I Became Park Jeong-ui’s Nephew - Chapter 131



Only Krnovel

He became Park Jeong-ui’s nephew. – (131)

“Everyone, take a 5-minute break.”

“Yes~.”

This is a tire factory in Busan,

When it was break time, the workers dispersed to different places to rest.

As the Korean economy developed, demand for automobiles also skyrocketed, and so did the demand for tires.

The problem is that the tire manufacturing process is not very good for the workers, and the labor intensity is secondary, and the environment itself is not good for people.

But all the factory can do is install ventilation facilities and allow workers to take breaks occasionally.

Some workers smoked cigarettes while coughing.

“Hey, are you okay? You’ve been coughing since earlier.”

“It’s okay, gulp~ gulp~.”

“Smoking a lot isn’t good for your health.”

“How can I survive if I don’t smoke this?”

“Don’t you know that Mr. Kim, who said such things, is lying sick in bed? You should be careful too.”

For workers who forget the hardships of the day by smoking a cigarette during their break, talking about health is just a luxury.

Is it meaningful to talk about health in a place like this?

That’s the grumbling of lucky people who don’t have to worry about food and shelter. As soon as I finished smoking a cigarette, the foreman started urging me.

“Okay, I have to get to work now. There’s a lot of orders piling up.”

“Yes~.”

The work that had started again and the daily routine that went on like a hamster wheel were tiring, but the workers did not stop working.

This year, Korea’s per capita income exceeded $8,000, so does that mean all of its citizens are eating well and living well?

This article might change your mind a little.

[I dropped out of school at 17 because of my family circumstances. Then I got a job and earned 3,500 won a month, and after 4 years, I earned 35,000 won. – Dong-A Ilbo]

This is the reality of Korean workers,

Exploitation is a concept that applies when you do not receive compensation for the work you do.

A boy who couldn’t even graduate from school due to his family’s circumstances received 3,500 won as his first salary, and after 4 years, he received 35,000 won?

Wage increases that are unimaginable in other countries,

As Korea promoted heavy chemical industry, it fostered 1.5 million skilled workers, and in 15 years, 80% of skilled workers rose from the poor class to the middle class.

In a world where anyone can live well if they work hard, who would put down their work in such an environment?

The sense of responsibility that sacrificing one’s own body will make one’s family more comfortable has kept many fathers here.

While everyone was concentrating on their work, an urgent sound was heard from far away.

“Fire!!”

“Fire? Fire? What do you mean?!”

“Everyone get out!! It’s a fire!!”

Startled by the flames blazing in the distance, workers ran out of the factory.

However, some of them remained at the scene to help put out the fire or help those who could not escape.

This is where the tragedy began. The scene became a hellish place where you couldn’t see even an inch ahead because of the pungent toxic gas, and people started to collapse one by one.

“No more!! You have to run away!!”

“Ugh, cool~.”

“Hey, wake up!! Woof~!!”

Workers disappearing one by one in the midst of the fire,

Firefighters arrived at the scene late, but there was nothing they could do.

Who could set foot in that hell, engulfed in poisonous gas and flames? Those who had lost their comrades and family members could only watch the rising black smoke and beat their chests.

***

“There was a fire at the tire factory?”

“Yes, Chief of the Political Bureau, 149 people were injured and 17 people were killed.”

This is the headquarters of the Korean People’s Party.

Park Jeong-ui, the director of the political bureau, clutched his forehead.

There are far more casualties than expected. If this incident is reported to public opinion, who will be held responsible?

First, we asked about the cause of the fire.

“What on earth is the cause?”

“It appears that the fire was caused by a cigarette butt smoked by a worker during his break. We have already secured the culprit’s identity.”

“Really? Then this is the worker’s fault.”

The Korean People’s Party covered up the incident as a simple careless accident.

Talking about government responsibility would only complicate matters, so the media was instructed not to make any more of this incident.

The problem is that a horse without legs can travel a thousand miles in a day.

This rumor reached the ears of reporters as well.

“There was a fire at a tire factory in Busan?”

“Yes, it was caused by cigarette butts.”

The media has entered a game of wits.

If this incident is widely reported, it will be a huge burden to the President.

But isn’t it the reporter’s role to uncover the truth?

Some media outlets sent people to the scene of the incident to investigate the cause.

“Is this where the ignition is believed to have started?”

“yes.”

“The break area is too close to the work area. Isn’t this against the rules?”

“Well… isn’t there no regulation regarding this?”

It is the worker’s responsibility to not properly dispose of cigarette butts.

But isn’t it the company’s responsibility to create a break area in a high-fire risk area?

But if you look at it that way, what about the members of the National Assembly who did not create the relevant bill? Does the president have no responsibility? If you start looking at the relationship of responsibility, it goes all the way up there.

But who would dare to talk about right and wrong to the president?

The reporters edited their articles on their own.

[On April 12, a large fire broke out in Busan. It is believed that worker Lee Hyeon-gyu smoked a cigarette during break time and did not properly dispose of the cigarette butt, which caused the fire. Personal carelessness led to a tragedy.]

Journalists who didn’t lie,

Isn’t it true that the fire was caused by the worker’s carelessness?

However, he avoided specifying how vulnerable the site is to fire, how the company handles the facility, and whether the government has enacted related legislation.

Thorough tail cutting, is this how the incident will end?

But as the bereaved families tried to rekindle the dying flame, the incident spread in a direction different from what the higher-ups had intended.

***

“Your Majesty, the investigative authorities have concluded that this incident was caused by the worker’s negligence.”

“Really? But if we let this go, I feel a little uneasy. I understand that the bereaved family is also demanding an investigation into the truth.”

