1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 79



Only Krnovel

Episode 79

January 1995.

The mid-90s were already upon us.

If history were true, it would have been the worst year ever with the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store, but in the Republic of Korea that I run, the Sampoong Department Store has already been dismantled.

The company Sampoong eventually went bankrupt three years ago after suffering management difficulties, including the dismantling of a department store under construction and the arrest of its CEO.

A new, sturdy building was built where the Sampoong Department Store should have been.

The collapse of Seongsu Bridge and Sampoong Department Store, the collapse of these two buildings, was originally a signal in history that announced the collapse of the YS regime.

Starting off as a president with an approval rating of over 90% in the early days of his administration, his approval rating gradually dropped due to these incidents, and he ended his term in office on a bitter note with the worst approval rating due to the outbreak of the last IMF foreign exchange crisis.

But this time it’s different. The collapse of Seongsu Bridge and Sampoong Department Store has already been prevented.

Sampoong was demolished, and Seongsu Bridge had already been repaired several years ago.

Safety inspections were also conducted on apartments and buildings across the country, and any buildings with problems were ordered to undergo repair work or, in severe cases, to be demolished.

Fortunately, as we had prepared in advance, as of January 1995, there had not been a single collapse accident in the past few years, and the newly built building that replaced the Sampoong Department Store also received the highest grade in safety inspections.

The IMF was also thoroughly prepared.

After purchasing Russian territory and lending to China, he tried to stop the outflow of foreign currency as much as possible and ordered companies to tighten their belts.

Companies said, “What kind of austerity is this in a boom time?” But when they were told that companies that did not austere would not be provided with technology in the future, they all became dissatisfied and entered a state of austerity.

In that way, we were slowly approaching the period that was originally the greatest crisis in Korean history.

* * *

The international situation was going interestingly.

The United States was less successful in reviving the economy under the Clinton administration than it had been in its history.

The reason is that many of the information and communication companies that led the economic revival during the Clinton administration were under Korean control.

As a result, a significant number of sales flowed into Korea.

The trade deficit with Korea was more serious than expected, as Korean exports were invading the entire United States at low prices, similar to the economic invasion of Japan in the past.

But the United States could not take actions like the Plaza Accord with Korea as it had done with Japan in the past.

This is because, unlike Japan, Korea could not ignore not only its economy, but also its military power and diplomatic status.

If we had proposed something like the Plaza Accord to Korea, Korea might have cut off its alliance with us. If that happened, the US would not be able to exert as much influence in the Indo-Pacific as it does now.

That is why the United States was in a situation where it could do neither this nor that, and as the world’s greatest power, it had no choice but to wait for Korea to make small concessions on trade.

Russia tried to revive its economy with the money it earned from selling land to Korea, but it was still impossible.

The economy was already in such a mess because of incompetent leaders, so there was no way the economy could get back on track just because a little money came in.

The huge sums of money from the sale of territory gave a temporary boost to the Russian economy, but it was only temporary, literally.

Most of this money ended up in the personal pockets of high-ranking officials, and Russia quickly returned to its previous economic crisis.

In addition to the money it borrowed from South Korea, China borrowed money from various sources to focus on various infrastructure projects.

However, most of these infrastructure projects were almost impossible to recover due to the terms of the contracts with Korea at the time of the loan, and they were projects that were not substantial but only appeared to be good on the surface.

Clearly, this kind of massive money flow should not be happening in developing countries.

But from the perspective of the Communist Party cadres, these businesses were pretty good for building up their own achievements.

At first glance, they seemed like plausible businesses.

Actually, they weren’t stupid either.

The Chinese Communist Party’s cadres are actually quite elite.

Before Xi Jinping came to power, competition within the group was fierce, and it was not easy to become a cadre unless you were one of the elites within the country.

The reason they allowed money to be invested in such infrastructure projects was because they believed that China would continue to develop as a country and that its economic boom would continue for the next decade or so.

But they didn’t know.

In just two or three years, these businesses will return to China as an unimaginable disaster.

The situation in Japan was also not easy.

The economy, which had been slowly collapsing since the Plaza Accord, showed no signs of recovery.

Export competition with Korea was simply impossible.

