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CH46 | VOC
🕑 Added 2025-02-16 04:45:01 +0000 UTC"Don't worry, I'm not here to cause any trouble."
I ushered a pale and trembling Lee Kang-soo into my car and said,
"It didn't take long to figure it out after your cousin gave me some information. You're trying to steal and sell Hanbo Steel's scrap metal. And to me, no less."
"…That easily?"
Lee Kang-soo was stunned. He never imagined that a mere junkyard owner would uncover his plan within days.
"Of course, it wasn't that easy. It's because we're special."
I casually put my arm around his shoulder and said,
"Have you heard the rumors about gangsters infiltrating the junkyard industry?"
"G-g-g-gangsters!"
"Look over there."
Earlier that morning, I had instructed the youngest thug from Three Brothers Resources to pretend to be lurking nearby.
He stepped out into view, making sure I saw him, bowed his head in greeting, and then disappeared back into the alley.
"Gangsters!"
Lee Kang-soo started panicking as the situation unfolded before his eyes.
He had the audacity to steal company property, but he was still just an ordinary man.
Being caught by the junkyard he was trying to scam, and discovering that gangsters were involved, was too much for him to handle.
"Hello? Hello? I'm not going to eat you. Calm down."
"Y-yes, yes."
"At first, I was angry and wanted to punish you for trying to scam me."
Lee Kang-soo's teeth started chattering.
"But then I thought about your situation. The company is bankrupt, you have a family to support, and the future is uncertain."
I patted his back sympathetically, and his face gradually regained its color.
"But I'm curious about your plan. We're experts in these illegal matters, aren't we? I thought we could discuss this and find a mutually beneficial solution."
I meant it.
Initially, I was blinded by rage and wanted to crush them. But my intuition never lied.
If they had decided to steal and sell the scrap metal, there must have been a possibility of success.
I would still backstab them and expose them, but I needed to explore that possibility.
"That's… difficult."
Lee Kang-soo refused.
He was already anxious about conspiring with ten trusted colleagues, let alone a gangster-affiliated junkyard owner who he had tried to scam.
I wouldn't agree either.
"I understand. It's not an easy decision. But there's an underworld that ordinary people like you, who have only worked regular jobs, don't know about. There are all sorts of loopholes and unconventional methods used in various businesses. You need money, don't you? And I might be able to guarantee your safety."
"What?"
"Safety. The perfect crime."
Lee Kang-soo gulped.
"Forget everything else. The most important thing is how much money you can earn safely, isn't it?"
"But…"
"I'm not asking you to decide right now. Go and discuss it with your colleagues. Here's my contact information."
I took out my business card, slipped it into his pocket, and activated the recorder I had hidden behind my back with my other hand.
"By the way, how did you come up with the idea of stealing Hanbo Steel's scrap metal?"
"Well, I was angry at the company, and I needed money."
He looked at me with a puzzled expression, wondering why I was asking such a question. I asked again,
"Ah, by the way, what's your name again? I suddenly can't remember…"
Lee Kang-soo looked at me suspiciously and said,
"It's Lee Kang-soo."
"I see. Lee Kang-soo from Hanbo Steel."
I turned off the recorder and smiled brightly.
"Go and discuss it with your colleagues. We don't have much time. You know how the news is talking about whether POSCO will take over the management of Hanbo Steel."
***
That afternoon, I received a call while waiting near Hanbo Steel and met with the conspirators at a quiet location.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Park Sol from Chunha Trading."
The ten conspirators looked at me with suspicion.
The oldest-looking man among them approached me and said,
"I'm Foreman Kim Young-soo."
"Are you the leader?"
Kim Young-soo glanced at the other conspirators and nodded.
"Let's make one thing clear. You have no other intentions, right?"
"If I wanted to report you, I would have done it already."
My nonchalant tone seemed to convince Kim Young-soo, who said with a sigh,
"Alright. And don't get me wrong. We were only planning to sell to Chunha Trading because…"
I raised my hand to stop his excuses.
"Let's not dwell on the past. We should focus on discussing something productive."
"Alright. First of all, how are you going to guarantee our safety?"
"Shouldn't we discuss your original plan first? That way, I can tell you how to handle it."
Kim Young-soo didn't drop his suspicious gaze, but he sighed and said, realizing he had no other choice,
"The company is in complete chaos. No one is working, the union is on strike, and the executives are busy looking for new jobs, knowing they're on the chopping block. They don't care about the company anymore."
What's the first thing a new owner does when they take over a company?
The easiest and most effective way to show both internal and external change is to replace the executives, holding them accountable for the company's previous mismanagement.
"The scrap metal yard has two entrances: one from the factory and one for external vehicles. I can open the gate for external vehicles. We can sneak in at night when no one is around and take the scrap metal."
"There will be a lot of noise. What about the CCTV?"