“that….”

The same routine that repeats itself today,

I accepted the report submitted by Prime Minister Lee Beom-seok.

The investigative authorities have concluded that, so what can I say?

If we order a reinvestigation here, it means that the President does not trust the officials in charge.

If you can’t trust your own people, who can you trust?

However, because the aftertaste was a bit unpleasant, I gave separate instructions to the Korean People’s Party.

“Tell them to re-inspect the safety of industrial facilities. We must make sure that something like this never happens again.”

“All right.”

For the sake of the officials in charge, I’ll let this case slide, but if a similar incident happens again, it’ll be a slap in the face to me.

So I gave it another chance,

But then came some more sad news.

This time, an accident occurred at a chemical plant, and workers on site suffocated to death while working without proper protective gear.

What on earth is going on in the industrial field?

If you just give workers a lot of money, do companies and the government have no responsibility? That’s a one-dimensional idea. No one goes into hell to make money.

If this kind of incident continues to happen, what kind of workers will want to work in industrial sites in the future?

I put aside other plans and headed to the scene of the incident.

Not only the Korean People’s Party officials but also the heads of each department accompanied them, and thus Pandora’s box was opened.

***

“What should the bereaved family do?”

“Lure them somewhere else, if the President notices them, things will be a headache.”

“All right.”

This is a chemical plant in Ulsan,

Officials from the Korean People’s Party lured the bereaved family members protesting at the scene to one place.

If the bereaved families saw the president visiting the scene of the incident, they would cause a fuss, so they forced everyone into one place under the pretext of hearing their opinions.

In the meantime, the president toured the scene and returned home.

It is not known who leaked the information, but the incident reached the bereaved families’ ears a few days later.

“The President visited the scene of the incident?!!”

“Shouldn’t you have met us if you came all the way here?!!”

“This is the president turning his back on the bereaved families!! We can’t stand it!! Let’s go protest right now!!”

The bereaved families, who had risen up like a swarm of bees, ran to the government building.

The problem is that the police blocked that road.

The bereaved families heading from Ulsan to Gyeongseong knelt before the public authorities.

“If you came this far, you should have seen us before you left!! Why are you going back? Why?!!”

“Get out of the way!! We need to meet the President!!”

“If you keep doing this, I will arrest you on charges of sedition.”

“What kind of civil war is this?!! Going to meet the president we elected is an act of civil war?!!”

“Get out of the way!! We’re going to Gyeongseong!!”

The bereaved family members who were causing a disturbance were reported to the police.

Officials thoroughly covered up the incident, but this time, an invisible hand was at work, revealing the full story.

Journalists also circulated articles claiming that the Korean People’s Party had blocked contact between the bereaved family and the president.

No matter how important the president’s reputation is, they poured out articles saying that this is not the case.

[The president went a long way to inspect the scene of the incident. Our people are not holding the president responsible. They just wanted the president to listen to the bereaved families, but does it make sense that the president’s close associates are blocking the president’s eyes and ears? The Korean People’s Party seems to have run wild as it has dominated Korea for the past 16 years. This incident will have a big impact in the next general election.]

The aftermath of this incident is spreading out of control,

Ultimately, this incident turned Korean politics upside down.

***

“Were there any bereaved family members there? Or not?”

“That is… Your Majesty… .”

“Don’t make excuses. I’m holding back a lot right now. If you say something wrong here, everyone here will be in big trouble. Choose your words carefully.”

This is the government building of the Republic of Korea,

I called in those responsible for this incident.

The crime scene was somehow quiet, but my child and husband were dead, so wouldn’t one or two people be wandering around the crime scene?

Do Koreans have a special spirit of sacrifice that they just let these kinds of accidents go?

It was a ridiculous story, but when I looked into it, it turned out that the Korean People’s Party officials had gathered the bereaved families in one place.

If we look at it from the Joseon Dynasty perspective, this is like the subjects covering the king’s eyes and ears.

The feeling of betrayal was doubled because I trusted those in charge.

“If you guys keep acting like this, I won’t be able to rest in the future. Do you expect me to pay attention to and review every little thing like this? Are you giving me more work to do now so that I can work harder?”

“Your Majesty… We just wanted to make sure Your Majesty doesn’t get caught up in any uncomfortable matters… .”

“Don’t get caught up in uncomfortable things? I’m really uncomfortable right now. Thanks to that, I became the president who passed away in front of the bereaved families. Is this helping me?”

There is a saying in Japan that you should cover dirty things.

However, you can’t cover the sky with your palm, and the president is also human and cannot take responsibility for all the incidents and accidents that occur throughout the country.

That’s why I left it up to the people in charge to manage it. I trusted the people in charge for my own convenience, but instead, I ended up being held back by them.

Am I supposed to be a workaholic until the end?

First, I went down to Ulsan to meet the bereaved family.

I wish I had met the bereaved families then, but I apologized politely while I was working twice.

“I apologize to you all. I should have worked hard, but I trusted my subordinates too much for my own comfort. I was lazy and did not want to work, so I caused you great pain. From now on, I will work without rest. Your children, husbands, and fathers died working like that, so I will also be prepared to die and serve the country. I apologize once again.”

The bereaved family shed tears in silence.

Even the Korean People’s Party officials just bowed their heads in silence.

From this day on, I began my bloody purge.

Thirty-four Korean People’s Party officials involved in this incident were dismissed, and those who attempted to cover up the incident were sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison and a minimum of 7 years.

But this is just the beginning, I have thrown the Korean People’s Party, which I have raised with my own hands for the past 20 years, into the trash can.