1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 29



Only Krnovel

Episode 29

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Click.

Click.

Click.

The sound of shutters is heard endlessly.

March 4, 1981.

With only three weeks left until the general elections.

President Kim was in Seoul to deliver a congratulatory address at a state event.

The position of the President is in fact the head of the executive branch, but at the same time, he is also the face of the country.

So, whenever there was an important national event like this, I had to give a congratulatory speech like this every time.

I want to focus more on state affairs, so I try to only attend important events, but I still have at least one event scheduled each day.

“Whew… This really isn’t easy.”

“You can film the next person.”

I don’t know how many minutes this has been going on for.

Normally, I would finish my speech, watch the event for a bit, and then go back, but today I can’t do that.

This is because today’s event was held just three weeks before the general election.

“Is there more left?”

He asks Youngho, slightly annoyed. More than 20 people have already come and taken pictures.

The reason they wanted to take a picture together like this was to get the president’s stamp of approval, but the bigger reason was to use the picture taken with the president for the election.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President. Should I stop now?”

Youngho asks while observing my expression.

He had been working as the chief of staff for over a year, but he was a man who just quietly did his job without making a single fuss.

He always came out at dawn and came back home at night, but he never once complained that it was hard.

“Haa… No. The Chief Secretary must be having a harder time, but I think I complained too much. I guess this is something I have to do as the President. Please tell the next person to come.”

There were still more than a dozen candidates from the Korea First Party standing in line to take pictures.

‘Well, this is only possible when it’s popular.’

After the Korea-US summit, approval ratings rose, and with the synergy effect from the early days of the term, the approval rating for the government rose to 65%.

If the president’s approval rating drops and people think that it will actually have a negative impact on their relationship with the president in the election, they will instinctively remove photos of themselves with the president from campaign materials.

The fact that people are standing in line like this is also evidence of the high approval rating at present.

The next person who was waiting comes in and says hello.

“Mr. President! I am Lee Chung-seop, who is running for the National Assembly from Gangdong-gu!”

“Ah.. yes, hello.”

I greeted him with a slightly tired expression.

I tried not to show it somehow, but it wasn’t easy.

‘I’d rather be in the field.’

I used to be relatively free from fatigue when campaigning in front of the public, but I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired this time.

A man comes over to me and prepares to take a picture with me.

I glance at the man’s face next to me for a moment.

But the man’s face looks somehow familiar.

‘Uh… I remember seeing this person for a moment…’

Clearly, the more I looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.

‘..This human is definitely..’

“Just a moment. I’ll go to the bathroom and come back later.”

I ran to the bathroom, took out my smartphone from my pocket, and searched his name on Wikipedia.

‘Your name was Lee Chung-seop···.’

[Lee Chung-seop / A politician of the Republic of Korea, who was tried in Gangdong-gu in xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx. 19xx on charges of accepting bribes, and was sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Supreme Court···.]

‘That’s right.’

Perhaps as history changes, much of the content has been blinded, but the content regarding bribery was not blinded.

‘I guess that’s the same.’

There are countless politicians who take bribes and go to prison, but there are dozens of cases every year where someone goes to jail, but there was a reason I remember this person in particular.

This man named Lee Chung-seop was a former member of the National Assembly for the district where I lived.

Perhaps because he was such a local figure, even after serving his prison sentence, he exerted considerable influence in local politics.

He was a man I occasionally saw when I went out to events.

‘What should I do about this…?’

I tried not to care about the general election, but in fact, I couldn’t help but care.

Cooperation from the National Assembly was essential for the executive branch to function properly.

To do that, they had to win at least half of the seats in the National Assembly.

Once the election was over and the new National Assembly began, there was a mountain of work to be done, starting with selecting and approving the Prime Minister.

And for everything to flow smoothly, even one stone was missing.

‘Does that mean it’s right for a person like this to become a member of the National Assembly?’

Perhaps, judging by that person’s usual attitude, it was obvious that there would be problems from the nomination process.

If you just shake it off for a day, you’ll definitely find something.

‘He must have given a large sum of money to someone within the party…’

We try to block it as much as possible institutionally, but we can’t stop everything.

Unless you’re monitoring everything all day long, there’s bound to be stuff happening somewhere that shouldn’t be happening.

“Should I just let it go···”

I have a bad thought.

Clearly, if this is sold, it will be poisonous to the election.

That’s why I’m tempted to pretend I didn’t see it just once.

But soon he shakes his head.

I remembered who I quit politics for.

‘If people like that are involved in politics, eventually the people will start to distrust politics.’

Starting the next day, he ordered the National Intelligence Service to investigate candidate Lee Chung-seop.

And the results came out in one day.

A suspicious transaction of about 30 million won with one of the leaders of the Korean Party.

The lawmaker who received the money was a senior lawmaker in the metropolitan area who even had several faction members.

Because the flow of money transactions became so transparent thanks to the real-name financial transaction system, they were quickly caught.

I immediately informed CEO Choi Hyun of this fact.

He could never tolerate bribery, even if everything else was okay, and he was furious when he found out about this.

