Chapter 146: Enough is Enough, IV

Suhyuk stood up as if he was going to get some water. It wasn’t difficult since everyone at this table had been terminated. Although one of the salespeople looked furious, Suhyuk didn’t care because Hayoon was with him now.

“A-Ah! You’re Professor Woo Changyun’s daughter!”

Coincidentally, the same person handled both Ashian Hospital and Taehwa Medical Center. This occurred due to their close proximity, plus many professors from Ashian Hospital graduated from Taehwa Medical School. There was even a saying that if you could secure Taehwa Medical Center, then Ashian Hospital would follow suit.

However, Woo Changyun was different. Perhaps it stemmed from his pride, but he refused to use any medicine prescribed by Taehwa Medical Center. Due to his stubbornness, he earned the nickname “Impregnable,” yet here stood someone dear to him - his daughter.

“Yes… Have you met him before?”

“What? Yes. I have met with him. He doesn’t use medicine though.”

“Our father is quite stubborn.”

“That’s… No, he is truly admirable.”

Thus, the salesman didn’t pay attention to anything else.

Suhyuk spoke, “Indeed, salesmen are different. They don’t care about time or place when it comes to selling their products.”

‘Exactly.’

“It’s good for them.”

‘Yes. It works out well for us.’

For a moment, Suhyuk turned his head towards another table, then moved behind Seo Hyoseok. Seo Hyoseok was so drunk that he couldn’t notice Suhyuk. All he did was continue talking on the phone.

“You son of a bitch… How will you protect your investment? Huh? Are you accusing me of fraud?” His face looked more agitated than earlier.

It seemed like Seo Hyoseok was about to smash his phone.

“Fraud? Didn’t you invest yourself?”

The voice of the other party was quite loud as well. Suhyuk didn’t need to put his ear close; just standing behind him felt like eavesdropping on their conversation.

“This fucker! You said it would increase by 100%!”

“Why are you so angry? Are you drunk?”

“Do I look sober? Today, when I tried…to…that thing…I got yelled at.”

“In other words, why did you put all your money…into coins…”

Coins.

Suhyuk recalled the frenzy from two or three years ago. At that time, he was a student and had no interest in such financial investments, so he wasn’t fully aware of the extent of the craze.

Among his colleagues, some had lost several thousand dollars due to negative account balances.

[How much money did he lose on these coins?]

‘Who knows exactly? Let’s listen first… Something seems off.’

[I agree with you.]

As Suhyuk and Baruda conversed, Seo Hyoseok continued shouting. His voice became louder as if provoked by something said earlier.

“You, y-you! You made us do it! You said it would work!”

“Boss, I also got ripped off. No, I lost the most… And that is your responsibility. You told me everything was fine.”

“The Ministry of Strategy and Finance approved it! Who knew the Ministry of Justice would intervene?”

“In any case, we have been scammed. Exactly how much?”

“1 billion won.”

“Huh?! One billion won.”

The number ‘one billion’ elicited a gasp from the other party.

‘Is he crazy?’

“You burned one billion won on coins?”

Suhyuk and Baruda had similar reactions. One billion won… In Suhyuk’s opinion, if someone possessed one billion won, they wouldn’t need to chase after more money. Yet this person burned it all for coins.

“That… Your father doesn’t know yet?”

“Not yet, but it is just a matter of time… He will sell the house and move elsewhere. Once he discovers about the secured loan…”

Moreover, based on their conversation, it wasn’t his own money but borrowed from the bank. It seemed like the loan was not even taken out under his name. This guy truly appeared insane.

“Have you tried stopping him?”

“I have tried, but since the old man is retiring soon, he wants to live in the countryside… Anyway, he will sell the house.”

“Hmm…”

“In other words, lower your expectations. You…you really? I helped you a lot!”

“I know, that’s why I’m worried. Thanks to you, boss, I have received so much…”

Received?

It seemed Seo Hyoseok owed Suhyuk a favor.

“[Recording On.]”

‘Okay.’

If they continued this conversation, increasingly suspicious details would emerge. In fact, it might sound too dubious for anyone to believe even if Suhyuk reported everything verbatim. Hence, following Baruda’s advice, Suhyuk discreetly activated his phone’s recording function.

At that moment, there was a brief beep, but he quickly covered the speaker to prevent others from hearing it. Even if it had been audible, it likely wouldn’t matter since An Dae-hoon’s snoring would have masked it.

Seo Hyoseok appeared almost completely out of it as he muttered, “Yes, squeeze something out.”

“By the way, research funds… Isn’t it possible? Haven’t we done well until now?”

“It was easy when leaving Taehwa Life Insurance. Anyway, our old geezer approved it, so there wasn’t any gratitude.”

The conversation between Seo Hyoseok and An Dae-hoon pertained to events from several years ago. At that time, Taehwa Group aimed to make Taehwa Medical Center the best in Korea. They planned to leverage this brand value to create a system where patients could only receive treatment if they had insurance through Taehwa Life Insurance. It was akin to their ambitious dream of privatizing healthcare similar to the United States model.

However, those dreams have since faded away. With their top position now precarious, implementing such changes seemed unlikely anytime soon.

“Ahh, those were good times. We made a lot of cash thanks to you, boss.”

“You owe me for that.”

“I said I’ll give you up to 500 million won, right? But why do you need 1 billion won? Why did you burn through so much?”

