Once I make a decision, I carry it through without hesitation.

First, I had Koryeo Daily publish a special feature on Dreamhigh.

Through the article, people were introduced to Dreamhigh’s past investments, its successful ventures, and the shareholdings it possessed in Korean companies.

Online, debates about Dreamhigh exploded once again.

One side argued that a “black-haired foreigner” was gnawing away at the Korean economy, while the other argued that Dreamhigh had helped Korea during the financial crisis simply because they were fellow Koreans.

The two camps clashed fiercely.

After checking every reaction on the online communities, I closed my laptop.

I decided that the timing for my appearance as the president of Dreamhigh Korea would be after the local elections ended.

“The preparations for establishing the foundation will be handled by Yoon & Jang......”

The process of establishing a foundation corporation was simpler than I had expected.

A foundation corporation was essentially centered around assets themselves. There were no shareholders or general shareholder meetings.

So I contributed 500 billion won of my own wealth and designated the corporation’s purpose as a scholarship foundation.

The name had already been decided as the Myeongdong Scholarship Foundation.

Yoon & Jang, the experts, would prepare the articles of incorporation, while I intended to personally appoint the directors and auditors.

Because a foundation corporation gave absolute authority to the chairman, it was a structure highly vulnerable to embezzlement and corruption if left unchecked.

That was why I intended to place someone hungry for honor in the chairman’s seat, while filling the director and auditor positions with my own people to keep them in check.

At first, I had thought about appointing Grandma as chairman.

But once I stepped into the spotlight and news of the foundation spread, stories about Grandma would inevitably surface as well.

“It’s an honorable position, but Grandma would hate this sort of thing....... It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped.”

At that moment, I heard a knock on the study door.

“Come in.”

The person who entered was Manager Ma. He walked in carrying a document envelope in one hand.

“This is the information you requested on Hanminjok Daily.”

“There’s less than I expected.”

“We started by investigating the most important matter—the internal power struggle. The rest will take more time.”

“Really? Well, that’s the most important part anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Let me see it first.”

I began reviewing the documents Manager Ma handed me.

At the very top was a photograph alongside the name of the current president, Bae Youngsik.

Beneath it were the names of directors and editors aligned with him.

I checked their faces and backgrounds one by one before nodding slowly.

“So now I understand why they suddenly decided to publish articles about me.”

They were all progressive in political orientation, especially belonging to the hardline faction.

Most of them were people who had once been forced out during the era of media consolidation and press control.

Now, they had become the mainstream faction within Hanminjok Daily.

The next page organized the opposing faction hostile toward them.

At the very top, alongside a photograph, was the name—

“Park Joohyeong?”

I slowly read through his profile.

“A man who stepped down from active duty and became an advisor still has overwhelming support from young reporters?”

I had heard that the young reporters were the ones most enthusiastic about this investigative project.

But if those same young reporters supported Park Joohyeong, then the situation didn’t add up.

During the recent presidential election within the newspaper company, Park Joohyeong had received overwhelming support from younger reporters but narrowly lost.

Most middle-aged reporters and the editorial department had supported Bae Youngsik instead.

In the end, Bae Youngsik became the new president, but Park Joohyeong remained his strongest rival.

“Manager. Are these two really on bad terms?”

“Yes. After losing the election, Park Joohyeong was appointed executive director overseeing management, but only a few months later he was driven out of that position. President Bae Youngsik was behind it. The younger reporters who supported Park Joohyeong apparently refused to side with him this time. Now he’s been pushed aside into an advisory role, with all his influence stripped away.”

So he was basically a discarded old man in a back room.

Pointing at Park Joohyeong’s photo with my finger, I asked,

“There’s practically no competitor left besides this man, is there?”

“That’s correct. Bae Youngsik and his faction keep winning elections. This time, there was hope they might finally lose, but in the end, they couldn’t be overcome.”

Hanminjok Daily operated under a direct election system where employee-shareholders voted for the representative director.

Because of that system, factional conflict inside the company was inevitable, and the losing side always ended up leaving the newspaper.

Park Joohyeong was currently going through that exact process.

“If we support this man, could he recover?”

“It would be difficult. Without the support of the younger reporters, it’ll be hard for him to maintain influence.”

“It doesn’t seem like we have time to raise someone else.”

The next page listed a few names who might eventually be cultivated as an opposing faction.

But their influence was still weak, and they were relatively young.

“I think we’ll have to approach this from a long-term perspective, Boss.”

Listening to Manager Ma’s advice, I read through all the related documents.

A little later, I set the papers down and shook my head.

“We don’t have time for a long-term strategy. If we drag this out any longer, the presidential election will be right in front of us.”

I didn’t want unnecessary variables in the presidential election.

Of course, one article wouldn’t change who became president, but variables should be eliminated whenever possible.

Even while preparing other countermeasures, Hanminjok Daily still needed to be reshaped according to my liking.

“For now, arrange a meeting with Park Joohyeong.”

“Yes. I’ll handle it.”

I decided I would meet Park Joohyeong first before making any decisions.

* * *

A restaurant on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

The interior was so quiet it felt as though a mouse had died there.

Then the door opened, and Park Joohyeong entered.

“Welcome, Advisor Park Joohyeong.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Park Joohyeong.”

After shaking his hand, I guided him to his seat.

Aside from us, the restaurant was completely empty.

“I heard this is your favorite restaurant.”

“......”

“However, it wouldn’t do us any good to be seen by others, so I rented out the entire place for the day. The owner prepared all the food beforehand and left, so there’s no need to worry about the meal. It’ll taste the same as always.”

An elegant Korean full-course meal was already laid out neatly across the table.

“Let’s eat first.”

There was no conversation throughout the meal.

