Chapter 458 – Part 3

After making Jin So-ra settle down, one day in September, Sung-jin received an unexpected phone call.

“Sungjin. Grow. Do you have time to talk on the phone?”

There are people in the world who feel good just by hearing their voice.
Seongjin’s women are a special exception, and Gwangshik has always been that kind of person to Seongjin.

A person who believes even if a knife is stabbed in his throat when he says he believes once.
A person who is honest yet has a sharp edge, and performs more than 100% of the tasks entrusted to him.
Perhaps, for Seongjin, Kwangsik hyung is the best partner.

Kwang-sik brother strategically entrusted a financial institution in the secondary financial sector called Mutual Savings Bank, and in less than two years, only 13 mutual credit unions had already been acquired and merged, and he had created a huge financial institution with more than 2 trillion in assets.
Not only she, but she was also the president of the National Mutual Credit and Depository Association, and she completely swayed people with her charisma.

Kwang-sik not only gained a lot of personal connections by making connections with the Blue House, government figures, financial figures, and businessmen of large corporations, but now he has people who ask him to look good, showing off his power that cannot be ignored.
He was no longer the kind of man who listened to Seongjin and moved like he used to.
It would be funny to say such things to an older person, but Seongjin was proud of such a brother Gwangshik.

However, it wasn’t that Gwang-shik was ignoring her Sung-jin or anything like that.
If there was anything else, she would ask Seong-jin for his opinion first, and no matter how busy he was, he would call at least once a week and meet at least once a month to have a drink.
Seongjin also really liked Kwangshik, who was loyal.

“Brother Gwangsik. What are you doing? My older brother called me first and…”

Seongjin smiled happily and joked with Kwangshik.

“Yesterday… I met Kim Jin-cheol.”

“Ha.. Kim Jin-cheol?”

When Seongjin heard the name Kim Jincheol, she let out a sigh.
From Seong-jin’s point of view, he wasn’t a very welcome person, but as the president’s son, he was really busy moving here and there.

“Seriously, that man… What did he say again this time?”

“I tried to solve it by my own hands, but I thought I should ask you about this.
The man said to give me a loan.”

“Yes? A loan? What kind of loan is it all of a sudden? He says he writes? Or are you trying to make a slush fund for high-ranking nobles?”

“He asked for a loan from Hanbu Steel, not himself.”

Seongjin felt the back of his head tingle for a moment.

‘Uh? This is… Why are you coming here?’

The president’s son Kim Jin-cheol’s illegal loan brokerage case for Hanbu Steel.
In 1997, at the end of the term of President Kim Hyeon-sam, who fell for lame duck, the son of the incumbent president was sent to prison for arranging more than 5 trillion won from the bank for Hanbu Steel and receiving commissions.

This incident became known to the world when Hanbu Steel went bankrupt, and this led to an unprecedented situation in which the bank went bankrupt.
The total amount loaned by the mother bank was 5.7 trillion won, of which Hanbu Group used less than 500 billion won, a later investigation revealed.

Then, where did the remaining 5 trillion or more money go?
Where this money went was a mystery until Seong-jin returned, and Kim Jin-cheol was the one who planned and executed it all.

‘Wait.. Since 1995 was when J-Bank gave Hanbu Steel a loan, now is the right time for Kim Jin-cheol to act.
No.. But why is it our Mutual Savings Bank and not J Bank?’

Something strange, Seong-jin was able to grasp Kim Jin-cheol’s intentions to some extent.
Rather than moving the 1st financial sector tiringly, it was intended to start with the severely insolvent 2nd financial sector.

Anyway, Kwang-sik’s mutual credit union was able to grow like this because it had the Blue House’s protection and financial support in the first place.
In addition, the size of assets in the second financial sector was not originally this large, but Gwang-sik’s wide-ranging moves made Mirae Mutual Credit Bank grow enormously.

Putting it that way, in Kim Jin-cheol’s eyes, how good would Kwang-shik’s mutual credit safe be?
Even if you don’t risk touching the 1st financial sector bank, you can get away with a whopping 2 trillion won, so it’s like a wallet in your pocket, and you’re going to swallow it this time.

