» The Youngest Son of Sunyang
Reborn Rich - Chapter 267
[267] The Secret Gallery 5
Upon returning to Korea, I waited for the appraisal of the genuine artworks to conclude.
Oh Sehyun was likely moving funds around in New York, preparing to transfer them to the Virgin Islands account as soon as the appraisal was done.
Part of me secretly hoped a sophisticated forgery would surface, but nearly two months later, I received word that all the pieces were genuine.
Then came a grumbling call from Oh Sehyun.
"Hey! I wired 600 million dollars. I spent a lot cleaning that money. Don't you dare waste it; make it worth my while."
"Thank you, Uncle."
"My work's done, right? I'm going back now, okay?"
"Not to Korea, I presume?"
"Of course not. I need to relax, looking at a clean sea."
"Didn't you rest plenty in New York?"
"You punk! I couldn't even enjoy myself because of the work you made me do!"
"Ah, yes. Please rest well when you return. And when you go, please buy plenty of gifts for Auntie at the duty-free shop. She must be furious after you've been away for so long."
A sigh escaped through the phone.
"You should get married soon too. In about thirty years, you'll understand. A husband who's been away for a long time doesn't buy many gifts *because* he's been away. He buys them because he's *returning home*."
I listened to the middle-aged man's lament and ended the call.
Now the stage was set, and the main performance had to begin.
First, I summoned Vice President Jang Dohyung.
"You need to mobilize all your connections in Yeouido and Myeongdong, including those at Sunyang Securities, to find something out."
Perhaps due to my serious expression, Vice President Jang swallowed hard.
"Someone will likely be concentrating on buying shares in Sunyang Group, especially in Electronics, Heavy Industries, Construction, Mulsan, and Sangsa, under multiple nominee accounts."
"What? What is this about! Are you suggesting someone is attempting a hostile takeover?"
"No. The goal is simply to secure shares. More than 600 billion won will be moving, so it's bound to be noticeable."
He swallowed hard once more.
"600 billion won? Who on earth?"
"That's what I'm asking you to find out."
"Ah, yes."
"Numerous nominee accounts will be active. You need to track them. Can you manage that?"
Illegal transactions had to be uncovered through illegal means.
Mobilizing connections at various brokerage firms to obtain personal information of account holders who are heavily buying Sunyang Group shares was clearly illegal.
But Vice President Jang Dohyung didn't complain.
Having experienced a crisis once, he realized that everything we did was directly linked to survival.
We had crossed the Rubicon, and if we merely survived to the end, we could claim an empire of wealth. Committing illegal acts to gain an empire was a trivial matter.
"No problem. We're not looking for individual retail investors; this is a transaction involving 600 billion won, isn't it? Even if there are a hundred people, that's 6 billion each, and all of it in Sunyang Group shares. This is absolutely noticeable. I will obtain the full list."
"You must find them. Then, I will make all those shares mine."
My grandmother wouldn't create new nominee accounts for 600 million dollars. She would surely use her existing nominee accounts, and those accounts held not just 600 billion won, but also shares she had secretly accumulated earlier.
My grandmother, how much would come out if I shook out her pockets?
Another month passed, and the shares of Sunyang Group's main affiliates slowly began to rise.
The fact that a massive sum of 600 million dollars had been brought into Korea in just a month meant there was a truly skilled operator working under my grandmother. If we tapped into the nominee accounts, he too would reveal himself.
It takes a considerable amount of time to accumulate shares without a noticeable rise in stock prices. This skilled operator also possessed extraordinary patience. He slowly bought up shares, so gradually that the rise in Sunyang Group's stock price didn't even make it into economic news.
"Isn't it difficult to identify the nominee accounts?"
In contrast to my concern, Managing Director Jang Dohyung appeared relaxed.
"It only takes time; identifying them is not a problem. When over a hundred nominee accounts are active, patterns emerge. Moreover, since they're only targeting specific stocks within Sunyang Group, it's not that hard."
"Are you sure?"
I asked again, but Jang Dohyung nodded without the slightest hesitation.
"I'm confident. You don't need to worry."
He was a man who had spent his entire life in this field, so I should trust him.
Shall I make my move now?
* * *
Standing before the main gate, I felt a renewed sense of emotion.
It was a house I had frequented often, but this was my first visit since Grandfather's funeral.
I had wished for this house's owner to forever remain my grandfather, but in reality, it had transformed into Madam Lee Pilok's residence.
I rang the doorbell, and the gate opened. Usually, I'd drive up to the entrance, but today, I walked slowly. The garden trees and flowers, which I'd never paid much attention to before, were meticulously cared for, and the soft glow of stone lanterns illuminated the summer night.
When I used to walk here with Grandfather, I never noticed such things. Now they struck me as fresh, but without Grandfather by my side, the beautiful garden felt sorrowful.
Opening the front door, I entered the living room to find my grandmother, full of rage, scolding the staff.
"How dare you let just anyone in without my permission? Are you out of your mind?!"
The staff members didn't know what to do, repeatedly bowing their heads.
My grandmother's eyes met mine, and she gritted her teeth as she spoke.
"Who do you think you are to barge in here? Can't you just turn around and leave?!"
My grandmother had never had an ounce of affection. While we shared blood, she had never offered a kind word, only cold, distant glances.
Moreover, I retained all my memories from my previous life.
This old woman was not a grandmother to me, but merely my grandfather's wife, and a complete stranger who had tried to kill me.
