Episode 161
“You’re… you’re going to wipe them all out?”
I smiled at CEO Choi. “Exactly. I don’t tolerate even the smallest spark of defiance. I never have, and I never will. I don’t have the time to deal with every single dealer, but I was planning to crush those director-level companies that opposed me. But…” I looked him up and down. “…it seems we have a clever one among us.”
CEO Choi, sweating nervously, said hastily, “I-I never intended to oppose you, Chairman! I only joined the association because everyone else was doing it!”
“And you have no hard feelings about the US military base auction?”
“W-well…”
“I won’t mention it again. It’s in the past. But tell me why I should spare your company. If you can’t convince me…” I smirked. “…I might have to crush the rat that saw through my trap.”
A trap that had been exposed was no longer a trap.
He had probably thought I would accept his surrender because his gang and his company were valuable assets. He was wrong.
I had heihaizi for muscle and could handle the dirty work myself as Baek In-hwi.
“Park Sol” was an honest and upstanding businessman.
“I don’t know what made you think you could come here and tell me my plan was a trap. Did you think I would let you get away with knowing my secret?”
“I… I…”
“A gang? 50 men? You call yourself a gangster, but you know nothing about the world.” I approached him and put my hand on his shoulder.
“CEO Choi, do you know the power of money? I can hire thousands of thugs with a single phone call, and I have an army of loyal employees willing to die for me.”
I leaned closer and whispered in his ear, “Now tell me why I shouldn’t crush you.”
“I swear! I’ll be loyal to you, Chairman!”
“I don’t trust empty words. Why did you try to surrender to me in the first place? You just wanted to use me to grow your gang and your company.”
“…”
“Don’t you have a good excuse? Then make one up.” I smiled brightly. “You’re dead if you don’t.”
After the shaken CEO Choi stumbled out of the office, Maru entered, carrying a cup of coffee. “How did it go?”
I took the coffee and blew on it. “He agreed to cooperate.”
“Cooperate how?”
“He’ll cause chaos within the association if the application list for the fourth recruitment drive is leaked to them.”
It was the best excuse CEO Choi could come up with to save his own skin.
“Do you trust him?”
I chuckled. “Trust a gangster? Of course not.”
There were only two ways to deal with someone who knew your secrets.
Eliminate them or make them your ally.
“Gangsters are simple. They’re subservient to the strong and ruthless to the weak. I’ve shown him that I’m stronger than him, so he won’t betray me.”
He was quick-witted and opportunistic.
He knew the association had no chance against Chunha Group.
“He might cooperate with us for now, but are you planning to keep him around?”
“CEO Choi?”
“Yes.” Maru frowned. “He’s still a gangster. It’ll damage our image if it’s revealed that we have ties to organized crime.”
I smirked. “And he might betray us later, using the information he’s gathered about our dirty work to blackmail us. That’s why I recruited the heihaizi.”
“Exactly. We should use him to destroy the association and then get rid of him.”
I took a sip of my coffee. “That’s a shortsighted approach. He’ll still hold a grudge against us and might expose our scheme to the media.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Legitimize him.”
“What?”
“Turn his gang into a security company and outsource our security to them. And before anyone can criticize us for having ties to organized crime, we’ll spin it as a social contribution, giving former gangsters a chance at a new life. ‘We discovered that the used car market is full of gangsters, so we’re offering them legitimate jobs.’ Not bad, right?”
Maru frowned. “It’s not bad, but why so complicated? We can just get rid of him.”
“I said I didn’t need a cleaner, but the heihaizi are Chinese, their influence in Korea is limited. And I don’t trust other gangs. So I have to create my own.”
I smiled. “A gangster who’s been brought into the light is no longer a gangster. CEO Choi will be happy at first. But what if I then add 50 low-level members from the gangs that are about to be crushed by us to his organization? Who would they be loyal to? And then we keep adding more, 100, 200… We create a large organization under the guise of rehabilitating gangsters. And with hundreds of members, CEO Choi’s influence will diminish. And they can’t act recklessly because they’re a legitimate company now.”
I whistled. “A large security company that’s actually a gang, led by CEO Choi, but with dozens of internal factions competing for my favor. Wouldn’t that be useful?”
Maru said with a weary expression, “You thought all that through just now?”
