Chapter 389 – Part 3

Seongjin sipped champagne and slowly looked around the party hall.
She saw some people she knew, but most of them were more people she didn’t know, and the crowd was so full that it was disorienting.

What is unusual is that the inauguration ceremony of the president is usually attended by the old chairman, president, or high-ranking officials, but today, besides those people, more young people attended than expected.
It seemed that it was because of the rumors that Gwangjang Jin was making her first appearance in the social world, and that she would sit in an important position in the general group in the future.

Seongjin looked at Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong and Jang So-jin talking to several women from a distance, with her mother in the middle.
Her mother’s beauty was definitely dazzling, but Mrs. Hong Ra-kyung and Jang So-jin, who had been receiving a lot of love from Seong-jin recently, were also showing off their own beauty to the fullest.

Seongjin was looking at her women like her with satisfaction.
But then.

“Sungjin. I’m here.”

I heard someone calling her name.
Seongjin turned her head to see Kim Soyoung standing in her room smiling in her black dress.

“Wow.. Soyoung. So-Young, are you invited too?”

“Yes. She’s the president’s granddaughter, and of course she was invited. Ho ho ho.”

“I see. Nice to meet you. Hey~ Our Soyoung-ssi is really beautiful today.. Haha..”

Seong-jin met Kim So-young in an unfamiliar place, so she couldn’t be happier.
Kim So-young also met Sung-jin like that, so she stood close to her and looked at Seong-jin and smiled.

However, Seong-jin felt something awkward about Kim So-young.
If she was Kim So-yeong who liked her, she would usually cross her arms in love as soon as she saw Seong-jin, but now she just stood next to her and smiled.

“Ah.. Seongjin, wait a minute. There is someone I can introduce you to.”

Well then, she hadn’t come alone.
Seongjin smiled and looked at Kim Soyoung.

“Tada.. Seongjin, say hello. Kim is really smart, you are my father.”

Seongjin, who thoughtlessly looked at the person Kim Soyoung introduced her to, her face hardened.

“Oh, Mr. Seongjin. Couldn’t you have met my father and scared him off now?”

Sungjin just smiled awkwardly.

Who is Jincheol Kim?
He was the eldest son of President Kim Hyun-sam and was called the Crown Prince.
Despite the unwritten rule that the president should not involve his family in politics, he was a person who completed the real-name financial system and later served as a member of the National Assembly.
Although he later went to jail due to a problem with the Hanbu Steel loan arrangement, he is a powerful figure who is rumored to have greater authority behind the scenes than the president even though he has no governmental position.

“Hmm.. You must be Seongjin Lee. Our So-young talks about you so much, and his father also talks about you, so I wondered who it was. I am Soyoung’s father, Kim Jincheol.”

“Ah.. Yes.. Yes. Hello? I am Seongjin Lee.”

“Ah.. Seongjin, don’t be so nervous. This is not a place to say hello to your parents. Ho Ho..”

Kim So-young couldn’t stop laughing at Seong-jin’s unusual appearance.

Seongjin wasn’t doing this because he was Kim Soyoung’s father.
From the standpoint of Seong-jin, who does not want to be very close to politics, meeting with Kim Jin-cheol, who currently has the most power, was very burdensome.

Moreover, Seong-jin knew that Kim Jin-cheol arranged for a loan to Hanbu Steel.
The amount is over 5 trillion won.
However, in a later investigation, Hanbu Steel directly used less than 500 billion won out of the amount borrowed from the bank.
So where did the rest of the money go?

The person who planned and executed all of this was Kim Jin-cheol.
He’s a very smart guy, but he’s not a very nice guy.

But now, such a person appeared in front of Sungjin.
For some reason, Seongjin thought that there was a high possibility that this meeting was not a coincidence.
Of course, Kim So-young doesn’t seem to know at all, but…

Sungjin was worried.
If Kim Jin-cheol came to visit him, what would he want from him?

Soon, Sungjin will be in charge of school lunches in the Seoul area.
She was a business with enormous profits.

