CH117 | VOC

In politics, what’s the best way to respond when you can no longer refute the criticism?

The answer is to attack the critic, not the criticism. Bring up their past mistakes and moral flaws, regardless of their relevance to the current issue, to discredit their criticism.

This tactic, often called “mudslinging,” was effective but had a fatal flaw:

It made the fight dirty.

“Assemblyman Lee An-jin! You were investigated by the prosecution three years ago for accepting bribes from a CEO, weren’t you?!” Kim Soon-jae shouted.

Lee An-jin flinched but quickly retorted, “That case was dismissed! It was my secretary’s wrongdoing! And you, Assemblyman Kim Soon-jae, weren’t you caught drunk driving five years ago and abused your power?!”

Kim Soon-jae faltered at his counterattack.

Then one of Kim Soon-jae’s faction members shouted, “Assemblyman Lee An-jin! I heard you sexually harassed a female reporter ten years ago!”

Lee An-jin retorted angrily, “Don’t distort the facts! I just patted her on the butt because she looked like my daughter! And you, you made pro-North Korea statements in college, saying ‘North Korea isn’t so bad!’ Isn’t that a problem?!”

“Tell the whole story! You said you would live in North Korea after unification!”

Then Assemblyman Han Jong-oh, a member of the self-proclaimed “Committee for Eradicating Corruption in the Gold Collection Campaign,” led by Lee An-jin, shouted,
“Assemblyman Kim Soon-jae! Your father was a pro-Japanese collaborator! Aren’t you ashamed?!”

“What does that have to do with this?!”

It was a chaotic free-for-all.

* * Z

“Let’s overthrow these corrupt politicians! We have to punish the trading companies and their collaborators who defiled our noble cause!”

Oh Jin-mo shouted, holding up the Taegeukgi gold bar, and the crowd chanted,

“Oh Jin-mo! Oh Jin-mo! Taegeukgi patriot! Oh Jin-mo!”

He had done this dozens of times now. His skills as an agitator had improved dramatically.

“Let’s go! Justice prevails!”

The protesters, marching forward, were stopped not by the police, but by a civilian group called the Patriotic Democratic Union.

“The gold collection campaign scandal is a conspiracy! A conspiracy by pro-North Korea forces to destabilize the nation!”

The protesters retorted angrily, “A conspiracy?! There are countless witnesses and evidence! You’ve been bribed!”

“Get them!”

The two groups clashed, and dozens were injured.

The streets were in chaos.

And I, the one who had orchestrated this entire mess, was watching the news in my office, enjoying a midday drink.

“This is perfect.”

Lee An-jin, after some initial hesitation, had gone on a rampage, throwing the entire country into chaos.

The “corruption buster” Lee An-jin and the “Taegeukgi patriot” Oh Jin-mo were the perfect duo.

“It’s about time the government reacted.”

The best-case scenario was for the trading companies to be replaced, and Chunha Trading to take over the gold collection campaign.

“But hyung…”

Maru tilted his head. “What if we lose everything?”

“Lose everything? What do you mean?”

“The government might just cancel the gold collection campaign altogether.”

I chuckled. “Do you think that’s easy? The government has been touting its success. The trading companies might have screwed it up, but the campaign itself was effective. It united the people, showed the world Korea’s resilience, and earned foreign currency. They’ll try to salvage it.”

Of course, there was a possibility of cancellation.

But the gold collection campaign was the current administration’s first major achievement.

The trading companies might have manipulated it, but the government couldn’t afford to lose such a valuable source of foreign currency when they were on the brink of collapse without the IMF bailout.

“They entrusted it to amateurs and ended up with this mess, so now they’ll look for experts. And that’s us! It’s perfect.”

Maru chuckled dryly at my excitement. “If I were the president, I would just cancel the whole thing… You’re so lucky, hyung. You never seem to worry.”

“What’s there to worry about? We haven’t spent any of our own money, except for the fake Taegeukgi gold bar. They’re fighting among themselves. Just wait and see.”

Just then, my phone vibrated.

“Huh?”

My body also started trembling.

Maru, seeing me tremble without answering the phone, looked puzzled. “Why aren’t you answering?”

“Maru… I told you, didn’t I?”

“What’s wrong?”

“To wait and see.”

I smiled brightly. “My intuition is tingling.”

* * *

“Hello, everyone. I’m Park Sol, CEO of Chunha Trading.”

Blinding camera flashes greeted me as I stood on the stage, ready for my debut. It was the government’s public apology and my grand entrance.

I bowed my head. “As the spokesperson just mentioned, I’d like to offer my sincere condolences to those who have been hurt by the gold collection campaign scandal.”

I continued in a calm voice,

“As some of you might know, I donated my entire casino jackpot winnings, hundreds of billions of won, and I’m currently running a foundation. I’m not mentioning this to brag, but to establish my credibility. Yes, the gold collection campaign has failed.”

