Dear Comrade

Chapter 3. bubble (3)

Chapter 3. bubble (3)

In September of that year, officials from Japan, the United States, Britain, West Germany and France met at the Plaza Hotel in New York and succeeded in reaching an agreement.

The essence of this negotiation, later called the ‘Plaza Accord’, was the appreciation of the yen, which was overvalued against the dollar, and the United States, which had begun to lose out in manufacturing competition with other countries, especially Japan, more tolerating the growing trade deficit like a cola bubble. couldn’t give it.

Within a week after the agreement was signed, the yen rose sharply, and for the purposes of the United States, representative Japanese companies such as Toyota, Sony, Panasonic, and Hitachi placed a considerable burden on the international market.

As the dark clouds of the economic slowdown fell, discussions began over economic stimulus measures among the elite officials of the Great Wall of Japan (later the Ministry of Finance), who should be said to be the helmsman of the Japanese economy.

As the story of lowering interest rates to promote investment and deregulation of real estate lending was slowly coming out within the Great Wall, a man appeared in a building in Minato Ward, about 3 km from Katsumigaseki, where the Great Wall was located. was being beaten up.

“Ah, let’s not be cruel to each other in another country!”

“You sound like a compatriot, we don’t treat thugs as compatriots, no, you’re half-baked, so why don’t you call me a yakuza?”

“Yaro Kono… Oh, no, little ones, do you know how hard I worked to help you build Mindan here? Here’s the girder. Whose money do you think you bought it with? ok? Chosenjings who don’t even know this grace!”

“What, the girder? Do you know how humiliated we are because we used the shelter of our struggling compatriots abroad to launder your money… And then the Japanese police harassed because of you? Get out of here before you break your leg!”

Boom!

The man who was being kicked out clenched his teeth as he watched the door shut fiercely in front of him.

Although he was wearing a suit, he had a bald head, a large body, a rough-looking impression, and even Yakuza sunglasses.

ㅤㅞㅅ!

“Ah, it’s dirty… I thought a genius businessman like me would have nowhere to borrow money from here… That’s why Koreans can’t do it! Damn it!”

Heo Young-jun, who is turning thirty-eight this year, spit through the gate of the building from which he had just been expelled, the Central Headquarters of the Republic of Korea in Japan.

Shaking the dust off his clothes and walking aimlessly, he stopped and smoked a cigarette, realizing that this was his last cigarette, and swearing inwardly once more.

‘Damn, can’t even a single white-collar salaryman pass by… No, come to my senses, it’s been a while since I came out of prison, but it’s hard to get caught by the police by mistake. No matter how old you are, you still do things like that…’

He shouted loudly and came out, but in reality, Young-Jun Heo had no money to buy a pack of cigarettes right away, no place to go, and no place to come.

Some were Zainichi Koreans, one of the lowest classes in Japanese society, but the more important reason is that he had a criminal record.

‘Damn, it’d be better if I followed my old connections and climbed up… No, if I had to go to this kind of thing now, at least I’d look down on me and do chores. Unless you get at least a Benz and ride it…’

There is a saying that in order to make money, you have to spend money first.

That law also applies to scammers (though Heo Young-joon himself claimed to be a businessman), the first thing a skilled scammer would do is make his clothes look booty.

Whether it’s a customer, a personal network, or something to rob, the smell of money is the only way to get caught up in it.

Heo Young-jun also had numerous connections and customers (both in the dark and in the dark) in the past, and many of them are still active in various fields of society. it was obvious

What caught Heo Young-joon’s eyes as he sat down on a nearby empty lot and looked at the sky with a blank expression was the appearance of Minato-ku, especially Roppongi, which was changing day by day.

‘Damn it, if I had the money, that’s all mine, how can you turn a stone into gold for being so ignorant of the hands of Midas like me? If you have the money to roll the first snowball, the seed money…’

In that way, Young-Jun Heo muttered to himself and looked at the new shopping malls, boutiques, bars, restaurants, and buildings in the vicinity.

Originally, it was near Azabu, where the most prosperous people in Tokyo live, so it was flashy before, but now it is literally changing every day.

He himself once dreamed of living in a place like this.

