Confirmed all against the raw. Chapter 155 (the 5th) needs fixes: pervasive surname-first “Kim Mun-yeong” → “Mun-yeong Kim,” “Kim U-ha” → “U-ha Kim,” “Head Kim Seong-ho” → “Head Seong-ho Kim,” and “Ilhyeon Trading” → “Ilhyeon Corporation.” Money (200억 = 20 billion) is correct; content is faithful (ratio 2.55). Here’s the full corrected body.

Chapter 155: Carry a Sense of Guilt

In the underground chamber, Tak-hyeon Lee looked over the documents Seong-ho had handed him as he listened.

When Seong-ho finished, Tak-hyeon set the papers down and said,

“So what we should concentrate on is shipbuilding and semiconductors?”

Seated across from him, Seong-ho looked at the documents Tak-hyeon had set down and answered.

“If I had my way, I’d want to acquire automobiles, oil refining, aviation, and power generation as well, but…”

“Do that, and the whole country of Korea would end up subordinate to Ilhyeon.”

“Yes. The government would clearly never allow it. They can’t let every industry fall under Ilhyeon.”

“Then you think they’ll accept shipbuilding and semiconductors?”

Seong-ho smiled at Tak-hyeon’s question and answered.

“We’ll have to make them accept it.”

“Ha-ha-ha.”

Tak-hyeon burst into loud laughter at Seong-ho’s reply.

“Now that’s an answer I haven’t liked this much in a long while.”

After laughing for a good while, Tak-hyeon looked intently at Seong-ho’s face and spoke in a voice thick with regret.

“What a fine thing it would have been if you’d been my son.”

“A son-in-law is a son too, isn’t he? So it’s all the same.”

At Seong-ho’s words, Tak-hyeon waved a hand and turned in his seat.

“If you’d been my son, I could have handed everything over to you without a care and stepped back, just watching you grow Ilhyeon in peace… Tch. It’s simply galling that it can’t be so.”

From everything he’d observed of Seong-ho so far, Tak-hyeon was certain that this was a man who would lead the company well enough that he’d never have to worry.

It even occurred to him that Seong-ho might lead the company better than he himself had, and carry Ilhyeon’s name across the whole world.

Still, it won’t do. There’s no history of handing the company to a son-in-law. Since the name Ilhyeon comes from my father’s pen name, the head of Ilhyeon must be of our blood.

Though Seong-ho had never once asked for it, Tak-hyeon’s heart wavered on its own.

And Seong-ho knew of this wavering in Tak-hyeon’s heart.

There’s no need to waver like that. It’ll all fall into my hands in the end anyway.

From the moment he’d arrived here, Seong-ho had resolved to swallow everything of Ilhyeon whole.

But Tak-hyeon, knowing nothing of this, continued to agonize before shaking his head hard once again.

Telling himself it wouldn’t do, yet still with that regret lingering in his heart, Tak-hyeon stopped dwelling on it and asked Seong-ho about something else.

“So? Did the Blue House say the tax investigation would begin?”

“Yes.”

Seong-ho nodded and spoke in a calm voice.

“They’ve informed us that in three days, the special tax investigation into the five major groups will begin in earnest. In our case, three companies — Ilhyeon Construction, Ilhyeon Electronics, and Ilhyeon Corporation — are slated to be the targets of the special investigation.”

“Twenty billion, you said?”

“Yes. I’ve set it up so that the back-tax penalty we’ll face once the investigation concludes comes to 20 billion won.”

“You know 20 billion isn’t a small sum?”

At the question, Seong-ho nodded and answered.

“I’m well aware. For now, I’ve secured a firm commitment from the Blue House that they’ll make up the 20 billion.”

“A verbal promise means nothing.”

“I understand. That’s why I’ve also made preparations in case they fail to keep it, so you needn’t worry.”

At Seong-ho’s confident voice, a smile came unbidden to Tak-hyeon’s lips.

“All right. I’ll trust you.”

It was a short phrase, but full of faith.

You could see just how strong Tak-hyeon’s trust in Seong-ho was.

Tak-hyeon let the smile at his lips deepen further and muttered to himself.

“So swollen with greed, those other four — they’re going to give themselves quite the headache.”

Tak-hyeon’s mouth and eyes curved, as if he couldn’t wait to see what would unfold three days from now.

And seeing Tak-hyeon like that, Seong-ho laughed along with him and savored the moment.

Men in suits, carrying large boxes, descended on Sunwoo Group’s headquarters.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

When a security guard tried to stop the men in suits, the one who appeared to be their superior flashed a badge at him.

“We’re from the National Tax Service.”

“The National Tax Service…?”

The guard stared blankly at the people filing past him into the building.

