Chapter 161: World of VVIPs (2)
“Vice President Park Hee-Woo, huh? I’ve heard that she’s made great achievements. She’s quite capable despite her young age. I’m not surprised, considering she’s Chairman Park’s daughter,” Chairman Ji remarked.
Park Chan-Gil was considered a legendary figure in the financial world despite being far younger than Chairman Ji. He was naturally hailed by many people, considering he had built TP Group from literally nothing through painstaking efforts.
Although Kang Ra-Eun hated her former father’s guts, she couldn’t not acknowledge his judgment, execution capability, business skills and the like. It was no exaggeration to say that he had maxed out every single stat necessary for business.
However, no human was perfect; although he was viewed to be extremely capable, he was by no means devoted to his family.
‘Even noona resents our father.’
If Park Hee-Woo were to score their father in terms of fatherly characteristics, she would also give him a zero. However, she had chosen to work with him despite that because she had acknowledged him at least as a businessman.
On the other hand, Park Geon-Woo made the opposite decision. Even if Geon-Woo wanted to respect his father as a businessman, the remnants of the memories of his father in their household had been so overpowering that Geon-Woo couldn’t bear to be with him.
Hence, Geon-Woo chose to cut ties with his family. The siblings had made completely different choices in the past, but it would be different in this life.
‘Because I’ll make it so.’
Meanwhile, Chairman Ji reacted positively to Vice President Park Hee-Woo’s participation.
“I’d welcome making a connection with TP Group. Okay. You let Vice President Park know.”
“I will, Chairman.”
“That aside, how will you hit this one?” Chairman Ji asked as he pointed at Ra-Eun’s ball, which was on the border of the green.
He was eagerly looking forward to what sort of amazing shot that Ra-Eun would show him, now that he had realized Ra-Eun’s phenomenal golf skills.
“I guess it’d be much faster to just show you,” Ra-Eun expressed.
Actions spoke louder than words. She got into position with the golf club, and swung it without hesitation this time as well. She hit the golf ball high up into the air. It landed on the green, started rolling toward the hole like metal being attracted to a magnet, and then went straight into the hole.
The others couldn’t close their mouths from witnessing the masterful chip.
“N-Nice shot!”
“You don’t see birdie shots like that very often.”
Even Han-Seok and Chairman Ji, who were on the opposing team, didn’t hold back their praises for Ra-Eun’s birdie shot. Ra-Eun smiled as she took out the golf ball in the hole.
“The next person can go,” she said.
No one was willing to go right after Ra-Eun’s unbelievable shot.
***
On a Thursday evening, the chauffeur Lim Seok-Jun drove Ra-Eun to Chairman Ji’s house. She lowered her sunglasses and looked out the car window.
“Nice place.”
The house was large enough to stand out even from far away. That was the place where Ra-Eun and the key individuals for her plan would be having dinner tonight. They had thought about going to a restaurant, but they had ended up deciding on Chairman Ji’s home because he invited them before they even had a chance to look for suitable places. However, there would be absolutely no issues since the house had such a huge yard.
Ra-Eun could already smell the mouth-watering scent of meat. Despite the meeting only consisting of five people including Han-Seok, the chairman’s yard was decorated like a grand party venue.
Ra-Eun slightly lifted the hem of her dress so that it wouldn’t drag on the ground, and then was escorted up the stone stairs to the yard by her chauffeur.
Han-Seok, who was wearing a suit, hurriedly ended his call once he saw that Ra-Eun had arrived.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
He then took over the role of Ra-Eun’s escort from Seok-Jun. She thanked Han-Seok and asked him with her head tilted in wonder.
“Your call seemed important... Was it okay to hang up like that?”
“It’s fine. It was Je-Woon.”
Ra-Eun also knew him very well. Although Je-Woon had debuted far earlier than Han-Seok, they had naturally started speaking casually to each other since they were the same age and came across each other very often.
“He said he wanted to meet up with you and me soon, just the three of us,” Han-Seok remarked.
“That sounds good to me,” Ra-Eun replied.
She was indebted to both of them since Levanche’s sales had risen exponentially because they had periodically promoted the company’s clothes.
“That aside, though you’re always beautiful, you look especially beautiful tonight,” Han-Seok praised.
Ra-Eun giggled in response. “What’s with the abrupt compliment, sunbae?”
“No, I was just...”
Although Han-Seok had never expressed it in words, he loved it very much when Ra-Eun wore dresses. But of course, Han-Seok was okay with whatever Ra-Eun wore and whatever make-up she had on.
As the two of them were chatting it up, Chairman Ji, Congresswoman Hong and lastly, Vice President Park Hee-Woo had all gathered.
Chairman Ji, the eldest one here, raised his glass.
“It must be fate that all of us have gathered here today, so let us have a drink together. Now, cheers!”
The others also followed suit. Ra-Eun’s glass was also filled with wine, but only she had non-alcoholic wine since she was weak to alcohol. She did not want to acknowledge it at first, but after trying many times to increase her tolerance by drinking at home, she had been forced to come to terms with reality. It just wasn’t going to happen, so she just decided to let her pride as a heavyweight drinker be broken.
Ra-Eun attentively observed Hee-Woo approaching Chairman Ji as she drank from her wine glass.
“My father was saying that he’d very much like to meet you, Chairman Ji,” Hee-Woo expressed.
“Chairman Park did?” Chairman Ji asked.
“Yes. He once said that you’d been his role model when he first started up his company.”
