant as quickly as possible."

Actually, I had been hoping my mother would eventually abandon the restaurant idea herself.

However, Chairman Yoon, having completely misunderstood my intentions, was about to make everything as easy as possible for her.

I couldn't let that happen.

"Chairman, my mother doesn't like accepting help from others."

"Then why don't we ask your mother whether that's really true?"

"..."

"I understand how you feel, Director Cha, but your mother is still far too young to retire and spend the rest of her life sitting at home."

Even at eighty-five years old, Chairman Yoon Jongu remained incredibly active.

Compared to him, my mother was only fifty-five.

From that perspective, his logic was flawless.

The problem was that my mother had already worked herself into poor health after more than twenty years of exhausting labor.

"I agree with what you're saying, Chairman. But my mother needs time to recover first."

"Chief Secretary Song, find some excellent medicinal tonic and deliver it to Director Cha's mother."

"Ha ha ha. It will be done."

Chairman Yoon chuckled quietly before continuing.

"Director Cha, if we simply avoid rushing the restaurant's opening, will that satisfy you?"

"I would sincerely appreciate that."

Bzzz—

Just then, my phone vibrated inside my pocket.

I pulled it out.

Director Om Giyeon of the National Intelligence Service was calling.

After asking Chairman Yoon's permission, I answered.

"Director Om, have you already arrived back in Korea?"

"We just entered the naval base port on Jeju Island."

Something felt off.

Director Om Giyeon's voice sounded unusually heavy and subdued.

I couldn't ignore it.

"Did something happen on the way back from Macau?"

"..."

After letting out a deep sigh, Director Om finally spoke.

"Former President Go Yeongjun is dead."