Hiding the House in the Apocalypse

10. Chaebol (1)

What will happen to the chaebols if the world goes bankrupt?

It is a subject that every Korean person should be curious about.

Recently, a community user ‘Reporter Yangban’, who is very active, reported the current situation of one of the conglomerate families.

Gijayangban: Cheol-ju Park, chairman of Seokju Group, found a hideout! Mr. Cheolju Ham

The current status of the chaebol posted by the journalist was enough to drive us, the destructionists, into despair.

On a gentle slope, they built a concrete fortress that could accommodate dozens of people, and within it, they built their own ecosystem that could handle everything from agriculture, production, and entertainment.

The moment I saw the small golf course inside the fortress taken with a drone, I burst out with exclamation.

“······and.”

He is also a chaebol.

If you have assets in trillions, you can make something like that.

not particularly envious

I know that no matter how hard I try, I can’t imitate it.

In addition to Park Chul-ju, which was posted by a reporter Yangban, Korea’s leading chaebols prepared for disaster by building similar or inferior fortresses.

Few chaebols left Korea, but foreign countries are not safe either, and the bigger reason is that a kick that works in Korea doesn’t work abroad.

Most of these have abandoned the group.

He tried to survive by downgrading himself from a modern monarch with thousands or tens of thousands of employees to the head of a single family.

It may be a reasonable option in this doomed world, but some people have chosen a different path.

*

Since the first visit, I have tried to visit Seoul at least once every two months.

Every time I went, the surrounding scenery became dreary, miserable, and above all dangerous.

Every time I enter Seoul, I pass through Gangnam. Gangnam, once one of the wealthiest villages in Korea, has now declined into a refugee camp filled with colorful tents and shoddy temporary buildings.

Every time I stop by, there is a temporary building that catches my eye whenever I step into a refugee camp where tents shrink.

The collapsed temporary building had a sign that was in better condition than the building itself.

[ Wave Wind ]

One of the chaebols that once dominated the Korean economy.

When this temporary building was erected, it was about a year and four months ago, that is, three months after the outbreak of the war.

As I was passing through the crowded refugee camp, I saw many people gathered like a cloud.

Upon further inquiry, it turned out that the Papoong Group had built a free meal center with their own money.

There is a huge difference between running a soup kitchen when the economy is functioning properly and running a soup kitchen when trade is paralyzed.

Papung has set up and operated several such catering establishments in major locations in Seoul.

No matter how big the wind is, wouldn’t this be a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of

There’s nothing else to do anyway. After waiting in line for 2 hours, for some reason, a menu that you would see at a funeral hall called ‘Pyeonyuk and Beef Rice Soup’ came out.

When I was in an air-raid shelter, I didn’t smoke, let alone drink, but I ate it casually here.

“Kya~!”

Park Gyu, a man so light that he could turn into a blue-eyed man with a bowl of soup and a glass of soju!

However, while I was eating, there were shady stories going around that were quite different from what I thought.

“Chairman bastard. It looks like you’re trying to get into politics.”

“I pretend to pretend.”

“Isn’t it because you’re all black to spend money like this in this situation? It’s a piece of sh*t to comfort the people.”

Frankly, it was annoying to hear.

If you had a good time in this difficult situation, you should be grateful. Why do you keep doubting other people’s intentions?

He is not a person who lives only with good intentions.

I wanted to say something, even if it was just a glass of soju, because my body was blessed by the wind, but when I thought about it, I thought I didn’t have that kind of loyalty, so I held back.

As soon as I let go of my anger and left the restaurant, there was something that caught my eye.

“This is Jepungho.”

A mature man wearing well-trimmed suit pants under an active jumper, accompanied by forced smiles, was making his name known by extending his greetings and shaking hands to the people who had come to eat soup.

“Did you eat well? This is Jepungho.”

Jepungho.

He is the owner of the Papoong Group.

Behind him, dignified men of similar contemplation, a well-groomed young man presumably his son, and pretty girls stood in rank order with awkward expressions on their faces.

He headed towards it as if possessed by a ghost.

My intention was to shake hands with a lady from a conglomerate family.

However, when I went there, the ladies were behind me, and it was the energetic contemplative Je Pung-ho who actually held my hand.

“This is Jepungho.”

This was the first time he had seen the real chaebol head up close and even shook his hand.

The first time I saw him, I knew for the first time that non-hunter eyes could shine like this.

Moreover, his hands were rough and hard, and he felt an unknown power beyond his grip.

According to later stories, there seems to be an election for members of the National Assembly soon.

It is not because all members of the National Assembly are dead, but because their terms of office have already passed.

However, in a war in which 18% of the Korean people evaporated, the fact that the death rate of Korean lawmakers was only 1% predicted a significant result in some sense.