It felt like Korea was barely holding on with items it was not exporting at all and existing financial assets.

People now consider it virtually a given that Korea will overtake Japan within five years.

While many powerful countries were struggling and resting, Korea was the only one that was running.

* * *

“Mr. President, this is Ambassador Yoo Sung-kook of Russia.”

I suddenly got a call from the Russian ambassador in the morning.

I stopped what I was doing and answered the phone.

“Mr. President, this is Yoo Seong-guk. I apologize for contacting you out of the blue when I’m busy.”

“No, it’s okay. I was going to contact you anyway. How is Russia these days?”

I knew it wasn’t good because I had heard it countless times on the news and in foreign media, but I was curious to hear what someone who was in Russia had to say about the situation.

“It’s the worst. The money they sold us for gave the economy a brief boost, but as expected, most of that money ended up in the pockets of high-ranking officials.”

“As expected. Since incompetent people were in power to begin with, I expected that giving them that money wouldn’t make a difference. Oh, by the way, why are you calling me today?”

Ambassador Yoo gets to the point and explains why he called.

“I found the person the President was talking about last time.”

“Really?”

The person who spoke to him last time was definitely the future leader of Russia.

“Yes. He is definitely from the KGB, as the President said, and his name is Vladimir Putin.”

Vladimir Putin.

If you start building relationships in some way from now on, it will be useful in many ways.

For the sake of future international peace, we could kidnap him like we did with Pastor Cho Dae-in and send him to a rural village in South America, or we could support him and use him as a puppet for Korea.

“Well done. Don’t worry about the cost, just try to get to know each other. And if you get the chance later, please send me to Korea too.”

“Okay, but Mr. President… … .”

Ambassador Yoo trailed off, as if he was curious about something.

“Yes. What is it?”

“This guy is said to be from the KGB, but when I looked into it, I found out he was just an office worker and now he hangs around politicians’ election offices here and there, and he’s basically a freeloader. Is it really necessary for our government to be so concerned about him?”

It was natural for Ambassador Yoo to be curious.

In reality, Russia is now a country that is far behind South Korea in national power.

The economic power was at a level that was embarrassing to even compare, and the gap was narrowing as Korea’s population steadily increased.

The only thing that Russia could say was on par with Korea was its military power, but even this was simply in numbers, and qualitatively it was poor.

‘I wonder if there’s even fuel to run those tanks in the first place.’

But apart from that, the influence that Russia had itself could not be ignored.

As the saying goes, even if a rich man goes bankrupt, he can still survive for three years, and Russia’s influence was especially evident in the former Soviet Union countries and Europe, with its numerous asymmetric powers and basic science and technology.

And this man Putin may seem like a freeloader now, but he was destined to become the absolute ruler of Russia.

‘Even if it weren’t for this guy, given the state of the Russian economy right now, even if it weren’t for Putin, a far-right nationalist would definitely come to power.’

Kidnapping him to prevent him from becoming a powerful person would be a way, but it seemed more necessary to establish a relationship with him for now.

I said, making up some excuse.

“It’s top secret information, but that guy Putin is said to be related to Yeltsin by blood. So he may seem like a freeloader now, but he will rise to the center of Russian power in the future. It wouldn’t hurt to prepare in advance.”

Ambassador Yu is surprised by the story about Yeltsin’s blood ties.

If it was his bloodline, it was definitely worth it.

“Oh, is that true? Okay! I’ll try to tease you as sincerely as I can!”

“Please take good care of me. I know you will become an important person in many ways.”

* * *

A high-class bar in Moscow.

“Mr. Putin! Here you go!”

Ambassador Yoo calls him with an overly bright face.

“Are you the meteor that asked me to see you?”

Putin asked Yoo Sung-kuk in a stiff tone, as one would expect from someone from the KGB.

“Yes, that’s right. Let’s sit down and talk.”

Ambassador Yoo smiles and tells Putin to sit down.

Putin takes his seat, though he is wary.

It had to be that way.

The reason this person named Yoo Seong-guk asked to see me today was because he wanted to support me.

Yoo Seong-guk speaks while looking at the president.

“Please give me the most expensive drinks and the most expensive menu items.”

