Chapter 1578. Comprehending (3)

“Euh...”

Lee Hyeon-Su cackled while looking at Kang Jin-Ho.

He never imagined that one day, he’d witness the sight of Kang Jin-Ho sporting a pair of distinctive dark circles below his eyes.

With how pitiful and sorrow-inducing the Assembly Master looked on the surface, Lee Hyeon-Su couldn’t help but burst into raucous laughter.

“Kekekeke! I told you not to underestimate that man, sir.”

“Urgh...!” Kang Jin-Ho roughly scratched his head. “I might develop some kind of PTSD at this rate.”

A groan leaked out of his mouth all on its own.

“How can a man his age be so energetic? Maybe he’s a cultivator, too?”

“Sir, a man’s willpower has always possessed the potential to surpass his stamina. This is the so-called mental fortitude espoused by the Imperial Japanese. Or the vestige of it, I guess.”

“Really? Then, it’s not a good thing, is it?”

“Whether it’s a good thing or not doesn’t change the fact that Jeong Hong-Geun is like the embodiment of those vestiges, sir.”

“Urgh...!”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned in pain again.

The term “giving up” didn’t exist in Jeong Hong-Geun’s vocabulary, it seemed. He showed up everywhere Kang Jin-Ho went, after all!

It got so bad that Kang Jin-Ho even began wondering if the Chairman of Taegwang had mastered the shadow clone jutsu or some such!

At least that warning seemed to have gotten through, judging from how Jeong Hong-Geun refrained from showing up at Kang Jin-Ho’s home again.

But that only drove Kang Jin-Ho even more nuts.

Even someone like him, who let his whims dictate what his next actions would be, couldn’t get angry at a person trying his best to be nice to him.

Worse still, even the one and only Kang Jin-Ho would have to think three, four times first before losing his cool if his opponent was a frail old man who might keel over any day now.

He obviously had no aversion to killing people, but killing someone thatway didn’t feel right to him. He was a human being, after all!

Which meant that resisting was impossible for him.

Kang Jin-Ho groaned again. “How can the chairman of a massive company neglect his duties like that...?”

“A massive company like that can chug along just fine without its chairman, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with little concern. “Just like how bringing prosperity to the country is incredibly difficult for the President, utterly ruining the country isn’t easy, either. A country boasting a massive scale would have developed its own system by then, which pretty much prevents too much authority being concentrated on one person at the top. The same principle applies to massive corporations.

“Even if the chairman enjoys emperor-like authority in his company, there is a limit to how much he can do on his own.”

A villainous smirk suddenly formed on Lee Hyeon-Su’s face.

“Besides, maybe... This is a role only Chairman Jeong Hong-Geun can fulfill, sir. The fate of his Taegwang Group hangs in the balance, after all.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned loudly once more.

He couldn’t tell if his irritation stemmed from Jeong Hong-Geun chasing him around everywhere or the bastard named Lee Hyeon-Su busy cackling hatefully away right next to him.

“This is no laughing matter, okay?!”

“But there’s nothing I can do, sir. The decision is ultimately up to you, after all.”

“Urgh...!”

The recommendation was to wait and see, but this was what that meant for him?

Jeong Hong-Geun was almost like a natural disaster.

Humans couldn’t stop an incoming storm. The best they could do was shutter the windows and pray ardently that the storm would pass them by with minimal damage.

Kang Jin-Ho groaned over and over again. “How can a person behave like that, though?”

“I told you, he built his empire this way,” said Lee Hyeon-Su, his expression getting more somber. “Don’t underestimate him, sir. He must be desperate, after all. You know it’s not easy for someone of his age to remain passionate and tenacious about a matter like this.”

“Well... Sure.”

Kang Jin-Ho had no problem acknowledging that much. In fact, he respected a man at Jeong Hong-Geun’s age being so physically active. Of course, he’d have preferred if all that energy and effort were spent on targeting somebody else!

“Gee whiz, sir. You sure have received a lot of presents, haven’t you?” Lee Hyeon-Su scanned all the gift boxes piled up next to Kang Jin-Ho and cackled some more. “Do you mind if I take one?”

“...No.”

“Eiii, don’t be like that. You’re loaded, after all.”

While giggling like a kid, Lee Hyeon-Su rummaged through the boxes and picked the smallest one.

“Well, something like this should be... Holy sh*t, what the heck?”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when he opened the box.

“A Patek Philippe as a present?! This watch costs more than most foreign luxury cars, you know?”[1]

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. “...? What’s a Patek?”