*

After eating soup, we arrived under a building.

This building is the National Disaster Relief Commission. It is the abbreviation of the National Committee.

This extra-legal institution, called modern Bibyunsa, is the most powerful and influential institution in Korea since the outbreak of the war.

The main reason for visiting Seoul is that there are many acquaintances on the National Committee.

I actually saw a lot of benefits.

The most important information, of course, walkie-talkies, military radios, spam, cooking oil holiday sets and so on.

There were exceptionally few people that day.

In particular, there was no female employee who I asked for something every day.

As I was wandering around after greeting a security guard who knew my face, a person I had never seen in my life started talking to me.

“Are you okay for a second?”

An expressionless face and dead eyes, an extremely businesslike tone and posture.

It was cool from the first impression.

“Is there a problem?”

“You are aware of the current frontline situation. Due to the escalating battle, the current forces, especially those capable of enduring the war, are not enough…”

Sure enough, it seems to be a recruiting officer.

Due to the nature of war, the quality of troops is more important than the quantity, so instead of picking just anyone, they approach someone who looks healthy and capable and invites them at random.

This person seems to like me, but I have no intention of going to the front.

“Why am I saying this with my own mouth, but if I had the ability, would I have come here to sell my connections and beg?”

I took it pretty proudly.

“I heard you were a hunter in the old days.”

Well, not even the seeds were eaten.

He sighed and asked.

“Who sent you? Are you Director Lee Sang-hoon?”

If Lee Sang-hoon was right, I was going to visit him and say something.

“no. I am Commissioner Daram Kim.”

“Are you Daram Kim?”

It’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.

junior

He was a guy who followed me well.

I think he might have liked me.

In my memory, all I can think of is a person who is unnecessarily motivated, but a person who always messes up and relies on me because of his immaturity.

“Senior Park.”

Can people change in just 5 years?

Even at that time, he was not young, but his junior, who had the heart of a girl in his own way, had now turned into a manager with an impoverished image, so that even if he stabbed him, not even a drop of water would come out, let alone blood.

“long time no see?”

You can tell just by hearing his voice.

That this guy is a completely different creature from the good juniors I knew.

On her desk, a picture of her husband and child is placed proudly.

will become a mother

That Daram Kim.

“Senior personality, no, I’ll tell you briefly. Help me just once.”

“I’d like to say why should I help, but I can’t?”

“Do you want to be taken to the country? Or would you like to live freely like now?”

“Didn’t you make a deal not to serve again?”

“Do you think that promise will work in the world today?”

The difference between my serious face and the dumbfounded face of my junior seemed to represent the gap between the reality I thought and the actual reality.

He smiled bitterly and avoided her gaze.

“I have to live freely.”

“Then help me just this once. Because I dealt with Lee Sang-hoon to beat it with that.”

“Lee Sang-hoon?”

“I don’t care about you, so don’t have any ill feelings. That person is no longer an individual, but a person who sees figures.”

“Because he became a high-ranking person, the world seems to be changing differently.”

“You know that even seniors are lacking in people, right? What’s going on on the wire?”

She was generally expressionless, but this time she glared at me with a bit of reproach.

“…”

A bitter taste flows in your mouth.

I know.

What happens at the border.

That I’m not that proud.

In the desolate silence, Da-ram Kim shifted her gaze back to the papers.

“Jepoongho.”

“Jepoongho?”

Under the scent of beef soup, the face of a man with exceptionally sparkling eyes and a strange grip passed by as if drawn.

“That person said he would catch monsters with his own people.”

She handed out the papers.

“This.”

If the contents of the report are correct, it is a ridiculous operation.

No, it is a collective suicide under the guise of an operation.

Before I even bothered to say anything, my quick-witted junior said coldly without even looking at me.

“Just pretend.”

I know that the junior has changed, but the change of the junior who was so calm and kind has permeated my heart quite bitterly.

“This is the last time.”

“As long as I’m alive, I’ll stop you from being dragged to the wire.”

“······thanks.”

Even so, it seems that the nature has not changed.

It was the moment to turn around, holding both the bitterness of life and the emotion that rarely blooms in it.

“senior.”

Daram Kim called me.

“How come you don’t seem to be old at all?”

I didn’t respond to that.

*

It wasn’t until a month later that I met Je Poong-ho again.

The meeting place is the headquarters building of the Papung Group, which is said to have been designed by a world-renowned British architect.

Although the headquarters of Papoong survived the nuclear attack, problems with the power system and elevators occurred, so instead of the grandiose high-speed elevator in the company, they had to go up at a slow pace to the formidable number of floors of the 55th floor by using a temporary elevator for construction boards installed outdoors.

