What are you worried about?
The words that came out of Luo Gan's mouth were not the answer Li Feng wanted.
"We can't stop now. No matter how much the Prime Minister tells us to stop, we can't stop."
Because it was such an unexpected answer, Li Feng felt momentarily speechless.
"Prime Minister. For our China, this is the only chance. If we fail to tame Korea now, it will be harder to tame it later. Now is the right time."
Luo Gan couldn't meet Li Feng's eyes.
As he spoke, he only looked at the teacup on the table.
After Luo Gan finished speaking, only silence flowed.
But that was only for a moment. Soon, Li Feng laughed loudly.
When Luo Gan, startled, raised his head, Li Feng laughed even louder.
"Good! That's right. It's not good for you to just follow my orders forever. You, Luogan, have become a politician now."
"thank you."
"however······."
Li Feng, who had pushed up his glasses that had slipped down, crossed his arms.
He spoke with a cold face, as if asking when I had ever smiled.
"You do realize there's no place for you next time, right?"
"······."
"Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao cannot do away with the rules set by Deng Xiaoping. Even if you live as Jiang Zemin's problem solver."
Luo Gan had to step down in the next generation because of the rules set by Deng Xiaoping.
Deng Xiaoping limited the term of office for all party posts to ten years and explicitly prohibited anyone from holding a new party post after the age of 65.
The goal was to minimize one-man dictatorship and interference from elders and continue generational change.
Since Deng Xiaoping himself kept to the principles, no one could object. Of course, that was only on the surface.
Deng Xiaoping effectively ruled China until his death without holding any party office.
However, thanks to Deng Xiaoping's efforts, the transfer of power from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao was able to take place without much trouble.
Luo Gan was forced to step down from his position as a member of the Standing Committee and all party posts during the next general election due to age restrictions.
"I know."
"I expect Jiang Zemin to be ousted in the next general election. Even Jiang Zemin cannot maintain his influence without a party post."
"······."
"I told you to dig several rabbit holes. So don't be so sure."
"sorry."
Where had his initial decisive momentum gone? He bowed his head to Li Feng and asked for advice.
"What should I do? Should I stop at some point?"
"No. We cannot give in to threats. We must pressure Korea even harder."
Advertisements
As Luo Gan opened his eyes wide, Li Feng raised one corner of his mouth.
"Did you really think I would give in to such threats?"
"This may not be the end."
"I am already a person who is just waiting for the day of death. I have no honor to protect. I am already called a butcher, so what difference will it make if I am torn to pieces even more?"
Although his tone was self-deprecating, his expression was confident.
"Put more pressure on the Korean government. I will support you from behind. What do you think, Jiang Zemin?"
"The elders want to negotiate along some lines."
Li Feng, who clicked his tongue, shook his head.
"No, no. I won't bend to that extent. I have to be more forceful. For example······. Something like import and export restrictions."
"That's hard."
"It's hard. But it's not like I can't do it, right? It has to be that hard so that the man who made such a ridiculous threat to me won't be surprised. If it's hard for everyone, I think it would be better to focus on the companies related to Kim Moo-hyuk."
"Let's take a look."
Only when a satisfactory answer came back did Li Feng nod.
"Yes. You will need your own achievements for the future. You can't be dragged around by the elders and Jiang Zemin forever, right?"
"······."
"You should go now. You've been keeping someone so busy for so long."
Li Feng stood up from his seat and bowed.
"I will see you again."
Li Feng nodded instead of answering. Luo Gan bowed briefly again and left the study.
Li Feng was left alone in the study, silently staring at the door Luo Gan had left through.
* * *
I left the Myeongdong office and arrived at the meeting place.
In the room that I entered after being guided by the manager, Oh Hyun-woo was waiting.
"It's been a while. It's been a while since I've seen your face like this."
"Okay. Let's meet more often."
When Oh Hyun-woo smiled first, I couldn't help but laugh along.
As I sat down, food was brought in and we chatted about everyday things while eating.
"How is your sister-in-law?"