“Yes.. How much is that person asking for a loan?”

“Haa.. I was dumbfounded.. They asked me to lend 2 trillion won to Hanbu Steel..”

It was Gwang-sik hyung who sighed in disbelief.

I can give you a loan for as little as possible.
The bank did not immediately go bankrupt because it remained as a bond, and if interest and principal were paid in well, it could have been of great benefit to the bank.

However, Hanbu Steel or the Hanbu Group itself went bankrupt, and J Bank, which was the first financial sector, also went bankrupt.
I knew it would go bankrupt, but I could never give out a loan.

“Haa.. You’re really a bastard. It’s just that we’re talking about handing over mutual credit unions to Korea University. So.. What did you say?”

In the end, abusive words that Seongjin had never uttered while enduring them came out.

“I said we were going to have an internal meeting, but… Whew…”

Gwangsik hyung sighed heavily.
Obviously, Kwang-sik hyung-nim knew that this was nonsense.
However, Kwang-shik, who knows better than anyone how scary power can be, was just terrified at the nonsense.

“Older brother. You know that this is not always possible, right?”

“Huh. Yes. But with the president behind me, I can’t stop listening to this… I’m going crazy.”

“Older brother. You just have to say no. Otherwise, my promise to make you a money ghost will definitely fail.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Still, the president’s son is arranging, so what’s the matter? And the Hanbu Group is a conglomerate, so there is no way they can’t get paid.”

It seemed that Kwang-sik hyung was somewhat inclined to think that the Blue House was scary.

“No. Older brother. The Hanbu Group will surely go bankrupt.”

“What? What do you mean? Are chaebols going bankrupt?”

“Yes. Do some background research on Hanbu Group. The Hanbu Group can never build a steel plant under the current circumstances. It’s obviously broken there. Then, what will happen to Woori Bank, which loaned out almost all of the credit union’s assets? We will be ruined too. So it will never happen.”

“Umm.. Phew..”

Even though Seongjin spoke so strongly, Kwangshik still only sighed.

“Brother, if you refuse, you may be at a disadvantage. Maybe it’s possible to get the money back from the initial support. Then you just have to bear the loss of about 100 billion and give it away. It’s better than being completely robbed and ruined. Our mutual credit deposit box, you must hold onto it unconditionally.
Rather, brother, think that you will spit out money in that case, and start organizing the inside from now on.
If you reveal your intention to reject Kim Jin-cheol, the Financial Supervisory Service or something like this will come in thanks or pressure. You’d better be prepared to stop it.”

Sungjin’s voice was more determined than ever.

“Phew.. Yes. I get it.
I… Seongjin-ah…Don’t do that…”

In the end, Kwang-sik had no choice but to answer Seong-jin’s words.
But her voice was still trembling, as if she was uneasy about something.

“Yes.. Brother.”

“So.. Haa.. Can’t you meet that… Kim Jin-cheol once?”

“Haa.. Brother, you know that I broke up with the daughter of that house on a bad note.”

“Oh right. It did? Sorry. It’s because I’m frustrated. Ha..”

The two of them stayed on the phone for a while without speaking.
It was unavoidable because there was no hot solution to do so.

“Whew.. Hyung, please set a date soon and let me know. I’ll see you sometime.”

In the end, Seong-jin, who decided to solve it himself, brought her up.

“That… Will you? After all, there is only my younger brother.”

Kwang-sik hyung, whose voice changes brightly.
Seongjin just laughed at the fact that a man with the best fist in the country and a man with a distracting size was acting out of proportion.

However, Seongjin felt his bones pounding at the thought of having to meet Kim Jin-cheol again.

“I would definitely say no. So brother, please start cracking down on the inside from now on. Organize all the pods that will be caught, and in case you don’t know, prepare a separate fund so that you can return the government subsidies at any time.
And I think it would be okay to borrow more funds from Japan or the United States without the government noticing this opportunity.”

“Um… Is that so? Yeah… That would be better.”

“You know brother? When borrowing money from abroad, never borrow for a short term. Even if you pay a little higher interest, you must borrow for a long term of 5 years or more unconditionally.”