“Oh, is that so? I’d love to meet him as well. I got the opportunity to meet Chairman Park all thanks to Ra-Eun. What a wonderful day!”
Chairman Ji’s laugh continued on for a while. Ra-Eun unconsciously smiled from seeing them getting closer.
‘Allies should stay close.’
And of course, Congresswoman Hong couldn’t be left out from the alliance. Ra-Eun naturally shifted the subject of conversation from the financial world to the political world by speaking to Congresswoman Hong.
“Congresswoman. You’re running for the next legislative election, aren’t you?”
“I am. All the candidates have been decided, so I’ll have to form my camp soon.”
This was Congresswoman Hong’s third attempt. The congresswoman was full of worries, but Ra-Eun was not concerned about the election result in the slightest, since she already knew if the congresswoman was going to be elected or not.
“I’m sure it’ll go well, Congresswoman. You don’t have to worry so much.”
Ra-Eun lightly revealed the future, but Congresswoman Hong simply thought that Ra-Eun was just cheering her on.
“Thanks. I’ll invite you to my office If I get elected.”
“Am I allowed to come?”
“Why not? I’m sure the other congressmen would love to have you there.”
Ra-Eun also welcomed the idea since the political party that Congresswoman Hong was in had many congressmen that were in opposition to Kim Han-Gyo.
Chairman Ji suddenly shouted while Ra-Eun was thinking about Han-Gyo.
“Kim Han-Gyo, that son of a bitch! How dare he repay my kindness with malice?!”
Ra-Eun wasn’t the only one with a grudge against Han-Gyo; Chairman Ji also harbored burning fury toward him.
***
Chairman Ji and Han-Gyo had been close schoolmates since a very long time ago, but they had one day gone their separate ways. Nothing would have happened if they had just gone about their own business, but the fire had been lit once Han-Gyo one-sidedly started to keep Chairman Ji in check.
It all began when Do-Dam Group had been subject to an extensive tax investigation.
“I’m sure that bastard had been the one behind it,” Chairman Ji mentioned while grinding his teeth.
Even Han-Seok was bewildered by Chairman Ji’s rage. He had never seen his grandfather like this before. Among all the bewildered, only Ra-Eun was smiling in secret. She was the one to first walk up to Chairman Ji and calm him down.
“Chairman. I don’t fully understand what’s going on, but I will always be on your side. So please, calm down. Everything is okay.”
Whenever one broke off relations with someone, they were naturally drawn to friends who took their side. Chairman Ji couldn’t appreciate Ra-Eun enough for caring for him this much despite her young age.
“Okay. I shouldn’t be acting like this when you’re caring this much for me, Ra-Eun.”
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Hong took deep interest in the topic of Kim Han-Gyo, since they were on different sides of the political spectrum. She reflexively perked her ears whenever she got a chance to grab hold of opposing congressmen’s weaknesses.
“You seem to have some bad blood with Congressman Kim Han-Gyo,” she remarked.
Rather than one massive instance, a culmination of little instances had hammered the nail in the coffin bit by bit to put an end to their friendship. Kim Han-Gyo was undoubtedly the one who had started it first.
Having expected it, Congresswoman Hong softly sighed.
“He’s a huge topic among the congressmen that I know as well. I personally also despise him quite a lot.”
“You too, Congresswoman?” Chairman Ji asked.
“Yes.”
People who had something in common were able to become even closer. Hee-Woo could also sympathize with them, since she and TP Group had also suffered under pressure from Han-Gyo before. The small fire that Ra-Eun had lit today would become a massive inferno that would swallow Han-Gyo whole.
***
Ra-Eun’s objective for today had already been fulfilled just from the key allies for her revenge shouting “Overthrow Kim Han-Gyo!” together. Before leaving, Ra-Eun approached Hee-Woo.
“Vice President. How did... the talk with your brother go?”
“We’re still sorting things out, but we’ve resolved a lot of the misunderstandings. It’s all thanks to you, Ra-Eun.”
“I’m happy for you. Oh, and there was something that I had forgotten to tell you last time.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Da-Il Foods.”
Ra-Eun happened to hear the conversation that Hee-Woo had with her chief secretary during their past phone call.
“I don’t know what sort of promotion collaboration you’re trying to form with Da-Il Foods, but I suggest you don’t work with them,” Ra-Eun stated.
“Oh? Why is that?”
“You’ll find out next week,” Ra-Eun mentioned meaningfully.
She then got in her car and left.
“Next week, huh...?”
Ra-Eun’s words had been completely groundless, but they continued to whirl around Hee-Woo’s mind.
***
The incident occurred exactly one week later. Hee-Woo’s chief secretary reported the incident to Hee-Woo.
“Vice President. About Chairman Kim of Da-Il Foods. His driver had dropped a massive scandal about how he had been insulted and suffered from Chairman Kim’s power trips for the past three years.”
Da-Il Foods’ stocks had plummeted as a result. Their brand image had been damaged, and members of the public were even boycotting them.
A corner of Hee-Woo’s mouth gently curled up while she twirled her pen.
“I’m impressed, Ra-Eun,” she remarked.
“Pardon? What about Miss Kang Ra-Eun?”
The chief secretary asked what Ra-Eun had to do with the scandal. Hee-Woo shook her head.
“It’s nothing.”
Hee-Woo was taking a liking to Ra-Eun more and more.
1. South Korean legislative elections determine the composition of the National Assembly for the next four years.
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