“…….”
Yang Susan’s body froze at Ha Donghwi’s sudden declaration.
Ha Donghwi’s real standing, which he had worked at forgetting.
The youngest son of Chairman Ha Cheolgon of Haryun Group.
And a man thrown away by the house.
Surely not…….
A cold sweat ran the length of Yang Susan’s back.
If Ha Donghwi’s position has changed!
Let the group take him back as one of its own and his own life is a dead one.
To Haryun Group, a local firm like Pacific Fisheries is less than a minnow.
No! Not me. It was Kang Hongdong who told me to betray him!
Yang Susan shook his head and pulled himself sharply together.
Somebody from the Haryun side is involved behind Kang Hongdong.
It was never said directly, and he has that much wit about him.
“Heh heh heh heh.”
With his head put in order, a sly sneer spread at the corner of Yang Susan’s mouth.
A Pacific Fisheries director who has gone two months without pay.
“Oi! Where are you getting the lies from. That vampire of a father of yours is going to take you back? Talk sense! Damn it, and I shrank from it for nothing. Heh heh heh.”
Yang Susan crossing his legs and putting them down on the desk with a thump.
Click. Tssss.
He lit a cigarette straight away.
Any consideration for Ha Donghwi was nowhere in his sight.
Now that it had come to this there was nothing left to hide either.
“Hh.”
Just then Ha Donghwi let out a hollow laugh.
A cold smile, never seen before, hung at the corner of his mouth.
“Laughing? Friend. You’re fucked. You know what it is you put your seal to?”
Yang Susan was referring to the seal they had put on the private lending as joint guarantors.
Plainly unlawful, and the law means nothing to private lenders.
Yang Susan has no intention whatever of repaying.
The burial mountain, put up for a quick sale, is due to be dealt with around the afternoon.
Take the money and leave this country, and that is that.
Korea, where there is not a bond he would ache to leave behind.
A few billion and a man can live like a king in South-East Asia on his own.
“By whose leave?”
“By mine~ Do you ask because you don’t know? I am Pacific Fisheries’ chief. And you’re penniless. Heh heh.”
Yang Susan showing what he is and playing with Ha Donghwi like a punk.
Knock, knock.
Just then a knock came from outside the door.
“Who is it!”
Yang Susan roared it out.
Creeeak.
The door opened quietly.
“……??”
A middle-aged man and a good-looking young woman came in through the door.
What is this?
The two of them, neatly and cleanly dressed, walked over straight-backed and stood in front of Yang Susan.
The watch on the man’s wrist came into Yang Susan’s eye first.
And then the shoes.
One look and they are luxury goods of a different lustre.
An unwavering, measured manner, and not an ordinary one.
“What are you two!! Coming in where without leave!”
Yang Susan took his legs down, got up and jabbed a finger, demanding it.
The man and woman watching Yang Susan’s manner without expression.
And then moving their eyes to Ha Donghwi, standing beside him.
And.
“We greet you, Director.”
They bowed their heads and made the greeting in a courteous voice.
“Oi! I’m the chief director here! That bastard is——”
Creak.
The closed door opened again.
This time two solidly built men came in.
Men in easy jackets.
“Mr Yang Susan?”
“Mr Yang Susan? And what are you lot!!”
Yang Susan moved a few steps from his place and demanded it as though he would charge them.
“Inspector Oh Gwangchan, financial crime investigation team, Sokcho Police Station.”
The man said it, taking out his identification and showing it.
“……!!”
Yang Susan saw the police identification and set solid where he stood.
Police, come out of nowhere.
“I am arresting you under emergency powers for occupational embezzlement and breach of trust, under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The warrant, here.”
Inspector Oh Gwangchan opening the arrest warrant out to show him.
“From this moment, Mr Yang Susan, you have the right to refuse to make a statement and you may appoint an attorney. Sergeant Jo, the cuffs.”
“Sir!”
The arrest went through in one clean run.