“Yes! I’ll bring it to you right away.”

The boss, beaming at the great sales, hurries back to the kitchen.

“I tell you, I’m not that rich to drink in a place like this.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll pay for everything today. Don’t worry, just eat!”

Even though it was suspicious, it was too suspicious.

He was calling out to an Asian, and a Korean, who he had never met before, to support him, and he was treating him to food and drinks at a famously expensive bar in downtown Moscow.

If it were normal, he would have refused, but Putin was not that relaxed at the moment.

After leaving the KGB, I tried to get involved in various political circles, but it wasn’t easy.

Due to the recent collapse of the Russian economy, the country was in a difficult economic situation in many ways.

I couldn’t help but ask for support for someone like that.

“First, let’s have a drink. This is Korean drinking culture, where you pour drinks into each other’s glasses. And usually, the lower-ranking person pours the drink for the higher-ranking person first.”

Ambassador Yoo pours a drink into Putin’s glass.

Putin is nothing special, but I really liked the way he treated me as his superior.

“Would you like to pour Mr. Putin a drink? In Korea, when a superior receives a drink like this, the superior usually pours a drink for the subordinate.”

Ambassador Yoo offers Putin a drink.

Putin was quite pleased with his attitude.

“Let’s do that.”

Putin pours Ambassador Yu a glass and they each down their drinks in one go.

Then Putin asks Ambassador Yu:

“So what do you do?”

In the KGB days, finding out what a person does would have been a trivial task even for an office worker like him, but he had already left the KGB and was cut off from that kind of talent.

“Oh, by the way, I’m sorry for introducing myself late. I am Yoo Seong-guk, the ambassador of the Korean Embassy in Russia.”

Ambassador Yoo Sung-guk introduces himself in fluent Russian and hands over a business card.

“Korean Ambassador?”

Putin is surprised to hear that he is the Korean ambassador.

There is no Russian person who does not know Korea anymore.

It was not only because they were a country that sold off a large amount of territory, but also because they were the only country in Asia that was both a developed country and a powerful country at the same time.

Putin himself has tried many times to somehow connect with Korea, but all of them have failed because there are still fewer Koreans in Russia than expected.

But I couldn’t help but be surprised that he was the Korean ambassador.

The Korean Ambassador to Russia was, at times, the highest ranking Korean person in Russia.

He was the kind of person that a slacker like me wouldn’t dare look at.

But I was still skeptical.

I couldn’t understand why the Korean ambassador approached me.

“Have another drink, Mr Putin.”

Ambassador Yoo treated Putin like a superior and offered him another drink.

Putin poured himself a drink given to him by Ambassador Yu and asked him:

“So, why did someone like the Korean ambassador call me and treat me to such expensive drinks?”

“I recently read a newspaper article about something Mr. Putin wrote. I was impressed by it. That’s why I came to see Mr. Putin.”

After leaving the KGB, Putin contributed his thoughts to newspapers several times as a side job.

The content was about strong Russia and nationalism.

There wasn’t much of a response than I expected, and I never imagined that someone like the Korean ambassador would read my writing and contact me.

Ambassador Yoo speaks to Putin with a look of respect in his eyes.

“I also read that article and thought that, for the sake of the relationship between Korea and Russia, Mr. Putin should one day move to the center of Russian politics.”

Of course, it was all a lie, but Putin felt very good about this.

Putin finally bursts into laughter.

“Hahahahaha. Is that so?”

Even Putin, who is usually cool-headed, couldn’t help but melt when he received this much praise.

Ambassador Yoo Seong-guk.

He was not only good at his job, but he also had a great talent for building relationships with people.

He was a person who was very talented at putting himself down, lifting others up, and wrapping them up in his own shoes.

“That’s right. I haven’t said this to anyone, but if someone like Mr. Putin had been in charge of Russia, the Russian economy wouldn’t have fallen to this level. Phew… … .”

Ambassador Yoo sighs and says.

Putin also answers in a small voice.

“Of course I respect President Yeltsin, but his economic policies were very wrong. Russia today is… … .”

Before he knew it, Putin was telling Ambassador Yu his thoughts one after another.