“These kids are really..!!”

“What do you think would be a good idea, sir?”

“I will expel both Lee Chung-seop and the lawmaker who received the money from the party.”

“I heard that there are even factions of lawmakers who received money. Is that okay?”

Lee Chung-seop is a newcomer to politics.

Even if you do it after being kicked out, it won’t be a problem.

However, in the case of multi-elected lawmakers, it was clear that there would be opposition within the party.

But Choi Hyun was resolute.

“Rotten trees must be removed from the base to prevent them from spreading rot to the surrounding areas.”

“Okay. Then, can we immediately start investigating Lee Chung-seop and the lawmaker who received the money?”

“Of course it should be like that.”

It felt like we had elected a better party leader than expected.

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A week before election day, the noise of election campaigns.

I inspected a unit in Gangwon Province with President Lee Dae-sik.

Although it was not my intention, the division I visited was the one I had served in.

‘I never thought I’d be discharged from the military and come back here…’

“How is everyone? Is military life worth it?”

A private answers in a booming voice, his posture tense with tension.

“Yes..!! Mr. President!! I am having so much fun serving in the military!”

“Ahahaha.. is that so···.”

An answer that sounds like it was given because someone told him to.

The division commander and battalion commander behind me heard the private’s answer,

Let out a sigh of relief.

‘How could that be…’

Kim Jong-guk was an elite military man with the rank of lieutenant general.

However, Han Myeong-ho, the original Kim Jeong-guk, was a former private soldier.

Military number is 10.

After serving for 21 months at the front line in Gangwon-do, he was discharged as a sergeant.

Even though I think I was pretty beat up and stuff in the military, it was still shit.

It’s rough, but I can’t think of any other expression to describe the military other than it being shitty.

‘If only the division commander came, there would be chaos for several days… How much more so would it have been if it had been the president…’

Although I instructed them not to cause trouble to the soldiers just because I was coming, there was no way the commanders would listen to me.

Today, I swept and cleaned so much that there wasn’t a speck of dust on the floor or a single stain on the wall.

“Whew..”

Then the division commander, who saw me sighing, asked with an anxious expression.

“Mr. President… Is there anything that is bothering you···?”

“Ah.. no. The unit is so clean and nice.. The soldiers are also very disciplined and great. I think they should all be given a vacation.”

‘I should at least do this much…’

“Ah.. Yes..!! I understand. I will definitely take responsibility and make sure that all the unit members receive a reward vacation!”

The division commander’s expression was beaming with joy. It seemed he thought he had impressed the president.

The soldiers didn’t show it when they heard about the vacation, but their mouths seemed to be full of it.

“Now that the unit is here, shall we go and have a meal? Let’s go, Commander.”

After finishing the inspection of the unit, we eat at a restaurant near the unit.

Normally, when I go on a unit inspection, I would eat inside the unit and leave, but since I had something important to talk to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lee Dae-sik, I decided to go to a restaurant outside.

“Mr. President. What are the current conditions in North Korea?”

“Recently, North Korea… .. .. .. .. ..”

He continued speaking without a single moment of hesitation.

It showed how serious he was about his work.

“I see. Mr. President. How are you qualified to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?”

“I think it’s too much for me, but I’m still doing my best.”

I poured the president a drink.

But the president politely declines.

Chief of Staff Lee Dae-sik.

He didn’t seem to be trying to look good even when the president was talking to me.

He simply treated me as a soldier and as his superior.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President. It’s still work time.”

“Haha.. That’s right. I’ve met so many politicians that it’s become a daily routine for me to have a drink or two and talk, so I’m sorry.”

“No. I am the one who feels sorry.”

I put the glass of alcohol I had been drinking next to me and started talking about the main topic.

“President Lee Dae-sik. Have you heard about the recent changes in the ROK-US alliance?”

“Are you talking about the issue of wartime operational control?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I drank the glass I was about to give to him, which was sitting next to me, and asked for his opinion.

“Chief. If I am killed or injured due to a terrorist attack or assassination by North Korea, the wartime operational control will go to you. What will you do in that case?”

President Lee Dae-sik answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Any terrorist attack or assassination of the President is tantamount to declaring an all-out war against the Republic of Korea. Naturally, we will immediately mobilize our troops and push them back to the Yalu River.”

He answers coolly.

There was no way I couldn’t laugh.

There was no one more suited to be a soldier than this.

“Hahahaha. This is just like the president.”

I laughed out loud and told him about the new weapons that were coming soon.

“Sir, in the coming months, new tanks, self-propelled guns, and fighter jets will be introduced from overseas. However, I would like to keep these weapons somewhat secret. Do you understand what I mean?”

In the future, we will be purchasing large quantities of weapons manufacturing methods from secret shops, but we want to keep this information as secret as possible until before the war.

“Do you want to train secretly?”

“Yes, that’s right. We don’t want to expose our power to the enemy.”

“Okay, Mr. President. I will do so.”

His voice and eyes were always unwavering.

I wondered if there would ever be another commander as trustworthy as this one.