1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 158



Only Krnovel

Episode 158

Mayor Lee Dae-sik was successfully re-elected and is leading the city administration smoothly as the re-elected mayor of Seoul.

Although he did not achieve as much as President Kim Jong-guk, he was often praised for running the city administration fairly and in accordance with the law and common sense without any flaws.

Thanks to this, he was able to win the second local election with an overwhelming score.

Seoul Mayor’s Official Residence.

A junior from my military days told me that he was coming to visit me after a long time, so I left work an hour earlier than usual and waited for him.

The junior arrives at the appointed time.

“General Kim, it’s been a while. Was it hard to get here?”

Kim Tae-seop, a graduate of the Korea Military Academy, is five years younger than him.

We became close friends when Mayor Lee Dae-sik became the Army Chief of Staff, and we occasionally met privately like this.

Since becoming mayor, it has been difficult to meet him because the areas he lives in have changed a lot, but Lee Dae-sik was also happy to see his junior from the military after a long time.

“Chief… no, Mayor. How have you been?”

He greets me and hands me the gift he brought.

But Mayor Lee Dae-sik waves his hands in refusal.

“Why did you bring this? Take this back later.”

“Sir, no, brother. It’s nothing. It’s just my sincerity. Please just accept it.”

Mayor Lee Dae-sik refuses again in a somewhat firmer voice.

“Even if it’s not possible, come on. Would it be useless for someone sitting in the market to receive a small gift? Take it later.”

General Kim Tae-seop eventually has no choice but to leave the gift in the hallway and go into his room.

And I was surprised at how much smaller the house was than I thought.

“Brother, but isn’t this too small for the Seoul mayor’s official residence?”

“What? Anyway, the only people living here are my wife and I, so this is enough.”

The residence he lived in was an old house with three rooms, usually about 24 pyeong.

Originally, there was a fairly large official residence owned by the city that was used since the time of the appointed mayor of Seoul.

However, according to his opinion that there is no need for such a large house for two people, the official residence was changed into a space for the residents to use.

And Mayor Lee Dae-sik and his wife were using a small, long-neglected, one-story house owned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as their official residence without even remodeling it.

Mayor Lee Dae-sik sits down, makes a cup of coffee and hands it to him.

“Thank you. I will enjoy my drink.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here, so I’d like to have a drink with you, but I’ve been feeling sad about the recent death of that soldier, so I can’t drink well. Let’s have a drink next time.”

When the story of the private soldiers comes up, Kim Tae-seop’s eyebrows shake.

Then he quickly puts the coffee cup down on the table and starts talking.

“Brother, if you are a private, are you talking about the recent suicide of a public servant?”

Mayor Lee Dae-sik nods.

“That’s right. When I saw the investigation reported in the media, it really broke my heart… Phew… … .”

Lee Dae-sik sighs as if the ground is collapsing.

Kim Tae-seop watches his expression, hesitates for a moment, and then speaks to General Lee Dae-sik.

“Hyung, the reason I asked to see you today is because of that incident.”

“You came because of that incident? What do you mean?”

Kim Tae-seop honestly tells us why he came today.

“In fact, all of the people who were involved in the problem this time, from the division commander to the minister and the chief of staff, are my juniors at the Korea Military Academy. It is true that this incident is the division commander’s fault, but I feel like the punishment he will receive is too severe compared to the fault.”

Mayor Lee Dae-sik listens to what he has to say without saying anything.

“So, would it be okay if you could ask the President a favor?”

“A favor? What favor?”

In fact, the inside of the Lee Dae-sik market was already seething.

I wanted to pour the coffee I was holding in his face right then and there, but I held back and waited for his answer, thinking that I might have misunderstood and that I should listen to the end of the story.

“I would like to ask you to punish this case, but only at the division commander level, excluding the Minister of National Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and to end it with a suspended sentence. Don’t you have a special relationship with the President?”

“… … .”

When Mayor Lee Dae-sik remains silent, Kim Tae-seop raises his voice and continues his story.

“To be honest, the morale of the army has been revived by dismissing the commander like this over the death of a single private… .”

-Crack!!!

The cup that Mayor Lee Dae-sik was holding shatters in his hand.

The table is a mess with shattered cups.

Then, after a while, he speaks in a voice full of anger.

“You came to me just to talk nonsense like that? You’re just a private soldier?”

“Hyung, that’s not what I meant… … .”

Kim Tae-seop tries to make an excuse while looking very nervous, but he is unable to continue his excuse due to the anger that follows.

“You’re a brat who even became a general! What? Just a private? In your opinion, is a private’s life less valuable than a commander’s? A young man with a bright future ahead of him lost his life to such a ridiculous thing, and you’re asking me to do something like that!”

Even though Mayor Lee Dae-sik was now over 70 years old, he still exercised every single day without fail.

The feeling of anger that came out of him was unusual.

Kim Tae-seop immediately apologizes without saying a word.

“I’m sorry, brother! Oh, I couldn’t help it. My classmates and seniors pressured me to go… I’m sorry… … .”

Mayor Lee Dae-sik points to the front door and says.

“Get out of here right now! And tell those bastards who asked you to do something like that, if they ask me to do something like that again, I’ll really kill them!”

