My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 472 Money is More Useful
Yeonhui-dong, the private residence of the First President.

It was nightfall, and the lights were just coming on. The main building of the President's private residence was brightly lit.

At the entrance to the kitchen on the first floor of the villa, a middle-aged woman wearing an apron carefully carried a porcelain basin the size of a washbasin into the dining room. At this moment, the large dining room was filled with laughter and chatter.

Beside the long table, An Rusong, his face flushed, put down his wine glass and smiled at a long-faced middle-aged man sitting directly opposite him: "In any case, we still have to thank Advisor Jin for making the connection. Without your introduction, Vice Minister Song probably wouldn't have been so easy to talk to."

The middle-aged man also had a smile on his face. His smile was reserved and subtle, but the words he spoke carried a bold and even unrestrained tone.

"Hehe, you're too kind," the long-faced middle-aged man said with a smile, pointing at An Rusong with the chopsticks in his hand. "I'm just introducing you two. To be honest, I don't really have any real relationship with Song Xianrong. Although we're from the same hometown, we don't interact much."

The middle-aged man with a long face is named Kim Chang-joo, and his current position is the Presidential National Security Advisor at the Blue House—a very special position in South Korea's military and political circles.

For historical reasons, successive South Korean presidents have not trusted military generals, especially the Minister of National Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. This was most evident when progressives were in power.

Although the country has a Ministry of National Defense and a Minister of National Defense who is specifically responsible for military affairs, the authority of the Minister of National Defense has been consciously and purposefully weakened since Roh Tae-woo stepped down in 1993, as the master of the Blue House.

Before Lee Min-bak took office as president, several progressive presidents in a row had been strengthening the power of the "national security advisor" role in their staff. Whenever the president had any questions about military matters, he would not consult the defense minister directly, but would seek help from the national security advisor.

Interestingly, in the previous fifteen years, each president either appointed one or several national security advisors, but regardless of the number appointed, none of these national security advisors had experience serving in the military; they were all genuine "civil servants."

This is actually a manifestation of the progressives' efforts to limit the power of the military.

However, this situation changed with Lee Min-bak's entry into the Blue House. For example, Kim Chang-joo is a true soldier. When he retired from the military four years ago, he held the rank of major general and served as the director of the Computer Information Institute at the Ministry of National Defense.

Jin Zhangzhu is also from Ruichuan. He and Song Xianrong are true fellow townsmen and were even colleagues before. Jin Zhangzhu said that he and Song Xianrong were not close, but that was a lie. He and Song Xianrong were not only very familiar with each other, but were also true friends.

An Rusong was able to get to know Kim Chang-joo not through Lee Min-bo's connections, but through Jeon Doo-hwan, the owner of the private residence in front of them.

Just two days ago, An Rusong received a call from Chun Doo-hwan, who told him that an old friend of his in the Ministry of National Defense had revealed that someone in the military prosecutor's office seemed to be investigating information about him.

At the time, An Rusong didn't even think about it carefully before he knew that the person investigating him was definitely Zheng Junnan.

To be honest, he wasn't afraid of this so-called investigation. After all, Zheng Junnan hadn't directly obtained the document that night, and as long as the other party didn't have any concrete evidence, he had nothing to fear.

Who is An Rusong? He's the chairman of NGN, the founder of a unicorn company, and runs an internet business, specifically in the instant messaging software field. This business direction means he has no competitors in traditional industries in South Korea, and no competitors means few rivals or enemies.

At the same time, his political stance is very clear: he firmly supports the conservatives, the Grand National Party, and the current president, Lee Min-bak. Although he has never publicly stated this, this fact is probably common knowledge throughout South Korea.

With these two points out in the open, An Rusong doesn't need to worry about the hand of public power actually targeting him. As for the progressives, he won't turn his attention to them for at least ten years, since his memories from his previous life tell him that the progressives won't be able to seize power within ten years.

As an opposition figure, even if the progressives hate him to the core, they can only use public opinion to smear him at most. The problem is that An Rusong controls a media outlet, giving him the tools to speak out for himself and clear his name. Therefore, no amount of smear campaigning is likely to completely bring him down.

As for Zheng Junnan, this guy is probably just young and impetuous, and doesn't understand the situation, which is why he rashly tried to investigate me.

