Chapter 300
Chulmo called Mr. Chun first.
As soon as his phone rang, Chun answered it. Given his calm voice, it seemed that Chun was not yet aware of the situation.
Chulmo explained to him nervously.
But Chun’s reply was quite surprising to him.
“Why do you think it’s strange that the prosecutors’ office is investigating the bribes involving corrupt politicians? Don’t you think they have to investigate them thoroughly and punish them?”
Chulmo was just stunned to hear that because Chun himself received bribes for a long time.
“How can you say such things to me? Aren’t we in the same boat?”
Chun burst into anger at that, “In the same boat? Watch your language! I’m only an ordinary businessman. Nothing would change even if my brother is the President. Don’t slander me like that. I really feel uncomfortable talking with you like this. Let me hang up the phone.”
He hung up, but Chulmo couldn’t set the handset down. He felt as he was struck by the light.
Those congressmen around him were also shocked.
At that moment, Duyoung was embarrassed, looking at a veteran politician who was sitting on the other side of the sofa. He was Wonju Ha, the strong man of the ruling party.
“Are you satisfied now?” asked Chun.
“You have made a difficult decision. Thanks to your decision, you and the President now can defend your honor.”
“Let’s stop there. I want to be alone here. Won’t you leave?”
Ha had no more business with Chun. Bowing lightly to him, Ha left his house.
Only then did Chun burst into anger that he had been holding back. He threw an ashtray, ballpoint pens and other stuff that he got his hands on.
“Damn it! How can he dare threaten me?”
But he couldn’t do anything about Ha, the rising sun of the ruling party.
On the other hand, he was the setting sun. So far he exercised his influence as the elder brother of the President, but with the President’s term ending in less than one year, he was already sliding into a lame-duck situation.
What if Chun’s dealings with corrupt politicians were revealed to the public in such a situation?The President’s lameduck phenomenon would be getting worse to the point that he would not be able to protect Chun.
In that respect, Chun would need to express thanks to Ha who saved him and the President from impending danger.
“Yea, I can’t disgrace the President because of that small sum of bribes. I’ve had enough up to now. It’s time that I retired and kept a low profile from now on.”
After parting with Chun, Ha headed for an old-fashioned Korean restaurant in the outskirts of Kyonggi Province.
It was a very expensive restaurant. As each room was equipped with security devices, the customers could enjoy a private conversation freely.
In fact, politicians and businessmen used this place often when they had important appointments.
Hyunwoo was no exception. In fact, Hyunwoo was the real owner of this restaurant. He owned not only this restaurant but also several other restaurants and tea houses there.
But nobody knew Hyunwoo was the owner.
Ha arrived at the restaurant and entered a private room inside.
Even before he took a seat, Hyunwoo urgently asked, excusing his rudeness, “What happened?”
Mr. Ha understood his rudeness and answered with a bright smile.
“Fortunately, Mr. Chun responded to my request favorably.”
Hyunwoo’s face brightened. If Chun agreed, that meant almost 90% of Hyunwoo’s goal was achieved.
“Did you already inform the chief prosecutor of Chun’s response?”
“Sure. As soon as I parted with Chun, I called the chief prosecutor right away. There will be an announcement from the prosecutor’s office very soon. Oh, it’s about time. Let’s turn on the TV.”
Hyunwoo quickly turned on the TV, which was broadcasting news bulletin on the prosecutor’s announcement on the crackdown on corrupt politicians.
< Mr. Duhyong Chun, CEO of DH Group and the elder brother of the President, held a press meeting today. At the meeting, Mr. Chun revealed the lobbying efforts of the Korean branch of OneStar’s representative, Hamilton, which has recently taken over STM. He disclosed that OneStar gave him one billion won in bribes, asking him to influence politicians for OneStar to take over STM.
Mr. Chun admitted he had received kickbacks from Hamilton.
But he argued that he received the money not because he wanted to help OneStar but because he wanted to change the political world stained with corrupt money. He said he voluntarily gave back the bribe.
Mr. Chun also revealed that he handed to the prosecutor’s office a list of those politicians to whom Hamilton gave kickbacks.
The prosecutor’s office summoned Hamilton two hours ago and is currently investigating him now. The list is expected to help the prosecutor’s office uncover the identity of bribed politicians. All eyes are now on the results of the investigation.>
Ha now made a tense expression on his face.
“So far, we have achieved our goal to our liking, but what happens next? Do you think we can succeed completely?”
“Yes, I think so. Definitely,” said Hyunwoo confidently.
Hyunwoo knew this because the prosecutors who belonged to Songjukhoe gathered all the evidence of corrupt politicians’ dirty dealings with Hamilton.
Hyunwoo’s financial support of Sonjukhoe was decisive in helping the prosecutors. They hired former policemen and journalists, thieves, swindlers and even organized gang members to keep tabs on the corrupt politicians’ every move.
And they also tracked down Hamilton’s whereabouts to monitor his kickback dealings with the corrupt politicians.