“Wh— what shit is this! What crime have I committed!!”
Bang! Bang
Yang Susan roaring and bringing both fists down on the desk.
The face twisted with anger was like a savage animal’s.
A rush! Click!
Yang Susan’s rough resistance was put down at once by veteran detectives.
Cuffs on his wrists in the blink of an eye.
“H— Ha Donghwi! Was it you? Did you inform?? Aaaaaaaargh!!”
Yang Susan, his eyes gone over, glared at Ha Donghwi as though to kill him and screamed.
Watching Yang Susan thrash, Ha Donghwi was not moved at all.
“Mr Yang Susan…….”
One line came out of Ha Donghwi’s mouth.
“From here I’ll show you hell.”
“……!!”
“Eat.”
The Management Studies Society room on the fifth floor of the new building, and my first time here.
Astonishingly, the society president’s room is a separate space of its own.
Cheonghwa’s true crown prince set food down in front of me.
A sandwich.
Half a sandwich, wrapped tight in greaseproof paper.
“You’ll be hungry, but understand. I’m the centre of every room, so I can’t go to the canteen.”
“…….”
Kang Junu, certifying himself the centre of every room.
Not once in the past did I have a conversation with Kang Junu of this kind.
“There’s nothing in it. My mother made it for me out of organic ingredients.”
Chief Go Mihui herself?
A member of Ilseong Group, the real thing, the country’s first noble house.
A sandwich he says was made by Chief Go Mihui herself, who ranks as a princess inside that group.
That she made a sandwich with her own hands for her son Kang Junu is not to be believed.
“My mother’s kind.”
Why say a thing like that?
The ones following me stopped at the door of the Management Studies Society room.
And the president’s room is a place for meeting alone.
“It seems so. She must be busy enough, and to take precious time for her son and make a sandwich herself…….”
“Isn’t it? Heh heh.”
Kang Junu, expressionless and strong in the face.
And he laughs brightly, like children his own age.
Shff. Shff.
I peeled the wrapping off the sandwich.
I was curious about the taste of a sandwich said to be Chief Go Mihui’s.
“How is it?”
“I haven’t eaten it yet.”
“Ah. Go on, try it.”
By the look of it the ingredients were not spared.
Bread lightly done in a toaster, with lettuce, onion, tomato, ham and the rest in it, and sauce over.
“The sauce is sharp. Bear it in mind.”
Why is he this sweet?
A crown prince with no point of crossing that would bring him as far as a classroom.
I did not answer his first summons.
If a man has something to say, coming himself is the courtesy.
And I did not expect him actually to come.
Crunch.
I bit a large mouthful out of the sandwich.
“……!!”
“Good, isn’t it?”
The sharp sauce is first-rate.
A harmony of different tastes spreading right through the mouth.
The ingredients’ own tastes are alive in it — organic, right enough.
The bread is slightly soft, and not enough to spoil the taste.
I took another bite after it.
“Drink this too.”
Kang Junu, with a gentler streak showing through, against the first impression.
He poured warm tea out of a flask into a mug for me.
“Black tea.”
The fragrance of it spread in the space between him and me.
A very fine black tea, by the smell of it — the scent is another thing.
“It’s good.”
“Isn’t it? My mother’s cooking is quite good. I’ll invite you over some time.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“……Can you tell me why?”
A character like this is a first as well.
The crown prince Kang Junu I remember from before was a noble, haughty being at Cheonghwa, not to be approached.
And a being like that is showing me a liking I cannot identify.
“I like you.”
“…….”
“Your eyes in particular! They’re alive.”
Kang Junu, third year of high school.
And he is discussing the look in a man’s eye.
A turn outside anything expected.
In fact I have come to like Kang Junu myself.
The soft golden aura coming off him drew the eye.
What is certain is that he is a good man.
That is why I came.
“Thank you.”
“Drop the formal speech.”
Now, then! And what is this??
(End of Chapter 97)