CH93 | MCT

Cheongil Heavy Equipment (4)

“That’s enough! Once I finish what I came to do, I’m leaving immediately!”

Han Cheong-ho turned his eyes toward the fool who had lost the president’s desk.

In the corner of the president’s office, there was a large conference table piled high with documents, and two men were struggling over them.

The two presidents, who were notorious for fighting whenever they met eyes, were now working together peacefully, heads close.

It was a completely unfamiliar sight to Han Cheong-ho.

“What are those two doing?”

“Please leave it to the presidents to handle. I’m busy, so don’t talk to me. We’ll discuss business later.”

Lee Chang-won of Cheongil Heavy Equipment didn’t even look up, waving his hand dismissively.

He was buried in paperwork, utterly focused.

On top of that, No Il-guk from Cheongil Oil Refinery was also completely ignoring Han Cheong-ho.

“Hey, it’s me, Han Cheong-ho!”

Only then did No Il-guk look up and spot Han Cheong-ho, but his expression was as sour as if he’d just eaten something disgusting.

No Il-guk poked Lee Chang-won in the ribs with his elbow.

Lee Chang-won looked up and saw Han Cheong-ho too.

“What are you all doing?” Han Cheong-ho asked.

Tae-soo answered instead.

“Can’t you tell? We’re working.”

“So, what work?”

“Do I have to explain everything?”

Han Cheong-ho ignored Tae-soo and shouted loudly.

“Hey, Lee Chang-won! No Il-guk! Stand up at once! You’re going back to Cheongil!”

But for some reason, neither of them moved an inch.

Only the busy sounds of pens scribbling and papers shuffling filled the room.

Tae-soo once again answered on behalf of the busy subordinates.

“The only ones going back to Cheongil from here are the chairman and his secretary.”

By now, Tae-soo was executive director of Taeyang Heavy Equipment and Taeyang Oil Refinery.

All the Heavy Equipment and Refinery staff had signed employment contracts and officially transferred.

Tae-soo stated bluntly.

“Everyone in this building is no longer Cheongil staff but Taeyang employees. So don’t waste your effort and just go back.”

“Kang Tae-soo...!”

“By the way, since I’m here, take these with you.”

Tae-soo pointed to a stack of documents piled on one side of the president’s desk.

Han Cheong-ho frowned.

“What’s this?”

“These are the resignation letters from the Cheongil Oil Refinery employees.”

Tae-soo picked up the stack of papers himself and handed them to Secretary Park.

Park accepted them in surprise, letting out an involuntary gasp.

Flipping through quickly, they really were resignation letters from the Cheongil Oil Refinery staff.

“Huh…”

Even the reasons for resigning were short.

<Scouted>

Why were there so many resignation letters with just a single hastily written word?

The hurried nature of their drafting was obvious.

Secretary Park glared at Tae-soo.

“There are no resignation letters from Cheongil Heavy Equipment employees.”

“Cheongil Heavy Equipment was acquired, wasn’t it? Of course, their employees came with the deal.”

Han Cheong-ho gave a sharp glare at Lee Chang-won and No Il-guk.

“So, you’re saying you abandoned Cheongil and jumped ship?”

As usual, Tae-soo answered instead of the busy employees.

“If you hated this situation so much, Chairman, you shouldn’t have signed the merger contract in the first place.”

“I didn’t want to sign it either! Kang Tae-soo, you...!”

Tae-soo cut straight to the point.

“As you can see, everyone is busy right now. For that reason, I won’t be able to see you off, Chairman. Please leave the way you came.”

It was the same thing he had said to Han Cheong-ho back at the Taeyang mine office.

Han Cheong-ho bit his lip tightly.

He could understand No Il-guk’s failure to secure the oil supply, but Lee Chang-won, who had done well managing heavy equipment, was a big loss.

“Lee Chang-won, answer me yourself. Are you not coming with me to the Cheongil headquarters?”

“No.”

Without looking up from the documents, Lee Chang-won answered dismissively.

He was busy drawing up plans for the new heavy equipment technology research center.

Even if he had two bodies, it wouldn’t be enough to finish the rough plan within three days.

“I don’t know what kind of offer you got here, but I’ll promise more than that. I’ll give you a subsidiary president position, so come with me.”

“No thanks.”

Lee Chang-won again replied indifferently.

Tae-soo laughed.

“Cut the sweet talk. Which subsidiary president position? President of the Kangwon mine? Or the textile factory? Or the lumber mill?”