Tipped off by Morgan on Hyunwoo’s plan in advance. Hamilton was also cooperative. While giving kickbacks to them, Hamilton videotaped it and recorded his conversations with them.
As their goal was now achieved, Hyunwoo and Ha had a delicious dinner in a relaxed atmosphere.
Those politicians involved in the dealings with Hamilton were summoned to the prosecutors’ office one by one.
They went in confidently, but came out nervously, with a grave look on their faces.
Soon the prosecutors’ office announced that they would arrest them on charges of taking bribes.
Of course, some of them resisted to the end.
It was time Hamilton came forward to further disclose these defying politicians, but he didn’t.
Hyunwoo smelled a rat.
He called Morgan in New York.
“Chairman Morgan, why is Hamilton keeping silent?”
Morgan suggested something surprising, though, “Come to think of it, I think your overseas corporations are too expensive. Let me buy them for 20 billion dollars.”
At that moment, Hyunwoo felt he was hit by a hammer in the back of his head.
“What the hell are you talking about? That’s a breach of our contract!”
“No, I’m not talking about the breach. But the takeover condition can change, depending on the situation. Then and now we have a different situation.”
“How?”
“We already obtained the Super Green patent right from you. Though we can’t build factories abroad, you don’t have any reason to stop us from selling Super Green oil abroad, right?”
That was true. As Hyunwoo wanted to use STM as the means to indict corrupt politicians, he wouldn’t care about Morgan’s argument.
Still, Morgan’s new proposal gave him a headache.
Hyunwoo regretted he trusted Morgan too much.
“Of course, I am not going to do that. What I want is that you lower the selling price of STM overseas corporations. And your goal is to change the Korean political landscape, not make more money, right? Let’s give and take what we want.”
The more he listened to Morgan’s excuses, the more angry Hyunwoo grew.
In short, Morgan had his tongue in his cheek, Hyunwoo thought.
When he thought as far as that, Hyunwoo rather felt thankful to him.
In fact, he had a prick in the heart when he decided to sell STM to OneStar.
Morgan spent all his fortune on taking over STM.
But the stocks of Morgan Energy that took over STM would change into paper in a few years.
Samryong Motors would force it to go down the hill like that.
What would happen to Morgan’s life?
He would have no choice but to fall from the pinnacle of his life into a bottomless pit in the dark.
When Hyunwoo sold STM to Morgan, he really felt sorry about that.
But he didn’t feel it anymore when Morgan asked to lower the selling price of overseas STM.
Reluctantly, Hyunwoo accepted Morgan’s forcible offer.
Though he felt bitter about it, Hyunwoo decided to think of it in the positive.
After Hyunwoo accepted Morgan’s offer, Hamilton presented the remaining evidence of his kickback lobbying.
As a result, those politicians who resisted to the last had to admit they received the bribes.
More than 40 politicians were arrested, and twenty of them were incumbent. Chulmo Kim and Jungmon Hwang were among those arrested.
Most of the people were disappointed about the shocking bribe scandal.
And their disappointment made them determined to change the existing politicians.
Some time later, there were by-elections to fill the seats vacated by the arrested politicians.
Like before, Hyunwoo offered to give cash gifts to young voters under 30, with 10,000 won for those with a proof shot at the voting places.
And he himself appeared on public service ads, arguing that all people should pay more attention to politics to stop the repetition of the bribe scandal.
He mobilized the entertainers of Ani & Funny for the clean politics campaign.
Whenever they appeared on TV shows, they appealed to the voters to turn out in large numbers to show their opposition to corrupt politics.
Students also played an important role. They posted hand-written posters here and there on their campus to encourage more turnouts, and some of them launched a one-man campaign with the sign ‘Let’s Vote!’
Ruling party chairman Wonju Ha tried his best to make the most of the golden opportunity to create a clean political climate. He nominated clean and young candidates in many constituencies, and directly campaigned for them in person.
Finally, the by-elections took place, and the results were mostly as Hyunwoo expected.
The voting rate was much higher than the previous one, reaching as high as 76.4%.
In particular, those under 30 heavily turned out at the polling booths, recording 91%.
It was natural that young candidates won a landslide victory in most of the constituencies.
It seemed as if the average age of the lawmakers dropped by 20 years thanks to the successful election of young candidates.
Mr. Ha’s influence within his ruling party became more powerful after the elections. He was already mentioned as a powerful presidential candidate.
Hyunwoo felt Ha would serve as an example of a clean politician.
But he didn’t go to the trouble of promoting Mr. Ha because he felt once he set his foot in politics, he would soon find himself stained with dirty politics.
“Let me focus on my own business from now on.”
With a satisfied look, he checked the calendar.
Summer has already passed, and it was already early September.
The first factory of Samryong Motors was near completion, and the new model Super Car, the core model of the Paekdu Project, was in the making.
Hyunwoo’s face brightened all the more.
‘Is it Morgan’s turn to face the music?’
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