“Ah shit. I feel worse than anyone else. Don’t say such things.”

“I understand. Yes, understood. Hmm… Five hundred million won… Ha, five hundred million won. This isn’t easy.”

Five hundred million won might sound simple, but it was a significant amount of money. Even though Taehwa Medical Center offered higher salaries compared to other university hospitals, this figure exceeded Lee Hyunjong’s annual salary as the director. It meant he would earn more than the highest-paid cardiac internist in the world.

“Oh, right.”

The other party sighed momentarily before speaking again. Seo Hyoseok, who had been dozing off due to his drunken state, abruptly opened his eyes at the sound of the voice. Suhyuk initially thought that the sudden awakening indicated Seo Hyoseok had completely sobered up.

“W-Why?” However, it wasn’t quite so. After a moment, Seo Hyoseok, with half-lidded eyes, urgently asked the person on the phone.

The other party coughed several times before opening his mouth.

“Still…your father is working as a doctor?”

“Yes. He remains stubborn. I don’t know why he wants to move? There are still a few years left.”

“The Taehwa Medical Center has that fusion medicine center or something. Isn’t your father on the approval committee?”

“Huh? Uh, yes, isn’t he?”

“Then…how about inflating the research fees? If you move elsewhere…you can use it for this project and direct it here. Didn’t you mention influencing some researchers over there?”

“Hey, will that work? It sounds like nonsense.”

The other person thought it was quite a good suggestion, but Seo Hyoseok didn’t seem to think so. Apparently, Seo Hyoseok had more insight into internal matters than his companion.

A ‘Gara’ project indeed.

Despite being a professor, there were boundaries even for him.

“You can’t accept it?”

“No.”

“Then… Oh, right. Are there any projects that have been approved recently or ones likely to be approved soon?”

“A project that’s been approved…?” Seo Hyoseok’s eyes were nearly shut by now. He seemed quite uncomfortable due to drinking too much alcohol too quickly.

Let me see… Today… What was it again? Ah yes, that bastard Shin Hyun-tae proposed something… It sounded plausible.

It had sounded so convincing that one of the researchers who heard about its potential rejection called Hyoseok separately. The researcher insisted it would definitely succeed and questioned why they should reject it. At the time, Hyoseok had been furious, so he naturally rejected the proposal.

In any case, since his interest in research was minimal, only one project came to mind.

“I do have one.”

“What’s the estimated cost?”

“No idea… Well… Since it’s just a rough calculation, maybe around two or three billion won?”

“That… Shouldn’t we at least give that a shot?”

“A shot? Are you out of your mind?”

Seo Hyoseok might be immoral, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew where to draw the line between bad deeds he could get away with and those he couldn’t.

“No, boss, please hear me out first.”

“Fine, tell me about it.” The boss didn’t completely dismiss him yet.

Despite their differences, they had collaborated on numerous schemes together. And each time, Seo Hyoseok seemed to follow his accomplice’s advice.

“You should convince the researcher to push this project through no matter what. Boss, talk to your father separately… Didn’t the researcher say it has guaranteed success?”

“Well…”

The researcher’s opinion was that it would definitely work.

“Is there profitability?”

“Yeah. Well, not making huge amounts of money.”

“We need money immediately. If we had time… couldn’t either hyung or I make one billion won?”

“Well… yes, indeed.”

In fact, if Seo Hyoseok and Suhyuk hadn’t spent so much on entertainment, they could’ve easily saved up around one billion won. They had made quite a lot through various means until now.

“So… appeal to them by saying you’ll increase the value from two billion won to five billion won using your connections with boss and father.”

“Hmm… Through backdoor methods?”

“Yes. Honestly, professors aren’t very savvy. What if we just change some paperwork? Plus, since we’re only taking the profit margin, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Hrmm…”

“You can fill it out later after handing it over. Just say there was an error. You’re good at such things, hyung.”

“Is that praise or insult?”

It sounded like an insult regardless of how I listened to it. Yet Seo Hyoseok asked this way due to his severe moral hazard.

“It’s meant as praise. In our country, being shameless is an advantage. How else do you think I got here?”

“That… That’s true.”

Birds of a feather flock together. The other party felt similar to Seo Hyoseok.

“Do you think it will work?”

“I’ll help with the paperwork. Try convincing your father. Your dad should still listen to reason.”

“Hmm, well. He doesn’t really listen to me.”

“As I said, give it a try.”

“Fine. Do the rest for me.”

“Understood, understood. But don’t forget my favor, okay?”

“Geez. Don’t nag. I’ll handle it appropriately.”

Satisfied with Suhyuk’s response, Seo Hyoseok nodded. It felt like their conversation was coming to an end. Thus, Suhyuk put away his phone and returned to his original position on the floor.

Since his face turned red after just one drink, it appeared as if he had passed out drunk.

“In any case, hang up. These bastards are knocked out.”

Thanks to this, Seo Hyoseok saw only two young residents who couldn’t handle alcohol better than him once he hung up. The money issue was resolved, and these kids were defeated by drinking. Feeling good about various matters, Seo Hyoseok chuckled as he stood up.

“Hey, hey!” He called over a salesperson while pointing at the unconscious duo.

“Take care of them. I’m taking a taxi home.”

“Oh, yes. Professor!”

“And…take Woo Changyun professor’s daughter home first. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, I’m off.”