Episode 296 Will you be an enemy or an ally?
‘Tip of the iceberg’
Is there any better metaphor for the underground economy hidden in the shadows?
In general, the underground economy refers to an economy that is not reported to avoid taxes and the law, and mainly includes private lending, prostitution, drugs, and gambling.
The size of Korea’s underground economy is estimated at 162 trillion won, the highest among OECD countries.
In other words, it was the shadow of the Korean economy in the dark, leading the liquid funds in the market amounting to hundreds of trillions of won.
And it was the private loan market that accounted for most of the underground economy.
Often, when ordinary people are unable to borrow money from financial institutions with strict conditions, they turn to lending as a last resort.
The private loan market was formed around Myeong-dong, where bank headquarters were located in the past, and some big players not only control the fate of a person or a company, but also influence the flow of the national economy.
However, who is leading the private loan market in Myeong-dong, what business they are doing, and what is the scale of their business?
No one knows exactly what system it operates on.
However, what is known to some extent is that most business owners run their businesses independently, but depending on the size, they organically work together to carry out joint projects and then naturally disband as if at some point.
In this process, a hierarchy is naturally formed, and ultimately a pyramid-shaped system is established.
And at the peak, there are a small number of people called Jeonju or big hands, and the reality was that neither investigative agencies nor prosecutors were able to properly understand their personal information.
Even if they are current private loan sharks, they say that they have to survive in the industry for several years to even know about their existence, which shows how thoroughly they operate in secrecy.
The big players in Myeongdong have trillions in assets and almost no debt.
Although it was not revealed, the amount of funds was equivalent to that of the heads of most large corporations.
However, their real power lay in their ability to mobilize hundreds of billions of won in cash with just a phone call.
There is also a vague hierarchy among these ‘big hands’, which is divided through their ‘limit’ amounts.
And the person known to have the largest limit was a person named ‘Mr. Baek’, who is talked about like a legend in the Myeongdong private loan market.
However, very few people knew whether ‘Mr. Baek’ was referring to a specific person or organization.
***
Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, known as the number one traditional wealthy village in Korea.
Since the 1970s, it has been a place where the powerful and heads of large corporations have lived together to form a wealthy village.
If you pass through the road next to Samcheong Park and the Blue House along the long valley that extends to Namsan with Bukaksan as a folding screen and exit Samcheong Tunnel, you will come to the entrance to Seongbuk-dong Road, which boasts beautiful natural scenery.
And even in Seongbuk-dong, there is a village named ‘Pheasant Sea’, which was named so because it is said to be visited by many pheasants and magpies due to its many dense trees and strange rocks.
Many wealthy people live in this village, but once they settle down, they rarely move, so it is very rare for their houses to be put up for sale.
The more quiet and remote the place was, the more expensive the house became. At the very end of the village, there was a huge tile-roofed house that was reminiscent of a whale’s back.
A white truck slowly began to approach the Hanok house, which was eerily quiet as if it were alone and detached from the world.
Soon, the huge iron gate blocking the entrance to the underground parking lot opened its mouth, and the truck entered the interior.
Although it looked like an old-fashioned hanok, the underground parking lot was high and wide enough to fit a truck.
As the truck reached the depths of the underground parking lot, another iron door opened and men in black suits came rushing in.
A man dressed as a delivery driver got out of the car and bowed his head towards the man standing in front.
Although he was a man with a neat image overall, the long scar on his cheek gave him a very fierce look.
“I’m back, manager.”
“the problem is?”
“doesn’t exist.”
“Good work. “Once everything is moved, you can leave work.”
“yes. “Director.”
When the delivery driver in the driver’s seat opened the wing body, a pile of unidentifiable boxes piled up one after another was revealed.
Afterwards, the men gathered around started carrying boxes somewhere.
The scarred man who was watching this nodded his head and got into the elevator.
***
crackling
Log firewood was burning with flames fluttering in the yellow red clay fireplace.
On a shiny leather sofa, an old man wearing a modified hanbok, wearing glasses, was reading a newspaper.
He was an ordinary old man, with a short physique and long, gray hair tied up in a ponytail, that you would often see in Tapgol Park.
However, only a few people knew that this old man was Mr. Baek, who was said to be the top of the private loan market in Myeongdong.
The man with the knife scar who approached the old man lowered his head.
“The bullets are ready, Chairman.”
The old man, adjusting his small glasses, turned his head towards the man.
“Good job. “There were no problems?”
The old man’s Gyeongsang-do accent burst out of his mouth.
“of course. “The prosecutors said they could smell it, so we proceeded more thoroughly than usual.”
The old man’s head nodded slightly at the man’s report.
“If Director Han paid attention, wouldn’t he be able to spare the prosecution’s expenses? Good job.”
Despite the old man’s admiration, the man just nodded expressionlessly, as if it was a natural thing to do.
“And the person that President Lee mentioned earlier decided to visit today.”
“huh? “Who is this boss?”
“Why isn’t there a president Lee Yong-sang in Gangnam?”
“iced coffee. Misuse. Cluck cluck. These days, my ears are so deaf that I can’t understand anything that’s coming to me. Are you talking about that young guy called Song Dae-un or something? “He made a lot of money by investing here and there.”
