1953 Bare-handed Tycoon - Chapter 387



Only Krnovel

387 – Lame Duck

Kijo, who returned to Korea on November 20, 1962, buttoned up his coat collar in the dreary weather.

all.

The sky I looked up at from the airplane trap was a cloudy gray sky that foreshadowed winter.

It was.

Gimpo Airport where no one came to pick me up.

The keynote speaker deliberately did not announce the date of entry to avoid bothering people.

I was coming out of the arrival hall thinking of taking a bus to Seoul, but I was on maternity leave.

Han Nam-hee, a reporter for the Hankook Ilbo who was resting, came out to greet me.

“Sir, did you have a nice business trip?”

Kijo looked at Han Nam-hee with surprised eyes and soon understood the situation.

At that time, major daily newspapers reported on the movements of celebrities entering and leaving the country through Gimpo Airport.

Captured.

Han Nam-hee checks the arrivals and departures of people at Gimpo Airport every day to know when he will arrive.

It seemed like they were checking.

“It seems like the president wants to enter the country quietly, so I asked other newspapers to send their presidents to the country.

“I asked you not to publish news of my arrival.”

Kijo smiled brightly as he looked at Han Nam-hee, who understood his feelings.

“Please give me the bag.”

“No, I will listen.”

“Please don’t do that. Please give it to me.”

Han Nam-hee carried Ki-jo’s bag for him.

The keynote speaker boarded the Hankook Ilbo jeep parked in front of the airport.

“Shall I take you home?”

Kijo hesitated for a moment at Han Nam-hee’s question. I just wanted to go home.

However, it was difficult to express that directly to the person who came out to greet me.

“Did anything happen in Junghak-dong?”

When Kijo asked about Junghak-dong, where the Hankook Ilbo building is located, Han Nam-hee answered.

“While the president was in Vietnam, there was a lot of incidents in the political department.

Even Kim Ja-hwan, the political director, held the center and handled it well.”

The keynote speaker nodded.

With the general election just over a month away, it would be even stranger if the political world were quiet.

After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the Hankook Ilbo, Kijo spoke to Han Nam-hee.

“Let’s go to Jongno. I need to unpack first.”

“Okay, sir.”

Kijo’s heart was pounding even before crossing the Han River Bridge.

It was hard to control my excitement as I was seeing my family for the first time in almost a month.

all.

Finally, the jeep stopped in front of the house and Gijo knocked on the door, and a pilgrim’s voice came from inside.

I heard Riga.

“who are you?”

“It’s me.”

At the keynote, the urgent sound of the front door latch being opened was heard.

As soon as the door opened, Pilgrimage, who was about to hug Kijo, stopped when she saw Han Nam-hee standing behind her.

He looked behind him and shouted.

“Children! Father is here!”

-dad!

Yeong-eun and Yeong-jun, who were playing in the yard, ran out screaming.

Han Nam-hee, who was standing behind the keynote speaker, smiled as he looked at the keynote speaker’s happy back.

Kijo’s family was extremely ordinary.

The back of the keynote speaker embracing the children is not the head of Cheongsan Group or the president of a media company.

Nin, he was just an ordinary dad.

But the sight of the children who were so happy for their father that they didn’t know what to do and the sight of them returning from a business trip

The eyes of the wife who couldn’t hide her joy at seeing her husband return were so precious.

all.

Suddenly, a sentence written by Tolstoy in a novel came to mind.

‘All happy families are happy for similar reasons, but every unhappy family has its own reasons.

Euro is unhappy.’

Han Nam-hee, who recently had a child, wants to build a happy family like Gijo.

I felt like it.

* * *

The day after arriving in Korea, Kijo went to the Blue House to report on what had happened in Vietnam.

Headed towards.

Chairman Park, who was looking at the personal letter and memorandum of understanding that Kijo received from the South Vietnamese president, asked

all.

“Everything is good, but what are your plans for the Vietnam National Highway paving project?

go?”

The cost of paving the 1,000km long National Highway No. 1 in Vietnam alone is 13 billion won in Korean currency and dollars.

was a $100 million business.

The South Vietnamese government would provide $100 million, and Cheongsan would shoulder additional construction costs.

For the next 15 years, Cheongsan will collect tolls and make a profit, and after that, Vietnam will

It was a contract to be handed over to a private company.