“Tongue, brother… … .”

“Right now, don’t go out!”

At Lee Dae-sik’s scolding, Kim Tae-seop quickly grabs the gift he brought and goes out the door.

Kim Tae-seop leaves and his wife, who was in the inner room, comes out of the room.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you really surprised? I’m sorry.”

It was his wife who had been in poor health recently.

I’m worried that I might have surprised you for nothing.

“I’m fine.”

“Phew… … .”

Mayor Lee Dae-sik sighs deeply.

His wife goes into the kitchen, takes something out, and asks him.

“Honey, can I sprinkle some salt in the hallway?”

His expression, which had been filled with anger at her question, slightly softens.

Then he answers her with a small smile.

“Please do so. A human who should not come here… No, a beast who has given up on being human should not come here.”

* * *

“You even asked the mayor for that? Yes. Yes. I understand. This is really hard work for the mayor. Then I’ll see you again later.”

As I hang up the phone, Director Oh asks me.

“Is this Mayor Lee Dae-sik?”

I answered, taking out a cigarette.

“That’s right. Phew… I heard that those crazy guys went all the way to Mayor Lee Dae-shik to ask for it.”

He asks as he takes a lighter out of his pocket and lights it.

“thank you.”

“If you have any favors, could you please tell me about this public service incident?”

“That’s right. It seems that he asked the former Minister of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to avoid punishment.”

Director Oh speaks as he puts away his lighter.

“It must have been really frustrating.”

“He said he barely managed to hold back from beating him up so badly. He said he asked me to please make sure he wasn’t punished.”

Director Oh, who heard the story, suddenly clenched his fist.

“Oh, these damn guys… Mr. President, this is me… … .”

Director Oh’s gaze goes back to the days of the central government several decades ago.

“It’s okay. It’s not something that Director Oh should personally take action on. Punishing the person responsible is important, but we need to come up with a fundamental solution.”

Oh, the director immediately apologizes for my story.

“I’m sorry. I suddenly got too excited. I felt bad about the public servants, but I was really angry at the sight of these people trying to maintain power among themselves.”

I shook my head.

“Is there anything to apologize for? I agree with you. After General Lee Dae-sik retired, these people became too loose. It’s time to properly establish discipline and change the system. Chief Oh, please prepare for a public hearing right away and listen to opinions within the military first.”

Now, as he approaches his 60th birthday, he answers.

“Yes, I understand. I will prepare it right away.”

* * *

Over the next several months, the policy was developed through public hearings, conversations with active-duty military personnel, military lawmakers, and citizens.

As the president, he couldn’t focus solely on this work, but he still gave up as much sleep as possible and devoted himself to this work.

‘If the inside creaks, no matter how good the outside looks, it will eventually fall apart.’

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were arrested on charges of concealing evidence, and the division commander was sentenced in the first trial.

The charge is murder by abusive power.

The sentence is life imprisonment.

The prosecution indicted the division commander for murder by abusing his power.

The incident was seen as one of murder, not simple harassment.

And the reason he was indicted for murder by abusive authority was because shocking evidence emerged during the investigation.

Evidence has been uncovered one by one that shows that the public servants were treated worse than the dogs they raised.

In particular, even within the military, scenes of serious violence were discovered on CCTV within the military, and scenes of him being verbally and physically abusive were also discovered on the black box in his vehicle.

And crucially, the hidden diary of the public official played a decisive role in this prosecution.

The diary he kept contained details of all the verbal and physical abuse he had suffered.

[April 24. / When my child’s midterm exam grades didn’t come out well, I swung my fist at him. Then I swore at him, saying that he didn’t deserve to live. My self-esteem is going down day by day.]

[May 1st / I waited in the car until 3AM without eating properly because I was out drinking with friends. While I was waiting, he came back, and I was struck in the eye with a fist because I was dozing off. He then hurled abusive language at me, saying, “Why should a punk like me live?” and “You guys like me won’t be able to rehabilitate if you get beaten up,” and telling me to die.]

The contents of the diary were truly horrific.

Lots of violence and verbal abuse.

It was clearly revealed why he had no choice but to make the extreme choice of suicide.

The court, which had argued that the murder charge was a bit too lenient, nodded after looking at the evidence and, unusually for a case like this, found the defendant guilty of murder by abusive authority, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Additionally, his wife and daughter, who condoned his abuse, were sentenced to five and three years in prison, respectively.

The division commander pleaded for his family to be spared, but to no avail.

Although he was so abusive and violent towards the public officials, he seemed to only want to protect his own family.

But public opinion was cold.

[The wife of the abusive division commander was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and her daughter was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The division commander cried and begged for forgiveness for his family, but the court’s ruling was firm. The abusive division commander must now realize that the soldier he drove to death was also someone’s precious son. – Tongil Ilbo]

And then public opinion strongly called for follow-up measures.

[The President must now come up with a solution to the problems of bullying within the military. – KBC]

[Division Commander Sentenced to Life Imprisonment. Now is the Time to Come Up with a System-wide Solution. – SBC]

And exactly four months after the incident, I announced a revised policy.

And this policy created quite a stir within the military.