I offered a slight smile and said,
"I have something to discuss with you privately, so let's move to the study."
"Silence! Get out of here at once!"
It was impossible to play the role of a respectful grandson to a grandmother who acted like that. She was forcing me to get straight to the point.
"I'm a client who bought 600 million dollars worth of your goods. Isn't a cup of tea acceptable? It's not every day you find a client who meets such demanding conditions, is it?"
Seeing my grandmother's face turn utterly pale, I thought, 'Oh no.' She was old; it would be a disaster if she collapsed right now. I still needed to find the shares in the nominee accounts and all her hidden money.
Fortunately, as befitting a grandmother who prided herself on her health, only her complexion had drained of color.
"There's no need to expose the transactions between grandmother and grandson in front of all the staff, is there?"
"You... you..."
Ignoring my grandmother, who couldn't form a proper sentence, I spoke to the kitchen staff.
"Could you bring me a cup of coffee? To the study."
I walked into the study without looking back. My grandmother, who couldn't possibly misunderstand my words, would surely follow.
This was a place where I had many conversations with Grandfather, but now it felt unfamiliar with new items placed everywhere. It seemed Grandfather's scent had faded as Grandmother's touch permeated the room.
I settled into a seat and waited, and soon Grandmother entered. As she moved to sit in Grandfather's chair, I glared at her and said,
"We're going to have an important conversation, so how about we sit facing each other? I'm not here to report to a superior. I'm sure you can guess what I mean?"
My grandmother bit her lip, turned, and sat across from me.
"What do you want to say?"
"Aren't you already guessing?"
"You insolent brat! How dare you speak so impertinently?"
It would be amusing to see how long that unyielding pride would last. Today, I had to completely shatter it.
"Could anyone in the world imagine that the madam of the great Sunyang Group sold paintings and filled the gallery with fakes? This will be a truly enormous scandal."
"Hmph! I can't understand what nonsense you're spouting."
"Are you still clueless? Or are you pretending not to know? The transaction with the Wentworth Art Gallery in New York was a trap I set. Bette Porter was a mere puppet dancing to my tune. And the 600 million dollars for the paintings came from my own pocket, you know."
"..."
"Grandmother. It's already over. In my hands, I have the secret contract you personally signed. I also remember the secret account number in the Virgin Islands. In situations like this, instead of feigning ignorance, the priority is to figure out what the other party wants."
"Silence! Where did you hear such baseless rumors that you dare threaten me?"
She glared at me, trying to appear fearless, but her thinly trembling fingertips betrayed her.
I threw a copy of the contract I had brought onto the table in front of her.
"Selling hundreds of billions of won worth of foundation assets is embezzlement, smuggling paintings out of the country to America is illicit export, and setting up offshore shell companies to siphon off money is a violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. I guarantee you, with all this, Grandmother won't need to go shopping anymore. She'll have to live out the rest of her life in a single prison uniform."
"You... you bastard...!"
"You don't know this grandson very well, do you? No, perhaps you do? That I'm just like Grandfather, without a drop of blood or tears? I wouldn't hesitate one bit to put my grandmother on trial and send her to jail. Do you know why?"
At the mention of jail, my grandmother's hands began to tremble even more violently.
"It's not because you tried to kill me with a truck. It's because you keep trying to take away what Grandfather gave me."
My grandmother's pale lips quivered. She must never have imagined that the truck incident would come out of my mouth.
"Grandfather knew everything. But he buried it, saying it was his fault. He told me the same thing: to forgive Grandmother. So I erased it from my memory. But since you tried to push me out of Sunyang Group, I have no choice. We have to see this through to the end."
My grandmother, perhaps having grasped my meaning from my rigid expression and tone, remained silent for a long time.
Perhaps it was her time to regain her composure.
After a long while, my grandmother opened her mouth, once again showing her true colors.
"So? Do you think you can do anything to me? Even if you tried to expose your so-called evidence to the whole world, it wouldn't go as you wish. Sunyang Group's power isn't in your hands; it's in my son's. Not a single line of an article will appear in the newspapers or on TV."
"You have an impressive son."
She continued to boast about her son's power, seemingly oblivious to my sarcastic remark.
"On the contrary, *you'll* be the one who gets hurt. Virgin Islands? I'll make that account yours and have you arrested. I'll make you out to be the scoundrel who embezzled 600 million dollars."
It wasn't an impossibility.
If my uncles mobilized all their connections and threw money at the media to gag them, it might be possible.
While my grandmother turned this into a battle between me and my uncles, causing us to bleed each other dry, she could then liquidate her nominee shares and escape overseas.
However, there was one thing my grandmother didn't consider. Nothing is simple. Many things intertwine to create a result.
Without social experience, she couldn't possibly grasp the whole picture.
"Even if Sunyang Group poured all its wealth into it, it wouldn't be able to block the media. Because this will transform into a political battle."
My grandmother only frowned, failing to understand my words.
"I'll leak this not to the media, but to the opposition party. The opposition, having lost the general election, is constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to attack the ruling party. And you, Grandmother, used the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs involved in smuggling. Do you think the opposition will just stand by and watch this? A special prosecutor and a parliamentary hearing will be convened."
Again, my grandmother's expression changed.
"No matter how much money opposition politicians have taken from Sunyang, they won't cover this up. Because they need to save themselves too."
I smiled, looking at my flustered grandmother.
"It'll be fun, won't it? The country will be in an uproar because of Grandmother. Hehe."