Without letting his guard down for even a moment, Park Joohyeong silently ate while carefully observing me.

Once the silent meal ended, both of us set our chopsticks down at the same time.

“Would you like coffee for dessert? Or something else if you prefer.”

“Coffee will do.”

It was a low, dignified voice.

I spoke to Manager Ma, who stood guarding the entrance.

“Manager. Go buy some coffee outside.”

Manager Ma bowed his head and left the restaurant.

Then I opened my mouth.

“You know why I asked to meet you, don’t you?”

I had intentionally avoided mentioning the reason while arranging the meeting.

It was a test of sorts.

Anyone incapable of deducing why I wanted to meet them was useless to me.

“I know. You want to use me to stop the article Hanminjok Daily is planning.”

“Hm, you got about half of it right.”

Articles?

No matter how deeply Hanminjok Daily investigated, there was no way they could uncover one hundred percent of who I really was.

An article of that level wouldn’t even leave a scratch.

Preparations to deal with that had already been made.

At my words, Park Joohyeong frowned.

“You said half?”

“Yes. There’s a more important reason than stopping the article.”

“......”

“You know at least a little about me already, don’t you? Then you should understand.”

A man who had run in the representative director election couldn’t possibly know nothing about me.

Sure enough, Park Joohyeong cautiously asked,

“......Are you planning to force the representative director to step down?”

I nodded.

At that, Park Joohyeong looked troubled.

“That’s impossible. It takes more than an ordinary issue to replace a representative director. Once elected, serving the full two-year term is a rule at our newspaper.”

“If it’s impossible, then we simply make it possible.”

I answered calmly, and Park Joohyeong stared at me.

Just as the atmosphere turned heavy, Manager Ma returned and opened the restaurant door.

After placing coffee in front of both Park Joohyeong and me, he quietly left again.

“Advisor Park. I don’t avoid fights that come at me. Articles? Let them publish them. I can bury them under other issues if I want. If something that trivial were the problem, I wouldn’t have bothered seeking you out.”

Bringing the coffee to my lips, I let out a faintly dangerous smile.

“What I want is the destruction of Bae Youngsik and his faction.”

Perhaps startled by the word destruction, Park Joohyeong’s eyes widened.

“Hanminjok Daily is a troublesome place. Because employee-shareholders elect the representative director themselves, it’s difficult for me to interfere in the election.”

Of course, there were countless ways to drag Bae Youngsik down.

I could move the prosecution and political world. I could manipulate public opinion through other media outlets.

But even after he stepped down, his faction would not disappear completely.

And I had no intention of leaving future troubles behind.

“As far as I know, one of your campaign promises was to abolish the direct election system. Is that correct?”

“That’s right. Because employee-shareholders directly elect the representative director, internal factions are inevitable. In the end, the people best at choosing sides gain promotions. When we first founded Hanminjok Daily, our goal was to create a free press that would never bow to outside pressure.”

The employee-shareholder direct election system was indeed free from outside pressure.

But internally, it had slowly begun to rot away.

Vote-buying was rampant. School ties and regional connections dominated everything.

“To break that vicious cycle, elections must involve not only employee-shareholders, but all shareholders.”

“That’s exactly what I want.”

“You want that?”

Park Joohyeong looked at me suspiciously and asked again.

“Our goals align perfectly, don’t they? Then is there any reason not to join hands?”

“......”

“You don’t need to worry that I’ll place you in the palm of my hand and control Hanminjok Daily. Criticize the Yoon Changho administration if you want. Criticize me if you want. Hell, you can even criticize my friend Lee Myungsoo. I won’t stop you.”

Still suspicious, Park Joohyeong replied sharply.

“How can I believe that? Even Koryeo Daily only publishes articles favorable to President Kim.”

“And what exactly is wrong with that? I honestly don’t understand what wrongdoing you’re accusing me of. Tell me. What exactly have I done wrong?”

“That’s......”

Park Joohyeong couldn’t answer immediately.

So it was true that he’d been stripped of all influence.

He only had a vague understanding of who I was and clearly didn’t know the full story.

“Is it because I’m close to President Yoon Changho? Have any of my actions ever gone against South Korea’s national interests?”

I wanted South Korea to become stronger.

In that regard, my personal interests and the nation’s interests aligned.

“Or have I ever deceived people for my own personal gain?”

“You placed every political party in the palm of your hand and manipulated them from behind the scenes......”

“Haha, really? And what exactly was wrong about what I did? In the first place, I wasn’t the one who split the Progressive Party into two factions. I merely nudged their desires a little. Every choice they made was their own.”

I answered proudly, and Park Joohyeong faltered.

“I always provide choices. The decision is always made by the individuals themselves. Just like the proposal I’m making to you today.”

I finished the rest of my coffee in one gulp and set the cup down.

“Don’t think of me as some absolute evil. If not for me, South Korea would still be trapped beneath the shadow of Cheongpunghoe, moving solely for their benefit. Isn’t it funny? The same people who couldn’t say a single word against Cheongpunghoe speak so easily against me.”

“That’s......”

“Because I’m young? Because I started out as a loan shark? Or because you think I’m easy to look down on?”

Leaning forward slightly, I spoke again.

Though my mouth was smiling, Park Joohyeong visibly shrank back.

“I called you here today simply to familiarize ourselves and make my proposal. So I won’t say any more.”

“......”

“Even if you reject my proposal, I’ll still destroy Bae Youngsik and his faction through someone else. That is my will. I have never once backed down from something I decided to do. So choose. Will you take my hand, or reject it?”

I stood from my seat.

“The food here is pretty good. Let’s meet here again sometime. I’ll give you one week.”

Without even waiting for Park Joohyeong’s answer, I turned around and walked out of the restaurant.