Dear Comrade

Chapter 4. black screen (1)

Chapter 4. black screen (1)

In the spring of April 1986, Junghwan’s daily work began with investment and ended with investment.

He wakes up early in the morning and after a short meal goes to the Tokyo Stock Exchange to watch the market conditions all day. At lunch, he eats with Heo Young-jun and receives a report on the purchase status of assets including real estate.

If there is a new property to be sold or bought, he gives instructions to Young-Jun Heo (of course, it is a confirmed fact, not a prediction to Jung-Hwan), and Jung-Hwan himself heard that the price of the purchased asset rises and falls.

Of course, most of them were uptrend, and the downtrend was difficult to report, but he did not stop watching the market for a day in order not to miss the timing to sell.

And in the afternoon, under the guise of shopping with Hye-rim Yoo or visiting an aquarium that is slowly starting to enter Tokyo, she contacted Chongryon’s chief Kim Yong-geon, read the confidential documents he brought, and watched the situation in Pyongyang and the insides of Kim Jong-il read beyond.

Then, in the evening, having a luxurious meal with Hye-rim Yoo, returning to the hotel, reading a report or book that had not been read in the afternoon, and then falling asleep was a daily routine.

But today, there has been a slight change in that routine.

“Aren’t you going to sell it?”

At Jeonghwan’s counter-question, Heo Young-jun scratched his bald head as if he didn’t know where to put his body, and even blushed.

“Yes, sorry. My younger brothers… Oops, no matter how hard I try to persuade all the employees of our Takayama investment company, the whole point is the same…”

Takayama Real Estate was the name of a real estate investment company founded by Heo Young-jun with Cho Chong-ryeon, or Jeong-hwan’s money.

The name ‘Takayama’ was given as ‘Takayama Tokutaro (高山登久)’, but the name of Heo Young-jun in Japan was ‘Takayama Tokutaro’. it was recommended

As Takayama Real Estate is a de facto state-owned company invested with the money of the Republic, he insisted on making some connection, even if it could not be revealed publicly.

“How much did you present?”

“It is 20 million yen per square meter….”

“………………”

1 pyeong.

Although it is a fact that is surprisingly not well known in Korea in the 21st century, it is also a representative Japanese-style unit introduced during the Japanese colonial period.

To give a rough analogy, Jeonghwan raises an eyebrow despite the fact that he offered 20 million yen to buy a space about two tatami mats, 3.3 m² in metric measurement, and enough space for an adult male to lie down, and more than 200 million won even rough calculations in Korean Won. Did not do it.

The land he wants to buy now, a key line of the Tokyo subway, and the key point of the 23 wards of Tokyo from Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Harajuku to Shinagawa, is that if it is the site for the expansion of the Yamanote Loop Line, it will go up even more in the near future. Because I already knew the point.

‘Well, I didn’t think it would be easy in the first place.’

“Who is the current owner of the land? I don’t think he’s a normal person…”

“That’s right. It’s a place called Ishibashi real estate development, but what happened, Master… No, he got the information one step earlier than Jung Hwan-san and secured the site as their own.”

At those words, Junghwan bowed his head towards Heo Young-jun, his eyes lit up.

How do you know the progress of the railroad expansion work faster than the returnee?

“Is that true? Why are you so sure?”

“Look at the map here. The colored part is the land owned by Ishibashi Real Estate.”

As soon as Heo Young-jun took a map out of his bag and laid it out on the table, Jung-hwan could understand at once why he was suspicious of information leaks.

The land owned by Ishibashi Real Estate, indicated in red, was long like a long snake, but certainly overlapped with the extension construction section.

In addition, there is no room for changing the route, and the expansion project itself was purchased impossible if the area did not go through the area in any way.

To avoid suspicion, the site was discontinued in the middle, but it seemed impossible to make a plan to purchase in this way without knowing the construction plan in advance.

“They say they were planning to build a school, but anyone who sees it is the sound of a dog barking. It seems that they were aiming for a tax reduction benefit if they purchase it after reporting that it will be used for public purposes. Junghwan-sang, whoever sees this…”

“……There is a back belly. It’s also very powerful.”

Jeonghwan grimaced at the strong scent of the relationship between politics and business, which was already emanating from him, and he muttered like that, and Heo Young-jun nodded his head dissatisfied.

“Yes, the Yakuza I know…. Ah, no, I found out here and there through the networks of my friends who were in the role of Im-hyeop. Other organizations and construction companies had already smelled it and told me to get twisted and get rid of my superiors. It sounds like you just listened and left. I’m pretty sure there’s a yangban in the back.”