Seongjin knew all too well why the IMF exploded.
To put it simply, it happened because Korean financial institutions, believing in the booming economy at the time, borrowed short-term funds abroad (especially in Japan) and extended long-term loans.

Financial institutions themselves brought in funds with a maturity of one year and lent funds with a maturity of three years to other places, so there was no money to immediately return to creditors who wanted to recover the funds due to a sudden financial crisis.

Seong-jin had to go to the US soon, so he decided to meet Jin-cheol Kim after he returned to the US, asked Gwang-sik a few more things, and hung up.

A few days have passed since I talked to Kwangsik hyung.
I was going to go to America in a week or so.

The reason for going to the United States was to attend the opening ceremony of the wet tissue plant in Los Angeles, USA.
However, the real reason was that Seong-jin was by his side to protect Jeong Hyeon-sook from childbirth.

Seong-jin wanted to go about a month ahead of time to prepare for the baby and stay by Hyun-suk Jeong until the birth, but he hadn’t told other women about Hyun-sook Jeong, so he made it on the exact date, a business excuse. It was about to go.

Of course, no one would say anything even if I talked (Ah! What would a mother say? What would she say even more if she said she was pregnant with a child…), But Seong-jin, who increases women whenever he has a chance, goes all the way to the United States and in that short time Also, I felt a little remorse about what kind of glare I would receive if I said that I had increased the number of women and even made them pregnant.

And while she had been with many women until now, she honestly didn’t feel that much affection (except for her mother), but Seong-jin strangely felt affection for Jeong Hyeon-suk.

My meeting with Jeong Hyeon-sook was unusual from the first meeting, and the conversation was very good and enjoyable regardless of the age difference.
And the passionate love that followed, the long separation, the situation where they could not meet each other even though they wanted to meet Korea and the United States, but in the end they met again like destiny and found out that she was pregnant with their child. It was very affectionate.

Maybe that’s why Seongjin wanted to secretly bury that affectionate heart as her own pleasure.
In a word, should I say that when she secretly set up a house for herself in another house without her wife’s knowledge, she feels like that strange excitement?

As Jeong Hyeon-sook’s due date approached, Seong-jin became restless and anxious.
Is there no guarantee that her child will arrive on time?
She had already planned to arrive 3 days before the factory start-up and she decided to go straight to Hyun-suk Jung and her gynecologist, but she was worried if she went into labor sooner and she was not by herself next to Hyun-suk Jung.

So Seong-jin is far away these days, and she is talking to Hyun-suk Jeong in the United States.

“Mr. Hyunsook. Are you okay? Can you still hold out?”

“Yes. Sungjin Mr. I’m fine. She is Mr. Seong-jin, and she can hold out until she comes, so don’t worry too much.”

“Sorry. I can’t even stay by her side, and I make her go through hardships while making her work..”

“No. I am so happy these days. It’s so nice to hear your voice every day like this.”

Jeong Hyeon-sook, like her name, was a truly mature woman.
Now, even though financial worries and worries about a mentally ill ex-husband are completely gone, it is not easy to be pregnant with a child from a man whom you love but cannot see in a faraway land, longing for him and waiting for the day he will return. Absolutely not.
However, Hyeon-suk Jeong was afraid that Seong-jin would be worried, so she always called in a bright voice, and rather, she was thinking about how to make Sung-jin’s American business work better, and she was working hard.

“Wait a few days. The child can’t come out until I go. Understand?”

“Yes. Okay. I also really want to go to the hospital holding Sungjin’s hand. Ha ha.. I really miss you so much. Sungjin, I love you. I love you so much.”

“Huh. Hyunsuk Mr. I miss you too, and I love you very much.”

It was September 21st, and now, two days later, Seong-jin was able to see Jeong Hyeon-suk, whom he had been waiting for so long.

However..

“The boss is in trouble. Come on, turn on the news. Seongsu Bridge.. Collapsed.”

“What?”

Seong-jin, who had just arrived at work, quickly turned on the TV at the sound of her secretary’s urgent voice.
Each channel was broadcasting an emergency report that the Seongsu Bridge collapsed and killed citizens and students on their way to school.

“This… What is this?”