I looked at the murmuring reporters and declared,

“But I can assure you that this failure is not the fault of the Korean people! Your dedication and sacrifice were not in vain!”

My eyes reddened. “I won’t let your hopes and dreams, embodied in the gold you donated, be wasted. I’ll take this responsibility seriously. I’ll operate transparently and won’t seek any personal gain! My fellow Koreans…”

A single tear rolled down my cheek. “I won’t consider this an opportunity, but a sacred duty bestowed upon me by heaven. Please watch over me.”

Inside the car, on the way back to the company,

Maru, who was driving, glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “You’re a good actor.”

I rubbed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t know you could cry on cue. Did you use eye drops?”

“I didn’t use anything. Those were real tears.”

Maru looked at me incredulously. “You cried?”

“Yes, why? Can’t I shed tears of emotion?”

“What emotion… don’t tell me…”

“Yes, I was overwhelmed with emotion, thinking about all the money I’m going to make.”

I grinned. “Everything is going according to plan.”

The call had been from the Blue House.

A meeting with the President.

A business discussion with the Minister.

The Blue House, desperate to appease the public, and Chunha Trading, ready to take over from the trading companies.

Everything had fallen into place.

“200 tons. Just 200 tons is over 4 trillion won. And then we can skim off the top during the refining and distribution process! Hehehe.”

I said, almost drooling,

“We could make a trillion won.”

We could make a fortune without crossing the line into illegality, unlike the trading companies.

Maru looked at me with a disgusted expression. “Are you that happy?”

“Of course! What’s better than making money without spending any of your own?”

The NACF would handle the gold purchases, and Chunha Trading would just handle the distribution.

Distribution was the easiest way to make money.

“And we get to be patriotic heroes! It’s perfect!”

The Blue House had no other choice.

They couldn’t afford to cancel the gold collection campaign and admit defeat. They needed to salvage it somehow.

Chunha Trading, with its positive image as a charitable organization and its expertise as the largest gold producer in Korea, was the perfect candidate.

“What will happen to the trading companies?”

I smiled. “It’s a predictable story. They’ll be investigated and prosecuted.”

Even the powerful chaebols couldn’t escape prosecution now that their crimes had been exposed.

“Justice has been served. Serves them right, those bastards.”

“Justice? I wonder.”

“What do you mean? Won’t they be punished for such a massive scandal?”

I smiled at Maru’s naivety. “You’re so innocent.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’ll just offer up a scapegoat, a mid-level executive, apologize, and be done with it.”

“No way! The public is outraged, they won’t let them get away with it!”

I patted his head. “If it weren’t for me, you would have been scammed and living on the streets. Consider me your lifelong benefactor.”

He brushed my hand away. “Stop talking nonsense. There’s no way they’ll get away with it.”

“Of course they will. Half of the top 30 chaebols have already collapsed since the financial crisis started. Do you know what that means? Including their subcontractors and suppliers, almost half of the companies in Korea have gone bankrupt. And now you’re saying we should launch a full-scale investigation into seven more chaebols?”

I scoffed. “That’s absurd. What if they collapse? Then three-quarters of the Korean companies will be gone. It’ll be the final nail in the coffin.”

Maru protested, “That’s ridiculous! It’s not like we’re investigating all their subsidiaries, just the trading companies involved in the scandal. Why would they collapse?”

I shrugged. “That’s what the chaebols will argue. Not me.”

“Ah…”

“And you know what’s funny?” I smirked. “It’ll work. Do you think the ruling and opposition parties are siding with the trading companies just because of money? Do you think the government was really in the dark? I figured it out with a little investigation. I don’t think they were ignorant. They knew and turned a blind eye.”

Maru’s face hardened.

“Korea is an export-driven economy. That’s why trading companies are important. And they’re struggling because of the economic crisis. So the government has to save them. But they can’t openly use public funds because of the public backlash. The gold collection campaign was a convenient tool. They could make the trading companies appear healthy by boosting their sales with the gold collected from the public.”

“So you’re saying the ruling party, the opposition party, and the trading companies are all in cahoots?”

I nodded. “If I hadn’t created this mess, it would never have been exposed. Or maybe they would have revealed it later, after the statute of limitations expired, and made it disappear. The statute of limitations for tax evasion is only five years. They could have waited five years, exposed it, and gotten away with it.”

“That’s… that’s absurd…”

“Whoever planned this probably thought they were being patriotic. Saving companies, even if it meant using underhanded methods.”

“Patriotic? Patriotic?!”

“Yes, patriotic. Everyone has their own definition of patriotism.”

Maru shouted, “That’s not patriotism!”

“Hey, why are you yelling at me? I didn’t do it! It’s just a theory!”

I swallowed the words, “If it were me, that’s what I would have done.”

Maru shook his head. “No, no, that’s just your theory. They wouldn’t be that corrupt. Politicians elected by the people wouldn’t ignore public opinion. I don’t believe it.”

I smiled sadly, a rare occurrence for me.

“Maru, the world isn’t as beautiful as you think.”