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CH20 | Heir
🕑 Added 2025-03-15 03:35:01 +0000 UTCChief Secretary Kim Taek-hoon of Taewoo Group was envied by many.
It was a common sentiment among secretarial staff in other conglomerates whenever they had to clean up the messes left by their second-generation chaebol heirs.
Kim Taek-hoon even took pride in it.
Unlike other corporate families, the owners of Taewoo Group were clean.
With this sense of pride, he always stood tall, and his job never caused him much stress.
But today…
He received news he never expected.
"Chief, we’ve received a report that Young Master Min-jae is causing a disturbance at a bar."
"Young Master Kim Min-jae? Where is this happening? I'll handle it myself."
"It's a bar in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul."
"Seoul? He’s supposed to be in Changwon. Why is he in Seoul?"
Kim Taek-hoon didn’t dwell on the question for long.
His priority was to resolve the situation before it escalated any further.
Pushing aside his thoughts, he rushed to the bar.
***
CRASH!
The sound of something shattering greeted him the moment he arrived.
Kim Taek-hoon swallowed hard before stepping inside.
There, he saw Kim Min-jae collapsed on a table, looking utterly wasted.
"Clean this up. Quickly."
The secretarial staff moved swiftly.
They silenced the bar owner and employees with money, ushered them outside, and even locked the doors to prevent anyone from coming in.
"Young Master, are you hurt anywhere?"
Kim Taek-hoon cautiously approached Kim Min-jae.
Seeing him this drunk made his chest tighten with concern.
"Chief Kim…? I just… I just couldn’t sit still anymore. It’s too frustrating. I didn’t study so hard and graduate just to end up like this. It’s just… too much."
"Was working at the factory that difficult? I’ll arrange for your transfer to headquarters first thing tomorrow."
"The factory is fine. The problem is the people."
Kim Min-jae’s eyes welled up with tears.
The sight made Kim Taek-hoon’s mouth go dry.
"What happened? Tell me, and I’ll take care of it."
"It’s rotten—completely rotten. Is this just how Korean corporate culture works?"
Kim Min-jae pulled out a document folder.
Kim Taek-hoon, as if hypnotized, reached for it and began reading.
Ten pages in total.
With each page he turned, the veins in his forehead bulged.
"Seo Woo-tae, that bastard!"
"I was willing to overlook him pocketing some extra allowance. But he's not just skimming money—he started an entire company just to siphon off funds! Why did Grandfather appoint someone like this as a factory manager? Don’t tell me… is he involved in this too?"
"Absolutely not. The chairman would never be involved in something like this."
At last, Kim Taek-hoon understood why Kim Min-jae had ended up like this.
He had joined Taewoo Group with big dreams, only to find the company crawling with thieves.
He had probably been tormenting himself, fearing that even his grandfather might be involved.
"Are you really sure my grandfather has nothing to do with this?"
"I would stake my life on it. The chairman is completely uninvolved."
"Then you wouldn’t mind if I took off the heads of Factory Manager Seo Woo-tae and a few executives?"
"Of course not! I’ll mobilize the audit team right now, raid the Changwon Parts Factory, and fire the executives immediately."
Kim Taek-hoon had already pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts for the head of the audit team.
But at Min-jae’s next words, he hesitated and slowly lowered the phone.
"You’re just going to leave it at an audit? After everything they’ve done to taint the company my grandfather built?"
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I want them behind bars. I want to tear them apart, make them cough up every cent they stole, and erase them from society. Only then will I feel at ease."
Kim Taek-hoon fell into deep thought.
Seo Woo-tae had been one of the chairman’s most loyal executives for over twenty years.
If they came down too hard on him, the old guard might revolt.
But… wasn’t it better than watching Young Master Min-jae fall apart?
Min-jae had never once strayed off course.
And now, because of his grandfather’s trusted aides, he was losing faith in Taewoo Group.
If sacrificing a few powerful figures could bring Min-jae back, then enduring their backlash was a small price to pay.
"I’ll help you. I’ll use my connections in the prosecution and the police to uncover every crime Seo Woo-tae has committed."
"I have some connections of my own. I want to see this through with my own hands. Chief, just make sure everything is set up so they can do their jobs properly."
"Understood."
Kim Min-jae rose from his seat.
His once lifeless eyes now gleamed with determination.
Kim Taek-hoon let out a sigh of relief at the sight.
***
The Next Morning.
Instead of heading to the office, I drove straight to the hotel suite where Captain Kang was staying.
"We’re moving in today. Everything ready?"
"The moment we get the search and seizure warrant, the police, prosecutors, and tax authorities are all set to storm in."
"The warrant should be issued soon. Taewoo Group’s secretarial office can make that happen without much trouble."
"Are you sure the secretarial office will really help? This could cause a huge scandal for the company."
A company hides small problems and downplays big ones.
That was the purpose of the Secretarial Office and the Planning Department, and the man overseeing them was Kim Taek-hoon.
In other words, if Kim Taek-hoon was involved, even a minor incident could be blown out of proportion.
"Using the audit team might be the easier route. But will that really change anything? The bigger the commotion, the harder it is to cover up."