I pointed at my head. “That’s why I’m the boss, and you’re the employee.”
The association was in an uproar after the third round of applicants was selected.
“Those traitors!”
Not only Happy Used Cars, the company they had planted as a spy, but three other director-level companies had joined Chunha Used Cars.
The chairman slammed his fist on the table repeatedly. “They promised to fight against Chunha with us, and now they’ve betrayed us!”
The other directors also expressed their outrage. “Those disloyal bastards!”
But their anger was mixed with envy. The benefits offered by Chunha Used Cars were too tempting.
‘Damn it, I should have applied.’
They were the leaders of the association, opposing Chunha.
They hadn’t expected Chunha to accept Happy Used Cars’ application. They had even discussed the possibility of staging a conflict between Happy Used Cars and the association.
But the reality was far from their expectations. All four companies, including Happy Used Cars, had been selected, and many other association members had also joined Chunha without any repercussions.
The chairman said, holding his head, “Well, it’s done. We can’t change it. I just hope Happy Used Cars is doing its job as a spy. Any news?”
“Not yet, sir. It hasn’t been long since they joined, and they’re being cautious, since they joined at the same time as the other three companies.”
“I understand. Anyway, the atmosphere within the association is unstable because of Chunha Used Cars. Focus on maintaining order. And…” He looked at the directors with a cold expression. “I trust there won’t be any more traitors. If there are…” He slammed his fist on the table. “I won’t tolerate it.”
He was the chairman of the association because he was the boss of the largest gang involved in the used car market.
His threat was real.
But the other directors weren’t pushovers either.
A director said with a hardened expression, “Are you threatening us?”
“It’s not a threat, it’s a reminder of your responsibilities as directors of the association.”
“We haven’t betrayed anyone. Aren’t you being too harsh?”
Another director said sarcastically, “We’ll be stabbed if we even look at Chunha’s products now.”
A director close to the chairman stood up. “Are you mocking us?”
“We might be part of the association, but we’re not your subordinates.”
As the argument escalated, Choi, the used car dealer who had met with Park Sol, stood up with a smile. “Gentlemen, gentlemen, please calm down. The chairman didn’t mean it. What’s the point of fighting among ourselves?”
He walked around the room, calming them down, and the tension eased slightly. He then said with a smile,
“We should be discussing our strategy, shouldn’t we? Oh, right.” He suddenly slapped his hand as if he had just remembered something. “I received some information from my informant.”
The directors’ attention turned to him, and he continued,
“The fourth round of applications starts in a week. And I hear they’re not planning to accept any more applicants after that.”
He smiled brightly, seeing some of the directors’ eyes gleam.
“Isn’t that good news? There won’t be any more defectors after the fourth round. This is our last chance. We have to hold on. Just a little longer.”
The response to the fourth round of applications was explosive.
Rumors of it being the last chance had prompted many dealers and companies who had been hesitant to apply, fearing the association’s retaliation, to join the fray. The number of applicants exceeded 10,000 in just two days, and it was expected to reach 20,000.
Considering that the association had about 50,000 members, almost half of them were applying to join Chunha Used Cars.
“Excellent. Six director-level companies have applied.”
Among the 10,000 applicants were six director-level companies from the association.
Including the four that had joined us in the third round, one-third of the director-level companies were now traitors. The association’s collapse was inevitable.
“Leak the list to the association a day before the announcement of the selected applicants. Got it?”
Maru nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“And we’ll apologize for the ‘leak,’ cancel the fourth round, and announce another fourth round in a week.”
By then, the list of traitors would have been exposed, and the association would be in chaos.
If we didn’t hold another recruitment drive, they might be able to contain the damage. But if we did, the “traitors” would have nothing to lose by defecting.
“And have CEO Choi fan the flames within the association, creating conflict between the ‘traitors’ and the loyalists. And then, when the resentment is at its peak, we cancel the fourth round again.”
“The association won’t trust the ‘traitors’ again, and the ‘traitors’ will be alienated from the association.”
“Exactly. And then CEO Choi will encourage them to form their own association. The used car market will be split into three factions: the Korea Used Car Association, the new association, and us. And we’ll devour them both with our superior financial resources. Two divided factions are easier to handle than one unified force.”
I smiled brightly.
“The used car market is mine.”