“eww.”

It was terribly cold.

In the group conference room, which was once said to be open to only those who had exerted a lot of energy in Korea, other than me, a group of people dressed in suits kept their seats.

Seeing that they wear employee IDs, they appear to be employees within the group, but even if export routes are blocked, the group seems to maintain its appearance to some extent.

I suddenly became curious.

does the salary come out? Are there performance bonuses that their employees have been bragging about?

Je Pung-ho, who was shaking hands with everyone in the soup kitchen, was sitting with his back turned to the seat farthest from the conference room.

He didn’t respond when I came in.

Instead, I was dealt with by an intelligent man in his mid-fifties who appeared to be a secretary.

“Are you Park Kyu-nim? I heard that you are from a hunter.”

He briefly interviewed me.

Career, combat experience, rank and so on.

Most of my records have been expunged anyway.

said whatever it was

“It’s D-class. I’ve been in front of the gate, and I’ve had some fighting experience, but I’ve never been the main one.”

Je Poong-ho cleared his throat with a clear expression of discomfort.

I didn’t really care.

I was just wondering why.

Why does a person who becomes the head of a chaebol suddenly go hunting for monsters?

No matter how much trade is cut off, even if it is a world where business is impossible, isn’t this an excessive change in industry?

Unfortunately, none of the men in suits answered my questions.

From the moment I revealed my poor career, I, Park Gyu, was imprinted on them as something similar to office furniture.

After a while.

“You may leave.”

He was politely ejected from the conference room without ever getting a say.

Actually, I had nothing to say.

I did have one question.

In the hallway, there was another group of people in groups of threes and threes who had a different atmosphere from the meeting room.

I thought I knew roughly what kind of treatment it was, but as I kept my mouth shut, there was someone approaching me unexpectedly.

“What are you doing?”

Mystery girl.

It is a face in memory.

It was one of the legions of young people who stood behind Pung-ho Je when they shook hands at the soup kitchen.

I remembered her because she was quite beautiful.

“I have a question for you. Are you all right?”

When I first saw her in the hallway, it was hard to approach her because she had a cold impression, but when I started talking to her, she quickly responded kindly with a trained smile.

“Chairman, why are you hunting monsters?”

Unfortunately, unlike the others, I didn’t wear an employee ID, so I couldn’t tell her name, but if you look at her face value, she might be the granddaughter or nephew of the chairman.

She thought for a moment, then looked around to make sure no one was there, then sighed and told the inside story.

“You know that the other day, the chairman was going to run for the National Assembly, right?”

“yes.”

“Because it failed.”

“why?”

“Incumbent lawmakers extend their terms virtually indefinitely.”

“Oops.”

I found out later that it was almost unanimous.

There were two abstaining votes, but from my point of view, they are more disgusting and vicious.

“President, your plan has gone awry. In the meantime, you have provided a lot of support regardless of the ruling party and the opposition party. From convenient support for individual members to repairing the broken Capitol. So the group protested, and the National Assembly replied that they would prepare a seat if they came to one of the currently vacant constituencies. That’s how it happened.”

“Is that ‘constituency’ where we’re going?”

“I am not going. The president and his loyalists will go.”

Contrary to first impressions, she did not appear to be a fan.

I asked my friend Kim.

“Me? It’s not a wave. It’s the person below it. My father is the representative of the primary subcontractor.”

She sighed and glared at the conference room door with resentful eyes.

“······What kind of attachment is there to a group that has already collapsed?”

It seemed then that he knew.

That this woman has no lingering attachments to wave wind.

On the contrary, she even had a clear hostility towards the wave.

When the water was opened, she poured out the words in her heart as if she had been waiting for them.

“Everyone is insane. It’s not a blood relationship, it’s just an employment relationship, so why is everyone acting like before the war?”

“well······.”

“excuse me.”

Suddenly, the woman’s eyes sparkled.

“Are you a Hunter?”

“Not now.”

“I have a request for you.”

She strode forward.

The faint scent of perfume penetrated his nostrils.

“Can’t you dry it off, Dad?”

She put her father’s business card into my hand.

“This madness, please stop.”

Then the door to the meeting room opened.

It was Je Poong-ho who took the lead.

He walked down the hallway with big strides without hesitation, looking straight ahead with wide eyes that would shine at any time in his serious and solemn face.

Behind him were dozens of suits, each with their own expression, silently following.

The executive of the company who was dealing with me earlier looked at me and said bluntly.

“Hunter Park, let’s go.”

“Should I go too?”

“yes.”

I turned to the woman with whom I was talking.

A lot of people passed between me and her, but her gaze was focused only on me.

I thought about it for a while, but that time wasn’t long.

“It may not go well.”