"What's your sister-in-law, your sister-in-law? Well, it's the same. She's a more serious workaholic than I am. She's acknowledged for that, but······. Do you know? When I married Min-kyung, people were gossiping?"
"Those guys would have done the same thing to anyone you married. Jealousy and envy are everywhere. Don't worry about it."
Oh Hyun-woo nodded slightly and held out his glass. He lightly clinked the glasses and then broke them.
The strong Andong soju went down my esophagus.
"I know. I know. Hearing those words makes me work harder, but I also feel like I might be a hindrance to Min-kyung's future······."
He's not the type of guy who would get drunk after just one drink, but he's talking strangely as if he's drunk. I asked him with a laugh at Oh Hyun-woo's words.
"Are you on bad terms with Min-kyung?"
Advertisements
"No. That can't be."
"Then? Is Min-kyung having a hard time?"
"no."
"But why are you feeling so down by yourself? Ask yourself. If you're going to think and worry alone, why get married? You should move forward together. Right?"
"That's true, but······."
"Min-kyung is strong. You know it best, right?"
Oh Hyun-woo filled the empty glass with alcohol with a bitter smile.
"He's strong. He laughs a lot. But the problem is that I don't know if it's a real laugh anymore. I wish he'd just say it's hard when it's hard."
"You were like that from the beginning. If you want to change that, you have to keep talking. So that we can rely on each other."
"That's right."
We chatted about various things while eating.
I told him everything about how I was doing and what was going on. Nothing but work-related stories.
After we had filled our bellies, we started drinking and talking about work in earnest.
"What about the Church of Heaven?"
"I think it'll probably be sorted out next week. For now, all charges against that woman, Kim Sun-ja, have been dropped, and Han Hyun-jin and Han Hyun-woo have been put on the wanted list. Han Sung-jin will also be called in for questioning soon. Han Hyun-soo has already been discussed internally to be indicted without detention."
"There's no pressure from above?"
Oh Hyun-woo laughed mischievously at my question.
"Who would do something like that to me? And the president's will is too strong. Is President Yoon Chang-ho just a president? He is a president loved by the people. As you know, politicians have a gangster approval rating. Even though his approval rating dropped due to this bloodshed, it is still over 50%. That means half of the people support him. In my opinion, he will probably maintain his approval rating when he leaves office."
This is how the world evaluates Yoon Chang-ho. I said with a renewed sense of excitement.
"I heard there are a lot of complaints within the prosecution?"
"Wow, you don't know anything. You can't be dissatisfied. You know where he's from. But it's impossible to object because everyone on the president's side knows who's sitting where. Who would want to put a bell around a cat's neck? Not even I can do that."
After taking office, Yoon Chang-ho declared reform of the prosecution.
The people also welcomed it, and reforms were implemented one by one.
The first thing they did was to reduce the number of troops.
"You have no influence?"
"Me? Me. I'm just a person who does what I'm told. What power do I still have?"
President Yoon Chang-ho's reforms were like a shining apricot.
The reduced authority of the Central Investigation Department was transferred to the Central District Prosecutors' Office, and much of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's authority was also transferred to the Central District Prosecutors' Office.
It was intended to control the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Central District Prosecutors' Office.
"No more moaning. What do you have to worry about?"
It was a story from a faraway land to Oh Hyun-woo.
"Did you hear about the High-ranking Officials' Corruption Investigation Office?"
"That's the biggest problem. It's about creating an agency that can investigate not only judges and judges, but also prosecutors. Everyone is dissatisfied with this. It's because President Yoon Chang-ho is so hard-line."
"What about you? What do you think?"
Oh Hyun-woo shrugged.
Advertisements
"Well, I'm a little… I don't care about President Yoon Chang-ho. But who knows who will become president after him? Who knows who will wield that power for themselves?"
"Hyunwoo, you don't look at it favorably either."
"The prosecutors can't help but be negative. Politicians sing the same song all the time."
"I'll have a talk with President Yoon Chang-ho."
Oh Hyun-woo shook his head.