Even though Heo Young-jun was one of the gangsters who often tangled in the nightlife clusters at the time, he never gave up on that ambition.

The problem was that he went to jail for trying to fulfill his ambition.

“Damn, I need to go somewhere and meet some old gangsters and borrow some money…”

“Heo Young-jun, right?”

“yes?”

Heo Young-jun tilted his head and turned his head when he heard the voice next to him.

I thought maybe one of the old gangsters I used to hang out with around here would recognize me.

But the person standing next to the young man as if he were a counselor was someone who knew his face.

“Chief Kim?”

“Call me ‘comrade’, Manager Kim. I remember we were taught to call it that way in our republic…”

“Aaah, is that so? But this is Nippon, not the Republic, right? what? This is near ‘Mindan’, so I know that your ‘Chongryon’ people don’t do it as soon as possible. Either lend me some money or I’ll go.”

“That’s right. I’m here to borrow money.”

“……….What?”

The last voice to answer his blunt question was not Kim Yong-geon, director of the Chongryon and Japan Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Korea, but a young man he had never seen before.

The young man, who seemed to have just graduated from college, looked straight into the eyes of Heo Young-jun, who avoided the eyes of most people, and even made a smirk.

“Shall we talk over a cup of coffee? It’s a business thing.”

Heo Young-jun, who accidentally followed the young man and Kim to a nearby coffee shop, was surprised by two things while talking with the young man.

First of all, the tone of the young man was not at all eccentric like other ‘Kitajosen (North Korea)’ humans, but soft and polite.

And the second thing is that the story the young man brought out was not at all a story of yawning such as ‘the superiority of the socialist system’, ‘the leader’s leadership’, and ‘the national power that resonates throughout the world’ (which you get tired of hearing when you talk with people in North Korea). .

The words of the young man who referred to himself as Jeong-hwan were rather the language of an experienced, rational, and, above all, self-reliant businessman, hard to find even in Japan.

However, what surprised Heo Young-Jun the most was the last proposal made by the young man and Manager Kim rather than the previous two points.

“Hey, are you going to lend me money? Are you… no, Junghwan-san?”

“Strictly speaking, we are going to lend money from the Choeun Credit Union under Chongryon. And, Mr. Heo Young-jun, you will become the representative of the company established with the funds.”

“……Ah, yes, you have found someone well. To be honest, my Korean compatriots… Ah, oops. It’s hard to find someone with business acumen like me among Koreans. Hmm, hmm, yes, how much?”

“The amount written here. You just need to sign it.”

Heo Young-jun, who took Jung-hwan’s letter of investment intent as if snatching it, was surprised to see the amount written on it.

Where the hell did these idiots get so much money?

No, second of all, why the hell would you lend that money to someone like you?

“Half the investment, the other half as a loan. Oh, and this is the first investment amount, and I will add the rest depending on the progress of the business.”

“business? What business?”

“Well, we can diversify later, but our main focus is the real estate investment business. I plan to invest in other stocks in the future.”

real estate investment?

People living in a country where there is no private property at all suddenly want to invest in real estate through me?

Heo Young-jun’s head began to spin little by little, feeling something strange.

I don’t know what the young guy in front of me is doing, but it’s clear that the money is out of control.

And if you look at the way that stiff Kim Yong-Gun treats him, (though it’s hard to believe) that guy is definitely Kim Yong-Gun’s superior.

In fact, since they came to the coffee shop and sat down, Yonggeon Kim has hardly said a word and only that young man is talking to himself.

Then maybe that young guy is Kitajousen… No, according to what they said, he would be the son of a high-ranking person in the Republic of Korea or the reincarnation of a sidekick…. Thinking up to this point, Young-Jun Heo slowly realized why they had come to him. .

‘This money must be money that is behind the scenes, money that can’t be managed legally, or at least the kind of money that shouldn’t get attention. That’s why you came to me to set up a front company. then….’

Heo Young-jun was far from a law-abiding citizen, but he was clearly a person who smelled money well.

When he realized that the other party had something to offer him, he gave up on his previous sloppy attitude and got up from his chair and bent his back 90 degrees.

“You have come very well. After all, when it comes to doing business in other countries, only our compatriots can count on us. If you entrust me with anything, I will call you five times.”