The man who’d presented the badge glanced around and said to the guard,

“Report it to your superiors. Tell them Investigation Bureau 2 of the Seoul Regional Tax Office has come to conduct a special tax investigation.”

The Bureau 2 director looked at the tax service employees carrying boxes inside and shouted,

“Move it, move it. We’ve got KF and Mirae still to do — we’ll have to hustle.”

Shoving his staff along by the backs, the Bureau 2 director called over the Section 3 chief who’d come along to Sunwoo with him.

“What’s the status on DN Group?”

“The Section 2 crew went over and say they’ve already secured the documents.”

“Sounds like the Prosecutors’ Office was a big help.”

“Yes. Thanks to the prosecutors getting a warrant out of the court, nobody could stop them.”

“Well done.”

Pleased that the DN Group raid had gone faster than expected, the Bureau 2 director glanced for a moment at an ascending elevator.

Just then, a senior Sunwoo Group official came running up to where the Bureau 2 director stood.

“Wh-what is this all about?”

The finance director in charge of Sunwoo Group’s accounts looked at the tax service employees streaming past him and shouted at the Investigation Bureau 2 director,

“Just what in the world do you think you’re doing!”

“It’s a special tax investigation.”

“A special tax investigation?”

“Yes.”

The Investigation Bureau 2 director turned to face the Sunwoo Group finance director and introduced himself.

“I’m Mun-yeong Kim, head of Investigation Bureau 2 at the Seoul Tax Office.”

“Investigation Bureau 2… what business does it have at Sunwoo…?”

The finance director looked at Director Mun-yeong Kim with a startled face.

Seeing the finance director go pale at the words “Investigation Bureau 2,” Director Mun-yeong Kim smiled and said,

“Seeing as you know Investigation Bureau 2, I take it you know what it is we do?”

“Are you saying Sunwoo Group has evaded taxes? We are a model corporation that has faithfully paid its taxes.”

“That’s something we’ll find out once we investigate.”

Director Mun-yeong Kim turned his gaze away and shouted toward the Section 3 chief,

“We’ve got a warrant, so bring out every last thing, leave nothing behind. Got it?”

“Yes, understood.”

At the Section 3 chief’s reply, the finance director’s face drained white as a sheet of paper.

Unlike Bureau 1, which handled ordinary tax investigations, or Bureau 3, which handled property taxes, Investigation Bureau 2 — which conducted planned tax investigations through in-depth probing — was commonly called the grim reaper of corporations.

Especially a corporate tax investigation like this one, run jointly with the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office, had no precedent of ending well.

In most cases, the company head received a prison sentence, and the company was broken into little pieces and scattered to the wind — this happened without number.

Called the mightiest of the blades a president wields against corporations, an Investigation Bureau 2 tax audit had never once ended normally once it began — so much so that people said the only solution was not to be audited by them at all.

“Are we… are we the only ones being investigated?”

Realizing he couldn’t stop the investigation, the finance director quickly shifted the direction of his questions.

Mun-yeong Kim, who’d been shouting at the tax service employees, turned his head and answered.

“All five major groups are being investigated. Dongnam Group — which has now changed its name to DN Group — has already had its investigation begin, and KF and Mirae are all targets of the special tax investigation too.”

“And Ilhyeon? Is Ilhyeon being done too?”

At the finance director’s words, Director Mun-yeong Kim let out a small snort of laughter and said,

“You say that as if you’d feel wronged if Ilhyeon weren’t investigated?”

“It’s not that I’d feel wronged, but… didn’t you say you’re investigating the five major groups? Then surely Ilhyeon has to be done too, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s true Ilhyeon has to be done as well.”

“Then…”

The finance director swallowed dryly and looked at Mun-yeong Kim.

“As soon as the Sunwoo Group raid is finished, I’ll be leading my staff over to Ilhyeon Group personally.”

“You’re going yourself?”

“Yes. So you needn’t worry that Ilhyeon is somehow slipping past the tax investigation. Ilhyeon can’t escape this one either.”

The finance director broke into a cold sweat at the word that Ilhyeon Group would be investigated too.

This isn’t just a routine audit — it’s an investigation the President is deliberately aiming at us. It might not end with just paying a fine.

The finance director decided he needed to see Sunwoo Group chairman U-ha Kim as soon as possible.

With the reason the tax service had come now perfectly clear, he judged that setting up countermeasures as fast as possible mattered more than anything.

Confirming his staff coming down one by one with documents packed into boxes, Director Mun-yeong Kim offered the finance director a parting word before leaving.

“Things look about wrapped up now, so I’ll be on my way.”

“…Are you going to Ilhyeon, just as you said?”

“Yes.”

