Chapter 273: Hehe. I’ve Been Waiting for This

Ding-dong.

We had barely ordered breakfast from room service when the doorbell rang.

"Director Cha, isn't room service a little too fast?"

I completely agreed with Chief Secretary Kang Inhan. No wonder—it had only been about ten minutes since we'd placed the order.

"You're right. Team Leader Seo, check who's there."

At my instruction, Seo Donghun walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. He quickly returned and reported that Vice Chairman Wei Chen and President Pan Kai had arrived. I told him to open the door and got up to greet the guests. A moment later, Seo Donghun escorted them into the living room.

"Vice Chairman Wei, what brings you here so early?"

"I came to have breakfast with you, Director Cha."

I was convinced Wei Chen had an entirely different purpose, but I didn't press him with questions. After all, the thirsty man was always the first to go to the well.

"Team Leader Seo, order breakfast for Vice Chairman Wei and President Pan Kai as well."

"Yes, sir."

Seo Donghun gave a crisp reply and placed the order over the room phone. Meanwhile, Lee Menghong served the visitors drinks. Sitting down on the sofa, Wei Chen wet his throat before speaking with a concerned expression.

"Director Cha, you look tired. Was the bed uncomfortable?"

"Not at all. An emergency came up, so I had to get up early."

"An emergency?"

Wei Chen leaned forward, making no attempt to hide his curiosity.

"Three submarines left North Korea's Nampo Port last night."

"So they've finally departed. Just how many missiles did that bastard Chen Zhihui buy that they needed three whole submarines?"

"The three submarines are carrying sixty missiles along with their launchers."

"Why on earth does he need such a huge shipment?"

Chen Zhihui was directly and indirectly responsible for the sinking of the Silver Crystal. After acknowledging his responsibility, he offered to cover Eastern Shipping's losses for Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan. And apparently, to scrape together the astronomical compensation payment, he had persuaded Carlos to purchase an enormous quantity of missiles.

I openly shared my thoughts with Wei Chen.

"Hmm, that's a perfectly reasonable assumption."

"Carlos won't be getting his hands on those North Korean missiles anyway."

"Of course not! Naturally. Have you already informed Director Griffin?"

"I passed the information along as soon as I received it from Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol."

"Well, now all I have to do is sit back in the audience and reap the rewards."

"You'll have to take part in this performance too, Vice Chairman Wei."

"Me?"

Caught off guard, Wei Chen pointed at himself in surprise.

"It's time to deal with Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui, who's hiding on Mindanao."

Wei Chen immediately recalled his conversation with Director Nevers in Shenyang, China. Back then, Nevers himself had offered to eliminate Chen Zhihui on Mindanao. However, Wei Chen had refused, firmly declaring that he would deal with his rival with his own hands. And now Cha Jiham was bringing up precisely that matter.

"I'd completely forgotten about him."

"Come up with a plan to eliminate him in advance."

"Understood. By the way, when will the North Korean submarines reach the Philippines?"

"Director Griffin estimates about half a month, but the schedule could change."

"Is there a reason?"

"The North Korean submarines are more than fifty years old."

"Ah, now I understand. Well then, let's move on to another subject."

'Hehe. I've been waiting for this.'

"I'm listening."

"What if I buy the diamonds you have?"

"But you know I'm planning to sell them to Chairman Zhen, don't you?"

"If you sell them to him, you'll have to knock a full billion dollars off their appraised value."

"If Chairman Zhen has a conscience, he won't try to drive down the price."

Brrrr—

Just as the atmosphere in the room became rather peculiar, the phone lying on the table began vibrating.

Picking it up, I saw Zhen Weiliang's name on the screen. After excusing myself to Wei Chen, I answered.

"Chairman Zhen, I'm listening."

"Director Cha, which hotel are you staying at?"

"The Oriental Hotel on the Kowloon Peninsula. Why do you ask?"

"I'm coming to see you."

Technically, I was the seller, and according to business etiquette, I should have been the one visiting the buyer. Yet for some reason, the buyer himself was eager to come to me. Keeping my tone composed, I asked what had prompted this.

"I spoke with Chairman Park this morning."

Now everything made sense.

Chairman Park Yeongil must have told Zhen Weiliang about the appraisal results for the 685 diamonds. And {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} he'd probably added that if Zhen didn't buy them at their full value, the gemstones would end up in someone else's hands. Zhen Weiliang would then be left with nothing. To prevent that from happening, he was rushing over to see me.

It was worth checking whether my guess was right.

"I'm curious. What did you discuss with Chairman Park?"

"Haa..."

Zhen Weiliang let out a heavy sigh, making it obvious that the conversation hadn't been pleasant. Caught between the two of them, all I could do was wait patiently. A couple of moments later, his cool voice came through the phone.

"He told me to make sure you don't sell me the diamonds for less than they're worth, Director Cha."

My guess had been one hundred percent correct. It was time to put Zhen Weiliang's mind at ease.

"Chairman Zhen, I'm not the kind of man who goes back on his word."

"I know that, but I still can't put my mind at ease."

"I understand. When can you get here?"

"I'm leaving right now. It'll take about twenty minutes."

I immediately became flustered. There was a good reason for it: we'd placed our room-service order barely five minutes ago.