“That’s right. Just in case, I looked into it separately… It was really amazing. “Honestly, it was hard to believe.”
There was a faint look in the old man’s old eyes.
“Everything in the world is said to be amazing from the mouth of a manager, and he is definitely not an ordinary young man. Well, the fact that Lee Yong-sang suddenly came to me and tried to arrange a meeting was not unusual. From Yongsang’s perspective, it must have been a gamble of his life. Cluck cluck. “If I had found fault with that, Lee Yong-sang would probably have ended my experience of this world there.”
Looking at the old man bursting into laughter, a manager asked cautiously.
“That’s why I’m asking… Why do you want to meet that person named Song Dae-un? “No matter how much I fly and crawl, don’t we rarely meet face to face?”
“Cluck cluck. Was our Director Han curious about that?”
“I apologize if this was a rude question.”
“Aida. Director Han is qualified to ask me such a question. cancer. Anyway. “How many years has Director Han worked under me?”
“Twenty years, Chairman.”
“In just 20 years, the world will change twice, and if you think about it, Director Han has also changed a lot.”
“My feelings toward the Chairman will never change.”
“Cluck cluck. “You’re such a boring idiot.”
The old man turned his gaze toward the firewood crackling in the brazier and remained silent for a while.
“Hey, Director Han.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“My father was treated as a Japanese stooge simply because he was resourceful, and after liberation, my family was accused of being pro-Japanese and we lived our whole lives with fingers pointed behind our backs.”
In response to the old man’s unexpected complaint, a manager straightened his back and corrected his posture.
“After being cursed my whole life, my father passed away from cancer and my mother passed away, so I suddenly became the head of the family and had to take responsibility for it. At that time, I was only twenty-three. From then on, I lived so tenaciously that there was really nothing I didn’t do. Even thinking about it now, it’s enough to make me want to quit school.”
The old man with a bitter smile shook his head.
“I was working like a dog and suddenly I looked in the bathroom mirror and that’s when I realized. As it is, neither porridge nor rice will work. So, I saved up all the money I had and didn’t have and opened an office next to the Chinese Embassy in Myeong-dong. “That’s how I jumped into this field in earnest.”
“That’s amazing. “It must not have been easy to make that decision at that age.”
“Cluck cluck. You must have been that desperate. After going through all the hardships before birth, I understand. In the end, in order to make a lot of money, you have to make money with money. Anyway, I was making ends meet by selling bonds, and then an opportunity presented itself to me.”
Since Mr. Baek usually never talked about himself, Director Han, who seemed like a stone and a stone, couldn’t help but prick up his ears.
“I think it was around the summer of 1983. I wonder if a Japanese guy came into the office and immediately asked if he could exchange bonds for dollars. At first I didn’t think it was a big deal, but the amount was unusual. I knew it instinctively then. ah. This is the opportunity of my life. The strong smell of money hit me hard, and I knew I couldn’t miss this opportunity, so I made every effort to say yes. Cluck cluck. And I found out later. That Japanese guy is a member of the Yakuza organization in charge of its funds. Of course, it wasn’t a normal bond, so they couldn’t say anything even if they charged a ridiculous fee. Because it was a job that required risking one’s life, I couldn’t find anyone else to do it other than me. Anyway, I was able to make a huge amount of money in an instant with that. Looking back, I think that was the beginning. “I was able to understand the nature of the private loan industry and get a glimpse into the nature of money.”
For a moment, the eyes of the old man, who had been drowsy, flashed fiercely.
“Now that you’ve tasted real money, don’t you think your eyes will turn gray? I gave money to people who would be on my side so that they could not change their minds, and I started to cut out all the people who were in my way or who I thought would get in my way in the future. Once a decision was made, there was absolutely no reversing, and it was thoroughly trampled so that it could not climb again. “Because of that kind of mind-reading, I was able to sit here now.”
Manager Han swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
Although he was sitting there smiling and smiling like the old man next door, it was because I knew better than anyone else how ruthless and cold-blooded he was.
“This guy called money doesn’t care about people. No matter how good they are and how popular they are, in reality it is popular to take off even the pants you are wearing in front of money. That’s how scary money is. “You can turn enemies into friends, and you can turn friends into enemies.”
The old man stood up and walked towards the large window overlooking the garden.
White snow was falling in a quiet pine garden.
“Cluck cluck. The story goes back too far. Director Han, you will understand when you get to my age. As you get older, your temperament sometimes becomes more rampant. In fact, that guy named Song Dae-un had been watching closely before. How could it not be so? Suddenly, the ranking of Korea’s wealthiest people changed. Director Han, aren’t you curious? “I wonder if Gulma will be an ally or an enemy.”
A manager behind him asked softly.
“What do you plan to do if you are judged to be an enemy?”
“What should I do?”
The old man turned his head to look at Director Han and tapped him on the shoulder.
“You should do what you always do.”
Jiyiing.
At that moment, the vibrating sound of the cell phone rang and the old man motioned for me to answer the phone.
“what’s the matter? okay? okay. “Let me in.”
After ending the short phone call, a manager spoke to the old man.
“CEO Song Dae-woon. “They say he just came into the private residence.”