"Okay. Why are you even stepping up for something like this? Let's continue talking about the Church of Heaven."
Oh Hyun-woo told me about the progress of the investigation.
The story that continued for a long time was well summarized and easy to understand.
"······I'm thinking of ending it like this, but do you have any other thoughts?"
"Do as you wish. It was worth trusting me. As long as Han Hyun-soo is not arrested, the rest doesn't matter to me."
"Okay. Then let's wrap it up like this."
"Come to think of it, I noticed you were good at taking pictures during your briefings."
"I guess I'm a bit older."
As we were clinking glasses and making silly jokes, someone opened the door we were in.
My gaze and Oh Hyun-woo's gaze moved towards the open door.
"What? You've already eaten? I told you I'd be home early."
Myeongsu came into the room grumbling.
I've never called Myeongsu before. I asked Oh Hyeon-woo just in case.
"Hyunwoo, did you call?"
"Oh. I was talking about something else, and when I told him I was going to meet you, he said he'd come too, so how can I stop him? You know how stubborn that kid is."
Myungsoo, who had been smiling brightly regardless of whether Oh Hyunwoo cursed at him or not, tapped my shoulder and sat down next to me.
"Surprise! I told you not to tell. Buy me a drink too."
He chuckled at her whining and poured her some soju in a new glass.
"Hey, Andong Soju? They say you can only drink expensive alcohol if you drink it with Kim Mu-hyeok."
Myeongsu drank all the alcohol in one go and his whole body trembled.
"Ah! Good. I haven't had any alcohol lately, so it's sweet, sweet."
"You've been talking nonsense since I last saw you," he said, wiggling one eyebrow.
"Aren't you having a convention tomorrow?"
"I'm not running for office, so what does it matter?"
"You have a good fate."
"It doesn't matter who becomes the Secretary-General, it's my position."
Myeongsu said confidently. The internal traffic control had already been completed.
"He's a bigger shot than you think."
As Oh Hyun-woo said, Myeong-su's weight was growing as time passed.
In the political world, the situation at the party convention was so bad that the choice of a famous person called the "soft leader" could turn the tables.
Advertisements
Since the president cannot directly intervene in the convention, the importance of the number of nominees has increased.
"What about the big guys? I'm just a caretaker for the old people. Let's stop talking about things that bother us. Why are we talking about politics among friends? Let's just have a drink. By the way, have you sorted everything out?"
Myeongsu asked again, holding out his glass. I nodded as I filled his glass.
"I just finished up a bit. It's a big deal because the schedule is longer than expected."
"I'm glad you figured it out. You were in Busan for about a week, right? You must be having a good time, even turning off your phones."
"Oh. It's been a while since I've had a rest like that without thinking about anything, so it's nice and comfortable."
"Good job. Sometimes you seem like a serious workaholic. I bet Grandma would have liked that."
We started having drinks and chatting.
We didn't talk about complicated things. We just talked about our college days and our lives, and drank until late at night.
Eventually, at midnight, the drinking party ended.
"Hey! Kim Mu-hyuk!"
Myungsoo, whose face turned pale, called my name before getting into the car.
"You. If you don't have work tomorrow, come to the convention."
"Convention? Why would I go there? I'm not even a party member."
"That is, if you have nothing to do."
"Why all of a sudden? What's going on?"
Myeongsu shook his head.
"No. Just show your face for a moment. The President will be here too."
I don't know why, but I have to go because Myeongsu called me.
"Okay. I'll come tomorrow on time."
"Okay. See you tomorrow then."
Myeongsu waved both hands vigorously and then got into the car.
The car carrying Myeongsu quickly disappeared from sight.
I asked Oh Hyeon-woo next to me.
"What's going on at the convention?"
"Well, I don't know."
That made me even more puzzled. He's not the type of guy to do that unless something happens.
After sending Oh Hyeon-woo away, I also got into the car.
"I will be attending the Centrist Party convention tomorrow, so please prepare in advance."
"All right."
Soon the car carrying me also began to move slowly.
< What would you be worried about > End
< It won't stop even if you send it back >