And as Mrs. Hong Ra-kyung will announce today, a new mobile communication business will also start within this year.
This business is also a business with enormous interests to the extent that the former president gave it to his in-laws and said it was an old-age fund.

Why did Kim Jin-cheol appear in front of Seong-jin at this time?
Sungjin tried to be a little annoyed.
Then, even Kim So-young, who was smiling in front of her, didn’t look very pretty.

Kim So-young even joked with her to cheer her up, but when Seong-jin’s expression didn’t look good, her complexion deteriorated rapidly.

“Sung… Seongjin. Did I introduce her father too suddenly? Sorry.”

Kim So-young told Sung-jin that introducing her parents without her words offended her, which she misunderstood.
Then Kim Jin-cheol, who was next to her, coughed awkwardly.

“Ah… It’s not like that. Sorry. It is an honor to meet such a dignified person. The real-name financial system was truly a godsend.”

“Huh? Real-name financial system? How do you know I was involved in that?”

When Seong-jin brought up Kim Jin-cheol by mentioning the real-name financial system, she let go of her discomfort and looked at Seong-jin as if she was interested.

“If I told you, would there be anyone who wouldn’t know? I just picked them up.”

“Huh.. Haha.. As Father said, he’s an unusual friend.”

Kim Jin-chul looked at Seong-jin with a meaningful smile.

“I hope you will help your father a little.”

“Ah yes. I will.”

“I think we should meet soon and talk about it. Smart friend, you know what I mean?”

Also, Sungjin’s prediction was not wrong.
Jincheol Kim did not just come here.
It was clear that he had a purpose to meet Seongjin.
Seongjin tried to get into trouble as to what the purpose was.

“Yes. All right. Let’s have a meal together soon.”

“Okay. Also. You’re quick-witted. Got it. I’ll try to get in touch with you soon. Have a good date with our Soyoung. Haha..”

Kim Jin-cheol patted Kim So-young on the shoulder once and left.
Seongjin looked at Jincheol’s back like that, and she frowned involuntarily.

“That… Seong… Seongjin. Sin… I’m sorry.”

Only then did Seong-jin realize that she still had Kim So-yeong by her side, and her impression changed, and she awkwardly drank the champagne she was holding.

“My dad said he wanted to see Mr. Seongjin once.

Seeing Kim So-yeong notice Seong-jin, she was restless.
She, Kim So-yeong, was already aware that she was a person who worked at the Blue House, and that the atmosphere around her was not just a greeting.

“Phew~, I guess we can’t meet innocently.”

Annoyed by Kim Jin-chul, Seong-jin felt skeptical about meeting Kim So-young.
Looking at Kim So-young, she was really a cool, pretty, and like-minded woman, but when she kept getting entangled in this way, she had no choice but to put on her colored glasses and see.

President Kim Hyun-sam also tried several times to connect Kim So-young and her Sungjin, but he honestly couldn’t say that there were only pure intentions there.
And today, Kim Jin-cheol used her daughter, Kim So-young, to meet Seong-jin in an outright way.

In this case, it is impossible to know whether Kim So-yeong was taken advantage of her without knowing anything, or whether she partly involved Kim So-young in her plan.
Now, how would she know if Kim So-yeong’s apology was real or a play?
When you start to doubt, everything becomes suspicious.

She might ask if Kim So-young isn’t her industrial spy, and she’s trying to seduce Seong-jin, so she doesn’t have anything special to use.
However, from Seong-jin’s point of view, who wants to keep a certain distance from her politics, Kim So-young’s position could embarrass her, or it could be a stressful thing that makes her worry that she doesn’t have to.

Also, Kim So-young says that she has no intention of doing so, but if she is unintentionally used like now, her position as the president’s granddaughter becomes a kind of original sin.
Seong-jin said that Kim So-young was smart, had a cool personality, was pretty, and had a good relationship with her, so she wanted to maintain a good relationship with her without being bound by these political parts.

However, through her meeting with Kim Jin-cheol today, she was annoyed that unintended things kept happening.
So, without realizing it, she couldn’t treat Kim So-young with a smile.