However, Chairman Park was worried because South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves at the time were around 200 million dollars.

It was worth doing.

In addition, the South Vietnamese government is asking the Korean government to cover additional construction costs that may arise.

I was hoping it would be steamed.

Kijo smiled brightly and said to Chairman Park.

“You don’t have to worry too much.”

“Can Cheongsan afford the additional construction costs? Overall, the construction is too much.

I wonder if it was a cheap call. Can the liquidation company recoup its profits in 15 years?

Kijo calmly explained to Chairman Park, who was concerned about low-price orders.

“The cost of paving the Vietnam National Highway will not be that high. It will cost a lot of money.

There is no need to apply any additional pressure; it is simply a matter of paving the existing dirt road with asphalt.

There is no tunnel section, and Hyundai Construction, which is good at road construction, is included in the Cheongsan Consortium.

“I am here.”

Kijo talked about going to Vietnam with Chung Ju-young.

“I went to the site with President Chung Ju-young and made an estimate. The Vietnamese government provided 100 million dollars.

“We calculated that we could do the construction sufficiently.”

Chairman Park nodded.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction is famous for winning government road construction contracts and carrying them out cheaply and quickly.

It was commanded.

“And the responsibility of the South Korean government is limited. The liquidation consortium promised

If you do not comply, you will only have to pay compensation.”

“Yeah, I know that too.”

“The construction section is divided into 10 sections. 100 km of road will be constructed per year.

In packaging, there is an option for the liquidation company to renew the contract every year. 1

If you feel like packing your tools isn’t working, you can always get out.”

The keynote spoke of the safeguards he had put in place.

“But shouldn’t the South Korean government guarantee up to 10 million dollars?

“That’s a lot of money.”

“That case is when Cheongsan kicks out the company without doing any construction work.

No. That won’t happen.”

Chairman Park laughed.

The keynote is that in the worst case scenario, if the government owes $10 million, it will sell off its domestic assets for liquidation.

Arthur said he would pay it back.

The Cheongsan Fertilizer Plant alone was worth over 30 million dollars.

“And if the construction is interrupted by war or guerrilla attacks, the project schedule and

“The liquidation reserves the right to readjust the cost of construction.”

“That’s well done.”

Chairman Park looked somewhat relieved after hearing the keynote speech.

The keynote was made using his knowledge of the future.

“Mr. Chairman, it looks like there will be a war in Vietnam soon. If war breaks out, Vietnam will

Route 1 will be an essential infrastructure for waging war, and the United States will not stay still.

I will come to the liquidation with money and ask them to finish the paving work early.

“I will ask you to do so.”

“That could be the case… … .”

Chairman Park nodded, putting a cigarette in his mouth.

The time for reflection, accompanied by Chairman Park’s characteristic silence, has arrived.

Chairman Park, who was smoking a cigarette slowly and weighing the chances of success, said:

“Thank you for your hard work. I will handle it quickly. I will get back to business as soon as possible.

“Let’s get started.”

The keynote speech was that Chairman Park not only gave his approval, but also urged him to push ahead with the project quickly.

It was strange.

And from the moment we first met, there seemed to be something bothering him.

It seemed clear that a lot had happened while he was away from Korea.

The keynote speech was addressed to Chairman Park.

“What happened while I was away?”

The keynote speech was that Chairman Park was going through a difficult time.

The public believes that Chairman Park has solidified his power by ousting the Jang Do-young faction after May 16.

It was known, but rarely happened.

In particular, while Kim Jong-pil was leaving Korea and wandering abroad, Chairman Park was at his most difficult.

I’ve been through a lot.

Things that are not known to them are being promoted within the Supreme Council, or even openly by a specific opposition party.

There was even a movement to nominate the leader as the next president.

Chairman Park, who found out about this during the meeting, slammed his fist on the desk and said

There was even an incident where I left the conference room without saying anything.

Kim Jong-pil monopolized power as the second-in-command and committed many corruptions, but

He waged a bold power game within the Ming faction and took down those who were not obedient.

And it played a role in suppressing them.

When asked what happened, Chairman Park took a deep breath of cigarette smoke.

And it came out.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I’ll be here when I have the strength.

“I can push you. I can’t do that if I’m tired.”