The same words Tae-soo had said at the Taeyang mine resurfaced.

Han Cheong-ho glared at Tae-soo, clearly not pleased.

“You sure are good at spinning stories in such a short time, Kang Tae-soo.”

This time, Lee Chang-won answered instead of Tae-soo.

“Am I the hunting dog? Who exactly is being spun?”

He spoke plainly.

He wasn’t a hunting dog, but Cheongil’s dog.

“Hey, Lee Chang-won!”

“I’m done working with you all. Take care.”

Lee Chang-won stood, bowed lightly, then sat back down.

After that, he didn’t even glance toward Han Cheong-ho.

‘Lee Chang-won has completely turned his back. And in such a short time...!’

Han Cheong-ho then glared at No Il-guk.

“The heavy equipment side crossing over is one thing, and it’s understandable he’s disappointed. But why are you involved? You’re part of Cheongil!”

“No Il-guk’s resignation letter should be at the very top of the stack Secretary Park is holding among the refinery staff’s resignation letters.”

“Hey, No Il-guk! You’ve crossed over too?”

“Can’t you see? Once the resignation letter is submitted, it’s over.”

No Il-guk stood up and gave Han Cheong-ho a slight bow.

“I’ve had enough of all this, too. I’m not going to see you off, so just leave on your own.”

No Il-guk sat back down and buried his nose in the documents again.

He was drafting a blueprint for expanding gas stations in major cities nationwide.

He also had to consider refinery facilities, oil tankers, storage tanks, and transportation logistics.

“Those bastards!”

Angrily, Han Cheong-ho tried to approach the two executive directors.

But Tae-soo stepped in front of him.

“They’re our employees, and this is someone else’s office. You’d better stop.”

His eyes warned Han Cheong-ho not to cause a scene.

“Chairman of Cheongil is leaving! What are you doing? Escort him out!”

The former president of Cheongil Heavy Equipment and current executive director of Taeyang Heavy Equipment, who was reviewing documents nearby, sighed and stood up.

“Let’s go, Chairman. There’s already not enough time. Don’t interfere. If this continues, we won’t finish our work. Even if we work overtime for days, we might barely meet the deadline.”

They tried to push Han Cheong-ho out like a drunkard.

Han Cheong-ho ground his teeth.

“Fine, but I want my documents. Hand them over!”

“Documents? What documents? I don’t know anything about that.”

Tae-soo smiled meaningfully.

Now that he thought about it, the office felt strangely empty.

“What happened to all the cabinets that were here?”

“They were all thrown away.”

“All the Cheongil Heavy Equipment documents? Even the Cheongil Oil Refinery ones?”

“All of them. Every single one. Completely.”

Tae-soo grinned.

“Chairman, you said it yourself—they were all trash.”

At the Geumsan Hotel, Han Cheong-ho had said,

“You’ll end up with nothing but trash, Kang Tae-soo.”

“So, the trash was sent to the dump. If you really want, you can go dig through the dump.”

If it were Han Cheong-ho, he would have searched the dump for secret ledgers.

But the cabinets and drawers with the documents were already sent whole to Jang Mal-dong’s house in Myeongdong.

‘I was one step too late!’

Han Cheong-ho glared fiercely at Tae-soo.

“Kang Tae-soo, don’t get cocky. It’s too soon for you to be laughing.”

The winner had not yet been decided.

“No matter how much you scheme, Cheongil won’t collapse.”

“Though they’ve been running a significant deficit,” Tae-soo stabbed back sharply.

“Even without any scheming from me, Cheongil is already in danger. On the verge of bankruptcy, yet you worry about others?”

Han Cheong-ho just scoffed.

“Do you think I’m late here for no reason? I’ve just met with the bank presidents.”

He had pulled strings with the bankers regarding the debts.

“To me, that worthless trash means nothing. But you’ll be different, Kang Tae-soo.”

Han Cheong-ho smirked.

“No bank will lend you even ten won.”

That was why Han Cheong-ho was so loud.

“This has already been approved by His Excellency.”

Instead of rushing straight to the Blue House after leaving the Geumsan Hotel, Han Cheong-ho had met with the bank presidents.

But when exactly had he gotten Park Jeong-hwan’s approval?

“Since you took over hundreds of billions worth of Cheongil Oil Refinery and Cheongil Heavy Equipment, His Excellency has agreed to overlook this little scheme. How does that sound?”

Han Cheong-ho was triumphant.