At Seongjin’s cold words, Kim Soyoung’s face became contemplative.

“Um… By any chance… Seongjin. Now that means… Does she mean she won’t see me in the future?”

“Ah… That’s not what I meant. But she honestly doesn’t feel too good about using So-Young to come with her intentions.”

“Ah… No. Sungjin Mr. That’s a misunderstanding. Neither I nor my father had any different intentions. I just… I wanted to introduce Seongjin to my father…”

“Yes. I fully understand Soyoung’s heart. But now that the situation is like this, I’ve become a bit sensitive. Sorry.”

Just then, an announcement was made that the inauguration ceremony of first lady Hong Ra-gyeong would begin.

“Ah… Looks like the ceremony is about to start. Then I’ll go to the place where the group is. Then..”

“Uh? Uh? Sung.. Seongjin.”

When Seong-jin bowed her head to So-young Kim and walked away to her mother, So-young Kim frowned as if crying in embarrassment.

Seong-jin was about to walk up to her mother, but Ms. Hong Ra-gyeong and Jang Jang-jin led her mother toward her stage and led her to a few tables set up as her VIP seats.
Seongjin moved there too, and she went to the table and saw that her mother’s and Seongjin’s names were written side by side, so she sat there.
Among these numerous people, only a small number of people prepared seats, including Sung-jin and her mother, so it was clear how much Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong cared for her.

As Seongjin approached, Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong and Jang So-jin smiled at her Seongjin and went up the stairs in the corner to the podium.

When Seong-jin sat next to her mother and looked around her table, she saw only prominent figures such as the current chairman of the group, the fifth-ranked group chairman in the business world, and the chief of government affairs at the Blue House with whom Seong-jin had ties.
The mother seemed nervous at first, but she quickly regained her self-confidence by saying that she had met such people a few times, and she began to greet people around her.

The older presidents also showed interest in her mother and began to greet her as if they were all amazed when a young and beautiful woman sat down.
She, and her mother, were surprised to learn that she was the chairman of the HK Group, which had recently hit the jackpot with an IPO, and she seemed to give some credit for being present.

The ceremony proceeded, and finally it was time for Hong Ra-gyeong’s inaugural address.

Reporters flashed loudly as Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong stood next to her podium, bowed politely, and stood on the podium.
However, Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong did not blink at such a thing.

She looked around as if looking down at the masses of people and began her speech in a high-pitched voice.
Having gathered all these great people, and not even trembling in front of so many people, I thought that it was definitely a great heroine.

“We, Jangseong Group, will stand tall as a global group in line with globalization.”

After her greeting, as soon as Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong began presenting her vision in earnest, words such as “World fan” And “Global” That she had never heard before poured out.
Corporate owners sitting at the table also widened their eyes.

The words that flowed from Ms. Hong Ra-kyung’s mouth seemed incredibly knowledgeable, and made it feel like the president of a large American company was giving a speech.
It is inevitable that words such as globalization and global were used in earnest after the IMF to turn the domestic economic crisis to the outside world.

As those words poured out of Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong’s mouth, the gaze of the people gathered at her towards Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong completely changed.
In the past, there had been a lot of criticism about what kind of chairperson a woman was, and how a woman could be the president of a large company that ranks among the top three in Korea.

“Based on the policy motto of the President, our Jangseong Group will focus not only on the domestic market but also on overseas exports…”

A grin went up at the mouth of the Blue House chief of staff for political affairs, who was sitting next to Seongjin.
She was ignoring Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong as a woman, but when she mentioned the president in a place where the public’s attention was focused, she felt better and recognized that Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong was a woman who could also do politics. .

“So our Jangseong Group’s main business will be electronics including semiconductors, and we will intensively nurture the IT business. In addition, we will make intensive investments in all areas where our country can grow, such as society, culture, and art..”

Mrs. Hong Ra-kyung’s dream was far-reaching.

“We, Jangseong Group, declare that we will enter the new mobile communication business this time.”