Chairman Park said the plan seemed feasible but also risky.

He said there would be strong opposition from the people.

I hope you can push it forward quickly when you can somehow promise government guarantee.

He said so.

Kijo looked at Chairman Park for a long time.

He was smoking a cigarette with his eyes elsewhere, and then he said as if he had decided on something.

“When you’re not in Korea… … .”

Chairman Park seemed to have decided to be honest with himself.

Chairman Park said that Kim Jae-chun, who succeeded Kim Jong-pil as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, would form the Democratic Republican Party.

He said that he suggested disbanding it.

“The Republican Party founded by Kim Jong-pil is causing a lot of trouble, so let’s disband it and create a new party.

He said that he wanted to hold a general election. Or at least change the party name and renew the personnel.

“I said let’s do it.”

The exact same thing happened in the history of the original world.

Kim Jae-chun, who was Kim Jong-pil’s rival, secretly gathered Kim Jong-pil’s connections within the Central Intelligence Agency.

He also tried to purge and disband the Democratic Republican Party, which was heavily influenced by Kim Jong-pil.

But the fact that he made such a suggestion so soon before the general election is truly disrespectful to Chairman Park.

Rather than saying that it was for this purpose, Kim Jae-chun’s intention was to completely block Kim Jong-pil’s comeback.

It seemed to be strongly contained.

It was natural for Kim Jae-chun to do so, as he did not look kindly on Chairman Park’s participation in civil affairs.

“After that, Supreme Council member Kim Hee-deok came to me and said this. The opposition party in the Supreme Council

There is talk of a move to nominate politicians Kim Jun-yeon and Kim Do-yeon as presidential candidates.

Hey. There are already people lining up to support the existing politicians… … .”

Chairman Park risked his life to carry out the revolution, but the existing power was once again absorbed in partisan strife.

He lamented that he was going back to the politicians.

“Not long ago, Song Yo-chan, who was the head of the cabinet, founded a new party and appointed members of the Supreme Council.

He took a lot of it out… I didn’t know there were so many people who agreed with Song Yo-chan.

uh…….”

After the declaration of boycott of the civil affairs, Chairman Park has been notably seen as a figure who has risen up against him.

I was checking to see if it was increasing.

In the history of Won, he changed his mind about not participating in civil affairs and made his subordinates nervous, but this time

As the government firmly maintained its non-participation declaration, many of its subordinates felt relieved and left.

It was the same.

The power he had as a revolutionary leader is leaking and he is already in the ‘lame duck’ phase.

It was accelerating.

“Now I’m not sure if what I talked about with Hausman was right… … .”

I felt that Chairman Park’s will to not participate in civil affairs was weakening ahead of the election.

all.

It seems like I was frustrated because I had no one to confide in even though my heart was burning inside.

There was.

But now, Chairman Park is declaring participation in civil affairs or extension of military administration, which is a threat to him.

It was not a positive thing for either the country or the Republic of Korea.

Kijo took heart and asked Chairman Park.

“Mr. Chairman, are you sleeping well these days?”

When asked about the keynote speech, Chairman Park chuckled.

It was impossible for Chairman Park, whose mental health was being completely drained by his subordinates, to sleep well.

“Saying that we should disband the Democratic Republican Party is like saying we should lose the election. I will never accept that.”

Don’t give it to me. It doesn’t make sense to change the party name or change personnel. It’s too late.”

When the keynote speaker first mentioned politics, Chairman Park looked surprised and asked,

It was.

“What brings you here?”

“I heard what the political reporters at the Hankook Ilbo were saying. I’m running for the general election now.

There are only five parties that can elect a candidate. There is a structure of one ruling party and four opposition parties, and among them, three

Dogs are an old political force, so it seems like the ruling party’s votes will go to the Democratic Republican Party.

And after Kim Jong-pil left the country, public opinion on the Democratic Republican Party improved significantly.

“They said it was done.”

Kijo claimed that what he was saying was something he had heard as the president of the Korea Times.

“Can you tell me what kind of conversations are going on outside?”

Kijo thought about the decision he had made while going to Wonju.

I will tell him where the road is and where the road is not.

Chairman Park, still politically inexperienced, looked like a truck with a broken headlight.

It seemed like he was stopped on a dark mountain road at night and didn’t know what to do.