“compatriots? Don’t say you forgot about the ghosts, Comrade Heo Young-jun. No matter how much they belong to the same nation as us, they’re from the south, aren’t they? Last time, he came to ask for money while talking about his compatriots…”

“Haha, Manager, where in Japan is such a thing? In the eyes of the Japanese, you and us are all the same Jo Sen-Jing, aren’t we, Kim Jung-Hwan-san?”

Heo Young-jun said so with a smirk that didn’t suit his size.

I don’t have to go completely low-key, as long as I’m doing some illegal business over there.

Besides, that kid named Jeonghwan from Jeonju is still a child, and Manager Kim has never experienced any real battles in the capitalist economic system, so this fund is actually half of my money.

Heo Young-jun thought so, and slowly began to open the ‘board’.

I don’t know if I’m different, but with this single tongue, I’ve been through this tough world so far.

Once you get it at your own pace, it’s only a matter of time before I eat the whole thing and turn the other side into an ATM.

“By the way. If you are going to invest, we recommend that you invest in something other than real estate. The investment account law was relaxed a year ago, but diversifying a little more…”

“Ah, thank you for your concern, but it’s okay. Real estate is going up soon. I only invest in that one. We’ll think about it later.”

“Hey, you better listen to me instead. Director Kim and Hwan-Sang Jeong, honestly, like the people of your republic, don’t you know very well about investment and capitalism? Just trust me and follow me. So, just trust me once…”

“Mr. Heo Young-jun.”

Heo Young-joon cut off the ebb and flow, and Jeong-hwan placed the coffee cup he was holding on the table with a loud clicking sound.

His voice was still calm, but there was an unfamiliar chill behind it.

“……yes?”

“Look out the window over there. where you were sitting before.”

“……?”

At Jeonghwan’s words, Heo Young-jun looked out the window of the coffee shop without knowing English.

The coffee shop they found was an expensive coffee shop in Azabu, where you could see half of Minato Ward to the west with a high-rise view.

Jeonghwan said, pointing to a spot he could see out of the window.

“Do you know what’s coming up there soon?”

“……What is it?”

“It is a 54-story building. Mori Building Company, a well-known development company that Young-Jun knows well, is responsible for development and construction. It will take 10 years for the first shovel to open, but we don’t know what to do if we don’t mind the locals talking about the land compensation work and get a permit from the government office. The important thing is that a complex office large enough to be ranked in the top five in Tokyo, the world’s largest metropolitan area, will soon be located on that land. Can you roughly estimate its economic value?”

“……??”

Heo Young-joon as well as Manager Kim became dazed at Jeonghwan’s outrageous burning noise, and only looked at Jeonghwan’s mouth.

How the hell do you know that?

No, and if there were such a large number, why didn’t it come to my ears?

However, there was a question that echoed louder in Heo Young-jun’s head than that.

……… Is this person who has lived in a communist country all his life?

“Ha, but the regulations on real estate loans are still strong, and there is no way that a building will be built suddenly…”

“Of course not now. in the next two years. And the restrictions will be relaxed soon. The general’s officials must be tying up their heads right now.”

“How the hell do you get that kind of information?”

“That’s not important. The point is, there are hundreds of ways to make money in a capitalist country, but in the end there is only one point. ‘Buy when it’s cheap and sell when it’s high.’ Whether it’s stocks, government bonds, or real estate, you should buy them when they’re cheap. Young-Jun Mr. We have neither the will nor the will to divert funds elsewhere. Do you know?”

“Yes, yes…”

Jeonghwan didn’t raise his voice or roll his eyes, but there was no need for that.

Only he was sure.

certainty that it will happen.

So Junghwan’s words had a strong power.

“Purchase the land by any means and methods. You can mobilize people if necessary. The best way is to give enough compensation so as not to cause noise, but if you can’t help it, just tell Manager Kim what’s in the way. It can be thrown into Tokyo Bay like concrete.”

“…Oh, I see.”

“good. One last thing, Heo Young-jun.”

“yes?”

“If you fail this, you too will see the bottom of Tokyo Bay. Do you know?”

Having said this, Junghwan took a sip of coffee and added a word.

“Because it is the creed of the Republic to engage in the work of the Party militantly .”