Director Mun-yeong Kim turned and offered the finance director one last remark.

“Ah, right. Starting next year, Investigation Bureau 2 will be reorganized into Investigation Bureau 4. It’ll get more manpower and more independent authority as well.”

“And why are you telling me this…?”

“I’m telling you so you’ll think of it as good luck rather than bad. If we’d met after the conversion to Bureau 4 next year, there wouldn’t have been time to talk like this at all. Well then…”

The finance director stared blankly for a moment at the departing Mun-yeong Kim and the tax service employees leaving with boxes full of documents, then hastily pulled himself together.

“This is no time for me to be standing around. I need to inform the chairman of this at once.”

The finance director turned and pressed the elevator button to head for the chairman’s office.

“But wait — did I ever introduce myself?”

As he waited for the elevator, it suddenly struck him that Mun-yeong Kim had referred to him precisely as the finance director.

But the finance director stopped dwelling on it and boarded the elevator.

What mattered now wasn’t that Director Mun-yeong Kim of Investigation Bureau 2 knew who he was, but the fact that the President had set his mind on stripping the five major groups bare.

Mun-yeong Kim, head of Investigation Bureau 2 at the Seoul Regional Tax Office, sat on a sofa and surveyed the office.

“Here you are.”

Mun-yeong Kim looked down at the teacup set before him and bowed his head.

“Thank you.”

“The head of Investigation Bureau 2 comes in person, and this is all I have to offer — my apologies.”

Having said this, Seong-ho set down his own teacup and took his seat.

Then he looked at Mun-yeong Kim, smiled, and said,

“Still, the taste should be decent. My mother-in-law set it aside for the Chairman alone to drink, and I snuck a few out.”

“Oh. This is tea the Chairman drinks?”

Mun-yeong Kim lifted himself slightly off his seat and cradled the teacup in both hands.

Then, with a look of deep gratitude, he gazed down at the cup and said,

“To be given something this precious — I hardly know if I should even drink it.”

“However precious it may be, could it possibly compare to you, Director? Please, have a taste.”

Gesturing for him to drink, Seong-ho lifted his own cup first and sampled the tea.

Watching Seong-ho, Mun-yeong Kim carefully cradled his cup and brought it to his lips.

Hot steam tickled his lips and the tip of his nose.

Just like Seong-ho, Mun-yeong Kim pursed his mouth into a small shape and brought it to the cup.

Slurp.

Then he closed his eyes, trying to take in the tea’s aroma.

But startled by a scalding heat that felt like it might burn him, he nearly cried out.

With the thought that this was Ilhyeon Group and the man seated across from him was Head Seong-ho Kim of the Restructuring Headquarters, he endured the heat with superhuman effort and swallowed the tea down his throat.

“How is it? Good, isn’t it?”

The skin of Mun-yeong Kim’s palate had been thoroughly scalded off, but opening the eyes he’d shut, he nodded with a smiling face.

“Indeed. It’s very good.”

Mun-yeong Kim hadn’t even registered whether the tea was good or not — he’d felt only the heat — but in front of Seong-ho, he couldn’t help spilling out one “it’s good” after another.

Grim reaper of corporations though the head of Investigation Bureau 2 might be, before Ilhyeon and Seong-ho he was nothing more than one of many civil servants desperate for success.

Seong-ho looked at Mun-yeong Kim, at a loss over the heat still lingering in his mouth, and said with a smile,

“I thought sorting out the documents you’d be taking might be a hassle, so we went ahead and organized them first to make them easy to carry off — that’s all right, isn’t it?”

“Of course. It’s fine. If anything, you’ve done work that should have been ours to do — I’m almost ashamed.”

As Mun-yeong Kim made a fuss, Seong-ho set down his teacup and spoke to him in a confiding voice.

“I ask because I worry a great deal — the arrangement with the Blue House was to keep it to 20 billion… Will it work out that way?”

“Of course. 20 billion is plenty.”

Director Mun-yeong Kim spoke to Seong-ho, still in that flustered, obliging voice.

“If we write up 20 billion as the back-tax penalty, no one — not the prosecutors, not the courts — can say a word about it, so please don’t worry. We’ve already prepared the paperwork to match the 20 billion.”

Even as he told Seong-ho not to worry, Director Mun-yeong Kim wore an expression that was, if anything, apologetic.

Because it weighed on him that in a tax investigation as staged as this one with Ilhyeon Group, he had to levy back taxes as large as 20 billion won.

And that feeling reached Seong-ho as well.

You need to keep feeling sorry like this — even later, once you’ve become Commissioner of the National Tax Service.

Seong-ho watched Mun-yeong Kim’s face, brimming with guilt, and took a sip of his tea.

(End of Chapter 155)