“……”

That’s not really surprising.

In Korea and Japan, during the period of high growth in the 1980s, there were always political and business connections nearby.

When there was no real-name financial system yet, borrowed-name accounts and insider trading were prevalent in the present era.

Besides, Jeonghwan is a North Korean.

Since I am a citizen of a country that has no formal diplomatic relations with Japan, it is difficult to ask for help from the law.

‘……..I didn’t even want to ask for help in the first place.’

“I… Jeonghwan-sang, if you raise the price once and offer it…?”

“no. First of all, we cannot afford to give more than 20 million. It is because the financial situation is in a tight state because they are sprinkling cash in advance to preempt properties that will rise in price. But, of course, I have no intention of giving up.”

“……If that’s the case?”

“We build a slate. I absolutely need this land no matter what. There seems to be a connection with someone quite high over there too, but we need to find that person first. You have to know your partner to negotiate or whatever. Can you do it?”

Although Junghwan asked, he honestly thought that Heo Youngjun would express his displeasure.

The transportation sector, which is the core infrastructure that drives society in any country, is bound to have the strongest power among government ministries.

Moreover, given the scale and interests of the business, it is clear that there is a high-ranking person, if replaced with a republican style, there is a level of director who is in charge of one party in the party. Because I thought it was impossible for anyone to know.

However, contrary to Jung-hwan’s concerns, Heo Young-joon smiled and said confidently.

“Heh, don’t worry. Once I get an estimate, it’s clear that it’s someone from the railway provincial government or the National Land Office, but I’ll collect the rumors from the guys in Yamaguchi-gumi that I worked with in the past. There are a lot of people behind Japanese politicians, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find out who they are. Just let them spend money to grease their mouths well. For the Yakuza, money is loyalty.”

“…………..Is that true?”

Are you just going to dig through the networks of the Yakuza to uncover the corruption involved in Tokyo’s largest subway line expansion project?

When Jung-hwan asked with a questionable expression at the unexpected rant, Heo Young-joon revealed his yellow teeth as if it was a trade secret, and smiled.

“Do you know what politicians and Yakuzas have in common, Jeong Hwan-sang?”

“……What is it?”

“There are thousands of things to count, such as liking other people’s money, telling lies as if eating rice, and being the wrong person to be a good person…. The most representative thing is that civil engineering is the biggest interest. . Trust me. I don’t know about Japan, but about half of the buildings in the Kanto area are under construction by those who had a relationship with me and Kyodai in the past.”

Surprisingly, Heo Young-jun’s promise was true.

In just a week, he scoured his personal network to find out who was behind the Ishibashi Real Estate Company.

The problem was that it was bigger than I thought.

“I found out. Eiichi Nakao (中尾榮一), currently Minister of Construction, 6th term member of the Liberal Democratic Party…. President of Real Estate Company Ishibashi is a college classmate. And he’s also an henchman of the incumbent Prime Minister, Nakasone.”

“Comrade Jeonghwan, wouldn’t it be better to give up on this project? It seems too risky.”

“No, comrade Kim. It’s been good.”

At Manager Kim Yong-geon’s worried tone, Jeong-hwan shook his head and euphemistically expressed his refusal.

Snakes come out when you touch the grass, but the results of our investigation this time were not snakes, but tigers.

‘The incumbent Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone is a person who boasted of such powerful power that he was called ‘a prime minister but equal to the president’ in Japan. If it’s someone’s henchman, he’s obviously a huge tycoon… You have to be careful about touching it.’

But in a sense, it was also a phone call for him.

Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone is a person who privatized various state-owned enterprises to the extent of being called the progenitor of Japanese neoliberalism, and of course the Japanese Railways is one of them.

Therefore, it is not at all strange that his henchman, Construction Minister Nakao, is in contact with the Yamanote Line expansion project.

‘At some point, I had to line up with Japanese politicians. If we turn this crisis into an opportunity, the journey over the next three years will be much easier. No, maybe it will be helpful even after that…’

“Comrade Kim. Is there any way to meet Nakao Construction Minister in the name of Chongryon?”

“It will be possible. However………”

Although Kim Yong-geon gave a positive answer to Jung-hwan’s question, he darkened his face and whispered to me.

“It’s not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it’s the Ministry of Construction… It seems that it is difficult to avoid the eyes of the security guard when making official contact with a ministerial-level official while directly naming the Chongryon. What would you like to do ?”