“Awoo...! That’s the chairman of a massive corporation for you. To think something like this is merely one of the presents and not THE present...”

Lee Hyeon-Su ever so cautiously put the watch box back on top of the pile of presents as if he didn’t want to damage it.

Kang Jin-Ho tutted. “...Stop it. Put it back while I’m still being civil.”

“Dang it. Couldn’t fool you, eh?”

Lee Hyeon-Su grumbled while sneakily taking out the expensive watch from his pocket before putting it back inside the box.

“Besides all that. Why haven’t you told the security to stop Jeong Hong-Geun from entering the parking lot?”

“Sir, please remember that our security guards are still human beings. How do you expect them to stop the chairman of Taegwang, who wishes to speak to you face to face?”

“They are martial artists, aren’t they?” Kang Jin-Ho tutted again. “Why would they be scared of such a thing?”

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed deeply. “Sir, they are no longer martial artists. Besides, even if they are martial artists, it’s still impossible for them to look down on Taegwang’s chairman, you know? The one with the broken sense of power dynamics is you, sir. In terms of politicians, the Taegwang chairman might not rank as high as the President, but he should be at least somewhere around the level of the Prime Minister.

“Can you imagine mere security guards preventing THE Prime Minister from visiting you just because there was no prior appointment?”

“...”

When explained that way, even Kang Jin-Ho had to concede that yes, that was weird. He groaned again for what felt like the millionth time, then glanced at the pile of presents.

One more week of this nonsense, and Kang Jin-Ho’s office in MK might get filled to the brim with various presents. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do when the “culprit” just barged into the building’s parking lot and dropped the presents before leaving.

Besides, even if Kang Jin-Ho wanted to reject the presents in anger, the ones getting caught in the crosshairs wouldn’t be Jeong Hong-Geun but his subordinates. After all, they were being ordered to deliver the presents by their chairman. They had no choice but to do as told.

Lee Hyeon-Su slyly asked, “Doesn’t he remind you of a raccoon?”

“Urgh...”

A piece of aged ginger, an aging raccoon, an old fox...

What would be the most fitting term that could adequately describe the trouble Kang Jin-Ho was in? Thinking about it only made him groan again.

“Okay, so...” Kang Jin-Ho picked his weary head off the desk and reclined against his chair. “Don’t you think we’ve seen enough? What’s next?”

“Well, that’s something you must decide, sir.”

“I’m asking you because that’s the hard part.”

“I see. Then... Let’s simplify how you’re looking at this matter. Sir, do you resent Chairman Jeong Hong-Geun? Do you have a grudge against that man?”

“Not at all,” Kang Jin-Ho replied immediately as if there was nothing to think about.

He would never hesitate to retaliate against those who attacked him first. However, technically speaking, Jeong Hong-Geun hadn’t attacked Kang Jin-Ho yet.

To be more precise, the one who started this mess was the grandson, Jeong Myeong-Cheol. As long as Kang Jin-Ho, now a proudly 21st-century man, had no desire to apply the guilty-by-association mindset, it’d make no sense to blame the grandfather in this situation.

Of course, one mustn’t forget that Jeong Hong-Geun tried to unite the other large corporations to attack MK, but that attempt got thwarted even before it could get off the ground thanks to Hwang Jeong-Hu. In the end, no harm was done to MK.

Also, there was a small matter of figuring out if the attack on MK was the same as the attack on Kang Jin-Ho.

Well, in theory, at least.

The important thing in this equation was that Kang Jin-Ho didn’t feel any hostility toward Jeong Hong-Geun. Being “irritated” and “bothered” weren’t the same as hating the man, after all.

“Then, the question is... Sir, do you think you’ll be okay with joining hands with a pro-Japanese?”

Kang Jin-Ho mouthed a cigarette and lit it up. After exhaling a cloud of smoke, Kang Jin-Ho smirked softly. “I think that’s a strange question to ask me.”

“How so?”

“You think I’m in any position to judge a pro-Jap?”

“Oh... Yes, that’s true.”

Between a man who lined his pockets by siding with the Japanese and another man who killed people in the thousands, who was more evil? There was no debate, now was there?

Of course, a person being guilty of something shouldn’t even be a factor when deciding if they were qualified to judge another person. However, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t think he had that right.

“But sir, this isn’t a matter of qualifications, but more like your feelings. Even a serial killer might hate cockroaches with passion, after all.”

“...? Eh?”

What was up with this weirdly on-point figure of speech?

“Don’t think logically about such things and tell me how you feel, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. His feelings, was it?

“Well... I don’t want to be his friend, that’s for sure.”