"If the fire gets too big, it might burn away the parasites feeding off Taewoo Group… but it could also spread to the company itself."
"That doesn’t matter. If the house burns down, we’ll just build a new one."
Ding!
A message from Kim Taek-hoon popped up on my phone.
[The search and seizure warrant has been issued.]
"That’s the call we’ve been waiting for. Get all the mad dogs moving. And prep the media interviews immediately."
"We’ve already summoned reporters to Changwon. But… are you sure you want to do the interview yourself?"
"If we want the fire to spread, it has to be in the newspapers and on TV."
"Understood. We’ll have everything set up in front of the Changwon Parts Factory."
I arrived at the office much later than usual.
And the entire company was in chaos.
The National Tax Service, police, and prosecutors had turned the place upside down.
Factory managers and executives could only watch helplessly, anxiously shifting their feet.
"K-Kim Deputy Manager! The company has been hit with a search and seizure warrant! This has to be an attack from a competitor. We need to mobilize the Secretarial Office and the Planning Department to block this immediately!"
"Why would headquarters get involved in something like this? If no one did anything wrong, this will blow over quietly. Unless… you did something wrong?"
I spoke in a mocking tone, my expression making it clear what was happening.
Factory Manager Seo’s face twisted as he put the pieces together.
"You… It was you, wasn’t it?! But why?! After everything we’ve done for you!"
"The stench was unbearable. I couldn’t just ignore it."
"Does the chairman know you’re doing this?! Attacking me is no different from attacking the entire Changwon Auto Plant!"
"Oh, I know exactly whose line you’re on. But so what? You’re not seriously standing here trying to pull rank, are you?"
"Are you really planning to go to war with the entire Changwon Plant? Let me warn you—if I go down, I won’t be going down alone!"
Damn, did this guy swallow a train whistle or something?
The factory manager was shouting so loudly that even the police officers conducting the raid stopped in their tracks.
"Do whatever you want—die alone or drag others down with you. It’s none of my business."
"Do you really think the chairman will stand by and do nothing? He’s not the type to abandon his people."
"Then do you think he’d abandon his grandson instead? Between corrupt executives and his own flesh and blood, who do you think he’d choose?"
"So you’re really going all the way with this? The moment I’m arrested, both the parts factory and the entire Changwon auto plant will come to a halt!"
"Ugh, you’re so damn loud. I really didn’t want to stoop to this level, but… Should I send this to your wife?"
I pulled out a stack of photos and threw them in his face.
The woman’s face was blurred, but the factory manager’s face was crystal clear.
There were pictures of him linking arms with the woman, entering a hotel, and even kissing her.
"H-How did you…?"
"Talking to you is making me sick. You’re disgusting."
"M-Mr. Minjae… Why are you doing this to me?"
Looks like that was the final blow.
His knees buckled, and his tone suddenly became polite.
"Why? Because when wasps build a nest in my garden, I burn it down. The Changwon Parts Factory isn’t your personal kingdom—it’s a Taewoo Group subsidiary."
"I have never once considered the Changwon Parts Factory as my own."
"Oh really? Then why did you create a shell company to embezzle funds?"
"Embezzlement? Absolutely not! I merely established a company that would benefit the business."
"Well, the prosecution will determine the truth of that soon enough."
I stomped on the scattered photos and headed for the factory’s front gate.
In that short amount of time, Captain Kang had already transformed the entrance into a full-fledged press conference site, with around thirty reporters waiting for me.
"Good morning. I am Kim Minjae, Deputy Manager of Taewoo Motors’ Changwon Parts Factory."
The moment I greeted them, camera flashes exploded.
Some local news stations had even brought broadcast cameras.
"I am here to inform you about the embezzlement committed by the factory manager. Seo Wootae not only stole company funds but also established a subcontracting firm to secure exclusive supply contracts, engaging in fraudulent transactions."
I calmly revealed everything to the press.
The journalists, their eyes gleaming with excitement, scribbled down every word.
For them, a corporate whistleblower was already a major scoop.
But they were far from satisfied.
Whistleblowing within a company wasn’t unheard of.
But a third-generation chaebol blowing the whistle himself?
That was a first.
"Everything I’ve said is true, and I swear on my grandfather’s name—Chairman Kim Taejoong—that I stand by it."
The moment my grandfather’s name left my lips…
The reporters’ eager eyes turned feral with frenzy.
- [Are you really Chairman Kim Taejoong’s grandson?]
- [Did you graduate high school through the GED and complete an early graduation from Harvard?]
- [Did you receive Chairman Kim Taejoong’s approval before making this public?]
- [Why did you come to Changwon in the first place?]
A barrage of questions rained down.
Since I couldn’t answer them all, I left them with just one final statement.
"Yes, Chairman Kim Taejoong is my grandfather. But let me make this clear—I am Kim Minjae, Deputy Manager of Changwon Parts Factory."
With that, I got into the car.
Captain Kang and his team blocked the reporters.
Some of them chased after my car, while the rest frantically typed away on their phones, eager to break the news first.
I had just poured gasoline onto the fire.
Would my grandfather see this?
Kim Taek-hoon had definitely reported yesterday’s events to him.
But he never would’ve expected me to hold a press conference and blow things up like this.