Covering the receiver with my hand, I signaled Seo Donghun to cancel breakfast. He nodded in understanding and picked up the room phone. Glancing at him, I returned to my conversation.

"I'll wait for you in the lobby."

"All right. See you in twenty minutes."

Click.

The moment I hung up, Wei Chen immediately started asking questions.

"Director Cha, what happened?"

"Chairman Zhen Weiliang is on his way here to meet me."

"Looks like, through no choice of my own, I won't be getting breakfast today."

"Haha, you think so?"

Chuckling softly, I turned to Kang Inhan.

"Bring the diamonds up from the underground vault."

"Yes, sir!"

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan gave a booming reply and rose decisively from the sofa.

***

At the appointed time, we went down to the lobby to wait for Zhen Weiliang.

"Why is Chairman Zhen suddenly rushing over to see you himself, Director Cha?"

"It seems Chairman Park really hit him where it hurts."

At that moment, an elderly gentleman entered the lobby accompanied by his entourage.

"Director Cha, that gentleman over there is Chairman Zhen Weiliang."

"Just as I thought. Let's go greet him."

We quickly made our way toward Zhen Weiliang. Noticing us, he stopped and looked us over intently.

Wei Chen bowed politely and spoke first.

"Chairman Zhen, how have you been?"

"Same as always. How is your Supreme Leader doing?"

Chairman Zhen Weiliang and Triad Supreme Leader Gui Tao were sworn brothers, so it was only natural for him to ask about the latter's illness.

"He's getting worse by the day."

"Sigh, I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Chairman Zhen, why don't we leave the gloomy subjects aside?"

"Let's do that."

With that brief response, Zhen Weiliang turned to me.

"Director Cha, it's good to meet you."

"Likewise, Chairman Zhen. Allow me to introduce my companions. This is..."

After making the brief introductions, we hurried back to the suite.

Accepting my invitation to take the seat of honor, Zhen Weiliang slowly lowered himself onto the sofa. Seo Donghun immediately served tea to him and his secretary. After taking a sip, our guest calmly asked,

"Director Cha, are you planning to sell the diamonds to Vice Chairman Wei?"

Zhen Weiliang was directly asking why Wei Chen was here. Since I had my own reasons, I decided not to hide anything.

"It's true. He offered to buy the gemstones from me."

"Ahem!"

Zhen Weiliang coughed in displeasure and turned to Wei Chen.

"Young man, are you familiar with the concept of business ethics?"

"Of course. I simply don't want Director Cha to suffer a loss."

"I have a conscience too."

"If you buy the diamonds for seven billion dollars, I'll back off."

"That's exactly what I was planning to do."

Originally, Zhen Weiliang and I had verbally agreed on a price of six billion dollars for the 685 diamonds. However, Swiss experts had appraised the batch at seven billion. Since I considered even a verbal agreement to be a contract, I'd been prepared to accept six billion, but contrary to my expectations, the price had jumped by a full billion dollars.

I desperately wanted to accept the offer, but my conscience demanded that I observe the proper formalities.

"Chairman Zhen, a verbal agreement is still an agreement."

"I only trust paper with signatures on it."

Since the man himself was insisting, it would be foolish to refuse. Still, accepting immediately would look rather improper, so I ought to put up at least a token resistance.

"Chairman Zhen, wouldn't it be better to settle the final price after you've examined the stones and their certificates yourself?"

"That would be sensible."

"Secretary Kang, bring the diamonds and the documents."

Kang Inhan, Lee Menghong, Seo Donghun, and Pan Kai rose from the sofa. After disappearing for a while, they returned with a huge box and carefully set it down on the living-room floor. Removing the lid, they began taking out small transparent cases and arranging them in neat rows across the table.

Watching them, Zhen Weiliang asked curiously,

"Director Cha, how many diamonds are there in each case?"

"Since the stones vary in size, each case contains a different number."

"Well... yes, that makes sense."

Before long, the entire wide table was covered with small containers holding gemstones. Seo Donghun brought in a file binder from the adjoining room that was thicker than an encyclopedia and handed it to me. I passed it to Zhen Weiliang and said,

"Chairman Zhen, this contains the appraisal report for every diamond. I think it would be best to compare the certificates with the stones themselves."

"Let's do that."

Zhen Weiliang nodded, and at that very moment, his secretary took a portable gemological instrument out of his bag and began the examination. Working together with perfect, almost mechanical coordination, they moved as though this kind of inspection were an ordinary routine for them.

We silently watched the process, careful not to disturb them. After quite some time, Zhen Weiliang turned to me.

"Director Cha, I think we'll end the inspection here."

"Is something wrong? Do the appraisal results differ from the certificates?"

"We randomly checked thirty diamonds. They matched one hundred percent."

"Then why stop the inspection?"

"Expert Paul Bachmann, who signed these documents, is renowned throughout the world. Rechecking stones appraised by a specialist of his caliber would simply be a waste of time."

"Ah, now I understand what you mean."

"Well then, shall we draw up the contract?"

"But we haven't settled the final transaction price yet."

"You said it yourself. Paul Bachmann appraised them at seven billion dollars."

At that very moment, the price of the diamond deal was finally set. Instead of six billion dollars, it would be exactly seven billion.