In fact, the deal had been finalized in the VIP room at the Geumsan Hotel.

— Your Excellency, once this acquisition is complete, please block loans to Cheongil just as you have blocked loans to Taeyang.

— Reason?

— The recent oil crisis has piled debt onto Cheongil Oil Refinery. If you want to take over Cheongil Oil Refinery, you’ll have to take responsibility for that debt yourself. You can’t just take the profits and dump the debt onto the banks. That’s unacceptable.”

Park Jeong-hwan smiled with a raised chin.

— Why should I do that?

— In return, once this merger is complete, I’ll go straight to Japan. I’ll wrap up everything there so the Saudi Defense Minister can’t boast anymore. How does that sound?

— Fine.

It was permission secured in exchange for some other behind-the-scenes deal.

“How many companies run without any loans? Especially when loans aren’t given a deadline—blocking them entirely. How do you plan to break through that?”

The sound of pens scribbling abruptly stopped at the same time.

Lee Chang-won and No Il-guk looked up.

It was a serious threat.

Han Cheong-ho spread his arms and smiled.

“In the end, the one laughing last will be me. Isn’t that right, Kang Tae-soo?”

“You seem mistaken.”

Tae-soo remained unfazed.

“I thought I said I can do what you can do. Have you forgotten that?”

Han Cheong-ho wasn’t the only one who could move Park Jeong-hwan.

“Kang Tae-soo, will you use your last card to protect security or to protect the company? Decide that first before meeting His Excellency. Right? Ha ha ha.”

Han Cheong-ho believed Tae-soo had no choice but to use his last card to break through the bank loans.

But Tae-soo scoffed.

“Just for a bank loan? I wouldn’t waste a precious card on that.”

“Don’t bluff.”

“We’ll see about that. The important thing is that I have a precious card. You don’t. Isn’t that right?”

Tae-soo held Han Cheong-ho’s weakness firmly, but Han Cheong-ho had no weapon to shake Tae-soo.

“If I blow that up, you and the entire Cheongil Group will be destroyed. You know that.”

An invisible spark crackled between Tae-soo and Han Cheong-ho.

“That worthless trash you don’t even need? Do you think I’d trust someone who came all this way just to get that?”

Tae-soo laughed, pointing at the spot where the cabinets had been taken.

“You should know by now that finding treasure in the trash is my specialty.”

Han Cheong-ho was the kind of person who had called the increasingly deficit-ridden Cheongil Oil Refinery “trash.”

But everything changed when Tae-soo secured the oil supply rights from Khalid.

When the oil shock drove prices sky-high, Tae-soo would make a fortune selling petroleum.

“Hmph! Do as you please! But Kang Tae-soo, soon enough, you’ll be on your knees begging for a loan.”

“That’s exactly what you were doing during the acquisition earlier—asking for reasons.”

Han Cheong-ho ground his teeth as he looked at the two executive directors.

“You two will kneel before me soon enough, begging forgiveness, saying, ‘I’m sorry! Please forgive me just this once!’”

“That won’t happen.”

“Is Cheongil the only company in the world?”

The two executive directors answered indifferently.

Han Cheong-ho’s severe warnings, once terrifying enough to make them tremble, no longer scared them.

There was something else they feared.

Ignoring Han Cheong-ho, Tae-soo addressed the two executives.

“Has the budget proposal come up from below yet?”

“Twenty people are working on it. Please wait a little longer. It’ll be ready soon.”

“Has the site selection been reviewed?”

“We’re working on that too. Isn’t an on-site inspection necessary?”

“Outline roughly on the map, send staff out, attach photos, and upload related reports.”

“We’re already shortlisting the personnel to dispatch.”

This new president was no ordinary man.

Only three hours into his tenure, he was already spinning from the sheer workload.

He feared dying from overwork.

At the house in Jang Mal-dong, Myeongdong.

Jang Mal-dong and Han Soo sat closely together, busily working.

They were sorting through the list of valuable companies Tae-soo had pre-selected and organizing the Cheongil documents Tae-soo had sent.

Their eyes were spinning.

“Sir, it’s been a long time. How have you been?”

“Showing up after so long and dropping a bomb of work on an old man—how could I be well? Ugh!”

Jang Mal-dong sharply turned his head.

Given the mountain of documents arriving by truck, his reaction was natural.

“Don’t just stand there, come sit down—ah, you already are.”

Tae-soo strode in as usual and was already sitting on the floor.

“I have exactly three things to discuss here.”