However, although An Rusong was not afraid of the other party, being entangled by a military prosecutor was not a pleasant thing. Wouldn't it be better to nip the trouble in the bud?
With this in mind, An Rusong paid a visit to President Quan. It was during this visit that he met Jin Zhangzhu through him, and subsequently, through Jin Zhangzhu, he established contact with Song Xianrong. However, Jin Zhangzhu's statement that he couldn't offer much help could be explained in another way. The truth is, although Jin Zhangzhu and Song Xianrong had a close relationship, it wouldn't be easy for An Rusong to simply ask them for help, especially given his connections as a military prosecutor.

The reason why Kim Chang-joo was so eager to introduce Song Seon-young to him, and why Song Seon-young acted so quickly to transfer Jung Joon-nam out of Seoul, was not just because of a "relationship". An Ru-song spent money to get the two of them to help. Yes, it was a real deal.

"Besides, isn't that how things work in this world? No matter how deep the friendship is, it's not as useful as real cash," Kim Chang-joo said with a self-deprecating tone.

"You idiot, have you drunk too much again?" Chun Doo-hwan, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but laugh and scold him.

“Mr. Ilhae, I’m not drunk. What I said just now was entirely from the bottom of my heart,” Kim Chang-joo scratched his head, then leaned back slightly in his chair, let out a long sigh, and said, “When you were in charge of the Blue House, you must have felt this very well, right?”

Chun Doo-hwan smiled calmly, not responding to the other person's words. In An Rusong's view, Chun Doo-hwan likely truly understood this deeply.

As a former president who was once universally hated, Chun Doo-hwan still has so many loyal supporters in the military today, precisely because the military received the best treatment during his tenure.

Leaving aside salaries, let's just look at the food allowance. During Chun Doo-hwan's administration, the food allowance for an ordinary South Korean soldier was 15000 won per meal. Even without considering inflation, that's nearly 100 yuan per meal. But now? After cuts and reductions by previous presidents, the food allowance for an ordinary soldier has now dropped to less than 5,000 won per meal, a reduction of more than two-thirds.

Of course, this was just the beginning. In the world before An Rusong's rebirth, the food allowance for South Korean soldiers was 3000 won per meal, which is less than 15 yuan in Chinese currency.

With such treatment, who can expect those ordinary soldiers to be as "loyal" as they shout all day long?
"In short, we have to thank Advisor Jin for this matter," An Rusong continued, picking up the thread. "You know, it's not a pleasant feeling to have someone watching you all the time."

This time, Kim Chang-joo didn't mince words. He picked up the glass of red wine in front of him, gestured to An Ru-song, then brought it to his lips, took a small sip, and then turned to Jeon Doo-hwan, changing the subject, "Mr. Il-hae, I came here tonight with a request from Mr. Cheong-hee."

"Oh?" Chun Doo-hwan raised his eyebrows, and his old face instantly turned serious.

"Mr. Cheong-hee officially signed a presidential decree today," Kim Chang-joo said, reaching into his pocket as if looking for something.

An Rusong knew the other man smoked, and seeing his movements, he seemed to be looking for a cigarette, so he quickly took out his own and offered it to him. Quan Doo-hwan also smoked, but neither he nor Kim Chang-joo had smoked during the meal, and as a junior, An Rusong naturally couldn't just take out a cigarette and smoke it himself. Now that Kim Chang-joo was finally about to smoke, An Rusong naturally wanted to follow suit.

Jin Zhangzhu nodded to An Rusong as he accepted the cigarette, then continued, "We will officially launch a special investigation into Li Haizan, Li Bingwan, and Jin Bingzhun."

An Rusong lit a cigarette and listened quietly beside him.

An Rusong had heard of all the people Kim Chang-joo mentioned. Lee Hae-chan was the prime minister during President Roh Tae-il's term, Lee Byung-wan was the chief of staff to President Roh Tae-il, and Kim Byung-jun was the vice prime minister in charge of education.

Lee Min-bak signed a presidential decree to launch a special investigation into these three individuals, which means that the Blue House has begun to take action against President Roh.

Kim Byung-joon and you, Kim Chang-joo's words continued.

“Hey, Kim Byung-joon is Kim Byung-joon, and I am me,” before he could finish speaking, Chun Doo-hwan interrupted him, saying, “You can tell Cheong-gye not to worry about me, and let him investigate however he wants.”

It's clear from their conversation that Kim Byung-joon and Chun Doo-hwan are related, and their relationship is quite close. That's why, after signing the presidential decree, Lee Min-bak specifically arranged for Kim Chang-joo to come and say hello.

(End of this chapter)