“Meaning, you don’t mind putting him to work like a dog.”

“Right. A dog that loves Japan shouldn’t pose a problem. In fact, we can just get some Japanese dog food.”

Lee Hyeon-Su grinned brightly. “I agree, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “Then, we will...”

“No, wait. It’s still too early, sir.” Lee Hyeon-Su quickly waved his hand. “He probably isn’t antsy enough yet. Also... We still haven’t done the most important thing, too.”

“The most important thing, you say?”

“Yes, sir. A dog that thinks it’s better than humans might act cute and loyal for now, but it will cause a problem sooner rather than later. Which means we must teach it that a dog will always be a dog... and that a dog will always be beneath human beings. Regardless of who that human being is!”

“Mm...!”

Kang Jin-Ho weightily nodded. Simply put, they must teach Jeong Hong-Geun where he was in the pecking order before accepting him into the fold.

“How will we do that?”

“There are two ways of establishing the hierarchy, sir.”

“Yeah? And?”

Lee Hyeon-Su smirked after noticing the puzzlement in Kang Jin-Ho’s expression.

“The first one is the method you should be familiar with. Which is to kick the other party’s asses. You pummel them and crush them under your feet until you thoroughly beat every little bit of resistance out of them.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s jaw fell slightly. “...He’ll die if I do that.”

“Of course. Even I don’t want to resort to such a method against someone as old as he is. Besides, this situation can’t be solved with violence, anyway.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s why we’ll go with the second method.”

“What will that be?”

“We only have to make him understand that you are ranked much higher in the societal hierarchy, now don’t we? Once Jeong Hong-Geun witnesses the sight of a higher-ranked person, someone so much higher than him in the hierarchy that he stands no chance against, groveling before you...! He will tuck his tail all on his own.”

“I get the concept, but is there someone like that?”

“Of course there is,” Lee Hyeon-Su grinned brightly. “It’s about time we start mending the strained relationship, sir. How about setting up an appointment with a high-ranking government official? Someone very high up the food chain? You, Chairman Jeong, and this official sharing a hearty meal together sounds like a great idea, don’t you agree?”

“Wha... Urgh.”

Kang Jin-Ho roughly scratched his head.

Lee Hyeon-Su’s grin deepened at this reaction. “My apologies. I know you’re uncomfortable with this idea. However, don’t you think overcoming this one uncomfortable hurdle now would make things so much easier for you later on? When getting punished, it’s always better to be first in line, after all. Since that’s the case, you should bravely tackle this head-on.”

“Fuu-woo...!” Kang Jin-Ho groaned deeply. “Before we do that, though?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Let’s say we subjugate Taegwang. Do we even have a use for them?”

“Fufufufufufu~!”

Lee Hyeon-Su suddenly began cackling insidiously, sending chills down Kang Jin-Ho’s spine. So much so that the latter scowled deeply as if he was facing off against an unmentionable creature.

“Sir, let me remind you who you are talking to right now. My first specialty is cooking up schemes, and my second specialty is wringing out every little benefit from the opponents.”

“...”

“Taegwang or whatever doesn’t stand a chance, sir. I swear to you, I can extract maximum efficiency from them by shoving every single Taegwang employee into the grinder. I can confidently say I’m the best when it comes to such things in South Korea.”

Kang Jin-Ho almost blurted out, No, you’re wrong. I think you’re the best in the entire world. Even Cai Kechang got fed up while dealing with you, didn’t he?

He groaned and shook his head. “So? What’s your plan?”

“Remember what I told you earlier? That the best people to extract the most benefits from Japan are the Japanese... But the second best will be those familiar with Japan.”

Lee Hyeon-Su shrugged casually.

“I’m guessing that no one in South Korea will be better at squeezing Japan dry than Chairman Jeong Hong-Geun. If we leave it to him, there will be nothing left to squeeze out of that country within a year.”

“...”

“Just bring him to the table, sir. Let me worry about manipulating him.”

“Why do you look so happy?”

“Fufufufu~! You know, those stinking Japanese bastards were getting on my nerves lately. But it looks like we’ll be procuring a willing grim reaper soon, sir. Oh, happy days, indeed.”

Kang Jin-Ho grinned brightly.

Yup, maybe I should’ve killed him back then.

It felt like he was responsible for unleashing a demented demon on the unsuspecting world.

1. Patek Philippe is the last family-owned Swiss watch manufacturer, established in the 19th century. It’s owned by the Stern family since 1932. And yes, their watches are expensive. While googling, I saw a $166,000 USD asking price for a Nautilus 5811 White Gold watch online. ☜