"One of us is in charge of security. He assured us that he can manipulate the system, so there shouldn't be any problems."
They had even recruited the security personnel.
"And so what if there's some noise at night? It doesn't matter."
Kim Young-soo said with a self-deprecating laugh,
"Everything is shut down because of the bankruptcy, and everyone is preoccupied with the union strike. There's no one on duty. We can literally just walk out with the scrap metal."
The situation seemed more serious than I had imagined.
A company didn't immediately collapse after bankruptcy.
Depending on the government's decision, it could be broken up and sold off, or public funds could be injected. But the employees at Hanbo Steel were already expecting the worst.
"I see. So there's no problem with taking the scrap metal. But what about the records? There must be records of incoming and outgoing shipments, as well as inventory levels."
Kim Young-soo's face hardened.
"That's the problem. It might not be discovered immediately, but once a new owner or management company takes over, it's only a matter of time. We were prepared to take that risk, but…"
They had come to me hoping for a way to commit the perfect crime.
But the records were the biggest obstacle.
Manipulating the records was a major challenge.
There were two types of records: electronic records stored on computers and paper documents. It was practically impossible for anyone other than the highest-ranking executives to manipulate both.
They couldn't modify the data on every employee's computer, and forging paper documents with official seals was out of the question.
If they just took the scrap metal without manipulating the records, it was only a matter of time before they were caught.
"It's not an easy task. Can I see the scrap metal yard? I can't visualize it just by listening to your explanation. I need to see it to come up with a plan. Is it off-limits?"
"Why would it be off-limits? Follow me."
***
Hanbo Steel was in complete disarray.
No one stopped us, not even when a stranger like me entered the premises of a major corporation, ranked 14th in the country.
"Do they usually allow visitors so easily?"
Kim Young-soo replied,
"Of course not. You need a visitor pass and go through security checks. But what's the point? The employees are all on strike, the executives are busy saving their own skins, and do you think the security team is any different? This steel mill site is over 3.3 million square meters. There are over 3,000 employees, and most of them are on strike. You could walk around the entire company all day and not see a single person."
There was no sign of life between the rectangular factory buildings.
The factories were new and modern, but the absence of workers, who were supposed to be moving between them, created an eerie atmosphere.
"This is serious."
"We're in deep shit. And we haven't been paid for months."
I clicked my tongue.
"Hanbo Group, a company that claimed to be 'too big to fail,' is withholding wages? Unbelievable."
Korea, which had pursued an economic growth strategy centered on large corporations, was struggling to cope with the collapse of a giant.
POSCO, which had been mentioned in the news as a potential manager for Hanbo Steel, suddenly backed out, claiming they had their own problems to deal with. No one could predict the outcome of the Hanbo bankruptcy.
"This is beyond my imagination. Maybe this could actually work."
Kim Young-soo, who was walking ahead of me, turned around at my soft mutter.
"What did you say?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Let's go."
The scrap metal yard, where Hanbo Steel had been stockpiling scrap metal purchased from wholesalers, was overflowing with metal that hadn't yet been sent to the furnace.
Rectangular blocks of compressed scrap metal were stacked so high that I couldn't see the end of them.
"Wow, how much is this?"
"At least 200,000 tons."
I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume.
The scrap metal purchase price announced by the steel mill was 200 won per kg. That meant 200,000 won per ton, and 40 billion won for 200,000 tons.
40 billion won was almost equivalent to Chunha Trading's total cash holdings.
One might wonder why Hanbo Steel, which went bankrupt with 5 billion won in debt, didn't sell this readily available scrap metal. But that was a naive perspective.
From the perspective of the Hanbo Group chairman, who had been insisting that the company could recover if the factories were operational and had been begging banks for loans until the very end, selling scrap metal, a raw material for production, would be like a farmer eating his seeds because he was hungry.
The sight of the scrap metal, carrying so much weight, made my mouth water.
And my intuition was tingling intensely, signaling that this could work.
"This is amazing. I like it."
I followed Kim Young-soo and toured the entire scrap metal yard.
"Have you seen enough? Do you have any ideas?"
Kim Young-soo asked eagerly, but my mind was already elsewhere.
'I was originally planning to screw them over, but this is tempting.'
I had already figured out a way to manipulate the inventory records.
The problem was that I couldn't monopolize this without cutting these guys out.
'I need to partner with someone inside the company. But I don't want to work with these guys who tried to scam me.'
And another requirement was that I needed protection from someone higher up.
'At least an executive. But the current executives are unlikely to keep their positions after the acquisition.'
As I was lost in thought, Kim Young-soo, who had been waiting impatiently, said,
"Come on, think of something. I need to join the protest soon."
The word "protest" struck a chord in my mind.
'Protest? Demonstration? Union? That's it! The union leader!'
